Disclaimer: I do not own Angel: the series or Buffy: the Vampire Slayer shows or characters. I do however own the characters of Cathy Lucy Angel and Nicholas (Nicky) Wood. No money is exchanging hands. Please don't sue me. I'm just a poor college student without a dime.

Summary: This story is the sequel to Fast Forward. Connor has finally come back home after living in Quar'toth for ten years. Each chapter will focus on a separate character's point of view as Connor adjusts to being back home and living with his family.

Pairings: Angel/Cordy, Faith/Wood, Fred/Wesley, Gunn/OC, Spike/Buffy, later on Connor/Dawn, Anya/Xander, Willow/Kennedy.

The song that inspired this story is This Year by Christina Aguilera. (Click to get the lyrics)

If you want to skip around to other chapters first you can, but they might not be up yet. I just put in the links in advance. They are all separate stories with different points of view.

Rating: PG-13 to R for Language. Mostly the F word. I use some other bad language, but nothing you probably haven't heard anywhere else.

PS—I have tried really hard to figure out WHAT city Tru Calling takes place in. I think it's either San Francisco or New York City. I'm leaning towards New York, though. In all honesty, it could probably be ANY United States city…All cities have those kinds of buildings somewhere. But for this story, I'm going to say that Tru and her family live in San Francisco, just to keep it all in California, so they can drive there, instead of fly. I don't know if I want to take Faith all the way across the country. If anyone knows for sure, email me…I'll change it, but for now, I'm just going to stick to San Francisco.

***PPS—I really didn't want to get too much into Meredith's withdrawal. I assume that most people have either seen it on TV or actually known someone who has gone through it. It's a difficult process and, to be honest, I don't want to write twenty pages of a junky vomiting and going into semi-seizures; begging for a hit. I write just enough for you to get the point. OK. Now to the story…

This Year

By: Sensue

Chapter Three: December. Part II. (Faith's POV) x-over with Tru Calling

I would love to say that the rest of the trip went as smoothly as the pickup, but then I'd be lying my ass off. Once Meredith woke up, it really became the trip from hell. I don't want to get into too much detail, but suffice to say, it ended with Nicky sobbing his heart out, Meredith screaming at the top of her lungs, and Harrison being knocked unconscious again; this time by my overprotective husband trying to protect my honor or some crap like that. The kid is gonna end up with a concussion, if he doesn't learn to watch his language in front of my son.

I'm actually surprised that we made it to the Hyperion without killing anyone. Robin pulled into the hotel lot: According to the cars parked there, Wesley was the only one there. We all piled out of the truck, Harrison finally waking his ass up and sporting two large bruises on his face. Meredith was pissed; her arms crossed over her chest.

I picked up Nicky and carried him in the house. The kid had fallen asleep due to all of his crying. His energy drained from the emotional fallout. I sort of wish I could trust those two enough to tell them our family secrets. They could, maybe, try to control their emotions better when they're around my son. But I fear that their reactions to his gifts could cause more harm than good.

Luckily, I called Angel ahead of time and let him know that plans had changed. He told me not to worry, they wouldn't be told anything about vampires, demons, hell dimensions, and slayers, etc. I asked him about Lorne; how was Lorne going to help Meredith if he looked like a demon? How was she going to get past his color? Again, Angel reassured me that he had a plan. I trust Angel, Hell, I trust him more than anyone else in my life. So I wasn't going to worry about Lorne.

So when I walked into the Hyperion, followed by my guests, I wasn't really looking around. I was too caught up in my thoughts. Nicky pulled his head away from my shoulder; feeling movement and woke up.

It was his exclamation of "Wow! Mommy, look! It's Christmas for real. We even have a big tree for Santa to come and put presents under. Look at the pretty lights."

I looked around, truly amazed. Nicky's right, the hotel looks gorgeous. I see the plastic poinsettias in the corners, and thought, yup, that's our Cordy for you. Putting up her plastic flowers all over the place. I think that even Harrison and Meredith were impressed. Robin came up besides me and put an arm around my waist. We stood there in awe for a moment. That's until Connor jumped off the top of the staircase and landed on his feet right in front of us, that we budged.

