Watcher (15/?)
"This is the inside of Xander's brain?" Faith glanced around.
Angel looked up and down the featureless corridor. "His consciousness actually. It's quieter than I expected."
"What did you expect Fang? Piles of junk food, comic books heroes, spaceships maybe ?" the ravishing brunette nudged him with her hip and winked. "Dancing naked Faiths maybe? 'Cause if you want a show.."
Angel groaned. "Can we change the subject?" Faith was a great kid, but sometimes...
"Five by five," Faith nodded slowly before grinning. "So Angel, when you were a bad ass back in the day did you eat anyone famous? Inquiring minds want to know!"
Angel ground his teeth together. Xander really, really owed him for this.
* * *
"Damn it!" Faith's short temper exploded. Whirling round, she glared at her companion as if he was to blame for their predicament. "We've been walking for fucking hours!"
"Actually we haven't," the vampire corrected. God, she hated how fucking calm he remained, it was like he didn't give a shit about her Xander. She knew it wasn't true but it seemed like it sometimes. If only he'd show some damn emotion. "Time doesn't move here as it does normally."
"Uh?" She thought he was talking English but she couldn't be sure.
"In the outside world, time could have been moving faster or slower than it does inside Xander's consciousness," the vampire explained, his tone patient.
"So we could have been in here for months!" Oh this was getting better and better, she would have kicked one of the corridor's if not for the damage it might cause Xander. "Oh this is fucking A!" her glare intensified. "Only one of us is immortal you know!"
"Yes," Angel replied, the first flicker of irritation on his rugged features. "And only one of us is wishing the other had a stake to shove through the other's heart. Anything to end this moaning." Faith's mouth opened in reply but her companion beat her to it. "Look Faith, the time- drag won't be that much, we'll just have to keep walking."
"And that's another thing, how the fuck do we know we're even heading in the right direction?
Angel shrugged. "We don't, all we can to do is follow the path, there's been no turn-off so we have to be heading in the right direction."
"That's it?" Faith couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You've been around for countless centuries -."
"Two and a half actually," the vampire sounded offended.
"And after all that time, that's all you know, keep walking? You're a fucking genius you know that don't you? And what do we do when we find Xander?"
"We'll find that out when we get there."
"Oh this gets better and better," Faith muttered. Xan owed her some serious payback after this bullshit.
"This is worse than hell," Angel mumbled. "Slayer nagging, I think I preferred banshee screaming."
"Shut up Fang. Christ this is boring, keep me entertained, sing a song or something. "
"You like Barry Manilow?"
Faith shuddered. "Silence is golden."
"Sister," Angel muttered, "you're preaching to the converted."
* * *
"How long's it been now?"
Giles bit back the urge to swear at Buffy's question. "About ten minutes since you last asked." Ignoring the blonde's glare, he turned to his fellow countryman. "Any change?"
Wesley shook his head, his face haggard with the strain. "None."
Giles grimaced, Angel and Faith had been gone for over nine hours now. The sun had long since set, but nobody was in any mood to patrol. He looked at the book he'd pulled out of the shelves, intending to research Legion, and cursed as he suddenly realised he'd been reading a cookery book for the last few hours. "Stupid bugger."
"What will they face?"
Giles turned and smiled at a frightened-looking Willow, in an attempt to reassure the redhead. Finally, a sensible question. "The texts relating to the 'Mind-Quest' are somewhat obscure and highly muddled, however they do refer to 'The Trial Of Inner Fears'."
"Trial of Inner Fears? That doesn't sound good."
Giles looked up at Joyce who'd arrived minutes after a tearful Buffy had phoned her with news of what had happened to comfort them all and to see what was happening with her 'new daughter'. "Yes, as I said the texts are quite vague, but it seems that the trial involves the 'visitors', that being Faith and Angel, encouraging the 'prisoner', of course Xander, to face his greatest fear. As I understand it, 'The Trial' tests if the capacity for love is greater than the capacity for fear within the prisoner. Once they succeed, Xander and the others will return."
