Fred was stepping into the lab when she heard Wesley talking. Furrowing her brow, she wondered why she thought she was being serious. They joked around like this before and it had been funny. It was hard for Fred to grip why it wasn't funny anymore. It seemed all of them were losing themselves - even Lorne seemed off. And Fred knew it was because of the firm.
"Wesley," Fred said after she'd turned around. "It wasn't being serious. It was a joke but apparently working in this place has sucked out any humor we had. I'm going to get this finished so the two of you can do the spell. Then I'm leaving because I don't want to be here anymore." Without saying a word, she turned and made her way into the lab.
Rupert looked at Wesley and sighed. "Why don't we get this finished and then the two of you can chat. I'll take Regan out for a bit. Maybe to a bookstore or something," he said before he looked down at Regan. "Would you like that, sweetheart?" Regan nodded and took Rupert's hand. "We'll see you downstairs, Wesley. And just give her some time to cool off, all right?"