Seas Between Us (Broad Have Roared) by Enigmaticblue

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 :: 11 ::

Chapters 15 & 16

Chapter 15: Storms

"...Sleep with one ear close to the ground/and wake up screaming/When we lay our cold weapons down/we'll wake up dreaming/Obsessions with self-preservation/faded when I threw my fear away/It's not a thing you can imagine/You either lose your fear/or spend your life with one foot in the grave/Is God the last romantic?..." ~Over the Rhine, "Spark"

Wesley and Spike were going over the week's schedule, determining who would be taking care of what. Normally, the women were there to offer their opinions, but they had all gone out on a shopping expedition with Dawn. The girl was leaving in a couple of days, and Buffy had wanted to make the most of their time together.

"Hello?"

The tentative call had them both looking up. "Can we help you?" Wesley asked, straightening.

The young man standing in the lobby was looking at them nervously. "I hope so."

Spike frowned. There was something about the boy that was off. He could smell the grief and fear on him. "Why don't you have a seat, lad?" he suggested, waving a hand towards the empty office.

The boy moved forward as though in a daze. "I, uh, something happened. Something bad, and I don't know how to fix it."

"Sit." Wesley echoed Spike's order. "Can we get you something to drink? Or eat?"

He shook his head. "No, it's—" Connor glanced from one to the other. "You believe in demons, right? And vampires and stuff?"

Spike and Wesley exchanged a look. "I am a vampire," Spike said, completely deadpan.

"That's good." He looked completely lost. "Because I think there are demons after me."

Connor was stumbling over his words as he introduced himself and explained what had happened. His parents had taken him to Wolfram and Hart, ostensibly to set up a trust fund, but really because he'd been run over by a van and had emerged completely unscathed. The CEO had refused to help them, and they had left to go to dinner when they were attacked in the parking lot of the restaurant.

Both Spike and Wesley suddenly wished that they weren't the only ones in the hotel, since the poor kid really looked like he could use some mothering. "They—they just came out of nowhere. I don't even know what they were. They tried—" He held out one arm in explanation, and they could see a nasty gash running down the underside of his forearm.

"What happened next?" Wesley asked quietly, passing him a glass of water.

Connor shook his head. "I tried—there were too many of them, and my folks..."

Spike didn't like where this was going. "Where are your parents now?"

The boy shook his head. "They're both in the hospital, in the ICU. The doctors said—they don't know if—" Connor took a deep breath and looked up at them. "I think it has something to do with me. I think something is after me."

Wesley kept his voice as gentle as possible. "That may be so, but what happened was not your fault. I promise we'll do everything we can to discover who is behind this."

"You got a place to stay?" Spike asked

Connor shrugged. "I've been staying mostly at the hospital. I'm supposed to be going back to school soon, but my—my professors have been really understanding about—everything."

Wesley nodded, saying firmly, "We'll be making your case our top priority. If you need a place to stay, you're more than welcome to stay here. We've plenty of room."

"I can't pay you," Connor said. "Not until—I mean, my parents—"

"Forget it," Spike said gruffly. He couldn't explain to the boy that he was family. It wasn't like Connor would believe him anyway. "This is what we do. You'd be amazed how rarely we do get paid for it."

Connor stood. "I should get back to the hospital. I need to—"

"Of course you do," Wesley replied, getting to his feet. "We'll begin work on your problem. If you would like to come back here tonight..." He trailed off, leaving the invitation open.

Connor nodded slowly. "Yeah, sure. And, thanks."

They watched him go. "If I hadn't known, I'm not sure I would have seen the resemblance," Wesley murmured.

Spike shook his head. "I could tell. He looks a bit like his mum too."

Wesley had forgotten that Spike had known Darla as well. "What do you think we should do?"

"I think we need to figure out how to give the kid his memories back," Spike replied quietly. "From what Cordelia told us, he was as good a fighter as Angel, if not better. If he'd known how to fight, those demons never would have gotten past his guard."

Wesley wasn't sure he liked that solution much. "What about his parents? If we give Connor back his memories, but not his parents—"

"Kid's in college now, isn't he?" Spike asked. "I don't see how it'll matter. He has his own life. We wouldn't have to break the spell or whatever with anyone but him."

