Note: A little more violence and sex. I am trying to keep it R rated. Not easy.
Quote of the Chapter:
Oz: "So, do you guys steal weapons from the army a lot."
Willow: "Well, we don't have cable, so we have to make our own fun."
--- "Innocence"
(Yeah, yeah, I know, this is not a Buffy-centric fic, but I just love some of the quotes from Buffy to fit the situation. I'll see if I can find some from Angel too.)
Chapter Seven – More Entertainment
"Now that today's entertainment is out of the way, I wanted to brief all of you on the situation," Giles was in watcher mode.
Wesley walked over to the side of the room to stand near Dawn and Connor. Leaning against the wall, he sighed as he looked at how young and inexperienced all the girls seemed. Not anything like Faith.
Faith came over to stand right beside him. Leg to leg, hip to hip, hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder, almost if he wasn't so much taller than she was.
"As all of you know, the West Coast has been taken over by unknown forces. The United States military has called us in to help them infiltrate and take out these forces. Around a month ago, I sent in Faith to the area to retrieve Buffy Summers, the original slayer."
"Kind of like the heir and the spare, huh, Faith?" Wesley whispered to her.
"No jokes."
"Not successful, I see," Xander added.
"No, it wasn't. Faith instead found these three people. They all were able to get out of there and have vital information that may help us in our efforts."
"What's so special about them?" one of the girls piped up.
"Only that they had Faith to protect them," Xander replied.
"One more remark, Xander, and I will send you packing. Do you understand?"
"Yeah."
"The girl Dawn is Buffy's sister."
Dawn waved hello.
"Mr. Wyndham-Pryce and Connor are both demon hunters from Los Angeles. Mr. Wyndham-Pryce found Dawn, then Connor, meeting up with Faith along the way. He is the only person we know of that has escaped the war zone in many months."
"You'll need to talk to them, you know." Faith was right.
"I'd rather not if that's all the same to you."
"Wesley, could you tell the girls what they'd be up against."
Giles wanted him to speak in front of them? Tell them what he had experienced in those months of terror, not knowing whether he'd live to the next day or not. But they'd die if they didn't know what they were up against.
"Most of you are used to fighting with back up?" Most of the girls shook their heads yes. "Imagine going up against evil with no one to help. LA was a no man's land by the time I was able to get out of it. Vampires, demons I had never even heard of, roaming the streets day and night, picking off humans left and right. They knew no one could stop them."
Dawn moved in closer to take Wesley's other hand.
"It took me, on my own, almost three months to make it a couple hundred miles. So much death and destruction in so little a time."
"Where are they?" Xander finally asked.
Wesley knew that he would ask eventually. And it wasn't getting any easier telling the story.
"Xander, they're dead." So Faith did it for him. "Angel got staked trying to save Cordy."
"What? While you cowered in a corner."
Wesley moved faster than Faith had ever seen the man move. She had thought that maybe the anchor that both she and Dawn had put down would hold. Wesley picked Xander up by the throat and held him airborne. The slayers gasped almost in unison.
"Put the dumbass down, Wes," Faith tried to reach him.
"They staked him Xander," Wesley stated calmly. "Going through Cordy's comatose body to do it."
Connor had heard the whole story how his father and Cordy had died, but not publicly and not in such graphic terms. Faith hoped that Dawn could handle that for the moment.
"Her blood mixed with his dust. So ironic, don't you think." Xander was gasping for air.
"Put him down, Wesley. Now." Giles had stepped in.
"When the demon's brain mixed in after I blew the fucker's head off, well, that's what made it all so surreal."
Wesley let go, Xander tumbling to the floor. He coughed and choked a little.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know," Xander sputtered out.
"Now you do."
As Wesley raced out of the room, he didn't know where he would go, only that he had to leave. The looks on all of those faces, particularly Connor's made him want to run and never come back. And he really didn't care one way or another what happened.
"Wes, stop," Faith yelled to him as he hurried along a corridor.
Faith ran ahead of him to cause him to halt quickly, almost knocking her over.
"Remember, we needed to talk."
"Not now."
"Yes, now."
Faith grabbed him by the shirt and literally propelled him through a door. It was a storage room for equipment of some sort. No occupants luckily. So Faith could rant all she wanted at him for his attitude back in the conference room.
"Don't ask me."
