Sam wasn't sure why, but he felt awkward walking into Wolfram & Hart alone. He'd done it plenty of times two weeks earlier when he'd been working with Wesley on his research, but now... well, a lot of things were different.
He walked over to Wesley's office and knocked on the door.
Wesley
Wesley looked up, startled. He put down the book he was currently reading and placed a marker insdie it to hold his place.
"Come in."
He didn't remember scheduling a meeting, and usually the rest of AI just paged each other from their various work stations. And Faith just barged in.
Sam
Sam stopped to take a deep breath, then opened the door and stepped through.
"Hey," he greeted, closing it behind him.
Wesley
"Sam," Wesley said by way of greeting. He sounded a little surprise.
"Take a seat."
Sam
Sam looked like he was going to refuse, but ended up sitting down.
"I need some help," his eyebrows crinkled.
Wesley
Wesley nodded, his eyes peering over at Sam over the top of his glasses.
"What can I do for you?"
He wondered vaguely if this meant Dean was annoying Angel in his office right now.
Sam
"Well, we found a way to locate Lilith last week," Sam explained.
"And we had a run in with her. Which didn't go exactly as planned. And a few days later we tried locating her again, but it didn't work. So I don't know if she's still here on Earth, or if she's gone into one of those... what do you guys call them? Dimensions? It desn't matter. Anyway I was wondering if you had anyone that you knew, maybe a demon or somebody with contacts, that could help us find her again. It's a long shot I know, but I'm running out of places and friends, you know."
Wesley
"Well," Wesley took his glasses off and put them on his desk.
"We have some contacts, but dimension hopping isn't as easy as it sounds. There's no guarantee you'll make it back out in one piece. But I can look into it."
Sam
"I know, I know," Sam assured.
"And I'm not gonna ask anyone to endanger their lives just for the sake of finding her for me when she'll no doubt raise her ugly head again sometime soon. But there's no guarantee she's even... not here, you know? She might have found a way to shield herself from us and our locator. And that I don't know how to deal with either."
Wesley
"Even if we can send you and your brother through to another dimension, you'll need one of our people to go with you so they can get you out," Wesley said.
He looked around at the book and paper clutter on his desk.
"I know I have a phone somewhere."
Sam
"Umm... I'm sorry, I can't go," Sam said, his voice unsure.
"I'm needed here right now. In case Lilith does show again. I'm the only one that can-"
He cut himself off and shook his head.
"I was just wondering if you knew anyone that could contact the other side, that's all."
Wesley
Wesley was curious at the fact that Sam wasn't mentioning his brother but he didn't want to press him.
"Would you like some tea?" he asked, suddenly standing from his desk and moving to his mini-kitchenette to put the kettle on. "There are people I can contact. Angel and Faith have some good contacts in that area."
Sam
Sam breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, that's really what I was hoping for. Ah, do you have coffee? I feel like I haven't slept in a week."
The fact that he hadn't was totally unrelated.
Wesley
"Uh." Wesley looked and sounded a little embarrassed. "I don't... generally... have coffee. More of a tea drinker myself. Let me call someone to bring some."
He went back over to his desk and paged Harmony.
"Harmony?"
"Yes?" she chirped.
"It's Wesley. Could you bring a pot of coffee to my office, please?" he asked.
"Sure can!"
Wesley smiled faintly. "It'll be here shortly."
Sam
"Thankyou so much," Sam leant back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment.
Fearing he might fall asleep, he sat up again.
"So where's Faith?" he changed topic.
Wesley
Wesley thought for a moment.
"My guess is in the gym. She and Angel just got back in from Korea last night. They've resumed their fight training, so I imagine she is practicing. Would you like to go see her?"
Sam
Sam thought about it for a moment.
"Ah... no. No. I was just wondering," he faked a smile, rubbing his hands together.
Wesley
"Fair enough... it's just... it's very interesting to watch a Slayer fight and train herself."
Wesley was quiet for a moment.
"That was a highlight of my brief career as a Watcher. Helping someone realise how strong they are."
