Hey. Don't own it, just corrupt it. Enjoy, R&R! ~Anoron
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Faith looked into the living room through the gaping hole where the window had been an hour ago. The five on the couch still had not moved, though they were talking and laughing with each other. She turned away and joined Angel sitting on the dilapidated swings.
"So what brings you all the way out to Boston?" she grinned through a haze of cigarette smoke.
Angel shrugged. "I thought it was time for a visit. Looks like I picked a good time to drop by," he commented wryly.
"Yeah. Thanks, for your help in there. So, what's with the junior Fang Gang tagging along?"
Angel looked in at his son, and the girl who was almost like his daughter by now as they joked and laughed and wiped various remains of the food fight from their bodies. A defeated laugh escaped his lips. "Stowaways. Didn't even smell them till I was half way here," he admitted.
Faith laughed at him, then became thoughtful and sobered up. "Guess we're both unfit to take care of our dependants today. Time was, I would've been the one to organise that party, and I would've been the one to yell 'food fight', and I would've dared Richie and Justin and Circus to crash for as long as humanly possible. And tonight, all I could think of was the mess that we'd have to clean up, and all the things that could, and frickin' *did* go wrong. What's wrong with me, Angel?"
Angel chuckled by way of response. "I think they call it responsibility, Faith. You had to find it eventually."
"Yeah well right now I'm jonesing for the type of responsibility where I get to kick Malcolm and Reese's asses for getting me into this mess. Wanna come and play?" Faith flicked her cigarette butt away and stood.
A second later, Angel joined her. "Yeah, I've got a couple of asses in there to kick myself."
As Angel and Faith reappeared, the group on the couch quietened down. They all shifted a little to sit up straighter and Dewey was happy to find himself sitting half on Dawn's lap. Reese narrowed his eyes at his little brother.
With the formidable forms of Faith and Angel looming above them, Connor and Dawn, Reese and Malcolm, and even Dewey all suppressed whimpers. It was Faith who went first, delivering her justice.
"Right. You guys are going to make sure every inch of this place is *exactly* how Mom and Dad left it, and you've got four hours. Then, you're gonna figure out exactly how you're going to pay for all these broken windows. So get to it!"
The three Wilkerson boys were off the couch and hard at work in a flash. Faith tossed a satisfied smile at Angel, indicating it was his turn to play the punisher. His large frame seemed to grow even larger compared to the lithe forms of the teens almost cowering in front of him, but he could smell no fear on them. After all, what was he going to do to them, really?
"Ok, Connor, Dawn, here's what's going to happen. You're both going to get up, and you're going to help the boys clean this place up. Then, depending on what kind of job you do with that, we'll see what's going to happen next."
Connor and Dawn exchanged incredulous glances. Cleaning duty? This was unbelievable, all they had done was come to visit an old friend! Dawn was dangerously close to pouting when Angel's voice changed her mind for her.
"What are you waiting for?"
Connor sprang up to begin work, forcefully pulling Dawn with him.
Faith watched the miracle child and the ex ball of energy working in synch with eyebrows raised. She inched over to Angel to whisper in his ear. "Yo, Connor and Dawn- they're not getting down and dirty are they?"
Grimacing against the incredibly wrong mental image those words brought up, Angel shook his head. "No. Almost wish they were sometimes," he admitted.
"What?" Faith broke in loudly, causing all the others in the room to stare at her. "Get back to work," she snapped and lowered her voice again.
"Why the hell would you wish that?" she hissed.
Angel sighed. "Dawn and Connor have taken to each other like brother and sister, which is great for them. But they're an unstoppable force that way, they've got my entire crew and half the people in Wolfram and Hart wrapped around their little fingers. At least if the were just going with the raging hormones, I could give them both the most painfully embarrassing talks that would make them never even want to think of sex ever again."
Faith thought it over a moment. "Yeah, getting 'the talk' from my Mom was bad enough, I don't think I could handle it coming from you."
By some miracle, by Saturday morning the house was almost back to normal. Minus actually having windows, of course. Faith and Angel had left the five younger people to handle the clean-up, instead opting to go out patrolling until just before the dawn broke.
The boys and Dawn were exhausted. Faith and Angel had come home to find the five of them all passed out in the boys' room, squashed onto the two beds together and covered in filth. Reese's hands were covered in cuts and scratches where he had volunteered to pick up all the glass from the broken windows to impress Dawn, and the others, had let him.
"From the looks of them, I'd say they've only been asleep for about half an hour," Angel guessed.
"Yeah, they really worked hard to get this place cleaned up," Faith agreed.
"We should probably let them sleep for a few hours," Angel realised.
"They do look exhausted," Faith admitted. Then, in the very next breath, she yelled at the top of her lungs, "Wake up!"
