The Path To Redemption
Chapter 3
Author: twin who likes to travel
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Everyone finds out about how Angel and his crew accepted the offer from the senior partners of Wolfram & Hart.
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story.
Reviews: I would like them. Constructive criticism is ok.
Author's notes: Since we don't know exactly how many newbie slayers made it out and how many rooms the hotel has, I'm going to make it that Willow and Kennedy will be the only ones sharing a room. The rest of them got their own rooms. Although they mentioned glamour spells on Buffy T.V.S. before, I got the specifics of it from Charmed's eighth season premiere episode "Still Charmed And Kicking". Thanks for the great reviews from mg78 and Ltlconf. Ltlconf, I agree with you on almost everything you said. But they did have her use the word "yo" once in "Chosen". I will try to cut down on the use of that word, but it won't completely disappear from the rest of the story. I do have people commenting on the hypocrisy/double standard the Scoobies had involving Faith a few times throughout the story. Faith will be defended later on another topic from more than just Dawn. As for why they did what they did to Faith, it's because they were judgmental hypocrites that Joss and the writers didn't have someone call them on it enough. It's my biggest complaint about the show. There were some unrelated things I didn't like about the show, but I understood the reason for them. mg78, thanks for catching the spelling errors. While I was fixing it, I caught another error..
The next morning, around 11:30 AM, the lobby of the Hyperion hotel
After having breakfast, Giles agreed to be the one to take Angel's car to pick up Faith and Robin. They arrived to hear arguing. It was clear from the voices that one of them was definitely Buffy.
"Angel, this is crazy. After everything they've done and tried to do, you really want to do that?"
"Buffy, it's not as bad as it…," Angel got out before he was interrupted by the trio entering the building.
"What's up, Angel?"
"Hello, Faith," Angel greeted with a small smile, "Not much, how are you?"
"Five by five," Faith declared before seeing how it seemed like everyone except Buffy was happy to see her and hearing Robin clearing his throat, "Oh, this is Robin Wood. His mother was a slayer when he was just a kid and livin' in New York."
Robin glared at him before asking, "He's a vampire, isn't he?"
"How did ya know?" Faith questioned him.
"I kind of sensed it."
"Ok, he's cool though. He's got a soul, and he's my friend."
Angel and Faith shared a smirk while noticing the shock from the Scoobies and Giles at hearing Faith use that word.
"I'd like to know what problem we walked in on if you don't mind," Giles stated firmly as he stared at Buffy.
"You tell him," Buffy ordered as she glared at her ex.
"Fred, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, and I have been offered control of the L.A. branch of Wolfram & Hart."
Giles and Faith gasped and gawked at that announcement then scanned the rest of the gang for confirmation.
"We think we can do a lot of good with their resources on hand," Wesley claimed before receiving a handful of scoffs and eye rolls.
"I told him he was crazy. There's no way this is going to end well."
"I agree with B," Faith said, making everyone gasp this time, "Angel, be serious. They tried to kill you many times. They even hired to me to do it. I don't care how much good you think you can do by doing this."
Faith caught the smile shared between Buffy, Dawn, and Willow but chose not to say anything about it yet.
"Sweetiekins, we know what we're doing," Lorne tried to assure the dark haired slayer but only got a groan and rolled eyes from Faith.
"So what else did I miss?" Faith directed to the rest of them.
"Rona hit it with Gunn, and Alicia made a man out of Andrew," Kennedy informed her sister slayer.
"No way," Faith replied as she smirked at Kennedy, Rona, Alicia, Gunn, and Andrew, who appeared slightly less twitchy than the last time she saw him.
"It's true," Kennedy admitted, "We also went out to one of the local clubs, but it wasn't the same without you."
She expected them to celebrate without her, but it didn't mean it didn't hurt a little. Angel seemed to be the only one to sense this hurt. He tried giving her a comforting expression, but she just shrugged it off.
"Well, we'll just have to go out again tonight," Faith insisted and was met with smiles from everyone, including Buffy. She continued when she saw Robin was about to respond, "Not you. Doc says ya still need at least a week before you're a hundred percent."
"I'm fine," Robin muttered.
Faith dismissed it with a shrug, turned back to the others, and requested, "How about somebody toss me and Robin some keys to a couple rooms upstairs. I need to get cleaned up, and we need to get something to eat. The food at the hospital wasn't that good, and Giles didn't want to stop anywhere on the way to here."
"When you get settled, we're going to have a meeting about what the plans are now. Then we're going to go shopping for some clothes," Buffy revealed with a smile as Wesley tossed some keys toward Faith.
