Author note: Well, I think I've confused a lot of readers. Since this is a sequel of sorts, I should have listed what had happened so far on the first chapter. So I did. And for all of you who don't want to go back and re-read chapter one, here it is again. Tell me if it makes any sense. And if these chapters aren't posted correctly, please tell me. I hit the wrong button on replace and it may have messed up the whole thing.
What has happened so far (from the three fics before):
--This fic follows the AU storyline that the fifth season of Angel did not happen. This takes off from the standpoint of Jasmine dying by Connor's hands. After that, total AU. All of what happened in BTVS happened. We are now nine years into the future though.
--Wes and Faith went through lots of trials to get to this point. Grace and Liam are eight years old, a product of this union. But Faith and Wes have only been married for seven.
--There was a demon war on the West Coast, approximately nine years before this story happens. This is when Faith and Wes get together.
--People now know about demons; the Council helps out local law enforcement around the world keep the peace between humans and demons.
--Grace is the name of Faith's deceased grandmother.
--Wes named Grace; Faith named Liam.
--Wes translated a prophecy concerning Faith and a new kind of slayer born from her.
--Faith had a vision of what Grace will become in the future as she was giving birth.
--Wes is now estranged from his family.
--Giles is the head of the Council.
--Cordy is alive in this fic because a nasty demon brought her back in the prequels to this. She has no powers whatsoever.
OK, now have I confused everyone? Good. This chapter is in memory of Mutant Enemy Productions, which as of today (or until they fire everyone) is no more. Joss has closed up shop. Let's hope the television muse hits him again soon and we don't have to wait for all the movies he's gonna make. Boo hoo. Now on with the chapter four.
Chapter Four – The Job
"So, how do we kill this one?" Faith asked her husband.
"Your standard slice and dice. They like to live in caves for the warm, moist climate."
Faith and Wesley slowly moved through the dark, dank cave, Faith with a sword drawn, Wes handling a flashlight so they could see.
"Nice place to drag someone back to also. It smells funny in here."
"Kind of like sulfur. That must be what attracts the demon. I remember this one demon that Gunn and I had encountered down in the sewers once."
"Pre-broody Angel or post?"
"Post. After he had fired us." Yeah, Gunn, Cordy and Wes should have been dead the first month after Angel fired them, Faith thought. But the three were more resourceful than she ever gave credit. Especially the man now standing beside her.
Faith held her sword like a pro, which she was. She was the second oldest slayer on record, being slightly younger than Buffy. But now at least there were thousands of slayers out in the world, not just two, helping the hopeless.
People knew about demons now because of the demon war on the West Coast. They had won that war finally, and the rebuilding was taking place. Demons still existed, but only the nice ones showed their faces. The evil ones stayed to the shadows once again. People were just more open about knowing.
"You think they'd move on to better pastures."
"Going on instinct though doesn't always afford one the liberty of doing that."
God, he was such a brain. Faith knew that when she married him, knew that when she fell in love with him, and even knew it when she first met him. It took her a while to find that attractive about him. But he never once put her down for her intellect, never thought that she was less than him. He had even told her many times that her mind fascinated him. Her body fascinated him also, but now was not the time to think about that.
She never thought in her wildest dreams that she'd be bonded with this man. A man whom she first despised. Wimp was her first thought of him. After fighting side-by-side with him though, she figured out that he was one of the bravest men she had ever met. He dove into a situation with her, not holding back anything.
Sure, there had been times early on in their relationship that they had held things back only to be hurt. They'd learned from those mistakes and moved on because of the love they shared. And the two children that they shared also.
At first, when she found out she was pregnant, she had freaked. But he had been there to pull her back, make her see that it was the best thing that had ever happened to the two. Whereas everyone else had deemed it a mistake, the two had made a pact to say it was what they wanted and if anyone didn't like it, well tough, or as she had felt like saying at the time, "Go to hell."
It was rough at first, managing babies and slaying, but they had worked through the issues. Now, they stood in a dank cave, hand in hand, ready to vanquish a demon that had tried to drag a jogger off to its lair.
"Hey, shoe," Faith pointed to a jogging show at the side of the cave.
"Could have a shoe fetish?"
"Yeah, right. With a human's leg to go with it."
"When you put it that way." Wesley motioned her to stop her forward progress.
They knew each other's methods like a book now. When Wesley said to halt, he usually had a valid reason. It had kept them out of danger on countless occasions.
Wesley bent down to examine a glowy substance on the ground. "Ectoplasm."
"Gettin' close."
"I would say so. Careful. This one has a very long reach."
Faith hated when he said things like that. Warning her of some danger. Because then it would happen, like some kind of bad omen or something.
