SECOND CHANCES

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

CHAPTER 19-WORRY, CONFUSION, AND A THREAT

Although she knew that she needed to find Dawn and try to straighten out the misunderstanding, hopefully before the younger Summers could get to Buffy and tell her, Faith knew that her first priority was to the health and safety of her former watcher.  Whereas at one time the sight of Wesley, with blood running down his temple, sitting on the ground trying to keep from passing out would have truly not affected her a great deal.  But after the events of the past few days that same sight sent shivers down her spine and a feeling in the pit of her stomach that even though it was new it was a feeling that she knew that she never wanted to feel again.  It was such a sense of loss and dread, like a hole that could never be filled.  "Wesley," Faith tried to say just loud enough for him to hear but in her fear for his safety she ended up almost shouting it. 

"Hmm…Faith…did we win," Wesley mumbled softly as he desperately tried to keep from drifting off to sleep.

"Not yet Wes…not yet…," Faith stated back to him with a smile on her face as she looped her left arm around his waist and pulled him back up to his feet as best she could as she noticed that the overly large demon had once again turned their way. 

"Bloody shame," Wesley mumbled with a rueful grin on his face as Faith gently pulled him back through the hole in the wall that the demon had made and set him down a short distance down the hall. 

"There you go again with the accent…you're just trying to make me go all weak in the knees aren't you," Faith said with a small laugh as she knelt down beside Wesley and ran a hand through his filthy hair.  For a second or two after that Wesley closed his eyes and laid there silent, sending another shiver down Faith's spine as the smile on her face quickly changed to a slight trembling of her bottom lip.  "Wes…hey Wes…c'mon Wesley…open your eyes…stay with me…," Faith started to say breathlessly before at the end she was again almost shouting at him.  Faith was about ready to get drastic in trying to get a response from Wesley when he coughed and slipped an eye open.

"I…I'm here…don't worry Faith you're not going to get rid of me that easily…I'm going to be around for a long time to come," Wesley started to say with a tired look on his face before his words were cut off as Faith wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight bear hug.  And for the second time since showing up outside of his apartment Faith, without sobbing, let loose a tirade of tears.

"Don't scare me like that Wes, for once in my life I have something…someone…good and I intend to do things right this time," Faith started to say softly but seriously as she unwrapped her arms from around Wesley and wiped away a few tears before leaning in close and crushing her lips against his in relief, completely missing Spike's limp body that smashed into the wall nearby and slumped to the ground.

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At first Dawn had only one thought that kept running through her mind, that being that Faith was out and hurting people again, starting with her former watcher, and if she weren't careful Faith would probably come after her next.  When she was what she thought far enough away Dawn turned and cautioned a quick look back, and was surprised that she could no longer see Faith or Wesley.  Her next thought was that she had to find Buffy and warn her of what Faith had done.  Carefully avoiding the demon's now extremely angry attacks, aimed mostly at Angel as Spike had stumbled and gotten a backhand across his face, Dawn scrambled over to the last place that she had seen Buffy.  "Buffy…," Dawn shouted fearfully as she saw Buffy lying on the ground with a pained expression on her face and a hand on her forehead as she was using her other arm to prop herself up.

"D…Dawn…what's going on, what happened, where's Spike…and Angel," Buffy shouted angrily as she rolled over and got to her hands and knees, all the while ignoring Dawn's attempts to help her up. 

"It's Faith…she…she's back…and she hurt what's his name again…Wesley…," Dawn stammered out almost faster than her mouth could process all of the information that her brain was trying to convey.  The look of fear combined with worry and regret on Buffy's face chilled Dawn to the bone.

"Faith…here…she's out, how," Buffy questioned out loud as she painfully pushed herself back up to her feet just as Connor stormed back into the lobby almost knocking her back off of her feet. 

"Watch out," Connor growled angrily as he awkwardly danced to the right of Buffy and barely registered that he even noticed the death glares that Buffy and Dawn aimed at him. 

"You should watch where you're going you…," Dawn started to shout angrily as she took a step towards Connor and brought a hand up to close it into a fist and accentuate her point.  But before she could finish her angry thought she was interrupted by Buffy shouting out in fear.

