*************
We sat down with Angel the following evening
and discussed the whole 'him coming back to LA with us'. He seemed a little resistant to that. A lot of words were said that probably
shouldn't have been. Insults were
thrown back and forth across the table.
Basically his argument was that we didn't need him at Angel
Investigations anymore because we had been doing fine without him for the past
2+ years. Cordy's argument was that it
was Angel Investigations and he was "Angel". She was getting these visions and they were
for him from the PTB. She was sick of
getting them and almost getting killed by answering them while their warrior
was out "finding himself" around the world. I hadn't spoke during the whole argument. When they finally asked for my opinion I had
no clue what to say. I told Angel
simply that 'I wanted him to come back to LA with me' and then I shut up again
for the rest of the conversation. The
screaming match between the others got them all nowhere. But I think that they all felt better after
they got out what they had been feeling for the last few years. The conversation ended when Cordy got a
vision of a college kid in distress. We
were all out the door minus Gunn and Cordy in a matter of seconds.
When we came back from that adventure in
fighting evil I was in pain. One of the
vampires had gotten the upper hand and kicked my ass for a few minutes while my
guard was completely down until Angel had to rescue me. I headed back to Adam's house limping
heavily on my now very hurt left leg.
About halfway there Angel picked me up and carried me the rest of the
way back to the house. I complained the
whole time he was carrying me about how I was fine and didn't need his help,
which I obviously did but would never admit to him. He took me into the house and sat me on the couch in the living
room and went and played doctor for me.
He came back a few minutes later with a medical kit.
"Really Angel, I am fine, you don't have
to do this for me. I just need to get
some sleep and it'll be fine," I tried to argue with him as Adam laughed
at my attempts from the doorway. B had
gone to shower after getting completely filthy from the fight and the mud pit
she was thrown in.
"If you can tell me that this doesn't
hurt then I won't do anything more," Angel told me and grabbed my knee
kinda harshly. I immediately shot
forward to move him off of me and groaned in pain.
"Fine asshole," I ground out and
fell back against the couch. I didn't
want him to cater to me at the moment all I wanted was to go take a hot bath and
relax my body and then sleep off my injuries.
"I am going to get you cleaned up and
then we are going to get you into a hot bath for a little while to relax your
muscles and then when you are a little more relaxed I will wrap up your leg and
work out all the kinks. Sound like a good plan to you?"
"Whatever you think is best Angel,"
I snidely shot back at him, just hoping that he would leave me alone soon. My leg was killing me and I just wanted to
be alone to deal with the pain.
"This is probably going to sting a
little but whatever they hit you with certainly left a mark," Angel told
me about a second before putting alcohol on my open cuts and I hissed in pain
and then dug my fingernails into my palms in an attempt to keep quiet. He
cleaned my cuts and scrapes with a surprising gentleness that only he could
possess when it came to me. After he
got them all thoroughly cleaned he threw out the dirty things and packed up the
med kit.
"Arms around my neck," Angel told
me as he squatted down next to me and put on arm under my stretched out
legs. I wrapped my arms around his neck
and he lifted me off the couch and carried me wordlessly into Adam's bedroom
and into the bathroom that held the whirlpool bathtub I would be using. He sat me on the toilet and started to run
hot water. He added bubbles into the
mix and then turned to look at me.
"Let me guess this is my cue to
strip. So what do you want me in
Angel? Absolutely nothing? Completely
naked?"
"Faith lay off. Whatever you are comfortable in will work
for me. Do whatever you want Faith, you
always do."
"I will," I snapped at him. I pushed myself up to my feet and yanked off
my shirt, leaving me in my bra. My
shorts were next to come off of me almost causing me to fall on my face in the
floor, but I managed to keep my balance.
I stood there in my bra and thong and waited for him to get done with
the water in the tub. When he was done
he helped me into the tub so I wouldn't slip and fall. I eased into the hot water and sighed as it
enveloped my body. I sat in my bath for
10 minutes before Angel grabbed my leg jarring me out of my relaxation. I jumped a little and he held onto my leg to
help work out the tension and bruises that covered it. He massaged my leg for a good 20 minutes and
then as the water turned cold he let my leg go.
"You are pruning, time to get out,"
he told me as he pulled the plug to drain the water. He helped me out of the tub and wrapped me in a big fluffy
towel. After I was mostly dry he
allowed me to hobble to what I claimed as my bedroom in the house.
"You need help changing?" He asked
me gently.
"You want to help?" I shot back and
smirked at him. He smiled slowly at me
and then shook his head.
"I'll be right outside the door. Let me know when you are dressed or if you
need help," Angel to me and headed out the door shutting it behind
him. I dropped the towel and managed to
pull of my soaking wet bra and thong and then dried myself off again before
putting on clean and dry underwear and clothes. I had changed into the sleep bottoms I had stolen from Adam and a
tank of my own. I hobbled over to the
door as I pulled on my tank top and opened it to find Angel leaning up against
the wall across from the door. He had
ice and ace bandages in his hands.
