Authour Note: Sorry about the soppiness at the end. All my uni buds have gone home and I miss them all like crazy.

Dedication: All my friends from Uni who I have seen me through a tough month + a bit. Thank-You. Safe journey home.

Hidden Truths - Part Three

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'Leave It All Behind'

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There's something up here

That makes me wince

And I still got the feelings

That I've felt ever since

I got to this place, arrived at last

In front there's the future right back

There's the past

Everything's moving so fast.

Lene Marlin - Flown Away

The back pack clung to her back lightly as she made her way down the sun lit corridors, the morning bell ringing out, ushering pupils into class along the hall. She stifled a yawn, last night had been hard and she hadn't got to bed until 3 that morning, normally that wouldn't a problem but this was third night running and she needed a break. Balancing life as a senior in school and a Slayer-in-training wasn't easy but she took a little comfort in the fact she wasn't the only one to try it. Hope had grown up without a mother but had learned all her female wills from Willows monthly visits and Buffy's three monthly visits, hearing tales of her mother and how she help the Scobbie gang when they were all at High school, before she helped burn it down. Her father had told her what had happened to her mother when she was ten. It saddened her deeply that her mother had taken her life, leaving her one parent down but she looked up to the woman she never knew because she had given her life so that her dad could live.

Hope sat twirling the silver locket between her finger that had once been Cordelias while Sam sat besides her scribbling a quick note in the back of his Math book. Hope and Sam had been best friends since the first grade. He had teased her because she was a year younger than everyone else was and she was the smartest in the class but they soon got over it and now were inseparable. Angel had given Hope the keys to Cordelias house by the sea as a premature graduation gift. Both Sam and Hope had been accepted to UCLA after they graduated and had now started living together since it was only two days till graduation. Sam tapped his laser pen lightly on her shoulder and moved closer. He quickly past her the harshly scribbled note and moved back to his original position. She opened the letter quietly to stop Mr Deatner from turning around on them.

'You were late last night. You really need to get some sleep soon. You look like Hell. Love Sam.'

Hope giggled and opened up the built in laptop on her desk and opened a conference screen.

HOPE: Thanxs Sam. I was looking 4 some...Germans. It was a hard night. Looking 4ward 2 2nite though. U think the Jaguars will win?

SAM: Yes of course we will. Ur squad ready? Pom-poms and Ra Ra Ra? LOL.

HOPE: I need to go home first to train and then I'll see you at the game. You better be careful, I don't want a brushed date for the graduation ball. Speaking of which, Dad is coming around before we go to take some photos.

SAM: You worry too much about me. OK see you at the game tonight. WATCH OUT! Dent Head is watching you!! Love Sam.

HOPE: CYa, Love Hope.

-x-x-x-x-

A roundhouse kick to head to confuse and if she had enough force, to break their neck. A punch, left hook, right hook to send them back leaving her enough time for her to pull out the silver handled stake a Vampire friend had given her and launched it into her foe. The hologram disappeared back into the projector on the ceiling and her father stepped forward clapping, grey streaked hair catching the lowly lit lights.

"Well done Hope. That was the hardest setting so I think you're about ready for anything."

Hope collapsed in a heap on the floor and looked up at her father. "Thanks dad! So do I get tomorrow night off or what? I mean it is my prom and I have been nominated for Prom Queen, not that I want it of course."

Angel chuckled. "You're just like your mother; always wanting to be the centre of attention. Of course you can still have the night off. I'm still coming around before you go though. I think me and Sam need to have a man to man talk now that you two are living under the same roof."

"DAD!" Hope whined. "Me and Sam are just best friends, nothing else." Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Eww that is way too icky to imagine."

"That's what me and your mum used to say but the feelings were always there."

Hope propped herself up on her elbow on the floor as he father sat down beside her. "Tell me how you and mum met in LA again."

