[Gunnwesley] Fic: Kungai Part Six 11/12 (Wesley/Gunn, NC17)

[helenraven]

Title: Kungai Part Six 11/12

Author: Helen Raven

Email: helenraven at talk21.com

Pairing: Wesley/Gunn

Summary: The full history of the relationship between
Gunn and Wesley in the Birthdayverse. A novel in six
parts.

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: Not mine, not for profit, not even a blip
on the litigation radar.

The Story's Home Page: http://www.kelper.co.uk/kungai

-----------------------

Gunn took the paper up to the apartment and sat on the
couch with a beer, kind of reading, but not really.
He'd have to have some story for Lilah's squad about
Angel and sex. Be obvious Angel was jerkin' off over
Wesley, but could Gunn keep it so they never even
wondered...? Tricky, with Angel treating Wesley's
shirt like it was... Well, most days like it was the
only thing in the world.

They'd have to watch out for the scent wearing off, be
ready to catch the signs. Keep the other clothes
sealed tight, deep under ice. Make them last as long
as possible. Would that be years? Or just months?
They'd see it coming, anyway.

Or maybe he'd forget Wesley. The visions would wipe
Wesley out, bit by bit, if Wesley wasn't there every
day. Making Angel trust him again, every day. Maybe.
Maybe. And they'd see that coming, too, like Wesley
and Gunn had seen it coming the last time. Which was
just a year ago.

Gunn sighed and swallowed, and focussed on the paper
and found that he was holding the business section.
Hah! Rich people. Never thought he'd be sayin' this
but thank God for rich people. Hey, did Lilah ever
make the news? Or... Now what was her boss? Holland
Manners?

He scanned the section but of course there wasn't
anything - would've been way too much of a
coincidence, gettin' somethin' today. Online though...
The computer was already on. He took his beer over and
brought up Google and typed in "Lilah Morgan".

Wolfram and Hart.

What?

Oh, this must be from three, four years ago. Course
she hadn't been with the investment firm forever.

No. First story was from just December. She was joint
chief of Special Projects, just got promoted. And
there was a picture: Lilah, and her boss Holland
Manners. And the other chief, this Lindsey McDonald...
Yeah, that pretty white boy had to be Anne's expensive
suit.

Oh, Christ.

Search for "Gavin Parks".

Wolfram and Hart Real Estate Division.

Gunn shivered so hard the mouse skidded off the mat
and nearly knocked over his beer. He was inside a
piece of Wolfram and Hart property. He had been for
over a year. He had to press his hands flat on the
table to stop himself from looking round, up at the
ceiling. Surveillance. Remote surveillance. Oh God, oh
God. Oh, Wesley. Angel. God, what had they seen?

The interns. Now what were those fuckers into? But
there was only one name he remembered: "Newton
Robbins".

Not business news, but police: missing since the
evening of June 5th 2001. Last seen leaving the
offices of Wolfram and Hart, where he really had been
an intern. June 5th? Now...

Gunn couldn't remember to the date, but Wesley kept a
desk diary, and the one from last year was right there
on the shelf. June 5th had been a Tuesday, and, yeah,
Gunn did remember that it had been one of the midweek
training sessions when they'd got back to find Newton
gone and Lilah's boss there instead. And look, the
week after, Wesley taking Lilah and the interns out to
lunch to thank them because that night had been the
last one. And Newton not there for the lunch because
"his mother was still sick in hospital".

Angelus was there that night. Gunn remembered Manners
commenting on him, Angelus being so wild that he was
burning himself against the door. He'd had blood down
his chin, splashes on his shirt, and Wes had said they
had to stop using the interns, Angel was just getting
worse with the smell of new people. They'd thought
he'd bitten himself. He'd got to the point then of
refusing the animal blood; he wanted human, he was
aching for it.

Oh, they'd been stupid, him and Wesley. They had,
hadn't they? It was obvious, it was all there laid
out. But they'd believed it, they'd believed that
Angel was worth it because he was unique, because if
you saw him once you're remember him for the rest of
your life. Worth all the time, all the money. Believed
it because to them he was worth it. And they'd never
imagined someone seeing him and thinking only, "I can
use that. "

Use him for what, though? Use him for what? What were
they trying to do when they'd picked the lock and gone
in and fed him human blood? Did they want Angelus? Was
Newton an accident or had Manners thrown him in and
locked the door?

