:-Kiss and Tell-:
By
Vengeance Girl
Fred leaned backwards and stretched. It was nice, spending time with Wesley and Cordelia, and Gunn, but she wished that they'd chosen somewhere else to go. Caritas wasn't exactly her favourite place - mainly because she almost died the last time she was there. But they didn't get many chances to go out and have fun, so when they did, she didn't want to argue. She looked over at Cordelia, who was drunkenly arguing with Wesley about something pointless, as usual. Gunn had all but fallen asleep, and yet *she* still hadn't even had a drop of alcohol. She wondered if they thought she was a square, but it was just something she wasn't really ready for. She hadn't had many drinking experiences pre-Pylea, so she was a little afraid she wouldn't know when to stop. She remembered the ads they'd shown at Christmas when she was a little girl, the drink-driving ones that had made her vow never to drink. Of course, that hadn't worked, but she still made sure she didn't ever get too wasted. But � maybe as her body wasn't used to it any more � she didn't want to risk having just one, and then not being able to stop. Especially in here. Who knows what they have in those cocktails. She stood up and cleared her throat. "I'm going to the bathroom," she announced. "Yep, 'kay, seeya Fred," Cordelia mumbled. As soon as Fred was out of sight, she prodded Wesley. "Wesley. Quick. Get Lorne to put some Vodka in her coke or something. God knows she needs something to lighten her up a bit. Remember this was supposed to be fun for all of us, but she's not enjoying herself." She swayed a little. "Women know these things." Wesley nodded. "I understand." He attempted to stand up, but his knees buckled slightly. Cordelia reached out to catch him, but was beaten to it by Lorne. She squinted up at him. "Ah, Lorne, there'yar. Get some vodka, Fred needs it." Lorne raised an eyebrow. "Fred *needs* it? I doubt that somehow." "Well okay then smartypants, we wanna get Fred completely out of it, so get that vodka and top up this glass." She slung her arm at him, her hand clutching Fred's glass, which was a quarter full of coke. "Wesley, you go with him and get some more tequila." Wesley swallowed, took a moment to gather his wits, before attempting to stand again. This time his legs supported his weight, and he made it to the bar with Lorne. By the time he returned with the drinks, Fred was back. Wesley placed her drink down on the table. She looked up at him with wide eyes. "Oh, Wesley thank you, but I didn't want another. I didn't bring any more money." "It's okay, Fred, this one's on Cordelia." Cordy attempted to respond with a 'hey', but instead put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from vomiting. A couple of hours and at least four vodka/cokes later, Cordelia and Wesley were sobering up a little, and Fred's drunkenness had probably met them around halfway. At least, they were all at the stage where they could stand, (not including Gunn, who has fallen fast asleep on one of the Caritas tables after the club had closed an hour previously), and yet just drunk enough for Fred to suggest a game of spin the bottle, and Wesley and Cordelia to agree to it. Gunn was woken up, and he was admittedly grumpy, but got straight into the party spirit when he realised what they were doing. Cordelia had the first spin, and obliged with a peck on the cheek when the neck of the bottle pointed at Gunn. Fred went next, spinning the bottle with some vigour. Her eyes followed the bottle on each rotation, and she suddenly found herself wondering why she'd suggested this. When it finally came to rest, it pointed at Wesley. She looked over at him, and for a second you could almost see her mind ticking over. Then, with her heart in her mouth, she stood and walked over to Wesley's seat. Planting herself on his knee, she leaned in to do what she'd wanted to do for weeks. Truth be told, she would have done it a lot sooner if it hadn't been for Billy - it had taken Wesley a good while to get over what he'd done to her, no matter how many times she told him she forgave him. She knew he knew inside that she didn't believe there was anything to forgive him for; she knew it wasn't him. But she had to respect him. She couldn't push him - she knew what it was like being pushed into something you weren't ready for. Before Wesley had a chance to react to Fred suddenly being sat on his knee, she'd covered his mouth with her own, kissing him softly. When he was over the shock, Wesley slid one hand down her side to rest on her hip, and let the other tangle in her hair, softly massaging her neck. The kiss deepened when Fred realised that he wasn't pushing her away, and the moment became more and more passionate. Cordy glanced at Gunn, stunned. "Okay," she whispered. "Didn't see that one coming." The kiss finally ended when Fred needed to breathe. She didn't move from her position on Wesley's knee, though, and Cordelia noticed that Wesley's arms now both lay around Fred waist, his hands interlaced with hers. Gunn yawned, bringing Cordelia's attention away from Wes and Fred, and back to