"No." Wesley was surprisingly adamant. "If we break the spell, it's going to be all or nothing, Spike. I want—"

"The memories are yours," Spike agreed. "You got a right to them."

"I think I know of something that will break the spell, but—"

"Until then the kid is going to need protection," Spike finished for him. "And I'm the muscle."

"You're more than muscle, Spike," Wesley replied with a wry smile. "But I think you and Buffy will be needed."

~~~~~

Buffy felt Cordelia tense up next to her as the young man hurried past them. Dawn was watching him go by as well, but the Slayer was fairly certain that their reasons were completely different.

"What is it?" Buffy asked, as they walked up to the front doors of the hotel.

Cordelia looked over her shoulder at the boy's rapidly diminishing form. "That was Connor."

"Who's Connor?" Dawn asked, definitely intrigued by what she'd seen.

"Angel's son," Cordelia mumbled, pushing through the front doors. "Wes! Was that— "

"That was Connor, and he came to request our help," Wesley said, answering her unfinished question. "It appears that there may be something after him."

"We should call Angel." Cordelia was reaching for the phone when Wesley's hand came down gently over hers.

"Cordy, Angel already knows. He sent Connor away." Still holding her hand, he tugged her towards the office. "Why don't you let me explain?"

Knowing when a discussion needed to be private, the others stayed in the lobby. "Connor was here?" Fred asked. Like Wesley, she wasn't nearly as upset about Connor's appearance, since she had no memory of him. Buffy and Dawn were also rather detached from the situation.

Spike shrugged. "Seems the kid and his parents were attacked the other night. Angel wouldn't help them, so he thought we might."

"Angel wouldn't help his own son?" Fred echoed. "But that was the whole reason he's at Wolfram and Hart!"

"He might have thought it was safer for him not to be involved," Buffy pointed out. "If Angel was willing to give Connor up for his own good, he might have thought it would be better if he stayed gone."

Dawn was still confused. "Wait. Angel has a kid? Why didn't I know about this?"

Spike shrugged. "We just found out a little while ago ourselves, Bit, and it didn't seem important enough to mention."

"Until now," Fred inserted wryly. "What are we going to do?"

"The Slayer and I are going to make sure no more nasties get to Connor, while the Watcher cooks up something to give all of you your memories back, including Connor." Spike shook his head, pitying the boy. "If he remembers how to fight, he can protect himself."

Fred got an alarmed expression on her face. "But won't that be bad? I thought Cordy said Connor went a little crazy?"

"Spike and I should be able to control him between the two of us," Buffy replied, sighing. She could tell by the expression on Spike's face that the idea of inflicting more damage on Connor wasn't at all appealing. It seemed like this was their only course of action, though. As Spike had been known to point out, magic had consequences. It looked like they were running into one of them.

Dawn was still frowning. "Okay, I'm still lost. Angel has a kid, but he doesn't remember who he is? What's wrong with this picture?"

~~~~~

"No, Wesley, this is insane."

"We've talked about this," Wesley replied. "You remember everything, Cordelia. The rest of us do not, and I—I need to know."

Cordelia didn't bother trying to argue with him. She'd seen Wesley like this on a few occasions in the past, and when he got stubborn, he would not be budged. "What's the plan?"

"There's a spell," Wesley said slowly. "It can disrupt the memory spell that was placed on all of us, including Connor."

Cordelia shook her head. "Are you going to tell Connor about this before you use him as your guinea pig?"

"I don't know that I can do the spell," Wesley admitted. "It requires some power, as the warlock who performed the memory spell is extremely powerful. As he was bound by contract to complete the spell, I doubt he would willingly undo it."

"Not to mention the fact that a powerful warlock working for Wolfram and Hart is probably on the side of evil," Cordelia said wryly. "Then how are you going to get it done?"

Wesley sighed. "That's where Buffy comes in."

"You're going to ask for Willow 's help."

"I think it's necessary." Wesley grimaced. "Although she may not agree."

"Who may not agree?" Buffy asked from the doorway.

