REPRECUSSIONS
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.
CHAPTER 4-A FATEFUL DECISION
Faith had been almost to sleep when her ears had perked up at a familiar voice. At first she secretly wished that it were Buffy, giving her the chance to get her whispered apology across. But that thought passed in an instant as she heard the gasps of shock and confusion at the identity of the visitor. From her spot in Buffy's bed she could hear a few startled gasps of some of the more seasoned slayers in training that had undoubtedly wandered back upstairs after Willow had left. She could hear Robin's continuous demands for an explanation as to why the visitor was being greeted as he was. Through the demand for answers and the few that were given she was finally able to determine exactly who the visitor was.
Her breath caught in her throat as she finally recognized his voice, the voice that had at the same time haunted and captivated her dreams. Ever since that night that she had lashed him to a chair and took out her frustrations and anger on him. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, the man that until he had suddenly slumped into a chair and billed himself as her lawyer, she had never expected to see until she was an old maid. His sudden appearance that day had sparked something in her, something that she had long felt dead. Had she been less of a pessimist she would have called it hope, and maybe joy. But with her current disposition she had initially regarded his visit as of one to mock her status behind the prison walls. But all of that had changed when she had taken a good look at him and was startled to see that the new look fitted him very well. Gone was the weak, uptight, and anal retentive yearling watcher that looked better fit to run a glee club than to guide and train a slayer. In his place sat a scorned, defeated, rugged, and haunted shell of a man that years earlier wouldn't have warranted a passing glance. But for some reason this time the man in front of her had fanned the flames of a long repressed emotion, one that she was not particularly akin to dealing with.
"Faith…," Wesley whispered softly with an almost desperate tone to his voice, a tone that immediately set off Faith's finely honed warning bells of danger ahead.
"Wha…Wes…what are you…," Faith asked softly as she tried to sound like he had woken her from a deep slumber even though she had been listening to the entire conversation downstairs.
"We need to talk…there are things that I believe that you should know about…," Wesley continued with a grim frown on his face as he suddenly looked away and winced sharply at the pain of laying his left arm onto his lap.
"You came all this way just to chat…God Wes…here I was thinking that you were looking for a little…," Faith joked in her usual sexy and sarcastic tone of voice before she was interrupted by Wesley being consumed by a fit of violent coughing. By the moonlight Faith thought that she saw Wesley wipe what looked like blood onto his jeans.
"I don't have time for your mockery Faith this is important…I recently uncovered something that could greatly help you and Buffy in your struggle against the First, and now with Buffy being absent for some reason you're the only one left…," Wesley growled with an angry and almost scary tone to his voice, one that surprisingly made Faith flinch a bit, before he grabbed her shoulder and gave it a hard squeeze. Flinching and Faith had never gone together very well and over the years Faith had recognized that whenever something or someone affected her enough to cause her to flinch then whatever was going on was something of the utmost importance.
"Geez Wesley I was just kidding…you didn't have to…," Faith started to say back softly with a stern tone to her voice as she pushed Wesley's hand off of her shoulder before she rubbed her thumb and fingers together slowly, feeling something slick in between them, and immediately getting a very bad feeling about the situation that she found herself in.
"I…I'm sorry…this night hasn't exactly gone how I expected it to, I've run into a few…interruptions, along the way," Wesley replied with an apologetic tone to his voice as he slowly and awkwardly stood up, and act that Faith watched closely and furrowed her brows at the almost ancient like pace that it took Wesley to finally get back up to his full height.
"Yeah…haven't we all…," Faith snickered sarcastically with a bitter scowl on her face before the moonlight splashed across Wesley's face and for the first time she saw that there was definitely something not quite right with her former watcher.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have the most beautiful eyes…like that of a newborn doe…so soft…yet so hauntingly entrancing and entrapping at the same time…," Wesley mused with an odd but sincere smirk on his face as he half turned back towards Faith, who had to recover from the shock and sincerity of his words before she could respond.
"Okay…now you're scaring me…not that what you said isn't the truth…props for noticing by the way…I hope that you don't expect me to say anything about your beautiful baby blues…but what's with the sudden turn of…Wesley," Faith started to ask with a nervous look on her face as she slowly began to climb out from under the covers while Wesley slowly began to walk towards the window before he uttered a soft grunt and collapsed onto the floor, making Faith scream his name out loud as she made a mad scramble off of the bed and to his side. Almost instantly Giles and Robin burst into the room, with Willow and Rhona close behind, with weapons drawn ready for a fight.
