Grasping his hand in hers, Fred looked at Rupert as he stared down at the floor, feeling conflicting emotions coming from him as he tried to say whatever was on his mind. She knew it had something to do with her, but she couldn't say what - she was still learning to understand what she was sensing.
She didn't have a chance to ask him, though, because the doorbell rang. While Rupert dealt with his neighbor, Fred watched him - glad that he would be going with her, knowing that she needed him. She was feeling...she hadn't thought it be possible to have feelings like this for someone else, not after what happened to her, how she died in Wesley's arms. But she did. She knew she still loved Wesley too, always would, but Rupert...there was a connection, real feelings between them, like they were meant to be together.
Obviously, Cordy and Doyle knew that somehow.
When Rupert got rid of his neighbor, she pushed herself away from the wall, looking at him, knowing that what he said wasn't what he had been trying to talk about before. He was right, though - they needed to get to Canada.
"Since she said that we have to get there soon, I would imagine she didn't mean flying by plane," she told him. "Would have been nice if she had said how. Is there a spell of some kind? Do I just say, 'Take us to the person who needs us in Canada?' Who is the person who needs us in Canada? They really need to provide dossiers!"
Just as she said that, she suddenly felt something pulling on her. Her eyes opening wide, she felt her wings pop back into existence.
"Rupert," she said, reaching out and grabbing him, pulling him close. Her wings wrapped around both of them, and a moment later they disappeared from the flat.
He watched as Fred tried to figure out how they were getting to Canada. Giles was about to ask her if they needed to take anything with them when her wings popped out again. He started at her, and at them, enthralled once again. When she pulled him closer, he felt the warmth of her wings wrap around him just as the hallway faded out of sight.
Soon they were standing in what looked like a motel room. Giles blinked and pulled himself out of Fred's wings, even though he didn't want to. On the bed was a small suitcase, with what he assumed was clothes, and a small file. He opened the suitcase first, and perked an eyebrow when he found a bright red button shirt inside. "I do believe Cordy doesn't like the way I dress," he said before putting it on the bed.
He went over to the window and looked outside. The ground was covered in snow, and he could see a sign in the distance that read 'Welcome to Vancouver'. "I do believe we're in Canada, love," he said before going over to her, and smiling.
When they appeared in the motel room, Fred stood there for a moment in amazement, not sure exactly how they had got there, other than the fact that she had felt them drawn there. She watched Rupert as he stepped away to examine the suitcase sitting on the bed, pulling her wings back and concentrating for a moment until they retracted and disappeared. She shook her head at the sight of the shirt - leave it to Cordelia to give fashion advice, even from up there, wherever she was.
She crossed over and picked up the file from the bed, opening it up just as Rupert mentioned that they were indeed in Canada. She walked over to join him at the window and looked out, seeing the Vancouver sign in the distance. However it had worked, there they were.
Glancing down at the file, she saw there was quite a bit of information. "Apparently, we get a little bit more to go on here than I did with you. Guess they wanted me going in a little more unprepared with you for a reason." She looked up at him and gave him a soft smile, reaching up for a moment to touch his jaw, before returning her attention to the file. Her eyes opened wide when she saw what was there. "We're...no wonder Cordy gave us information. The person we're here to help is the owner of a lucrative antique business here in Vancouver. His name is Victor Bedford. It sounds like he has a lot of connections to rare, even mysterious, items."
She bit her lip and looked up at him again. "Someone like that would be a huge target for a demon, especially if there was something they wanted badly enough, and this guy didn't know anything about the occult."
When Fred mentioned the man's name, Giles looked over at her. "Bedford? I've purchased a few items from him before. Items to use in different spells to help with the Hellmouth in Sunnydale," he said as he glanced down at the file. "He doesn't know anything about the occult. He just buys things that look interesting and then sells them through private auctions."
Giles took the file out of Fred's hands and flipped through it. "The items I got from him were quite powerful, especially when used in combination with magic," he explained. He stopped on one of the pages and looked at it. "According to this he's dating someone. And there's a picture of her."
