"Uhm Faith? Cordelia sent me up here to wake you up.. ya know, to shop." Fred's meek voice spoke through the door, she hadn't dared to make a move to open the door.
"Oh, sorry Fred. Yeah, I'll be down in a few, gimme a chance to wake up and get dressed." Yanking at the pink sheets at the same time she made her move to get off the bed resulted in her falling flat on the floor. "Ooof." She pulled her hand from the floor, trying to shake the pain away.
"You okay in there?"
"Fine." She said a bit gruffly, nearly shredding the sheet as she pulled it from her legs. Fred decided to leave it alone and headed back downstairs, reporting the information back to Cordelia. Standing up, she headed towards the bathroom. She placed her hands onto the rim of the sink and stared in the mirror at her own reflection. She did that more and more frequently, looking at herself in the mirror. Until recently, she was not okay with what she saw staring back at her. Why did she always create problems for herself.. ? For the people around.. ? Shaking her head with disgust, she looked down into the sink.
She picked up her toothbrush and toothpaste, applying it to the brush. "Everyone wants pearly whites." She said to herself, nearly jamming the toothbrush into her mouth.. once again in disgust. She began brushing the teeth on the left side of her mouth first, tilting her head as she looked up at the mirror once again.
"I'm Faith."
"You can't do that. Because it's wrong."
"It's wrong."
Now she couldn't even look at herself. Her thoughts led back to the time she had switched bodies with Buffy and stood in Buffy's bathroom with Buffy's body and spoke with Buffy's voice. She had hurt and wronged so many people. She stopped herself from thinking anything further, the past is.. well, the past. She was in control of herself now. Tears. They seemed to come so easily now, slipping down her cheeks to fall against her nightshirt. Images flashing through her mind of anything horrible she had done to these people.. these people who only tried to reach out to her. Dropping her toothbrush, her fist clenched and slammed into the mirror. The mirror broke into pieces, but none fell to the sink or counter, the pieces remained broken, in their shell. Just like she was. She was a monster and deep down they all knew it.
Evil Faith stood with her arms crossed. "So why fight it? Why not have a little fun?"
Faith ignored the voice as she stepped out of her bathroom and back into her room. She didn't feel like leaving the room, to be honest she didn't feel like leaving the bed. As she made her way over to the dresser, she pulled her hair lazily up into a bun. A couple curls came loose, falling underneath the bun. Leaning down, she pulled a pair of gray sweatpants out of the drawer. Yep, it felt like one of those days.
----- ----- -----
Cordelia sat on the red round lounger, reading over the latest issue of Cosmopolitan. Fred thumped her fingertips against the glass aquarium known as home to Bob. He swam around happily or at least what could be thought of as happily for a goldfish.
"I bet he could learn tricks."
Cordelia snorted, looking up from her magazine. "You can't teach a fish tricks."
Faith walked down the stairs quietly, a solemn look on her face. She crossed her arms, almost hugging herself as she stopped at the bottom of the steps.
"Heading to the gym?"
"No." She replied as shortly and quietly as possible.
"You're wearing that to go shopping?" Cordelia's voice had shown as much approval as her face did - none.
Faith nodded, she wasn't exactly up for conversation this morning and it seemed to eminate off of her.
"Alright.. since Angel's sleeping I am sure he won't mind us taking his car.. " Cordelia began but before she had finished Angel stood in the lobby.
"A ha, taking his what? Car?" His arms crossed, brows arching as he stared at her.
"How the hell.. ?" She stood up, a slight tilt of the head as she prepared herself to be cute. "Car, yes. We can't just walk. Please Angel. I'll treat it as if it were my own."
Angel's demeanor didn't change, "And you think that's gonna make me want to loan it out to you?"
"Angel.." And the pouting began.
Fred and Faith had made their way over to the door, waiting for Angel to cave - which they both knew wouldn't be too long. The door opened behind them and Wesley stepped just inside the door frame, wondering what they were so engrossed in that they hadn't even notice him come in. He leaned his head between them and said, "Good morning ladies. What are we watching?"
