Faith couldn't keep from fidgeting as Tanya drove them to the little park. As parks went, it wasn't much, just a little building with half walls and a roof, a couple picnic tables inside, and a sandy area with a pair of poles so that a volley ball net could be strung across. But it was empty, and they could talk there without freaking out the rest of the town.
"Remember to breathe, Faith. He's not going to attack you, and even if he did, you could handle that." Tanya murmured. "Now, why don't we go sit down, and then we can exchange a few answers."
Faith nodded, knowing that Tanya's suggestion was good, and sensible, and all that. But she still felt nervous as they walked to the tables, even as Wesley, on that sleek motorcycle, arrived at the park and followed them to the shelter. Her stomach felt all knotted. Why was he here? Were there other Watchers?
"So, Tanya, that's Wesley, and this is Tanya. You both know who I am, so how about we skip to why you're here, Wes?" Faith asked, trying to hide her nervousness. She hadn't told Tanya much of what had happened in Sunnydale, only that she'd fallen under a bad influence and done things that she shouldn't have, but what if Wesley told her?
He sighed, and leaned one elbow on the table. "After Sunnydale, and the whole… mess, I was fired from the Council."
"Fired?" Faith blinked, surprised. She hadn't even considered that a Watcher could be fired. For that matter, what could a Watcher do with the rest of their life? "Can they do that?"
"I can't say that the Council particularly surprises me." Tanya sniffed. "They abandoned my uncle, and ignored his efforts to communicate with them. He gave them his whole life, and they… Ah well, I shouldn't rant."
"They did." Wesley sighed, and almost slumped before pulling himself straight. "Now, I'm a rogue demon hunter, answerable to nobody but myself."
Faith blinked, and then looked at him. "You had nothing else to do with your life and no way to get another job, huh?"
"err, well, I'm sure I could have figured something out." Wesley stammered, his face turning pink. "I may not have been the best Watcher, but I couldn't just walk away."
"You aren't in Sunnydale either." Her voice was soft.
"I could accomplish nothing there. You didn't listen, and neither did Buffy." He clenched his jaw, and was quiet for a moment before continuing. "Unlike some of the Council, I want to help. I want to stop demons from eating people and trying to destroy the earth. So, I'm trying to do what I can."
"He could probably read the rest of those books." Tanya murmured, her expression thoughtful. "The ones that we figured out were German and whatever that other one was? If there's information in them, maybe he could help us. Before She gets her hands on it."
"She? Who do you mean?" Wesley asked, glancing from Faith to Tanya and back to Faith.
"The evil head vamp. She's a woman, with big plans, and she wants an object. We don't want her to get it, but we don't know too much about it." Faith shrugged, and then sighed. "I don't even know who she is, or how old."
"What do we know about her?" Wesley offered.
"We?" Tanya asked, one eyebrow lifting.
"I'd like to offer my assistance." Wesley spoke, his gaze firm even as he turned a bit pink. "Perhaps I am not the best fighter, but I have no desire to stand aside and bemoan the state of the world today."
Faith bit her lip, considering him. He'd been pretty bad in Sunnydale, but if he wanted to help them, maybe she should think about it. It wasn't like they had a lot of offers for help to sort through, and if he could translate something about the Door… If he could adjust to things, the way she was trying to adjust her life back into order, maybe. "I don't play by the Handbook rules."
"I don't think you ever did." He replied. "What, in specific, are you hoping I don't object to?"
"Mort." Faith replied, her arms crossing defensively. "He's my boyfriend."
For a moment, Wesley was silent, looking deep in thought. "I suppose a steady boyfriend might be something of a stabilizing influence for you."
"He's a mutant." Faith said, expecting Wesley to go funny colored and start stammering objections.
"Mmmm. I suppose that's fine. After all, someone entirely normal would probably bore you to tears after a few hours." He frowned, and then added, "He might have some useful abilities that could be of benefit."
Tanya was looking amused, and tried to hide her smile behind her hand as Faith glanced around the shelter, trying to think of anything else that Wesley might object to. If he was going to have his prissy fit, best find out fast and get him out of the way. "Then there's Lorrie."
"Lorrie?" He asked, his face politely blank.
"She's a potential Slayer, and the Vamp Lady had her minions kill her Watcher. She wanted him to tell her about the Door." Faith replied. "Right, the evil vamp is trying to make herself an army of mutant vampires to take over the world with."
"Then we have to stop her." Wesley countered. "Stop looking for reasons to send me away, and let's go find these books so that I might be able to find something useful."
"Damn, but time away from Sunnydale has helped you out a lot." Faith murmured. She felt a bit dazed by the differences. She'd been afraid there would be another threat, and instead, they found the new, improved version of Wesley.
"Yes, well…" He stood up, preparing to go back to the motorcycle. "I believe it's called growing up. If you ladies would lead the way?"
end part 42.
She couldn't quite believe it. Wesley had changed so much, at least on the first glance. He was dressing differently, and didn't move in that same awkward fashion. He had picked up a few little scars on his hands, and she'd caught a glimpse of a healing cut under his shirt sleeve. Wesley had sounded perfectly fine about the whole mutant issue, like it wasn't a problem at all, and she just couldn't make that match up with the uptight arrogant book-bound twit from Sunnydale.
"Faith? Anything that you'd care to share?" Tanya's voice brought Faith's attention back to the car.
"He seems so different." Faith explained, not certain how else to describe it. "He's dressed different, he looks like he knows what he's doing, and he doesn't' sound like an uptight ass."
"All of which, are good changes, aren't they?" She offered, glancing at Faith out of the corner of her eye, mainly watching the road ahead of them.
