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Part Ten
The hunter did not even look up as the van door clicked shut.
Crouching in front of the first aid box, Matt dropped the empty orange juice can to the floor and popped the top on the second. "What do you want?" His question accompanied by a sour look at Rupert who was making himself a seat out of Xander's suitcases.
"I'm checking on you. Is that acceptable?" Rupert answered flatly as Matt took a half can gulp of juice. "You need to be seen by the doctor."
Matt continued draining the can and tossed it to the side. He grimaced for a second as the sugar rush hit his brain then wiped his mouth on his shirtsleeve. "Old Man, what I need is a couple of salt tablets, a shower, a shave, a drink and about a twelve hour nap." He retorted while rummaging through the box for the tablets. Pulling them out he unwrapped two, then a third and tossed them into his mouth. "But what the hell, one and a half out of five ain't bad."
Rupert sighed soundlessly and shut his eyes for a long second. He leaned forward on his perch and rested his chin on his folded hands and watched as Matt dug out a package of wet wipes and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. The hunter went back on his heels and turned to meet Rupert's expressionless stare.
"Now what?"
"Nothing." Rupert answered dryly.
"I'm gonna get half-assed cleaned up so I can go in there and call Charlie on a land line." Matt waited on a response but none came, which was fine with him. The hunter rolled his shoulders and pulled both his "T" and work shirts off over his head and gave them a toss. He jerked at the makeshift bandage around his throat, swearing under his breath until it came free.
"Bastard, shitdead, cocksucker." He spit out the curses as his hand came into view streaked with fresh blood. Matt reached back into the box and pulled out a gallon jug of distilled water, a metal bowl and several packages of disposable towels.
Rupert's eyebrow raised as Matt stopped his preparations long enough to write down what he had taken from the cache and place the note in a holder on the side of the box. "Very good."
Without even looking over Matt deadpanned. "Glad you approve. I'll mention that to Charlie."
"I'm terrible about that. I use first aid supplies and then forget to restock." Rupert leaned back. "It's probably something in my subconscious that denies we will need them again."
"Guess you 'subconscious' needs to get its head out of its ass." Matt immediately shot back as he poured water into the bowl and added some peroxide.
Rupert pressed his head back into the cargo screen. "So much for that." He thought as he watched Matt clean himself up. Three times the hunter changed the bloody water in the bowl and with each time he came forward to empty it out the side door, Rupert's eyes were drawn to a deep scar which ran down his son's back like a exclamation point. Running from shoulderblade to the small of Matt's back its jagged edges screamed the violence of its creation.
Matt slammed the van door a final time and tossed the bowl back toward the first aid box. Without giving Rupert a second look he went past him into the front of the van and slid into the driver's seat. "Show's over, Old Man." He snotted while using the outside mirror to apply a large bandaid to his neck. "So... since that's my duffel your usin' as a footrest, you wanna move your carcass on outta here so I can get a clean shirt?" He turned in his seat and smacked the cargo screen. "You hear me, Old Man?"
Wordlessly Rupert held up a shirt from the duffel bag.
Matt came back into the cargo area, snatching it out of Rupert's hand as he went by. He flung the shirt on and glared at Rupert as he began to button it. "You got something to say or are you just goin' to sit there like...."
"What happened?"
"Huh?" Matt's lip curled at the question as he adjusted his shirt collar.
"The scar on your back. What happened?" Rupert asked a second time watching as Matt's expression went to stone.
"I fell down the stairs." Came the growling reply in which Rupert heard the echo of something still painfully raw within the hunter. Matt tucked his shirt in and with a final angry glare at Rupert began to bag up the spent containers and blood stained paper towels.
"Angelus..." Rupert began softly. "...Angelus left Jenny's body on my bed for me to find. He had broken her neck." He went silent and stared at the patch of twilight outside the van's back window. "She died quickly, that is the only emotional comfort I have." Holding his hands up for Matt to see he tensed and relaxed his fingers a few time. "Not long after that Angelus captured and tortured me for information. Every finger and both thumbs, either fractured or dislocated... and this is the least of the evils he subjected me to." He lowered his hands and flexed them a few times as they lay on his knees. "When I get home I will have to soak both hands in ice or tomorrow they will be swollen twice size from the strain of today's fighting."
"Angelus? That's the one we had boxed up." Matt hissed as he snapped a hard double knot into the trash bag. "And you cut the bastard loose? Why?!"
"Because you had captured 'Angel' not 'Angelus'. The only thing that keeps me sane is the recognition of that difference. But I must confess the possibility that this creature has been torn apart by the catahoulas does not bother me." Rupert's eyes went from the window and locked onto his son. "No Matthew, I will not be the cause of Angel's 'passing'... but by the same token, I will not morn it."