"You mind if I come in? Or do you want to attempt to sleep off that
injury?" Angel asked, concern in his voice.
"You can come in and if I fall asleep in
your presence don't take it personally," I told him and he laughed at me
for a moment.
"I'll try hard not to," he mumbled
as he came into the room and shut the door firmly behind him. I crawled into the bed that B and I had been
sharing this entire time. He pulled up
the pant leg on my left leg and put the ice on the swollen parts and wrapped it
up with the ace bandages. Angel then
helped me get the covers over my body comfortably
"So what brings you here to spend time
with me?" I asked him after he was done and he just smiled at me.
"I told you we had to talk and after the
comment you made during the talk tonight and the events that happened at the
fight tonight we really need to talk."
"I never pegged you as the person to
volunteer for a talk," I sarcastically threw at him and he smiled at me
gently not caring that I was making fun of him.
"Yeah well people change Faith. You should know and understand that."
"I do."
"I'm truly sorry that I left you in that
jail cell all by yourself," Angel told me as he sat down on the side of
the bed next to my hips facing me, putting one hand over my thighs and
effectively trapping me on the bed underneath him. "I'm sorry that I couldn't be there to keep you sane and
help you out when things got too rough.
You have every right to hate me and I wouldn't expect anything less than
that from you at this point.
"I tried to save Darla when she came back in human form. I really
did. I did everything that I could to
help her, to make sure that death wouldn't take her, and make sure that she was
given the chance to live a normal life.
I should have realized that things I love and try to help usually end up
broken and hurt in the end. I couldn't
save her when Dru came to change her and I couldn't save her once she was a
vampire again. I couldn't seem to get
it into my head that she was the enemy now and not the innocent human that
W&H brought back into this world.
"I suppose that I can apologize until the end of time about leaving you
and deserting you but in the end it all comes down to whether you believe me or
not, whether you trust that I wouldn't lie to you Faith."
"You left me alone in there. You convinced me it was the right thing to
do to go to jail and suffer the consequences for what I did. You also promised me that if I made that
decision then I wouldn't ever be alone, you would be right there beside me
throughout the entire sentencing. I
hated you so much for breaking that promise to me. I hated you with everything I had in me and yet for some reason I
knew that the minute that I saw you or talked to you that all that hate would
disappear and I would forgive you without an explanation – just like that. I'm weak without you Angel and I hate that I
have found that out about myself. It
makes me vulnerable. Weaknesses are
usually the death of Slayers and I don't want you to be the cause of my death
because somewhere deep down inside me I know that somehow you will be.
"I understand the dilemma that you had when Darla was brought back as a
human and when she was changed into a vampire.
I can sort of understand why you just wanted to be alone and why
everything you had was put into her. I
understand that Angel, I really do. But
what I haven't figured out yet is why after she was dead you left. You didn't make sure that I was still alive
after that fall out the window and you didn't stick around to let me see you
when I came out of the coma I was in. I
hate you for that still, I really do. I
woke up more alone that day then I ever have in my life. I had no idea whether you were dead or
alive. I didn't know anything Angel and
that scared me more than anything else has ever scared me in my life. The gang didn't know whether you were alive
or not either, I mean you left nothing to prove that you were still in
existence you just left again. You are
really fucking good at that Angel, you really are.
"So I hate you for that Angel. I
still do. I have been out of my coma
for roughly 10 months now and everyday I wake up praying to find you because
when I did I promised myself that I wouldn't give in to your face or your charm
or you. I promised myself that I would
be strong and hate you like I have for every one of those days since you left
me in jail alone. I hate that I can't
hate you…I hate it," I told him angrily.
I refused to meet his eyes at the moment because the emotions running
through my body were really powerful.
"Why do you hate me? Because I left you to become strong for the
both of us later, for us now?" Angel asked me so quietly I almost didn't
hear him.
"Excuse me?" I asked him in
disbelief.
"I couldn't be the man you needed me to
be when the thing with Darla came up. I
knew that you would be fine and I knew that I had left enough clues to let
Cordelia know that I had been visiting you and that you were a possible link to
me. I was banking on the fact that she
would see you and keep coming back to visit you and then she would become the
rock that you held onto and I was completely right. I couldn't do anything substantial for you while I was an
emotional wreck. Darla stirred up
things in me that I didn't know still existed.
I wasn't prepared for them and I certainly didn't know how to handle
them at all. I couldn't be unstable
around you. It was better, in my
opinion, for me not to be around you then to be unstable for you…for us,"
Angel admitted to me.
"What is with this 'for us' bullshit
Angel? We aren't together! You don't care for me more than some little
lost human soul you are saving. I'm not
your girlfriend Angel – there is no 'us'!" I snapped at him, locking eyes
with him over this argument.