"And if they don't succeed in getting Xander to face his fear?" Joyce demanded.
Giles swallowed, oh dear, first the annoying question, then the intelligent question, and finally the question he didn't want to answer. Bloody marvellous. He opened his mouth to stammer out what he hoped would be an evasive answer only to be interrupted by Willow's cry. "Something's happening!"
* * *
"We're here."
"Yeah," Faith nodded. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the tunnel they were travelling down had darkened until now they were in a gloomy cavern, its swirling shadows making seeing difficult. "And where's here?"
"The centre of Xander's mind," Angel replied.
Faith's breath caught. "You said he'd be round here, where is he?"
Faith started off into the darkness but the vampire pulled her back. "I said a physical representation of how he sees himself. Be careful it might be dangerous."
"Xander would never hurt me!" Faith glared at the vampire. "What the fuck are -."
"Of course he wouldn't," the former Scourge Of Europe's face remained. "But his greatest fear might."
"Five by five," Faith nodded. She guessed the vampire was right. "I'm sorry for -."
"It doesn't matter," Angel gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I understand. You're worried about Xander. Let's find him and bring him home."
"Yeah, where do we start?" "Just stay close."
After a couple of minutes, Angel placed a hand on her shoulder. "Over here," he whispered.
Faith's heart leapt as she saw three silhouettes in the distance. She started forward only for B's boyfriend to restrain her again. "Remember careful."
"Yeah," it was an effort but she managed to quell her impatience. Then her brow furrowed. "Why's there three of him?"
"Look at them what do you see?"
Faith squinted through the shadows. One of the figures was that of a kid maybe nine years old, with a bruised face and frightened eyes, the second was stood ramrod straight his eyes fixed firmly on something in the distance, the third, the third was wicked weird, as a predator herself she could recognise one when she saw one, there was something animalistic about it. Suddenly she had it. "They're the hyena and soldier who possessed Xman right?"
"Right, it's unprecedented but I'm guessing that each of his avatars have a separate part of his consciousness meaning they have to represented at the meeting."
Faith struggled to make sense of what the vampire had said, she guessed it made sense, except.... "But who's the third one, that's not boytoy!" Her boyfriend was a terrified, shaking mess, this was bullshit, he was her hero, the strong, funny guy who lovingly looked after her, put her back together after Finch.
"Isn't it?" Angel's voice had hardened, grown angry. "You know how his father treated him."
"Ah bullshit," Faith scoffed. "Xander wouldn't let that bastard effect him like this, that'd be like letting him win."
"Why did you act the way you did before you started dating Xander?"
Faith flinched at Angel's softly spoken words. She saw the vampire's point. She'd hidden the hurt caused her mother's neglect and the abuse meted out to her by a succession of her ma's boyfriends behind a layer of devil-may-care bullshit that nobody until Xander had cared enough to try to pierce . Well he'd helped her, it was time for her to repay the favour. Shrugging away her companion's hands she hurried over to the cowering figure, ignoring both the soldier's searching look and the beast's lecherous one. "Hey baby," she forced an unaccustomed softness into her voice, despite playing the nurse fantasy for a number of guys she really wasn't cut out for the role. "I'm here now," she whispered, ignoring the boy's trembling, she eased his hands away from his face, her heart clenching painfully at the terror she saw there. Keeping her voice low, she forced a smile, kissed him softly on the forehead, and began wiping his face clean. "Me and Fang have come to take y-."
"H...he's coming," Xander's voice shook even as tears rolled down his face.
Faith looked around, aside from an approaching Angel, she couldn't see anything. "Who's coming kiddo," she tried for a light tone but couldn't wholly manage it, Xander's terror was infectious. "Wanna give me a clue?"
"HE'S COMING!"