"Spike," Buffy shouted as loudly as she could as she began to reach her hand out to try and alert Spike to watch out for the demon trying to hit him.  But her alert to him only ended up being the cause of him stumbling and letting the demon slam him back away from it and up against the wall, with the sword that he had been holding in his hand sent spinning harmlessly away into a pile of rubble. 

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For the most part during the entire battle first with the mercenaries and then the overly large demon Gunn had been trying to make sure that both Fred and Lorne were safe.  At first Fred had been alright, but then when the mercenaries had come storming into the lobby shouting loud enough to wake the dead and seemingly appearing out of nowhere she had flashed back to her days in Pylea and had curled up into the fetal position and commenced balling like a small baby.  Knowing he couldn't leave her like that long enough to fight Gunn had, as best he could, to pick her up into his arms and rush her to one of the back rooms.  After yelling angrily at the empathy demon for half a dozen times Gunn was about to punch him when Lorne suddenly regained his senses and helped Gunn get Fred back out of the lobby.  In fact he had barely even noticed when Connor and Xander had gone rushing by him with the piece of wood that they had ended up using as a makeshift backboard. 

When they had gotten far enough away Gunn had begun to smash open the door of one of the rooms when Lorne had very sheepishly simply turned the doorknob and opened the door.  Before Gunn could come up with a biting retort Lorne had hurriedly ushered the two inside the room, with a little snappy banter of his own, and quickly shut the door behind them.  As gently as he could Gunn had laid Fred down on the bed and sent Lorne into the bathroom to get a damp washcloth.  When Lorne got back Gunn had placed the washcloth on Fred's forehead in an effort to try and snap her out of her self imposed state of paralysis.  Gunn and Lorne stayed in that room, watching closely after Fred, during the entire rest of the battle with the mercenaries and then the battle with the overly large demon.

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Angel had just dodged out of the way of one attack when he saw the back of the demon's right hand connect with Spike's jaw and send the younger vampire with a soul flying back up against the far wall.  His first instinct was to go and make sure that Spike hadn't been permanently taken out of the fight but a part of his memory cut in with the knowledge that Spike had been through worse and come back to be a royal pain in the ass quickly enough.  What troubled him the most was the look on Buffy's face, and tone to her voice, when she shouted Spike's name.  The sight and sound filled Angel with the full range of emotions as a part of him desperately began to worry about both Buffy and Spike while the rest of him was trying to fight the overly large demon currently smashing another large hole right next to the first one.

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Their kiss ended abruptly when the demon began to tear another hole in the wall, causing old plaster and a cloud of dust and dirt to completely envelop them.  Faith backed away a small step and moved her arm in front of her facing, hoping to try and block some of the cloud that was forcing her to cough so hard that her chest was beginning to hurt.  Wesley meanwhile groggily as best he could he pulled his collar up over his mouth and nose in his attempt to keep from breathing in any more of the cloud than he had to.  Through the throbbing pain in his head Wesley was able to connect enough thoughts together that told him what he needed to do next, and rather than acting on pure instinct he tried to struggle back up to his feet but was only able to get halfway up before he bumped into Faith, knocking her back down as she was trying to do exactly what he was doing.  Had she not been trying to get away from the almost continuous cloud of dust and debris and trying to not get herself and Wesley killed Faith would have most likely angrily demanded an apology from the former watcher.  But with the circumstances being as they were she quelled her angry thoughts and feelings and allowed Wesley to pull her up to her feet before the pair began to awkwardly run down the hall, finally stopping after they had rounded a corner and were out of the radius of the cloud and out of the demon's line of vision. 

"Are you…okay," Wesley said after a fit of coughing, that ended up causing his throat to feel very dry and raw, as he turned to look at Faith, who was now like him almost completely covered head to toe in dust and dirt. 

"Sure…I just tried to hack up half a lung but thanks to my…slayer healing I'll be fine," Faith shot back trying to sound and act angry but the small smile that curled the edges of her mouth gave her true feelings away. 