After they were over the initial surprise, Fred turned and explained the situation. Cordy wanted the car, Angel didn't want to give in. Wesley nodded as he listened or pretended to listen, his eyes shifted over to Faith. His concern growing as he looked over her. She seemed depressed, her body tensed as he poked her in her side. "And Faith, how are you this morning?"
"Fine." She hadn't even looked at him. She couldn't bring herself to look at him.
"Are you certain?" His voice.. she sighed softly.
"I'm fine. Doesn't anyone ever get that in this place? Fine." She nearly bit his head off before stomping out of the hotel. This drew the attention of Angel and Cordy who stopped bickering immediately.
"Is she okay?"
"She's probably mad that we have to walk because you are being .. a geek!" Cordelia said, crossing her arms.
Sighing, Angel held out the keyring, letting it hang on the tip of his index finger. "She's not mad because you have to walk and since when did I become a geek?" Cordelia happily snatched the keys from his hand, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him on the lips.
----- ----- -----
Angel sat in front of the computer, hands raised slightly above the keyboard. "Come on.. " He was becoming agitated with the error messages he kept receiving. The thing is, he isn't exactly computer illiterate, but Cordy and Fred were so much better on the machine then he was.
With the exception of Angel's banging on the keyboard, Angel Investigations was completely quiet. That almost never happened and when it did - something bad surely followed the silence. And on this sunny day in the City of Angels, it certainly did. Gunn came bouncing down the steps with a book he had been ready to show Wesley when he walked over to the fish tank. Bob the loyal goldfish was floating at the top of the aquarium on his side.
"Aww shit."
"Yo, Bob is dead." That's right - the profane language was from Angel, not Gunn.
Angel looked up from the computer, not realizing he had spoken out loud. His brows raised. "Who?"
"Bob, the fish. Fred's fish."
Angel stood up, smoothing his hands down over his stomach. He had never been stuck in this situation before - he's killed fish before, but never .. grieved one? Leaning his elbow against the counter top, he rested his hand on his mouth.
"What should we do?"
"Hey Wes! Come here!"
Wesley placed the book he had been reading down gently onto his desk and stood up. "Gunn?" He asked, making his way towards the lobby. "What is the matter?"
Gunn simply pointed at the fish. "I see. This is going to upset Fred extremely, isn't it? Oh dear.. "
"Do they sell goldfish at the pet store?" Gunn asked as he made his way towards the door.
"Gunn, what should we do with him?"
"I dunno, flush him." And with that, he stepped out into the pinkish orange of dusk. He was a man in search of a goldfish.
----- ----- -----
Cordelia held the shirt up against her body as she stared in the mirror. Faith smirked, "That would look horrible on you.. " Grabbing it from her hands, she held it up to herself and tilted her head. "Me on the other hand.. "
"Heh, yeah right." Cordy tried to grab the shirt back from her before Faith wandered off in the other direction.
Fred in the meantime, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Her gaze went over the clothes quickly, everything was either sexy or pink. She smiled as she saw a row of fuzzy sweaters, all solid colors.
"What the fuck is with all this naughty shit?"
Both Cordelia and Fred looked up, guilt washing over them both. Faith held up a shirt for them to read, 'naughty' was most definitely on it.
"I mean, who wants to wear something that says 'Sexy' or 'Princess' .. ? I'm not sexy enough for you that I feel the need to spell it out on my clothing? Just like prison, when they make you wear that orange jumper, it has your numbers on it. Isn't it already obvious why I am wearing the orange jumper?" She shook her head with disappointment and moved on to look at other shirts, picking up a long sleeved button down. The shirt's design was after a vintage wallpaper, it had roses on it and.. damn her, she liked it. Finding her size, she pulled it off the rack and slung it with her stuff to try on. "Maybe it's to feed into your princess complex."
"First off, I do not have a princess complex. And just why do they make the jumpsuits orange? It's more than obvious why you're wearing them - duh. Oooo." She said as she picked up a navy blue top, it had a stretch squareneck tie-back with flowy waterfall sleeves. She had one or two things like it, but this particularly caught her eye.