"There could be Faith. If the situation was different…if things
were different…if events hadn't transpired that actually did…then things
between the two of us could have been different and I think that you know
that."
"You mean if you hadn't already done the
dating the Slayer charade and if your Sire hadn't come back into existence then
we would have had a chance? Is that
what you are saying? I don't play by
what ifs Angel. What's done is done and
neither one of us can do anything to change that. Things are the way they are going to always be. Nothing will go back and erase the past and
change it. What's done is done
Angel…you of all people should know that.
We can't change who we are or what we have done!" I explained to
him and he just smirked a little.
"You are definitely hard headed aren't
you? You always think that you are
missing out on something that Buffy had, aren't you? She had the perfect little family with the Mom that loved her,
the perfect little circle of friends that would die for her, the perfect
Watcher that loved her and would do anything under the sun for her, and the
perfect little vampire boyfriend who worshipped her and killed his own for
her. She was worshipped for her heroism
and world renown and what were you? The
replacement Slayer to Kendra who was the replacement to Buffy, who after all
this time and two new Slayers, still isn't dead. You are just afraid you are
going to be in Buffy's shadow all the time right? You are afraid that all you are ever going to get is Buffy's sloppy
seconds? That it Faith?" Angel
asked me, suddenly angry and confrontational.
I wasn't sure what to make of this new vocal and insightful Angel. Things over the past few years had changed
him from the quiet, brooding vampire to the expressive, emotional one he was
today.
"I'm not afraid of anything Angel
certainly not of being second best to Buffy.
I am my own person, not her replacement. I'm Faith the Slayer. She
died because she wasn't perfect and so I was called. I'm not beneath her, hear me, I'm not under her!" I snapped
angrily at him and tried to push him away from me but he held his ground
firmly.
"If you aren't afraid then why are you
getting hostile Faith? If you honestly
didn't question yourself and your status compared to Buffy then why would you
defend yourself?"
"I hate you Angel. Stay away from me ok? Just leave me alone all right? I was doing just fine, we were doing just
fine, while you were off finding yourself for whatever reason you decided this
century to find yourself. I don't need
you to be strong for me – I am strong enough for myself now. Cordelia plays guardian to me right now; you
aren't needed --understood. You can
play strong for someone else and pretend you have something with someone
else…perhaps they will believe you when you tell them you have an 'us' with
them," I snapped angrily at Angel.
He was really making me pissed as hell right now. He was throwing all the insecurities I had
back into my face after I finally gotten past them and moved on.
"Do you hate me honestly Faith? Or do you love me?" He asked me.
"I hate you," I quickly shot out of
my mouth and then slid out from under him on the bed. I stood and looked back at him and his eyes showed true
hurt. "Because I love you," I
quietly admitted to him and then headed towards the door to leave the
room. I planned on heading to Gunn and
Cordy's room and climbing into bed with them and letting them hold me tightly
and tell me everything was going to be ok, but I didn't even make it to the
door. Angel was between the door and me
almost instantly and I was a little shocked at the speed at which he moved.
"Say it again," he told me gently
as he lifted up my chin gently to look down into my eyes.
"I hate you," I told him and he
frowned a little and his hand dropped from my face. "Because I love you," I added quietly while keeping eye
contact with him. "I always have,
probably always will. I know it is a false hope, a dream, but it is what keeps
me alive Angel."
"You love me?" Angel asked me
quietly and returned his hand to my face, cupping his hand around one side.
"Yeah," I quietly muttered and then
tried to move out of his embrace. This
was too powerful for me and I really wasn't ready for this kind of
intimacy.
"Good," he responded after a
second.
"That is all you have to say to
that?" I asked him, shocked.
"I bare my soul and all you have to say is 'good'?"
"I'm flattered. I don't know what to say
to you in response that you would believe.
If I told you that I loved you back right now you would think I was just
saying it to make you feel better and less out of place. So I'm not going to say it now Faith, I'll
save it for another time when you aren't expecting to hear it in response. Then, in that moment, it will mean something
to you," Angel responded and I looked up at him and smiled a genuine
smile.
"Promise?" I asked of him.
"Always and forever," he responded
and then motioned to the bed.
"Right now you need to get some sleep and rest that leg. We'll talk about this later when the timing
is better," he suggested to me and I just nodded to him and he helped me
back into the bed, under the covers and such.
After he tucked me in he bent down and quickly kissed my forehead and
whispered "sweet dreams" before he turned to leave the room.
"Stay with me…" I called out as he
reached for the doorknob. I saw him
hesitate and then turn back to look at me through the darkness of the
room.
"Why Faith, afraid of the dark?" He
teased me gently, attempting to take the edge off the seriousness of the
request I had just asked of him.
"Yeah the vampire slayer who was afraid
of the dark…" I laughed a little and then my smile died. "Stay Angel," I asked of him
again. He didn't answer me but he did
come back to the other side of the bed.
