FUTURE IMPERFECT

Disclaimer:  I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Nick, Callie, and Hope.

CHAPTER 9-HEY…I KNOW YOU

After quickly making the arrangements with Nick and Callie Wesley and Faith got into his SUV and headed off for the waterfront.  The night had quickly become colder than either had anticipated.  So cold in fact that for the first hour of their patrol Faith stuck very close beside Wesley, using his body as a windbreak as she hid behind him, trying to keep her teeth from chattering to loudly.  Wesley had offered her the flannel shirt that he had brought with them but Faith had retorted that she looked terrible in flannel and that the shirt would only hamper her fighting.  After that first hour the two had come across a small group of vampires draining the crew of a small fishing boat.  Faith had bounded in with her usual biting remark and killer smile, swiveling her hips slightly so as to try and throw the vampires off guard.  Wesley had followed closely behind, but from the other side of the ship, using Faith's lithe form as a distraction to keep his advance a secret until just the right time. 

The group of vampires finally noticed Wesley after he had dusted a particularly ugly vampire that had been ogling Faith.  The subsequent fight spilled over across the entire deck of the ship with Faith having fun by using the different articles on the deck to help her fight.  When she had gotten knocked up against a locker in the aft portion of the ship the force of Faith's body hitting it had snapped it open, revealing a couple of newly sharpened harpoons.  Those two harpoons soon found homes in the bodies of the vampires that had chased her over the deck of the ship.  Wesley was having a somewhat more difficult time with the vampires that charged towards him.  They had been able to force him down into the hold of the ship via brute force and a rather large vampire knocking him down the steps by throwing a rune covered knife towards the former watcher.  In his attempts to avoid the knife Wesley had stumbled backwards and tripped over a stray line of rope before tumbling down the stairs.  Faith had her back turned to that area of the ship so she'd didn't see Wesley's fall.  Instead she continued on her fight and dusted the last few remaining vampires in front of her before she turned around and looked for Wesley, becoming very concerned when she couldn't see him. 

The answer that she was looking for came when one of the vampires that had been attacking Wesley had climbed to the top of the stairs and hastily retreated back down after seeing her.  With a growing pit of dread in her stomach Faith picked up one of the harpoons and raced for the stairs, virtually sliding down the guard rail.  Her enhanced hearing picked up the sounds of the fight instantly.  She dusted the first vampire that ventured near her before she burst into the engine room.  From her perch at the top she could see Wesley struggling against the large vampire that she had seen earlier.  The vampire was trying to drive the point of its knife straight into Wesley's heart.  To her horror Faith saw a fair amount of blood sliding its way down Wesley's cheek.  Fighting back her fears, fears only compounded by the suddenly sick feeling in her stomach, she leapt over the railing and slipped out a stake and drove it home, right into the vampire's heart, as she landed.  The vampire exploded into a thick cloud of dust before Wesley slumped to his knees, his breathing labored.

Faith instantly rushes to his side, but before she can utter a solitary syllable her slayer sense picks up that there's another vampire still lurking around somewhere.  To her surprise her initial reaction was not to fight, as it had for many years in the past.  Instead her initial reaction was to get Wesley out of danger and then make sure that he was safe.  The realization of that fact shook her a bit, but not for to long.  Thankful for her slayer strength she put Wesley's left arm around her shoulders and wrapped her right arm around his waist before hauling him back up to his feet.

"Come on Wes…we gotta get out of here…company's on the way…and not the good kind," Faith whispered with what she thought was her best emotionless voice but Wesley, even in his pained state, knew better.  When they had first started their relationship Faith's emotions and moods had mostly been a mystery to Wesley, and Wesley's to Faith.  But over time the two had slowly begun to recognize the subtle differences in each other's voices and actions.  Wesley learned that whenever Faith was trying to be brave and confident but was truly scared underneath her bottom lip would quiver a bit.  And through the shooting pain in his head Wesley was able to see that Faith's lower lip was indeed quivering.  Not wanting to start an argument Wesley did his best to remain conscious and get out of the boat's hold.  Faith was forced to let Wesley sit down and rest for a few brief seconds after they exited the ships hold.  Faith could tell that the vampire that she had sensed earlier was still around somewhere, closing in on them.  "We can't stop here Wes…they're almost here…we gotta go," She choked out through labored breaths of her own as she pulled Wesley back up to his feet and started to move away from the stairs.  They had only gone a few steps when the single vampire that Faith had been sensing suddenly turned into many.  A wave of panic threw itself through her body as she took stock of her options.  With Wesley hurt as he was and her strength oddly ebbing away quicker than she expected she quickly realized that their chances didn't look very bright.  Seconds later her worst fears came true when what seemed like a dozen vampires stormed, game faces on, up the gangplank and onto the ship.

"Slayer…," They all seemed to hiss in unison, as if the word itself was poisonous or could hurt them in and of itself. 

"Hmpf…guess you're not as stupid as you look," Faith retorted, trying to keep her cool and calm exterior in check while her insides were being tied into knots.

