Light at the End

by shadows59

It's almost the big day and the Scoobies reminisce while old friends return. Part 7 of Finding Heaven B/X/Ay, T/S

1. Chapter 1

Title: Light at the End

By: Shadows59

Summary: It's almost the big day and the Scoobies reminisce while old friends return. Part 7 of Finding Heaven

Category: B/X/Ay, T/S

Spoilers: More altered Season Six up to Seeing Red.

Disclaimer: Owned by Joss and Co.

Note 1. The seventh part of my Finding Heaven Series. Sequel to Finding Heaven, So Complicated, Get This Party Started, Black and White, Picking up the Pieces and Dreams and Prophecies

Note 2. This story is more focused on the rest of the Scoobies. Not that B/X/Ay won't play a big part, especially towards the end.

Now, on with the show!

Chapter 1

8 months and three weeks after Black and White

Faith was hot and sweaty, just they way she liked it, as she moved to the music that pulsed around her. It wasn't as good as sex or slaying - nothing was - but she'd take what she could get.

She had her eyes closed so she could be that much more in tune with the maniacal beating of the drums and frantic guitar play that were the trademark of her favorite band, Prozac Dreams. Then, just as she started to lose herself in the music, the song ended. She kept her eyes closed, hoping that the band would start up with another song, but they didn't. Instead all she heard was the squeal of amps as they were turned off and the sounds of a dance floor emptying.

Finally, with a depressed little noise, Faith opened her eyes and saw the two guys she was almost dancing with standing in front of her, doing there best not to be too obviously leering. Not that she minded, but they didn't have to know that. So she gave them a half-hearted glare to get their eyes back up to her face.

They watched her with anticipation while she just tried to remember their names and wondered what would be the quickest way to dump them. Still, they hadn't sucked as dancers before she went off in her own world, and they kept the other guys off her while she was gone, so she graced them with a smile and decided to let them down easy. "Thanks guys. Needed that."

"Want a soda?" The blond one asked with an uncertain smile as he nodded over to the bar.

The other guy punched him in the shoulder. "Dude! She's mine!"

The blond guy punched the other right back. "Like hell! I saw her first!"

Faith just smirked and dismissed them with a wave. "Please. Like either of you'd survive the ride."

With that she spun around and sauntered back to her table, where Dawn was sitting and giving her the evil eye. "What?" She asked as she straddled the back of the chair and sat down.

Dawn stabbed at one of the ice cubes in her cup with her straw. "I thought we were going to hang."

"We're hanging."

"Then what was that all about?" Dawn waved her hand at the dance floor and at the two guys, both of whom were still eyeing Faith. At least they were until she turned around and waved, then the ceiling became much more interesting.

Faith turned back and grabbed her cup and rubbed it against her forehead to cool off some. "Felt like dancing. Could've joined."

"Please," Dawn said and slid down into her seat. "I'd just get crushed in the stampede."

Faith set her cup down. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what, Miss I-need-sex-every-five-hours-or-I'll-explode. I mean, you just walk out there and two guys throw themselves at you. I go out and I might as well have the plague."

Faith shrugged. "Not my fault. You could do it, too. If you wanted."

Dawn just rolled her eyes. "Please. Have you actually looked at me?"

Faith looked Dawn over and sighed. The girl dressed almost as white bread as Willow used to, and had gone downhill ever since that bastard, Tom, dumped her. Like now, with her wearing jeans and loose sweatshirt, 'cause the amorphous blob look was guaranteed to get attention. Still… "You've got potential. If you wanted you could have them drooling. Just need to work on the packaging a bit. How about next week I take you shopping?"

Dawn just went red at the idea, and it took a few tries for her to sputter out, "I'd look ridiculous… I don't even know how you even get into those pants."

"What, these?" Faith asked and ran her hand down the black leather that was hugging her legs like a second ski and instantly felt a dozen more eyes land on her. "Piece of cake. They slide right on."

"Only if you skip the cake," Dawn muttered. "And maybe I don't want the newest in hooker wear."

