Title: Hidden Secrets
Author: FerretGirl
Rating: PG to R
Spoilers/Setting: AtS S1 to 4, Buffy S3 and S7 I guess. halve way S4 of AtS Joss and I go our separate ways for a while.
Disclaimer: They boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.
Summary: Faith, Wesley, five years later.
Notes: A big thanks to miniera and alias_lilacgirl for the beta

Hidden Secrets
Part 2

"Faith! Come on now, your going to be late," The English accented voice drifted up the stairs. Though usually patient it was now laced with irritation. Wesley sighed and walked back into the kitchen, setting his coffee cup on the kitchen counter. He looked outside watching the raindrops trickle slowly down the window.

Maybe he should just let her sleep and call her work to say she was going to take the day off, or that she wasn't feeling well. It had been a late night. They had once again found the laboratory that had been a thorn in their side for over six months now. The damn thing had found a new base once more and they had been busy all night getting out various 'good' demons and killing or staking the evil ones. Then they found a second building near by, they were going to observe that one tonight.

It looked as if Faith still wasn't going to come down anytime soon. Wesley wondered if she was up yet at all. He'd better go take a look.

Faith had heard his voice the first time he yelled that she was going to be late. Yawning she had rolled to his side of the bed, taking in the scent that was all Wesley; tea, aftershave, soap, sex and old books. God, she really loved him. She heard him yell a third time and sighted. She really had to get up. "Coming," The tired voice of the dark slayer muttered from under the blankets.

Faith crawled back under the blankets enjoying the warmth. She could hear the rain ticking against the window. Another rainy day, oh happy oh joy. Faith thought for a moment that maybe she should have Wes call her work and tell them she was sick, the flu had been going around. Or maybe she could just take the day off, she still had a lot of those left. She really felt the need to cuddle up in those warm blankets and just relax for a day.

Last night's fight had been hard. That damn lab had opened up again in another abandoned building. Wesley had been wracking his brain ever since they first spotted it trying to figure out what they were doing with the various demons, vampires and other creatures that were being held captive there. He had found no clues, nor had he come any closer to finding out just who exactly was behind it all.

Faith hated that as much as Wes did. Not just because of the mystery behind it, but also because it kept Wes away from her. Faith knew that once Wesley was engrossed in a mystery he couldn't figure out, he'd fret and search until he could figure it out, or at least found out something. She had to keep an eye on him when he was in those moods. Wesley usually forgot to eat; shower and well...take care of himself. It was her job now to make sure that he did and took time to relax. It was a hard job, but Faith somehow enjoyed every minute of it.

Faith stretched her muscles and could hear Wesley trotting up the stairs. From the sounds of his footsteps she could tell that he was also very tired. But unlike her, he worked at home, so he was able to schedule his own hours.

The bedroom door opened and Wesley stepped in. Faith had decided to play 'sleeping person'. Wesley had to grin; he had seen this particular little act a hundred times before. He set down his coffee on the bedside table and waved the scent of caffeine from the other cup in her direction. "Come on love, time to wake up if you want to be anything like remotely on time for work," he spoke softly. He peered under the covers to see the brown, soft hair of his wife, the slayer. Wesley still felt butterflies in his stomach everytime he looked at her.

Faith stifled a yawn and sat up accepting the offered coffee cup. "Maybe I should call in sick or just take the day off, I really don't feel like dealing with work today," she glanced at him pleadingly. Usually the puppy dog look worked on everyone, but Wesley somehow seemed immune to it most of the time.

Wesley looked over at her in mock astonishment. "What ever happened to that tough slayer?" That earned him a soft poke in the shoulder. He quirked an eyebrow at her while rubbing said shoulder.

"Ha ha ha, very funny, it's not like I call in sick or skip work every day." Faith took another sip from her coffee and glared at him. Maybe that would work. She doubted it; Wesley somehow seemed immune to every look she threw at him. Except the 'special look' as Faith referred to it. But Faith only used those in special occasions off course.

Still rubbing his shoulder Wesley grinned at her, "Well, alright, I guess I could call and tell them you're not feeling well, you can relax for the day." He lay down next to her on the bed and closed his eyes. "Maybe I'll take the day off too and keep an eye on you."