"I don't think…any weapon that we have is capable of killing that thing...it was obviously called here by magic…so what we need is a powerful enough wielder of magic to reopen the portal and send that thing back where it came from," Wesley said forcefully, to Faith sounding a great deal like he used to when he was her watcher and acted like he knew everything that there was to know, as he cautioned a glance around the corner to confirm exactly where the demon was. 

"Great plan Wes…I'll just go to the nearest powerful magic wielder shop and get one…oh wait there aren't any…," Faith exclaimed with a great deal of mockery in her voice at first before she saw the hurt look on Wesley's face and instantly she was filled with a tremendous amount of regret, wishing she could take back every word.  "Sorry Wes," Faith said, her voice tinged with a great deal of regret, as she reached up and laid a hand on Wesley's shoulder.

"It's forgotten…do you know where Willow is…she may be powerful enough to do away with that demon," Wesley said with a sigh and a wave of his hand as he turned back to Faith and tried to project a look of confidence instead of the underlying sense of fear that Willow wasn't powerful enough to do the job. 

"I'm not sure…I think she was helping Giles and the others carry Cordelia out of the lobby…but then Dawn showed up to help me pull you out and she saw your scar and thought that I did it…," Faith started to say with a very thoughtful look on her face before the look changed to one of a small amount of almost angry worry when she continued.  "But before I could tell her that I didn't she had run off, B's probably looking for me right now," Faith finished with a very frustrated scowl on her face.

"I think Buffy is a little preoccupied with that demon right now Faith…if we all live through this we'll have plenty of time to correct that misunderstanding…and any others that will have arisen," Wesley exclaimed softly before leaning back towards the corner and taking another look around it for the demon.

"What if we just open another portal to some hell dimension and shove that ugly lard-ass through…end of problem, why can't we do that," Faith said with a tinge of excitement in her voice as she grabbed Wesley's wrist and pulled him back to face her. 

*

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*

"We could do that I guess…but the books and supplies that we'd need were in the office…," Wesley started to say with an almost upbeat look on his face before he seemingly realized what he was saying and the low likelihood of it ever happening.

"The office that now looks like World War three hit it…," Faith said begrudgingly admitting to herself that the pessimistic look on Wesley's face told her all that she needed to know about the futility of trying to use the books and supplies in the office. 

"That's the one…," Wesley started to say with a sad frown on his face before a tremor shook the hotel so hard that both Wesley and Faith were knocked to the ground.  "Bloody hell," Wesley growled angrily as when he and Faith tried to stand up another tremor shook the old hotel and the two were again knocked off of their feet. 

"Now what," Faith yelled so harshly that she made it sound like a curse as she was finally able to pull herself back to her feet before she turned to help Wesley up as well. 

"I don't know, but whatever it is it can't be good, come on," Wesley said with a deep sense of foreboding as he took Faith's hand and ,after making sure that the demon was no longer in their immediate area, pulled her back towards the lobby.

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Connor watched without much feeling as Spike was sent slamming up against the far wall.  Angel had told him very little about Spike, but what he had told him didn't make Connor to eager to get to know, in essence, his nephew.  He was far more concerned with Cordelia's condition however the look of fear on Dawn's face made him glad that he hadn't argued with Giles and had returned to the lobby to help in the fight against the overly large demon that was currently turning the Hyperion into a disaster area.  Even though he didn't know her Connor hated to see Dawn afraid.  As he slowly took an assessment of how the battle was going Connor's mind drifted back to the many years that he had spent with Holtz in Quartoth, where he had been repeatedly told that he should only save those that he thought he could save without taking to much damage himself.  But ever since he had crossed through the dimensional rift into Los Angeles Connor had found that no matter how hard he tried he simply could not bear to see anyone in fear for their life. 

He was about to spring into battle when the front doors of the Hyperion were sent flying clear across the lobby by a powerful explosion that rocked the entryway.  Being closer to Dawn than Buffy was Connor pushed Dawn to the ground and dove on top of her with Buffy hitting the ground nearby.  Connor was about to let Dawn up with another explosion ripped through the Hyperion, blowing the large demon off of its feet and sending it crashing through another wall.  "Are you okay," Connor asked with a somewhat concerned look on his face as he rolled off of Dawn and helped her sit up.