"Lighten up, Grandma. I thought you'd be a little more open minded, considering…" Dawn winced and Faith felt the first fluttering of regret. "Sorry, forgot."

"No big," Dawn muttered and crossed her arms. "I suppose one night free from the family was too much to ask."

"It can't be that bad…"

"Wanna bet? Buffy changes moods so often its like she's channel surfing. If she wasn't pregnant she'd probably be locked up in a psych ward somewhere by now…"

"It'll only be for a few more weeks," Faith offered with Giles like sagacity as she ran a hand down over her stomach just to feel the tight muscles under the even tighter t-shirt. She was as thrilled as anyone about the baby, but at least twice as thrilled it wasn't hers.

Dawn didn't let the interruption stop her rambling tirade. "…and in those spare moments when Xander and Anya aren't jumping to the queen's commands they're jumping each other so Anya can have a baby of her own - though I can't imagine why - but they've been trying for two months now with zip to show for it and she's getting desperate and creative, which is just scary."

Faith tried to wrap her mind around the idea of Anya just starting to get creative. The one and only time they'd compared notes, Anya had had a list of things that she'd never even heard of, much less dreamed of trying. "Xander was right, I have lost my crown."

"Yeah," Dawn agreed with a single machine gun like nod of her head, though Faith doubted she heard a single word. "And in a few more days the baby'll be here and screaming every hour of the day. What joy."

Now Faith just had to chuckle. "Please. I know you're just dying to hold Jessie for the first time."

Dawn's scowl softened from Defcon 1 to 3. "Maybe, but only a little. I'm still sick of hearing about her from everyone. Not that Buffy cares. Why wouldn't she? She's getting all the attention."

"I'm sure she's digging. There's nothing like having perfect strangers come up and grab your stomach."

"And how would you know about that?"

"Well, with me they usually aim higher," Faith admitted with a wink, "but I bet I get a bigger rush from it than B's getting."

"Yeah. She was always so touch-feely." Dawn finished off her soda and stared at the empty glass. "God, I wish I was old enough for a beer."

"Dawn!"

"Oh, please. Don't even start…"

Faith laughed. "Me? Please. I'm just… proud. There may be hope for you yet."

Dawn fought to keep her scowl in place, but a sly little grin forced its way out. "Now you're corrupting a minor?"

"What can I say? I'm a bad seed," Faith admitted with a happy shrug as she finished off her own drink. Then she started looking around the club. "Where's Blondie?"

"Tara's not coming," Dawn said with a sigh. "Giles wanted to talk to her again and it's so not fair. She's only going to be here for a few weeks and he's hogging her. And you know she hates being called Blondie."

"Why do you think I do it?"

"Why do you do anything?"

"To get a rile out of you, short stuff. Why did you think?"

Dawn didn't answer, at least not out loud, though there was some grumbling under her breath. She always made it so easy.

Faith leaned back and wished she could get another beer, but didn't feel like flirting with the bartender again. Even she had some standards and he came nowhere close to them, so she just played with the ice at the bottom of her cup.

And speaking of standards, she had a few new ones to live up to, so she turned and did her quarter-hour scan of the crowd.

She didn't see anything exciting, just the usual mix of teenagers and college kids. Too bad, she hated having all this energy and nothing to work it out on. Especially with the current nun-like status that she'd been trapped in since… Damn, since before she'd started working for the Mayor, not that she'd admit it to anyone. No wonder she'd been feeling so itchy lately.

Faith was so wrapped up in her thoughts she almost missed one, a sixteen-year-old black haired boy who was standing on the other side of the club. She felt the pleasant buzz that only came with dealing with unfinished business as she got to her feet. "Starting to feel like old home week around here."

"What?" Dawn asked.

"Vampire," Faith replied and nodded at a guy across the room. He was a little taller than her, but looked sixteen. Probably has for a century now. Good looking, too. Being dead hadn't hurt him any, as proved by the red head he had wrapped around his arm. He must've said something funny, 'cause the girl burst out laughing and so did everyone around them. Last laugh was going to be on her though, since he was leaving and seemed intent on bringing her with.

