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Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit, amateur effort not intended to infringe of the rights of Joss Whedon, the WB, Mutant Enemy or any other copyright holders of Angel.

Take Two
by The Brat Queen

Spoilers: Up to Epiphany, after which Joss and I go separate ways.

Rated: PG13

Summary: Angel realizes he's not quite ready yet. (Part of the Epiphany series, takes place after "The High and Low Road")

Thanks to: Mega thanks to Buffybot for the guidance in all things Faith, and to Wolfling for the all-over beta read.

"Awh, c'mon," Faith said.

"No," Angel replied.

"Angel, you've gotta," she told him. She held one of her shopping bags up as she climbed over a rusty pipe. A trail of something she didn't want to think too much about was left along the inseam of her jeans.

Angel, the tall jerk, navigated it with no problem. "Remind me why I 'gotta' again?"

"Because I'm helping," Faith said, giving him a quick flash of her own Little Miss Mary Sunshine look. "Like the good Slayer that I am."

"Heh, yeah, about that - "

"Shaddup," Faith said, pointing a finger at him. "The State of California and whoever's pulling the strings say that I'm a noble citizen and you don't get a vote otherwise. Anyway, this is helping."

"Helping," Angel repeated. "Helping? The mental images alone - "

"You said you were having a hard time figuring out what you wanted," Faith reminded him. "So - this is me helping you figure that out."

"Well I want to vomit," Angel said, thoughtfully. "I suppose that's something."

She whapped him on the arm. "Don't be such a ninny. C'mon, pick. Death is Not an Option: Xander or Riley?"

"No," Angel said, shaking his head. "See, here's where you're wrong. As a vampire I can promise you that death is always an option. A fairly easy one to get too."

"So you'd kill yourself rather than sleep with one of them?" Faith asked.

"Actually I was thinking kill them," Angel said, gingerly holding the bags as they came to another tall pipe, "but I guess your way works too."

"Okay, fine," Faith said, taking the bags back as she got to the other side. "But play along anyway. Death is Not An - "

"But it is."

"Do you have to be so damn literal?"

"If it means never ever seeing Xander or Riley naked, then I cannot stop saying that yes, yes I do."

"Pretend then," Faith told him, rolling her eyes. "You know what pretending is, right? Use your imagination."

"You would apparently be amazed at how many times my imagination doesn't involve sex with Xander or Riley," Angel said.

"You can't pretend for one second?" Faith asked. "Say somebody forced you to. You can't picture that?"

"No," Angel said, "I can't imagine being forced to have sex with Xander or Riley, I don't want to imagine being forced to have sex with Xander or Riley, I don't even think there's anything that could make me have sex with Xander or Riley and I'm actually starting to wonder now why you're so obsessed with it."

"It was a long time in jail," Faith quipped. "Plus we've got nothing better to do since so far we've got goose eggs on the whole demons I can kill thing."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Angel said. He looked around, cocking his head in that way he did when he was trying to get a scent. Considering their location, Faith did not envy him. "Normally this area's pretty packed."

"No big thing," Faith told him. "Keeps my brand-new couture safe and sound anyway."

"Glad you can spot the silver lining," Angel said. He veered left as the tunnel forked.

"My mama always said I was a glass half full kind of a girl," Faith said. She waited until Angel looked like he was relaxed, then continued, "So, Death is - "

"Oh for Pete's sake."

"Don't be such a baby," Faith told him. "Okay - so you'd skin your own hide if you had to - "

"I'd skin my own hide after if I was forced to," Angel said, giving a drama queen style shudder.

"So say you were forced to," Faith replied. "Say some bad ass - "

"Who'd be bad enough to force me?"

"Try a Slayer, ego lad," Faith shot back. "So say some bad ass Slayer blows into town, has your number in her sights, wants to make you dance for her like a little - okay in your case a really big monkey, so she grabs Wes, takes him off somewhere, roughs him up and tells you that either you do what she says or your cute British boyfriend's gonna get it."

