It was twelve o'clock by the time Hope had finished explaining everything to then gang, Spike had gone out, Xander and Andrew had headed home as Xander had to work the next morning and Andrew was on a search for a job. Dawn and Willow had gone to bed shortly after, leaving the four slayers alone.
In the kitchen Kennedy, Faith and Hope sat around the small counter as Buffy handed out cans of soda to each of them, and then taking a seat at the counter opposite Hope.
"So we're like head slayers in the future?" asked Faith as she opened her soda can.
"Yeah, you're each in charge of your own unit, or at least you were before..." Hope began getting a little side tracked.
'"Each unit consists of thirty to forty slayers, it was your job to train them plan out patrols and to make sure they were up to date on their home work both school and demonology studies too." Hope informed them.
"Ok it's a miracle that I managed to get Dawn to do her homework, how on earth am I gonna get thirty slayers to do theirs?" Buffy asked a little stunned.
"Well believe it or not you do, and you don't have to worry about Dawn so much she turns out just fine, one of the leading watchers to be exact." Hope told Buffy who's eyes beamed with pride.
"Ok I get why these two are in charge chick, but why me?" Kennedy asked shifting in her seat
"Well as it turns out you would have been the next slayer called after Faith. Mr. Giles noticed that you seemed to pick up fighting and weapons training a lot quicker than the other potentials, you had also been training longer than them as well, so he had Willow do a spell and it checked out." Hope said
There was a short silence, all of them shifting in there seat's unsure what to say, it was Hope who spoke up first.
"Can I just check my back story with you guys?" she asked then taking a small sip of soda
"Back story?" Faith asked sitting forward in her seat
"Yeah they made us study just about every demon there is but they didn't exactly hand out a history of the slayer text book, ya know." she said
"Well why don't you tell us what you do know and we can fill in the blanks for you." Buffy suggested.
"Once upon a time ..."Hope said then began to laugh at the looks on their faces.
"I'm just playin'." she admitted
"The first slayer is known as the primitive, and was created by the shadow men who chose a girl and forced the essence of a demon upon her, the shadow men later became the watchers." she broke off taking another drink.
"Buffy Summers." She said motioning towards Buffy.
"Called in 1996 after the death of previous slayer India Cohen. Drowned during a stand off against the Master, revived by Xander Harris. This however caused the next slayer Kendra Zabuto to be activated. Less then a year later Angel is transformed back into Angelus, and tries to use the demon Acathla to suck the world into hell, Kendra is sent to Sunnydale to help stop Angelus but is killed by a vampire named Drusilla." Hope told them before breaking off.
"'Met Angel once or twice nice guy." She told them
"Angelus, not so much." she said moving her hair to reveal a scar on the side of her neck.
Seeing looks of panic wash across Buffy and Faith's Faces she quickly explained herself.
"Sorry I didn't mean to worry you, it was in a parallel universe so whatever is good here is evil there," she explained
"So how am I dong so far?" she asked
"A little too good." Buffy said relaxing once again.
"Ok so with the death of Kendra this activated Faith Lehane." she paused motioning to Faith
"Faith comes to Sunnydale after the death of her watcher and slays vampires there for a year or so before returning to Boston...
Hope began but was cut off by Faith.
"Boston who the hell told you I was in Boston?" Faith asked knowing that she'd been in a coma and spent the last three years in jail.
"You did, Mr. Giles, Buffy everyone, that is where you were right?" asked Hope
Before Faith could tell Hope the truth Buffy quickly answered Hopes question.
"Faith was in Boston it's just that we only found out a few weeks ago where she'd been all this time, she didn't say where she was going when she left so we didn't think anyone else would know is all." Buffy lied giving Faith and Kennedy a look.
"Alright you pretty much know everything." Buffy told her
"So back on track what are we thinking in terms of a plan?" asked Kennedy
"Well I figured its gonna take me a while to track down the demons, so we start with the vamps, they're our weakest link. We search factories, abandoned buildings, mausoleums, there's bound to be a nest somewhere." she told them.
"Ok that's a start but what about the demons how are we gonna which ones to kill? Buffy asked
"I'll know." Hope told them
"About the demons, you're not coming with me its something I have to do alone." Hope told them.
