Chapter 7: Three Lessons in Taking
THREE YEARS LATER – LATE MAY, 2024 – BACKYARD – 3:47 PM
FAITH’S POV
With all the witchy-ness and magic I’ve seen in my life, how is it that no one ever told me about the enchanted effects of afternoon coffee? Yes, I’ve been a coffee-ho basically forever, but afternoon coffee? Ah, Ken turned me on to this and it’s like I finally found God. I laugh to myself as I sit on the back porch steps watching my best friend teach my adopted daughter the proper way to disarm and decapitate a vamp. The fucked up lessons we teach our kids, huh?
Adopted daughter… can I tell you that still freaks me out. I’ll never get over what power and money can do. B still had her contacts at the governor’s office and no matter who’s president, her and Ken seem to always have an “in” with the Secretary of State. So it was pretty painless to get the adoption papers together and dual citizenship arranged for Nicky. And just like she told us, everyone’s been helping out in the raising of our young Slayer.
Funny that she didn’t mention how much I’d need my own help. Buffy had her hands full with me for quite a while when I first got back. Yeah, we had to reacquaint ourselves with each other… again; but, it was harder this time, not the big stuff, just settling into everyday life. That last year I was chasing after Nicky did a number me. More than once I thought it would have been so much easier to let myself lose a fight than continue losing myself to the never ending death that was threatening to swallow me whole. I swear if it wasn’t for the Buffy and Emma being in my life, being my family, I know I never would have made it back.
The PtB must have known how close to the end of my rope I was, so they let me go, my reward after what feels like a lifetime of service. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m chillin’ on a beach chair in Miami. We have our hands full with the prophecy and fine-tuning how to change the Slayer spell. The others spend the lion’s share of their time on that as well as keeping everything else running smoothly. I help out where I can, but my number one priority has become coordinating and over-seeing Nicky’s training.
Even though Nicky takes her training very seriously, you can see her heart really isn’t in it. She reminds me of B that way, not really embracing the Slayer in her. Actually, Emma too, now that I think of it; she’s more in tune with the witch, the healer, than the killer that lies within her. I’d have to say Nicky is more comfortable with the emotions of being an Empath demon and the visions from the PtB than the spells or the slaying. Not that she’s ever gone out slaying, shit the kid is only 11, there’ll be plenty of time for that.
I look up to see Ken plunking Nicky firmly on her ass. Uh oh, now the kid is pissed. Ken offers a hand to help her up, but Nicky just glares at her in defeat. An evil grin begins to form as Ken starts to rise in the air.
“Ah, come on Nick,” Ken bemoans, a bit more than exasperated; “I’m just trying to show you how to fight correctly.” She looks at Nick seeing what she has a mind to do then, “Don’t… please…”
Nicky releases her and she comes crashing down to the grass, “And I’m just showing you I can do it my way, so there.”
Shit, I guess it’s time to step in before things get ugly, “Ok, enough training for today. Hey, Nick you want to come to the butcher with me? Andrew wants to cue up some steaks tonight.”
“Cool,” she races over to me. “Just let me take a quick shower.”
Grabbing her by the shoulder, I stop her from going inside, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she looks at me questioningly.
I tilt my head over to Kennedy who’s barely restraining herself from the stream of curses I just know she wants to unleash on Nicky. “When you abuse your power, you lose the respect of those who care about you. When you lose that respect, you become unreliable. Once you’re unreliable, you endanger yourself and everyone here. It’s a chain reaction I will not see happen.”
“But I don’t see why...” She looks at me then knows I’m not going to let this go, “Oh alright!” she says with a big sigh, oh the drama of being eleven. She walks back over to Ken, “I’m sorry Kennedy. I shouldn’t have done that to you. I was being stupid.” She even bows her head for good measure, that’s my girl.
Ken gives her a sideways glance then ruffles her hair, “When you’re fighting, the most important lesson other than ‘Don’t die’ is ‘Never let them get to you’ it gives your opponent power.” She waits until Nicky nods in acknowledgement, “Go get dinner, we’ll do it again tomorrow.”
The next thing I see is her flying past me, “I’ll be down in 5 minutes,” she calls over her shoulder, and then asks, “Can we take the bike?”
“You bet,” I laugh as she disappears into the kitchen.
Ken sits on the step next to me, “It’s hard when they’re so young.”
“That’s not an excuse; your watcher started training you at 8. She’s 11 now; she needs to be more disciplined.”
