SECOND CHANCES

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

CHAPTER 7-The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe



The meeting with Lilah hadn't taken as long as she had thought it would but it had lasted long enough for Faith to have almost dozed off a couple of times, only to be brought back to a state of full consciousness by a visibly angry Lilah, who almost seemed to be able to tell that Faith had been to see Wesley. During the meeting every time Lilah had mentioned Wesley Faith had found herself calling up the memory of her former watcher in the shower, causing her to smile more than once and even snicker a couple of times, eliciting even more angry outbursts from Lilah. While in the meeting Lilah had, in amongst veiled and unveiled threats of a return to prison, informed her of the plan for that night at the party. Faith had to admit that it was a pretty good plan, daring as it was. But for all that Lilah had told her Faith couldn't dislodge the funny feeling that she had that Lilah hadn't told her the entire plan.



Her first objective after leaving the meeting was to figure out exactly what costume she was going to wear to the party. Although she was never known as to much of a thinker, she decided that thinking was the Watcher's job; she could amaze everyone by what she could come up with when given the opportunity. She began to run many different costume ideas through her head and became so distracted that she almost stepped in front of a semi as the driver had to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting her. She barely even acted like she had heard the profanities that the truck driver hurled at her as she simply shrugged her shoulders, gave him the finger, and then continued on her way. She was so into her deep thoughts that she failed to notice when the rain began to fall, softly as first but then it slowly started to build in intensity until it could almost be considered a torrential downpour.



By the time she noticed that it was raining Faith found herself to be soaked clear through to the bone, and so it didn't take long before she found herself shivering in the middle of the afternoon. She shrugged off the rain for a time before she was finally forced to stop and wait for a stoplight that was taking a particularly long time to change from red to green. She had never liked the rain, for it almost always hampered her in her pursuit of whatever vampire or demon she was hunting. And above that there was the fact that rain had always seemed to depress her for some unfathomable reason. She took a second to glance down at what once had been a dry and dirty street, but with the sudden downpour in progress, that had become a river of water that resembled chocolate milk. And it was at this most inopportune moment that a car flew by the intersection and tore through that chocolate river, showering her with the muddy water. Almost in a state of complete shock she staggered back a step or two before rudely bumping into another person that shoved her away and after a vain attempt to keep her balance Faith found herself falling down into the street, straight into the river of chocolate.



Cursing at the top of her lungs she crawled out of the muck and mire now looking more like a drowned rat then ever before. Gone were the thoughts of picking out a costume along with any thought of doing any other kind of shopping. She continued to trudge around the city in her misery until the rain started to subside and she found herself standing in the park that was right across the street from Wesley's apartment. With a sigh she made up her mind that she needed to get cleaned up and he was her best chance at doing that as all she had was the credit card, with it's limited budget, that Lilah had given her to get herself started as a supposedly loyal employee of Wolfram and Heart. The trip over to his apartment building was made without incident however once inside she had to sneak around and avoid anyone that might object to her walking through the halls soaking wet and completely filthy. She finally got the right floor and made her way to his apartment.



* * * * * * * * *



After Faith had left he had cleaned and put away the tea cups and other supplies and then settled in and again began to hum as he put his powerful mind to work, desperately trying to come up with something that could help himself and Faith, all the while trying finally in vain to keep the memories of how good it felt to have Faith in his arms out of his mind. No matter how hard he tried they kept worming their way back in. Because of that he had stopped his deep thinking and decided to finish up some work that he had been putting off. It didn't take him as long as he had expected to finish the extra work so he came to the conclusion that he should figure out whether or not he was going to attend the costume party that Angel and the others were throwing that night. A part of him was completely against going, with that part mainly remembering Angel trying to suffocate him in his hospital bed with his pillow. While the rest of him desperately waged battle to go as he finally admitted to himself that he missed his friends and wanted desperately to see them again, even if he had to do it in secret and they'd never know that he was ever there.

He had come up with a few ideas for his costume when his telephone rang. Sighing heavily he picked it up and was no less than stunned to hear a very familiar, but one that he doubted if he'd ever hear again, voice on the other end. He recognized the voice instantly as that of Rupert Giles, the Watcher that he had replaced back in Sunnydale. The same man that had held a great amount of contempt for the young upstart Watcher at first, no matter how hard they had tried to conceal it. For a second he began to wonder what Giles would think of him if he were here. Shaking those thoughts off he tried to sound happy at the phone call. "Giles..what.," he said with a scowl on his face as he tried to come up with something coherent to say that wouldn't make him sound like a child.



