OF THINGS TO COME

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the new ones that I created.

Chapter 7

After grilling Clem for answers for awhile Angel was beginning to lose patience with the floppy eared demon and he probably would have killed him had not Buffy been there. "You still haven't told me anything that I can use.and if the sun wasn't coming up soon I'd.," Angel said angrily before he stormed out of the crypt with his game face momentarily showing itself.

"Did I do something wrong," Clem said fearfully as he clutched a bag of Cheetos tightly.

"No you didn't do anything wrong.other than the whole yucky tomato soup debacle you did just fine.he's just all dark and moody for some reason right now," Buffy said with a smile as she patted Clem on the shoulder before she waved goodbye and exited the crypt intent on catching up to Angel before he got to far. She found him at the cemetery's entrance, nervously pacing around. "What is your problem; you nearly scared him to death," Buffy said as she got in front of Angel so he had to stop pacing and face her.

"He knows something that he isn't telling us, we don't have much time.Lorne said that the shit would hit the fan sometime this week and we're running out of time.quickly," Angel said angrily as he shook his head and started to walk off but Buffy grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Leave Clem alone.this isn't about him is it.this is about Spike.you're jealous aren't you," Buffy said now with anger flaring in her eyes before she dug her fingernails into his arm and continued, "jealous that it was Spike that I was with and not you.well move on I did.maybe I should tell Cordelia," she finished with a squeeze of Angel's arm that sank her fingernails in deeper and drew blood. Before he could act Buffy stalked off into the night as she said over her shoulder to the wounded vamp, "Sun's coming up.you might want to find some shelter."

* * * * * * * *

Wesley finally got Spike and the others to agree to stop for the night after he had noticed the convertible starting to weave all over the road in his rearview mirror. And for the first time in what seemed like years Faith was too tired to do much of anything other than mumble angrily about vampires before sleep consumed her. Willow and Spike were asleep the second their heads hit their pillows. Wesley however didn't feel like sleeping just yet so he took one of the ancient books that he had been translating out of his bag and pulled up a chair next to the bed. He propped open the book and laid it flat on his legs as he cautiously put his feet up on the bed near Faith's feet. For a few moments he let his gaze come to rest on the woman that had come to mean more to his life than his own. And now she looked so small all curled up in the covers.so serene and, Wesley thought, for probably the first time in her entire life.happy. With a loving smile he softly brushed some hair out of her face and caressed her cheek. During his time with Faith she had rarely gone to sleep before him, usually he'd fall asleep first and often wake up in the middle of the night and find her gone, off to exercise her need to rid the world of vampires and the like. The first time he had awoken and found her gone he had thought that she'd left or gone clubbing, trying to hook up with anybody she could, and so he had stubbornly decided to follow her.

After many times of following her he had discovered that she did indeed go to clubs but to his relief she would only dance a little before leaving. Once a guy had come on to her and she had let it get a little farther than Wesley would have liked but just before Wesley was about to do something about it he saw Faith clear her throat and tell the guy that she was with someone. When the guy didn't take the hint Faith had ended up almost killing the man.and his friends as they had rushed to their buddy's defense. Wesley had to admit that he loved to see Faith in action; he didn't know exactly what it was but that fact had been a big part of him agreeing to train her again in the first place. The scene in the bar that night began repeating itself until he noticed that Faith started stopping the guy sooner and sooner, at first doing all the dirty dancing that the guy could take before stopping just before he tried to kiss her. Until finally she would go to the clubs and only have a drink before mingling for a short time and then leave.

Wesley had finally stopped following her when one night she had surprised him outside of one of the clubs by sneaking up on him, he remembered she had been furious at first but then her demeanor softened and the night had ended with the two of them reentering the club and dancing till dawn, before racing through the rain back to their apartment and only made it just inside the front door before passion consumed them. Wesley remembered that night fondly and only recently he had discovered that Faith did as well. And as such they had spent the last few nights before Wesley received Willow's frantic call doing just that.

Suddenly a noise outside the room caught his attention and as he slid his legs off of the bed the book he was reading fell to the floor with a loud crash. It was then he noticed the several shadows that began passing by their window. Wesley flinched as he looked down at Faith to see her slowly stirring before she mumbled, "Put your book away and come to bed honey.." With a sigh of relief Wesley slowly crept towards the door before crouching down and cautiously moving a small bit of the curtain aside before peering out. What he saw made his blood run cold in his veins for outside there seemed to be a horde of vampires.he counted about fifteen before he was interrupted by a yawn from behind him. "Hey Wes whatcha doing over.," Faith started to say before her jaw snapped shut and she rolled out of bed and began searching through one of Wesley's bags. "Didn't you bring any stakes in with.ah here's one," she said with an excited smile as she pulled a newly carved stake from the bag and hurried over to Wesley's side, her breath warm against the nape of his neck.

