A/N: First of all, sorry it took so long. I had a slight case of block and I was a little disappointed at the number of reviews that I got for the last chapter of Murderer Too Young. Oh well, that's over and done with. On to the story.
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Wesley was getting tired. He had just spent his second night in the hotel looking up on ghosts from his books. It was now close to 2 in the morning and his eyes were no longer working as well as he would have liked them to. Letting a yawn escape him, he looked over to a half asleep looking Faith. She was sitting at a computer, her eyes closed.
"Faith?" he called to her softly. She opened her eyes and inhaled deeply.
"Sorry, did I drone off on you?" she asked him, rubbing her eyes. Wesley softly smiled.
"No worries. I'm near sleep myself. If you want, you can go up to your room and sleep. I can finish up here," he told her. Faith shook her head.
"Naw, I'm cool. Just need more coffee." Wesley stood up and took her mug.
"Here, I'll go get you some. Black right?" he asked. Faith nodded and stretched. When he left, she glanced back at the screen and scanned through the web page.
"July 10th, 1989. Two teens of Keyton, California were found murdered in their home. Discovered by mother's fiancé, the two victims were Dawn O'Riley, 16 and Connor O'Riley, 16. The case was being followed by Detective Kate Lockley. The case was never solved and no suspects were brought to trial," she read aloud.
"Anything new?" Wesley asked, walking back into the computer room with two cups of coffee, to which he gave her hers. Faith shook her head while she sipped her coffee.
"Zero. Same info I've been getting for the last few hours. Connor and Dawn O'Riley, both 16 years old, and killed in their own beds. The case was never solved," she told him. Wesley sat down and started to think.
"Do you have a name of the mother? Or this fiancé?" he asked her. Faith shook her head.
"Nope. Look, I only know the basic computer skills. I'm no hacker and we're gonna need one to dig up better info. We wanna find out who killed these kids, we definitely need to hack into police files. Find out things the press never found out," she said. Wesley sighed.
"You're right. I'm not handy with computers either. We'll just have to talk to the rest of the gang about it," he said.
"Forget that. As far as I know, everyone else thinks the ghosts are a bunch of crap. And we can't tell them what we saw, they'd think we're mental or something. I know would," Faith told him.
"Then we'll just have to work with what we have," Wesley said, opening another one of his books. Faith cleared her throat, trying to start up conversation.
"Noticed at dinner you've been stealing glances at Fred," she said casually. She heard a choking sound and then a hushed curse. She looked over at him to see his spilled coffee all over his shirt. "You're supposed to swallow the coffee."
"Yes, yes. I know that," Wesley replied, nodding and trying to clean his shirt with some napkins. "Just hot you know."
"So Fred eh?" Faith said after a minute. Wesley tried to hide his smile, despite the burn he would have now from the coffee.
"Yes, well. She's lovely isn't she?" he replied.
"Sure. I mean, if I swung that way, I'd be after her too," Faith said. Wesley smirked.
"Didn't think that anyone noticed," he confessed but then froze. "Wait, do you think she noticed? Oh, what would she think? She must be laughing at the mere thought of me."
"Hey, calm down. Fred probably isn't laughing at you. She might even dig you a little too. You should ask her," Faith said. Wesley shook his head.
"No, she wouldn't care about me. She'd probably be more interested in someone like Gunn. I've seen the way she laughs at his jokes," he told her.
"That's what you do when someone jokes. That doesn't mean she likes him. C'mon Wes. You want her, you gotta make a move. You two have plenty of things in common."
"Like what?"
Faith mentally asked herself why she was doing this. 'I'm helping the guy I like get another girl. What the hell am I doing?' "You're both smart. That's important."
"Really?" Wesley asked. Faith saw the sparkle in his eyes and immediately threw out all thoughts of trying to get him for herself.
"Yeah. I mean who could resist you? You're smart, ruggedly handsome, funny, and you have an accent. Girls dig guys with accents. It's sexy." Wesley tried to fight back a smile.
"Sexy? Really?" he asked. "Ruggedly handsome?" Faith shrugged.
"Well, you are," she admitted. "Look, I don't normally play matchmaker but I'll make an exception. All you have to do is try to get close to her. Talk, hang out, play chess or whatever. I'll do the rest."
"Really? You'd do this for me?"
"Yeah. You're a cool guy and deserve something. I figure I can help," Faith replied.
