Conversations Overdue (Tag Faith)

[Wesley]

Wesley made his way into his office, hanging his jacket up on the coat rack before heading to his desk. There was a small stack of notes on his desk in Cordelia's handwriting. He sifted through them, searching for any thing of use. After discovering they were all credit card offers, he tossed them into the bin.

He leaned back in his seat, studying the phone, almost willing for it to ring. He needed something to do, something to distract him from events passed. Distract him from the man tied up in the basement, distract him from the woman staying in Angel's room. Anything.

[Faith]

Almost in a daze, Faith wandered downstairs, oblivious to everything but trying to figure out a way to get herself and the others out of harms way. Wandering past Wesley's office door, she stopped. Unsure why, she took a couple of steps back and peered in.

[Wesley]

Wesley's boredom had hit a whole new level. He had taken to tossing pens at a cork board on the wall, watching to see if they stuck. He looked at a pen distractedly, trying to remember when the last time was that he'd gone out and thrown darts. It'd been far too long. He'd have to make plans to go out and do that sometime. Sometime soon.

Movement by his door caught his attention, and he paused in mid-throw. If it were Angel, or Cordelia even, he'd never hear the end of it. Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, who fussed at them about wasted time, playing darts with Bic pens and a cork board.

[Faith]

"I hear they work better on paper." Faith said, pointing at the pens stuck in the cork board.

She stood at the door, waiting for him to tell her to get lost.

[Wesley]

Wesley jumped a little when Faith spoke, quickly trying to compose himself and sit up at his desk. He took the rest of the pens splayed out on his desk and shoved them into a drawer, then he looked up at her.

"Faith," he said politely. "Ah...feeling better? I hear yesterday was...quite a day for you."

[Faith]

"You could say that." She smiled, playing nervously with her hands. "I mean, it's not every day you get released from prison by an evil law firm, get shot, burried alive and then beaten up by an assassin. As days go it was a bit of a downer." She was trying to make the atmosphere a little brighter, but it wasn't really working.

"So... how've you been?"

[Wesley]

Wesley smirked as Faith spoke, looking down at his desk surface. "Sounds to me like a typical day around here. Except...well...the whole prison part. We haven't had to bust Angel out of jail yet." He frowned, thinking. "No..no jail. Been in for questioning. Hell, we all have."

"So... how've you been?"

He studied her for a moment. She was obviously uncomfortable, and surely just being here was taking its tole on her psyche. His gaze went back to his desk. "I've been doing well. Few close calls here and there, but everything is fine."

[Faith]

"I've been doing well. Few close calls here and there, but everything is fine."

Faith had been expecting Wes to be angry, or hostile, or anything other than his usual British stiff upper lipped polite self. If she was going to be here for a while, then the air needed clearing.

"Just stop it." She said, firmly. Her eyes were sad. "Stop with the polite, everything's fine routine your giving me, I can't take it any more."

[Wesley]

"Just stop it," she said suddenly. "Stop with the polite, everything's fine routine you're giving me, I can't take it any more."

Wesley stared at her for a moment. "What do you want me to say, Faith? Do you want me to tell you all about what's gone on since we last met? Do you want me to tell you all about how Darla returned and made a mess of Angel? Or how I was shot by a zombie cop? Or how we were trapped in a hell dimension where humans were no more than cattle? Of course, they made Cordelia their queen." He stopped, taking a deep breath.

[Faith]

"Wes, I want you to be honest." Her voice raised slightly. "I want you to shout and swear and not pretend like I didn't..." she let her voice go quieter, "...like I didn't make you hate me." She looked at the floor.

[Wesley]

He took in another deep breath, his jaw tense.

"I did hate you, Faith. I hated you with every part of my being. You tortured me. For hours. And you seemed to be having a ripe old time of it too." He looked towards a wall, anything but her sad face. "But time goes by. We move on. And it sounds cliched, but wounds do heal. You have time to look back on everything."

He leaned forward. "You're are not an evil thing, Faith. You just...got a little lost. And part of that is my fault, and I'm sorry."

[Faith]

What Wesley said made perfect sense to her. She walked further in and sat down opposite him, her hands in her lap.

"I'm sorry too." She looked him in the eye. "You should know, it'll be a long time before I forgive myself for that, if I ever can. Everyday in prison, I went over and over it in my head. Everyday I wished I could take it back. Take it all back." She half laughed at herself, it sounded so silly to say it out loud. "It wasn't your fault. I went out of my way to ignore you and make it difficult. I deserve what I get."

[Wesley]

He looked up when she sat down in the chair across the desk from him.

"I'm sorry too. You should know, it'll be a long time before I forgive myself for that, if I ever can. Everyday in prison, I went over and over it in my head. Everyday I wished I could take it back. Take it all back. It wasn't your fault. I went out of my way to ignore you and make it difficult. I deserve what I get."

He shook his head lightly. "No one deserves that. And I...perhaps I should have spent more time listening to you, getting to know you. Instead, all I did was spout Council codes and live by their rules." He laughed humourlessly. "That did me a lot of good, didn't it?"

[Faith]

Faith smiled back, she wasn't sure what else to say to him. It would take Wes a long time to trust her again, she knew that deep down, but if they could just get past this awkwardness, then maybe they could start to work things out.

"Look, I'm not expecting the big make up with hugs and flowers or anything, but...you think we can ever get past this?"

[Wesley]

"Look, I'm not expecting the big make up with hugs and flowers or anything, but...you think we can ever get past this?"

He laughed, despite himself. The picture of a huggy, flowery Faith was NOT something he thought he would ever see. He nodded. "I think it is possible to get past it. But...forgive me if I...if I can't say that I'm past it now. It's all still...still so fresh in my mind. I thought I'd gotten over it last year, but I think all I managed to do was push it back in my head." He rubbed his hands over his face. "And now it's all coming back again."