Chapter 4: Surprise Discoveries
******Where We Left Off******
"You're a witch," Willow informed her.
Felicity tried to wrap her mind around Willow's words.
"When you confronted Malcolm, I could feel your power," Willow told her.
"I am not a witch! Nor do I have any power!" Felicity exclaimed. "In fact, I'm pretty powerless most days."
Xander spoke. "Will, how could she go so long without knowing? I mean, if she was a witch, shouldn't she have some inkling that she was different?"
Willow shrugged. "Imagine if I hadn't been raised at the hellmouth and had no one like Jenny or Giles in my life to tell me magic was real? Who would I be?" she asked.
Xander considered it. "Some computer hacker goddess," he said knowingly. Then he looked at Felicity and realized. "You'd probably be a lot like her."
"Exactly," Willow said.
"So you were taught to be a witch?" Felicity asked, surprised and intrigued.
"I was mostly self-taught because our teacher Jenny died before she could teach me. I got into a lot of trouble teaching myself, though," Willow admitted.
"I'm Jewish," Felicity said. There was no way she could be a witch.
Willow grinned and pointed at her chest. "Rosenberg? Me, too!"
Felicity's mind was a whirl. Witches were right up there with goblins and monster. It wasn't anything she'd ever thought was true. "This is very weird," she said.
"If you have powers, Willow will bring them out," Xander said confidently. "You'll never be powerless again."
Felicity really liked that idea. Since Oliver had left, she'd only felt powerless. "Maybe we can talk about this later?" she suggested. "It's been a really long day."
"It's okay," Willow said, giving her a gentle smile. "Like I said, we're not going anywhere."
"We'll walk you out," Xander said. Felicity led them out of the club. They walked in the dark alley that led to where she parked her car.
A man jumped out at them, snarling. Xander instinctively moved in front of the women and pulled out his stake. "Step back," he told Felicity.
Felicity decided it was time that she started carrying a Taser or a gun. She wasn't going to hide and do nothing while others risk their lives.
When the man jumped in Xander's face, she realized it wasn't a man. It was a vampire. Xander didn't hesitate but stabbed his stake hard in the man's chest. It turned to dust, and she gasped.
Xander turned to her. "Are you okay?" he asked, knowing how shocking seeing a vampire for the first time could be.
"I'm fine," Felicity said. "I guess I can't deny it anymore."
"Yep," Xander said with a grin. "Vampires are real. They turn to dust when you kill them."
"A lot easier to clean up than demons," Willow added.
Felicity groaned. "Enough. I have enough to keep me up for days. I don't want to start picturing boogie men everywhere," she said.
"It does get easier," Willow assured her. They stopped in front of Felicity's car.
"Can we have your number?" Xander asked, holding out his phone.
Felicity gave it to him and got both of theirs.
"Great!" Xander said with a grin.
"Have a good night," Willow said.
"You, too," Felicity said. She waved goodbye and got in her car. As soon as she pulled off, she called Dig. "You'll never guess what I saw!"
Xander turned to Willow. "That went pretty well," he commented.
"Look at you, getting a hottie's number without much effort," Willow teased.
"You know that she's in mourning, Will. I don't prey on the heartbroken," he said.
Willow held out her hand. "I know. I was just teasing," she said. "I really like her."
"I don't think she swings that way, Will," Xander said with a smirk.
Willow teleported them to their hotel room. She gave Xander a look of distaste. "I don't want to hit on every girl I meet, Xan," she said. "Felicity makes me feel like Dawnie does—protective and stuff."
Xander frowned as a thought occurred to him. "You know I don't believe in coincidences," he said.
"Neither do I," Willow said.
"Well, there's too many similarities between you and her to be just chance," Xander said.
"What do you mean?" Willow wondered.
"She's Jewish. You're Jewish. She rambles, so do you. She's a computer genius like you. And now a possible witch," Xander said.
Willow frowned, not sure what his point was.
Xander, the One Who Sees, declared, "I would bet money that she's your sister."
"What?" Willow asked incredulously.
"Think about it, Will. She is a lot like you," Xander said. "Don't you just feel comfortable with her?"
"Well, yes, but it's 'cause she has one of those ways about her. It's hard not to like her," Willow said.
"The Powers brought us here. Maybe it's not just because a hellmouth could be forming," Xander said.
Willow considered it. She'd wanted a real sister her entire life. The loneliness of her childhood seemed like a dream, but it was a part of her that would never quite leave her. Her parents had left her alone so much that she'd ached for someone to be there. Then suddenly Buffy was there, and the loneliness faded. Her life became exciting and full of meaning and purpose. Now she had more sisters than she could ever possibly want or need. All new slayers were connected to her by magic, and she instinctively felt a familial bond with them.
However, that did not mean she wouldn't welcome a real sister. The idea took root inside of her, filling her with excitement.
*****The Next Day******
Felicity went to work the next day after an exhausting night tossing and turning. Nightmares of vampires and monsters broke up her sleep every few hours. She stifled a yawn as she walked into Palmer Technology. It was good that she'd managed to keep it afloat after Ray died. The fact that he'd left it to her had been a huge surprise. Finding out she had to deal with Ray's sister-in-law, who now controlled his fiancée's interest in the company, had been a surprise. The woman had a Ph.D. in physicists and made herself head of the Applied Science division. Felicity let her have it since it meant she didn't have to deal with her all the time. Now, though, she was regretting it.
She put up with Ray's almost sister-in-law because he'd been her rock after Oliver died. He'd loved her even though her heart was too broken from the loss of Oliver. He understood that she wasn't able to love him back the same way. He knew and he was there for her anyway. Ray had meant a lot to her, but like Oliver, he was gone. Losing him so soon after Oliver broke something inside of her. She felt hollow. Now a demon wearing Laurel's face was determined to destroy them.
