MAY IT BE
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Scoobies and I do not own AI. If I did then I would be sitting on truckloads of money and hiring someone to do my homework for me. Pyro agrees with this statement, but is too busy herself doing aforementioned homework and making tiny s'mores over candles to tell you herself.
A/N: This takes place two years after season seven of Buffy and season four of Angel and parts of it are AUed. Buffy and crew went to stay at Angel's hotel, you know since their home went all ka-boom like, and Spike (not dead Spike) is in San Diego. In addition, Angel still owns W&H, just lives at the hotel.
CHAPTER 3
Nicole looked up, blinking a few times slowly. "What's my story?" she asked, cocking her head. When Faith nodded, she sneered. "None of your damn business," and with that, Nicole rolled over on her back, effectively ignoring the older woman. Faith stood and took one last look at the teen before leaving.
Nicole, hearing the door click shut, stood, and began to go through her suitcase, looking for pajamas. "None of your damn business," she muttered under her breath.
Faith made her way to her own room and thought about the raven-haired sullen teen. Something was bothering her, or it could just be normal teenage angst. Whatever it was, it wouldn't keep the slayer up at night.
It was dark. That was the first thing Faith noticed. It was dark and hot, and there was someone...…or something…... really close to her.
"Mommy?" a child's voice called. Faith held her breath. This seemed familiar but not. Closing her eyes, the dark-haired slayer pushed the memories in the dark recesses of her mind. "Mommy, I don't like the dark. I'll be good, promise!"
The door opened, allowing light to pour into the dark space. A woman in her late twenties, pregnant, looked down at the child who sat at Faith's feet. Neither of the two people noticed Faith. "Get out, Nicole," the woman muttered, waddling away as quickly as her legs could take her.
The child, Harper, Faith realized with a start, quickly made her way out of the dark closet and onto the couch, hugging one of the pillows. "I'll be good," she promised. "Daddy will come home if I do. I'll be a good girl."
Faith stood there before going over and sitting down next to the child. Awkwardly, she placed a hand on the girl's back, rubbing it slightly.
The child turned, and stared straight into Faith's dark eyes. "Are you an angel?"
Faith's mouth quirked upwards. "Far from it, kid."
"Oh," the little Nicole shrugged. "What are you?" Before Faith could respond, the doorbell rang. Scrambling off the couch, forgetting all about Faith, the child ran to the door. Quickly peeking out the window, she turned into the house. "Mommy, men like Daddy are here!"
Out came the pregnant woman, and opened the door, revealing three men, all in army uniforms. "Ma'am," the first one said, "I have some news to tell you…"
Faith woke with a start. Closets. Angels. Army. Were those the things that made up Harper's childhood? She shivered, though it was a warm night, somehow she didn't think this was the whole story.
The following morning Buffy walked into the large kitchen of the hotel, her nose stuck in a bridal magazine. The wedding was close yet decisions still had to be made concerning it.
"OK, Angel, I think I found the perfect roses," Buffy said, not looking up from her the magazine.
"They're-" She looked up, seeing only Cordelia, Fred, and Willow in the kitchen. "I thought Angel was in here."
"He just had some blood and left," Fred explained from where she sat at the table with Willow.
"Somebody mind telling me why I'm in love with a brooding, blood drinking, pretty much non-human freakaziod?" Buffy questioned.
"Have you taken a good look at him?" Willow reminded her with a smile. "I mean with the eyes and the muscles and the-" A look from Buffy cut her off. "Not that I've been looking," Willow said quickly, sitting her mug of herbal tea down on the table. "I-I'm a lesbian. Very lesbian-y." Fred awkwardly moved down a seat from Willow.
"You know, Buffy," Cordelia said, walking over to the table, putting her coffee cup down, and pulling out a chair for herself. "If you want roses at your wedding you might really want to consider specially dyed. I mean just red and pink at a wedding?" Cordelia made an "as if" face. "Not in good taste."
Buffy looked at Cordelia. The brunette had changed over the years but parts of her still had the classic Queen C charm. Buffy had to admit, though, Cordelia did have good taste in most things.
Her help on the wedding would definitely prove useful.
"So how about it, Buffy?" Cordelia nudged the slayer, wanting to know what she thought about the roses.
"I guess so," Buffy replied with a sigh then pouted. "I'm really not good at this."
"Well," Cordy smiled. "Consider me your personal wedding planner." She began to butter a piece of toast as she muttered, "God knows you need one. After all, you may be the slayer of all things demonic, but when it comes to fashion, I'm the slayer."
