SECOND CHANCES

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the new ones that I create.

CHAPTER 4-HIDDEN FEELINGS AND SURPRISES



After his bare miss with Cordelia and Conner at the diner Wesley decided that he needed some time to think, time to clear his head. There was to much going on at the moment for him to file and compartmentalize in his brain, from Faith showing up suddenly at the bar looking better than he remembered to the sight of Conner and Cordelia getting all cozy during lunch. The last thought made him feel like losing his lunch as he remembered all the times that Cordelia had changed Conner's diapers and held him, and now they were possibly.he couldn't even bring himself to fathom the last part. Before he knew it he found himself driving by the Hyperion Hotel, something that he had often found himself doing after he had recovered enough from what Justine had done to him. Since he had rescued Angel from the bottom of the sea he hadn't seen any signs of Justine, only rumors and people who thought they saw her, but nothing concrete, and for that he was grateful.

Shaking the bad memories off he drove around a bit longer and decided to head back home as the sun began to slowly slip behind the horizon. He parked in his normal spot before lazily making his way into the building and up to his apartment. The keys jangled loudly as he pulled them from his pocket and slid them into the lock. He used his shoulder to push the door in as he turned the knob and stepped inside. Had he been fully awake instead of now half asleep he would have felt the cool evening breeze and remembered that he hadn't left the window open. But with things as they were he simply stumbled into his bedroom and irritably shut the window while cursing about how cold it had become in his apartment. He turned around frigidly and made his way into his bathroom before he turned the shower on and pulled his shirt off. He was just about to completely disrobe when he thought he heard something back out in his bedroom.

He reluctantly stepped back into his bedroom for a second before returning to the bathroom and throwing the rest of his clothes into the hamper before stepping into the shower. Usually he didn't take to long in the shower but for some reason the water just felt to good so he let the water cascade over him, washing the dread out of his overstressed body.

* * * * * * *

She had found his residence easily enough with the page from the phone book but had to resort to going in through his bedroom window after spotting a police car parked out front. She had only originally intended to go in and take a peek around, hoping to find out as much as she could about Wesley's estrangement from Angel Investigations as she could without having to actually talk to the man that dominated most of her nightmares.and even a few of her fantasy's. Nightmares about hurting.ridiculing.even killing him. She had sighed when she found him not to be at home. She first began in his bedroom, thinking it much like her own, but not a bedroom the bedroom that she had imagined he'd have. Everything was the exact opposite of what she had expected. Leaving the bedroom far behind she had entered his, in effect, living room and had began rifling through the various files on the desk, with a fleeting eye cast over to the liquor cabinet in the corner.

Finding nothing that could explain to her why Wesley had broken his ties to Angel and the others she threw open a small closet by his front door and found mostly coats plus a shotgun propped up against the wall. "What the.when did Wes.," Faith thought with an ever growing sense of dread in her stomach that something was seriously wrong with Wesley. She couldn't figure out where or when the change in her old watcher had happened, had it been after she attacked him or had it happened while she was locked away in prison. That thought began to slowly eat at her as she shut the closet door and then made her way back into the bedroom. She had barely begun her search when she thought she heard Wesley turn the shower off. Cursing under her breath she dove to the floor on the opposite side of the bed and hugged the floor. She stayed there, muscles tensed for whatever the outcome, for what felt like forever before she slowly lifted her head and took a glance over the top of the bed and aimed towards the bathroom.

What she saw was not in essence what shocked her, for she had seen many naked men during her life, but not ones that even the thought of talking to them almost made her sick. Her gaze became fixed on the sight of Wesley taking a shower, a sight that mere years earlier would have probably turned her stomach but now she was oddly fascinated and for all of her indomitable will she couldn't look away. As she watched she kept telling herself that she'd only watch for a few seconds longer and then she'd go back out the window and return later when Wesley wasn't at home, but her body seemed to refuse to move. A scare ran through her as her eyes fell on a long jagged scar on his thought, a sight that sent her feverishly back into her memory, wondering if she had seen that scar the night before at the bar. Coming up with nothing more than a mental note to ask him about it later she let her eyes slowly slide down before she noticed another scar that she didn't remember him having. Although it was a small scar she felt her heart skip a beat when she realized what had made the wound, for she had seen many like it before.

