Sins of the Father
Chapter Fifteen

Faith looked about her, figuring that Angel had to have something to do with her sudden release. Which meant he must have come to meet her. There was no sign of Angel. Her eyes rested on the lone figure leaning against a car in a swiftly gathering dusk that herded families inside out of the chill the night brought with it. Inside was the only safe place, she knew that, but she was as yet unaware of how much the danger had increased.

She glanced around once more, then returned her gaze to the figure. It was too slender to be Angel, yet somehow familiar. The man looked up and Faith felt something akin to fear clench in her gut. Yes, that body was familiar. She had tortured that body for hours once. She had watched pain flare in those blue eyes and laughingly wiped blood from his lips when he bit his lip or tongue to stop himself screaming. But rather than give into those memories, she chuckled instead.

"You gotta be kidding me," she said, approaching Wes. "You here for me or is there some other convict you're meeting?"

"Faith," Wes greeted in a flat voice, turning to get in the car. "Get in. I'll explain on the way."

She hesitated. The last time she had seen him, he was staring at her in disbelief from across a crowded police station. Before that, he was helping her get away from the Council. Before that… Well, let's just say that she regretted a lot of things and what she did to him was way up there.

But there was something about his manner, a quiet urgency. She guessed there was a major reason he had come for her. She figured that she was his last resort. A man who wouldn't give her the satisfaction of hearing him scream or beg wouldn't turn to her for just anything.

So she got in the car. She had barely closed the door before the started the engine and started forward.

"In a hurry?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered.

"I thought you said something about explaining on the way?"

He shot her a glance before returning his gaze to the road, his knuckles turning white as he clenched the steering wheel.

"Angelus has returned."

She almost flinched in shock. Then she looked at him, noting how his knuckles whitened and his jaw tightened. She was almost afraid to ask, but she wanted all the details. The messy bits, a goddamn diagram to help her understand how the hell Angel could have let this happen.

"How?" was all she managed.

"The curse was broken."

"You mean Buffy…?" Faith couldn't believe it though. They wouldn't…

"Cordelia."

"Queen C?" she screeched.

"Yes."

She sank back in the seat and folded her arms; her thoughts running riot in the silence. She had no time to be uncomfortable in Wes's presence; she was too shocked to care about that anymore.

"So why me?" she asked after a moment. "Why not Buffy? Why can't you handle it?"

"Buffy has a Hellmouth to attend to and you weren't exactly busy. We were handling it, we were planning to re-ensoul him," he shrugged and made a sharp left that made her bang against the door. He offered her an apologetic glance and she frowned.

"What changed?" she asked, rubbing her arm. She figured he got tired of waiting. She thought maybe they had decided waiting until they could re-en-soul him wasn't an option, too many people could fall victim to him before they could do the spell.

Nothing in the world could have prepared for his revelation.

"He kidnapped my daughter."

Wes entered the hotel, striding to the top of the steps that sloped into the lobby. The gang looked up sharply, relieved to see him. Then Faith entered cautiously behind him. Cordy was the first to notice her. Her eyes alighted on her only long enough to register her presence, then they snapped back to Wesley, wide and incredulous.

"That's why you went out after calling Lilah? Tell me you didn't do anything illegal for her."

"You've forgotten my name already, Cor?" Faith asked, smirking. "After all we've been through."

"Meaning the betrayal, your Sugar Daddy ruining Graduation, the complete screw up you made of everything you touched. Oh, not to mention that time you shot a poison arrow at Ang -" she stopped short and looked over at Wes. "And all the other badness."

"Get used to it, Cordy," Wes told her, the words snappish, but his tone gentle, telling her he didn't mind her slip of the tongue. "She's staying here."

"Oh," Fred smiled at Faith. "Shall I make up a room?"

"That would be appreciated, Fred," Wes nodded. "Now, laying our cards on the table - and I apologise for this, Faith, but I think we need to be honest - Faith has been in jail."

"For what?" Lorne asked, eyeing Faith warily.

"Murder, assault," Faith shrugged. "Y'know, they never really bothered with the theft charges."

"Murder?" Connor asked.

"As in the killing," Faith mimed stabbing. "With the death and stuff."

If these people were going to hate her for being a reformed murderer, she sure as hell wasn't going to show it got to her. Wes pressed her hands down.

"She has, however, repented. She gave herself up to the authorities and has been in jail for the past two years."

"She's a Slayer," Cordy added. "I guess you figured she was our only hope, Wes?"

"Yes."

"Slayer?" Gunn raised his eyebrows. "Who was much with the murder?"

Wes nodded.

"So, did Wes tell you what was going on?" Fred asked, smiling a little uncertainly at Faith.

"You mean the daughter thing? Yeah, I'm up on it," the collective stares were starting to unnerve her, so she turned back to her ex-Watcher. "Wes, you think I could talk to you?"

