Chapter 14: You've got that shotgun shine

Part One

Giles and J.C. sat in the front seat of Giles car, while Dawn sat in the back.

"Leviticus?" Dawn repeated amazed. "You can't marry anyone else in your family, but Leviticus in the Old Testament, said an Uncle and Niece can marry?"

"Yeah, luckily for John and Faith, not a mortal sin in their theology, just illegal in all Western Countries. In fact in the U.K. it's perfectly legal for them as adults to have sex with each other, just not get married," J.C. twisted around and told Dawn. "We'll keep our traps shut about it right?"

"It's still creepy." Dawn said frowning, thinking it over. "Anyway, werewolves and other demons are going to know they're related, when they're in the same room as them. The word's going to get out."

"I'm inclined to agree with you Dawn, the truth always comes out." Giles checked his rear view mirror and saw Constantine and Faith behind him, in their car arguing.

"J.C." asked Dawn curiously, leaning forward on the seat. "Just how the hell do you know, about all these weird incest laws, I mean?"

"John told me of his suspicions last week. He's planning to fight God. He needed my help." J.C. said, taking out a packet of cigarettes. "Bout time he stood up for himself, only way to deal with the bugger."

Part Two

Constantine walked up the steps of St Paul's Cathedral impatiently. It was an uphill battle, trying to push past the crowds of tourists, leisurely taking photos.

Constantine literally bumped into Angela. She was taking a picture of the skyline.

Constantine caught her, so she didn't fall backwards and rebalanced her.

Angela looked pleased to see him, in an LAPD kind of way. "I have to ask you something Constantine."

"Kind of in a hurry Angela," Constantine told her, beginning to move away from her.

Angela pushed past people as callously as him, in her effort to keep alongside Constantine.

"Constantine, because you saved my life and my soul I want to tell you something." Angela Dodson told him forthrightly, managing to get ahead of him and block his path.

"Your beautiful young wife is a double murderer. Faith escaped from a maximum security prison in California in March 2003. She'd only served two years of her sentence." Angela announced, watching her ex-lover intently, to gauge his reaction.

"Christ," Constantine pushed Angela impatiently out of his way. "That case is closed Angela."

Angela strode after him. "You know what she did? Do you also know why she got that pardon? A pardon the new State Governor does not think she should have received, by the way."

"She saves the world occasionally." Constantine told Angela shortly. "She's a vampire slayer. She's more useful to humanity out of prison, than in it."

"Why did you prefer a double murderer to me?" Angela asked him earnestly, blocking his path again. "I'd really like to know John."

Constantine sighed with impatience. He couldn't say, 'Because Faith is my niece and we were victims of 'Genetic Sexual Attraction', even though it was the truth.

"As you said, she's beautiful, she's young. Please move." Constantine requested of his former lover in a bored tone.

Angela stepped aside coldly. "Your wife's case isn't going away John. There are people back home interested, as to why she walked free."

Constantine entered the cathedral and walked to the information desk. The Archangel Michael was behind it, with a human co-worker.

"Excuse me ducks." Michael said to his co-worker quickly. The archangel appeared as an effeminate young man to the casual observer, "Personal business."

Constantine and Michel walked outside in silence, till they reached the church yard cemetery.

Constantine sat on a gravestone and lit a cigarette.

"No one gets their lung cancer cured twice, lovie." Michael commented. "Don't even bother trying Lourdes, in twenty years time."

"It's been a stressful ten days." Constantine said inhaling smoke. "What with my wife and I worried we were possibly father and daughter."

"That would be a mortal sin." Michael said pleasantly. "You would never have been deliberately encouraged to mortally sin."

"And uncle and niece relationships are just dandy?" Constantine inquired sardonically.

"Upstairs got bored dictating Leviticus, left out a sentence, but it has proved useful in the past, and now the present." Michael smiled innocently.

"So what is the point, why all the machinations, to get Faith and I together?" Constantine asked reaching his left hand in his pocket.

"'He' works in mysterious ways." Michael smirked. "But rest assured, there is a beautiful plan for you at the end of it. By the way, please stop being cruel, to poor Angela."

Constantine stubbed his cigarette out on the tombstone angrily, "I don't want Angela. I want Faith."

Constantine shot out his arm and grabbed Michael by his jacket with his right hand. His left hand had a syringe and he pointed it over Michael's jugular vein.

