Title: More Help
Author: The Red Strawberry
Email: StageGlitz@yeayea.com
Rating: PG (13?)
Spoilers: 4th season for Pretender, around 4th for BtVS
Summary: The new behavior expert interests Broots (Sequel to Extra Help)
PART 1
Willow stepped up to the huge building. Well, this is it, she thought. She
had just wanted to get away from Sunnydale, from the memories of being
cheated on by both girlfriend and boyfriend. First Oz, then Tara. And what
were the chances she would walk in on them together? Cordy was right. Once
a cheater always a cheater. She had gone down to LA to work for Angel, and
ended up investigating a mysterious company. What kind of name was the
Centre, anyway?
Sam watched the slip of a girl walk through the Centre with wide eyes. She
certainly looked out of place, but he always liked redheads so he took pity
on her. "I’m Sam. Do you need help?" She gave him such a radiant smile he
was instantly glad he asked.
"Yes, I’m Willow Rosenburg. I’m looking for Mr. Parker." Sam had to take a
step back. This little girl was seeing Daddy P?
"Um, yes, he is on floor 16. Would you like an escort?" Miss Rosenburg once
again smiled at him and took his outstretched arm.
Miss Parker was sitting on her father’s desk, swinging her legs around. He
was looking out the window, ignoring her as usual. She jumped off the desk
as Sam opened the door for a young girl-she couldn’t have been over twenty-
and left. She knew he wouldn’t dare come in her father’s office. She wasn’t
so sure about the redhead however.
"Mr. Parker?" She asked with an authoritative voice. Miss Parker quickly
stepped in front of her.
" Do you have an appointment? My father," she emphasized her place, "Is
very busy."
" I’m sure your Daddy is expecting me and if he isn’t then he has a problem
with keeping dates. Now I would like to speak with him if you wouldn’t mind
stepping aside?" Miss Parker was shocked. No one spoke to her like that
except…well, Jarod. She slowly made her way to other side of the room.
Mr. Parker, however, was most pleased. He knew his daughter usually needed
a strong rebuttal, but he needed to keep her faith in him so he couldn’t be
the one to do it. He turned his attention to the girl.
"Hello, you must be Miss Rosenburg. I’m glad you had time to meet with me.
Please excuse my daughter, I didn’t have the time to explain your
appearance." Miss Parker left with a huff, not quite sure if she should
leave the redhead with her father.
"I understand you’ve been having problems with one of your…projects? I
would like to meet Angelo very soon. Is today too sudden?" Mr. Parker let
out a loud laugh.
"Not at all, Miss Rosenburg. I’ll show you to his place. And I hope you
will be able to work with the team he is serving." Place? Serving? Willow
had a hard time hiding her disgust for the way they treated him. She
followed the balding man until they were in an office holding about four
computers and several laptop cases. She was practically drooling when she
saw their brand names. Willow had to give herself a strong reminder that
she was not supposed to be a computer hacker, she was a behavior expert. At
least she had taken psychology in Sunnydale. She turned around to see a
sophisticated man and another who was currently stammering at Mr. Parker.
She turned her attention to their conversation.
"This is Miss Rosenburg. She will be helping you develop Angelo’s skills
and tuning them to our purposes. I assume you will help her feel more
comfortable." The younger balding man managed to get out a goodbye by the
time Mr. Parker had left.
"Hello, Miss Rosenburg, I’m Sydney, and this is Broots. I hope you will be
staying around for a while?" Willow was pleased to see this man reminded
her much of Giles, only with a Belgian accent.
"Please, call me Willow. And yes, I plan on practically living here."
Sydney was thoroughly confused. This girl looked much too innocent to be
involved with the Centre. He felt a sudden need to protect her, almost like
he did with Jarod. He noticed Broots gazing at her, not quite focused. This
must have been what Jarod was talking about.
Broots was stunned with the beauty in front of him. She was small and
looked like she needed to be taken care of, but the way she held herself
said anything but. He decided to figure out what exactly this little girl
was doing here.
"You’re working with-with Angelo?" He asked, choking in the middle.
"Yes, I would like to develop his skills. Do you know where this horrid
‘place’ they keep referring to where they keep him is?"
"Yes, actually. It’s in the ventilation system," He told her, guiding the
way to Angelo’s place. "Say, did you know he saved my life once?"
Sydney laughed. They were perfect. He just hoped Jarod knew what he was
doing.
PART 2
"So Syd, just what does Little Red Riding Hood have planned for Cousin It?"
Sydney just shook his head and pointed. Miss Parker turned around, to see a
very amused Willow.
