Sins of the Father
Chapter Twenty
The telephone cut shrilly through the foggy haze of sleep. Wes opened his eyes slowly, yawning and blinked against the brunette mass of hair before him. He pulled his arms from around Faith's waist; stirring her despite his attempt not to and rolled over to grab the phone. She turned and propped herself up on her elbow to watch him as he talked.
"Hello?" he asked groggily. "Hello, Fred… He has? When did he call?…Right…" something Fred said made Wes look over at Faith and smile. "Yes, she's fine… No, don't worry, I'll go now… Thank you for calling me… I know… I'll be back as soon as I can… Yes, that's a good idea, tell her that's fine. Thank you, Fred… I will. Goodbye."
Faith watched him leap out of bed and and grab his clothes.
"What's up?" she asked, stifling a yawn.
"That was Fred," he explained hastily, pulling his shirt from the pile on a chair. "Rick called the hotel a few minutes ago. He's got a Thesulan Orb!" he turned to her with a broad grin on his face. "Willow's going to the locator spell now. Lottie's going to be ok!"
He leant forward, still grinning, and clasped her face between his hands and kissed her gently on the lips before running from the room. She sat silently, listening to the shower. She watched him hurry back into the room with glistening wet hair, grab his wallet and turn to leave the room. He returned momentarily to tell her, "I'll go and get it now and see you at the hotel, ok?"
She nodded slowly and listened as the front door of the apartment slammed shut. She didn't move, instead sat naked in the middle of his bed and thought.
But it was not the imminent return of Angel and Lottie that was on her mind.
It was the warm, fuzzy feeling in her stomach when he kissed her.
Faith wrapped her arms around herself in a defensive gesture as she entered the lobby of the hotel. Willow was the only one sitting in the lobby, clutching a piece of paper.
"Hi, Faith," she said. "We did the locator spell. I've got the address here," she waved the piece of paper at her with a smile. "You ok?"
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Faith asked.
Willow frowned, but Faith sat down and waited for an answer. Since Willow showed up, she had been nothing but civil, friendly even. The last time Faith saw Willow, she was in Buffy's body. And after the things she did in that body, she couldn't believe how nice Willow was being.
"People change, Faith," Willow shrugged. "I mean, take Wesley for example. Talk about shiny and new! I guess I saw you'd changed. I see more now, with the big magick thing I did in England. I can see you're really trying. And after the things I've done, who am I to judge?"
"What do you mean? What did you do?"
Willow shifted uncomfortably and avoided Faith's eyes.
"I got in deep. I got addicted to the magicks… Dawn got hurt because of it."
"Oh."
Willow shrugged again and descended into silence.
"How was your night?" Willow asked after a while.
"What?" Faith asked, horrified that maybe Willow knew what had happened between her and Wesley.
And as she thought that, she wondered what was going to happen now. With Lottie and Angel returning sometime that day, it wasn't like Wes would have time to discuss it. Not that she wanted to. She wanted to forget it.
But she knew she wouldn't. Which meant she wouldn't forget the fuzzy feeling. But she didn't want to go there.
"That bad, huh?"
"Bad?" Faith repeated. "No, not bad."
"You mean a night spent all alone with you ex-Watcher and a guy you once tortured, wasn't that bad?"
"No. We went to bed and we slept. End of," Faith snapped.
Willow raised her eyebrows and Faith had a sneaking suspicion that Willow had an idea what was going on, but she was thankfully saved from further questioning by the main door slamming.
"I've got it!" Wes announced, holding up the garish Rick's Magick and Stuff bag and running down the steps, treating the two women to a dazzling smile.
"Great," Willow enthused. "I'll get Tara, she's just sleeping."
She stood up, shot Wes and Faith a look before running up the stairs. Wes sat down opposite Faith and smiled at her. She couldn't believe how calm he was being about this. She couldn't believe how not calm she was being. She was usually the one who said it had been one night, she was usually the one over it as soon as it finished. All that time in jail must have affected her more than she thought.
"Faith," Wes said suddenly. "I think we need to talk. I want to tell you -"
"You got it?" Cordy called, coming down the stairs with the rest of the group.
"Er, yes. I've got it."
"Well, here's the address. That's where they are," Willow handed the scrap of paper to Wes.
"Thank you," he said. "For all of this."
"Ah, forget it."
"We wish we could do more," Tara added. "Y'know, with the curse."
Wes felt a rush of guilt that he swallowed down hurriedly as smoothed the paper.
"Yes," he said. "I'll go there now with Faith."
"We'll come too," Gunn said, indicating Connor and himself.
"No," Wes shook his head. "There's no need for you to see Angel that way," he forced a smile at Connor. "Especially you."
"I don't care. I want to help," Connor said.
"He's right," Faith cut in. "We'll go. You stay here in case anything goes wrong."
He folded his arms, but gave a sullen nod. Faith grabbed a crossbow and went to the door.
"You coming or not?" she snapped at Wes.
"Yes, one minute," he answered, giving her a frown. "Good luck, Willow, Tara. And thank you, you've got no idea how grateful I am."
"Oh, I think we have a good idea," Willow answered, smiling at Tara.
Wes nodded at them, still coming to terms with the fact that the shy read head who had seemed so in love with Oz was gay now! But he quite liked the blonde girl. He liked the both of them; he would have liked anyone who could have given him his daughter back.
He turned and followed Faith outside, frowning at this snappish attitude of hers.
Faith didn't like awkward situations. Which was the main reason she never stayed the night with the person she slept with. They left or she did. It was new, sleeping in someone's arms and she now realised why she had never done it before, it complicated things.
She had told Wes they could talk later when this was all over, but she knew when that time rolled round, she'd find another reason to put off the inevitable talk.