"Will you be throwing rice?" the other women looked towards Fred, who blushed slightly at all of the attention "Because studies have been shown that if you throw rice, birds eat it, stomach eruptions would occur, and there is a high possibility they would explode. Now am I the only one here who thinks that bird insides don't exactly make for a very happy wedding? In fact it could spoil the whole day," the petite scientist looked around as the three other women gaped at her. "But...... we were talking about flowers, right?"
"Who's talking about flowers?" Faith asked as she walked into the kitchen.
"Faith, what do you know about roses?" Cordelia asked the dark haired slayer.
Faith thought for a minute. "Hmm, sharp pointy things. But not really my thing, Cordy."
"Well, what about bridesmaids dresses?" Willow mentioned, turning her attention to Buffy.
"Have you picked colors yet?" Cordelia asked, interested in the color scheme that Buffy had chosen.
"No, but whatever the colors are I'm going to make sure it's hideous so that you grow to resent me and that we never speak to each other," Buffy replied.
"I can't wait," Willow beamed.
"Well," Fred chimed in. "There's always a bridal shop. Maybe we could, you know, go there?"
"Good idea, Fred," Buffy agreed, much to the delight of Fred. "Ladies, we're off to see the wizard."
"Wizard aye? You know what they say about them magic folk," Faith winked at Willow, who blushed slightly.
"Faith," Buffy said. "You really, really just sucked the joy out of this moment."
"I try," Faith shrugged. "Anyway, are we bringing the kids?"
"Kids?" Cordelia repeated, taking the information in slowly. "Since when are there kids. Did Connor suddenly multiply?"
"Nope," Faith shook her head.
"Spike did," Buffy clarified.
"Spike?" Cordelia echoed. "Oh. He made it here last night." She realized it. "He has kids?"
"Are you OK?" Willow asked Buffy with concern. "I-I mean this must be hard. Your fiancé and your ex-boyfriend all under the same roof and stuff."
"He has kids?" Cordelia repeated herself. "By what? I mean whom. I'm working on the considerate human being thing. Really."
"Adopted," Faith clarified. "Nicole, fourteen. Beth, five. Simple."
"Um, who exactly would give kids to a single man, let alone a single vampire?" Fred asked.
"Yeah…vampire," Faith agreed awkwardly. "So we going dress shopping or what?" she changed the subject quickly.
Buffy gave Faith a look and folded her arms. "Faith, what do you know?" She wasn't fooled by the dark slayer's trick for a moment. She was a pro at that.
"Don't lick a pole in the winter?" Faith answered with a shrug and a smirk.
"Faith-" Buffy started.
"Hey, you know," Faith said, interrupting the other slayer. "I really haven't had a good mall crawl in a while." She turned to Cordy. "You have to be up for it."
"But of course," Cordelia replied, an unidentifiable accent in her voice. "Let's do it."
In the hotel lobby, Beth sat on top of the front desk watching Spike and Nicole argue back and forth. It wasn't an unusual thing. In fact, it was one of the usual father/daughter "discussion".
"It's only a few bucks," Nicole tried to reason.
"I just gave you your allowance," Spike said, annoyance in his voice.
"Look, just give me some money. You've got it."
"Yes, I do." Spike smirked. "You don't. Now drop this."
Nick growled, "You are so-"
"Hey, Harper." Nicole turned and saw Faith and the other women walk up. "We're going to go prettify. You in?"
"Prettify?" Nicole repeated, sounding disgusted. She thought about it, thinking it would be better than hanging around with Spike. "Fine."
"Cool." Faith turned to Beth. "Come on, midget." She lifted the child into his arms. Buffy and the others headed for the double doors of the hotel, Nicole following them.
Spike wrapped an arm around Faith's waist before she could move. "You're honestly going to go prettify my daughter? Have you met Nicole?" He made air quotes around the word prettify. Faith couldn't help but smirk. Somehow, she never thought that William the Bloody would do something like that.
"Chill, Spike," Faith said. "While we're gone get some bonding time in with the boys or something."
"Oh, joy," Spike said dryly. Faith gave him a light yet amused smile. Spike turned to Beth. "And you, missy, better behave yourself."
"I always behave myself," Beth said simply. Spike gave her a look. "Well, I try."
"She knows to be good," Faith added.
"All right," Spike agreed. "Later."
"Later," Faith said, following the others out of the hotel. Beth gave her father a wave before she left.
"Spike?" The bleached blonde looked up to see Xander and Wesley standing on the top steps. Giles and Gunn could be seen behind them. "You're here?" Xander said.
Gunn broke in front of the men. "So this is Spike?" He scoffed. "Don't look like much."
"How did all of you wankers appear at once?" Spike groaned.
"Free hotel breakfast?" Xander shrugged a cocky smirk on his face.
