FIC: Reflections 9: Caritas: 1/5
Author: Trepkos
Pairing: Spike/Riley
Rating: NC17 overall
Standard disclaimer: no profit made, no copyright infringement intended.
Warning: Things are still a bit rough, but no worse than in canon.
Feedback: It’s what I live for
Previous parts:
Reflections 1: Down the Rabbit-hole 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 2: Through the Looking Glass 1/5 2/5 3/5 4/5 5/5
Reflections 3: Sentence First! Verdict afterwards! 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 4: Where do we go from here? 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 5: On the Road to Los Angeles 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 6: The Players Assemble 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 7: Reunion 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 8: Things Fall Apart 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 9: Caritas: 1/5
Spike got to his feet, and offered Riley a hand up from where he was still kneeling on the floor. “Wanna know what I think?” he said. “We need to get out for a bit: clear our heads. This … er … girl, Harmony - one of Angel’s lot - she said there’s a decent bar down the road …” Spike looked hopefully at Riley. “Don’t know about you but I could murder a pint.”
All things considered, Spike seemed remarkably buoyant. Riley supposed he should be relieved: and he was, kind-of. But it was odd, to say the least. As for himself, it felt like most of his skin had been scraped off. He didn’t know what he’d thought was going to happen next, but this definitely wasn’t it.
He didn’t want to disappoint Spike - any more than he already had - and he’d stoically ignored the nervous blip the ring had sent him when Spike mentioned the girl’s name: there was no way he was asking about it. She probably had … assets. A guy couldn’t help noticing stuff like that. But after everything that had happened, drinking alcohol in public didn’t seem like one of Spike’s smarter ideas.
“What kind of bar?” he said, stalling for time.
Spike barely moved his lips, and his reply was almost inaudible.
“Demon, karaoke?” Riley repeated slowly, pronouncing every syllable just to make sure he’d heard right.
“I know, it sounds awful,” Spike said with an air of apology. “But it might be a laugh. I reckon we could do with one of those an’ all. C’mon, what d’you say?”
Hadn’t they had enough excitement for one night? Half-hoping Spike might think better of it, Riley defined the mission, just to make sure the objectives were clear.
“A laugh and a drink?”
“Yeah: sound okay?” Spike raised his eyebrows and nodded anxious encouragement as he awaited Riley’s verdict.
Karaoke - even without the ‘demon’ part - sounded like a nightmare; but the evening couldn’t get much weirder, and Riley was convinced that after what he’d done, he’d forfeited the right to decide on anything more important than the colour of his socks: possibly for the rest of his life. He rubbed a hand over his face, then shrugged a bit despondently.
“Whatever you want, Spike.”
Spike said - “Hey -” and went to touch his cheek, and Riley jerked his head back. He didn’t deserve to be petted - so his heart told him; but Spike persisted, stroking the line of his jaw with a forgiving hand, then he spread his arms wide, saying “- no damage done: see?”
All Riley could see were the marks he’d left: scratches and bruises on Spike’s upper body, and there would be worse elsewhere - but when he tried to look away, he wasn’t permitted. Spike took Riley’s chin in his hand and stared intently into his eyes.
“We’re both still in one piece,” Spike said. “You’re still my guy, yeah?”
Spike’s anxiety, so plain on his face, was crushing; one more thing Riley wished he hadn’t been the cause of. Wanting to apologise again but not quite trusting his voice, Riley nodded assent.
“C’mon then: let’s get ourselves cleaned up,” Spike said. “Bags-I go first in the shower - give me time to rustle you up some gear after.”
So: they were showering separately. That, at least, was a relief. If Spike had taken it into his head to get down on his knees to him, even after everything, it would have been more than he could take.
~~
Physically, this was small potatoes. He’d survived much worse before now; got over that incident at the auction house with the stake, in - what - two days? He’d be fine by tomorrow.
Even so, Spike was glad to have some privacy to get cleaned up. Riley’d be bound to upset himself all over again if he got a closer look at what he’d done; poor bloke was distressed enough already, without any visual reminders. When he’d seen to himself, Spike was careful to wash every trace of blood from the shower cubicle, and pitched a couple of slightly suspicious-looking towels into the laundry basket. He turned to leave, then - just to be sure - went back and stuffed them under some things that had been in there already.
Then Riley’s turn came. They passed each other awkwardly in the bathroom doorway - Riley flattening himself against the door jamb, still almost afraid of touching Spike.