"Yeah, they sound good. But when… how did it happen? What sort of parallel world am I in where Wesley's going to be of use?" Faith said, hoping to convey her confusion.
"You were in a coma for eight months, and spent a little more than another one traveling before you met me, right?" Tanya began, her words thoughtful.
"Right." Faith wondered where Tanya was going with this, but she had a few ideas. Something about time and people changing, and giving him a chance… But it was Wesley.
"If what he said is true, while you were comatose in a hospital bed, he was fired from the only job he'd ever expected, had no purpose left in the town that he was in, far from home or any form of support, and he's been forced to fend for himself in all regards for the last nine months. To be blunt, if he's telling the truth, he's had to grow up, and fast. He wouldn't have had anyone else to fight the demons or vampires, and nobody to call of for research with the Council abandoning him." Tanya sounded thoughtful, but as if there was something else troubling her.
"He was out in the sunshine, he couldn't have got vamped." Faith insisted. "Vampires and sunshine give you dust piles. What else could there be?"
"Either he grew up, or…" Tanya shook her head. "I suppose that James Bond movie marathon was a mistake. The odds of him being some sort of sleeper agent are absurd."
"Yea, absurd." Faith repeated, her mind spinning. Sunnydale couldn't have been faked, could it? Nobody could be that good at playing inept, could they? Or had he been given an assisted crash course, and set out to find her… No, that was equally ridiculous. Nobody had been set out to find her, because nobody had known where she would be. She hadn't even known where she would end up.
She glanced at the mirror, her eyes focusing on the motorcycle following them. She was a Slayer, if he turned out to be trouble… Her conscience was already heavy, eliminating a danger that happened to be human wouldn't really make anything worse. Just as long as she let him prove that he was a danger first. She could wait and watch, and in the mean time, maybe he could find something in the books.
"I just hope he's on the level with us." She whispered.
End part 43.
They made it back to the farmhouse without any additional surprises. She could see Mort up on the roof, doing something. There was motion, resolving itself into another two figures, slightly smaller. "Guess that answers the question of what did Lorrie and Pyro do while we were gone. Mort has them up on the roof with him."
Wesley pulled in behind them, parking his motorcycle near Mort's. He walked towards them, and it was impossible for Faith to believe that hew as the same in Sunnydale. There were too many changes. He still had the same features, but a completely new amount of self confidence, and the way that he moved… No, Wesley hadn't been like this in Sunnydale. This Wesley could be dangerous.
"The books are in the library." Tanya explained, walking towards the house. She didn't offer any further invitations, simply unlocking the front door and walking inside.
"I'm not a bloody vampire." Wesley grumbled, not quite faint enough to escape Faith's notice.
Smothering a chuckle, Faith waved at Mort, and then followed Tanya and Wesley inside. Might as well find out what the Watcher reaction to the library would be. Maybe he'd be able to explain why Uncle Eli had left weapons laying about absolutely everywhere? Did they try to teach paranoia at Watcher School?
"Do I want to know why there's a crossbow sitting beside the sink?" Wesley murmured, glancing at it.
"It took too long to find it in the cupboards." Tanya replied absently. "And as Faith pointed out, it was useless in the bathroom."
"The bathroom? Why would you have a crossbow in the bathroom?" He blinked. "Never mind, you said there were books."
"Up the stairs, and watch your step." Tanya explained, even as she was leading the way. "We haven't got the wiring fixed yet, so the lights are a bit dim in the hallway."
Wesley didn't say anything until he stepped into the library, and then he made this little noise. It wasn't anything coherent, but it just sounded way happier than a room full of books should make a person. He moved inside the room, fingertips brushing lightly over the spines of demon indexes and books of prophecy. He sighed as he touched volumes with labels in something other than English, and almost purred as he lifted a small book bound in dark blue. "Quite the collection."
"Damn, who knew that old books work like catnip on Watchers?" Faith joked, looking at Wesley and Tanya.
"The ones that we think might have something about the door are over here." Tanya said, her lips twitching at Faith's joke. "I'll help you look, and Faith can go back to helping with the roof."
"Right, fine with me." Faith insisted, backing out of the room. "I'll leave you two to the old books, and I'll just go toss old shingles to the ground."
Faith made her way towards a window, planning to just go out to the lower portion of the roof and then up, and paused. Tanya was just trying to keep an eye on him and find the information, right? She couldn't be interested in Wesley, could she?
Shaking her head, Faith slipped out the window. If Tanya was interested, fine, it was her life. At least she would have someone ho would understand why her uncle had such strange books. And if he hurt Tanya, there were plenty of ways to get rid of bodies. She was sure that she could find that giant snapping turtle again, if she needed a body to go away. Of course, if he'd made an impression like this back in Sunnydale, a lot of things would have turned out very differently.
Smiling at Mort, Faith gave him a hug. "Hey there. We may have help. Turns out the guy looking into things in town was Wesley Wyndham-Price, the junior Watcher from Sunnydale. Tanya's got him in the library looking through the books."
"So, I can probably get home some time soon?" Pyro asked, wiping at his forehead. "I can think of more enjoyable things to do that re-roofing a house."
"Probably." Faith agreed. "But you might as well stay for dinner."
Lorrie smiled, and reached over, her fingers brushing his elbow. "Please? I'd like the company."
"Sure." He was grinning at Lorrie. "All this work is making me hungry."
Mort made a choking noise, and pointed at the pair of them. "I know that I was never that sappy, or that obvious in my flirting."
"Yeah, it is pretty sweet." Faith paused, and shook her head. "Almost nauseatingly sweet."
Lorrie just stuck her tongue out. "Give it a rest, Faith. You're imagining things. I'm not… It's not like I'm… Oh, never mind."
Faith just looked at Mort and grinned.
End part 44.