Chapter 16: Road to Redemption

Challenge: partially to answer a forum request/challenge by DeepBlueJoy for a story with a 'person of color' as a main character – who doesn't die immediately.

Warning: Defending Wes in this chapter; if you can't forgive him for Connor, you might not want to read it.

Thanks to my betas: zigpal, AshDawnSoulmates and AerynSpeedleCaine.

Disclaimer: BtVS and AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Summers home

Early morning…

Buffy woke to hear knocking on the front door. Her sleep had been troubled, but surprisingly without the kind of nightmares that had her waking up, screaming in terror. A glance over at the comfy chair gave her a hint as to why that might have been. Poor Tara looked not-so-comfy trying to sleep there. Guess the chair wasn't named so well; that or it wasn't meant to be slept in.

The Slayer considered what she should do with her confidante. She could easily carry Tara to the bedroom Willow was in, but should she? Yeah, they were reuniting, but putting them in bed together without their consent felt kinda wrong – even though it was innocent. That just left her own bed. Since she wasn't planning on going back to sleep after she saw who was at the door, that probably was the better option. And there was less chance of waking Tara up if she wasn't carrying through the hall to another room.

The knocking at the door reminded Buffy that she had to get moving before the person left. Fortunately – or maybe unfortunately 'cause it meant Tara was really wiped – the blonde Wicca didn't wake up during the transfer. Buffy quickly checked to make sure she was presentable, then raced down the stairs.

When she opened the door, she didn't see anyone right away. A throat clearing from the side of the porch let her know that her guest was on the swing. Buffy looked over to find Wes getting up, despite the fact he barely had a chance to sit down.

"Hey, Wes," she greeted. "Can I get you some coffee or something to drink?"

She wasn't prepared for the gravelly voice that answered her. When she talked to him the night before, her mind wasn't functioning fully to realize it was the same then. "Some tea would be wonderful if you have it," Wes replied. "It's good to see you again, Buffy. Thank you for the chance to help."

Sensing there was a bunch of stuff hidden behind his words, Buffy wanted to wait until she had some caffeine and food before delving into the heavy stuff. "Let's have some breakfast, then we can get into why I need you here and why you are so willing to leave LA, 'k?"

Not in any rush to talk about the latter, Wes unconsciously touched his throat, which was shielded by a turtleneck to hide the scar. He simply nodded his agreement.

Both actions were caught by Buffy, making her wonder how bad his story would be.

Half an hour later…

They took their beverages and some toast to eat out into the backyard so they wouldn't disturb Willow and Tara.

As soon as they sat down at the picnic table, Buffy began the conversation by asking, "So…is there something wrong with your throat? Seems a bit warm out to be wearing a turtleneck."

Wes took a sip of his tea, trying to gather his nerves. This had the potential to be the shortest 'job' he'd had in the past few years. When he told her what he did to Angel, she'd run him out of town – and then maybe go to LA to kick Angel's ass for sleeping with Darla. The latter part of that thought had him smiling behind his cup briefly.

Slowly, with several breaks to take more sips of tea to keep his throat hydrated, he laid out the story of Darla showing up pregnant with Angel's son, the prophecy, Holtz, the portal, Angel trying to kill him in the hospital, Fred telling him not to come back. When he was done, he stared at the bottom of his teacup, waiting for Buffy to pass judgment on him. Or maybe to ask about Angel and Darla; he could never be sure what part of the story she would choose to focus on first.

Her silence as she listened only served to heighten his anxiety. The girl he knew three years ago would never have kept quiet this long – especially where Angel was concerned.

Finally, she let out a breath and started speaking, "So let me get this straight…you found a prophecy that said Angel would hurt his miracle baby, checked it out as many ways as you could think of, meanwhile Angel was becoming more and more erratic, is that about it?" Wes nodded warily.

She nodded in return, then continued, "Then this guy shows up with a serious case of vengeance against Angel for something Angelus did over a century ago – or however long it was," she waved her hand dismissively so Wes wouldn't correct her, "and he says something about not wanting to hurt an innocent child. You know better and figure that you need to get Angel Jr. out of the way, hoping the others will be able to take care of themselves 'cause hey, that's what they do, right?"

Another wary nod, but this time more hopeful because she seemed to be rather understanding of his motivation pretty well so far. But he knew it was getting to the moment of betrayal, and that's were her understanding could vanish.

"Fast forward a bit in time to this Holtz holding Connor and jumping into a portal to the worst hell dimension imaginable," she summarized, skipping a few crucial steps in the story…or so it seemed at first. Buffy stared hard at Wes, making him fidget and unconsciously touch his throat again, which made her guess something he hadn't told her before during his story.

With that understanding, she went forward, pretending to play devil's advocate, "Angel found out that you took Connor and tried to kill you because your betrayal led to Junior ending up in hell." Buffy paused for a moment, and said with tone that sounded like she agreed with her ex, "Because of course, you willingly handed over the baby to Angel's enemy…right? He didn't – for example – try to kill you by…cutting your throat or something? That way he could take Connor from you forcibly."

Wes' eyes widened in shock that she came close to guessing the truth. Stunned, he uttered, "It was Justine, his right hand girl, but yeah…she pretended that he beat her when she started asking questions so she could get close enough to me to slit my throat. How did you know?" he demanded in confusion.

Buffy shrugged, "Kind of a lucky guess. Any time Angel or Connor were mentioned, you'd touch your throat; the turtleneck in May; why you'd be willing to come back to Sunnydale after the horrid way I treated you back in high school. Maybe part of you thinks you deserved it and coming here means you have a chance to make up for what you perceive to be betrayal."

"His son is gone because of me!" Wes practically shouted, wincing in pain when it aggravated his throat. "How is that not a betrayal?" he whispered harshly.

"It was a mistake, Wes," Buffy said compassionately. "A stupid mistake, sure, but a mistake, not a betrayal. Think about your intentions," she demanded when he looked ready to argue again. "When you took Connor from the hotel, you had no intentions of handing him over to anyone else, did you? You were going to run with Connor and protect him until you were sure it was safe to return to LA? And you did this because you wanted to keep Connor safe and to stop Angel from hurting his son – a child that all the stuff we know about vampires says shouldn't exist."

Fighting the emotions that he had kept bottled up for the past several weeks, Wes could only nod his head.

Buffy shocked both of them when she stood up to move to Wes' side of the table and give him a hug. "Then it wasn't a betrayal," she determined confidently. "You were trying to do the right thing, but just went about it in the wrong way. I can't fault you for that." She pulled back a little so she could look him in the eyes, and warned him, "But if you ever find a prophecy that says I'd hurt Dawn, make sure you tell somebody before you run with her. Otherwise, I might react the same way as he did."

"Thank you," Wes murmured gratefully. He had his second chance…or would this be his third? Before he could say anything else, movement from the side of the house caught his eye. A young man about Buffy's age, looking very angry, was storming towards them. Wes stood up, bringing Buffy up with him so she could get into a defensive stance.

Even though Wes didn't know the man, Buffy did, and she muttered softly to herself, "Warren!"

Warren kept coming forward, then he started to scream, "You think you can just do that to me? You think I'd let you get away with that? Think again," he laughed sinisterly as he pulled up his hand to reveal a gun.

A/N: You know I had to leave it there.