Title: Five by Five
Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.
Author Notes: Short chapter, sorry about that. More just something to get all four people, two vampires with souls and two slayers in one room. Previous two chapters have been decent lengths so this one gets to be short. Hehe. Bad, bad cold. XD And, of course Hope's back in her body. Cos otherwise I reckon I'd get too confused about who's in who's body and who has who's memories and etc. Even writing that made me confused and confusion? Not a good look on me. So, on with the less confusing story, I hope.
Chapter 12: Tired
"Well yeah pet, you know that..." Spike started and Angel stopped him with a hand up, mostly because Spike himself was confused and willing to stop himself at that point in time. He took a step towards Faith who, in turn, took an unsure step back, not really looking at him.
"Faith?" Angel asked gently and Faith looked up at him, as if really seeing him for the first time. Relief swept over her face until that was all that was there left, confusion had left it completely.
"Angel?" She asked and the end of Angel's lips twitched in a slight smile and he nodded. Faith smiled gladly and then collapsed, completely tired and worn out. The last thing she could remember was falling into blackness and being caught by strong arms and a feeling of peace washing over her.
Meanwhile...
Hope opened her eyes and looked around, panicking. There were three people in her eyesight. Buffy, a red head who seemed strangely familiar, that's right, Willow was her name and a young brunette, Dusk or Dawn or something like that, with a curious expression on her face.
"Hope? Can you remember being you?" Buffy asked and Hope just looked at her with a 'You're a weirdo' expression on her face.
"Um, yeah. What're you..." Hope stopped mid question as she shifted and felt her duster. She looked down at it and sighed heavily in relief. She tugged it closer to her and closed her eyes in bliss. She muttered a 'Thank God' under her breath and the beginnings of a smile crept onto her face. Then she remembered where she was. She opened her eyes and looked at the three females crowding her.
"So, you remember everything?" Willow asked and Hope nodded.
"Yeah, where's Faith?" She asked, hoping it wasn't the answer she thought it was going to be. She was out of luck.
"Where you last were before you were here." Buffy answered and Hope immediately got up, making all of the three girls back up immediately, and went to leave. Buffy stopped her with a hand on her arm and she just looked at it with this withering gaze that travelled up her arm and to her face. Buffy actually winced.
"You're injured." Buffy said, gesturing vaguely at her bandaged head. Hope reached up to the back of her head and returned with blood on the tips of her fingers. She stared at it for a moment, rubbing it between her thumb, pointer and middle fingers, and then left. Completely uncontested by any other person in the room.
"What just happened?" Buffy asked and turned to the other two who just shrugged. Unsure, as much as Buffy, themselves.
Hope sprinted to the spot where she last was with Angel and Spike. They were nowhere to be seen and Hope panicked. Faith had seen Spike, what if she told Buffy? Hope knew that Faith would do anything to erase her past and getting Buffy to forgive and forget was a huge part of that. Buffy was the one person who had understood her, if only for a moment, for the first time since the twins had been separated and she was the one person who was closest to the train wreck that Faith went through. In Faith's mind Buffy was the one and only person who could give her redemption from her acts.
Hope loved her sister to death but she knew what desperation could make people do. She'd experienced it enough to know.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on Faith. She felt herself tap into something. Something that she'd tapped into recently. A connection. To all the Potentials and the two Slayers. It was so powerful that it sent her into a coma the first time she'd tapped into it. This time she didn't go nearly as far as she tried to the first time. This time it was just one thing she was looking for. Faith. She felt out for Faith and felt this whoosh as she saw a blurry picture that looked vaguely like...
The foyer of a hotel a few blocks away.
Then she started sprinting again.
Angel walked over quickly to a lounge in the hotel foyer and lay Faith down on it, transferring her from his arms. Spike looked around swiftly before looking back at Angel who straightened up and stood over Faith protectively. He turned to face Spike but was still in 'guard' mode over Faith.
"Why don't you get her up to your room?" Spike asked, jutting his chin out at the passed out Faith on the couch and Angel didn't reply to his question.
"Get Hope." Angel said, short and sweet being the objective. Spike looked at him and, for a moment, looked like he was going to flame up and refuse to obey Angel but then he remembered that this was Hope, his Hope, and left with a nod and a serious grim look.
Spike got outside and sniffed the night air for a second and started to walk. Then... BAM! He and Hope crashed smack bang into each other, and it hurt because Hope had been sprinting and Spike had been starting to walk fast. They fell back and sprawled onto the sidewalk, Spike in front of the hotel and Hope on the roadside. The people walking around at that time at night avoided them, not offering either one a hand to get up. Not that they were in the right shape to be able to grab a hand, with them seeing double and everything.
Each party shook their head, trying to regain their bearings, and single vision. Then it dawned upon each party exactly who the other party was. Then they both jumped up and got to business, the single vision no longer a problem. (Imagine this next bit of small dialogue in one of those 'tense' shots were the camera circles around inside, up at the characters. Eg 'A Hole in the World' before they all go out to try and save Fred.)
"Faith?" Hope asked.
"Inside." Spike answered, fast and simple for once in his life.
"With Angel?" Hope asked again.
"With her." Spike answered and Hope nodded.
"Let's go." Spike nodded at this and so they both walked briskly back through the elegant hotel's doors and to where Angel was sitting on a chair, opposite Faith, his eyes never leaving her.
When Hope spotted the two of them she broke into a jog and Angel turned to see her and then stood as she approached. Hope stopped in front of Faith and smiled, gladness shining through a mask of tiredness. Spike was right behind her and she turned to him, barely standing.
"Spike?" She asked weakly, looking as if she was hanging on by a thread.
"Yes pet?" He asked, concerned at the fact that she hadn't used his nickname.
"I'm so tired..." She trailed off and then her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed into Spike's arms.
Spike grunted softly as he caught her. Her head lolled on her neck that had gone slack. He bent down to pick up her legs and then had her in the 'crossing the threshold' pose and looked at Angel who quickly picked up Faith in a similar fashion and they headed to the elevators and up to Angel's room where they lay the sisters on the king sized bed and went into the room with the huge table. Then they sat down, trying to figure out exactly what had happened and what they would do next.
TBC
Writing this during Maths! Hehe. Did I mention that I love Angel and Spike? Of course I love them equally and for practically entirely different reasons. Hope and Faith are returned and Faith is let in on Spike's secret next chapter. Read on to discover her reaction. Hehe, love messin with 'em! Review if the mood strikes you.
JB
