Leaving W&H. Eventually.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Continued from here.

"I didn't think I had to spell it all out for you," Spike said, nudging Wesley's arm gently with his elbow. "Yes, an office, too. And a desk, and a coffee maker, and a sodding aspidistra. Whatever the first-rate firms have. Or we can forget about all that and not worry about the licenses."

Comments

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"I can't deny an inclination to do everything aboveboard, as much as possible at least," Wesley admitted as they reached the elevator and he pushed the up button.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"That's a bit hard with a vampire on the staff, but I'll leave all that up to you." Now that they were alone and standing still, Spike examined Wesley's face more seriously, searching for clues about what he was really thinking.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley couldn't help but notice the way Spike was looking at him. "I'm fine," he said. "Honestly. Under the circumstances, I'm not sure how things could have gone better -- considering what can't be undone." Thinking about that was profoundly depressing, so he was determined not to.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I've got a couple of ideas," Spike said, thinking fondly about hitting Angel hard and repeatedly, "but you probably don't want to hear about those."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"Do they involve violence?" Wesley asked.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Spike couldn't help but grin at the question. "What do you think?"

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"I think you probably deserve to indulge yourself in those thoughts as much as you'd like to." Wesley touched Spike's arm briefly. "Thank you. For not letting things get worse."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"That was for you." Spike was still vibrating with the urge to walk back down the hallway and take out his anger on the person who had caused all of the problems.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"I know. And I appreciate it, more than I can say." The elevator chimed and the door opened.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I knew it'd just make it harder for you," Spike said, following Wesley into the elevator. "But he still deserved it."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure I want to judge who deserves what," Wesley said, pushing the button to the floor his office was on. "Which isn't me disagreeing with you, necessarily."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Determined not to get into an argument with Wesley while they were still inside of Wolfram and Hart, Spike didn't reply as the doors slid closed. The elevator had risen two floors before he said, "Is there much in your office you want?"

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"Not really," Wesley said. "But I don't want to have to come back."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"We'll take everything you want," Spike assured him. "You don't ever have to come back here if you don't want to. If you forget something, I can call Harm and have her send it along."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"I think it's more symbolic than anything else," Wesley explained. "Not wanting to leave any part of myself here."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"You can't get around that, pet," Spike said, his voice gentle with sympathy, though he was aching for some sort of action, either to touch Wesley or to rend Angel limb from limb. "You're leaving your friends here. They're part of you." He didn't think that Angel had been wrong to call them family.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"Yes, well... I can avoid leaving anything else." Wesley wondered why Spike felt it necessary to point out that he'd be leaving the others -- it wasn't as if he didn't know that. He'd just prefer not to think about it.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"Fair enough." The elevator slowed as it reached its destination, and Spike stepped out as soon as the doors opened, more to prove to himself that he wasn't so deeply bothered by what had happened that he couldn't face the space where he had spent so much time with people he couldn't help than anything. He was grateful to find the lobby area empty, though, and he waited for Wesley a few steps beyond the elevator.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"At least there aren't a lot of people here," Wesley said softly to Spike, following him. "Not that most people would even think to wonder what we're doing here, of course."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I'd still rather not see them." Spike glanced over at Harmony's desk, where her miniature unicorns were lined up in a neat little row. "Even Harm."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"She'd be able to tell, wouldn't she," Wesley said.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"Tell what?" Spike asked, somewhat distracted as he wondered whether Angel had been lying about her being around. "Oh. About us?" He shrugged. "Yeah, if she was paying attention to anything but herself, but that's not why I don't want to see her. I can see why you wouldn't want that, though; she wouldn't be quiet about it."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"People will find out anyway," Wesley said, pleased at how casual he managed to sound. "Office environments are ripe for that sort of gossip."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

It certainly wasn't a denial that Wesley didn't want them to find out, but Spike couldn't think about that fact right then; they had more immediate problems. "Who's going to tell them? Tall, dark, and brooding?" He snorted with disbelief but then reconsidered the idea. "Although that's one way he could explain you leaving. He'd never pass up an opportunity to blame something on me."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"No. We'll set them straight on that tomorrow -- get together with the others, say goodbye..." To be fair, the thought of saying goodbye was somewhat less than pleasant.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Spike let Wesley precede him into his office. "Guess we'll have to have a talk about what else we're going to tell them." Given that they hadn't seemed to agree about what was to be done when they were talking in front of Angel, he was looking forward to that discussion almost as much as he was to seeing Wesley's friends.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Going to his desk and opening a bottom drawer, Wesley removed the nearly full bottle of whiskey that had been tucked at the back and set it on the desk. "Here's something we might be glad of," he said.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"The only way I'd be happier to see it was if it had a twin," Spike said, leaning on the edge of Wesley's desk and picking up the bottle. "I might get through the night without killing something after all."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Looking around the room, Wesley spotted a box that had once held printer paper and was now holding some file folders. He went over and picked it up, emptying the contents onto the desk and setting the now empty box down on the chair.

"We could stop and get some more on the way home," he said, as he opened another drawer and began rifling through it.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure either of us should get that drunk," Spike said, tilting the bottle and watching the amber liquid flow to mold itself to the glass. The heavy weight of failure and frustration was settling in his chest, though, and he added, "But you could probably convince me." Another second. "In fact, yeah, let's get more."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley thought he might be grateful for it as well. "We might feel differently once we're out of the building," he pointed out, putting a small book and a few papers into the box.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Spike set the bottle down before he was even more tempted to open it. "I really doubt it." He looked over at what Wesley was doing. "Anything I can do to help?"

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"Not really," Wesley said, looking up at Spike and smiling. "But thank you for the offer. I'll only be another minute or two." He opened another drawer and began to go through it.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Wesley's box was far from full, and Spike said, "You didn't bring much of your own in, did you."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Pausing to look around the office, Wesley shook his head. "I guess not."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"Why is that, do you think?" Spike asked, knowing that it was far from the best topic to bring up but needing to talk about something before the restless energy inside of him burst out. "Gunn's got his robots, Fred's got her posters, and you've got..." He looked around. "Books? I guess it's what's important."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

At the bottom of the middle drawer, Wesley found a small paperweight that Fred had given him -- they'd each gotten one in her attempt to celebrate their new offices. He hesitated, then he put it in the box with the other things. "I wasn't sure how long we'd be here," he said, in explanation to Spike's question.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Spike looked over from contemplating the view out of the windows. "What did you think would happen?"

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"I don't know." Wesley closed the middle drawer and looked into the bottom one. "I suppose I thought that it wouldn't work out. That we'd discover a seedy underbelly that was even darker and more evil than we'd anticipated."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"And instead you found an underbelly that was just dark and evil enough?" Spike pushed away from Wesley's desk and wandered over toward the windows, vaguely sad that he had never been able to take advantage of the necro-tempered glass.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley paused to watch Spike. "We thought -- I thought we could make a difference. Help people."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

"I know," Spike said, not turning to look at Wesley. "And you did. I saw you."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't matter now," Wesley said, even though he knew it wasn't true.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

That got Spike to turn around. "Of course it matters. Why wouldn't it matter?"

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Continues here (http://www.livejournal.com/community/reality_bends/47455.html).