Matt closed the first aid box and sat down. "Then you're a better man then me, I couldn't do that shit." He swallowed hard and tossed the bag into the center of the van. "I'd staked that shitdead as soon as his back was turned. Don't you hate him? Don't you hate them all?"
"To keep going I have held onto the pain but banished the rage. I miss her.." Rupert's voice quivered as he passed his hand across his brow. ..."Oh Dear God I miss her, but I will not become like that animal... that beast... that took her. Do you hear what I'm saying?"
Matt ran his hand back through his hair. "Yeah, I hear 'ya."
"Do you?"
"Yes... damn it. You're tellin' me to get my head out of my ass, look at the big picture and quit walkin' around with a chip on my shoulder 'cause I ain't the Lone Ranger." He looked at Rupert across the darkening van. "Was that close?"
Rupert sighed at the interpretation. "Somewhat."
Matt pounded his fist into his palm a couple of times. "Somewhat? Somewhat! Well Old Man, let me clue you in.... there's one big difference between you and me... you see, it's my fault Deb got turned." He drew in a hissing breath and pointed to himself. "My fault. It was my idea to stop there for the night, she wanted to go on into town but no... I had to stop out in the sticks so I could get a little in the back seat." As the memory flooded back he clenched both fists gritted his teeth. "Then these three show up saying their car broke down and ask for a ride into town. They offer to fill up the tank and slip us a ten-spot for our trouble and I say 'sure... hop in'. Then the next thing I know all hell's breakin' loose and I don't have a clue as to what's comin' down. Deb's screaming and I'm getting the shit kicked outta me. That scar? That's where one of 'em picked me up and tried to shish kebab me onto a fence post."
Rupert tensed as Matt unexpectedly went quiet except for the sound of his ragged breathing. The hunter suddenly jumped up and came toward his father his anger and voice rising in tandem as he punctuated each statement with a wave of the fist.
"I couldn't even take one of 'em down, I couldn't save her, I couldn't do shit. Then Deb stopped screaming, that was the worst 'cause then I knew she was dead. One of them yelled that they had to get the hell outta there and I got tossed over the fence and down into the creek. They took off before I could get back to the road. Next thing I knew I was waking up, face down in the ditch, babbling about 'monsters' with Mike standing there shining a flashlight in my face."
A twisted smile spread across his lips as he jabbed his finger toward Rupert. "And let me tell 'ya - it gets better. Mike and John and Renee they get me to the hospital where the docs decide that even though I've had the crap beat outta me I'm either crazy or higher than hell on something. So they whack me out on happy pills for the night. The next morning the cops find our car hell and gone across the county with the backseat covered with Deb's blood. Then this local yokel gets it in his head that I murdered her and calls up her old man in Ohio who tells 'em that I'm a piece of shit with a record four inches thick. So this deputy comes to the hospital and drags me off in cuffs. Spent the day getting the third degree. At about five the county public defender finally shows up with the prosecutor and they point out the same shit I had been tellin' the cops all along - that there's now way in hell I could've done it."
Matt's legs began to feel weak as the anger peaked then rushed out of him. Rupert came forward and clasp the hunter's shoulders as Matt sunk to his knees. "They cut me loose." He whispered in a monotone. "Drove me to the edge of town and dropped me off. Our car, our luggage had been impounded as evidence. And there I was, dumped on the side of the road like a stray dog with just the clothes on my back and four dollars and change in my wallet. That's how they found me, just walking down the road. John rolled down the window and asked me if I wanted to put things right."
"Put things right." Matt repeated as he pulled the ring and cross from his pocket and stared at it. He rubbed the ring between his fingers and held it up in Rupert's face. "It's too dark in here to see it, but the inscription says 'forever'. Bullshit. Forever lasted exactly fifty-two days, seven and a half weeks. That ain't right. Deb was the only person on this planet that ever stayed with me, no matter what came down... she was always there." He pulled away from Rupert and curled his face into a snarl. "And as a 'thank you' I got her killed and then I put a stake through her and killed her again."
"No you didn't" Rupert said, giving Matt a hard shake. "You staked the demon that murdered her. Her soul was not there, her essence had flown what you destroyed was the thing that..."
"I know, I know, I KNOW!" Matt snapped, pushing Rupert's hands off him.
"Then believe it!" Rupert barked back.
Matt hissed between his teeth and turned for the door. "Yeah, right. I gotta go call Charlie."
"Say it... boy."
"Say WHAT?" Matt screamed back.
Rupert was now standing. "Say you believe it! Say you did not kill her!"
"I can't.."
"SAY IT!"
Matt leaned forward and steadied himself on the cargo screen. He let out a low moan as the emotions whirled within him. "God damn him." The curse flashed through his mind as again Rupert barked at him to let it go, to banish the guilt, to absolve himself. As he felt Rupert's hand on his shoulder he shuddered as the words came out. "I... I didn't kill her, but s-s-s-he's still... gone."
