FUTURE IMPERFECT
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created, like Nick, Callie, and Hope.
CHAPTER 12- OF ARCHANGEL'S AND ANGELS
Wesley's ride back home with Gwen had been an ordeal, for Wesley anyway, to say the least. Finding the hotel had been easy enough thanks to Angel's directions and after a nerve wracking few minutes he had been able to find a place to park. Far from being his favorite person in the world back in the days that he had been working with Angel and the others Gwen had initially forced him to wait while she haggled with the front desk clerk over the bill for her and Angel's room after taking half an hour to get herself ready to leave. After that she had spent the entire ride back to Wesley and Faith's house trying to hook him into a debate about who was better for Angel, herself or Cordelia. Wesley had tried his best to stay out of the debate and just offer a few educated guesses but Gwen wouldn't let him and by the time they got back home Wesley was nearly ready to strangle Gwen. He let Gwen into the house and was relieved when she plopped down on the couch and started idly flipping through the newspaper.
He had hoped that Faith would be ready to go to the doctor when he got home. After leaving Gwen in the living room he walked back through the rest of their house towards the bedroom. He was about to call out her name when he rounded the corner of their bedroom and his heart caught in his throat at the sight in front of him. His two perfect angels lay on the bed, his archangel seemingly fresh from her shower, curled up in peaceful slumber, clutching his pillow tightly. His little angel slumbered blissfully in the protective arms of her mother, blowing small snot bubbles with each breath. Not caring whether Gwen burnt the house down, Angel lost his soul and became Angelus again, or the apocalypse hit at that moment he pulled his shoes off and carefully curled himself around his two angels. He breathed deeply, taking in a scent that he loved so very much, that of his love after a shower. She always smelled like freshly bloomed roses. Many a night he had fallen to sleep with her in his arms, with the scent of roses covering them both fully.
At the back of his mind he conjectured that this would probably be one of the last few peaceful days that the three of them would have before their pasts crashed down around them wanting answers. As he lay there he really didn't care what anyone thought of their self imposed three year exile. All that mattered was that he had the woman he loved, a daughter that meant the world to him, and the promise of a new child on the way. He knew that when their past came she would be barraged with one question after another, complemented by suspicious glances and murmurings. He vowed right then and there to be there to shield her from any question or inference that he could tell that she thought to be to intrusive or pointed. He guessed that those types of questions and looks would come mostly from Buffy and the other Scooby's, with the gang from Los Angeles staying mostly quiet, only asking a question when they didn't fully understand something. He guessed that Fred would probably go through an entire box of tissues. Gunn would probably want to go out for a drink and talk there while Cordy would just want to probably hold Hope, pinch her cheeks until they hurt, and introduce her to Liam. He dared not think what fiendish predicament that Anya would inflict upon Hope.
His dreamlike world of peaceful serenity drifted peacefully away as his archangel's eyes, rimmed by silky charcoal feathers, fluttered open. It was true in his angel's case that the eyes were a window directly to her eternal soul. Upon their first meeting all those years ago in the purgatory that they had once called Sunnydale he had often kept his gaze firmly fixed on the written words on the pages in front of him lest he become entrapped forever in the depths of her sight. She regarded him softly with a smile that she held back only for him. It was a smile so full of warmth, love, and trust that he secretly wished that he could freeze this particular moment in time and be able to recall it in his most urgent time of need. No words were needed between them, instead he and his angel had grown close enough to only need to resort to slight eye and eyebrow movements, along with the smallest hints of a smile or frown curling the edges of their mouths.
"Poor baby…," Faith mouthed softly with the smallest traces of a smile curling the edges of her lips as her gaze locked onto his. With the softest touch he could muster he leaned in close and lightly brushed a kiss on her ear before his left hand found itself idly tracing a lazy circle across the bare smoothness of her stomach. Their little angel seized the moment before it passed and came screaming back to consciousness. He groaned softly before he tore himself away from his archangel and picked his little angel up, taking her back into the living room, after whispering to his archangel to get ready for the trip to the doctor.
"So where's Angel…," Gwen asked with an impatient frown on her face as Wesley walked back into the living room with a grumpy Hope in his arms.
"He's probably out in the barn letting off some steam…we remodeled it and turned it into a training area," Wesley replied with at first a tired sigh before he guessed Gwen's question and answered it before she was able to utter a sound.
"Cute kid…," Gwen said with an almost bored frown on her face before she got up and walked out of the house, making her way towards the barn, leaving Wesley standing in the living room trying to calm an angry Hope.
"Hasn't changed a bit…," Wesley mumbled with a sarcastic frown on his face before he turned on his heel and went to see how Faith was doing.
