Fanfiction || City of Thieves || Leverage/Angel Crossover Fic || Part Twelve
Title: City of Thieves
Author: Sapphire Smoke [cuzimastripper]
Fandom: Leverage/Angel
Setting: Post "The Second David Job" in Leverage, Beginning of "Five By Five" in Angel
Rating: NC-17
Genre(s): Crossover/Team!Fic/Het/Femslash/Slash
Word Count Thus Far: 112,614 words
Summary: A prophecy of the splitting of darkness and light, of strength and intelligence. The Leverage team finds themselves mixed up in a destiny and in a world they never knew existed.
Feedback: Give it to me, baby ;]
Chapter Titles Notes: At first I just had the chapter titles be the character's names who's POV it was in, but because FanFiction.Net apparently won't let you have the same title name twice, I decided to actually name all of them. So it will tell you the characters name, but also have the chapter title.
Story Notes: So this is going to be my 'epic fanfic' for the downtime between seasons. I've decided not to tell you guys the pairings... ever. This is mostly a Team!Fic, and any sex and/or relationships are minor plot points and plus I don't like to spoil anything. Making you go 'OMG' makes me happy lol. Hope you guys enjoy! Suggestions and feedback is always appreciated!
Other Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE | PART SIX | PART SEVEN | PART EIGHT | PART NINE | PART TEN | PART ELEVEN
CHAPTER SIXTY ONE
[ Hardison ]
Kind of Like the Parents
The last thing Hardison ever wanted to see was Parker scared. The girl tried so hard to be brave all the time, and hell half the time she really is. She’s a strong woman, a good person, and she doesn’t deserve this. And sure, maybe he’s scared shitless of Faith too, I mean the girl is like a walking hit woman, but that doesn’t mean that if she comes after Parker again that Hardison wouldn’t die trying to protect her. Because he would.
“What’s wrong?” Nate asked him, looking at Parker before Hardison closed the door behind them.
“Faith’s upstairs, in Buffy’s room,” Hardison told him. Nate’s eyes went wide.
“What? How did she…? Well of course Buffy, but didn’t Angel do anything about it?” Nate asked, his eyes suddenly flickering to Buffy’s room down the hallway.
“Eliot tried to get him to I guess, and if he can’t do it I don’t know who can but seriously, man…” he looked at Nate in all seriousness and said, “It’s messing with Parker bad, and I’m not going to let her break again. So can we do something about this?”
Nate was silent for a moment, thinking. Then he let out a little breath and said, “Honestly, if Angel and Buffy won’t bring her back down there then there’s no one here that can. What do you want me to do?”
Hardison sighed and leaned back against the wall in aggravation. He shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know, I just don’t want Parker to be too afraid to even sleep at night.”
Nate looked at him apologetically and responded, “I can talk to Angel if you want, but I don’t know how much good it’s going to do. Maybe we could get her a lock for her door, make her feel safer? I mean…” he sighed, then swore before shaking his head. “I don’t know what the hell reason Buffy would have for bringing her up here.”
“I really don’t care what it is, it’s still ridiculous,” Hardison replied. Nate looked at him then, showing his obvious concern over the situation. Both men were silent for a minute, trying to think of some way to fix the problem when Sophie appeared from around the corner.
“There you are,” she said as she spotted Nate.
He looked over at her as she walked towards him and he responded, “There I am? Where have you been? I’ve been looking-”
But Sophie doesn’t reply, she doesn’t even let him finish because suddenly Nate was pushed up against the wall and she’s kissing him in a way Hardison wished he didn’t have to witness. I mean, it’s like your parents kissing or something. It’s just gross.
“Guys! Seriously?” he exclaimed as he put up a hand to shield his eyes from it, “Seriously? People! Can you just-damn, stop!”
What in the hell is wrong with Sophie? I mean sure yeah they’re dating now, but she never seemed to be one for graphic public displays of affection.
Then again, apparently her and Parker had sex in the middle of the back yard, so maybe she was. Regardless, she didn’t have to be doing it in front of him. Or anyone else for that matter.
“I’m not waiting anymore,” she told him as they break and then she had her hand wrapped around Nate’s shirt and was pulling her into her room. Hardison could still hear Nate stuttering, obviously confused, before Sophie closed the door and then there’s a loud bang as Hardison assumed Nate was pushed up against it.
Oh, this is just nine layers of wrong.
“Fine! Fine, I’ll just talk to Angel myself then!” Hardison yelled, annoyed. A lot of help Nate was. Freaking Sophie. “No damn help around here,” he mumbled before venturing into the living room.
He found Angel not in there, but in the kitchen. Hardison noticed a large splatter of red sauce on the wall and he looked at it funny before turning to him. “What happened in here?”
Angel looked amused and replied, “Eliot. He decided we’re ordering out tonight.”
Hardison blinked, but said nothing else on the subject. Instead he said, “We need to talk.”
Angel looks uncomfortable for a minute, and Hardison’s eyes narrowed. Why was he looking like that?
“Look,” Angel started. “If this is that whole speech that people apparently do now… the ‘if you hurt him I’ll kill you’ thing-”
“Whoa,” Hardison said, holding up his hand to stop him. He really just thought he was going to say that? “Number one, that ain’t why I’m here. And number two, I think if you hurt Eliot he’ll kill you himself with no help from me.”
“Right,” Angel said, looking a bit embarrassed. “Then why…? Oh. Faith.”
Hardison resisted the urge to roll his eyes. ‘Oh, Faith’. Like it wasn’t some huge big flashing neon sign of WARNING: PSYCHO IN THE HOUSE!
“Yeah, Faith,” Hardison said and folded his arms across his chest. “Parker is freaking out about it. Why the hell did you let her up here?!”
Angel sighed, looking like he was tired of having to explain things. “It’s Buffy’s call. I don’t completely agree with it, though I do on some level. But even if I didn’t, do you want to try and take on two slayers? Because I hate to admit it, but I have problems holding my own against just one.”
Hardison just glared at him. If he can’t stop it, no one can, and that just isn’t acceptable. “So what am I supposed to tell Parker now, huh? That she can’t feel safe in her own house?”
Angel held up his hands like he didn’t know what to do and replied, “Look, Buffy said she’d bolt the door, Faith isn’t leaving that room. We can put one on Parkers too on the inside so she can lock herself in, if it makes her feel any better.”
Hardison just scoffed and said, “Whatever, thanks then.” Though he didn’t mean it at all. He turned on his heel then, aggravated with the entire situation that was completely out of control and walked back to Parker’s room. When he opened the door, Parker was alone and sitting on her bed, knees curled tightly to her chest, arms wrapped around them as her body formed into a little ball.
“Hey,” Hardison said softly, making her look up at him. He closed the door behind him and she lifted her head a bit.
“Is she gone?” she asked.
Hardison hated this, he really did. “No,” he told her apologetically. “I’m sorry, but we can’t…” he sighed and took her hand and she looked at him a bit scared. “We’re going to deadbolt Buffy’s door… yours too, okay? So you can sleep.”
Parker didn’t say anything for a long time. She looked like she was having conflicting thoughts, or maybe just conflicting emotions. She kept switching from looking distressed one second to trying to suck it up and be brave the next. Hardison found it heartbreaking.
