CONSEQUENCES
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Morgan, and Michelle.
CHAPTER 23-GETTING CLOSER
"How are you feeling," Angel asked softly with a concerned look on his face as he pulled the chair up to the edge of Wesley's, who was propped up into a seated position, bed and sat down. Faith sat at the foot of the bed, doing her best to appear as if she were looking something up in one of the books that sat nearby. But in truth she was only there to make sure that Wesley stayed awake and to hear the conversation between the two since she had most of Wesley's memories swirling around in her head. She knew as much as he did that certain events in the past had to be rectified and answered for, for her partially because of what had happened between them the night before. She still didn't fully know how or what exactly to think and feel about the experience that they had shared. She knew that she had a blast that night from top to bottom, except that her back still stung a bit.
"Like someone that's lucky to be alive," Wesley replied with a tired expression on his face as he shifted his weight in bed a bit and winced slightly.
"No argument here, but listen about Connor and," Angel started to say with a nervous look on his face as he began to pop his knuckles one after the other.
"I understand Angel, it's in the past, not something that you're proud of but we can't go back and do anything about it so we should just move on and be happy that we're still here instead of being dead like the others," Wesley interrupted with a serious but yet sad look on his face as he turned his gaze away from Angel and focused it out of the window, not noticing when Faith glanced up with worry filled eyes as he said the word dead.
"I agree, however unless we find that damn spell the fact that we made it out of LA won't matter much for long, the first part of my plan has already begun and even if we wanted to we can't stop it now," Angel said with a grimly serious scowl on his face as he scratched at an old scar on the back of one of his knuckles.
"You do have the flare for the fatalistic battle plans ya know," Faith chipped in with a sly grin on her face as she flipped a page and barely glanced up, with Angel sending her a not amused glare and Wesley holding back a grin.
"Angel…have you given any thought to what happens after all of this is over, we can't go back to LA, I'm certainly not going to stay with my parents, Giles and the new council will want no part of any of us and Wolfram and Hart will still want us dead," Wesley asked with a very serious and not to excited look on his face as he turned back to Angel and hoped that he would have spent hours pondering that very question.
"Not really, I'm still trying to make sure that we all come out alive this time, I'll deal with the what happens next when we get there," Angel replied with a guilty grin on his face as he shook his head.
"At this rate it'll be if we get there," Wesley added dryly as he shook his head and started to pull the blanket off of his lower half.
"What are you doing," Faith exclaimed with a surprised and somewhat angry look on her face as she let go of the book that she had been skimming and was instantly on her feet and at his side.
"Getting out of this bed and helping to find that damn spell," Wesley growled with a frustrated and pained grimace on his face as he started to swing his legs out from underneath the blanket.
"Oh no you're not," Faith shot back with a very determined look on her face as she grabbed the edge of the blanket with one hand while doing her best to keep Wesley's legs where they were with the other.
"You should stay here Wes, you can decipher the books as easily here in bed as you could downstairs, Faith can bring them up to you," Angel added with a concerned look on his face before the matter was decided for them when Wesley winced badly in pain and fell over onto his side on the bed.
"Wesley," Faith shouted in a panic as she frantically climbed onto the bed while Angel rushed to the door and shouted for David's personal doctor.
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"Mind if I sit here," Nina asked with a nervous and slightly scared look on her face as she slowly approached Connor, who was sitting on one of the benches in the backyard and staring solemnly up at the sky.
"I already said that I didn't want to talk Morgan, so why don't you just…oh…Nina, it's you," Connor started to growl back with an angry scowl on his face before he noticed that it was Nina instead of Morgan and his face flushed with embarrassment as he turned away and stared at the ground.
"Something wrong," Nina asked with a worried expression on her face as she sat down beside Connor and crossed her legs.
"No," Connor grumbled back with a nervous and frustrated scowl on his face as he looked away from Nina and zipped up his coat a little bit more.
"Wanna talk about it, I've heard that I'm a good listener," Nina added with a sympathetic and compassionate smile on her face that managed to soften Connor's resolve just enough.
"She's been avoiding me all day, she said that she wanted to talk to me last night but I haven't seen her all day," Connor mumbled softly with a hurt look on his face as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked down at his knees.
"She's probably scared Connor, scared that she doesn't know how she feels about you yet and when she sees you talking to Katy all of the time she gets these wild ideas about what you're doing together," Nina said with a calm and soothing tone to her voice as she made sure that she didn't make any sudden moves that would startle him and to make sure that he listened to everything that she said.
"How do you…what does everyone know about this, I told Katy that I didn't want her to make a big deal out of it," Connor grumbled with an exasperated and frustrated scowl on his face as he hung his head and pouted.