"Well, I could tell you that I am really very grateful, but you probably already know that," Wesley said. Faith waved it off and turned back to the computer screen. She suddenly felt a lot better now, even that she just gave up any chance with Wes. But that was strangely okay.
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"You think you can outsmart me 'doncha?" Xander said to Willow, who was looking at him with a hint of a smile on her face. "Well not today. You got a 3?"
"Go fish," Willow replied. Xander rolled his eyes and picked up a card. They were all sitting in the game room at this late hour. It had all started with Angel and Spike and a game of pool, which led to more pool, too many poker rounds to count, and some fun and dangerous games of foosball. Now Xander, Willow, Tara, Fred, and Buffy were all participating in a rousing game of Go Fish.
"Why don't we just call Fred the winner. She already has 5 pairs," Buffy said, gesturing to the many cards that belonged to Fred. Xander sighed and threw his cards down.
"When I lost at poker, I didn't feel as bad because it's poker. But I can't even beat a bunch of girls at a hand of Go Fish. My manly and macho ego has now crumbled and is unfixable," he complained. Fred grinned and straightened out the cards.
"Any more challengers?" she asked and then proceeded to take another drink of her coke. "Or should I say victims?" she added quietly. Tara and Willow heard her and giggled.
"It's late. I think I'm going to bed," Cordelia told them. "Wanna walk me to my room Angel?" Angel gestured toward the pool table.
"I was gonna play another game with Gunn," he told her. Cordelia took a huge drink of her beer and shook her head.
"I'm awake now," she said, and moved toward the pool table. "I have $5 on Angel."
"The Fourth is coming in a couple days. I think we should do something fun. Like a barbeque," Willow said.
"Yeah, that sounds like fun," Buffy agreed. "Mmm, now I'm hungry."
"Want me to go get more pizza?" Xander asked her. Buffy raised an eyebrow.
"At 2 in the morning?" she asked. Xander shrugged and nodded. "That's okay Xand."
The room suddenly dropped a good 20 degrees and Tara felt it. She looked around to see if anyone else noticed but everyone was still talking. In the corner of her eye, she saw someone at the doorway but when she turned to see who it was, they were gone. Her mind immediately stumbled to the idea of the ghosts, but she dismissed it. She was just tired and her mind was playing tricks on her.
But there was something telling her she wasn't imagining.
She immediately wondered where Faith and Wesley were. She thought she remembered them saying they would be in the computer room, but she wasn't sure. But she remembered that Faith was asking them the first day if they saw anything strange. And that Wesley didn't believe Mr. Green when he told them there were no ghosts. She concluded that they were researching, but then was snapped out of her thoughts by Willow nudging her.
"You okay? You looked spaced?" she asked. Tara shook her head.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I think I'm gonna turn in though," she replied, and Willow nodded.
"Good plan. I think I'll go with you. I'm just gonna dump my drink." Tara nodded and waited while Willow emptied her drink. Her eyes darted around, looking for something out of the ordinary. She knew she saw something before. It wasn't just the tiredness playing tricks.
Willow came back and the two said goodnight to everyone before heading out of the game room. The hallway was dark, save for the few dimmed lights shining.
"Willow, can I ask you something?" Tara asked once they were out of earshot from the room. Willow nodded, her red hair bouncing slightly. "Do you think the ghosts are real?"
"I dunno. I haven't really thought about it. Why? Do you?" Willow replied.
"I dunno either. I'm only asking because I saw something a few minutes ago," Tara said. Willow was now interested.
"You saw one of the ghosts?" she asked in wonder. Tara shrugged.
"I'm not sure. I saw something shiny out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to look, it was gone. There was also the fact that the temperature dropped."
"It did? I didn't notice."
"See, that's what made me think it was me imagining. No one else looked like they felt it. But I don't think I did imagine it. I got goosebumps when it got colder," Tara said. Willow 'huh-ed".
"That's really weird. You should have said something. Maybe you weren't the only one."
"I'm going to talk to Faith and Wesley tomorrow. They are the only ones who have shown interest in the ghosts. Maybe they know some things. I have a feeling that they are right about this. I think Mr. Green is trying to hide something."
"Why would he hide something? Unless he knows something that none of us do," Willow said. Tara nodded and looked around.
"All I know is that if these ghosts really do exist, they're probably not very happy."
