Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 12: We fight to live

It took Dawn approximately four hours after her meeting with Andrew to find out what Spike was up to, and where Faith was. It took her almost fifteen seconds to get him on the phone, mostly because her hands were shaking. The minute he said hello she let out a scream of rage.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Spike? What? What?"

He grimaced, holding the phone away from his head. "Somebody's snippy today."

"I can accept that you aren't going to go with the morally murky path. That's fine and dandy. I knew you wouldn't go along with any plan including terminating Faith's pregnancy. I knew that. I knew you'd try to keep Faith out of our hands to keep us from doing it on the sly, as it were. I got that. I can accept that you're going to do the macho thing and try to cut us all out the picture, keep the little women safe and all. I can even accept that you really do have Angel's best interests in mind, hard as that is to figure. I cannot accept that you are this stupid!"

"Good to talk to you too, Dawnie."

"You've leaked Faith's location all over the place! I just spoke to one of my demonic contacts--demonic, mind!--and he told me where she is, something I was able to confirm from three sources! At first I thought you were trying to throw them off, but then I got eyewitness confirmation! Eyewitness! By now everybody in the demon underworld and his brother knows where she is! Did you forget about the demonic cult trying to catch her? And who's supposed to protect her if you're dealing with Angel!"

"You know, I coach and I coach, but you still come off all shrill over the phone."

"Shut it, Spike! What about your half-demon operatives? You have all these compromised, soulless creatures on payroll, and you put them in charge of security? Are you insane?"

"Oh, I was counting on them turning on us. Vampires without souls always betray you, didn't you know that?"

"I hate you."

"Yeah, well. I take it she made it to the Denver compound okay?"

"That's the word. We're also getting reports of an unspecified number of demonic hordes heading for her."

"Yeah, that's the plan. Bloody good plan, too."

"I go back to, who exactly is going to protect her?"

"Silly girl. You should have worked that out a while back."

"Spike! Are you really planning on facing Angel alone? Don't do it! Now that you're normal he'll kill you for sure. Please, Spike!"

"Give my love to the Watchers, ey?" He hung up on her.

Dana glanced up at him from her perch below him on the side of the building. "Bad news?"

He continued climbing. "You know how it goes, love. Once a bad man, always mistrusted. Not that I'm surprised or anything. Where's Illyria?"

Dana tilted her head. "She's circling the office now. She doesn't think he's here."

"Good. That'll make it easier to rob the wanker, won't it?"

"I suppose."

Faith was kind of angry about being drugged and dragged away to Denver. Xander was downright furious.

"I can't believe we trusted him!" he spat.

She sat in the cushy arm-chair they'd set her in and glared across the desk at the vampire who had been watching them. "Why do I get a desk?"

"Spike said you'd want to read some of those files," replied the vampire. He looked very nervous.

Xander picked up a file, throwing it to the floor. "This is bull."

"Er." The vampire wasn't going to disagree, noted Faith.

"Could you give us some alone time?" she asked, just a touch too sweetly.

The vampire nodded in relief and retreated, leaving them along. Xander let out a long sigh and sat down on the desk. "I hate him."

"I know."

"Worse, I think I may have become him … or vice versa. It's very disturbing for me to see so much of myself in him. Disturbing to think that I'd do the same thing he would do."

"Is that what's got you on edge?"

"Oh, yeah. Drag you away from Angel and make sure you don't see him again till it's settled? I would have done that in a heartbeat if I could have! I hate him so much for doing what I would do."

"Yeah. I was thinking about something similar to make sure he didn't face Angel now that he's a normal."

"Exactly! And me too! That's so wrong, that I was thinking about protecting Spike. So wrong."

"Right."

Harmony dabbed a cold compress at Connor's hair while he tried to read. "Doesn't that hurt? It looks like it hurts."

"Just give it a rest, Harm. I'm fine." He was mostly mad that he had lost to his father in a fair fight, again. He was supposed to be their best line of defense, their most powerful agent, but he somehow always fell down to second best around his father.

She switched hands and began dabbing the compress at her own head. "You know, I don't think he was responding all that positively to me."

"He didn't stake you."

