REPRECUSSIONS
Disclosure: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.
CHAPTER 10-A PLEA FOR HELP
"Faith…please, open the door, it's me…Giles," Giles shouted over the music while yet trying not to sound angry or laying any amount of blame on the former rogue slayer. Since she had gone into Buffy's old room and locked the door behind her Faith had cried more in that single hour than she had the entire rest of her life. Her eyes were beyond red from the effects of the tears and Faith at first was adamant about refusing to leave the room. Not because she was afraid of what lay before her but rather her fears rested in the wellspring of new emotions that had sprung up over the course of the past few days. Before Faith had simply squelched her emotions and demons with torrents of booze or one of many faceless suitors, but now it was crystal clear to her that neither of those options would work anymore. She was forced to admit that she would have to come up with a new means of dealing with her emotions.
"Anything," Willow asked softly with a worried look on her face as Kennedy leaned up against the wall near the door with her arms crossed and an unhappy frown on her face.
"Not yet…," Giles replied softly with a worried look on his face as he checked his watch and shook his head.
"Are we even sure that she's still in there…I mean she could have…gone out the window," Vi offered up with a timid smile on her face before the silent attention that her suggestion offered up forced her to turn around and quickly walk back down the stairs and disappear around the corner.
"She's right you know, we're not even sure that she's still in there," Xander said softly after turning his gaze back from Vi disappearing around the corner to the locked door.
"She's in there all right…but I don't understand why, a couple of days ago she was all ready to be the leader, then Wesley shows up and everything goes to hell," Willow added glumly with a sad look on her face as she turned to look to Giles for help.
"You don't think that he said something do you, something that upset her," Anya offered with an unhappy frown on her face as the entire situation was putting her nerves on edge.
"It's possible Anya, although for the life of me I can't fathom what he possibly could have said or done that would have disturbed her to such a degree as this," Giles wondered aloud with a now very concerned look on his face as he crossed his arms and shook his head.
"She did seem to be protecting him pretty fiercely, who knows maybe some of her long dormant slayer tendencies to protect her watcher finally kicked in," Willow guessed with an optimistic smile on her face as she looked around the landing.
"It's not anything that he said…it's what he did…or they did…it's got her all scared and confused," Kennedy stated in a rather blunt tone of voice before she pushed off of the wall and slowly walked down the stairs.
* * * * * *
"How are you feeling," Fred asked softly with a worried look on her face as Wesley slowly sat up.
"Better than before…I'm not ready to run a marathon but I no longer feel the urge to…well you get the idea," Wesley replied weakly with a tired and exhausted expression on his face as he carefully lifted his left arm, thankful that the pain was gone. All that was left of the horrible scars that the creature had left on his body were four faint white lines that started on his back and came over his shoulder and four more faint white lines that curled around his left side.
"Hey English you're awake," Gunn shouted with a happy and relieved smile on his face as he walked into the infirmary and loosened his tie.
"Very perceptive Charles," Fred joked with a fake look of anger on her face as she shook her head and set down the clipboard that she had been holding.
"Did I miss anything important," Wesley asked with an uncomfortable grimace on his face as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.
"Well…you don't have to worry about finding that special weapon that you found in your books," Gunn stated with a slightly nervous smile on his face as he walked up to Wesley helped him to stand up.
"So you went and found the scythe then," Wesley guessed with a happy smile on his face as he gingerly tested his legs underneath him, thankful that they stayed firm and kept him standing. Gunn and Fred looked at each other silently for a few seconds before Gunn responded after chuckling a little.
"Actually…uh, the scythe kind of came to us…Buffy and Spike pretty much showed up on our doorstep with the said weapon in hand, made it all pretty easy really," Gunn answered with a humorous smile on his face as he walked over and sat down on the bed and looked up at Wesley.
"Angel had Gunn put them up in one of our clean homes…you know the ones that we've taken all of Wolfram and Hart's bugs out of…and…," Fred added with an ecstatic smile on her face as she rushed over and gave Wesley a light hug, hoping not to hurt him, before another voice entered the fray.