Suddenly the cavern lightened to reveal a hundred or so clones of the same man, a big, fat sneering figure. "Hello son." The cavern shook to the chorus of the men's voice.
* * *
Giles' eyes widened as all three bodies began to shake, the energy emitted by their bodies encompassing them in a pulsing white glow. Instantly the blonde Slayer started forward. Giles lunged forward, grabbing her arm and pushing her back. "NO!"
"They need our help!"
"Buffy, if we break the pentagram that is it!" he exclaimed. "Even if they complete the test successfully they will be stuck in their bodies forever, doomed to repeat the test over and over."
"So what do we do?"
Seeing the desperation in his surrogate daughter's eyes he pulled her into a hug. "We wait," he murmured into her ear. "We wait and pray."
* * *
Leaping up, Faith hurried over to Angel to stand back to back with him. "There's a hell of a lot of them," she commented between anxious looks at her quivering boyfriend. With her silent pleas for him to help going unanswered, she let out a yell. "Hey Xman, wanna join the game?" The battered youth flinched at her shout but didn't move. "Damn."
"We're out-numbered here Faith."
"Yeah, I've got a handle on the basic maths thanks Big & Broody," Faith retorted as she eyed the numbers facing them. "On the plus side we're super-powered and he's a drunken bully."
"Faith-." Suddenly one of the approaching men grabbed hold of her by her hair and threw to the ground, her scream drowning out whatever her companion was about to say. Ignoring the pain in her head, the prick had nearly pulled her raven locks out at the root, and shrugging aside her shock that such a man had been able to throw her to the ground without her blocking him, Faith tucked her legs beneath her and made to leap upright. "Shit!" her legs buckled beneath her, sending her crashing back to the ground before she'd barely left it.
The men standing over her, god there must be nearly ten of them, let out a group laugh before beginning to kick her ribs in. Terror rose in Faith's throat as she realised that blows she would normally laughed off were now agonising. She did the only thing she could think of, she screamed. "XANDER!"
* * *
"He's here," the boy rocked from side to side, tears rolling down his face. Soon he'd be hitting him with it, telling him he was worthless, a failure. He'd been bad, he didn't know how but he was always bad. Soon his dad would be taking his thick leather belt off and hitting him. Suddenly he heard a woman's scream his name. Was it his momma? Pa sometimes hit his momma instead of him. Wiping his eyes he risked a look up. Through his fathers' legs he saw the pretty girl, he didn't like girls – well 'cept his Willow, but this one had been real nice to him. His dad shouldn't hit girls that was wrong. His heart pounding, he forced himself to stand on trembling legs. "Stop hitting her," out of the corner of his eye he saw the man who'd come with the girl crumple to the floor. "Stop hitting them both, it's not their fault, I'm the bad one. Daddy, it's bad to hit girls," he muttered, his voice wavering. "Please stop, she's my fri-," he stopped as a memory flickered in his head. He peered at the girl's desperate face, his stomach clenching in pain. "Faith," swallowing slightly he started forward, Faith was someone real important to him, he couldn't remember how but he knew it was true. "Daddy you shouldn't-."
Suddenly it hit him, the memories flooding back. Growling angrily he turned to his avatars, the strength of young adulthood flooding back into his body. "Get them." Nobody hurt his Faith.
* * *
Faith exploded upwards, the power surging back into her. "Look out mother- fuckers," she crowed as she backhanded one of Xander's fathers to the ground. "There's a Slayer in town," she risked a grin at Xander and was dismayed when he flinched away, as if ashamed.
* * *
Angel enjoyed the look of collective shook on the faces of the men surrounding him as he moved into his demonic visage. He'd wanted to do this to Xander's bastard of a father for a long time.
* * *
"YES!" Wesley punched the air in delight as his Slayer awoke, her eyes fluttering with uncertain intelligence. But then she was a yank, one couldn't expect miracles. After a triumphant glance at his beaming countryman, he rushed into the pentagram and scooped the lithe Bostonian into a hug. "Are you okay Faith?"
