TITLE: Body and Soul - The Curse - Chapter 4
AUTHOR: Lysia
EMAIL: cricket818uk@wadnitt.fsnet.co.uk
FEEDBACK: Very much appreciated. Praise is encouraging, constructive
criticism is used to improve.
RATING: 12, for violence.
WARNING: Violence, angst. And possibly language. Light S/A comfort-
type romance.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of them, but I'll give them back to Joss
when I've finished with them.
SPOILERS: Set sometime after 'Forever'.
ARCHIVING: Here. Anywhere else, just ask.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Guide to characters from FFL - Henry Carver is the
bloke who read the poem out at the party; Charles Hamilton is the
other man at the party; Katharine Millington-Parks is the woman with
the funny hair-do who was with them.

Chapter 4

Giles replaced the last of his book collection back on the shelf and
sighed wearily. He had been looking through his own books for
references to the vampire Spike had named but so far he had found
nothing. Now he had moved on to the supply of books at the magic box
and requested for some to be delivered round to his house after work.

"There you go," Xander announced, bringing the pile of books in from
the car outside. "That's about enough reading material for one
evening, even for you."

Giles surveyed the heap of books on his desk. "Yes, I think this
should be enough for now," he concluded.

"Oh," Xander added, fishing in his jacket pocket, "and Anya asked me
to give you this with them."

Frowning, Giles took the small yellow card and read it. "'Please
return to the shop by... or you will receive a fine?!' A loan token?"
he exclaimed indignantly. "But I own the bloody shop, and the stock!"

Xander shrugged. "She said you told her to give one of those to
anyone who borrows things," he replied with a grin.

Giles rolled his eyes and dropped the card into the bin. "Well it
doesn't matter," he muttered, turning back to the mountain of
books. "I have a lot of reading to be doing. Are you staying to help
or do you have some prior engagement?"

Xander looked at the books thoughtfully. "Hmm, do I get free food if
I stay?"

"There's some biscuits in the tin and the kettle's on," Giles replied.

Xander grinned. "Woo-hoo!" He quickly headed off to the kitchen,
easily locating the biscuit tin and carrying it back to the
lounge. "I am research man!" he announced in his best superhero
voice, sitting on the sofa with the biscuit tin on his lap. "I can
read anything." He picked up the nearest book and glanced at the
first page. "Um... this is in Latin."

Giles fished out another book and chucked it onto the sofa next to
Xander, stealing a Jammy Dodger from the biscuit tin on his way to
the kitchen.

"What am I looking for anyway?" Xander asked as Giles poured the tea.

"A vampire named Charles Hamilton," Giles replied, picking up the two
full mugs and carefully making his way back to the lounge. "That's
the only information Spike could give me."

Xander took his mug of tea and sipped it. "Ah, no-one makes tea like
an Englishman," he announced, setting his mug down on the coffee
table and opening his book.

Giles picked up the Latin book that Xander couldn't read and started
flicking through.

"What I want to know," Xander asked, puzzled, "is why we're
researching stuff for Spike."

"Well," Giles explained, a note of concern in his voice, "I didn't
like to admit this in front of our vampire 'friend' but from what he
told me about this gang that attacked him they were much stronger
than the majority of vampires Buffy has faced and I don't really wish
to send her out on patrol only for her to run into them. I feel we
should try and learn all we can about Hamilton and his gang and
conduct a suitable plan of action."

Xander nodded. "Well you don't have to worry about Buffy tonight," he
assured the Watcher. "Another vital duty called - she has to take
care of Dawn."

"I see," Giles agreed, going back to his book, relieved that Buffy
was in no danger.

Suddenly a ring on the doorbell disturbed the quiet research. Xander
got to his feet and headed for the door. When he opened it and looked
out onto the courtyard. There was no-one there, but he did catch a
glimpse of a figure disappear up the steps and out into the street. A
moment later there was the sound of a vehicle roaring away into the
distance.

It was then that Xander's gaze fell upon the lifeless body in the
pond in the centre of the courtyard. His heart began to pound in
shock and his throat became tight as panic overtook him.

"Giles!" he managed to shout, backing away from the door.

Immediately Giles joined him and he wordlessly pointed to the corpse
in the pond. "Stay indoors," Giles warned him, snatching up a stake
and venturing outside cautiously, glancing around for any vampires
waiting to ambush him. He approached the pond, noting with disgust
that the water was stained red with blood. Tentatively, he grabbed
the figure's shoulder and rolled the still form over.