I felt the mattress shift as he sat down to take off his shoes.
"I'm going to go change and then I'll be
right back ok? I just want to throw on
more comfortable clothes," Angel explained to me as he rose from the bed.
"Screw the comfortable the clothes
Angel, just stay. Sleep naked for all I
care, just stay with me," I begged him.
I heard rustling as clothes were being pulled off. He took off his over-shirt and his socks and
then he pulled back the covers on his side of the bed and climbed in next to
me, but not touching me. When I woke up
several hours later it was late morning, perhaps noon even and I was securely
held in Angel's arms. I knew from that
moment on that things would be ok between Angel and myself. I knew that Angel was coming back to LA,
back to Angel Investigations, and back to me.
***********
Over the next two years…
Angel and I both were happy working
together. I had moved out of Cordelia's
place about 6 months after we all returned to LA with Angel. Gunn had moved in with her long ago and it
was only fair that the two lovers had their own place without me in the room
next to their bedroom. When I initially
moved into Angel's hotel I moved into my own room and bed. After living in the hotel with Angel a few
rooms down the hall for a month we just gave up and I moved all my possessions
that I had collected over the past few years into his room. I joined him in his bed as well. We found that the closer we got the better
our slaying got as well. We moved as
one when we fought in battle. We didn't
have to ask the other what the next move was, we just acted knowing the other
one would know what we were doing and why.
We had it down to a science. Fighting side by side every night against
the forces of darkness and then we came back to the hotel and would work relax
in each other's company. Sex with Angel
was my favorite way to relax after hard night of fighting. Angel and I became pretty much inseparable
about 4 months after Angel moved back to LA.
It took me awhile to trust him again and to completely believe that he
wasn't going to abandon me again. But
once that trust issue was secured on both of our sides we were side by side all
the time practically. The only time that we weren't together, which wasn't
often as more clientele came in, was when Cordy and I went shopping. We had a blast shopping with each other. And
we were both fond of spending Angel's money. Oz and Lindsay had moved into the
hotel in an extra room about 5 months after I did. It was good to have live
company.
**********
Friday, August 13th, 2004
I awoke that morning with a groan as the
first rays of sunlight came into the bedroom in the far corner. I tried to roll over but I was trapped
underneath Angel's arm that was thrown haphazardly over my body in a vague
attempt at security and possession even when we were both asleep. Angel and I had just gotten in roughly 3
hours ago from fighting a group of demons on the East Dock that were
threatening the dock crew and watermen there.
We had to take them all down and then take care of the disposal of their
dead bodies. It wasn't a fun night
overall. I had gotten a royal ass
kicking from some of them because I had gone in there unprepared for the damage
they could do to me. I slid out from
underneath of Angel and gracelessly got out of the bed and stretched. I looked up at my arms while I stretched out
and saw multiple bruises covering both my arms and then I looked down further
to see bruises along my upper torso. I
had no idea last night when I headed out with Angel that I would encountering
demons that like to fight with ancient wooden – but felt like stone –
clubs. I can only dodge so much as the
Slayer and with multiple demons swinging clubs it equaled a bruised Faith. I would heal, in a day or so the bruises
would all be gone, but until then I was going to look like a beat up rag
doll. I stretched again trying to get
the tension out of my body. It wasn't a
muscle tension, but one of those 'Cordy had a vision something is going to happen'
tensions. I wanted to make sure to talk
to Cordelia when she came to get me this morning about her vision. I pulled off
the shirt I had l pulled on to sleep in and walked into the bathroom to
shower. As I washed off my body the
water pooling at the bottom turned different colors as the blood, dirt, and
demon residue washed off my body. I
washed my hair really well and made sure to scrub all of my body to get
whatever still was on there off. I shut
off the shower and wrung out my hair before reaching blindly to get the towel
on the other side of the shower curtain.
I grabbed the towel and dried off as I headed out of the steamy bathroom
and into the bedroom. It still never
failed to amuse me as to how Angel could sleep through all of my morning
routine. I pulled on training sweats
and a tank top and continued to dry my hair as I walked back to the
bathroom. I hung my towel over the
drying rack in there and pulled my hair haphazardly into a ponytail. As I checked my watch I noticed Cordy would be
here any minute to pick me up. I
grabbed my set of keys to the hotel, my cell and my wallet and stuffed them all
into my bag. I dropped a quick kiss on
Angel's lips before I headed out of the bedroom and down to the main lobby to
meet Cordy. She was coming in through
the garage door as I came down the main staircase. She was immediately went to her computer and turned it on and
started checking messages on the machine while I headed into the kitchen to
grab a couple breakfast bars for the two of us. I walked back out to the lobby and addressed her finally.
"Hey," I said to her.
"Hey yourself…your mocha is on the
counter," She said to me and I nodded more to myself then to her since she
hadn't looked up from her desk.
"On the left," she added before I even thought about which one
was mine.