"Hey, Faith. Hey, Robin, Nicky. Glad you're back. Dad's on a case right now with Spike and Mom. He'll be back in a while." He then held his arms out for Nicky. Nicky jumped out of mine and into his. He really loves Connor like a big brother.

"Connor, wait up a second. I want you to meet my brother and sister. Connor, this is Meredith and Harrison. Mer, Harry, this is Angel's son, Connor."

Harrison gave a hand up and 'hey' in response, while Meredith just nodded. "Connor, can you please take care of Nicky for a while? I have to get everyone settled in their rooms then talk to your mom and dad when they get here. Okay?"

"'Kay, Faith." Connor walked off, Nicky following him into the kitchen. Connor had stopped calling us 'aunt' and 'uncle', feeling more comfortable just using our first names.

The kid was definitely adapting to this dimension. You could tell by the way the boy eats. He's worse than Cordy during 'that time of the month.' He pigs out on chocolate and donuts all the time. Well, I can't complain about the donuts. They're my downfall. I once had a donut eating contest with Gunn. I beat him by five donuts. He ate fifteen and a half and I ate about twenty. I think he got sick afterwards too. I, on the other hand, could've probably eaten twenty more. God, I love donuts, especially jelly filled ones. I want one right now.

I think that I'm obsessing over donuts because I don't want to think of what I have to do. I have to switch back on "Bitchy Slayer" mode and take no survivors. I can't let them weasel out of this. Meredith is going to stop taking drugs and Harrison is going to get a fucking life that doesn't revolve around gambling. It's going to be hard, but at least I've got some backup now.

Robin went back to the truck to get our bags. Tru had Harrison's clothes already packed up after I had told her about taking him to LA with me. I couldn't get Meredith's clothes though, but I figure that she's about Cordy's height. Cordy'll probably let her borrow a few of her 'out of style' clothes. I mean, I can't really picture Cordy giving up her new stuff to a stranger.

I found Wesley in his office, deep in reading some book, as usual. "Hey, Wes!" I shout. I admit it. It's still fun to get a stir out of Wesley. I think of it as a job, someone's got to drive the guy nuts, it might as well be me.

He jolted, then glared at me. "Faith, it is so good to have you home so soon. I missed you," he said, only being a little sarcastic. "What can I do for you?"

Then Meredith and Harrison walked up behind me. "Oh. We have guests. Forgive me, I'm Wesley Wyndham Pryce." He held out his hand to them. After they shook hands with him, I introduced them and then asked where Angel had setup their rooms.

Meredith was getting worse. She was starting to sweat and her eyes flickered from place to place. Her hands trembled ever so slightly, so she put them in her pockets to hide it. It was time to put her to bed. She was starting to show the signs of 'coming down'. She's going to be begging for a hit soon.

Wesley walked us upstairs and showed us the rooms that they were to use for their stay. He told all of us that Cordy had the rooms cleaned and ready for our guests. She really put lots of thought into the rooms, going so far as to decorate them to suit the personality of person staying there. Harrison's room was across the hall from Connor's new room. Because of his heightened vampire senses of smell and sound, he really didn't want to stay in the room across the hall as his parents. NO EXPLAINATION WAS NECESSARY. No one wants to hear what happens in their parent's room at night. His childish toys and clothes were with either given to Nicky or to Anne's Halfway House. Nicky, of course, kept Connor's collection of toy cars and trucks. Connor had gotten a completely brand new wardrobe bought by Fred, Cordy, and Angel. I had no idea that Angel was a shop-a-holic.

Inside was almost everything that Harrison could need.  I mean, it was even decorated with music posters, decently covered, but pretty models, and funny bumper stickers that littered the walls. Hubcaps and pipes made up corner shelves that held up books on science, history and poetry. IN only one corner of the room, by the window specifically, was a vase full of plastic flowers. It looked like everyone had pitched in. The only thing missing was technology. Angel really didn't like phone lines and cable lines put in everywhere in the old fashioned hotel. And to be honest, he really didn't know how to use them. A cell phone will have him baffled for months, so I can't imagine him working a digital VCR or DVD player. No one in the mansion, except for Spike, watched TV either. So it wasn't a big deal to share the large one in the family room.

I suppose if Meredith or Harrison wanted one, we could put one in without cable, but I doubt they'd have a single moment to spare. Any type of recovery was a long hard road, an addiction was the worst.