Wesley went down to the ground and was jerked away so fast, Faith almost didn't have time to react. Since she could see a lot better in the dim light than he could, she followed his body very quickly. The bouncing flashlight also helped.
"You bastard," Faith yelled as she leapt onto the creature to stop Wesley's forward motion.
"Tentacles. Very strong," he managed to get out. The tentacle had wrapped itself around Wesley's torso, squeezing for all its might.
"Mine. You can't have him," Faith told the thing as she hacked away for it to release Wesley.
"Can't breathe."
And she kept hacking away until she cut through, sending the creature screaming into another corridor.
"Thank you, darling," Wesley gasped trying to draw air into his lungs.
"No prob. You ready to end this?"
"Yes. Before the thing gets away."
Faith helped her big guy off the ground, noticing he was bleeding from the mouth. She hated to see him bleed. It always sent shivers down her spine. He'd bled too much in his life.
"Your mouth."
"It's OK."
The two picked up their pace, finally finding its lair. Shoes littered the area. This creature had lived there for quite some time.
"Has enough shoes to open a shoe store at the mall."
"With the legs still attached." Faith saw a human bone sticking out of one shoe. "Where is it? It doesn't have any place to go."
Faith closed her eyes, trying to sense any sounds at all in the large cavern that they had traced the creature.
"Above," she shouted as she thrust her sword over her head, making the thing come crashing down.
Wesley had already drawn his sword, hacking away at its other tentacles. "Cut all of them off. It's the only way to kill it."
So they hacked and sliced at the thrashing demon until it lay still.
"Have I ever told you that you know how to show a woman a good time?" Faith smiled.
"I aim to please. Especially for you." Wesley snuck in a quick smack on her lips.
"If you weren't so gross and disgusting, I'd give you another one. But in the immortal Queen C's words, Eeww."
"It is rather blah."
"So you think Gracie has Connor tied up by now?"
"What? I told her no more of that game," Wesley stated as they walked back through the caves. "I just hope next time the authorities will tell us about these monsters before anyone else loses their life."
"Don't want to admit to monsters under the bed, now do they?" As most humans didn't want to. "This way," Faith pointed out.
"No, we came this way."
"Hey, watcher. You get lost going to the supermarket. Let me be the slayer."
Wesley grabbed her hand, not caring what she had covering it. He'd taken to doing that early on in their relationship, just as an anchor. Now it was habit. That's what she loved about him the most. His ability to always be touching her. Before, she hated to be touched. Sometimes it seemed even painful. But his hands always soothed her hurt.
"If we get lost?" he chided her.
"You will never let me live it down, I know."
Since the cave corridors wound around so much, it took them awhile to find their way out. It was dark outside by the time they stepped into the fresh air of the park. Stars twinkled brightly above them.
Now that the slay was over, she needed to have a serious talk with him. When she looked into his deep blue eyes, she didn't know whether she could follow through. Would he be angry with her? Their plans would be upset again, she knew. Life would change again. They had gotten into a good routine.
"Beautiful night," he finally proclaimed.
"Yeah."
"Something's been bothering you. As you can so aptly say, spill."
"I know that we have this plan, you know."
Wesley was the man with the plan, which was good because her planning skills consisted of hit, slay.
"Which plan might that be?"
"We'll be here for a year. Then what?"
"I haven't gotten that far yet."
They'd lived in Cleveland until the children were one, then moved to Rome for a couple of years, then to England, then to New York, then back to England. And now here they were in some town not unlike the former Sunnydale in California.
"Not that I'm complaining or anything."
"Do you want to settle down?"
"No. It's not exactly that. Although every time we move, the kids have to make new friends. Kind of hard on them."
"Yes, you're right. Especially Liam."
"I just . . . ."
"Whatever you want. If you want to retire and move to a small town, that would be wonderful."
"No. I mean yes. Oh, I don't know what I mean."
"Well, what would make it more clear?"
"Kind of hard to think when you look at me like that." His blue eyes twinkled in the moonlight. He sure was a feisty SOB.
"I could close my eyes," he taunted as she moved closer.
"Nah. I like 'em too much for you to do that."
He was so close to her, she had to tilt her head back to look at him. Tall, smart and broody. She called him that when their relationship had first started. He had done some questionable things at the time, but it wasn't like she had room to complain. She had wondered if he had taken a page from her life at one point. Eventually, she'd gotten him out of the broody part, 'cause, hey, she was Faith and no one could be like that around her for long. Making him too happy had solved that.
Occasionally he returned to that state. It never lasted for very long. But what she had to tell him now might just put him back in that state for a while.