He held it up and looked it over. "This isn't a human," Giles said, looking over at Fred. "See the small mark on her neck? There's a species of demons called Arv'ek that can shift to look like humans but you can spot them but the small half circle on their neck," he said. He handed her the picture and flipped through the file some more.
"What should we do, love? His shop won't be open for a few hours yet. Do you want to go there now, or later?" Giles asked.
It didn't surprise Fred at all when Rupert said that he knew of Victor Bedford, especially given the fact that the file said he had some of the most well-placed connections in the antique business. It seemed amazing, though, that he had managed to ignore the existence of the occult for so long with the sort of stuff he had apparently been buying and selling. Guess it was how most people operated - by not believing it existed, it made it easier to ignore it.
She handed the file over to Rupert when he reached out to take it and watched him as he flipped through it. Her brow furrowed at the picture he held out to her of the "girl" he was dating. "I've never heard of this spec--wait, no, I have," she realized. "One of Charles' clients at the firm was an Arv'ek. I remember having seen the guy and wondering what was so demonic about him... Didn't know that they could change shapes - Charles didn't talk about the case because of attorney-client privilege."
She shook her head, staring at the picture. "So obviously, this demon wants something from Bedford, but the question is what." She looked at the clock, seeing that Rupert was right. It would be several hours before the shop opened, according to the file. "Maybe...we should probably wait. Since you've had dealings with him, we can easily pay a visit as customers. I think that would be the best way to get a feel for things to begin with - it would let us look around the shop, maybe talk to him a little without raising suspicion. We just show up during off-hours, and he's likely to wonder what the hell we're doing."
Nodding his head, Giles placed the file down on the desk. It'd been a long night, and morning, even though it was still quite early. He stretched out and tried hard to stifle a yawn but couldn't do it. "I guess I'm a bit knackered," he said with a sheepish smile. "A lot of excitement for one day, and we aren't even finished."
Giles looked down, and kicked his shoes off and looked at the bed. "I believe we'd do better if we go when his shop is open," he said, agreeing with what Fred said. "I've never met him before since the items I purchased were through a private auction. He might know who I am, and he might not. Quite sure he'll know of the Watcher's Council though."
He leaned over and placed a small kiss on Fred's cheek before going over to the suitcase. There was a pair of pajama bottoms in there, but no top. Giles thought it was probably one of Cordy's little hints, especially since the pajama bottoms seemed quite stylish. Taking off his jeans and shirt, he put the bottoms on and climbed into the bed. "Come here, love," he quietly said as he glanced over at Fred. "I want to speak to you about something."
Fred nodded when when Rupert mentioned being tired because truth be told, she was rather tired herself. She didn't think she would be after all the time she apparently spent sleeping after she had died, but she could feel it catching up with. Obviously, being an angel didn't make her immune to the need for sleep or things.
Once they had decided to go to the shop once it opened, Fred watched as Rupert changed into the pajama bottoms that he found in the suitcase and crawled onto the bed. Walking over, she looked through the case, finding a short nightgown in there as well as another change of clothes.
"Wonder how long she expects us to be here," she said softly before looking over at Rupert when he beckoned to her, saying that he wanted to speak to her about something. Feeling her heart pounding in her chest, she walked over and sat down, hoping that he wasn't having second thoughts about this though it didn't seem that was what it was about. She actually couldn't get a read on him at all.
"What...what's that?" she asked as she sat down next to him.
Giles noted a hint of nervousness in Fred's voice as she sat down and wondered what he wanted to talk about. Slipping an arm around her, he softly kissed her temple. "It's nothing terrible, Fred. At least I don't believe it is. You might though," he commented before looking down. Now he was suddenly nervous, and felt his chest clench a little.
What if he was doing the wrong thing? What if she laughed at him, and said she didn't want to be with an old man, who had enough emotional issues to fill several suitcases? What if going with her was only a one-shot deal, and after this he had to go home?
