Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.
Dedicated to Samywitch, a true Wes believer. Takes place after the episode Sleep Tight. A longer version is in the works.

Outcast
By Imzadi

Lights. Bright lights. Wes didn't understand the bright lights that suddenly cut through the darkness. Why were there lights? Hell should be dark. Firelight, perhaps; the famous flames of Hell. "Hell is murky," Lady Macbeth had said. Shakespeare was wrong.

The lights stopped moving. The noise he had heard, whatever it had been, also stopped. He was too far gone to identify it. His eyes closed, and he lapsed into unconsciousness, not seeing the man who ran to his side and knelt. "Wes, my God!" Without thinking, the man whipped off his shirt and tied it around Wes' bleeding throat, tight enough to stanch the bleeding, he hoped, but not so tight that it would stop his breathing. Picking him up with the strength born of desperation, he carried Wes to his vehicle and lifted him onto the seat. Then he headed to the emergency room at Drew Memorial.

When he got there, Wes was taken from him immediately so they could begin to treat him. He knew instinctively that he had to be very careful what he said to the hospital staff and to the police. When he dared, he told the truth; he lied only when necessary. "His name is Arthur Rex McDonald. He's my brother." He couldn't let either Angel and his friends or the people at Wolfram & Hart find out that Wes was still alive.

Finally Wes was moved from the ER to the ICU and Lindsey could stay with him. He sat by his bed praying for his recovery, holding his hand as if he could transfer strength from himself to Wes. He wasn't sure how long he sat at his side, but he only left when the doctors needed to care for him.

Sometime later Wes opened his eyes. "Lin--," he started to say.

"Quiet, Wes. Save your strength. I'm here."

"I did something terrible." He struggled to lift himself, but because of all the tubes attached to him, and his weakened condition, it was impossible.

"Knowing you, I'm sure you did it for the right reason. There was a reason why I was the one who found you. I was sent to find you by the Powers That Be. I'll stay with you. We'll have to seek our redemption on our own. You're my brother now."

"I thought I was an outcast, that everyone hated me."

"We're both outcasts, Wes. But we can still find our way back into the light. I promise." He squeezed Wes' hand and smiled, and Wes squeezed back. Maybe, just maybe, things would one day be all right again for both of them.

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