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 4

The only thing that could be heard for the next minute, was the rain against the window and Lorne's nervous breathing. He glanced from a frozen Wesley to Faith who had several emotions flicker over her face. The sound of Faith's cup breaking into tiny shards broke the eerie silence.

"Shit!" Scooting her chair backward, Faith quickly grabbed a dishrag and the trashcan, and started to wipe away the shards and the spilled tea with a shaky hand. "Dammit, that was my favorite cup, I'll have to run by that store and get me another one, I just hope....."

Wesley's hand closing over hers made Faith stop her nervous ramblings. She looked up into stormy blue eyes. She recoiled slightly from the anger and confusion she read in them. It exceeded her emotions by far. Clamping her mouth shut for the moment, she finished her cleaning.

"I know it's a lot to swallow cupcakes," Lorne said sadly. "But at least you didn't have to deal with getting your memory back all at once."

"We don't exist?" Faith asked softly. She sank back in her chair, shoulder slumped, her head in her hands. She looked back up at Lorne, "wiped out!?" she said louder.

"Right on the mark sex-kitten," Lorne said. His face was grim, "someone just wiped out the existence of three people just like that," he snipped his fingers. "And you know what's worse?"

"It gets worse?" Faith asked making a face. How could it be worse? Wasn't this bad enough?

"Oh yes," Lorne said, glancing over at Wesley worriedly. "Someone on the inside knows about this little gig."

Wesley's head shot up and his eyes pinned Lorne to his chair. "What makes you think that?" he asked, his voice far too calm.

Swallowing, Lorne glanced at Faith. He didn't like Wesley's calm, cool reaction to the news.

Faith reached out and grabbed Wesley's hand. She could feel it shaking in hers. She laced her fingers through his and squeezed. She was relieved to feel Wesley squeeze back a little.

"Well," Lorne began, rubbing his forehead, "I asked all of them some questions. You know, Angel, Cordy, Gunn and Fred. If they knew Connor, or if either of your names rang any bells. They all denied know any of the names."

"What's that got to do with the 'someone from the inside was in it' theory," Faith interrupted.

"Because," Lorne continued, "They were the only ones I asked. A few hours later I woke up in the little lab of horrors."
Pulling his hand away from Faith, Wesley rested his chin on them. "That would indicate that one of our...friends...knows about this mind rape."

Both Lorne and Faith flinched at Wesley's word choice, but they had to agree with him. What was done to Lorne, and who knew who else, was mind rape. Someone had taken away a part of who he was.

Wesley stood up and started to pace. "I can understand messing around with Connor's memory. I don't condone it, but I can understand," he started. "After all, what kind of life did the boy have? It's been messed up since he was a baby." He rubbed his scar, not unaware of the role he had played in that messed up life. The guilt still lay heavily on his shoulders, even after all these years.

"Yeah, okay," Lorne said, "I'm agreeing with you so far. Especially after seeing the kid go over the edge after the big fight."

Turning around Wesley looked at Lorne thoughtfully. "Yes," he said after a moment of silence. "But," he continued, "what I don't understand is wiping out of everyone else's memory. Why do such a thing? What would be the purpose?"

"Maybe he, she or they were afraid it would mess up Connor's new chance?" Faith shrugged. She followed Wesley's pacing with some worry. It was like watching a stick of dynamite, waiting for the fire to light the fuse.

"That doesn't give him the right, it wasn't his choice to make," Wesley said, his voice tight with held back emotions. "And what would be the....the....idea," he said, animating wildly with his hands, "to wipe away our existence!"

"Wes, calm down," Faith said, her voice calm and soft, trying to sooth Wesley. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Lorne scoot away a bit. She wondered if Wes already knew who was behind this.

"He had no right!" Wesley hissed, he grabbed his cup from the table and flung it against the wall. He wasn't surprised that the shattering of the porcelain did not make him feel better.

