Trying to get along. Ha!

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Continued from here.

"No, I know," Angel said, sounding good-natured. Wesley wasn't sure if it was genuine or an act, and the fact that he couldn't tell made him uncomfortable. "I just want to know."

Feeling rather helpless, Wesley shifted his chair sideways a bit and rested his hand on Spike's thigh, the tension in the vampire's frame impossible to miss.

Comments

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Spike stared so hard at the little flickering tea light on the table that if he had had any magical ability it would have exploded into a pillar of flame. He was frozen, waiting for Wesley to answer, as he had to, that it would.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley was so afraid of saying the wrong thing that it took him a long time to reply. He didn't want to lie, but neither did he want to hurt Angel, and that made it difficult to sort out how to put it into words. "I'll be... pleased, that you chose to do the right thing," he said carefully. "But... no, I don't think it will repair the damage between us. I'm not sure anything can do that." That sounded terrible, and Angel looked so crestfallen that he felt he had to add, "Time, maybe."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

A wave of surprise and relief washed over Spike, and he squeezed Wesley's hand again.

"I'm sorry," Angel said quietly, and Spike could understand some of his pain. If Angel cared about Wesley even a tenth as much as Spike did, he had to be crushed to lose him as a friend.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"I know you are," Wesley said.

"But that's not enough." Angel stared at the edge of the table.

There was a part of Wesley that wished there were something he could say to make Angel feel better, and another part that was, bitterly, glad that Angel felt bad. He didn't like either part of himself, so his voice was a bit colder than he'd intended when he said, "No. It's not."

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Angel was quiet for a moment before nodding. "Just tell me it's not because of him, of what he's been saying to you." He glanced over at Spike.

"I haven't been saying anything he didn't already know," Spike interjected, his temper fairly subdued now that Wesley wasn't rushing to Angel's side.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Wesley picked up a fork from the carefully laid place setting and fiddled with it. "It's not because of Spike," he said, deliberately echoing Angel's choice of words.

"Well, that was convincing," Angel said.

Looking up at Angel, Wesley asked, "Did you know that he stopped me from coming over and confronting you with a gun the night I found out?"

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Angel blinked, his face registering his disbelief.

"Don't get a big head about it. Bigger head." Spike felt that he deserved at least a small jab. "It wasn't about you; it was about keeping him from doing something he'd regret."

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

"And I probably would have," Wesley said, setting down the fork in its proper place and looking at it rather than Angel. "Regretted it. Although at the time it seemed like a very fine idea. It took a great deal for Spike to persuade me." He turned his head and looked at Spike then, smiling at him lovingly.