Then there was a bang from somewhere outside and Hardison looked up, startled. “What the hell was that?”
Parker shrugged and looked away, pulling her arms around herself tighter, “I keep hearing it, I think Faith is breaking things.”
Hardison got up and opened the door, venturing out into the hall, trying to figure out where the noises were coming from, then he got a disgusted look that crossed over his face as he came back inside and closed the door while he said, “Nope, not Faith. Next room over.”
“Cordelia’s?”
“No, other side. Sophie’s,” he told her, then shuddered. “I wish they wouldn’t… ewww. I just, I know you had sex with her and everything Parker, but really I kind of look at them like the parents of our little group and it’s just wrong to me. Them doing that. Me hearing that.”
“Sophie and Nate are having sex?” Parker asked in an odd tone that made Hardison look at her twice. Then she added, “Wait, are you saying I have a mommy fetish?”
“What?” Hardison asked, taken aback. “No, I… do you? ”
“I didn’t say that, you did.”
Hardison just shook his head, confused. He didn’t want to ask; Parker’s train of thought is kind of hard to follow anyway.
She looked up at him then, a curious look over her face. “Why haven’t you had sex with me yet, Hardison? Don’t you want to?”
Hardison blinks. Once, twice…. did she just really ask that? “Uh, well…” Hardison started, feeling awkward all of a sudden.
“Don’t you want to see me naked?” she asked, with that same casual tone and curious look. Hardison’s face was getting hot.
“Well you’re… I mean yeah, I do but…” he started, looking down at the floor. “But you’re still bruised and I don’t want to hurt you or anything…”
Hardison looked up then, catching her gaze. He watches her smile and then she said, “Oh, okay. Thanks. That’s sweet of you.”
Hardison smiled a bit and came back to sit on the edge of the bed. “No problem,” he said a little amused, though was still a but embarrassed over the conversation. He didn’t like to actually talk about sex, it’s weird.
“So you’ll have sex with me when I’m better?”
Of course that wasn’t the end of it. Hardison looks at her and responded, “Yes, okay? I will. I promise.” He kind of just wanted to end the conversation. Yes he would love to have sex with Parker, yes he will do it eventually and will love every possible moment of it, but did they really have to talk about it?
“Good, I can’t wait to see your penis.”
Hardison choked on his own breath a little from that statement.
CHAPTER SIXTY TWO NOTES: Okay, so I'm incredibly proud of this chapter. I think it rivals some of my best femslash, and that's saying something. Kinda weirded out by the fact that I did THIS well with Nate/Sophie, but meh, oh well xD
CHAPTER SIXTY TWO
[ Nate ]
Torn Clothing and Broken Furniture
Nate was pushed up against the door, making it omit a loud bang that he was pretty sure shook the walls, and then Sophie’s lips were on his neck as her hands grasped at his pants. He didn’t know what to do; he didn’t even know what was going on. This came suddenly out of the middle of nowhere and he wasn’t prepared for this. “Sophie,” he gasped out, putting his hands on hers to stop them from undressing her. Or at least trying to, he wasn’t succeeding very well. “What are you doing?”
“You want to be with me, Nate?” she asked him then, looking him in the eyes seriously, slightly out of breath. “Then be with me, I can’t bloody take it anymore.”
“But…” he started, trying to form any kind of coherent thought but was coming up pretty blank as Sophie’s tongue was teasing his ear. “Right now?” he gasped out as suddenly she pulls at his belt hard to undo it and then pushes him back up against the wall roughly again.
“No, tomorrow,” she answered like she’s being serious, but Nate can feel the sarcasm when she shoots him a look before grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it over her head and discarding it onto the wood floor. Nate blinked, staring at her as she reaches behind her and unclasps her bra, letting that too fall from her body.
He doesn’t have a chance to even comprehend the sight of her topless however because suddenly she grabbed him by the shirt again and pulled him forward a bit before pushing him back on to her bed, which made it slam hard into the wall. Damn, she apparently really meant business.
She’s on top of him then, straddling his waist as she unbuttoned his pants and he couldn’t do anything else but just stare at her and let her do what she wants. He sure as hell didn’t want to stop her, not now, not when little Nate was starting to get completely and fully aware of the situation at hand. But he also was still so much in shock by Sophie’s sudden erratic sexual behavior that it hadn’t processed fully about what was going on, and it was rendering him slightly immobile at the moment.
Sophie grabbed his shirt again with both hands and then to his surprise completely ripped it, popping off the buttons. He gasped and was about to protest when suddenly she’s biting at his chest a bit roughly, so he closed his eyes and grabbed her arm hard, squeezing a bit as he let out, “Damnit, Sophie.”
Her eyes flicker up to look at him but she’s still hovered over his chest. She raises her eyebrows and smirks before biting him again, a bit harder, making him cry out. He was never really into the pain in pleasure thing, but that might be because he never tried it. He was finding though that sometimes a little bit of pain could go a long way for pleasure.
He wasn’t immobile for any longer after that. He still wanted to wait until after the three dates and treat her like a lady, but it would be stupid if he said no to a half naked Sophie on top of him that looked like she could possibly eat him alive. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her down to him, crashing his lips to hers, making her utter a stifled moan. Her hands were wandering down his chest and she curled them a bit to scratch the surface of his skin lightly before resting on the top of his jeans, grasping at them as she desperately tried to get them off of him.
He grabbed both of her arms and rolled her over on the bed, getting on top. He worked at getting his pants off as Sophie tore at her own skirt, roughly pulling it off of her and kicking it off at the end of the bed. His sudden urge to consume her was raging through his body like an insatiable fire, and as he found himself naked over the most beautiful woman in the world, he took hold of her panties that she was trying to remove herself and just ripped them. It was half in pay back for her ripping his shirt, but also just because he couldn’t wait for her to get them off.
“God, Nathan,” Sophie gasped out as her eyes took in his form like a hungry animal. But he was barely paying attention to the fact that she was looking at him like that because he was too busy looking at her like that. She had spread her legs for him and Nate seriously didn’t think he had ever seen anything more perfect in his entire life.
She grabbed the back of his neck then and pulled herself up a bit to kiss him hungrily, breathing heavy from anticipation against his lips. “I need you, Nate,” she told him breathlessly as she ran her hand down his body and wrapped her hand around his cock, making him grunt hard and finally push her back down against the sheets. As she worked her skilled magic with her fingers he kissed her neck, making her throw her head back to the side and arc her back as she closed her eyes, taking it all in.
When Sophie removed her hand he slid inside of her, making her gasp hard and she brings her hand above her head instead to slam against the wall instead. “Oh my god,” she pants as her other hand reaches around his back to hold on tightly. “Oh my fucking god…”
Feeling Sophie around him like that was like ecstasy, she was tightening and pulling him in deeper as he looked down at her pleasure stricken face, eyes shut tight and mouth open just slightly so she could let out these little sounds that drove him insane. She gasped hard and then let out this half scream as he pushed into her harder, making the headboard of the bed slam against the wall. He tried to slow down a bit so he wouldn’t alert the entire house to their encounter with the noises, but when he did Sophie demanded, “Harder!”
