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Needed	By : abra Category: Angel the Series > Het - Male/Female > Faith/Wesley Views: 1835 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own AtS, nor make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the setting of the story. All things I borrowed from the Buffyverse are a creation of and belong to Joss Whedon.

I have also borrowed several ideas and concepts from to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, I used some in this chapter, some will be in the rest of the story. (the mirror of Erised, the Room of Requirement)

Timeline: more than 9years after NFA ("Angel"), 10 after "Chosen" (BtVS)

Pairing: Faith/Wes

Please review!
Chapter 8
Wesley woke up sore and swollen. The icepack had slid off during his short and restless sleep. His face felt raw, and he didn't bother to put on his glasses since he could barely open his eyes. The bandage that Faith had taped to his ribs seemed to have held, although the wound was still throbbing painfully beneath it.

He shuffled to the bathroom concentrating on every move, squinting as best he could. He managed to wash his face and didn't even try to glance in the mirror. He had a fair idea of how he looked like after being thoroughly beaten. Oh, what a wonderful day this promised to be!

When he approached the kitchen he heard it buzzing with the domestic sounds of breakfast in progress. The noise subsided for a moment when he entered. Wesley identified the shapes around the table with some difficulty, and was almost glad he couldn't see their expressions. The activity resumed, leaving him excluded from the familial atmosphere. He wondered if the sight of him would disturb their appetite and he was about to leave when Faith nudged him to the empty chair next to hers.

"Sit down, Wes. You have to eat something," she said. "The girls made pancakes."

He obeyed silently. The first sip of orange juice slid painfully down his injured windpipe. One of the girls put a plate in front of him.

"Thank you," he said.

He had tried to whisper the word, but, even so, his voice came out as a harsh croaking. The kitchen fell silent for a beat again. He proceeded laboriously to eat while he tried to make up his mind if he should skip training the Slayers for the day. He could neither practice with them, nor observe them. The swelling was going to go down, the pain he could stand, but the damage to his throat was going to make it impossible for him to speak loudly.

"I'm afraid I can't train with you today," Wesley whispered.

"About time you gave the girls a day off," Faith said.

He couldn't help the sensation that she was trying to make things seem normal. More than that. It felt as if she was trying to protect him. If he judged on Spike's attitude, they all considered him to blame. He was used to that. What else was new? Maybe Faith's attempts to smooth things out.

He stood up as soon as he finished eating.

"Lovely meal," Wesley mouthed rather than spoke.

"Where are you going?" Faith asked.

"My office. Have to check something."

"Anything we can do to help?" she asked.

Wesley shook his head slowly. It was beginning to spin. He wanted to talk to her about the Erised file and about Alex, but he had to resign himself to quiet research. Faith's visit to the Rubicon cave was surrounded by a spell that prevented her from talking about it. He had some idea of how to break the constraint, but it still involved some talking on his part. It just had to wait, regardless of how much curiosity tortured him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Wesley took the charts and prophecies from the library into his office. He submerged himself in the disorganized accumulation of data. A few hours later, Faith's entrance disrupted his concentration. She had brought him tea. Wesley nearly panicked when she put the cup on the corner of his desk, near a high and precariously balanced stack of papers.

"You sure there's nothing we can do to help?" she asked.

She seemed sincere. Wesley marveled again how much his Slayer had changed. His gaze went instinctively to the Erised file that lay alone on a shelf.

"Soon," he whispered when she followed his gaze.

The stiffening in Faith's body confirmed his supposition that she was under the influence of a constraining spell.

"All right," she said and left.