Time for some tough love.
“Oi!” Spike said sternly. “We’ll have no more of this shrinking violet crap. I’m movin’ on - you coming with me or what?”
Riley nodded hastily. “I’m … I’m there … few paces behind, but I’ll catch up.” He carefully placed a hand on Spike’s waist for a moment. “Just … don’t go without me, okay?”
Spike relented: “Course not.”
Looking mightily relieved, Riley got into the shower and turned on the water, and Spike took the opportunity to slip out to Angel’s suite. He managed to find several items in Angel’s wardrobe that still had the price-tag on, and grinned. So: Angel went to the sales; might have known - stingy git. Shaking his head at himself for being surprised, he brought a selection back to his room.
Riley emerged from the bathroom, and looked at the clothes on the bed as though they might bite him. He poked gingerly at them, turning them over, and picked out the most un-Angel-like stuff to put on for their excursion.
Clearly his partner still wasn’t completely on board with the plan of action.
“We’ll just poke our heads in -” Spike said; “- have one drink, yeah?”
Riley flicked a damp lock of hair from his face and braced himself. “Yeah, okay. One drink: I can do that.” His face crumpled slightly as he said, “But Spike, you won’t tell -”
“Hey! Give me some credit mate!” Somewhat stung, Spike added, “Anyway, I didn’t exactly cover myself in glory tonight either.”
Riley opened his mouth to contradict him but Spike wagged an index finger, silencing him. “There probably won’t be anyone there we know, and no, even if there is, I won’t tell anyone about your evil twin staking me with a plastic knick-knack.”
Spike carefully skated round the raw place they’d been to. No need to poke the wound. Everything that needed to be said - well, nothing needed to be said, actually. They’d both been lost for a while - Riley more than himself - and Riley was still suffering for it. Just have to keep him occupied for a bit - let the dust settle.
Not literally.
When they were ready to go, Spike patted himself down, checking he had everything. He retrieved a hipflask from where it was secreted about his person, took a swig from it, then offered it to Riley. “Dutch courage,” he said.
“Dutch, French, Chinese; I’ll take any kind that’s going around.”
Riley gratefully took a hit, wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and passed the flask back, then impulsively grasped Spike’s other hand in his and pressed his lips to it.
Spike touched the knuckles to Riley’s cheekbone. “C’mon,” he said. “Buck up, we’re okay.”
“Yeah. We’re fine.” Riley made a brave effort to smile. “We’ll be fine.”
~~
On the way out of the back entrance, they met Harmony and Genevieve just coming in. Harmony was supporting - half-dragging - Genevieve, who looked completely out of it.
“What happened?” Spike demanded. “You let someone spike her drink?”
“No!” Harmony said indignantly. “Do I look like an idiot?”
Spike raised his eyebrows and mumbled, “Takin’ the Fifth.”
“Hey!” Harmony gave him a friendly thwack on the arm for his impertinence. “It was just really weird - oh!”
Noticing Riley standing there looking left out, she went instantly into simper-mode, almost letting Genevieve slide out of her grasp in the process of trying to draw attention to her own cleavage.
Spike snorted and shook his head, only mildly appalled.
“Hello again,” Harmony said, heaving Genevieve up a little higher so that she had a hand free to offer in greeting.
Riley squinted at her. “Er … Hi?”
“We met last year, UC Sunnydale - you threatened to stake me, remember?”
“Oh: yeah.” Riley twitched uneasily. “Sorry - trying to give that up. And, I’m sorry I didn’t recognise you; I wasn’t expecting to see you in LA. I guess you kept your word to stay off the campus.”
“Of course!” she said indignantly.
“So, cut to the chase Harm,” Spike pointedly prompted Harmony, who seemed oblivious to Riley’s embarrassment. “What’s wrong with Gen here?”
“Something really weird happened, Blondie Bear -”
“’Blondie Bear’?” Riley said, cringing.
“Ooops.” Harmony clapped a hand over her mouth. “Just my little nickname for Spike,” she said with an apologetic glance at the bear in question. “We kind-of, had a thing …”
Spike’s eyes widened in horror. “Before I met you,” he said, glaring at Harmony, and taking a firm hold on Riley’s arm to emphasize where his loyalty lay.
Riley squinted at Harmony, evidently having trouble coming to come to terms with the unlikely pairing.
