Disclaimer: The Characters on Angel were do not belong and not created by me but the talented Joss Whedon.
Time: January 2007 So Wes is thirty six, Fred thirty one years of age.
London United Kingdom
Wesley rolled off Faith sweating. He lay panting beside her, sprawled across her second hand double bed.
Faith sat up, dragging the nubby flannel sheet, faded worn blankets, from the foot of the bed, with trembling hands. Holy shit, that had been intense. Way to go ex-watcher.
"Third time was definitely the charm there Wes, I think the Earth moved."
It was a cold January morning. As she spoke, her breath was indoor white mist.
"Well like me, you were stuck in California long enough. You must have sufficient earthquake experience to judge." Wesley kissed her bare shoulder. He got reluctantly out of bed.
Faith wrapped a gray blanket around her, while Wesley went and showered in her microscopic mildewed bathroom. She rose, walking over to her kitchen unit across the room of her tiny London bedsit. She drank a glass of water thirstily.
Wesley had left his wallet on her table. She rummaged through it, looking for a spare fifty pence coin, to power her gas heater that warmed her dwelling. She found two coins. A photo of Fred.
She dropped the coins in the heater's coin slot. Returning to the battered table to scrutinize Fred's 2D glossy image.
Wesley came out of the bathroom, a threadbare towel wrapped around his waist.
Faith held the picture up to him. "In lotsa ways she's an older skinner version of me huh? So following the Alanis Morisette line of reasoning here. Is Fred perverted like me and would she go down on you in theater? I guess not. Or you wouldn'ta been having this transatlantic affair with me for the past six months."
"Leave Fred out of it Faith." Wes warned, putting on his socks. "You went into this relationship with your eyes wide open." And it was a relationship damn it, how had this ever bloody happened?
"Hey I'm not fussed." Faith purred, she got up and put coffee on. "I see you for one week every month. Suits me fine. I'm not the one cheating even, so I'm morally on top."
"You were underneath, when you nearly perforated my eardrums with your scream of release earlier. I think you're going sub in your old age." Wes pulled on his jeans.
"Must be. You know I'm twenty fucking six, turned it on fourteenth of December. Slayer death time Wes. The seconds are ticking away for me." Faith mused, lighting a cigarette. "You didn't get me a birthday present you asshole."
"Actually I did." Wes reached into his suit case to retrieve two gift wrapped presents. "One for your birthday, one for Christmas." He tossed them over to her."
"Well you're a double asshole now. Because I didn't get you a Christmas present. I didn't realize we did the seasonal gift thing with each other." Faith unwrapped her presents. Perfume 'Poison'. A sterling silver charm bracelet, with miniature landmarks of Boston tinkling from it.
"Eastern seaboard sweet Wes!" Faith gasped, mildy astonished and hugely touched. "Where didja get it?"
"Antique shop in Greenwich village. I thought it was a suitable present to give one's mistress." Wesley gathered all his possessions together.
"If I'm your mistress, I would feel no freaking shame if you set me up in a love nest better than this dump." Faith poured them both coffees.
"Can't afford it sorry darling." Wes surveyed the unwashed dishes, clothes on the floor, empty wine bottles stacked in a corner and overflowing ash tray on the table. "Besides, the squalor suits you."
Faith flipped him the bird. Wesley gulped down his coffee. Fully dressed, he hugged her goodbye. He truly cared for her. But he could never leave his wife. A gentleman wouldn't do that. A good man would not have the thought cross his mind in the first place.
"Try and stay alive until next first week of February Faith. I'll take you out to dinner again at the weirdest foreign restaurant we can discover, if you do." Wesley picked up his suitcase and walked over to the doorway.
"Huh, you stay alive? I'll go down on you in a theater, after you've gone down on me of course lover." Faith snickered, following him over to the doorway.
"I'll take you up on it." Wesley kissed her quickly. "See you in February." He left to hail a taxi in the main street below.
"Have a good flight, don't forget to remove that metal belt buckle! Ya know what happened last time, when you went through security!" Faith called after him.