"Faith what's…damn…," Rhona started to ask with a concerned look on her face before she flipped on the light switch and caught sight of what had happened. Faith sat on the floor near the window, cradling a now very badly bleeding Wesley in her arms and for probably the first time since taking power from Buffy Rhona thought that Faith looked very much like a scared child and nothing like their fearless leader.
* * * * * *
Night slipped its melancholy veil over the sleepy town that Buffy and Spike had stopped in before either of them woke up. Nearly a day had passed since they left Sunnydale and neither one had made an attempt to get in contact with anyone there. Their unexpected romantic interlude had happened just as Angel had barreled back towards Los Angeles trying to make sense of the whole situation and Giles and everyone back in Sunnydale were doing their best to help treat Wesley's injuries. Buffy had woken up first and after very reluctantly slipping out of Spike's arms had checked and double checked that the scythe was still where she had left it under the bed. After that she had pulled on her clothes, not bothering to put her underwear on first, and slipped out of the hotel room, but not before leaving a quickly scrawled note saying that she had gone to get some supplies. When Spike awoke he grumbled about the note but concluded that Buffy was right and so turned the television on in hopes to find something good to watch. He had just flipped onto an old black and white movie that he loved when Buffy slipped back into the room, two full grocery bags in her arms.
"We're in luck…there's an all night grocery store just around the corner, he had everything that we need…I even got you some fresh pigs blood…but you should have seen the look on his face when I asked him about it…," Buffy said, more to the room that Spike, as she entered the room and dropped the bags onto the bed in a very unceremonious way.
"There'll be plenty of time for that later pet…," Spike mumbled with an annoyed and unhappy pout on his face before he looped his arms around Buffy's waist and pulled her close, delighted that she made no effort to stop him.
"We can't do this now Spike…no matter how much we both want to," Buffy said with a somber frown on her face as she put a fair amount of emphasis on the word both in her statement.
"Care to give a fella a reason why not…or am I supposed to guess," Spike asked with a slightly concerned look on his face as he leaned back a bit and stared Buffy in the eye.
"The money that we have isn't going to last forever…and someone's going to get suspicious of all of the brand new money that we keep throwing around, besides we can't keep running forever, it has to stop sometime," Buffy replied with an unhappy pout of her own before the two slowly sat down, side by side, on the end of the bed in silence for a few seconds.
"Alright then…we'll go to Los Angeles and drop in on my grandsire, I heard that he owns a hotel or something, there'll be plenty of rooms there…and best of all…we can stay there as long as we want to without paying any rent," Spike quipped with an oddly calm look of certainty on his face as Buffy nearly gasped in astonishment at what she was hearing.
"Alright…who are you and what have you done with my Spike…," Buffy asked very pointedly with only the smallest trace of a smile on her face as she eyed Spike oddly.
"I haven't done a bloody thing…and stop staring at me like my brain's become addled or something…I know that Angel and I have never really gotten along very well since you've known us but this soul of mine has been pushing me to make things right with the old wanker, even if I would rather stake him, and here's a perfect chance for that…making amends…not the staking part…," Spike replied with a nervous smile on his face before he was glad to see Buffy eye him oddly for a bit before finally relaxing and laying back onto the bed and staring up at the ceiling.
"He's not going to be happy about this you know…us just showing up on his doorstep smelling like we just took a bath in…," Buffy started to extrapolate with a worried and unsure look on her face as Spike laid down beside her and turned his head towards her.
"So what if he doesn't like it…you're not his girl anymore…you're mine…right," Spike started off saying with a very self assured smile on his face before his expression changed to one of worry at the end.
"Right…now turn off the TV and help me get these bags into the car, we have to get to LA before sunrise…," Buffy replied with a slightly nervous look on her face before she leaned in close and gave Spike a soft kiss.
"Good…," Spike whispered back softly with a relieved smile on his face before he jumped up from the bed and ran outside, both bags in hand, completely forgetting to turn off the television like Buffy had asked him to.
