Disclaimer: Everything Buffy and Angel belong to Joss Whendon and everybody else who worked on them. I only own Hope.
A/N: OK, so this is set in an AU season 3 just after Faith tries on the dress in Graduation Part 1. Only difference being that Graduation is still months away which I had to do for the story and Angel never broke up with Buffy 'cause I need him to stay in town for this story. The main pairings are: Xander/Faith (eventually), Willow/Oz and Buffy/Angel. I'll try and update as much as I can but it'll be hard because I'm doing another story and my school seems to be particularly fond of homework. Anyway, hope you enjoy and please review.
Faith shivered in the cold, bringing her leather jacket tighter around her. She was beginning to think that Sunnydale had been abandoned due to the lack of life or un-life around and someone had conveniently forgotten to mention it to her. Actually, that would be kinda cool; having a whole town just to herself. That is unless it was actually under attack from aliens or something and once again someone had conveniently forgotten to mention it to her. That wouldn't be so fun.
She'd been thinking about heading to the Bronze but odds were B and her little Scooby gang would be there and she wasn't exactly keen on running into them. She really didn't want to come to blows with them tonight and judging by the last time they had met that's what would happen. Well, she'd come to blows with B anyway. Nope, tonight was purely about chilling out, get some dancing in, flirt with a couple of guys, maybe dust a few vamps – just for fun, not to save any innocents or nothing. Nope, no innocent saving here, that was B's gig.
The brunette stopped in her tracks at the sound of a scream. For a moment she debated about whether to keep going; sure, she wanted to dust a few vamps but not save anyone. 'sides if someone was in danger than odds were B and her boy-toy wouldn't be far away. But at the sound of another scream Faith found herself no longer debating but running in the direction of the sound.
Wrenching a stake out of her pocket she rounded an alley corner. The brunette came to a screeching halt at the sight of a lanky looking vampire holding a girl that was probably only six with chestnut coloured locks tight against his front. The vamps fangs were imbedded in the girl's neck and Faith could see a faint trail of blood running down onto her pink dress. Without a second's pause the slayer ran forward, grabbing the back of the guy's shirt and tearing him off the kid who whimpered and fell to the ground. Faith ignored the urge to check on her and swung her leg sharply around hitting the vamp on the head and knocking him to the ground. In a flash the stake was imbedded in his heart and he had turned to dust.
Faith smiled in satisfaction before turning to face the girl who was lying flat on her back, hand pressed against her neck.
"You OK kid?" she asked, helping her up.
She nodded breathlessly. "You-You saved me."
"Uh, yeah," Faith replied hesitantly, busying herself with pocketing the stake.
Before Faith could stop her the girl had her in a bone-crushing hug. At first the slayer stiffened, wanting very much to throw the girl off, but after a while she melted into the hug and gave the girl a
comforting pat on the back. After about a minute they pulled back and she crouched down in front of her.
"What's your name kid?"
"Hope. What's yours?"
An image flashed in Faith's mind and she bit back a wave of nausea when she saw a fifteen year old girl with dark brown eyes and matching hair smiling back at her. Faith blinked, pushing it back. No point go there, Faith, she told herself.
"Faith."
"Like in the bible?" she asked, smiling despite the obvious pain the wound was causing her.
Faith blinked, OK, not what I was expecting.
"My names from the bible; Faith, Hope and Charity," Hope said before wincing in pain.
The slayer could see the beginning of tears in the child's eyes and desperately searched for a way to distract her.
"You into the bible, kid?"She asked, forcing a smile.
Hope seemed to think about it for a moment. "It has its moments."
"I bet it does."
The girl reached out a petite hand and cupped it around one of Faith's locks. "Are you an angel?"
Faith blinked, stunned at the question. How could anyone confuse her – her! – with and angel. Hell, she killed people; she didn't save them, if that's what angels did. Is that what angels did? Anyhow if any slayer was an angel then it was certainly B, she even had the hair for it.
"What makes you say that?" She asked cautiously, unable to think of anything else to say.
Hope continued to play with her hair. "You saved me from the monster," she said as if it were perfect logic.
Right, perfect logic.
Yep, right up there with dancing hippos in tutus.
"Where's your parents?" she asked, for lack of anything better to say.
Hope shook her head before letting out a cry at the pain the motion caused. Faith resisted the urge to curse and picked the little girl up.
"Right, well, we'll figure that out later. Right now we gotta fix you up."
She was pretty sure the hospital was only a few blocks down they'd be there in no time.
...
Angel watched, hidden from behind the wall as Faith carried the girl away. To be quite honest he didn't know what to think of what he'd just seen and heard. Well, other than to check himself into the nearest psyche ward 'cause there was no way that had just happened and it was all clearly just some messed up hallucination. In fact, it was quite possible he was dreaming. To test this theory he gave his arm a rather good pinch. OW! OK, not a dream. He rubbed the sore spot on his arm, Definitely not a dream.
Faith – evil Faith! – had just saved someone, and then hugged them as well! How was that normal? So yeah, definitely a hallucination.
Angel glanced worriedly at the two disappearing forms. Still, it was probably a good idea to follow them just in case it wasn't a hallucination. After all, Faith may still hurt her 'cause with Faith you never could know.