Rupert tightened his grip on Matt's quivering shoulder. "I know."
"Damn you, why'd you do this?" Matt hissed as his shivering lessened.
"You had to face the past before it destroyed you, and then you had to accept it."
"You sound like Sam. He says everybody and everything goes as it goes and 'ya can't do nuttin about it."
"Sam is a very wise man."
Matt regained his composure before turning back toward his father. "Yeah, Sam's our Yoda, kinda like your... their's." He swept his hand in the general direction of the others. "What the hell, everybody needs a Yoda."
"You have two." Rupert smiled at Matt's confused look. "I'm not turning my back on you. Realistically, I have missed too much to be your father... maybe that will come someday, but now..."
With a wave of the hand Matt interrupted. "Old Man, be warned - I suck at this warm and fuzzy bonding stuff, so..."
Rupert mirrored the motion. "That's because you take after me. I'm worthless at it also. So, shall leave it with this, my door is always open to you and I want you to come and spend some time with me."
"I'd like that...." Matt said raising his right hand. Twice the hunter mouthed the final word before he voiced it outloud. "...Dad."
Rupert accepted the handshake and then wrapped his other arm around Matt in a quick hug. He cleared his throat to banish the lump which was forming and stepped back. "Well, that's about as good as I can get with warm, furry, fuzzy... things. We need to.. ah.. you need to call Mr. Karn."
"Right..." Matt sniffed and rubbed his nose. "...and the other guys are probably thinkin' we've choked the shit out of each other."
"Why would they ever think such a thing?" Rupert deadpanned as he slid the van door open.
" 'Bout temp." Sam said as he saw Rupert and Matt exit the work van. "Any longer and we would had to reseed dis lawn."
Xander plucked another blade of grass from the spot he had been picking at. "Well they're both still standing and it doesn't look like they went more than six rounds." He stood and yelled over to them. "Hey, don't lock it! I gotta get my stuff outta there." A wave of self-satisfaction swept through Xander as he saw an enormous smile appear on Rupert's face.
"What I tell 'ya?" Willow chirped over his shoulder as Rupert called back. "Splendid!"
"Reeled him back in, huh Red?" Matt good-naturedly sniped as he stuck a finger in his mouth and mimicked a hooked fish. The hunter removed the finger as he and Rupert drew near and pointed at the hospital. "But you're still signed on this job, how's John?"
"Still in surgery." Xander shook his head and blew out a puff of air. "They told Junior and Andy in so many words that it's gonna be touch and go. A combo platter of internal injuries, broken bones and he lost a lot of blood." The teen shook his head. "He's gonna be up there for awhile."
Rupert glanced at his watch. "It's twenty 'till seven. Would one of you run me back to the campground so I can get my car?" He shifted on his feet for a second. "And I should probably also check on Buffy and Wesley."
"Oz is on his way." Xander said with another heavy exhale. "Willow's going with him and I've gotta get home and face the music. We can run you over there."
Matt gave Harris a smack on the shoulder. "Sure about this man?"
"Yeah." Xander replied giving Matt a punch on the arm. "I gotta graduate and these people would be lost without me."
"I gotta call Charlie." Matt said while pulling his collar up over the bandaids on his neck. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"That leaves the field wide open." Rupert deadpanned.
"You should know, Old Man. Who 'ya think I got it from?" Matt yelled over his shoulder as he walked away.
Sam's laughter over this final shot infected both Xander and Willow causing them to join in.
"I fail to see what's so funny." Rupert continued in a mock-indigent tone as he adjusted his jacket.
"Let's get da bags back in da van, and Willow would you bring Ring? Sam asked while wiping his eyes.
"Hey, Old Man!" Matt called out as he returned to the group. "Just thought of something." He said as he flipped through his wallet and pulled out a business card. "Anybody gotta pen?"
"I do!" Willow answered as she dug in her purse.
Matt flashed the card toward Rupert. "It says 'Alliance Tower And Steel', that's our cover. But the phone number rings into Charlie's office." He took the pen from Willow and began to write on the back. "I'm gonna give you my Hotmail address, maybe Red can help you send me a letter or something. Just don't make me have to look up big-ass ten dollar words." He gave Rupert the card and pen. "Stay in touch Old Man... later." He whirled around and headed for the hospital doors without waiting for a reply.
Rupert watched him cross the parking lot and disappear into the hospital before he flipped the card over and read the address. "Thank you." He whispered as he reread the second line scrawled across the bottom:
DOB: September 4, 1976.
****** Epilogue ****** Rupert shifted the pile of books in his arm and stood in the doorway. In the corner a rough looking fellow was asleep in a chair, snoring like a buzzsaw. John lay in the hospital bed, eyes shut, also seemingly asleep. Rupert quietly stepped into the room and laid the books down on the bedside stand. He pulled the drawer open to look for something to write a note on.