She looks at me and laughs, “Riiight, just like you?”
“Funny, Ken,” I shove her, hard, so she falls off the step.
Still laughing she looks up at me and really starts cracking up. “You’re such a fucking role model, Faith.”
Smiling back, I offer her my hand. She takes it as we both stand. “I never much was one to practice what I preach.”
“Yeah, I kinda got that.”
UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS OF CLEVELAND – STAFF LOUNGE – 7:23 PM
EMMA’S POV
Closing my eyes, I sit on the bench facing my locker. It’s been four days since I’ve been home and exhausted doesn’t even begin to cover what I feel right now. I think the real reason they call first year residents ‘interns’ is because you feel like you’ve been imprisoned at the hospital. It really blows my mind that regular people do this, I mean I’d be sucking wind big time if I wasn’t a Slayer. I bow my head and rub my eyes. I know the sooner I get moving the sooner I’ll be home, but just sitting here, eyes closed, feels really, really good right now.
I begin to feel a whole lot better when a pair of very strong hands starts rubbing my shoulders. Leaning into the massaging hands, I murmur, “I don’t know who you are but if you keep that up I’ll love you forever.”
The hands freeze on my shoulders for a moment then there’s a familiar laugher, “I thought we went over this, remember you and the boyfriend, what’s his name this time?”
My eyes pop open, “Sophia?” I turn around disbelievingly, “What are you doing here?”
“The hospital is co-sponsoring a charity event over at Kent State.” An easy smile comes to her lips as she sits next to me, “It’s part of the administrative side of being Chief of Staff.”
“Oh, so you’re just here for tonight?” I ask, secretly hoping she’s staying longer, but then I realize something. “Wait a second, Chief of Staff, as in NOT Assistant-Chief?”
A huge grin begins to spread on her face, “Which brings me to the perks of being Chief of Staff,” she leans over to me pushing my shoulder with hers, “I took a week off. Know anywhere I can stay?”
I pull her into a hug, “Freaking awesome, I am so proud of you! Chief before 40, you’re my hero.”
“Yeah, that’s what happens when you’re single and have no social life.” She pauses, “Well, unless you count Slaying as social...” She leans back with a smile then stands up.
“Slaying, social?” I scrunch my nose, “Eww, don’t even tell me you’re dating a vampire.” I grab my jacket as I shake my head. Then something else occurs to me, tilting my head, I turn back to her intrigued, “Oh, or are you dating a Slayer?” I try to say it casually as I open the door.
“Nope, neither one, kiddo,” she picks up her duffle bag and follows me out of the lounge to the parking lot, “It’s been all work and no play for a while now, hence my meteoric rise up the ladder.” She pauses for a moment, “And how you could think I’d ever date a vampire...” she shakes her shoulders in a mock chill, “that’s just nasty”.
“Buffy did,” I offer weakly as we make our way to the car.
She throws her bag in the back seat, “Yeah, I was there, I remember. It was weird Em, soul or not, we’re supposed to kill them not sleep with them.”
“Yeah, I know. I just...”
“Look,” she cuts me off and leans over the roof of the car, “I’m fine, really, I needed the time alone to get my head together. I promise, when I start seeing someone, you’ll be the first to know.” Climbing in, she turns to me, “Now, tell me about your flavor of the week.”
I can’t help but laugh, “Ok, ok, his name is Luka.”
“Ah, ‘the bringer of light’, nice complement for a Slayer, is he Italian?”
Shaking my head as I back out of my parking space, “Nope, Albanian, he and his family came here when he was a kid. He’s a nice guy, sweet, you know? He’s a mason.”
“He belongs to the fraternal order of Freemasons?”
“God no,” I laugh again, “He’s a stonemason, a craftsman, he fixed the chimney last month then we started talking, and the rest is history.”
Sophia whistles, obviously impressed, “Wow, one whole month, have you ordered the wedding invitations yet?”
“That’s so not gonna happen,” I turn onto the freeway.
Her tone now is serious, not playful, “Why not? You said he was a nice guy. You don’t think he’s got staying power.”
“Oh make no mistake, he’s got staying power,” I wink at her then look back to the road. We both laugh then I continue, “The problem is, he’s a nice guy and I know he wants all the things I don’t: a wife at home with a huge family. Not to mention he’d flip out if he ever found out what my second job is. I’m waiting for the questions to start; it usually goes downhill quickly after that.” I pull into our driveway, “Dating civilians is a bitch, maybe that’s why so many of us hook up with each other.”
