Man of the World

Author: enigmaticblue

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Through Ats S5, Origin, then back to Ats S3, Loyalty.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, but if I did, they'd be a lot happier and I wouldn't have to take out student loans.

Archive: If you already have my stuff. If not, just ask, and I'll be happy to share.

Summary: Fred's death and the return of his memories leave Wesley a desperate man. He makes a dangerous bid to make things right, only to find that he's a stranger in a world that's no longer familiar to him.

"I want to be a man of the world, blood in my veins and a hurt in my heart, hide in the street with the noise and the dirt, and the one still looking for a brand new start. Oh, I've been sleeping far too long, hiding out in a palace of gold. Show me one thing before I'm gone that can't be bought and can't be sold. Show me how to come alive, show me how to make you mine. 'Cause if you'd only be my girl, I could be a man of the world." ~Marc Cohn, "Man of the World"

Chapter 15

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." ~Winston Churchill

"So let me get this straight," Angel said. "Cordy's going to stay with Tuff tonight, and that will allow us to scare Wolfram and Hart's goons off."

Wesley gave him a thin smile. "Not exactly. That will allow you to scare the goons off; I'm going straight to the source."

"Wait a minute," Gunn objected. "That leaves me here with Connor."

"I want you and Fred to remain behind with the baby," Wesley said. "I won't put him at risk. It would be just like Lilah to try something like this to draw us out and then attack from behind."

Angel's eyes narrowed. "You sound like you know her pretty well."

"I used to," Wesley said. "Right now, I know her better than she knows me, and I believe we can use that to our benefit."

Gunn slouched in his seat. "I still don't understand why I get baby-sitting duty. No offense, Angel, I love the kid, but—"

"Angel can be slightly more intimidating," Wesley pointed out apologetically.

"How?" Gunn demanded. "I can bring my ax."

Angel's face shifted, and he grinned toothily. "I don't have to bring anything at all."

"The face of a demon is often more compelling, even for someone who may be expecting it," Wesley said. "And I believe Lilah will see me, while she might not consent to deal with anyone else. That leaves Connor."

"Who can't be left alone," Gunn said with a sigh. "And Cordy's with Tuff. I get that. Doesn't mean I have to like it, though." He gave Wesley a sharp look. "What about you? There's nothing to stop Lilah from taking you out when you walk through those doors. She could decide that she's better off without you."

"She could," Wesley acknowledged. "I don't believe she will, however. That's not the type of person Lilah Morgan is. She has a certain—honor; if I ask for a meeting, she'll respect that."

Angel nodded. "You know best, Wes. What are you going to do if she won't deal?"

"I don't know," he confessed. "I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."

Gunn stood. "I'd better let Fred know that we're staying in this evening."

Angel and Wesley watched him leave. The three women were standing around the front desk, cooing over Connor, who looked to be enjoying the attention. "How well did you get to know Lilah Morgan?" Angel asked.

Wesley didn't look at him, instead keeping his eyes on Tuff, who was laughing at something that one of the others had said. She hadn't even blinked when Wesley asked to speak to Angel and Gunn alone, although Cordelia had glared at him. She didn't like being left out of the planning, but then, she'd already agreed to stay with Tuff for the night, so it wasn't as if she didn't know what her role was going to be.

"You have to understand that no one was talking to me," Wesley finally said. "Not unless you wanted something. Lilah wanted me to come work for the law firm. Of course, I said no, but she was persistent."

Angel frowned. "You went to work for her?"

Wesley looked at him in surprise. "No. I merely meant that she was very persistent, in that she kept returning. Then—well, I suppose we were both trying to convert the other, to a certain extent."

Wesley couldn't completely hide his emotions on the matter, and he knew that Angel had managed to read his expression. "You were in love with her."

"It wasn't love," Wesley said softly. "But I had feelings for her."

"What happened to her?" Angel asked.

Wesley sighed. "She was killed, and we believed it was by vampires. I took steps to ensure that she wouldn't rise again. I saw her briefly later on, just before we took over Wolfram and Hart; her contract extended beyond the grave."

