Twist of Fate: Chapter 33
by Lisette

Legalese: See Chapter 1 for disclaimers and ratings.

Sighing softly, Miss Parker slowly turned from side to side, trying to work the aches from her tired muscles as she cursed the hardness of the unforgiving chairs. To think that the hospital would have made at least a little bit of effort to create a more comfortable atmosphere for a room in which people were destined to wait for long periods of time. Then again, this was Sunnyhell they were talking about, and not a Centre facility. Grimacing at that thought, Miss Parker stilled as she realized that had it been a Centre facility, all traces of comfort would be missing. Sighing again, she shook the troubling thoughts away as she slowly rotated her neck, grimacing at the pains shooting through her tired limbs.

"Tired?" a soft voice asked from behind her as large, gentle hands settled on her aching muscles, skilled fingers working through the hard knots.

Sighing again, this time in pleasure, Miss Parker's eyes drifted shut as Jarod's hands worked magic upon her... until the realization sunk in that it was indeed Jarod behind her. Frowning, she quickly pulled away, dark eyes locking on his amused grin before she scowled at her tormentor. Even when they were on apparent same sides she still couldn't allow herself to completely relax in his presence - ignoring of course the previous day when she all but curled up against him in the mansion. Scowling even more, she shook that thought away. Perhaps she never would be able to - should never be able to relax with him. There was just too much past between them.

"I'm going to the bathroom," she muttered, turning away before she made an even bigger fool of herself before the Pretender. And without another word, she walked towards the sole door in the room, her head held high and her heeled boots clicking on the hard floor. Amazingly enough, she was able to maintain this display just until she was safely hidden behind the door. Then, and only then, everything came crashing down as her shoulders slumped, a frown pulling at her lips as her eyes took in the broad hallway that spread before her. "Get it together, Parker," she berated herself softly as, now faced with no choice, she began down the hall in search of the elusive women's bathroom.

Muttering quietly to herself, Miss Parker's eyes swept along the empty hall, freezing on the slight form that was stumbling her way towards her. Startled, the girl's name left her lips as she broke from her paralysis and reached the girl, just as her weakened limbs collapsed from beneath her, sending her sagging into Miss Parker's arms. "Buffy!" she gasped, easing the girl down to the hard ground. "What are you-" she began, her words dying at the confusion portrayed in the girl's dark brown eyes.

"Hardly," the brunette retorted, her dark eyes flashing. "Sorry lady, but the name's Faith."

"Faith?" Miss Parker murmured, a frown pulling at her lips before it was replaced by a knowing smile. "Then it work-"

"Listen," Faith cut in, her eyes drifting back to the room she had just abandoned, "there's a dead guy in that room-"

On her feet before the girl had even finished, Miss Parker hurried to the room, her heart pounding heavily within her chest - only to still at the sight of Mr. Fletcher lying in a pool of his own blood. "Shit," she cursed, her eyes flashing as they turned to the empty hospital bed that had held a petite blond slayer just a few minutes before. "Shit!" she cursed again as she turned away and hurried back to the other slayer's side. "Listen, Faith, what happened? Where's Buffy?" she asked, the girl's gaze narrowing even further.

"B?" Faith returned, her expression shifting into one that slowly began to resemble concern. "I - I don't remember," she began, her voice faltering as she struggled to her feet.

"Faith," Parker quickly interrupted, her hard voice snapping the girl's attention back to her, "I need you to head that way and go in that door at the end of the hall," she instructed, waving in the direction that she had come from. "The others are there. Tell them that something has happened - the spell worked, but someone took Buffy. Tell them that I went after them!" she finished as she turned and began heading in the opposite direction.

"And how in the hell do you propose I do that?!" Faith cried out, her voice falling on deaf ears before she grimaced and turned back, her eyes following the long line of the hall. "Oh, you've got to be freaking kidding me!" she groaned before slowly gritting her teeth and starting her long trek. "B, you're gonna owe me big for this."

Pacing slowly, Xander allowed his gaze to drift over the room, now empty save the Scoobies and their friends from the Centre - and the Watcher guy, of course. "So... how long does this spell-thingie take, anyway?" he asked, eyes locking on the British-Watcher-Dude's eyes.

"As long as it takes," Samuel replied, his clipped tones betraying the fact that it wasn't the first time that he had answered the teen's same question.

Grunting noncommittally, Xander shrugged and continued to pace, stopping only when the door to the hall swung open behind him, admitting a familiar and stumbling figure. "Buffy!" he cried out, instantly by the girl's side as she fell against him.

For a moment, Faith sagged against her savior before both his stunned statement and his identity caused her to shove him away. "Xander, what the hell do you think you're doing?" she snapped as she stumbled away from him, her legs finally giving way as she tumbled to an ungraceful heap on the floor. "And I don't know what crack you're smoking, but as I already told the other chick, I'm not B!" she added, a thick silence falling over the room as the group of Scoobies and strangers alike pulled back, eyes now watching her warily. But this suspicion was something that she was accustomed to - never something that she enjoyed, but with her memories coming flooding back, it was to be expected - which was why it completely floored her when Giles, of all people, broke away from the others and slowly knelt before her, concern flashing in his brown eyes.