Dawn looked at the guy, then at Faith. "You can tell from this far?"

"Slayer senses," Faith lied. Giles always claimed that Slayers should be able to feel vamps, but she never had. Neither had B for that matter. So she just figured it was one of those legends that Watchers went gaga for. No, she recognized this vampire because she used to work with him. He was another of the Mayor's flunkies.

Faith stalked the vampire, breezing past the people on the dance floor like they weren't even there, as she reached down for the stake that was hidden under her jacket. "Going somewhere, Karl? Don't have any time for an old friend?" She asked as she stepped in front of the couple.

The girl just eyed Faith with a disgust that barely masked her envy. "You know this skank, Karl?"

Karl didn't say anything; he was too busy staring at Faith in horror. She took it as a compliment and let him see the top of the stake. "You wanna do it here, or should we go somewhere a bit more private?"

"You were going to do it with her?" The girl screeched out the question and tried to pull her arm out of Karl's, but she didn't have a chance. "Let go of me, you perv!"

Karl finally seemed to remember the girl that he had pinned to his side and looked at her with a cold grin. "Sure, baby," he said and shoved the girl as hard as he could at Faith. The girl let out another screech as she started flying through the air.

Faith could've just stepped to the side and have a good chuckle at the way the red head was flapping her arms. Chances were she'd just land on her head, so it wasn't like she'd hurt something she actually used. But no, that wouldn't be right, so she let the girl slam into her.

The blow knocked Faith off her feet, but she was careful to cushion the girl's fall with her body even though it hurt like hell. She must've let out a louder gasp of pain than she intended, because the girl's face went to match her hair and she promptly thanked Faith by raking her fingernails over Faith's cheek.

"Being a hero's going to get me killed." Faith winced and ran her fingers over the three bloody gouges. Then she turned her glare onto the red head. "Me or someone else."

The other girl glared back, then went pale and disappeared back into the crowd.

Faith reveled for the moment before she jumped back to her feet and turned back to Karl, who was half way to the door by now. "Son of a bitch…" She started shoving her way through the crowd. Most of the regulars where smart enough to do a fade when things got weird, but there were always a few dumb asses, and they were the ones who slowed her down enough to let the vampire get out the door.

Karl was always one of the smarter vamps. Smart enough to figure out when to run, which explained how he managed to survive the Ascension. Also meant he was too smart to let live.

Dawn shouted something, or at least Faith thought she did, but she didn't stick around long enough to find out. She was too busy playing catch up. She finally got to the door and outside just in time to see her prey round the corner of the alley.

And, just to increase the suckage of her night, sometime while they were inside the clouds had opened up with a nice chilly December rain and all she had on was a thin coat. Kept the chill out, but wouldn't last more than five seconds in this downpour.

It didn't even slow Faith down. She caught a glimpse of her 'old friend' and was off like a shot.

Faith knew she must've looked like a drowned rat after the first mile of the chase. Then it rained harder. Hard enough to make her wish that her jacket was as skin tight as her pants, especially when the rain started running down the collar of her jacket and soaking the back of her shirt. The sudden freeze sucked the warmth right out of her and she just knew she'd be sick as a dog tomorrow.

Not that Karl cared, it wasn't like a corpse could freeze to death and he didn't seem to give a damn about her. If he did he would've had the decency to stop and just let her stake him so she could get somewhere warm, but no. He couldn't even play be the rules and keep his mouth shut. Instead, as soon as they were on a residential street, he started screaming, "Somebody help me!" at the top of his lungs.

Faith's head shot back and forth, not that she expected anyone to help, but she didn't want to be surprised. After all, he might have friends in the neighborhood or there might be an annoying but rare do-gooder. But no one came to his rescue. No one even came to the windows. Anyone who had heard probably just huddled deeper under their covers and thanked God that whatever was happening wasn't happening to them. This was Sunnydale after all, and people either learned the rules or they made the paper. Page three or four obits to be exact.

