THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
Disclosure: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I create.
Author's Note: If you're wondering about why Molly is back well she was my favorite potential before she died and in this story she plays an important part. And the pairings will show up pretty soon, if you haven't figured one of them out already. As always reviews are greatly appreciated.
CHAPTER 4-A MUCH NEEDED TALK X 2
It was a few hours, and a couple of boxes of tissues later, before Buffy had recanted everything that had happened between her and Spike that Angel never knew about. For his part Angel stood silently, leaning slightly on the railing, with an ever increasing look of angst on his face. He could barely believe what he was hearing. His mind raced as he tried to figure out how it was possible for the things that Buffy was saying to have ever happened. He knew that Spike had gotten the soul because she had told him so before he had returned to Los Angeles to start the second front, a front that he never truly ever started to form. Whenever Buffy would get to a particularly difficult part Angel would lean in close and wrap an arm around Buffy's shoulders and draw her close, puzzling at how tiny she suddenly seemed. Faith had started to go outside and ask the pair what the holdup was but a determined Xander had stood in her way and vehemently refused to budge until Angel and Buffy were done talking. Faith tried threatening him but the carpenter stood firm, bolstered at the end by an extremely nervous Andrew.
When Buffy got to the night in the bathroom where Spike had tried to force himself on her she started out confidently enough, but when she tried to explain her feelings in the aftermath she lost it and could only sob for several minutes. At hearing about what his grandchilde had tried to do Angel became extremely angry that Spike was gone, feeling that if he were still around Angel would have left and dusted him on sight. When she composed herself Buffy had continued the tale, trying to explain to Angel that she didn't entirely blame Spike for what he had done. Before Angel could argue the point Buffy added what she thought were her own list of transgressions that led to that horrible night. At that Angel had loudly cleared his throat, ready to counter her claims. But Buffy had been quicker and launched into the rest of the story, taking great pains to slowly tell the last few moments of Spike's life exactly as she remembered them. Through it all Angel stood firm, but upon hearing how nobly Spike had died, he could no longer look Buffy in the eye, instead he hung his head and stared at his feet.
* * * * * *
After Willow had cast a few healing spells everyone had left the room, hoping that Wesley would use the time to catch up on his sleep. And for a time he did, but awoke when he heard the door softly open and then the faint smell of roses wafted through the room. He knew it wasn't Willow, she would still smell like some of the spell components that she had used for the healing spell. Dawn wouldn't have any reason for checking on him other than if Fred had sent her. He knew that Fred would be more than busy helping the wounded and Buffy would undoubtedly have pulled Angel aside to have a private conversation. He highly doubted that it was one of the potentials as they would most likely have little curiosity at this point. Without opening his eyes he listened carefully as whomever it was crept closer to him. As she crept closer her identity blared itself into his mind. It was the faint smell of the shampoo that she had used hours earlier. Even though it had been hours since she had used the shampoo Wesley knew the scent because it was the same as the shampoo that he used. He knew that after her shower in his apartment Faith had jammed a bottle of shampoo into one of her bags, refraining from asking him if it was alright. He hadn't wanted to aggravate the situation any further at that time so he had let it slide. When she turned to leave he slightly opened one eye and looked over to see Faith starting to slowly creep away, the oddly darkened sunlight filtering in through the curtains and blinds cast odd shapes across her small frame.
"Shouldn't you be downstairs with your boyfriend," Wesley mumbled just loudly enough with the best smug grin that he could manage in his condition. Willow's spells had worked wonders but it would most likely be days before he was back to normal, that is if Willow continued to cast the spells every day. Wesley chuckled a bit softly to himself as he saw Faith stop in her tracks abruptly and turn around, an almost scared look on her face.
"He's not...I mean…he is…not…," Faith stuttered back her response at first before she shrugged her shoulders and replaced the almost scared look on her face with her usual extremely self assured look. "Enough about Robin…I thought Giles said that you were supposed to be resting, not pushing my buttons," Faith added proudly with a confident scowl on her face as she crossed her arms and leaned more heavily onto one foot.
"Guess I struck a nerve…lucky me," Wesley mumbled out softly with a humorous tone to his voice as he struggled to sit up.