"It's Spike," he informed Xander, hauling the unconscious vampire out
of the water. "I don't think there's any danger. Help me get him
indoors."

Xander rushed out to assist Giles in dragging Spike back into the
house. Xander closed the door behind them and quickly moved all the
books off the desk so they could set the vampire down on the surface.

"Has he... drowned or something?" Xander asked nervously. "Can vampires
drown?"

"No," Giles replied as the two of them heaved Spike onto the
desk. "Vampires don't need to breathe. His lungs might be full off
water though."

"Oh my God," Xander mumbled, horrified at the state of Spike. He had
nasty puncture wounds on his wrists, long gashes on his forehead and
his sodden clothes had a reddish hue to them.

Giles examined his injuries quickly, checking he wasn't bleeding any
more. "This is odd," he muttered. "Someone seems to have marked Spike
with the signs of stigmata."

Xander's brow creased. "So... we're thinking some kind of religious guy
whose idea of fighting the forces of darkness is to torture demons?"

Giles shook his head. "No," he replied, examining the wound on
Spike's neck. "Another vampire."

"Eww!" Xander exclaimed, glancing at Spike's mutilated neck and
looking away as quickly as possible. The wound on Spike's neck was
worse than anything he had ever seen. Rather than they typical fang
marks the flesh was basically ripped apart. "Since when did vampire
bites look like that?"

"When the vampire wants to inflict pain," Giles replied in all
seriousness, retrieving a medical kit from one of the desk drawers
and unwrapping a bandage.

Xander eyed the Watcher curiously. "Yeah, 'cos usually they're such
nice gentle little demons."

"Not all vampire bites hurt," Giles explained as he cleaned the bite
on Spike's neck. "Sometimes they don't hurt at all."

"Hence Riley's frequent trips to the Fang 'R' Us club," Xander
deduced.

Giles nodded and began to tape a wad of lint and cotton wool to the
wound. "Exactly. When vampires kill during a feed they tend to make
it a little more painful. Apparently... the uh... fear and pain the
victim feels makes the blood taste... nicer." He shuddered.

"They taught you some nice things in Watcher school, didn't they?"
Xander muttered, holding one end of a bandage as Giles wrapped it
around Spike's neck to secure the dressing.

"I doubt a human could withstand a bite like that," Giles sighed,
feeling a little sympathy for the unconscious vampire. "That wasn't
just to feed, whoever did this just wanted to inflict as much pain as
possible."

"But who'd want to hurt Spike?" Xander asked, immediately slapping
his head for his stupid choice of words. "Okay, I can't believe I
said that. I mean why would another vampire hurt Spike?"

The Watcher shrugged. "Because he helps us?" he suggested,
unsure. "Vampires are remarkably unsociable. We already know there's
a vampire gang after Spike so chances are these two attacks are
related."

Xander nodded, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He was looking
around, his face creased with disgust. "Yeah... uh... what's that smell?"

Giles sniffed, then recoiled. "Yes, um... urrgh! I think it's... burning
flesh."

Clasping a hand to his nose and mouth to block the stench, Giles
immediately searched Spike for anything that could be burning him. He
located something small and solid under the vampire's t-shirt. Upon
inspection he found it to be a small pewter cross on a chain which
had been resting against Spike's chest for so long it had embedded
itself in the flesh. Xander turned away as Giles grabbed the chain
and ripped the charm away from the vampire's skin, leaving a nasty
burn.

"Oh man, that's sick!" Xander panted, fighting the nausea that was
rolling through his stomach. "I never thought I'd say this but... poor
Spike."

Giles nodded blankly as he deposited the cross and chain on the
blotter. "I'm afraid I have to agree," he sighed. "Spike may have
been a nuisance, not to mention evil, but... no-one deserves this. This
is just inhumane and unnecess..."

He fell silent as Spike began to make gurgling noises, water
dribbling from the vampire's mouth. He immediately pulled him up into
a sitting position as he began to choke up the water that had settled
in his lungs.

"Xander, get the bin!" Giles urged .

Xander looked at him blankly. "The what?"

"Um..." In his panic Giles struggled to remember the appropriate
term. "The... the... trash can."

