(Untitled)

Sep 11, 2006 18:41

Continued from here

When the past comes to visit... )

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gfs_wesleypryce September 13 2006, 02:21:09 UTC
Wesley had been so shocked to see his father standing there that it wasn't until he chided him for his manners that he had realized how remiss he had been in not introducing Fred. Although part of him didn't want Fred anywhere near him. He didn't want any of his friends anywhere near him.

And he certainly didn't want Rupert near him, especially when he started poking at him with his snide comments. As he spoke, Wesley found his hand curling into a fist, but when his father turned to him, he found that he couldn't do what he wanted. He couldn't push him out of the office and tell him to shove off because no matter what, this was still his father.

But even if he couldn't do that, he wasn't going to let him push Rupert out of his life either. Not again. "Wh--whatever you have to say, you can say in front of him," he managed to tell him. "Rupert and I don't have any secrets. No--not any more."

Glancing from Wesley to Rupert, his father let out a loud sigh and shrugged. "Have it your way." He walked over to the couch and sat down, making himself comfortable. Wesley stared at him, wondering what in the world could have brought him all the way here from England when they had barely even spoken in the last few years.

"Is...Mum's all right?" he asked before cringing inwardly at how lame he sounded even asking after his own mother.

"She's fine. Sturdy as ever," Roger replied. "I'm sure you know from your--erm, from Rupert, that the Watcher's Council has been reformed. Since we've lost so many of our rank for different reasons..." He shot Rupert a look, and Wesley felt anger burning down inside him. "I've been sent to evaluate whether you should be offered a position in the new Council."

"You're saying the Council wants me back? How convenient this comes after Rupert decides to tender his resignation and move here."

"The Council is giving you a chance to clear your name...our name, boy."

Wesley shook his head. "No. I'm happy here."

"You can't be serious," Roger said with a unamused chuckle as he rose from the couch. "Happy here? At Wolfram and Hart, the haven of evil?"

"No. Happy here with Rupert."

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g_watcher September 13 2006, 04:38:09 UTC
Giles felt his anger rise to the surface when he saw what having Roger in the room was doing to Wesley. It sickened him to know that this was the man who'd terrorized Wesley most of his life, and he wanted nothing more than to throttle the self-serving bastard into a bloody pulp. But, he couldn't do that. Not in front of Wesley. Perhaps Giles could get Roger into a darken hallway and teach him a lesson or two.

Instead, Giles stood and listened as Roger basically offered Wesley a job at the Council. He wasn't stupid, and neither was Wesley, and both of them had seen through it. Roger's offer had nothing to do with the Council wanting Wesley back. He'd probably pulled some strings to get Wesley his job back in order to keep him away from Giles.

"Ah, yes, my son the poof. You broke your mother's heart you know. She was rather looking forward to have grandchildren, but she won't know because you rather be with another man. Of course it is her fault for babying you so much when you were little. All of the punishment I gave out, she reversed as soon as she found out about it. Children like you should be ruled with an iron fist."

"Yes, terrorizing your child and locking them in closets and under the stairs is a wonderful way to teach them a lesson. You're nothing but a barbaric," Giles hissed.

Roger turned and gave him a smirk. "Yes, and you know so much about parenthood. You couldn't even control a sixteen-year-old, or her friends. Tell me, Rupert, how is Miss Rosenberg fairing these days? Has she killed anyone lately? Raised anyone from the dead?" he asked.

Giles was about to lung forward and snap Roger's neck when the office door opened and Lorne stuck his head in. "Hey cupcakes! Freddles caught herself a cyborg and was wondering if the two of you wanted to come watch her dissect it."

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gfs_wesleypryce September 15 2006, 01:40:34 UTC
When his father called him a poof, Wesley felt his heart seize in his chest. He knew he shouldn't care what he said, not after everything he had done to him, all the ways he had never measured up to his impossible standards, no matter what he had done. But he couldn't help it - this was his father, and for so long, he had wanted nothing more than his love and approval. Old habits died very hard.

Even after so long away.

The fact that he was so...homophobic, that he couldn't accept that Wesley was in love with Rupert and wanted to be with him, hurt more than anything he had ever said to him over the years. No because it was against him, but because it included Rupert. Because each of his barbs were aimed at the man he loved just as much as - or even more than - at him. He felt his fingernails beginning to bite into the skin of his palm.

Then he went to far and blamed Rupert for what had happened to Willow.

Before he could react, though, Lorne came in. Wesley looked at Rupert and took a deep breath. "Wh-where did it come from?"

"Guy Angel was meeting with this morning. Thing totally went screwy, and he came home with Data's ancestor."

"I'd like to see this," he said, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Rupert, you've had some experience with robots and such, haven't you? Based on what Willow told us last year. Maybe you might recognize something about it?"

He then looked over at his father, realizing that his fist was still clenched and not about to relax any time soon. "Since you...since I'm not interested in your offer--."

"I'd rather like to stay and see this place of yours, actually. I can still make my recommendation to the Council, no matter what misguided decision you make."