Harrison like his room, if his reaction was a judge. He ran up to the bed, then jumped on it, lying down to stretch out. Robin came in a minute later to drop off his bag of clothes by the door.

I told Harrison to 'be good,' then continued with Wesley and Meredith to show her to the room she would be staying in. I put my hand behind her back; her shaking was getting worse, she couldn't hide it anymore. We walked to the elevator and went up to the top floor of the hotel. It was newly repaired and reconstructed after, I just heard about this, a telepath who wanted to screw Angel blew it up. Don't ask me, I wasn't here. It was nice looking, yet traditional. Angel kept to the original architecture of the original hotel in the fifty's.

Meredith's room was pretty empty in comparison to Harrison's. It only contained a twin sized bed, night stand, lamps, dresser and a couple of chairs. I was sort of shocked to see it look, well Spartan. I looked questioningly at Wesley. He looked at Meredith, then back at me. "Lorne decorated this room. He felt that once Meredith was feeling better, she could go move to another more comfortable room downstairs. Perhaps the room near Fred's room. If that's okay?"

I nodded. Meredith didn't say anything. I don't think she knew where the hell she was. She then turned and ran to the interconnected bathroom in order to throw up. Another perk of the room was the separate bathroom. It was also far enough away from anyone else's room so that if she yelled or started screaming it wouldn't bother anyone. Nicky was also far enough away so he couldn't pick up her thoughts. I worry that as he gets older, that may not longer be the case. I stood there listening as she vomited the hospital food she had eaten earlier.

Wes had pulled at my arm, gesturing to go outside in the hall. "Faith, the real reason the room is like this is because there are times in which people going through withdrawal will often feel like they're going to die. Sometimes they actually try to attempt to kill themselves to escape the pain. You should be aware of that. Also, we're dressed Lorne up as a human. Trust me when I say that no one is going to know that he's a demon. Also Spike, Angel and Cordy have agreed no to use their abilities while your siblings are still here. Connor's being a little rebellious of sorts. He doesn't want to hide his abilities in his own home, so I've come up with an impressive cover story. First of all, since Angel and Cordy don't look old enough to even have children, I'm telling everyone that he was an orphan that they adopted. Since he's eighteen, he graduated high school last year and was a star athlete in the school's gymnastics team. Cathy hasn't developed her powers yet, so we don't have to worry about her. Nicky, on the other hand, needs to be a little careful. We'll try our best to keep him as far away from Meredith as possible. We don't want him to get hurt."

"Don't worry about Nicky, Wes. He'll be okay. I'm going to help Meredith. Um, could you just keep an eye on Harrison? I'm afraid that he'll try to sneak off and play cards somewhere. He doesn't know about the demons living here. If he makes a bet with the wrong person, losing cash is the least of his worries. He could lose his soul."

"No need to worry about your brother. We'll all take care of him. You just concentrate on helping your sister. We'll handle the rest. Oh. Lorne will be here later this evening to help you both."

"Okay, thank you Wesley. I really appreciate what you're doing for me." I kissed him on the cheek. He blushed and walked back downstairs.

I went back into Meredith's room, finding her still in the bathroom, praying to the porcelain god. I just sat next to her on the floor, waiting for her to finish. I just watched, unable to help her. I wish Cordy was home, she's really good at caring for people when they get sick or hurt. She's sort of our 'house doctor.' I, on the other hand, just get uncomfortable. I guess that's another difference between me and my look-alike, Tru. She loves helping people; that's why she wants to be a doctor so badly. Angel would tell me to be honest with myself. So honestly, I really don't like helping people. I just like kicking the demon asses that are bothering them. I'm a fighter. I don't really do the whole crying at movies thing, awing at baby's not my own, or getting hysterical at the slightest problem. I'm a slayer. Although now that I think about it Buffy was exactly like that, so I'm not like 'a slayer.' I'm an individual; a slayer like no one has ever known.

And now I'm stuck having to take care of my druggy half sister that I haven't seen in over seven years. Now I know what Cordy must've felt like after her parents showed up after ten years and ruined her life by kidnapping her son to live in a hell dimension.

I waited until she was done puking her guts up and helped her back onto the bed. She fell back to sleep. I didn't know what to do with myself. I sort of pulled up one of the chairs next to her bed and sat there thinking.