Angel stopped walking and simply stared at her, waiting patiently.

A second later the penny dropped. "I meant Buffy, dumbass."

"Yeah, I can see how Buffy would be the obvious conclusion there," Angel observed, dryly.

"Hey, considering how happy she was about your new rainbow relationship, it might not be so far off," Faith pointed out.

"True," Angel admitted, walking down the tunnel again. "But Buffy would never call Wesley 'cute'. She'd nail her tongue to her favorite shoes first."

"That is the kind of imagery you spend your daydreams on?" Faith asked.

"And yet still sexier to me than the one you keep trying to force into my brain," Angel replied. His face took on a thoughtful expression. "So - if you were the one who was actually saying all that I guess it means that you - "

"Oh shut up."

" - find Wesley cute," Angel continued, as though Faith hadn't interrupted him. He grinned at her. "I think that's adorable."

"Two words," Faith told him, holding up the same number of fingers. "They rhyme with 'duck shoe'. You figure it out."

"So what you're saying is you want a threesome?"

"I'm saying I'm going to get my revenge, it is going to be sweet and you will cry like a little girl," Faith told him. "Just so you know."

"Whole lotta worse things in life than Wes's hot, horny, naked body," Angel pointed out.

"I'm willing to take your word for it," Faith told him, holding up a hand to his face in the hopes it would shut him up. "Man. You were a lot less disgusting when you were stoic. Actually, I take that back. The all goody-goody moon eyes around Buffy thing did bring up a lunch or two. I'll take whatever you've got going with Wes. Just keep it behind closed doors and outta my earshot, okay?"

"So you don't want to hear my sonnet about his eyes?"

"I will stake you if I have to."

"Says you."

"Excuse me but when have you ever won a fight against me that I didn't throw?" Faith asked, frowning as though she couldn't remember. "That happened pretty much never, right?"

For some reason that made Angel look uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah, about that. There's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"Tell away," Faith said. "As long as it doesn't involve Wes and no clothes I'm all ears."

"Okay. See, the thing is I'm - " Angel looked off in the distance, his eyebrows furrowing together in concentration.

"Yeah?"

Angel grabbed her then hauled her down to the ground. "Duck!"

They hit the floor just in time to miss the whatever it was that some pissant vampire - one of a group of maybe fifteen - had decided to throw at their heads. Angel, never one to appreciate an embarrassment to his own kind, shot back "Nice one, junior. What exactly were you aiming for with the height difference there?"

"I've got the girl," the annoying vampire replied.

Angel turned to ask Faith if she was okay, but a predatory smile had already shaped her lips. "Now, now, no use fighting over me. There's plenty to go around."

Angel pulled a stake out of his pocket and handed it over to her. "Have fun."

"Always," she said. She stood up in a fluid motion, her hair tossing over her shoulder like something out of a shampoo commercial as her body turned, her arm swung around, and she buried the stake inside of the heart of the first vampire who was dumb enough to try to come close.

The vamp exploded in a burst of dust, and Faith twirled her stake like a baton. "Okay, boys, who's next?"

The vamp gang rushed forward - even more members coming out of the darkness than Angel had originally guessed. Not worried about what his newly amped strength and reflexes would hurt here, he thrust Faith's packages safely to the side, then let himself join in on the battle.

It felt good. Better than good. Angel hadn't let himself get a good workout in quite some time. He pulled another stake from his pocket and went to town hitting, kicking, hurting, staking. One vamp right after another, like a riverflow of things he could torment and kill and -

A muffled grunt got his attention. His head snapped around in time to see Faith hit the side wall, her skull cracking the metal with an echoing clang as some piece of shit baby vamp - one of the last few left - leered over her, bending down like this was an invitation to drink, and normally Faith could've kicked the bastard's ass six ways from Sunday but her eyes were bleary and being off her game for a second would be more than enough time for fangs to connect and -

Angel snarled, switching into game face. He cleared the distance in a single jump.