"This syringe contains sulphur, which I know angels don't like." Constantine told Michael nastily. "Tell your boss to stay the fuck out of my family's life."

Part Three

Faith could hear the sound of wings beating behind her, as she pulled her wet laundry out of the washing machine. She was in the basement of the Watchers Council Headquarters.

The twins were being baby sat by Rona in her flat.

Faith turned around and looked at Chas standing in front of her. She recognised him from a collection of photos, in a box Constantine had.

"Kinda busy," Faith told Chas. 'If you want to talk to me, you can do a miracle and dry my clothes."

Chas blew a puff of controlled angelic breath on Faith's laundry basket. The clothes looked like they'd just come out of the dryer.

"Wicked! Okay, you have five minutes of my time." Faith told him. "Yap your halo off."

"Why are you putting both your immortal souls at risk?" Chas asked her curiously.

"Um, I'm not." Faith said defensively, proceeding to fold the clothes. "According to the Holy book, it's perfectly okay to screw my Uncle. Who'da guessed, huh?"

"Look at the sins you've committed, these past ten days Faith. You were willing to make love to Constantine, no matter who he was." Chas reminded her. "You're obsessed with him, you don't love him."

"I do love him!" Faith said indignantly. "I love John more than anyone."

"Then let him go. If you are capable of unselfish love, let him go." Chas advised her. "He needs to be with Angela, not you. She's his destiny. You're just some passing freak show in his life."

Faith picked up her box of washing powder and flung it at Chas in anger. It exploded against his stomach.

Chas looked down at the powdery granules floating in the air, in sorrow. "Faith, I want what's best for Constantine and for you." Chas went on in honeyed tones. "He's going to imperil his soul again to stay with you. He'll just end up hating you. You can still save your soul Faith, make a sacrifice."

"Is there an intermission in all of your crap?" Faith said with bravado, picking up her laundry and proceeding to walk up the stairs.

Chas followed her up the stairs, wings flapping gently, enabling him to hover. "You were willing to risk your soul, because you've known all along you're still destined for the fiery pit. Prison wasn't true repentance for you. You just couldn't cope with the murderer you'd become."

"I've never dispatched an angel before." She threatened, unlatching the basement door. "But it's probably achievable, right? I'm a slayer, so I can slay anything, even a feathered piece of shit like you."

Faith looked at Chas in hatred and walked away across the Watchers Council Courtyard to her flat. Chas followed her every step of the way. The grass bloomed under his passing.

"You're trying to be good Faith?" Chas observed sympathetically. "The twins scream, and you imagine yourself shaking them hard, to get them to stop. That's why you listen to your music loud on your head phones, when Constantine is away, so you won't hear them scream, so you won't hit them, like your mother hit you."

"And I haven't!" Faith cried out in protest, reaching her flat door and unlocking it with shaking hands.

"Not yet." Chas told her shaking his head. "I'm worried, it's might be just a matter of time with you. Now, Angela would be a really good mother. She'd love your children like her own."

Faith unlocked her door finally and stumbled in, dropping her laundry down.

She turned angrily to face her tormentor and saw Constantine behind Chas.

"Is this angel bothering you Faith?" Constantine drawled to her.

"He was going, his five minutes is now up." Faith breathed heavily. "Remember." She sneered at Chas, "I've dealt with a lot worse than a divine canary."

Chas looked at Constantine with pity and flew upwards.

Faith sat outside their flat on the ground, and held out her hand for a packet of cigarettes.

"Wow," she said shaking her head, putting the cigarette to her lips, with trembling fingers, "Knew which of my buttons to push, better than The First Evil."

Constantine sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. "More bad news kid, apparently some high ups in California, aren't happy with your pardon."

"Awesome," said Faith sarcastically. "As if life isn't bad enough already, for us right now."

"We have each other." Constantine said dryly, taking a cigarette from her, "And potential emphysema to look forward to, in twenty years time."

"John, do you think we'll still love each other in twenty years time?" Faith asked him seriously.

"If we are both still alive, yeah," Constantine told her surprised. "Jesus, I know the reason behind our attraction is twisted, but its never going to go away Faith. We'll always love each other."

AN: Leviticus, it blew my mind when I did research for this story, what an oversight huh?