I had no specific thought in mind; it was jumbled. I then realized that I couldn't leave her, not even to patrol or work. I hope Angel doesn't mind. I mean, we're a family and we get paid whether or not we do anything, a straight salary of sorts. Cordy takes the checks the clients pay us with, first paying off business expenses, and then split the remainder equally. It sucks when business is bad or our clients refuse to pay us, but none of us starve.

Meredith woke up a bunch of times, each time running to the bathroom to vomit. The only problem was she didn't have anything left in her. So dry heaves shook her body and left her, to borrow a phrase from Lorne, like a wet noodle.

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs a few hours later. Angel popped his head in the doorway of the bathroom. "Hi, Faith. I would ask you how it's going but I can see it's not going too well. Can I help?"

"Yes. Angel, I don't know what to do. How do I help her?" I was desperate.

"First, try to get something in her stomach, even if it's just water or something. It'll also help if you put a pan or something by the bed, it'll help you later when she's too tired to get up. And try to be patient; this might take days, maybe weeks to get over all of the effects." He put a hand on my shoulder; it was as if she was passing his strength to me. I definitely need it. I'll need all the help I can get.

"Ok. Thanks, Angel." He left the room, stopping at the doorframe, "Let me know if I can do anything else. Oh, and don't worry about Harrison. Spike and I have got it covered. Everyone is pitching in to help him, even Connor. Trust me, by the time we're done with him, card will be the last thing on his mind." He said this with an evil smile on his face, then turned and left the hall.

Yeah, Harrison'll be fine. Angel won't let him screw up like I did. He'll stop him before it goes too far and someone ends up dead.

What seemed like forever later, Lorne walked in. "What the Hell?" was the first question out of my mouth, "You look…hell, you look human. Wes told me that you would, but I didn't believe him. How the hell did you pull it off? What about your horns? That looks great."

"Hi, sweetie. Yes. It's so good to see you too. Well, Spike had a way of getting my horns off, HE BROKE THEM OFF OF MY HEAD! At least, they'll grow back. And I believe, to answer the rest of your questions, there is something called professional actor's make up, hair dye, and molded prosthetics too. Luckily, Cordy still knew where to buy that sort of thing from her time in the acting field. I look good, huh?  This stuff is guaranteed to last at least twelve hours, until I start to look 'green', I'm all yours. Why don't you introduce me?"

He came closer to the bed. Meredith didn't even seem aware of who was in the room with her. Her trembling shook the bed. "Tru," she still thought I was Tru, "please, I need something. I need it, just a little, you know stop gradually. I can't do this anymore, Tru, please, just a little. You can sneak into a hospital, take something, anything. It hurts so much. Please, Tru, Help me." Her voice was harsh and broken, tears leaking from the corner of her eyes. "Please, help me."

"Meredith," I was getting pissed of at her, "First off, I'm not getting you drugs, so stop asking me. Second of all, I'm NOT TRU! I'm Faith."

Lorne put a hand out against my chest to stop me. "Honey, I don't think she understands you. Right now, all she can comprehend is the need for more drugs."

He pulled out a crystal of some sort out of the bad that I didn't notice he carried on his shoulder. "This'll help direct positive energy to her. Hopefully, taking the worst edge off the pain and despair that I know she's feeling right now." He placed a crystal on each corner of the bed.

Then he sat in the chair next to the bed and rubbed at her temples for about a half hour. I sat at the edge of the bed watching her. She seemed slightly better. I forced lots of liquids down her and tried to get her to eat the meals Fred had brought up for her. The water just got thrown back up again and the food ended up on the walls after she screamed that we were trying to kill her. She picked up the tray and threw it across the room, food spattering on the walls and dresser.

It was hard. I stayed with her the entire time, in her room for four days and nights. In that time, I hadn't slept and hardly ate for fear of her hurting herself while I slept. She'd certainly been threatening to. Cordy tried to get me to take a break, coming up every morning to ask me to come down and eat breakfast with the rest of them and every night in time for dinner. Each time, I refused. So a tray was brought up for the both of us in time for each meal.