"Who are you?"
Giles straightened up and shut the drawer. "My apologies... I didn't mean to wake you."
"Like I could sleep though dat?" John muttered while giving his head a nod toward Mike. "Dey ain't got enough drugs in da world to block dat noise." He straightened up a bit in his bed. "You Giles' poppa?"
"Yes." Rupert answered holding out his hand. "Rupert Giles." He winced a bit at the sight of John returning the handshake with an IV attached to his bruised hand.
"Thought so, he looks like you." John reached for the bed controls and raised his head a bit.
"Junior told me you were moved down here last night." Rupert said as he tapped the books. "So I thought you might like something to read. If you would like them, that is."
John leaned over and ran his fingers down the titles stopping at the third one in the stack. "Cartensen's Demonology, is dis da second or third printing?"
"Ah, third... you're, you're familiar with it?"
Blanchard raised an eyebrow. "What? Yous don t'ink an Alliance coon ass can read?"
"Ah.. ah... no, I mean... I wasn't alluding to... it's just that Cartensen's is an obscure reference... and I didn't think... well not many people do... you would have ever had a chance to read it." Rupert's sputtering faded out as John settled back grinning over the disjointed apology.
"Watcher, don make me laugh." John rubbed his hand over his chest. " 'Cause dat hurts."
"Watcher?" Mike echoed rising from his chair. "You get da hell outta here."
"A no!" John corrected. "Dis be Giles poppa, heard I was out of da critical room and brought some books. He can stay." He swung his finger back and forth between the two. "Rupert dis is my brother Michael."
"I've heard of you." Rupert said holding out his hand. "And I owe you a pint."
Mike ignored the gesture and stood glaring at Rupert. "What are you talking about? You don't owe me anyt'ings." He growled.
"On the contrary." Rupert said extending his hand a bit further. "And I must add that if you would be so kind as to break that bastard Travers' nose again, I'll buy you a whole bloody pub."
Mike's eyes darted between the outstretched hand and Rupert's face. "Deal." He muttered as he finally accepted the handshake.
John nodded his approval. "Now, you pull dat chair up and sit."
"I can't stay very long." Rupert warned.
"You will stay for awhile." John pointed at the chair and made a motion for Rupert to sit. "Mon femme, Janice... she is at da motor home making a bon courtbouillon."
"A what?"
"Food worth eating. Not like da chien slop they give a man here." John wrinkled his nose. "What they brought me last night was like rubber."
Rupert sat back. "What was it?"
"Don know, sure as hell din eat it."
"If Jan is bringing us some courtbouillon, maybe da Watcher can bring us some beer?" Mike interjected.
"Are you out of your mind!" Rupert leaned over and stage whispered his main concern. "Did you see that head nurse posted beside the elevator? She could, and I am sure, would put me in the next room in a full body cast if I tried to smuggle beer in here."
Mike relaxed a bit, this Watcher seemed okay, not like the stuffed shirts he had went head to head with in England. "Ah hell, I get you boy to do it - he could take her."
"Matthew's back in Sunnydale?"
"No, he and Sam are still in Salt Lake." Mike stretched and glanced toward the door. "They hooked up with Ray Karn and his girl to finish team quatre's assignment."
"Hummm." Rupert raised an eyebrow at the reference to the other hunters. "I realize that Teresa was a hunter and you just mentioned that another team has a woman hunter and Matthew mentioned a Renee and of course in our sphere Slayers are young women."
"What you asking?" John queried.
"I just wondered, do all of your children join the Alliance regardless of gender?"
Mike shrugged. "Both of John's did, both of Teresa's did. Dat Renee, she be Teresa's girl. But out of my five, only three; my Mike Junior, Gregory and T.John did. Donna and Timothy.. not interested. You hear da call and you come, you don hear it... mais then you don." He pointed at Rupert. "Now you boy, he has da calling, he be a natural."
"Dass right." John said in agreement. "Giles gon have his own team, real damn soon. Can see dat one comin'."
Rupert stood and nodded to the two men. "He had very good teachers, thank you.... thank you both..." His voice cracked. "...for everything."
"You know how we found him?" John quietly asked.
"Yes, he told me." Rupert rubbed his hand together and pushed the chair back to where it was. "I must go, you listen to the nurses and I'll stop back tomorrow, if that is allright."
"Dass fine... adieu and merci for da books." John answered as Giles began to leave the room. Blanchard pursed his lips and exchanged a glance with his brother before calling out to Rupert. "Sometimes da calling is bad, bad. You know dat."
Rupert stopped in the doorway and looked back over his shoulder. "Mr. Blanchard.... in this profession the calling is always... bad."
****** End ******
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