Destiny

By PSUBrat

Fool Me Once

The atmosphere in the Summers' living room had suddenly gone from jovial and relaxed - hey, apocalypses happen every day here, right? - to frosty and tense in a matter of seconds. Those that had been having a good time, stopped in mid giggle as they watched the former watcher and the vampire interact, their body language screaming distrust and contempt. Wesley stood deadly still as his steel-blue eyes locked with Angel's deep brown ones. He knew that nothing would ever be the same between them again. He didn't want same though, he wanted better than same but he knew that he would never get that. Not from Angel anyway. Part of him wished that the wounds between them would heal and the other part of him, his darker part, just didn't care anymore. It was no longer worth the effort to him.

"You're damn right you're the Betrayer," Angel growled as he contorted his human face into his most menacing scowl.

Wesley sighed but never broke eye contact. He heard the others in the room, buzzing in the background. He supposed that eventually the Sunnydale bunch would have to be brought up to speed on why it was that he was the Betrayer, but for now he had to deal with the angry vampire standing in front of him. "Angel, I have apologized several times over for what occurred. I cannot take it back. I know that you will never accept that, which is quite all right. I do not need your forgiveness."

Fred and Gunn shared a worried glance. What did Wesley mean that he didn't need Angel's forgiveness? They had both just assumed that all was already forgiven and that Wesley would come back home to them, that is, if they all made it out of the Last Judgment alive. Fred looked up from her seat on the floor and saw the yellow flash through Angel's eyes. This was not a good place to be sitting, especially if things were going to get ugly between the two, which she assumed they would. Nudging Charles with her elbow, she signaled to him to back up with her towards the couch so that they would be out of range if the fists started flying. He quickly complied and the two silently backed up to be with the others.

"What do you mean you don't need my forgiveness?" Angel demanded, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring back at the man. "What you did to me…to my son…it's unforgivable anyway."

"What the heck is he talking about?" Xander whispered to Anya.

"I'm not sure," Anya replied in her own hushed tone. "But Angel should have contacted me for a good vengeance spell."

Xander looked at her like she was insane, but he soon turned his attention back to the melee in the middle of the room when Buffy shushed him by bringing her finger to her lips and glaring at him.

"I'm well aware of what I've done to you and to Connor. He and I have already talked about it and…"

"Which brings me to my next question, Wesley. Just what were you doing with my son tonight? Were you trying to turn him against me more than he already was, is that it?"

Lilah laughed. "Uh oh, Angel's found you out Wesley. Now what are you going to do?"

Wesley glared daggers at the woman tied to the chair but before he could speak, Angel had him by the throat in a vice-like grip, cutting off his air supply.

"You son of a…"

The rest of the group sat in stunned silence as they watched Wesley dangle from Angel's grip. No one moved nor knew what to do, especially after Connor sprung to his feet to challenge the vampire.

"No!" Connor screamed as he ran to the aid of the man who had taken him in and helped him to reconcile with his father. "Stop it! Let him go! I thought you swore you weren't a monster!"

***

Connor's words echoed in Angel's ears as all the strength slowly drained out of him. Ever so gently, he released the grip he had on Wesley's throat. He watched in horror as the man began to cough and sputter, gasping for fresh air while he rubbed at his neck where the hand had been squeezing the life out of him. He looked down at his hands like they weren't a part of his being and then looked pleadingly at his son. What had he done? Had he just destroyed the tenuous connection they had just reestablished? He couldn't let that happen, too much was at stake, their very lives. The look on Connor's face, the fear and the hatred, scorched his already tortured soul.

"Son, I'm sorry…" Angel began as he took a tentative step towards Connor.

"Don't apologize to me. You should be apologizing to him," he said pointing at the Englishman standing off to the side. Bruises were now showing up on the man's neck.

"Connor, you don't understand…"

"I understand just fine. Wesley has taken care of me the last few days and he has not once lied to me as far as I can tell. He explained to me what happened. If I can look past it, shouldn't you as well?"

Angel stood staring at his son, dumbfounded. It was then that he realized that he didn't know his son, not really. The boy was a complete stranger and if he was to ever establish a bond, then things needed to change. He straightened his back, turned to Wesley and extended his hand towards his former friend. "I'm sorry, Wes. Will you accept my apology?"

"No harm, no foul," Wesley stated dryly, his hand continuing to rub the bruised area of his neck. He thought about not reaching to shake Angel's hand but then realized it was something that needed to be done in front of Connor, for the sake of father and son. "Very well. Apology accepted."

