FicWad

Wesley was escorted by the guard to the cell where his sister was still for contempt of court. He knew that she would not give up. Odds were that she would probably spend the rest of the trial in jail. It would take it ending before she would get out. She was that kind of person. Stubborn and loyal to the end.
As if in rebellion, Faith had her orange jumper suit off. It was laying beside her on the bed. She was wearing worn blue jeans and a holey black t-shirt. Her hair was tied back. All in all, she looked like herself without the usual leather of some kind. Her eyes were closed and she appeared as if she were sleeping.
"Hey, Windom-Price. Get your monkey suit back on." The guard came closer to the bars. "Or else I'll be telling the judge that you aren't behaving yourself. You could then end up in solitary. And all cause you can't keep your mouth shut."
Faith looked up at him and smiled her evil smile. "You can tell the judge to bite me. Though, I don't relish that from some old foggie. And you don't be getting any ideas either. You aren't exactly anyone's prize chicken."
"Why I outta." The guard came face to face with the bars. "You are on report. Consider yourself moved, little girl."
"I think not." Both looked at Wesley in surprise. "You see our parents are unhappy that she is in here in the first place. However, they know that the judge is only doing his duty. See, they talked it over during dinner last evening. Even our fine judge is hating the fact that my sister had to be in here. So a word of advice to you, back off from her unless you want a complaint lodged against you."
The guard continued to stare at Wesley for a few minutes more. "Man, it must be nice to be rich and privileged. You can literally get away with murder and all you get is a slap on the wrist. Try being a little person some day." The guard turned in a huff.
"You were never a little person." Faith yelled after him, grinning from ear to ear. "Thanks. Sorry bout my usual rebellion, but you know me. Gotta do what I believe in. Now, what brings you here? I can tell by the look on your face that it is something out of the ordinary."
"Well, yes." Wesley began pacing. "I know this isn't the greatest of times for you, but I just had to talk to someone about it. You see, well I was shopping for a suit, and well things started to run through my mind and I'm not well exactly sure what to think or to do."
Faith began chuckling. "As always, long winded. Listen, bro. By the sounds and looks of you, you are having second doubts bout getting married. Understandable. You've only known Fred for a few months now. But I'm telling you that the two of you belong together. She loves you. I know that you love her. We're sorta friends now. Even gonna be her matron of honor or whatever crap like that. I'm wearing a dress for you. Don't make me hurt you if all those fittings were for nothing."
"But how do I really know?" Wesley stopped pacing and really looked at his sister. "I mean, how does anyone know that they are with the one that they are supposed to be with? Neither of us have had but luck in the relationship department before. What makes this one so special?" His eyes were pleading with her.
Faith shook her head. "If you are looking for guarantees, you've come to the wrong place dude. Haven't you figured out by now that there are no guarantees in life? You get what you are dealt. And you make the most of it. Sometimes, that means you get a really sweet deal. Other times, like for Willow right now, life goes down the crapper. Just gotta make the most of every second and live it to it's fullest. Why I live the way I do."
Wesley smiled at his little sister. She was so young and yet she had this knowledge about her. There was something about what she said that made total sense. He just knew that it was the right thing to do, following his heart. And to live his life to the fullest without always looking at the what ifs.

Gunn was driving and thinking at the same time. It was a dangerous what he was about to do. He already had one murder under his belt. Now he knew that Ethan had murdered Jenny Calendar. So, he was being blackmailed twice over. If the cops found out about he being the one that killed Mr. MaClay then he would be a likely suspect for Miss Calendar.
Shaking his head, he couldn't believe the fix that he had gotten himself into. Go to the cops and odds were that his history in the marines would come back to haunt him. His discharge for conduct unbecoming an officer would surely be used against him. Plus, Ethan was a multimillionaire. The rich always did seem to get favorable treatment.
That was just an excuse for what he had done anyways. He only had himself to blame. If he could not have been so easily bought with a new apartment and with nicer clothes and actual money to spend, he wouldn't be in this jam. He could just have been happy living the life that he had. Especially since he had found Amy. That made all the difference in the world.