By this point Spike was coughing up water all over the carpet and
Giles's clothes.

"Trash can - gotcha!" Xander replied, grabbing the bin from under the
desk and handing it to Giles, who held it under Spike's head just as
he stopped coughing up the water. Giles and Xander looked at each
other. "And never let it be said that as a team we have communication
problems," Xander sighed.

Giles nodded. "Indeed." He looked down at Spike, who was bent double,
clutching his stomach. "Are you alright now?"

Spike nodded feebly and Giles dropped the bin back under the table,
whereupon Spike spat something else up. Giles rolled his eyes and
wrung out his shirt, noting that the water soaking it was tinged pink
with blood.

"Wha-what's happened?" Spike murmured, collapsing back on the
desk. "How'd I get here? You lot recs... rescs... save me or summat?"

"We found you in the courtyard," Giles explained quietly. "Can you
tell us what happened to you?"

"Got 'tacked," Spike struggled to reply, his head lolling and his
eyes closing. "Vampires - same gang as what ruined m' crypt. Been
locked somewhere all day. Nasty buggers tortured me."

"Oh," Giles said, searching for a reply but drawing a blank. "Um... my
word, are you alright?"

"Wha's it bloody look like?" Spike spat viciously, pulling himself
back into a sitting position on the edge of the desk. "I'm in agony -
and none of it would've 'appened if you'd let me stay 'ere like I
asked."

Giles cringed slightly. He felt a pang of guilt for what had happened
to Spike, but he quickly reminded himself that this was an evil
vampire he was dealing with. Yet, the pathetic creature huddled on
his desk, soaked with blood and water and shivering from cold, pain
and shock did not strike Giles as 'evil'.

"Could you tell me who attacked you?" Giles asked, playing the
dutiful Watcher and ignoring Spike's accusations.

"Mm-hmm," Spike replied, his eyes closing as he lay back once more.
His repeated attempts at sitting weren't working well, so he decided
to stay lying down for a while. "Got 'nother few names for ya, Rupes."

"Yes, well can you tell Xander?" Giles replied. "I would like to
change my clothes."

Spike glanced briefly at the rather soggy librarian. "Yeah,
sorry 'bout that mate," he mumbled, wiping at Giles's soaked shirt
with an unsteady hand, pretty much slapping him in the stomach.

Giles nodded politely and disappeared upstairs, leaving Xander to
tend to the vampire.

"We're researching your Hamilton guy for you," Xander explained to
him. "You know someone else we could look into, 'cos we're getting
nada on him?"

Spike nodded and he clutched at his neck. "Throat hurts," he
protested, indicating he didn't want to be doing any more talking.

"Well write it down," Xander suggested, snatching up a notepad and
pen from the desk and offering them to Spike.

"Yeah," Spike agreed, nodding shakily, his head bobbing like a
nodding-head-dog in the back of a car. "Gonna sit down somewhere
comfy."

Leaning on Xander, Spike limped over to the sofa and collapsed onto
it. "Nyhaa! Giles's couch!" Xander cringed, realising how much of a
mess the soggy and bleeding vampire was going to make. Said vampire
just glared at him. "Doesn't matter," Xander added quickly. "Wounded
vampires are more important than furniture, I'm sure Giles agrees."
He bit his lip, hoping Giles wasn't going to disagree, and handed
Spike the notepad. "Alright, wanna share your info?"

Spike propped himself up and quickly wrote the three names on the
paper. Xander noticed the brief look of distress that flickered
across the vampire's face and took the paper, scanning through the
names.

'Henry Carver. Cecily Addams. Katharine Millington-Parks.'

Xander read through the names, which meant absolutely nothing to him,
noting the elegant handwriting. "You know," he informed Spike, "you
have really pretty handwriting for a spawn of hell."

"Sod off," Spike growled, slumping back onto the sofa.

"Okay," Xander announced, putting the paper on top of a pile of
books. "Hopefully that should help with..."

He was cut of by Spike's strangled scream as the vampire thrashed
wildly and fell onto the floor with a loud thud. Xander panicked and
rushed over, knocking a heap of books over in his haste to find out
what was going on. Spike was lying on the floor, staring up at him
with wide frightened eyes which were glowing a bright white colour.

"Spike, are you okay?" Xander asked nervously, not wanting to venture
too close.