Angel turned to his son who was now grinning back at him. Being a parent was going to be harder than he originally thought, especially to a teenager. He supposed he'd have to ask Buffy for some pointers on how she handled Dawn.

***

The night air had a slight chill to it as the fledgling vampire slowly made his way back to the cave and to his master. Of course, he no longer noticed the cold and he no longer cared about it either. All that mattered now was that he was free; free from everything that was once important to him, such as his job and money. The healing powers of vampires were truly a magnificent thing. He wished he had studied it more in his previous life. The pain in his broken legs had already started to subside and for that he was grateful. It was true that the pain was much less excruciating than what he, as a human, had endured just less than a day ago at the hands of the Master, so he was appreciative of that as well. The demon that now inhabited the body in place of the human soul still had those awful memories ingrained in his being. The thought of what the Master had done to the human part of him, made him shiver.

Instinctively he knew how to get back to the cave despite the fact that he was newly turned and that the cave was well hidden. The Master would be pleased with him, he was sure, since he was bringing along a fresh offering. The seemingly young woman that he dragged behind him had been quite a find. He had come across her after being hit by the car; actually it was her that had come across him. She had been wandering the streets aimlessly, dazed and crying when she literally bumped into him. It hadn't taken much to over power her, almost like she wanted to be caught, and as a result he now had something to give to his master. The sound of a muffled groan reached his ears. It was a good thing that he was almost to the cave, otherwise he'd have to knock her out again and that just wouldn't be acceptable. He wanted her fully alert as he handed her to him.

Once inside the cave, he followed the tunnel to another chamber where he knew the Master would be at rest, preparing himself for tomorrow night's festivities. The woman was now becoming more alert and starting to thrash around a bit. That was just fine by him, the better to get her heart pumping and the blood flowing. Then again, he was certain that would occur anyway once she understood what was about to happen to her.

"Grandpa-pa look!" Drusilla cried, clapping her hands together as the fledgling brought in its prey. "Look what our precious Gavin has brought for you."

Gavin pulled the dark haired woman to her feet and placed her in front of the Master. "I've brought you this offering, Master. Are you pleased?"

The Master chuckled a deep throaty chuckle as he keenly observed the offering in front of him. "You have done well, my boy."

Drusilla circled the woman, her eyes dancing with pleasure. She swayed back and forth listening to a voice that only she could hear. "Grandpa-pa, the pixies are telling me that she was once very powerful. Her blood will be beyond anything you have ever tasted before."

"Drusilla my darling, I'm afraid your pixies have forgotten that I have tasted the blood of a slayer, nothing is sweeter than that."

She pouted as she ran her hand through the woman's hair, eliciting a small whimper from the prisoner. "Yes, but the pixies still think that you'll like her just the same."

"Perhaps I will," he stated with a smile as he moved towards the woman. "Shall we test that theory now?"

"Don't you want to find out what I know first?" The woman asked, tilting her head to the side and glaring at the hideous creature in front of her, daring him to kill her before she revealed all that she knew.

***

The tension factor in the Summers' living room dropped several notches after Wesley and Angel shook hands. Buffy was relieved. She thought she might have to start chaining them to the supports in the basement if they didn't keep their testosterone in check. She wondered why they just couldn't bottle it up and save it for tomorrow night when it would really be needed.

"William, a word please," Giles stated with a frown and disapproving look at William's torn and dirt stained clothing.

"Someone's in trouble," Xander sing-songed like a four year old, grin and all. He hoped that Giles was going to kick some Evil Dead butt; then again, it looked like Evil Dead had already gone through a butt kicking with Angel. Too bad they hadn't killed one another. That would have given him a huge happy.

"Stuff it Harris," William shot back. "You just wish it had been you out there trying to kick my ass instead of the poofter. No worries. Plenty of time for that later."

"So are you feeling all manly now?" Buffy asked with a grin as she walked up beside him, checking him for wounds. She was surprised to see that he didn't have more than a scratch anywhere on his body that she could see anyway. Not even much of a bruise, which she thought was really odd since Angel looked like his face had met with a baseball bat a few times.

"Yeah. I say I feel very manly right now. Wanna slip down to the basement to see just how manly I can be?" He asked giving her his patented cocky grin.

She hesitated a moment, the thought of stealing off for some alone time with him was incredibly tempting, but there were bigger, more important things to think about right now. "A world of 'no'. There's too much to do. Maybe later when it's our turn for some sleep." She noticed his grin again after her last statement. He may be a proper and refined British watcher now, but at times she caught glimpses of the old Spike. A part of her really missed him.