But it was too late for him now. Even if he were to come forward, he would be spending pretty much the rest of his life behind bars. He knew that, if they could prove what he said, prosecutors would be more then happy to cut him a deal. They always did want the big fish and not just the little fish bait that he was.
If he stopped the car and turned around right now, would he be able to get that deal? Would he be able to be the one that was given a chance at least at life? Besides that, an innocent young woman was facing the death penalty. And it was all because he had never been able to be the man and stand up for what he believed in.
Suddenly, there were four people standing in the middle of the road. He came to a screeching halt, just missing them by inches. He got out of his car. Before he could say anything, he recognized them. They were the ones that he had been sent to get. Ethan had paid him to retrieve Buffy, Anya, Xander, and Spike so that he could do in his competitor Hank Summers.
Things didn't usually just spill into his lap like this. But then, it could also be something telling him that he had a choice to make. And that was whether or not he finally decided to be a man and do the right thing. He closed his eyes and listened to his heart. Something he should have done from the very beginning.
"Hey, I know you guys." His instincts took over. "You two ladies have been in the news a lot. Ever since you guys disappeared. And you two are the ones that have been after them ever since. I saw that nice poster campaign that you have going on. Listen, I'm was going to LA for the weekend, but I'd be more then happy to cancel that trip to get you guys home, ASAP. Warning, not much room in the car."
"We'll take it." Xander helped get Anya in the back with him.
Spike eyed the situation. He didn't want to let go of Buffy for a second, but she seemed stronger then ever. "You sit in the back, luv. I'll be right in front. Just know I'm not going anywhere. Not till we put your father behind bars where he belongs. Then you and I'll go somewhere nice."
Buffy smiled a bit. "With our combined testimony, he'll get what he deserves. A nice long jail sentence." Spike helped her into the back. She smiled up at him after he gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.
Spike turned to Gunn. "Now, let's peel rubber for Sunnydale. We've got some information that could help out Willow at her trial. And it will definitely put Hank Summers behind bars for a very long time." Gunn knew what it would mean to go back without doing what Ethan had told him. He got in the car and headed back to Sunnydale.

Riley paced back and forth in his apartment. There were so many loose ends about all the cases. And to him, they all seemed to tie together somehow. He just couldn't quite make the ends meet. Because he was a rookie detective, his superiors wouldn't listen to him. Only his lead partner listened to him. But then, that only went so far.
He was sure that Willow Rosenberg was innocent. The one piece of evidence that truly would have linked her to the crime was the knife. There was no way for the police to trace it. And that had him thinking that this was some kind of premeditated murder that was setup so that Willow would take the fall for it.
What better person then the girlfriend of the one that was killed. There were so many reasons for Willow to hate her girlfriend's father. The first being how nasty he was to Tara. The second being how he killed his wife and nearly caused her best friend to die because of it. There was also what he had done to Anya, his girlfriend's sister. The man was an out and out creep and in many ways deserved to die.
He just didn't think that Willow Rosenberg had it in her. Not that there was a type that couldn't be pushed over the edge. But how mangled the body was, it would take a lot more strength and resolve then he thought that the little red head had in her. Again, humans do things that are amazing all the time.
The young detective made his way over to the files that he had made copies of. It was against the regulations for some of them to be in his possession. But he just felt that he had to keep them handy. One never knew when something would strike him so that he could use the details to crack the case.
Something else was bothering him. It bothered him ever day of his life. He was raised by a wonderful loving farming family in Iowa. But the were not his real parents. Something had happened to his mother and she had given him up for adoption. He knew that he was a baby that had alcohol syndrome. It still gave him trouble as an adult.
That was the reason that he had moved to Sunnydale. Though his adoption records were sealed, he had come across a bit of information that told him his mother had ended up moving to the little town. His adoptive parents weren't thrilled with him trying to seek her out. They felt that she did not deserve him because of the things she had done while she was pregnant.