"Hey chill you bloody tea drinker, I'm five by five, but this hugging shit kinda knocks points off a girl's cool rating."
Despite her derisive tone, the brunette was grinning at him. He released his grip and stepped back. "Quite right, a Watcher should keep his distance from his Slayer," he replied stiffly before smiling. "Especially if Slayer is an American who's use of the English language is haphazard to say the least. It wouldn't be done at all for a well-bred Englishman to start saying things like 'five by five', 'wicked', 'what's the sitch' etc., oh no the family would be quite scandalised."
"Two good insults in one day Wes?" Faith winked. "Damn you are using less starch on your shirts."
"A different brand," his face grew serious. "No after-effects?"
"Nah," the Bostonian winked. "It got hairy in there, Angel nearly sang Manilow, that was wicked scary, but the Xman came thr-," the east coast native's voice trailed off when Xander strode past them, his face filled with pain and out of the library doors. "I'll just be a minute Wes."
* * *
Faith hurried out of the library and into the darkened corridor, her stomach hollow with fear. Why was Xander running away from them, had he come back wrong? "Hey Xman where ya headin'? I figure after this shit we need to kick back maybe go out to the Bronze, I don't know about ya but I feel the need to chow down on some serious food."
After a second her boyfriend turned to face her, his head was bowed but even so she could see the pain in his eyes. "I'm sorry Faith," Xander whispered. "I'm sorry I put you through all that-."
Faith covered the twenty yards separating them in a blur. "Shut up you stupid bastard," she reproved, even as she pressed a finger to his lips. "I don't wanna hear any of that crap. It got a little hairy in there but we all came through the other side, 'sides no one forced me and Angel to do that. We chose to do it because we care. That's what friends do, they watch each other's back, you taught me that. Five by five?"
After a second Xander smiled uncertainly. "Five by five," her boyfriend confirmed with a nod.
Faith nodded her approval. "Good, now stop with the talking and start with the kissing."
"This is the inside of Xander's brain?" Faith glanced around.
Angel looked up and down the featureless corridor. "His consciousness actually. It's quieter than I expected."
"What did you expect Fang? Piles of junk food, comic books heroes, spaceships maybe ?" the ravishing brunette nudged him with her hip and winked. "Dancing naked Faiths maybe? 'Cause if you want a show.."
Angel groaned. "Can we change the subject?" Faith was a great kid, but sometimes...
"Five by five," Faith nodded slowly before grinning. "So Angel, when you were a bad ass back in the day did you eat anyone famous? Inquiring minds want to know!"
Angel ground his teeth together. Xander really, really owed him for this.
* * *
"Damn it!" Faith's short temper exploded. Whirling round, she glared at her companion as if he was to blame for their predicament. "We've been walking for fucking hours!"
"Actually we haven't," the vampire corrected. God, she hated how fucking calm he remained, it was like he didn't give a shit about her Xander. She knew it wasn't true but it seemed like it sometimes. If only he'd show some damn emotion. "Time doesn't move here as it does normally."
"Uh?" She thought he was talking English but she couldn't be sure.
"In the outside world, time could have been moving faster or slower than it does inside Xander's consciousness," the vampire explained, his tone patient.
"So we could have been in here for months!" Oh this was getting better and better, she would have kicked one of the corridor's if not for the damage it might cause Xander. "Oh this is fucking A!" her glare intensified. "Only one of us is immortal you know!"
"Yes," Angel replied, the first flicker of irritation on his rugged features. "And only one of us is wishing the other had a stake to shove through the other's heart. Anything to end this moaning." Faith's mouth opened in reply but her companion beat her to it. "Look Faith, the time- drag won't be that much, we'll just have to keep walking."
"And that's another thing, how the fuck do we know we're even heading in the right direction?
Angel shrugged. "We don't, all we can to do is follow the path, there's been no turn-off so we have to be heading in the right direction."
