Chapter Two – On the Road

"OK, where am I going?" Faith asked as she drove down the street.

Wesley gave her instructions on how to get on the interstate. Faith cranked up the heat so her arms weren't freezing. The damn dress was just too flimsy for a November in Chicago. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Wesley pulled off his tie and flung it into the backseat. Then he reached over to turn down the volume on the radio and laid his head back on the headrest.

"Sorry, I didn't realize how loud it was," Faith pointed out.

She started punching buttons to find something a little more conducive for both of them. Settling on a classic rock station, she noticed Wesley sigh a little.

"Thank you for switching the station. That kind of music gives me nightmares."

"Nightmares?"

"Cordelia used to play it all the time."

Faith wondered what was up with Queen C, since Wes hadn't mentioned how anyone was. Cordy wasn't exactly pleasant to her when she was in Los Angeles.

"I don't know if I should ask, but how is everyone?"

Wes was silent for quite some time, almost like he had already nodded off to sleep before her question came out. When he started talking again, it was in a low volume.

"Cordelia is in a coma. Has been in one for quite some time. The others are perfectly fine, I suppose. I do think that Angel is down in the dumps because of Cordy's predicament. It's always hard to tell with the man."

Things had settled down after she had captured Angelus. She had thought that things would have gone smoother after all of that.

"What happened? I mean, if you want to talk about it."

"Cordelia, she," he started, "she had been taken over by some being long before any of what happened came about. The rain of fire, the Beast, Angelus, was all her doing."

"Cordy was the bad guy?" Faith said, stunned that Queen C would stoop to that level.

"It wasn't her. Some evil being who called herself Jasmine in our dimension took her over."

"Sorry, Wes. It must have been hard."

"It was, for everyone. We finally broke Jasmine's hold over us and killed her. But Cordy was put into a mystical coma by giving birth to this thing."

Faith shivered thinking about how gross that would have been. Maybe being in a coma was for the best. Hopefully Cordy wouldn't remember any of it when she woke up.

The two sat still for quite some time, listening to some sixties classic rock as the drone of the heater lulled them into a comfortable silence. Faith racked her brain for something positive to say, something to take his mind off whatever was rolling through that big brain of his.

"So you gave Buffy and her gang a shock," Faith said as she turned the heat down a notch.

"Yes, I believe that I would give them pause."

"She didn't even believe me when I told her who that was in the corner. She thought you looked hot."

Wes laughed out loud at the comment. "Maybe it was all the black. I'll have to remember that."

"Well considering her last boyfriend only wore the stuff, I would take that as a compliment. I don't think I've ever seen Spike in something else."

Faith thought about all of those conversations the two of them had in the Summers' basement before the First destroyed Sunnydale. She really did miss his skewed sense of everything.

"No, me either."

"Hey, you met Spike?"

"Oh, uh, yes once or twice before. He always wore that long black coat, very similar to Angel's I believe."

"Yep, that's him."

Wesley blew out a burst of air, and then settled down beside her.

"How much sleep have you gotten?"

"Enough, Faith. Don't mother me."

"Just askin', cause it looks like we need gas and I would really like to chuck this dress for somethin' a little more comfortable."

Wesley agreed, directing her to pull off at an exit with an open gas station. When they pulled up to the pump, Faith grabbed her bag from the back to head to the restroom. Strolling into the convenience store attached to the station, she noticed that she seemed to be the only one around. Even at the cash register. The hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention.

Backing out of the store, she took off for the car. Wes stood by the side of it, arms crossed against the cold air.

"Something is up in there. No attendant."

Wes's eyes widened with interest. He quickly popped the trunk to reveal a crossbow, a shotgun, and other weapons in a lockbox in the bottom of the trunk. He threw Faith several stakes and a dagger. He gathered up the crossbow and the shotgun just in case it wasn't vampires. Before he left, he replaced the gas nozzle.

"Quick getaway?"

"You never know."

As they strode back over to the store, Faith grabbed his arm before they entered. "There's cameras in there. You wanna get all this on tape?"

"We'll track that down once we're done."

That made Faith feel a little better. Being on parole made her a little more cautious on where and what she fought. Slowly the two entered, checking around the front soundlessly. Wes worked his way over to the counter and leaned over.