Faith gave her a smile of her own at actually being included in the meeting while worried about what was in store for her after that. She and Robin paced up the stairs without a word. The group waited and talked amongst themselves as Faith and Robin got cleaned up and got something to eat. When the two returned from the kitchen, the meeting began. But Faith was the one to speak first.
"Hey, where's Con…," Faith tried to ask but stopped when Willow and Angel indicated for her to drop it.
"Who?" Gunn inquired.
"Never mind," Faith mumbled before the vampire and witch motioned for her to join them in a shaded area farther away from the rest of the people in the room.
The rest observed in confusion as the trio whispered to each other
"What's the deal, yo? Why are we the only ones who know about Connor?"
"Because it was part of the deal I made with Wolfram & Hart. I agreed if they could give him a shot at a normal life. I was supposed to be the only one to remember him, but I guess they forgot about you two or didn't care if you remembered him or not," Angel explained.
"So you can't say anything more about him, Faith," Willow warned her.
"Whatever, Red."
"So shall we get this meeting started?" Giles suggested and got nods and sighs of agreement
"Where should we start?" Willow quizzed before as she glanced for a few seconds at everyone.
"I'm guessing this is where you decide how many want to come along with Buffy while she takes me back to prison," Faith answered with a slight sneer.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Buffy demanded as anger and hurt started to appear.
"It's like I said outside the hospital. I know you're itchin' to get me back to prison because YOU and YOUR friends will never trust me again. It doesn't matter how hard I try to redeem myself. Not to mention that you're hypocrites. Buffy tried to feed me to Angel, Anya killed more people than I did, Buffy tried to kill all of you, and Willow almost ended the world. But you forgave them. That's why."
The Scooby gang wasn't sure how to react at being called out on that. It got even worse as every newbie, including Kennedy, moved away from them at least a few inches.
"We did before we kicked Buffy out," Willow reminded her while giving her best friend another expression of regret for what happened that day.
"Whatever, it's different now. With all these new slayers, you'll think you won't need me or much less want me around. Pretty much how it was when we first met."
"I want you around," Kennedy voiced almost immediately.
This was followed by a round of "Me too." and "Ditto." from all of the newbie slayers. Faith smirked at the idea of possibly becoming friends with the ones who claimed they wanted her there.
"You're right, ok? I'm…I'm s-sorry. If we decided to NOT send you back to prison, what were you thinking about doing?" Buffy challenged as all eyes focused on the "chosen two".
Faith eyed everyone before speaking, "I was still thinking that maybe Robin, a few other slayers, and I could guard the hellmouth in Cleveland that Giles was talking about yesterday after the fight. But we'd have to do somethin' because I'm pretty sure I'm still considered a fugitive."
"I think Giles and I could do something about that. But I could do a spell until we got it done."
"What kinda spell?" Faith exclaimed while being a little uncomfortable at what the witch could do to her.
"A glamour one. I could make it so the only ones who would see the real you are us."
"Fine," Faith relented, "Just make sure I'm still hot to everyone outside."
"Ok, and I'm sorry too."
"Me too." Dawn spoke softly.
"Ditto," Xander muttered.
"Better late than never, I guess," Faith concluded with a smirk.
The newbies smiled and gradually moved back to where they were sitting, Willow sighed in relief the very moment Kennedy's arm was around her waist.
"Since Angel and his crew have decided to work at Evil Inc., I think the sooner we're out of here the better off we'll be," Buffy determined while trying to ignore the gaze she was getting from Angel.
They continued the rest of the meeting with every survivor from Sunnydale speaking their mind on their future. After that was settled and the meeting ended, Willow and Fred collected everything Willow needed for the spell. As the witch got organized, she noticed the smile coming from Fred and the slight anger from Kennedy at the attention the woman was directing to her girlfriend. Willow then spoke in Latin for a minute before smiling again at the nervous slayer.
"There, that should work until we can give you a new identity or fix your criminal record."
"Thanks, Red." Faith said before facing the crowd, "Do I look any different?"
"No," Dawn commented, confusing them all except Willow.
"Look at this," Willow instructed as a full length mirror appeared in front of the slayer.
The rest got up and stood behind Faith as she inspected herself in the mirror. There were a few whistles as they all saw a reflection of an equally hot woman except for the woman being a blonde. Faith smirked at the redhead as she turned away from the mirror.
"I've wondered what I'd look like as a blonde. I guess you did too."
"Is this ok until we figure it out?"
"Yeah, I guess. So once again, the only ones to see the real me is everyone in the hotel?"
"Exactly," Willow confirmed.
"Now, we hit the stores," Buffy decided.
"I don't know, B, shoppin' for clothes isn't my thing."