"I don't think so," he said, throwing the other vampire off of her. He growled, putting himself between the vamp and Faith, feeling this sense of rightness about it. A sense that he was protecting what was his.

With rapid-fire perceptions that he hadn't even known he had, Angel assessed the situation. One vamp at his feet. Three more waiting to attack him.

Well, this could be fun.

"Time for a lesson, kids," Angel said, making a show of cracking his knuckles. "About why vamps like you - " he stepped down hard, breaking the left arm of the vamp underneath him " - do not fuck with vamps like me."

They rushed him.

He laughed.

One, two, three, four - he got them all like clockwork. Stake one, kick the other, stake the third, back to the second to tear off the head and then genuflecting down to the ground to jam his hand through the ribcage of the fourth and rip the heart straight out.

He watched, fascinated, as the body dusted first and then the heart followed after. "Fun."

Faith came over, raking her hair out of her eyes. "Hey, get us with the - "

She didn't have time to finish. The same impulses that had gotten him through the fight had fired again. His hand whipped round, made a fist, and hit her, getting her so hard she actually flipped end over end before landing on the other side of the tunnel.

"Angel!" she snapped, scrambling to her feet. "What the fuck?"

In response, Angel simply grinned, then purred, "Slayer...."

Faith's head felt like she was nursing the ass half of an eight day bender, but she knew she didn't have time to deal with that now. All Slayer instincts - which weren't that out of practice, fuck you very much Wesley - were screaming at her to get up, get on her feet and move before -

Angel's fist came hurling through the air again. Faith barely had time to dive before she felt brick and concrete rain down from where Angel had punched a fairly sizable hole in the wall.

No time to admire the masonry, though. Angel's fist was caught for only a second. Faith took advantage of it to snake her leg out, crack him behind the knees, and then land another kick against his head, temporarily dazing him.

"Okay," she said, jumping back into her feet again. "That was fun. A little unexpected but if you want to get your ass kicked by pulling surprise practice sessions on me - "

No go. Angel recovered, grabbed her ankle and jerked her back down to the ground again. Three punches - and when the Hell had Angel gotten so fast? - created a nice set of bruises on her face before she managed to hit back, pull her legs up, and kick him off her. He went sprawling several feet away, and Faith went right after him.

"Angel, dude, you're freaking me out here," she told him. "If this is a game or something could you at least toss me a safeword? Maybe tell me what I did to piss you off?"

In response, Angel snarled, then leapt at her again.

This was definitely no game. Faith found herself falling back as Angel came at her with kicks and blows that should have never hurt this much. She tried to remember the last time she'd fought something this strong and the only comparison she could make was Kakistos, a thought which did not make her happy in terms of what it meant for Angel's sanity.

"Shit," she said as she knocked Angel's hand out of the way and followed it up with a punch to his right eye - she was not going to be the only one sporting damage here. "Angel? Buddy? I need you to come back to me now. Come out of the psycho place."

To her surprise, Angel spoke. "No."

The shock was enough to give Angel the advantage. He grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up off of the ground. She choked, trying to pry his hands off her. He looked up at her, game faced and practically drooling. There was no sign of the vamp she liked to consider her best bud.

"Slayer," he said again, looking about two seconds away from tearing into a vein.

"Angel," she gasped back. She refused to give up on him. This was not her friend. Or, rather, it was, which meant she was going to do right by him.

Too bad it didn't look like Angel was going to extend her the same courtesy.

"Sorry," she told him, getting it out with her last breath. She looked around, trying to find something that would help.

There wasn't anything to be found besides the stakes and her shopping bags, which pretty much meant she was on her own.

Hoping Angel had quick healing to go with the new talents, she brought her hands in and gabbed his eyes with two fingers. He cried out, dropping her. From there she began to pummel him, going all out, Slayer strength all the way. She let her powers and instincts guide her, finally managing to get the upper hand, until the last moment.