It was then that Giles decided to stop living his life according to 'what ifs'. The worse that could happen was Fred would laugh at him, and send him home. Granted it would probably kill him because he didn't want to be without her. But he decided to push forward anyway. "You mean the world to me, Fred," he began as he ran his fingers through her hair. "You saved me, which you already know. I just...I wanted to tell you that I'm falling in love with you. I-I don't know if that's right since you're an Angel, but I can't stop, and I don't think I would if it were possible."
Raising her eyebrows, Fred wondered what he possibly thought that she might find so terrible that he didn't think could be. She could see that he was nervous, though, and reached out to take his hand, squeezing it gently, wanting him to know that whatever he had to say, she wanted to hear it, no matter what it was.
Finally, he began telling her, and Fred found her chest tightening slightly, her heart beating loudly. He was...? She found her mind spinning, knowing that she had been developing feelings for him as well. She had never thought that she could ever feel this way for anyone so soon, but with him...
"I don't care if it's right or not," she finally told him, reaching up with her free head to cup her palm to his cheek. "Love is love, no matter what, and I--I know that I'm falling in love with you too. That's why I wanted you to come with me. I know that you'd be an amazing help to me - you've already shown that - but I wanted you with me more because...I couldn't leave the person I love behind ever again. I had to do it before. I couldn't do with you."
She leaned forward and kissed him softly then looked into his eyes. "I want to be with you as long as we can be."
She didn't have a chance to ask him, though, because the doorbell rang. While Rupert dealt with his neighbor, Fred watched him - glad that he would be going with her, knowing that she needed him. She was feeling...she hadn't thought it be possible to have feelings like this for someone else, not after what happened to her, how she died in Wesley's arms. But she did. She knew she still loved Wesley too, always would, but Rupert...there was a connection, real feelings between them, like they were meant to be together.
Obviously, Cordy and Doyle knew that somehow.
When Rupert got rid of his neighbor, she pushed herself away from the wall, looking at him, knowing that what he said wasn't what he had been trying to talk about before. He was right, though - they needed to get to Canada.
"Since she said that we have to get there soon, I would imagine she didn't mean flying by plane," she told him. "Would have been nice if she had said how. Is there a spell of some kind? Do I just say, 'Take us to the person who needs us in Canada?' Who is the person who needs us in Canada? They really need to provide dossiers!"
Just as she said that, she suddenly felt something pulling on her. Her eyes opening wide, she felt her wings pop back into existence.
"Rupert," she said, reaching out and grabbing him, pulling him close. Her wings wrapped around both of them, and a moment later they disappeared from the flat.
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Soon they were standing in what looked like a motel room. Giles blinked and pulled himself out of Fred's wings, even though he didn't want to. On the bed was a small suitcase, with what he assumed was clothes, and a small file. He opened the suitcase first, and perked an eyebrow when he found a bright red button shirt inside. "I do believe Cordy doesn't like the way I dress," he said before putting it on the bed.
He went over to the window and looked outside. The ground was covered in snow, and he could see a sign in the distance that read 'Welcome to Vancouver'. "I do believe we're in Canada, love," he said before going over to her, and smiling.
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She crossed over and picked up the file from the bed, opening it up just as Rupert mentioned that they were indeed in Canada. She walked over to join him at the window and looked out, seeing the Vancouver sign in the distance. However it had worked, there they were.
Glancing down at the file, she saw there was quite a bit of information. "Apparently, we get a little bit more to go on here than I did with you. Guess they wanted me going in a little more unprepared with you for a reason." She looked up at him and gave him a soft smile, reaching up for a moment to touch his jaw, before returning her attention to the file. Her eyes opened wide when she saw what was there. "We're...no wonder Cordy gave us information. The person we're here to help is the owner of a lucrative antique business here in Vancouver. His name is Victor Bedford. It sounds like he has a lot of connections to rare, even mysterious, items."
She bit her lip and looked up at him again. "Someone like that would be a huge target for a demon, especially if there was something they wanted badly enough, and this guy didn't know anything about the occult."