I really didn't eat much of anything. I had lost my appetite. I mean, how can you eat when the person right next to you is yakking and gagging. I wasn't feeling too hot myself, but I wasn't going to bitch about it. I had heard enough of Meredith's bitching to last lifetimes.

Lorne really helped us out. Once she was lucid, he talked to her and helped her get through the rouge patches. He even taught her a calming song. I didn't think that "My Heart Will Go On" was that calming, feeling that if I heard it once more, I would explode, but Meredith liked it and it helped her.

By Christmas Eve, Meredith felt well enough to come downstairs and meet everyone else. She was still shaky, but coherent enough to not be rude to anyone.

She sat on the couch, talking quietly to Fred, who was the only one NOT running around with their heads chopped off in preparation for Christmas Eve dinner. When Meredith asked where Harrison was, Fred told her that he was hanging out with Connor. Then, in Fred's typical manner, proceeded to tell her the entire "Connor Cover Story" in less than five minutes.

Her voice grated on my nerves. My head pounding now, with every word she babbled. I put my head in my hands. The room was spinning and I felt like I was going to be the one puking soon. Fred's voice got louder, until I felt hands pull my shoulders back against the couch cushions. A different set of hands pulled away my hands covering my face. God, what the hell was their problem? Leave me alone. It's too hot, stop touching me. I have no idea if I was thinking this or actually saying it, but the voices grew in amount and intensity. A hand was placed against my forehead.

It felt nice, cool and dry against my hot face. I felt someone else lift me and the jolts of being carried up the stairs. Soon I was placed on a flat, but comfortable surface. My clothes were pulled off of me and covers were draped over my body.

I think I slept for a while, until my head was lifted and pills were put in my mouth. I tried to spit them out, but water followed the pills, forcing me to swallow them. Then a cool wetness spread across my head, neck and chest. It felt so good, I could've stayed there forever.

I cracked open my eyes to see Cordy wiping me down with a wash cloth. I turned my head over to see Robin's head resting against the right side of the bed. He was sleeping in a chair besides me; his hands pillowing his head. I croaked, "hey, Cor."

Cordy's voice was soft and warm, like a mother's, "Easy, Faith. It's okay. You're okay now. You just need to take it easy."

"What happened?" The last thing I remember was Meredith and Fred talking.

"You've let yourself get rundown, Faith. Slayer or not, you still need to eat and sleep," she lectured, her tone scolding me, "You practically passed out from stress yesterday. Oh, by the way, Merry Christmas, Faith."

"I fucking slept through Christmas Eve?"

"You needed it. You actually spiked a fever of 100º. And anyway, it's Christmas morning. You didn't sleep through Christmas and no one has opened their presents yet. We were waiting for you. Robin was really worried. He stayed with you all day and all night. He didn't want to leave you in case you needed anything. You've got a great husband, you know. He really loves and cares about you."

"Thank you, I mean it, Cor. Thanks. You are my best friend. No one has ever given a crap about me and here you guys are taking care of me, of my son and I don't know how I can thank you for it."

"Faith, you don't have to thank me or anyone else. We're family. Families take care of each other. You're my best friend too, you know."

She hugged me, then proceeded to help me "get my butt out of bed and come open presents."

Robin woke up during the commotion of choosing what to wear. By the time an appropriate outfit was picked out, my clothes had exploded out of the closet and on the floor of my bedroom. Robin gave me a kiss and told me he loved me, and then went downstairs to tell the others that I was feeling better.

When I walked downstairs to see my family, I was shocked to see them, most of my family, Harrison and Meredith included dressed in Santa hats and singing Christmas carols with Lorne in the front lobby. Fred noticed me coming down the stairs first, and then ran to the other end of the lobby to get me 'the most comfortable chair in the hotel.' They all made me sit and relax in the chair, threatening to tickle me if I so much as moved a toe out of that chair the rest of the day. Nicky came up to me, and hugged me, whispering "Merry Christmas, Mommy" in my ear.

Meredith also came up to me, "Thank you, FAITH," she stressed out, "I can't believe that you even wanted to try to help me. I was so mean to you when we were children. I was jealous and petty, I hope that you can forgive me, and start fresh. Thank you so much for helping me to get my life back from drugs. I owe you and Lorne my life."

Maybe it was the fever, but tears welled up in my eyes. "Don't worry about it. It's water under the bridge and all that. I just hope that I've helped you enough to keep you from EVER going back to using."