...
Faith sat beside Hope in the waiting room, impatiently kicking her legs back a forth. She hated hospitals. She hadn't been in them much but in those times she had been they had left a far from good impression for what they were about. She wrinkled her nose, sure people were healed here, but that still didn't mean everyone was.
Once when she'd had to go and slay a vampire in a morgue she'd wondered how people could handle working there. Surrounded by all that death. But then she'd remembered her trips to the hospital and if people could work there then they could most certainly work in a morgue. 'Cause although a morgue had dead people in it, it didn't have to deal with any living people. Well, unless you count those that came in to see their diseased loved ones which, she'd grant, could be a bitch. But at a hospital you had so many live people suffering, so many that were in so much pain that the thought of even visiting one was almost nauseating. Even now she could feel the pain and despair peeling off the walls like cracked paint. It was unbearable.
Every inch of her was tensed to run, there was just one problem. The doctors had been tied down with other emergencies and hadn't been able to tend to Hope yet and Faith didn't exactly want to leave her here alone, well, that and the fact that the kid's hand seemed to be surgically attached to her own with absolutely no chance of removal. Seriously, she'd tried.
With a sigh she shifted uncomfortably, willing a doctor to magically appear. They were on a Hellmouth after all, could happen. She was even considering fixing the girl up herself but then again she didn't exactly have a medical degree. Hell, she didn't even have something resembling a forged one.
Faith was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of approaching footsteps. She looked up to see a partially bald man in scrubs making his way towards them.
"I'm ready for you now," he said with a warm smile.
Finally.
...
"Will I have a scar?" Hope asked as the doctor put some padding on her wound, sounding oddly thrilled by the idea. Then again, some kids are like that, like to show off scars to their friends, see who has the most exciting story to tell.
Faith never told the story behind her scars whilst she was at school, or her bruises.
"There's a good chance that you will," the doctor – Dr White – told her. "I still can't see how you could get such an injury. It's almost as if you fell on a barbeque fork."
Hope and Faith shared a smile at his ignorance but didn't say anything. As it turned out the kid was smarter than she looked in the sense of not telling people she was bitten by a vampire in order not to look crazy. Faith had come up with a story about finding Hope on the streets the way she was and Hope had put in her part about falling on a barbed wire fence (both lies). On that note her parents had been contacted and were now on their way over. Until then, the slayer was stuck with babysitting duty.
"There you go, you're goo to go," Dr White announced, smile firmly in place.
Hope also smiled. "Thanks." Without waiting for a reply she grabbed Faith's hand and dragged the helpless slayer back out into the waiting room.
Faith nearly screamed when she was once again forced to wait in the hospital, memories flooding her mind like an unwanted plague of ants. She'd fight back one only to find another.
"We've got Class III Haemorrhage."
"How old did you say she was?"
"Seven . . . Poor girl."
Faith was brought out of the memory by the sound of Hope's voice.
"Are you OK, angel?"
The brunette smiled weakly, over time she'd gotten used to the name. "Yeah, just not a big fan of hospitals is all. How are you doing?"
"Well, the tablets they gave me have taken away most of the pain, although my neck feels real weird," she replied, screwing up her face in concentration.
The slayer nodded, happy for the distraction. "Your parents should be here soon."
Hope suddenly pouted. "But that means you'll be going then?"
Faith nodded slowly. "Yeah, it does."
"Will you visit me?"
The slayer bit her lip as she looked into the young girl's pleading eyes. "I'll tell you what. I'll give you my phone number and then if you ever want to talk to me or somethin' you can just ring me up, 'K?"
"OK," she replied, suddenly beaming.
Faith smiled too, unable to shake the warmth she felt at the idea of someone enjoying her company so much and grabbed a pen and paper off the table beside her chair. Quickly scribbling down her number she handed the paper to Hope who took it cheerily.
Her attention was suddenly drawn to a middle-aged couple making their way down the hospital hallway, looks of concern clear across their faces.
"Your parents?" Faith asked.
Hope nodded and sprang to her feet in preparation for running towards them. But, just as she was about to take off, she seemed to suddenly remember Faith and without a moment's hesitation pulled the slayer into a hug. This time the brunette didn't stiffen at the contact and instead returned the embrace warmly.
"Bye angel," she whispered into the older girl's shoulder.
"See yah, kid."
Pulling back, Hope smiled radiantly at her before spinning around and running towards her parents.
"Mommy, Daddy!"
Faith watched as the man scooped the girl up into his arms and kissed her on the forehead. Jealously gnawed at her insides and she quickly climbed to her feet. Now more than ever she wanted to be free of the place known as Sunnydale Hospital. In fact, being rid of Sunnyhell was an even more appealing thought, not that she'd act on it.
...
Faith sighed in relief as the hospital doors swung shut behind her and she found herself out in the cool refreshing air. It was a blessing to be free of the smell of blood that had hung so thickly in the air due to her slayer senses.
"Taking up my name are you now, Faith?"