A/N: This story is planned out but if anyone has any suggestions or ideas then please share. Please review.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Scoobies and I do not own AI. If I did then I would be sitting on truckloads of money and hiring someone to do my homework for me. Pyro agrees with this statement, but is too busy herself doing aforementioned homework and making tiny s'mores over candles to tell you herself.
A/N: This takes place two years after season seven of Buffy and season four of Angel and parts of it are AUed. Buffy and crew went to stay at Angel's hotel, you know since their home went all ka-boom like, and Spike (not dead Spike) is in San Diego. In addition, Angel still owns W&H, just lives at the hotel.
CHAPTER 3
Nicole looked up, blinking a few times slowly. "What's my story?" she asked, cocking her head. When Faith nodded, she sneered. "None of your damn business," and with that, Nicole rolled over on her back, effectively ignoring the older woman. Faith stood and took one last look at the teen before leaving.
Nicole, hearing the door click shut, stood, and began to go through her suitcase, looking for pajamas. "None of your damn business," she muttered under her breath.
Faith made her way to her own room and thought about the raven-haired sullen teen. Something was bothering her, or it could just be normal teenage angst. Whatever it was, it wouldn't keep the slayer up at night.
It was dark. That was the first thing Faith noticed. It was dark and hot, and there was someone...…or something…... really close to her.
"Mommy?" a child's voice called. Faith held her breath. This seemed familiar but not. Closing her eyes, the dark-haired slayer pushed the memories in the dark recesses of her mind. "Mommy, I don't like the dark. I'll be good, promise!"
The door opened, allowing light to pour into the dark space. A woman in her late twenties, pregnant, looked down at the child who sat at Faith's feet. Neither of the two people noticed Faith. "Get out, Nicole," the woman muttered, waddling away as quickly as her legs could take her.
The child, Harper, Faith realized with a start, quickly made her way out of the dark closet and onto the couch, hugging one of the pillows. "I'll be good," she promised. "Daddy will come home if I do. I'll be a good girl."
Faith stood there before going over and sitting down next to the child. Awkwardly, she placed a hand on the girl's back, rubbing it slightly.
The child turned, and stared straight into Faith's dark eyes. "Are you an angel?"
Faith's mouth quirked upwards. "Far from it, kid."
"Oh," the little Nicole shrugged. "What are you?" Before Faith could respond, the doorbell rang. Scrambling off the couch, forgetting all about Faith, the child ran to the door. Quickly peeking out the window, she turned into the house. "Mommy, men like Daddy are here!"
Out came the pregnant woman, and opened the door, revealing three men, all in army uniforms. "Ma'am," the first one said, "I have some news to tell you…"
Faith woke with a start. Closets. Angels. Army. Were those the things that made up Harper's childhood? She shivered, though it was a warm night, somehow she didn't think this was the whole story.
The following morning Buffy walked into the large kitchen of the hotel, her nose stuck in a bridal magazine. The wedding was close yet decisions still had to be made concerning it.
"OK, Angel, I think I found the perfect roses," Buffy said, not looking up from her the magazine.
"They're-" She looked up, seeing only Cordelia, Fred, and Willow in the kitchen. "I thought Angel was in here."
"He just had some blood and left," Fred explained from where she sat at the table with Willow.
"Somebody mind telling me why I'm in love with a brooding, blood drinking, pretty much non-human freakaziod?" Buffy questioned.
"Have you taken a good look at him?" Willow reminded her with a smile. "I mean with the eyes and the muscles and the-" A look from Buffy cut her off. "Not that I've been looking," Willow said quickly, sitting her mug of herbal tea down on the table. "I-I'm a lesbian. Very lesbian-y." Fred awkwardly moved down a seat from Willow.
"You know, Buffy," Cordelia said, walking over to the table, putting her coffee cup down, and pulling out a chair for herself. "If you want roses at your wedding you might really want to consider specially dyed. I mean just red and pink at a wedding?" Cordelia made an "as if" face. "Not in good taste."
Buffy looked at Cordelia. The brunette had changed over the years but parts of her still had the classic Queen C charm. Buffy had to admit, though, Cordelia did have good taste in most things.
Her help on the wedding would definitely prove useful.
"So how about it, Buffy?" Cordelia nudged the slayer, wanting to know what she thought about the roses.
"I guess so," Buffy replied with a sigh then pouted. "I'm really not good at this."
"Well," Cordy smiled. "Consider me your personal wedding planner." She began to butter a piece of toast as she muttered, "God knows you need one. After all, you may be the slayer of all things demonic, but when it comes to fashion, I'm the slayer."