“He was on the rebound,” Harmony added hastily.
“The balance of my mind was disturbed!” Spike attested, and Harmony nodded vigorously to confirm his temporary insanity.
“It was only a small thing,” Harmony said, then winced at Spike’s look of masculine outrage.
“A very brief thing!” Spike corrected her.
“Hardly a thing at all …” Harmony said, tailing off with a pleading note in her voice.
Hiding his mouth with his hand, Riley spluttered, “’Blondie Bear’!”
Spike looked at him with a worried frown. “Yeah, okay; very amusing.”
Riley’s laughter was tinged with hysteria. Still, best not make too much of it.
“Movin’ on -” Spike addressed Harmony: “- something weird eh, Ms Kendall? Lot of it goin’ around.”
“Yes, Mr … Spike.”
Harmony adjusted her flimsy tank top and the underlying corsetry before commencing her story.
“We managed to get into this really exclusive nightclub, and we’d just got our drinks - hadn’t even taken a sip - when Genie just suddenly put her head down on the table and - well, fell asleep I guess; but it was more like someone had switched her off! Like, she wasn’t in there any more. Then before I could think what to do, I started hallucinating: it was awful!” She clapped a hand to her bosom. “I’d had some crazy idea of taking Buffy on! The Slayer! As if! And she was chasing me all over Sunnydale -”
“And she couldn’t catch you?” Spike said, incredulous. “How come?”
“Well, you were there and -”
Harmony glanced quickly at Riley, and went on, rather too emphatically, “- and you were being no help at all! No siree! And all my minions - did I mention I had minions? - they all turned on me, the ungrateful dogs! I was nearly killed! Again! Then just when I thought I was done for, I woke up back in the bar, and Genevieve woke up too, all groggy, and started hugging me and telling me how glad she was to see me, and asking if the awful men had gone.”
“Huh!” Spike hunched his shoulders. “Sounds like you go off lightly.”
Harmony shrugged helplessly. “Well, Genie’s still only half-there, and we did get thrown out for sleeping in the club. They said we were making the place look boring.”
“Hard to believe,” Spike said, frowning. He lifted Genevieve’s chin, and as he looked into her eyes they began to come into focus. “How you doin’ in there, pet?”
Genevieve blinked, at first puzzled, then relieved, then angry.
“You weren’t there!” she accused him, and started battering her small fists ineffectually on his chest. Between blows, she blurted, “I was back in that awful place … but I was all alone and you weren’t there. The men came and did … you know … and I sent them to sleep like before, but I couldn’t get out, and no one came to rescue me. And I thought getting rescued was a dream and I’d been there all along. And the guards came and found me … there was a stake … then there was nothing, just nothing, forever …”
She stopped hitting Spike and threw her arms around him. With her face pressed against his shoulder she wailed, “What’s happening? Is it gonna happen again? I was scared …”
“S’okay love.” Spike petted her hair. “Same kind of thing happened to us an’ all,” he said. “We were scared too; reality goin’ on the blink’ll do that. Nothing to be ashamed of: whatever happened.”
Spike looked penetratingly at Riley. His partner’s rather alarming fit of sniggering had subsided, but it seemed to have drained him of the last of his energy. He looked lost.
“Still, it feels to me like it’s stabilised,” Spike went on. “I haven’t had any more of those … things: not for a while now; how about you, Finn?”
At Spike’s judicious use of his surname, Riley pulled himself together. He closed his eyes, just breathing slowly for a few moments. “I think you’re right Spike - it’s like, there was a noise I didn’t notice until it was gone, and now it is, I do …” He frowned. “Did that make sense?”
“Perfect sense, mate.” Spike turned to Genevieve. “I’ve got a feeling we’re over the worst, but we’ll have a word with the Brooding Avenger and see if he’s got any clue about what’s goin’ on. If he doesn’t, I’m sure he knows a man who does, okay?”
She nodded, looking somewhat reassured.
“Right then!”
Spike checked his gang. He shook his head sadly. The number was right, but they were hardly the Scourge of Europe; in fact they all looked in piss-poor shape. But no limbs were missing, and none of the un-dead majority seemed ready for the Great Hoover-bag in the Sky, so maybe they should get back to the plan. He turned to Harmony.
“So; wanna show us where that bar of yours is, Harm? ‘Caritas’, was it?” He grinned. “A bit of that never goes amiss!”
