The Quickening

Notes: Thanks for all of the reviews. Keep them coming; they give me inspiration. Sixty-one chapters with no discernible end in sight…. thanks for sticking with me guys.

Previously:

"To put it simply," Angel said, "we need to break into the police station and steal the body."

"Are you crazy?" Faith asked.

"A little bit," Angel replied with a lopsided smile.

"That's absolutely insane," Faith responded. "But I like it."

Chapter Sixty-One:

"Where is she?" Buffy asked impatiently. She and the others, minus Faith, Angel, and Cordelia, were gathered in the library awaiting Faith's arrival. Giles had talked to her on the telephone a half an hour ago and they were starting to get nervous. Faith had said that she was on her way, but it appeared as though she had either lied or decided to go someplace else instead.

"I don't know," Giles said in exasperation. Removing his glasses, he absently began to clean them with the front of his shirt. "I'm sure she'll be here soon. It is night out, perhaps she ran into some vampires."

"It's possible," Xander said. "I mean, she is a slayer and all. Comes with the territory."

"Or, she's gone off the deep end and isn't coming at all," Willow muttered under her breath.

"What?" Xander shot back, looking over at his best friend.

"You heard me," Willow replied boldly. "She killed someone, Xander. We don't know how she's reacting to that. The fact that she told us she'd come here and hasn't shown up, it speaks a lot to me."

"She killed someone accidentally, Will. It wasn't intentional. She's probably just freaking out about them finding the body," Xander argued back.

"Freaking out how? How do we know she won't do something bad?" Willow asked.

"We don't," Oz said slowly, interrupting them. "But that doesn't mean we can't have a little faith in her, forgive the pun."

"Thank you," Giles said. "Finally, a voice of reason. As far as we know, we have nothing to worry about. Let's try to remain calm despite all of this. It's a difficult situation. But panicking and pointing fingers isn't going to do any good."

"Sorry," Willow mumbled, looking down at the table.

"It's alright," Giles said, smiling softly when Willow looked back up at him. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You're simply concerned. It's alright to question things."

"In that vein," Buffy said, "again, I'll ask, where is she?"

Unbeknownst to the group, their conversation had reached the ears of an individual whom they had purposefully tried to keep in the dark. Wesley's face was grim as he eavesdropped on the group through the library doors. Faith had killed a human being. According to Xander, it had been an accident. However, the Council had strict protocols that had to be followed when dealing with slayers who took the lives of innocent people. The fact that the group had chosen to keep this information from him spoke volumes to him. Wesley realized that they did not trust him. Though he had already known that most of them did not particularly like him, he did not imagine that they would go so far as the cover up vital information about one of his slayers. Wesley knew what he had to do. He had to contact the Council immediately.

……………………………

"Are you sure we shouldn't go to Giles first?" Faith asked as she and Angel crept through the alley behind Sunnydale General.

"Positive," Angel said. He and Faith hid in the shadows of the alley, watching as police officers walked in and out of the morgue's entrance.

"We're so gonna get caught, Dead Boy," Faith said. "And then what're we gonna do?"

"I'll worry about that when it happens," Angel answered.

"Besides, isn't this against everything you've been trying to tell me these past few days. I mean, instead of stealing the body, shouldn't I be going to the police to confess my crimes so that I can relieve the burden of my guilt?" Faith asked. Angel looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, obviously impressed that she had been listening to him. "What? I do pay attention, you know," Faith said defensively.

"Wouldn't have thought," Angel retorted. "And no, I don't think turning yourself in is the best strategy here. The world needs you, Faith. Not behind bars, but out fighting the good fight. If you're behind bars, you can't exactly do that, can you? Hence stealing the body," Angel argued.

"Giles is gonna be pissed when he finds out what happened," Faith said. "And I'm not the one who's gonna be dealing with him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Angel asked.

"This was your idea," Faith pointed out.

"I don't want to have to explain it to him," Angel said. "He hates me. He likes you. He'd understand better coming from you."

"Yeah, or he'd kick me out of the only stable home environment I've ever had," Faith replied.

"Fine," Angel grumbled. "I'll tell him."

"Good," Faith said. "So what's the plan here?"

"Well, we could always just walk in and see if they'll give us the body," Angel said.