Finally forcing herself to look away Faith slowly walked back around the bed and inched towards the window, sliding it open just as there was a knock at the door. She instantly froze, squatting down and leaning up against his nightstand. Much to her chagrin she heard him shut the water off as the knocking on the door continued. Her last image of Wesley's apartment before she dove out of the window was Wesley's footsteps on his bathroom floor and his front door opening.

* * * * * * * * *

After Lilah had left the Hyperion, imparting on them just how much Wolfram and Heart was interested in buying the hotel, Angel had gone into one of his classic brooding periods, desperately wracking his brain for some idea, any idea, that would bring them enough money to keep paying the rent. Gunn had offered up a few ideas but they were discounted because of the small amount of money that they would bring in. What they needed was something that would bring in a good deal of money, or at the very least publicity, something that they'd had a severe drought of ever since they returned from Las Vegas. Fred had retreated into the office and had shut the door, leaving Gunn and Angel to wonder as to exactly what she was doing. Secretly they had bought a couple of books about string theory's and had actually read them.well as much of the books as they could before they felt like their brains would explode from all of the knowledge. Gunn had been about to tell Fred about how little they knew when she burst out of the office with a pleased look on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

"Angel.Charles, I've got it," she said as she pulled up a chair next to Gunn, beaming with pride while Gunn and Angel exchanged confused looks behind her back.

"Got what Fred," Gunn said taking a stab at asking the seemingly obvious question that Fred was expecting.

"I figured out a way to get money," she replied as she smiled and looked back and forth between Gunn and Angel, trying to gauge their reactions.

"That's great Fred.so what's the idea," Angel said with a small sigh that he tried to hide from Fred as he was still clueless as to her idea.

"Well I was just in there.thinking things through.and it just came to me," Fred said with a small snicker as her smile dimmed slightly as she noticed the fake smiles of Gunn and Angel. "We should hold a costume party slash fundraiser, I mean it's almost Halloween and what a way to celebrate huh.we could invite everybody we know, possibly some of your old friends from Sunnydale.maybe even Wesley," she finished by saying his name softly, hoping that Gunn wouldn't object to passionately because she wasn't in the mood for a fight. But unfortunately for her Gunn did indeed hear Wesley's name and almost instantly objected.

"I don't know Fred, they're probably very busy," Angel said back, desperately trying to not crush Fred's enthusiasm.

"Fred.Wesley's not coming.we still don't know if he was behind what Wolfram and Heart did to Lorne," Gunn stated firmly but yet softly as he tried to control his temper.

"Sorry Fred but Gunn's right.besides I don't think he'd come anyway, he's probably got a lot of work to do," Angel said trying to sound sympathetic to Fred yet agreeing with Gunn at the same time.

"You don't know that.you can't stay mad at him forever you know," Fred shot back with a slightly hurt and angry scowl on her face before she abruptly stood up and walked back into the office, shutting the door firmly behind her. Gunn started to follow but Angel stopped him with a stern look on his face.

"Let her calm down for awhile.then talk to her, and don't let her invite anyone that has a grudge against me, I know it's a long list but I don't want the party to turn into one big bloodbath," Angel said with an impatient frown on his face before he turned away and slowly walked up the stairs, leaving Gunn to ponder his next action alone in the lobby.

* * * * * * * *

Wesley had shut the shower off reluctantly after hearing the knocking at his front door. He had no sooner stepped out of the shower when he felt a chill in the air and quickly donned a towel and then his bathrobe before venturing out of the bathroom. Upon exiting the bathroom he felt the full ice cold blast of air that blew in from the window. He shook his head with the thought that he had already closed the window before he quickly shut the window and then turned and headed for his front door. He opened the door to reveal a rather impatient looking Lilah, who seemed to be in quite a big hurry as she bypassed saying hello and just walked past him and into the apartment.

"Hello Lilah, so nice to see you again, please do come in," he said in an extremely polite tone of voice before he bowed slightly and shut his door before slowly turning around.

"Cute Wes, I don't have time for any small talk, you know you'd think that after two centuries he'd know what was in his best interest," she said with an impatient scowl on her face as she stormed over to his couch and sat down.

"I take it that you went and made Angel's life a living hell again by visiting the Hyperion," he said with a sarcastic smile on his face as he made his way back over to his couch and then sat down beside her.

"Yeah he was talking to Gidget and your friend Mr. Gunn about how much in debt they were, it was a truly sad sight," she said back to him with a smile on her lips and a merry tone to her voice.