He wasn’t going to mess with her forthcoming orgasm so he did what she said, hoping no one else was around but knowing that was highly unlikely in a house filled with ten people. Then again, even if he weren’t splintering the furniture at the moment, the rest of the house would still sure as hell hear Sophie, because she was making no effort to keep herself quiet at all. She kept slamming her hand against the wall and crying out loudly, screaming obscenities mixed with his name as she pants hard and digs her nails into his back.
The pounding rhythmic sound of the bed against the wall began to become the soundtrack to Sophie’s moans mixed with Nate’s short groans of pleasure as he can feel her start to contract around him, pulling him in even deeper as her body finally tenses. Her nails are so far into his back he’s sure she’s drawn bloody by now, but it doesn’t matter because all of a sudden she releases and he can feel her essence pour from her body like honey around him, and suddenly he himself is hit with a tidal wave of his sexual gratification and he collapses on her, out of breath and head spinning.
They lay like that, him and her, for a good five minutes, chests heaving and just trying to find a way to form a single thought in the world. He looks down at her finally and presses his lips lightly against hers before whispering, “I love you, Sophie Devereaux.”
She smiled a bit, her own eyes misting over that Nate could only assume was from the intense feeling, and she said softly, “I love you too, Nathan.”
CHAPTER SIXTY THREE
[ Sophie ]
Complications
Dinner was like hell.
When everyone filed into the kitchen to grab some of the Chinese food Eliot had ordered, everyone was staring at her and Nate constantly. It was embarrassing, and it made her feel like she wanted to disappear. The worst part about it wasn’t just that though, it was the look Parker was giving her. Sophie knew she had no right to look at her that way, after all, she was with Hardison and Sophie was dating Nate, but that didn’t make it any better. She still felt this overwhelming sense of guilt because it was because of her that she jumped on Nate so furiously, trying to forget her and trying to move forward with her life, leaving her behind even though she had just admitted she might be in love with her also.
But Sophie didn’t want that to be true, she didn’t want Parker to love her. It was bad enough that she had to come to terms with the fact that she loved Parker, but for her to reciprocate the feelings made it so much more complicated. She didn’t know what to do because she did love Nate as well, and she even felt guilty when he looked her in the eyes after that and told her he loved her, because she didn’t do it out of love. She used him as a tool to forget, and while she loved every moment of it and loved being close to Nate in that way, it still didn’t help the fact that she basically had used him.
Sophie wasn’t stupid, it might be nice with Nate here in this moment, but sooner or later he’ll go back to brooding, back to trying to subconsciously try to find a way to make his life miserable because he loved making camp there. And then what? Could Sophie really handle that? She didn’t understand why he couldn’t just be happy with her, but that was a bit hypocritical because she clearly wasn’t happy with just him either. Part of her still longed for Parker, and she tried so hard to bury that underneath everything inside of her because she knew how wrong it was.
It didn’t help the situation any further by the way Parker was staring at her though, like she was slightly upset by the entire thing. Parker was always so nonchalant and full of acceptance with the world around her even if she shouldn’t be that it was slightly unnerving.
“So what’d you break?” Cordelia asked her then, looking at her curiously as she passed her the lo mien.
“Excuse me?” Sophie asked, hoping to Christ that she wasn’t referring to what she thought she was referring to. She knew Cordelia had a bad case of word vomit, she’d just spit out anything that was on her mind regardless of who it was around or the embarrassment it would cause others, but Sophie was hoping that she wouldn’t do this to her. She was her friend after all. But she guessed that even that wouldn’t stop her, and unfortunately she was right.
“The whole house heard something splinter, Sophie,” Cordelia responded, which made Sophie flush and Nate clear his throat loudly.
“Please, Cordelia,” Sophie whispered to her embarrassed, just wanting her to let it go. Here eyes flickered over to Parker and she pursed her lips together before she looked down at her food, not wanting to look Sophie in the eyes.
“Twenty bucks on the bed,” came a voice from behind her, and Sophie turned around and almost choked on her food as her eyes locked on Faith. “Way to go, British, didn’t know you had it in you. You put on quite a show, shook B’s room pretty bad.”
Wesley, Sophie, and Cordelia seemed to be the only one’s that seemed completely shocked and freaked out by the sudden presence of Faith in the room. Parker was frightened, clearly, but yelled out as she pointed, “You’re supposed to be locked in the room!”
“Faith!” Buffy said exasperated as she slammed down her fork on the plate, making it clatter. “I told you I’d bring you food, you’re not supposed to be out here.”
“I know,” Faith said, the cocky mock no longer in her voice. She curled her arms around herself and looked at everyone at the table before coughing a bit, looking slightly awkward. “I just wanted to-”
“If you apologize I’ll rip out your tongue.”
“Eliot!” Angel exclaimed, shocked by his statement. But Eliot didn’t look like he was joking; he got up and stood in front of Parker, making his statement silently.
“No, Angel,” Faith said, waving his hand at him. “I deserved that, I know I do.”
She looked at Parker then, like she was studying her, taking her in. Parker looked unnerved by Faith staring at her and she slid a little further back behind Eliot. Then Faith’s face formed into guilt and remorse and she started, “Girl, look… you’re a sweet kid, you really are. You didn’t deserve anything that I did to you; I took out my anger on you and that… that wasn’t right. It was pretty fucking horrible, actually. And I know that no matter how much I can stand here and apologize it’s never going to make a difference, and it probably shouldn’t. I fucked with you bad and I can’t take it back even though I’d like to. So I just…” she sighed a bit and bit her lower lip before finishing. “I just want to let you know that I am really sorry.” She looked at Eliot then who looked like he was going to come after her and she just says, “If you want to rip my tongue out now, fine. At least I got it out.”
“Eliot, sit down please,” Angel requested softly, taking his hand. Eliot didn’t move for a minute though, just stared Faith down. Parker was looking at Faith like she didn’t know what to make of her.
“Sit down, Eliot,” Parker said finally, which made him look down at her. She nodded, “She doesn’t want to hurt me anymore, she wants to hurt herself.” She looked at Faith then though and set her jaw before addressing her, “But you’re not forgiven. I know you’re sorry but I just… can’t. Okay?”
Faith nodded and looked down at the ground before looking over at Buffy. “Bring me some egg rolls, B. And the deadbolt so no one’s gotta worry anymore.”
Then she was gone, and everyone was now staring at Parker. She didn’t say anything though, just got up and started to walk out of the room. Hardison went to follow but she turned and said, “I just want to be alone for a minute, okay?” She gave him a light kiss before he nodded, sitting back down.
After ten minutes, Sophie excused herself to go to the bathroom. With Parker gone everyone decided to continue staring at her and Nate again, and she just couldn’t take it anymore. She walked down the hall, her eyes resting for a moment on Buffy’s door, knowing Faith was inside. She hated that woman with every once of her being for what she did to Parker, but at the same time in some twisted way she understood her. Not for what she did, no. But just in the way she sometimes thought.
The door opened then, and Sophie jumped a mile as she was face to face with her. “Oh, it’s you,” Faith said, then noticing Sophie’s fear stricken look she stepped back a couple steps, trying to not frighten her. “I heard someone outside, why are you just standin’ here?”