"You fleshbags should have known better than to come here…and now you're going to pay for your mistake…and for ramming my head into the bar…you nearly broke my other horn off," a cowardly looking demon said with a definite angry tone to its voice as it stepped in front of the assembled group of vampires and glared at Faith and Wesley.

"Have we met…," Faith asked, her face scrunched up in confusion, as at her side Wesley thankfully began to feel the pain in his head subsiding a bit.

"Have we met…heh…stupid humans, you two came into the bar when you were looking for Angelus…nearly blew my head off," The demon answered with a look of defiance in its small beady eyes.

"Ah…now I remember…Francis was it," Wesley stuttered out with a confident grin on his face as enough strength returned to his legs that he was able to stand without Faith's help.  Faith kept the confused scowl on her face for a few seconds longer before she remembered that night in the bar and how the small demon had tried lying to their faces before Wesley had unceremoniously blown the head off of a stupid Strom demon. He had  then pointed the barrel of his shotgun squarely at the demon now standing in front of them and asked the important question of whether the demons face would return as well.  After that Francis had readily complied and told them another few pieces of the puzzle that was the whereabouts of Angelus. 

"To bad there's not another bar around…guess we won't be able to truly…relive...the experience," Faith chimed in with a fake look of sadness on her face, one that caused Wesley to smirk because it was obvious to him what game Faith had begun playing with the demon.

"Then that means that we'll just have to pick up where we left off," Wesley said with a mysterious smirk on his face before he pulled out his shotgun and leveled it at the now cowering demon. 

"Again with the guns…I swear man…you have issues…," Francis retorted quickly, trying desperately to set himself apart from the cowering mass he had been only seconds before.

"Everybody needs a hobby…," Faith shot back with her usual energized smile spread across her face as he balled her hands into fists, preparing herself for the fight that she guessed was soon to come. 

"Cooking…stamp collecting…figurine making…now those are hobbies…," Francis cackled back with a nostalgic sigh before he shook it off because of the odd looks that he was getting from the vampires nearby. 

"Maybe for an old woman…," Wesley started to say with a mocking smirk on his face before the rest of his sentence was cut off by the charge of the vampires that surrounded Francis.

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After the incident with the bathrobe Gwen had almost completely clammed up.  However this time, unlike those previous, Gwen didn't bounce back very quickly.  Angel was surprised by the fact that she wouldn't speak a word to him, let alone look at him.  Because of the soul Angel felt a pang of guilt at how he had treated Gwen, but a part of him also knew that she had deserved it.  Uncertain of exactly what to do he had waited for nightfall before venturing out into the city to try and clear his head.  He checked out a few bars and likely vampire haunts, staking everything that didn't have a pulse.  He quickly discovered that New York City wasn't how he remembered it.  Old buildings that he had used as landmarks for years were gone and had been replaced by new buildings.  His wanderings finally took him down to the area that he had seen in one of his visions the night that Faith had assisted Willow in giving him back his soul.  The water still smelled pretty much the same.

"Some things never change," Angel muttered softly to himself with a content smirk before his enhanced hearing picked up the sounds of battle.  He was about to disregard it as someone with the volume on their television turned up way to far when he caught a very familiar scent in the air.  "Couldn't be…she's dead…isn't she…," Angel thought to himself with a confused scowl on his face as he turned on his heel and raced off towards the direction that the familiar scent had come from.  He hadn't gone far when he rounded a corner and came upon a large assemblage of vampires that seemed to be attacking someone that was desperately trying to hold their ground on a nearby ship.  Without a second thought Angel slipped into his game face and went into full battle mode, catching the vampires that he was charging completely off guard. 

Even though he hadn't brought even a stake along he quickly found himself being backed up against a large collection of wooden pallets.  Seizing the opportunity he lifted one vampire off of the ground and flung it straight over his shoulder.  The vampire crashed down through the first few pallets before exploding into a cloud of dust as a broken board tore through its heart.  The shattered pieces of the ruined pallets made excellent stakes, allowing Angel to get the upper hand rather quickly against the woefully inexperienced vampires that dared cross him.  The little breaks that he got in the fighting allotted him a chance to try and see who the vampires were trying so hard to take out.  A couple of times he caught sight of a short woman that was more than holding her own against the onslaught.  There was something vaguely familiar about the woman but at the moment Angel was unable to place her.  He was shocked out of his ponderings about the woman by the sounds of gunshots nearby.  Angel's heart would have skipped a beat if it had been beating as he got a clear view on the other person that was holding their ground, Wesley. 

Angel tried to yell out to his old friend but his voice caught in his throat when one of the vampires leapt at him and looped its arm around his neck.  That vampire was dusted easily enough as Angel spun around and backed up against a protruding piece of wood just far enough to dust the vampire that was attacking him without staking himself.  As Angel staked two more maniacally charging vampires the exact identity of the smell that he had picked up earlier slammed into his mind.  Faith, the vampire slayer that he had seen die in the final battle with the First a little over three years ago, was somehow alive and kicking, and with Wesley.  Angel's confidence grew as he saw the number of vampires attacking them beginning to dwindle.  Where there had once been around twenty that number was now down to more like ten or so.  Using that newfound confidence Angel surged forward, intent on taking the fight to the vampires instead of just reacting to their attacks.  That plan was quickened by the condition that he saw Wesley was in, tiring quickly and bleeding from a wound on the side of the head. 

