Chapter 35- Old Friends, New Enemies

Me and B teleport right into the apartment, just like Xand said. From here we got a ball thingy to go to. I was surprised they’re still havin’ it, because of the raised threat level, but apparently they’re beefin’ up the security and they think it’ll still be safe. We’ll fuckin’ see.

I just wanna get right into the fight. Get in and get out. All quick and efficient like. No pussyin’ around, but we have to be patient, let the assholes show their true colors and then we strike. We’ve got a bead on the players, and they’re all gonna be there.

Even this new one I just heard about last week. It was a fuckin’ trip, lemme tell ya.

Gonna love takin’ him out.

B’s gettin’ ready; all I had to do was put on my tux. Kinda feel trapped in this thing, the collar is too tight, it’s pinchin’ me and the material is chafin’. I might act all butch at times, but I do like wearin’ dresses when I hafta. I just hate the idea of ‘em until I actually do it, and then I’m all like, ‘Wow, this is really pretty and I love it.’ Don’t love the heels, but they have to be worn so, ya know, I do it.

She comes outta the room and I smile at her, she’s all brunette and leggy. I hope she don’t get jealous when I pinch her ass.

“Are we ready, gorgeous?” Damn, my voice is all deep and shit. Scared me a bit. Heh.

“You think this glamour I’m wearing is gorgeous?” She sounds annoyed.

Did I fuckin’ call it or what?

“No, I think you’re gorgeous, gorgeous, the glamour doesn’t mean a thing to me. I love my Buffy, and that’s that.”

“Yeah, that is that.” She says still annoyed.

All jealous, my Buffy, she’s a trip. I go over and kiss her without messin’ her makeup up.

“So we’re getting there by cab?” She says as I help her put her shawl on, it’s a warm night and she won’t need anything else except that.

“No, our car is gonna drive us.”

“Ohhh we get a driver, huh?”

“Yep, we’re big time, baby.” I laugh and it sounds like Sean Connery. Fuck, I laugh again and this time B’s laughin’ with me. Shit, we need this bit of fun to break the tension.

‘Cause you could cut it with a fuckin’ knife.

“Jason, good to see you. And your lovely wife is looking very lovely,” He winks. How eloquent, jag-off. “How are you tonight, Terri?”

“I’m doing well, Gerard, and you?” Buffy gives him the fakest sincere smile I’ve ever seen.

Yep, it’s Gerard, that fuckface that met me and B at that hangar near the airport a few weeks ago. He’s not who he says he is, but B don’t know that. He’s got a glamour on. Clever mother fucker.

When Red (and the Shaman that we called in last week) uncovered that, she almost hyperventilated.

“Very well, thank you.” He stops a waiter goin’ passed with a tray, takes a glass of champagne and offers it to B.

She takes it from him and looks at me quickly, I know she’s prayin’ the spell Will did took, ‘cause if not, our baby is about to have some champagne, too. I take one and so does ‘Gerard’ and now we toast each other.

“Excellent,” He says after he drinks half of it. He’s lookin’ kinda nervous. “I hate these fundraisers, but they always have such good champagne.”

“Yes, they do.” I chuckle in my manly voice.

“But you’d probably prefer a good beer, wouldn’t you, Jason?” ‘Gerard’ smirks and then says to Buffy, “Or a bad one, am I right? Is he still drinking anything he can get his hands on?”

Fucker. He’s tryin’ to make himself look good for ‘Terri’. These fucksticks down here, him and Julian, always tryin’ to make time with the women. I wonder if they pimp them out or somethin’.

Probably because he’s still a fuckin’ player, even if he’s not in his real skin.

Yeah I know his game. Played it myself a few times. He’s not so clever, old Parker Abrams. Yeah, that’s right, I said Parker Abrams.

I got the girl, he let her get away, and in the worst way possible. And now he’s bitter. Well, fuck him.

He’s been the dude behind this all. Hookin’ up coincidently, although I think it’s anything but a coincidence, with Bobby Cochrane, and Bobby’s sister, Laurie. Yeah, Ken remembered that Laurie’s last name was Cochrane and then I put two and two together. And that bitch is goin’ down, too.

We figured rehab for ‘em, until tonight. No, no mercy now, ‘cause tonight they killed about 150 people with their fuckin’ bomb in Moscow and now more innocent blood is gonna be shed. ‘Cause the Russians think some of those separatist groups were responsible, and those assholes use women and children as their shields.