"True. But, I mean, he wasn't exactly happy to see me. And, hey! I'm a good guy now. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Well, it's hard figuring out where I fit in! Most folks think Spike's still evil. And I'm part of a huge government conspiracy to hide the truth from the people. And the government sometimes turns off my chip so I can kill people who they call bad! You tell me if that's morally acceptable."

"Oh."

"Besides that, Spike made me sign these papers and do all these spells when I was getting my soul to make sure I wouldn't steal Angel's hero gig. And you know what? Most of them were just stupid! And I think I may have signed something that keeps me from being truly good. Or something. Because if I'm too good it's bad for Angel."

"Harmony, please relax."

"Relax? When Angel will probably hunt us down and kill us? Fat chance!"

"Don't sweat it. Spike has plans. In the meantime, we have a plan B to attend to."

"Ugh."

Angel had never been to Denver before. He was surprised by how much he liked it, especially after he had hated Antarctica so much.

But this place was alive and bustling. Full of people who were full of blood. Or it was supposed to be, anyway. There were surprisingly few people out on the streets tonight. But just knowing that the dark buildings were probably full of people was working pretty well for him, anyway.

He stalked the darkened streets, searching for the government compound where Faith was holed up. His sources, while they might not be as complicated and thorough as Spike's, were still pretty good.

And they'd found Faith for him pretty handily.

Her scent was all over the airport, drenching it. She'd waited there nearly an hour for a car, he decided. The car hadn't gone far. Just next door he picked up her scent again, leading into a tall building with expensive stained glass windows.

Inside he followed her scent to a waiting area, where she'd obviously been forced to wait a long time.

He was surprised. Usually Spike was pretty good about hiding things and people. Being sneaky and secretive, he tended to cover his own trail and make his people cover theirs. Apparently they were sloppy here in Denver.

Angel headed for the elevators. Nobody tried to stop him. Apparently they hadn't been given a description of him.

It was downright insulting how easy this was.

He wiped his hands off on his leather pants as the elevator rose through the levels. He'd hit every button, and on every floor he'd take a good whiff of the air before heading up again. He hoped he didn't pick up any passengers. That would be awkward.

When he reached the top her scent was there, unmistakably strong. He really couldn't believe Spike had been this careless in trying to hide the dark Slayer. Was he stupid? Or did he not care enough about Faith to try harder?

Angel stalked out of the elevator, wondering just how hypocritical it was for him to criticize Spike for his inability to protect Faith.

She was in the first office, with the door open, going over some files. Xander was sitting on the desk that she was behind, doing the same.

She didn't look up as he came in. "I told you to give us some time to read up on this," she said, distracted.

"Sorry, time's up."

Her head snapped up, and she just stared at him with big eyes for a second, so vulnerable that his heart ached over what had to come next.

But it had to happen. He steeled himself, putting on his biggest possible grin. "So, how's the kid? Just nummy, I'm sure."

Xander scrambled to his feet, pulling a stake out of his back pocket. "Alright, Evil Dead, round two, bring it on!"

Faith grabbed him, snatching the stake out of his hand and pulling him behind the desk. "Angel. I take it things have been bad."

"Never better, actually. I had an epiphany. One of those very releasing things. Something that brought all the prophecies I'd ever read into crystal-clear focus. One that just made everything right. Wanna hear it? Or shall I show you?" He let his true face emerge then, shaking away his facade of humanity.

She showed no fear as the demon came out. "Epiphany, huh? Please tell me there were drugs involved, at least."

"Well, oddly enough, there weren't. Bummer, huh? We can fix that this time through, I betya. Blood's the best drug of all, don't you know."

He stalked forward, stretching his arms out to the sides to prepare himself for the fight to come. Faith didn't move, just staring at him woodenly. Xander tried to get free to try to defend her, but she held him in place with her strength.

"What's the matter, Faith? Need a little incentive?" asked Angel. "Maybe I should kill the boy-toy first."

She moved forward quickly, slamming a fist into his face and sending him flying across the room to slam into the wall. "Don't you even talk about Xander that way!" she hissed, pushing Xander behind her and out of harm's way.

Angel leapt to his feet. "Or maybe I'll save him for dessert. A tasty Scooby-snack, huh?"