"Dead body," he mouthed to her.

He held up a stake in front of him so she would know it was a vampire. Wes then pointed for her to go to one end of the store, and he would take the other. She just hoped that the thing was still there so they could eliminate it before it killed again. Checking each row, they came up empty. It must have left, she thought.

The two met in the middle. Then the unthinkable happened. Someone else walked in to the store. It looked as if they were college students on a snack run. That just blew their chances of getting out of there unseen. Unless Faith could think fast.

"Hey, do you guys know where the clerk is? I'm tryin' to find my beer," she called out.

Wesley punched her in the arm for giving away their position. The three boys headed back towards her, while Wesley scooted away around another aisle to get to the counter in time so they wouldn't see the carnage. The college boys snickered at her outfit, but she stood there proud and tall.

"Don't make fun, now. I just came from my sister's wedding. She doesn't have a lick of sense in her body. I was just lookin' for some Bud or Pabst to tide me over."

One of the college boys strolled over to her to help her look in the case behind her. She knew she was laying on the southern accent just a little too much, but hey, it was better than violence. She saw Wes's head pop up a few times as he dragged the body into the storeroom out of sight. That didn't mean that in the morning when this hit the newspapers these guys wouldn't remember her and what she looked like. But to these guys, she looked harmless, especially in that dress of hers. And they were already way too drunk to be even in a car, much less buying more alcohol.

Wes stood behind the counter as she walked back to the front of the store with her six-pack, no weapons in sight. The college boys followed behind her, probably to get a good view of her backside. She set the beer down as she fumbled around for her wallet, which was stuck in her boot.

"You guys go ahead. I'm not in a hurry."

The three set their copious supply of alcohol down on the counter as Wes rang it up. Then he told them how much it was going to be in a Russian accent. She almost laughed out loud at what he was doing. And he even conveniently forgot to ask them for ID. They had to be underage.

One of them handed Wes a wade of cash. He meticulously counted it out as he deposited it in the cash register, and then bagged all their items. He smiled and told them to have a good day, all in Russian, or what she thought was Russian. The three nodded, and then headed off into the night. Faith waved goodbye to them as they got into their car.

"Damn, you know Russian also?"

"It comes in handy, I assure you."

"What do we do now? Call the police?"

Wes walked over to lock the doors, and then led her into the back to inspect the body. As they did, Faith heard a noise out front. She put her finger to her lips, but Wes had already heard what she heard. There was someone else in the store. As they headed back out of the storage area, the lights went out. The store was pitch black, except for the pumps outside, which provided a little illumination.

Wes grabbed her hand quickly and squeezed twice. Then he pulled her hand over to the left. So that must mean two vampires, over to the left. She just hoped his hand signals meant what she thought they meant. Going on her heightened senses alone, she quietly made her way over to the left. Wes headed off to the right, probably to make sure they didn't try to escape out the front door.

A flash of yellow eyes in the darkness was all that warned her before the vampire was on her. Her stake hit home no more than two seconds later, dusting the thing into oblivion. Her senses did tell her there was at least one more to take down. A scuffle up front told her that Wes had found the other one. She quickly took off to the front, but then tripped on the yellow dress.

"Man, that is one ugly dress," a vampire said to her.

So there were at least two more to dust.

"Not as ugly as your face," she quipped back, jumping up off the ground quickly.

A crash startled her just slightly, giving the vampire an in. He attacked, bringing her down to the ground hard. It was so difficult to maneuver in that damn dress. She heard it rip as she kicked and punched the vampire who was tangling with her on the ground. When she finally got a leg underneath him, he went flying into some shelves, tumbling merchandise all over the floor.

She had dropped her stake somewhere in the fight. So she grabbed her spare from her boot. Sweeping her foot around on the ground, she took him down. Pointing the stake down, she brought it home, making the vampire go poof in her hands.

Running for the front of the store, she found Wes sitting on the ground with a bloody nose, but no vampire around. He held up his stake in triumph.

"There were three, not two," she complained.

"I'm not the slayer, my dear."

"Yeah, you would look kind of ridiculous in this yellow thing. Tapes?"

"In the back," he answered.

