I'll Stand By You: Part Ten
by Alex Queirolo
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except for Kersey and a few other little add-ons. Buffy and Co. belong to Joss Whedon, the WB network, and Mutant Enemy.
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Part Ten
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Xander glared up at Angel from the couch, "What do you plan to do?" There was a trace of anger in his voice. Willow almost instinctively placed a restraining hand against his chest.
"You don't believe me," Angel growled.
"Sorry..you'll have to forgive me but you're accusing my cousin of.. what are you accusing Shawn of?"
"I don't know, Xander. Maybe nothing but I'm telling you..something is not right with him..I can feel it..he's not completely on the up and up."
Willow lifted her hand up and placed it on Xanders' shoulder,"We need to be careful, Xander..we've seen it before..people using Buffy for their own means..you remember Ford?"
Slowly, reluctantly, Xander nodded. "Alright..so what are you planning to do? Somehow I'm thinking walking up to him and saying, 'Hey, are you trying to hurt Buffy' ain't gonna do much.."
"I don't know yet. But Xander, if he is everything he says he is.. then no foul but if he's not.."
Xander blew out air between his teeth,"Whatever." He looked away from Angel and towards Willow. She gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Um, right..there's one other thing we need to be concerned with.." Giles said, sitting down on the edge of the couch.
"What's that?" Xander asked.
"We need to get Buffy sedated. I believe she's consious again..I can hear her moving about."
"I'll do it," Willow offered.
"No," Angel said quickly, "Let me...she can't hurt me." He looked at Willow for a long moment and then she nodded.
"Okay," she whispered, "But be careful."
* * *
The pain was intense..a searing flash that seemed to travel through her body almost vindictively. It robbed her of what little strength she still had and left her vunerable to that which she could not see. But it was worse than that. There were the voices to contend with also. It'd always been a joke before; the little men in her head, telling her what to do. Elvis talking to her. That was all different now; there really were little voices in her head and they weren't having a nice conversation..they were having a fight.
She felt cool hands touch her skin and one of the voices whispered softly, "Angel." Almost immediately another one screamed, "Enemy." She whimpered and tried to push the hands away but he grasped one of hers and held it tightly. He said something to her but all she heard was incoherent rambling. Again he spoke; this time she caught her name in his words. "Buffy?" She said, her tone low and shaky.
She felt his lips glide over the skin of her face, soft as a flower petal. "He's going to hurt you. He wants to make you one of them." One of the voices said. There were three or four of them but this one she knew as the suspicious one. A psychologist would have identified him as the Protector entity.
Using all of her strength which was barely any at all, she tried to shove him away, "No!" she screamed.
Angel looked down at her; small and trembling..frightened and alone. Not to mention mentally confused. Her inner mental war played out on her face like a movie..the emotions changing her expressions rapidly. From fear to trust and almost instantly back to terror. A lone tear splashed it's way down her ashy cheeks. Reaching out, he caught it with his finger.
She felt his hand graze her cheek and lift the wetness away and for a moment, peace settled over her. She started to lift her hand to cover his; to pull him close to her in order to feel safer but the Protector gave her a mental slap. "Are you crazy, Slayer? Do you want to die? He wants you to."
Anger filled her sightless eyes and hardened them into cold blue stones. Angel found it ironic that even blind, her eyes could still tell a story. A moment later, he discovered that her fist could also.
Angel staggered backwards, more stunned than her. She lacked the strength to have a foreceful physical impact but her actions said plenty. She didn't trust him. A flash of sadness wound it's way through him but he quickly pushed it down.
"She's not herself." Willow said from the doorway. She entered cautiously, her half-folded hand outstretched towards him. "The sedatives. That is, you forgot them."
"Willow, run!" Buffy screamed from the bed."He'll kill you!"
Willow looked at Angel who was wearing a matching expression of despair. It was in that moment that she had realized that they really had lost control of Buffy. Sedation would keep her unconsious but it wouldn't cure the mental demons that were very quickly driving her insane.
"Buffy, no one is going to hurt you.."Willow said, touching her hand. She handed Angel the pills. "Why don't you let me get you some tea.. it'll calm you down."
"Tea?" Buffy asked, doubt slipping into her voice. "But..the vampire.."
"You're alright," Willow said quickly. "Let me get you the tea." She nodded Angel towards the desk at the entrance of the room where a cup of simmering tea sat. He lifted his eyebrow so she mouthed, "Giles made it." Slowly he dropped the pills in and began to stir it as they dissipated into the liquid.
Buffy could hear her friends' voice. It sounded so calm and reasonable and she was tempted to allow it to guide her but the Protector told her it was all a lie. "That's not Willow. That's one of them. She killed Willow." Buffy shook her head..why would they do that? "They're trying to break you. They want to destroy you before they kill you. Before they make you one of them."
A tremor ripped through her."Stay away from me," Buffy said softly. "Please.."
"We're not leaving you, Buffy." Angel promised. He took her hand and held it tightly. "Come on, focus on me. Focus..I know you're confused and scared but you've got to believe me. We're your friends."
"Friends," she repeated, her very words saying just how confused she was. She didn't know anything for sure. One moment she was certain that these were her comrades but merely a moment later, she believed just as firmly that these people wanted to hurt her.
Angel handed Willow the cup and stepped over to Buffy. "Friends." He said. Very gently, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. He knew the feel of her lips and the heat of her kiss. He could only hope that she did also.
Buffy gasped and her breath caught in her throat. "Angel?' She stammered."It's..you?"
"Yeah." He said softly. "It's me. Howabout I sit with you for awhile, okay?"