Faith poked him in the shoulder again. "Your very amusing today husband-o-mine," she sipped more coffee, "I'd like to see you keep an eye on me when they are closed."

"Will you stop doing that?" Wesley spoke with mock hurt, rubbing his shoulder some more. "Or we're going to have to set aside money so I can get a new shoulder every other year." He reached over her to pick up his coffee.

"Wuss," she muttered, but the smile she tossed him gave her away.

"Bitch," he growled back capturing her lips for a kiss.

"Hmmmm," Faith sighed, "I think you really should take the day off." She sat back against the pillows. "But I have this strange suspicion you're going to spend most of the day either on the internet, or on the phone to find out more about that lab we discovered again."

Wesley thoughtfully sipped his coffee. "We really have to find out what is going on there, who is behind it and most importantly how to stop this. No creature, alive, dead or undead should be treated like that." He looked over at her, "You've seen what they did to them."

Faith had indeed seen what they had done to those creatures. At first she had shrugged it off, figuring a demon was a demon and a dead demon was as good as any. But then Wesley had reminded her of the various demons they knew who had helped them. Clem, Lorne, Spike, Angel and even Cordelia were demons or half demons. That had got her thinking. Then they had seen what those humans had done to those poor creatures. Faith still had to shiver when she thought about that.

The demons had been sliced open, most of them still alive, some had bled to death, and some had gone catatonic from the pain. The lab people had used no anesthesia or other painkillers. The demons were treated as objects, as guinea pigs. The smell that came from the cages was worth vomiting over. Inside the building it smelled like death, pain, torture. Both Wesley and Faith had been revolted to see all this and that was saying something, considering what they had both seen throughout their lives. After that encounter it became their goal to get in the way of whom ever owned the laboratory, and stop what they were doing. As well as flushing out any new labs, that seemed to appear in abandoned buildings.

Faith looked over at Wesley who was rubbing his eyes tiredly. He pushed his non-existant glasses back up. It was an old habit he never managed to get rid of. She had to giggle at the gesture; he was just so damn cute doing that.

The scowl he threw her turned into a yawn, making her laugh even more. "Maybe we should get some shut eye first, since we'll be going out again tonight," Faith murmured thoughtfully as she slid her hand down Wesley's scruffy face. Faith liked it when Wes didn't shave. It made his face look older and his eyes more blue, not to mention that it accentuated those soft lips.

Wesley yawned again and put his coffee cup on his side of the bed. "You're probably right love, we might discover something more tonight." He grabbed the phone on his side of the bed, "I'd better call your job and tell them you're taking the day off." Wes quickly finished the short phone-call. He settled on the bed again, pulled Faith close and nuzzled her neck while his eyes drifted close.

Faith let out a happy sigh when she felt his arms tighten around her. She somehow felt safe when she was in his arms. Even though she was the strong one physically, Wesley was her rock. Just as she was his.

The sound of the shower woke him a few hours later. He patted the bedside next to him only to find it empty. "Well that would explain the sounds coming from the shower," Wesley mumbled. He wondered if he should join her, it would after all save on the water. But then again he had showered this morning. Glancing at the clock he noticed that it was evening already. Of course the fact that it was dark outside and the lights were on in the bedroom might have given away that little fact too. A sigh escaped him, he was getting old.

"Evening sleepyhead." Faith walked in already dressed for patrol action, toweling her hair dry. "You ready to do some serious asskicking?" She smirked as she sat on the bed looking into his eyes.

"I will be once I wake up," Wesley tried to yawn but found his lips being captured by a pair of very strong but soft ones. They tasted of lavender, mint, strength and Faith, "Keep doing that and I don't want to wake up," Wes muttered when they broke apart.

"Well we can't have that Watcher-o-mine," Faith pulled him of the bed. "Time's a wasting, let's get going." She tossed him his patrol outfit to change into.

Damn, now he was 'the watcher' already, she certainly turned into slayer mode fast. Wesley quickly finished changing and walked down the stairs to find Faith waiting in the kitchen with freshly made coffee. He glanced outside. It was still raining.

Faith pushed a cup of coffee in his hands. "Drink up, wake up," she smirked. She had already gotten both their leather coats. "Still raining outside, so I hope we're done soon. You know how I hate the rain."