Sophie blinked, feeling weird that she was having a conversation with Faith when she wasn’t safely locked behind bars. “I was just thinking,” she tells her, her voice shaking a bit. She didn’t like that she was so afraid around her. She talked a lot of shit to her before, but that was when she was safely locked up so she couldn’t do anything about what Sophie had said. Now she can, and that worried her.
“Oh, well…” Faith started, then shrugged and put her hand on the door to close it. But before it closed all the way and Sophie started to walk away, it opened again and Faith’s head poked out the door.
“Sophie?” she asked, and Sophie turned, hoping to god she wasn’t going to suddenly have a change of heart about this whole reformation thing and stab her or something. But she didn’t move her hands at all, which Sophie assumed was a good thing since that meant there would be no knife involved. Instead she asked, “Why were you fuckin’ that dude anyway? Thought you were into Parker.”
Sophie blinked, not believing Faith was actually asking her this. Was she trying to bond or something? What the bleeding hell? “I’m dating him,” she told her, hoping that would be the end of it and she could just get out of there. But of course it wasn’t.
“Why?” she asked. Sophie just shook her head and backed up.
“I don’t want to talk about this with you, why are you…?” Sophie was slightly stuttering now, not knowing exactly what to say and why exactly this conversation was even going on in the first place. Why did Faith even care?
“The ‘fuck to forget’, Peaches. I know it well, I used to be the champion of that game,” Faith told her with a knowing look and a shrug. Sophie opened her mouth in shock that number one, Faith felt the need to call her ‘peaches’ and number two that she would assume that she… fuck, that she assumed right was the biggest problem out of that entire statement.
But before Sophie could say anything Faith offered, “But I’ll let you know from experience, it’s wicked better to have the thing you keep trying to make up for, cause everything else will never be as good.” Then she closed the door, leaving Sophie there to continue staring at it like she was trying to figure out if they really just had that conversation and she didn’t hallucinate it or anything.
The nagging part that kept bugging Sophie was the fact that she knew Faith was right, and that made her feel horrible. Was she really just trying to make up for Parker? And if she was, isn’t that a bit backwards? She should have been with her to make up for Nate, which was the original plan anyway. But it didn’t seem like she played the game this time: the game played her.
She turned then and looked to her right at Parker’s closed door, and then for once, going with a feeling and not stopping to think about whether it would be right or not, she walked over to the door and held up her hand to knock on it. But before her knuckles met the wood she stopped and sighed heavily. She wanted to knock, she did, but then she thought about it. That’s always what keeps holding her back isn’t it? The damn thinking.
“Shit,” Sophie muttered before putting her hand back down. She couldn’t do this right now, not just after consummating her relationship with Nate. She bit her lower lip and then turned slowly before walking away, wishing for once she’d just have the guts to go with how she feels.
CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR
[ Buffy ]
Psychic Bonds
After dinner, everyone filed out of the kitchen, leaving Buffy to make a plate for Faith. After piling as much food as she could on there, because hell, the girl could seriously eat, she walked back down the hall to her bedroom. When she walked in, Faith was sharpening her stake and looked up with a smile.
“Nice… grub,” she said and put down the stake and held out her hands for the food. Buffy handed it to her but then put her hands on her hips.
“Faith…” she started as Faith started to chow down on her food. “You shouldn’t have come out there. I mean I know you wanted to-”
“B,” Faith interrupted, her mouth full of food. “Please don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t do. Seriously.”
“I was just-”
“I said what I had to say to Parker, okay? I had to say something. I fucked her up, Buffy,” Faith explained and looked at her like she should know that. Buffy sighed.
“I know.”
“Okay then,” Faith said, finishing the conversation. She looked up again at her though after a minute and asked, “You get the deadbolt?”
“No, it’s still out in the living room,” Buffy replied and Faith rolled her eyes. “What?” Buffy asked as she folded her arms over her chest in response to Faith’s expression.
“Can you just get it please? I mean… they all… they all hate me and are scared of me, ya know?” she looked down a bit and took another bite of her food before finishing, still not looking up. “Gotta keep them safe from me or whatever.”
“Faith, I don’t think you’re going to-” Buffy started.
“Yeah but they do,” Faith replied, shooting her a look before popping and egg roll in her mouth. “I’ve screwed with everyone enough, B. Frankly I don’t even know why the fuck you’re around me. I’ve screwed with you worst of all.”
Buffy was silent for a minute before sitting on the bed next to her and picking at the bed sheets a little awkwardly, “We’ve already talked about that…”
“Not really,” Faith replied, looking up from her dinner. “Saying ‘I’m sorry’ ain’t exactly tellin’ stories, Buffy.”
Buffy sighed and bit her bottom lip before mumbling, “I don’t really want to get into that right now, okay?”
“So you’d rather just fuck me and pretend it never happened then?” Faith asked her.
“No!” Buffy exclaimed. “That’s not… that’s not what I meant! I just don’t think now’s a great time, is all. I mean we just…” she sighed and went on, “Can we just be somewhat happy for once, please?” She just didn’t want to talk about all of that right now, bringing all that up is just unpleasant.
Faith rolled her eyes a bit but said nothing else, just started eating again. They were both silent for a little while until Faith spoke. “What are you going to tell beef-stick?”
“Riley,” Buffy corrects for what she feels like is for the millionth time. “And… I don’t know yet.”
“But you’re going to tell him, right?”
“Tell him what exactly?” Buffy asked, then mocked, “Oh hi, Riley, sorry to tell you this, but when I went to go stop Faith from being on a psychotic rampage, I ended up slipping and falling face first into her vagina, so I guess we shouldn’t date anymore.”
Faith almost choked on her food from laughing. “Did you just say vagina?”
“Shut up, Faith.”
“No, seriously,” Faith said, entirely amused with her, “Say it again.”
“Shut up, Faith,” Buffy stressed, glaring a bit. She didn’t want to get made fun of right now. She crossed her arm over her chest to further enhance her annoyance with the situation.
“Vagina,” Faith mocked again with a laugh.
“I’m gonna kick your ass in a minute,” Buffy warned.
“Ohh, I’m scared now,” Faith taunted and smirked. Buffy glared again.
“I’m warning you.”
“Vagina,” Faith mocked again, and Buffy knew she just loved pushing her buttons.
“I’m going to count to five…” Buffy started.
“Vagina,” Faith said again.
“One,” Buffy said, looking at her pointedly.
“Buffy likes touching my vagina.”
“Two,” Buffy said, her glare even worse. Did she really just say that?
“B likes licking VAGINA,” Faith went on, not planning on stopping.
“Okay, that’s it!” Buffy said and pushed her back against the bed, making Faith laugh and try to get her off of her.
“You said five! You didn’t even get to three!” Faith protested as she fought to get Buffy off of her, but couldn’t because she was laughing so hard. Buffy didn’t answer, but finally got both of Faith’s wrists and pinned them on the bed.
“You… suck,” Buffy told her. Faith smirked.
“I suck something,” she replied. Buffy made a face and groaned.
“Okay, that was tactless, even for you.”
“Eat me,” Faith told her, Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Just eat your food, loser.”
“Eat me first,” Faith countered. Buffy was finding herself smirking, despite herself.
