| Have a Little Faith, Chapter 28 |
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"Oh, god," Faith repeated about five times. She was doing her best not to shut down completely.
Buffy and Faith were in the back of Alex's car, while Alex drove frantically to the hospital. The others had taken Lindsey in Gunn's truck while Alex waited for Buffy and Faith to emerge from the warehouse. She had seen Angelus jump from the roof, but stayed in her car. She was scared to take him on especially since he had been able to take both Buffy and Faith.
"He wasn't hanging that long," Alex explained. "He was still breathing when we cut him down." She suddenly felt the differences in ages between her and the girls. Both of them looked like they were falling apart and that made them look very young.
"He can't die," she said. Buffy held her Faith who shook with fright. "Oh god, he can't. Please god, you can't take him from me."
Buffy knew Faith needed her now so she could not dwell on her feelings. It was extremely difficult for her to see Angelus, to see the man she still loved no matter what. Yes she could kill him again if she had to, but it did not make things less painful.
"He'll be okay," Alex assured her, but it was obviously that nothing she said would get through. "Just relax. Lindsey made it through all these months. He's a survivor."
Alex pulled up to the entrance of the emergency room and let Faith and Buffy out while she went to park the car. It was the same hospital Faith had been in after she fought the Scourge. She ran in, not caring if Buffy was behind her or not. She found Doyle, Wesley and Gunn sitting in the waiting room.
"Where is he?" she demanded. "Is he okay?"
Doyle held on to her, so she wouldn't run screaming around the hospital. "Easy girl. Now calm down."
Faith realized that Buffy was besides her. "Please-" she said, frantic. She pulled away from her. She did not seem to care that other people in the emergency room were staring at her. "I gotta know. Is he?"
"I need you to calm down first, love. You ain't going help him in a panic."
Faith tried to calm herself down.
"He's all right love," Doyle said, calmly. "He's with Cordelia up in ICU. He stopped breathing for a bit, just briefly and he lost a lot of blood, but they think he'll be okay. He's a very strong person."
"I need to see him, please let me see him," she said, near tears.
Doyle nodded. He touched Faith's hair. "But
you got to stay calm. He looks like he's in bad shape. You shouldn't be
upsetting him."
He looked about as bad as when she saw him
on the roof. He was in a neck brace and there was a bandage over his cheek.
He had
on an oxygen mask and a line in for fluids.
Some blood had stained the hospital gown around the wound he got in the
stomach.
There were bruises on his face and she could see some on his chest where the gown did not cover.
She rushed over to him. Cordelia was sitting besides him, holding his left hand. She looked at Faith. There was both happiness and fear in her glaze. Lindsey's condition had created the fear, but he was also free from the clutches of Angelus.
Faith rushed to his side. "Shortcake," she said, her voice a whisper. She had to suppress the tears. She needed to stay strong for him. He was the most important person right now.
Lindsey opened his eyes, looked at her and took her hand with his right one. He squeezed both Cordelia and Faith's hand tightly.
"I got your morals for you," she said. The tears about this close to coming out of her eyes, but she had to look happy for him.
"They said he was lucky," Cordelia commented, near tears. She must have gotten the same pep talk from Doyle. "A minute longer he could have died."
Lindsey did not say anything. He smiled,
then closed his eyes. Neither Faith nor Cordelia let go of his hand. Faith
looked down. The tears were beginning to flow. There was no way she could
stop them.
"What are you doing here?"
Wesley looked up from his worry. Staring intently at him was Kate Lockely. Doyle was sitting beside him. Buffy was between them.
Gunn had gone home, but promised to stay in touch.
Kate looked over the both of them, but did not say anything.
"Kate?" he did not remember calling her. Perhaps Alex had? "What are you doing here?"
"Is everything all right?" Kate asked, concerned, remembering the first time they had met. It had been in this very hospital when they were searching for Faith. "Is Faith all right? Why did you all look so glum?"
Wesley nodded. "She's fine-it's just that-" he paused. He was unsure how to tell her about Lindsey. "Why are you here?"
"Investigating a supposed mugging."
"Supposed mugging?" Wesley responded, confused.
"I am not really supposed to tell, but it was one of your Wolfram and Hart friends. Looks like one of their clients got out of hand," she said. She remembered Christmas Eve. She had warned Lindsey McDonald things would be getting worse.
Wesley looked down and frowned.
"What's wrong? You still haven't told me why you are here," she asked becoming more concerned. They were obviously holding something back from her. "What is it?"
"It's about Lindsey."
Kate looked at him strangely because Wesley called him by his first name.
"Lindsey McDonald? Did you see him?"
Wesley nodded. "I have to tell you something Kate. I think you need to sit down for it."
Kate sat down next to them.
"I can tell her, if you want," Doyle offered.
"It is about Lindsey-" Wesley said, ignoring Doyle. "About a year ago, he showed up in Sunnydale, searching for Buffy Summers. Buffy is a vampire slayer like Faith. This is Buffy by the way." Wesley said, nodding to the blond girl sitting next to Doyle.
"Hi," Buffy said and did not say anything else. She was too depressed over seeing Angelus and what had happened to Lindsey to say anything more. Wesley could handle it.
"We learned about Angelus because he told us. He came to warn her about him. Angelus had once been cursed with a soul. He started helping the forces of good-" Wesley paused, unsure how to sum up everything that happened. "In the grand scheme of things, we needed Angelus to be Angel again. Lindsey decided to continue working with Wolfram and Hart and has been working undercover ever since. He's been warning us about Angelus all this time."
"What?" Kate asked, in shock. She stood up, unsure what she heard was actually true.