Sophia nods, “It’s like I said years ago, there is a draw.”
I turn off the engine and look at her, “Andrew thinks it’s the ‘combination of high stress, close proximity to each other and the secretive nature of our very existence’. Faith says it’s because we’re all ‘hot chicks with super powers’ but I think she just said that to get a charge out of Andrew. Buffy thinks it’s part of what she calls the ‘Slayer Bond’.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize you guys all had theories,” she laughs.
Shaking my head, “No, Buffy and Dawn are still working the Slayer psychological profile thing. The hooking up thing just came up one night during dinner when they were discussing all the different things that go into being a Slayer, and how we’re all different, yet similar.”
“And what’s your theory, Em?” She cocks her head to the side, waiting for my answer.
Playing with the keys I just took out of the ignition I sigh, “I don’t know. I guess I think it’s really all of those reasons, plus like you said, it would be easier in a way to be with someone who knows exactly how you feel, how you think, what our lives are really like.” Neither of us say anything for while, then I break the silence, “It’s not like I haven’t thought about dating a Slayer, it’s more that I’m worried I’d hurt somebody, you know? I mean, guys are so easy, you can walk into a bar and say ‘Let’s fuck’ and 9 out of 10 times he’ll say ‘cool, ok’. It’s harder with women, but if you look, they’re out there.”
Sophia raises her eyebrow at me and drawls out, “Oh really?”
Blushing a tad, I force my eyes back to the keys, then continue, “I don’t think I could do that with a Slayer though; it would have to… mean more, you know? I guess I’m mostly scared I’d fuck it up somehow. Like you said, a month or two is the longest I’ve ever been with someone. I don’t even know if I can handle more than that.”
She turns to me and tilts her head to side again, trying to digest everything I’ve said, trying to understand my reasoning, “But why would it have to mean more? I’m sure there are Slayers out there who would say ‘cool, ok’.”
I shake my head, “I don’t know, I just don’t think so, not two Slayers together. I mean, look at Faith and Buffy, look at Caridad and Shannon. There’s a connection there that transcends anything I’ve ever seen with other people, straight or gay, doesn’t matter.” Looking over at her, I see her contemplating what I’ve said. “What about you? Have you ever thought about it?”
“I don’t know. Sophia shrugs, “I was with Norberto for so long, never did a whole lot of dating, men or women for that matter. I guess if a situation presents itself, I don’t think I’d run away from it.” She closes her eyes and lays her head back against the headrest as she continues, “Look, Emma, I’m at the hospital during the day and I slay at night. It’s not like I’m going out looking for anything.”
I realize we are way beyond getting too personal here, so nothing stops me from asking, “Why not?”
She opens her eyes and looks at me; her brow furrowed, I can almost see her thinking, “I really don’t know,” she shakes her head, “maybe I’m just scared too.”
I nod thinking it is funny how alike we are. Then I look at her, like, really look at her.
“What?” she narrows her eyes at me.
Suddenly, for the first time, I truly see her: not the role model, not the Slayer, not even the friend; but the complex, slightly vulnerable, stunning woman sitting next to me. I breathe in deeply, man, it’s a rush.
“Em?” she asks, but I don’t answer cause my mind has firmly wrapped around an idea, a feeling that has me stopped dead in my tracks.
In the span of probably 10 seconds, my heart starts to race as I realize the only person I would feel comfortable exploring this great unknown with is her, and it freaks me out, big time. Wow, where is this coming from? Is it just from the conversation? Has there always been an attraction here and I just never realized it before? Now that I’ve seen her like this, will I ever see her as just a friend again? Better question: do I want to? And as my mind swirls, I know it’s wrong, but I can’t stop myself from allowing my cloak to fall. I desperately need to know if I’m alone in this; so I read her, and Jesus, she’s feeling it too. Oh God, oh God, oh God.
She watches as I pull my head back and widen my eyes in surprise, then she realizes what I just did. “Emma, you didn’t…” her eyes try to search mine but I can’t hold her gaze, “Oh my God, you did…” she’s incredulous at first then her disappointment settles in, “that’s… that’s really fucked up.” She sighs as she shakes her head.
