Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Audrey.
CHAPTER 3-CRAMPED QUARTERS BREED SURPRISES
The trip across the country had gone better than Angel could have hoped for. Wesley had found a big enough moving van that could hold them all and their supplies without looking suspicious. The company that he had rented the vehicle from had told him that he wasn't allowed to take the van out of the state, but by the time that they figured out that he had the van had already been ditched in the outskirts of Chicago. From there they had solved a small vampire problem for the owner of a junkyard and had bartered that service for the use of an old school bus that had definitely seen better days but would serve the purpose that they needed it for. After loading everything up and covering up all of the windows they had set off in haste for New York, hoping to stow away on a ship bound for any port in Europe.
"Couldn't you have picked a better ship," Spike asked with an impatient and unhappy scowl on his face as he wrinkled up his nose at the smell as he leaned back against several crates of shrimp.
"I did the best that I could Spike, this was the only ship that was going to Europe this week, we're lucky that we're even here so just sit back and relax and try not to annoy everyone to badly," Angel shot back with a frustrated and tired tone to his voice before he turned and stormed off down the hallway towards the small room that he had fixed up for himself and Nina. They had stowed away on a ship that had once must have been something of a tour boat as there were many staterooms that were still usable. The old staterooms high up towards the deck of the ship were being remodeled into more rooms more suitable to the shipping of goods trade then taking people out sightseeing.
"This ought to be a fun trip eh children, now don't do anything that I wouldn't do," Spike quipped with a sly grin on his face that hid the frustration of how they were traveling before he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and headed off down the corridor the opposite way that Angel had gone.
"God it's hot down here," Faith grumbled with an awkward and nervous frown on her face as she pulled her sweat drenched shirt away from her body and began to use it to fan herself in the hopes of cooling off just a little bit, all after a few moments of uneasy silence standing there with Wesley.
"It's because since these staterooms are about to be destroyed they just disconnected the air conditioners and vents, so the heat just gets trapped down here until it gets a chance to escape," Wesley explained with a tired yawn as he felt several beads of sweat rolling down the small of his back.
"Wonderful, I just love trying to sleep in a damn sauna," Faith muttered with an angry and unhappy scowl on her face as Wesley took off his shirt, leaving him only his beater covering his upper body.
"This should be exciting eh Faith," Wesley asked with darkly sarcastic tone to his voice and grin on his face before Faith just rolled her eyes and shook her head. Leaving Wesley standing at the junction Faith walked back to the stateroom that she had chosen for herself and shut the door behind her before turning on the light. Feeling slimy and filthy she pulled off her close until she was only wearing the two sizes to small underwear that she had grabbed when she and Wesley had stopped by a Wal-Mart on the way to where Angel, Nina, and Spike were staying. Seeing as how she had just escaped from a mental institution she had kept her head down when walking into the store and through the parking lot, not giving any of the cameras a chance to catch a glimpse of her face. She had hurried through the store, grabbing clothes that looked close enough and then paid for them, using a wad of cash that Wesley had stuffed into her hand before she slid off of his motorcycle and hurried back outside, changing into her new clothes around the corner of the building where it was the darkest. She had let out a couple of curses when she had found out about the shortcomings of the lingerie that she had picked out but knew that she couldn't chance going in again and buying more so she just didn't let it show on her face when she had hopped onto the back of Wesley's motorcycle and looped her arms around Wesley's waist. She laid her drenched shirt and jeans on the small desk in the room and hung her socks from a small railing that ran around the top of the room. Her shoes were flung into a corner and when she got to the bed she started to slide under the covers but changed her mind and laid down on her back on top of them and tried to calm herself, hoping that sleep would come quickly.
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The dream came slowly at first, starting out as any other dream, but soon turned into a full-blown nightmare. It always started out the same, with Faith walked through a seemingly deserted neighborhood at night. Everything seemed normal, complete with the sense that she knew exactly where she was going and it was a good place, before she heard a ripping sound and looked up. A large rip would always appear in the sky with a shower of fireballs spewing out of the tear. She would run for cover, barely avoiding the rain of fire, before she would dive over the hood of a car and take shelter behind it. For a second she would think that she was safe. But then her gaze would fall on the form of a horribly scarred little girl. The sight itself was enough to turn her stomach despite her having seen dead people before but there was something different about this girl, she seemed almost familiar somehow. The little girl had died with her eyes staring off into space and her hand outstretched as if reaching for something or begging for help. No matter how hard she tried Faith had never been able to tear her gaze away from the little girls face, even as tears would well up in her eyes and then wet her cheeks. And just when she didn't think that she could take it anymore the little dead girl would utter one solitary word before blood would gurgle out of her mouth and her eyes would close, mommy.
