YELLOW BRICK ROAD

By: Lisette (lisette@chaletian.co.uk)

Rating: PG-13 so far - might change later on.

Distribution: Want, take, have. Just e-mail me first.

Summary: Faith is released from prison - but there's a catch.

Feedback: God, please.

Angel, Buffy, the whole lot, belong to JW, Mutant Enemy, and anyone else who officially owns them. I don't. Big surprise. Brother Anselm is all mine, though!

Okay, a few notes. Firstly, I haven't seen any of season 3 yet, though I know vaguely what happens. So, definitely after "Billy", and Fred and Gunn are getting with the happy, but "WITW" never happened.

Please, please review - I need to know what people think! I have a fragile ego and it needs bolstering! Thanks to everyone who has already reviewed - you have made me a happy person!

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Chapter Twenty-Three - According to Reginald Mayhew in 1822

The following morning Wesley was back at the Hyperion. Downstairs he found Angel, still immersed in "Thor's Revenge". So immersed, in fact, that he didn't look up when Wesley entered the boiler room.

"I would imagine that Thor has got his revenge," he noted wryly. Angel looked up, and had he not been dead, he probably would have blushed.

"Wesley, I didn't hear you come in."

"Obviously." Wesley came further into the room and sat down. "I talked to Faith last night. She's going to wait a day or two before going back to Wolfram & Hart." He sat quietly for a moment, then spoke again. "She asked me to be her watcher again." Angel looked at him in surprise.

"Really?" Wesley nodded.

"I made such a mess last time I'm surprised that she's willing to let me."

"She wants to do it right."

"I know. I just hope I make a better watcher this time than I did before."

"Wes, when you first came to Sunnydale, you were completely inexperienced. Hell, you hadn't even seen a vampire before. You've changed a lot. Of course you can do this." Wesley seemed to perk up somewhat at Angel's confident tone. His failure to help Faith when she had been crying out for it the only way she knew how still haunted him - perhaps as much as her sins haunted her. And now he had the opportunity to make it right, to teach Faith the things she had never had the chance to learn. He exchanged a few words with Angel, then went upstairs, into his office, and his books.

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"Now, you need to find your essence; focus on the very centre of your being." Faith barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes. She hadn't really known what to expect when she asked Wesley to be her watcher again. She knew she needed help, needed guidance in her life as a slayer. It wasn't just, well, kill-pussycat-kill, as Cordelia phrased it. There was depth and meaning to it - it was like a mission kinda thing. Unfortunately, Wesley seemed to have returned to his pompous best, prating watchers' diaries and arcane texts. But Faith was determined to do this properly, and instinct told her that Wesley was the one to help her - though it was entirely possible that she would die from boredom before she got much further.

"According to Reginald Mayhew in 1822, a slayer needs-" Wesley was cut off by a flamboyant knocking on the door and heaved a sigh of irritation. "Look, I'm really rather - oh, it's you."

"Jeez, don't get too enthusiastic, now, will you? Faith, honey, you're looking positively gorgeous upside down. I had a feeling I should come along and see how everything was going."

"Well, thank you, Lorne, but we really are in the middle of something, so if you don't mind…" Completely ignoring Wesley's lack of hospitality, the Host sauntered in and, flicking aside a pair of boxers, sat down in style on the sofa.

"Faith, my sweet, I'm feeling a little parched. You couldn't be a doll and get me something to drink, could you?" At his pointed look, Faith reluctantly went into the kitchen, leaving her newfound slayer alone with his guest.

"Lorne, I really do appreciate your coming by to check everything is all right, but…" Again Lorne interrupted him.

"I hear you've been reinstated as official watcher. Congrats of the highest order."

"Thanks…but how did you…?"

"Oh, ear to the ground, demon grapevine - the usual. But I want to ask you a question."