Angel sighed. "Come one Hope, haven't you heard this story enough? You asked for it every night since you were five." He looked at her defiant face. "Fine but it will have to be quick or you'll be late for the game and Sam will be in a huff. We had both ran away from Sunnydale; Her from her fathers downfall and I ran from Buffy and what we couldn't have. I was always too wrapped up in Buffy to notice your mum or any pain she must have been through when she found Willow and Xander." He turned away from Hope. "We met at a party that a girl I had been protecting had taken me to. I never liked to socialise and I was trying to blend into the crowd but I wasn't working. I smelt her before I could see her; she always used strawberry and apple soap when she had been part of the Slayerettes. When we met up she was all smiles and positive things like she had a condo by the beach and that her acting career was going great but it wasn't true. You have to understand Hope, I never really knew your mum as an individual but she was just the tact-less girlfriend of my mortal, annoying enemy. I was tracking this girls case and I found her dead, I felt anger and I wanted to get the man who she had asked me to protect her from. When I got to this guy's mansion, he was trying to kill Cordelia. She had gone there because her acting career was a non-starter and she really needed the break but she had figured out the guy was a Vampire and tried to get away. I came in all 'grr'" He waved inverted fingers in the air. "And picked her up from the second floor and jumped over the balcony. Afterward, I took her back to the old investigations building and Doyle fell for her straight away. I only hired her because she was a reminder of Sunnydale and Buffy. Doyle was right, she did have a humanising effect on me." He chuckled a little at the irony.

"So who were the Slayerettes?"

Angel looked back at Hope, his tears now firmly stored away. "I can't believe I haven't told you about them before. They were what all the people that were involved with Buffy were called. Willow had seen the Cordettes, your mothers old group in school before she met Buffy, and renamed the Scoobies the Slayerettes."

"Seemed that no matter what Buffy did to people, she always came up on top."

Angel stared at Hope lazily. He was used to these retorts against Buffy. Hope had spoken them ever since Angel had told her his history when he was a Vampire. With that he had told her about Buffy's involvement in his life. It was painful but he wanted his only child to know all about him, his life and her mum's involvement in them, especially now that she was to become the Final Slayer.

"Hope, not tonight, please." Hope stared at him innocently. "Blackening Buffy's name is not going to bring back your mum and all you do is make her feel awkward coming here."

"Well she is a stranger in our lives, well she should be. She keeps trying to worm her way into our lives and back into your love life. Buffy sees me as competition and a reminder of the life you could have had with mum. She sees me and knows that as long as I am around, you will always block her affections away out of loyalty to mum. I'm competition for your love as well. Think about it, back in Sunnydale, you locked yourself onto her existence and fed from her life as a human. Now you have me and have a life again, suddenly she is not the centre of your world. It's not all my fault."

"Hope I am not going to argue with you over this again. Now go and get ready or your gonna be late and Sam will get mad."

Hope picked herself off the floor and headed up to her old room on the first floor. She came back down ten minutes later, adorned in her red and mustard yellow cheerleader colours and pom-poms and each hand. Her hair was down in long hazel curls, ringlets on odd strands. Angel stared in disbelief. He did every time he seen her like this. There were photographs from the Sunnydale Yearbook of 1999 that showed the cheerleaders' squad, Cordelia in front of them with their various cups and plagues. Hope stood in front of him now but it could have easily have been Cordelia 24 years ago.

"Opps. You have the glazed look in your eyes again. That usually means your brooding over mum again." Hope dropped her pom-poms to the floor and went over to her stoic father. "I miss her as well. Everyday. Now I have to go or I'll be late." She kissed his forehead softly. "Don't brood, she hated it."

