Its Not a Relationship!... Is It?

Title: It’s Not a Relationship!… Is It?
Chapter Seven: Revelations
See 1st chapter for disclaimer and all that other stuff.
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There was a knock at the door and Wesley looked up as Willow came in, a small look of hope on her face.

“I know it’s not much, but I thought you should know. The protection spell I did a few days ago… it’s buying her some more time. Three more hours at least.” She said softly, letting her eyes wander over Faith’s unconcious form before turning to leave.

“Willow,” he called and she turned to face him. He smiled weakly and nodded. “thank you.”

The phone rang and they listened as they heard Fred answer it and then begin to speak.

“O-oh my God! Where are you now? OK… OK… bye!” she shouted into the receiver, throwing it down before bounding up the stairs.

“They know where to find the vampire! They’re on their way to her house now!” she squealed happily.

Willow smiled brightly and looked at Wesley, eyes wide.

“Wesley, she’s gonna be okay!”
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Angel kicked down the door to Katarina’s loft and the group of four stepped inside.

Buffy leaned in close to Angel. “That Gavin guy said he’d help us, I don’t think you had to kick the door in.”

“What the- who the hell are you?!” A short pudgy man came from another room to the left and glared and Angel.

“You could’ve just knocked! What do you want?”

“Looking for Katarina. Got a friend that’s sick, she’s the only one who can make her better.” Angel began, his voice starting out menacingly.

Before he could continue and get to the threatening part, the man put his hand up and nodded, sighing.

“Oh, yeah. Angel right? Gavin called to say you’d be coming.” He walked into another room.

Angel sighed, disappointment written all over his face. “I thought I was going to get to threaten him.” He whined.

After a little rummaging, the man re-emerged with a small vial of blood, which he daintily placed in Angel’s hand. “Have the girl drink all of it. It should start working quickly. She’ll be good as new in an hour, two at the most.” He shrugged.

Angel glared at the little man before looking at Buffy. “That was too easy.” He told her, furrowing his brow a bit.

“What’s the catch?” Gunn asked.

“I’m sorry?” the man asked.

Gunn rolled his eyes. “You’re associated with Wolfram and Hart… and you’re just giving us help… no strings attached. There’s gotta be a catch.”

The man smiled and nodded. “Ahh, yes. You’re a smart one. But really, there’s no catch. Not this time, anyway. It’s Wolfram and Hart’s strange way of apologizing for any inconvenience Lilah Morgan may have caused you. And they’d like you to know, she’s no longer employed by them.”

Angel opened his mouth to speak again, but Spike interrupted him.

“Hey uh, why don’t we save the ‘what’s the catch?’ game for later. We need to get this back to cure the slayer.”

Buffy, Angel and Gunn nodded, following Spike out of the loft. Angel quickly poked his head back inside. “Sorry about the door.”
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When they got back to the hotel, Buffy and Angel went into Faith’s room, where Wesley was sitting by her bed. Angel was pissed, and he hadn’t realized it until he’d gotten back and seen him, sitting over Faith, watching her like a little watch dog.

Buffy felt his anger and she touched his arm, gave him a stern, pleading look and walked forward.

She forced the blood down Faith’s throat while Angel and Wesley held her down as her body began to quickly react to it. Her body began to spasm and convulse as the blood made it’s way through her system.

Finally, her body stilled and her breathing slowly returned to normal.

Wesley looked at Buffy. “How long did he say it would take again?”

“Uh, an hour. Two to be sure.” She answered.

Angel sighed and pushed passed Wesley, walking out the door.

“She needs rest. We should leave her alone.”

Buffy watched Angel leave before turning to look at Wes. She gently touched his arm. “You should really get some rest too.”

He shook his head. “No, I-“

“You’ll be here when she wakes up. I promise.” She smiled weakly and gave his arm a soft tug before he reluctantly gave in and followed her down stairs.
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She left him in the kitchen with everyone else, telling Gunn to make sure he didn’t leave until she came back. She headed into Angel’s office.

“Angel, is something wrong? You-“

“He said she wouldn’t get hurt.”

“What?”

“Last week, when I asked him about him and Faith…he said she wouldn’t get hurt. That Lilah didn’t know.” He scoffed. “Guess I should’ve known better, seeing as the reason he’d come here in the first place was to tell her that Lilah was going to have her killed.” He growled and slammed his hand on his desk, making Buffy jump. “I knew I should’ve stopped him fro-“

Buffy stared at Angel. “Angel, listen to yourself! You can’t control Faith, you never could! She chose to have a relationship with Wesley and now she’s dealing with the consequences. That’s all you can ask her to do.”

