Its Not a Relationship!... Is It?

Title: It's Not a Relationship!... Is It?
Part Three: Five to One
See 1st chapter for disclaimer and all that other stuff.
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Faith and Fred were on their way back to the hotel when it happened.

They were walking down Fifth, sucking on their sodas as they babbled on about the woes of PMS.

Fred sighed. “Charles is great. But he’s just like every other guy when it comes to stuff like that. He just doesn’t understand it.” she shook her head.

Faith smiled half heartedly and nodded in agreement, tuning in and out of the conversation. She’d been feeling uneasy for a while, she felt as if she were being watched.

She stopped and turned, glaring at people as they walked by, some in their own little worlds, others glaring right back.

Fred looked at the Slayer in concern, touching her arm. “Faith?”

She didn’t answer, she was busy watching a slick looking man come toward them, making eye contact with her.

movemove she thought, as her guard went up and her instincts told her to make sure she kept Fred out of trouble.

“Faith… what’s wrong?” Fred persisted, giving Faith’s arm a shake.

Faith looked back at her, losing sight of the slick looking man.

“Damn it!” she cursed, sighing. She looked around again, trying to find the guy.

“I, someone’s f-“ she found him, he was closer now and he had his hand in his jacket pocket. He was reaching for something, something that her instincts told her was planning on sharing. She just had to find out who he wanted to share it with.

Fred’s eyes darted around the busy street in confusion. “Who? Where?” Her eyes widened when she finally saw the man Faith had been talking about.

It suddenly hit Faith that the reason the man had made eye contact with her was because it was her he intended on sharing whatever it was he had in his jacket.

She froze, unable to move, speak, think.

Fred saw her and began to panic, gaze darting around the street. “Faith!” she hissed and shook her arm again, trying to snap the Slayer out of whatever shock she was in.

Finally as the man was only a few feet in front of them Fred did that last thing she could think of. She slapped Faith across the face, hard.

Faith closed her eyes and held her cheek a moment before Fred pulled her arm. She remembered what was happening and moved to run with her, pausing for a moment to quickly kick the man’s feet out from under him.

Once he fell to the ground, she and Fred ran the rest of the way to the hotel, not looking back.
******************************
Angel growled and slammed his office door open, glaring at the sunlight that poured through the windows. “She’s out with Fred.”

Gunn was coming back down the stairs when he heard Fred’s name and grew interested. “Who’s out with Fred?”

Angel turned to face him. “Faith. And there’s an assassin from Wolfram and Hart after her.”

Gunn’s eyes widened. “Where’d they go?”

Angels glared at him. “I would’ve sent you and Wesley to get them if I knew.”

“We went to eat lunch.” Faith answered as she and Fred came bounding through the doors of the hotel, panting heavily.
Gunn ran over to Fred who fell into his arms. He hugged her tightly, pulling away and holding her face in his hands. “You okay?” he asked in concern.

She stared up at him and nodded, touching his hands. “I’m fine, really. I-It was Faith he was after.”

Fred turned to face Faith who was leaning against the entrance doorframe.

Angel looked back at Wesley. “She works quick.”

Wesley nodded and stepped up into Faith’s vision.

“What’re you doing here?” she asked icily, pushing off the door and walking into the kitchen. After some rustling around, she emerged with a towel filled with ice pressed to her cheek.

“What happened?” Angel asked, motioning for her to sit down.

Faith glared at him as she sat down and he returned the glare, letting her know he wasn’t in the mood for games.
“Sorry about that.” Fred said sheepishly as she and Gunn sat down across from her. Wesley and Angel stood at opposite ends of the room, arms folded.

Faith sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Fine. We were on our way back when I felt someone following me. Whoever they were, they failed ‘Follow Your Prey’ school ‘cuz his eyes were burning a hole in my back.”

She glanced up in the direction of another pair of eyes that had been watching her intently. Wesley coughed and quickly looked away, making her smirk.