"Faith, are you alright?" he asked, gently helping her to a chair as Buffy's words flashed through his mind - her words begging the others to give the rogue slayer the chance that Buffy believed that she deserved. "What do you remember?"

Completely thrown by Giles' treatment of her, Faith tried to sort through her confusing thoughts. "There was a fight, between B and I," she finally murmured, her eyes skipping away from his. "And then dreams... strange dreams. I - I was in trouble," she continued, a small frown pulling at her lips, "and I asked B to send help... but then B was in trouble and then it was like we kind of came together," she added, her brown eyes widening as she quickly looked to Giles' for confirmation that she wasn't really losing it.

"Yes, you saved her life," Giles confirmed, a small smile pulling at his lips. "You've been in a coma for close to a year now, yet even while in this state, you somehow managed to pull Buffy's mind within you."

Confused, Faith slowly shook her head before something else came back to her. "Oh yeah, and then I woke up to find myself in a hospital room with a dead guy," she began, the rest of her words dying away as some guy dressed in a suit, followed closely by Xander, Willow, and Oz bolted from the room. As Giles and a doctor went to follow, Faith quickly drew them back. "Hold up and let me finish!" she protested, her sharp tone doing the trick more than the words themselves. "Listen, that lady said to tell you guys that someone took B - the lady was going after them," she finished as a look of panic twisted the hot doctor's features.

"Miss Parker," the guy muttered before turning and hurrying away, Giles quickly on his heels... which left Faith alone in the waiting room.

"Well that went well," she muttered, stretching out aching limbs and slowly leaning back in the hard chair she occupied - which was when she got her first good look at the clothes she was wearing. "Oh, hell no!" she muttered, dark eyes taking in the loose-fitting khakis and sensible long-sleeve shirt. Grimacing, she noted that there wasn't an ounce of cleavage visible anywhere and that her usual curves were hidden beneath the baggy clothes. "Oh B, we're really going to have a conversation when you get your little ass back here," she added as she stumbled to her feet, on a mission for a mirror to see what other damage had been done.

As the door rebounded off of the concrete wall behind her, Miss Parker swept into the parking garage, her gun cocked and ready. In seconds her brown eyes locked on the two figures standing only a few hundred feet away, Buffy's small form draped in Willie's arms. "Hold it right there!" she called out, her words freezing them as she hurried forward, her gun never wavering from her targets. As a feeling of deja vu swept over her, Miss Parker tried to push away memories of such a similar scene, played out only a few days ago. Only that time she had been on the receiving end of the gun and had been the one trying to bolt with a Slayer. "Put the girl down, Willie," she ordered, her voice cold as she finished the distance between them.

For a moment, it looked as though the trained sweeper was going to refuse before common sense kicked in. He had worked alongside Miss Parker for the past four years. He knew, probably better than most, that she wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger. With a small shrug he slowly bent down and deposited his burden on the cold cement ground, the girl still and unmoving. Frowning, Miss Parker was about to tell him to use common sense and move the poor girl when Raines interrupted her thoughts.

"You know... that with the death of your brother... the Triumvirate has placed me in charge," he stated in between greedy lungfuls of air.

"So you finally got your wish," Miss Parker retorted, trying to shrug away his words. She had to remind herself that it had been forever ago since she had cared about what went on in the Centre - a complete lie, she knew. Even if she was cutting ties with the corporation that had run her life, it had been a part of that same life for far too long for Miss Parker to ever truly let it go. At least it no longer consumed her. "And if that's the case, what are you doing back in Sunnydale? Don't you have a business to run?" she asked snidely, her eyes never leaving her two opponents. She didn't need to be told that distractions could get her killed.

"To retrieve what's mine," Mr. Raines replied with a smile that seemed reptilian, his lips thin and discolored as he nodded towards Buffy's unconscious form.

Eyes narrowing, Miss Parker tried to control her disgust at his words. To think that it had been only days since she shared his mindset. She had spent the last four years convincing herself that Jarod was nothing more than a lab rat - property of the Centre that needed to be returned to its rightful place. Now Raines was spreading that view to the innocent girl whose life they had worked so hard at to ruin - a mind almost destroyed by their hands. Not any longer. "Back away from her," she order, her voice clipped.

Instantly Willie complied, taking a few steps away from Buffy while Raines began moving towards Miss Parker, his steps slow and assured. "As Mr. Lyle said to you yesterday, your father is dead," he said, relishing in the look of pain that flashed across Miss Parker's closed features, "along with his new wife, Brigitte, and her unborn child... and now Mr. Lyle," he rasped, his voice cold as he inspected her tall frame. "Would you really kill the only family that you have left in this world?"

At his words, Miss Parker couldn't help the harsh laughter that broke free, her features twisted with hatred. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Raines, but you're hardly what I'd consider family," she sneered, her eyes flickering over his tight features. "I've always hated you - just like my mother."

Smiling, Raines slowly shook his bald head, his beady eyes dancing. "Your mother never hated me," he corrected, "for how could she hate the father of her children?"