"I see," Angel said softly, beginning to think that he might. "And now you're going to use what you know against her."

"It was what we did," Wesley murmured. "It was like a game that we played. The difference this time is that I'm the one who knows all the rules."

Angel didn't have a reply to that.

~~~~~

"I really appreciate you staying with me, Cordelia," Tuff said.

Cordelia shrugged off the other woman's thanks. She probably would have invited Tuff to stay at her place, but Dennis made that difficult; her ghost was usually pretty good about not letting onto his presence when asked, but even he could make mistakes, and no one wanted to be the one to spill the beans to Tuff.

If she did freak out, no one wanted to be responsible for Wesley's relationship ending.

"It's okay," Cordy replied. "You have a nice place."

Tuff smiled. "I like it. It was my first apartment, once I graduated from college."

"Wow," Cordelia said. "This is a lot nicer than my first apartment."

Tuff laughed. "Well, my parents were a little worried about their baby girl finding a decent place, and Dad offered to help me out with rent, just to make sure I wasn't living in a dangerous area of town. The job at the hospital paid pretty good, though, so I managed, even though things were tight for the first year or so."

"Must be nice to be so close to your parents," Cordelia said.

"You're not?" Tuff asked, catching the wistful note in her voice.

Cordelia shrugged. "Not really. I never was, I guess, even back in high school when my parents had money. When they lost it all, they pretty much disappeared from my life."

Tuff gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Cordelia replied. "I have a family."

"You and Wesley seem really close."

"We are." Cordelia suddenly giggled. "We tried to date once, but it was all wrong. I mean, the dating was fine, but the kiss was bad. He slobbered all over my chin."

Tuff stared at her. "You're kidding me!" she exclaimed. "Wesley is..." She trailed off. "Well, he must have gotten a lot better." She pulled out a carton of ice cream from the freezer. "Do you want some?"

"Absolutely," Cordelia responded. "I think maybe it just wasn't meant to be. He's a good friend."

"I can believe that," Tuff said, sitting down at the table and handing Cordelia a second spoon. "Did you know the woman who died?" she asked. "He said that someone he loved had died, but I wasn't sure if you knew her."

Cordelia realized that she was risking getting herself into a very sticky discussion. "I didn't know her very well." That much was true, since she had no idea how much Fred had changed; besides, this way, Tuff couldn't ask questions that Cordelia wouldn't be able to answer. "He's been a lot happier recently, though."

Tuff's face brightened. "Really? I thought maybe he had, but I couldn't be sure."

"He's definitely happier." Cordelia decided that now would be a very good time to change the subject. "So, where's your favorite place to buy shoes?"

~~~~~

Angel watched from the shadows as the black van pulled up in front of Tuff's apartment building. After a moment, the driver cut the engine and the lights, but no one exited the vehicle. If someone didn't know that it didn't belong there, it would just be another parked car along a quiet side street.

Of course, Angel knew better.

He didn't plan on killing the occupants of the van, not unless Wolfram & Hart had hired demons or vampires for this job. Actually, Angel was hoping that they weren't human; in that case, he could get rid of them with a clear conscience. The law firm tended to hire your standard bad guys for jobs like this, however, and so Angel didn't have a lot of hope.

Still, there was something to be said for optimism.

Slipping away from the shadow of the building where he'd hidden himself, Angel approached the van cautiously. Once he got a little closer, Angel could see the darkened windows that had been camouflaged to look like panels, making it impossible to either see in or know whether anyone was looking out. The driver had apparently moved into the back of the van, because Angel couldn't see anyone through the passenger window, and he was grateful that he'd chosen to approach it from the front.

Trying to look as though he was out for an evening stroll, Angel stuck his hands in his pockets and sauntered up, wondering if they'd spotted him yet.

He kept up the pretense until he was just past the van and then turned, grabbing the handle of the rear door and pulling. The handle came off in his hand and, with a growl, he grabbed the edge of the door, hearing the lock snap as he pulled it open with sheer brute strength.