Wesley glanced up at her. " Willow . We need her help when we remove the memory spell."

Buffy shrugged. " Willow 's usually up for beating up on nasty old magicians. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'll call her tonight."

"Are you heading out?" Wesley asked, catching the look of anticipation on her face.

"Spike and I are going to go keep an eye on Connor," she replied. "Unless you've got something else you'd rather us be doing."

Wesley shook his head. "Connor is our top priority at the moment, so no."

"We'll see you later, then."

Buffy turned and left the office, and Wesley met Cordelia's eyes. "Are you in?"

"We're a team, Wes. Of course I'm in." Cordy shook her head. "It never gets any easier, does it?" It was a rhetorical question, and so Wesley maintained his silence. "You're right, though. This was the deal that Angel made that got him into Wolfram and Hart in the first place. If we can help Connor, maybe Angel will be more willing to leave."

Wesley didn't have the heart to tell her that he thought that Angel was beyond their help at this point. According to Cordelia's memories, he owed Connor for what he'd done, for the mistakes he'd made. Perhaps Wesley owed Angel as well, but there hadn't been a chance to repay the vampire as of yet.

Maybe there never would be, but Wesley wouldn't allow that to stop him from trying.

~~~~~

"This isn't familiar," Buffy muttered. They had taken the sewers to get to the hospital where Connor's parents were receiving treatment. Neither of them knew Connor well, and so they were both unsure of whether or not they ought to approach him as he stood vigil.

Spike gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. They were still discussing whether or not to go in. "I imagine being here brings back bad memories."

"You can say that again." Buffy glanced over his shoulder, looking for her sister. "Why isn't Dawn back yet?"

"Probably because we both gave her enough money to clear out the vending machines," Spike replied with a smirk. "It'll be fine."

Dawn popped up behind them. "I think you guys should let me handle this."

They hadn't planned on bringing the younger Summers with them, but since Dawn was going to be leaving soon, she hadn't wanted to miss out on the excitement.

"And just how are you planning on 'handling this,' Bit?" Spike asked with some amusement.

Dawn just batted her eyelashes at him. "Watch a master at work." She strolled up to where Connor was sitting slumped in one of the plastic chairs in the ICU waiting room and plopped herself next to him.

Connor spared her a glance, but no more.

"I'm Dawn Summers."

That piece of cheek got her a startled glance. Connor was surprised enough to return the favor. "Connor Reilly. Do I know you?"

"My sister works at the detective agency you were at today. She's around here somewhere with Spike, trying to protect you." Dawn gave him a smile, suitably subdued in response to the circumstances.

"What are you doing here?"

Since he sounded more bewildered than antagonistic, Dawn answered him honestly. "I'm supposed to go back to school soon, and I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible."

"You're in college?" Connor seemed to perk up a little at that.

Dawn made a face. "Not yet. Next year is my last year of high school."

"Oh." Connor thought she looked older. "Do you know about—" He motioned the the doors of the ICU.

Dawn nodded. "Yeah. I'm really sorry. My mom was in the hospital for a while, and it really wasn't much fun."

"No, not really," Connor agreed.

Dawn touched his arm winningly. "So are you coming back to the hotel with us tonight? It really is a pretty cool place."

"Maybe. I guess." He was still trying to appear nonchalant, but it was because he wanted to obscure his nervousness around Dawn. Connor still wasn't quite as smooth with the ladies as he might wish. "Are you staying there?"

Buffy, watching from just around the doorway, grinned when she heard his question. "Hook, line, and sinker," she murmured.

Spike was shaking his head. "That little heartbreaker. I guess our night just got a whole lot easier."

"Don't say things like that!" Buffy hissed in alarm. "You'll jinx us."

Spike grinned, raising an eyebrow. "I mean our sleeping arrangements. Have you ever tried to sleep on these chairs? Damn near impossible."

"I know someone else who's impossible," Buffy snorted in reply, but she didn't try to remove his arm when Spike slipped it over her shoulders. "That poor kid."

"No kidding. Hard to believe I'm related to him, yeah?"

Buffy started to shake her head until she realized that Spike was right. They were related in a very odd sort of way. "I know," she replied. "He's a lot prettier than you are." She walked out into the waiting room, leaving Spike behind.

Spike was already planning how he was going to get even with her for that comment.

Chapter 16: The Persistence of Memory

"My memory will not fail me now ./ Mmm, firefly in the night sky/only lights on the rise/and I need you so, firefly./One satellite with a lazy eye/caught my by surprise/with an ache in my belly/and a taste in my mouth for fire...After the killing frost/where do you go/Firefly?/ My memory will not fail me now/and the rest is history." ~Over the Rhine , "Firefly"

Fred stood in the doorway and watched Wesley as he checked one book against another, his slim fingers sliding across the pages. He quickly made a notation in his notebook, and then went back to the text again.

It was such a familiar sight. Fred wondered how on earth he could look so sexy researching when she'd witnessed the exact same thing before without the accompanying fire in her belly.

They had made some headway in their relationship over the last few weeks. There had been long, slow kisses and casual hand-holding. Arms around shoulders and wandering hands as they relaxed after a case. There was an intimacy there that had not been present before, and for that, Fred was grateful.

