Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Mercedes and Audrey.
CHAPTER 21-A CHANCE IS ALL THAT I ASK
"I have to say that this all seems a bit farfetched," Buffy said softly with a hesitant look of disbelief on her face as Kennedy finished her story.
"Only because it's all true," Kennedy shot back with a slightly vindictive expression on her face as she wipes away a tear.
"From your point of view it's true, for all you know Mercedes could have attacked Kristine and then just simply fed you a line and you fell for it hook, line, and sinker," Buffy said back with a skeptical tone to her voice as she leaned back up against the wall in the small space.
"I'm not stupid Buffy," Kennedy started to grumble back with an unhappy scowl on her face before Buffy cut in.
"Oh really, then what do you call cheating on my best friend with a vampire and lawyer," Buffy interjected with an almost mocking tone to her voice as the smile that briefly held a position on her face disappeared quickly.
"Look, I know what I did was wrong…I'm not trying to validate my actions, but there are a few things that Mercedes doesn't lie about, and she doesn't have to say anything, I can…could tell, how she felt about Kristine, she didn't always show it openly but it was there…Mercedes didn't do it, but I bet that she knows who did," Kennedy replied with a very stern pout on her face as she had to correct herself, still unaccustomed to speaking of Kristine in the past tense.
"She's still a vampire Kennedy, they lie…it's in their nature, no matter how good they seem to be…the animal inside, never changes," Buffy defended her opinion with a confidant look in her eyes as she calmly looked around the small room at the different products on the shelves.
"I know Buffy, but so do people," Kennedy started to add with an angry scowl on her face before Buffy stopped her by laying a hand on her shoulder.
"You're right, which is why after we get out of here you are going to tell Willow everything the next time that you see her, and if by some small miracle you're still living afterwards then maybe I'll let you tag along when we find this Mercedes and bring her to justice," Buffy stated back with an almost motherly tone to her voice as she started to get back up to her feet by pushing against the shelves behind her.
"Okay…but let me do it on my own terms, I don't want to be backed into a corner, this is between me and Willow, I don't need the rest of you," Kennedy agreed softly at first before she started to demand a few situations.
"Fine, I'll let the two of you talk it out, but just don't even think about sneaking away afterwards," Buffy replied with a cold and anxious tone to her voice as she checked her watch and then pulled the edge of her shirt back down a bit.
"I'm not going anywhere until we find Mercedes and get to the bottom of this, Kristine's killer will be brought to justice, that's why I'm going with you when you look for Mercedes," Kennedy said back with a confidant but not arrogant tone to her voice as she looked straight up at Buffy before turning to the side to start to get back up to her feet.
"Why, so you can help her escape," Buffy shot back with an unconvinced look on her face as her hand moved to the doorknob.
"No, so I can make sure that you don't stake her before we find out who really attacked Kristine, and for the record…I have a feeling that I don't think you're going to like her answer," Kennedy answered with a nervous and scared look in her eyes before she brushed Buffy's hand away, turned the knob, and came out of the closet.
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After the meeting had been adjourned Wesley and Faith had drifted away from the others before finding a room on one of the above ground floors that still looked lived in, complete with a waterbed and amenities. Wesley had barely enough time to turn around and shut and lock the door, as he heard Faith turn on some music and crank the radio up, before she shoved him back hard up against the door and crushed her mouth against his. When they finished they surveyed the damage, a broken lamp that neither knew the particulars of its destruction, and clothes strewn about the room, making the entire place look like a tornado had struck.
"You wanted to go with them didn't you," Wesley said softly into Faith's ear as she had buried her face into the space in between his ear and shoulder.
"Well," Faith started to say with an unsure frown on her face as she started to tilt her head up to look Wesley in the eye before he went on.
"You wanted to help pull off the distraction, but Angel forced you to stay here and play nursemaid," Wesley postulated with a somber expression on his face as he calmly weaved his left hand through Faith's curls.
"Well…it does have its advantages…," Faith snickered back with a hungry lust in her eyes as she flashed him her trademark grin before going on, "but yeah…it would have been fun to fuck up the Immortal's plans for a change."