Aware of just how wrong, how incredibly intrusive it was, I start to stammer, “I - I’m so sorry, I -I know I shouldn’t have, I - I…”
“Don’t… please…” her voice is even as she raises her hand to stop the idiocy dribbling from my mouth. She takes a deep breath then lets it out as she runs a hand through her hair, “God, Em, talk about not playing fair.” She closes her eyes again and leans her head against the window, “Just, please don’t ever do that again,”
“I swear I won’t,” oh, just great, now she’s angry with me and I feel like shit, good times here. Can’t I just rewind the last 5 minutes? Damn it, I’m such an ass. “Really, Sophia, I promise, it will never happen again.” I want to reassure her, so I put my hand over hers and there is nothing to prepare me for the jolt that runs through me when we touch. Shocked, I pull my hand back immediately. So that’s what Faith is always talking about.
I know she felt it too. We look at each other, then quickly away. “That was… certainly… new,” she says cautiously.
I swallow then turn back to her, “Sophia, I think we - ”
Before I can finish, my door is opened from the outside and Faith leans into the car. “Em, it’s nice of you to actually come home one night this week,” she winks at me. “Can we move this inside? Andrew wants to lock down the house so we can eat in peace then me and Ken are gonna do a patrol with a couple of the SiT’s.”
“Ah, sure, Faith, sorry,” I mumble, now I’m in trouble with everyone, this night is just getting better by the second.
“Nice to see you Soph, I guess you’re the surprise house guest Nicky warned me about this afternoon. Good thing too, she made me get an extra steak, hope you’re hungry.”
“Sounds good to me,” Sophia says as she grabs her bag and gets out of my car. “I had a charity thing in town, so thought I’d drop in on you guys for a few days.”
Faith slaps her arm around her as we walk up the front steps, “Dawn is going to be psyched you’re here. We haven’t seen you in a long time; how’s life treating you?”
Sophia’s eyes casually sweep over mine then Faith’s, “Oh, you know, same old, same old, just when you think you have it all figured out, life throws you a curve ball.” And in that one motion, that carefree look, that seemingly blasé sentence, she put me at ease: letting me know she isn’t angry but we will be talking this out later. Damn, she’s good.
LATER THAT NIGHT - LAKE VIEW CEMETARY – 11:57 PM
FAITH’S POV
“I thought you’d be beat and just want to go to sleep tonight.” I look over to Emma, “Or stay in and hang out with Sophia. We all know you two get in your own little ‘doctor-world’ when she’s in town.”
Em is walking next to me, hands thrust in her pockets, brow furrowed in concentration, “Yeah, well, I kinda wanted to hang with you tonight.”
“Hey, I’m not complaining, we haven’t spent much time together since you started with the residency. It’s good to have some quality time.”
She laughs, “Yeah,” she waves her hand around the cemetery, “Wacky the locales we have to resort to, huh?”
“I’m actually really glad you wanted to come out tonight, I want to talk to you about Nicky.”
She stops walking, “Is she ok? I mean, nothing came after her, right?”
“No, not that, it’s about,” I sigh, “it’s about control you know? And I’m just not getting through to her. I don’t think she understands how much responsibility comes with the power we have.”
Thoroughly confused, Emma shakes her head, “What are you talking about?”
So I tell her what happened with Kennedy and Nicky this morning. How Nicky felt there was nothing wrong with taking Ken for a ride using her magic; how she didn’t get why I made her apologize. “So I was thinking, maybe you could talk to her. Maybe you could make her understand.”
“Yeah, about that, I’m kinda not the best candidate for the job, Faith.” She avoids my gaze as she rests against a tombstone. “I just had my own fall from grace.”
I lean on the stone next to hers, “What? Something happened at the hospital?”
She takes a huge breath then lets it out slowly, “No, it was just earlier, when we first got home,” she looks down, “I read Sophia without asking her if it was ok.”
“Why the fuck would you do that?” Shit, talk about totally out of character: Emma never does anything wrong. I mean it’s actually kind of sickening sometimes.
She’s shaking her head now, “Because I’m a big fucking loser, that’s why.”
“You want to tell me what happened?” I put my hand on the back of her neck and we walk further into the cemetery, away from Ken and the girls.
Her hands are back in her pockets, “It was awful. We were talking and then I got this uncontrollable urge, like I had to know what she was thinking, feeling.” She kicks a rock and watches it sail a few yards. “Of course she could tell by the look on my face what I did, she was pissed, well, maybe not so much pissed as disappointed.” She hangs her head.
“Do you blame her?”
She turns to me, and whoa, is she upset, “No, not at all, in fact, I think I’m angrier with myself than she is with me.” She finds her rock and gives it another good wallop. It ricochets off a tree then is lost in a sea of forsythia.