"Come on, Faith. We all need some more clothes. If you're planning on staying in Cleveland to help guard the hellmouth, it would be a good idea to have some more clothes."
"Can't ya just get some for me?"
"And have you complain about what I got? I don't think so. And you could have fun taunting whatever guys we might see there."
"Since ya put it that way, I guess it won't be so bad."
Angel and his gang watched quietly as the others climbed onto the bus and headed for the nearest shopping center armed with credit cards and some cash. Some of it came from Angel himself.
Around three hours later, the nearest shopping center
The entire group, which had split up into a few different groups when they first got there, met up in the food court. Each girl had two or three bags while the guys had two each. Faith had gone with Buffy's suggestion and made sure either Summers was around when she caught guys ogling her. She had taunted them by occasionally talking or whispering while touching Dawn and Buffy and brushing up against the sisters as they checked out clothes. Willow switched back and forth from being shocked and unaffected while Kennedy would frequently smirk along with Faith. However, Faith surprised them all when they reached the food court.
"So what should we have to eat, babe?" Faith began as she gazed directly at Buffy.
"I d-don't kn-know," Buffy stuttered at the look on the slayer's face.
It could be described as a hunger for more than food.
"Well, some burgers sound good to me. How about burgers with everything on them? I'll find us a place to sit while you get the food," Faith mentioned as she moved closer to the blonde in front of her.
"O-Ok," Buffy stuttered again as she started to walk away from her but was stopped by the same brunette.
"Not so fast," Faith commanded as she set her bags down and pulled Buffy toward her by the hips.
"What are you do…"
Buffy's words were cut off as Faith wrapped her arms around the blonde and kissed her. Their group gasped and gaped as this happened. It only got more interesting as the intensity of the kiss caused Buffy to drop the bags she was holding. Faith didn't waste a second when Buffy opened her mouth a little. She took it a step further by gently placing her hands on the blonde's butt for a second before giving it a soft squeeze and letting go. She felt the blonde shift in her arms as they kissed. She broke this kiss and stepped back to see Buffy's reaction. She smirked as the blonde's eyes remained closed for a few seconds. Buffy opened her eyes but was speechless at what her former enemy had done in front of so many people.
"Don't forget the sodas," Faith added before locating some empty seats near the center of the food court.
Buffy jumped and yelped a little as Faith's left hand smacked her lightly on her butt while heading toward the chairs. The rest of the group stood still for a few seconds before deciding what they wanted and marching to the different spots to get their food. Willow, Kennedy, and Dawn were the first to join Faith.
"What got into you?" Dawn almost snapped as she sat across from Faith.
"Just having fun like Buffy said earlier, yo."
"Alright, but did you really need to do that?"
"Yeah. What I was doing earlier wasn't getting the reaction I was hopin' for. Not jealous, are ya?"
"Of course not," Dawn murmured but not without showing the smallest amount of unexpected jealousy.
"Yeah, you are," Faith chuckled before leaning in to kiss Dawn softly on the lips.
"No, I'm no…," Dawn attempted to argue before Faith's lips pressed up against hers.
"Better now?" Faith teased after breaking the kiss.
Willow had the same gawk on her face from when Faith had kissed Buffy while Kennedy smirked and whistled softly.
"What do you think you're doing now?" a voice growled behind Dawn.
"Chill, B. It was just a kiss," Faith announced as she patted the empty seat to her right.
"Why did you kiss her?"
"Dawnie got jealous of ya," Faith divulged as Buffy slowly sat down beside her.
"I did not," Dawn denied, "and don't call me Dawnie."
"Whatever ya say, D," Faith conceded as she grabbed the food that the blonde had set down in front of her and began eating.
"Just don't do it again," Buffy advised before eating as well.
Faith wasn't sure, but she thought she sensed jealousy from the blonde this time. She glimpsed at Willow and Kennedy, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. Nobody said a word as Robin reached the table and sat in the empty chair to Faith's left. He studied the faces of everyone at the table. Faith smiled at him before taking another bite of her food. After they were all full, they split up for about another half hour. Then they all felt the need to leave and get back to the hotel. As they entered the hotel, it was clear to Angel and his friends that something was wrong.
Angel started the conversation, "So how did it go?"
"It didn't completely suck," Faith asserted with a half smile until she saw the frown on Robin's face.
She groaned and continued strolling up the path to her room.
"What happened?" Fred asked as their guests stood in the lobby silently.
The sisters and Willow described what had gone on during their trip with the other slayers adding to the conversation from time to time. Gunn and Wesley were stunned at hearing about Faith's actions toward the Summers' women. After all of the shopping bags were put into the right rooms, the group gathered in the lobby.