"It's true, darling," Doyle said. "Why do you think Angelus hasn't been doing as much harm as he's been capable of, because Lindsey's been giving us inside information."
"But-he-in court. He was a jerk to me in court. He destroyed me on the witness stand--"
"He still had to do his job," Wesley commented. "Otherwise Angelus would have been suspicious."
"But what happened now-you're here with him. Angelus will find out."
"He already knows," Wesley explained. "He was lucky. Angelus was trying to set a trap for Faith, but it didn't work. Lindsey tipped us off and Doyle had a vision. We rescued Lindsey, but not before Angelus injured him. The hospital thought it was attempted suicide. I told them it was a mugging. That is probably the reason why you were called in."
"All this time, he's been working for you? You could have told me. I would have cut him some slack. I would have helped him."
"To many people knew," Buffy explained. "We were worried that someone would tell."
"And we didn't want you to cut him slack or treat him any different," Doyle explained. "Otherwise Angelus would know."
"You all knew?" Kate questioned, not sure if it bothered her that so many people knew when she had been left out.
"Faith and knew initially," Wesley said.
"I was sent," Doyle explained. "To help Faith and Lindsey."
"And Alex, Cordelia."
"Cordelia is my umm-friend from Sunnydale," Buffy explained. "She was there when Lindsey first showed up. Apparently they have a umm-thing going on."
"Alex figured it out on her own." Wesley explained. "We told Gunn after we learned Angelus knew about Lindsey."
"Who's Gunn?" Kate asked.
"Someone that helps out."
"Now that it's out," Doyle explained. "You might as well know about it from us."
"Can I see him?" she asked. She suddenly
felt very guilty over how she treated him on Christmas Eve.
"I cannot believe it," Holland said after what he had heard. "I told you I should have just had him terminated. Lindsey and Faith have both escaped."
"Somehow she knew," Angelus said. He seemed disappointed with himself, but he knew there was no way he could take on two slayers. "When she got there. Her friends were in the floor below us and Buffy was helping Faith. Somehow they knew-It must have been the seer this time."
"Where were the others. The five of you could have taken on two slayers?"
"It was only supposed to be one slayer!" Angelus said, angry.
"Enough of this play, Angelus," Holland said, sternly, but kept some kindness in his voice. "I want the Slayer dead. You've had your fun. I want Lindsey and her dead. They have caused too much trouble."
"They'll always be another one," he said. "And stop ordering me around."
For a moment, Holland was frightened. He had always been able to use his words to keep Angelus in line. But not this time.
"Angelus, I am not ordering you," he said, changing his tone. "You want to kill the slayer right? Then do it."
Angelus looked at Holland and growled, but instead of attacking him, he left the room.
"Hello Faith," Faith looked up. Lindsey was sleeping, but Faith still held his hand. Cordelia seemed out of it too. She dozed silently in the pink hospital chair. Her eyes opened slightly when Kate entered.
"Hello Kate."
"Wesley told me everything. How's he doing?"
Faith looked back at Lindsey. They took off the brace because the X-rays said he did not have any permanent neck damage. But once the neck brace was removed, it revealed that Lindsey's neck was covered in red, purple and blue bruises. They said he lost a lot of blood and would be out of it for a while.
"He's sleeping," she explained and touched his head. Kate moved closer to the bed. Now she understood what happened with Lindsey on Christmas Eve. No wonder he seemed like he was on the verge of a breakdown. She would be if she had to work with those monsters from Wolfram and Hart.
"I wish I wasn't such a bitch to him on Christmas Eve."
"He told me. It's funny. You two didn't know about each other. I wanted that way. I didn't want you to treat him any different and vise versa. The less info that was out there, the better."
Kate did not say anything. She helped Faith out once in a while, but she was never a strong part of her group. Possibly because she lived so much in a world where vampires and demons did not seem to exist. Sometimes she did not even want to deal with it.
"Hello," said Alex's cheerful voice. She entered the room carrying an enormous amount of mixed flowers and a plastic. "How's the patient?" she asked, putting the flowers on a nearby table. "I bought flowers and plenty of candy from the gift shop."
"Doing better," Cordelia said. She opened her eyes completely, though the sleeplessness stayed. She squeezed his hand. Lindsey opened his eyes slightly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, hon, I didn't mean to wake you." He shook his head and smiled at her. He looked around the room. He saw a black woman who he knew was Alex Taylor. Next to Alex was Kate Lockely. He pulled the oxygen mask off.
"Hello, Detective," his voice raspy and low. "Bet you're surprised-"
Kate smiled. "Surprised? How about the biggest shock of my life."
"Sorry-" he said and he sounded like he was struggling to speak. "About everything-all those times in court. I was-"
"Please, it doesn't matter now," Kate said, interrupting. "I just wish you could have been honest with me. I could have helped you on Christmas Eve."
"I was afraid to--"
Faith smiled. "You don't have to be afraid anymore, Shortcake, you're out."
Lindsey nodded. "But his soul."
"We'll do something. Lina will find something. It's far more important that you're here, safe, with us."
He nodded.
"How they find you out?" Kate asked.
"I don't know. Drusilla, I guess. She said I was off."
Faith did not say anything. Lindsey had told her Drusilla did not suspect him, but it was obvious that she did. He did not want to worry them.
"You're safe now," Cordelia said, touching his hair. She moved closer to him and kissed him on the lips. She pulled away when she was finished, then touched his hair again. "Sleep now. Rest your voice."
Tears filled Lindsey's eyes. He clutched Faith and Cordelia's hand tightly. He did not want to let go.