what was now a full-blown party in her head. "Okay! I think that's enough fun and frolics for one night, you two - shall we be leaving?" Lorne appeared beside her shoulder. "I think that would be a great idea - some of us need to sleep, you know." Taking the hint, the party gathered up their coats, and meandered back to the Hyperion, where Angel was fast asleep on the sofa, covered in some kind of demon blood. They'd all be staying in the Hyperion recently, as they'd been so busy they barely had time to eat, never mind go home. That's why Angel had given them the night off. The four co-workers tiptoed past Angel, and made their way up to their rooms. Wesley and Fred hadn't left each other's side since they'd left Caritas, and when they reached Fred's door, they were reluctant to part. "You could � y'know � come in for a little while," offered Fred. "We could � talk, and � stuff." Wesley smiled. "I'd like that." Wesley stepped into the room, and realised that he hadn't been in it since a few days after they repainted it. Fred's parents had sent her a couple of boxes of stuff from her room in Texas, and in the couple of months she'd started to venture out into LA by herself, she'd collected quite a few trinkets. Pride of place on her nightstand was a picture of the two of them, Cordelia, Angel and Gunn, in a pretty silver frame. It was a good picture, he could see why she liked it. Everyone looked happy. He continued to look around the room whilst Fred was in the bathroom, removing her makeup and jewellery. Her desk was neat and tidy, except for a bunch of papers in the middle. He picked one up, and glanced at it. He smiled when he noticed it was one of her school reports. "Winifred has an inquisitive mind, and is always interested in new scientific concepts." "Whatcha lookin at?" Wesley jumped as Fred appeared behind him. She looked over his shoulder. "Oh! You found my reports." She smiled reminiscently. "Miss Calder was my favourite teacher. She was so full of encouragement, she knew I enjoyed her lessons. She was the one who made me think of becoming a physicist. I've been meaning to write her, let her know how I am." "You kept in touch?" "For a while. She was a good friend of my mom's after I graduated. I know her address is in one of the boxes Dad sent me." She waved her arms at the three large boxes stacked one on top of the other in the corner. "I don't know where, though." "Why don't we look? I can help you sort the boxes out. If that's what you want." he added hastily. "Would you mind? They've been sitting there for a month, and I just haven't gotten round to going through it. We've been so busy!" Wesley lifted the first box down, and Fred fetched a pair of scissors to cut the tape with. Once the box was open, they sat down on the floor, Fred now wearing a pair of very summery silk pyjamas, Wesley having removed his shoes and loosened the top button of his shirt. One by one the unpacked things, discussed where to put them, every now and then Fred uttering a quiet "Oh!", as she found things that she thought would have been thrown out long ago. Her favourite duvet cover, and her thick woollen jumper that she'd always loved pulling out of the closet every year, because it meant it was almost Christmas. Everything had a story, and Wesley heard every single one of those stories that night. He enjoyed every minute of it, until they were down to the bottom of the second box and he noticed Fred's eyes begin to sag. "Do you want me to go, so you can get some sleep?" He asked, softly. "No! I'm not tired." The determination was spoiled a little by the yawn she stifled at the end of her sentence. She smiled again, and then nodded. "Maybe I'm a little tired. But that doesn't mean you have to leave." She stood up, and sat on her bed, pulling one of the blankets her mom had sent up with her. Patting the bed beside her, she indicated for Wesley to sit with her. "You've heard so much about me tonight. I still hardly know anything about you. Sit here, and talk to me. But don't take it the wrong way if I fall asleep." She smiled that smile again, and Wesley couldn't help but grin back - it was an infectious smile. She was so beautiful, and when she smiled like that at him, it made him feel like he was the only person in the world that mattered. He settled himself on the bed, and Fred leaned into him so that he could wrap his arms around her tightly. He didn't mind talking about his father with her like this - that man seemed a million miles away right now. As if it had been someone else. "Well, what do you want to know?" "Tell me everything. I know you didn't have a great time when you were younger, your dad was violent? Cordelia only told me that I had to give you time after Billy, she didn't go into why." "He wasn't my Dad. He was a father in name only. No Dad could behave like he did to me and mum. Sometimes when its dark, and I'm alone, I can still see him sneering at me, hear him telling me I'd never amount to anything, feel his hand against my cheek. And that was on a good day. For so many years I would have done anything to please him, but nothing ever did." Fred