The light faded and Spike looked up at him, utterly confused. "I'm
sorry?" he asked quietly, his breath shaky as he looked around,
disoriented and clearly scared. "Wh-where am I?"

Xander moved closer, trying desperately to calm the near-hysterical
vampire. "Spike, what's the matter?!

Spike stared back at him, shaking from shock. "Alright, I demand to
know who you are and what's going on here!" He curled closer to the
sofa, dazed.

Panicking, Xander yelled upstairs for Giles, causing the
disorientated vampire to flinch and try and hide behind the sofa.
Xander grabbed him by the arm, feeling distinctly uneasy as Spike
struggled against him. He couldn't help but think he was hurting the
frightened man.

"Let me go!" Spike yelled, wriggling and trying to get out of
Xander's grasp.

"Spike," Xander pleaded, desperately trying to hold the vampire still
and calm him down. "Spike!" He was still looking wildly about the
room, confused and bewildered. Xander moved closer. "Spike, look at
me!"

Startled, Spike whipped around and faced him. "Why do you keep
calling me that?" he demanded. "That's not my name!"

Xander froze, not knowing what the hell he should do. Spike was
clearly amnesic. "You don't remember do you?" he asked quietly. It
must be magic of some variety - he was pretty sure vampires didn't
suffer head trauma other than the chip-induced variety and Spike had
been fine a minute ago.

Giles rushed downstairs having changed his clothes, immediately
couching on the floor beside Xander. "What's happened?" he asked.

Xander shook his head sadly, still looking at Spike. "I don't know,"
he replied. "He's just... forgotten everything. One minute he was fine
and the next he screamed and fell over, his eyes went all glowy and
now he doesn't know who he is. I think someone's done something to
his mind."

"My mind is perfectly fine, sir, I assure you!" Spike snapped
indignantly, glaring at Xander. "Now unhand me at once, I wish to go
home."

"Oh good Lord," Giles sighed, rubbing at his temples. He had a
headache coming on. "This is all we need."

Xander looked at the vampire kneeling on the floor beside him,
studying his behaviour curiously. This was not Spike. The display of
fear, the loss of memory, the denial of his nickname, the posh accent
and his inability to recognise neither Giles nor himself proved
that. "So," he said quietly, letting go of Spike in the hope that he
would be less scared, "if you're not Spike then... who are you?"

Spike merely stared back at him. "That's none of your concern," he
replied sharply. He got to his feet rather shakily. "I think I'll be
leaving now." With that, he turned on his heel and began to head for
the door as quickly as he could.

"Don't let him leave!" Giles blurted out.

That was enough for Spike. With a small yell of panic he raced for
the door, scrabbling for the handle as Xander leapt up and ran after
him, grabbing him roughly and dragging him back.

"I'm sorry," Giles insisted, trying desperately to reassure the
terrified vampire. "You can't go out in this state. It's not safe for
you."

His explanation was completely drowned out by Spike's screams for
help as Xander pushed him onto the sofa. Xander looked haplessly at
the Watcher, distressed at having to hurt Spike like this.

Spike, on the other hand, didn't have any problems with hurting
either of them. He lashed out viciously, swiping at Xander and
smacking his hand against the young man's nose. Xander yelped in
pain, but it was nothing compared to the howl of agony Spike let out
as his chip reacted.

"Just stop fighting; we're not going to hurt you!" Xander insisted,
rubbing Spike's head.

Spike just batted him away ferociously, setting the chip off again as
his fist smashed into Xander's jaw.

"Alright, you can stop that!" Giles snapped, grabbing the vampire's
flailing arms to prevent him from hitting anyone again. "Now listen
to me - We're here to help you. You cannot leave the house until you
know more about what's happened. We're not just keeping you here to
upset you - we're doing this for your own good, so there is
absolutely no need for violence. Do you understand?"

"I just want to go home!" Spike yelled, attempting to struggle free
and lash out at the Watcher. "You have no right to keep me here! Who
are you people?!"

Giles tried to ignore the twinge of guilt as he pinned Spike's arms
down. "I'm sorry!" he insisted. "You can't go anywhere. You have to
stay here until we find out what's going on..."

His explanation was cut short when Spike managed to free his arm and
strike out at him again. The vampire let out another howl of pain,
cradling his head in his hands and whimpering. "What's happening?" he
demanded shakily, convinced these two strangers must be causing his
pain. "Why are you hurting me?"

