FUTURE IMPERFECT
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Nick, Callie, and Hope.
Author's Note: I should have said that I finished Three Strikes instead of Second Chances in my last Author's Note. I think that now I'll go one story at a time, finishing each before returning to write You're Out, the third story in the Second Chances line.
CHAPTER 19-DOOM AND GLOOM, AND DAWN
Wesley's Friday midmorning class had an hour break in the middle for the students to go to lunch or basically do whatever they wanted to do before returning to the classroom to continue the class. It was a class of ancient languages and deciphering. Unlike most of the other classes Faith spent most of Friday's class either correcting the assignments from other classes or continuing to pursue her own private studies. The first half of the class went well enough with most of the class actually showing up for the first time in weeks and by the time the lunch break came Wesley and Faith had quickly checked up on Hope before returning to the lecture hall for some quiet time to decompress.
"Do you want some dip Faith," Wesley asked with a tired look on his face as he held up the small plastic cup filled with the cheddar flavored dip.
"No thanks…I'm pregnant remember, gotta watch my girlish figure," Faith replied softly with the slightest touches of sarcasm in her voice as she shook her head, allowing her soft chocolate tresses to collapse in front of her face.
"Oh yes I forgot, please forgive me," Wesley mumbled back softly before leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on the desk.
"You're forgiven…this time, but only because you forgot to shave this morning and you know what that look does to me," Faith said back with a queen like wave of her free hand while she scrolled down on her laptop with the other.
"Why thank you milady…may I ask what you're so absorbed in that you can't even look at me when you…," Wesley started to say with a slightly concerned look on his face before Faith's shoulders slumped a bit and she turned around in her chair to face him.
"Sorry about that, but I was just trying to find that Mr. Saburon that Nick and Callie told us about …you know do a little background research, but I can't find anything past about three years ago, I mean nothing…no birth certificate, no drivers license, no high school or college graduation…not even," Faith replied with a nervous and somewhat scared look on her face as she clasped her hands together and laid them on her lap.
"That doesn't make any sense, a person cannot just simply not exist until three years ago…are you sure that you looked everywhere, maybe Willow should take a look," Wesley intoned with a deep in thought frown on his face as he pulled his feet off of the desk and began to pace around the room.
"Why…don't you trust me…that I can't do it…," Faith started to ask with a worried look on her face as she pulled up her feet to rest them on top of the rollers and clasped the edges of the chair tightly before Wesley spun around on his heel and knelt down in front of the chair, laying one hand on her knee and the other on her shoulder after softly brushing it against her cheek.
"Of course I trust you Faith, don't ever doubt that, I only brought up the possibility of Willow doing it so that you wouldn't be overworked, I'm sorry if I made it seem like I didn't think that you could handle it," Wesley said softly with a very sincere and heartfelt look on his face and tone to his voice before he pulled Faith up into his arms and gripped her in a tight bear hug that she quickly returned.
"It's just that…damn these hormones," Faith started to reply with a soft tone to her voice before a tear slipped out and she cursed angrily.
"Yes…damn those bloody hormones to hell," Wesley added with a slightly cheesy smile on his face before he brought his hand up and wiped away the tear.
"Damn them to hell…," Faith uttered softly, barely in a whisper, with an equally cheesy smile on her face before she pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and kissed Wesley with a passion that she had been holding back for some time. Within seconds her kiss seemed to light a fire within him and he returned the kiss with a passion equal to hers.
"Uh…eww…," Dawn said with a grossed out expression on her face as she crossed her arm and leaned up against the doorframe, book bag slung over her shoulder.
"Dawn…," Wesley shouted with an embarrassed smile on his face as he and Faith shot apart and tried their best to regain their composure.
"Damn…," Faith grumbled with an angry scowl on her face as she looked away and smoothed out her shirt.
"Look I can come back later if you two want to be alone…," Dawn said with a nervous and somewhat hesitant look on her face as she started to stand back up and turn away.
"No…Dawn…stay, please…I'm sorry we just got a little carried away…," Faith exclaimed with a nervous look on her face as she looked up at Wesley, who's face flushed red in return on top of a smile.
"Hey no big, you can get carried away all that you want, you're married and expecting a baby…you're allowed," Dawn said back with now a happy smile on her face as she slowly walked into the classroom and set her book bag down on the seat of the first chair that she came to that was open.
"Not that we're not happy to see you Dawn but was there…something that you needed, nothing bad has happened that we should know about has it," Wesley asked with a concerned look on his face as he laid a hand on Faith's shoulder and used a particular look in his eyes to keep her where she was. Faith debated for a second or to on whether to break away but seemed to get the feeling that Wesley was silently sending her way and relaxed a bit, allowing herself to be pulled into a one arm hug, laying her head on Wesley's shoulder.
"Oh no nothing bad's happened, it's just that there was a passage in the Dringogen texts that I couldn't decipher and I thought that you could…if you're not busy that is," Dawn said with a relieved look on her face as she sunk down into the seat of a nearby chair, passively eying the purple pen on the desk portion of it.
