FUTURE IMPERFECT

Disclaimer:   I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Nick, Callie, and Hope.

CHAPTER 24-A SETBACK AND THAT DARN WHISTLER

"That's all that you found Wes…," Faith asked with a worried look on her face as she poked the empty gas grenade with her finger, almost causing it to be knocked onto the floor.  Coming down with her first bout of morning sickness after Wesley and Spike had left Faith had been reduced to slouching at one end of the couch, attired in a pair of Wesley's old sweatpants and his old sweatshirt that she loved to wear.  She had changed from the one that was a few sizes to big for her and kept falling off of her shoulder.  She wasn't in the mood for doing anything but finding out about Nick and Callie and making sure that Wesley and Spike didn't get themselves into to much trouble.

"That's all Faith…the only reason that we have this is because the Initiative got careless…," Wesley answered with a grim look on his face as he slid down into the seat next to Faith and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her close.

"May I say how much this all sucks….thank you," Dawn asked and then declared with an impatient and sad expression on her face as she looked around the room before returning her gaze to the gently swaying of the branches out of the window.

"Or they wanted us to find this, knowing full well that it alone wouldn't do us any good," Fred grumbled with a frustrated and scared look on her face before she absentmindedly pushed her glasses further up on her nose.

"Who knows maybe Buffy had better luck with Captain Cardboard," Spike interjected with an unhappy scowl on his face as he leaned his forehead up against the cool window pane.

"Let's hope so…," Xander said with an almost defeated look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and walked into the living room, not wanting to give anyone any false hopes that their former friend would help them.

"Somehow Xander I doubt it…Riley's not going to let Angel or us off of the hook until we take care of his little problem for him…," Faith said with a very serious look on her face as she laid her head gently onto Wesley's shoulder, looping her arms around his chest and holding on tightly.

"And even then we have no guarantee that he'll keep his word, for all we know after we defeat these demon's he'll simply give us another challenge," Wesley said with a somber look on his face as she shook his head and shrugged his shoulders a bit.

"I say again…this sucks," Dawn announced with a less than regal wave of her hand as she shook her head and kept staring out of the window.

"Something's wrong, they should have been back by now, I'm going to go and look for them," Spike started to say with an impatient and worried look on his face as he headed towards the door before Xander's words stopped him.

"She'll be back Spike, you of all people should believe in her," Xander said with an almost mocking tone to his voice as he kept from looking at Spike. 

"I do whelp…it's Mr. Initiative that I don't trust, for all we know the meeting was all a trap to get Buffy out in the open and…," Spike started to say with a look of utter earnest on his face before a relieved but still angry voice cut him off.

"No…Riley was just his usual jerk self, only telling me what we already knew, either we do this job for him or he'll let Gwen die," Buffy stated with a tired and annoyed look on her face as she slowly walked into the room and made a line straight towards Spike, finally stopping as she leaned up against the wall at his side.

"I should have went with you luv," Spike whispered softly to Buffy with a very serious and worried look on his face as he looked over at Buffy and put his arms around her and pulled her close.

"I was fine Spike, he barely touched me…besides the whole meeting only lasted like five minutes and he left," Buffy replied with a nervous and tired look on her face as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"So in other words it was a giant waste of time, exactly what Spike and I thought it'd be," Angel said with a very serious look on his face and unhappy tone to his voice as he emerged out of the kitchen, mug of warmed pig's blood in his hands.

"Well Angel I don't know if I'd say that is was a complete waste of time, we did find out something interesting," Willow said with a meager and slightly scared smile on her face as she took a step forward into the middle of the room.

"Were we at the same ice cold meeting…I didn't see anything other than Riley being an ass…," Gunn asked with a confused look on his face as the look on Buffy's face seemed to mirror the same sentiment.

"That's because you were both only looking at what Riley was doing, I meanwhile checked out Sam…not like that…geez sometimes you guys get so…anyway what I'm trying to say is that while Riley is pushing all of this I don't think that Sam is behind this a hundred and ten percent like he wanted us to believe, she seemed to be there more because she's his wife rather than…," Willow answered with a very serious and deep in thought look on her face as she slowly began to pace around the room.

