Ready to move off the bed, her eyes shifted to the floor to a big present. Left brow arching, she leaned down and poked it. "Lotta good that's gonna do you." Evil Faith had popped up onto her shoulder again. Evil Faith, was what she formerly was.. evil. Black and leather and that vampy look, no not the actual bloodsucker look - but makeup. "Why don't you open it?" Good Faith asked, sitting on her right shoulder. Good Faith was a lot less.. loud. She wore jeans and a white tank top, her makeup was softer, lips a pale shade.
"They're gonna send me to the looney bin if you two don't leave me alone." She leaned over, picking up the box and placing it on the bed in front of her. She sat with her legs crossed indian style in front of it. The wrapping paper, a metallic red shined as if to say, 'Rip me open!' ... She began pulling the paper off when a small envelope caught her attention, ripping it off the box, she pulled the card from the envelope.
"Dearest Faith,
I do wish to apologize for my barbaric behaviour yesterday, it was wrong of me and I do hope you are not so quick to judge me as I did you. Also, I came across these and thought they might come in handy.
Sincerely,
Wesley"
Faith's brows arched. Wesley? Shrugging, she pulled the rest of the wrapping paper off and quickly tore open the box. A hint of silver gleamed up at her as she peered in. "Whoa." She pulled out one of the two silver arm blades. And they attached! She immediately began putting them on. Testing them, she swung them from side to side. She ran over to the door and out into the hallway. Running down the hallway to the main stairs, she ran down three flights without stopping.
"Elephants have made less noise." Cordelia said as she waited for the girl to appear.
"Indeed." Wesley agreed with her, he tried to hold back the smile as he watched Faith spring into the middle of the lobby showing off her new arm blades.
"How fucking cool are these?" She asked to no one in particular as she continued swinging them around. Wesley emerged from behind the lobby desk, a satisfied smile playing his lips, "I take it you like them?"
"Are you kidding? Look at them!" She ran over to him, slamming her arms around him. Then she had a flashback of a movie she saw while she was in prison - Edward Scissorhands. She pulled back slowly, hoping she didn't hurt him. "Sorry." As she looked up into his eyes, she pulled away from him completely.
"Oh no, by all means - don't apologize."
"I didn't hurt you did I?"
Wesley flinched, hurt.. No, not hurt this time. He shook his head. "Not at all."
"Good. Thank you so much, I promise to put them to good use."
Cordelia walked over to the two, she inspected the blades and looked up to Wesley, "Scary much?"
"You don't know a good thing when you see it." Faith chimed in.
Gunn opened the front door, waiting for Fred to pass through. She walked in smiling, "Hey ya'll guess what!"
"What?" Cordelia asked as she stepped back.
"There's a carnival two blocks away! Gunn and I were gonna go if Cordy didn't have any visions tonight.. " Both Fred and Gunn looked over at Cordelia, waiting for confirmation. Cordelia smiled at the two, at least they were able to have a semi-normal relationship.
"No vision girl tonight."
"A carnival? Beware the carnies." Wesley said as he headed towards his office, he was feeling a bit playful himself.
"Well I was wondering if ya'll wanted to come along?"
"Count me in." Faith said, she tried to remember the last time she had actually been to a carnival.. she had to be about fourteen years old. Gunn stared at the arm blades, his brows raising. "Baby girl, you can leave the blades at home." She smirked, the thought of wearing them out in public to a carnival was a little ridiculous.
"I'm probably in, let me go ask Angel if he'll go." Cordelia said, heading for the stairs with Faith following her up to change out of her pajamas and blades.
Fred looked over to Wesley, who seemed to be battling over whether he should go or not. "Wesley?"
He looked over to Fred, then Gunn.
"Your girl's gonna be there."
Wesley crossed his arms, "She most certainly is not my girl!" His thoughts led to the lot of them having a good time without him, then his thoughts turned to Faith and to someone flirting with her. He was her watcher at one time, it wouldn't hurt to watch out for her.. "I'll go."
Faith in the meantime had rushed up the stairs, pulling off her arm blades and placing them on the bed carefully. She smiled, it was already starting off to be a good night. She went over to the mahogany dresser, not realizing she pulled out a pair of jeans and white tank top. She pulled the jeans on over her curvy hips and looked at herself in the mirror. "A bra would be nice." She rummaged through the first drawer, pulling out a black satin bra. After slipping the bra and tank top on, she turned in the mirror. "Is my ass getting bigger?" She pouted.
