Hope, Faith and Trick

An unexpected visitor greeted Robin at his own front door. "Faith" he claimed, bewildered, "What are you doing here?". He was surprised to see her after all this time they hadn't been in touch. Faith was dressed the same as always: revealing clothes and too much makeup. She was also still wearing her trademark sarcastic smirk. After they closed the hellmouth last year, Faith had led the army of "potentials" (along with Andrew Wells, for some reason) around the world, searching for newly empowered slayers and helping them find their paths. Last Robin saw her, she told him she would never see him again. But now here she was, blocking his entryway, her hand resting on his door frame. "Hey stranger. Has my hotness got you tongue-tied? Try this for a greeting: Hi Faith, nice to see you again." Faith said.

"It actually is. Nice to see you, I mean." Robin said, "I'd invite you in for a drink, but I see you've already made yourself at home. May I?" Faith moved aside and made room for him in the doorway, "after you".

Robin's apartment looked all fancy from the outside, but the inside was a dump. The coffee table was broken in pieces on the floor, the couches had been ripped apart with what looked like claws. The few pictures Robin had hung up – one of his mother from the 70s, and a high school graduation with his watcher - were covered with shattered glass and hanging askew. This scene was sprinkled with clothing in various degrees of dirtiness, as he hadn't quite gotten around to doing laundry for a while. Robin removed a pair of smelly socks from his desk chair, giving Faith a place to sit, but she just made herself comfortable sitting cross-legged on his bed, checking the mattress for bounce "Nice place, who have you been entertaining in my absence? Someone who likes it rough, huh?" she asked with a grin.

"If you must know it was a Shumar demon. She got lured into the apartment by a talisman I may or may not have stolen from her. Other than that, the usual vamps." Robin replied, "How did you find me?" he asked.

"Well, I figured – guy like you – used to action – bet you'd find yourself another hellmouth to crash. Plus, there was the headline 'high school teacher saved student attacked by crazy drug addicts.' With a picture of you. So I guess you're already heavy into the demon-trouble?" Faith said.

"You were looking for me. Why? I know it's not romantic interest,

you made it clear you never come back for seconds" Robin turned on the kettle for coffee.

"Hey, I'm not the only one who's allowed to surprise, right?" Faith's grin grew larger, "But no. I'm not here for pleasure, though maybe later when we're alone I can show you a new trick I learned. There's still some furniture to break".

"Wait. We aren't alone now?" Robin asked.

"Oh, right. Let me introduce you - Hope?" Faith called into the bathroom. A girl came out, dragging her feet, apparently reluctant to meet Robin. She had bright pink hair which just accentuated the bruise along her left cheekbone. Her ears and nose were pierced and a big heart tattoo on her shoulder peaked out beneath a raggedy Guns N' Roses T-shirt. She looked about fifteen or sixteen. "Someone's gotten herself involved with the wrong side of the supernatural" Faith explained. "Tempted by the dark side and all that. Can't imagine…"

"Her name is Hope, is it? Ironic name by the looks of her. Is she also a slayer?" Robin asked.

Faith nodded, "Look, I just need you to watch her for a few days. Talk some sense into her. Beats me why the redhead couldn't have called up a few hundred watchers while she was at it, but whatever."

Hope groaned and rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall, "I'm fine. I don't need a babysitter." Hope said, but Faith ignored her.

"So, can you take her off my hands?" she asked Robin.

"Look Faith, I'm all about the mission, but I'm kind of busy fighting my own demons. I don't have time to look after a wayward slayer" Robin opened the coffee jar, but it was empty, and he reached for the tea box instead. "I'm not wayward. I know what I'm doing." Hope glowered at both the adults. She rolled her eyes at Faith again.

"Look hon, it's either here or back on the streets" Faith said. "So, Robin, you in?"

Robin sighed, "I don't think so. I do have stuff of my own going on."

"I bet you do. Hope, why don't you make yourself comfortable outside while me and Mr. too-busy-to-help-an-orphan have a chat?"

"Yeah, whatever," Hope said with a leer, "trick or treat."

"Whoa, girl's got a sharp tongue, more than peirced." Faith said and pushed Hope out the door.

Hope leaned her head against the tree behind her and rested her eyes on Robin's second-floor window. She saw the tops of his and Faith's heads above the back of the living room couch, and beyond that the shattered photos of Robin in his youth. She watched them for a while, imagining their conversation, and beyond that, their lives. Despite Faith's flirtations, Hope knew the real reason they asked for privacy. They were talking about her. Suddenly Faith and Robin stood up and faced each other. They seemed to be in an intense discussion but in control. It amazed her how both sides kept the argument contained. She could see the strain on Faith's face, but her voice never rose above a whisper. One thing she noticed about Faith - ever since she met her, Faith never once lost her temper next to other people. Even in the heat of battle, she would give clear orders and maintain discipline. Whenever Hope got angry or tried to get a rise out of her, Faith would still answer her patiently. But watch out if Faith was alone. The second you walked out of the room, you could hear the sound of objects being broken and Faith's creative cursing. The other slayers learned to ignore that, and when Hope asked Andrew for some backstory, he just answered cryptically "ah, our young hero has walked a dark and tortured path". Hope wasn't sure what scared her more, Faith's uncanny control in company, or her unleashed temper when she was alone. Faith never spoke about the time "before" when there had been only two slayers. If asked, Faith just said she was fine. Situation all under control. Hope didn't understand what made Faith so different from the other slayers. They all admired her, looked to her for direction, followed her orders. But most of all, feared her. If they were all slayers now, why was Faith so much stronger than the rest of them?