Not getting why Emma would do such a thing, “Were you guys arguing?”
Her voice is very soft when she answers, “No.”
I can’t help but get a sneaky suspicion... “Something going on between you two you want to tell me about?” I venture. When she doesn’t answer I can barely contain myself from shouting ‘I knew it, I knew it’ don’t think she’d really appreciate that right now though. “Em?”
She sighs yet again, “Nothing’s ‘going on’. We were just talking, philosophically, you know, hypothetically, then all of a sudden it got personal, like really personal, then, then I couldn’t stop myself. I feel like such a moron. I mean how could I do something so... God, so disturbingly… avaricious.”
“Huh?” Fucking college kids, I mean I love her but...
She waves her hand, “I’m sorry, um it means, ah, grabby, predatory, like… taking something by force.”
“Well, yeah, you fucked up,” sometimes short and sweet is the way to go.
She puts her head in her hands, “God, I’m having a really hard time dealing with this.”
Taking hold of her shoulders, I turn her to face me, “Look, I’m not trying to come off as some holier-than-thou freak. Believe me when I tell you I did more than my share of messed up shit, but it’s done now, and nothing can change that. Look, you’ve apologized?” I raise my eyebrows then she nods, “you won’t do it again?” again I wait for her to nod, “ok, now get over it.”
She shakes her head and moves away from me, “No, you were right the first time, I really fucked up bad, Faith.” She leans against another headstone resting her chin on her chest.
Now I feel bad for the kid, “Emma, I think you two can work this out, you should talk to her tomorrow. Come on, look at all those stories that I know the younger girls still tell about me: they’re all true and Buffy still forgave me.” Deciding to give her a more recent for instance, “Do you realize when you first got here, Buffy and I had a fist fight then I took her to another dimension without her consent? Fuck that, I basically kidnapped her and brought her to a hell dimension. And I did it for the sole purpose of showing her something that would hurt her. You don’t think that qualifies as an abuse of power?”
“Holy shit!” she gasps, “How come I didn’t know about that?”
Raising my eyebrow, “You’re not serious.”
She thinks about it, “Right, I was 15 and pretty much a wreck.”
Nodding, I continue, “None of us are perfect, Em. We’ve all done something, or in my case, many things, we wish we didn’t. It’s very easy to allow yourself to get caught up in your emotions, whether it is anger, hate… or love,” I hold up my hand to stop her protest. “It’s a hard job policing ourselves, but we have to try our best. The PtB gave us these powers for a reason: to use them; we just have to be responsible when we do.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Emma nods at me then is dragged off the tombstone and into the arms of a Mok’tagar Demon. The next thing I know we’re surrounded by some 20 vamps and the demon now has a gun at Emma’s throat. What is with the fucking guns? I just can’t stand it.
Clap, clap, clap, “Excellent performance. Don’t you Slayers ever get tired of hearing yourselves speak? My word, the sanctimonious diatribes that spew from your mouths,” the vamp rolls his eyes, “makes me a little queasy I tell ya. And you’re so into your little speech you didn’t even notice this noisy group.”
I steel my gaze at the vampire, knowing if we live to get out of this, I will never be this careless again. How the fuck did they just appear like that? “What do you want?”
“To show you how helpless you really are,” he nods his head to another vampire who approaches a struggling Emma. “Tut, tut, little one, your magic won’t work here, we have our own Wicca who put a,” he tilts his head, “Hm, I guess you can say a jam on the frequency in this area.” He looks at Emma and smiles, “We’re not going to kill you, my beautiful girl; my friend here just wants a little taste.”
Emma’s eyes fly open wide and she begins her struggling anew. But the demon has her tight to him, one huge arm around her shoulders pinning her back to his chest, the other holding the handgun just under her jaw, pressing firmly into her throat.
Oh hell no, this is not going to happen. Furtively, I shift my weight and stare from one to another, trying to figure out a way to stop this from happening. All the while the brood of other vampires watches intently.
“Would you rather we kill her?” the head vampire asks me, “because if you try to attack us, Solomon over there,” he points to the demon, “will pull the trigger before you can get to him. I guarantee it.”
Trying for an angle, any angle I begin, “Who sent you here?” I try for snarky, sometimes vamps like that, “You know, just out of curiosity.” Maybe if I keep him talking, I can stall until I can think of something better.
“Haven’t you been reading the prophecy… um, Faith, is it?”
I nod, “Yeah, and you’re called…?” Imperceptibly, I inch closer to Emma and the demon that stands between us.
