SquidgeWorld Archive

Owning 5: Getting away from it all
byLilithangel
abchainey@xtra.co.nz
http://www.livejournal.com/users/lilithbint


Rupert sank down into his chair and sighed. The interview with the head of the Council had been harrowing and he was thankful he still had a job. He had hoped the situation with Lindsey had gone away after the lawyer’s failed attempt to have the vampires classified as dangerous and terminated as a threat to society.

Instead it appeared that he had turned the considerable might of Wolfram & Hart against the Council of Watchers in revenge. So far they were holding their own and the Council were backing him, but only because they weren’t prepared to be railroaded.

So Rupert had suffered a dressing down from his boss and another black mark against his name.

A cup of tea was placed on the desk in front of him and a comforting hand rested on his shoulder.

"Maybe you shouldn’t be here," Wesley said.

"You too, Wesley?" Rupert said with a sigh, "that is precisely what Havers’ said to me. I am a disgrace to the Council with my vampire obsession and it is only the fact that my family has been part of the Council for so long that I even still have a job."

"I meant right now," Wesley said, "It will all blow over and things will go back to normal. You could take vacation time and get out of the city for a while. Oz has a cabin in the hills about six hours from here," he added with a blush, "I don’t think he would mind if you used it for a while."

"You and Oz are becoming quite close," Rupert said grateful for the distraction from his own problems.

Wesley blushed again and settled at his desk, "it is too soon to say but I do like him."

"I’m pleased for you," Rupert said with a smile, "and if you don’t think Oz would mind I might take up the suggestion. Especially since I have been ordered on two weeks leave. The vampires would be pleased to get away as well I suspect. I haven’t taken them outside a lot for fear of encountering Lindsey."

"Then it’s settled." Wesley picked up the phone, "I’ll give Oz a call and confirm."

Rupert could feel his body relaxing just at the thought of getting out of the city. Things had been tense at home since the dinner party. His vampires still obeyed him but it was with ill concealed grace and the pleasure had gone out of the time they spent together.

He had been keeping them fully restrained just in case Lindsey got a control officer to visit. It would have been incredibly awkward since the slayers were still nominally under the umbrella of the Council and he was a Council employee. He knew the confinement was hard on his vampires, especially Spike who practically vibrated with tension whenever Rupert did take them out.

Rupert half listened to Wesley’s conversation with Oz while he planned what he would need to take his vampires on holiday. There was no doubt in his mind that they were coming with him, it was just a matter of logistics and he was an expert at such matters.

"That’s settled," Wesley said as he hung up the phone, "Oz will bring the keys and directions to your place tonight."

"Thank you Wesley, you are a good friend." Rupert smiled with relief.


Two days later.

Rupert put the last of the supplies into the van he had hired and double checked his list. Two weeks of blood took up the largest part of the van along with his own food. Oz had assured him there was plenty of bedding at the cabin and blushed when he confessed to a variety of restraining devices installed that Rupert would be able to use. Rupert had been too embarrassed to ask any questions although the fantasy of both Oz and Wesley restrained had kept him quite satisfied for several nights.

Rupert hadn’t been able to bring himself to use either vampire since the dinner party even to reinforce dominance. Despite everything he didn’t want his vampires afraid of him and he didn’t want to take them angry.

Satisfied he hadn’t forgotten anything Rupert popped over to Jenny’s to drop off a house key and say goodbye to the couple. Tara hugged him tight and whispered good luck as he left. Both women had been staunch supporters against Lindsey’s accusations and Tara would often visit with the vampires.

Finally Rupert fetched his vampires and led them out to the van. When Spike baulked at entering Rupert finally looked at them and realised he had not told them what he was planning. Spike obviously thought he was getting rid of them. The blond’s eyes were wide with suspicion while the brunet looked resigned.

"We’re going on holiday," Rupert said resisting the urge to apologise to them for the confusion, "two weeks at a cabin in the hills, you’ll like it."

Spike relaxed but didn’t look entirely convinced and Rupert wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t believe it or whether it was the cabin idea. Angel simply climbed into the back of the van and made himself comfortable on the mattress Rupert had placed there. Spike followed reluctantly and let Rupert secure him in place.

As they drove away Rupert was aware that Lindsey was watching from his doorway but neither acknowledged the other. Rupert breathed a sigh of relief as they pulled out of the street and headed for the hills.

Three hours later Rupert was questioning his sanity at taking a road trip with two vampires, one of whom couldn’t keep still even if you chained him down.

Spike shifted around in the van as far as his restraints would allow trying to see out of the van even though Rupert had covered the windows in anticipation of the dawn. Angel got annoyed at Spike’s fidgeting and tugged on the joining chain bringing Spike down in a crashing heap. Spike retaliated by kicking out at Angel and the resulting tumble rocked the van across the road.

Rupert swore and pulled over to glare at his vampires who glared back unrepentant. "Please sit down and stay still," Rupert pleaded.

The two vampires settled back down exchanging challenging glances and apologetic ones to Rupert. Rupert sighed and pulled out onto the road again. Occasionally he had wondered about having children whether he was missing out on something. His two vampires certainly took care of those lingering doubts.

Light thumps told him they hadn’t settled down completely and he regretted the lack of reflections that meant he would have to turn around to see what they were doing.

He ducked his head around to see Spike idly kicking Angel. "Don’t make me stop the van again," he warned and turned back to the road in time to see the corner they were missing. With a curse Rupert wrenched the wheel around to try and stay on the road. He corrected too much and the van lurched onto two wheels and skidded off the road. Feeling the situation slide away with the tyres Rupert could only hope the damage wouldn’t be too bad as he felt the van topple onto its side and scream into the undergrowth.

The impact cracked Rupert’s head into the windscreen and his vision blurred with blood as an eerie silence fell. Rupert was vaguely aware of groans and the sound of metal bending. Then golden eyes peered into his and he was floating. As everything began to recede in his vision and his mind started to shut down Rupert could only hope that it wouldn’t hurt for too long.



He regained consciousness briefly into a hallucination. It had to be because he was cradled in Spike’s lap and Angel was driving the van. The vampires were having an argument about Spike licking his blood off his face. In his hallucination Spike had a distinct English accent and Angel an American one. He found this quite interesting but not enough to keep him awake and darkness reclaimed his mind.



The next time he woke up his head hurt but his body was warm and comfortable. He opened his eyes carefully to find that he was in a large old fashioned bed covered in a colourful quilt. A blond head was resting on the mattress beside him and his hand went out automatically to brush back the errant curls. Blue eyes flashed open and fixed on him. He smiled weakly and the head was removed from under his hand as Spike hurried out of the room.

Rupert tried to sit up but a wave of dizziness convinced him to stay still. He felt somewhat detached from things as if his mind and body were not quite in sync with each other. The only thing that was ruining things was the ache in his head.

Spike returned with Angel behind him. The bigger vampire helped Rupert to sit up a slightly and Spike handed him two small pills.

"Paracetamol." He heard Angel say. "It’s the strongest we could find." He took the pills and swallowed them with the water Spike held up to his mouth.

Somewhere in the back of his mind was the thought that there was something wrong with the scene but it felt nice to be taken care of and he was very tired.

He felt the bed dip and two cool bodies wrapped around him as sleep claimed him again.

TBC

A/N: this was set to become too big a chapter so I thought I would stop here and continue soon with the aftermath of the accident.