Her parents had called just last week, letting her know that they would soon be stopping through on their way to Hawaii . She'd already told them about leaving the law firm, and they had simply said, "Well, you know what you need, Fred. Just let us know if we can help out at all."

During the course of this parental phone call, her mom had asked, "So have you met any nice young men yet?"

Fred's automatic, "Mom!" and her father's remonstrance to let her be, couldn't drown out Trish's, "Well, a mother likes to know these things. Fancy jobs don't replace a warm body in your bed."

Roger's voice cut over hers. He was obviously ill-prepared to think about his baby in bed with anyone other than Mr. Fiegenbaum. "Now, Trish, Fred's smart enough to run her own life."

"I'm dating someone," Fred had blurted out, wanting to tell them. In fact, she'd had the crazy urge to call her parents immediately after she and Wesley had started to get serious, knowing that they would see it as good news.

"Who?" Roger asked, a thread of suspicion in his tone.

"Wesley."

The quiet admission was met with vigorous approval from both parents, with a couple comments from Trish on the attractiveness of her choice. "And that accent," she'd added admiringly.

Remembering the conversation, Fred had to stifle a giggle. She wondered what Wesley would say when he discovered that her parents knew they were dating, and that they were planning on stopping through soon. She knew that Wes liked her folks, and vice versa, so she didn't think there would be any problems.

That was just it, though. There weren't any problems, but there seemed to be a definite sense of space that Wesley maintained between them. Fred was half-afraid that Wesley would view her parents' knowledge as overstepping some invisible boundary. Maybe if she knew why he was keeping her at arm's length, Fred could reassure him.

Because there was one thing she knew for sure—she wanted Wesley. She wanted this relationship to have a fighting chance.

Fred would fight to keep him.

She stepped through the office door, maintaining her silence until Wesley looked up. "Connor just arrived. Spike and Buffy are with him."

"How is he?"

"I think he's okay," Fred replied. "He's had a pretty big shock, and the doctors still can't say if his parents will recover. Cordelia and Dawn are with him."

The same odd emotion flitted through Wesley's eyes that always appeared when parents were mentioned. "Is she planning on saying anything?"

Fred took a seat across from him. "No. She's going to wait for you to do the spell."

"Good."

When he appeared to be going straight back to his research, Fred interrupted him. "Wes?"

"Yes?"

"Is anything wrong?"

Wesley leaned back in his chair so he could view her better. "What are you talking about?"

She sighed. This was going to be more difficult than she'd anticipated. "Is anything wrong? With us. You just seem..." Fred trailed off, unsure of how to put Wesley's apparent distance into words without causing offense.

"No," he was quick to say, then seemed to think better of it. After his conversation with Buffy the previous week, Wesley had thought this might come up. "I need my memories, Fred. I need to know—"

"If it changes anything?" she supplied. Fred's face took on a look of determination that he rarely saw outside of her work. It was fixed on him. "It won't."

"It might," he argued. "You don't know how you'll feel about me afterwards. What if this—between us—is a product of this memory erasure Angel performed?"

Fred stared at him. "How long have you loved me?"

"Fred—"

"How long?"

"For years," Wesley admitted quietly, knowing that she wasn't going to let him off the hook.

Fred nodded, satisfied. "Then you're not worried about your feelings changing. You're worried about mine."

Wesley hesitated, then had to nod in admission.

She stood and walked around the desk, bending to kiss him. "I like you," Fred said bluntly. "More than like. And I know what you did, and I know who you are, so I don't see how actually having the memories are going to change anything."

"You don't know that they won't," he argued.

"And you don't know that they will." Fred sighed. "Trust me, Wes. I'm not going anywhere."

They might have continued the discussion, but there was a loud shriek from upstairs, and then they both heard Spike laughing. Hurrying out of the office to find out what the commotion was, they saw a blur that was Spike heading for the courtyard.

"Spike!" Buffy stood on the landing, wrapped only in a towel, obviously having been unceremoniously routed from the shower. "Spike! Get back here right now!"

Fred could still hear the vampire's laughter. "Is everything okay, Buffy?"

"That—that bastard poured a whole bucket of ice on me!" she spat out. "While I was in the shower!" She raised her voice so that it was certain to carry outside. "When I get my hands on you, you're going to beg for mercy!"

Then, as though she had just realized her state of undress, she let out a rather undignified squeak and dashed back up the stairs. Wesley, ever the gentleman, averted his eyes. The towel was rather short.

Cordelia, Connor, and Dawn came down a few moments later. "What was that all about?"

Wesley started to snicker. "It seems Spike dumped a bucket of ice on Buffy while she was showering."

Dawn grinned. "Did he? That's awesome!" She grinned at Spike who came swaggering through the doors of the courtyard now that Buffy was gone.

"Had to pay her back for that remark she made earlier," he said.

Cordy frowned. "What remark?"

"That's between me an' the Slayer," Spike replied, sprawling across the lobby couch.

Dawn sniggered. "She's going to make you pay for that, you know."

Spike shrugged. "It was worth it. Did you see the look on her face?" He grinned broadly. "Bloody priceless."

Wesley shook his head, heading back to his research. He could just hear Connor ask, "Is it like this all the time here?"