"Well, Parker, I need to be alone with him for a while, see how he acts
without anyone else. And for future reference, shorten it to Red. That’s
what Spike calls me, anyway."
" Spike?"
" Yes, my roommate. He got his nickname from-" Miss Parker held up a hand.
"Please, I don’t want to know." Willow shrugged, and turned to see an
extremely old man holding his oxygen tank. He was glaring at her.
"Excuse me, ‘Red’, but you should know Angelo is mine. You will not
discover anything I don’t already know. You may as well leave." To anyone
else, this might have made them run for cover, but Willow handled it, much
to the other occupants’ surprise.
"Raines, I assume? Well, I’ve been around people much older than you, and
one thing I’ve learned is that they usually miss things. Also, I’m sure my
goals are more…team-oriented rather than self-profitable." She turned back
to Sydney, dismissing Raines like a minion. He sputtered a bit, but finally
left.
"Sydney, I was hoping you’d know of a place for me to stay. A hotel
perhaps? One that would house myself and my roommate?"
" I can’t say that there are any close by. And even if there were, it would
undoubtedly be under surveillance around the clock. Why don’t you stay with
me?"
" No offense, but Spike doesn’t exactly care for anyone who…comes from a
different background."
" Really? And where is he from?"
" Oh, everywhere except Belgium." Willow blushed. Broots found it
absolutely adorable.
"You know, Miss Rosenburg, you could always stay with my daughters and me,"
he offered.
"Please call me Willow. And I would love that, but maybe you should meet
Spike first. He isn’t that well behaved."
" I’m sure if he’s with you he’ll be fine," Broots assured her.
"Spike, I want you to be a perfect gentlemen," Willow reminded him as they
were leaving the blackened-out car.
"Aren’t I always, Red?"
" Not from what I’ve seen," She snapped back.
"Ah, but you haven’t seen all of me," Spike winked at her. Willow rolled
her eyes at his innuendo and knocked softly on Broots’ door. A girl of
about sixteen opened the door.
"Are you Miss Rosenburg?" the girl asked. Willow nodded, and smiled warmly
at her.
"This is Spike, we’re going to be staying with you for the next couple of
days."
"Oh, please come in," she asked. Spike cocked his head at her and took her
hand, bringing it to his lips.
"Pleasure to meet you, miss…?"
"AnnaLeece-I mean, Anne!" Anne turned a bright shade of pink, took her hand
away from the blonde, and dashed back inside.
"Broots! You’re people are here!" With his advanced hearing, Spike heard
her nervously tell him, "Oh no, I told them my name! What am I going to
do?" the man had replied, "We’ll think of something. Did you remind Debbie
not to call you Leecy?" The girl must have answered, for they came out,
smiling.
"Willow, I see you’ve met my daughter, Anne. Why don’t you go to the
kitchen, and we’ll make you some coffee or something," the bald man
suggested. Spike grinned toothily, and followed Willow. He turned in time
to see a small girl run up to him, holding her Barbie.
"Hi, what is your name?" She asked. She was fiddling with his leather
duster, which would usually make him growl, but now he just saw it as cute.
Willow must be making him soft.
"Spike. Do you like my coat?" The little girl nodded. "Are you going to
tell me your name?"
" Only if you come see my coat!" she giggled and raced off to her bedroom.
Without making a sound, he ran off after her. Broots’ head whipped around
to see the blonde man follow his daughter.
"Will he be all right?" He asked Willow.
"Of course. He loves kids, just doesn’t show it. I’m surprised he didn’t
yell at her, though. He doesn’t let anyone touch his duster."
"Debbie’s special," he answered, a proud look on his face.
" Is that her name? May I ask about her mother?" Of course Willow already
knew from Jarod, but was curious of how Broots would explain it.
"Her mother and I divorced, but I won custody of her through some anonymous
information." That was a pretty cut-and-dried explanation.
"And your other?"
" She doesn’t know her mother," he admitted. "I adopted her when she
visited. Actually, she was found on the streets."
" Who was?" Spike asked, walking in the room. "Excuse me, I’m assuming
you’re Mr. Broots." Willow had to smother a grin. He sounded so…un-Spike
like.
"Ju-just Broots. We were talking about my daughters."
"Ah, I met them. Quite a beauty, aren’t they?" All Broots could do was nod.
Maybe you two can tell me, who is this illustrious ‘Miss Parker’?" Willow
rolled her eyes, and Broots grinned. Debbie had told everyone she met about
Miss Parker. Of course, Parker denied even looking at the girl.
"She will be working with me," Willow answered. "Don’t get any ideas,
Spike. She’s nothing like Harmony or Dru."
