Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Angel series except my own.

Angel frantically ran a hand through his already messy hair as he paced back and forth. Where the hell was everyone? Where was Wesley? And where were Fred and Gunn for that matter? He could live without seeing Spike again so soon, but he had to admit he was a little concerned about his whereabouts. Angel looked at his watch finding that it was nearly 8:30 p.m. He stole a glance at the girl that lay sleeping on the couch. Angel had placed her there to rest instead of taking her upstairs to one of the many rooms in the mansion. He wanted to keep an eye on her and still be close to the front door to see when everyone else arrived…whenever the hell that would be.

Angel walked over to the couch, crouching till he was eye level with her form so that he could watch her closely. She seemed so much younger now...more peaceful...innocent almost while she was asleep. What could have happened to create such chaos in her life? Why were people looking for her...people who thought nothing of pulling out guns in broad daylight? There must be something they want from her if they tried to gun down Wesley in cold blood, but the question was what. Angel allowed himself to think for a moment that maybe she was once involved in something dangerous...that maybe she may have been evil at one time. He quickly pushed that thought aside. Even if she had been evil at one time, the fact remained that she had thought nothing of jumping in to help people who were virtually strangers to her. That counted for something in his book.

Angel's head turned towards the sound of a car pulling in and then parking. A key turned in the lock and then Wesley was coming through the door calling his name. Angel rose quickly and walked towards him. Wesley spied Angel coming towards him and immediately snapped his mouth close at the signal from Angel to 'be quiet'. Angel then gave Wesley a motion to follow him, causing Wesley's eyebrow to rise in confusion, until he saw a figure that looked a lot like a female lying on couch. Wesley slowly walked forward, forgetting for a moment about Angel's presence, as he came closer to the girl lying on the couch. His eyes widened as he stooped down, finally getting a close up view of just who was lying there. It was her. The same girl they had been trying to find. How in the world had she ended up here at their house? Wesley returned his eyes to Angel, unable to hide the surprise on his face. Angel motioned him over with his hand and they both walked back out to the foyer by the front door.

"Angel...what...how...is that who I think it is," Wesley questioned anxiously. Angel nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, what is she doing here or a better question is how did she get here?"

"I brought her here," Angel said simply.

Wesley looked at Angel, his expression one of disbelief. "You brought her here. Ok...please explain to me what happened...and don't leave one bloody detail out."

Angel put his hands in his pockets, walking a couple steps away from Wesley before turning back around to face him. "She showed up tonight...again...in my office, except this time she was badly hurt," Angel began. He grimaced as he remembered how her chest was a bloody mess. "She was attacked by this thing...a demon of some kind. She said something about they...that they came to bring her back, so I'm guessing there were other people there with the demon waiting for her when she arrived."

Wesley's expression turned from disbelief to concern. "Is she alright," he asked.

"Yeah…she's ok I think," Angel answered, with a slight smile. "She's a tough one. I'll give her that. She would have died had it not been for that healing ability of hers. Although, I'm not sure she's completely out of the woods yet. She was trembling badly earlier and she was running a fever."

Wesley nodded as if he understood what Angel was talking about. "That's probably her body's way of dealing with the trauma that was inflicted upon it. She's sleeping rather soundly now it seems."

"Yeah...she's been out ever since I first placed her in the car," Angel replied. "She slept all the way here, not once waking up. Umm...did you get in touch with Spike?" Wesley nodded. "Ok, good. I haven't been able to get a hold of Gunn or Fred for a while. I'm starting to worry."

Wesley rolled his eyes. "They're probably off together somewhere," he said, unable to keep the bitterness from creeping into his voice. Angel only looked at him, his expression unreadable, before nodding in agreement. "Don't worry Angel," Wesley said, his tone now more normal. "They're probably on the way over here right now. As for Spike, he said he would meet us here and he said you're probably not going to like what he has to tell you."

Angel dragged a hand down his face tiredly. "Did he tell you?" Wesley shook his no. Angel sighed. Just like Spike to be deliberately cryptic. God that man was so annoying. Just then Angel heard the doorknob turn again, relief cursing through him at the sight of Gunn and Fred coming inside the door talking animatedly. Angel snapped his fingers getting their attention and motioned for them to keep down the noise. They nodded and came over to him, standing next to Wesley.

"What's up," Gunn whispered, his face scrunched up in confusion. "Why do we have to be so quiet?" Angel didn't answer him but instead motioned for them to follow him into the living room where Kaia lay still fast asleep. Gunn's eyes widened. "Is that who I think it is," he asked, clearly flabbergasted as he got sight of the body on the couch. At Angel's nod, Gunn let out a shaky breath, running a hand over his shaved head.