"Yeah lucky you…taking on the Beast with Angel and nearly getting yourself killed, that's what I'd call luck…," Faith exclaimed angrily as he leaned forward slightly to try and further emphasize her point.
"I have to get to work…we must have missed something…translated a prophecy wrong…hand me my wallet will you," Wesley said painfully as he slowly and cautiously swung his legs over the side of the bed. Begrudgingly Faith did as he asked and retrieved his wallet, but her curiosity overtook her and she opened it, gazing intently at an old beat up photograph.
"Who're the Walton's," Faith asked softly as she turned on the small lamp by the bed to get a better look at the picture. Wesley stared at her with a confused frown on his face for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders.
"It's a picture of me and my parents…back when I was a child…in fact that picture represents the last time that I could truthfully say that I didn't hate my father," Wesley said, his voice almost completely absent of any emotion other than sad bitterness, as he stared off into space. That revelation seemed to only confuse Faith.
"Why would you hate your father…I thought…," Faith asked with a confused look on her face as she slowly walked around the foot of the bed.
"Nothing I ever did was good enough for him…he always said that I'd never amount to anything…no one would ever love me, that after all of my failures I didn't deserve to be happy," Wesley said bitterly as if every memory still stung as much as the day that they had been inflicted.
"The First said that pretty much the same thing to me back in Sunnydale," Faith said softly with a sad frown on her face as she sat down beside Wesley and kept her gaze locked on the small photograph.
"What…," Wesley asked with a confused and concerned frown on his face as he turned his attention completely to Faith, who fidgeted a bit and looked away at first before responding.
"Back in Sunnydale…when the First was trying to destroy our resolve…it came to me looking like Mayor Wilkins…told me pretty much what you just said…that I'd never amount to anything…that I'd always be a killer…a murderer…and that I'd always be second best behind Buffy…that no one would ever want me…," Faith mumbled sadly as she intentionally kept her gaze from Wesley's face. Wesley regarded Faith with a sympathetic frown on his face for a few seconds before he found his voice.
"It's true that you'll have to live with the actions of your past for the rest of your life, but you're not the only one in that predicament…I don't know if Willow told you this…but last summer when I was looking for Angel I kept a woman chained up in my closet…with only a bucket," Wesley said, his voice a little shaky, slowly as he started out looking straight into the back of Faith's head before she turned around and stared back at him with a look of shock and concern in her dark brown eyes.
"Well…uh…damn Wes…that's just…shit…," Faith stammered out before she ran to the end of her current thought pattern and cursed in anger and shock. Wesley chuckled a bit before he ran a hand nervously through his hair and winced at the pain it caused.
"After Angel and Cordelia disappeared I spent the entire summer searching for them, I had an idea where Angel was because I ran across someone that had helped him to disappear…Justine…she was the one that…," Wesley said with a tired look on his face as Faith handed him his wallet back. Faith looked at him with a confused look on her face for a few seconds before Wesley reluctantly pointed out his scar, and then watched as Faith's eyes first grew to slits and then wide open in shock. "For some strange reason I don't remember exactly how it happened…all I remember is that Justine was the one that slit my throat…," Wesley added grimly before slipping his wallet back into his pocket and un-holstering his guns.
"So what happened to Justine…," Faith asked with a concerned frown on her face as she turned towards him and pulled one knee up onto the bed.
"If she's smart she's long gone from here…after we pulled Angel out of the bay I let her go…forgive and forget and all that," Wesley replied with a tired shrug of his shoulders before Faith inched closer and asked her next question.
"Wait a minute…you let her go…after she did that to you…I would've…," Faith started to growl angrily before Wesley held up a hand and interrupted her.
"If I would have used that logic with you Faith you would have been dead long ago…as for Justine well…," Wesley said with a small smirk curling the edges of his mouth before Faith's attention was turned to the window.
"What the hell," Faith asked nervously as she stood up and walked over to the window before fully pulling up the blinds. Wesley only half turned his head and his fears were confirmed by the fireballs that screamed past the window.
"The rain of fire…it happened the last time we faced the Beast to," Wesley answered, as if to him the sky raining down huge balls of fire was no big deal, as he slid off the edge of the bed and joined Faith at the window.
"This is bad…how do we stop this," Faith asked with a very nervous look on her face that she tried her best to hide but Wesley easily saw through it.