I guess this whole fuckin’ thing is some revenge scheme against Buffy for him. I’m gonna delight in endin’ him. I’m itchin’ for a sign that it’s go time. I can’t do it here with all the security, but it will be happenin’. Mark my words.

He checks his watch for the third time since we’ve been standin’ here.

“Have a hot date, Gerard?”

“Nope, not me. But a few others might have something ‘hot’ on their menu in a few minutes.” He winks at me and it makes my stomach churn.

I have a bad, bad feelin’ and it’s makin’ my skin crawl.

All of a sudden I see some movement out around the perimeter, me and B instinctively put our backs together, still tryin’ to look casual, but makin’ sure we’re scopin’ out every possible threat.

“I think it’s begun. I’ll take my leave of you. See you in New York.” He winks at me and then leaves in a hurry.

“What…” Buffy’s words are cut off by a collective gasp coming from one of the other rooms, and several people are takin’ out cellphones. Can’t be anything too bad or Dawnie and Xander woulda paged me.

I catch a few words. ‘Bomb.’ ‘Another one.’ ‘New York.’

No call from Dawn or Xander. Or Willow or Giles.

I look around and see horror etched on people’s faces.

FUCK NO!!!

I turn to someone who’s watchin’ the scene on their expensive phone. “What’s going on?”

“It’s the terrorists, they just hit New York, some school.”

Buffy looks like she’s gonna pass out. She drops her champagne and I go to her.

“C’mon, let’s start walkin’ out of here, ok, B?” I whisper.

“We…we have to find out…we…was it them?”

I already know, just by the silence of my phone. It was them and I’ve gotta keep focused or I’m gonna kill everyone in this fuckin’ room.

Gotta get back to the apartment in North West. I wonder if it’s even safe. But I’ve got my emergency shit there and we need it now. Can’t lose the plot here.

Even though it’s makin’ me wanna lose my lunch.

We make it back to the apartment after about an hour. Security was pretty tight and they were even checkin’ people on their way out of the fuckin’ buildin’. What kinda sense does that make?

As soon as we’re in the place, B turns on the TV, they’ve got cameras trained on the area that was affected by the bomb. I tried callin’ everyone I knew, but all their phones just went to voicemail. So I stopped, after about the fifth person, ‘cause it was upsettin’ Buffy really bad.

Buffy’s just standin’ in front of the TV now, sorta swayin’, then just falls to her knees.

What do I do?

What can I do?

I go to her and just stand behind her, watchin’ what’s left of the buildin’ sorta crumble, most of the upper floors that held the dorms are gone. And that’s when it becomes real to me. I turn on my heel and run to the kitchen sink to get sick. Didn’t have time to try and find the bathroom.

Even after everything is gone from my stomach I still dry heave violently for a bit. It’s like my body’s tryin’ to purge all the badness from it. ‘Cause I’ve been havin’ some fuckin’ bad thoughts ever since we heard what happened.

I can hear B callin’ my name, but it sounds far away, my heart beat is the most prominent thing right now and not until I feel her hand on my back do I realize she’s right behind me. But I’m no longer in the kitchen, I’m in the bedroom gettin’ out of this tux and tryin’ to find something more comfortable. I have the presence of mind to know we still have to be in our glamours, ‘cause we have to meet up with these assholes in New York. We’ve got reservations for the Plaza Hotel.

Buffy’s tryin’ to get me to stop from leavin’ the apartment, she’s shoutin’ at me and I wanna fuckin’ punch her because her voice is not hers and with the way I’ve been thinkin’ right now, anything and everything is annoyin’ me.

“WHAT?!” I turn around to her and she flinches.

She points down to my hand, her face is a mask of tears, I look to the floor and all I see is blood poolin’ where I’m standin’.

What the fuck?!

I pick up my hand and notice glass imbedded into the palm. She takes the hand in hers, it’s a big meaty hand, I don’t like it. I don’t like this. I wanna just stop this bullshit trainwreck of a way of life and get off at the nearest station.

Buffy pulls me over to the sink and I notice she’s taken off her glamour, it’s like I haven’t seen her in weeks and I try to pull her up to me for a kiss, but she pushes me back. She’s still tryin’ to see to the glass in my palm, but I don’t fuckin’ care about that right now, I wanna kiss her.

“No, Faith! I think you might have hit an artery, let me see!”

Is there an artery in my hand? Who the fuck cares? Chop the shit off. It doesn’t matter.

Nothin’ matters.

About a minute later I hear other people comin’ into the apartment, and then I look down and I have a bandage on my hand and I’m sittin’ on the couch.