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Giles took the file out of Fred's hands and flipped through it. "The items I got from him were quite powerful, especially when used in combination with magic," he explained. He stopped on one of the pages and looked at it. "According to this he's dating someone. And there's a picture of her."
He held it up and looked it over. "This isn't a human," Giles said, looking over at Fred. "See the small mark on her neck? There's a species of demons called Arv'ek that can shift to look like humans but you can spot them but the small half circle on their neck," he said. He handed her the picture and flipped through the file some more.
"What should we do, love? His shop won't be open for a few hours yet. Do you want to go there now, or later?" Giles asked.
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She handed the file over to Rupert when he reached out to take it and watched him as he flipped through it. Her brow furrowed at the picture he held out to her of the "girl" he was dating. "I've never heard of this spec--wait, no, I have," she realized. "One of Charles' clients at the firm was an Arv'ek. I remember having seen the guy and wondering what was so demonic about him... Didn't know that they could change shapes - Charles didn't talk about the case because of attorney-client privilege."
She shook her head, staring at the picture. "So obviously, this demon wants something from Bedford, but the question is what." She looked at the clock, seeing that Rupert was right. It would be several hours before the shop opened, according to the file. "Maybe...we should probably wait. Since you've had dealings with him, we can easily pay a visit as customers. I think that would be the best way to get a feel for things to begin with - it would let us look around the shop, maybe talk to him a little without raising suspicion. We just show up during off-hours, and he's likely to wonder what the hell we're doing."
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Giles looked down, and kicked his shoes off and looked at the bed. "I believe we'd do better if we go when his shop is open," he said, agreeing with what Fred said. "I've never met him before since the items I purchased were through a private auction. He might know who I am, and he might not. Quite sure he'll know of the Watcher's Council though."
He leaned over and placed a small kiss on Fred's cheek before going over to the suitcase. There was a pair of pajama bottoms in there, but no top. Giles thought it was probably one of Cordy's little hints, especially since the pajama bottoms seemed quite stylish. Taking off his jeans and shirt, he put the bottoms on and climbed into the bed. "Come here, love," he quietly said as he glanced over at Fred. "I want to speak to you about something."
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Once they had decided to go to the shop once it opened, Fred watched as Rupert changed into the pajama bottoms that he found in the suitcase and crawled onto the bed. Walking over, she looked through the case, finding a short nightgown in there as well as another change of clothes.
"Wonder how long she expects us to be here," she said softly before looking over at Rupert when he beckoned to her, saying that he wanted to speak to her about something. Feeling her heart pounding in her chest, she walked over and sat down, hoping that he wasn't having second thoughts about this though it didn't seem that was what it was about. She actually couldn't get a read on him at all.
"What...what's that?" she asked as she sat down next to him.
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What if he was doing the wrong thing? What if she laughed at him, and said she didn't want to be with an old man, who had enough emotional issues to fill several suitcases? What if going with her was only a one-shot deal, and after this he had to go home?
It was then that Giles decided to stop living his life according to 'what ifs'. The worse that could happen was Fred would laugh at him, and send him home. Granted it would probably kill him because he didn't want to be without her. But he decided to push forward anyway. "You mean the world to me, Fred," he began as he ran his fingers through her hair. "You saved me, which you already know. I just...I wanted to tell you that I'm falling in love with you. I-I don't know if that's right since you're an Angel, but I can't stop, and I don't think I would if it were possible."
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Finally, he began telling her, and Fred found her chest tightening slightly, her heart beating loudly. He was...? She found her mind spinning, knowing that she had been developing feelings for him as well. She had never thought that she could ever feel this way for anyone so soon, but with him...
"I don't care if it's right or not," she finally told him, reaching up with her free head to cup her palm to his cheek. "Love is love, no matter what, and I--I know that I'm falling in love with you too. That's why I wanted you to come with me. I know that you'd be an amazing help to me - you've already shown that - but I wanted you with me more because...I couldn't leave the person I love behind ever again. I had to do it before. I couldn't do with you."
She leaned forward and kissed him softly then looked into his eyes. "I want to be with you as long as we can be."
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