"That was a joke, right?" Faith asked, looking over at him. Angel looked back at her, his face a mask of sincerity, before his lips curled up into the tiniest of smiles.

"Yeah, that was a joke," Angel relented. "I have a pretty brilliant plan, actually."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

………………………….

Wesley was driving back to his apartment when he noticed that the focus of his thoughts that evening was standing on the side of the road, across the street from Sunnydale General. Pulling the car over, he hopped out and walked up to Faith. "What're you doing out here?" He asked. Faith looked up at him in surprise.

"What? Oh, nothing," Faith said evasively. Wesley rolled his eyes, knowing that she was lying.

"You're a terrible liar, Faith. What's going on? Does this have something to do with….well, the murder?" Wesley asked.

"The murder?" Faith said, looking over at him. "How do you know about that?"

"I overheard the others talking about it. They're worried about you, wondering where you are," Wesley said. During his drive, he had the opportunity to think rationally about what was happening. Though he still believed that he needed to contact the Council, he realized that he had unfairly judged Faith. He did not know the specifics of the incident and, until he found them out, he wanted to remain impartial.

"Yeah, I was supposed to go to the library," Faith said. "How much do you know?"

"Only that you accidentally killed someone," Wesley said. "So I guess murder wasn't the correct word."

"Not really," Faith agreed. "Buffy and I were in an alley. These vampires just started attacking us, out of nowhere. Then this guy jumped out at me and I staked him without realizing that he wasn't one of the vampires."

"Who was he?" Wesley asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"Unfortunately, he was the deputy Mayor of Sunnydale, Alan Finch," Faith replied.

"Dear God," Wesley said. "They found his body this evening."

"Yes, they did," Faith said.

"Wait a minute," Wesley said, something suddenly dawning on him. "That's why you're here, isn't it? You're here for the body!"

"Don't announce it to the world, Wes," Faith whispered harshly.

"This is a terrible idea," Wesley said.

"It wasn't mine," Faith replied defensively. "It was Angel's."

"Where is Angel?" Wesley asked.

"In the hospital," Faith replied.

"Doing what?" Wesley prodded.

"Executing the plan," Faith answered evasively.

"Faith," Wesley said wearily, "just tell me what's going on."

"Fine," Faith replied. "Angel went in to the hospital to play dead. The theory is, they won't be able to identify him, but they'll find a slip of paper with this cell phone number on it," Faith said, holding up the cell phone in question, "and they'll call the number to ask the person on the other end to come identify the body."

"Which will get you into the morgue with a legitimate purpose," Wesley finished.

"Exactly. Once I'm in the morgue, I'll identify Angel and ask to have a couple of minutes alone with him. Then we'll sneak the body out," Faith said.

"How?" Wesley asked.

"How what?"

"How will you sneak the body out without anyone noticing?" Wesley elaborated.

"We didn't really get that far," Faith replied sheepishly.

"I have an idea," Wesley replied hesitantly. "It'll take a little longer than the original plan, but we'll be able to get Angel and Alan out of there without anyone thinking twice about it."

"What do you suggest?" Faith asked.

"What is Angel dying from?" Wesley asked.

"Hit by a car," Faith said. "He had me beat him up a bit."

"Then they won't need an autopsy to ascertain the cause of death," Wesley said. "That's good. We'll be able to get him out right away. While you're in there, call me. Pretend you're on the phone with a funeral home. Arrange to have someone pick up Angel."

"Then you'll show up," Faith said, understanding Wesley's train of thought.

"Exactly. We'll bag Angel's body with Alan's and take them out. Once we're outside, we'll let Angel out and put Alan's body into my car," Wesley finished.

"Okay," Faith said. "I think this will work." The cell phone in Faith's hand suddenly began to ring. Faith answered it, playing the part perfectly. Hanging up the phone, she smiled over at Wes. "How long should I wait before I go in?"

"Give it fifteen minutes," Wes replied. Scribbling his cell phone number down on the back of a napkin that had been blowing down the street, he handed it to Faith. "Call this number once you're in there."

"Okay," Faith said, taking the napkin. "Why are you doing this?" She asked suddenly, looking over at him.

"I don't know," Wesley replied honestly. "It just seems like the right thing to do."