The expressions of surprise on the faces of the men inside the back of the van were highly satisfying. Angel reached in and grabbed the nearest man by the collar, hauling him out and slamming him up against the intact door of the vehicle. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

"Let him go," the second man said, holding a gun on him.

Angel snorted. "That's not going to help you." He let the demon come forward. "Bullets won't kill me; they'll just piss me off." He quickly shifted so that he was using the first man's body as a shield. "I want to know what you're doing here."

There was a long pause as the two men considered their options, and Angel tightened his grip, causing the first man to gasp out, "Just tell him, Orman."

Orman lowered his gun slowly, looking extremely reluctant. "We're getting paid to watch the girl. It's just a job, nothing personal."

"Too bad I'm taking it personally," Angel replied, smirking. "You're just supposed to watch? Nothing else?"

"We're just watching," Orman assured Angel. "No one's supposed to get hurt."

"Who are you reporting to?" Angel pressed. When Orman hesitated, the vampire squeezed just a little harder, feeling the man struggle against his hold. "Who?"

"Lilah Morgan," the man gasped out.

Angel let up a bit so the man could breathe easier. "That's what I thought. I'm going to take your word for it that this wasn't personal, but if I see you hanging around here again, I'm going to forget that I don't eat humans anymore." He released his captive, shoving him against the back of the van again. "Get out of here before I change my mind."

He could see them debating whether or not to leave, whether to defy orders or try to defy him. It was fairly obvious that they weren't equipped to take on a pissed off vampire, and Angel was counting on their common sense taking over.

Sure enough, after a few seconds, the two scrambled back into the van and it took off, the back door swinging a bit.

Angel smirked, pleased with himself. He didn't think it would last forever, of course, just until they were more scared of Lilah Morgan than they were of him. On the other hand, if Wesley did manage to convince Lilah that it was in her best interests not to be following Tuff, she wouldn't have to worry about anyone following her anymore.

Angel looked at the apartment building thoughtfully, wondering if he was right about Tuff; she seemed to be made of sterner material than Wesley was giving her credit for. Somehow he thought that his friend would be better off letting her know what was truly going on now, rather than later, but it was Wesley's choice.