"It would be best if you were out there with them, you were always good at distractions, I'm sorry Faith, it's my fault that you're not," Wesley started to say back with a calm look in his eyes before Faith shifted her weight enough so that she was lying directly on top of him and looking him straight in his eyes.
"Don't blame yourself Wes, I don't," Faith said with a very serious tone to her voice and unintentionally heartfelt look in her eyes before Wesley softly caressed her cheek with his left hand and then spoke.
"I can't help it, I'm afraid that I have a tendency to accept the blame for everything, even if it's not my fault," Wesley started to reply with a very honest and serious tone to his voice before he was overcome with a fit of coughing, ending it with a particularly hard cough that caused a bit of blood to appear on his lips.
"Wesley," Faith shouted in alarm and fear at the moment that she saw the blood before scrambling off of him and over to the nightstand where there sat a box of tissues. She hurriedly grabbed the box and then rolled back around to Wesley. "Here," Faith exclaimed with a truly scared look in her eyes as she ripped out a few tissues and handed them to Wesley, who looked a little guilty accepting them before he wiped away the blood. "What the hell is going on Wes…was it me, were we to rough, your ribs don't hurt do they," Faith started to worry with a scared look on her face as she tried to dam up her fear and keep it from bubbling over and she searched for an explanation.
"No more than usual I'm afraid, as for what's going on I'm not quite sure, I've been coughing like this every so often ever since I was brought back, Cordelia and Fred never did tell me why, I guess that it's just a price that has to be paid for my resurrection," Wesley answered calmly with an unsure look on his face as he laid back and stared up at the ceiling.
"Well try not to do that again okay, I don't like to admit it but it scares the shit out of me when you cough, I'm not good at opening up to people…truly opening up, most men that I know only stick around long enough to get me into bed and the women all hate me for getting all of the attention, having a physical connection with someone is easy for me…but anything more, anything deeper, I'm not sure if I'm ready, or ever will be," Faith replied with a very scared and haunted look in her eyes and fearful expression on her face as she leaned back up against Wesley and stared at the circles on his chest that she was drawing with her fingers rather than look him in the eye.
"I know Faith, you've never quite been one to open up and talk about your emotions, but you have had good reason to keep your feelings guarded and protected, a physical relationship is easy, all it takes is two people, anything more involves real trust and honesty…both of which you and I have an equally hard time giving and accepting," Wesley said back with an equally serious look on his face as he interlaced his fingers with hers, pulling her hand away from his chest. Faith tried to say something snappy and witty back but all that she could do was bite her bottom lip and do her best to keep from tearing up at the look in his eyes. "We both want and need to be loved and trusted by someone, and we need them to love and trust us equally back, but what we're both afraid of is allowing ourselves to open up for fear of being hurt or rejected," Wesley added with a sincere look in his eyes as he pulled Faith closer to him until her forehead rested against his and they were forced to look straight and deep into each others eyes.
"I don't know…if I can give you what you deserve, I'm not," Faith softly mumbled out in reply, and had they not been so close Wesley probably would not have heard her.
"I know, but I can't ask you for anything that I'm not willing to give in return," Wesley whispered back softly with a very sincere and honest look in his eyes before Faith briefly closed her eyes as a couple of tears dropped away from her eyes and slid down his cheeks.
"So we're really going to do this, us…no holding back," Faith weakly asked with a hopeful look in her eyes but scared look on her face before Wesley answered.
"I will if you will," Wesley stated back softly before he leaned back away from her face just enough to kiss her.
"Good," Faith mumbled happily back in to his mouth after they briefly broke the kiss before she leaned back in for another kiss.
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"Maybe we should do what we did in Vienna," Spike offered with a cocky and smug grin on his face as he turned to Angel, who was busy sifting through their collection of weapons.
"I don't think so Spike, if I remember correctly didn't that end with you living it up in a fancy hotel with Dru and me needing weeks to recover from the burns," Angel grumbled back with a disapproving frown on his face as he pushed aside some axes to get down to the longswords.
"Not seeing the negative in that story Peaches," Spike quipped back with an amused smirk on his face as he casually continued to clean the sword that he had already picked out.
"Don't you ever shut up," Nina interjected with a displeased pout on her face as she walked into the room and sat down in the untaken chair in between them.
"Nope, sorry pet," Spike said softly with a half amused look on his face as he leaned back a bit and let the line shine off of one side of his sword.