"I won't, I promise. It's over. I'll never touch drugs again." She looked so confident in that statement. She really means it this time, I thought.

Harrison looked good too. He too gave me a hug thanking me for bringing him here to get help. He then hid in a quiet corner, talking excitedly with Connor. Those two looked like they were planning something. I'm not sure if it's good or not, but when two teenagers start sneaking around, you know something is up. I wouldn't know anything about it until it was time to open the presents.

Nicky and Cathy couldn't wait another second, begging that it was time to open the gifts. So we all gathered near the tree passing out presents printed with our names on it. Each person would open one gift at a time and then go around in a circle letting the next person open their one present until all of the presents were open. It was easier to see who got what present if all the presents weren't open at once. Everyone had a place near the tree, except for Wesley, who I hadn't seen since we first got back from San Francisco.

Spike was thinking the same thing, "God, that wanker. It's Christmas and he's still stuck in his office translating that damn prophecy. I say we drag him out by the ears if we have to and make him celebrate it with us. 'Cause I'm not gonna wait for him. I want to open those presents… I know one of them is going to be a DVD player…I just know it."

We all laughed at that. He had definitely given us enough clues as to what he wanted for Christmas this year. It seemed every time he saw you, he'd mention a new DVD he wanted or saw on TV that 'looked really funny' or something like that. Pretty covert of him.

Fred volunteered to go get him. He looked worse than me; the book was still in his arms, as if he wasn't going to let it go for anything. He quietly said, "Merry Christmas," then sat down in his spot. He didn't look to excited to be opening his presents, but the kids were excited enough for everyone.

The kids, including Harrison and Connor, had gotten tons of clothes, toys, and books this year. They also received ONE big present that they really wanted. Harrison was really surprised to see that Angel had bought him a Gameboy™ with five games. Connor had gotten a new bow and arrow set, which he had wanted very badly. Cathy had gotten the new Scooby Doo Barbie™ doll (Daphne) and the Mystery Van too, complete with a plastic Scooby Doo. Nicky, got a new big boy bike, without training wheels that me and his dad promised to teach him to ride.

The gifts we had bought for each other were really funny. Angel had gotten a toy cell phone that made noises if you touched any button. Cordy had gotten a Barbie dream house and vanity set, which she promised to give to Cathy. Gunn had gotten fuzzy dice to put in his "sweetheart" and Fred had gotten ten gift certificates to the Taco Hut. Wesley got really big reading glasses that were the size of his head. Robin got a mug that said, "I'm the principle: Do ass I sae`." Meredith got a huge box of bandages: each one with a message on it, like 'Don't Sweat the Small Stuff', etc. I got a T-shirt that said "Piss me off and you will get knocked OUT!" I assume that was from Harrison. 

Then it was Spike's turn. His present was quite large in size; a rectangular box that might hold a DVD player. He opened the box, finding another box, neatly wrapped inside of it. He looked up at each of us to judge our reactions. "Just so you know, I won't be too happy with you if this is one of those egg things, where there's an egg inside an egg, in this case a box in a box." He then opened that box, and yes, finding another smaller box, also wrapped inside…he unwrapped the next box, to find another box, this time with the words OPEN CAREFULLY written on it with marker. He did as the box said, opening the small box carefully. Inside the small box was an envelope. He rolled his eyes at all of us, clearly disappointed. We watched his eyes as he read the letter; they got so big, that I thought that they were going to come out of his head. Then he jumped up and down and screamed for joy. He ran around like a little boy, hugging everyone in the room and then picking up the kids and spinning them around and around. "I got a DVD player. I got a DVD player. I just got to go pick it up from the store, along with," he read of the paper, "my choice of any 20 DVDs." He danced around the room, very excitedly.

After he was done, Angel stood up, announcing that there was "one more present to open." He went into the other room and pushed in a huge cake. It was one of those ones girls pop out of. "Okay. This present is for Faith, this year." With that being said, not one, but two girls popped out. What really shocked me was that one of them was Tru and the other Tru's blond friend.

"Surprise, Faith." They yelled out.

"Oh, my god. Tru, and, I'm sorry I still don't know your name, you came."