"Well then I believe that I can help you with that," Wesley said with a confidant and somewhat relieved smile on his face before he let go of Faith and walked around behind his desk.
"Well since you two are going to be pouring over that old dusty book for awhile I'm going to check and make sure that Hope isn't being to much of a hassle in nursery," Faith said with a short breath as she tucked a few stray hairs back behind her ear and started to the door before Wesley picked his head up from the desk.
"I love you…," Wesley said with a very sincere and apologetic look on his face as he turned his head and stared at Faith.
"I love you to Wesley," Faith replied with a calm look on her face before she couldn't suppress a smile any longer and shook her head as she left the room.
"Everything okay between you two because I could have sworn that when I came in the two of you…," Dawn started to ask with a worried look on her face as she pulled the Dringogen text out of her book bag and carried it to Wesley's desk.
"Don't worry about Faith and I Dawn, we're okay, if you think that this is bad you should have seen her when she was pregnant with Hope, she barely let me touch her back then," Wesley replied with a nervous smile on his face as he sat down in his chair and got out a magnification glass before adding, "So which passage was it exactly that was giving you so much trouble?"
"I could decipher most of the legend about the reptilian fire breathing demons that terrorized this area a long time ago before suddenly disappearing one night…and last night I had a slayer dream that seemed to almost mirror that murder with the guy in that tree sometime last night," Dawn replied with a very serious look on her face as she crossed her arms and leaned slightly against the desk.
"A slayer dream…that's odd…Faith didn't have one, or if she did she didn't say anything about it to me…hmm," Wesley said softly with a gravely serious look on his face as he leaned back in his chair and put a hand to his chin in a thoughtful pose.
"She might not have had one Wesley, even back when I was still living at home with Buffy and Spike I would get a slayer dream and she wouldn't, or vice versa…so don't get your knickers in a…God I'm starting to sound like Spike now…," Dawn added with an unsure shrug of her shoulders before she stopped abruptly with the realization of the latter part of her statement and smiled through the rest of it.
"I'll ask her when she gets back…carrot…," Wesley started to say with a somewhat worried look on his face before he picked up the discarded cup of cheddar dip and looked to Dawn.
* * * * * *
"Wanna explain to me just what we're doing here pet, anyone sees us and they'll probably call the bloody police, and I don't exactly fancy spending the rest of this trip in a jail cell answering questions," Spike asked with a somewhat hesitant look on his face as he stood around making sure that no one was looking their way while Buff ducked underneath the police tape.
"Because Spike someone was murdered her last night, and from the article in the paper it sounded like he was wearing a lot of high tech gear and carrying a weapon that's banned in the U.S….sound like anybody we know," Buffy said with a noticeable amount of scorn in her voice as she held the police tape up for Spike to pass underneath.
"Captain Cardboard…the Initiative…bloody hell…," Spike growled with an angry scowl on his face as his thoughts flooded back like a raging river to the secretive government agency that had outfitted him with a violence towards human countering chip in his head. The only good outcome of receiving the chip had been the time that he had spent with Buffy, fighting at her side, protecting her and her friends, and finally falling in love with the love of his life, the woman with who's help he would later regain his humanity, most of it anyway.
"Spike I highly doubt that Riley is here, and even if he is I am carrying your baby you know, he won't try anything…," Buffy interjected with a very serious and somewhat annoyed look on her face as she knelt down beside the base of the tree.
"Bloody right he won't try anything…I'll kill him if he even goes near you…the wanker," Spike grumbled with a thinly veiled ocean of resentment and distrust in his voice towards the soldier.
"You're going to have to let your hatred of Riley go sometime Spike, it's been almost five years since you've even seen him and…," Buffy started to say with a bored look on her face as she used a stick to sift through the ashes before Spike cut in.
"It hasn't been long enough pet, did I ever tell you about the time that he came storming into my crypt and drove a stake through my heart…nearly gave me a heart attack…then I learn that the stake was only wood grain…," Spike started to ramble with an angry frown on his face before Buffy winced in pain and one of her hands shot to her stomach. Stopping instantly, almost as if he had seen Buffy act, Spike looked down and was at her side instantly. "What is it luv…what's wrong…Buffy," Spike asked with a great deal of confusion and fear in his voice as he put his arms around Buffy.
"It's nothing…I'm fine Spike…really, I guess that it's just the aftershocks of the morning sickness hitting me," Buffy said with a worried look on her face as she tried to keep from looking Spike in the eye. No matter how hard she tried she had found that she could never lie to Spike when staring into his loving eyes. In fact she hadn't been able to lie very well to him ever since he had returned to Sunnydale abruptly one night and kidnapped Xander and Willow, wanting a love spell done. She had even admitted the fact to Angel, but he had shrugged it off.
"If you say so Buffy, but if it happens again I'm taking you to a hospital no matter what you say," Spike said with a very serious look on his face before all Buffy could do was nod her head in acceptance.
"The newspaper said that the body was found high up in the tree, I wonder what he was doing so far up there," Buffy asked with a confused and concerned look on her face as she tilted her head up to look up the tree.