Faith watched Wesley trying to regain his control, clenching and un-clenching his fists, arms at his side, breathing heavily. Without a second's thought she stood, walked over to him and wrapped her arms around her husband. She felt his body tense even more for a few split seconds, before he relaxed into her embrace.

Breathing more easily now, Wesley wrapped his arms around Faith. Wanting to feel the connection, wanting to feel she was real. He thought the cliche about the floor being ripped from underneath you, was never more appropriate than at this moment.

"You think it's Angel who did this, don't you?" Faith asked softly.

"He's the only one with a reason Faith," Wesley said, "after all Connor was his son." He held tighter to her, struggling to keep his control.

Lorne watched the two together, feeling very much like an intruder. Their aura's blended in with each other, sparkling before his eyes as the slayer and the watcher comforted each other. He let them have the moment for a little while longer, before he asked the question he knew was on everyone mind.

"What are we going to do now?"

~*~*~*~

Faith laid her head on Wesley's shoulder, her hand rubbing up and down his naked chest. "You think we're doing the right thing?"

Wesley sighed, his hand stroking her hair. He took in her smell, a mix of sweetness and danger, his Faith. "Yes," he said thoughtfully, "what else can we do?"

"We could stay here and go on like we did. We were doing fine before Lorne showed up," she tried, though her tone wasn't convinced.

"It would be nagging at us for the rest of our lives, the could haves, should haves, might haves, and you know it, love." Wesley bend down and kissed the top of her head. "This is the only choice we have."

"Lorne's scared shitless," Faith said, toying with his chest-hair.

"Well he should be," Wesley answered, "if they find out his whereabouts, who knows what they'll do. And in Los Angeles, he's bound to be found sooner or later, being so close to the proverbial lions den."

"We should get him a baseball cap and some sunglasses," Faith giggled, picturing the green demon wearing them. "And then say he has a skin disease when someone asks."

"We'll get them tomorrow when we go out to buy the plane tickets to Los Angeles," Wesley said, smiling slightly.

"We're really going back to LA aren't we?" Faith sighed. "This whole thing just fucking sucks."

"Yes, on both accounts," Wesley said. He pulled her up and kissed her, his hand snaking down her naked back. "How about you and I occupy our mind with something else?"

Faith smiled wickedly at him. She bend down her had and sucked on a nipple, enjoying the sound that action got out of Wesley. "What did you have in mind?"

In one swift move Wesley flipped them both over, so that he was now lying on top of her. "Let me show you what I have in mind," he said in a low voice, before his mouth was otherwise occupied, moving south over her body.

~*~*~*~

Sitting in the rental car, parked in a strategically hidden spot, Wesley sighed. The last week had reminded him, that the majority of detective work was flat out boring.

After their arrival in Los Angeles they had rented a small apartment, a car and made sure Lorne was securely protected. Then both he and Faith had spent the better part of that week observing the Wolfram and Hart building.

They had seen their old friends several times, they had watched the drones go in and out, all in all they had watched a normal firm. Nothing really exciting. It was getting them nowhere.

Asking around in the demon underworld, also got them nowhere. After the mind wipe, no one remembered them, so they couldn't use any of Wesley's old informants. They couldn't use the old 'beat them up and get answers' method Faith liked so much, because that would draw attention to them. And neither could they use any of Lorne's informants, afraid that doing so, would lead to Lorne.

"This is getting us goddamn nowhere," Faith grumbled from the passenger seat.

"Agreed," Wesley nodded. He stared through his binoculars. Still nothing important to see. He had been having mixed emotions, seeing his old friends, his old family again. On the one side he was happy to see them again, but shocked when he saw the change in them. They had all grown harder, colder, almost unrecognizable. On the other hand there was anger in Wesley, when he thought about that fact that at least one of them had a hand in this little game.

"We need to get inside," Faith said, chewing her bottom lip. She glanced passed Wesley toward the building. "To that room Lorne mentioned, where they store the memories." She made a face, she still thought it was pretty wild, that there was a room that stored stuff like memories, emotions, sleep, and god only knew what else.