Karl seemed to figure that out, because he gave up on the screaming and made a hard right into somebody's yard. Faith turned and followed him as fast as she could, but the slick mud pulled at her feet. "If you've ruined these boots I'm going to be you to death with them!"

He must've heard her, because he let out another burst of speed. Faith slipped just once as she followed, but she caught herself before she hit the ground and only lost a step or two. She made it back when the vampire stopped to pull himself over a six-foot high fence that surrounded the back yard.

Faith didn't even slow down, she just covered her face with her arms and launched herself into the fence. If it didn't work it would hurt like hell, but if it did… It did. The thin planks exploded around her with pretty much the same sound that Karl's knees made when she slammed into them.

They hit the ground in a tangle of limbs, splattering mud everywhere. Karl writhed under her, trying to pull away, but he couldn't get any leverage. Faith just chuckled as she pulled herself further up and sat down hard on the small of his back.

"Come on, Faith! We were buds!" He pleaded, careful to look human as he did. Or at least as much as she could see was, what with half of it buried in the mud. "And I wasn't going to kill her! Promise! I was just going to take a nip."

"Sure you were," Faith grabbed one of the larger chunks of fence, "Tell the boss hi for me."

"Slayer!" Karl cursed as he went vamp face and made one last try to pull away. Not that it helped.

"The one and only," Faith said as she brought the stake down. The vampire screamed as he burst into a fine dust that swirled around despite the rain.

"The one and only," she repeated to herself with a satisfied grin as she waved the dust away from her face. It sounded better than good, it sounded right.

Then it all went wrong.

"Faith, wait!"

"B?" Faith asked as she pushed herself back to her feet. She heard the sick sound of something sliding into flesh behind her and started to turn.

"Don't move," Buffy ordered.

Faith froze as she scanned the seemingly normal yard around her. There wasn't anything in sight, but Buffy must see… no, Buffy shouldn't even be out here. She should be home in bed thanking God the she wasn't the one who had to be standing out in the rain like an idiot anymore.

Faith tensed as she turned, ready for anything. Anything but what she saw.

Buffy – the old, thin, sometimes scary Buffy, not the current pregnant and usually very scary Buffy – kneeling down in an alley that had appeared where a line rosebushes had been just a moment before, in front of a man who had blood just gushing out of a hole in his chest.

"No," Faith said and shook her head. She tried to deny what she saw in front of her, but it was a perfect copy. Right down to the rain.

"I didn't know… I didn't know," Faith heard herself say in a daze. She blinked away what had to be rainwater and saw herself standing behind Buffy and looking down in horror at the man.

"We've got to call 911. You're going to be okay," Buffy tried to reassure the dying man as she pressed her hand against the hole in his chest, but the blood just ran around his fingers. . "I need a rag… something to…"

"No, no," Faith said as she watched it all again, her knees almost gave out when she heard the man's dying breath. She wanted to run when she heard the sirens, it didn't matter where, but she couldn't move. Couldn't take her eyes off the man she'd killed.

Her double didn't have that problem. "Come on!" The other Faith shouted and pulled Buffy away from the body. Faith watched herself start running and knew, deep down, she never stopped. Not even in prison, not even now.

Faith's vision blurred again as she stared at the man who was starring back up at her, his dead eyes looked so surprised. It was too much for her to take, so she finally turned to run. She barely took two steps before her foot slid out from under her and she landed face first in the mud.

"Faith, no!"

Faith's head shot up just in time to watch her double drive the stake into the scrawny man's chest. She hunched over and vomited when she heard the stake slide in again and kept throwing up until all that was left was pathetic little coughing sounds.

"I didn't know," Faith whispered in unison with her double as she pushed herself up on her wobbling arms and tried to crawl away.

The nightmare followed. "Faith, no!"

"Stop it! Please," Faith begged between sobs and buried her face in her arms, but she couldn't block out the nightmare that repeated endlessly in front of her.

"Faith, no!"

"Faith, no!"