"Along with a refugee potential slayer from Sunnydale named Molly Windholm…," Angel interrupted with a happy smirk on his face before he walked over and joined the group.
"Angel…this is all so, Buffy and Spike…I find that hard to believe, even after what little I learned in Sunnydale," Wesley stated with a slightly confused but happy look on his face as he took a few shaky steps away from the bed.
"Unfortunately it's true…they're a…couple…now, I was at their new house when I got the phone call that you were back, sorry for not being here when you woke up but there were some figures that the accountants wanted to go over and they wouldn't come here so I had to go there and…," Angel replied with a calm expression on his face before he sat down on the bed beside Gunn and almost absentmindedly picked up Wesley's chart and flipped through it.
"Forget about it Angel, I understand that…but what I don't understand is why they're even here, Buffy and Spike I mean, I'm aware of why they were elsewhere when I arrived at her home…but why would they come here of all places, from what you've told me about Spike Angel I can hardly see why he'd pay you a visit without having a damn good reason," Wesley said with a deep in thought look on his face as he turned back around to face Gunn, Fred, and Angel.
"He and Buffy needed somewhere to stay, and nothing's to good for Buffy…except Spike, but truthfully I really don't give a damn why Spike wanted to come here, they're here now and they're never going back to that hellhole of a town," Angel declared with a very set in stone scowl of certainty on his face before he stood up, tossed Wesley's chart back onto the bed and walked back out of the room.
* * * * * *
"I found the spare key that Buffy kept in the junk drawer," Xander announced with a full of pride smile on his face as he held up an old grungy key for everyone to see. After Kennedy's little clue as to the cause of Faith's melancholy Xander had remembered the existence of the key and had instantly gone in search of it.
"So do we all barge in their like a swat team…or we draw straws…to see who gets to tell her the bad news…," Willow asked with a worried frown on her face as she shuffled her feet and hung her head.
"I'll go in first…alone, I'll try to get her to come out, I think that it's best for the rest of you to go back downstairs and make sure that the potentials don't break anything…else," Giles replied with a very serious scowl on his face as he turned to Willow before a loud crash was heard from downstairs.
"Right…now remember Giles…don't say anything about…you know…," Willow stammered out in a hushed voice before she couldn't help but tear up as storm clouds gathered overhead.
"We'll have to tell her sometime Will…she's probably going to notice one less potential…," Xander exclaimed back in a hushed whisper with a dejected frown on his face as he put an arm around his best friend.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and Faith won't remember how many potentials there were and…," Andrew started to add with an optimistic smile on his face before Giles loudly cleared his throat while everyone else were busy summoning the breath needed to shout at their former nerd nemesis turned reluctant ally.
"All of you…downstairs…," Giles stated with such a clearly commanding tone of voice that no one dared question it as they all slowly sulked back down the stairs. When he was alone atop the stairs Giles said a silent prayer before slipping the key into the lock, turning it, and opening the door.
* * * * * *
"Damned slayer hearing," Faith thought with a scathing curse on her lips that she dared not to utter lest the legion assembled nary a short distance away would know that she were up and awake. Faith had heard the entire conversation that had taken place on the landing outside of the door, whether she had wanted to or not. She had been about to barricade the door when she heard Xander announce that he had the key but she had stopped at the realization that other than herself or the bed there was nothing to put in front of the door. Her heart plummeted to the pits of hell at the mention of a lost potential. Before when Buffy had been in charge at the losing of a potential Faith had been able to sit quietly in the background, not liking funerals as per them being constant reminders of her own mortality and the gaping maw that sought to suck her into it and consume her upon her death. In her mind there was no light at the end of the tunnel for a detestable and contemptible whore such as herself. She let out a soft sob as she tried to guess which potential it was that had been lost on her watch. The rumble of everyone trampling back downstairs shook her out of her momentary recall. Acting impulsively, as per her norm, Faith retreated into her past. When Giles opened the door and forced the mattress aside, an act that Faith had done at the last minute, all that he found was an empty room, with a pair of shoes and socks slung up against one wall and a gaping hole in the window, a small pool of blood on the floor nearby.
