One Vial - Part Four
Part One - Part Two - Part Three
Rating: PG-13? (Bah, I don’t know. Not R though.)
Warnings: Lots of Angel & Faith spoilers
Words: 1434
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Faith woke up the next morning wrapped in Angel’s warm embrace. The events of the previous night must have really taken it out of him because he stayed sound asleep when she slid out from underneath his arm. She searched bed for her clothes, quickly stashed them in the laundry bin, put on fresh ones, and headed for the exit. She slammed the front door and wandered down the London streets, no destination in mind. She had no idea where she was going, but she wasn’t about to be caught in bed with him when he finally woke up. If she was lucky, he’d think it was a dream and they could both forget it ever happened.
It wasn’t like it’d ever happen again anyways. Angel just needed to get it out of his system, was all. And Faith was probably the only female on the planet that didn’t hate his guts, so she was his only option. She was cool with that too. She hadn’t gotten any in a while and she’d always wondered what he’d be like in the sack, so it was a win-win situation. Nothing more had to come from it.
Except she wanted it to happen again. It didn’t feel like a one night stand. It had the intimacy of the time with Riley in Buffy's body and more intensity than anything she'd ever experienced. Angel knew what he was doing and he made her feel loved and needed. She didn’t freak out this time either, which was saying something all by itself. Plus it was her getting the attention for once, not Buffy.
Shut up, Lehane, she told herself. There is no way Angel needed anything more than a good rough and tumble last night and you know it. She wanted to hit herself for even considering there was something more between them. There wasn’t. They were sexually frustrated pals, not a couple of long lost romantics making love for the first time.
After walking several blocks, she found herself in Nadira’s neighborhood, so she decided to hang there for a while. Maybe even spend the night and give Angel some time to torture himself without her having to watch.
The front door was unlocked, so instead of knocking, she just let herself in. Nadira and her were close enough these days that she wouldn’t care.
She stopped in her tracks as soon as she made it through the threshold because of the condition of the place. The furniture was overturned, there were loose papers everywhere, broken glass littering the floor, and everything had burn marks on it. There were no signs of a fire though. Just burnt holes and scorch spots.
Those bastards. Why the hell would they come after Nadira?
She frantically searched the flat for any sign of her, but came up short. After what they’d done to Angel, frankly, she was just glad there wasn’t a dead body. Wherever Nadira was though, she had a bad feeling about it. Especially if this was, in fact, Nash and Pearl’s doing.
She walked back out the front door and looked for signs of a trail, but there weren’t any. That must be one of the perks of flying-no way of being tracked. Faith took a seat on the stairs outside of the apartment and buried her face in her hands, trying to figure out what to do.
She’d had no intention of even seeing Angel today, but he was her only option. No one else she could think of-other than Nadira of course-knew anything about Nash and Pearl, so she was going to have to suck it up and deal. Why couldn’t I have just said no, she thought, kicking herself inside.
-
Faith opened the door of Giles’ to the smell of coffee and real breakfast-two things that neither of them ever saw when it was still light out. He must not have been kidding about wanting to learn to cook. She crept through the living room and peeked her head in the kitchen to find Angel standing at the stove with a sizzling pan of bacon on one burner and on another, a pan which he was attempting to flip a pancake in. She couldn’t help but chuckle to herself when he gave up and tossed the burnt remains of batter in the trash can, which he’d moved next to him and already contained several similar could-be pancakes.
“Faith,” he said softly with a smile when he noticed her in the doorway. His smile morphed into a shameful look as she examined his mess, but it seemed to be more from the cooking disaster than anything else, so she decided to rub it in instead of make things awkward already.
“Don’t let that happen to the bacon too.” She nodded at the pile of scraps in the trash.
He let out one small laugh and went back to cooking, so she assumed he was going to be playing Captain Avoidance too. That was perfectly okay with her, so she took a can of soda out of the fridge, pulled up a chair to next to the stove, and sat in it backwards. Angel was already on another pancake and seemed to be doing much better with this one-he did have a few on a plate on the counter that looked edible already, so he wasn’t doing too bad.
“Nadira’s missing,” she blurt out. She hated ruining his fun of playing house, but they had to start working on finding her soon.
“What? We saw her last night,” he said, not looking away from the stove.
“Yeah, well, I don’t think your buddies got everything the needed from the auction. Her place was trashed and the burn marks make them my top suspects.”