And December. December. When they'd had him for nearly
a week. What had they done that got Lilah that
promotion?

They'd given him the new visions. They'd done
something, hadn't they, to open him up? Make him pick
up messages that were never meant for him. Had it
worked? When they watched him now, did they see what
they wanted? Gunn could never know; but he could be
sure they had more like that planned. He closed his
eyes, and opened his mouth to whisper, "Angel. I'm
sorry." But they'd hear it. He had to guess that
they'd hear it.

Had Angel even had that vision? The vampire and the
guy in the diner, while he and Wesley were away?
They'd seen the drawings but those could've been
faked. All to make them trust Lilah more.

He didn't want to think about Wesley's translations.
What they'd really been used for. Make-work. Say they
were make-work. Keep a route open to the seer. Let Wes
earn enough that he'd stay in easy reach.

So why hadn't they just come in and taken Angel, if
they wanted him that much? It had suited them before,
to have Gunn and Wesley doing all the work? Suited
them now, to have Gunn's co-operation? But they'd be
gone, wouldn't they, the day after the move? No, 'cos
then Gunn would go looking for them. They'd play it
smarter. Two, three months in they'd call and tell
Gunn that Angelus had managed to trick them, they'd
had to stake him to save themselves. They'd show it to
Gunn on the tapes - Angelus turning to dust - and the
CGI would be so good Gunn wouldn't ever think to
question what he'd seen. He'd mourn Angel, in his way,
and he'd wonder how much was his fault, what he could
have told them about Angelus that would have let them
see through the trick. But then he'd move on, he'd
find another way to make a difference. And Angel would
be somewhere screaming, would still be there when Gunn
died of old age.

But... Was there any way they were genuine? There was
another explanation, they'd had good reasons to lie?
Swift would be the best person to ask. Ask her what
was the worst she knew about Wolfram and Hart. And,
yeah, the best she knew too. Ask what would be so
special to them about a vampire seer that they'd make
him a project.

But Gunn couldn't call her from the apartment, or from
out in the hallway on his cellphone. Right now he had
to assume the worst: that they'd be listening. He
could go out to find a payphone, but that would mean
leaving Angel. And assuming the worst, then... They
had tracking on the computer, too, they knew exactly
what he'd just found out. Or they could tell just from
their cameras that something had suddenly killed the
buzz he'd had from getting the good news about Angel,
and the first thing they were thinking was he'd
changed his mind. So he couldn't leave Angel to go and
call Swift, because he had to guess they were already
on their way to take Angel. He was on his own.
Whatever he was going to decide here, he had to do it
on his own. And he had to do it fast, before Lilah's
squad broke down the door and took the thing they must
think they'd already paid for.

Was he really that sure the squad was on its way? He'd
been going to ask Swift the best she knew about
Wolfram and Hart. So what could she have told him that
would have made everything look different? Explained
why they'd lied, why Angel was worth so much to them.
A seer and a finance firm, Gunn could understand, he
could see how they'd have budget every year for
"predictions" - not charity, not some partner's
hobby-of-the-month, but a solid part of their
business, that kept its place because it kept on
earning it, year after year after year. For a law
firm, though, it just didn't make sense. And that was
why Lilah had given Wesley the story about the finance
firm, why she'd been lying to him right from the start
- because she didn't want Wesley asking those
questions, because she didn't have any story that
would be good enough to convince Wesley that Wolfram
and Hart was a normal law firm.

Gunn couldn't guess what they really were, why they
really wanted Angel, but what could you do with Angel
the way he was now, except try to keep him together,
or try to take him apart? The headaches. That was all
the proof Gunn needed. The headaches and the blood on
Angelus that last night with Newton. They'd been
waiting for over a year (waiting for Wesley to die?),
and that patience said even more to Gunn than the
headaches about how much they planned to get from
Angel.

No. They couldn't get Angel. No doubt now for Gunn.
With a normal law firm, maybe he'd say, "No. I'm
sorry. I've changed my mind. I should have been
thinking about what Wesley would want. And he'd want
Angel to stay with me. It'll be tough. But it's what I
gotta do." Not like he'd asked them to do all that
work, get that space ready for Angel - they'd taken
that on themselves.