"Hey…you forgot the…ah who cares anyway, we fail and the world ends it won't matter if we left the tv on," Buffy grumbled with a bored and sarcastic frown on her face before she retrieved the scythe from underneath the bed, turned the television off and shut the door behind her as the left the hotel room
* * * * * *
"Did he say when he was going to be back…," Gunn asked Fred with a nervous frown on his face as he idly stared at the control panel of the elevator as the numbers slowly ascended up the ladder from the basement.
"We are talking about the same Angel right…the vampire that when you say good morning to him he looks at you like you've contracted the plague," Fred offered up as an odd reply with a bored and worried look on her face before the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.
"The plague…really, I was thinking more like that you contracted one of those nasty flesh eating viruses," Gunn joked with an amused smirk on his face as he followed Fred out of the elevator and towards the stairs.
"I must be getting old…used to be able to heal a wound like this in no time…," A gruff looking Angel wondered aloud as he gingerly held a hand on his left shoulder and stepped around the corner.
"Angel, where…you're injured," Fred started to say with an exasperated gasp before she saw the blood on Angel's shirt and rushed to his side.
"It's not really that bad…just a crossbow bolt to the back, I've had worse," Angel replied with a slightly embarrassed smile on his face as he started to shrug his shoulders before wincing badly in pain.
"Sure you have, but right now we can't afford to have you at anything less than your best, shortly after you left Wesley found something in one of his books and tore out of here like a bat out of hell," Gunn said with a serious and somewhat sarcastic smile on his face before Fred jumped in.
"He said that he was going to Sunnydale to see Buffy…did you…," Fred started to ask with a concerned pout on her face as she helped Angel into his office and to the nearest chair.
"She's gone…they kicked her out…those bastards kicked her out, they say they're her friends, but then when push comes to shove they toss her out like trash…," Angel growled with a very angry and resentful frown scowl on his face before his anger consumed him and he angrily pounded his fist down onto the desktop, nearly punching a hole straight through it.
"Are you…sure…Angel…are you sure that's what happened…I mean you've told us that sometimes they get a little trigger happy and…," Fred started to ask with a scared and worried look on her face as she started to pull Angel's shirt open to inspect the wound before Angel stopped her.
"No…I heard right, they didn't like how she handled things so they took a vote and elected Faith their new leader…," Angel growled with a very angry look on his face as he again pounded his fist down onto the desktop before wincing badly in pain.
"So then where's Wesley…why hasn't he contacted us yet," Gunn said softly as he asked the question that was on everyone's minds but no one else wanted to utter it.
"Who knows…it's not like he tells me anything anyway…Harmony be Angel's secretary…get him his blood…remember to heat it up just right, blah…blah…blah…," A nicely dressed Harmony groaned with a bored and unhappy look on her face as she slowly walked into Angel's office and laid a mug of heated up blood in front of Angel.
"Harmony, what are you still doing here," Angel asked with an exasperated and slightly angry scowl on his face as he gingerly reached for the mug.
"Hello…vampire here…creature of the night…any of this getting through," Harmony responded in her almost usual scatterbrained manner before a pensive Lilah walked in and glared at the former cheerleader.
"Hail the conquering hero…so how many of our clients did you off this time," Lilah asked with an almost mocking smirk on her face as she pushed a lamp off to the side and sat down on the edge of Angel's desk, making sure that he watched her as she slowly crossed her legs.
"This isn't a good time Lilah, so why don't you do us all a favor and go find someone else to annoy," Gunn stated with a frustrated and impatient frown on his face as he retrieved the first aid kit from a drawer on the other side of the office.
"Ooh Charles…good one...I'm quaking in my boots…," Lilah said with a daring and playful smile on her face before Angel heavily furrowed his brows and glared at her. "Okay already…Wesley's gone and this one's about as interesting to talk to as a cardboard box," She continued with a slightly annoyed sigh as she dropped her chin into the palm of her upturned palm and cast her gaze out of the window onto nothing in particular.
"Hey…," Harmony shouted with a hurt expression on her face as she stomped her foot and glared at Lilah before Angel, with his eyes, ordered her to leave the room. "Fine, I'm going…but you know what…I'll be back, oh yes I will," Harmony added with a proud and almost threatening look on her face and tone to her voice before she spun around and walked out of Angel's office.
* * * * * *
"He's a watcher…," Rhona asked with a skeptical look on her face as she pulled up a stool and dropped her elbows onto the counter.
"He doesn't look like my watcher…," Vi added with a meek and almost fearful look on her face as she shrunk away from the counter and looked for a corner to squeeze into.