"Not gonna. I can read it as plain as day. The kid's not doing too well."
"That was not how I wanted to tell him. He hadn't known all the details until now."
"I know. But it happened. Dawn will help him, but you'll need to talk to him soon."
Wesley shut his eyes, hoping it would all just go away.
"Is that what you want? Because I'm not going anywhere, mister. What, you thought I'd bail on you when the going got tough? Like the rest of your friends did."
"They had good reason."
"Just like Angel had firing you and sleeping with Darla. And you forgave him."
"I did, in time."
"So he gets to go all broody, let lawyers get killed, and sleeps with the enemy. You get kicked out because you were trying to do what was right."
"I took his son, Faith."
"And you made a mistake. We know that. What do you think Angel was trying to do, Wes? How many people had he killed before he got that soul? Hundreds, maybe thousands. He was atoning for it. Doing good, what's right. Just like me."
"Why are we talking about this, Faith?"
"Because you can't make it all go away. Sometimes you wish you could, just for a while. It's there, always. You work through it, you try to make up for it, but it'll never go away. You have done more good in your life than I ever expect to."
"Faith, that's not true."
"Yeah, it is. But you know what? I'll make up for it, one way or another. Fight the good fight, ya know?"
Faith moved closer to Wesley. He wanted to reach out, hold her, comfort her. He leaned against a desk, trying to steady himself. She needed for him to be steady. He'd tried so hard.
"You just have to keep trying. But not for me. For yourself. Get through the day for yourself first, OK?"
"You didn't happen to get your degree in Psychology while you were in prison, did you?"
"You learn a lot in there. You with me now?"
"Yes. Thank you. I suppose I should apologize to Xander for my outburst."
"Nah. It's OK. Giles will read him the riot act. He thinks you're a psycho-lunatic now. He'll back off."
"I imagine I should talk to Connor?"
"Wait for a little while. You knew he'd have to come to grips with this, grieve. It's real for him now. Could I ask you a favor?"
Wesley looked at Faith. Since they hadn't turned the lights on, it was dim in the room. As she walked toward him, he could see the unshed tears shimmering in her eyes.
I need you, Faith said with her mind.
Wesley opened his arms up to invite her in. She stepped into his embrace, not wanting to ever let go. Burying his face in her hair, he felt those first tears fall on his shirt.
"What is it about you that makes me do this?" Faith asked him, pulling away to look at him. "I do not do this with guys, ever."
"Must be my innate ability to make every female I've ever known to feel somewhat horrible."
"Ha. You're telling me that you ever made Cordelia Chase cry."
"Maybe that time I kissed her in the library right before her graduation. It really was horrible."
"No wonder Angel got mad at you. You got to kiss all the girls."
"As a matter of fact, maybe I did."
Faith stroked his cheek.
"Brains over broodiness wins them over every time. Although you've been practicing quite a bit with the broody part lately."
Faith tried to push him down on the desk, but he was faster. Pushing everything off with a crash, Wesley scooted Faith on instead, standing between her legs now.
"And so romantic too," Faith said as Wesley lowered her onto the desk. "If you don't hurry, the next time we spar, you'll feel it."
"Like this, Faith," Wesley whispered to her. When he touched her, she almost saw stars.
"This time, watcherman, you're coming with me."
Wesley laughed. "No pun intended, I believe."
"Stop talking," Faith said as he slipped her out of her clothes.
"I like to because it gets you all hot and bothered, my love."
"All ready to boil over here."
So when he finally did touch and taste her, she boiled over much too quickly, leaving him in the dust again.
"See. Told ya so." Until he moved again.
"Again?" she sighed.
"Indeed."
And when she tightened around him a second time, he finally gave up and joined her.
They lay sprawled on the desk. "The desk is digging into my back," Faith finally told Wesley.
"I can't move. You've paralyzed me. We'll have to stay here for a while."
"Oh, when that guy who works here sees your ass mooning him when he walks in the door, you'll move."
"You didn't lock the door?"
"Nope."
Wesley was happy in her arms. Happier than he had been in a very long time. And it was all because of her.
"Not to have you go all psycho on me, but we forgot."
"Forgot what?" Wesley asked as he got dressed.
Fuck, went through his brain.
"Already did that. Not to worry. Only one time. It's cool."
"You're fine?"
"Me? Five by five, my love."
TBC