But Riley wanted, needed, to know his mother for several reasons. One, it might just help with medical history. That way he could know better how to handle some of the complications that had come his way. But also, he need to look her in the eye and see for himself where he came from. And of course, to ask her why she had given him up.
Perhaps it was for good reasons. Perhaps it was because she simply did not want him. Whatever the reasons were, he needed to know. So, he now had two missions in life. One was his personal mission. That was to find his mother and to confront her. The second was to prove Willow Rosenberg's innocence. Neither would be east to do.
He looked at himself in the reflection of the window. If there was one thing that was always true, it was that he was a hard worker. He could deal with almost any situation. But was he truly prepared to meet his mother?

Willow had quite the sleepless night. She and her uncle had talked and there were a lot of things that he could bring up at the trial. It seemed that her other uncle had quite a bit of knowledge of the family tree. It seemed that he knew all of the little dirty secrets. And that terrified her more then anything.
The one good thing about the previous night, she and Tara had slept together. They had snuggled all night long with neither of them getting much sleep. So many things were happening. At least the two of them had found one another again. She had her suspicions who had forged the note and tried to cause the breakup. She may never know the truth.
Ethan Rayne was already on the witness stand having been sworn in. He looked at Giles with an evil smile. Willow knew right then and there that her evil uncle would do anything to hurt her good uncle. Even if that meant hurting her in the process. Hopefully her attorney could discredit whatever it was that he had to say.
"You are the defendant's uncle, correct?" The lady prosecutor made her way to the witness stand. She always seemed to want to hover around her witnesses.
"I'm technically her half uncle." Ethan shrugged. "And I'm afraid they don't have much to do with me. I'm the black sheep of the family."
"Yes. But you do have a lot of information on your niece and the rest of your family?" The prosecutor eyed him carefully.
"Yes." Ethan seemed so relaxed. "I've kept tabs on all of them throughout the years. They might not want me as a part of the family, but I do want them as part of mine." He suddenly got a real sad look on his face.
"Is it true that your niece has had behavioral problems in the past?" The prosecutor looked smug as she knew the answer already.
"Yes." Ethan sighed sadly. "It's quite unfortunate. Even when she was in kindergarten, she had trouble getting along with others. There was this time with a fight over a yellow crayon. She never did really learn to share."
"Really?" The prosecutor glanced at Willow for a moment. "Would you say then that you wouldn't put it past the defendant to kill someone out of jealousy?"
"Objection." Willow's attorney quickly stood up. "Relevancy? Not to mention that the witness is not an expert."
"Sustained." The judge looked at the prosecutor. "Move along in your line of questioning. I don't want to repeat myself."
"Yes, your honor." The prosecutor turned back to Ethan. "Do you know of any reason that Willow Rosenberg would be both jealous and angry at her at the victim?"
"I do." The prosecutor handed him a piece of paper. "This is the note that I saw Henry MaClay write. It was used to try and break up my niece and her girlfriend."
There was a murmur throughout the crowd. It quickly died down as the judge banged his gavel on the bench. "We put into evidence this letter and had it verified by a handwriting expert. This was written by Mr. MaClay." She turned to the defendant's table. "Your witness."
"How did you come to see Mr. MaClay in possession of this note?"
"We worked together for a bit in Grand Rapids." Ethan smile was still quite smug. "We saw each other when I moved here. He showed it to me. Thought it might interest me because it involved my niece."
"And it did, did it not?" Willow's attorney approached the witness stand. "Isn't it true that you and your brother have a feud dating back years. And that you would do anything to harm him, including hurting your own niece?"
Ethan's smile faded a bit. He tried to keep his facade, but it faded a bit. "I would never harm my niece. She's family. Even if they don't love me in return, I will always love them. I'd do anything to show that."
"Including framing her?" Before the prosecutor could object, he added, "withdrawn." Was that enough to discredit her uncle? Willow could only pray that it did.