Sam has been on his way back into Wesley's office when he saw Faith coming down the stairs.
"Hey," he called up to her, "how's the leg today?"
Faith
Faith made a face.
"Less painful than it was last night, but still, I won't be fighting for a few days."
She made it down the stairs gingerly.
"You off to see Wes? He's in a meeting with Angel."
Sam
Sam opened his mouth to correct her, closed it, then opened it again.
"Oh," he said simply, looking down at the book he held.
"It can wait," he shrugged, closing the book and going to sit on one of the bench chairs to wait.
"Need to redress that or anything? Guess I have some time to kill."
Faith
"Yeah," Faith said. "That'd be good. Thanks."
She looked at Harmony.
"Harmony, can we get a first aid kit?"
Harmony rolled her eyes a little. "Sure."
She returned moments later with the kit.
Sam
Sam put the book down on the floor underneath the chair and stood. He looked her over for a moment, biting his lip.
"You know what? This might be easier if you sit on the counter top," he suggested, "saves me bending over, because I'm so much taller."
Faith
"Alright," Faith said, grinning a little. "I'll ignore that you called me short."
She hoisted herself up.
Sam
"You're not short, just shorter," Sam mused, walking over to her.
He opened the kit on the counter and startd preparing the dressing.
Faith
Faith watched him carefully, almost trembling while waiting for their skin to touch.
"Well, I prefer petite. Besides, everyone is short compared to you," she teased gently.
Sam
"True. So I get to make fun of a lot of people," Sam winked.
He finished what he was doing and put some surgical gloves on, before kneeling to take off the old dressing.
"This might hurt a bit. On three? One-" off came the bloodied dressing.
Faith
"That so wasn't three," Faith retorted, but her tone was playful. "Didn't they teach you counting at Stanford?"
She winced a little.
Sam
"Nope, I had my Dad to teach me that," Sam stood and wrapped up the dirty dressing, "and therein lies the problem."
He took the next dressing and stepped around so that he was in front of her, stopping to clean the wound of blood a little first.
"Ok, this might work better if you lift your legs a bit so I can get into it. It's at such an odd angle. Ah... try putting your foot on my shoulder if you can. Think you can get it up there?"
Faith
"Alright."
Faith slowly lifted her leg after kicking her shoe off.
"This would be easier if you weren't so tall. Or if we were naked," she grinned.
But, she managed to do as he asked.
Sam
"I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Sam teased.
"How's this instead?"
He purposely prodded near the wound, but not too harshly.
Faith
"Hey, your subtle good looks have not gone unnoticed," Faith grinned.
Then she made a face.
"Ah... I think that's ok. Try a bit harder."
Sam
"It was meant to hurt, not feel good!" Sam insisted.
"But let's try this instead."
"He carefully placed the dressing over the wound, taping it at either end and readying the bandage.
Faith
Faith deepened her breathing through the pain, making little moaning noises.
"Ok... ow. Ah... ow."
Sam
"That's better," Sam said decidedly.
"I've been gone three days and you're already screwing my girl?" came a voice from behind them.
Sam immediately turned in surprise, careful to keep Faith's foot from falling.
At first Dean reeled from seeing the surgical gloves his brother was wearing, but when he saw the wound his face changed instantly.
"...Oh."
Faith
Faith winced slightly as Sam turned, and suddenly felt very vulnerable in short shorts and her leg up in the air.
"Ohoo. Awkward position for Faith's leg."
Sam & Dean
Sam turned back to her.
"Oh, sorry," he apologised straight away, carefully letting it down for her.
"Dean how long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough," Dean raised an eyebrow, "where's Angel? We need a talk."
Faith and Angel
Faith smiled gratefully at Sam and then slipped down from the counter, careful not to put any weight on her bad leg.
"In his office," she said, indicating as the door opened.
"Ah, Sam," Wesley said, stepping out first. "You - "
"Dean," was Angel's greeting. It wasn't unfriendly, but it certainly wasn't friendly.
Dean & Sam
Sam removed his gloves as he looked between them, packed up the kit, then went to retrieve the book he'd put down.
"Angel," Dean returned in the same tone, "we need to talk."
Faith and Angel
"Well, I think I should be present to stop any deaths," Faith said, looking between the pair.
Angel gestured to his office. "Alright," he said to Dean.
Sam & Dean
"Sam, don't go anywhere," Dean ordered his brother, before walking into Angel's office.
Sam just nodded obediently. He eyed Wesley, hoping he'd stick around.
Faith and Angel
Faith followed Dean in and perched herself down on the couch, facing the desk with interest.
Angel took his seat behind his desk and nodded at Dean.
Wesley looked at Sam and decided to wait around also.
Dean
Dean strode over to the desk and leant on the ack of one of the armchairs.
"One of the cops at the place you guys 'worked' last night identified my brother. And what's more, they've alerted the FBI. Victor Hendriksen is the agent in charge of our case, and he's been relentless up to this point, so don't be at all surprised if he starts banging those big fancy doors down looking for us," he began seriously.