~~
TBC
Pairing: Spike/Riley
Rating: NC17 overall
Standard disclaimer: no profit made, no copyright infringement intended.
Warning: Things are still a bit rough, but no worse than in canon.
Feedback: It’s what I live for
Previous parts:
Reflections 1: Down the Rabbit-hole 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 2: Through the Looking Glass 1/5 2/5 3/5 4/5 5/5
Reflections 3: Sentence First! Verdict afterwards! 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 4: Where do we go from here? 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 5: On the Road to Los Angeles 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 6: The Players Assemble 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 7: Reunion 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 8: Things Fall Apart 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Reflections 9: Caritas: 1/5
Spike got to his feet, and offered Riley a hand up from where he was still kneeling on the floor. “Wanna know what I think?” he said. “We need to get out for a bit: clear our heads. This … er … girl, Harmony - one of Angel’s lot - she said there’s a decent bar down the road …” Spike looked hopefully at Riley. “Don’t know about you but I could murder a pint.”
All things considered, Spike seemed remarkably buoyant. Riley supposed he should be relieved: and he was, kind-of. But it was odd, to say the least. As for himself, it felt like most of his skin had been scraped off. He didn’t know what he’d thought was going to happen next, but this definitely wasn’t it.
He didn’t want to disappoint Spike - any more than he already had - and he’d stoically ignored the nervous blip the ring had sent him when Spike mentioned the girl’s name: there was no way he was asking about it. She probably had … assets. A guy couldn’t help noticing stuff like that. But after everything that had happened, drinking alcohol in public didn’t seem like one of Spike’s smarter ideas.
“What kind of bar?” he said, stalling for time.
Spike barely moved his lips, and his reply was almost inaudible.
“Demon, karaoke?” Riley repeated slowly, pronouncing every syllable just to make sure he’d heard right.
“I know, it sounds awful,” Spike said with an air of apology. “But it might be a laugh. I reckon we could do with one of those an’ all. C’mon, what d’you say?”
Hadn’t they had enough excitement for one night? Half-hoping Spike might think better of it, Riley defined the mission, just to make sure the objectives were clear.
“A laugh and a drink?”
“Yeah: sound okay?” Spike raised his eyebrows and nodded anxious encouragement as he awaited Riley’s verdict.
Karaoke - even without the ‘demon’ part - sounded like a nightmare; but the evening couldn’t get much weirder, and Riley was convinced that after what he’d done, he’d forfeited the right to decide on anything more important than the colour of his socks: possibly for the rest of his life. He rubbed a hand over his face, then shrugged a bit despondently.
“Whatever you want, Spike.”
Spike said - “Hey -” and went to touch his cheek, and Riley jerked his head back. He didn’t deserve to be petted - so his heart told him; but Spike persisted, stroking the line of his jaw with a forgiving hand, then he spread his arms wide, saying “- no damage done: see?”
All Riley could see were the marks he’d left: scratches and bruises on Spike’s upper body, and there would be worse elsewhere - but when he tried to look away, he wasn’t permitted. Spike took Riley’s chin in his hand and stared intently into his eyes.
“We’re both still in one piece,” Spike said. “You’re still my guy, yeah?”
Spike’s anxiety, so plain on his face, was crushing; one more thing Riley wished he hadn’t been the cause of. Wanting to apologise again but not quite trusting his voice, Riley nodded assent.
“C’mon then: let’s get ourselves cleaned up,” Spike said. “Bags-I go first in the shower - give me time to rustle you up some gear after.”
So: they were showering separately. That, at least, was a relief. If Spike had taken it into his head to get down on his knees to him, even after everything, it would have been more than he could take.
~~
Physically, this was small potatoes. He’d survived much worse before now; got over that incident at the auction house with the stake, in - what - two days? He’d be fine by tomorrow.
Even so, Spike was glad to have some privacy to get cleaned up. Riley’d be bound to upset himself all over again if he got a closer look at what he’d done; poor bloke was distressed enough already, without any visual reminders. When he’d seen to himself, Spike was careful to wash every trace of blood from the shower cubicle, and pitched a couple of slightly suspicious-looking towels into the laundry basket. He turned to leave, then - just to be sure - went back and stuffed them under some things that had been in there already.
Then Riley’s turn came. They passed each other awkwardly in the bathroom doorway - Riley flattening himself against the door jamb, still almost afraid of touching Spike.