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FlashbackKeyton, 1989
The noise in the bar was at the usual pitch. The sound of bottles clinking, pool balls hitting each other, and the usual noise that came out of the speakers filled Willy's Place. Few people noticed as a new face strode into the bar.
He ordered a beer and then sat down at a booth near the exit. He knew he should be out of town by now, that staying here any longer would surely point fingers at him in a matter of time. But he also knew that police would be watching at the city limits, waiting for someone to be speeding out of Keyton. So he stayed.
The door to the bar opened again and a young man, maybe around 20, walked in, looking around. When he spotted what he was looking for, he walked over.
"Can I help you?" the man asked as the boy walked over.
"I saw you. I saw you walk out of the back of the O'Riley's place tonight. You did it didn't you?" the boy asked in a hushed voice. The man's face darkened and he motioned for the boy to sit.
"What's your name?" the man asked. The boy looked around inconspicuously.
"Riley. Riley Finn," he replied. The man smiled.
"Well Riley," he said, "You know some valuable information. More importantly, its information that only I should know. Do you know what kind of predicament that puts you in?" Riley nodded.
"I want to make a deal," he said. The man laughed.
"A deal now? What makes you think you can make a deal with me? Do you know who I am?"
"Yeah I know who you are. Which is why I know you don't want this to get out. You're a very powerful man in the business world. A crime like this could kill your rep. Which is why I want to make a deal. I keep quiet, in exchange for money. Lots of it," Riley said.
"You want money? Is that it?" the man asked, chuckling. Riley kept a straight face and nodded. "How old are you?"
"Nineteen," Riley replied.
"Well, not much younger than me," the man replied. "Ok then Riley. Name the price and you'll get it. But here's the catch. You name the price, whatever it may be. A million? Fine. But you don't get all of it. We meet every 2 years, my choice of location, and you'll get a piece of the pie. If I give it all to you, you might just scamper off to god knows where. Do we have a deal?" the man asked, extending his hand. Riley took a deep breath but shook the hand nonetheless.
"Very nice doing business with you Mr.--" Riley started to say but the man cut him off.
"Don't say my name in public, ever. After you walk out of this filthy bar, you don't know me. You've never seen me in your entire life. The only time you ever talk to me is if I speak first. Do I make myself clear Mr. Finn?"
"Yes Sir. But can I ask? Why'd you do it?" Riley asked, very interested. The man thought for a moment, trying to find a way to explain to the young man.
"To prove a point," he replied. Riley shook his head.
"Point?
"I did it because I can."
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Keyton, Present DayBefore he could open his eyes, the distinct smell of books hit his nose and welcomed him back from the dream world. With a quick inhale of oxygen, Wesley lifted his head up and winced as he felt a major cramp in his neck. 'Of course. Which is why I will never sleep like that again,' he thought. When he opened his eyes finally, his vision was slightly blurred and he finally realized his glasses were not there. When he saw them on the book he slept on, he sighed. They were now all bent from sleeping on them.
"Oh that's just bloody wonderful," he said aloud as he picked them up to examine the damage. A soft groan let him know that Faith was now waking up.
"Good morning Faith. Hope you slept well," Wesley greeted her while trying to fix his glasses.
"Oh yeah. Like a baby. Except that my next hurts like hell," Faith replied while standing up to stretch. "Remind me to never sleep like that again." Wesley sighed when one of the lenses popped right out of the frame.
"Looks like your glasses had a rough night too," Faith observed.
"Yes, well, I'll just have to wear my contacts now."
"You actually wear contacts?" Faith asked. Wes raised an eyebrow.
"You don't think I'm the type to wear contacts?" he asked. Faith shut off her computer screen and gathered her notebook and papers.
"Never said that. In fact, stick to the contacts." Wesley lightened up.
"Really? Well, if you think it'll help me..."
"We're on a mission now Wes. Trust me, after you get her, you'll wonder why you ever doubted anything." Faith and Wesley both stopped when they walked into Tara.
"Tara? What's wrong?" Wesley asked. Tara took a deep breath and looked over at Faith.
"You told me to tell you when something weird happened? Well, here I am," she replied.
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Ok, that's good for now. I wanted to include the 4th of July party and whatnot, but that would have taken more time. Next chapter will include it. Again, sorry for the long wait but life got in the way.