"That's it?" Faith couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You've been around for countless centuries -."
"Two and a half actually," the vampire sounded offended.
"And after all that time, that's all you know, keep walking? You're a fucking genius you know that don't you? And what do we do when we find Xander?"
"We'll find that out when we get there."
"Oh this gets better and better," Faith muttered. Xan owed her some serious payback after this bullshit.
"This is worse than hell," Angel mumbled. "Slayer nagging, I think I preferred banshee screaming."
"Shut up Fang. Christ this is boring, keep me entertained, sing a song or something. "
"You like Barry Manilow?"
Faith shuddered. "Silence is golden."
"Sister," Angel muttered, "you're preaching to the converted."
* * *
"How long's it been now?"
Giles bit back the urge to swear at Buffy's question. "About ten minutes since you last asked." Ignoring the blonde's glare, he turned to his fellow countryman. "Any change?"
Wesley shook his head, his face haggard with the strain. "None."
Giles grimaced, Angel and Faith had been gone for over nine hours now. The sun had long since set, but nobody was in any mood to patrol. He looked at the book he'd pulled out of the shelves, intending to research Legion, and cursed as he suddenly realised he'd been reading a cookery book for the last few hours. "Stupid bugger."
"What will they face?"
Giles turned and smiled at a frightened-looking Willow, in an attempt to reassure the redhead. Finally, a sensible question. "The texts relating to the 'Mind-Quest' are somewhat obscure and highly muddled, however they do refer to 'The Trial Of Inner Fears'."
"Trial of Inner Fears? That doesn't sound good."
Giles looked up at Joyce who'd arrived minutes after a tearful Buffy had phoned her with news of what had happened to comfort them all and to see what was happening with her 'new daughter'. "Yes, as I said the texts are quite vague, but it seems that the trial involves the 'visitors', that being Faith and Angel, encouraging the 'prisoner', of course Xander, to face his greatest fear. As I understand it, 'The Trial' tests if the capacity for love is greater than the capacity for fear within the prisoner. Once they succeed, Xander and the others will return."
"And if they don't succeed in getting Xander to face his fear?" Joyce demanded.
Giles swallowed, oh dear, first the annoying question, then the intelligent question, and finally the question he didn't want to answer. Bloody marvellous. He opened his mouth to stammer out what he hoped would be an evasive answer only to be interrupted by Willow's cry. "Something's happening!"
* * *
"We're here."
"Yeah," Faith nodded. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the tunnel they were travelling down had darkened until now they were in a gloomy cavern, its swirling shadows making seeing difficult. "And where's here?"
"The centre of Xander's mind," Angel replied.
Faith's breath caught. "You said he'd be round here, where is he?"
Faith started off into the darkness but the vampire pulled her back. "I said a physical representation of how he sees himself. Be careful it might be dangerous."
"Xander would never hurt me!" Faith glared at the vampire. "What the fuck are -."
"Of course he wouldn't," the former Scourge Of Europe's face remained. "But his greatest fear might."
"Five by five," Faith nodded. She guessed the vampire was right. "I'm sorry for -."
"It doesn't matter," Angel gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I understand. You're worried about Xander. Let's find him and bring him home."
"Yeah, where do we start?" "Just stay close."
After a couple of minutes, Angel placed a hand on her shoulder. "Over here," he whispered.
Faith's heart leapt as she saw three silhouettes in the distance. She started forward only for B's boyfriend to restrain her again. "Remember careful."
"Yeah," it was an effort but she managed to quell her impatience. Then her brow furrowed. "Why's there three of him?"
"Look at them what do you see?"
Faith squinted through the shadows. One of the figures was that of a kid maybe nine years old, with a bruised face and frightened eyes, the second was stood ramrod straight his eyes fixed firmly on something in the distance, the third, the third was wicked weird, as a predator herself she could recognise one when she saw one, there was something animalistic about it. Suddenly she had it. "They're the hyena and soldier who possessed Xman right?"