Time for some tough love.
“Oi!” Spike said sternly. “We’ll have no more of this shrinking violet crap. I’m movin’ on - you coming with me or what?”
Riley nodded hastily. “I’m … I’m there … few paces behind, but I’ll catch up.” He carefully placed a hand on Spike’s waist for a moment. “Just … don’t go without me, okay?”
Spike relented: “Course not.”
Looking mightily relieved, Riley got into the shower and turned on the water, and Spike took the opportunity to slip out to Angel’s suite. He managed to find several items in Angel’s wardrobe that still had the price-tag on, and grinned. So: Angel went to the sales; might have known - stingy git. Shaking his head at himself for being surprised, he brought a selection back to his room.
Riley emerged from the bathroom, and looked at the clothes on the bed as though they might bite him. He poked gingerly at them, turning them over, and picked out the most un-Angel-like stuff to put on for their excursion.
Clearly his partner still wasn’t completely on board with the plan of action.
“We’ll just poke our heads in -” Spike said; “- have one drink, yeah?”
Riley flicked a damp lock of hair from his face and braced himself. “Yeah, okay. One drink: I can do that.” His face crumpled slightly as he said, “But Spike, you won’t tell -”
“Hey! Give me some credit mate!” Somewhat stung, Spike added, “Anyway, I didn’t exactly cover myself in glory tonight either.”
Riley opened his mouth to contradict him but Spike wagged an index finger, silencing him. “There probably won’t be anyone there we know, and no, even if there is, I won’t tell anyone about your evil twin staking me with a plastic knick-knack.”
Spike carefully skated round the raw place they’d been to. No need to poke the wound. Everything that needed to be said - well, nothing needed to be said, actually. They’d both been lost for a while - Riley more than himself - and Riley was still suffering for it. Just have to keep him occupied for a bit - let the dust settle.
Not literally.
When they were ready to go, Spike patted himself down, checking he had everything. He retrieved a hipflask from where it was secreted about his person, took a swig from it, then offered it to Riley. “Dutch courage,” he said.
“Dutch, French, Chinese; I’ll take any kind that’s going around.”
Riley gratefully took a hit, wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and passed the flask back, then impulsively grasped Spike’s other hand in his and pressed his lips to it.
Spike touched the knuckles to Riley’s cheekbone. “C’mon,” he said. “Buck up, we’re okay.”
“Yeah. We’re fine.” Riley made a brave effort to smile. “We’ll be fine.”
~~
On the way out of the back entrance, they met Harmony and Genevieve just coming in. Harmony was supporting - half-dragging - Genevieve, who looked completely out of it.
“What happened?” Spike demanded. “You let someone spike her drink?”
“No!” Harmony said indignantly. “Do I look like an idiot?”
Spike raised his eyebrows and mumbled, “Takin’ the Fifth.”
“Hey!” Harmony gave him a friendly thwack on the arm for his impertinence. “It was just really weird - oh!”
Noticing Riley standing there looking left out, she went instantly into simper-mode, almost letting Genevieve slide out of her grasp in the process of trying to draw attention to her own cleavage.
Spike snorted and shook his head, only mildly appalled.
“Hello again,” Harmony said, heaving Genevieve up a little higher so that she had a hand free to offer in greeting.
Riley squinted at her. “Er … Hi?”
“We met last year, UC Sunnydale - you threatened to stake me, remember?”
“Oh: yeah.” Riley twitched uneasily. “Sorry - trying to give that up. And, I’m sorry I didn’t recognise you; I wasn’t expecting to see you in LA. I guess you kept your word to stay off the campus.”
“Of course!” she said indignantly.
“So, cut to the chase Harm,” Spike pointedly prompted Harmony, who seemed oblivious to Riley’s embarrassment. “What’s wrong with Gen here?”
“Something really weird happened, Blondie Bear -”
“’Blondie Bear’?” Riley said, cringing.
“Ooops.” Harmony clapped a hand over her mouth. “Just my little nickname for Spike,” she said with an apologetic glance at the bear in question. “We kind-of, had a thing …”
Spike’s eyes widened in horror. “Before I met you,” he said, glaring at Harmony, and taking a firm hold on Riley’s arm to emphasize where his loyalty lay.
Riley squinted at Harmony, evidently having trouble coming to come to terms with the unlikely pairing.