The moment when everything inside her screamed at her to strike.

"Sorry," she said again, this time meaning it for Angel and the centuries of tradition she knew she was yet again letting down. Some things were more important to her, however. She lifted Angel up, turned, and then slammed him into the wall. He slumped down, unconscious, but - and this was the important thing - not dead.

"Okay," she said. She raked her hands through her hair, trying to take stock of everything. "No, no, not okay. Shit. Time for the reinforcements."

She patted Angel down and pulled out a cellphone. She didn't bother with the phonebook and instead held down the number two key.

"Angel?"

Faith cringed. "Um, not exactly, Wes."

Wesley stood beside Angel, looking down at him with an unreadable expression. "You weren't joking, were you?"

"Not really something I'd find funny," Faith told him.

"I wouldn't know," Wes replied. Faith so would've popped him one for that if they didn't have whale-sized fish to fry. "So, what did you do?"

"Huh?" Faith asked.

Now Wes bothered to look at her. "To provoke him. What did you do?"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Wesley," Faith snapped. "I was fighting vampires. How helping me with that equaled freakout for him - "

Wes, of course, wasn't listening. "Things like this are precisely the reason why I've been keeping him inside and away from such difficulties. But of course you couldn't be bothered to adhere to the few rules I was foolish enough to think you might follow, if only because they were on his behalf!"

"Hey, calm down there, princess," Faith said. "The field trip was his idea, not mine. All I wanted to do was get some good demon killing in since somebody didn't want to let me do my job until I'd logged enough hours with a paper trainee hat on my head."

"And while you were doing that you thought you might aim some of that in Angel's direction?" Wesley asked, gesturing to the still unconscious vampire with a sharp flick of his hand. "Give me one reason why I should even trust this tale. It would be completely like you to -"

"To kill him, Wesley," Faith shot back. "I know you've been cashing your unemployment check for a while but you did use to be a Watcher at one point in your life. You think somewhere in that brain of yours you can remember that I'm a Vampire Slayer, not vampire second chance giver? My gut wants me to stake these guys, so if Angel's here and not being handed over to you in a little baggie, I think I've proved my point about being trustworthy. Which is more than I can say for you by the way."

Wes's eyebrows quirked up. "I beg your pardon?"

"What's with not telling me about Angel going Incredible Hulk?" Faith asked. "I'm fighting with him and I'm getting my ass kicked because nobody thought to mention that he's been bench pressing buildings in his time off."

Wes gave her a look, then said with every bit of condescension Faith had ever heard him muster, "Faith, Angel is much stronger now, he's faster, he can heal quite rapidly and he also has a reflection. You may now feel free to have an orgasm from this influx of information."

"You know, screw you," Faith said, folding her arms. "I'm trying to help here. Angel's my friend. The last thing I need is you giving me attitude."

Wesley glared at her. "The man I love is currently prone on the floor while the woman I hate is asking me to coddle her. Let's have a pop quiz and ask ourselves what we think I'm most inclined to do in this situation."

"You wanna know what I think you should do in this situation?"

"Most likely the exact same thing I would suggest for you, I'd wager."

"Yeah, well mine would be a little impossible on my body but if you want to try it out first on yours then go ahead!"

"Do you have any idea how much I'd love to - "

"Ow," Angel's voice, somewhat muffled, interrupted them both. He sat up, his hands pressed to his face. "Ow. Ow. Fuck. Ow."

Wes immediately knelt down, putting his hands on Angel's shoulders. "Take it easy. You've been through a lot."

Faith, who hadn't had so much as a sympathetic look for the bruises and slight limp she was sporting, couldn't help but shoot him a glare.

Wes didn't notice. "Do you think you can stand, darling?"