“Richard. It’s delightful to meet you,” he’s almost cordial, “although I think my fledgling will enjoy this evening even more so.”
Knowing how totally fucked we are right now, I do something I never would have if there wasn’t a gun at Emma’s throat. If there is any chance in the world I can appeal to him, I’ll take it; I look him in the eye and try to level my voice, “Please don’t do this.”
He smiles at me, “We serve at the pleasure of the Anunnaki, Faith, and we will ensure their return. Now, Dennis, drink” He nods again to the other vamp that is now standing in front of Emma, one hand slowly tracing down the gun-less side of her neck while the other rests just above her hip. Moving slowly, he comes even closer; his arm encircles her waist, his eyes penetrating hers, son-of-a-bitch it’s almost... sexual.
Then Emma stops struggling; her eyes become slits, finally succumbing to his thrall. The mother fucker was right; I have never felt more helpless in my life. Now beyond scared, Emma’s arms weakly inch up between them as he lowers his mouth to her neck, then she breathes out her plea, “Don’t... please...” She tries in a futile attempt to push him away then cries out as his teeth tear through her skin. Her head jerks back and her chest lurches up into him as she gasps for air. The demon steps away from her as the young vampire takes her fully into his arms, drinking deeply as she softly begs, “No.”
There is no fucking way I can just stand here and watch this. I’m on the demon the instant the gun falls from Emma’s neck. He doesn’t have a chance to fire his weapon because I timed my leap so my foot would hit his throat, while the other slammed into his chest. He crashes into the tree behind him then goes down in a heap. I don’t know if he’s unconscious or dead, not caring, I know he’s out of commission. Quickly spinning, I stake young Dennis and grab the falling Emma.
Not really liking the 18:1 odds, I yell out, “KENNEDY!” and soon, I hear them approaching. Laying Emma on the ground, I turn to Richard; hatred is far too docile a term for what I feel for this… creature, “I will destroy you for this, you bastard.” I throw myself into the group of vamps bearing down on me, trying to get to him. It’s not even a fight really; me plus blind rage doesn’t really equal a lot of technique. Through a barrage of jumps, kicks and punches all I leave is a heavy cloud of dust. By the time Kennedy and the girls arrive, I’ve taken out half of them and am in the process of snapping another’s neck.
Richard calls out, “Enough.” He smirks as his remaining vamps surround him, “Another time Slayer, you will pay for taking my pet,” he taunts as they back away. Then, they’re gone, like disappeared gone, in an instant gone.
“What the fuck?” one of the girls says amazed.
Falling to my knees next to Emma, I bring her head into my lap. I rip off the bottom of my T-Shirt and press it into her bleeding neck. “You’re gonna be ok, Em, you’re gonna be ok.”
“I’m… I’m alright.” She’s conscious, barely. “Help me up?”
I’m kinda scared, I don’t want her moving around so soon. “Maybe you should wait a little, ok? Let Ken get her car.” I look over to Ken who sees the blood quickly soak through the material on her neck then shakes her head. Shit, we need to get her home fast. Pulling her into a sitting position, I take off my jacket and put it around her. “What if you pass out, huh?”
“Please, Faith?” she grabs my arm to steady herself as I help her up. Emma swallows, holding the remnants of my shirt tight to her throat. She looks at me pleadingly, “Just take me home. I promise I won’t pass out till we get there.” She tries a smile but it’s more a grimace.
Knowing I can get us home in less than five minutes, I grudgingly agree, “Alright, we’ll take the bike, it’s faster”.
I turn to Ken, who has her hand up to stop me before the words can even leave my lips, “I’ll call the house so Sophia will be up and ready to take a look at her once your guys get there.”
Wincing at the mention of her name, Emma leans heavily against me, “I’ll be fine, I just need to rest and keep warm.” Then she looks at Kennedy, “You don’t need to call her, Ken. He didn’t take much.”
Kennedy looks at her like she’s lost her mind then turns away and makes the call. In an instant I hear her trying to calm Buffy down.
Emma’s arms tightly encircle my neck when I pick her up. Turning towards the street I hold her closer than I probably need to, but she doesn’t seem to mind. Instead, she burrows her head into my chest as I feel her tears start to soak through my shirt. And as I carry her to my bike, I try to control the red hot anger that’s burning through me right now, because I need to channel it into something else. “You’re wrong, Em,” I say as evenly as I can, “he took plenty.”