"Why am I not surprised," Nina groaned softly as she rolled her eyes and shook her head before Angel spoke up.
"Is everyone ready for tonight, we have to give Willow enough time to slip the potion into the Immortal's drink, then once he takes a sip she can tell us what he is," Angel asked with an impatient frown on his face as he looked more like he was brooding than ready for a fight.
"Willow and Dawn went back to see the others and get prepared, Illyria is keeping watch upstairs, Mercedes is somewhere…probably the basement, doing God knows what, and as for Faith and Wesley…well," Nina replied with a bored expression on her face as she twiddled her thumbs a bit and looked up through her eyebrows and bangs at Angel.
"Getting acquainted," Angel gruffly replied with a confused and apprehensive tone to his voice as he half looked at Nina but couldn't bring himself to look towards Spike for fear of the look on his grandchilde's face.
"Ah come one Angel…grow a pair already, I know you're slow to this type of thing and all but…damn," Spike interjected with a highly amused grin on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and half looked up at Angel before he went back to admiring the sword in his hands.
"Can we change the subject please," Angel stated with an uncomfortable shiver as he held back from snapping Spike's neck to start to search through the pile for something that Illyria might like to use as a weapon.
"Fine…here's something that I've been meaning to talk to you two about," Nina started to say with an odd grin on her face as she seemed to perk up at the idea before Angel and Spike shared a look that seemed to suggest that both thought that they might have bitten off more than they could chew with the possibilities of what Nina could want to talk about. "Do either of you…you know…miss it," Nina finally asked softly, almost in a stammer, as she looked from Angel first and then over to Spike.
"It…gonna have to be a little bit more specific pet," Spike wondered softly with a confused look on his face as he briefly stopped sharpening his sword.
"The old days, you know…being evil, not caring what you did or who you hurt," Nina asked with a curious look on her face as she chose not to reply to Spike's comment with a sarcastic or witty remark and instead simply answer his question. Angel and Spike sent a careful glance towards each other before Spike shrugged his shoulders and was about to answer when Angel beat him to it.
"I hate to admit it…but…at times, yeah, I miss it," Angel calmly replied with an almost self loathing tone to his voice as he hung his head and continued to sift through the pile of weapons.
"Not me, being one of the white hats is to much fun," Spike added with an immature grin on his face before he looked over at Nina and saw that she wasn't buying a second of it, Angel either.
"Oh really," Nina shot back with a daring frown on her face as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms and legs, making sure in her actions that Spike knew that she wasn't joking and wasn't going to let it drop.
"Okay I miss it…but only sometimes, both sides have their advantages, happy now," Spike grumbled back with a frustrated and almost childlike scowl on his face as if he were a young boy that had been told that he couldn't play with his favorite toy.
"That'll do Spike…for now, but Angel…you seem a bit…uncomfortable with the thought of Wesley and Faith being together, I would have thought that you'd be happy for them," Nina replied with a slight nod of her head and sarcastic smirk on her face before her face grew calm as she turned to Angel.
"I…I am, or at least I think that I am, I don't know…let's just say that it's complicated between those two, far to complicated to explain right now, let's just say that they have some issues to work through and neither one of them exactly have the greatest track record when it comes to relationships, I guess that I'm just afraid that it'll go bad, they'll both be hurt, and all of our plans will go up in flames," Angel slowly replied with an apprehensive tone to his voice as he kept his back turned to Nina and Spike and steadied his gaze on the line of sunlight filtering into the room as the sun started to go down outside.
"That could happen, or this could be the start of something special, who knows…in a few years there could be a little Wesley or Faith running around, wanting uncle Angel or Spike to tell them a story," Nina replied with a sly grin on her face as she uncrossed her arms, stood up, and then walked over to Angel.
"I'm sorry Nina, but I can't see that happening," Angel glumly replied as he started to half turn around before Nina laid a hand on his shoulder and made him turn fully around to make him look at her.
"I can't really see Faith as the mothering type," Spike said with a pretty confidant tone to his voice as he laid his sword down and slide off of the table that he had been sitting on.
"Wesley doesn't seem like the fathering type either, I think that the best that we can hope for here is that whatever happens they stay friends and no one gets killed," Angel added softly as he shook his head and patted Nina on the shoulder.