He shook his head slightly and looked to the door when there was a knock.
"Come in."
Harmony opened the door, holding a pot of coffee.
"Here you go, Wes," she smiled, walking over to the kitchen and putting the pot down on the bench. She smiled at the two in the room and then left quickly.
Wesley stood and went to pour Sam some coffee.
"How do you take it?"
Sam
"Black, plenty of sugar, thanks," Sam replied.
"And I'm sure it is, interesting, watching a Slayer. Fighting's just not my thing, you know? I'd rather avoid it if I can. And I know that's her business and that's totally cool, I'm just saying it's not my forte`."
Wesley
"It wasn't mine either," Wesley said ruefully, heaping some sugar into Sam's mug. He brought the coffee over with a spoon, then made himself a cup of tea.
"But I don't know... it's definitely a useful skill. Particularly in our lines of work."
Sam
"Yeah I know," Sam stirred the coffee a bit more.
"It's just one of those where you don't want to do it, but you kinda have to."
Wesley
"I wasn't ever intending to learn, honestly," Wesley admitted. "Being a Watcher, it wasn't really sensible for us to not have at least rudimentary fighting skills... but, then, being a Watcher in theory and being out in the field, completely different."
He smiled wryly.
"My first night on the job and I was almost beheaded by a demon. So... that was a lively start to my career."
Sam
Sam nodded.
"I'm sure everyone has a rocky start. was attacked by a shtriga before I knew what hunting even was," he shrugged.
Wesley
Wesley smiled slightly, and sat down at his desk, sipping at his tea.
"Was there anything else you wanted to talk about? You seem a little worn."
Sam
Sam just shook his head.
"I've just spent a lot of time on the road, that's all," he assured.
"Finding it hard to get time to sleep and all that. I won't take up any more of your time than I have to, I'm sure you're busy."
Wesley
"Where's Dean?" Wesley asked suddenly, suspecting something had happened, either to his brother, or between them.
Sam
Sam's face instantly paled a little. He knew the question had to have been coming, but even still it caught him off guard.
"He's... not here, right now. We left him back in Indiana," Sam feigned a smile, but his voice had shaken.
Wesley
"It happened, didn't it?" Wesley asked gently.
"Lorne told Angel... what he saw."
Sam
Sam frowned, looking up at him.
"What?" he looked confused.
Wesley
"Lorne saw... he's anagogic," Wesley started to explain. "So he can see your future and your past when you sing. Dean... he was humming one morning and Lorne happened to overhear him."
He paused.
"We... we looked into things to try and stop what Lorne had seen. I am sorry we failed."
Sam
Sam's frown deepened.
"You knew?" he sat forward a little.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Wesley
"I assumed Dean would have told you."
Wesley put his cup of tea down.
"It was a delicate situation, we didn't know exactly when it was meant to happen. And we... we didn't tell Faith."
Sam
Sam took a moment to let it all sink in.
"So Faith doesn't know he's dead, either," he said decidedly.
He shook his head, then added...
"There's nothing you could have done to stop it, we know that now. There's nothing anyone could have done, except me. I'm the only one that could have stopped it, and I didn't, and I'm going to have to live with that for the rest of my life."
Wesley
"No, and she's not going to find out either."
Wesley rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I can't tell you not to feel guilty, but I do feel I should tell you that at some point, you're going to have to slow down a little."
Sam
Sam stared at him for a moment.
"It's been a week," he said outright.
"It's gonna take a lot longer than that to get used to being the only one left, I assure you."
He finished the rest of his coffee off.
Wesley
"It usually does," Wesley said softly.
He looked at Sam.
"I trust you'll stay safe? I'll call when I have the information you were after."
Sam
"That all depends on if I find Lilith," Sam considered, going to return the coffee mug to the tray it had been brought in on.
"But thank you, again. You have my number, right?"
Wesley
"Yes, or I'm sure Faith has it."
Wesley regarded him carefully.
"I'll be in contact soon."
Sam
Sam nodded, then stepped through the door and closed it behind him.