~~~~~

Spike entered the room he shared with Buffy warily. At this point, he was fairly certain she wouldn't have a stake waiting for him, but it was hard to say. She'd been pretty pissed off about that shower stunt.

Still, he wouldn't have done it any differently. Although Spike might not be evil any longer, he had a mischievous streak a mile wide, and Angel wasn't around to torment these days.

He was halfway into the room when Buffy pounced on him, sending them both flying onto the bed. She had his hands pinned above his head in a flash, her eyes glaring daggers at him. "What was that for?"

"You said Angel's kid was prettier," Spike said, his face not losing the smug smile he'd been wearing since she'd sent him running down the stairs.

Buffy tried to maintain the angry-face, but it was difficult. Spike was just so damn sexy when he was smug, and if it had been anyone else, she'd have been laughing too.

It wasn't anyone else, though, and there was no way she could let him get away with pulling a prank like that. Buffy would make him sleep in another room, but that would mean Spike wasn't in her bed, and she didn't like that idea at all. "What am I going to do with you?"

He cocked an eyebrow. "Dunno. You could let me go." His eyes darkened. "I could make it worth your while. Could make you scream."

It was tempting, but knowing that Spike would get just as much pleasure as she would didn't make it much of a punishment. Buffy smiled evilly. "No," she said simply. "I think I'm going to make you scream."

~~~~~

"So how are you?" Dawn asked, poking her head into the room Connor was using. Spike and Buffy had convinced him to come back to the hotel, telling him that he'd be safer there, and if something was after him, he would be leading it away from his parents.

Connor shrugged. "Okay, I guess." There was a roar, and his head shot up. "What was that?"

Dawn came inside the room and shut the door behind her. "Trust me. You don't want to know."

"Do they ever stop?" Connor asked, blinking.

"I don't know. I haven't been here that much since they got back together. My guess would be no, though." She sat next to him on the bed. "I'm really sorry about your parents."

He shrugged. "They're still hanging in there. I'm sure they'll be fine."

Dawn noticed that he sounded less than convinced. "I'm sure."

They stared at each other for a moment before another muffled shout penetrated the door. "Do you want to go downstairs?" Connor asked.

"That sounds like a really good idea."