* * * * * *
"Everyone in agreement here," Angel asked with a bored and frustrated look on his face as he stared at the paper in front of him.
"I think so," Wesley replied before popping a few pills into his mouth and washing them down with a glass of water. The clerics had given Wesley the pills with the only explanation being that they helped to keep his body from rejecting the healing process. But as a side effect he had become a bit drowsy.
"Sure took long enough…," Spike growled with an annoyed scowl on his face as he leaned back in his chair and imagined himself doing anything more enjoyable than what he was doing at that particular moment.
"Okay…so we want two large sausages, one large pepperoni, and one large Canadian bacon," Fred said plainly with a patient expression on her face as she read the list off.
"Good…now that supper is taken care of let's get down to business…Wes put the special ops team on red alert, I want helicopters and tear gas…," Angel stated with a very direct and emphatic tone of voice before he pounded his fists onto the table to further accentuate his last order.
"Angel…are you sure that's wise, the special ops team is supposed to only be utilized in the most extreme and hazardous situations…I'm not…," Wesley started to argue with a tired and concerned frown on his face before his cell phone rang. With an embarrassed smile Wesley pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered it.
* * * * * *
She had fled the house over two hours ago. Since then she had wandered the streets aimlessly, with no particular course plotted out in her head. She didn't care that she was barefoot and the small rocks scattered about cut into the soles of her feet. Or that the slowly growing trickle of blood following her was like a giant come and get it arrow to the ubervamps skulking around in the shadows. The dark clouds that had rolled in early in the morning now dominated the sky, pushing a cold wind about. Before she had even trekked a mile from the house on Revello Drive the rain began to fall, light at first before it began to pelt her in earnest. It was almost as if the rain were punishing her for her indiscretions and failure to make up her mind on how to deal with her emotions. It took nary a few moments before she was soaked clear through to the bone. Shivering almost uncontrollably and the blood flowing freely from her badly injured right hand Faith was beginning to have a hard time staying conscious before she arrived at the old Sunnydale mall. She had injured her hand when she had driven it through the window in her room to escape.
Her thoughts drifted aimlessly through her head, never finding refuge for very long before the next thought took its place. Her thoughts soon became too jumbled and convoluted to be processed clearly. However there was one thought that was coming through loud and clear. Her memory of the kiss that she had shared with Wesley, and its reciprocating emotions, soon became all consuming. That thought was what drove her to the nearest pay phone, using her thumb to press in the number of her hope rather than risk misdialing because of how badly her hands were shaking from the cold and the pain of shattering the window. Her heart raced through its beats as she waited through only a few rings before he picked up.
"Hello…hello…," Wesley asked with a tired look on his face as he leaned back in his chair and flicked a piece of lint off of his jeans. Wesley waited for a few seconds and was about to hang up when a voice from the other end stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Wesley…," Faith muttered through chattering teeth as she leaned heavily up against the wall near the phone booth and wiped the sleep out of her eyes.
"Faith…," Wesley whispered softly as he held the volume of his voice low with a worried and surprised look on his face as he turned away from the others in the room and stood up. Angel looked about ready to ask a question but stopped when Molly politely offered him a piece of candy.
"Can you, I mean we, I need to talk to you, please," Faith said softly into the phone before she sniffled and didn't at first notice the few tears that slipped out.
"What…, yes of course we can talk Faith, when do you…," Wesley replied with a very interested look on his face as he slowly walked to a corner of the boardroom and leaned back up against the wall.
"Now," Faith quickly replied with a sharp intake of breath as she shifted her fingers just far enough to shoot electric pulses of pain up her right arm and to her shoulder.
"Oh…um yeah, I can do that, where are you calling from, you don't sound like you're at Buffy's house…," Wesley asked with a concerned frown on his face as he nervously began to rub his temple with his free hand.