"You may be right, but then again…sometimes all that some people need to do well is a chance," Nina observed with a seemingly knowing smirk on her face, one that both Angel and Spike puzzled after, before she turned on her heel and walked out of the room.
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"He will see you now," One of the assistants said with a hurried and impatient frown on his face as he slowly opened the door and let Robin in. After breaking things off with Faith he had voluntarily traveled through Africa, searching for an old legend about a demon with the ability to grant souls to those who pass his challenges. After coming up empty, but fully admitting that he knew that there were many that he spoke to that knew more than they were telling, he had only returned to Rome when Roger had contacted him about an assignment.
"Thank you…Roger, nice to see you again," Robin said softly at first as he half bowed his head to the assistant before he walked into Roger's office and shook hands with the old watcher.
"Likewise Robin, I only wish that our meeting was under better circumstances," Roger replied with a nervous look on his face as he sat back down in his chair after shaking hands.
"You said on the phone that there were some new developments on the Angel front," Robin offered with a curious look on his face before he waved off the tea that Roger offered him.
"Unfortunately that is the case, after reports of his demise surfaced we surmised that his threat was finally over but we were wrong, several days ago he and his cohorts, one of which was my failure of a son, interrupted a gathering of the city's elite and nearly blew up the entire building, several people died and millions of dollars in damages…truly terrible," Roger explained with a somber frown on his face as he stood up and then walked over to the large window in his office, clasping his hands together behind his back as he stared out into the early evening sky.
"Faith," Robin asked with a slightly concerned look on his face as he looked up from studying some of the papers on Roger's desk.
"I am sorry Robin, but when faced with the opportunity she…betrayed us yet again, she sided with Angel and his accomplices and helped them to escape, God only knows where they are right now…but she is not the reason that I called you here," Roger answered with a grim frown on his face as he kept staring straight out into the early evening sky.
"You want me to kill Angel," Robin asked with a slowly growing level of impatience in his voice as he was a busy man and didn't want to get the run around.
"In due time perhaps, no actually I called you here because one of The Immortal's lawyers was brutally attack…pretty girl, so unfortunate, she died from her injuries just a few hours ago, we have learned that her injuries were caused by a vampire named Mercedes, we know very little about her other than the fact that she worked for the Immortal as well, apparently he did not know her as well as he thought," Roger replied with a nervous and sad look on his face as he finally turned back into the room to look straight at Robin, who slowly rose from his chair.
"Any word on her whereabouts," Robin asked with an interested look in his eyes as he slid around Roger's desk and then joined him to stand beside the window.
"Nothing yet, but we have reason to believe that she is still in Rome, I would have given this assignment to Rupert and his people…however I am beginning to suspect that someone on their team has been compromised, and to top it all off instead of attacking Angelus at the party Miss Summers tried to reason with him, she is letting her emotions control her…endangering us all," Roger said back with a frustrated tone to his voice, one that a person would use when they were speaking about someone that they used to have a lot of confidence in but after recent events they were forced to change their opinion for the worse.
"Alright, so I find this Mercedes and bring her in," Robin started to say with a calm look on his face as Roger slowly nodded his head before he continued, "and if I should run into Faith or your son?"
"She had her chance to redeem herself and she chose not to take it, she is of no further use to us, if something terrible should happen to her during this mission…it would be most…unfortunate, if you catch my meaning," Roger replied with a composed look on his face as he turned back to look out at the early evening sky, not a trace of emotion in his voice.
"What if Wesley does not share that idea, Faith isn't exactly the brightest slayer around, perhaps she and your son," Robin started to say with a curious tone to his voice before he trailed off, not thinking that he needed to continue for Roger to get the idea what he was asking.
"If that is the case then he is even more foolish then I ever imagined, but no matter, if he gets in your way you are authorized to use whatever means necessary to get past him and obtain your objective," Roger said back with a confidant look on his face and tone to his voice before he turned on his heel and slowly walked out of the office, never once looking back at Robin.
END OF CHAPTER 21
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for reading this story, there's still a ways to go and a lot to happen. Pairings ideas are still welcome and feel free to suggest story ideas and the like, as always reviews are appreciated.