"We don't…we can only wait until it's over," Wesley said softly with the grim look of worry on his face mirroring the one on Faith's face. Faith leaned in closer to the window and pressed the palm of her right hand flat against the window.
"I can see why you came to get me earlier…speaking of which…should I be expecting the police to come barging in here and trying to drag my ass back to jail sometime soon," Faith asked with a reluctant frown on her face as she seemed to expect it to happen any minute.
"Your ass is staying right here Faith…after we gained control of the L.A. branch of Wolfram and Hart I took the opportunity to look into getting you a pardon…I even went so far as to file a few papers in state court…if all goes well you'll be a free woman in a few months," Wesley said with a slowly growing grin on his face, one that only continued to grow as he saw how nervous then excited his words made Faith.
"But…why would you…," Faith whispered back softly, as unbeknownst to either one the two had leaned in close to each other and were now only a few inches apart.
"You're far too important to simply be locked up for the rest of your life," Wesley whispered back as Faith lifted her gaze up to lock onto his.
"I'm not so important anymore…B and I activated all of the potentials…there's hundreds of slayers now…," Faith whispered back sadly as she started to hang her head, but Wesley acted first and propped her chin up with one hand before replying.
"You and Buffy did what you thought was best at the time…now we have to wait and see if you made the right choice…I'd say that since you're standing here beside me looking all scared and vulnerable…," Wesley mumbled softly with an amused smirk on his face as he cocked his head to one side and gazed down at Faith, who stared back up at him at first with a somewhat shocked and confused look on her face.
"Scared and vulnerable…not in a million years Wes…if anyone's vulnerable here it's you…ya know if I wanted to I could rip all of your clothes off and show you a few tricks that I picked up over the years…squeeze you until your eyeballs popped," Faith replied with her usual playful smirk and an added glint of excitement in her eye. Almost as soon as Faith had finished speaking her exact words, and the fact that she had edged even closer to her former watcher, her left hip touching his right, sent a bolt of shock through her body.
"Wouldn't be the worst way to spend five minutes of my time," Wesley shot back with a smug grin spread across his face as he momentarily turned his attention back to the spheres of fire plummeting out of the sky. That comment brought at first a momentary look of shock to form on Faith's face before she broke into a laugh, followed closely behind by Wesley's deeper chuckling.
"What makes you think you'd last that long old man…in your condition and all," Faith snickered back with a confident smirk on her face as she leaned her shoulder up against the window.
"I'm stronger than I look…just ask Li…never mind…," Wesley started to say with a big grin on his face before he took a second and realized what it was that he was saying and his expression turned to one of loss and regret. Before the expression on Faith's face could fully match his Wesley turned away and began to slowly limp back towards the bed, suddenly feeling very old and tired.
"Just ask Li…Li who…," Faith asked, suddenly letting her curiosity take over, as she spun around, almost with a hurt look on her face, and beat Wesley back to the bed.
"It doesn't matter right now…I should get some more of that rest that you talked about earlier," Wesley mumbled sadly as he slowly sat back down on the side of the bed. Before furthering her curiosity Faith slid over a bit, so that she was close enough to make sure that she'd get the answers to her questions.
"You're wrong Wesley it does matter…before you mentioned Li or whatever her name is you and I were…c'mon spill it, who was she…do I know her…," Faith started to say with an almost consoling frown on her face as she then smugly bumped Wesley a bit with her shoulder.
"No you…you did…a long time ago, before you went to prison…," Wesley replied with a growing look of emotion on his face that made him look almost relieved to be telling someone. "Her name is…no scratch that…was…Lilah Morgan…but…," Wesley continued with a nervous sigh as he tried his best to not look Faith in the eye, a feat that he was finding extremely hard to accomplish with her sitting so close to him.
"Lilah Morgan…that bitch of a lawyer from Wolfram and Hart…her…god Wes…I would have never expected that you and she would…," Faith interjected with a slightly unnerved scowl on her face before she shuddered and looked back down at her hands.
"Surprise…," Wesley offered back with a meager smile on his face at first before he continued, "You probably don't want to hear about it…seeing as how you should be down in the lobby helping to keep the new slayers calm."