She tightened her hands around her crossbow and led Wes into the warehouse. She cast a glance back at him and continued further, listening. All they had to do was be here until the spell kicked in and they could save Lottie. She didn't have to fight Angelus; the crossbow was a precaution only.
But she still felt her hands grow slippery on her weapon, felt her breath quicken slightly. God knows, she had heard the horror stories about Angelus. Xander had enjoyed recounting them and Angel himself had admitted to things she couldn't believe him capable of.
She didn't want to face him, didn't want Angel tarnished with the memory of Angelus. He was like her hero, someone she looked up to, who accepted her, helped her. He was what made her want to change, if she saw a murderer now, she didn't know what she'd -
"Faith!"
Wes's voice rang out from behind her, but he was too late. The hand gripped the underside of her crossbow and pushed it back with huge strength and it smashed into her face, making her nose bleed. She staggered back slightly and the weapon was wrenched from her grasp and tossed to the ground even as she was pulled toward her attacher and turned. Her back pressed against a chest, her wrists caught tightly behind her back and a hand gripped her throat, just under her chin.
Wes was staring in horror as he raised his own crossbow. But the only way to Angelus's heart was through Faith's and he wasn't willing to do it. Angelus smirked at him and tutted.
"I thought you'd got over that emotional stuff that ruins your judgement," he sighed dramatically. "I was starting to get all proud of you. Huh," his voice became a spirited impression of - Wes guessed - Cordelia. "Colour me wrong! It must be the English in you. You always were typical of a namby-pamby Englishman, spineless wankers the whole lot of you. But hey, maybe that's just the Irish in me talking."
He gave Faith's chin a violent tug upwards and she groaned.
"Let her go," Wes said in a low voice.
"Tell ya what, Wes. You give me one really good reason why I should let her go and if I think it's a good enough reason, I'll let her go," Angelus offered.
"Let me think. Um…" Wes feigned deep thought and continued in the same expressionless voice. "Oh, here's one: She's a Slayer and if you don't let her go, she'll kick your arse."
"I think I hit her too hard for that," Angelus mused, looking down into Faith's face. "And I think you can do better than that, Wes," Angelus smirked. "C'mon, dig down deep into that soul of yours. Take a look in your heart. Now give me a reason."
Wes gulped. He knew. The bastard knew.
Wes remembered a time when Angel had told him he had sex with a bleached blonde. That had been Melissa, but Angel hadn't known that. And now, he must have known what had happened between himself and Faith and was twisting it against him.
"I'll kick your arse," Wes said finally.
"You think that scares me? Ooo, Wes's gonna beat me up! Mommy! Help!"
"Tell me, Angelus," Wes said, his gaze ticking frequently to Faith, praying that she regained her strength soon. "Did you find that Shaman?"
Angelus growled at him and his hand took a better grip on Faith's chin.
"Give me the real reason you don't want her to die and I won't break her neck. C'mon, Wes, ten seconds, that's all you've got."
Wes gaped at them, fear swirling in his gut until he felt sick. He couldn't do this.
9… 8…
He couldn't give the reason Angelus was looking for. For one thing, Faith was his one-time torturer; he shouldn't even have slept with her.
7… 6…
He knew that Faith had led a colourful love life. He couldn't believe he had allowed himself to be added to that list, that wasn't going to help either of them.
5… 4…
But sleep with her he had. All so he could feel. And that was the real problem. The real reason that Angelus could see while Wes still tried to ignore it. He had felt. He had felt far more than he intended to.
3… 2…
It didn't occur to him that Angelus was lying, that he would kill them both whatever Wes said to him. All he cared about was getting Lottie and Faith home.
So he gave the reason, the actual reason he had slept with Faith, the reason he wouldn't be able to bear it if she died.
"I'm falling in love with her!"
Faith's eyes widened at him and he avoided them. God, he couldn't believe he had said it. He couldn't believe he was falling in love with her. Of all the stupid things to do. Fall in love with a girl like Faith while his daughter was missing.
Maybe he was the bastard, not Angelus.
"There you go!" Angelus returned jovially. "All you had to do was be honest. But, y'know, I was lying. So I think I'll just…"
His voice tailed off and everything slowed down. Wes started forward as Angelus hands started to twist. Faith began to pull away. Then Angelus buckled, his hands slipping from Faith and she took advantage, spinning into a harsh kick that slammed him into a wall.
His eyes flared and he gasped as Faith sank to her knees, one hand holding her bruised throat as the other moped the blood from her nose. Wes put a hand on her back.
"Are you all right, Faith? Wait here, I'll find Lottie and come back to get you."
"I'm fine. I'll take care of him. Go find Lottie."
Wes turned and ran into one of the closest rooms as Faith reached out to touch Angel's knee.
"Hey, there," she said softly.
Wes leaned against the wall and watched as Lottie slept in one of the hotel beds. Faith had driven them back to the hotel and Wes had held Lottie, closing his eyes against the shriek of the tyres as she turned sharply.
Without talking to Angel, Wes entered the hotel and climbed the stairs to collect Lottie's things. But she had crawled onto a bed and fallen into an exhausted sleep.
He couldn't bear to move her so he sat down against the wall and watched her. When he had stood to go check on Faith, Lottie had stirred.
"Where are you going?" she had whispered.
"Just to check on Faith," he had whispered, kneeling down by the bed and taking her hand. "I'll be back soon, but I'll stay if you want me too, all right? I'm not going anywhere."
"Stay," she had said. "Until I fall asleep. You won't turn off the light, will you? You won't shut the door?"
"No," he had promised. "I won't. Ssshhh, go to sleep."
And as she dozed off, he kissed her forehead as he carefully moved to lean against the wall, her hand still clasping his tightly.