After a long pause Faith was the first to speak.
"Alone?" Faith said "You've gotta be kiddin' me."
Suddenly Hope lost it she slammed the can down on the counter and stood up.
"This isn't some competition, its not about who gets to slay what, these demons are responsible for what happens in the future and that includes killing all of you. Don't get me wrong I'm all for safety in numbers, but if you go after them in this time and they kill you I'm pretty much wasteing my time here." Hope yelled at them
"All Faith meant is that you're not alone, we can help." Kennedy told her
"Yeah 'cause you all did such a bang up job the first time." Hope said then off their hurt looks
"Listen I'm sorry for freaking out, but you have to understand that the future is messed up enough without anything else going wrong, we'll sort something out when the time comes." Hope said apologizing.
"What happened Hope? How did we ...?" Buffy began to ask
"Die?" Hope finished sitting back down.
"There was another apocalypse, there was maybe a hundred slayers on our side but the demons were winning. Buffy had just gone down under a horde of demons and was just regaining her balance after taking most of out." Hope began then turned to face Buffy.
"You didn't see the demon coming at you from behind but Faith did, she tried to get you out of the way and she succeeded but not before the demon stabbed her she died saving you. The battle was won but not without its losses." Hope informed them
Giving them a moment to process what she had just told them Hope downed what remained of her soda.
"Kennedy was next. There was a warlock on a power trip witches were been killed across the globe including the coven in England. There was only one person left who was a target. Willow." Hope told them then turned to Kennedy.
"You tried to stop him but he was too strong he snapped your neck." Hope said.
"And Willow?" Kennedy asked unconsciously placing her hand on her neck.
"I'm sorry." Hope told them sincerely seeing Kennedy's eyes begin to well up.
"What about me?" asked Buffy her own voice filled with sadness
"We were out on patrol there was a demon the rest of us were trying to fight off his buddies he gained the upper hand stabbed you we called an ambulance but it was too late you died in spikes arms." Hope finished.
"When do we start?" Faith asked
"Tomorrow at noon I found a couple of nests on my way though town took out one tonight." Hope told them
"Do you have some place to stay?" asked Buffy as she picked up her empty can and placed it in the trash.
"No that's actually something I was gonna look into tomorrow." Hope said a little sheepishly
"Well you can stay here if you'd like, Spikes got the basement and Faith's on the couch but theres a spare cot in the basement I could bring up…" Buffy offered
"The floor's fine really I've slept in worse places." Hope told her standing up. "It's been a long day mind if I go wash up?"
"Sure the bathrooms the first door on the left." Buffy told her
They had waited until Hope had disappeared up the stairs the moment they heard the water start running they knew she wouldn't be able to hear them. Faith was the first to speak.
"Why the hell did we tell them I was in Boston?" Faith asked standing up.
"Maybe because you deserve a second chance." Buffy said meeting faith's eyes letting her know she meant it.
Faith smiled at the thought that maybe she could finally be happy and at peace in the future.
"So what do we tell her? Kennedy asked. "Because if she doesn't know about you then I'm guessing she doesn't know about Willow either." She said.
"We don't" Buffy replied "Whatever it was we must have had our reasons."
"Well we should tell the others, don't want any slip up's." Kennedy suggested
It was then when they heard Hope coming back down the stairs, entering the kitchen she wore gray sweat pants and a white t shirt that was a size too big.
"Squeaky clean." she announced
"I'll just go and find you a sleeping bag." Buffy said before exiting the room.
"I'm gonna go hit the sack" Kennedy said as she headed for the stairs.
"Sounds like a plan." Faith said stretching her arms above her head, before heading off to the living room.
A few minutes after Buffy returned with a sleeping bag and some pillows, "Sleep tight" Buffy said handing them over to Hope.
"Thanks" Hope said "I'll go get set up."
Entering the living room Hope saw that Faith was laid on the couch with a large blue blanket rapped around her. Unrolling the sleeping bag Hope placed the pillows on the floor and then climbed in. Seeing that Hope was settled in Faith reached over to the small table in the corner of the room and turned of the lamp.
"Faith" came Hope's voice from the darkness.
"Yeah?" replied Faith
"Night." Hope offered
"Night kid." Faith replied before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.