“He was on the rebound,” Harmony added hastily.
“The balance of my mind was disturbed!” Spike attested, and Harmony nodded vigorously to confirm his temporary insanity.
“It was only a small thing,” Harmony said, then winced at Spike’s look of masculine outrage.
“A very brief thing!” Spike corrected her.
“Hardly a thing at all …” Harmony said, tailing off with a pleading note in her voice.
Hiding his mouth with his hand, Riley spluttered, “’Blondie Bear’!”
Spike looked at him with a worried frown. “Yeah, okay; very amusing.”
Riley’s laughter was tinged with hysteria. Still, best not make too much of it.
“Movin’ on -” Spike addressed Harmony: “- something weird eh, Ms Kendall? Lot of it goin’ around.”
“Yes, Mr … Spike.”
Harmony adjusted her flimsy tank top and the underlying corsetry before commencing her story.
“We managed to get into this really exclusive nightclub, and we’d just got our drinks - hadn’t even taken a sip - when Genie just suddenly put her head down on the table and - well, fell asleep I guess; but it was more like someone had switched her off! Like, she wasn’t in there any more. Then before I could think what to do, I started hallucinating: it was awful!” She clapped a hand to her bosom. “I’d had some crazy idea of taking Buffy on! The Slayer! As if! And she was chasing me all over Sunnydale -”
“And she couldn’t catch you?” Spike said, incredulous. “How come?”
“Well, you were there and -”
Harmony glanced quickly at Riley, and went on, rather too emphatically, “- and you were being no help at all! No siree! And all my minions - did I mention I had minions? - they all turned on me, the ungrateful dogs! I was nearly killed! Again! Then just when I thought I was done for, I woke up back in the bar, and Genevieve woke up too, all groggy, and started hugging me and telling me how glad she was to see me, and asking if the awful men had gone.”
“Huh!” Spike hunched his shoulders. “Sounds like you go off lightly.”
Harmony shrugged helplessly. “Well, Genie’s still only half-there, and we did get thrown out for sleeping in the club. They said we were making the place look boring.”
“Hard to believe,” Spike said, frowning. He lifted Genevieve’s chin, and as he looked into her eyes they began to come into focus. “How you doin’ in there, pet?”
Genevieve blinked, at first puzzled, then relieved, then angry.
“You weren’t there!” she accused him, and started battering her small fists ineffectually on his chest. Between blows, she blurted, “I was back in that awful place … but I was all alone and you weren’t there. The men came and did … you know … and I sent them to sleep like before, but I couldn’t get out, and no one came to rescue me. And I thought getting rescued was a dream and I’d been there all along. And the guards came and found me … there was a stake … then there was nothing, just nothing, forever …”
She stopped hitting Spike and threw her arms around him. With her face pressed against his shoulder she wailed, “What’s happening? Is it gonna happen again? I was scared …”
“S’okay love.” Spike petted her hair. “Same kind of thing happened to us an’ all,” he said. “We were scared too; reality goin’ on the blink’ll do that. Nothing to be ashamed of: whatever happened.”
Spike looked penetratingly at Riley. His partner’s rather alarming fit of sniggering had subsided, but it seemed to have drained him of the last of his energy. He looked lost.
“Still, it feels to me like it’s stabilised,” Spike went on. “I haven’t had any more of those … things: not for a while now; how about you, Finn?”
At Spike’s judicious use of his surname, Riley pulled himself together. He closed his eyes, just breathing slowly for a few moments. “I think you’re right Spike - it’s like, there was a noise I didn’t notice until it was gone, and now it is, I do …” He frowned. “Did that make sense?”
“Perfect sense, mate.” Spike turned to Genevieve. “I’ve got a feeling we’re over the worst, but we’ll have a word with the Brooding Avenger and see if he’s got any clue about what’s goin’ on. If he doesn’t, I’m sure he knows a man who does, okay?”
She nodded, looking somewhat reassured.
“Right then!”
Spike checked his gang. He shook his head sadly. The number was right, but they were hardly the Scourge of Europe; in fact they all looked in piss-poor shape. But no limbs were missing, and none of the un-dead majority seemed ready for the Great Hoover-bag in the Sky, so maybe they should get back to the plan. He turned to Harmony.
“So; wanna show us where that bar of yours is, Harm? ‘Caritas’, was it?” He grinned. “A bit of that never goes amiss!”
~~
TBC