"Hello Faith."
Faith looked up and raised an eyebrow, leaning back against the counter in the diner.
"Well, I'm guessing this isn't a happy coincidence," she drawled, as her eyes flicked over the new arrival.
"What makes you say that?" Wesley asked.
"For one, I'm not happy," Faith answered. "What do you want?"
"Just to talk," he said, holding his hands up in a peace gesture. "That's all."
"Right. And you think I'm gonna want to talk to you?"
"I understand that you may be angry - "
Faith laughed. "I don't think you truly understand, Wesley. Cause the way I figure it? If you understood I was angry, you wouldn't have the stones to be here. So swing and a miss."
"I'm not here to fight," Wesley replied softly. "Please, I just need a moment."
Faith looked at the waitress as she returned with the bags of food she'd ordered for herself and the boys.
"Afraid I've got somewhere to be," she told him, handing a few notes to the waitress.
"Faith - "
"Save it for someone who actually cares, Wes."
Faith picked the bags up and turned, walking to the door and pushing through it, determined to get away as soon as possible.
Wesley chased after her.
"I didn't realise that was why the Council wanted you," he called.
She stopped in her tracks, but she didn't turn around. "So you thought, what? They'd catch up to me and we'd go for tea?"
Wesley took a slow step towards the Slayer. "No, but I - "
"Tell me this," Faith said, her voice strangely even, despite how angry she was. "Did you even believe I had changed when you broke me out? Or was I just convenient, because B had her own shit going down in Sunnydale?"
He paused, thinking about how to answer that question, but he stayed quiet for too long, and Faith started walking again.
"I destroyed you, didn't I?" he asked. "Before... and then again now."
She stopped again, looking straight ahead. "Don't give yourself so much credit. I was screwed nine ways from Sunday long before you even entered the picture."
"But I didn't help," Wesley said, somewhat rhetorically.
"No," she replied with a laugh. "No, you didn't."
"It was Council protocol."
"Yeah."
"I had to follow orders." Wesley took another step towards her.
"Good little soldier, always falls in line."
"I'm sorry," he tried.
"Don't say that," Faith replied, her voice hard. "You're not sorry, but I get it. You're a Watcher, being a bastard comes with the job."
"I'm not a Watcher anymore, but apparently I haven't stopped being a bastard, either," Wesley offered.
"You're still a Watcher, don't kid yourself," Faith scorned. "Did you think it was a job? Something you could quit? Sorry Wes, it doesn't work that way. You didn't choose to be a Watcher any more than I chose to be a Slayer."
"It's not at all like that," he returned. "Please look at me, Faith... I was expected to follow in the footsteps of my father - "
"Screw your dad, that's not what I'm talking about."
"Good, because he's the last person I'd want to talk about."
"Spare me the unhappy childhood, Wes. Been there and done that, still have a few scars of that one too." Faith shook her head slightly, and then started on her way again.
"You destroyed me too, you know," Wesley said softly. "You turned me into this."
"I'm not going to listen to this," Faith replied.
"You should recognise me," he went on, almost bitterly. "You had a hand in making me this way. Hell, you were the one who showed me how to twist that blade!"
Faith turned around and punched him in the face, hard.
Wesley laughed, almost hysterically as he reached up to wipe the blood from the cut in his cheek. "I told the Council you were rehabilitated. That you didn't need them to - "
"And yet, you told them where I was," Faith answered. "Seems to me those stories don't add up."
Wesley paused again. "I remembered what you did to me, Faith. The broken glass, the shallow cuts so I would remain conscious... I let them persuade me that you would - "
"You thought I'd hurt you again?" she asked in disbelief.
"Is this the part where you tell me you've turned over a new leaf? Found God? Inner peace? You and I both know you'll never be at peace, not completely. You can't."
"Maybe not," she said, turning around again. "But that doesn't mean I'm not trying to do the right thing."
"I let them convince me, and that was wrong. I should've had more faith in you. I should've believed in you the way Angel does."
"You should've done a lot of things, Wesley," Faith said, walking away again. "By the way, if Sam finds you here..."
Wesley stared after her, thinking he could've said more.