Buffy nodded slowly,"Okay."
Willow gave him a small smile and then excused herself and beat a hasty retreat. Angel watched until the door shut and then he turned his attention back to Buffy. Lifting the cup of tea, he brought it to her lips and very softly instructed her to drink it.
* * *
Joyce Summers couldn't shake it. It was like a hard steel hand gripping her heart and the only thing it was letting escape through it's fingers was fear. Total and absoloute. Something was wrong with Buffy. She could feel it. It was more than the dreams which continued to plague her back to back whenever she closed her eyes. She supposed it had something to do with maternal instinct.
Buffy was her baby. Her only child. Her birth had been difficult and long but it had bonded them; mother and daughter. And she's always known when Buffy had been in pain. When she'd been young, she'd broken her leg falling off a slide while at the park with friends and Joyce had known without being called. There had been other times during Buffy's youth in which she's been injured and in every case, Joyce had always known.
Things had changed over the last year though. Ever since just before the incident at Hemry High, Buffy had been different. The weird sensations that told her that not all was well with Buffy had been occuring often but they too were different. They always disappeared quickly as if to suggest that the pain Buffy felt was fleeting. All but once. The night of the Prom had dealt Joyce a savage blow..she'd felt like she'd been punched. And then when Buffy had shown up later that night, seemingly fine but acting completely out of sorts, well that too had concerned her deeply.
But this..this was more. Buffy was in very serious danger and it wasn't getting better. She was hurt and she needed help.
"Oh baby, how can I do that when I don't know where you are?" Joyce murmured, picking up a tea cup with a trembling hand.
And then, without warning, her hand wrenched open and the tea-cup crashed to the floor, shattering upon impact and spilling lightly colored liquid across the floor. Joyce just stared in disbelief as three hundred miles away, another tea-cup hit the ground.
* * *
Giles tore into the room followed closely by the others. What they saw was Angel staring at the floor where a cup lay broken. Next to him was a softly crying Slayer.
"What happened?" Giles asked hurriedly as Xander and Willow hurried to try to offer Buffy comfort.
"She was drinking from the cup and she had a seizure." Angel murmured, obviously distracted. His eyes never left the cup.
Calendar waved a hand in front of him,"Angel?"
"What?Huh..I'm sorry..it was odd..she was calm, drinking from it and then she just shook, I tried to hold her but I couldn't..it was like she was in this..I don't know..shield..and then the cup fell and...so did the shield..I know it makes no sense.."Angel stammmered out.
"It's like the one from my dream." Xander offered.
Giles nodded thoughtfully,"It's the Slayers' psychic self manifesting itself. For a moment it created a shield to protect itself while it.. well..communicated."
"With what..I mean who?" Willow asked.
Giles shook his head,"I don't know but I would guess that it scared her. With her as she is, I don't think it would take much at all to frighten her. Right now, she's tapped completely into her psychic energy and she's using that to keep herself from having a complete break-down."
"And that would be..what? I mean she already attacked me with a knife," Xander said, his arms still wrapped tightly around Buffy.
"I don't know, Xander. God help us, I hope we never find out."
* * *
Xander wrapped his arms tightly around his chest and shivered, "It's getting cold." He looked up at the others and saw them nodding their agreement; it was getting downright chilly. And to make matters that much worse, the heater was fritzing out. Oh yeah and Buffy wasn't responding to the sedatives. On the up-side of the proverbial coin, she seemed to be calmer and at least somewhat lucid.
Angel entered the living room carrying Buffy in his arms, her head rested fully against his chest. She looked so fragile and small. He brought her over to the couch and laid her down on it. Willow gave him a blanket and he put it over the Slayer. "She didn't want to be alone," Angel murmured by way of explanation.
"No, I'd imagine not." Giles replied, moving quickly to Buffy's side. Unable to do anything more constructive than worry about his young charge, he placed his hand over her brow. "Her fever is still quite high."
"Shawn said..."
Angel couldn't stop himself from snorting," Kersey is a fake."
Xander turned on him,"You keep saying that. You have proof to back it up..right?"
Angel shook his head. "Just my gut." He kneeled down next to Buffy and brushed a hand across her cheek. Holding it there, he whispered, "I'm going to get to the bottom of this..I promise."
She murmured his name and then tried to curl herself into a ball. Calendar slipped a hand against Buffy's chest to keep her straight, worried that the curling action could hurt the girl. Buffy groaned and tried to push the hand away but she lacked the strength.
Angel kissed her lightly on the cheek."I'm going out for awhile."
Xander shook his head,"You know man, Buffy's hurting and as much as I hate to say it, she could really use you here right now and what are you doing..going off half-cocked.."
"Dammit, Xander..this has nothing to do with you or me or anything else besides Buffy. I don't trust him..I can feel it with every fiber of who I am. He's not right." Angel growled. Xander took a step forward, defiance written on his face.
"Fine, then take me with you."
"What?"
"You want to know the truth? Well so do I? If Shawn does want to hurt Buffy..I want to know. And if you're wrong..I want to know that too."
Angel looked like he was about to tell the kid to get lost but he finally relented. "Fine. Come with me. Come and be damned."
"Shame, shame, Angel..that wasn't even an original line..you got that one from.."
"Don't push your luck, Xander."
* * *
Shawn Kersey placed his cell-phone to his ear. "Hey man, what up? Yeah..good news..Angel has left. With Xander too. Now's perfect. Bag the two of them and we'll move in on the Slayer. Yeah, boss-man..my thoughts too. Let's rock and roll."
TO BE CONTINUED..
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