Wesley bit his tongue at that. "Suit yourself," he said as he headed toward the door to go to the lab.

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g_watcher September 15 2006, 22:29:55 UTC
Giles wasn't going to be nice to Roger. This was the prat who'd been there with Travers when they called and fired him from the Council. It was Roger's idea to put the call on speaker phone so the entire board could have a good laugh. He sometimes wished Roger wasn't a senior member of the Council or he would've fired him the moment the Council was handed over to him.

"Yes. We, uh, we worked with a robot actually," he said, not wanting to say they tried to fool the vampire population with a robot after Buffy died, especially not in front of Roger. "I'd like to see it and see what it is."

When Roger made his last barb, Giles narrowed his eyes at the elder Wyndam-Pryce and then followed Wesley out of the office. He saw Roger was following them up to the lab and Giles' angry started to boil over as they stepped inside. Angel, Spike, and Fred were all there, along with the little weasel Knox.

Giles looked at the thing on the table. "Was it human?" he asked, looking up at Fred.

"We think so. The nervous system seems human at least, but the rest of the technology is so foreign to us. We can't be sure of anything right now. This thing really blurs the line between human and robot," Fred said just as Spike made some comment about humans and robots having sex.

"Interesting. And what's this?" Giles asked pointing at a circular device in the cyborg's stomach.

"We don't know. That's why we asked Wesley and you to come up here," Fred said.

"Well, Wesley's the language expert, not me," Giles said, smiling at his lover and taking a step away from the table so he could look at.

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gfs_wesleypryce September 16 2006, 06:08:57 UTC
While Spike and his father had an apparent reunion of sorts, Wesley looked over at Rupert before stepping up to look at device in the cyborg's stomach. He examined the pattern for a moment, his brow furrowing.

"Wesley handles this stuff all the time. He's a genius when it comes to language," Fred said, echoing Rupert's assertion. He wanted to give them both a hug for their support but instead focused on what he was trying to interpret.

"Yes, well, the academy didn't make him head boy for nothing," his father said, causing Wesley to pause for a moment. Was his father actually giving him a compliment? "Mind you, as I recall, the pickings were a bit slim that year."

Of course not. Wesley swallowed against the lump in his throat while his hand throbbed. He tried to concentrate on the symbols on the device. "The pattern indicates a Hellenic derivation. I'd say early Moracian, in fact. It's a directive of some sort, a battle prayer... or a binding spell." Reaching in, he carefully pushed aside a bit of flesh that was obscuring his view. "I'll need to prepare some sort of effective counter spell..."

Just then the device started beeping, causing all of them to jump back.

"What did you do?" Roger immediately accused.

"Unless I'm very much mistaken, I've just activated the bomb," Wesley realized, his heart and stomach sinking.

There was some panic as they tried to get everyone to evacuate the room to safety before he could examine the device again and try to diffuse it. However, before he could do so, his father had reached into the cyborg's stomach cavity and tripped something to stop the beeping. Everything looked at him in amazement.

"These symbols were, in fact, Dutrovic in origin, not Moracian, as you surmised," his father told him, quite calmly, quite matter-of-factly, quite condescendingly. "When interpreted correctly, these symbols spell out the proper procedure for handling the cyborg's power core, including this fail-safe, in case someone trips the self-destruct device. Quite simple really."

"Yes, of course," Wesley said, his fists clenching together again. "Fred, perhaps my father would be of better help to you than me right now."

With that, he left the lab, wanting to find somewhere to hide, wishing for the first time in his life that he actually could find a cupboard under some stairs somewhere.

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g_watcher September 17 2006, 07:21:37 UTC
The more Roger talked, the more Giles wanted to throttle him. His barb at Wesley being the Head Boy almost earned him a fist to the jaw, but before Giles could react, the bomb in the cyborg started to go off. He took a hold of Fred's arm and pulled her toward the door of the lab. He knew he wasn't going to leave the lab without Wesley with him. Even if he had to drag him out of there.

Suddenly, the beeping stopped and Giles looked over at Roger. His eyes narrowed as the older man was once again rude to Wesley. He turned and watched Wesley leave the lab. Part of him wanted to run after him but his was too anger to. Instead, he reached over for Roger and grabbed him before slamming him against the wall.

"Lets get something straight right now. This is Wesley's place of work. You have no right to come in here, and treat him like he's nothing. If you want to belittle someone, then I suggest you find something else because you will not continue this. Understood?" Giles growled as he pinned Roger against the wall.

"How nice. My son's boyfriend has to protect him. I wonder what he'd think if he knew you were acting like he's a weakling?" Roger asked with a grin.

Giles released him and leveled his gaze at him. "Leave him alone. This is your only warning," he said before leaving the lab.

The first person Giles saw was Gunn. "Have you seen Wesley?" he asked.

"I saw him going toward the library. Fourth floor and at the end of the hallway," Gunn said before going into the lab.

Giles ran up to the fourth floor and easily found the library. There were a few people in it and he walked through, finding an alcove toward the back. "Wesley?" he asked as he sat down next to his love. "All right, love?"