~~~~~

"Buffy said that Willow would be here in the next couple of days," Wesley informed Cordelia and Fred. "She should be able to perform the spell shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, we just need to be sure that nothing happens to Connor."

"Shouldn't we tell Angel about this?" Fred asked. "Or Lorne or Gunn? It might be unsettling for them just to, you know, suddenly remember everything."

Cordy shook her head. "We aren't telling Angel. He would probably try to stop us, and that's no good. Lorne and Gunn should probably know, though." She looked at Wesley. "What about trying to find out what was after Connor in the first place?"

"I'm looking into it." He sighed. "It's most likely someone tied to Connor's past, and it's difficult to research that given the spell."

"So we wait until the spell is done, and then we figure out what's after Connor," Fred observed, looking out the office window where Dawn and Connor were hanging out. "At least he has some company."

"Indeed," Wesley murmured. "It's probably best to keep him out of the way as much as possible. I do not want to alarm him."

"Any more than he already is?" Cordy commented, a definite note of sarcasm in her voice.

There was a muffled shriek, and Wesley frowned. "What on earth is going on?" He watched as Fred and Cordelia looked at each other and then at him in perfect synchronization. "Oh. I see." The tips of his ears turned pink. "You know, I'm rather hungry. Perhaps we should go out and get something to eat."

"I could go for that," Cordelia replied. "Maybe we'd better take the impressionable kids with us."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Fred said, tucking her arm through Wesley's.

When twin shouts filtered downstairs, all of them hurried out the doors.

~~~~~

Buffy wasn't sure she'd ever had so much fun in her entire life. It definitely ranked right up there, at least.

In the past, sex had often been about domination, about losing herself in him, about forgetting. It had been focused on the pleasure that he could give her, and what she could take. On rare occasions, there had been an undercurrent of tenderness, but their coupling was more often brutal.

Recently, that had all changed. They could be tender with each other now—and other nights they could be rough, although Buffy didn't think they'd ever be cruel to one another again. She couldn't recall ever laughing this much during their love-making, however.

She was sprawled on top of him, Spike's hand rubbing circles on her back absently. They were both sticky, and Buffy was pleasantly out of breath. Spike was still breathing, even though he didn't need to. It had been fun—to torture each other, to see how close she could bring him to the edge without sending him over.

Buffy had a feeling that she'd surprised Spike just a bit with her creativity.

"I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard," she said, unwilling to move.

Spike smiled. "Yeah, it was—nice."

"It was a whole lot better than nice!" Buffy said defensively, raising her head so that she could meet his eyes.

His expression was a trifle awed and not a little adoring. "Couldn't think of a better word. My brain's not workin' real well at the moment."

She put her head back down. "It's too bad we couldn't have figured this out earlier, you know?"

"How do you mean?"

"I mean I wish I had known that it could be like this. I wish I had been brave enough to see the possibility."

There was a long pause, and Spike's hand tightened on her shoulder, nudging her off of him and onto her side so he could meet her eyes. "I don't."

Buffy's eyes widened. "You liked—"

"Not what I meant," he said very calmly. "'m just sayin' I like where we are right now."

She understood what he was saying. If things had been different, it might have been better. Then again, it might have been worse, and Spike liked their current situation. For that matter, so did she. "Yeah."

They lay quietly, simply enjoying being in the presence of the other. There was no hurry to move, no troubles to face that wouldn't wait until morning. Spike had nearly drifted off to sleep when he heard Buffy say, "You've spoiled me."

"What now?" he asked, rousing himself with some difficulty.

"You've spoiled me," she repeated. "You're the only guy I want to be with, Spike. There's nobody else like you."

Spike grinned at her, and he looked like a child for a moment. "You're only sayin' that because no one else would have the stones to drop a bucket of ice on you while you're in the shower."

Buffy smiled back. "Yeah. That too."

And they both slept like they hadn't a care in the world.

Submit a Review!