"Thanks Cordy," I responded as I
grabbed my cup and took a tentative sip to test the temperature.
"No problem Faith. You ready?" She asked me finally
looking up at me once she was done with the answering machine.
"Yeah," I mutter distracted as I
look over the newspaper. Fortunately
there was no mention of the fight Angel and I had been in last night.
"You look like shit," she suddenly
said and I realized this must have been the first time she looked at me this
morning.
"Well…um…basically I got clubbed
excessively last night by an angry assortment of demons. I didn't even look at my face – that
bad?" I grin sheepishly.
"Here," she said and pulled the
compact out of her bag and handed it to me.
I looked at my face and frowned deeply.
"Bad isn't really a good descriptive
word for my face."
"No shit. Lets roll though, no need to be late and cause even more
attention to you."
"Thanks," I teased as I tossed the
compact at her and grabbed my coffee.
We locked the garage door behind us and got into Cordelia's car. She drove us to the gym where we went every
Friday morning for our Tae-Bo and Yoga classes.
After the classes we headed out to
lunch. We always went to Wittingham's
and it was no surprise they had a table reserved and waiting for us even during
the busy lunch hour. Provided there
were no mind-numbing vision Cordelia and I had off every Friday to do our girl
thing together. We walked in past the
line of people waiting to get their name on the waiting list and get seated. Ronald – the usual Friday day host – was
waiting at the podium taking names and seating people as tables were
available. He smiled to us, immediately
ignoring the people before him.
"Ahh Ms. Cordelia and Ms. Faith your
table awaits you. Please seat
yourselves and excuse my rudeness for not seating you myself," Ronald
greeted us.
"Thanks Ronald. It's no problem, I answered and we headed to
our normal table while complaints were heard from the people in line. We sat down and looked out the window at
passing people and waiting customers.
We ended up with a new waitress who didn't automatically know our
order. It was amusing to say the least
at how she was edgy around us. Mr.
Wittingham came up to us mid-meal.
"Hello ladies," a deep male voice
jerked us out of our conversation.
"Hi Mr. Witt," we both said simultaneously.
"How are you? How was the gym this
morning?"
"We are good; the gym was great,"
Cordy answered and I smiled.
"And you?" I added – our usual
pattern.
"I'm still here thankfully," he
answered and cast us a knowing smile.
"Always good to know," I commented.
"How is the meal? Is Rebecca treating
you well?"
"The food is exceptional as always and
Rebecca is doing great. She seems
nervous," Cordy answered.
"She is terrified. When she asked why the 2 top in her section
wasn't say with all these people Melizza explained it to her. She almost freaked and didn't want to have
to the position to wait on you. So
treat her well," he explained and we laughed at that one.
"We will, don't worry," Cordy
assured him.
"Well take care ladies. I'll see you next week," he told us and
we said our goodbyes and he left our table.
When the bill came we signed our names and left her a 50% cash tip. She came back for the check and looked at
it, confused.
"Mr. Wittingham pays for our lunch. We just sign it and leave your tip. You can ask him and we'll hang out to make
sure you feel comfortable," Cordelia suggested. She hesitated but left and came back a little later.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know about
that," she apologized.
"No worries Rebecca. Take your tip and have an amazing day!"
I suggested to her as we rose from our seats.
"This tip is too much."
"No – its right. Have a good day Rebecca. Perhaps we'll see you next Friday."
"Could you answer me one question before
you leave?"
"Yeah what?"
"Why do you two get free meals and a
special table?"
"Faith and I have been coming here for a
little over a year. We teach a couple
classes at the gym ever Friday morning.
So, one morning on the way over here, it was our first time here, and
this guy comes in the place and tries to rob Mr. Witt. So Faith jumps him, kicks the shit out of
him, saves the restaurant, and holds onto him until the police get here. Since we have been invited to come whenever,
but we always come on Friday for lunch after our classes. So we have been back ever since then and its
like a weekly routine. Without my
weekly fix of Wittingham's I get a little cranky," Cordelia rehashed the
story to the waitress. There was a
picture of us with Mr. Witt right after the police hauled the kid away. Cordy and I were all scruffy from our class,
like we usually are when we come here, and he was dressed all nice…it was quite
the difference.
"Really?"
"Really," I answered and smiled at
her. "See you later Rebecca,"
I told her and took Cordy's hand as we headed out of the restaurant. We walked down the street back towards the
parking garage where we had parked the car, still holding hands,
window-shopping as we went. We headed back
to the hotel to shower and change into normal street clothes. Cordelia headed to her bedroom at the hotel
to shower and get dressed for work, while I headed into kitchen to warm up a
mug of blood to take up to Angel.
Lindsay was cooking lunch in there when I entered.
"Hey," I said to him and he smiled.
"How was the workout session and
lunch?" Lindsay asked me.