“You need to eat,” she told her, but wasn’t sure if she entirely agreed with that plan of action either.
“It’s bad to fuck on a full stomach, I read that somewhere.”
“Oh jeez,” Buffy said and got off of her, rolling her eyes and laughing a bit. “Come on, just eat.” She sat back down on the bed and watched Faith sit up, but not before licking her bottom lip a bit and staring at her like she still was planning on the alternate route.
“Faith…” Buffy warned, putting her finger up to halt her. “Food, now.”
Faith made a grumpy face but picked up her fork and made an over exaggerated motion as she took a bite. Buffy smiled, “Good girl.”
“Still think my plan was funner,” Faith mumbled around her noodles.
“I don’t doubt that,” Buffy said with a smirk.
After Faith ate, she reverted to her plan B. Which might literally be called ‘Plan B’ in her head, cause that’s what Faith called her. She tossed her plate to the other side of the bed before crawling over to her and started to kiss up Buffy’s neck. Buffy closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Faith.
It was a different feeling for Buffy, to be with Faith like this. It wasn’t just like sex as one would normally perceive it, it was more like an explosion… feelings everywhere. She could feel Faith even when she wasn’t touching her, could feel Faith’s emotions, it was like being connected on an entirely new level.
“Jesus,” Buffy breathed out as she could feel Faith’s hand on her breast, but then Faith started giggling a bit. Buffy opened her eyes, “What?”
“B… I didn’t actually touch you,” Faith told her, half amused but also half in awe.
“What?” Buffy asked, pulling back a bit to look at her, confused. “I felt it, and it wasn’t a hum… that was solid.”
Faith’s shook her head, “No… it wasn’t. Watch. Close your eyes.”
Buffy looked at her skeptically, not seeing how Faith was about to prove her point with her eyes closed, but did so. Then she gasped as she felt it again, and moaned slightly. “Open them,” Faith told her, and she did… and her eyes went wide.
Faith wasn’t touching her… she was maybe two inches away from her.
“This is wicked cool!” Faith exclaimed, excited, then got this look of concentration on her face as she moved her hand lower, to hover a couple inches between her legs.
“Oh my god!” Buffy gasped out, then pulled away from her, panting a bit. “How… that’s not possible…”
Faith smirked and replied, “Half the things in our world ain’t possible, B. Why should this be any different? Come on, try with me.”
“What do I… do exactly?” Buffy asked, not sure how to even begin. She put her hand up a few inches away from Faith, but nothing happened.
“You got to imagine doing it, in your head. Want to do it,” Faith told her.
“Um… okay,” Buffy said, still not really understanding how this was working but closed her eyes for a minute and pictured touching Faith, playing with her nipples as she moved her hands a bit, wanting to see Faith react to her touch, and then heard Faith gasp. Buffy opened her eyes, “Okay… this… this is weird.”
“But a cool weird,” Faith said with a smile.
“Are we like psychically connected or something?” Buffy asked her, still not understanding it.
“We have slayer dreams… we get in each other’s head, so ain’t that like psychic kind of?” Faith asked her. Buffy shrugged.
“I guess so…” she shook her head, “This is kind of like Freaky Friday or something.”
“No, B. That would be when we switched bodies,” Faith corrected and laughed. Buffy rolled her eyes.
“You know what I mean.”
Faith shrugged and picked up her stake that she was sharpening off the bed. “I’m gonna go slay during primetime, wanna come with? Get the hornies out after?” she smirked. “Already took care of the hungries.”
“H&H isn’t real, Faith. That’s just you,” Buffy told her.
“Lies,” Faith said and stood up as she got her coat. “You coming?”
“Nah, I’m gonna put the lock on the door, I’ll see you when you get back, okay? If you’re lucky maybe I’ll take care of that other H for you,” she smirked at her, which made Faith’s grin widen.
“Suit yourself. And I’ll hold you to that, you know.”
“I know you will,” Buffy replied. “Have fun, don’t die.”
Faith scoffed, “Please B, I ain’t gonna die. I’m Faith: The Vampire Slayer.”
Buffy just giggled.
CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE
[ Angel ]
Missing Persons
Angel was awoken rudely the next morning by banging on his bedroom door, and unfortunately… so was Eliot.
“What the fuck time do you call this?!” Eliot yelled, half awake, turning towards the door and glaring at whoever was on the other side of this.
“Angel? Angel it’s me,” came Buffy’s rushed voice from the other side, which made Eliot roll his eyes and yawn.
“All you,” is all he offered as he put the covers back over his head. “And tell your ex girlfriend that this is an obnoxious time in the morning to be doing that,” he mumbled under the covers, which made Angel roll his eyes this time. A lot of help Eliot was.
He was snoring almost immediately and Angel picked himself out of bed, trying to find shorts or at least something to put on before he walked out the door naked. Eliot had decided to thank him in his own way last night, and while they didn’t have sex… they came damn near close.
Finding a pair of boxers he was pretty sure was actually Eliot’s, he pulled them on before opening the door to see Buffy… who looked a mess. He didn’t even have a chance to ask because she just blurted out, “Faith didn’t come back last night after slaying.”
Angel sighed and leaned against the threshold of the door. He knew something like this might happen. “Buffy… I’m sorry. But you should have known she might-”
“No!” she exclaimed, angry that Angel assumed she ran off. “Faith wouldn’t do that! Now that she… not now that we…” she trailed off and shifted back and forth on her feet and finished, “She just wouldn’t go. Not now.”
“How do you know…?”
“I just do!” Buffy cried, which made Eliot swear something half inaudible underneath the covers from her being so loud. Buffy ignored him. “Something bad has happened Angel, I can feel it.”
“Just… try to calm down right now, okay? We’ll have everyone split up and look for her when everyone’s awake.”
“Then wake up everyone!” Buffy yelled, and Eliot swore again, this time throwing a pillow at the door, but all it did was hit Angel’s back.
“Buffy, calm down. I’m sure it’s nothing. Just a late slay… you know how she gets after those,” Angel said, trying to make a point, but all it did was make Buffy blow up even more.
“Yes! Hungry and horny and she can get both of those from me now so something is wrong!” she yelled.
“I know she loves you Buffy, but she’s also… she’s a little unfaithful. She might have gotten scared about what was going on with you guys and maybe…” Angel was trying to be helpful, trying to convince Buffy that maybe Faith wasn’t lying dead somewhere, but all it did was make it worse.
“She wouldn’t do that to me!” Buffy screamed, and now Eliot was up out of bed, standing there in front of both of them stalk nude, looking furious.
“It is six thirty in the fucking morning,” he said dangerously.
Buffy covered her eyes after taking one look at him and exclaimed, “Ew, God! Put on some clothes!”
“What in the hell is so wrong that warrants you to be a loud ass bitch this early?!” Eliot yelled at her, which makes Buffy’s eyes flash at being called a bitch. She takes a step towards him, but Angel puts a hand on her chest to stop her.
“Alright, alright, calm down children. Buffy, come on, let’s leave Eliot to sleep,” he guided her out the door, while she loudly protested.
“But Faith is missing!”
“Good,” Eliot says as he slams the door behind them, which makes Buffy almost jump towards it again but Angel holds her back.