"They can't Wes…I'm all ears…," Faith said with a very serious look on her face before she flopped back onto the bed and listened as Wesley reluctantly launched into the sordid tale of how he and Lilah got together.
* * * * * * *
His breathing hard from carrying the unconscious slayer on his shoulder Spike didn't at first notice the sounds of someone following him. Anya and Cordelia had run off ahead to search through any vehicles that they could find for anything valuable. The former cheerleader had to be threatened with physical violence before accepting her assignment. She had left with a threat that if anything bad happened to her that she'd tell Angel. Anya had commented on how childish the threat had sounded and so Spike had been forced to step in between the two women before a punch or slap was thrown. The small silver cross still hung at its place of honor, just below Spike's collarbone, but it was joined by several other trinkets that he had picked up along the way.
The trio had originally intended to find a vehicle and leave right away, but that search hadn't come up with much so Spike had become angry and sat down at the edge of the crater, using what remained of an awning to shield Molly from the sun. Finally getting a chance to think about the position that he found himself in was full of revelations to Spike. He had expected that his newfound slayer strength would keep him from getting tired to quickly, but not long after they had found Molly Spike had begun to get tired. He was surprised by a rumble from his stomach. He hadn't been physically hungry in that way for well over a hundred years, and the thought suddenly dawned on him that even though he, Anya, Cordelia, and Molly had apparently been fully brought back to life not much else had. The few bottles of water that they found still intact didn't last very long, as picking through the rough terrain on the way out of the crater, under a sweltering southern California sun, had made them all very thirsty and tired. His ruminations on being newly human continued until Molly awoke suddenly with a shout.
"Whoa…," Spike shouted in surprise as he tumbled off of the rock that he had been using as a chair. As he slowly picked himself back up he glared back at the young slayer, who sat wide eyed and speechless as she looked all around before finally setting her sights on Spike. "You know if you keep your face like that much longer it'll freeze that way," Spike quipped with his usual smug smile spread across his face.
"What…where…how," Molly stammered out with a scared look on her face as she surveyed her ruined surroundings.
"You're still in Sunnydale pet…or what's left of it anyway, don't have a bloody clue as to how you're alive again…," Spike said softly as he tried to be as non threatening as a former century and a half old vampire who had just become the first male slayer in history could be without looking fake.
"But how…I remember the fight…with Caleb…the knife…he…," Molly mumbled out, still with a scared look on her face, before she partially lifted up her shirt to reveal a perfectly unharmed and pale white stomach.
"Stabbed you I know…you died that night in the vineyard…but for some reason it looks like you get a second chance," Spike replied with a tired frown on his face as he climbed back up onto the rock that he had been sitting on before Molly's outburst.
"Where is everyone…and why aren't you going up like a bloody roman candle," Molly asked meekly as she bit her bottom lip and looked around sadly, hoping that she was truly alive instead of being tricked by the First.
"Because I'm not a vampire anymore…I'm human…well mostly, y'see I won the whole bloody contest…and I guess that becoming a slayer is my prize for helping to stop the apocalypse," Spike answered with a nervous look on his face, as if he were still having a little trouble believing what he was saying. "Can't say exactly…last thing I remember Buffy and the others left the hellmouth and ran…I don't know what happened after that, who lived and died…or even where they are," Spike continued sadly before he flicked a small pebble off of his pedestal.
"The hellmouth…but how…," Molly asked, this time trying to stand but finding her muscles a little weaker than she had guessed was forced to quickly sit back down.
"After you died Buffy got herself a new weapon…the scythe…and she led everyone into the hellmouth and with a little trinket we put the hellmouth out of business permanently," Spike replied with a proud and confident chuckle before Molly nervously crawled her way towards him. Reluctantly Spike scooted over and let Molly sit on the opposite side of the rock.
"So we won then…it's over…," Molly said with a hopeful tone to her voice as she looked around sadly and brushed some dirt off of her jeans.
"Guess so…this isn't exactly how I pictured it but…," Spike said with an unsure frown on his face as he looked around slowly before returning his gaze to the new slayer.
"So I'm a slayer now…for real…like Buffy and Faith…," Molly asked, now seemingly less concerned with whether or not Spike was telling the truth and more concerned on her current slayer status.