"Yes dear, I know." He quickly gulped down the coffee. After all this time she still couldn't make anything resembling coffee. But he was not about to anger her, so he dutifully drowned it down quickly, trying not to grimace. He put down the cup and shrugged into the coat. "Well let's get a move on, the sooner we're done the sooner we can go home again."

They had no trouble getting close to the building that held the new impromptu laboratory. Although with Faith complaining loudly about getting wet, it was a surprise that no one had heard them. Wesley had to warn her several times to 'keep it down'. Faith's only response was to stick her tongue out at Wes. Wesley sighed at the sight of that. He was getting old. Which was the only thing stopping him from almost sticking out his tongue at her.

They quickly scanned the area. "Security is obviously not high on the list of whomever is behind this little what ever this is," Wesley noticed.

"The fact that we hardly had any trouble with the other lab's, would give that away too Watcher," Faith said.

They had never encountered much trouble before when they had gone in to save or kill the creatures that were being held captive. That little fact made Faith careless and Wesley nervous.

Faith looked through the binoculars into the building. It looked like the normal bunch of captives; A few Vampires, a Nargul demon and a Guzla demon. She grinned.

Seven years ago she wouldn't have know what kind of demons those were, nor would she have cared shit about that. Now, thanks to her watcher and husband she did. Faith had begun those studies in prison. Telling the guards the books were horror books. They were better off not knowing. Somehow knowing all this demon stuff made Faith proud; because she saw the smiling eyes of Wesley everytime she had pinpointed the right demon race.

Faith looked through the binoculars again and froze when she caught sight of a particular figure. She lowered the binoculars, glanced sideways at Wesley and then looked back through the binoculars into the building. "Shit," she muttered.

Wesley, who had been busy loading his gun, looked up alarmed. "Whats wrong?" He whispered. A coldness settled into his stomach when he saw the look Faith was giving the building. This did not bode well.

Faith bit her lip and turned at him. She handed him the binoculars. "Check out who's in the second cell on the left side of the building." The look she gave him was dark.

He frowned, took the binoculars and peered into the building. He was expecting to find a rare demon species or some kind of human that might throw some new light on this mystery. He was, however, not prepared for the sight that greeted him.

Faith kept chewing her lower lip and watched Wesley closely. She had no idea how he was going to react to this. They had left all that behind five years ago. Wesley more eager then Faith, but it seemed that the past always came back to bite you in the ass. Faith watched as Wes froze, lowered the binoculars, looked at her with open mouth, and then yanked his vision back towards the building again. "It's him isn't it?" Faith asked carefully.

"Damnit!" Wesley cursed. "How did he get here, he's supposed to be on the other side of the country?" Wesley almost threw the binoculars away, as if that would make the image he saw through them disappear also. He really didn't need this right now, or ever. They had tried so had to get away from their past, from their former friends. "Why does the past always come back to haunt you?" Wesley wondered out loud.

"I don't know Wes," Faith sighed, this was'n going very well. "What are we going to do now?" Although she already knew the answer she still had to ask the question out loud.

Wesley rubbed his wet face and cursed some more under his breath. "We go in and get him out," he finished loading his gun, "what else can we do?"

Faith nodded. "Right, and the sooner the better." She peered into the backpack. "Maybe we should wear our ski-masks, he won't be able to recognize us?"

Wesley stopped her from getting the masks. "He would know it's us from a mile away, disguised or not."

"Damn," Faith tossed them back into the pack. "We'd better go and face the fucking music then." She pulled her wet hair into a ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way.

"Eloquent as always dear," Wesley was still looking at the building. He could only hope it was going to be as easy as it had been before. Not only their lives were at stake this time; but also the life of an old friend, or former friend. Wesley wasn't even sure what to think about that anymore.

"Lets rock and roll watcher-o-mine," Faith, totally in slayer mode began to sneak down towards the building as quietly as only a slayer could.

Wesley narrowed his eyes at her sense of humor. He wasn't sure he was ready to face his past again. But as always TPTB had their own idea's. Curse them hundredfold! Getting to his feet he quickly followed his Slayer. "Here goes nothing." He almost had to laugh, wasn't that what the people from his past thought of him? A nothing? "How appropriate" Wesley muttered at the rain as he made his way down toward the building.

Part 3