"Right, it's unprecedented but I'm guessing that each of his avatars have a separate part of his consciousness meaning they have to represented at the meeting."
Faith struggled to make sense of what the vampire had said, she guessed it made sense, except.... "But who's the third one, that's not boytoy!" Her boyfriend was a terrified, shaking mess, this was bullshit, he was her hero, the strong, funny guy who lovingly looked after her, put her back together after Finch.
"Isn't it?" Angel's voice had hardened, grown angry. "You know how his father treated him."
"Ah bullshit," Faith scoffed. "Xander wouldn't let that bastard effect him like this, that'd be like letting him win."
"Why did you act the way you did before you started dating Xander?"
Faith flinched at Angel's softly spoken words. She saw the vampire's point. She'd hidden the hurt caused her mother's neglect and the abuse meted out to her by a succession of her ma's boyfriends behind a layer of devil-may-care bullshit that nobody until Xander had cared enough to try to pierce . Well he'd helped her, it was time for her to repay the favour. Shrugging away her companion's hands she hurried over to the cowering figure, ignoring both the soldier's searching look and the beast's lecherous one. "Hey baby," she forced an unaccustomed softness into her voice, despite playing the nurse fantasy for a number of guys she really wasn't cut out for the role. "I'm here now," she whispered, ignoring the boy's trembling, she eased his hands away from his face, her heart clenching painfully at the terror she saw there. Keeping her voice low, she forced a smile, kissed him softly on the forehead, and began wiping his face clean. "Me and Fang have come to take y-."
"H...he's coming," Xander's voice shook even as tears rolled down his face.
Faith looked around, aside from an approaching Angel, she couldn't see anything. "Who's coming kiddo," she tried for a light tone but couldn't wholly manage it, Xander's terror was infectious. "Wanna give me a clue?"
"HE'S COMING!"
Suddenly the cavern lightened to reveal a hundred or so clones of the same man, a big, fat sneering figure. "Hello son." The cavern shook to the chorus of the men's voice.
* * *
Giles' eyes widened as all three bodies began to shake, the energy emitted by their bodies encompassing them in a pulsing white glow. Instantly the blonde Slayer started forward. Giles lunged forward, grabbing her arm and pushing her back. "NO!"
"They need our help!"
"Buffy, if we break the pentagram that is it!" he exclaimed. "Even if they complete the test successfully they will be stuck in their bodies forever, doomed to repeat the test over and over."
"So what do we do?"
Seeing the desperation in his surrogate daughter's eyes he pulled her into a hug. "We wait," he murmured into her ear. "We wait and pray."
* * *
Leaping up, Faith hurried over to Angel to stand back to back with him. "There's a hell of a lot of them," she commented between anxious looks at her quivering boyfriend. With her silent pleas for him to help going unanswered, she let out a yell. "Hey Xman, wanna join the game?" The battered youth flinched at her shout but didn't move. "Damn."
"We're out-numbered here Faith."
"Yeah, I've got a handle on the basic maths thanks Big & Broody," Faith retorted as she eyed the numbers facing them. "On the plus side we're super-powered and he's a drunken bully."
"Faith-." Suddenly one of the approaching men grabbed hold of her by her hair and threw to the ground, her scream drowning out whatever her companion was about to say. Ignoring the pain in her head, the prick had nearly pulled her raven locks out at the root, and shrugging aside her shock that such a man had been able to throw her to the ground without her blocking him, Faith tucked her legs beneath her and made to leap upright. "Shit!" her legs buckled beneath her, sending her crashing back to the ground before she'd barely left it.
The men standing over her, god there must be nearly ten of them, let out a group laugh before beginning to kick her ribs in. Terror rose in Faith's throat as she realised that blows she would normally laughed off were now agonising. She did the only thing she could think of, she screamed. "XANDER!"