"No Connor, Katy didn't tell me anything, I only picked up on your feelings for Morgan when I overheard the fight that you two had last night and then the look in your eyes afterwards, as for how she feels about you…well a woman knows these things," Nina replied with a kind smile on her face as she picked a hair off of her jeans and let the wind blow it away.
"So…what do I do," Connor finally asked after the two sat in total silence for several moments.
"Just be yourself and don't push it, if she feels the same way then great…but if she doesn't then don't hold it against her, there's plenty of women out there Connor, you'll find the right one for you someday, whether it be Morgan or someone that you haven't even met yet," Nina replied with a content expression on her face as she watched the breeze form ripples on the top of the pond.
"It's a nice sentiment Nina, but I don't want to follow in my father's footsteps in the relationship department, I want to have a life…a home, a family," Connor said with a heartfelt and heart wrenching tone to his voice as he stood up and shook his head.
"I don't think that Angel wants you to be alone either Connor, he just doesn't want you to make the same mistakes that he did…and given his age I think that he's probably made more mistakes than any man in history," Nina said with a hopefully calming and supportive tone to her voice as she stood up and cautiously laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Except for now…he seems to be happy…with you I mean," Connor stammered out with a nervous and slightly embarrassed frown on his face as he tried to look at Nina but found that he couldn't.
"Well…thank you, that means a lot…really, but there is something that I need to know, I know that he loved Cordelia and I'd never think of trying to replace her but I…need to know if there was anything special between them, like a special song, meal, movie…something like that, because I don't want him being hurt any more than he already has, and if I," Nina said with at first a relieved smile on her face and a heavy sigh before she grew nervous and timid before making the request of Connor.
"I understand," Connor said back with a very small smirk on his face before the two launched into a very detailed conversation.
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"Do you really think that he can be trusted," Spike asked with an unconvinced scowl on his face as he poured himself a drink and sat down next to Angel on a couch in the study.
"Of course not, he's tried to kill us both remember, but he can help provide us a distraction when all is said and done," Angel replied with a skeptical laugh as he leaned back and glanced over at Spike.
"Alright, but are we sure that he's not going to try and play hero and come charging in to rescue Buffy, if he does that then he'll ruin everything," Spike said back with a counterpoint as he shook his head and took a sip of his drink.
"He won't Spike, trust me…I've made arrangements to keep him busy, besides they don't even know that I'm the one that tipped them off to what's going to happen, all that they think is that they got a hot tip that a big vampire convention is going to be held here in London in the next few days," Angel said with a deep in thought smirk on his face as he shifted his position and took a useless breath.
"Get them fighting each other instead of us…I like it," Spike said softly with a sly grin on his face before he nodded his head slowly at Angel.
"Thank you," Angel agreed with a very smug grin on his face as he did a mock-seated bow and turned just as Groo and Gwen entered the room.
"We have news, the lady Elizabeth has found another ally, a strange dark man without hair," Groo said with a very serious but eager look on his face, as he was glad to be the one to tell Angel and Spike the news.
"He doesn't sound familiar…," Angel said softly before letting his voice trail off as he sat up and then stood up off of the couch with Spike right behind him.
"He does to me…black man, about six feet tall, decent build, looking like he owns the place," Spike wondered with an almost disappointed pout on his face as he walked back to the bar, finally silently offering Gwen a drink.
"That's him, so are you tight or something," Gwen asked with a slight nod of her head as Spike got her a glass of her own and poured her a drink.
"Hardy, he's the son of a slayer that I killed in New York back in the seventies, took her coat as a prize, her name was Nikki Wood, and little Robin Wood grew up hating my guts and made it his personal mission in life to see me dusted for what I did, he showed up in Sunnydale about the same time that I did after I got my soul, took Buffy out on a date to…when they didn't hit it off he set his sights on Faith, and got better results, at least until they broke it off and she showed up in LA on Giles' behalf…piss drunk," Spike answered with a useless sigh as he set the beaker back down and handed Gwen her drink.
"Does he know about the rest of us," Gwen asked with a concerned look on her face as she took the drink from Spike and then took a sip.
"I doubt it, I'm not sure if he's heard of Angel here, but if he's hooked up with Buffy and the others then I doubt that it's going to take to long for them to tell him everything," Spike replied with an unhappy scowl on his face as he gestured to Angel.
"What kind of threat is he, should we be concerned, maybe change the plan," Gwen wondered openly with a curious smirk on her face as she swirled her drink around a little bit.
"No, we're not changing the plan, from what Spike has said he's had the basic watcher training for combat, couple that with an intense hatred for my family…and in the end…he's only a threat if we let him become one, hopefully he'll get caught up in the diversion that I have planned," Angel stated with a very clear and certain tone to his voice as he walked across the room and let his gaze rest on an old clock on the wall in front of him.