"Taking a nap…," Spike quipped with an odd smirk on his face before he had to do his best to not laugh out loud at the quizzical look that Buffy cast his way.
"Not likely, he was probably looking for someone…," Buffy guessed with a deep in thought look on her face as she stood up and brushed the soot off of her hands.
"Or maybe he was watching someone, like surveillance, following someone around," Spike added with a slowly dawning look of worry and concern on his face as he stood up beside her and looked around.
"You could be right Spike, maybe he was using those heat vision goggles to pick the vampires out of the human populace as they walked by this tree," Buffy said softly as she and Spike made their way back towards the police tape.
"Or using them to look into the buildings around here and see what was going on inside, keeping track of someone," Spike again added with a serious look on his face as he held up the police tape for Buffy to duck under before he himself slipped under the tape.
"I hate to admit it Spike, but this is starting to sound more and more like something that the Initiative had something to do with it," Buffy said with a look of fear and dread on her face as she turned to Spike.
"We should go back and tell Rupert about this, maybe he and Wesley can figure out what the Initiative might be doing here, Angel will probably want to know to, he never could stay away from something like this," Spike said with a deep sigh and shrug of his shoulders as he and Buffy walked away from the burnt out husk of the tree.
"Okay…we'll go to talk to Angel, but can we get a little lunch first, I'm starving," Buffy asked with a slow nod of her head before she looked to Spike with a meek frown on her face and a hand over her growling stomach. Even after becoming mostly human again Spike had retained a great deal of his vampire senses, he had heard her growling stomach a bit earlier and had intended to ask her to go to lunch but she had beaten him to the proverbial punch on that subject.
"Of course luv…of course," Spike said with a small chuckle as he looped an arm around Buffy's shoulders before Buffy to was caught up in the humor of it all.
* * * * * *
"So did you help Dawn out with her little problem," Faith asked with a bored look on her face as she walked back into the classroom and sat down beside Wesley.
"Yes, although I wish that it foretold how to dispatch the reptilian fire breathing demons…instead…," Wesley answered with a grim frown on his face before he leaned back in his chair and let Faith drape her feet over his lap.
"Instead…what, let me guess that little passage that you helped Dawnie with foretold of some big apocalyptic battle that's supposed to happen pretty soon…and that we'll all perish in the fight, am I close," Faith said with an almost mocking smile on her face as she ran her hands through her hair.
"Eerily so…," Wesley started to say with a very grim look on his face before he had to turn away as a sea of tears threatened to gush out.
"Wesley…what's wrong…," Faith asked with a worried look on her face as her smile died in an instant and focused her gaze on Wesley. When he kept looking away and didn't reply she became even more worried. "Wesley stop it okay…you're scaring me…and I don't particularly like getting scared, especially when it comes to you," Faith demanded with a very serious look on her face as she slowly stood up and walked over to Wesley before sitting down across his lap and pulling his gaze back onto her.
"In the translation there was a passage that foretold vaguely how the demons were repulsed all those years ago…they were only turned back by the blood of a champion…only this champion had to give all of her blood to close the portal," Wesley stuttered out softly as he struggled against his own fear to keep his gaze locked onto Faith's.
"Okay…so I'm getting that this champion chick had to die to close the portal but I don't get why it's making you wig out so much that I'm about ready to piss my pants," Faith said haltingly with a scared look on her face as she draped one arm around Wesley's shoulders.
"Because in the description of the champion it described someone that had tasted the darkness within herself and fought against it before returning to the light and changing her very nature for the man that she loved and their daughter," Wesley managed to choke out before two solitary tears managed to slip out and run down his face.
"That sounds a little to close for comfort Wes…," Faith whispered softly with a panicked look on her face as she wiped away the tears and pulled him into a tight embrace.
"I should have seen this coming…everything was going to well for…," Wesley started to say with an almost defeated look on his face before Faith leaned down and placed a soft and gentle kiss on his lips.
"Listen Wesley, I don't give a damn what that old book says, there's no way in hell that I'm going to do anything…or let anything happen that'll hurt you…Faith…and whoever's in here," Faith said softly in a whisper before she punctuated each person's name with a soft kiss on Wesley's lips. At the end she placed Wesley's hand over her stomach and laid her hand overtop of his. "I love you more than I ever thought that I could love anyone, I thought for a very long time that love was for losers, something that made you weak, until you showed me that loved that I was wrong, love doesn't make you weak, it makes you strong, and with enough love you can do anything," Faith continued with an ever growing look of certainty on her face as she pressed her forehead against his and almost forced Wesley to look her in the eye to see that her words to him were true and straight from her heart.
"I know…that's why whenever this fight does happen I'm not going to let you out of my sight for single second, no matter what Angel or Buffy or anyone else…including you, says…got it…," Wesley said with a very serious and determined look on his face as he cupped Faith's cheek with his free hand and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
"Got it…," Faith replied softly through a short burst of tears of her own before she returned the kiss, not caring a bit as the first few students began to mope back into the classroom.
END OF CHAPTER 19
