Healing

Part 45

Willow and Tara stood outside Giles apartment door. They were unsure of why they had been summoned to come over this morning. All Giles said was that it was 'of the utmost importance' and would they please come as early as possible. That was why they were standing outside his door, with coffee and pastries, at 7:45am.

The door swung opened and the girls saw a very dishevelled and bleary looking Wesley Whyndam-Price blinking at them. They smiled at each other and waited to be invited in. Wesley shook off his morning confusion and stepped back from the door.

"Please, do come in. I apologise, it has been a very long night."

"That's okay, we understand. Do you know why Giles asked us to come over?"

"Uh, yes. Spike and Xander were here last night. It would seem that they found a knife, the one Drusilla used to... cut Angel. Spike thinks there might be a connection between the knife and Angelus's reappearance. He said it smelled 'off'. Whatever that means."

Willow looked at Tara who nodded at her in return. They had been practising making potions lately, so they weren't surprised by this. Of course, Wesley was more of a spell-magic user like Giles, so potions probably hadn't occurred to him.

Willow wasn't a potion user either. She had very little knowledge of them at all in fact. Tara knew a lot more than she did about potions. What Wesley had said made both girls pretty sure there was a potion involved. If that were the case, it could be tricky. Spells were a lot easier to counter-act than potions were. You had to know exactly what was used in a potion and what it's intended use was before you could counter it.

"Is Giles here? We brought him a lemon danish. We got one for you too, we weren't sure what you liked."

"Ah, yes, he's upstairs just now dealing with Mr. Rayne, he should be down shortly. Ah, thank you for bringing breakfast. I'll just start some tea."

Wesley headed into the kitchen to put on the kettle, Tara followed in behind him. Willow set the box of pastries on the dining room table and then joined her lover in the kitchen. She wasn't surprised to see Tara watching Wesley with a look of concern. She knew there was something wrong with the man, but Tara was better at reading people than she was.

"Are you okay, Mr. Whyndam-Price? You look kinda pale, and your aura is all... splotchy."

"You can call me Wesley, and yes I'm fine. It's just been a long couple of days."

"I understand. If you want to talk about it, I'm a very good listener."

"Thank you, but I'm fine."

Both girls knew he wasn't fine but they let it go for now. If Wesley decided he needed to talk to someone they would be there for him, but they weren't about to push him.

"Has Angelus been fed this morning?"

Wesley hung his head a bit and shivered. Tara noticed how his aura darkened at the mention of his lover's alter-ego. This couldn't be easy for him, seeing a monster with his lover's face.

"Not as of yet. I was hoping to have tea before facing him."

Tara and Willow exchanged a look. Willow nodded to her girlfriend to go ahead and speak.

"We'll do it. We don't mind."

Wesley looked up at the two of them and gave a small smile when he realised that they truly wanted to help him. He nodded his assent and continued making tea while they heated up the blood and gathered up the weapons.

In the bath-tub, Angelus smirked as Angel cringed under the words of his lover. He was sure that Wesley would never be able to trust in him again. Their relationship would be forever tainted by the sudden reappearance of the demon within himself. He knew that he would never have with Wesley what Spike had found with Xander.

Angel was of two minds concerning Spike and Xander. Firstly he was concerned. Xander had never been his favourite person but he was worried that the young man had not thought through what he had done. He had essentially released a dangerous and blood-thirsty demon back into society. A demon who had on numerous occasions threatened to kill him and his friends in very painful, if not creative, ways.

On the other hand, he was insanely jealous. He knew that Spike wished to take Xander as his mate, and that it was likely Xander would accept. That gave them eternity together. It also gave Spike added benefits that Angel was sure Spike wasn't even aware of. Like the sun, eventually.

It was something that Angel could never have. In order to bond with a human, the demon had to love the human. As much as Angel loved Wesley, as much as he had loved Buffy, the demon - Angelus - was incapable of love. Most vampires were. He could never have forever. Not with a human.

Angelus was almost giddy, the more the soul - Angel - wrapped himself in misery, the stronger his hold on the body they shared became. He was disappointed that the witches were coming in to feed him rather than Angel's lover. He did so enjoy taunting the man. Even without words, he could make it very clear how well he knew the man.

Giles found Wesley in the kitchen, head down on the table, sobbing quietly to himself. He knew all too well how embarrassing it was to be caught weeping by someone, so he quickly left the room before he was noticed. He went to the living room and picked up the phone. He dialled Xander's place hoping that the young man and his lover were not sleeping.

Upstairs in the bathroom, Willow held the mug of blood in front of the vampire while he slowly drank through the straw. Tara kept the crossbow pointed toward his crotch. She didn't want to kill him, not only because Angel was a good man and a champion for the light, but because his death would destroy the man he loved. Besides, from what she had heard about Angelus, being shot in the balls with an arrow would hurt his pride far worse than it would his anatomy.