She made it to her office and began going through her emails. Her assistant brought her coffee and a bagel.
"Thanks, Ted," Felicity said, smiling at him. It was ironic that she had a male assistant after her own stint as Oliver's. But Ted was great.
"Here's your messages," Ted said, handing her a few slips of paper.
Felicity looked at them and saw there was one from Willow requesting lunch with her. She sent a text telling her that she'd be happy to have lunch with her.
After Ted reviewed her schedule, she got some work done. It was hard to concentrate. Her mind kept going to Willow and Xander's tale. It was hard to believe, but she finally accepted it as truth. Not only had the teleporting been very convincing, but seeing Xander kill a vampire made it all too real.
The good thing was that they wanted to help Felicity and what was left of their team. It almost seemed too good to be true, an answer to a prayer. For the first time in a long time, she had hope.
Around noon, Willow showed up without Xander. His suggestion that Felicity might be her sister kept her up all night. She was weighing the probability. Her parents had traveled so much. However, when she was very young, her dad had traveled without her mom. That was when her mom had stayed home to watch her. When she was eight or nine, they started leaving her with a nanny. It seemed unlikely that her scientific, detached father had had an affair, but it wasn't impossible.
When she stepped out of the elevator, she didn't know what she was going to say to Felicity. She had wished for a sister and then she'd gotten Buffy and Dawn, who'd filled that void. She couldn't love them more if they were related by blood. They'd spilled enough blood together to be bonded for life. But the thought that Felicity might be her sister made her nervous to see her. What if she was her sister but didn't like her?
Felicity stood up as soon as she spotted Willow coming toward her open door.
"Hey, Willow!" Felicity said, greeting her with a warm smile. "I'm glad you wanted to have lunch. I get tired of eating alone."
"I get it. I can't remember the last time I ate alone," Willow said as they got into the elevator. "Growing up my parents left me alone for days at a time as they traveled for work. Then my sophomore year, I met Buffy, and I found out about the supernatural. I never ate alone again." They stepped into the elevator.
Felicity pushed the button to the garage. "Where's Xander?" she asked.
"He's organizing our new house with the girls. We've rented a house on the edge of the Glades," Willow explained.
Willow told her about the girls they brought as they made it to Big Belly Burger.
"I don't think I'd like being surrounded all the time about teenagers," Felicity said after she got her food. "I didn't even like myself as a teenager. All that emotion. Mood swings. Everything is life or death."
"Unfortunately, with slayers everything is life or death," Willow said. She was trying to figure out how to broach the subject of Felicity's father. It wasn't something she could just blurt out.
"Yeah, I guess, I hadn't thought of that," Felicity.
"So tell me about your life before Starling City," Willow said.
"I'm from Las Vegas," Felicity said.
"Really? I bet that was exciting. All those shows and stuff," Willow said. "Do your parents still live there?"
"My mom does. She's a cocktail waitress. My dad left us when I was little," Felicity said.
"You don't have contact with him?" Willow asked in surprise.
"No. He wasn't exactly an upstanding citizen. I figure he did something criminal and had to go on the run. That's kind of how he was," Felicity said with a sad smile. "He never married my mom, though. I guess he could've already been married. My mom doesn't think so, of course."
"What was he like?" Willow asked, her heart pounding.
"He was kind. Not a chatter box like I am," Felicity said, smiling. "He was really smart. Mom always said he was a brilliant scientist, and she felt lucky that he gave her the time of day."
"How did they meet?" Willow prodded.
"The hotel she was working at had some type of conference," Felicity said with a shrug. "By the time, I was old enough to really ask questions about him, he was gone."
Willow nodded and remained silent while they finished their meal. Felicity could sense that something was on Willow's mind.
"Is everything okay?" Felicity asked her.
"It's fine. It's just Xander suggested something to me that may sound a little but crazy. I don't want to upset you or anything, but I can't just not say something. What if Xander's right, and I never knew? You never knew. That would just be awful. So I need to tell you this but I don't want you to freak out or get mad," Willow said in one long breath.
Felicity grinned. This woman could ramble as well as she could. Now she got why everyone laughed. It was funny to listen to. "You ramble like I do!" she said.
"Yes! That's right! That's what Xander said. You and I have too many things in common for it to be a coincidence," Willow said.
"What do you mean?" Felicity asked, a confused look on her face.
"You ramble like me. You're brilliant like me. You're a hacker like me. And you have potential to be a witch like me," Willow said. "Xander thinks we could be sisters."
"Seriously?" Felicity asked in amazement. "How?"
"My dad was never home. He took a lot of trips when I was young. It's entirely possible this isn't a coincidence. Maybe the Powers That Be drew us together," Willow said.
"What powers?" Felicity asked.
"It's the name for whatever honcho in the sky is in charge," Willow explained. "They often are the ones pulling the strings."
"Do you mean God?" Felicity asked.
Willow shrugged. "I worship the Wiccan goddesses because that's where my power is drawn from, but I know that something else is in control," she said.
"Why would God or Powers above care about me?" Felicity asked puzzled.
"Well, I've been instrumental in saving the world about a dozen times or so. What I do matters," Willow said. "Now you're working hard to save people in this city. What you're doing matters. If we're not related, that won't change."
Felicity felt overwhelmed. She always felt so different from everyone in Vegas. As much as her mother loved her, they were so different. Having a sister would make all the difference.
"Do you think we might be?" Felicity asked in a small voice.
Willow reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "I always wanted a sister. I hope so," she said.
The possibility of having a sister did more to push away the dark cloud that had made a permanent place over Felicity's head.
For the first time in a long time, she felt hope.
******To Be Continued******
Obviously, I'm changing Felicity's background to fit this AU story.