"I'm not at B's house…I had to get out of there and think…meet me at the Bronze, and Wes…," Faith answered with a hurried deliverance before she had to bite her bottom lip to retain control over her emotions as the slow trickle of tears had increased.
"Yeah…," Wesley wondered with a poorly hidden edge of fear in his voice as he pushed off of the wall and stood straight up, not caring that now Fred and Lorne were staring at him, a million and one questions on the tips of their tongues.
"Don't tell B…," Faith added with a nervous and almost childlike tone to her voice before she hung up and sauntered back out into the downpour.
"I don't see…hello, damn," Wesley nearly shouted into his phone before he realized that Faith had hung up and he shut his phone off and slammed it back into his pocket.
"Everything okay," Fred asked with a worried look of innocence on her face as Wesley sulked back over to his chair and sat back down.
"No…Angel I need to go back to Sunnydale, today," Wesley answered coldly, as if he were more making a statement than implying anything with his words.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea…," Angel began with an unsure shrug of his shoulders as he shook his head before Wesley interrupted him by slamming his folders closed.
"I'm going back to Sunnydale whether you like it or not Angel," Wesley exclaimed with a very forceful expression on his face before he stood up and started to storm out of the room.
"Wesley wait don't…," Angel shouted with a confused and alarmed tone to his voice before he jumped up out of his chair and followed Wesley out into the hallway, smiling at an intern as she passed by and smiled at him.
"That phone call was from Faith Angel, she didn't sound right, she said that she had left Buffy's house and needed to talk to me…she's scared of something Angel, and wanted to talk to me, so as I was saying I'm going to Sunnydale whether you like it or not so…," Wesley shot back with a determined and frustrated slant to his step as he walked towards the stairs and descended them, a confused Angel close behind him.
"Not alone you're not, you can go to Sunnydale and talk to Faith, but she's my friend to so I'm going with you…whether you like it or not," Angel countered with a calm look of certainty and urgency on his face as he and Wesley caught the elevator just as the doors were about to close.
"But what about the others…shouldn't we…," Wesley began with a start as he nodded back up at the office, noticing a brunette head sticking out of the doorway and two confused eyes watching the elevators doors close.
"Gunn and Fred can handle this end…besides, this should be fun…," Angel added with an almost boyish look of excitement on his face as the elevator began to descend.
* * * * * *
"What…she's gone," Willow stammered out with a total look of disbelief and terror spread across her face as she clenched down hard on her glass of water to keep from dropping it.
"Like Houdini Will…well if Houdini smashed his hand through a window and left his shoes and socks behind," Xander quipped in response with a terrified smile on his face before Giles walked past, scowling heavily.
"So what now, do we go after her…," Robin asked with a look of disbelief and concern on his face as he lightly applied an icepack to the bruises on his neck.
"No…if Faith truly wants to be alone we'll never find her," Giles answered with a slight shaking of his head before he pulled out a chair and sat down at the table.
"Bitch…," Rhona cursed under her breath with an angry sneer on her face as beside her Vi scrunched up onto her chair, picking her feet up off of the floor and resting her chin on her knees, as she looked like she was about ready to cry.
"Shut up, all of you…she's going to kill me for telling you all of this, but there's something that all of you should know about Faith…well most of you anyway," Kennedy interjected with a fed up look on her face before she ushered Vi and Rhona out of the room, glaring right back at the latter.
"Alright Kennedy…so what's this all about…this big secret that you know about Faith that the rest of us have no idea about," Xander questioned aloud with an almost flippant smile on his face as he picked an apple up out of the basket in the middle of the table and rubbed it against his sleeve.
"Okay…it all began…," Kennedy started to say slowly before she launched into everything, in detail, that Faith had sworn her to keep silent about earlier, feeling that in this honesty was the best policy, no matter what it would cost her in the end. She did her best to keep the tears at bay as she watched the faces of everyone else in the room contort into almost every perceivable emotion known to man before she finished with, "…I just thought that you should know…," before spinning around slowly on her heel and leaving the room.
END OF CHAPTER 10