Wesley almost smiled. She was fighting it. Whatever hold that thing had on her, she was fighting it. He just had to be a complete bastard again to help her break it.

~~~~~~~~~~

It didn't make sense. Wesley felt like throwing the books out the window. He wanted to pile up all the papers he had scribbled on and burn them in the middle of the room.

He had been trying to calculate the moment when the darkness was supposed to come. And he kept coming out with the same result. No matter how he calculated, or what prophecies he used, or whether he used the lunar or solar calendar, everything showed that the events of the prophecies were not supposed to happen for at least ten more years. And that couldn't be right, because all the portents were manifesting, the demonic activity had increased, due to the rise in dark magic in the atmosphere. Why was he still getting the wrong result!

He paced the floor irritated, trying to think of new ways to check his calculations. Maybe if he talked to someone... But he had no one to turn to. Everyone he had ever known and trusted was gone. He had checked out the Watchers' Council website. He hardly recognized any names. Even Rupert Giles seemed to have retired.

He could've talked to Spike. No matter how immature the vampire had tried to remain, some things must have stuck to him in more than a century of existence. But he knew that Spike would not be in a mood to talk to him. Not after the previous night's events.

He had to take a break or he would go insane. He wanted to call the Slayers for a training session, but he knew he wasn't up to it. He had heard them driving away hours earlier. To the mall, he made an educated guess.

Alex hadn't showed up all day. He wanted to believe that they were all leaving him respite to recover from his injuries or maybe they thought he needed peace and quiet to make the difficult calculations. Instead of appreciating the tranquility, he felt isolated.

He had to find something else to think about. He looked at Faith's file and made up his mind. He was going to get the whole truth out of her.

Wesley went into the main office and rifled through half a dozen books of white and not so white witchcraft until he found what he needed to break through the spell that prevented Faith from talking about her experience in the Rubicon cave.

~~~~~~~~~~

Faith and Spike were in the backyard. They were putting up a gazebo. Wesley remembered vaguely a conversation about Alex's upcoming birthday party. He watched them from a distance for a while. He was struck by the ease they displayed around one another. He tried to settle on a comparison, brother and sister or long time married couple.

Spike was apparently saying something unbearably funny, because Faith dropped the hammer and doubled over with laughter. She wiped the tears of mirth and made valiant efforts to stop laughing. When Spike went on talking she burst into laughter again, and pushed him not quite gently against the half raised structure. Wesley noticed the instant change in atmosphere. Faith's hand rested on Spike's chest longer than it should have. Spike remained with his back to the wall, unable to react in any way. They shared a look that was nothing like one of time-tested camaraderie.

They parted, all of a sudden awkward. Wesley imagined Spike saying something like 'the sun's gonna set soon' before walking away. When Spike walked back into the house, he noticed Wesley for the first time. Wesley found it odd that the vampire should be surprised by his presence. Angel could sense humans and non humans from an appreciable distance. It couldn't have been that much of a difference in the abilities of the two vampires. The momentary deficiency was probably due to Spike's inattention.

Wesley went to Faith and he was not surprised to see her almost imperceptible disappointment. She must have imagined that Spike had returned.

"I'd like to talk about the cave," he said.

"Come on, Wes, can't we leave it until we're all done with the Apocalypse?"

"Do you have anything more pressing to do?" he asked.

"I just don't feel like talking about it. Alex and the girls are gonna be back any time now."

"I thought you wanted to know more about his origin," Wesley interrupted her rationalization.

"Did you find out anything?"

"I have certain suspicions. I need you to tell me more. In the file there is nothing about what happened to you."

"Well..."

"You have to want to know. The cave seems protected by a spell that constrains all its visitors from talking about it. I can do a counter spell. You must want it."

"I don't know, Wes."