"Lindsay," she said. "Nice to meet you, Faith. Let me tell you, I had no clue that you weren't Tru. You got me fooled, girl."

I ran up and hugged them. I was so happy to see her. That surprised me. Here I was I had gone through seven years without even thinking about my sister, and now she's here and I'm actually happy to see her.

The others left me with Tru for a little while, getting up and going into the kitchen in order to get everything ready for dinner.

I talked quietly to her about how Meredith and Harrison were doing. I told her that I thought the hardest part was over, now they needed to maintain control over their addictions. We were going to continue talking about if they were ready to go home, when Lorne interrupted us.

"Sorry, sweetie. I couldn't help but overhear. I really don't think you should talk about this right now. Meredith and Harrison will tell you when they are ready. For now, I think that they are really happy living here for now. When they are ready to go home, trust me they'll already have their bags packed. I already talked to Angelcakes, he agrees with me. They can stay however long they feel necessary. Now, we have a dinner to make and you are not getting out of making that famous strawberry and apple pie that you always make every year, Faith. No matter how bad you feel. My taste buds are dancing."

"You can make strawberry and apple pie, my mom used to--." Tru started, then trailed off, "You remember my mom's recipe? Oh. Faith, please, please, please, teach it to me? Please?" She began begging like she was a little girl, her hands clasped together and her body bouncing up and down. Her friend, Lindsay thought it was funny and started giggling under her hands. That made the rest of us laugh.

"Yeah. Yeah Yeah. I'll teach it to you, but just as a warning. It's the ONLY thing I can cook or bake. Around here, we let Angel do the cooking, if we expect to come out of the meal alive." That earned another round of giggling.

I walked into the kitchen, finding Angel and Spike arguing again about how to make a decent roast. I ignored them and went to the fridge to get my supplies for the pie. My head was in the fridge when Wesley came up behind me and asked if he could talk to me and the others privately. It was a 'business matter' that the children and our guests didn't need to hear.

Gunn, Fred, Angel, Cordy, Lorne and I walked back into the Wesley's office behind him. After we had gotten settled in a spot, Wes closed the door. "Ok. You all know that I've been busy translating this prophecy. Now it very hard to translate it. It sounds like a fortune cookie. But it is very concerning. It talks about 'the champion's enemy.'"

"What about my enemies, Wesley?" Angel interjected, also concerned with this new information.

"The text says the following:

In the year of the champion's return.

The enemy which had taken from the champion

Will know pain.

It will change him,

Force him to guide others

In the spirit of the light.

No longer to hurt

Or punishment of threefold

Will be upon him.

Just to make it clear. It's a rough translation. I'm not quit sure as to who or what specifically it speaks of. But it is clear that one of Angel's enemies will switch places in the coming battles. Perhaps, we will gain an ally."

Angel wanted to know more about the prophecy before anything happened. What year were they talking about? Angel hadn't gone anywhere. Maybe it was in the future or something.

Angel and Wesley were getting into it. Fred coming to Wesley's defense when Angel started to yell. Cordy putting her hand out and telling them to stop. "Boys! It's Christmas. We can talk about this later. It's not an evil warning. It's a good warning. A bad guy is going to turn good. It's not like the apocalypse is coming, so relax. Go finish cooking. I can't wait for dinner."

They all calmed down and walked back into the kitchen. Cordy's right. There's no way we're going to figure out what the hell that meant tonight.

Tonight, is a night for thinking about the year we've had.  This year we've learned how to live, how to forget, and how to forgive without fear. It's been the best Christmas, this year. (*Lyrics from This Year: by Christina Aguilera.*)

The End (With Chapter 3: December)

Next: January (The link may not be up yet… I just put it up in advance.)

How'd you like it? Let me know: Read and Review please. And don't forget to visit my website, Prophecy End.

Oh… and the Prophecy:

In the year of the champion's return.

The enemy which had taken from the champion

Will know pain.

It will change him,

Force him to guide others

In the spirit of the light.

No longer to hurt

Or punishment of threefold

Will be upon him.

That's for Imzadi…Guess who the 'enemy' is? Or the 'champion' for that matter. I'll try my best to write at least a chapter that details 'the change', but I make no promises. Maybe I'll write it into a separate story instead. Let me know what you think about it. ~Sensue.