As his words washed over her, Miss Parker felt her jaw drop, her eyes widening in shock, just as the stairwell door banged open behind her. Startled, Miss Parker turned reflexively, long enough to see Jarod and Giles pour through the doorway - but it was a moment too long. Even as she turned back she was swinging her gun towards the sweeper that was pulling his own pistol from his holster, taking advantage of her distraction just as they had been trained to do. Simultaneously, both Willie and Miss Parker fired their weapons, the rapport of the two guns deafening in the cavernous garage. And almost simultaneously, both bullets found their mark, sending both Miss Parker and Willie to the ground, unmoving, in a spray of blood.

"Parker!" Jarod called out, his voice cracking as he quickly began to move towards the downed woman, only to freeze as Raines pulled his own gun free and leveled it at the two men.

"Well now," Raines muttered, a scowl twisting his sharp features, "this complicates matters." Beady eyes quickly moved from Jarod to Giles, Buffy, and his dead sweeper, a bloody hole above his heart, and quickly his dilemma became obvious. With Willie dead and himself in no condition to carry the unconscious Slayer, he was at a quandary, of sorts. Sighing, he debated his options before waving his gun in Giles' direction, the watcher flinching away from the weapon. "Pick up the Slayer," he ordered, swinging his gun back to lock on the Pretender as the man quickly did as ordered, scooping the slight girl into his arms, grunting slightly against her dead weight. Nodding his head, he cracked a smile that caused Giles' blood to run cold. "It seems that you get your wish," he rasped as he indicated for Giles to walk towards him, "for you get to accompany your Ward and I to the Centre."

Confused, Jarod slowly shook his head. This wasn't what he had been expecting. "What about me?" he asked, unable to stop himself from voicing his confusion even as his eyes caught movement from the corner of his eye. Subtlety, he glanced to his right and nearly stumbled as he watched Miss Parker reach for her gun.

"I'm learning from the mistakes of my predecessors," Raines replied, drawing Jarod's attention once again. "I find you much more trouble than you're worth," he said as his finger tightened on the trigger.

For a moment Jarod wasn't able to process the fact that Raines had just signed his death warrant. And then, when his words finally filtered through and his meaning became clear, Jarod found himself speechless. This was the one turn of events that he had never anticipated from the Centre. Struggling with this thought, Jarod slowly turned away from the hollow barrel of the gun, his eyes instead searching out Miss Parker. And to think that he was never going to get the chance, after all, to do all that he had set out to do on the day that he escaped from the Centre... was never going to say all the things that he had still managed to leave unsaid. But the bullet never came.

As Jarod turned back to Raines, he saw the man's gun already swinging on an arc towards Miss Parker's downed form, having been alerted by Jarod's direct gaze. But before his gun could finish its deadly path, another gun shot rang out in the cold garage as a single bullet tore through Raines, leaving a bloody hole right between his eyes and exploding behind in a spray of dark matter. Shocked, Jarod watched as the man's dead body joined its comrade on the ground before quickly shaking off his paralysis and hurrying to the one that was still alive. "Parker, where are you hit?" he asked as he fell to his knees on the ground beside her, the hand holding the gun falling limply to her side.

"Shoulder," Miss Parker murmured, a painful grimace distorting her pale features. "Just lucky... Willie's a lousy shot," she laughed, her words dying under a hiss of agony as Jarod pushed down on the wound, hot red blood pooling around his fingers, a feeling of deja vu sweeping over her. What was with her and getting shot in the shoulder and Jarod coming to her rescue? But damn, she didn't remember the last time hurting quite this bad. And it was even the same freaking shoulder!

"Giles, get some help down here!" Jarod ordered, his eyes never leaving Miss Parker's as tears shimmered in her eyes. "Hang in there, Parker, hang on," he soothed, worry mixing with relief at seeing her still alive and fighting. When he had seen her go down... it felt as though a part of him died as well.

"Jarod," she whispered, dark eyes locking with his own as she weakly tried to lift a pale hand to rest on his own, blood staining both their skin, "sorry..."

"For what?" the Pretender asked, confusion clouding his features.

"For the last.. four years," she murmured, eyes fluttering before focusing on his face with characteristic Parker determination. The hell if she'd be passing out before this got said. It was just a shoulder wound, but you could never be too sure - there were complications and accidents all the time in hospitals. Then again, with Jarod beside her she knew that she'd be safe. He'd never let her down. Not like she had for so long. "I'm so sorry," she whispered again, a single tear breaking free and tracing down her cheek. From the pain, of course. Just because it hurt so much.

Smiling softly, Jarod wished that he could wipe her tear away. Instead, he contented himself with pressing even harder against the wound, causing the brunette to hiss in pain, her eyes flashing angrily at him. "Trust me when I say that your actions during the past few days have made up for anything that's happened in the past... Tommy would have been proud," he murmured, watching as her face softened and another tear broke free.

"I loved him," she murmured, her voice thick with emotion as a tremulous smile lifted her lips.

"And he loved you, too," Jarod assured, a small smile pulling at his lips. "He loved you more than anything in the world."

"He... just wanted me to be loved," she whispered, her smile faltering under a wave of tears.

"You are, more than you could ever know..."