"William?" Giles demanded from the dining room. "A word. Now."

"Best be going luv. Try to keep everyone busy or better yet, get out some extra blankets and pillows, they may want to get some rest."

"Right. I can do that," she replied. "But first I need to talk to Angel."

William raised an eyebrow in question and folded his arms across his chest.

"Just talking. I swear."

"I trust you luv," he whispered as he bent down to kiss her forehead. "Gotta go before Rupert skins me alive."

She watched him walk away in awe. He had handled the whole thing with her and Angel so well, it was scary. Maybe he had really changed or maybe she just never noticed that he was capable of this type of behavior before. Either way, she was glad that she finally had opened her heart to him.

***

In the dining room the three watchers sat back in their seats, pouring over papers and making notes. They were certain that they now knew who the pertinent participants were and to whom they were paired. Since neither Giles nor Wesley had sung for Lorne, they could only assume that they were to face their fate together, for whatever reasons. Now it was just a matter of devising a plan in order to defeat the Master.

"Shall we go over the list and the pairs?" Wesley asked, shuffling his notes and trying to put some order to the disorder that he felt. "Just to assure that we're all on the same page?"

"Excellent idea," Giles replied as he rubbed his temples. He felt like he hadn't slept in days, which was right on, since he truly hadn't slept in days. There was still so much to do; he just could contemplate resting yet.

"Rupert I think you should get some sleep after we go over this. William and I can continue with trying to formulate a plan."

William nodded in agreement. The older watcher was looking a little green around the edges. "I agree with Wesley. You really do need to get some sleep. You won't be any good to us in this condition."

"I'll have you know I'm in great condition!" Giles snapped at them. His shoulders slumped and his face softened. "I'm sorry. I guess I am overly tired. Let's go over the Twelve and then I'll try to get some sleep."

Wesley pulled out his list from his stack of papers and cleared his throat. "Let's start with the obvious one. We already know that Buffy is the Slayer and that she is paired with William who is the Souled. Dawn is the Key and is paired with Connor, who I'll assume to be the Prodigy. Do either of you disagree with that assessment?" Both Giles and William shook their heads. "Right then, continuing…we know that Cordelia and Angel are paired. I'm guessing that Angel is the Champion since we know absolutely for sure that the Souled position has been filled. Also, Lorne knows for a fact that he is not involved in the prophecy, which leaves Cordy as the only one with visions, thus the Seer. We also know, through Lorne's abilities, that Xander is the Loyal and that he is paired with Anya who is the Demon. Neither has received their calling yet but I believe that will happen in a matter of hours."

Giles nodded with Wesley's assessment thus far. "Right. So that now leaves us with Willow as the Witch, Tara as the Sorceress, myself as the Watcher and Wesley as the Betrayer. We have no idea for sure that Willow and Tara will be paired, we can only assume that they will be and without their having been called, we won't know for sure."

"Well it would make sense if they were paired," William interrupted. "It seems that those who have been paired so far are romantically involved." He sat back and waited to see how long it would take for the other two watchers to react to his innuendo.

"Angel and Cordelia are involved?" Giles asked incredulously.

William shook his head and rolled his eyes. That was not the reaction he had been fishing for when he had made the statement, but it would do for now.

"Yes, for quite some time now," Wesley replied matter of factly.

"Although you wouldn't know it by the way he's been sniffing around Buffy," William growled.

"William, was that scene out back with Angel really necessary?" Giles chastised as he took in the man's appearance. "I mean really, was it worth it?"

"What do you think?" William asked with a cocky grin. "Of course it was worth it, mate. It felt good to give the poof his just due. Now I hope he realizes what he has with the cheerleader before he messes that up too."

"Yes, well," Wesley stated dryly. "Not much we can do there. Angel is quite stubborn."

"Anyway…getting back to the pairs. As I was saying, those that we know for sure that have been paired off are romantically involved. So is there anything you two blokes would like to share?"

Both Wesley and Giles gave William a puzzled look, and then slowly, realization of what William was hinting at dawned on them. Puzzlement was replaced by shock and then shock was replaced by embarrassment. Giles stood quickly, cleared his throat, made like he was going to say something and then stopped.

William could tell that the man was now flustered. "Don't worry Rupert," he said, patting the older watcher on the arm and smiling mischievously. "You're secret's safe with me."

"Now see here!" Giles exclaimed as he towered over the younger man who was still seated. "I am not…"

Before he could finish, a scream came from upstairs.

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