Lecture
"Angel, may I speak with you?" Wesley asked.
Angel repressed a desire to groan; in the year and a half since Wesley had become the head of the agency Angel had quickly learned to both recognize and despise that politely phrased order.
The first time Wesley had decided to lecture to Angel about his behavior, past, present and future, the ex-Watcher had practically admitted he was doing it to get even with Angel for everything he'd put them through with Darla. Since Wesley had been shot and almost killed during that period, Angel felt he'd earned the torture and so he didn't complain about it. A few months ago he had even started trying to pay attention to the lectures again. But Angel was still quietly hoping that Cordelia would rescue him by having a vision.
After a last hopeful glance at Cordelia Angel closed the office door behind him then slumped in a chair and waited for Wesley to get on with it.
"It was brought to my attention that Fred has developed something of a crush on you," Wesley began, immediately capturing Angel's full attention. "It's quite understandable, people rescued from a life threatening situation frequently believe themselves to be in love with their rescuer. This hasn't been a real issue for the Agency before because we don't normally maintain contact with our clients after the case is complete; which is as it should be. However given the extended nature of Fred's time in Pylea, we couldn't simply abandon her to the wilds of LA."
"However; in retrospect, allowing her to stay at the Hotel showed a lack of foresight on my part and to make matters worse we've all been extremely lax in our efforts to see her reintegrated into mainstream society. In truth she's practically become a defacto member of the staff."
"Why don't you hire her?" Angel suggested. "As you said, Fred isn't most of our clients. She's been an asset, both with her talent for comprehending the supernatural through science, and besides Gunn and I are hopeless when it comes to research, so is Cordy if it's not found on-line. You could use the help."
"I'm quite capable of handling the research on my own," Wesley said irritably.
"Then hire her because she needs someplace to belong," Angel countered.
"That isn't a reason," Wesley said. "We should be discouraging her interest in the supernatural and getting her back into school."
"It was enough of a reason for me to hire you," Angel said quietly.
"Additionally," Wesley said raising his voice to override Angel's. "It appears that you are beginning to return Fred's feeling. And we all know where that path leads. The sooner you break things off with her the less damage you'll do."
"Fred is my friend, that's all we feel for each other," Angel said firmly. "The last time I checked I'm still allowed to have friends."
"You're deluding yourself Angel," Wesley said. "Last year's difficulties kept us from noticing Fred's developing infatuation with you or we'd have done something about it long ago. But just because we failed to notice it right off doesn't make it any less of an issue now. If, as you say, you don't feel that way about her, well I suppose we don't have to concern ourselves with another Angelus incident, but that doesn't make it right. It wouldn't be fair to Fred to lead her on."
"Now Cordelia said David Nabbit is having a party, I want you to encourage Fred to go with Cordy. That will give her a chance to spend more time with regular people. In a week or so Cordy and I will start helping her to find a place of her own. Between now and then you need to explain to her that there is simply no possibility of a relationship between the two of you."