Angel had to smother a smile as the five kids bolted upright. Connor had flown to his feet in a defensive stance, and Dawn had tensed, expecting the worst from experience. The second Reese realised what Faith had done, he groaned and rolled over, preparing to go back to sleep, and Dewey was looking over the side of the bed to Malcolm, who was sitting on the hard floor and rubbing his backside.
"Ow," Malcolm mumbled sleepily. "What did you have to go and do that for?"
"I don't see any brand spankin' new glass in those windows, so I don't see why you guys have time to sleep," Faith reasoned, kicking Reese off his bed to get him moving.
Reese glowered up at her. "You know, if you're not careful you're going to end up just like Mom."
Faith's eyes widened. Malcolm and Dewey cringed. "You take that back!" Faith ordered, pulling Reese roughly to his feet.
Malcolm's Aside: "I think I just lost a brother."
Reese gulped. Faith's hand was around his throat. "Please don't kill me," he squeaked.
"Hey, we figured it out!" Malcolm rushed in at the last second, saving Reese from certain death by the hand of his irate sister.
Faith calmed a little, but still kept her rough grip around Reese's throat as she turned towards Malcolm. "What?"
"Well, I called Francis when the guys wouldn't leave last night. He told me that Richie keeps his Mom's credit card in his back pocket, so when they were fleeing in terror from the insane vampire about to rip their throats out-"
"Hey!" Angel protested.
"You did look pretty pissed," Dawn reminded him.
"Anyway, when they ran past, I knocked into Richie and swiped the card!" Malcolm finished and produced the stolen credit card with a flourish.
"All right, Mal!" Faith dropped Reese on his backside and snatched the card out of Malcolm's hand. She went and retrieved the phone to call the glass company, leaving the others to sigh in relief over the averted disaster of a rogue Slayer on the warpath.
By Saturday afternoon, the house was as good as new. Well, better, because it had just had the best cleaning it had seen in months and there weren't yet any finger smudges on the glass. Faith insisted Angel, Connor and Dawn could stay another night with them, before getting on the road after sunset Sunday.
"Are you sure this is ok? You won't get into any trouble?" Angel asked for the hundredth time as Faith closed the blinds to her parents room and motioned him into the sunblocked room.
"Yeah. I told you- my parents won't even be back until Monday morning, so you can sleep in here tonight. I already made up the couch for Dawn, and Connor can cram into the boys' room."
"Thanks, Faith." Angel grinned wearily as he sat on the bed to pull his shoes off. She turned to leave him in peace, but he called out to stop her. "I'm glad you're happy here."
"Yeah. I'm insane that way," Faith replied with a grin as she left. She went into the living room to find Dawn and Reese spaced out in front of the tv, watching a wrestling re-run. "Dawn, you actually watch that crap?"
Dawn shrugged tiredly. "Spike used to let me watch it with him. He said it was good for me to get desensitised to all the violence that would be an inevitable part of my life. And yet he wouldn't teach me how to use weapons to defend myself. Go figure."
"Don't worry- that never goes well," Reese piped up, memories of puncture wounds and hospital beds fresh in his mind.
Watching her brother with the sister of her sister Slayer, Faith grinned devilishly. She wandered off into the kitchen to find Malcolm slumped at the table, still tired after his whole half-hour sleep the night before. He looked up and noticed his sister's grin.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, just watching Reese and Dawn over there. You know, I wouldn't be all that upset if he broke up with that Alison moron for a girl who lives on the opposite side of the country."
Malcolm furrowed his brow. "Ok, I know he has a thing for Dawn, but why would he do that? I mean, that's just ridiculous, what would be the point?"
"It is Reese," Faith reminded him.
Malcolm's Aside: "I can't believe I'm saying this, but she makes a good case."
The next night, Faith and the boys went outside to see Angel, Connor and Dawn off. The Plymouth had just pulled away from the curb when a familiar car turned onto their street. All their eyes widened as Angel's car disappeared around the corner, aware at exactly how close their parents were to discovering they'd broken the 'nobody under any circumstances over while we are away' rule.
Hal and Lois pulled up to the curb in the space Angel's car had occupied only seconds before and got out. They both looked even more tense than when they had left.
"You guys are home early," Malcolm commented.
"It was your mother's fault," Hal said quickly. "There we were, having a nice relaxing weekend, everything was just perfect, we had another fabulous afternoon and night to go, when-"
"My water broke," Lois finished, looking exasperated. "And it's not like I meant it to happen right in the middle of lunch, Hal! I'm sure if we just explained the term 'non-refundable' to the baby, it'd be happy to just hang on a couple of days so we can finish our holiday!" she screamed sarcastically.
"You think so?" Hal asked, hope creeping into his voice, barely noticing Lois flinching from another contraction.