“Buffy, you need to relax. We’ll look for her, okay? Give it a couple hours anyway, she might show up.”
“God, nevermind Angel. Apparently if I need something done I have to do it myself, like I always have to,” Buffy retorts and pushes past him, grabbing her coat on the way out the door. “I’ll find her myself.”
“Buffy…” Angel started, but the door slammed behind her with a loud bang, and he just let her go. She probably was worrying over nothing, the sun had barely risen, Faith still had plenty of time to come back. She usually never came back from slaying until at least eight or nine in the morning anyway, always getting her fix afterwards.
Angel tried to go back to sleep, but was stopped by Cordelia. Did no one know it was an ungodly time to be awake right now? He could deal with it, but this was getting ridiculous. She poked her head out her door and said, “Will you just deal with her so we can all get some sleep?” And then the door slammed in his face.
He was getting sick of all the damn doors.
He sighed, how was he supposed to deal with her? He couldn’t go after her… daylight and all that. He walked back into his bedroom to find Eliot sprawled face first on his bed and he picked up his cell phone. Dialing Faith’s number because, hell, it couldn’t hurt to try, he put the phone up to his ear. Voicemail. He dialed Buffy’s. Voicemail.
Well, he tried.
Climbing back into bed, Eliot made some sort of sleepy protest and then pretty much smothered him with his own body. “What the fuck was that?” he muttered, half awake.
“Buffy thinks Faith is missing, but she’s probably just out doing… whatever it is that she does after she slays,” Angel said, settling back down into bed.
“Fucking drama queens,” Eliot muttered. He yawned, “Hope she is missing.”
“Eliot,” Angel said softly, but sternly. “Carrying your child, remember?”
Eliot sighed and mumbled against his chest, “I know, but there ain’t no way in hell I’m going to justify worrying over her in my head. Seems a bit fucked up.”
“You swear a lot in the morning,” Angel observed with a smirk.
“I’m fucking tired.”
Angel smirked more as Eliot, half awake, started kissing his neck. His hand roamed down Angel’s smooth chest, making him close his eyes and forget Buffy and forget Faith for all of a minute… until another knock was heard on the door.
“Oh for the love of shit, what now?!” Eliot yelled.
“Eliot!” Hardison’s voice came through the door.
“Hardison, it’s fucking six in the damn morning! Go away!”
More banging, “Eliot, this is serious!” Eliot let out a frustrated sigh and got out of bed, opening the door stark nude once again. Hardison let put a yelp and covered his eyes.
“Damnit, Eliot, I think you’ve blinded me!”
“Spit it out,” Eliot said dangerously, he obviously was not the most pleasant person in the morning.
Hardison continued to cover his eyes and said, “Parker’s been gone all night, she’s not answering her cell. I don’t know where she is… I’m… kinda worried.”
Eliot sighed, slamming his fist against the wall, making a hole in it. Hardison takes his hand away from his eyes to stare at Eliot who was producing massive violence already this early. “Fuck, alright. I’m awake.” He turned back into the room and grabbed a pair of shorts before pulling them on.
“Why do all of the girls gotta run off this damn early?” he muttered to himself as angel picked himself off the bed as well. Faith being gone was one thing… but for both of them to be gone? That didn’t sound good… at all.
“Who else is gone?” Hardison asked.
“Faith,” Angel answered, making Hardison’s eyes go wide.
“You don’t think she…”
“If she did, I’ll fucking kill her. Baby or not,” Eliot said with a growl, though Angel could tell he didn’t think it was really her, otherwise there would have been a much bigger reaction. Angel didn’t think so either, which was the scary thing. There wasn’t anything that could link their two disappearances together except…
“Wolfram and Hart,” Angel said with a sigh. “Damnit.”
“Why would they take Parker?” Hardison asked, who’s voice got a little higher due to his fear over the situation.
“I don’t know, that doesn’t make sense. But Faith… shit,” Angel said and shook his head. “She should have never left here.”
“Come on,” Eliot said to Hardison as he stormed out of the room.
“Where are we going?” Hardison asked as he watched him march down the hall.
“To fuck up everyone else’s sleep,” he answered, before starting to bang on doors.
CHAPTER SIXTY SIX
[ Cordelia ]
Assembling The Search Party
Of course something would go wrong with the resident psycho, of course. Why anyone would think any different, Cordelia didn’t understand. Parker though, that was what was making most everyone freak out - especially Hardison and apparently Sophie, who both ran off to find her and neither have come back yet. She was sprawled on the armchair in the living room, one leg over the arm of it, looking at Angel expectantly. She was waiting for the plan of action, but it seemed no one knew exactly what it was yet.
She looked calm, but inside she was really scared about what could have happened. Not to Faith of course, but to Parker. It seemed to be her coping mechanism; bitchiness and sarcasm all while trying to seem collected.
“Call Buffy again,” Angel said while pacing back and forth in the living room slowly, his hand on his head as he tried to think.
“What do you think this is?” Cordelia asked rhetorically as she waved a phone at him. Yes, the bitchiness.
“Just keep calling,” Angel said. Cordelia rolled her eyes and pressed redial.
“Where is Sophie?” Nate asked as he came in the room, looking like he didn’t know where he was supposed to be going. “I mean Parker, where is Parker? Eliot! Where’s Hardison? Did he GPS her location? We find her we probably find Faith too…. ELIOT!”
“I don’t know where anyone is, Nate! I’m not a damn fountain of information. Hardison ran off after he talked to me and I don’t know where the hell Sophie is, and I sure as hell don’t know where Parker is, but if you just let me go down to that fucking office and beat the hell out of someone we might actually find out!” Eliot yelled, slamming his fist into the wall.
“Eliot, everything can’t be fixed by you just kicking the crap out of everyone you see!” Nate exclaimed, then looked around and asked to himself more than to anyone, “Where the hell is Sophie?!”
“She’s not wearing shoes,” came a voice from behind them, and Cordelia looked up from the drama and put down the phone that reached voicemail another time and saw Hardison come in.
“How do you know that?” Wesley asked, who had been all too quiet the whole time, making Cordelia jump a bit because she forgot he was there.
“After the thing with Faith I put GPS trackers in all of Parker’s shoes - in all everyone’s shoes…” that made Eliot check his own curiously, “And if she ain’t on the grid than she ain’t wearing any shoes. Why the hell would she go out without any shoes?!”
“Alright, alright, Hardison calm down. We’ll find her,” Nate promised as he rubbed his temples. “Has anyone seen Sophie?”
“She… uh,” Cordelia started, but wasn’t sure she should finish. But she didn’t want all of them to think she’s missing too, so she finished, “I saw her when I woke up.”
“Well does she know about this? Where the hell is she?” Nate asked, frustrated that his team wasn’t all here during a crisis.
“Yeah… yeah, she knows…” Cordelia said slowly, and then Nate got it. He set his jaw and shook his head before mumbling under his breath.
“Of course she does… that’s why she’s not here. How stupid of me…”
Cordelia was actually starting to feel bad for the man. Cordelia knew Sophie loved him, but by some twist of fate she seemed to love Parker just a little bit more. Maybe it was because he waited so long that he missed his mark, his time. But even though Nate knowing made her feel bad for him, she also felt bad for…
“Nate, just leave it, okay? They had sex, get over it. They ain’t gonna do it again,” Hardison demanded.