I watch you growing sometimes

I see myself in you

It can be scary but kinda funny too

I hear you talking

A lot of similarities

Your choice of words

And all the fantasies

Angel sat on the cold, wooden floor for ten minutes after Hope had left, 'brooding' just wishing that she would be there on Friday to watch her own daughter graduate and then on Saturday to help her into her dress and put the finishing touches to her hair. Wishing she would be gushing over pictures and constantly cooing over how cute Sam and Hope looked together. But she would never be there again and Hope would always look into the mirror and not see the other half of who she was. He had caught her trying to touch her reflection when she woke up in the morning or after she had put her make-up on to go to school. Angel regretted never taking photographs of Cordelia; all he could offer Hope was the charcoal drawings he had of Cordelia. They were in plenty, ones of her twiddling a pencil while she was at her desk or ones of her sleeping, too exhausted to go back to her apartment after a vision or demon hunt. She was growing up a perfect picture of her mother but Angel knew that her looks and her person would only be around for a few years. Hope was to be the Final Slayer and her death was prophesied. He hoped that she was like Buffy and live till she was in her late life and she could have children and grow old in an old rocking chair, telling stories of the woman who stopped evil Hell taking over the world they now live in.

-x-x-x-x-

The hooter rang out around the stadium, signalling that the Jaguars had won the final game and on home turf. Hope lead her team through their victory cheer and the whole crowd cheered with them. The final game was finished now it was time for the Prom King and Queen nominations to be announced. Hope knew that herself and Sam were on the list together because their mutual friends were still convinced, after 13 years that they were MORE than friends. Well wasn't it high school tradition that the quarterback and the head cheerleader dated? Hope knew that there were feelings there but she was scared that if she tried to explore these feelings, then Sam would freak or worse still move out and leave her. Like mother, like daughter, much. She took as deep breath, as the tannoy ran out her name, and then ran onto the field jumping and shaking her pom-poms just like she was meant to. She was excited that she was nominated but it wasn't the most important thing in the world, anymore. She knew it was coming, she could feel it. She didn't know when or why, but she was going to be called...soon.

Sam watched, a proud stroke going through his heart, as Hope bounded onto the field. He smiled to himself. She was always acting how everybody else expected her to act, except when she was with him or down at the shelter. For years they had always been like kids together, pillow fights, rolling around on the floor tickling each other until one would win. Sam always came out the victor but he knew that Hope always let him win because with her strength, she could easily pin him to the floor. Not that Sam minded. He had came close a few times; her pinned beneath him, glowing in the aftermath with an innocent look on her face. All it would take was for him to move a few inches closer and place his lips softly over hers. The only thing that stopped him was ruining a good thing was when Angel had given the keys to the seaside condo. He was delighted at being able to live with Hope, so why spoil a good thing? But it wouldn't last long, because he was one of only six people that knew she was doomed to fight 'evil forces' until she died and sealed the gates over. He only had a few years left.

-x-x-x-x-

There he was sitting in the dark again. Something had caused him to brood and Buffy didn't need two guesses to figure out what it was. Cordelia! She couldn't help but be jealous of the dead woman, she had everything Buffy had wanted with Angel: A child, she had given him life and now Angel still pined for her.

"Huthum." Buffy cleared her throat and Angel turned around, the lights coming on to illuminate his hunched figure. "You were brooding again weren't you? I thought it was a Vampire thing."

"I was just thinking that's all. " He stood up to greet Buffy. Even after all the years had pasted between them, he still didn't feel in love with her. There was none of that passion and innocence there anymore, there hadn't been since her 17th birthday. "How was journey?" This was how it always started.

"Oh you know, the shuttle was delayed at the port, misplaced luggage, the usual stuff."

"Mum!" A moan came from behind her. "Why do you always bring so much stuff?"

"Oh yeah and brought Jack with me."

Angel walked up to Jack and took the bags from him with ease and placed them beside the main staircase.

"Hello Jack. Difficult journey huh?"

"Nah not really. You would think getting from London to L.A in an hour wouldn't leave much room for anything going wrong but it can. So how are you Angel?"

"The usual. A few more grey hairs, a difficult daughter and an ageing body that I always wanted. I'm doing good."

"Speaking of Hope, is she here?" Buffy asked stepping forward.

