Warped Reflection
Part Three: New Blood
by Ruth Quist

SUMMARY: What would happen if you looked in the mirror and you weren’t there?

RATING: FRT [V] [L] [A] [AU]

DISCLAIMERS: This fan fiction is copyrighted (2004) by the author. No infringement on the rights of Mutant Enemy, Inc., Greenwolf Corp., Lazy Dave, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television, Twentieth Century Fox Television, UPN or The WB, or any other legitimate holders of copyright for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, or any other characters contained therein is intended. This material is produced entirely for the entertainment of fans. No profit is made.

SPOILERS: Spoilers for up to the end of Season 4 (In fact, it is assumed that you’ve seen Season 4. It will be hard to read this if you haven’t.). Minor spoilers for Season 5. Mostly related to characters introduced this season.

DISTRIBUTION: Please ask if you want it.

ASSUMPTIONS: (Spoiler warning!) They still haven’t explained how the Connor related mind wipe works. For the purposes of this fiction, it is assumed that all the events that happened are remembered exactly how they happened. Conner was simply edited from those memories. (i.e. Justine cut Wesley’s throat and he remembers that, but he doesn’t remember the baby being in his arms or her taking Conner.) As you can imagine, this leave’s weird gaps in everyone’s memory. People don’t question this because, as a part of the magical process to create the mind wipe, they were told not to question it. This also means that everyone’s emotional state is pretty much the same as it was before the mind wipe. Aren’t I nice to tell you? Now if Joss would just tell us!

Gunn pulled up to the corner and looked around.  Where were they?  At least Lorne and Fred were okay.  When he’d left, Fred was ordering evil people around and marshalling forces to be ready for whatever Angel needed.  He chuckled at the memory.  She sure knew how to light a fire under someone when she wanted to.  She could light a fire in someone too, he mused.  Too bad they hadn’t worked out. 

He’d always wondered what she saw in him.  Frankly, he’d thought she and Wes had more in common with the books an’ all.  He was just a street kid with a very direct approach to problems.  Maybe that’s what it was.  Maybe she had wanted a simple, uncomplicated relationship. 

She knew he’d been interested after his comment about her being beautiful.  Maybe she was looking for something straightforward after her failed crush on Angel.  No agonizing, no questions, just sweetness and pancakes.  Everything simple and easy.  He couldn’t blame her after her stint in Pylea. 

Not like English was ever simple.  He was a complicated man from beginning to end.  Gunn remembered those comments Wes’d made about his parents.  There was a lot of pain there.

He had to wonder if that fire Fred was lighting had anything to do with the fact that Wes was threatened.  He scowled at the thought.  Well, pretty soon, nobody’d be able to say he was ‘simple’.  He sighed looking around.  Where were th… 

Angel came pounding out of an alley twenty-five feet away like the hounds of hell were after him, with Wesley over his shoulder.  Gunn backed up, tires squealing, hammered down on the horn, and floored the gas to rocket towards them. 

He slammed to a stop just long enough for Angel, still gripping Wesley, to leap into the bed of the pickup and then gunned the truck down the road.  From out of the alley flashes of light accompanied the sound of rapid fire weapons.  Bullets spronged the back end of the pick-up and then the truck zoomed down the street leaving the alley far behind them.

Angel, his hands still burning from his contact with Wes’ wet pants, grabbed the back of Wes’ coat trying to drag it off of him.  “Angel, stop!” Wes grimaced at the forced movement.

“I’ve got to get these things off you, Wes.  There’s some kind of acid on them.” 

Wes gripped Angel’s wrist stopping him, “It’s holy water, Angel.  I didn’t drop the crossbow before I tackled you and I fell on it badly.  I think I cracked some…uh…ribs.  The man eased back with a gasp and held his side gingerly.

“Holy water?  How’d you know?”  Angel hung on to the side of the pickup and used his other hand to keep Wesley from sliding around the bed.

“I saw them tilting a huge tub over the side of the roof and remembered a paper my brother wrote at the academy.  Caused quite a stir at the time-‘The Extrapolation of…uh” Wesley gasped as the pickup popped in and out of a pothole, “Special Forces Tactics for Use Against Demons’.  Winston was using one of the tactics he suggested in his paper.” 

Gunn opened the little window in the back of the cab and shouted, “So where we goin’?  Hospital?  Hotel?” 

“Hospital,” Angel shouted back. 

“That isn’t necessary,” Wesley gripped his side tighter and pulled himself up to a sitting position to lean against the cab. 