"Great as always. What are you making?" I asked him as I
grabbed a container of blood out of the refrigerator and poured some of it into
a microwave-safe tall mug.
"Lunch for Wes, Oz, and myself. Angel is still asleep from what I know and
Gunn is coming over after he takes care of some errands, probably around 4 or
so," Lindsay updated me. The
microwave dinged, signaling it was done with Angel's blood.
"Thanks for the rundown Linds…I'll catch
up with you all later. If you really
need me or Angel and I do mean *really need*
either of us you know where to find us," I told him as I grabbed the mug
out of the microwave and a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and headed
up the stairs to my room.
"Later Faith. Have fun," I heard him call after me as I exited the
kitchen. I only smiled. This was also a Friday ritual for me as
well. I would come up here every Friday
afternoon and wake Angel up for breakfast, for him, in bed. I opened the door to my bedroom and quietly
snuck in and locked it behind me. I
headed over to the bed and set my water bottle down on a coaster on the
nightstand and then dipped my fingers into the blood in the mug and then went
to rub them over Angel's lips. He
surprised me, like he usually does cause I can't tell usually when he's asleep
and when he's awake, and latched onto my fingers with his lips and reached out
with him arms to grab me and yanked me onto the bed with him. I had filled the mug pretty full and when he
yanked me some of it sloshed over the side of the mug and onto the sheets, onto
me and onto Angel. It wasn't hot but it
was definitely warm and did burn a little.
"Shit, I didn't realize it was that
full. You ok?" He asked me as he
looked at my now bloody hands and arm.
"I'm fine, it just was a little warm,
but I'm fine. Morning sleepy," I
answered and bent down to kiss him.
"Morning Faith," he replied after
the kiss and then took the mug from my hands and set it on another coaster on
the stand and then licked the blood off my hands and arm. He still had blood on his chest and it was
starting to congeal and it was icky. I
took off my tank top, leaving me in my sports bra, and wiped off his chest and
then tossed my top to the end of the bed carelessly.
"How was work and lunch?"
"Good."
"You are hurt," he said after he
took a better look at my face and my arms.
"Yeah well, what else is new? You don't look so hot yourself."
"Thanks, really, you make my ego sail
here."
"It should've. I enjoy making fun of you Angel."
"Glad to hear it," he
answered. "All this from last
night?"
"Yeah," I answered quietly as I
looked over my bruised arms.
"I noticed you weren't exactly on your
game last night. Any reason why?"
"No real reason. I just didn't kick ass like I normally do. I haven't been feeling that well since
yesterday morning. I think I might have
the flu or a cold. I'll go get looked
at tomorrow."
"Tomorrow is Saturday."
"My clinic is open 24/7. I'll be ok till tomorrow." I told him
honestly.
"Swear?"
"I swear," I replied and grabbed
his mug off the stand. "Drink
up. It'll help fix your face," I
teased him. He sat up and drank his
blood while I laid back relaxing on the bed in his presence.
"All done Mom," Angel teased me and
got up out of the bed.
"Good now go brush your teeth and get
your ass back into bed and ravish me," I instructed him. He mouthed 'ravish me' to me and laughed a
little but headed straight to the bathroom.
**********
After Angel and I got done 'ravishing' each
other we showered and we headed downstairs.
I was in stonewashed low-riding jeans with a yellow midriff baring tank
top while he was in black sweatpants and a black wife-beater (tank top) for the
time being. Lindsay and Oz were
handling a couple at the conference area of the lobby. Wes and Cordy were researching something –
Wes the books and Cordy the net. Angel
and I immediately looked at them for directions.
"They just came in about 15 minutes
ago. It wasn't an emergency so we let
Lindsay and Oz handle the preliminary stuff.
Something to do with vampires kidnapping their daughter, " Cordy
answered.
"When, where?" Angel asked as I
hopped up on the counter.
"No idea – that is what Oz and Lindsay
are getting right now from them."
"What can I do?
"Take a seat like Faith and we'll let
you know when you get to go out on the hunt," she answered and Angel
growled a little at her and then left the lobby heading towards the weapon
supply room.
"So these the people the vision was
about?" I asked her. She looked up
at me, as did Wes.
"Vision?" Cordy questioned with a raised perfectly shaped eyebrow.
"Yeah the vision you got this
morning," I answered looking at her like she was crazy.
"There was no vision this morning. Why did you think I had one?"
"I guess Slayer intuition along with living
with you for so long I just get this vibe whenever you get a vision. So no vision then?"
"None."
"I don't get it then. I have one of those feelings though. The something bad is gonna happen
kind."
"Perhaps you are tapping into something
else all together Faith. Perhaps a
delayed feeling from last night or an anxiety over tonight being Friday the 13th,"
Wesley suggested.
"I don't know Wes. I just have bad tension feeling here. And on top of that I feel like shit. I think I am coming down with
something," I replied as the group rose and headed over to us.
"Good you are here," Lindsay said
to me and I nodded to him.