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gfs_wesleypryce September 20 2006, 04:27:29 UTC
Wesley hadn't really paid attention to where he had ended up, just walking without thinking about it. He wasn't surprised when he had ended up in the library, though. Libraries had always been his refuge when he was growing up - the place were he had hidden, reading for hours, trying to lose himself and forget the hell his father made his life.

He headed toward the back and into one of the alcoves, where he sat down, sitting forward and resting his head in his hands. It figured that his father would choose now to pop back into his life. Now. When he was happy with his life. Or at least when he was happy with his personal life. Sure, there were still things about working here that unsettled him, but it was his life, and he was making his choices, and he was needed.

At least, he thought he was.

But now, his father was there, making him second guess himself and his knowledge.

He felt Rupert's presence when he entered the alcove, and when he sat down, asking how he was, he leaned over, resting against his lover and sighing softly. "I don't know," he whispered. "I swore to myself that I wouldn't let him get to me, not after what he did to us, what he made me do, but now he's here and..." He sighed and shook his head. "I just want him out of our life. I'm never going to go back there, not after what happened and not when you've moved here to be with me."

He looked up at Rupert and gave him a gentle smile. "I love you, you know. No matter what my father tries to say about us. I'll always love you."

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g_watcher September 20 2006, 20:22:51 UTC
Giles felt his heart break at how hurt Wesley was. He couldn't believe Roger could still do this to him. He knew what Roger had put Wesley through when he was a child. But, Wesley was an adult now and Roger needed to leave him alone. Wesley was a grown man, and was much more of a man than Roger would ever be.

"I know, love," he said as he wrapped his arms around Wesley. "I've never doubted your feelings for me. Not even after what your father said."

Part of him wanted to hide in the alcove with Wesley, just so his lover wouldn't have to face Roger again. But, he also knew it wasn't healthy for Wesley to hide away from the world. "We should probably get back to your office incase Fred needs us again," he said with a small frown. "I'm sure you don't want to go down there but we should."

Giles leaned forward and softly kissed Wesley's lips. "I'll be there with you," he murmured. "And you don't have to worry about your father. I might have told him off, and pushed him against a wall after you left the lab."

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gfs_wesleypryce September 21 2006, 01:54:18 UTC
"You did what?" Wesley asked, pulling back slightly from the kiss and looking his lover in the eye. He could see the glint of protectiveness there, and while part of him wished that Rupert hadn't done that - putting himself in the middle of this - part of him couldn't help but love him for wanting to help him. "You do realize that probably pissed him off."

He suddenly grinned a bit. "And I'm rather glad for that. Come on, let's go back to the office. You're right - I can't let him keep from working; otherwise, I'm just proving him right."

Standing up, he took Rupert's hand to draw him up. Together, they headed back to his office. When they arrived, they found Angel waiting, wanting to know what exactly had happened. Wesley looked over at Rupert then explained the situation.

"Well, don't worry about what happened for now. Fathers and sons can be torture sometimes. You should see this, though," Angel said when he finished, handing him a report. "Came from your department. Reports of assassins that sound a lot like our cyborg."

Flipping open the report, Wesley furrowed his brow as he read it over. "Group of them took out a demon cabal in Jakarta. Another group destroyed the Tanmar Death Chamber. Sounds like they're doing our work for us."

That caused silence to fall over the office for a moment. "These are good guys?" Angel finally asked.

"I don't know. I should reference this with the markings we found, find some clues as to their origin." He looked over at Rupert. He knew his father was good at this sort of thing, but he'd be damned if he was going to willingly put himself in the same room as that man for an extended period of time. "It's a lot of material to go through - I could do it faster if you'd help me, love."

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g_watcher September 21 2006, 17:44:39 UTC
Rupert was glad Wesley had agreed to go back to his office, instead of staying in the library. He knew if Wesley refused to work, his father would see it as a sign of weakness, and he didn't want to give Roger anymore reasons to be cruel to his son.

When he saw Angel standing there, he sighed, not knowing if he rather be in the same room with the vampire or Wesley's father. Ignoring Angel, he went to stand by Wesley and looked at the file. "I can help you with this," he said with a nod. "I think we'll be able to find something out."

He was curious as the what the cyborgs were up to. Killing off demons did sound like they were on their side, but Giles was still weary as to the reasons why. If they were on the same side as Angel, whatever side he was on, then why wouldn't they just come to the firm and tell them that?

After Angel had left the room, Giles went over to the row of source books and picked one up. He'd never used one before and felt rather silly whispering to a book, even though he'd spoken to books before. Once he'd whispered what he wanted, Giles opened the book and watched as the text appeared.

He went over to the couch and sat down, and started to read the text, while jotting down some notes. He was almost to the bottom of the page when he heard someone clear their throat.

"Ignoring me now?" Roger asked, looking at the two men. "I heard you two are researching the cyborgs, and I'm here to help."

If it were up to Giles, Roger would be flying out the window, but it wasn't his office so he sighed and looked over at Wesley.

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