"She did seem to not want to look at me the whole time; I just thought that she didn't like me very much," Buffy mumbled with a confused and somewhat downtrodden frown on her face as she looked first to Willow and then back to Spike.

"Perhaps all is not well in the Finn household," Giles wondered aloud with an eyebrow cocked oddly as he began to tap his lips lightly with the tip of his index finger.

"Then perhaps tonight I should pay the lady of the house a visit…," Angel said softly with the beginnings of a plan in his mind as he let a sly smile slip onto his face momentarily before he turned around and walked back into the kitchen.

*                      *                           *                               *                   *                          *

"Should we wake him up," Callie whispered softly with a confused and scared look on her face as she kept herself behind the table.

"I don't know…but maybe we should…I mean if he truly wants to help us get out of here then…," Nick started to reply in short and abbreviated sentences before a snort from a dreaming Whistler forced him to clam up.

"He doesn't look very dangerous…I'm going to wake him up," Callie added with a nervous look on her face as she slowly and cautiously made her way over to Whistler and gently tapped him in the shoulder.

"Unless you're an incredibly beautiful woman named something like Tiffany or some such I'm not interested, thank you…goodbye now," Whistler said softly in his sleep with an odd smile on his face before he turned over onto his side, away from Nick and Callie.

"Alright I don't care who or what you are you get your ass up this instant before I kick it," Callie shouted with an angry scowl on her face as she leaned over and shoved Whistler off of the edge of the be as hard as she could.

"Callie…what do you," Nick started to say with a worried and surprised look on his face as he rushed to Callie's side and began pulling her back away from the bed but the two stopped when Whistler sat up and looked around lazily.

"You know my dear that wasn't very nice, but since I'm here to help make sure that the two of you live I won't kill you…sorry…little bit to extreme with the imagery…," Whistler said with a bored look on his face as he first looked to Callie and then back towards the bed.

"N…no, it's just that you said that you'd help us and then you fell asleep, can you help us or not," Callie stuttered out with a nervous look on her face before she calmed down and crossed her arms defiantly, an act that Nick copied.

"And if you can't could you just leave then," Nick added with a concerned look on his face as he stepped in front of Callie.

"Whoa fella…I give…I will help you get out of here but it isn't time yet, unfortunately there are still a few things that have to be worked out first that neither you nor I can do anything about, when all of that is settled I'll bust you two out of here," Whistler said with a tired yawn as he stood up and smoothed out his jacket before a trio of Initiative soldiers stormed into the room.  Nick started to turn around to tell Whistler to run but found that the odd demon had vanished.

*                       *                                   *                      *                         *                       *

Angel waited until after it was dark to slip out of the house, he had made a deal with Spike to keep Buffy busy while he did it.  Since it was Saturday night Faith didn't have to do her radio show and so she had ordered everyone out of their house as night fell, saying that she didn't feel to good and that the assembled group couldn't do anything more for that night so that they should all get a good night's sleep.  What she didn't tell anyone was that in actuality she felt fine and only wanted everyone gone so that she could spend a quiet night alone with Wesley and Hope without any interruptions.  Angel had told her and Wesley of his plans so that if anyone asked they could say that the two and a half century old vampire was out looking for the reptilian demons that Riley had talked about.  Giles had taken Gwen back with him and had used all of the money that he found in her possession to buy her a hotel room for the next several days, with everyone taking alternating shifts to stay at her side.  Spike ended up taking Buffy and Dawn out for the night to see a show, with the promise that he wouldn't rip on the show until at least the next day.

"Leaving so soon," Wesley asked Angel softly with a concerned look on his face as he watched the last car pull slowly out of their driveway.

"Don't be cute Wesley, I'm going to…forget it you know where I'm going and why, just don't tell anyone okay…and have fun with Faith tonight…ever since we got here she's been a bit out of it," Angel replied with a nervous look on his face as he and Wesley continued their walk towards the barn.

"I will Angel, it'll be good to have a little quiet time with her and Hope, we haven't had a chance to do this for a few weeks now and I know that Faith always loved it…now on another topic I feel that I should tell you that I recently met an old friend of yours, one that you probably never expected to ever see again," Wesley said with an almost nostalgic smile on his face at first before his countenance became drawn and more serious as he opened the barn door for Angel.