----- ----- -----
Wesley and Angel stood in the bathroom, hovering over the toilet with Bob in a fishnet. Both staring guiltily at his dead body. Wesley waited patiently for Angel to drop the body into the toilet.
"Say something."
"Pardon me?"
"Say something, it's his funeral."
Wesley looked over at Angel, annoyance clearly written across his face. Giving in, he sighed and began. "Bob was a.. happy little fish. Please make sure he crosses over to your side safely.. may God rest his soul."
Angel nodded, smiling he emptied Bob into the toilet. "He was a good fish."
Wesley rolled his eyes. "You've all gone mad."
----- ----- -----
The three girls were done looking and had moved their conversation, which had gained many estranged looks from other customers, into the dressing rooms. Each had their own pile of clothes to try on.
Faith was currently shaking her booty in the mirror, she wore black pinstripe ottoman pants. She crouched down to the floor, testing the elasticity of the pants. She needed something she could easily dust vamps in, while not looking like she has no fashion sense whatsoever. She pulled a light gray sweater knit halter over her head. A smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "So what's the deal with you and Angel?"
"There is no deal with me and Angel. We're best friends, why?" Cordelia called over the divider as she also twirled about in front of the mirror. She wore a black sleeveless caviar beaded cowl neck top. "I like this."
"Uhm maybe because ya'll are all over each other?" Fred piped up finally. More of a simple kind of gal, she had a nice pair of faded jeans on, with a short sleeve johnny collar banded bottom top on.
"We are so not all over each other!" Cordelia screamed as she pulled the top over her head. This made both Faith and Fred laugh, which made Cordelia really think about the last couple of days, "Are we?"
"Yes!" The two girls shouted in unison.
Faith tried on the jacket she picked up just outside of the dressing rooms. Regardless of what people thought, Los Angeles did get cold during the winter months. Faith rubbed her hands down over the suede and back up to the faux fur trimming around the neck, this jacket was heaven. The faux fur lined both cuffs, the neck and even the bottom of the jacket. She flung her arm forward, a stake flying into her hand. Nodding, she put that in the "must have" pile. So far she had three pairs of jeans, four tops and a jacket. Her brows furrowed slightly as she tried to think of what was missing - bras, undies and socks. "Mom always said you can never have enough bras, socks and undies." She said to herself before frowning slightly.
Cordelia stood in front of the mirror, all her items in the 'must have' pile - all except for the dress she was wearing now. She turned to the side, inspecting the dress and how it clung to her body. It was a black, one shoulder side cinch matte jersey dress. "I wonder what Angel would say if he seen me in this.." Her brows arched devilishly. "Yep, must have."
As each girl finished trying on clothes, they discarded the ones they didn't want and continued to the register. A blonde sat behind the counter gabbing to her coworker as they arrived, sighing with annoyance that yet another customer wanted her to wait on them, she began ringing the items up. Her coworker folded each item neatly, placing them in bags which bore the store's name.
Cordelia remembering the conversation earlier looked to Faith, "So what's the deal with you and Wesley?" It was her turn to smirk as Faith opened her mouth to speak, nothing logically popping into her head.
"Uh, I - Watcher!"
"Watch what?" Now the blonde engrossed herself in the conversation, which was a bit rude... but watcher sounded so kinky. Faith's eyes shifted over to the cashier, if looks could kill - the cashier's head would have exploded. She even indulged in the thought of it.
----- ---- -----
Gunn returned with a bag full of goldfish. Angel and Wesley stood in front of the aquarium, had been waiting for his return since flushing Bob.
"Uh, there was only one fish in the tank."
"These are back ups. I figured since the average lifespan of a goldfish is two days.."
"Actually, it's six to eight years if properly cared for."
"Thank you Mr. Wizard." Gunn opened the bag up, attempting to catch one of the fish.
Angel smirked, heading back around the counter to the computer he had vacated earlier. He was determined to get the information he was searching for.