"We have a problem," Wesley said grimly as he slowly took back a piece of the curtain and let Faith look out. He heard her curse under her breath before she turned to him and said, "Ah well I could use the practice," with a sly smile on her face before she leaned over and planted a long kiss on him. When she pulled away Wesley grabbed the back of her head and pulled her back into an equally long kiss before he broke away and whispered softly, "You're not doing this alone I'm going with you.just let me get something to fight with," as his eyes scanned the room before settling on a nearby broom. "It's not as good as an axe but it'll.Faith," Wesley said as he quickly crawled over to the broom before looking back. Faith was nowhere to be seen, but any question he had as to her whereabouts ended when he noticed the open door. "Fuck," he said angrily as he grabbed the broom and ran out of the room after his wife.

He found her grappling with two rather large vampires. "Unhand her," Wesley yelled as he brought the broom down on the back of the nearest vampire's neck, which did little more than piss the vampire off and break the broom almost in half. With a loud growl the vampire turned its attention to Wesley and spread its arms out wide and charged him, making its first and last mistake of the night as Wesley crouched down and steadied himself before he drove the handle of the broom straight into the beast's chest, turning it instantly into dust.

Faith meanwhile had used the interruption to her advantage. As the vampire left her and lunged after Wesley she dropped to the ground and drove her foot into its crotch. The vampire dropped to its knees howling in pain before being silenced as Faith slid the stake in between its ribs and straight through its un-beating heart, turning it to dust. Standing up Faith turned to see Wesley use what was left of the broom handle to block the axe of a particularly foul smelling vampire. To her horror she saw a second vampire advance on Wesley from his blind side. Howling in rage she leapt onto the vampires back and tried to stake it but she missed and the vampire was able to knock the stake from her hand. "Fuck," Faith as the vampire used all its strength and flipped her over its shoulder. She landed hard on the ground, with the impact driving the breath from her lungs.

With a sinister gleam in its eye the vampire reared back to pound her into the ground suddenly cried out in pain as the handle of a broom exploded through it's back and speared its heart turning it to dust that fell down onto the gasping slayer. For a moment it looked like slayer and watcher would have to face this menace alone but a smile crept upon Wesley's face as he saw the door to Spike and Willow's room be ripped open before the ex- vampire came charging out wielding two vials of holy water in his left hand and a finely carved stake in his right.

Willow had awoken to the sounds of the fight only moments earlier and after waking Spike had rifled through her bag of supplies that she had gotten after the movie before pulling out the holy water and the stake. After tossing the three items to Spike Willow had pulled another stake out of the bag and followed him to the door. At the sight of Spike two vampires howled in rage and charged headlong at him only to erupt in flames as Spike, with a flick of his wrist, sent the two vials crashing into their foreheads as he said with that cocky smile of his, "Sucks to be you."

With renewed vigor Wesley reached out his hand and hauled Faith to her feet before a shower of dust descended on him as he turned to see Willow merrily grinning from ear to ear with a stake in her hand. Faith gripped her stake tightly as she ducked under a punch from a rather fat vampire before she jammed the stake into its chest, but the vampire didn't turn to dust, the stake protruding out of its chest simply seemed to further infuriate the creature, must to Faith's amazement. "What.fuck.this bastard's to damn fat," Faith yelled squirming as the vampire applied a bear hug that started slowly squeezing the life out of her.

"Take a bath," an angry voice said from behind Faith before a small vial of holy water flew through the air and struck the vampire right between the eyes.

"T-thanks," Faith said desperately trying to catch her breath after the vampire had finally released its grip on her as the holy water consumed it. She had only been able to gulp down a couple of breaths before a robed demon walked out from behind to vampires and its eyes glowed red like fire as it glared down at Faith.

"Now you will die human bitch," the demon growled as a bright yellow swirling mist began to form around its clenched fists as it began chanting.

Without thinking Wesley tore off towards Faith and launched himself in front of her just as the demon ended its chanting and thrust its fist towards Faith. A blinding stream of energy erupted out of the demons hand and struck Wesley in the chest, subsequently forcing him back into Faith as both were driven into the air before their momentum, and the remnants of the spell, sent them through the same window that they had originally viewed the threat out of. They went down hard as Faith tried to slow them down by reaching for something but she only ended up bringing the curtains down on top of them as they hit the floor and cried out in pain as they felt slivers of glass tear into them.

After witnessing the demons attack Spike went into a frenzy, relentlessly attacking anything that came anywhere close to him as he advanced towards the demon, dispatching several vampires as he went. Seizing the moment Willow ran over to the window and cautiously peered inside. "Wesley.Faith.," Willow said as she saw Wesley painfully roll over onto his side before he reached up and used the windowsill to pull himself up. With a sickly look on her face Faith slowly pulled a sliver of glass out of her shoulder before she shakily stood up.

"Now.kill them all," the robed demon shouted before a trio of young vampires swarmed towards Willow.

"Not gonna happen," Spike growled angrily as he leapt into the air and came crashing down onto the trio of vampires, knocking them all to the ground. The robed demon started to chant again before one of the remaining vampires screamed. "What.the sun...," the demon shouted as it and the rest of the vampires went into a panic and took off running down the street, desperately trying to outrun the advancing dawn.

"Spike.help me they're hurt," Willow yelled at Spike as he pushed himself up off of the dusty ground. He took a few staggered steps before collapsing back to the ground, dust billowing into his nose and mouth, before a fit of coughing wracked his body and sent him into violent convulsions.