Wes looked a little startled, but nodded slowly and led her to the office. Cordy looked around at the group, more than a little disgruntled. Everyone seemed slightly uncertain about the situation. All except Connor, who was gazing in wide-eyed fascination after the swaying leather clad hips of the Slayer.

With a glare, Cordy nudged him in the arm and he blushed, lowering his eyes.

Wes waved Faith into a chair and leaned against the wall, silently waiting for her to begin.

"Look, Wes," she started. "Thanks for springing me -"

"I didn't spring you, Faith. I asked for a favour. This is the result."

"Yeah, fine. But, I want you to know something…" she tailed off and studied her hands.

"What?" Wes asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Angel was the only one who was there for me before. If it wasn't for him, I might… I don't know. I might be out there now, screwing up my life even more… Or dead… I'm not exactly sure I'll be able to kill him."

Wes took a deep breath and sat down opposite her. He ran a hand over his hair and sighed.

"I understand that, Faith," he said.

She glanced up and blinked in shock. Understand? Ok, she heard wrong, right? She expected fury, she expected him to beg her to kill Angelus. She expected anything but this weakened shock. Well, he was just all shiny and new.

"You… understand?" she asked.

"Yes. He was the only one who ever tried to reach out to you. The only one who ever believed maybe you had some redeeming quality… I understand it would be hard for you to kill him… I'm aware of how that might feel. I filled you in on the situation, about Connor and Lottie and everything. I've only just got my friend back, found my daughter and my life was actually starting to resemble something I could live with, then out of nowhere everything went to hell again. And, strange as it may seem, you happen to be the only hope of getting my daughter back."

"Way to dump a load on a girl, Wes," she smiled grimly.

"No more of a load than when you discovered you were a Slayer and as I recall, that didn't seem to faze you," his eyes blazed and his demeanour changed, he fixed her with a hard look and continued. "In fact, you rather revelled in it and your power. I'd even go so far as to say you abused it."

She glared at him.

"I didn't want to fight with you," she warned.

"I don't want you to fight with me either," he snapped, growing angrier as he leaned forward. "I want you to fight Angelus! I want you to do your duty and save my daughter! You think I'd turn to you of all people if I had any other choice? And as to you not knowing if you'd be able to kill him after what he did for you, do you even remember Buffy? The Buffy and Angel love story? She killed him because she had to. It was what she had to do."

"She would have saved him if she could!" Faith said, her voice rising. Aware that she was losing her cool, she gripped the arms of the chair and took a deep breath. "How about I catch him?"

"What?"

"You said you were planning on catching him and getting Willow to re-en-soul him, right? So how about I find him, knock the crap outta him and lock him up in this cage of yours? That'll save your kid, right?"

"Lottie. Her name is Lottie," he gritted.

"Fine. I'll save Lottie and we can get Angel back. Looks like a sweet deal to me."

"Is there any other way I can make you change your mind?" Wes asked. "Because, call me petty, but I want him to pay for taking her and for any pain he may have caused her."

"Wesley, Angel's still in there. Don't you save people, or did you give that up when you gave up shaving?" Faith asked, then leaned toward him. "You want him to pay and I get that. So I promise it'll hurt when I beat his ass."

Wes was silent. He knew fighting her on this was pointless, he wouldn't win. And every moment he spent arguing with her was another moment that Lottie spent with Angelus. He was willing to do anything so long as he got his daughter back in the end.

"All right," he nodded and she smirked over her victory. She was still the same, confident and didn't give a damn what anyone thought. Perhaps he was wrong to think she would have changed so much. "You haven't changed," he stated after a moment's study.

Her smirk faded and she seemed to truly see him once more now the argument was over. There was something in her eyes, something scared and horror-struck as she looked at him. She averted her eyes and pulled at her fingers as she stood up.

"Yes I have," she told him quietly.

His expression softened at her discomfort and he nodded in empathy.

"So have I," he confided, standing to face her.

Faith changed her stance. The fingers she had been pulling at splayed out as she placed her hand haughtily on her hip as a shield between her and an emotionally intimate situation. She was usually ok with intimacy. Emotional intimacy, however, bonding, anything to do with connecting with anyone beyond the physical, especially with an old victim, was not something she was particularly in favour of. So she shrugged before going on to end the conversation.

"Stubble, less gel, glasses not surgically attached. Yeah, I noticed," she shrugged again.

"Huh. I actually expected you to see a little deeper than that," his look was almost disappointed that she hadn't understood and he made to leave the office. "I'll get Gunn and Connor and we'll go out for a search," he added tersely.

Suddenly aware that she had hurt his feelings and figuring she had hurt him more than enough before, she grabbed his arm.

"Pain. Courage. Less uptight. You're all grown up. I noticed that too."

His eyes raked over her body in a way she could never imagine the old Wesley having done.

"You too," he said finally.