"Only trying to be informative, no need to be snide." Wesley also returned to the task at hand, before he took time out of his schedule to give an elegy to a dead fish. Some people would never fully appreciate his capacity of knowledge. Slipping back into his office, he looked over the book - a diary, a watcher's diary. He needed to know if Angel's truly did regain his soul before anything.. bad happened.
----- ---- -----
Cordelia handed the cashier a credit card. Faith felt a little guilty about her paying for everything, but she was assured it was in fact the company's. Which made the cashier look at her skeptically, asking for identification. Cordelia gladly produced it, looking back over to Faith, "Well?"
"I, he. We." She stopped, trying to keep the smirk that threatened to dimple her cheeks from happening. "I wouldn't mind calling him my old man." She shrugged, that said enough for her.
Fred smiled, looking over Cordelia's shoulder. "That was said perfectly."
Cordy scribbled her signature on the receipt, taking her copy of it and grabbed a couple bags. "Where to next?"
"I need some underwear and socks." Faith beamed proudly.
The blonde cashier watched them leave, turning to her coworker to discuss each girl's flaw.
Fred sat in the back, while Faith rode shotgun. Faith clicked the seatbelt pieces together, now she knew why Fred insisted she sat in the backseat. 'Damn her!' Cordelia didn't take notice to either girl's winces as she almost slammed into the car in front of her.
"Queen C, I know slayers usually die young - but that's from vamps and not a girl with a car, Angel's car."
Cordelia looked over to her, dismissing her comment. As long as they got where they needed to go, that's what mattered.
----- ----- -----
"Okay, this is a mouse. You move it around on the mouse pad. See how the arrow on the screen moves along with the mouse? Point to something you want to go to and push down on the left mouse key." Gunn said as he looked down at Angel, who now felt like an idiot and refused to move the mouse.
"Look man. Move it or don't. You asked for my help."
"I know, but you don't have to treat me like I'm five." Angel moved the mouse around, amazed that the arrow which had sat dormant in the upper right corner, now moved. He swung it around a few more times for good measure. "So what do I do if I want to go back?"
Gunn pointed to the toolbar where an arrow pointed to the left. "Click on that."
And he did. "Oh my god."
Gunn smirked, patting him on the back. "See? You're getting the hang of this thing."
Before they were able to continue any further, the trio of females walked in. Each carrying bags and some even carried boxes. Cordelia stopped in the middle of the room, dropping the bags in front of her. The others repeated her performance, Faith slipping off to peer in Wesley's office.
As always, he was hard at work or at least he seemed to be. He stuck his tongue out, washing away the dryness on his lips from left to right, then back. Faith snuck in, slamming the door behind her, which brought his attention away from the book and over to her. He smiled, glad to see her in a better mood than this morning. "Get everything you needed?"
"Mmm.. yeah. And then some. Look, I'm sorry about this morning. I was in a bad mood and I didn't mean to come off as a bitch."
"Does shopping always put you in a good mood?"
"Shopping equals therapy." She smirked, peeling her body from the door. Her hips did that swaying thing again, she was purposely trying to be sexy and to Wesley! She leaned down, her fingertips caressing his cheek. "I even got some unmentionables today. I'll tell you what, if you get bored with these books, you should come up and see them. Heck, I might even put your name on them."
An odd statement, it did nothing other than arouse him. His name on her panties. "I do believe I'd like to see them now.. " He grabbed the hand that caressed his cheek, pulling her against the desk and had he pulled even harder, she would have been over the desk. He sought out her lips, crushing his own against them. Parting her lips, she lashed her tongue out against his lips. Tasting the salt of them..
A knock at the door interrupted them. Both silently cursing whomever knocked and each other. "Uhm, we can hear you."
They looked from the door where Angel's silhouette still stood to each other, Faith breaking out in giggles as Wesley covered her mouth, trying not to laugh himself. He cleared his throat, "Sorry."
"Eww." They could hear Cordelia squeal in the lobby.