She shut the door. Wrapping the blanket around her more securely. Baby Jesus, she didn't know who was more deficient, her or him. Gas to the flame.
Las Vegas Nevada
Fred scurried up from under the black satin sheets, cheeks flushed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She had a twinkle in her shining eyes.
"You swallow cupcake?" Her bed partner said amazed, reclining on the red velvet headboard of his king sized bed. Fred was the kind of lover who would do a hell of lot, he had voluptuously experienced this week. He'd always been in love with her from afar. He never dreamed she could be such a wild cat in bed.
"My Momma always told me to eat my greens." Fred chuckled with smutty glee. She started to giggle uncontrollably, at the shocked expression on Lorne's face. "Was I too icky?"
"Not in the least Fredcakes. You are a constant delightful surprise package." Lorne looked at the time on his cell phone. "You have to scoot sweetie, you'll miss your leaving on a jet plane."
"Trying to get rid of me Lorne sugar? After my surprise good bye trick?" Fred wailed jokingly. She jumped out of bed hurriedly, her feet sinking into the thick shag pile carpet. She raced into the double headed shower in the imperial jade tiled bathroom.
Lorne joined her. "You gave off signals loud and clear, you needed your gorgeous smooth back scrubbed."
"I'd like a caboodle more than that, but like ya said, I'm running out of time." Fred quickly lathered her body with scented soap, then rinsed. She jumped out of the shower energetically. Drying herself vigorously, with one of Lorne's fluffy Egyptian cotton towels.
Lorne stepped out of the shower, putting on a luxuriant purple dressing gown.
Fred threw her scattered assorted toiletries frenziedly into a plastic bag. She ran out of the bathroom. Into the opulently furnished hotel suite.
Throwing the plastic bag into her suitcase, she pulled on her panties, hopping on one foot as she extended one slender leg into her jeans.
"Don't overbalance sweet thing." Lorne put out his hand to steady her. "How would you explain the sprained ankle?"
"Herding my Daddy's steers. That was how I pulled my hamstring last November doncha know?" Fred reproached herself inwardly, for her lousy untruths to poor innocent trusting Wesley.
"And I thought it was when we were making whoopee on the parquet. Parallel worlds taking place obviously. The one we're in right now, where I'm in love with you and you love me back, is a crowd stopping number of a planet. That you won't leave your spouse for me, is a newly discovered hell dimension." Lorne helped her into her jacket. He pressed her close to him, enabling his plunder of the sweetness of her mouth, one more heady time.
Fred pushed him sadly away. "I can't miss my airplane, you hold onto ya good loving until you come across to me in New York in February."
"I'll be counting the days pumpkin. Marking off the calendar with gold stars and red love hearts." Lorne picked up her suitcase and passed it to her. "You look after yourself, if you can't be good be careful. Hey and watch out for Agonic demons, I've heard on the demonic grapevine, a tribe of them have moved into the New York sewers."
"See ya February, my handsome demon." Fred raced out the hotel suite door, her suitcase swinging beside her.
Lorne gazed longingly after Fred's disappearing back, as the elevator doors closed on her. Off to catch a cab on the main Vegas strip.
He never thought when he arrived in this dimension, he'd be the third party in a married human's love triangle. With two people who were his old friends. Just thinking about it made Lorne decide to fix himself a Martini.
Manhattan Island New York
Wesley entered his apartment. The crossing smells of old books and dogs battled for supremacy.
His two Irish wolfhounds loped over to him. Wagging their tails joyfully. Wes patted them fondly. It was nice they at least in the household, had got to their feet and greeted him.
"Hey Wes." Fred smiled up at him, reclining on the tasteful brown leather living room couch. She put down the book she was reading. Raising her face, so he could peck her hello on the lips, as he passed her to put his suitcase away.
He came out of their bedroom, showered, shaved and changed. Fred was putting down the telephone receiver. "I ordered Thai, no. 34 for you right, same as always? That's what've ya ordered for the last two years we've been here. Ya probably causing an extinction in daffy ducks by golly."