"An old friend…Wesley Spike's my oldest friend and even calling ourselves friends at times is pretty weak…," Angel questioned with a slightly confused look on his face as he walked over to where Wesley and Faith kept their weapons and picked up a sturdy sword.

"I meant an old friend from Sunnydale Angel, a demon named Whistler…gave me a quick history lesson about you…even though I never asked for it, before he told me to be ready for the hell that was to come and to keep my friends and family close…come to think of it though he never really did say how things would turn out, he was a bit cryptic with his explanations," Wesley replied with a nervous look on his face as he turned and looked back towards the house, silently watching Faith try her best to keep their two puppies away from Hope in her playpen.

"Yeah that sounds like Whistler alright, cryptic and annoying…," Angel said with a joking smile on his face before he started to walk past Wesley, sword in hand.  "Oh…one more thing…can I…," Angel started to ask with a nervous look on his face before Wesley held a hand up and chuckled.

"Just bring it back in one piece alright, I've got another child on the way and I'm going to need it…," Wesley replied with a joking smile on his face as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the SUV's keys and tossed them to Angel.

"Right, tell Giles to call me instantly if there's any change with Gwen," Angel said with a hesitant look on his face before Wesley nodded his head and watched Angel run towards the garage.  As he left their house Angel waved a goodbye to Faith and took off towards New York City.  He didn't really exactly know where he was going but had a general idea as after Buffy and the others had come back from their meeting with Riley and Sam Angel had taken great pains to remember exactly how they smelled, to see if anything would later give him a clue as to where the Initiative was set up at.  From Buffy he had caught the scent of a kind of fish that was only shipped from one particular shipping yard.  He decided to make that shipping yard his first stop of the night.

*                      *                            *                           *                         *                              *

Faith reluctantly stepped out of the steaming hot shower and grabbed for the towel.  One that she discovered was no longer on the rail that she had left it on.  Just as she was about to openly question the absence of the towel she turned to see Wesley standing in the doorway of the bathroom with a tired smile on his face and the towel draped over his shoulder.

"Are you going to give me the towel or do you expect me to air-dry," Faith asked softly with a tone to her voice of her long past days of toying with people. 

"Haven't decided yet…," Wesley replied softly with a tired yawn as he walked into the bathroom and gently brushed some hair off of Faith's face.

"Well decide quickly…it's freezing out here…," Faith grumbled with a fake pout of anger on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest and lightly glared up at Wesley, who took the scene in and laughed softly.

"I know…but it's just so much fun to watch you squirm," Wesley said with a kind smile on his face before he took the towel and wrapped it around Faith, finally letting her tie it off before he grabbed another towel for her hair.

"Dumbass…," Faith added coldly at first with an angry scowl on her before she couldn't keep the look up and broke down laughing.

"Guess I haven't gotten rid of all of the old you yet have I…," Wesley wondered a loud softly as he handed Faith her second towel.

"No Wesley you haven't, and you know what…you never will, but I love you anyway," Faith answered softly with a sly smile on her face before she pulled Wesley close and placed a soft kiss on his lips.  She started to pull away slowly but stopped when Wesley returned the gesture and pulled her back into a much more meaningful kiss as he looped both arms around her back and picked her up as their kiss deepened.  In the back of her mind Faith began to think of letting her towel drop to the floor and ripping Wesley's clothes off before pulling him into the shower and making passionate love to him but stopped when she heard Hope giggling.  Wesley let go of her enough so that she could look down over his left shoulder.  Hope sat just outside of the doorway, a bottle of lotion in her hands, as she was squirting it all over the floor and giggling at the result.  "Hope," Faith shouted with such an angry and alarmed look on her face that Wesley almost dropped her before he gently set her down and turned to see what was going on while still having one arm around Faith and her feet barely touching the ground.

"Hope," Wesley exclaimed with a shocked look on his face before he fully let go of Faith and turned to get a washcloth wet to wipe up the lotion while Faith rushed into the bedroom.  Faith quickly took the bottle of lotion away from Hope and in her haste stripped off her towel and used it to begin to wipe up the lotion before letting Wesley continue cleaning while she laid Hope down onto the bed.