----- ----- -----
"Cordy, no."
"But Angel.. " she was pouting now. Her head tilted slightly to the side, she knew from previous experience just what to do to make Angel cave. "Please.. it would mean a lot to me. We could get out of the hotel and be alone."
"With four other people?"
"Who said we had to be with them the whole time?" She slid her fingertips up to his face, the skin underneath her touch tingled. He smiled, yep.. he was about to cave in. Cordelia would pull out the big guns if necessary.. Her eyes slid down over his face to his lips, biting on the inside of her own lower lip.
"Alright."
She smiled, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a hug. He buried his face in her neck, her hair and her scent. So uniquely Cordelia, plumeria. Thanks to the Bath and Body Works gift certificate she received from him for Christmas.. he'd have to remember to get her another amongst other things.
"I'll go tell Fred and Gunn to wait up for us." She said, trying to extricate herself from his grasp, the more she struggled with him, the tighter his arms around her became.
"Angel?"
His lips were close to her ear.. she could have swore he was purring. "Mine." He whispered into her ear before loosening his grip on her. She hated to admit it, but her whole body flushed from that one word. He said it so possessively.
----- ----- -----
After she had slid her boots on, Faith made her way downstairs. Wesley couldn't pry his eyes off her if he had wanted to. She was so soft, so.. feminine. While she was most definitely feminine before, there was a softness about her now. She didn't have that hard edge to her. Her brown tresses fell a little past her shoulder and down her back.
Fred smiled over to her, Faith wasn't so bad. She cussed a lot, but she seemed nice.
"English." Gunn called over to Wesley, who reluctantly pulled his eyes away from Faith. Gunn faced the door, pointing with his thumb towards Faith and mouthing, "Your girl." Wesley really did hate to be teased, he rolled his eyes before looking back over to Faith.
Cordelia came running down after Faith. "Alright, Lorne is watching the baby tonight. Watch out carnies, here we come!" Angel followed behind Cordelia at a much slower pace, a shy smile on his face. "Yanno, most carnies are gypsies." He nodded softly, as if that small piece of information would be enough to stop them from going.
Walking at a leisure pace, Gunn and Fred automatically took the lead, with Cordelia and Angel behind them.. which left Faith and Wesley in the rear to walk together. Wesley silently questioned if this had been done purposely. Every now and again Faith would steal a look over to Wesley. "I really like the arm blades. They're really cool."
"Do you? I'm glad. When I seen them, I thought of you." He smiled, he didn't want to say too little or too much. She smirked slightly, he thought of her.. granted it was when he was buying a weapon.. but he had thought of her.
"Thank you very much, I appreciate them. I just can't wait to try them out."
"I've been meaning to ask you about that. Training I mean, did you have time to train while in prison or.. " He stopped as he watched her out of the corner of his eye, she was visibly becoming upset, which in turn made him upset. She never showed her emotion, that's what made her so dangerous.
"I've kept it up. In prison you either find a hobby or become someone's hobby."
"This is going to be so much fun!" Fred shouted back as she entered through the park's gates. Angel wearily looked over the flashing neon lights and rides.
"Ooo a ferris wheel!" Cordelia exclaimed, she now too becoming excited. She snaked her arm through Angel's, dragging him over to the ticket box. Gunn and Fred went off in search of the midway, with Fred hoping for big winnings.
Wesley stood behind Angel, waiting to purchase tickets. "Any particular rides?"
"All of them if I can help it." Faith smiled back at him.
"Oh my. You are quite brave you know. They put these rides up in less than five minutes in pouring down rain and they're supposed to be safe."
"Oh come on. Don't be such a wuss."
"I'm not a wuss. I just don't think these rides are safe, that's all."
She looked over to him, which stopped any further protests. Wesley paid for the tickets, following Angel and Cordelia. "Hows a bout we beat you suckers at bumper cars?" Wesley looked over to Faith, amused.
"Is that a challenge?" Angel questioned, a huge grin now riding his lips.
"What else would it be?" Wesley answered for her.
Cordelia looked both Wesley and Faith over. "Bring it on."
They stood in line behind a couple of twelve year olds who each excitedly claimed to go after the other and what color car they were gonna get. Angel listened intently, smiling at their excitement, Cordelia leaning her head against his shoulder as she waited patiently.