"Uh...Fred could you like check her over," Angel asked worriedly. "She had a nasty wound on her chest earlier." Fred and Gunn gave him a look that prompted him to re-tell the story of how Kaia had appeared in his office injured. "Anyway Fred I'm not sure if she's completely healed. Just take a look at her chest...because...umm...well I think she would feel more comfortable with you looking at...you know...that part of her than any one of us."

Fred smiled at Angel's embarrassment. "Sure Angel no problem," she replied. Fred pulled the blanket that was covering Kaia down to her waist and unzipped her jacket. 'Actually it looked a lot like Angel's jacket,' Fred thought to herself.

"I put my jacket on her because she was trembling...running a fever too," Angel offered, almost as if he knew that was what Fred was thinking.

"Okay," Fred said distractedly, her only concern now the girl lying motionless except for the steady up and down motion of her chest. Fred frowned at the huge rip down the middle of Kaia's tank top and turned a questioning glance to Angel. "I had to...umm...rip her top...so that I could see the wound clearly." Fred thought that Angel could have just rolled the shirt up to Kaia's armpits to see the wound, but she didn't voice her opinion knowing that Angel probably just reacted in the heat of the moment. Instead, she only nodded absently and parted the already ripped material further apart to peer closely at Kaia's chest.

"You said she had a wound here," Fred said, running her fingers over the area, noting that there was only a large purple bruise. "I don't see anything except this bruise and the spot is a little tender but---."

"Trust me...there was a gaping hole in her chest," Angel interrupted. "But then it started closing up right before my eyes. She was wincing...groaning in pain. She said she could feel it melding back together, but that it hurt."

Fred checked Kaia's pulse before leaning back on her haunches; quietly studying the girl for a moment. Amazing. Her body could actually heal itself if it found it was in trauma. Fred's scientific nature was eager to run a whole series of tests on this girl, but she kept those thoughts to herself. "Well, she seems to be out of the woods, but she's still a little warm though," Fred said while placing her hand on Kaia's forehead. She then gave Angel a warm smile. "She'll be fine Angel, she just needs to rest. By the way, why is she lying down here instead of in one of the rooms upstairs?"

Angel looked away, slightly embarrassed. "I...well...I just wanted to keep an eye on her while I waited for you guys to come home. Where were you by the way? I called you and Gunn several times."

"Sorry man," said Gunn, his tone apologetic. "I should have called and told you we would be late. I had some backed up legal work that I was working on, plus going through all those files in the file room and interviewing our staff about that girl. After that I just wanted to chill for a bit. Then Fred asked me to meet her for dinner and we completely lost track of time."

"Ok, I understand that, but what I don't understand is why you didn't answer your phones," said Angel, his tone sounding annoyed.

Gunn appeared taken aback. "Angel, man I said we're sorry. I had my phone turned off since that 8:00 meeting I had this morning. Then we were battling those demons and I got caught up in work. I just forgot to turn it back on." Gunn reached inside his pocket and pulled out his phone. Sure enough there were a couple missed calls from Angel's cell phone listed.

"And my battery died a while ago and I didn't get a chance to get a new one," Fred chimed in. Fred knew Angel had every right to be upset. They should have called. Being with Gunn had felt so good, alone from all the pressure. It just felt right to be able to spend time like that with him again. She and Gunn had just recently gotten back together and were making a point of enjoying every spare moment they had to be together. "We're sorry Angel...really sorry. Don't be mad...please." Fred gave Angel the sad face that he never seemed to be able to resist.

Angel sighed finally, forcing his anger aside. He needed to calm down. They were here now and they were okay and that's what was important. "All right," he said, feeling his anger subside. "Sorry for overreacting. It's just...it's been a hell of day."

Gunn nodded in agreement. He gave Angel a playful slap on the arm. "It's cool man. It was our bad anyway. So what are we gonna do with little Ms. Bad Ass over there? And what are we gonna do about these guys looking for her? Do we even know what we're dealing with? Eventually they're gonna track her down. They're gonna come back for her."

"I don't know, I'm not sure, and no," Angel said, his gaze now steady on Kaia. "And I agree with you. They'll definitely come back for her. That's why she can't go back to her apartment. If they're going to find her, they'll find her here with us." Angel turned his attention back to Gunn. "So did you find out anything more," he inquired.

"Nah," Gunn responded. "There's nothing else down there in those files except what Wesley showed us and the employees don't seem to know anything. Notice I said seem." That perked Angel's interest.