A normal law firm would take no for an answer, maybe
even wait a few months before making the first move to
evict him. With this law firm... It'd just be days
after he'd told them no that he'd come home to find
Angel gone, maybe with a bag of burglar's tools set
down by the front door, and a guy dead in Angel's room
with his throat ripped out. Would they find a real
burglar? Or just use another intern? Or maybe they
wouldn't bother making it look like anything - because
who could Gunn tell, what could he possibly do?

He could get Angel out now, go on the run to... To
where? Taking Angelus out of that room, trying to deal
with him in the truck. Trying to keep himself safe, to
keep other people safe - when Angel was damn-well
going to get noticed, have people coming to check out
those noises. Kids, especially. And they'd be so
fucking easy to track, him and Angel, easier every
day. Lilah's squad would find them. And then Gunn
would have to kill Angel, because he'd know by then
that it was the only way he could save Angel from this
thing they had planned for him.

Gunn turned around in his chair and looked up at the
screen. Angel was asleep on his mattress, curled up
with his back to the camera - probably curled up
around Wesley's shirt.

Killing Angel. Killing him now. It was the only way.
He had to assume the worst: that the headaches were
only the start, a five-day measure of what they'd do
when they had Angel forever. Wesley would want Gunn to
save Angel from that. He would. And Angel would want
it too. Even if Wolfram and Hart were planning to look
after the real visions, to pick up the mission...
Well, Gunn was deciding here and now that Angel was
already paying too high a price for those rescues.
He'd been brave for long enough, accepted his
punishment for long enough. Been a danger for long
enough. He shouldn't be asked to risk anything more.
It was time for the Powers to find someone else.

First, Gunn was going to get ready to run; he was
planning to survive this. He would be willing to die
if that was the only way to save Angel - and he'd
risked his life before to save people from less - but
from what he could see, he still had options. He was
going to pack first, so he'd be ready to run as soon
as he'd killed Angel. Run and get a safe distance, and
run and see if anyone was following. Maybe Wolfram and
Hart wouldn't bother with revenge, maybe that wasn't
their style; but he didn't know and he was keeping on
with assuming the worst.

Gunn got the big bag from their weapons closet and
emptied it out in the middle of the living-room floor,
like maybe he was going round to the crew to do some
serious training. He loaded a crossbow and put it on
his desk, then grabbed a couple of stakes and put them
next to the crossbow - to be in easy reach of Angel's
room in case the squad was already on its way.

He sat down at the computer to delete the History
information from his browser, so they couldn't know
exactly what he'd searched for, but then he decided
that he wanted them to know - he wanted them to know
why he'd killed Angel, that it was for normal,
rational reasons, not some crazy, guilt-ridden
outburst. He wanted them to know that he was thinking
clearly, that he was a quantity that they could reckon
with. He left the computer on, and did the next thing
on his list: finding the pad on the bookshelves, the
one with Angel's drawings of Wesley. He took the pad
into the bedroom and packed it at the bottom of his
sports-bag with two weeks of clothes, then put the bag
on Wesley's desk and went to the bathroom to get his
toothbrush, his toothpaste and his shaving kit. Back
in the living-room he got all the beer money, packed
Wesley's index file, and that was it: all he really
needed from the apartment, no reason left why he'd
ever come back.

Angel was still asleep, didn't know any sign of waking
up when Gunn opened the door. Gunn went about six feet
into the room to take aim with the crossbow, but
keeping his distance in case Angel suddenly woke up as
Angelus.

The bolt went through Wesley's shirt, pinned it to the
mattress. The dust didn't rise up, it just sank down -
like it wasn't surprised, like it had been waiting.
Gunn did look back from the doorway, just for a
second, wondered what he would have said if Angel had
been awake, how he would have handled Angelus.

He put the crossbow on Wesley's desk, picked up his
bag, and then he was gone. He called Lilah once he was
down in the truck: it was terrible, it was tragic,
he'd never know what it was he'd said, but Angel had
attacked him, knocked him to the ground, and escaped.
Gunn had run after, but Angel was too quick. Angel
must not even have known it was a real street, real
sunlight when he'd run out, left the shadow of the
building. Minutes ago, just minutes ago. First thing
he'd thought of: get the work stopped.

Yes, it was a tragedy. What an end. After everything.
She - So much more to say, but yes he was right, the
first thing she had to do now was get the work
stopped.

A quick sign-off, then Gunn threw the phone out into
the street. He started the truck, and he drove north,
watching all the time for signs he was being followed.

-----------------------

Rather read Kungai in HTML or PDF? See http://www.kelper.co.uk/kungai