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Faith looked into the living room through the gaping hole where the window had been an hour ago. The five on the couch still had not moved, though they were talking and laughing with each other. She turned away and joined Angel sitting on the dilapidated swings.
"So what brings you all the way out to Boston?" she grinned through a haze of cigarette smoke.
Angel shrugged. "I thought it was time for a visit. Looks like I picked a good time to drop by," he commented wryly.
"Yeah. Thanks, for your help in there. So, what's with the junior Fang Gang tagging along?"
Angel looked in at his son, and the girl who was almost like his daughter by now as they joked and laughed and wiped various remains of the food fight from their bodies. A defeated laugh escaped his lips. "Stowaways. Didn't even smell them till I was half way here," he admitted.
Faith laughed at him, then became thoughtful and sobered up. "Guess we're both unfit to take care of our dependants today. Time was, I would've been the one to organise that party, and I would've been the one to yell 'food fight', and I would've dared Richie and Justin and Circus to crash for as long as humanly possible. And tonight, all I could think of was the mess that we'd have to clean up, and all the things that could, and frickin' *did* go wrong. What's wrong with me, Angel?"
Angel chuckled by way of response. "I think they call it responsibility, Faith. You had to find it eventually."
"Yeah well right now I'm jonesing for the type of responsibility where I get to kick Malcolm and Reese's asses for getting me into this mess. Wanna come and play?" Faith flicked her cigarette butt away and stood.
A second later, Angel joined her. "Yeah, I've got a couple of asses in there to kick myself."
As Angel and Faith reappeared, the group on the couch quietened down. They all shifted a little to sit up straighter and Dewey was happy to find himself sitting half on Dawn's lap. Reese narrowed his eyes at his little brother.
With the formidable forms of Faith and Angel looming above them, Connor and Dawn, Reese and Malcolm, and even Dewey all suppressed whimpers. It was Faith who went first, delivering her justice.
"Right. You guys are going to make sure every inch of this place is *exactly* how Mom and Dad left it, and you've got four hours. Then, you're gonna figure out exactly how you're going to pay for all these broken windows. So get to it!"
The three Wilkerson boys were off the couch and hard at work in a flash. Faith tossed a satisfied smile at Angel, indicating it was his turn to play the punisher. His large frame seemed to grow even larger compared to the lithe forms of the teens almost cowering in front of him, but he could smell no fear on them. After all, what was he going to do to them, really?
"Ok, Connor, Dawn, here's what's going to happen. You're both going to get up, and you're going to help the boys clean this place up. Then, depending on what kind of job you do with that, we'll see what's going to happen next."
Connor and Dawn exchanged incredulous glances. Cleaning duty? This was unbelievable, all they had done was come to visit an old friend! Dawn was dangerously close to pouting when Angel's voice changed her mind for her.
"What are you waiting for?"
Connor sprang up to begin work, forcefully pulling Dawn with him.
Faith watched the miracle child and the ex ball of energy working in synch with eyebrows raised. She inched over to Angel to whisper in his ear. "Yo, Connor and Dawn- they're not getting down and dirty are they?"
Grimacing against the incredibly wrong mental image those words brought up, Angel shook his head. "No. Almost wish they were sometimes," he admitted.
"What?" Faith broke in loudly, causing all the others in the room to stare at her. "Get back to work," she snapped and lowered her voice again.
"Why the hell would you wish that?" she hissed.
Angel sighed. "Dawn and Connor have taken to each other like brother and sister, which is great for them. But they're an unstoppable force that way, they've got my entire crew and half the people in Wolfram and Hart wrapped around their little fingers. At least if the were just going with the raging hormones, I could give them both the most painfully embarrassing talks that would make them never even want to think of sex ever again."
Faith thought it over a moment. "Yeah, getting 'the talk' from my Mom was bad enough, I don't think I could handle it coming from you."
By some miracle, by Saturday morning the house was almost back to normal. Minus actually having windows, of course. Faith and Angel had left the five younger people to handle the clean-up, instead opting to go out patrolling until just before the dawn broke.
The boys and Dawn were exhausted. Faith and Angel had come home to find the five of them all passed out in the boys' room, squashed onto the two beds together and covered in filth. Reese's hands were covered in cuts and scratches where he had volunteered to pick up all the glass from the broken windows to impress Dawn, and the others, had let him.
"From the looks of them, I'd say they've only been asleep for about half an hour," Angel guessed.
"Yeah, they really worked hard to get this place cleaned up," Faith agreed.
"We should probably let them sleep for a few hours," Angel realised.
"They do look exhausted," Faith admitted. Then, in the very next breath, she yelled at the top of her lungs, "Wake up!"