"There's always someone working in there," Wesley said thoughtfully, "if we were disguised as employees, it might be easier to get inside and look for that room."

"Let's beat it then and get some stuff for the undercover job," Faith grinned. She was looking forward to some action, getting the adrenaline pumping, because sitting in a car, even with Wes, was getting on her nerves fast. "We'll just have to make sure not to run into any of the old gang, since one or more of them are in on this." She paused for a moment. "I can't believe either one of them would do such a thing."

"Neither can I, Faith," Wesley said, "but you don't know how much they might have changed." He started the ignition and drove away from the curb, his mind on his old friends and on how much they actually might have changed.

~*~*~*~

Getting into the building, had turned out to be ridiculously easy. Both Wesley and Faith had raised an eyebrow at how easy it was. Security was either a joke, or the firm was very confidant that any intruders weren't capable of doing any actual harm.

Though getting into the building had been easy, finding the infamous room was not. Lorne had drawn them a map, so they would know where to look, for some reason the room was no longer at the described location. Until Wesley figured out that the current layout was a mirror-image of the layout on the map.

So now they were casually walking to the other side of the building. Or trying to be casual. Faith glanced over at Wesley. Clean-shaven, nice suit and glasses back on his nose, he looked very much in character. Would you have asked her seven years ago, Faith would have called him a nerd, or something similar. Now? She had to stop herself from throwing him up against a wall and have her way with him. The fact that she knew he was hiding two guns under his jacket, and knew how to use them, turned her on even more.

Wesley grinned when he saw Faith pulling her skirt down once again. "Have I told you how smashing you look in that outfit dear?" He smiled innocently at the glare she threw him.

Wriggling her shoulders, Faith growled. The blazer and the skirt were too fancy for her liking, the skirt kept riding up to her great annoyance. And the tights, she wasn't even going to begin about those. But she had to admit, the outfit did make her look lawyer-y, or at least like someone who worked in a prestigious office.

"The room should be right around the corner," Wesley warned. Both he and Faith looked around, but no one appeared to notice them. The small crowd of people that worked in the evenings all minded their own business.

When they reached the dreaded room, they both stared at the door for a while. "Here goes nothing," Wesley said after a moment. He punched in the code Lorne had given him, sending a small prayer up to whomever might be listening that it would work.

For a few agonizing seconds nothing happened. Faith and Wesley held their breaths, while their eyes were locked on the door. Then, with a small click, the door opened and no alarms began to blare, signaling their intrusion. They both breathed out relieved.

Wesley carefully opened the door and peeked inside, expecting to find an army ready to jump at them. The room was empty, except for the rows and rows of shelves against the walls, on which were various containers.

"Look at all these," Faith said in awe after they closed the door behind them. "There's hundreds!"

"Bugger all," Wesley muttered, this was going to take more time then he thought. "You start over here, I'll start on the other side."

Faith nodded and began looking over the containers, quickly scanning over the names she didn't recognize.

An hour later they still hadn't found what they were looking for. Faith was slowly beginning to get annoyed when she spotted a familiar name. "Rupert Giles," she whispered. "Wes, I think I found it," She hissed.

Wesley quickly came over and looked at the containers. "Alexander Harris, Winifred Burkle, Buffy Anne Summers," he read out loud. He noticed several other containers with names he recognized right away and others that sounded vaguely familiar. "Dear lord, the magnitude of this is far bigger then I anticipated," he whispered.

"Fuck, Wes, look at all these names," Faith said stunned, "They totally wiped out our and Connor's existence alright."

They froze when they heard the door open and close again, followed by the soft sound of someone locking the door.

"I thought I'd find you two here," a voice said. A voice that sounded frighteningly familiar to Wesley.

Both he and Faith whirled around and stared at the person who was now standing in front of them.

"Hello Wesley, Faith, I think we need to have a talk."

Part 5