"No, she and Sam are at the game and then they are going back to the condo. They graduate tomorrow." Hopefully her one will go off with a little less bang than her mothers one did."

"Hey Angel, can I go into Hopes Hollo room?" Jack asked sensing her mothers jealousy over Cordelia.

Angel nodded his head and looked at Buffy. Her face had slightly fell when he had mentioned Cordelias presence but he put it down to the sadness at her death.

"So...um...do you mind if I go and put my bags into my room and maybe freshen up a little bit?" Buffy asked sensing the awkwardness.

"Yeah, I'll put your bags in the usual room and then make a start on some dinner, can't imagine you ate much on the shuttle."

Buffy sadly nodded and then turned and followed Angel up the stairs, taking a look around the hotel to see if anything had chanced in three months. Of course they hadn't, they hadn't change in 15 years.

A Little Later:

Buffy descended the main staircase, the chance to freshen up had brighten her face. Angel looked up from his book as the caught the tiptoe sound on the marble stairs. The wrinkles on her face from years of stress and worry were cleverly disguised. Tragedy was clearly visible on her posture but she kept the pain behind her smile.

"Still got the vampy hearing huh? I thought you would have lost that a long time ago." She smiled.

"It's fading, old age. Everything is fading including the hair colour."

"I never thought I would see the day you go grey"

"Hope says it makes me look dignified, like Giles. Speaking of the Watcher, how is he?"

"Oh you know him and Willow, always jetting off to some far flung corner of the world looking at some demon or other." Buffy caught Angel sniggering at her. "What?"

"You sound like Giles so much. How are you now? Over Dawn?"

Buffy hung her head in a slight sadness. "I know she wasn't ever meant to be human but I'm glad she still had a chance at life. We put up a mock grave next to moms and mine. I can't believe that Hope is going to graduate tomorrow. It seems like only yesterday that you were learning that 2 year olds can't eat doughnuts for breakfast like their daddies or Gunn. Oh how is Sebastian?"

"Still a mixture of Faiths five-by-five personality and Gunns street wise attitude. He's a real girl magnet. When Hope goes to the mall with Sam and Seb, she talks about them as her boys and bodyguards. She isn't the one that needs protecting."

They both turned to look as Jack walked out, slightly out of breath.

"Hope is coming round with her dress and make-up for the graduation ball. Said she phoned ahead incase mom was here."

Angel frowned at Jacks lack of tact. Buffy simply looked away. She knew all about Hopes 'disagreement' with her but she tried not to let it get in the way of her seeing Angel.

The three sat in the entrance hall; discussing the last three months since they had last seen each other. Every time Angel mentioned Cordelia, Buffy looked away. Every time Buffy or Jack mentioned Riley, Angel tried to listen unbiased. Eventually Angel heard Hopes car pull into the hotel drive. She still used Cordelias old Porsche even though gasoline was a valuable as gold, only existing if it were made synthetically, even that was expensive.

Hope breezed into the hotel only breaking into a slight run when Jack opened his arms to her. He easily picked her up in his football player arms and spun her around once. They hugged and then Hopes eyes settled on Buffy and the smile left her face only to be replaced by a fake smile so like her mothers.

"Buffy, you came for my graduation, how sweet. I guess it will be our turn in two years to come and see Jacks graduation huh? Still nice to see you." She looked away from Buffy and turned to her father, the genuine smile back on her face. She put a territorial arm around Angel's waist, making sure that Buffy saw. "Dad, I know I was meant to be getting ready at the condo but me and Sam, agreed it would be better if I got ready here as he will hog the bathroom and some of mums things are here. Please. He'll be picking my up so you can still have that man to man talk you wanted with him."

"This is your home as much as mine so of course you can get ready here. I can't wait to see you. I remember your mothers' dress. It's still here up in her wardrobe if you want to wear it."

Hope looked away sadly. "I don't really want to wear it. It was her special dress for her special night." Angel nodded sympathetically. "Is Willow coming too?"