She resisted the urge to flinch in surprise and instead calmly turned around to face the vampire. He leant against the hospital wall and Faith was surprised she hadn't seen him earlier. Due to his vampire hearing and extreme stealth he'd been able to overhear most of the conversation between Faith and Hope.
"What can I say?" Faith spread her arms wide and grinned. "I always was considered an angel. Or was that a she-devil, never could tell the two apart?"
Angel sneered. "I think most people would go with the latter but, hey, what do I know?"
"Well, if it was up to me I'd say nothing. But there's probably some blonde girl running around out there ready to contradict and I'm really not in the mood for a fight," Faith returned with a false smile.
Angel raised an eyebrow. "That's new."
Faith shrugged. "Not permanent. Just don't wanna get inta a fight tonight."
The vampire's expression suddenly turned serious, all traces of mocking gone. "Why help her, Faith?"
The brunette cocked her head to the side, wondering how best to answer. Eventually she decided on the truth, well, most of it anyway. "She reminded me of someone," she said, her grin just as false as her grandmother's teeth, at least from what she can remember of that one time she saw her.
"And who would that be, Faith?" Angel asked his nose twitching slightly as he absentmindedly smelled the air. There was something there, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Whatever it was it was emanating from the brunette slayer in front of him.
"No-one you know," she replied, resisting the strong urge to punch his face in. It was unsurprisingly difficult.
Angel was hardly paying attention, What was that smell? He looked closely at her, trying desperately to decipher the scent. When he had he almost wished he hadn't. The vampire's eyes widened comically and it didn't take Faith long to figure out what he was thinking.
"Fucking vampire senses," she muttered angrily, preparing to leave. She knew there was a reason she hadn't wanted to run into him or the others earlier.
Angel, recovering quickly, reached out and grabbed the slayers arm, swinging her around to face him. She snarled angrily and tried to squirm out of his grip.
"LET GO OF ME YOU BASTARD!"
He frowned, hoping that no-one could hear their little fight though he doubted that was a possibility. He held her still, arms at her side and leant in so close that she could feel his cool breath on her face.
"You can't do this on your own, Faith. You need help," he hissed, trying to convey the urgency of the situation.
It didn't work; she continued to struggle, driven by rage.
"No, see, that's where you're wrong. I don't need your help, I don't need anybody's. I can take care of myself, so let go of me!"
Angel scowled at her stubbornness. "You're a child, Faith. You may not want our help but you sure as hell need it!"
Faith's struggles suddenly came to a stop and for a second the vampire thought he may have gotten through to her. She looked up at him her blank face barely concealing the rage behind it.
"We'll see," and then in a lightning fast move she struck out her heel, hitting him wear it hurts.
Angel immediately dropped her, falling to the ground in pain and by the time he pulled himself together and looked up, she was already gone. Climbing to his feet he let out a sigh, that girl was going to be the death of him, he just knew it.
For about ten minutes he stood, debating whether or not to go after her and if he did what would he do when he found her. Get his ass kicked again? That would be enjoyable. Still, he had to try. She may not want his help but she was sure as hell going to get it.
...
"STUPID FUCKING VAMPIRE!" Faith screamed in a fit of rage, kicking the trashcan to her left so it rebounded off the wall with a crash, its contents spilling out everywhere.
The brunette payed it no mind as turned to take her anger out on the wall next. Her fist collided with it in full force, the pain making her anger ebb slightly, but not completely. Screw what she thought earlier about not wanting to get into a fight, now she was begging for one.
As if on cue several albino-looking demons rounded the alley corner. She smirked.
"Oh, that is just too good."
...
Angel sniffed the air and frowned, he'd been following Faith's scent for the past nine minutes and now there was a trace of blood in the air. Not a lot of it but still blood. His frown deepened as he turned down an alley and was met by the sight of Faith's limp form sprawled across the filthy concrete. Two colourless demons towered over her their comrades' still forms scattered throughout the alley. The slayer had obviously taken out most of them.
The vampire was suddenly feeling very relieved at the fact that he'd had the sense to pack a sword with him, in a town like Sunnydale there never was such a thing as overly prepared. In a flourish he removed the sword from behind his coat and swung it around in a sharp arc just as Demon Number 1 came charging at him. Angel allowed himself a brief moment of satisfaction as the demon's decapitated head fell to the ground with a thud and rolled away, its body soon following suit.
He turned to Demon Number 2 just in time to see the ashen creature look from Faith, to the vampire, to his deceased allies before making a run for it. Angel frowned, Now that's just giving demons a bad name.
The vampire paused before quickly putting away his sword and rushing to Faith's side, instinctively reaching for her neck. He let out a sigh of relief as he felt a steady pulse against his fingers. Angel hurriedly scanned her for any injuries finding only two, a deep gash on her forehead that must have been the cause of her knockout and her hand which was covered in blood. Now he just had to figure out what to do.
If he left her here then it would be nothing short of death sentence, what with all of Sunnydale's wonderful nightlife. On the other hand he could take her back to his place and once again try and set
her on the right path. After a moment's hesitation Angel scooped Faith up into his arms – the slayer letting out a soft moan but otherwise remaining quiet – and walked off, hoping to god that Buffy and Faith wouldn't stake him for this.
What do yah think?