"So what's the deal with them?" Curiosity had gotten the better of Faith.
Wesley leaned in, whispering into her ear, "They're in love and everyone but them know it."
"Oh.." Was the last thing Faith said before rushing through the gate and into a blue bumper car. With everyone finally seated, the carnie started the ride. Faith winked over at Wesley then nodded her head in the direction of Angel and Cordelia. Wesley suppressed laughter as long as he could as he followed after her, slamming his car into Cordelia's car.
"Hey!" Cordelia screamed, ramming back. Angel didn't have as much luck with his car. He just kind of went in circles, which caused the kids that stood in line in front of him to take notice. They decided to kick a guy while he was down and rammed into the front of his car, knocking it across the metal surface. Faith had decided to swing around to Wesley, bumping into his tail end.
"I thought you were on my side!"
Faith giggled, "Its every girl for herself." Wesley swung the small steering wheel around furiously, bumping back into her.. sending her across the metal surface and against a bunch of abandoned bumper cars. As she slammed into them, her head went flying back against the hard seat and this made her giggles turn into screams of laughter. She tried everything she could to push him back to be free, but it didn't seem to be working and to be honest, she didn't care.
Fred spotted the other couples, waving furiously as Gunn walked up behind her with a giant stuffed rabbit. Fred held up a goldfish, pointing to it. Fred's smile was enough to make anyone break into a smile.
As the round of bumper cars ended, Angel stepped out of his car and put on his best scary face sans bumpy ridges and fangs. "I'll get you next time!" They laughed at his empty threats, even pointing at him.
"I'm not scary am I?" He asked as he waited for Cordelia to join him. She ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it away from her face. "Well.. you scare me?" She tried to sound hopeful.. but it dashed all his hopes of ever scaring children.
"Tilt-a-Whirl!" Cordelia demanded, pulling Angel behind her. He smiled, this was normal right? He was doing normal things with normal people. It felt nice to have a night like that, even if it's just one night.
"Look what Gunn won for me Faith!" Fred showed off her prize winning goldfish which would more than likely be dead in less than three days with pride. Normally Faith would have told her it was destined to meet with the toilet for the giant fish bowl in the sky, but she had a soft spot for the kid, she was sweet and innocent - how many times have you come across that in a person?
"Did you name him yet?"
Gunn came up behind Fred, slipping one arm around her shoulders as he held the giant stuffed rabbit in the other. "Bob. She named a goldfish Bob."
Faith broke out in laughter. "Bob. It's so.. cute."
Wesley walked slowly behind the group, his eyes shifting over his former slayer's jean clad ass. 'Naughty naughty.' He heard Faith saying, thankfully it was only his imagination. As he stepped up behind Faith in line, he turned his attention to the ride. He remembered this ride and how much he had hated it when he was younger.
"Looks like you're the big prize winner today, huh?" Faith said as she looked to the giant rabbit hanging from Gunn's arm.
Fred chuckled, "No, I won that."
Wesley who had caught the end of the conversation began to chuckle himself. He was so close to Faith, she felt his chest with each bounce of laughter. She decided right then and there that it was something she liked, a lot.
Each couple had their own cart, Wesley gripped the bar in front of him as he looked over the mechanics of the ride. "Wes, you alright?"
"Fine, quite fine. I'm not too fond of this ride."
She frowned slightly, "Why didn't you say something earlier? I would have waited with you while they got on."
Wesley shrugged, embarrassment now seeping in. The ride started, Wesley pinning Faith against her side of the cart and trying (without luck) to pry his body off of hers, he might hurt her after all. She began screaming with laughter, holding on for dear life. Wesley joined her in laughter, no longer trying to pull himself off of her.
Angel was intelligent enough to stay on the right of the cart, loving the fact that Cordelia was short of sitting in his lap from the twirling. Her laugh was music to his ears, he smiled over at her. When he finally got the courage up to say something to her, he tried shouting it over the loud music of the ride and other people's laughter.
"What?" she screamed back to him.
"You're beautiful!" He screamed back, only this time everyone on Tilt-a-Whirl could hear him, because the ride had stopped. This made Cordelia blush, which in turn would have made Angel blush.. but being a vampire he didn't have to worry about that.