"Please. Harm was nothing like Dru." Broots looked to Willow, who just
shrugged. "Red, do you have my mug? I’m a bit thirsty." Willow nodded, and
stood up to retrieve it from her bags.
"Spike, I have drinks here, why don’t I serve you some?"
"I like special stuff, B. Don’t think you have any." They were quieted when
Willow re-entered the room.
"Broots, what can you tell me about Angelo?" Willow was anxious to know how
the savant acted.
"He’s basically a high-level empath. He can become the person he wishes, or
to be more exact, who we wish."
"What if he doesn’t know the person?"
"Didn’t tell you much, did they?" Broots was worried. He could get in
trouble for revealing information, but she needed to know if she was to
help. "When we give him something that belonged to the person, he feels who
they are." He watched as Spike reached down and pulled something out of his
bag.
"Ya mean something of this sort?" The blonde held up a lab coat.
"Exactly. He would feel much the same of what the person wearing that was."
Spike grinned.
"Perfect. Well, if its all okay with you I’d like to head to me room."
Broots stuttered a bit, and pointed to the bedroom door.
"I’m a bit tired, too Broots. Where am I sleeping?" She could see him blush.
"I, uh, don’t have much of a home. I need you to sleep with Anne." Willow
nodded and grinned.
"I always wanted a sister. At home it was just me and my friends Xander and
Jesse. Not much for girl talk."
"Just don’t stay up to late," Broots joked. Willow again nodded and went
off to find her bed.
"Anne?" She called out.
"I’m over here," a voice answered, and the lights were flipped on. "Sorry,
I didn’t know when you were coming." AnnaLeece was still nervous around
people from the Centre, even though Broots had told her Willow was new.
"So," Willow started, "Wanna share a secret, Leecy?" AnnaLeece stared at
her.
"You know-" Willow nodded.
"I met Jarod about a month ago. He was working with my boss."
"And Spike?"
"My boss’ child. Don’t ask. Anyway, I’m here to help him. Jarod recommended
I stay with Broots. He sees him with respect."
"I never would have guessed. So why are you here?"
"I need to help Spike. He’s…special."
"Special like how?"
"I’ll tell you later. Anyway, I think Angelo is the key to helping him. The
thing is, I can’t tell Spike’s ‘father’ about it, he’d never accept it."
"Okay. But you’ll tell me more? I’m really tired." Willow agreed and rolled
over.
The next morning Willow, Spike, and Broots all traveled to the Centre in
separate cars. When they arrived, Spike left them, needing to sneak in on
his own. Willow and Broots had clearance. Together they made their way to
Angelo’s space. There they found Spike, already talking with Angelo.
"Spike, get away from him!" Willow said, she didn’t need Broots finding out
the real reason she was here. Spike instantly stepped away from the other
man. "Broots, as much as I love your company, I need to be alone with
Angelo." She smiled sweetly at him. Broots nodded and left.
"Sorry, love. I was just makin’ friendly talk with the weirdo, here."
"He’s not a weirdo, and he’s right here! So stop talking like he’s not.
Anyway, we need to get back to Angelo." Spike took out the lab coat from
his bag, and handed it to the savant. "Angelo, can you tell anything from
this coat?" Angelo looked up at her, his gaze glazed over.
"Arrogance, superior…so many animals!"
"What’s he doin’?" Spike asked.
"I think how it works is he is feeling what the lab technician felt.
Apparently, this one was a bit prejudiced. Angelo, do you know how to
remove the chips the scientists implanted?" Angelo nodded.
"Drugs!"
"Oh great. The idiot’s gonna be messin’ with my ‘ead!"
"Well, you wouldn’t be the first," Miss Parker’s voice rang out. Both
Willow and Spike looked up.
"Miss Parker, I didn’t know you would be up here today," Willow said
nervously. Spike was having a hard time concentrating. This woman was
obviously all about power-something he found very attractive.
"I don’t think we’ve met," he greeted. "I’m Spike, Willow’s roommate. You
want to go kill something?"
"Love to."
Part 3
After a week of narcotics being fed into Spikes brain, he found he could
feel the chip less and less. Now if he hit someone, he’d feel a minor
headache. Unfortunately, when he tried to bite Angelo, the entire pain came
back. Willow just hoped he’d be okay after all this.
Spike spent almost all of his time with Miss Parker, usually arguing about
something. Willow, however, was spending her time with a certain balding
computer hacker. She loved his daughters dearly, and every time she saw
Broots her heart fluttered. They had only been alone a few times, but
somehow they made time for smoochies.
Mr. Parker was confident in her ‘work’, and Angel was still clueless.