* * * * * *
Buffy and Spike sat in silence for several minutes as a nervous Dawn filled them in on everything that she knew about Faith and Wesley's new life. Buffy had gasped quietly when Dawn mentioned that the two had gotten married and had a child. During that moment Spike had taken her hand into his in an effort to try to keep her calm. What few questions Buffy's confused mind could come up with Dawn answered quickly before Giles arrived and filled them in on more as Buffy and Spike at the food that Buffy had brought back.
"So how long have you known about…," Buffy asked softly before she took a bit out of her taco.
"Wesley and Faith…not very long, but from what I saw they seem to be doing fine…and Hope looks exactly like her mother," Giles replied with a nervous frown on his face as he leaned back in his chair and set about cleaning his glasses.
"But why didn't they tell any of us…I mean we all thought that Faith was dead…," Buffy mumbled out through a full mouth before took the time to swallow.
"They were probably tired of the constant fighting and wanted to be two normal people in love for a while…can't say that I blame them…wholly anyway," Giles said with a slightly uncomfortable frown on his face as put his glasses back on.
"Maybe not…but they still should have at least said something…let us know that they were okay…," Buffy mumbled back through another mouthful of her taco.
"You're right pet, but we can't change the past no matter how much you might want to, the question right now is where do we go from here…what's our next step," Spike said with a deep in thought frown on his face as he half looked towards Buffy before he turned his gaze upwards and across the table to Giles.
"To tell you the truth I'm not really quite sure how this is all supposed to go, but what I think that we should do first is make sure that both Faith and Wesley know that you know about their situation, and then we can take it from there, after all we don't want to overwhelm them with our presence," Giles said with a very serious and slightly unsure frown on his face as he scratched his chin and stared out of the window.
"I agree, so what if we have Dawn go talk to them tomorrow and then we'll go from there," Buffy said with a slightly full look on her face before she wiped her mouth with her napkin.
"I could do that," Dawn chimed in with a nervous smile on her face as she sat perched on the edge of the bed, trying in earnest to be involved in the discussion.
"Should we call Angel first and tell him…he and Faith were…are close, not to mention with Wesley, he'd want to know," Buffy asked with an unsure frown on her face as she took a sip of her pop.
"I already thought of that Buffy…and as it turns out he and Gwen are already here in New York City working on a case and surprisingly when I called out to L.A. Fred told me that Angel had called and told them the good news, apparently Wesley and Faith bumped into Angel while they were out patrolling last night…," Giles replied with a nervous twitch of his left eye as he poked half heartedly at the taco in front of him.
"Guess that means that we're the last ones to know luv…as usual," Spike said in a low tone of voice to Buffy as he leaned forward and picked up a stray bit of lettuce before popping it into his mouth.
"Anyway Anya, Xander, Christopher, and Willow's plane leaves this afternoon and they should arrive sometime very late tonight," Giles said with a slightly more authoritative tone to his voice than he had been using earlier as he pushed his chair away from the table and stood up.
"So much for taking it slow…," Buffy mumbled with a sarcastic frown on her face before she glared at Spike and slapped his hand away as he tried to sneak a little bit of her taco.
* * * * * *
After he had given Wesley the directions to the hotel to pick up Gwen, along with a few pointers on how to deal with the feisty brunette, Angel had retreated to the warm confines of the barn at the back of the property. He intended to at first just look over all that Wesley and Faith had done, but as he did so his mind drifted to thoughts of Buffy being pregnant and Spike being the father instead of him. That thought had lit a fire in him that he knew could only be doused by as strenuous a workout as he could endure. After the defeat of the First in Sunnydale and the subsequent news of Buffy and Spike becoming an official couple Angel found that he often spent many a night either locked in the basement of the Hyperion, beating the living hell out of the practice dummy, or going to great lengths to thin out the demon herd in Los Angeles a little. On a few of those excursions out into the city to let off some steam Connor had accompanied him, greatly because of the prodding that he had received from Cordelia, who three years after the fact was constantly trying to repair the broken relationship that was father and son.
