Sequel to My Time To Live.

Main Characters:
Faith
Spike
Trish Stratus
Angel

"So, let me get this straight… We're going to use that dumbass 'felt the hot' excuse to explain how Hunter managed to tear his quad. And people actually believe this? Well… of course, they do. They apparently believed some dumbass line about gangs doped up on PCP, but… Who is really going to believe that he did the same damn fool thing twice?"

From head to toe, Faith was covered in filth. Everyone else had managed to get out of the way in time, but she had to be the one johnny on the spot. She had to be the one that was less than a foot away when the bodies turned into ash. She could shake her head and the remnants of vampire would fall on her shoulders like dandruff.

They were all stuck in a hospital, thanks to the uncanny ability of Hunter Hearst Helmsley to get in the way. Stephanie claimed that she knew her husband, that she knew enough about his ability to leap tall injuries in a single bound to know that it was completely possible that he stepped wrong, again. She also knew that there was no way in hell that they would be able to claim that he hurt himself working out. It was evident to everyone that Hunter had stopped going to the gym a long time ago, and the only thing more stupid than the idea that he reinjured the same muscle, just in the other leg, was the idea that anyone believed that he'd done it working out.

"Trust me, Faith, it's a fool proof plan. We'll just say that some fans stepped up in front of him, he turned wrong and he messed it up. It's just an explanation, and it's one people will buy. He's going to be out of action for a while, but… What else can we do?"

Faith looked at Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley with more than a little skepticism. The heiress wouldn't admit it, but everyone close to her knew that she'd been looking for an excuse to get Hunter out of the ring, anyway. Faith wouldn't have been surprised to find out that Stephanie had shoved Hunter in front of the vampires just so she could move him to the side.

To say that Faith's happy family wasn't quite so happy anymore was an understatement. It was as though her own rise to the top as Slayer had given Hunter more ammunition to be at the top of everything else. His ego grew and everyone else's annoyance with him grew as well. The tension that had started to permeate through the group did nothing but start to tear them apart. Randy had already been jobbed out, and considering that she and Trish were the top two divas on the roster, that brought a strain to the relationship that, after Randy's injuries months before and Trish's tears, no one had seen coming. Ric was tired of sucking Hunter's balls, and more than that, tired of Faith constantly reminding him that he was a legend and therefore should not be on his knees whenever the hell Hunter wanted him to be. And Dave was one smart ass comment away from hitting Hunter in the jaw.

Then, there was Stephanie. Her eyes were finally opening, and as time passed, she started to realize that the man she laid next to at night was not the same man that she married. He was lazier, and he thought more of himself than was really there. He didn't seem to understand that she was the one who ran things behind the scenes, not him. She was tired inadvertantly holding others back because Hunter had to be at the forefront. She was tired of letting Hunter hold the reins of her horse drawn carriage.

"Tell the truth, Steph." Faith snorted and shook some ashes from her hair. "You're glad he's injured."

"I am not!" Her eyes widened with shock. "How could you even think something like that? Injuries are so severe and… you know how things have been the past six months. I can't believe you…"

"The last six months is what I'm talking about. Hunter's grown and the rest of us have taken the shit. Don't get me wrong… we're still a family, but that's the reason it's being said. A family sticks together and he's not been sticking with us."

"He hurt himself helping you Slay!"

"You pushed him, didn't you?"

"What!"

"Nevermind." Faith waved it off and sighed. "Whatever. You do your excuses and I'll do mine. As it is…" Her body slumped and she wished Dave were close enough for her to lean on. As much as everyone was starting to break apart, she couldn't say the same about her and Dave exclusively. There was something about a man spilling his blood to save her life that brought Faith even closer to him. There was something about having the knowledge that he was the reason she was alive… knowing that if he had died, she would have died with him. Knowing that the love she had for him and the rest of their band of Slaying misfits was what kept her in World Wrestling Entertainment…

And yet, sometimes, she almost wished that she'd gone back with Giles or Angel. It would have been easier. Yes, her heart would have broken to leave them, but she would have less to worry about. She wouldn't have to try and sneak out in order to do her duty alone, even though half the time, she ended up with at least one partner, if not an entourage. She wouldn't have to worry that her Slayer sense would fire up in the middle of the ring and cause her to screw up a match. She could focus on Slaying, and the rest be damned.

But, then again, she would have still worried. If she couldn't see them, she would worry that something would happen. When they separated, whether it be to go home for a few days or to do individual appearances, she called at least three times a day to make sure that nothing strange had happened. She gave constant warnings not to go out at night without a cross and a handy stake. If she were off with Giles or Angel, she still wouldn't have been able to focus on Slaying, because she would have been too busy wondering if Trish had been turned, Dave had been killed, and a million other things that could have happened.

"Your phone is broken."

Faith blinked and turned abruptly. "Huh?" Trish Stratus was handing her a cell phone, and Faith didn't even remember hearing one ring. "What are you talking about?"

"There's some guy with an accent on the line that says he called your phone and you didn't bloody answer… his words, not mine… so he called around until he found a bird… again, his words not mine… that would answer the ruddy thing. Again…"

"Yeah, yeah, his words not yours." She sighed and took the phone, stopping a second to look at the faces around her. Randy was tired, and from the distance he kept from Trish, Faith imagined that she had missed an argument where he'd come out on the losing end. Stephanie had walked away to talk to a doctor. Ric was making a phone call, and from the way he looked at Stephanie, she guessed that it was one she had asked him to make. Dave was staring at her. "What?"

"Is that Giles?"

"I don't know, Dave. I haven't talked yet." She sighed and looked at Trish. "Is it Giles?"

She shook her head. "Nope. This guy said his name was Spike. Kinda silly name, isn't it? But… I remember the redhead with the Keibler fetish talking about him wanting an autograph or something." She shrugged. "But yeah, he said his name was Spike."

"Great." Faith let out a heavy sigh. "Just what I need." She didn't fully remember her past life dealings with William the Bloody, so named for his bloody awful poetry, but from the glimpses she still got occasionally into her past, she was pretty sure that he annoyed the hell out of her. Coupled with the fact that she hadn't heard from anyone who had anything to do with Angel Investigations in at least three months, she knew that this was bound to be a call that she didn't want to take. But… "What do you want, Spike?"

"Bloody wonderful way to answer the phone, pet. Really. I thought Gel Boy was bad, but you, luv, take the cake. Where's this affection that the buggers around here claim you've picked up, huh?"

"Can the offended act, Spike. What do you want?"

"Bloody brilliant attitude there, pet."

"How the hell are you using the phone anyway? Last I heard, you were non-corporeal."

"Yeah, well, Fred's one bright bird and she fixed me all up. But, that's not the point. The point is that Angel left here to go see you three days ago and nobody's heard from him since."