| Have A Little Faith |
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Chapter 47
They took two cars. Lindsey, Faith, Doyle, and Lilah went in Lindsey’s car while Doyle drove. Alex and Gunn went in Alex’s car. Lilith had agreed to stay behind and let Faith do this on her own. Faith had promised to give her an answer by the time she got back. Lina and Kate agreed to look over the office until they returned. Not that Alex expected that many cases since she had been closed the last few weeks.
Lindsey was not happy that Lilah was coming along, but she told him she was to scared to stay in Los Angeles and he did not have the heart to tell her no. He did decide that she would be staying with Buffy’s friends who were non-combatants. He was still afraid she would do something to regain her favor with Wolfram and Hart. He knew and she probably did also that they did not work that way and they would still kill her. She seemed to scared to be thinking straight. Lindsey guessed he could do something for her after they dealt with Angelus.
Lindsey looked at the sign that read Sunnydale 36 miles. Lilah was sitting next to him, staring out the window and not saying anything. Faith was in the front seat next to Doyle, though she wanted to sit next to Lindsey. Lilah had taking the back seat with out asking. Lindsey did not feel like driving or sitting up front. He just wanted to sit in the back and hid his tears in pretend sleep.
More than a year ago, he had taken this very car on this road. He was more afraid than Lilah was now. Every ten seconds, he thought about going back. He even got off and headed in the other direction for ten miles before he remembered the face of the child that Angelus killed. Now there was no going back. All he could think of was holding Cordelia’s lifeless body in his arms. There was nothing else he felt. He felt nothing, no emotions and it was beginning to disturb him.
In about 45 minutes they would be arriving at Giles’ house. The house he had not seen since that day in March, more than a year ago. He remembered when he first got to know Faith. How they sat in the restaurant and she ate almost everything on the menu. He wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t. Laughter hurt too much.
Faith was thinking of similar things.
It had been about a year since she had left Sunnydale. When she left,
she was jealous, sad, and lonely. She was still sad of course, mostly
due to Wesley’s death. She had gotten close to her watcher and was
afraid to get close to Lilith. She could not help but be close to
Lindsey. They had been in the darkness together. She never
wanted to lose him. She turned and looked at him. He had his
head back and his eyes closed.
The car pulled up to Giles’ place. The other car pulled in behind. Faith got out of the car and stretched. It was hard to think that it was a year since she had been here.
Buffy was waiting in front of the house. She had a tall man next to her with brown hair and eyes.
Faith walked over to Buffy slowly. She did not know what Buffy felt, considering Faith’s behavior at Cordelia’s funeral.
Buffy instead gave her a hug.
“How are you holding up?” she asked, after the hug was finished.
“Barely.”
“Faith,” she said and smiled and turned to the tall man. “This is Riley Finn.”
“The guy,” Faith said and smiled.
“Yeah.” Buffy heard the car door slam. Three more people came out of Lindsey’s car. Lindsey, Doyle and a woman Buffy did not recognize. Alex and Gunn came out of the other car.
Lindsey smiled when he saw Buffy. He walked over to her.
“Hi, Lindsey,” she said. She was glad to see him no longer out of it.
“Hi,” he said.
“Lindsey, this is my boyfriend Riley Finn. Riley, this is Lindsey McDonald. He’s the man that kept Angelus at bay for several months.”
Riley and Lindsey shook hands.
“We should all go inside,” Buffy said, feeling
a little awkward. “Giles is waiting.”
There were two new people there that Lindsey did not recognized. Their were both women. Both were blondes. One of them stayed very close to Willow.
“Not all of us should go see Tesa,” Lindsey explained. “We don’t want to spook her.”
“You should go Lindsey,” Faith said.
“I think Lindsey, Faith and Giles should go,” Buffy said. “Lindsey and Faith went into all this effort and Tesa is expecting them. Giles is an old person.”
“Buffy—“
“Older person.”
“Anyway the rest of us can work on how we can deal with Angelus.”