"Yep," I answered as I hopped down
from the counter.
"Where's Angel?" The woman abruptly
asked.
"Weapons room," I answered but stuck
out my hand. "I'm Faith. I am also in charge of handling these
matters," I introduced myself.
"You are Faith. Lindsay, you said Faith was the best. Look at her. She's all bruised and a girl." The woman ranted.
"A girl? I'm not just a girl. I'm the
Slayer, the Slayer. It is my duty, my
job to kill vampires and demons."
"You are beaten up."
"I got clubbed excessively last night by
a group of stone club toting demons.
They are dead, I'm alive, think about that," I snapped back at the
woman.
"Enough Faith," Angel stated
angrily form the doorway.
"Yes Master," I snapped back at
Angel as I left the couple and headed around on the other side of the counter
to look up the demons from last night and log my encounter. I ignored the conversation from then no as I
grabbed a book to look for the demons we had taken out last night.
"Faith, you wanna explain?" Angel
asked me in a normal voice, but I could tell he was pissed, after the couple
left the hotel.
"No."
"NO? You snapped at clients."
"They mocked me."
"Deal Faith. Most people aren't going to think a girl could do this job. Don't go off on them. Just do your job!" Angel snapped at
me. I got beyond angry over that last
comment and grabbed a stake off the desk next to me and launched it angrily at him. He caught it an inch before it would have
connected with his chest and then his heart.
"You just stopped me from doing my
job. Next time you tell me to do it, I
will finish it," I hissed and went back to my book. No one said anything even after Angel
slammed the door to his office. I found
my demons and logged them and the encounter into the daily log we kept. Ten minutes after I got the information in
the computer Angel came out of his office with an unreadable face.
"Faith in my office now," Angel
calmly stated and I just ignored him.
"Faith…" Cordy started.
"Stay out of this Cordelia!" Angel
angrily hissed at her and she lowered her head back to her computer. "Faith stop acting like a three year
old and get in my office right now. I
don't have the time or patience to deal with your shit," Angel tired
snapped at me. I set down the books I
was looking at and headed silently into Angel's office. He shut the door firmly behind him after he
followed me in. I sat down at the chair
across from his desk chair. Angel sat
down in his chair a few minutes later and played with the stake I had thrown at
him earlier. We sat there in silence
for a good ten minutes. Finally Angel
broke the silence.
"You almost put a stake through my
heart," Angel quietly said to me.
"I knew you would catch it," I told
him. "You knew I would do it and
you were ready for it."
"What if I didn't Faith?"
"I would rather not think about
that," I softly admitted.
"Well I did and I still am Faith. You could have killed me because of your
anger." I didn't say anything in
defense because nothing I could say would justify what I had done. "Do you even care?"
"Of course I care Angel."
"You have a fucking hilarious way of
showing it Faith!" Angel screamed at me.
I sat there and took it.
"You were way out of line today Faith. Way! You snapped at
clients, Faith, people that have come here for help! You pitched a fit with her, talked back to me in front of them
and in front of my crew and you threw a fucking wooden stake at my heart. A wooden stake at my heart! Not only did you try to kill me but you
tried to kill your boss." Angel
finished yelling for the moment and took a moment to regroup his thoughts. "Do you not care about me as your lover
or as your boss? Do you even respect me
as your boss at all? You need to learn
to respect me and my position as your superior."
"Fuck you. You aren't my superior.
Perhaps you are my equal but not my superior in anything Angel. Wesley is my Watcher and as far as I'm
concerned he is my boss – my superior!" I angrily shot back at him and
hurt crossed his face for a second before he got his face back to an unreadable
expression.
"Really? Don't hold back; tell me how
you really feel Faith."
"We went into this with the
understanding that we were equals…you and I no better or higher than the
other. That was not only the deal for
the business but for our relationship as well.
I don't like feeling like I am the weaker one of the business or the
relationship Angel, but you tend to treat me like that without even realizing
it. I am the fucking Slayer. It is my duty, my destiny to go out there
and fight the darkness. It is my duty
to stake all vampires but instead I am in love with one and consider him to be
the man of my dreams. I am going against
my nature by hunting with you, by not killing you, by dating you, and mostly by
loving you. I shouldn't be looking up
to you as my boss or my superior Angel you are my equal, nothing more nothing
less. Wesley is in charge of Angel
Investigations despite you having the founding name. You know that as well as I do.
You both have offices and even though you are the muscle of this group
you aren't the boss, you aren't the leader, you are just a worker in this
place. You need to remember that Wes calls
the shots and we just follow orders," I told him with no hostility in my
voice. He continued to look at me with
no expression on his face. "I am
going to go now Angel. When you want to
talk on a one on one basis where we are equals not you as trying to be my boss
then come and find me. Until then don't
try to be boss ever again. I am my own
person. I have survived myself for years before you came into my life, even
after you came and left my life, and I can survive without you now. Don't try to pull rank with me ever again or
I might not be here the next time you wake up Angel," I told him as I rose
from the chair. I walked out of his
office without him attempting to stop me or call me back. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a
bad thing. I closed his office door
behind me and I heard something hit the wall and shatter behind me causing me
to jump a little and the gang looked up at me.