"Willow and Giles are off on their travels again. Buffy has just told me. We'll send them all the pictures. Now go and bring your dress in then get back home for some rest." Angel ordered.

Hope ran back outside and picked her dress slowly out of the car, draping the protective cover carefully over her arm. She picked up her full vanity case with her spare hand and took them inside. She watched Buffy crane to get a look at the dress but not even Sam or Angel had seen it so there was no way that Hope was letting Buffy see it. A few minutes later and the dress hung proudly on the wardrobe door; a slight glimmer of a diamond giving away the necklace that was carefully hung on the dress. The graduation robes were back at her house and as she sat on her old bed and looked at the mural of her mother, hand drawn by her father, she gazed at the woman she would never know and sudden realised how tired she was. She would need all her rest for tomorrow was another big day.

The Next Afternoon:

The award for outstanding achievement goes to a young lady who has skipped a year and proven herself a most gifted pupil in both academic and sporting categories. I have the proud honour of presenting the scholarship to UCLA and the award for outstanding achievement to Miss Hope Chase."

The audience stood up and cheered as Hope gave her certificate to Sam and walked slowly up the isle towards her principle. Funnily, she kept looking from side to side, expecting to see a big snake appear out of nowhere but I never did. She graciously took the scholarship and a small speech to thank everyone. Sam sat down the front watching her lovingly but covering it up with fake puking noises as she made her speech causing her to laugh once in a while. He liked to see her laugh and smile. That is when she looked most like her mother and she could brighten a room with a single flash of her teeth. He couldn't help it. He had fallen in love.

Angel sat watching his daughter with pride. He couldn't hide it from his face. In his hands were a set of carbons and some of the old paper he had kept from when Cordelia had given his the first paints set so long ago. Below the piece he was now drawing on was one of Hope receiving her award from her principle. The other was a working progress. Hope's face adorned the page as she now stood on the podium, her dark hair blowing in the wind, restricted by her scholars' hat. Her eyes danced in the afternoon sun as she spoke clearly and from the heart to the attentive crowd below her feet. She was a born leader like her mother. The picture that Angel was now drawing would be put in a glass container on Cordelias grave in England on his quarterly visit to her grave. There were 15 years worth of drawings there, enough to keep Cordelia updated on their daughters progress, Angel was in no doubt that she watched them closely anyway.

Beside Angel, Buffy sat. She snapped away with her camera, glancing sidewards every now and again to check Angel's progress on the picture. She knew where it would end up eventually. She had seen the glass scroll tube on Cordelias grave on her third visit to Riley's grave after she regained her memory.

The crowd cheered and tossed their hats into the air as Hope toasted the Class of 2022. Sam and Hope joined Angel, Buffy and Jack on the walkway. Angel picked Hope up around the waist and spun her around.

"Your mother would have been so proud of you up there. She couldn't have done any better herself even though no one could give a speech quite like Cordelia Chase."

"Thank-you dad. Now, I'm going to give Sama ride back to the condo and then I will be back at the hotel to train and then go to my prom." She clapped her hands excitedly.

"Sam, I am sorry that your parents couldn't be here."

"Well you know war corespondents, always where the wars are plus they got the live web feed back. They saw the whole thing. But thank-you anyway Mr O'Conner. I'll see you tonight."

Sam and Hope headed back to the car, without saying goodbye to Buffy or Jack. Hope couldn't help it. She was angry at Buffy for being there instead of her mum but she felt sorry for Jack, caught in the middle.

Sam and Hope sat in their comfortable silence, waiting for either to speak.

"Don't you think that you're being a bit harsh on Buffy? She is only trying to be your friend." Sam asked, for the first time speaking against Hope in Buffys' defence.

Hope looked at Sam in surprise. "No, I don't think I am being harsh. You heard all the things I told you about how she and Angel were the tormented lovers and went a bit nuts when she heard about mum being in LA with dad. Then she comes walking back into our lives after 6 years of being dead and just expects to pick up where she left with dad. She married someone else and the when he popped is clogs she finds her long-lost eternal lover and for the last 15 years she has been trying to jump his bones. I think I have every right to be angry at her."