"And you just had to tell me this why exactly, I already know of their money troubles," Wesley said with a small sigh as he began to try and rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Ooh someone's a little tense, this wouldn't have anything to do with that whole portal and tentacles incident would it, because I've already told you that I had nothing to do with it," Lilah said now with a hint of anger in her voice as she eyed Wesley oddly.

"I know that," Wesley snapped back probably a little to hastily before he composed himself and continued, "I'm bloody tired so unless this is an extremely pressing matter could you please leave and let me get some sleep."

"I can see that I'm not going to get anywhere with you tonight so why don't we try this again tomorrow night, when you're a tad more agreeable," Lilah shot back with a hurt look on her face as she stood back up, smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt, and was out the door before Wesley could utter a reply. He sat, open mouthed and wide eyed, for a short time before he forced himself to stand up, close and lock the front door and then stumble off into the bedroom before he used the last of his strength to make it to his bed.

* * * * * * * *

She had left his apartment intent on traveling directly back to the Hyperion and getting, by an means necessary, the information that she required out of Angel, but upon arriving at the front gate she began to feel her once iron resolve start to wane. For a moment she stood there, on the threshold, internally debating about whether or not to enter. Finally after weighing the positives and negatives of the situation she decided to enter the Hyperion and try her luck with Angel, hoping that he wouldn't try and kill her, as a major reason being that she no longer had a place to stay and didn't particularly like the thought of sleeping out on the streets. In years past she would have just ventured out to a bar, let some drunk pick her up, and then follow him home and spend the night there. But shortly after beginning her time in prison she had made the decision that whenever she got out she would stop that practice and seek out that special someone, even if it took her the rest of her life, for she had long ago had enough of that lifestyle.

She almost skipped across the slick stone walkway that led up to the Hyperion before nervously turning the knob and opening the door, all the while biting her bottom lip to keep herself from verbally objecting to her current course of action. She expected to find everyone in the lobby but upon entering the lobby and walking slowly down the steps she discovered that she was the only one there. "Uh.hello," Faith said at a level that she thought was loud enough to be heard throughout the lobby, but there was no answer. Shrugging her shoulders she began walking through the lobby, taking in everything from the round couch in the middle of the lobby to the small office area behind the counter. She finally found the office and slipped inside through the crack in the door before she nervously began to rummage through the files on the desk. She found that most of them were bills that all seemed to be overdue. She plopped down in the chair and had just leaned back and closed her eyes when she heard someone coming down the stairs. Wafting in from the lobby she instantly recognized Angel's voice but she didn't recognize the identity of the person that he was talking to, at least not right away. Soon she recognized the voice as that of the young woman that she had seen the day before

She instinctively slid under the desk and continued to listen to their conversation as they talked about one random thing after another, with most of it being about a costume party that they were planning to celebrate Halloween and to also make them some money. Faith was just about to venture out of the office, figuring that even in her rusty state in regard to her slayer skills she could probably fight off Angel and the young woman, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the voice of the man she had seen with his arm around the young woman the day before. "Two I can handle.but three," she thought as a worry line stretched itself across her face. She was almost mortified when she heard Angel and the other two's voices begin to grow louder and louder as they no doubt approached the office. She held her breath and pulled the chair in tight to the desk as the door silently slid open.

* * * * * * *

For some reason on this night he found that a restful slumber eluded him, no matter how hard he tried. When he had fallen asleep right after hitting the bed he had slept peacefully, but then the dreams came back. The dreams of his former charge as she tried to beat the life out of him, with the dreams being so vivid that he could almost feel the rope as it dug into his skin. He hadn't had these dreams since shortly after Faith had gone to prison and concluded that their return must have been caused by her release and then their subsequent meeting in the bar. He tossed and turned for a bit before finally giving up and deciding to watch some television and catch up on some reading, not minding that he could barely keep his eyes open, but right now he would do almost anything to keep from venturing back into the abyss that had become his dreams, where his nightmares and fantasies had seemingly run together and were now almost indistinguishable from each other. He worked long into the night and by dawn he had gotten much of work done, but he had finally fallen asleep right in the middle of writing a formula in one of his journals and would not be aware of the small slip of paper, that served as an invitation to the costume party at the Hyperion, until much later in the day.

END OF CHAPTER 4

P.S.---I need some help with people's costume, as to what they should wear to the party, now remember Faith and Wesley will have to hide their identities and then of course there's the group from Sunnydale. So any suggestions?