"I understand that Angel is hosting a costume party tonight and I was just calling to make sure that you all know that we're coming," the voice on the other end of the line said a little quickly, denoting the nervousness in the speaker.



"That's nice to know, but why did you call me.why didn't you call the hotel," Wesley said back with a sense of dread growing in the pit of his stomach as he hoped to be able to keep the conversation as brief as possible.



"I did but no one was there so I looked up your number and called you.is something the matter, you sound rushed," Giles said with a hint of concern in his voice as the receiver in Wesley's hands shook a bit as he tried to come up with a plausible reply. For a few terrifying seconds his mind went blank and his heart began to beat faster. As he was about ready to blurt something out there was a faint but distinct knock at the door. He sighed deeply and said a silent prayer for the interruption, no matter who it was, and then mumbled a quick response to Giles before hanging up the phone and lurching to his feet and heading towards the door.



He slowly turned the knob and opened the door, hoping against hope that it wasn't either an angry or horny Lilah that waited out in the hall. He sighed heavily when he saw the dripping wet rogue slayer standing in the hallway with an embarrassed look on her face and her hands jammed into her pockets. He did his best to stifle the laughter as he waved for her to enter as he moved out of the way. She stepped into his apartment without looking him in the eye, preferring to keep her eyes locked firmly on the floor in front of her. "Faith.what.happened," he said with half a smile on his face as he shut the door behind her and locked it.

"Met with that bitch Lilah and then got a nice muddy water show by a passing car.mind if I clean up here," she said slowly with the last part coming more as a shot in the dark hope and dream. A dream that she hoped would come true as she truly had nowhere else to go.



"You look like a.," he started to say before she glared at him and he took a step back before continuing, "Sure.shower's in there, and there are towels.." He was about to lift his arm up to point towards his bedroom when she lifted a hand up and waived him off.



"I know where it is," she said quickly before she caught the confused look he was giving her and almost blushed as she hurried into his bedroom and shut the door behind her. "Stupid..," she muttered under her breath as she angrily shook her head and began disrobing on her way to the shower. The warm water felt good against her skin and a part of her came up with the idea of never getting out. She remembered the showers in prison and shuddered a bit at more than a few bad memories of the place, with her slayer strength saving her on more than one occasion. She lathered up the washcloth and soon lost herself in the warmth.



Back in the living room he could only stare at his bedroom door with a look of shock and confusion on his face. He couldn't figure out how she'd known where the bathroom was as she hadn't used it before she left. He finally shrugged his shoulders and shook his head with the thought running through his mind that he'd ask her how she knew where it was after she got done with her shower. He was about to return to the couch when he noticed something with a bright plastic shine lying on the floor. He crouched down and found the object to be a newly minted credit card for Wolfram and Heart. The look of confusion again spread across his face as he wondered what she was doing with a credit card, what's more one with her name on it.



He sighed and shoved the credit card into his pocket as he made his way back to the couch and sat down before leaning back and rubbing his tired eyes. As he sat there he listened to the sounds that were emanating from the bedroom, for it wasn't to often that a woman used his shower. Sure Lilah had used it on a few rare occasions but with Faith using it the sounds were somehow different, better sounding if that was at all possible. He tried to busy himself with one of the volumes that he had reread earlier but couldn't help but keep an ear out for the sounds coming from the shower. When he heard her shut the water off his curiosity got the better of him and he stood up and slowly crept towards the bedroom. He put his ear up to the door and heard her throw back the shower curtain and step out before grabbing a towel and entering his bed room.



It struck him that she probably wouldn't like it if she found him poised just outside the door so he took a step back and walked slowly over towards the couch before he sat back down and tried to clear all the thoughts from his mind. He was just about to turn on the television when he heard the bedroom door open, causing him to almost jump clear out of his skin, much to her apparent delight as he heard her snicker and then break into a short fit of laugher . He'd heard her laugh a few times before but those times had all been mocking laughs, ones done while taking pleasure in the suffering of others. But there was something different about this laugh, in the newness of it he almost missed noticing that he liked the sound of her laughter, her true laughter where she wasn't hiding anything or keeping herself back. He turned his head slightly and cast her what he hoped was a look much like he had given her in his early days with her as her Watcher.