"Maybe," Angel said. He put his hands down, then looked around. His brown eyes glanced up at her, noticing the damage. "Shit. So much for that being a bad dream. Faith, Jesus, I am so sorry."

"Forget about it," she told him, glad he was back to his old self again. She offered him a hand up. "Just a little dust-up, right?"

"Well no," Angel said, standing up then immediately looking like he regretted the action. "Since I'm here and not - what was that, in a baggie?"

Faith twisted her mouth in a wry smile. "You could hear us, huh?"

"You were loud enough, yeah," Angel said. He leaned against the wall, rubbing his forehead. Conversationally he added, "Ow."

"We'll get you home," Wesley said. "Put some ice on that. Get you some blood."

"No," Angel said, and the vehemence of the denial surprised them all - even him. He immediately looked apologetic. "I mean - um - not hungry."

Now Wes was taking no shit. "Don't even attempt to say that with a straight face around me."

"Well I'm not."

"You've been hurt."

"I'm fine."

"The Hell you are."

"I think I've done enough here, Wesley," Angel snapped, then immediately looked like he regretted it. "Sorry."

"Home," Wesley decided. He put his arm around Angel, guiding him towards the way out. "We'll settle this at home. Faith, get your things."

Faith took a moment to realize Wes meant the shopping bags. "Uh - yeah."

As though she'd asked for an explanation, Wesley said, "I won't have this trip be wasted by you losing whatever was so damned important for you to get."

Faith picked up the bags of nice clothes that Angel had bought for her. The fun little shopping trip seemed like it had happened a million years ago now.

They walked back to the hotel in silence. Once they got there Wes led Angel into their suite and didn't even bother pretending to extend an invitation. Angel shot her an apologetic look and she knew what that meant. Grown-up time. No kids or Slayers allowed.

She gave Angel a shrug to indicate it was no big thing, really, and went back to her room. She dumped her clothes onto the floor, slumped down into a chair, stared at the walls and thought.

"Maybe I'll just go to bed," Angel offered, moving back in the direction of the bedroom and thinking to himself how nice it would be to crawl under the covers and forget that, as for example, he'd ever been born.

"Why do you even pretend that I have a say in these things?" Wesley asked.

Angel aborted the mission and sat down on the couch. Looked like a fight was on the schedule. "Back that up and tell me where the being pissed off comes in. I'm not disputing it, just wanna get up a good defense."

"You dump this girl on me," Wes said, pacing in his irritation, "inform me that we have to deal with her in spite of my feverent desire to, just going by my latest fantasy, shove her off a cliff, and then when I attempt to try to go along, to create an environment which can somehow handle her and you, you hare off and do your own damned thing anyway!"

"Sorry," Angel mumbled.

"Which leads me to wonder," Wesley continued, "why you persist in this charade wherein I am the leader of this team and this business. Would you like me to quit? Is that it?"

"I dunno," Angel shot back. "I'm the one who fucked up, you wanna fire me?"

They glared at each other, fuming, before the absurdity of it all struck them both.

"God I hate you," Wes said, nudging his way into place beside him. He lay his head against Angel's chest, his arm circling his waist. "I hate you and all you stand for."

"No, you don't," Angel said, glad he could be confident in that, at least.

"No," Wes agreed, kissing his chest, "I don't. But I do hate you for ruining my speech."

"Speech?" Angel asked.

"I had one prepared," Wes told him. "About this, about Faith, about why this is so difficult for me."

"Hey, hey, hey," Angel said. He turned around, facing Wes. "Hang on one damned minute. If you think I don't know - Jesus Christ, Wes. She hurt you. She tortured you. She's left marks on your arm that still haven't faded and if you think that doesn't piss me off in ways that nothing else can then you and I need to have a serious talk about what exactly you think I'm saying when I say I love you. Because I'm not exactly asking you to hand me a newspaper or something over here."

"Amazingly I realize that was your attempt at translation and not a metaphor," Wesley observed.