"Yeah…I think…thanks…what was that," Dawn stammered out slowly as she tried to quickly take in the situation. 

"I don't know but…," Connor began to respond before Buffy interrupted him as she scrambled over to check on Dawn.

"Dawn, are you okay," Buffy exclaimed as she finally reached Dawn and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine Buffy…but who's that…," Dawn started to say with almost a look of annoyance on her face before she turned her gaze to the still smoking entrance of the hotel and saw the two figures enter. 

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When the front doors of the Hyperion had gone sailing over his head Angel had ducked down behind a pile of broken tables and chairs.  He had been thankful that during the first few moments of whatever it was that was going on all of the guests had quickly exited the lobby, for the last thing that he needed was to have to worry about an innocent bystander getting hurt.  He was almost glad for a second or two when the large demon was knocked off of its feet.  But that split second of glee soon gave way to a quickly realized mountain of confusion and fear.  Confusion because standing in the shattered doorway was almost the very last person that he'd ever expected to see again coupled with fear at his presence coupled with the fact that standing beside him was a very powerful looking robed magic user.  "Lindsay…," Angel gasped as he pulled himself back to his feet and stared at the Hyperion's shattered entryway. 

"Angel…so nice to see you again…sorry about the mess, that was Lilah's fault, but she's no longer a concern…and neither is that demon that's making this fleabag of a hotel look like Swiss cheese," Lindsay started to say with at first an almost truly regretful look on his face before the look changed to an almost smug one.  As the demon howled its rage at being knocked off of its feet Lindsay barely cast a glance its way before he turned to the robed magic user beside him and said something to him, but to softly for anyone to hear.  When he was done the robed magic user nodded his head and then began to chant the words to an opening spell.  Before Angel could do anything a large portal opened beneath the demon and try as it might the whirlwind created by the portal overpowered the demon and sucked it away.

"Lindsay what…," Angel began to say with a now more angry scowl on his face as he began to advance towards the hotels burnt out entryway, sword in hand. 

"As stubborn as ever I see…if you're that interested in fighting I can have my friend here bring back that demon and you can fight it to your little hearts content…and I'll enjoy watching it kill you," Lindsay said with an emotionless look on his face as he stared down the advancing Angel for a bit before Angel stopped to consider what he had said.  "Or you can count your blessings…because next time you won't be so lucky," Lindsay continued with an almost arrogant smirk on his face.

"Next time…," Gunn, who unbeknownst to everyone else in the lobby had returned after leaving Lorne to watch over Fred, said with a very demanding look on his face before Lindsay simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'll be in touch," before turning and disappearing into the night with the robed magic user close beside him.

"That certainly doesn't bode well," Wesley stated very dryly as he and Faith walked side by side into the interior of the lobby, a short distance away from Gunn, who eyed the pair with a wary eye. 

"Wesley…Faith…what…why are you two dressed like…," Angel exclaimed with a confused scowl on his face as he seemed calm enough, but he kept a tight grip on his sword, just in case. 

"It's not what you think Angel…you see Wes and I…," Faith started to say as she gestured first to Wesley and then to herself as she took a step away from Wesley and towards Angel with as truthful a look on her face as she could muster at that moment. 

"Finally decided to stop pretending to be on our side and show your true colors," Gunn said forcefully as he stormed up into Wesley's face, almost daring the Brit to make the first move. 

"Ah Gunn…once again you've let your imagination run wild and jumped to the wrong conclusion," Wesley started to say with a frustrated scowl on his face before Gunn snapped and landed a hard right hook on Wesley's jaw which he followed by shoving his former friend up against the nearest wall and cocking his arm back, readying to throw another punch.  Before any of the others could even move Faith grabbed Gunn's cocked arm, spun him back far enough, and slammed her fist straight into his nose, almost knocking him off of his feet. 

"You wanna go ten rounds with someone then I'm your gal…but I swear you go near Wes again and I'll forget that I'm not supposed to kill humans," Faith growled angrily as she balled her hands into fists and glared down menacingly at Gunn, all the while everyone else in the lobby stood still, to shocked by the sudden turn of events to say anything.

END OF CHAPTER 19