Angel had been instantly impressed with the interior of the barn, from the outside what looked like your average run of the mill decrepit old barn became on the inside a well stocked and built gym. The environment was complete with various kinds of gymnastic equipment as well as plenty of free weights and virtually an entire armory of every weapon that Angel knew existed, plus even a few that completely baffled him. Up a short flight of stairs Angel spied what looked like a very comfortable bed made on the floor with just the mattress, the sheets, the blankets, and the pillows. Angel guessed that the bed had been placed there so that if a training session ran late Wesley and Faith could just lay Hope beside them in a little bassinette, which was easily within an arms reach of the bed, and then take the bed themselves. Inevitably it didn't take Angel long before he had built up quite a sweat and the anger and frustration that he felt towards the situation concerning Buffy and Spike slowly began to ebb and fade away. He started out doing some shadow swordplay with an overstuffed dummy that Wesley had hung from a sliding rail, making it easier to put away. He chose a sword that looked like it wasn't one of Wesley or Faith's favorite's but was still a good fit for him. He was so into his paces that he failed to notice that soon he was no longer alone. Angel continued going through his paces for several more minutes before he saw someone out of the corner of his eye. Spinning around on his heel he held the blade up in front of him and prepared for a fight that never came.
"Well nice to see you to Angel…," Gwen mumbled sadly with a hurt pout on her face as she tried to look Angel in the eye from her position on the sidelines but found that she couldn't not matter how hard she tried. Instead she fixed her gaze on her feet as she swayed them back and forth.
"Gwen…uh…sorry I didn't see you…," Angel stammered out as his brain was moving much faster than his mouth and somewhere in between the signals kept getting crossed.
"So what else is new…," Gwen whispered very softly under her breath as she kept her gaze fixed on her feet.
"Now wait a minute Gwen…I don't miss you on purpose…you know me…I'm always overlooking something or someone, it's not by design," Angel said with a slightly angry tone of voice as he took a step towards Gwen. The tone was obviously stronger than he had wanted to use as he saw Gwen cringe slightly and turn her gaze off to the side.
"Could've fooled me…with the cheerleader around I guess that means that I'm just second fiddle…," Gwen mumbled with a bitter scowl on her face as even though it felt good to finally say the words she feared what would come next.
"You're not second fiddle Gwen…to anyone, least of all Cordelia…," Angel started to say with a very frustrated grimace on his face as he walked over to Gwen before he continued as he stood at her side. "Everyday I have the two of you trying to one up each other in the hope that I'll pick one of you and spurn the other, but don't you see, in the end it demeans both of you…and in tears me up inside to see two women that I care deeply about do that to themselves," Angel added with a kind but yet very serious look on his face as he set the sword down and brought Gwen's gaze up to match his with a soft hand under her chin. He was surprised at the face that greeted him. Gone instantly was the cold and stoic thief that didn't care about anything or anyone and its place was the face that Angel had discovered as one growing ever harder to ignore. She no longer resembled the woman that he had first met all of those years ago back in that vault. When she was around the others Gwen was all business, but over the years she had begun to slowly soften up, albeit only when she and Angel were the only ones around.
"You care…no…it's your job as the champion to care about everyone that works with you…it's…," Gwen stammered out with a look that showed Angel that she desperately wanted to believe what he was saying but a strong and scared part of her held her back.
"No Gwen…you know the part, you play it so dutifully yourself…you keep your emotions and feelings in check, hoping that by acting that way you won't allow yourself to be hurt…but I've learned…the hard way, in the end that philosophy only gets you to the one place that you never wanted to be…all alone," Angel said with a very soft but serious look on his face and tone to his voice as he sat down beside her on the bale of hay.
"It's here isn't it…Buffy, that's…she's why you won't get close to anyone else, you two were close…," Gwen starts to say with a slightly annoyed frown on her face as she refuses to look at Angel sitting at her side.
"To say the least…," Angel mumbles sadly before he looked on in shock and surprise as Gwen jumps up off of the bale of hale and walked over towards the rack of weapons.
"See…I knew it…you're always holding every woman up to her…and no matter who we are or what we do…in your mind we all pale by comparison…," Gwen said with a somber tone to her voice as she lightly passed her hand over the array of weapons, not wincing at the slight shocks that were caused by her hands coming into direct contact with the metal.
"I don't think that's being very fair to…," Angel started to say with a confused and nervous frown on his face as he stood up and took a step closer to Gwen, who stopped him with a don't come any closer posture.
"Fair…what's fair Angel would be for me to have been able to lead a normal life where I didn't have to go around stealing things to make a living, a life where I could touch someone else without either frying them like an overdone steak or needing some gizmo to try and make me normal for a few hours…life isn't fair Angel, we don't always get what we want…and whether you want to admit it or not you lost Buffy Angel…you did…and until you admit that truth to yourself you'll be alone for the rest of your miserable eternity," Gwen said with almost no hint of emotion in her voice other than bitterness before she turned on her heel and started to storm past Angel out of the barn.
"Gwen wait…," Angel started to say with a nervous sigh as he grabbed Gwen's arm and spun her around to face him.
"No Angel you wait…," Gwen started to say before Angel pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers.
END OF CHAPTER 12