"God you're jumpy," she said with an amused smirk on her face as she took a half step out of the bedroom, leaving Wesley to have to steel his emotions to keep from leering at her as she was only clad in the towel, her medium brown hair now much darker descending loosely around her shoulders. Although he had spent a good deal of time during his training as a Watcher indoors with his nose deeply placed in one ancient text or scroll after another he had found some time to get out and meet people, where he had met many a beautiful woman. This trend had continued when he came to America to be the Watcher for the two slayers, but much like his attempts back in England he had little luck with any of them. And after all that he found himself staring at a young woman that he quickly decided was quite possibly the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, with her beauty enhanced by his knowledge of her slayer abilities and her flawed personality, greatly because it now closely reflected his own. "You just going to stare at me all afternoon or.," she said seemingly impatient and bordering on angry.



"N.no.of course not.sorry about that.feel free to wear something of mine, most of my clothes should be clean.wash day was yesterday," he said calmly after swallowing hard and taking a deep breath, finally forcing out a strained smile which seemed to satisfy her.



"Right.I'll do that.," she said with a half smile on her face as gave him an odd look before turning around and giving the door a light tug as she went back into the bedroom. It was a few seconds later that he summoned up enough courage, or stupidity, and stood up and slowly and silently made his way back to his old post just outside the bedroom door, but this time he discovered that the door had not gone completely closed, leaving a big enough crack for him to clearly look through. Despite his misgivings of his conscience he crept closer and peered through the crack in the door. He watched as she slipped out of the towel and walked over to his closet, a sight that caused him to draw in a breath of air quickly from the pleasurable shock of it all.



He continued to watch as she mumbled her critiques of his new style of dress. Gone were the suits and old Watcher type clothes and in there place was a much more casual look with only a couple of suits remaining. She finally picked out a pair of old sweatpants of Fred's that had somehow gotten mixed in with his clothes and one of his more comfortable blue button up and long sleeved shirts. Satisfied with her choices she laid them on the bed before she stopped and spun around to cast a quick look back at the door which caused Wesley to almost run back to the couch in hopes that she hadn't seen him staring at her through the crack in the door. He cursed under his breath for his actions as he picked up the slip of paper that had been slipped under his door and again stared at the quick message that Fred had scrawled on the bottom of the slip.



Almost out of habit he located the phone and rang up the private number that Lilah had given him that would always get through all of Wolfram and Hearts screeners. She started to ask why he was calling but was cut off when he informed her that he was going to go to the costume party at Angel's and had a good costume in mind but he had some things to attend to first and therefore out of contact until shortly before the party. She reluctantly agreed amidst a sultry counterproposal that Wesley heard but would not remember later. He mumbled something as a reply before he quickly hung up the phone as Faith exited the bedroom and announced her presence in her own unique way.



"Hey Wes.this the best you got," she said trying to sound angry and emotionless but he could see the faint signs of a smile that tried to curl the edges of her mouth.



"You'll have to forgive me Faith.but shopping for clothes hasn't been very high on my to do list for some time," he said sternly as he also stymied a laugh that was trying to come out, and from the odd look on her face she seemed to notice and acknowledge the joke.



"I see that you still haven't found a working sense of humor since we last met.," she said with now a broad smile on her face that only lasted for a few seconds before she seemingly became almost scared of showing to much emotion and the smile was replaced by her usual emotionless mask.



"You're not going to last very long wearing my clothes.maybe Fred or Cordelia will let you borrow some of theirs," he said with a small sigh as he shoved the party slip in his pocket and took out the credit card that she had dropped on the floor. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the small rectangle of plastic.



"Hey that's mine," she started to say with an almost hurt look on her face before she noticed that he was smiling at her and holding the credit card in the open palm of his hand.



"Yes it is.and I think that now would be a good time to use it to get you some new clothes as I'll bet that you've grown tired of.," he said with a small sigh as he looked her up and down and then tried to continue but she just lightly glared at him and walked by him, grabbing the credit card out of the palm of his hand as she went, and headed for the door.



"Then what are we waiting for.we don't have all day," she said with a determined look in her eye as she got to the door and opened it before she turned back to him and continued. "Well you coming or not.who knows.if you're good maybe you'll get something.anything's better than what you got in that closet," she said with a small sigh and wave of her hand before she disappeared out the door and started off down the hall.



"This can only end badly.," Wesley said with a sigh and a shrug of his shoulders before he grabbed his umbrella and car keys and then headed out the door, locking it behind him.

END OF CHAPTER 7