…Cordelia felt bad for Hardison, and how naïve he seemed to be.
“Can we just shut about that shit, seriously!” Eliot exclaimed, angry now. “Wolfram and Hart probably has Parker and my unborn child, Damnit!”
Nate stopped, and so did Hardison. They both turned to him, blinking a bit. They had never heard Eliot refer to anything about his child before, ever. Angel however, didn’t seem surprised. He put a hand on Eliot’s shoulder, to either comfort him or calm him, maybe both.
“We’ll get them back, Eliot. I promise,” Angel said.
“What’s the plan?” Cordelia asked, pressing redial on her phone again. It was becoming more automatic than conscious, so when Buffy answered, her eyes went wide and she sat straight up. “Buffy! Where are you?”
“I can’t feel her!” came Buffy’s erratic voice through the phone.
“What?”
“She’s not here!” Buffy yelled. “She’s not at Wolfram and Hart, I’d be able to feel her even standing out here. I can’t feel her!”
“Alright… alright, Buffy, come back to the house. Angel-”
“We don’t have time!” Buffy yelled, “What if they’re trying to kill her, or dissect her, or something else just as equal on the badness scale and I-!” Cordelia held the phone away from her hear and held it out to Angel helplessly. Angel grabbed it from her and attempted to calm his ex down.
“Buffy? Buffy! Calm down, they’re not going to kill her, they want the child. They’re probably just hiding her somewhere for the next couple of months, okay? Look, you need to come back. Parker is missing too, we need to go find both of them together… all of us,” Angel told her. “We have time,” he stressed lastly.
There was a long pause, and Angel nodded a bit as the rest of them watched her. Finally he said, “Alright,” and hung up the phone. He tossed it back to Cordelia and she caught it, before he let out a heavy breath.
“Someone find Sophie, and when they both get back we’ll make a plan. I’m going to…” he sighed and shook his head. “Check the footage from the security cameras, see which way they headed, see if they were together by any chance before they both disappeared.”
“I’m with you,” Hardison said, and followed Angel out of the room. Wesley got up a minute later and left, but didn’t say where he was going.
“I’ll…” Cordelia looked at Nate as she got up. “I’ll try to find Sophie.”
“No,” Nate shook his head and grabbed his own phone. “I’ll find her, Hardison put GPS trackers in all our shoes… she’ll show up on here. She’d never leave the house without her shoes… she loves them all too damn much.”
That’s what Cordelia was afraid of.
“Nate, just let her do it,” Eliot told him, getting up and sighing a bit. He looked at him pointedly and said, “You probably don’t wanna know what’s going on with them anyway, and right now… it just ain’t even what’s important. We gotta go save Parker… and my kid.”
Cordelia blinked at him, not believing he just said that to Nate. It was true; it wasn’t what was important right now, but Nate set his jaw, his eyes narrowing. He knew Eliot knew something, and right now Cordelia knew that too - and that wasn’t good.
But Nate finally said through clenched teeth, like it was hard for him to know that he was right. “Yeah, alright.” He looked at Cordelia, “Find her, just bring her back here.”
He threw Cordelia his own phone with the GPS locater and she caught it before he walked out the door, Eliot behind him.
Cordelia sighed, this wasn’t gonna go over well when this has all ended.
TBC…
THIS STORY IS NEVER ENDING! LOL
PART THIRTEEN IS HERE.
Author: Sapphire Smoke [cuzimastripper]
Fandom: Leverage/Angel
Setting: Post "The Second David Job" in Leverage, Beginning of "Five By Five" in Angel
Rating: NC-17
Genre(s): Crossover/Team!Fic/Het/Femslash/Slash
Word Count Thus Far: 112,614 words
Summary: A prophecy of the splitting of darkness and light, of strength and intelligence. The Leverage team finds themselves mixed up in a destiny and in a world they never knew existed.
Feedback: Give it to me, baby ;]
Chapter Titles Notes: At first I just had the chapter titles be the character's names who's POV it was in, but because FanFiction.Net apparently won't let you have the same title name twice, I decided to actually name all of them. So it will tell you the characters name, but also have the chapter title.
Story Notes: So this is going to be my 'epic fanfic' for the downtime between seasons. I've decided not to tell you guys the pairings... ever. This is mostly a Team!Fic, and any sex and/or relationships are minor plot points and plus I don't like to spoil anything. Making you go 'OMG' makes me happy lol. Hope you guys enjoy! Suggestions and feedback is always appreciated!
Other Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE | PART SIX | PART SEVEN | PART EIGHT | PART NINE | PART TEN | PART ELEVEN
CHAPTER SIXTY ONE
[ Hardison ]
Kind of Like the Parents
The last thing Hardison ever wanted to see was Parker scared. The girl tried so hard to be brave all the time, and hell half the time she really is. She’s a strong woman, a good person, and she doesn’t deserve this. And sure, maybe he’s scared shitless of Faith too, I mean the girl is like a walking hit woman, but that doesn’t mean that if she comes after Parker again that Hardison wouldn’t die trying to protect her. Because he would.
“What’s wrong?” Nate asked him, looking at Parker before Hardison closed the door behind them.
“Faith’s upstairs, in Buffy’s room,” Hardison told him. Nate’s eyes went wide.
“What? How did she…? Well of course Buffy, but didn’t Angel do anything about it?” Nate asked, his eyes suddenly flickering to Buffy’s room down the hallway.
“Eliot tried to get him to I guess, and if he can’t do it I don’t know who can but seriously, man…” he looked at Nate in all seriousness and said, “It’s messing with Parker bad, and I’m not going to let her break again. So can we do something about this?”
Nate was silent for a moment, thinking. Then he let out a little breath and said, “Honestly, if Angel and Buffy won’t bring her back down there then there’s no one here that can. What do you want me to do?”
Hardison sighed and leaned back against the wall in aggravation. He shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know, I just don’t want Parker to be too afraid to even sleep at night.”
Nate looked at him apologetically and responded, “I can talk to Angel if you want, but I don’t know how much good it’s going to do. Maybe we could get her a lock for her door, make her feel safer? I mean…” he sighed, then swore before shaking his head. “I don’t know what the hell reason Buffy would have for bringing her up here.”
“I really don’t care what it is, it’s still ridiculous,” Hardison replied. Nate looked at him then, showing his obvious concern over the situation. Both men were silent for a minute, trying to think of some way to fix the problem when Sophie appeared from around the corner.
“There you are,” she said as she spotted Nate.
He looked over at her as she walked towards him and he responded, “There I am? Where have you been? I’ve been looking-”
But Sophie doesn’t reply, she doesn’t even let him finish because suddenly Nate was pushed up against the wall and she’s kissing him in a way Hardison wished he didn’t have to witness. I mean, it’s like your parents kissing or something. It’s just gross.
“Guys! Seriously?” he exclaimed as he put up a hand to shield his eyes from it, “Seriously? People! Can you just-damn, stop!”
What in the hell is wrong with Sophie? I mean sure yeah they’re dating now, but she never seemed to be one for graphic public displays of affection.