"His face is already plastered all over the news and it won't be long before they add my mug to it, seeing as I got caugh on camera at the Milwaukee bank heist. Coincidentally saving an old man like Sam was but that's another story. My question is what you plan to do about it if we can't get out of here before D-day."
Faith and Angel
Faith raised an eyebrow slightly, but was mostly just working on putting her leg up without hurting it more.
"I have some contacts in the FBI," Angel said, after a moment. "I got them to drop Faith's case, and I can try and do the same for you and your brother. If that fails, we can organise protection, or a place for you to hide out and then escape."
Dean & Sam
"We've had people try and drop the case for us a few times before, that's not gonna work. What do you have in mind for a safehouse?" Dean asked.
***
"So..." Sam began awkwardly after a long silence, "what I meant to see you about earlier... There were a couple of inconsistencies in reports on Lilith in a few volumes and I was hoping you could tell me which was more reliable."
Angel, Gunn and Faith
"We can organise one wherever you want," Angel told him. "Our main concern - "
The door opened suddenly and Gunn stepped into the office.
"Hey Chuckles, ever hear of knocking?" Faith teased.
"We got trouble," Gunn said, ignoring Faith for the moment. He turned the TV on. "Seems while Sam was identified last night... the FBI are also going back on the deal we made."
Faith's face flashed across the screen.
"She is considered armed and very dangerous. Do not approach - "
"Really? That's the best photo they had?" Faith looked pissed.
"Faith," Angel said gently. "We may need you to go into hiding for the moment as well. Until we can get that sorted out."
~*~*~*~
Wesley took his glasses from his pocket and put them on.
"What did you find?"
Sam & Dean
Sam pointed out the inconsistencies in three different books that he'd written down, and hesitated while Wesley looked them over.
"Wesley..." he began carefully after a moment of silence, "when Faith was attacking Wilkins last night, she was taking it kind of personal. Am I not being told everything? I mean I know she used to work or a relative of the guy..."
***
"Great," Dean seethed, "just what we need."
He turned his back on them and looked toward a blank wall, thoughts racing.
"We shouldn't take up your safehouse offer," he half turned back to Angel, "it would only be for a couple of days. We need to be freelance by the day after tomorrow for... other pressing issues. What I need right now is to get Sam and myself - Faith is welcome to come along - out of the state successfully."
Faith, Angel and Gunn
Wesley sighed slightly.
"I was wondering if that would come up," he said honestly. "Faith... or rather, the Faith you know, is very different to the Faith she used to be. She was... there is a long a very twisted story as to what made her the way she was, but here's the short of it. One night, while patrolling, Faith accidentally killed a man. She was 17, and she obviously didn't want to go to jail. She dumped the body. But it was found. We - the others in Sunnydale and I - tried to give her our support, but instead, she turned to the Mayor of the town for protection. He was the Uncle of James Wilkins."
He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"As far as I'm aware, Faith was treated very well by him. And, never having any real parental figure in her life, she looked up to him. She was young, understand, and easily swayed. Anyway, needless to say, she took a bad path, but it was Angel, and only Angel, who was able to bring her back from destruction."
He continued looking over the texts.
~*~*~*~
"Alright," Faith said slowly. "I'll go with them, just until Gunn has sorted out a new deal."
Angel nodded.
"It shouldn't take long. The Big Kitty is pissed," Gunn told her. "They're seeing it as an act of betrayal."
"Well," Faith put in. "They've gone from wanting me dead to actually trying to keep me alive now. I've moved up in the world. So, Angel. What's the deal?"
Angel looked at Dean. "Obviously, your car is going to be noticeable driving out of town."
"Teleporters?" Faith suggested.
Sam & Dean
Sam nodded.
"Ok," was all he could muster up.
How hard must that have been?
***
"I'm not ditching my car," Dean said sternly, "I just rebuilt her with my bare hands after she was totalled by a semi."
He studied the floor for a moment and stepped forward.
"Hendriksen's always managed to stay one step behind us so far, but the one time he actually caught up with us we were lucky to get out alive. His boss was posessed by a demon who served under one who doesn't like Sam very much. Seeing as our faces are already on the news, this town is going to become a haven for demonic posession anytime now. We won't know who's watching us. Any human in this building could already be a target."
Gunn, Angel and Faith
"Quite," Wesley said. "Ah."
He pointed out what he thought was right and what was wrong.
~*~*~*~
"We have enough spells and enchantments on this place to open our own magic shop," Gunn reassured him.
"Still, I'd like to get you out of here as soon as possible," Angel said, with maybe a hint of a double meaning. "Faith, are you comfortable to go with them?"
"Yeah, you can send someone for me when I can show my face in LA again." Faith shrugged. "Easy come, easy go really."
Dean
"We'll drop you off somewhere when we have to head to Bobby's," Dean offered, "that cool with you?"
Faith and Angel
"Yeah." Faith shrugged, looking at her leg again. "Besides, Dr Sam can fix my leg while we're on the road."
Angel started organising things for the escapees.