"Just try and calm down," Giles urged, getting angry with Spike's
persisting violence. He put a hand on the vampire's shoulder in an
attempt to comfort him, but Spike only raised his arm again in a
threatening gesture. The frightened and confused look on his face
spoiled the effect, but Giles was not putting up with anymore
fighting.

"You can stop that!" he ordered the vampire, managing to persuade
Spike to relax a little. "Now you have to stay here, and if I have to
tie you to a bloody chair to keep you here then that's fine. It's for
your own good."

Spike nodded his head silently. Giles and Xander exchanged regretful
looks. Giles hadn't wanted to threaten Spike while he was like this
but there seemed to be no other way to make the vampire calm down.

"I think we'd better ring Buffy and let her know what's happened,"
Giles suggested, reaching for the phone and departing for the kitchen
in order to keep Spike from overhearing the conversation which would
undoubtedly distress him.

Xander nodded in agreement and looked pitifully at Spike, who had
curled up, resting his forehead on his knees, whimpering slightly.

"Please... I want to go home," Spike sniffed, giving Xander a pleading
look.

"You don't know where home is," Xander insisted, putting a comforting
hand on Spike's trembling shoulder. "Hell, you don't even know who
you are!"

"I bloody well do!" Spike shot back incredulously. "M-my name is
William Healey, I live at number 54 Yatesdale Avenue in Holland Park,
London. I have two sisters and a brother, my birthday is August 20th
and I..."

"What year?" Xander cut in, wiping his bleeding nose.

Spike's brow creased in confusion. "1856," he replied curiously, a
little unnerved.

"Perhaps you should take a look at this year's calendar," Xander
suggested. He picked up the small flip-calendar on Giles's desk.

"Xander!" Giles snapped. "Don't! Not until we know more."

"Fine," Xander replied quickly, chucking the calendar away so Spike
couldn't see it. "No calendars."

The phone began to ring and Giles waited patiently for someone to
answer. When Dawn picked up he requested, over the loud noise of a
film in the background, to speak to Buffy.

"Hi Giles," Buffy announced, taking the phone from Dawn. "What's up?"

"Um... hello Buffy," Giles replied, watching nervously as Spike began
trying to move from the sofa again while Xander insisted that he stay
still. "I'm afraid we've experienced a slight problem. It's... it's
Spike."

Giles heard an exasperated sigh from the other end. "Oh great,"
muttered the weary Slayer. "What, is he giving you grief because you
found zilch on the guys that attacked him?"

"N-no," Giles explained hesitantly. "It's just... someone attacked him
again and deposited him on my doorstep in a terrible mess and just
recently he seems to have lost most of his memory of being a demon."

A brief silence from Buffy, then her voice became serious and
quiet. "Was it just sudden?"

"Yes," Giles replied. "Xander's here as well. He was actually with
Spike when it occurred. Apparently his eyes glowed; he screamed as if
in pain and then amnesia set in. Suffice to say, he's a little
shaken."

There was yet more silence from Buffy, so much that Giles had to
check that she was still there. "Hello, Buffy?"

"I'll come right over. In the meantime I... I think you should call
Angel," Buffy told him quietly.

"I'm sorry?" Giles asked, bewildered.

"What you described happened to Spike..." Buffy began, her voice
cracking slightly. "It sounds exactly the same as when Angel got his
soul back."

"Buffy, are you sure?" Giles asked, astounded. However, Buffy had
already hung up. Frowning, he reset the receiver and returned to the
lounge, where Spike was getting more and more agitated.

"I don't understand why I can't leave!" Spike was ranting, his legs
trembling. "Please, just let me go! Why aren't you telling me what's
happening? I have a right to know!"

"We're trying to help you," Xander assured him, quite disturbed by
Spike's panic. "We just have to find out what's going on and then
everything'll be okay... Giles, any ideas yet?"

"Just keep talking to him," Giles sighed not wanting to say anything
until he was sure. He searched his desk for Angel's card, located it
and vanished into the kitchen for a second phone call. He dialled the
number and before the first ring had finished he heard the familiar
and chirpy voice of Cordelia Chase.

"Hello, Angel Investigations, we help the helpless."

"Ah, Cordelia," Giles said. "Um... I wonder... could I speak to Angel
please? It's rather urgent."