* * *
"He's here," the boy rocked from side to side, tears rolling down his face. Soon he'd be hitting him with it, telling him he was worthless, a failure. He'd been bad, he didn't know how but he was always bad. Soon his dad would be taking his thick leather belt off and hitting him. Suddenly he heard a woman's scream his name. Was it his momma? Pa sometimes hit his momma instead of him. Wiping his eyes he risked a look up. Through his fathers' legs he saw the pretty girl, he didn't like girls – well 'cept his Willow, but this one had been real nice to him. His dad shouldn't hit girls that was wrong. His heart pounding, he forced himself to stand on trembling legs. "Stop hitting her," out of the corner of his eye he saw the man who'd come with the girl crumple to the floor. "Stop hitting them both, it's not their fault, I'm the bad one. Daddy, it's bad to hit girls," he muttered, his voice wavering. "Please stop, she's my fri-," he stopped as a memory flickered in his head. He peered at the girl's desperate face, his stomach clenching in pain. "Faith," swallowing slightly he started forward, Faith was someone real important to him, he couldn't remember how but he knew it was true. "Daddy you shouldn't-."
Suddenly it hit him, the memories flooding back. Growling angrily he turned to his avatars, the strength of young adulthood flooding back into his body. "Get them." Nobody hurt his Faith.
* * *
Faith exploded upwards, the power surging back into her. "Look out mother- fuckers," she crowed as she backhanded one of Xander's fathers to the ground. "There's a Slayer in town," she risked a grin at Xander and was dismayed when he flinched away, as if ashamed.
* * *
Angel enjoyed the look of collective shook on the faces of the men surrounding him as he moved into his demonic visage. He'd wanted to do this to Xander's bastard of a father for a long time.
* * *
"YES!" Wesley punched the air in delight as his Slayer awoke, her eyes fluttering with uncertain intelligence. But then she was a yank, one couldn't expect miracles. After a triumphant glance at his beaming countryman, he rushed into the pentagram and scooped the lithe Bostonian into a hug. "Are you okay Faith?"
"Hey chill you bloody tea drinker, I'm five by five, but this hugging shit kinda knocks points off a girl's cool rating."
Despite her derisive tone, the brunette was grinning at him. He released his grip and stepped back. "Quite right, a Watcher should keep his distance from his Slayer," he replied stiffly before smiling. "Especially if Slayer is an American who's use of the English language is haphazard to say the least. It wouldn't be done at all for a well-bred Englishman to start saying things like 'five by five', 'wicked', 'what's the sitch' etc., oh no the family would be quite scandalised."
"Two good insults in one day Wes?" Faith winked. "Damn you are using less starch on your shirts."
"A different brand," his face grew serious. "No after-effects?"
"Nah," the Bostonian winked. "It got hairy in there, Angel nearly sang Manilow, that was wicked scary, but the Xman came thr-," the east coast native's voice trailed off when Xander strode past them, his face filled with pain and out of the library doors. "I'll just be a minute Wes."
* * *
Faith hurried out of the library and into the darkened corridor, her stomach hollow with fear. Why was Xander running away from them, had he come back wrong? "Hey Xman where ya headin'? I figure after this shit we need to kick back maybe go out to the Bronze, I don't know about ya but I feel the need to chow down on some serious food."
After a second her boyfriend turned to face her, his head was bowed but even so she could see the pain in his eyes. "I'm sorry Faith," Xander whispered. "I'm sorry I put you through all that-."
Faith covered the twenty yards separating them in a blur. "Shut up you stupid bastard," she reproved, even as she pressed a finger to his lips. "I don't wanna hear any of that crap. It got a little hairy in there but we all came through the other side, 'sides no one forced me and Angel to do that. We chose to do it because we care. That's what friends do, they watch each other's back, you taught me that. Five by five?"
After a second Xander smiled uncertainly. "Five by five," her boyfriend confirmed with a nod.
Faith nodded her approval. "Good, now stop with the talking and start with the kissing."