“You need to get checked.” Angel looked at the pale sweating face before him. 

“If you insist on taking me to the hospital, I’ll just take a cab when we get there.”  Angel saw the determination on Wesley’s strained face and gave up:  “Where do you want to go?”

Wesley patted his inside jacket pocket, “I appear to have lost my phone.  Do you have yours?”

Angel fumbled the phone out of his coat, “Yeah, here.”

Wesley unsteadily pushed buttons on it and listened, “Damn it, Angel, this phone’s dead.” Wesley grimaced as the pick-up jounced over a particularly rough patch of road.  “I need to make a call.  Either my flat or the hotel would suffice.”

Angel had a better idea and leaned his head into the cab window:  “Go to Wolfram and Hart, Gunn.”  Looking back, he saw how Wes was holding himself tight against the pain, “and slow down a little.”

*******************************************************************

Angel had to grin a little when, despite Wes’ protests, Fred whisked him away to the ‘medical
section’.  She firmly rattled on in that way of hers (she just talked right over Wes) and next thing Angel knew, Wes was on a gurney rolling away.  Wait, they had a medical section?  Well, he guessed that made sense, Wolfram and Hart had to dissect people somewhere.  He frowned a little at that thought and told Gunn to go with Wes.  “And see that he has access to a phone.”

An annoying man in a suit hovered nearby looking like he was permanently attached to Angel’s elbow, “Anything you need, Mr. Angel?”

Angel started to yell at the man to get lost when he had a thought, “Yeah, send a team to the alley just off 63rd and Franklin.  See if there’s a walkie-talkie still on the ground in the alley there.  If it’s there, I want it.” 

“Yes, sir!”  The man started to scurry away.

“Wait!  Tell them there may be vampires there.  But they need to watch out.  I don’t want any humans staked by mistake.  You got it?”

“Yes, sir!” and with that the man was gone.  Rubbing the burns on his face, Angel decided he needed to refuel and headed to his new office.

“Hey, Angelcakes!”  Angel sighed and turned at Lorne’s words.  Lorne walked up hurriedly with a cell phone in his hand and held it out to Angel.  “Your secretary tried to call you when they called, but got that ‘Angel doesn’t know how to recharge his battery’ signal, as usual.  I told her I’d hunt you down.”  He thrust the cell phone at Angel’s chest, “You need to call right now, just push redial, I already put the number in.”

“What?  A secretary?  I’ve got a secretary?”  What call?”  Angel confusedly took the phone. 

Lorne spoke urgently, “Yes, sweet cheeks, you’ve got a secretary.  Wesley picked her out of the secretarial pool for you last night-or was it the night before?  My time sense is all shot.”  Lorne paused, “Look, none of this is important, okay?  Push the button.  A certain blonde slayer needs you-right-now.  Lorne said the last two words with special emphasis, poking his finger in Angel’s chest with each word.

Angel, startled, pushed the redial button and spoke tentatively into the phone, “Buffy?”

*******************************************************************

When the elevator doors slid open, Fred was dismayed to see Wesley clutching his side and supported by Angel.  She had dragged him down to medical right away.  Her fear gave her voice an edge that she used to override Wesley’s objections and get the medical team moving.  She watched the nurse remove Wesley’s coat and shirt.  Wesley favored his right side.

She realized she’d never seen him without his shirt before.  She felt a slight frisson of an emotion she couldn’t quite identify.  She swept her eyes down his lean chest which showed a light dusting of hair.  He’d lost weight since last year, not a good thing in a man who’d never really had any extra to lose. 

But she drew a hitched breath at the badly contused area, purple and swollen on his right side.  She could see Wesley grit his teeth and take shallow breaths as the doctor probed the ribs.  The doctor seemed to be unnecessarily rough.  She frowned and her eyes narrowed.  She’d have to have a little talk with the doctor after his examination.  

*******************************************************************

“Hawkins?” Wesley spoke into the phone Gunn had found for him.  Fred was talking to the doctor and looking over the x-rays with him.  Wesley’s eyes followed her movements as she found out; he had no doubt, that Wesley had 2 (or possibly 3) broken ribs.  They hadn’t perforated anything or he’d be in a lot worse shape.  His shirt was off and the doctor had pushed and probed enough to make Wesley wish he still had his crossbow. 

He jerked himself back to the conversation on the phone, “The apocalypse and everything is over.  However, I don’t want the team to come back to town.” 

