No person left behind ((tag fractured_agent))

[slayers_desire]

April was a little nervous, truth be told. She wasn't nervous about spending time with Jack Harkness again, as she considered him a good friend.

She was more nervous about bringing him to the Vampire Village to talk to Spike.

So much time had passed for Jack, since he last saw Spike. But it was a completely different story for Spike. And so much could go wrong.

April just hoped that things worked out...

Comments

[fractured_agent]

"You're a poet?" Jack looks interested by that, although it isn't for the literary value. He's dated several of Earth's notable poets from the nineteenth century. Never read any of their stuff, either.

[buffyverse_npcs]

"I am." He uses the current tense. "A romantic poet. Unappreciated in my time."

[fractured_agent]

"As are many of the great remembered artists from Earth's past."

[buffyverse_npcs]

"Jash. Shasta. They liked to listen to my poems."

[fractured_agent]

"Your other exes, too?" Jack guesses.

[buffyverse_npcs]

"Hell no." He is blunt about that. "Angelus just loved to torture me. And I loved to let him."

"Dru, April's mum, was touched. Said my poems made the Dolls weep."

[fractured_agent]

Well, that's another similarity between Spike and John, then. Jack never met a more dedicated masochist before he got teamed up with his old partner. "Made the dolls weep?"

[buffyverse_npcs]

"She talked to a Doll. Miss Edith. Did the whole... playing dress-up thing occasionally."

[fractured_agent]

Even to someone with as broad of horizons as Jack has, that doesn't sound quite normal to his ear. But he doesn't say anything of the sort. "Did you ever write poems about Jash?"

[buffyverse_npcs]

"I was working on one... not sure how to complete it now." Spike looks over to the wolf statue.

[fractured_agent]

Jack follows his gaze, still unsure what the wolf has to do with Jash, but clearly it's significant. "I'm not a writer myself. My talents lie in... other arts."

[buffyverse_npcs]

"You can come out and say it, you know."

[fractured_agent]

"A little mystery's good for people now and again." It's hard to break the habit of a lifetime, especially when that lifetime's gone far beyond what he was supposed to have.

[buffyverse_npcs]

"I used to tell myself all the time, luving Dru. Even Jash had his secrets."

[fractured_agent]

"I'm pretty sure most everyone does." Jack can't tell if he's helping, but Spike seems willing to talk, at least.

[buffyverse_npcs]

"He is always going to be in my heart. But, I can't help wonder... if I am missing something."

[fractured_agent]

"Something he was keeping from you?"

[buffyverse_npcs]

"No. Just missing another love in my life."

[fractured_agent]

Ah, and there's the hard part of all this. Jack gently squeezes Spike's hand in sympathy, and perhaps a tinge of regret. Maybe if things were different...

But they're not.

[buffyverse_npcs]

He can tell a lot from that simple squeeze. "April tells me that you have a lot of responsibilities. That you lead a group of people, who are doing good."

[fractured_agent]

"It's kind of a work in progress. But yeah. Defending the Earth from aliens, protecting the future of the planet and its citizens." He knows more about that future than anyone around.

"And... I'm kind of waiting for a friend."

[buffyverse_npcs]

"And your own love?" Spike is very aware of this types of situations.

[fractured_agent]

He's hit the nail on the head. "One-sided. I think. I'd always hoped, but it just never happened."

[buffyverse_npcs]

"I am very familiar with one-sided love, pet." Spike squeezes Jack's hand this time. "I was scared... for this... seeing you again. Feeling those emotions again."

"Aint you scared?"

[fractured_agent]

"I'm scared for a lot of things." Admitting fear isn't seen as weakness for men in Jack's original era, and he sees no shame in saying it out loud. "I don't want to hurt you." He often jokes about breaking hearts wherever he goes, but it's not as funny anymore when it really happens.