And Now the Legacy Begins 3/4
Jan. 12th, 2010 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonyphoenixSeries: Lotus in Muddy Water
Fandom: BtVS
Characters/Pairing: Faith
Rating: PG
Concrit: Please, in comments
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, not yet, but the will be once I've taken over the world. Bwah-ha-ha.
Summary: While fleeing Kakistos and Council Enforcers, Faith gets an offer of help from a friend of a friend.
Notes: The trust someone you have no reason to trust bit comes from an awesome Eddie Murphy move called The Golden Child.
Links:
“Johnny, wakey, wakey.” Faith opened the tie-dyed curtains, letting the sunlight in, where it would have caressed the warm cherry wood dresser, if it hadn't been covered in a layer of dust. Faith blew across the top, raising a cloud, and wondered why Andy, who's family gave him anything he wanted, would treat it that way. “Ever think about getting a maid in here? Not like you couldn't afford it.”
Bleary eyes gazed up at her for a moment. “Faith,” he shouted, tossing aside a colorful Guatemalan blanket. He was a tall but lean man, the same age as Faith, and had obviously crashed in the clothes he'd been wearing the day before: jeans with holes worn out at the knees and a t-shirt with the terrified face from the cover of In the Court of the Crimson King.
Sitting on the edge of his bed, Johnny's smile was as open as a sunflower was to the sun but only for a moment. His head titled and he frowned slightly as he studied her. Not yet, Faith thought, grabbing a bag of pot off his dresser. “Babe, what were you thinking? Leaving your Mary Jane out in the open where the cops couldn't help but see it?”
He snorted in response. “Cops aren't going to raid this neighborhood.”
“Yeah,” Faith replied. “Money solves all kinds of problems.”
He looked at her closely again. “Yep, that's me. Problem free. But not you.”
Faith put on an easy smile but then dropped it. She was there for his help after all. Why put it off? He rose from the bed and took her hand. Faith held herself still, with effort, the long minutes he stared intently into her palm. Dropping her hand, he dove for the phone by the nightstand.
“You know that's creepy, right?” she asked him.
Ignoring her comment, he dialed a number and waited. “Blake?”
Faith made a face at Johnny when she realized who he was calling. He held a hand out and responded to the line. “What? Time? Umm, I'm going with early. Yeah, sorry about that.”
After a pause he added, “Duuude, what kind of problem could I have? Do need a favor though. What time are you leaving?”
Faith's eyes narrowed in calculation: back of a hippie van heading to a Grateful Dead concert or whatever they were calling themselves now that Garcia was dead. Totally not her thing but that just meant nobody would be looking for here there.
“Ten AM?” Johnny asked into the phone. “That means you'll be getting on the road by about what? Two-thirty? Yeah, traffic. OK, so more like one? Perfect. Got room for one more? No, I can't make it but I gotta friend who wants to go.”
Faith, rethinking the wisdom of standing near open curtains, even five stories up, slipped into the hallway. “We'll be by around noon and thanks, man.”
As Johnny joined her in the hallway, Faith said, “You didn't give him my name.”
He took her hand and squeezed it before giving her some space again. Waving her to follow, he headed towards the kitchen. “Not because he has a problem with you. Just know how the gossip train works and I don't want your name getting dropped around where it could get back to anyone.”
The kitchen was immaculate and, Faith knew, full of gadgets whose use she couldn't even begin to guess. “How you can keep this room so neat when the rest of your place is,” she started to say when he interrupted her with a wave of his hand.
“Feed the body; feed the soul.” Faith gave him a skeptical look but he just smiled and started pulling food out of the fridge. “Soufflé work for you? With some has browns on the side? Only have four hours to get you fed and out of town.”
“Sure but none of that cranberry and goat cheese crap.” Leaving a pale cheese out, that Faith eyed with suspicion, he went back into the fridge for ham and onion.
Seeing Faith's expression, he said, “It's the most normal I've got. Trust me,” he added with an easy smile, “Have I ever steered you wrong?”
Faith watched him scramble the eggs into a bowl. “Blake and Alicia? That the best you could do? You know she's going to try to teach me macramé again,” she added as she sat herself down on the far end of the counter. He gave her a look as he started slicing up the ham. Faith opened and closed her mouth a few times before she got it out. “Thanks.”
He shrugged. “No sweat. You know why.”
“Cause you think I'm going to save your life someday,” she said, shaking her head.
“Don't think that, know it, but that's not why. Don't like to see my friends get killed.” Faith gave him a sharp look and he caught her gaze. “Or caged in London for a good decade.”
“You know who they are?”
“Bad, that's all I need to know.” He put the knife down on the cutting board. “Faith.” He paused. “You be careful of them.”
“Hey,” Faith replied. “I know how to take care of myself.”
“I mean it,” he replied seriously. “Which means,” he added as he picked the knife back up and started chopping onions, “and I know you're not going to like this, you need to borrow some clothes from Alicia.”
“No way, you've seen the stuff she wears. I wouldn't be caught dead in that shit.”
“Precisely the point,” he said. “They're out there, looking for you. The better you blend, the easier it'll be for you to get away.” Faith continued to look stubborn. “Look, just borrow one of her vests, that red and purple paisley will do nicely, and put a band in your hair, that daisy one maybe.”
“Should I wear a vacant expression on my face as well?”
“Wouldn't hurt,” he replied. “And it's not just for getting out of town. It'll be easier for you to catch another ride at the concert if you look the part.”
“What else?” Faith asked sarcastically.
He took her hand, turned the palm over, and traced a line with his index finger. “You're going to have to trust somebody you have no reason to trust.” With a mocking half smile, he added, “Good luck with that.”
Faith wrapped her arms around herself, looking like nothing more than a worried child. “Anyplace I should avoid?”
He shrugged again. “I don't foresee any problems as long as you're not tracked to the concert. This is going to take about an hour so why don't you crash for a bit? You look beat.”
Faith slid off the counter, silently agreeing. She'd been too terrified the night before to doze off for more than a few moments at a time. Grabbing a pillow and throw from a side chair, she stretched herself out on the couch. Damn, she thought as she dozed off. Even his couch is more comfortable than any bed I've ever slept in.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 11:17 pm (UTC)