"Looks that way…so how does it feel…is it everything that you thought it'd be," Spike answered with a smug smirk on his face, suddenly very much wanting to puff away on a cigarette, before he quickly added a question of his own.
"I'm not sure…it's still to…new I guess…but wait, for me to be a slayer wouldn't Buffy or Faith…," Molly exclaimed with a very excited smile on her face at first before a look of almost self loathing and ultimate fear spread itself across her face.
"You've got it all wrong pet…the whole slayer package doesn't work like that any longer…when Red worked her mojo on the scythe the spell made it so that every girl that has the chance to be a slayer became one…all at the same time, so now there's hundreds…if not thousands of slayers running around the world," Spike replied as clearly and deliberately as he thought best to convey the information that he wanted Molly to receive.
"Cool…," Molly mumbled softly with a smile on her face as she took a moment to sit beside Spike and take in all of the new smells, sounds, and sights that being a slayer brought her. Neither she nor Spike noticed the small squad of heavily armed men in all black military gear firing tranquilizer darts into their necks before it was too late.
"Sleep tight ass-face…," The man growled softly before he gave Spike a good kick in the ribs and then went about tracking down the rest of Spike's motley crew.
* * * * * * *
After Faith had given up trying to get outside and talk to Buffy or Angel she had left the lobby and went up to check on Wesley. Giles had initially disapproved of the idea but had relented when some of the newest slayers had demanded to know what was going on, with an extremely stubborn Vi leading the charge. Kennedy and Willow had retreated to another of the rooms to let Willow rest. After some initial hesitation Lorne had begun intermingling with the new slayers and ended up getting locked into a conversation with Andrew and Dawn, who both wanted to have their aura's read rather than talk about how nervous they were. Fred had done the best that she could do in patching up the injured slayers but had sent the most injured to the hospital in the ambulances that Lorne had called earlier. Robin had pulled Gunn aside and had begun to ask seemingly every question of the rainbow about Angel, Angel Investigations, and more importantly Wesley. Gunn had answered every question as best he could but made it clear that he didn't know all of the answers. Gunn had pulled Xander over and involved him in the conversation only minutes before the rain of fire began. Wood had tried to make the first point of discussion with Xander about Faith and Wesley's history, but the trio got sidetracked by Xander's explanation of why he wore an eye patch. When the rain of fire began Angel pulled a curious Buffy inside just as the first few spheres of fire plummeted down from the sky.
"I just remembered that I really hated this part," Fred squeaked meekly as she sat down beside Gunn, who slipped his arm and her shoulders and squeezed lightly.
"But you're not alone this time, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere," Gunn said softly as he tried to calm Fred down without allowing her to see just how nervous he was. Across from him Robin Wood sat first staring at the two across from his seat before he turned his attention to the front doors as Buffy, and most of the new slayers, stood near every available window trying to get the best view of the ominous events unfolding outside.
"What do we do now Buffy," Vi asked nervously as she seemed to have lost all of the confidence that she had found earlier in the day. Buffy started to respond but sighed, smiled, and shrugged her shoulders before answering.
"I don't know…but this isn't my call…it's Angel's…he's the leader here," Buffy replied with a very burnt out and defeated look on her face before her shoulders slumped and she slowly walked into the middle of the lobby, almost knocking into a nervous Kennedy, who was accompanying Willow back down the stairs towards Angel.
"I only lead my people Buffy…you're still the boss of everyone else…unless you want Faith to lead…what…am I missing something here…," Angel started to say with a firm but yet not angry tone to his voice as he slowly followed after Buffy, completely ignoring the events unfolding outside of the hotel. As he continued to follow Buffy he noticed the looks of shame on the faces of everyone except for Gunn, Fred, and Lorne and grew concerned about it.
"Yeah…but it's a long story…one that you're…not going to like very much…," Willow stammered out with a great bit of trepidation as had Kennedy not been at her side the witch most likely would have retreated right back up the stairs as fast as she could go.
"Well with the rain of fire out there I could all the time in the world…so lay it on me," Angel replied with a look on his face that seemed to mean he could care less as he jammed his hands deep into his pockets and turned his full attention to Willow, who swallowed hard before beginning her story.
END OF CHAPTER 4