He’d sent the group he’d built up, during his separation from Angel Investigations, out of town when the apocalypse hit.  He’d known that if the apocalypse was going to be stopped he’d have to work with Angel.  His group would have died in all the chaos unless he stayed with them. 

“Move to a new location and let me know where.  Keep your eyes open.  Vampires may be coming your way.”  He listened for a moment and said, “Yes, that’s fine.  I’ve lost my phone.  I’ve got another phone number you can call if you need to contact me.  It’s a good alternate to my home phone if you need anything.  Also, I want to set up a code word so you can tell it’s me if I call or show up at your location…Yes, I know it sounds strange.  I’ve got a situation going on here.” 

Wesley didn’t know if Winston even knew about his team, however, it was better to err on the side of caution.  Wesley continued, “It’s possible a demon may try to pretend to be me, a…shape shifting vampire.  For reasons I don’t want to go into right now, he can only appear to be me.” 

Wesley continued the conversation for a few moments while his eyes went back to watching Fred.  Hands on her hips, she was dissatisfied with something the doctor was saying.  She spoke a few words pointedly, the doctor paled, and then she abruptly turned to walk towards the bed.  Wes hurriedly finished the call and put the phone down on the nightstand by the bed. 

She spoke indignantly, “What is it with evil people around here?  He wanted to know whether we wanted you to get better or interrogate you.”  She lowered her voice, making it sound officious, obviously imitating the doctor, “The pain caused by applying pressure to broken ribs is especially effective for interrogation techniques.”

Wesley said with a completely straight face, “Well, I don’t know, perhaps you should check with Angel first?  Who knows what valuable information I might provide.” 

She started at his words and then, when she realized he was kidding her, she stuck her hands into her back pockets and leaned over speaking confidentially, “You shouldn’t talk like that around here.   Next thing ya know, you’ll be upside-down over some vat of boiling oil or whatever.”  Wesley smiled.

Fred smiled back, “Now that you can do as much as you like-smile, I mean.  We just haven’t had enough of that lately.”

“No,” Wes said softly, “not lately.” 

Gunn walked up, “Something’s up.  Angel needs us upstairs as soon as possible.”

*******************************************************************

When they got into Angel’s office, it looked like a command center for a disaster site.  Three different TV news stations were blaring at once from the bank of TVs on the wall.  Well-dressed people with clipboards were either writing furiously as Angel spoke or waiting impatiently to talk to him themselves.  Four others were over at the couch with cell phones talking urgently and taking notes of the responses. 

“Mr. Angel, the helicopters are on the way.  Their ETA is 25 minutes.  The landing site is approved and confirmed,” one woman spoke over the crowd. 

A man lifted a finger and said, “I’ve got the transport set from their current location to the landing site.  ETA on that is 5 minutes.”

Angel, on the phone too, raised his hand for silence.  The room got much quieter immediately.  Several people continued whispered conversations on the phones.  “Yes, Giles, vans should be there any minute to take you to the…yeah, I know you didn’t expect this.  However, this’ll get you all here within the hour. 

“I’m sending a medical team to check the people you have in the hospital there, and when they can be moved, we’ll bring them here…I’ve got a hotel all arranged…Yeah, we still have the hotel, but it’s not safe right now…

“What?...Huh?...Yes, I know Harmony is a vampire!  What’s that got to do with…She answered the phone when you what!  Look, let’s worry about that later, Okay?...

“The authorities?...Yes, I can see how that could be awkward for Faith.  We might be able to do something about that…Yeah, as soon as you all get here and are settled in…I’m going to have Wesley work that…yes, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce…yes, that Wesley…no I wouldn’t describe him that w…Just wait and see, okay?...Bye.”

*******************************************************************

Dave replaced the back on the radio carefully and set it back on the ground.  As he started to rise again, he saw the cell phone under a crumpled newspaper.  Picking it up he paged through the phone numbers in the memory.  It looked like head boy’s phone.  He snorted.  He didn’t know what head boy meant in Brit, but it was damn funny in American.  He bounced the phone in his palm gently.  His sire was a creative guy.  He’d find something useful to do with the phone.

Dave scowled.  Winston didn’t really have any call throwing Dave around over that stupid brother of his.  What did he think ‘Wussley’ could do that Dave couldn’t?  After all, didn’t Winston say he and his brother never got along?  Wasn’t Winston always talking about how useless the ‘mouse’ was?  Dave was Winston’s second-in-command.  He wasn’t losing his place to ‘head boy’. 