"Faith…" Cordy started and then
trailed off as something else hit the wall behind me again, shattering and
showering down on the floor.
"He'll work it out and clean up his
mess," I told her as I moved away from the door.
"What was that all about?"
"He tried to pull rank with me and I
wouldn't let him. I know that he is Angel of Angel Investigations but Wesley is
our leader here and I'm not going to let him pull rank over me here or in our
relationship. It isn't something that I
will ever let happen. I am very much my
own person and to have been with Angel as long as I have in itself is a feat,
but I won't allow myself to slip below him.
I just won't," I explained to them and they just nodded to me.
"You up for heading over to the people's
house to look for some clues about the abduction of their daughter with
Wesley?" Cordelia asked me gently.
"Sounds great. Let me grab my keys to the bike…" I started and then looked
back at the office where silence had taken over and then back at Wes. "Perhaps I'll get the keys out of there
at another time. Wes, you up for
driving?" He nodded and smiled a
soft smile to me that I was grateful for.
Wes and I headed out to do a little recon
about the missing girl and the vampires that took her. Turns out when we get to
the address she gave us that no one is there.
So we break in to take a look at the place and we walk into a huge
vampire nest. It wasn't anything we
were prepared to walk into but we made the best out of the situation and after
snooping around and making sure there were no humans in the place we torched it
and burned it and all the vampires to the ground. There were way too many for Wes and me to take out by ourselves
and by the time back up could get there they would probably be waking up for
sunset. So we torched it and guarded
the sides to make sure that they didn't get away until the firefighters arrived
and attempted to put out a magical fire that wouldn't go out until the house
was burned down to the foundation it stood on, promising that the vampires were
all dusted properly. We came back to
the hotel a little after dark to be greeted by Cordelia alone.
"You are alone here on Friday the 13th? You got balls girl!" I teased her and
she just smiled at me.
"I guess I got that vision that you
assuming I had this morning and Angel and Gunn went out to get to killing the
evil that I saw. So they left like an
hour ago and should be back soon. How
did the house fire go?" Cordelia informed me. The idea that she had the vision should have been enough for me
to calm my nerves but it didn't, as it should have. I just shook off that thought and figured after Angel and Gunn
returned safely that I would feel better.
I sneezed as I moved aside a pile of books so that I could sit up on the
counter.
"The fire was great, warming on a hot LA
night. As far as Wes and I could tell
all the vamps are dead. I think we were
set up," I told her and she grinned.
"You think? They wanted Angel to go alone.
I don't like the thought that two humans came in here and got to know us
and our operation and know that you were the Slayer. It bothers me a lot," Cordelia admitted and I nodded in
agreement.
"So where are Oz and Linds then?" I
asked her.
"Er…" she just said and I smiled
brightly and she shook her head.
"I don't get those two. Oz
hardly ever showed emotion when he was in high school and even with Willow but
with Lindsay he is all mushy. It just
unnerves me sometimes," she said to me and I just smiled at her. Memories of her high school life I couldn't
relate to. She and Oz had a tiny bond
over that experience in their liver, but due to the difference circles they ran
in their lives hardly ever passed until Buffy Summers came to Sunnydale.
"They are cute and you know it. They are so cute that it makes you
jealous," I teased her.
"They have a great thing going. I would have never pegged either of them
together but with someone like the other, but they are great together. They calm the beasts in each other so
well," she told me and I nodded.
"I'm hungry," Wesley, stated out of
the blue attempting to change the subject off of the dating couple we were
discussing.
"Chinese?" Cordelia asked, smiling.
"Do you even need to ask?" I
questioned in return and she smiled.
"I'll get changed and grab some money,
Cordelia put in the usual order. We'll
go grab it and hopefully Gunn and Angel will be back before the food," Wes
said and headed into the bathroom on the floor to get cleaned up from the
fire. Cordy speed dialed our favorite
Chinese take out place and told them it was her and she wanted the usual order
for Angel Investigations and hung up.
We had Chinese at least once a week on a slow week. Wes came out 5 minutes later ready to go
get dinner.
"Cordelia—you coming with me?"
"As always. Faith you don't mind waiting here for Angel and Gunn do
you?" Cordelia asked as she grabbed her purse. Cordelia and Wesley always went to get Chinese, just the two of
them. It was an old habit left over
from the days when Angel left them and it was just Cordelia and Wesley with
slight help from Gunn.
"I got it. Go," I told them and Cordelia planted a quick goodbye kiss on
my lips before she left and they both threw a haphazard wave over their
shoulders as they headed out the back door towards the garage.