Hope turned her attention back to the house. The discussion seemed to have moved into the kitchen, which was one window over. Unfortunately, the curtains were half way drawn and she could only see Robin. Hope actually thought he seemed kind of cool. Unlike Faith, he had the appearance of a professional demon hunter, with reference books and specialized weapons. Cool and intentional, different from the other "old friends" Faith had tried leaving Hope with, who were all kind of crazy. Dressed like Faith, with tattoos, or on drugs, or living out of a van and, frankly, kind of hairy. And although Hope pretended, that wasn't really her crowd. Robin on the other hand, seemed OK. Reminded her of home. If she were to stay with anyone, it would be him.

After a while, Hope decided she had enough of waiting and got up to go back inside. She wiped grass off her ripped jeans and turned to the doorway. She overheard the end of the discussion before they noticed her coming into the dining room -

"The first step will be to enroll her in the local school and get her placed in my classroom".

Faith laughed, "What, no more Mr. Big Shot? You're a homeroom teacher now? Nice gig".

They both laughed until Hope declared her presence by protesting, "I'm not enrolling in any school".

Both Robin and Faith looked at her, and Faith said, "no one is asking you".

"James, good morning" Robin caught up with the boy in the hall the next morning, "how's your hand?"

James lifted his right hand to show a clean white cast in a sling, "it's actually cool, I've never broken anything before."

"that's great to hear." Robin said. The boy didn't seem in pain, if he wasn't hiding it. But Robin was still concerned about him. The things he saw the other night were scary and new, no matter how brave you were. "do you want to sign it?" he offered Robin.

Robin smiled and said "sure." He took out a pen from his pocked and drew a smiley face with fangs on the rough surface of the cast. James smiled uneasily at it.

They stopped by a row of blue lockers, decorated with sports teams and notice papers, and James started turning the finger on the only plain locker. When he opened it, Robin expected the typical teenage-boy locker setup, with smelly socks and spoiled sandwiches and a mess of loose papers. He was surprised to see neatly organized notebooks resting on bookends. James exchanged books from his bag.

"listen, I've got to ask for a favor from you" Wood asked.

"what is it?" James asked.

"there's a new student joining the class, who's a bit behind on her work and I wanted to ask you if you'd help get them back on schedule?" Robin said.

James shrugged, "sure. What's his name?" he said,

"Hope- is her name" Robin said. Hearing this, James expression changed from nonchalant to uneasy. His previous smiley demeanor was gone. "oh, well. I don't know- I'm kind of busy" he said, anxiously. He took out

"doing what? you don't do anything other than homework and drawing" Robin teased James. But he didn't take the joke. "I don't think I could help- that's it."

"what's the matter, James?" Robin asked, "you're like the brightest kid in class" he assured him. James hesitated, but didn't answer. Robin knew there was something James wasn't telling him, and normally he wouldn't pry, but the boy was acting strangely the past few days and Robin thought it might have to do with their encounter. He tried thinking of any reason James wouldn't want to help the girl. Whether it was trauma, or trust issues, or… Robin's face brightened as he realized the problem, and he couldn't help but smiling and asking, "is it because she's a girl?" , surprised. He hadn't thought of James as the awkward type. James answered defensively, "so? Whatever. It doesn't matter"

Robin laughed quietly and looked at him. James slammed his locker shut and said, coldly, "I gotta go to class."

Hope reached into her pocket and pulled out a box of cigars, picking one out and placing it between her lips. Next she took out a lighter. "oh- no no no" Robin took the cigar from her mouth. "not on my watch" he said. Hope moaned but didn't complain. she stared out the window for a moment and then, obnoxiously, pulled out another one. Robin stared at her cold eyed until she put in back. They were in his car, driving to Robin's place after meeting principle Shakes. Hope was accepted to the school and into Robin's class, and now he had to find a place for her to stay.

"What again did you do to cause all this trouble?" Robin started a conversation. Faith has already told him everything, but he wanted Hope's point of view.

"That's none of your business" Hope said grungily, "where again am I staying?"

Robin ignored the rude reply and answered her calmly, "you can stay on my couch for a while, but as soon as we can we're going to find you a job". Hope didn't seem to like that plan, because she rolled her eyes.

"to my question again-?" Robin reminded her. "oh, that" Hope replied, "I forgot. You've only been asking all day". Robin turned the corner towards his place, "I do want to know"

"well, I don't want to tell you" Hope said, she rolled down the window and rested her head against the door, feeling the breeze. Robin closed it aster her. "a cult of demon worshipers?" Robin faked himself guessing. "I'm not dumb, you know? This dumb vamp killed my dad and my brother and I had to find a new living"

"Delivering eye of newt?" Robin teased. Hope moaned loudly, "only once! Besides, the priests were really nice".

"the cult of Molech… do you have any idea what they do, who they sacrifice?" Robin asked her. Hope didn't answer. "look," Robin said, "if there's one thing the world was nice about, it's a clear barrier between good and evil. Cults- evil, Molech- evil. Slayers- good" he was going to continue the speech, but they had gotten home, and Robin parked the car.