"Do you think they're trying to hide something," Angel asked. "Did anyone seem nervous or jumpy while you were questioning them?"

"No, but I think it's strange that no one, not even one person knows what I'm talking about. Everyone just seemed to feign disinterest. Something just seemed...a little...I don't know...off." Gunn then glanced at Wesley, wondering what was wrong with him. He was so quiet these days...withdrawn even. Gunn had a feeling what it was, but he hoped he was wrong. Wesley had started acting this way ever since he and Fred had broken up. It had only gotten worse when Gunn and Fred had started dating again. Gunn loved Wesley like a brother, but he was in love with Fred. He couldn't help his feelings. He knew just how hurt Wesley was, because that's just how Gunn had felt whenever he had seen Fred and Wesley together. It had felt like his insides were being ripped apart.

Gunn walked the couple steps over to where Wesley was standing. Wesley's eyes were riveted on Kaia, completely ignoring everyone else in the room, an unreadable expression on his face. He did that a lot too. Always keeping an expression on his face that belied his true feelings. Wesley had become a master at masking his emotions, but Gunn was one of his best friends. He knew Wesley, probably better than he knew himself. Something was up with him, besides the normal angst. "Hey Wes...you all right man," Gun asked, his tone cautious.

Wesley didn't answer for a moment. What should he say? He hadn't been all right for a long time now. But to appease his friends, he would continue to pretend like everything was fine. Wesley nodded, his eyes meeting Gunn's finally. "Yes...I'm fine," he said, trying to keep is tone neutral. "I, like Angel, had a long day."

At that comment, Angel looked Wesley over quickly checking for any noticeable injuries. When he found none, he was relieved to say the least. He and Wesley had overcome a lot of drama to be back to the friends they were. In fact, Angel could say their friendship was even stronger than ever. Wesley had betrayed him once, betrayed them all actually, but he had meant well. He hadn't meant to intentionally hurt anyone. He had thought he was doing the right thing. They were past that now and Angel loved him like family. Finding out that someone had tried to shoot Wesley just mere hours before scared him more than he cared to admit, but that was their life. Facing down danger was a normal occurrence. They went up against evil every chance they got. It was a risk they took to keep the world safe...at least a little part of it safe.

"I went over to Kaia's place today," Wesley stated, shrugging his hands in his pocket as his eyes traveled from Gunn to Fred. "I waited there for hours until I saw one of her neighbors exit the building. I was able to question her and found out that she was actually the landlord. She didn't give me much more information than we already had, but---." Wesley faltered, frowning at the thought that probably the same man who tried to shoot him today could have been one of the people that had attacked Kaia tonight. If he had stuck around, maybe he could have helped her. Wesley shook his head slightly, ridding himself of that thought. It was no use thinking of ifs and maybes. What's done was done. "She did tell me something of value though," he continued. "She said that there were other people who had come there asking questions about Kaia...that they looked official. Apparently, they made her nervous or creeped her out is what she said exactly. I can see now she had every reason to be, because I think they were probably the same people who shot at me today."

"What," Fred exclaimed. "Are you okay? You didn't get shot did you?" She immediately walked over to him and began to look him over closely. Wesley met her eyes, his gaze cold, making her step back.

"I'm quite alright," Wesley responded, his voice hard and sarcastic. "Unfortunately, for them they missed, but they gave my car a lot of nice bullet holes." He averted his eyes momentarily to block out the look of hurt that he saw on Fred's face. He didn't mean to hurt her, but he couldn't seem to help acting like this towards her lately. Gunn was one of his best friends. Fred was too…sort of. He should be happy for them, but being rejected by Fred again...well it hurt. It hurt a lot. Wesley returned his eyes to Fred and forced a tight smile. "I'm sorry Winifred," he said, hoping that he indeed did sound sorry. "Like I said before, it's been a long day." Fred nodded and gave him a smile in understanding.

Then a moan was heard from the couch. Everyone turned towards the sound to see Kaia shivering slightly, but Wesley was the one who made the move to cover her back up with the blanket. He made a conscious effort to avert his eyes from the delicate red lace bra that barely peeped out at him from the tear down the middle of her top. Funny that she wore such feminine things under her clothes, while she seemed to make a conscious effort to appear tough on the surface. As he tucked the blanket around her, he couldn't seem to stop himself from brushing a strand of hair off her face. She seemed so innocent and sweet. Why would anyone try to hurt her? His hands unconsciously continued to stroke her hair until her eyes fluttered open, revealing a pair of soft doe-like brown eyes. Their eyes locked and Wesley tried to ignore the fact that his heart immediately began beating faster. Time stood still as they silently regarded each other.

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