Angel had to smother a smile as the five kids bolted upright. Connor had flown to his feet in a defensive stance, and Dawn had tensed, expecting the worst from experience. The second Reese realised what Faith had done, he groaned and rolled over, preparing to go back to sleep, and Dewey was looking over the side of the bed to Malcolm, who was sitting on the hard floor and rubbing his backside.
"Ow," Malcolm mumbled sleepily. "What did you have to go and do that for?"
"I don't see any brand spankin' new glass in those windows, so I don't see why you guys have time to sleep," Faith reasoned, kicking Reese off his bed to get him moving.
Reese glowered up at her. "You know, if you're not careful you're going to end up just like Mom."
Faith's eyes widened. Malcolm and Dewey cringed. "You take that back!" Faith ordered, pulling Reese roughly to his feet.
Malcolm's Aside: "I think I just lost a brother."
Reese gulped. Faith's hand was around his throat. "Please don't kill me," he squeaked.
"Hey, we figured it out!" Malcolm rushed in at the last second, saving Reese from certain death by the hand of his irate sister.
Faith calmed a little, but still kept her rough grip around Reese's throat as she turned towards Malcolm. "What?"
"Well, I called Francis when the guys wouldn't leave last night. He told me that Richie keeps his Mom's credit card in his back pocket, so when they were fleeing in terror from the insane vampire about to rip their throats out-"
"Hey!" Angel protested.
"You did look pretty pissed," Dawn reminded him.
"Anyway, when they ran past, I knocked into Richie and swiped the card!" Malcolm finished and produced the stolen credit card with a flourish.
"All right, Mal!" Faith dropped Reese on his backside and snatched the card out of Malcolm's hand. She went and retrieved the phone to call the glass company, leaving the others to sigh in relief over the averted disaster of a rogue Slayer on the warpath.
By Saturday afternoon, the house was as good as new. Well, better, because it had just had the best cleaning it had seen in months and there weren't yet any finger smudges on the glass. Faith insisted Angel, Connor and Dawn could stay another night with them, before getting on the road after sunset Sunday.
"Are you sure this is ok? You won't get into any trouble?" Angel asked for the hundredth time as Faith closed the blinds to her parents room and motioned him into the sunblocked room.
"Yeah. I told you- my parents won't even be back until Monday morning, so you can sleep in here tonight. I already made up the couch for Dawn, and Connor can cram into the boys' room."
"Thanks, Faith." Angel grinned wearily as he sat on the bed to pull his shoes off. She turned to leave him in peace, but he called out to stop her. "I'm glad you're happy here."
"Yeah. I'm insane that way," Faith replied with a grin as she left. She went into the living room to find Dawn and Reese spaced out in front of the tv, watching a wrestling re-run. "Dawn, you actually watch that crap?"
Dawn shrugged tiredly. "Spike used to let me watch it with him. He said it was good for me to get desensitised to all the violence that would be an inevitable part of my life. And yet he wouldn't teach me how to use weapons to defend myself. Go figure."
"Don't worry- that never goes well," Reese piped up, memories of puncture wounds and hospital beds fresh in his mind.
Watching her brother with the sister of her sister Slayer, Faith grinned devilishly. She wandered off into the kitchen to find Malcolm slumped at the table, still tired after his whole half-hour sleep the night before. He looked up and noticed his sister's grin.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, just watching Reese and Dawn over there. You know, I wouldn't be all that upset if he broke up with that Alison moron for a girl who lives on the opposite side of the country."
Malcolm furrowed his brow. "Ok, I know he has a thing for Dawn, but why would he do that? I mean, that's just ridiculous, what would be the point?"
"It is Reese," Faith reminded him.
Malcolm's Aside: "I can't believe I'm saying this, but she makes a good case."
The next night, Faith and the boys went outside to see Angel, Connor and Dawn off. The Plymouth had just pulled away from the curb when a familiar car turned onto their street. All their eyes widened as Angel's car disappeared around the corner, aware at exactly how close their parents were to discovering they'd broken the 'nobody under any circumstances over while we are away' rule.
Hal and Lois pulled up to the curb in the space Angel's car had occupied only seconds before and got out. They both looked even more tense than when they had left.
"You guys are home early," Malcolm commented.
"It was your mother's fault," Hal said quickly. "There we were, having a nice relaxing weekend, everything was just perfect, we had another fabulous afternoon and night to go, when-"
"My water broke," Lois finished, looking exasperated. "And it's not like I meant it to happen right in the middle of lunch, Hal! I'm sure if we just explained the term 'non-refundable' to the baby, it'd be happy to just hang on a couple of days so we can finish our holiday!" she screamed sarcastically.
"You think so?" Hal asked, hope creeping into his voice, barely noticing Lois flinching from another contraction.
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