"So?"
He wanted an answer right then. As he bent his head down to kiss her, she knew she'd delayed the inevitable. He'd find out eventually. Better sooner than later.
Even after all the years they had been together, he could still kiss like a dream. Quit stalling, she willed herself. Wasn't this what got them into trouble in the first place? She finally pulled away slightly for some air.
"Wes?"
"Mmm," he rumbled against her neck.
"We could, um, would you be mad if we . . . ."
The cell phone rang. Saved by the freakin' phone.
"Hello. Yes, Dawn. What? We'll be right there. Yes, you did the right thing."
"What? What?" Her mind raced with possible bad scenarios.
"Let's go," Wesley said as he grabbed her hand. He started running to the car.
"Liam? Grace?"
"They're OK," he answered as he jumped into the driver's side and started the car.
"Then what?" she asked again as she slammed her door. "Vampires, demons, what?" Things she could deal with easily.
"No, worse." She could see that his hands shook slightly as he drove home quickly. What would rattle his tough exterior that much? "My father came by."
"Oh, shit."
Faith knew the whole story about Wesley's father. How he had treated Wesley so badly when he was a child. That's why they refused to even acknowledge that whole side of the family. They had their own made-up family of plenty of aunts and uncles. Giles had even taken the role of grandfather, even though the kids called him Uncle Rupert.
They had a nice, extended, non-blood related family. The other blood-related ones could go to hell for all she cared.
"What happened?"
"A man came to the door claiming he worked for my father. Connor saw a limo parked outside. The man asked for me, saying that my father wanted to see me. Connor sensed it wasn't on the up and up and slammed the door in his face. Liam saw it all."
"Damn."
"Yes." Even through the darkness of the car, she could see the white of his knuckles.
"It's OK. Connor's there."
She thought she knew the whole story, but now she wondered if he had left anything out. "There something you're not telling me, Wes?"
"He, um, contacted me a couple of months ago, wanting to see the children. I told him where he could go."
"Hence the move half way around the world." Now it all fit. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Faith didn't want to yell at him. She had done enough yelling at him to fill a lifetime. But he hadn't confided in her when he should have. And it ticked her off beyond belief.
"I didn't want to worry you. There wasn't a problem at the time."
"Obviously enough for you to run at the first sign of trouble."
"No, I wasn't running. I just thought it would be a good idea."
"Sounds like running to me."
They had pulled up into the driveway. Wesley turned off the car and stared straight ahead. "Bloody hell. What did you expect me to do?" he yelled at her.
"Talk to me."
"I am not going to feel this way again. Inadequate, fumbling fool he thought I always was."
"We'll get through this together. Don't worry."
Now she was the tough one. How one man could reduce him to jello scared her. He literally fell into her arms.
"Not going to let him hurt any of us. Got it?"
"Is that an order?"
"Damn straight. Even I can channel Cordelia every once in a while."
Wesley took a deep breath against her. "We should go in."
"You ready to?"
"Yes."
Her news would have to wait a little longer. They had more important fish to fry at the moment. In the end, she'd kick Roger's butt all the way back to England if she had to. Unless the man sitting next to her didn't kill him first.
TBC
Notes: OK, I really blew it. I should have done the summary before. That might have drawn more people in if I had done it. These first few chapters are establishing the characters as they are in the future and their everyday lives. I will crank it up a notch soon. I just wanted to show everyone how normal this family can be. Not that they're normal at all.
Author thanks go out to: Sketchie, tp96, Angelfirenze(new reviewer), gidgetgirl(another new reviewer), Mandie, shiruii(another one), pari106, SlayerFan, and everyone else out there in fic land.
Answers to questions:
Sketchie—I still love you. You are the best reviewer ever (of course, I say that about every reviewer). Hey, when are you updating? I want more of your fic.
Tp96—you hadn't reviewed yet? Must be because I have too many fics going right now and you can't keep up. I need to slow down some. Sleep really is necessary.
Angelfirenze—new reviewer; I hope you make it to this chapter; Liam is tall because he's not like his father in childhood. Everyone has said that Wes was small in childhood. Trying to make it a little different.
Gidgetgirl—OMG, thanks for looking at this. Sorry about no explainage. This is not necessarily just a kidfic. But there's kids in it. Yeah, Faith has mellowed some, for now. Grace will kick it up a notch, don't worry. She's just too ordinary right now for something to not happen to her. Just so you know, I'm the queen of fragmented sentence. As one of my writing instructors once told me, if you know the rule, you can break it all you want.
SlayerFan—OMG, I like your idea! Gives me lots of ideas. Thanks a bunch.