listened to him talking, watched the pain in his face with pain in her own. How anyone could treat such a wonderful man in such a way, she could never and would never understand. "Once, while I was locked in the cupboard, he went out into the back garden for a while. Mum came in with a five pound note and a packet of biscuits and told me to get as far away as I could." He was starting to speak with a shake in his voice, and Fred snuggled in closer to him. "I can remember it as if it was yesterday. He caught me on my way out of the door. I was locked in the cupboard for a week with no food after that, and he said I was only getting my morning cup of tea because 'it would spoil his reputation if they found a dead body in the cupboard'. Mum got off worse though. I could hear her screaming for help and I couldn't do anything about it. I tried the door handle over and over, I even tried to break the door down but I just ended up with a dislocated shoulder, that I had to endure as I wasn't allowed to go to the hospital." "We don't have to talk about this -" "No, I want to. The watchers council took me away from them for training 12 years ago, and this is the first time I've spoken to anyone about it. I was so dreadfully timid when I arrived there, they almost gave up on me. That was when I realised that if he wouldn't ever praise me, I had to work harder than ever so that I knew inside I wasn't a complete failure, even if he didn't believe it. I was 17 years old when I realised that my father didn't matter, he was just like a parasite that I'd had to put up with, and was now free of. So many times since I've called home and asked mother to come over here and live with me, but she insists he's better now. I don't know if I believe her, but short of going back to England and dragging her here, there's nothing I can do about it. And that would make me as bad as him." "You could never be as bad as him." "But do you see now? Why it hurt me so much when I attacked you? You were the one I cared most about, and it took so little to turn me into him." "It didn't turn you into him. It was nothing to do with him. It was Billy, it was happening to Gunn too, and it would have happened to any other guy who came into contact with the blood, or any part of him." She turned on the bed to face him. "I trust you, Wesley. I trust you with my life, completely and always. I mightn't have known you very long, but I know that you're one of the kindest, gentlest people I've ever met, and I would not hesitate in announcing that to anyone who would listen." She smiled, and reached up to wipe the tear that had started to trickle down his face. "But please don't make me. I'm not great with public speaking," she grinned, and he smiled back. "It's okay, I believe you, Fred." She leaned up to him and kissed him again, much more softly than at Caritas. This kiss was to comfort him, and they both knew that it meant so much more than the first one had. That had been part of a drunken game, this was a sober show of genuine affection. Fred snuggled back down into Wesley's side, and pulled the blanket over them, stifling another yawn as she did so. Wesley smirked. "Am I that bad?" "Never," she laughed. She glanced at the clock on her wall, and started when she realised it was 5am. Wesley followed her look, and smiled. "Maybe we should get some sleep now?" "I think we should." They both wriggled themselves down from their sitting positions so that they were lying flat, Fred on her side, one arm over Wesley and the other by her side. He removed his glasses, and took her hand in his, leaving the other arm in its place around her back. Within minutes they were both fast asleep. **** Cordelia peeped into Fred's bedroom as she made her way downstairs for an aspirin. She'd heard them talking until a couple of hours ago, and smiled when she saw that they both lay on their sides, Fred having stolen all the blanket. She noticed their fingers were still laced together, before closing the door quietly and tiptoeing downstairs. It was 11am by the time Fred and Wesley made it downstairs. They entered the kitchen area joking and laughing, and found Cordelia making herself some toast before she sat down with the newspaper. "Morning. Sleep well?" Fred and Wesley replied in unison. "Wonderfully." "Well, sorry to break the mood, but Angel and Gunn have gone off a-hunting, you wanna go back them up? They'll be somewhere near Taco Belle." Fred's eyes lit up at the mention of her favourite fast food place. "I'll bring you something back, sweetie." He went and stood beside her where she was making herself a coffee, and kissed her on the back of the neck. She turned around and kissed him on the lips. "Go," she smiled, pointing at the door. "Do the man thing." He laughed. "Me take weapon, me kill big nasty." He picked his coat up from the end of the banister where he'd hooked it last night, and took a large axe from the cabinet, before leaving, looking determined. The second he was gone, Cordelia turned to Fred eagerly. "Well?!" "Well what?" "What happened?!" Fred smiled, teasingly. "A good girl never kisses and tells."