“Anyway,” she continued, “it was some young guy. Slick looking, like a lawyer from that place that hired me to…” she stopped and looked at her feet. “He came at us, had something in his pocket. My spider-sense tingled, told me he was a baddie. But I froze, I guess I got scared… I dunno. He got closer, I didn’t move. So Fred here, slapped me outta my state of motionless-ness, I swept his feet out from under him and we booked outta there.”

There was silence for a moment as everyone thought through what they’d been told.

“So, back to my question from before. What’re you doing here?” Faith looked at Wesley as she moved her jaw around. She looked at Fred. “You sure you didn’t mean to punch me there?”

Fred blushed and shrugged before attempting to harden her features. She tucked her hair behind her ears and looked around the room.

“So, what is going on? I mean, it’s not everyday we have a human come after one of us.”

Angel sighed. “Wolfram and Hart’s hired an assassin to kill Faith.”

“Why?” Fred asked urgently, sitting up pin straight.

Angel sat down next to Faith. “Faith, when you first came to LA, you signed a contract with them. A contract that said you’d-“

“That said I’d kill you.” Faith finished quickly. “Yeah, I remember.” she shifted uncomfortably. “And I didn’t fulfill my end of the bargain. So it’s a ‘kill or be killed’ situation.”

Gunn held up his hand and shook his head, confused. “Whoa whoa. What’s Wes gotta do with this?”

“Well, I, I, Lilah Mo has has been trying to get me to work with Wolfram and Hart for quite some time now. She keeps persisting and she’s stupidly left some loose ends. So there’ve been a few things I’ve found out about, this being one of them.” He lied, relieved when both Gunn and Fred nodded.

“Why now?” Faith asked, looking directly at Wesley. “I mean, why not just do me in when I was in the joint?”

That’s when it hit him.

Wesley’d never told Lilah about Faith and what she’d done to him. He never told her anything personal. And he was absolutely sure that no one at Wolfram and Hart was aware of the events of that memorable night.

Before anything else was said he ran from the hotel and jumped into his SUV, racing home.
******************************
Wesley raced up the stairs and ran into his apartment, slamming the door shut behind him.

“I see you went and did the warning thing.” she purred, standing to face him.

He looker ovr over and smiled. Tight black leather pants, black platform boots, a blood red halter that left absolutely nothing to the imagination and a black leather jacket.

Her hair was loose and wavy, around her face. Her make up was heavy and dark. She looked just like Faith. Or really, she looked just like someone who was trying their best to look like Faith.

He couldn’t help himself, he laughed. He laughed long, he laugh loud.

Lilah wasn’t sure what to make of this reaction, so she did what she usually did. She glared.

He calmed down, gained his composure.

“Are you really this insecure, Lilah?” he asked as he took a few steps closer.

“Are you really so insecure about yourself that you’ve resorted to having me followed? Hmm? How else could you possibly know about Faith? About Faith and I? What was it that peaked your interest in her out of the blue? Why’d you look up her record?”

His voice was getting louder as he continued to walk towards her.

“So I’m fucking my former Slayer while I’m fucking you. Bet you didn’t know I used to be a Watcher. Or maybe you did. Did you look up my history too?” he smiled and shook his head. “I honestly didn’t think you’d be this jealous, or really, jealous at all. F cou could care less. Actually, she’s got the same mentality you whe when this… thing first started with you and me. She gets what she wants and splits. No strings attached.”

By now Wesley had backed Lilah into the wall. She was holding her breath as he talked. He almost thought he saw a hint of fear in her eyes.

“The contract had nothing to do with this. I’ve… well, I’ve been cheating on you. It’s obvious you don’t like it. You hurt Faith, or anyone else who lives in that hotel, you’ll deal with Angel, or me. And I’d pray for Angel because if I get to you first, I’ll kill you myself.” he whispered threateningly, his voice dangerously low.

He pushed himself away from her. “Now get out.” He demanded.

She didn’t say a word as she pushed him out of her way and slammed his door shut when she left.

He sat down on his couch when she left. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, sighing deeply as someone knocked on his door.

He moaned quietly and got up, opening the door to an extremely pissed off slayer.