"No," Faith screamed out loudly as she instantly snapped out of her slumber and up to a seated position, wildly looking all over the small room for any trace of the girl or anything else from her dream. But like every other time she would see nothing and curse herself for getting all worked up over a stupid dream. "Fucking dream…why does it always," Faith grumbled with an almost seething tone of anger in her voice as she flopped back down onto the bed, staring sadly up at the ceiling. But this time was different. As she started to regain her composure and her eyelids grew heavy she heard a voice, Wesley's voice. It sounded like it was coming from the stateroom right next to hers. She couldn't tell what he was saying but she knew one thing for certain, his slumber was about as peaceful as hers had been during the nightmare. Pulling herself up out of her bed she started to reach for her jeans when there was a loud crash in his room. "Wesley," Faith exclaimed with a confused and worried tone to her voice as she passed over her jeans and jumped out into the hallway before yanking Wesley's door open.
She found him fast asleep, though it was clear that he had been tossing and turning for a good portion of the night as the room was a complete mess. She checked both ways down the hallway for Spike or Angel before she stepped into his room and shut the door behind her. She hesitantly approached his best as he continued to live through his nightmare, mumbling incoherent words in his sleep at odd intervals. As she got closer to him she tried not to let her gaze fall on any of the scars that she had caused. But when she got to his side what caught her attention the most was the old slash across his throat. Kneeling down, and wondering how he got it, Faith slowly reached up and traced her finger about a half and inch above the scar, but never actually touching him. She could tell from the scar that the wound had been a bad one. She swallowed hard as she realized just how close he had come to dying from the wound that had caused the scar that she was now focused on.
Keeping her body still she ran the hand at Wesley's neck glide down the contours of his collarbone, then his chest, and finally down to the next scar that had caught her attention, though once again she kept herself from actually touching him. She had seen the scar earlier at Wesley's apartment and now that she got a good look at it she knew for sure that he had been stabbed as well. She wondered if he had been in much pain or if his death had been quick. As she continued to stare at his stomach she brought her other hand up and gently brushed her thumb over the scar that she knew to have been caused by a bullet. When he didn't respond to her touch she brushed her thumb over the scar again, but this time leaving the finger on the scar longer than before. Feeling a bit more daring Faith slid that thumb across his stomach until she got to the scar of where he had been stabbed. She had no sooner touched the scar than Wesley's right hand shot out and grabbed her by the throat, squeezing hard enough to start to choke the life out of her.
"Hcck…Wes…Wesley, what, let go," Faith gasped and choked out with a stunned and scared look on her face as she tried desperately to wrench his hand from her throat, though for some mysterious reason her slayer strength was of little use to her in this endeavor. For what seemed like an eternity Faith struggled against Wesley's vice like grip on her throat. Just as she felt herself starting to lose consciousness his eye flew open and he realized what was happening.
"Faith what are you," Wesley started to ask with a very confused look on his face before he noticed that he was choking Faith and frantically let go of her and pulled his hand back, allowing her to collapse to the floor and try to get her breath back.
"What the hell did you do that for," Faith demanded through the gasps and coughs as she glared up at Wesley through the hair that had fallen down in front of her face.
"I don't know, I was having a nightmare about being attacked by demons and I fought back," Wesley answered with a look of confusion and disbelief on his face as he sat up and pulled the blankets up to cover himself.
"Where'd you get a grip like that, you were to strong," Faith gasped out her question quickly as she began to get her breath back and calm down a little.
"Beats me, but I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt you, are you," Wesley stammered out with a worried and embarrassed look on his face before he turned to look down at Faith, for the first time noticing that she was in her underwear.
"I'm fine, I just heard you shouting in your sleep and came to see if you were alright, guess I should have been a bit more careful," Faith replied with a shaky tone of voice, one that was almost as if she was trying to make light of the situation as well as acknowledge the awkwardness of the situation.
"You were so worried about me that you forgot to get dressed," Wesley asked with a pointed expression on his face as Faith stood back up and after at first acting completely at ease standing in front of Wesley in only her underwear she glared back at him and then left the room.
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"Is that England," Nina asked with an excited smile on her face, reminding Angel of several of the children upon first sighting the United States from their boat decades earlier.
"The mother country, it's been awhile," Spike replied with an almost nostalgic look of happiness in his eyes as he then went quiet and stayed that way for several moments.
"How long has it been for you," Faith asked Wesley with a curious look on her face as she and the rest of the small group stood by the railing one of the ships middle decks, with Spike and Angel checking every few moments to make sure that no one was coming their way.