"Will you be throwing rice?" the other women looked towards Fred, who blushed slightly at all of the attention "Because studies have been shown that if you throw rice, birds eat it, stomach eruptions would occur, and there is a high possibility they would explode. Now am I the only one here who thinks that bird insides don't exactly make for a very happy wedding? In fact it could spoil the whole day," the petite scientist looked around as the three other women gaped at her. "But...... we were talking about flowers, right?"
"Who's talking about flowers?" Faith asked as she walked into the kitchen.
"Faith, what do you know about roses?" Cordelia asked the dark haired slayer.
Faith thought for a minute. "Hmm, sharp pointy things. But not really my thing, Cordy."
"Well, what about bridesmaids dresses?" Willow mentioned, turning her attention to Buffy.
"Have you picked colors yet?" Cordelia asked, interested in the color scheme that Buffy had chosen.
"No, but whatever the colors are I'm going to make sure it's hideous so that you grow to resent me and that we never speak to each other," Buffy replied.
"I can't wait," Willow beamed.
"Well," Fred chimed in. "There's always a bridal shop. Maybe we could, you know, go there?"
"Good idea, Fred," Buffy agreed, much to the delight of Fred. "Ladies, we're off to see the wizard."
"Wizard aye? You know what they say about them magic folk," Faith winked at Willow, who blushed slightly.
"Faith," Buffy said. "You really, really just sucked the joy out of this moment."
"I try," Faith shrugged. "Anyway, are we bringing the kids?"
"Kids?" Cordelia repeated, taking the information in slowly. "Since when are there kids. Did Connor suddenly multiply?"
"Nope," Faith shook her head.
"Spike did," Buffy clarified.
"Spike?" Cordelia echoed. "Oh. He made it here last night." She realized it. "He has kids?"
"Are you OK?" Willow asked Buffy with concern. "I-I mean this must be hard. Your fiancé and your ex-boyfriend all under the same roof and stuff."
"He has kids?" Cordelia repeated herself. "By what? I mean whom. I'm working on the considerate human being thing. Really."
"Adopted," Faith clarified. "Nicole, fourteen. Beth, five. Simple."
"Um, who exactly would give kids to a single man, let alone a single vampire?" Fred asked.
"Yeah…vampire," Faith agreed awkwardly. "So we going dress shopping or what?" she changed the subject quickly.
Buffy gave Faith a look and folded her arms. "Faith, what do you know?" She wasn't fooled by the dark slayer's trick for a moment. She was a pro at that.
"Don't lick a pole in the winter?" Faith answered with a shrug and a smirk.
"Faith-" Buffy started.
"Hey, you know," Faith said, interrupting the other slayer. "I really haven't had a good mall crawl in a while." She turned to Cordy. "You have to be up for it."
"But of course," Cordelia replied, an unidentifiable accent in her voice. "Let's do it."
In the hotel lobby, Beth sat on top of the front desk watching Spike and Nicole argue back and forth. It wasn't an unusual thing. In fact, it was one of the usual father/daughter "discussion".
"It's only a few bucks," Nicole tried to reason.
"I just gave you your allowance," Spike said, annoyance in his voice.
"Look, just give me some money. You've got it."
"Yes, I do." Spike smirked. "You don't. Now drop this."
Nick growled, "You are so-"
"Hey, Harper." Nicole turned and saw Faith and the other women walk up. "We're going to go prettify. You in?"
"Prettify?" Nicole repeated, sounding disgusted. She thought about it, thinking it would be better than hanging around with Spike. "Fine."
"Cool." Faith turned to Beth. "Come on, midget." She lifted the child into his arms. Buffy and the others headed for the double doors of the hotel, Nicole following them.
Spike wrapped an arm around Faith's waist before she could move. "You're honestly going to go prettify my daughter? Have you met Nicole?" He made air quotes around the word prettify. Faith couldn't help but smirk. Somehow, she never thought that William the Bloody would do something like that.
"Chill, Spike," Faith said. "While we're gone get some bonding time in with the boys or something."
"Oh, joy," Spike said dryly. Faith gave him a light yet amused smile. Spike turned to Beth. "And you, missy, better behave yourself."
"I always behave myself," Beth said simply. Spike gave her a look. "Well, I try."
"She knows to be good," Faith added.
"All right," Spike agreed. "Later."
"Later," Faith said, following the others out of the hotel. Beth gave her father a wave before she left.
"Spike?" The bleached blonde looked up to see Xander and Wesley standing on the top steps. Giles and Gunn could be seen behind them. "You're here?" Xander said.
Gunn broke in front of the men. "So this is Spike?" He scoffed. "Don't look like much."
"How did all of you wankers appear at once?" Spike groaned.
"Free hotel breakfast?" Xander shrugged a cocky smirk on his face.
A/N: This story is planned out but if anyone has any suggestions or ideas then please share. Please review.