A/N: Thank you a million times over for the feedback, guys!! And thanks Imzadi for the Lawfirm/Attorneys at Law thing. I knew it looked weird for a reason! This is a fairly short chapter, but I should have another one out by the end of the weekend, time permitting.
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Fred hummed quietly to herself as she walked towards the settee in the hotel lobby, a box of doughnuts in one hand and the day's paper in the other.
As she got situated, she stopped humming for a moment and let the silence of the hotel engulf her. All summer she had hated the silence. Every echoing footstep, every vibrating voice had just proven how alone she and Gunn had really been in the giant hotel. But now, it was different. With the return of Angel, it was almost a pleasant silence.
Now, under the stillness, she knew they were there. Gunn, upstairs sleeping away the morning in in her bed. Angel, upstairs regaining his strength. It was a good silence, and Fred knew that it would be even better if Cordelia was back home as well….
Fred sighed and opened the paper, searching for the comics. As she fumbled with the section she wanted, the rest of the paper slid from her lap and cascaded to the floor. Fred frowned and looked down at the mess of newspaper at her feet. She sighed again and leaned over to retrieve the disheveled sections.
Her hand stopped short as a bold headline in the business section caught her attention. She held her breath as she retrieved the business section from the pile and read the remainder of the article.
"No," she said quietly as she finally finished the piece.
Fred glanced around the empty lobby, her mind reeling. She took a moment to gather her senses before quickly making her way to the hotel counter. On the message pad beside the phone, she left a scribbled note for Gunn, telling him that she took his truck to go to the store. Once the message was done, Fred ran out of the hotel, the business section still grasped tightly in her hands.
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Wesley straightened his tie as the knocking at his apartment door intensified. He looked down at his watch with a growl before making his way out of his bedroom and down the hallway.
He opened the apartment door and couldn't stop the frown that formed on his lips.
Fred returned the bitter expression, her delicate features furrowing. She held up the newspaper as she huffed, "What the hell is this, Wesley?"
Wesley glanced at the paper momentarily before turning his eyes back to Fred with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't really follow the NASDAQ."
Fred's frown intensified. She pointed at the article above the stock market listings. "This. Wolfram and Hart appoint new vice-president of research?"
Wesley simply sighed, leaning against the door slightly.
"What… What is going on?" Fred asked, the anger on her face dissolving into disbelief. "You're working for them now? Did you forget that their, like, our sworn enemy?"
"They're your sworn enemy, not mine."
"I can't believe this. You're actually going to work for these people?"
"Actually, the article is a little dated. I'm already working for them." He glanced down at his watch again. "In fact, you're going to make me late."
"Then, you'll just have to be late," Fred fumed.
She moved to enter the apartment, but without hesitation, Wesley threw his arm up to block her entry. He held aggressively to the doorframe, his eyes dark. Fred held his eyes for a moment, taken aback by his sudden hostility. She turned her eyes from his long enough to glance at his hand firmly placed on the doorframe. After a moment, she took a step back, her gaze turning back to his.
"Is there something in particular you wanted, Fred?"
Her eyes searched his face, looking for any remnant of the Wesley she had once known. The Wesley who had been their leader. The Wesley who had helped to bring her out of her shell. The Wesley who had been her friend, part of her family….
"What's wrong with you?" she asked quietly.
"I'm feeling quite fine, actually," he replied casually. "Better than I have in a long time."
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her throat tightening as her anger slowly returned.
"I have my reasons," he said gruffly. "Will there be anything else, or can we get on with our lives now?"
Fred shook her head in disbelief. She waited a moment before asking, "Last year, you tried to kill me, you remember that?"
Wesley did not respond.
"And afterwards, I came to you to tell you that you had no reason to blame yourself for what had happened between us because that Billy guy had worked his mojo on you," she continued, clenching the newspaper tightly in her hands. "You thought that the demon had brought out some hidden dark side of you, but I told you that it wasn't. That you were a good man."
Wesley clenched his jaw and waited.
"But now I know the truth. All this time I've been blind to who you really are," she fumed, laughing bitterly. "You are a bastard."
With that, Fred turned and stormed down the hallway. Wesley watched as she disappeared around the corner before stepping back into his apartment and slamming the door shut.