Faith helped him up off the floor. Feeling around under the counter, Wesley found a flashlight so they could see. He also grabbed his weapons that he had stashed there before the college boys had seen them. They had no idea where the light switch might be and didn't want to look for it. Taking up precious time like that wasn't worth it. Someone was bound to notice that the lights were out and the place was closed. Wesley pointed to the tape machine over against the wall, yanking out the tape.

"Let's hope this is the only one," he said as they headed out of the store.

Looking around outside, they both waited until the coast was clear and then ran for the car. This was so not what she needed right then. But she knew a good law firm who might be able to take care of it if need be. And she wouldn't even have to tell Giles about it.

Wesley turned on the car and slowly drove out of the station to make sure no one would remember a car frantically driving away from the scene of a crime.

"I'm burning this thing as soon as I get to change," Faith told Wes as he got on to the interstate.

Wesley laughed out loud. "I never understood how Buffy could fight in a skirt, much less the outfits that she wore. Not very conducive to staking a vampire, now is it?"

"No laughing, funny boy. I dusted two. You only got one."

"Your taste in beer is appalling."

"Not exactly the mecca for a good beer around here. Did you see what those kids bought? And you let them? The Russian accent was a nice touch though."

"The man who was killed. He was from that region."

"How, how did you know that?"

"Picture ID had a name, above the front counter, along with pictures of his family."

That was the part that Faith hated. All of the people that those damn demons killed had family, somewhere.

"We should call it in then," she added.

Wesley took her hand in his to steady her. This was what she missed about slaying. She really didn't have anyone like Buffy did, someone to share the heartache and misery along with the triumph of beating the bad guys. She just had herself and her pointy stake at her side.

So Faith picked up Wes's cell phone and dialed the police, using the fake southern accent. She didn't stay on long enough for them to ask too many questions, but only told them that she was scared for her life and hung up.

Wesley looked over to make sure that Faith was all right from her encounter with the vampires. Her dress was torn in places and her hair was standing on end, but she looked to be fine physically. What he worried about though was how she was mentally. She could tell that she had been affected by the murder of the cashier. Just as he had been. She just had a harder time hiding it.

"That's it," she announced.

Now he was worried that there was something else wrong that he could not attend to in time.

"I'm takin' this dress off right now."

Now he was in trouble.

"I'll stop," he quickly told her.

"Nah. I'll just crawl into the backseat. It would be just our luck that we'd encounter more demons."

For which she was correct. That seemed to be their luck so far. But maybe he shouldn't judge one encounter as being a trend.

"Really, there's an exit right up the way."

"Don't. Stop."

Faith unbuckled her seatbelt and started to climb into the back. The car was only a two door and not that large. Squeezing between the two front seats, he watched out of the corner of his eye while she maneuvered herself to the back. What he didn't count on was her getting stuck. He got a leg across the chest as she went headfirst into the seat in back. Then a boot smacked him in the face.

"Faith," he called out.

"Oh, sorry. Damn car isn't big enough. Although there was this one time, I managed to squeeze myself and this guy in this VW bug."

"Faith, I don't have to know the details," he shouted as she made it all the way back.

He couldn't help but look back because his rear view mirror was covered in yellow, even though it was dark in the interior. He finally could see again when she managed to wrestle out of the thing, throwing it to the side with a huff.

"Thank you, fuck. That feels better."

All he could think about was what she might have on underneath. Then he started to compute the mileage back to Los Angeles to take his mind off of her in the backseat.

"Ah, shit. Forgot my bag."

Her bag sat on the floorboard of the front seat, where she had flung it before they went to confront the vampires in the convenience store.

"I'll get it."

"No you won't. Keep those eyes on the road. I don't want you to have an accident with me in my skivvies."

Well, at least she had on underwear, he thought. She leaned forward, between those oh so close seats again, this time without much on to cover her skin. Even in the dim light of the dashboard, he could see that she wore black lace. And there wasn't much to it either. Willing himself to keep his eyes on the road, he glanced over while she took a hold of her bag. He noticed that she was wearing a thong. Reaching over, he turned on the air conditioning to cool himself off.

"Hey, what are you doing? It's freezing in here. I'm the one with no clothes on."