"Wesley's not like most of the other watchers, he was put in charge of Buffy and Faith years earlier than most watchers," Willow interjected with a worried look on her face as she looked back over her shoulder at the stairs. After his collapse Faith had insisted that Wesley be given the prime spot in Buffy's bed, refusing Giles and Robin's repeated requests for her to let them handle everything. Kennedy had been dispatched to bring up any and all bandages that were left while Vi had been sent to get some dry and wet towels. The meek potential slayer nearly threw up at the sight that greeted her as Giles carefully pulled first Wesley's coat and then shirt off. Both articles of clothing were stained red with his blood and Giles had almost missed the two pistols that were hidden carefully in their holsters. Faith had stared at the guns with a look that was an odd combination of wonder and pride on her face before Willow had quickly wrapped them in a towel and ushered them off to a safe spot in the house, away from any of the potentials and most importantly Andrew, who had to be threatened with bodily harm before he calmed down.
"So then why isn't he still their watcher," Robin asked with a pessimistic scowl on his face as he walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
"Things didn't go so well and the council replaced him and reinstated Giles," Willow replied with a nervous frown on her face as she shook her head and stared at the top of the counter.
"So how he'd go from yuppie watcher to…that," Robin asked with a not wholly convinced frown on his face as he found what he was looking for and pulled out a bottle of juice.
"I'm not sure, but whatever the reason we won't know until he wakes up…whatever attacked him got him good, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a good day or so before he can answer any questions," Giles answered for Willow as he walked into the room, still drying his hands off after changing Wesley's bandages.
"Who's with him now," Rhona asked with a tired yawn as she leaned back and stretched her sore shoulder.
"Faith…I tried to tell her to get some sleep and that I'd watch Wesley but she wouldn't have any of it, she said that she…owed it…to him to stay and keep him company…why she'd think that I cannot imagine but whatever her reasons Faith is adamant about this course of action, and I suggest that we leave them be for right now," Giles answered with a grim frown on his face as he took his glasses off and rubbed his tired eyes before Willow sadly turned around on her stool and gazed fully at the stairs.
* * * * * *
"What the hell happened to you Wes…some of these are mine…but these…," Faith whispered softly to Wesley as she leaned in close and gently ran her fingers over the tops of some of the scars that had etched themselves into Wesley's body before her gaze fell upon many newer scars. She wondered if he still had nightmares about the night in the apartment, the night in which she had nearly killed him. Most of the scars that she had given him had healed up well enough that they weren't too visible to anyone that didn't know where to look beforehand. But what captivated her the most, and caused a very sick feeling to form in the pit of her stomach, was when she fearfully glided her fingers over a scar on Wesley's stomach, a scar that Faith had seen many times before, that of close range gunshot wound. "When did you get shot…God this is all getting so fucked up…I'm no leader…that's B's job…come on Wes…don't die on my now, not after surviving what I did to you…don't leave me…," Faith wondered aloud with a worried look on her face before her emotions surprised her and overtook her as the tears began to fall before she gingerly laid an arm across Wesley's battered body and laid her head down on his uninjured shoulder, yawning widely once before quickly falling into a calming slumber.
* * * * * *
"Okay…our first priority is to find Buffy, wherever she is…and bring her here…Gunn, I want you to get our people on it, I want Buffy found before anything more happens to her," Angel declared with a very serious and worried scowl on his face as he paced around the boardroom with one hand pressed overtop of his injured shoulder.
"Don't worry Angel…we'll find her, but if what you said is true…about them kicking her out…then…," Fred started to stammer through an attempt to make Angel feel better before she faltered and turned to Gunn for help.
"Then she could be anywhere…," Gunn added with an impatient and worried look on his face as he slumped down into his plush chair and stared tiredly at the reports in front of him.
"Or right behind you wondering when you became the undead's version of Donald Trump and never told me," A tired and weary Buffy quipped with a sarcastic smirk on her face as Angel whirled around and stared blankly at her with a confused look on his face.
"Buffy…," Angel whispered more in awe and surprise than relief before his grandchilde stepped up beside Buffy and an unmistakable aroma wafted his way.
"Hello Peaches…hope we're not interrupting," Spike said with a sly grin on his face as he leaned in close and slung an arm around Buffy's shoulders.
END OF CHAPTER 4