He just hoped that for Wesley's sake, Tuff took it well.

~~~~~

Wesley knew every entrance and exit into Wolfram & Hart's offices at this point; he'd spent the better part of a year there, after all. There was a little-used entrance through the parking garage, one that most of the attorneys and other employees used after hours.

Although Lilah probably would have been intrigued enough to meet with him if he'd called for an appointment, Wesley wanted to catch her off-guard if he could. He wanted to show her exactly who she was dealing with; he wasn't Angel's research assistant any longer—he'd become something else altogether.

He watched as a young lawyer exited through the door, waiting until just before it shut to catch it and slip inside. Wesley adjusted his tie, striding confidently down the hallway, nodding pleasantly to a passing woman. It was unlikely that anyone would recognize him, unlikelier still that anyone would know that he didn't belong; the firm was huge, and it was rare for people to socialize outside their own departments.

That was something else he'd learned during his time at Wolfram & Hart.

There was no trouble locating Lilah's office; her name had still been on the door when Angel took over, and it had been impossible for him to forget where she had spent so much of her time.

He could remember all of it now, everything they had been to each other, everything they had done, how it had felt to remove her head from her body. None of that had been clear before he'd broken the Orlon Window; the memories had been there, but they had been robbed of their full context.

Context was everything.

The support staff had gone for the day, and no one looked twice at a man in a suit in this office, not when he looked like he knew where he was going. Wesley walked down the hall from the elevator towards Lilah's office, opening the door without knocking and closing it behind him.

Wesley turned to face her, smiling coldly in greeting, remembering the man he'd been. The man he was. "Hello, Lilah."

"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce," Lilah said. "Where's your pet vampire?"

"This is between you and me," he replied. "You're following my friend; I don't appreciate it."

"How else am I supposed to get information?" Lilah asked, leaning back in her chair, smirking at him. "I knew that the surveillance would bring someone in, sooner or later. I was betting on Angel, but I was hoping you'd have the balls to come."

Wesley unbuttoned his suit jacket as he sat down, letting her see the twin pistols he wore. "I think you might be surprised at what I have the balls to do."

Lilah lost a little bit of her smug demeanor. "What are you going to do, shoot me?"

"Not unless I have to," Wesley replied. "I want to know what you want."

"I'd like to know what happened to Holtz," Lilah said. "He was our main competition for Connor."

"You won't get Connor," Wesley warned, "and you needn't worry about Holtz. He's been taken care of."

"Your doing?" Lilah asked. "I hadn't expected it of you."

"I'm just full of surprises." Wesley leaned forward, letting his anger show. "You will leave Miss Myers out of this. She knows nothing."

Lilah smiled coldly, recognizing a worthy opponent when she saw one. "That's the problem, Wesley. We can't get at what you know, and a man will tell his girlfriend things he won't tell anyone else. If we can't get inside your head, we'll be forced to look elsewhere for information."

"What do you want to know so badly?" Wesley demanded.

"I want to know what caused the timeline to shift so drastically. The seers were rather upset when all their predictions went to hell overnight. That doesn't just happen." Lilah met his gaze. "What did you make a deal with, Wesley? You sold your soul for something to get the kind of protection that would protect you from a probe. I want to know what that was, and I want to know all about Connor. Give me the information I need, and I'll take the tail off your friend."

"Go to hell," Wesley replied, his voice even. "You can't possibly expect me to betray Angel in such a way."

Lilah's eyes narrowed. "Is that right? You braved the lion's den tonight for a girl, Wesley. You came to me personally, which tells me just how important she is to you. It would be a shame for anything to happen to her, wouldn't it?"

"Leave her out of this." Wesley had known what would happen when he came here. Lilah was no pushover; he'd only hoped that she would want information he felt comfortable giving her. He might have told her about the future, why the timeline had changed, about her own potential ending that had now likely been averted. Wesley would have given her information about any of those things in order to make certain that Tuff would be spared. What he would not do was give her anything about Connor.

Wesley wouldn't betray Angel again, even if it meant losing Tuff.

"Hit a button, didn't I?" Lilah asked, delighted to see his cool exterior crack a bit. "She doesn't know, does she? She doesn't know about any of this, about what you really do. I wonder what would happen if she found out the hard way, walking home some night." Lilah smiled. "She's not very careful, you know. She has no idea what comes out after dark, but she's going to find out."

"If you harm her, I will make sure that you lose everything." Wesley stood, leaning across the desk, getting up in her face. "I know what you most fear, and I will make sure that every nightmare comes true."

Lilah scoffed. "Please. You have—"

"Your mother?" Wesley murmured. "Or perhaps I'll simply make sure that Gavin has all the information he needs to show the Senior Partners how inept you are."

She stood abruptly, sneering at him. "Go ahead, but I'll make sure that girlfriend of yours learns all about your dark secrets first, and I'll take you down with me."

"You don't have the first idea about my secrets," Wesley said. "And you never will. You'll never know why the future has been altered, and you will never touch a hair on Connor's head. Back off now, and perhaps you'll survive a bit longer than you would have otherwise."

Lilah was nearly snarling. "You're going to regret this," she promised. "You can't come in here and threaten me and think that I'll let that go."

Wesley raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? I think you want to retain your position more than you want the answers."

He began walking towards the door, knowing that they were at a stalemate. The only possible means to ensure that Lilah wouldn't carry out her threat would be to kill her, and Wesley wasn't quite ready to do that yet.

It had been hard enough to take her head off when she was already dead, and some of that feeling still remained.

"You'd better keep an eye on your friend, Wesley," Lilah called after him. "She's going to find out about what you do the hard way. I just hope that you're a big enough hero to make sure she lives to regret it."

Wesley didn't reply, knowing that there was nothing he could do to prevent the end from coming.

On the other hand, he was fairly certain that between him and Angel, Tuff wouldn't have anyone following her anymore. He just had to make sure he was there when Lilah chose to spring her trap.