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.

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-Nine - Needing Someone

Faith was kicking herself. Her instincts had been screaming warnings at her the moment she walked into Lilah Morgan's plush office, but she had ignored them, convinced she was just being paranoid. And anyway, she was the slayer. What were they going to do - set a vampire on her?

The meeting had started out amicably enough - or at least, as amicable as they got. There wasn't really a reason for Faith to have shown up, but Wesley had been afraid that if they didn't hear from her often, they might seek other ways to observe Connor, ways over which he, Angel and the others had no control. So she had decided to brave the lion in his - or in this case, her - den, and deliver an update report. She had also come to ask for something else to do, figuring that it was out of character for the Faith they believed her to be to be content with being a glorified baby sitter.

"It's interesting that you should ask," replied Lilah smoothly when Faith brought the subject up. "Because I hear that your jobs have a tendency to go unfinished." Faith looked at her blankly. There was no way she could know Angel was alive; the bitch was just rattling her cage, trying to test her the way she had with Wesley.

"You need to start listening to other people, Lilah," she responded calmly. "People who know what they're talking about." Lilah smiled, and Faith tensed. It wasn't a nice smile, and it really didn't bode well. A movement behind her caught Faith's attention, and she started to whirl, but it was too late. The electric current caught her in the side, and she fell, unconscious, to the floor.

"No, actually I like the people I listen to." Lilah spoke coldly, then gestured to the man who had come in. "Take her away. I'll call you later."

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So now Faith was locked in what looked suspiciously like a meat locker. The walls were metal, and thick metal from what she could tell. She could see the outline of the door, but there was no handle and no hinges on her side, and though she had been kicking and shoving at it repeatedly there was no sign that it was about to give way. Furthermore, it was starting to get cold. She shivered, then cursed herself for not taking more care. She had got blasé about the threat Wolfram & Hart posed - somehow they had discovered that Angel was alive, but she should have been ready for that. She kicked at the door, almost peevish in her self-condemnation.

Wesley. She relaxed slightly at the thought of her reinstated watcher. A week ago she wouldn't have put odds on his coming to her rescue, but now…well, he'd come for her, that she knew with an iron certainty. But time passed, and that certainty faded with doubts, and finally near panic. Sure, Wes would come after her, but what if he couldn't find her? No, that wasn't right. Wesley was the brainiest man she had ever met, even more so than Giles. It might take a little while - she didn't imagine she was inside a building with a huge "Faith Is Here" sign hovering over it - but he's be able to find her. But then what? Wolfram & Hart seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of musclebound goons ready and willing to do their bidding. What if Wesley had come up against them and been hurt? Been killed? Sure, he had managed that chauffeur chap all right, but presumably he had had the element of surprise. Whoever was guarding her here would be on their guards.

The more she thought about it, despite the advice of her more sensible self, the more panicky Faith became. She couldn't let anything happen to Wesley, she just couldn't. Not after all they had been through. Loath as she was to admit such a weakness, Faith finally realised that she needed someone other than herself. She needed Wesley