Angel dropped the spatula and turned to Faith. “But Nadira? Why would they go after her?”
“She’s the one who survived the slayer massacre, remember? I don’t know. Maybe they want to get rid of everyone who knows about them or somethin’,” she said, looking down at the burnt pile of pancakes.
“Then why did they leave me alive, Faith?” He gave her a guilty look, searching her face for answers.
They wanted me to turn you human, that’s why, she should’ve told him, but instead she just shrugged and kept staring into the trash can, wallowing in her own guilt. Why’d I have to be so stupid? I fell into their trap and now Nadira’s gonna pay for it.
“I know last night I said I didn’t care, but I now need to know. How did this happen?”
So he was going to bring it up. Faith ran a hand through her hair and looked back at him for a second before returning her eyes to the garbage. “Uh, I don’t know. You needed it, I guess. I wasn’t gonna say no after all you’d been through…”
“You mean you did this?” His tone turned into one of surprise and maybe even anger, causing her to meet his gaze to figure out why he was suddenly putting this on her when it was his stupid human hormones that were at fault.
“What? No! You started it.” How could he be blaming her? That was all him. She was just along for the ride.
“Faith, what are you talking about? How did I turn myself human?”
Oh. That.
“You were pretty beaten up-open wounds all over the place, which you probably figured out when you cleaned yourself up. Anyways, there was spilled Mohra demon blood all over the floor and I guess some of it mixed with your own,” she lied. It wasn’t easy lying to Angel, but it was much easier than dealing with the truth.
“So this is all some kind of accident? I probably was supposed to die and just got lucky.” He looked down sullenly, forgetting completely about the food on the stove, which from the smell of it was starting to burn.
Faith stood up and patted him on the back. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up. This is a good thing.” She picked up the spatula and gently moved him out of the way. “I’ll finish up here. I ain’t the best cook in the world but I can probably manage a lot better than you.”
Angel let her take his place and moved into the living room, where she saw him slink into the leather couch in the corner of her eye.
Ladies and Gentlemen, that concludes the honeymoon, Faith mentally announced to herself as she finished up breakfast. At least the more literal honeymoon hadn’t been brought up yet.
to be continued.
Rating: PG-13? (Bah, I don’t know. Not R though.)
Warnings: Lots of Angel & Faith spoilers
Words: 1434
---
Faith woke up the next morning wrapped in Angel’s warm embrace. The events of the previous night must have really taken it out of him because he stayed sound asleep when she slid out from underneath his arm. She searched bed for her clothes, quickly stashed them in the laundry bin, put on fresh ones, and headed for the exit. She slammed the front door and wandered down the London streets, no destination in mind. She had no idea where she was going, but she wasn’t about to be caught in bed with him when he finally woke up. If she was lucky, he’d think it was a dream and they could both forget it ever happened.
It wasn’t like it’d ever happen again anyways. Angel just needed to get it out of his system, was all. And Faith was probably the only female on the planet that didn’t hate his guts, so she was his only option. She was cool with that too. She hadn’t gotten any in a while and she’d always wondered what he’d be like in the sack, so it was a win-win situation. Nothing more had to come from it.
Except she wanted it to happen again. It didn’t feel like a one night stand. It had the intimacy of the time with Riley in Buffy's body and more intensity than anything she'd ever experienced. Angel knew what he was doing and he made her feel loved and needed. She didn’t freak out this time either, which was saying something all by itself. Plus it was her getting the attention for once, not Buffy.
Shut up, Lehane, she told herself. There is no way Angel needed anything more than a good rough and tumble last night and you know it. She wanted to hit herself for even considering there was something more between them. There wasn’t. They were sexually frustrated pals, not a couple of long lost romantics making love for the first time.
After walking several blocks, she found herself in Nadira’s neighborhood, so she decided to hang there for a while. Maybe even spend the night and give Angel some time to torture himself without her having to watch.
The front door was unlocked, so instead of knocking, she just let herself in. Nadira and her were close enough these days that she wouldn’t care.
She stopped in her tracks as soon as she made it through the threshold because of the condition of the place. The furniture was overturned, there were loose papers everywhere, broken glass littering the floor, and everything had burn marks on it. There were no signs of a fire though. Just burnt holes and scorch spots.
Those bastards. Why the hell would they come after Nadira?