"I'll wait for you in the office. Your choice."

~~~~~~~~

Wesley was beginning to doubt that she would ever come. He may have overestimated Faith's ability to resist the spell.

"Can you guarantee me that talking about it won't undo... what happened?" she asked as soon as she entered.

"No. I think it won't, but I can't guarantee it. If I'm right, there's old magic involved."

"I trusted you with my life before. But this is my son's life."

"Let me tell you what my supposition is. I think that the Rubicon cave is the residence of a spirit that feeds on human emotions. The visitors are trapped by the illusions that the cave creates from their own minds. Most of them never find their way out. Considering that there's no first hand account of someone who did manage to get out, I don't know any more."

"And you always want to know," she said.

"We need to know. You must have realized how important this is, or you wouldn't have spent all that time and energy compiling the file."

"Do the counter-spell already! I hate being afraid like this," Faith said.

Wesley nodded. He understood the insidious workings of the spell. It had made Faith fear knowing more. He sprinkled the herbs he had prepared over the occult symbol he had sketched on the floor, put a black crystal in her hand covering it with his, and read aloud the incantation. He almost felt the wave of magic wash over her.

"What happened ten years ago, Faith? Tell me when and how you found the cave," he prompted.

"It was about two months after you died. I was chasing a demon. He ran into the woods, I followed and killed it just outside the entrance of a cave. I was curious, so I went in. And all of a sudden, the corridor I was in turned into... into my old prison cell."

Wesley watched her struggle with the memories. His guess was that she had met a man, also trapped by the cave, and while they tried to make their way out through the maze of illusions, the two of them had acted on the natural or magically enhanced attraction. Maybe he was the man Faith had kept seeing for the past ten years. Alex's father. But why wouldn't she tell Alex about him? He thought about the letter again. He left aside his suppositions.

"Was someone else there?"

She looked at him for a very long time, causing him to wonder if the counter-spell was failing.

"Yes, there was something."

"What was it, Faith?"

"It was you," she said, after another long pause.

"What?" he asked dumbly. "What do you mean it was me?"

�A man appeared out of nowhere. Out of nothing. He looked like you. Talked like you. He was just like you. He even had...� her voice faltered. �He had the mark of the knife wound that killed you. I don't understand it, Wesley. It was... you.�

He took a while to digest the information. He had been so sure of himself. He had thought he had it all figured out. It was just like Faith to sleep with some guy she met in a mysterious cave. He could be such an idiot sometimes.

�It wasn't me, Faith,� he said eventually.

�Duh!� Faith exclaimed.

�I wasn't expecting this. It's not at all what I thought had happened.�

�What did you think? That i just found some guy and slept with him? You have such a high opinion of me, Wes! A lot of good this does to my self esteem. What else? Did you think I killed him and ate him afterwards?�

�No. i just thought that there was some reason why you wouldn't tell Alex about him.�

�What reason?�

He was supposed to ask the questions, but somehow Faith's revelation had turned the tables.

�I don't know. He was married or something,� he managed to say.

�You think I'd see a married man for eight years? You really think that little of me.�

�Eight years?� Wes heard the information despite Faith's tone of injured virtue.

�What?� she pretended not to understand.

�You said you've been seeing him for eight years. How? Did he appear to you again?�

�Umm... Not appeared. Not as such,� she hedged.

�How did you meet him again?� Wesley asked, a dreadful suspicion forming in his mind.

�I went back. To the cave,� she admitted.

�Faith!�

�I had to know, OK! I asked every witch, oracle, shaman, anyone i could find. For two years, Wes! For two years I tried to find out who was the father of my son.�

�I can understand that, but going back in there... You were lucky to have gotten out the first time. How did you get out?�

�The exit just appeared again. The cell and... him... were gone.�

�Just like that?� Wesley asked.

She shrugged.

�The same thing happened every time you went back?�

�You mean the exit just appearing?�

�Let me rephrase. What happened the next time you went?�

�Pretty much the same thing,� she said with such conviction that Wesley cound not help but wonder what did not the 'pretty much' cover.

�What was different?� he asked.

Faith was about to answer him when Spike came in the office. The vampire was about to speak when his gaze fell on Faith and Wesley's linked hands. Faith pulled away her hand instinctively. The black crystal she was holding fell to the floor and shattered.

�Something wrong?� Wesley asked unperturbed.

�No,� Spike answered eventually. �Didn't know where everybody'd gone.�

�I just called Alex on his cell phone. They're on their way back from the mall.�

�All right then,� Spike said.

Wesley was almost amused of the sudden tension in the room. Spike was trying not to act jealous of him. Of him of all people. Granted, Faith's unexpected revelation put the dynamic of their relationship on a different path, but he still couldn't consider himself any threat for Spike's place in her heart.

He looked thoughtfully at the vampire, making speculations how much he knew about Faith's 'affair'. She had been under the influence of the spell, but ten years was a long time. By the look on Spike's face, he wasn't likely to crack that mystery any time soon.

�I'm going back to my calculations. We'll need another crystal if we want to do this again,� Wesley told Faith.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later

Wesley was doodling distractedly around the result of his seventh consecutive attempt to make sense of the situation. He looked over at the other file, and let his mind wonder over Faith's story. He decided to ignore his apparent part in it.

He let the pencil drop on the desk as the hypothesis unfolded. He explored the thought into the deepest and darkest ramifications he could imagine. Strange as it was, it could explain the time difference between his calculations and the recent events.

He opened the Erised file and placed Faith's map of the mountain next to the one he had annotated according to the prophecies. Not a perfect match, but close enough.

He had to talk to Faith. She was not going to enjoy this conversation. The fact that he had no idea what to do next was not very comforting either.

~~~~~~~~

To be continued...
- 7
- 8
- 9
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