"Ya'll want to go on the ferris wheel?" Fred asked as she pointed up to it. Another two seater.
"I didn't hurt you, did I?" Wesley asked as he pulled his body from Faith's, regretfully to boot!
"Nope, slayer strength." She smiled back to him before hopping out of the cart.
The three couples (in all reality it was one couple, two friends in love and two friends refreshing their relationship with each other) headed over to the ferris wheel, immediately getting on. Angel slipped his arm around Cordelia, a big cheesy grin on his face. Gunn had to leave the giant rabbit in the care of a carnie before sinking down in the seat next to Fred.
Which left only Faith and Wesley.. gosh. The ride neared the top and came to a halt, the carnival attendants letting people off and then reloading. Faith shivered slightly, L.A. or not.. it got cold at night. Wesley took notice and sighed, he was a gentleman. He slipped out of his jacket, ignoring her protests and placed it around her shoulders. She sunk down into it, inhaling softly. It smelled of him, soap, leather and Old Spice? Her brows raised slightly, she leaned forward to see how far up they were. Not quite at the top, but pretty high up.
"Wes."
"Faith.." he was being coy.
"Can I say something without you interrupting me?" She thought this a good place as any to start apologizing, it wasn't like he could just leave.
"Go ahead."
"I did a lot of thinking in prison, and I do mean a lot. Every single day I thought about you and all the horrible things I did before turning myself in." She cringed inwardly, this was just.. ick. A sticky situation to be in. Her facade of a strong female in control was crumbling and quickly. Wesley had yet to look at her, and she couldn't get past the lump in her throat. "I'm sorry. I know it can't ever be enough, but I am. And you were right, an animal like me doesn't deserve to be out." That comment had hurt her feelings a little more than she'd like to admit, but she would never tell him that.
Animal. His face twisted with anguish. "Faith.. you're not an animal. I acted childish and should have never said it. I'm.. sorry." He was apologizing to her? She shook her head, "No no, you don't understand. I am an animal. I did horrible things to you and Cordelia and Angel and even Buffy and Xander. I deserved it." She sighed, bringing her hands up to her eyes.. she was a horrible human being, if you could even call her that.
"They were unspeakable. But all wounds heal eventually." Wesley placed his hand on back, rubbing gently. He hadn't forgiven her completely, but felt better knowing she was sorry.
A weight had been lifted off her shoulders, "So, do you hate me?"
"I bloody well did for a while, then I realized it's not your fault. I failed you as a Watcher."
"What?" she asked, incredulously.
"Indeed, I should have put my foot down somewhere along the road."
"You've got to be kidding me. Is that what you British do?"
"I'm sorry, I don't follow." his brows raised slightly.
She stared up into his blue eyes, like she had imagined so many times in prison. "Blame yourself for everything! God!" He flinched as her voice grew more and more angry.
"I would have been the same even if you tried to put your foot down, stop blaming yourself when you know damn well it was me all along."
Wesley nodded softly, his body tense as he sat near her.
Angel smiled as the ride began again, his eyes shifting over the glittering lights of the city. "You can see everything from up here." Cordelia pulled his arm from around her shoulders and into her lap, intertwining her fingers with his.
"Thank you Angel."
"For?"
"Coming out, being my friend and buying me cotton candy when we get off?"
He grinned, "Daddy's feeling like spending big tonight. You can have cotton candy and a candied apple." Cordelia rolled her eyes, laughing. He could be such a geek.
"I'm sorry, I am trying my hand at being good. Really I am. It's just a lot harder than I thought it would be." Faith said as she looked down once again, the ferris wheel coming to a halt once again. "Did I leave scars?" she asked so quietly, it was barely audible.
He swallowed before looking over to her. "Physically or emotionally?"
Her face crinkled as she tried to fend off tears that seemed to escape out the corners of her eyes anyway. They slid down, leaving a trail down her cheek to gather under her chin. She should have done this on the ground where she could hide from him.
His eyes shifted over her face slowly, he timidly reached a hand over to her face. The pad of his thumb rubbing the trail away, erasing it for fresh tears. "It made me a stronger person." Her hand slipped up to his, capturing it and holding it against her cheek. She couldn't remember the last time she had actually been touched by a man, by anyone.
She whispered, "I'm so sorry."
He nodded softly, whether she was looking or not.
TBC.. Not really sure where this is going.. but I'm happy to keep it up.