He flicked it back off in a hurry. Slowly, she pulled herself to the backseat, but not before giving him another generous view of her front. He swerved a little, righting it quickly. Through the rear view mirror, he could see her pull out a long-sleeve top and some jeans.

"This is not easy, you know. Getting dressed in the back of a tiny car. Let you try it next time."

Not very likely, he thought. He would have rather worn the damn dress before changing in front of her.

"OK, coming back to the front," she warned him.

One leg came over the middle, so that she literally sat on the armrests in between the seats. Her head was bent at an odd angle against the ceiling. As she started to pull her other leg through, she jerked to a halt.

"Damn, something's caught."

"I'm pulling off," he announced.

"No. I got it."

He slowed down anyway, taking the next off-ramp just to be safe. Faith wasn't expecting him to slow down and she still hadn't gotten free of whatever held her between the seats, so when he drove around the curve, she tumbled directly into his lap.

He gasped and she gasped. Slamming on the brakes, he skidded to a halt, barely off the road.

"What the, what are you doing?" she complained.

She was definitely in the wrong place right at the moment. He couldn't even move because then she might think he was getting fresh with her.

"Get off," he whispered.

"I'm trying," her muffled voice echoed.

If she noticed that he was getting excited, she would kill him in the car and never look back. He snuck his hand underneath her to unlatch the seatbelt so that he might better aide her progress. What he encountered though wasn't the seatbelt.

"Not the seatbelt," she ground out.

"Very sorry," he apologized, finally finding the latch, making the seatbelt automatically retract into the car.

The buckle hit her squarely in the face because she chose to move just as he released it. A startled cry came from her as she lifted her body slightly. Then her hair became entangled with his watch because he was trying to help her up.

"Your hair is caught."

"No shit, Sherlock."

Reaching back, she grabbed his hand and pried the hair loose. Sitting up, they came face-to-face, chest to the side of his chest. Her breast pressed into his side, making him grunt at the contact. It had been a long time since a woman had touched him; it was only natural that he reacted. Before he could fully react, Faith had freed her other leg from the back, and pulled it over the armrests. Her knees were now resting on the armrests. She bent over him to scoot her legs back behind her so she could drop into the passenger side. Only she miscalculated and slammed into his chest again. This time there was full contact since he had turned his body directly towards her.

"Damn armrests are killing me. I hate this car," she growled out.

His hand touched her jean-clad hip, wrapping his fingers around her tiny waist. He could feel skin with a few of the fingers. Her skin was hot to the touch, he noticed. Not unlike his whole body at the moment. His other hand was on her shoulder.

"You should move now," he told her.

"You're warm. I'm cold."

He could see the gleam of her white teeth in the dashboard light. Her lips were mere millimeters from his. Her tongue came out to lightly stroke his lips, which made him suck in his breath at the contact. He just needed to remember to breathe in and out so he wouldn't pass out from what was happening.

Sure, he had thought many times about Faith, but he figured that they would never ever touch each other much less kiss. That kiss in the hotel bar proved him wrong. He really did like being wrong on occasion. Especially now. Snaking his hand to the back of her neck, he pulled her across the rest of the way. Her lips were warm against his, moving gently back and forth to create a wonderful friction that felt unbelievable.

Just as he was ready to open his mouth for more, a blast from a semi came from out of nowhere. Faith jerked back into her seat and he adjusted himself properly to start the car. This was going to be a long car trip, indeed. He wondered if he would survive the ride.

TBC

Next: A little more flirting, a little more fighting, and maybe even some talking. Come on, this is a romance.

Author notes: I know, fluffy fic. But with fighting. It makes it more lively that way. I'm sorry I'm stuck on the other sequel fic, but I can't seem to shake the block. So I decided to move over to another story. Also, I'd like to make this NC-17 on another site, but I need to decide. Does anyone have a favorite? I have a few too. And I'm working on finishing my other beast too. Trivia question for all of you. Where have you heard a Russian accent before? Not necessarily on Angel is the clue.

Thanks go out to: Wav, tp96, Tariq, and I hope there's more of you out there. I just wanted to shout out to all of you to say thanks for reading my stuff. I really do need to make a website if I understood some of the mechanics. I'm learning.

Wav—I almost picked teal, but then I remembered that Anya's bridesmaid dresses were teal. Weren't they? I think they were.