When did that happen?

I can hear people talkin’ about me.

“It’s like she’s not even there. I talk to her and nothing.” B says all upset.

Nothin’.

Heh. Always comes back to nothin’.

Can’t have nothin’, cause even when I have somethin’ it turns to nothin’.

“Faith, can you hear me?”

I see someone bendin’ down to me, it’s Karen one of Rona’s lieutenants. I nod at her.

“Ok, good. We patched up your hand and gave you a shot of pain killer for it, you had squeezed the glass so hard you imbedded the shards into your palm. We’re hoping that there won’t be any nerve damage.”

I shrug.

“Buffy’s laying down for a bit, she had passed out from the stress.”

That gets my attention. I stand up and Karen backs away.

After I gently push open what I guess is the door to the master bedroom, B’s layin’ on her back, she’s got the belly glamour off, and I can see her stomach has gotten bigger even since yesterday. She turns her head to me and watches me just stand there watchin’ her.

“Faith?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you take the glamour off?” She sounds weak and tired.

Fuck, I didn’t even know I still had it on, can’t even hear my own voice. Just the blood poundin’ in my ears.

I say the words Will gave me to use…Will.

I fall to my knees and B sits up on the bed and tries to come over to me, but it must hurt her because she clutches at her stomach and then lies back down.

The doc that patched my hand up and Karen come rushin’ in. I musta called them, and I’m no longer on my knees, I’m standin’ at the other side of the bed, watchin’ as they check Buffy’s pulse.

The four words I hear next have me pickin’ the doc up and shovin’ her to the wall in the hallway, the others that came with her are tryin’ to get me offa her, but I don’t like the fuckin’ things she says, so I wanna make her understand that.

She had said, “She could lose it.”

And no, she ain’t fuckin’ losin’ NOTHIN’. NOTHIN’!!

“I know, Faith, I know. We’re making sure that doesn’t happen, now let the doctor go, she’s on your side!!”

I loosen my grip, thank God I didn’t have her around the throat, just the lapels of her jacket. She was also at the fundraiser in a glamour, so she’s got a tux on too. I dunno why but it’s funny to me and I laugh.

They all look like I’ve gone completely nuts.

I should take Dawn’s advice and talk to someone, because this is the blackest fuckin’ mood I’ve been in a long time.

Heh. Dawn.

And Xander.

And Willow.

And Giles.

And Francie.

And Andrew.

And Kennedy.

“You better see to Buffy, make sure she doesn’t lose nothin’! Not even a fuckin’ nail, you got me?!”

“Where are you going?!”

“I’ve gotta see someone in New York.”

“Faith, wait!” It’s Buffy, I just can’t leave her like this. “You can’t just leave like this!”

Damn, we do think alike.

I soften my attitude and go back in to her. I really hope we don’t have to fight this out.

“I know what needs to be done, Faith, and I know I can’t do it. And I feel so helpless…” She starts cryin’ and I lay beside her on the bed, gatherin’ her in my arms.

“I’m right there with ya, baby. I can’t even think about it, ‘cause if I do, I’ll just…”

“I know.”

“Think positive, ok? We don’t know what’s up, but I promise I’ll find out everything I can.”

“I don’t want you to go!”

Oh shit, here we go.

“But…I know…you can’t stay here. I want you to find whoever’s behind this, and…do what you need to…for me.”

I remember my thoughts from Scotland, when I wanted to end myself because I thought she’d never love me.

“Only you, B. Only ever for you.”

“You be careful, Faith, I want you back, unharmed. You got that?!” Shit she sounds like me, heh.

“Yes, ma’am.” We kiss passionately for a few moments.

“Don’t worry about me and junior, we’ll be ok. We’ll put the contingency plan in place.” B says in a confident whisper.

“I love you, and I’ll never leave.” I say as I’m walkin’ out the door.

I don’t even look back, ‘cause I’d never get out the door, and my mission is not complete.

“Faith, I just got your voicemail. What do you need and when?”

“Where are you?”

“Just outside of Moscow.”

“I need you to get the wicca to teleport you to the meeting spot. Can you do it?”

“Yes, just need to go over the protocol with my lieutenants and then I’m out. Whatever you need you got it.”

“Satsu, I’m gonna need three of the best undercover we got, can you make that happen?”

“Absolutely, give me fifteen minutes, I’ll meet you at the place with them.”

“Good. See you there.”

“You bet.”

Over and out.

And now it’s our turn.

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