"Wha-what's happening to him," Wesley said with a pained look on his face as he stared in horror at the convulsing ex-vampire on the ground mere feet away.

"Oh no not again," Willow cried as she bolted over to where Spike was writhing in pain on the ground but she stopped just short of touching him.



"What the fuck.just like last night.he was.," Faith said as she winced in pain as she rose to her knees and watched Willow who was debating whether to touch him or not.

"It's.it's his soul.like when Angel.I thought after last night they were past.," Willow said as tears began to slide down her cheek. Wesley stared at the horrific scene in front of him and slowly the gears in his mind went to work.

"His soul must still be punishing him for every bad deed that he did as a.vampire.why didn't I realize this before.," Wesley said as he started to ramble but a pained moan from beside him snapped him out of it. "Faith," Wesley said with tears springing to his eyes after he locked gazes with his beloved. He started to extend his hand but jerked it back when a jolt of pain ran down his arm.

"You two stay there while I.I.," Willow yelled as she knelt down and tried to grab Spike's arm but failed on her first try and then when she did finally manage to grab hold of it she had to hang on for dear life as the convulsions got worse and blood began to ooze from his nose. "Whoa.calm d- down Spike.please.," Willow said loudly as she wrapped her body around Spike's as she tried to calm him. After a short and extremely violent fit of convulsions Spike's body was torn by one more spasm before he collapsed to the ground, bathed in sweat. "Ahh.it's over.," Willow gasped as she detached herself from Spike and tried to calm herself down.

"We have to get to a hospital," Wesley said through gritted teeth as he pulled a small sliver of glass out of his elbow.

"N-no.no hospitals.I'll be fine.but you.what.what were you thinking you could have been," Faith choked out before tears began to form in her eyes.

"The demon fired.it was going to.I had to protect you.," Wesley said trying to hold back tears of his own.

"Well don't play hero next time.I can't lose you.," Faith said as the tears poured out before she and Wesley gingerly hugged so as to avoid pushing any glass shards in deeper than they already were.

"Come on guys.where's the phone.," Willow said scrambling back through the dust and dirt on her hands and knees to her and Spike's room as nearby Wesley and Faith shared a kiss. She found the phone quickly and called the authorities before the world started spinning and then went black. Hours later she awoke with a start to find herself lying in a hospital bed with an i.v. stuck in her arm and several wounds that she didn't know she had all bandaged up. "Wha.where.how'd I get here," she said groggily as a nurse came in the room. "Good morning Ms. Rosenberg, how are you feeling," the nurse said with a polite smile as Willow noticed that she was carrying a tray of food. Willow was about to say something when she noticed that the food was starting to look very good all of a sudden.

"Okay I guess.where are my friends," Willow said sheepishly as the nurse set the tray down on her nightstand.

"They're here to.in fact one of them has been waiting to see you for an hour now.she wanted to come in earlier but we wanted her to wait until you woke up," the nurse said as she pulled the movable tray on wheels over to Willows bedside and then set the tray of food down onto it.

"Really.well I'm all okay now so I can talk to her," Willow said with a smile as the nurse nodded her head and left the room before Willow heard her say, "You can go in now, she's awake."

"Thanks.hey Will," Faith said as she entered the room and plopped down into a nearby chair.

"Faith.you're okay.the glass," Willow said slightly shocked at seeing Faith so soon.

"Of course I'm okay.super slayer healing factor and all," Faith said with a smile.

"How's Wesley.and Spike," Willow asked as she sat up and began idly studying her food.

"Wes.he'll be fine.it's his own stupid fault for getting in front of me," Faith tried to say with an emotionless face but Willow could see the worry and concern through the mask. "Spike's been raising hell ever since he woke up a couple of hours ago...so he going to get all sickly again or are we past that because I don't care what you say there's no way in hell I'm helping him again if he starts coughing up anymore blood," Faith said with a small shake of her head.

"I.I don't think he will.I think the worst is behind him.but I don't understand why he's having such a hard time with it," Willow said idly sticking her fork into what she guessed were supposed to be eggs.

"Maybe because he's human now.Angel was still a vampire when he go this soul back after all, but we'd better hope they stop soon or he's not going to be much help to anybody, I've got enough to worry about without.," Faith said with a sigh as she began idly spinning her wedding ring around her finger.

"Nice ring.Wesley give it to you," Willow said politely as she dropped her fork back onto the tray and reached for the milk.

"Huh oh yah...you know neither one of us know where he got it.but it's a real diamond all right," Faith said as Willow said a small smile creep onto the rogue slayer's face before Faith snapped back to her old self, "So what's with all the questions about me and Wes, you writing a book or something," Faith said jamming her hands into her pockets and looking out the nearby window.

"N-no.it's just that it's obvious you're in love.but then you act at times like you don't.I just thought," Willow said stammering as she tried to say the right words.

"Well stop thinking so much," Faith said angrily as she stood up and headed for the door but stopped in the doorway and looked back before saying, "You're right I do love him.more than I thought I could."

"I knew it," Willow said with a triumphant smile before taking a drink from her glass of milk.

END OF CHAPTER 7