Faith launched herself at him, forgetting whatever reservations she'd had a minute ago. She hit him hard, and fast, more alive than he'd ever seen her, her blows more vicious than they'd ever been.

He could barely block half the blows she sent at him. He was driven back, out the open door and into the hall.

She followed him, a look of rage on her face. The stake in her hand was held half-up, ready to impale him. Ready to kill him.

He recovered his balance and tried to counter-attack, punching her in the face. Although she rocked back she recovered quickly, keeping her eyes on him and kicking him in the gut.

He doubled over, and she froze, halfway to striking him. He dove forward, catching her in the stomach and knocking her into the wall. He felt the tip of the stake scrape at his back, but it didn't penetrate.

He shook her off and grabbed her shoulder, leaning in towards her shoulder.

She still had the stake in her hand, between them. She rested the tip on his chest, not pressing it forward.

"Come on!" he growled, pushing his head closer to her neck.

"You want it?" She grabbed his hand, forcing it onto the stake. She let go, leaving it in his hand. "You'll have to do it yourself." Then she punched him in the face, hard, knocking him down onto the ground.

He groaned, letting the stake slip through his fingers.

She knelt over him, putting a hand on the side of his face. "Is that what this is about? You wanted me to kill you? That's the coward's way out."

He coughed. "Got the idea from you. Bitch."

"Yeah? And what did you say to me then. God, Angel! You are the stupidest man I've ever met. I swear to God."

"Ugh."

She grabbed him in a tight hug. "You big doofus." She was crying, hard. He could smell the salt, and now he couldn't hold back his own tears. He was bleeding and bruised and crying, and he couldn't hold any of it in.

"I hurt Nina."

"I know."

"I don't… what kind of champion am I? All I do is hurt the people I love."

"The best champion I've ever known, Angel. The best I've ever known."

Spike flipped through Angel's book collection, scowling. "The big poofter doesn't have a single book here I don't have. Bah! Where does he get off saying my collection is small? I have several volumes I don't even see here!"

Dana was watching him and smiling. "Are you mad he exaggerated, or mad you didn't think of it first?"

"Both! Bloody nit."

Illyria returned from the roof, crossing her arms. "I've just received word from your agents in Denver. Plan rope-a-dope went down without a hitch. There are bodily fluids leaking now."

"Oh. Um." Spike frowned. "The good kind, or the bad kind?"

"What are the good kind?"

"Well, tears. Snot. You know. Bad is blood, right? In this case."

"The good kind, I suppose. Although tears have never seemed good to me."

"Well, work with me here, Blue."

Illyria shrugged. "As you surmised, Faith was easily able to bring him out of his suicidal funk."

"Terrific. Now if only we had some better lead on the others."

"According to your agents a small army of demons is converging on them."

"Well, good. Angel's in position to get back on his feet and do his job, now."

Dana sighed. "Couldn't we have just told everybody else about this plan? Why do we have to sneak around and trick them?"

Spike chuckled. "You think Dawn flipped out when she thought I was just being careless with Faith? If she'd known I purposely led Faith right by every traitor I knew of, if she knew that I tried to make sure Angel would have a clear shot at her, she'd already be trying to kill me. She would never imagine in a million years that he needed to face her--never. So… we have to be sneaky."

Dana sighed. "Well, hopefully the rest of the plan works as well."

Illyria sniffed. "One of Spike's plans? Clearly you're forgetting all the other plans we've worked on together. Or maybe you're thinking of a different kind of plan." Dana blushed.

Spike waved a hand at her. "Ignore the nay-sayer. Anybody find anything?"

Dana rubbed a hand over an expensive-looking clock. "Well, a lot of this is worth money. Do you want to smash it?"

Spike got a gleeful look in his eye, but Illyria just shook her head. Spike sighed, and Dana nodded. "Then I haven't found anything."

Illyria shook her head. "Whatever papers and books he's been concealing from us remain concealed. None of the missing portions of the prophecies are here."

Spike scowled. "Bloody ponce. Once, just once, I'd like him to make things easy for me. Just once! Okay, let's get out of here."

Dana sidled up next to him, shuffling her feet and keeping her eyes on the floor. "You're mad."