Angel shook his head. “No, this is Wesley’s fault. If he’d just stayed away from her-“
“It takes two to tango, Angel! She knew what she was getting herself into. She had to. Why else would she have not told you?”

Angel blinked as he realized Buffy was right. She nodded. “She knew you’d react like this.”

Wesley had sneaked out of the kitchen and heard everything being said. He couldn’t stand it. Angel blamed him for losing Connor, and now he blamed him for hurting Faith. He hated himself, as he too blamed himself for both occurances. He slowly stepped into the office.

“Angel, don’t take this out on Buffy. Please, I’m the one who caused all this trouble. I-“

Angel glared at the former watcher and stalked toward him, hands balling into tight fists as he ignored Buffy’s warnings.

“Angel! Don’t! Angel, stop it!”

He punched Wesley in the face, sending the watcher spiraling back into the door.
“ 'Don’t worry, Angel. She’ll be fine! Lilah won’t find out. Nothing bad will happen, I promise.' ” He mimicked, towering over Wesley and glaring down at him.

“First Connor and now Faith. I thought you were supposed to be working your way up, Wes.” He raised his fist to punch him again, but Buffy ran between them, shoving Wesley out of the way and punching Angel instead.

“Angel, stop it!” she screamed, blocking his path. “What is wrong with you?!”

Angel glared at her. “Buffy, get out of my way.”

“No.”

“Don’t make me move you.” He growled at her, taking a step closer.

She looked him dead in the eye and set her jaw. “Try it.” She said icily, her voice low and extremely dangerous.

He went to move her, but thought about it again and quickly backed off.

Buffy let out a shaky sigh, relieved she didn’t have to fight him. That was the last thing she wanted to do.

“You can’t protect him forever.” He growled at her, taking a seat in his chair and putting his feet on his desk.

Buffy looked at him in utter disbelief and slammed the office door shut. She stood in front of his desk and crossed her arms. “Oh really?”

He smiled. “Yeah. Sooner or later, you’re going back to Sunnydale. You won’t be here forever, Buffy.”

“You’re right. I won’t. But Faith will. And from what I’ve seen, she won’t let you hurt him either. I’m not the one you need to worry about, Angel. She’s the one who’ll fight you if you hurt him, not me.” She shook her head.

Angel smirked at her. “And do you know all of this? Will read it in her tea leaves?”

“I’ve seen the way she looks at him. And I’ve seen the way he looks at her.”

“And?”

“They’re in love.”

Angel’s smirk faded and he stood, stared at her. “What makes you say that?”

Buffy sighed and looked at him hopelessly and whispered, “Because I looked at you the same way when I first fell in love with you.”

Within an instant, his gaze softened and he looked away a moment. When he looked back up, his office door was open and she was gone.
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Faith awoke to darkness and the feel of someone holding her hand. Her throat felt as if it were swollen and it took a minute for her to speak. Finally she found her voice and asked, “Who’s holding my hand?”

Wesley’s head shot up in surprise at the sound of her voice.

“Faith?” he asked, praying his head hadn’t been playing tricks on him.

“Wes?” she replied, turning her head in the direction of his voice. “Why can’t I see?”
He smiled. “Your eyes are still shut.”

“Oh.” She blushed and silently willed them to open. After a moment, they fluttered and she looked up at him, his face was lined with concern. She frowned, “What wrong? What happened?”

“You were nearly killed, to be perfectly honest.” He answered softly, squeezing her hand in his.

She thought a moment before everything came rushing back to her. She nodded, “Oh, yeah. Not it’s coming back. The garden, B, the darts.”

He nodded. “You’re going to be fine now.” He stood and backed away toward the door. “Everyone’s been so worried. They’ll be happy to hear you’re up.”

“Great.” She said sarcasticly. She heard him shout something from the top of the stairs, then heard the sound of what sounded like a herd of buffalo running up he stairs.

She pushed herself up into a sitting position, finding herself still a bit weak. She began to fall over as Wesley came back into her room. He caught her and held her up as he sat on the edge of the bed.

Their faces were so close, lips mere inches apart. She smiled softly and whispered, “Thanks.” She let her eyes wash over his face and licked her lips.

“Faith…”

Their lips just touched when Fred came bursting thought the door, Buffy, Angel, Willow, Lorne, Gunn and Spike close in tow.

The two sighed in disappointment and pulled apart.

She forced a smiled and kept it throughout the hugs and ‘welcome backs’ and ‘we missed yous’, wishing for it to end quickly.