"Oh so you're talking to me again," Wesley replied with an almost sarcastically amused smirk on his face as he turned and looked down at the impatiently scowling slayer. Ever since the episode in his room Faith had not spoken a single word to Wesley until they caught sight of land.
"Cute," Faith grumbled back sharply with an odd look on her face, one that was firmly situated somewhere between anger and regret, before she turned around, crossed her arms across her chest, and then stared up intently at Wesley, waiting for him to answer.
"Going on six years, the last time that I was here was right before I came to Sunnydale to become Buffy's watcher, yours to of course but…it's been awhile," Wesley answered with a hesitant hitch in his voice as he stared out almost sadly at the approaching English coast.
"You don't seem thrilled to be back," Faith observed with a slight hint of concern in her voice as the impatient look on her face softened a bit.
"You'd think that I would be wouldn't you," Wesley replied softly with a deep in though look of sadness and apprehension on his face before he pulled his coat tightly around him and was suddenly overcome with a fit of violent coughing.
"Wesley," Angel exclaimed with a surprised and worried look on his face as he rushed to Wesley's side and caught him just as Wesley was about to crumple to the ground.
"I…I'm alright, just a bit of a cold," Wesley choked out with a very tired and pained look on his face as he tried to put everyone at ease.
"Some cold," Spike said with a tone to his voice that hinted that he knew that it was something much more than a simple cold but for the moment he was willing to let Wesley play whatever game it was that he was playing.
"You should get some sleep, it'll be a few more hours before we can sneak off anyway," Angel said with a concerned look on his face as he began to help Wesley back towards the door.
"I'll do," Faith started to say with a worried look on her face before Angel waved her off as he opened the door.
"It's okay I got him, you stay out here with Nina and Spike, I'll get Wesley to his room and then rejoin you," Angel said with a somewhat hurried tone to his voice as he helped Wesley climb through the doorway and then shut it behind him, leaving Faith to stand there looking confused and concerned.
"Thank you Angel," Wesley said softly with a painful wince as the two slowly made their way down the hallway.
"You can thank me later, now tell me what's really going on, you start coughing out of the blue hard enough to get some blood to come up and a simple cold won't cut it," Angel replied with an unconvinced and frustrated look on his face as he pulled Wesley up to his full height and leaned him against the wall.
"I don't know, the cough started shortly after Fred and Cordelia brought me back, it comes and goes and I have no way of knowing when it's about to hit, I was lucky enough not to do it when I broke Faith out but the sea air must have triggered it, don't worry Angel, I'll be fine once I'm off this bloody boat," Wesley answered with a fake smile of sincerity on his face before he coughed a couple more times and then wiped the blood on his jeans.
"Are you sure," Angel asked with a very serious look on his face as he looked straight across the hallway at Wesley.
"Yes, I'm sure, I just need some rest," Wesley replied with a tired and weary tone to his voice before Angel accepted that with a shrug of his shoulders and then helped him to his room.
"You think he's really okay," Nina asked with a genuinely worried look on her face as she started off looking at the door that Angel and Wesley had disappeared through before she turned and looked at Spike.
"Are you one of those people that wants the truth no matter how bad it is or are you one that likes to live in," Spike started to reply with a grim scowl on his face as he kicked a small dead fish off of the side of the ship before Faith cut in.
"Of course he's not okay, did he look okay to you," Faith snapped with an upset and frustrated scowl on her face as she looked ready to pound Nina's face in before Spike stepped in between the two.
"Okay ladies, that's enough, let's just take a step back and relax, fighting each other isn't going to do any of us any good, least of all Wesley," Spike stated with a very clear and firm tone to his voice as Nina and Faith enlarged the space between them.
"When did you become the voice of reason," Nina asked with an almost amused look of seriousness on her face as she brushed a bit of hair back behind her left ear.
"About the time that all of this stopped making any sense," Spike joked back with a subtle grin on his face before Faith and Nina started glaring at each other again.
"Should we tell him," Cordelia asked with a worried look on her face as she quietly watched the now softly snoring Wesley.
"Not yet, he still has a long way to go," Fred replied with a sad frown on her face as a tear slid down her cheek.
"But wouldn't telling him make it easier for him," Cordelia added with a thoughtful look of concern on her face as she briefly turned away from Wesley to face Fred.
"Normally yes, but not this time, if he knows the truth he might not complete his mission," Fred said back with a somber expression on her face before she leaned down and softly placed a kiss on Wesley's forehead.
"So to complete his mission he can't know that he's dying and the only one that can save him can't know either…what genius thought this brilliant plan up," Cordelia grumbled with an unhappy frown on her face before she and Fred disappeared mere seconds before Angel stepped back into the room, thinking that he had heard voices, only to find Wesley softly snoring away.
END OF CHAPTER 3