To Angel's amazement Faith dusted two more vampires and then raced to Wesley's side with a look on her face that Angel had never seen her wear when it came to Wesley, extreme fear of possibly losing him.  Shaking off his confusion Angel raced forward and blocked the swing of a vampire that was trying to catch Faith off guard and drive its knife into her back.  Instead that vampire exploded into a billowing cloud of dust as Angel drove his well used stake through its heart and grinned widely as the last few remaining vampires looked nervously at each other before turning and taking off as fast as their legs could take them.  Angel was about to say something to Faith when a small green demon glared at him before also turning and running away, yelling as it went, "This isn't over fleshbags!"  Faith started to turn her head to shout a biting remark but the words caught in her throat when she locked gazes with Angel. 

"Faith…you're alive…how," Angel stammered out, overjoyed at the sight of one of his oldest friends being alive so long after he thought, no knew her to be dead.

"No time Angel…we gotta get out of here, Wesley's hurt," Faith said with a thoroughly scared look on her face, a look that Angel hadn't seen to many times before.  And each of those times the cause of that look had been something serious.  Angel began to ask why Faith was so worried about Wesley when a shiny glint caught his eye.  A confused look passed over his face when he saw what was emitting the glint.  On Faith's left ring finger sat one hell of a rock.  His confusion growing some of Angel's questions were answered when he turned his gaze to Wesley and saw the gold band on Wesley's left ring finger. 

"Faith…what's going on," Angel asked with a confused frown on his face as he helped a startled Wesley stand up straight.

"We'll tell you later Angel…it's late, we should get home," Wesley interjected with a tired and slightly pained grimace on his face as he started to take a few staggered steps forward. 

"I just hope that Nick and Callie don't get spooked," Faith added with a concerned frown on her face as Wesley seemed to find his footing and only needed a hand on Faith's shoulder, a shoulder that Angel was shocked to see that Faith was all to willing to provide.  As the trio walked back towards where Wesley had parked his SUV Angel studied the pair walking a few feet in front of him.  In the three years since he had seen them Wesley seemed to have changed little, with the only real noticeable change being that he no longer bore the appearance of a man haunted by the mistakes of his past.  Instead he looked like a man who had everything that he could ever want and was happy with his life.  On the other hand to Angel Faith had changed dramatically, she was still as dangerous and sexy as ever but even though he couldn't exactly put his finger on it he could easily see that something had happened to her.  The three years had been good to her, like Wesley she seemed to no longer be worried about what people thought of her, caring only for what Wesley thought of her. 

They made it back to Wesley's SUV without any further inconvenience and Wesley tried to get behind the wheel but Faith balked vehemently at the idea and almost pushed him into the passenger seat.  Angel just tried to stay out of their way as he slid into the back seat and shut the door.  On the drive home the three didn't talk very much, each one unsure of exactly what to say or how to say it.  Before Faith's death Angel had been one of her closest friends, if not her closest.  She could confide in him about anything that was bothering her…anything.  But now she seemed to be able to form the words to tell him why she had pretended to be dead for the past three years.  Wesley meanwhile spent much of the ride home trying to stay awake, a feat made easier by the times that Faith would slip a hand away from the wheel and slowly draw circles with her thumb in the palm of his hand.  For his part Angel sat in silence, taking in the various scents that greeted him.  Apart from the overwhelming scent, that still confused him a bit, that made it seem that Faith and Wesley bathed in each other were many other scents that only furthered Angel's confusion.  They were the smells that he remembered from Connor's childhood and then currently with Liam.  The scent of a child and the various assortments of items that went along with keeping them happy and clean were very strong in the back seat near where he was sitting, so much so that he had to roll down the window a bit. 

Angel watched out of the window as they left the city and headed out into the country.  At times he wanted to ask where exactly they were going but he decided against it and just sat back and watched the miles go by as he relished being in the company of two old friends again.  When Faith finally steered the SUV into a driveway Angel was impressed, initially he had guessed that their home would be in an apartment building or something like that.  But the house and yard that spread out in front of him reminded him more of some of the estates that he had seen during his time in the Deep South.

"Wow…how did you afford all of this…," Angel asked innocently at first before he realized what he was saying and stopped abruptly.  If it were possible for him to blush in shame and embarrassment he would have. 

"We'll explain everything once we get inside," Wesley replied with a nervous frown on his face as he looked over at Faith, who wore the same frown, before she parked the SUV in the garage and shut the engine off.

"Good…because I have a lot of questions…," Angel said with a very serious but not angry look on his face and tone to his voice as the three got out of the SUV and headed towards the house.

END OF CHAPTER 9