Simple Things
by Lara

SUMMARY: Wesley and Illyria before they part ways to go after their Circle of the Black Thorn targets.

RATING: FRC [GF]

PAIRING: Wesley/Illyria

SPOILERS: Through the Angel series finale “Not Fade Away”.

DISCLAIMER: I only wish I were as successful as Joss Whedon. He and Mutant Enemy own this; I just write fanfic for fun while waiting for my own big break.

DISTRIBUTION: Permission granted to the usual haunts – WNW, Blue Moon Rising, Drawn to You, and No Angel. If anyone else wants to archive it, please let me know.

FEEDBACK: Very much appreciated. Please e-mail lara@darling-moon.com. Flames, however, will be used to fuel the fire in Wesley’s next spell casting session.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Short ficlet that came to mind while talking to Ann (a.k.a. TnBella). A gap filler of sorts after Wesley and Illyria walked out of Spike's place in “Not Fade Away”.

Walking up the stairs from Spike's flat, Wesley could sense Illyria close behind him, moving silently but there nonetheless. He wondered what he might say to her before they parted ways – he to Vail's, she to intercept Izzy and his dinner companions – but hadn't they said pretty much everything that was going to be said earlier? What was left? Goodbye? That sounded rather final, and he didn't like that thought, no matter the odds they were against. Good luck? Knowing Illyria, she would eschew such a wish as silly, simple human superstition.

Nothing seemed appropriate…except maybe silence.

At the building exit, he opened the door and held it, allowed her to pass him. For once, she didn't argue with the gesture though she had a few times before. Instead, she simply walked out onto the stone steps leading down to the sidewalk and waited for him. Letting the door swing closed behind him, he joined her, looking up at the already darkened sky. Clouds were starting to roll in; a storm was on its way – a heavy one by the looks of things, the feel in the air.

But as he stared up, he suddenly saw something unexpected. Several shooting stars streaked across the sky, bright but short before they disappeared again. It had been a long time since Wesley had seen shooting stars, and never in Los Angeles. The sky was usually washed out. Tonight, however, he had seen those clearly.

“What are you staring at?” Illyria asked, following his gaze upward toward the sky.

“Shooting stars.” He pointed to another group of them that quickly flashed above them. “Look. When I was a child, my mother used to say that they were angels coming to bring the souls of people to heaven.”

She looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. “Yet you know that they are actually no such thing, merely rocks falling to earth from the sky.”

“Maybe the myths aren't true, but it doesn't matter. They're still beautiful.”

She looked back up at the sky. “Humans have such a narrow view of beauty sometimes. I have seen and experienced things that you could never even imagine—.”

“Walked seven lives at once and seen dimensions untold – yes, I know,” he interrupted, walking down to the sidewalk.

“Splendor indescribable and complex.” She joined him at the bottom of the steps. “And yet you find something so simple to be beautiful and wondrous.”

“Because sometimes it is the simple things that can be beautiful, just like sometimes terrible things can be beautiful. A look, a ray of sunshine, a falling leaf, a kiss…” He stared at her for moment before looking away down the street in the direction he would soon be walking. “They can all hold their beauty.”

Illyria glanced down, her hand going up for a moment to her neck where the last vestiges of her wound were still fading away. “A touch?”

He nodded without looking at her. “Yes, that too.” Sighing deeply, he finally raised his head up to look at her. “We'd better get going. We only have so much of a window of opportunity to take out our targets.”

“Yes.”

Wesley put his jacket on and checked to make sure his back-up plan was secured against his wrist. Illyria just stood there, watching him without a word, her eyes seeming to almost glow in the darkness. Once he was done readying himself, he turned back to her, clearing his throat to speak.

“Illyria, I won't—.”

Before he could finish, he was cut off by the sudden and unexpected feeling of her lips brushing his. He froze in shock – Illyria was kissing him – before finding himself responding, just slightly. When he realized what was going on, he backed away a step, breaking the kiss.

She tilted her head, her fingers running over her lips. “Perhaps you are correct about the beauty of simple things, Wesley.” She paused for a moment and dropped her hand to her side. “Good luck.”

Turning, she walked away down the road without another word. Wesley watched after her in amazement until she had disappeared around the corner, then headed in the other direction, towards Vail's as one last star shot across overhead. A few minutes later, the clouds completely blanketed the sky.

© November 2004

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