Dave heard the noises of several people coming down to the turn in the alley.  He crouched and jumped up to the roof.  Watching the Wolfram and Hart team move around the turn and cautiously forward to pick up the radio, he knew Winston was going to be very happy. 

Everything was going according to plan. 

And Dave planned to tweak that plan just a tiny bit.

*******************************************************************

Wesley sighed.  What with the disaster in Sunnydale and its aftermath, the hunt for Wesley’s brother was on hold.  However, Wesley knew he’d be out again looking in a few hours. 

The hotel lobby seemed strangely quiet after the hubbub of a teen slayer invasion.  Wolfram and Hart toadies made final checks off their clipboards as they left the hotel. 

They passed a couple of muscle-bound suits trying, unsuccessfully, to not look like security guards.  Gunn, responsible for setting out security, spoke briefly with one of the guards and then talked tersely into a walkie-talkie.

Angel and Buffy were sitting over to one side in a couple of overstuffed chairs, leaned over, heads close together, talking quietly.  Buffy moved carefully, but seemed oddly relaxed and cheerful.  Buffy laughed at something Angel said and Angel sheepishly laughed with her.

Fred was standing with Willow and a surprisingly eyepatched Xander.  They were having a spirited conversation and Fred was currently explaining something to the obviously rapt amusement of the pair of listeners.

Faith spoke unexpectedly from behind Wesley, “You should’a heard watcher senior after his conversation on the phone with Angel!  Somethin’ or other ‘bout blueberry scones.  I’m surprised your ears aren’t red.”  She leaned over, smirking, and appeared to survey his ears closely. 

Wesley blandly looked at her, saying dryly, “Ah yes, a conversation well worth missing.  Thank God for small favors.” 

“Hey, I got your back, Wes!  I said you were nothing like that wimp back in Sunnydale.”  Faith looked amused. 

“Thanks for that sterling recommendation,” Wes went back to watching Fred…and the others. 

Faith followed his gaze, “Hey, watcher mine, people change.  Sometimes I think the Sunnydale crowd forgets that…unless it happens to one of them.”  She paused for a second, “Sometimes, it’s the only thing I have to hang on to.  I hav’ta  believe, ya know?”  She stated fiercely, “I’ve changed.”

Wesley spoke quietly, “Neither of us are the same people, Faith.  And I’m not your watcher.”

Faith looked over at Buffy and Angel, her tone completely serious, “He’d be dead if it weren’t for you, you know that, right?  Or I’d be dead…not that I ‘specially matter.” 

Wesley spoke absently as Fred swept her hair back with one hand and made some point with her other, “Actually, I took quite a lot of grief for the whole Orpheus episode.  They felt I’d taken too big a risk with your life.  I suppose they were right.” 

“You didn’t tell them, did you?” Faith looked at Wesley curiously.

Wesley crossed his arms, wincing a little at his protesting ribs, and looked at Faith, “I didn’t think it mattered, or that they’d care…”  He looked at the closest thing he had to a family, scattered around the room, “Perhaps I was wrong.” 

Angel looked over at Wes and Faith briefly, and then went back to listening to Buffy. 

Faith looked at Wesley intently, “If you aren’t my watcher, I don’t know who is.  It’s not like there’s that big a selection anymore.  Not like it’d matter.  If there were thousands of those stuck-up types still running around like wind-up toys, you and Giles are still the only two I’d trust to play I Spy with.” 

She commented matter-of-factly, “Ya’ know, Giles was some kinda screw-up when he was junior Giles.  I think maybe the best watchers gotta grow into it.”  Wesley looked startled at her comment. Faith looked away, “Anyway, right now, he’s playing crowd control with the baby slayers.” 

She looked over at Wesley, “So what’s the big plan?  Am I staying outta jail or turnin’ myself in?  I mean, the whole “one girl in all the world” thing hasn’t been true for like forever, what with Buffy and now the herd of Slayer add-ons.” 

She commented dryly, “Being with all those girls at Buffy’s was a lot like bein’ back in jail.  Maybe a little more like juvvie detention.  Except maybe for the whole conjugal rights thing.”  Wes looked at her amusedly.  Her eyes twinkled, “I said I changed.  I didn’t say I changed into a nun.” 

Wesley laughed.  The first genuine laughter Faith had seen from him…ever.  He had a nice smile and his eyes held a depth of comprehension she could feel.  She suddenly relaxed.  He knew.  He understood.  Wes had her back.

© June 2004

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