"Hope…that was wrong…understand," Faith said with a very serious look on her face as she knelt down on the bed beside Hope and tapped her nose lightly.

"I don't think she understands luv, I probably knocked the bottle off of the dresser as I walked by and she picked it up," Wesley said with a slightly embarrassed look on his face as he stood up and looked down at what was left of the mess before he went to wash the washcloth out so that he could reuse it.

"You're probably right Wes, but still she needs to know that she's not supposed to do something like that," Faith called out with a slightly flustered look on her face as she half turned back to look at Wesley.

"She knows enough Faith, let's just get ready and then watch the movie like we planned, knowing Angel and the others we'll probably be pretty busy for awhile and won't get a chance like this again," Wesley said with a sincere look on his face as he tossed her the rinsed out washcloth and then started to dig through her underwear drawer for something for her to wear.

"I know…but she's just been a little terror lately, I don't want to take any chances and have her end up like me later in life," Faith said softly, her voice thickly laden with guilt, as she wiped up the rest of the lotion off of the floor and headed for the bathroom.

"We won't let that happen Faith, besides in the end you didn't turn out so bad," Wesley shouted over the running water as he found what he was looking for and shut the drawer.

"But that was only because I had friends like B and Angel to help me see that what I was doing was wrong and then someone like you to show me what love was truly about," Faith said with a sad frown on her face as she sulked back out of the bathroom with a towel in her hands and began to finish cleaning up the mess.

"Here I'll do that, you should get dressed," Wesley started to say with a nervous look on his face as he walked over and made Faith stand up before handing her the bra and panties that he had picked out for her.

"Thanks…," Faith said softly with more of a congratulatory look in her eyes than tone to her voice as she handed him the towel.

"But don't you see Faith, now that Angel and Buffy and the others know about Hope and what we've built for ourselves here like it or not Hope will never be alone, she'll always have a family that will love her no matter what," Wesley said with a reassuring tone to his voice as he knelt down on the floor and began to dry up the area that Faith had cleaned up.

"I just hope that no one that knew me from my early days ever meets her and gets the wrong idea about her, I'd kill anyone that tried to hurt her like…," Faith started to say with a very serious and almost threatening look on her face and tone to her voice before tears started to spill down her cheeks and she couldn't continue, finally having to sit down on the bed and try not to sob.

"Faith…," Wesley said softly with a very concerned look on his face as he quickly got up and hurried over to the bed taking Faith in his arms and laying her head on his shoulder.  After almost six months together Faith had finally opened up to him about her early years and all of the pain and demons that she had been keeping locked up inside.  Through trial and error he had helped her to exorcise many of her demons and swore to be there for her to help her with the rest of them.  In fact as he remembered those times during one of those nights was when Faith had told him that she loved him for the first time.  "No one will ever hurt  you again Faith…or Hope, if they want to then they'll have to do it over my dead body, and also I believe Angel's, Spike's, Gunn's, Giles'…," Wesley whispered softly to Faith as her tears slackened off and she looked up to him and wiped away a tear.

"Promise," Faith asked with a slightly better look in her eyes that Wesley had seen just a few seconds before.

"Promise, now get ready because I'm not going to wait to long to start the movie, and you know how Hope loves it when you hold her," Wesley said with a hopeful smile on his face before he placed a gentle kiss on Faith's forehead and then picked Hope up and walked out of the bedroom.  As she watched him leave Faith slipped into the old comfortable bra and pair of panties that Wesley had picked out and pulled on the new pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt that Wesley had bought for her only a few days earlier and walked into the living room, her hair still wet from the shower.  Wesley pulled her close and handed Hope to her before he tucked the blanket back in around them and pushed play on the remote to start the movie.  The Wyndam-Pryce family stayed in that position, Faith in Wesley's arms and Hope in Faith's with a warm blanket tightly wrapped around them, for the rest of the night and only woke up the next morning when Angel walked into the living room with a nervous Sam at his side.

END OF CHAPTER 24