She pushed passed him, shoving a tape into his chest.

“You’re sick, y’know that?” she accused angrily and turned to face him, hands on her hips.

He stared at her in confusion. “Faith, what are you-“

“D’you think that showing this to Angel’s gonna make him mad at me? ‘Cause if you do, you’re sadly mistaken.” She seethed.

“What are you talking about??” he asked desperately, glancing questioningly at the tape in his hand.

“Quit acting like you don’t already know!” she growled and grabbed the tape from him. She turned his TV on and jammed it into the VCR.

She crossed her arms and stared angrily at the television, tapping her foot impatiently.

Wesley sighed and ran a hand through his hair, covering his eyes a moment and shook his head. The tape started and from what he heard, it wasn’t a movie you’d sit and watch with the family.

He quickly removed his hand and was shocked to see Faith and himself in the alley the night before. His eyes widened and he looked at Faith in complete shock.

She glared over at him a moment before she noticed the surprise in his eyes. Her gaze softened a little.

“You didn’t know about this?” she asked cautiously.

He shook his head and quickly yanked the tape from the VCR. “Faith, I-“

She grabbed the tape from him and threw it on the floor. “Any idea who?” she asked as she stomped on it a few times.

It didn’t take him long. He nodded. “Lilah.”

“How did y-“

“She left just before you came here. She was uh, “ he paused and laughed a little. “sas das dressed lie you.”

Faith cocked an eyebrow at him. “One, why is she suddenly biting off my style and two, what’s so funny about dressing like me?”

At that very moment, Wesley’s brain wasn’t attached to his mouth and he blurted out the first thing he thought. Which happened to be the complete truth.

“Well, it’s not the first time she’s dressed as someone I’m attracted to.”

He froze as soon as the words left his mouth, glancing at her out the corner of his eye.

She smiled playfully and slowly pressed herself up against him. “You’re attracted to me?” she asked, her voice teasing.

Wesley tensed and shook his head. “No, I, I didn’t say that.”

Faith chuckled, her arm sliding around the front of his waist. “Yeah, you did.”

He sighed, not moving from her grasp. “Yes, I’m attracted to you. It could explain why I’ve been fucking you the past three months.”

“Mmm, sure know just the words to say to a woman.” she purred sarcasticly, nipping at his ear.

She leaned closer, seductively dragging her tongue over one of the welts on his cheek she’d left him with.

“Faith…” he growled, turning to look at her.

She pouted. “Don’t wanna play?”

He didn’t answer, instead he grabbed her harshly by the wrists and pulled her to him, kissing her.

His lips were rough against hers, his tongue slipping out to plunder her mouth.

She pushed him onto the desk they’d been standing in front of and straddled him. Their lips parted for a moment as she pulled his shirt off and they quickly met again as she tossed the shirt aside.

Just as she reached for his pants, there was a light, hesitant knock on his door.

Faith and Wesley sighed in unison against one another’s mouths as he sat up and grabbed her by the hips. He lifted her up off of him and got up, searching for his shirt.

She tossed it to him and he quickly threw it on as he walked to the door.

He pulled the door open to see an uncomfortable Fred standing in the hall.

“Wesley, hi. Um, is Faith here? Angel said she ran out in a rush… saying something about you. So we thought she’d be here. Um, he needs to talk to her, to both of you… we all have to talk.” she continued to correct herself.

Faith came to the door and slipped past Wesley before he could say anything. “Wesley’ll drive us.” She said and smiled at Fred.

“Oh, uh, yes.” He stuttered, turning to grab his keys before hurrying out with the two girls.
******************************
By sunset, the plan was simple.

Faith, much to her dismay, wasn’t to go out unless she had Gunn, Angel or Wesley with her. She tried to t itt it, but they’d taken a vote and she’d been out numbered, five to one.

“Hey! Wesley doesn’t count! So that leaves three!” she argued.

Fred smiled. “I called Lorne in Vegas, he agreed with us. A, And since Wesley’s staying with us, his vote kinda counts too.”

Faith rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration.

u alu all suck.”