"Hope, eyes on the road babes." Sam shouted as she veered of to one side during her rant.

They sat silence until they arrived back at the condo. Sam wished her good luck and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Try and be nice to Buffy, for your fathers sake. Their graduation wasn't exactly the most trouble free event in history. It will have some tough memories for your father and Buffy. Remember your mum was there as well."

Hope hung her head in defeat and watched as Sam walked silently to the condo and disappeared inside. She knew deep down inside that Sam was right.

The journey across the city was quite on the ground as usual because most of the cars now flew above the streets; it was safer. The hotel stood out in the dying sun as Hope pulled the Porsche down into the underground car park.

"Dad? Dad!" Hope shouted through the hotel but received no answer.

She saw the door to the courtyard was open and she smiled sadly to herself. As she walked into the streaming sunshine, Hope saw his bulking figure sitting on one of the benches that sat around the centre garden. She placed a delicate hand on Angel's shoulder and smiled.

"I thought I had limited your brooding to three hours a day. You brooded this morning and then at the Graduation Ceremony. I think that exceeds your limit."

She looked at what he was staring at. The tree stood tall, it's 17 years showing in the branches that stretched towards the light, craving warmth. The tree reflected it's memory, of a man so tall and strong in many ways than his willowy frame would let on. Wesley formed the back bone of her fathers family, his mediation always stopping World War III breaking out when Cordelia and Angel played Scrabble: Like the trunk of the tree. Hopes gaze mainly fell on the little bush in bloom with red, velvet-like roses. There was an exact bush of roses 5456 miles away in London where her mother was buried. The rose bush there was 10 years old and had spread around the grave so with the ending of the summer, the red petals fell on her grave like teardrops.

They sat for 5 minutes, staring at the plants before them in the dying sun.

"She would have been so proud of you today. All dressed up in her robes and your speech. When I looked up at you, I saw her in you."

"Don't forget dad, that I am half yours too. Where else would I get my ability to remember everything? Brood? My unique sense of humour? Dad, love mum but don't live in her memory. She wouldn't want you to brood your humanity away when she can't tease you about it. "

Angel turned around and looked at his daughter straight in the eyes. He saw, behind their chocolate brown, the wiseness beyond her age that Cordelia had had. A pain echoed through him. His daughter eyes should be dancing with a young carefree light like Cordelia had had 24 years ago when they had first found each other in L.A.

"You better go and get ready. Sam will be here and he hates how you make him wait. About you and Sam...is there anything going on there that I should know about?"

Hope stared in shock at her father. "Dad, we're just friends...great friends. We have been friends for, like, forever. I mean I know that he attractive but euch," She screwed up her face. "Me and Sam...never. People just can't take a platonic friendship." Hope babbled on.

"I think the lady doth protest too much!" Angel chuckled. "You and Sam make a nice couple, but I think you should tell Sam how you feel, maybe start admitting it to yourself."

"You think huh? Oh Wise One, just how do I do that?"

Angel sighed and rose from his seat. "It doesn't matter how you tell him, just make sure that you do. Take it from the experience of an Oh Wise One!" With these parting words, Angel left his daughter to mull over her thoughts.

Hope watched Angel ascended the stairs to his room, she knew he was going to brood. A buzzing feeling came over her body, starting in her chest and spreading outwards. It felt like electricity travelling through her nerves like the electrons in copper wires. It took a few seconds for the feeling to reach her toes but as it did she felt a jolt go through her head. It felt like how Angel had described Cordelias visions. Hope knelt on the floor ads the images flashed before her eyes. She saw Buffy's calling, her first death, and her joy at the defeat of the Master. To Hope, it was like a video diary of Buffy's life as a Slayer. Hope saw Angelus, the day that Buffy sent Angel to hell. Every emotion spread through her until the diary stopped at her second 'death' at the hands of Glory. As the haze slowly cleared form her eyes she saw that she was back in the hotel. Maybe it had all been a dream but then a slow realisation of what had happened: She had been Called. A sweat broke out on her brow as the world suddenly began to seem a daunting place. The phone ringing on the reception desk tore her attention away from her new 'condition'. She hesitantly picked it up.