"That's the one dear. Green curry duckling." Wes sat on the opposite couch wearily, rubbing his eyes. "Did you embark on a Mexican food frenzy at your parents ranch this week?"
"Burrito bonanza. How were your parents?" Fred was looking at her short little fingernail, frowning reflectively.
"Keeping well, they say hello. Yours?" Wesley shifted uncomfortably on the couch, he had healing scratches on his back.
"Great, they send their love and kisses, well Mom does. Dad sends a manly handshake." Fred polished her reading glasses. "So what's new at the New Watchers Council? They still all happy, happy, joy, joy and bonusly content with the way we're running things on the East Coast?"
"Yes delighted. Very impressed with how you discovered an Atlantis artifact at Christmas time." Wesley got up and stretched his legs.
He noticed Fred had taken down their Christmas cards. Piling them neatly on top of newspapers and magazines to be recycled. He flicked through them. "Odd, we didn't get a card from Lorne this year. Didn't you say you ran into him with your parents, in Las Vegas in November? He's back in cabaret?"
"Must notta passed on our address. I can't remember where he lives offa the top of my head." Fred lied, playing with the heavy gold pendant around her neck. Her Christmas present from Lorne. Darn, she forgot to put the Christmas card up that came with it. The whoppers upon ugly whoppers, Fred was drowning in like quicksand.
"Shame to lose touch." Wesley put the cards down.
"Ooh, that reminds me Wes, Rona was asking today. She needs somewhere to stay in rainy old London this month. How's Faith?" Fred took out a brush and began to groom a dog.
"Alright I think. I only ever see her really to say a brief hello to. I pass her in the corridor at the slayer training school sometimes." Wesley picked up another brush to demat the other dog's fur. Wesley was an utter bastard, he cringed to himself in self disgust.
Fred kept up her rhythmic brushing. "It's was the right thing to do leaving Wolfram and Hart, to take up jobs here with the New Watchers Council."
"Because you feel definitely on the side of good now?" She was always an angel of light. He was the fallen one.
"I was getting kinda bored with L.A. phoniness." Fred couldn't believe she'd just said that, when she was deceiving her sweet reliable, if boring husband like she was. But Wesley loved her, she couldn't hurt him by leaving him. He needed her. He was such a good man. What ever slight dark side he had, drawn him to Lilah Morgan was obviously long gone.
Whereas Fred was being so very morally crummy. She loved Lorne so darned much. She was like that song 'torn between two lovers'. She always damn was. It resembled the same stinking situation, when she'd been in love with Charles and attracted to Wes. There was something so gosh darn wrong with her pysche.
The door bell rang, the couple collected their take out.
After dinner, Wesley went to bed. Fred joined him. They turned down the good quality cotton sheets on their bed. The plain green quilt atop, a homely touch to their bedroom décor. Fred placed the Aztec pattern tapestry cushions that decorated it, tidily on a side couch in front of the window.
"Where did you get that pendant from?" Wesley asked Fred, as she pulled it off her neck, carefully placing it in her jewelry box.
"This old thing? Heck, had it for years." Fred slid into bed beside him. Wesley was wearing his t-shirt and dark blue pajama bottoms as was his wont. Fred was wearing her pink brushed satin winter nightie. Half the time these days, they didn't bother to take their night clothes off when they made love.
Wesley kissed Fred's mouth in an exploratory fashion, judging her mood. So often she was too tired. Or not up for it. He didn't know if she still loved him sometimes.
Fred switched off the light. She didn't want Wesley to spot the hickeys Lorne had left down her inner thigh.
"More romantic." Fred breathed in Wesley's ear. "Bright lights kinda make me feel like I'm in a porno. Fred does Manhattan."
The couple made love by the numbers once more. Five minutes foreplay. Fred got on top, Wesley helped her climax (once) with his hand, he came himself.
Fred went to the bathroom, stumbled in the dark back to bed, snuggling in beside a drifting off to sleep Wesley.
Wesley sleepily ran his hands through his wife's dark hair. "I love you Fred. I miss you when I'm away."
"I love you too Wes." Fred hugged him tightly. "Good night sweetie."