"You know me better than anyone," Angel replied, automatically, then winced because he wondered if, after everything, that was still true.

"So now that you've stolen my speech," Wesley said, quietly. "I was wondering - "

"That was your speech?"

"Part of it, yes," Wesley said.

"Didn't mean to swipe it," Angel told him.

Wes's lips shaped in the ghost of a smile. "It actually sounded better coming from you."

Angel gave him a tiny smile back, then prompted, "You were wondering?"

"Why you won't touch me anymore?"

"I touch you," Angel said, defensively. He indicated their position. "Touching you right now, actually."

"I didn't mean - " Wes made a face, then kept going. "I meant - I meant intimately."

"Wes, you and I - "

"Angel," Wesley said, gently, "you and I have not been you in I for quite some time. And it isn't as though I haven't enjoyed the changes in that aspect of our relationship but God, darling, do you have any idea how long it's been since - "

"One month, one week, three days," Angel said, automatically. "And - and then I get the hours screwed up because of the time differences."

Wesley gaped at him. "Oh."

"Did you think you were the only one who missed it?" Angel asked.

"Then why won't you try?" Wes replied, looking a little lost inside his eyes.

"Because I am scared shitless of hurting you," Angel said. "Wes, not that I'm ranking going out today as one of the smartest things I've ever done but look at how much it proves my point. I got a little bloodlust in me and nearly took Faith out. What do you think is going to happen if I start touching you? If I start getting my blood up that way? Jesus, one wrong move and I could kill you or turn you or - "

"And coffee cups?" Wesley asked, gently. "And your razorblades? And your clothes? Angel, I've - God help me - I've watched you. You're frightened of your own shadow. You've done nothing in the past few weeks except retreat further and further into your own skin."

Angel couldn't back down from what was basically the truth. "Can you blame me?"

"No," Wes assured him. He cupped Angel's cheek with his hand. "But I can hurt for you. Angel, you must deal with this sometime. I know it's terrifying but hiding is only a short-term answer. At some point you're going to have to face yourself."

"What if I'm not sure who that is?" Angel asked. He rubbed his cheek against Wes's touch, feeling his skin warm around it.

"You'll learn," Wesley said. "As we all must, from time to time."

Angel thought about it. "Was it as scary for you?"

"What?"

"When you realized you loved me?" Angel asked. Not that he liked pushing Wes on the whole mistaken sexuality thing, but - "When you figured out who you were?"

"Actually, yes," Wes admitted. He pressed a kiss to Angel's forehead. "But it wasn't without its rewards."

"I love you," Angel said.

"That's good to hear."

"I want you."

Wes gave him a shaky smile. "I rather wish you would act on that."

"Not while I could hurt you," Angel said.

"Do you think you can fix that?" Wesley asked.

Angel grew quiet. He felt a speech of his own coming on, which was unusual for him. Well - unusual since he'd gotten past the days of needing to remind Buffy that she was supposed to have a normal life.

He looked at Wes. This was about as far from a normal life as anything he could imagine. He couldn't picture anything that was further from a wife, a dog, and 2.5 kids for Wes as this.

But the Hell of it was, he couldn't picture Wes anyplace else.

"Do you love me?" he asked.

"Whole heartedly," Wes replied.

Angel pared his speech down to the basic points. "I love you. I'm scared shitless. I have no fucking clue what I've done to myself. I don't even know who I am anymore besides a guy who's insanely in love with you. But if you give me a little time I'll do whatever it takes to figure that out."

"I'll give you my entire life," Wes replied. "How about that?"

"Perfect," Angel said. He moved his arm, letting Wes settle against his chest again. He thought about the task ahead of him, and what he'd need to accomplish it. "You realize you're not actually allowed to die on me, right?"

"I took that as a given," Wes mumbled back.

Angel smiled, pressed a kiss into Wes's hair. "Good."