"And if he touches the Niblet or Nina…feel free to fry his ass," Spike said very pointedly to Gwen as he stepped in front of her so that she could make no mistake about his intentions, with Angel only nodding his head in agreement to Spike's statement.
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"Wesley…what in the hell do you think you're doing," Faith exclaimed with a sliver of fear in her voice as she entered the room carrying two plates of food when she spotted Wesley hobbling his way towards the bathroom, holding his side and wincing lightly in pain.
"Had to go to the bathroom," Wesley replied with a frustrated scowl on his face as he took another couple of steps before Faith quickly set the two plates down on a nearby table and rushed to his side.
"Well then you should have told me, I could have helped you," Faith chided him with an annoyed expression on her face as she tried to take his arm but he waved her off.
"I've been going to the bathroom on my own since I was a child Faith," Wesley shot back with a less than polite tone to his voice as he leaned over just a bit so that he could support himself with a hand on top of the bed.
"I didn't mean…I meant that I could have helped you get over there, even though your legs didn't get hurt having broken ribs keeps you from getting a full breath and you spend more time worrying about taking your next breath then watching where you're going," Faith snapped back with an impatient and frustrated frown of her own as Wesley finally go back to the head of the bed and sat down.
"Sounds like you've had experience in this department…care to share," Wesley said with the edges of his mouth curling up into a smirk as he took the deepest breath that his ribs would allow him to.
"Only if you promise to eat something while I change your bandages, I'm not that good of a cook but I make a wicked macaroni and cheese with hot dog chunks cut up and mixed in," Faith answered with a sheepish and slightly embarrassed half smile on her face as she stepped away from Wesley and retrieved the two plates first before she went back and got the bandages and other supplies from the table by the door.
"Deal," Wesley said back with an amused grin on his face that Faith glared at before launching into her story. Surprisingly she was a better storyteller than he had expected and actually found the story interesting. At the end there was only one question in Wesley's head. "So…have you given any thought to what you're going to do after we defeat Wolfram and Hart, I honestly don't see you going back to the United States to go back to prison," Wesley asked with an interested look on his face as he picked up his fork and stabbed a bit of hot dog before popping it into his mouth.
"You're not wrong, not sure if I'll ever go back to America…who knows, maybe I'll see what all the fuss is about Europe," Faith said with a half hearted shrug of her shoulders as she set her plate down on the bed between them.
"Want some company," Wesley offered with a sly grin on his face that he kept hidden as he stared straight down at his plate.
"I don't think that David would be the best guy to trek around Europe with," Faith said with a happily sarcastic grin on her face as she leaned back and seemed to seriously ponder taking the owner of the house with her before she caught Wesley's surprised stare and cut off his next question by leaning in towards him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. She started to back up before Wesley countered and leaned forward into a kiss that stopped Faith in her tracks. When the two finally came up for air they grinned and glanced down to find that they had spilled what was left on their plates onto the bedspread.
"Well I'm sure that Mr. Nabbit can afford new bed sheets," Wesley said with a slightly anxious look on his face as Faith picked up both plates and their utensils and set them down on the nightstand. She started to turn back but stopped when she felt one of Wesley's hands brush her hair aside and a finger trickle down the back of her neck. The trickling finger was followed closely by a soft and gentle kiss, a kiss that sent a pleasurable shiver down her spine and throughout her body, causing her to giggle softly despite herself. In response the soft kiss on the back of her neck turned into a trail, trekking first down her neck to where her shoulder met her neck and then up around her jaw until Faith leaned back and turned her head to the side just in time to catch Wesley's lips in a full kiss. Her right arm reached back and held Wesley's head in place as he slipped his left arm around her waist and pulled her back towards him. After several seconds Faith groaned and reluctantly pulled away and stood up. Just as Wesley was about to ask what she was doing Faith walked across the room and locked the door.
"Don't want anyone walking in on us, I'm really not in the mood for show and tell right now," Faith said with a sly grin on her face before she pulled her shirt off on the way back towards the bed.
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Gwen slid her bathrobe off and slipped into the waiting bubble bath. After giving her report to Angel about Buffy's actions she had excused herself firmly, telling Angel to not bother her for the next several hours. Wanting to be alone she told Groo to go for a run or something. Surprisingly he had found a willing volunteer to run with him in Illyria, who was curious about why one would run for fun, that and because Willow continued to keep her distance and Illyria didn't have the patience to find out why. Dawn had tried to help Willow but ended up getting bored and had soon dragged Michelle into her room to try and improve the slayers wardrobe. The day was almost over when an extremely celebratory scream was heard throughout the house, "Yes…everybody, I found the spell!"
END OF CHAPTER 23