"Hello."

"Hope? You've grown up a bit."

Hope smiled as she recognised the voice and the face. "Xander. God we haven't heard from you in so long. How are you?" She peered into the video screen at Xanders' anxious face. "Xander, what has happened? Is it Anya and the baby?"

"No. Anya still hasn't had our baby boy yet. Hope I thought I should tell you. Our Slayer died tonight, about a hour ago."

"I know." She stated in a quiet voice.

"How could you know alread…" Xander trailed off. "I see. Are you OK? Does Angel know?"

"I'm fine, a little shaken but fine. I haven't told dad, as he would stop me from going to my Graduation Ball tonight. Listen here he comes. I will call later and tell you about my new Watcher. He should be here in twelve hours."

"Hope. Good luck." Xander said defeated and knowingly before disconnecting the video link.

Hope was just attaching the last piece of hair with a grip when someone knocked at her bedroom door.

"Who is it?"

"Its Buffy. Can I come in?"

"OK." Hope sighed and prepared to be civil.

"Oh Hope you look amazing. You look so like Angel… except the dress and make-up." Buffy giggled. " I thought you might like to wear these." Buffy opened up a small black box to reveal a pair of pearl earrings. "They were my mothers and she gave them to me so I thought I you might wear them as I don't think I will be having anymore children and I don't think that Jack would suit them.

"Oh, I have these." Hope flashed the diamond earrings that sat perfectly n her ear lobes. "They were the ones that Dad gave to mom on her 20th birthday." Hope turned around to Buffy and lost her fake smile. "Buffy I don't need another mother thanks."

A shout echoed from down stares. "Hope. Sam is here. Are you ready yet?"

"Yeah dad, I'll be down in a sec."

Sam stood in the middle of the vast entrance hall looking rather nervous. He couldn't wait to see Hope in her dress. He had sneaked a peak at it earlier in the week and it looked lovely. The red would bring out her brown hair wonderfully. But he was nervous because to night was the night. The night that he was going to tell Hope how he felt about her. Sam had asked Angels advise and he had told him to go for it because he'll never know what could have been. Sam detected that he was talking about what had happened with Hopes mom more than he was about Hope and himself. Tonight would be the night where he gained or lost the most important person in his life: Hope O'Connor.

Hope slowly descended the marble staircase in the middle of the Hyperion. She took in a small breath as she looked at Sam in his tuxedo, looking like the James Bond of her mother's days. Her newly improved hearing heard Sam mirror her breath and she smiled. Buffy lingered at the top of the stairs knowing that this was not her place and that this isn't where she belonged, Angel or no Angel.

Sam took Hopes hand and turned to Angel. "Thank-you Mr O' Conner. I think I might just take your advice."

"Call me Angel as I feel you may be around me for much longer now."

Hope turned to ask Angel what Sam had meant but Sam took her arm and whisked her away to his waiting car. Angel simply smiled as he took her picture with his old instant camera and looked at the picture. It may as well been Cordelia that was standing there. Sam winked at him and drove silently down the street.

At The Ball:

Sam felt good holding Hope in his arms. Angel's advice had been solid and now he was ready. He let Hope a little away from his body and looked at her brown eyes.

"Sam!"

"Hope!"

They spoke at the same time.

"Sam, I have something to tell you. I was Called tonight. At the hotel. Xander phoned to tell me that the last Slayer had died and that maybe I should be prepared for me to be next. But I knew already."

Sam simply smiled at her. "Well I better kiss you before you slay me then."

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. A blue spark, that no one else could see, passed between their lips. The Fates had decided.

Fin….at bloody last.