Faith sat on the bench of the hotel's small side courtyard. She stretched her legs out in front of her and listened to the various sounds of LA in the morning.

She wasn't too surprised when Angel came to sit beside her, his bulky frame more than safe under the cover of the building's shade.

"So I've found a new place for myself," she said, without preamble. "Nothing fancy but I talked to a guy on the phone last night and I think I can bring him down on the rent. Plus it can't be any worse than the last place I was in, right?"

When there was no response, she continued. "Turns out there's a nursing home that's looking for a little help in the kitchen. I told 'em I'm no good at the Iron Chefing but they seemed happy to have someone who can man a spoon and wash a dish. It's not going to be good for my girly manicure but what can you do?"

Still no answer. Faith fumbled in her pocket for a cigarette, lighting it for a lack of anything to do with her hands. "Vamps and demons and other nasties tend not to care where I'm living, so no problems keeping up with my Chosen not-so-much-One destiny, and once I get a phone or something you know you can call me whenever you need me, right?"

She glanced over at him. "Because I don't want this to be bad feelings or anything. I know you and Wes have your little love nest going and I'm not really a part of that, so I'll just get my things and - "

"Xander."

Faith blinked. "Huh?"

Angel finally looked at her, a thoughtful expression on his face. He acted as though this were somehow a response to what she'd been saying. "I thought about it. Not saying it's what I'd call a fun activity for a Saturday, but if I've got no other choice then, okay, Xander."

"Xander," she repeated, knowing he was back on the game she'd been trying to play yesterday but having no idea what it meant for right now.

"Yeah," Angel said. He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I mean think about it. Riley? I wouldn't want to give him the satisfaction."

"Right," Faith said, slowly, figuring she might as well humor him. "And Xander?"

Angel gave a wolfish grin. "It'd really piss him off if he enjoyed it."

Faith chuckled.

Angel sat back again, holding out a hand in a clear request for a cigarette. Faith lit another one and passed it over to him. "So I need somebody I can fight with," Angel said.

"You do?" Faith asked.

"Yup," Angel said. He took a drag off the cigarette then exhaled a stream of smoke. "Been thinking about it. About what I feel? I'm in love with Wes, I like coffee, if I absolutely had to on pain of Wes's life then yeah, I'd probably fuck Xander, black's still my favorite color and I need somebody to be my sparring partner. Help me learn how to deal with all the newness."

"Oh," Faith said. She thought about what that meant for her plans to do the noble thing and move out. "You mean me, right?"

Angel grinned at her. "Yeah, Faith, I mean you. Do you mind? I know you've got enough crap on your plate. I'm not asking you to be my babysitter if you'd rather - "

"You kidding?" Faith asked, then realized she was probably supposed to play this kind of thing cool. "I mean - yeah, sure. Whatever. Makes no difference to me."

Angel looked at her seriously. "You sure? After what happened yesterday - "

"Still beat you, didn't I?" Faith pointed out.

Angel smiled at that. "Good. It's settled then. You can tell the old ladies to get stuffed."

"And here I was looking forward to being around institution food again," Faith quipped.

They sat in silence for a moment, enjoying each other's company.

"So..." Angel said, flicking his finished cigarette into the sand-filled ashtray.

"Yeah?" Faith asked, squishing hers out under her boot.

Angel gave her a smug look. "Wesley or Buffy?"

It took Faith a second to get it, then she gave him a shove. "Oh fuck you."

"Ah, ah, ah," Angel said, flashing her a quick peek of fangs. "Don't you remember? Death is not - "

"Get your ass down into the basement so I can kick it," Faith said, pushing him again.

Angel got up, laughing. "Don't worry - I promise I'll never tell."

"Like you'd know the answer anyway."

"So you admit it's at least one of them?"

"I hate you, you know that?"

Angel paused, thoughtfully. "You know people keep saying that to me?"

"We've got good reason," Faith promised him. But she flashed him a smile before heading down to the practice area.

Fin.