"Just a little. I know he's holding out on me—I know it! There's some very valuable information hidden in his head somewhere—stuff about prophecy and what-not. He's always been better with the book stuff than me. I have to get Connor on that. He'll figure it out. And I kind of want to help Harmony. She's still adjusting to the soul."

Illyria snorted. "She wants to know if your anger is pointed at her, stupid."

"What? Oh. No. 'S not your fault, kiddo." He patted Dana on the shoulder, and she nodded.

"I know. It's just… with the prophecies all around, you get so focused. And I worry about you."

"Oh. So you really mean, am I mad at you because you disagree with me about what to do next? Nah."

"I hadn't got to that part."

"Yeah, but it was obvious you were going to. So, go ahead. What do you think I'm doing wrong?"

"Well, maybe not wrong. Just sideways."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Shouldn't we tell somebody about the armies heading for Denver? It's just going to be Angel and Faith up there. All alone."

Spike wrapped an around Dana's shoulders, pulling her closer to him. She let him, finally meeting his eyes. Just a hint of uncertainty and timidity behind the trust he could see.

"Love, trust me, this is something Angel has to do. He's lost so many battles, been proven second best so many times, that it's nearly broken him. They've beat him down till he nearly served them. Till he was ready to have Faith stake him. Besides that, anybody who steps in to help Angel right now does so at their own risk. He knows the stakes, and he knows what job he's been given in this whole mess. He's supposed to protect her. Much as I love Dawnie, this went right over her head. I know how they think. They're already thinking about killing the kid, ending the threat to the world that way. Ignoring the way the prophecy reads. Ignoring who the protector of that child is. Do they really want to set themselves up against Angel?"

"He doesn't seem like much of a Champion," replied Dana. "I'm pretty sure I can take him."

Spike shook his head. "You could take him right now, maybe. That's because he's lost the fire, lost his spirit. Winning the fight is more than just having the strength, or the moves. It's about wanting it, believing it. As soon as he gets that back, and he will, he's going to be a force to fear."

Illyria shook her head. "You are a romantic."

"Hey, I have zero romantic feelings for Angel. Zero!"

Dawn wasn't even sure why she bothered checking her e-mail. Except that while she was doing it she could hear everybody behind her arguing about how to get to Faith in Denver, what to do about Faith, and how to do it, and she didn't want to be part of that argument.

Not right now.

There were no e-mails. She closed her PDA just a little reluctantly. Andrew was trying to drum up support for Spike and Angel, but it was a lost cause. Nobody here trusted vampires with souls or ex-vampires.

Nobody was even listening to Andrew.

She left the room, heading upstairs. She found Ethan pretty easily. He was trying to get a window open.

"They have vampires patrolling the perimeter," she told him as she passed. He fell backwards, onto the floor, surprised by her stealthy approach.

That, at least, cheered her up.

Nina was in restraints on the top floor. She was still pale and bruised, although her eyes had turned a dark yellow that was decidedly creepy. Buffy was there with her, sitting and reading a book while Nina watched the television.

"Hey, guys. Bonding?" Dawn tried to keep her tone light. She was not, she vowed, going to bring Angel up. This would be a very bad time for that.

They both just glared at her.

"Okay. Fine. That's the way it is. You guys want to hear about our latest plan?"

"Unless I'm supposed to be in the air with my team, nope," said Buffy, looking back down at her book. Dawn tilted her head, peering at the title.

"Is that a translation of the Shanshu prophecies?" she asked suspiciously.

"As a matter of fact, it is." Dawn strode forward and grabbed it from Buffy quickly.

"We have rules about that. No unsupervised reading of prophecies! Prophecies can mean a lot of things—they're dangerous! You helped write that rule!"

"I know. I got special permission from one of your Watchers." Buffy snatched it back. "Because whatever's going on with Faith is in here somewhere. However vague."

"Untrained people going through prophecies have never, ever produced anything good, Buffy! Never!"

"Er… well. I've had some training."

Nina coughed. "If you two are going to fight, could you do it somewhere else? I'm feeling really crappy."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Fine. I came up here to talk to you, Nina. Ask you about, um, Angel."

Buffy and Nina both glared at her, hard, and she was once more reminded that she was the only one without superpowers. That sucked so bad.