“I would appreciate if you came,” Faith said. She wanted to be near the other slayer when there was less people in the room.
“It’s okay, Buffy,” Riley said. “I
can handle things from here.”
“Yes?” said a woman at the door. The sign on the window said. Madame Tesa, cards, palms, fortunes.
“Tesa Olenna?” Lindsey asked.
The woman nodded.
“I’m Lindsey McDonald. Elena Kadash said you were expecting us.”
Tesa frowned, and looked over the four of them. “Come in.”
Tesa held the door open for all of them. “This is Faith, Buffy and Giles. They are here to witness the ritual.”
“Go the living room,” she ordered, ignoring
his last comment. She did not say anything else to them. The
four of them walked to the living room. The house was dark and all
the shades were drawn.
There was a great deal of magickal objects
laid on a shiny black table in the middle. The most noticeable was
a blue tinted crystal ball.
“Sit,” she said. “This is for show. True people who can contact the spirits don’t really need trinkets.”
Lindsey made himself comfortable on the sofa. Faith sat next to him. Buffy noticed the closeness. She sat down next to Faith, but there was a gap between them, but there was no gap between Faith and Lindsey. She was leaning on him and he did not seem to mind.
“I am doing this as a favor,” Tesa explained. “Not because I want to. You have been told that although I can contact the last person who knew the translation of the curse does not mean they will give it to you. And if they are unwilling, that is all I am willing to do.”
“We can pay you extra,” Faith said. “We gotta lot of cash.”
“No,” Tesa said, sternly.
“We understand,” Lindsey said. He remembered what Elena had said.
“We might as well get started,” Tesa said. She seemed anxious to get it over with.
Tesa sat down at the table and lit some incense. She lit a black candle.
“I am calling to my gypsy ancestors and to the last person who knows the curse to restore the soul of a vampire, of a demon. We are calling you here to talk to us.”
Nothing happened, so Tesa called again.
In the middle of the table a light in a bottle flash a bright white light.
“Yes,” Tesa said. “Come to us. Do not be afraid.”
Something began to materialize in the middle of a table. It was a white form slowly taking shape at what looked like a human.
“Yes,” Tesa said. “Come talk to us.”
The figured partial appeared on the table. It was a woman. She had dark hair and eyes. She was transparent, but Giles recognized her immediately.
“Jenny?”
The ghost smiled at her name.
“The disk,” she said, her voice just above a whisper.
“What? Jenny?” Giles said, getting up and going towards the apparition.
“The disk fell next to my desk. Free him, Rupert, free yourself. I wanted it that way.”
“Jenny,” Giles said.
“I love you—“
Giles reached out for her, but the moment his hand touched the apparition, Jenny was gone. “Jenny—“ Giles repeated.
Lindsey stood up and ran out of the room. Faith quickly followed.
“Jenny,” Giles cried out.
“You got your answer,” Tesa said. “Please leave.”
“I guess we’re going to Sunnydale High,”
Buffy said.
Faith found Lindsey throwing up in Tesa’s bushes.
“Hey,” she said, touching his back. “Just let it out.”
“I don’t know if I can do this,” he said still leaned over. “We worked so hard for this, but she’s still dead.”
“Life sucks,” Faith said. “Cordelia and Wesley did not deserve to die. But what would you like better? For Angelus to die or for him to suffer the consequences of his actions.”
“He doesn’t deserve to live when she’s dead.”
“Lindsey,” she said and rubbed his back. “Please don’t go crazy on me now. I need you now more than ever.”
Lindsey turned around, he kissed her gently on the lips. He wanted the numbness to go away. He pulled away when he heard the rustling of leaves.
He got up.
“You guys all right?” asked the concerned voice of Buffy Summers.
Lindsey nodded. “It was just seeing Jenny—And knowing how much Giles misses her. It reminded me—“
“I understand,” Buffy said. “We have to get the disk. Giles and I can do it. Why don’t you both head back to Giles’ place and relax?”