"Gee, sorry you just missed him," Cordy apologised. "Said something
was really wrong and just walked out a few minutes ago. He's been
kinda antsy all day - thought something really bad was gonna happen
but he didn't know what, and about five minutes ago he seemed to have
this, like, sudden knowledge and just walked out to fight the big
evil thing he knew about. I don't know what it is, and I'm supposed
to be vision gal. So how are you?"

Giles resisted the urge to shout at the cheerleader. "Listen,
Cordelia does Angel have a-a cell-phone or ... or any other way I can
contact him."

"Yeah, he has a cell," Cordy replied with a slightly weary tone to
her voice. "He doesn't know how to use the text messages, the phone
book, the keypad lock, the credit update or the voicemail, but as
long as he's got it switched on and he's remembered to charge it and
he hasn't accidentally phoned some random number or just left it at
home then you should be able to reach him."

Giles gritted his teeth. "Could you give me the number then,
Cordelia?" She didn't half go on sometimes.

"Oh yeah!" There was a sound of drawers and cupboards being opened,
paper being sifted through and Cordy humming quietly as she searched
for the illusive number. "Here we are. Oh God, this handwriting is
terrible. Wesley, did you write this?"

"No, I believe you did."

Giles suppressed a chuckle as Cordy read the telephone number out to
him with some difficulty and he noted it down on a small piece of
paper.

"You know," Cordy twittered having checked the phone number, "you
should phone up again soon where there isn't a crisis. It'd been fun
to hear from the Sunnydale gang again. We can all catch up and chat.
Won't that be fun?"

"Yes, delightful," Giles lied. "I must be going now. Bye Cordelia."
He hung up, looking rather relieved.

"Cordy's not the best person to talk to in a crisis," Xander pointed
out with a grin.

"No," Giles agreed, dialling the number and waiting for Angel to pick
up. Instead, he just got the engaged tone. Infuriated, he slammed the
phone down. "Damn!"

"I take it he's busy," Xander deduced.

Giles shrugged. "From what Cordelia told me there could be any number
of reasons for my not being able to reach him. Apparently he's not
particularly skilled with a mobile phone. How's Spike?"

Xander glanced at Spike, who was sitting beside him with his legs
clasped to his chest, rocking back and forth and whimpering quietly
to himself. "Um... catatonic."

Giles shook his head and watched as the vampire tried desperately to
block out the frightening new world around him and retreat into the
safety of his mind.

Suddenly the phone began to ring with a loud beep and Spike cried out
in shock, looking around frantically to find out what had made the
noise. Giles immediately answered it.

"Giles?" Angel's voice asked urgently.

"Yes," Giles sighed, relieved that he had finally managed to speak to
Angel.

"Giles, I've been trying to reach you since I left the office.
Something very bad has just happened."

"I've just been trying to phone you, in fact," Giles
replied. "Something's happened to Spike, and I was wondering..."

"I know," Angel interrupted, sounding breathless, as though he was
scared. "I sensed it. Spike's been cursed. He has a soul."

"Yes, that's what Buffy told me," Giles agreed. "It's just... he
doesn't seem to remember anything about being a vampire."

"It takes a while for the memories to come back," Angel explained
quietly, audibly disturbed at the recollection of the return of his
own soul.

"What should we do?" Giles asked, hoping Angel could give him some
advice as to how to soften the blow for Spike when he did remember,

There was a sigh from the other end of the line. "Tell him," Angel
decided. "He'll be like this for about fifteen minutes, so you don't
have long. It took a while to reach you. Do your best to explain it
to him so he can brace himself. I should be in Sunnydale in a few
hours."

"Alright," Giles replied quietly. "We'll see you soon."

He hung up and walked through to the lounge. Spike was leaning
against Xander, who was holding the vampire like a distressed child
while he sniffed and sobbed and begged to be allowed to leave this
strange place. Wringing his hands, Giles took a seat opposite Spike
on the coffee table.

"Spike?" he asked quietly. "I've been told to explain some things to
you. I expect you'll find them difficult to believe and rather
unpleasant, but it's for the best."

Spike nodded, but his expression was one of utter loathing and
disdain. Everyone kept saying they were doing things for the best,
yet these two just seemed to be stopping him from going home.
Reluctantly, he sat and listened to whatever the man had to say.

~TBC~