She frantically searched the flat for any sign of her, but came up short. After what they’d done to Angel, frankly, she was just glad there wasn’t a dead body. Wherever Nadira was though, she had a bad feeling about it. Especially if this was, in fact, Nash and Pearl’s doing.
She walked back out the front door and looked for signs of a trail, but there weren’t any. That must be one of the perks of flying-no way of being tracked. Faith took a seat on the stairs outside of the apartment and buried her face in her hands, trying to figure out what to do.
She’d had no intention of even seeing Angel today, but he was her only option. No one else she could think of-other than Nadira of course-knew anything about Nash and Pearl, so she was going to have to suck it up and deal. Why couldn’t I have just said no, she thought, kicking herself inside.
-
Faith opened the door of Giles’ to the smell of coffee and real breakfast-two things that neither of them ever saw when it was still light out. He must not have been kidding about wanting to learn to cook. She crept through the living room and peeked her head in the kitchen to find Angel standing at the stove with a sizzling pan of bacon on one burner and on another, a pan which he was attempting to flip a pancake in. She couldn’t help but chuckle to herself when he gave up and tossed the burnt remains of batter in the trash can, which he’d moved next to him and already contained several similar could-be pancakes.
“Faith,” he said softly with a smile when he noticed her in the doorway. His smile morphed into a shameful look as she examined his mess, but it seemed to be more from the cooking disaster than anything else, so she decided to rub it in instead of make things awkward already.
“Don’t let that happen to the bacon too.” She nodded at the pile of scraps in the trash.
He let out one small laugh and went back to cooking, so she assumed he was going to be playing Captain Avoidance too. That was perfectly okay with her, so she took a can of soda out of the fridge, pulled up a chair to next to the stove, and sat in it backwards. Angel was already on another pancake and seemed to be doing much better with this one-he did have a few on a plate on the counter that looked edible already, so he wasn’t doing too bad.
“Nadira’s missing,” she blurt out. She hated ruining his fun of playing house, but they had to start working on finding her soon.
“What? We saw her last night,” he said, not looking away from the stove.
“Yeah, well, I don’t think your buddies got everything the needed from the auction. Her place was trashed and the burn marks make them my top suspects.”
Angel dropped the spatula and turned to Faith. “But Nadira? Why would they go after her?”
“She’s the one who survived the slayer massacre, remember? I don’t know. Maybe they want to get rid of everyone who knows about them or somethin’,” she said, looking down at the burnt pile of pancakes.
“Then why did they leave me alive, Faith?” He gave her a guilty look, searching her face for answers.
They wanted me to turn you human, that’s why, she should’ve told him, but instead she just shrugged and kept staring into the trash can, wallowing in her own guilt. Why’d I have to be so stupid? I fell into their trap and now Nadira’s gonna pay for it.
“I know last night I said I didn’t care, but I now need to know. How did this happen?”
So he was going to bring it up. Faith ran a hand through her hair and looked back at him for a second before returning her eyes to the garbage. “Uh, I don’t know. You needed it, I guess. I wasn’t gonna say no after all you’d been through…”
“You mean you did this?” His tone turned into one of surprise and maybe even anger, causing her to meet his gaze to figure out why he was suddenly putting this on her when it was his stupid human hormones that were at fault.
“What? No! You started it.” How could he be blaming her? That was all him. She was just along for the ride.
“Faith, what are you talking about? How did I turn myself human?”
Oh. That.
“You were pretty beaten up-open wounds all over the place, which you probably figured out when you cleaned yourself up. Anyways, there was spilled Mohra demon blood all over the floor and I guess some of it mixed with your own,” she lied. It wasn’t easy lying to Angel, but it was much easier than dealing with the truth.
“So this is all some kind of accident? I probably was supposed to die and just got lucky.” He looked down sullenly, forgetting completely about the food on the stove, which from the smell of it was starting to burn.
Faith stood up and patted him on the back. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up. This is a good thing.” She picked up the spatula and gently moved him out of the way. “I’ll finish up here. I ain’t the best cook in the world but I can probably manage a lot better than you.”
Angel let her take his place and moved into the living room, where she saw him slink into the leather couch in the corner of her eye.
Ladies and Gentlemen, that concludes the honeymoon, Faith mentally announced to herself as she finished up breakfast. At least the more literal honeymoon hadn’t been brought up yet.
to be continued.