Then again, apparently her and Parker had sex in the middle of the back yard, so maybe she was. Regardless, she didn’t have to be doing it in front of him. Or anyone else for that matter.
“I’m not waiting anymore,” she told him as they break and then she had her hand wrapped around Nate’s shirt and was pulling her into her room. Hardison could still hear Nate stuttering, obviously confused, before Sophie closed the door and then there’s a loud bang as Hardison assumed Nate was pushed up against it.
Oh, this is just nine layers of wrong.
“Fine! Fine, I’ll just talk to Angel myself then!” Hardison yelled, annoyed. A lot of help Nate was. Freaking Sophie. “No damn help around here,” he mumbled before venturing into the living room.
He found Angel not in there, but in the kitchen. Hardison noticed a large splatter of red sauce on the wall and he looked at it funny before turning to him. “What happened in here?”
Angel looked amused and replied, “Eliot. He decided we’re ordering out tonight.”
Hardison blinked, but said nothing else on the subject. Instead he said, “We need to talk.”
Angel looks uncomfortable for a minute, and Hardison’s eyes narrowed. Why was he looking like that?
“Look,” Angel started. “If this is that whole speech that people apparently do now… the ‘if you hurt him I’ll kill you’ thing-”
“Whoa,” Hardison said, holding up his hand to stop him. He really just thought he was going to say that? “Number one, that ain’t why I’m here. And number two, I think if you hurt Eliot he’ll kill you himself with no help from me.”
“Right,” Angel said, looking a bit embarrassed. “Then why…? Oh. Faith.”
Hardison resisted the urge to roll his eyes. ‘Oh, Faith’. Like it wasn’t some huge big flashing neon sign of WARNING: PSYCHO IN THE HOUSE!
“Yeah, Faith,” Hardison said and folded his arms across his chest. “Parker is freaking out about it. Why the hell did you let her up here?!”
Angel sighed, looking like he was tired of having to explain things. “It’s Buffy’s call. I don’t completely agree with it, though I do on some level. But even if I didn’t, do you want to try and take on two slayers? Because I hate to admit it, but I have problems holding my own against just one.”
Hardison just glared at him. If he can’t stop it, no one can, and that just isn’t acceptable. “So what am I supposed to tell Parker now, huh? That she can’t feel safe in her own house?”
Angel held up his hands like he didn’t know what to do and replied, “Look, Buffy said she’d bolt the door, Faith isn’t leaving that room. We can put one on Parkers too on the inside so she can lock herself in, if it makes her feel any better.”
Hardison just scoffed and said, “Whatever, thanks then.” Though he didn’t mean it at all. He turned on his heel then, aggravated with the entire situation that was completely out of control and walked back to Parker’s room. When he opened the door, Parker was alone and sitting on her bed, knees curled tightly to her chest, arms wrapped around them as her body formed into a little ball.
“Hey,” Hardison said softly, making her look up at him. He closed the door behind him and she lifted her head a bit.
“Is she gone?” she asked.
Hardison hated this, he really did. “No,” he told her apologetically. “I’m sorry, but we can’t…” he sighed and took her hand and she looked at him a bit scared. “We’re going to deadbolt Buffy’s door… yours too, okay? So you can sleep.”
Parker didn’t say anything for a long time. She looked like she was having conflicting thoughts, or maybe just conflicting emotions. She kept switching from looking distressed one second to trying to suck it up and be brave the next. Hardison found it heartbreaking.
Then there was a bang from somewhere outside and Hardison looked up, startled. “What the hell was that?”
Parker shrugged and looked away, pulling her arms around herself tighter, “I keep hearing it, I think Faith is breaking things.”
Hardison got up and opened the door, venturing out into the hall, trying to figure out where the noises were coming from, then he got a disgusted look that crossed over his face as he came back inside and closed the door while he said, “Nope, not Faith. Next room over.”
“Cordelia’s?”
“No, other side. Sophie’s,” he told her, then shuddered. “I wish they wouldn’t… ewww. I just, I know you had sex with her and everything Parker, but really I kind of look at them like the parents of our little group and it’s just wrong to me. Them doing that. Me hearing that.”
“Sophie and Nate are having sex?” Parker asked in an odd tone that made Hardison look at her twice. Then she added, “Wait, are you saying I have a mommy fetish?”
“What?” Hardison asked, taken aback. “No, I… do you? ”
“I didn’t say that, you did.”
Hardison just shook his head, confused. He didn’t want to ask; Parker’s train of thought is kind of hard to follow anyway.
She looked up at him then, a curious look over her face. “Why haven’t you had sex with me yet, Hardison? Don’t you want to?”
Hardison blinks. Once, twice…. did she just really ask that? “Uh, well…” Hardison started, feeling awkward all of a sudden.
“Don’t you want to see me naked?” she asked, with that same casual tone and curious look. Hardison’s face was getting hot.
“Well you’re… I mean yeah, I do but…” he started, looking down at the floor. “But you’re still bruised and I don’t want to hurt you or anything…”
Hardison looked up then, catching her gaze. He watches her smile and then she said, “Oh, okay. Thanks. That’s sweet of you.”
Hardison smiled a bit and came back to sit on the edge of the bed. “No problem,” he said a little amused, though was still a but embarrassed over the conversation. He didn’t like to actually talk about sex, it’s weird.
“So you’ll have sex with me when I’m better?”
Of course that wasn’t the end of it. Hardison looks at her and responded, “Yes, okay? I will. I promise.” He kind of just wanted to end the conversation. Yes he would love to have sex with Parker, yes he will do it eventually and will love every possible moment of it, but did they really have to talk about it?
“Good, I can’t wait to see your penis.”
Hardison choked on his own breath a little from that statement.
CHAPTER SIXTY TWO NOTES: Okay, so I'm incredibly proud of this chapter. I think it rivals some of my best femslash, and that's saying something. Kinda weirded out by the fact that I did THIS well with Nate/Sophie, but meh, oh well xD
CHAPTER SIXTY TWO
[ Nate ]
Torn Clothing and Broken Furniture
Nate was pushed up against the door, making it omit a loud bang that he was pretty sure shook the walls, and then Sophie’s lips were on his neck as her hands grasped at his pants. He didn’t know what to do; he didn’t even know what was going on. This came suddenly out of the middle of nowhere and he wasn’t prepared for this. “Sophie,” he gasped out, putting his hands on hers to stop them from undressing her. Or at least trying to, he wasn’t succeeding very well. “What are you doing?”
“You want to be with me, Nate?” she asked him then, looking him in the eyes seriously, slightly out of breath. “Then be with me, I can’t bloody take it anymore.”
“But…” he started, trying to form any kind of coherent thought but was coming up pretty blank as Sophie’s tongue was teasing his ear. “Right now?” he gasped out as suddenly she pulls at his belt hard to undo it and then pushes him back up against the wall roughly again.
“No, tomorrow,” she answered like she’s being serious, but Nate can feel the sarcasm when she shoots him a look before grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it over her head and discarding it onto the wood floor. Nate blinked, staring at her as she reaches behind her and unclasps her bra, letting that too fall from her body.
He doesn’t have a chance to even comprehend the sight of her topless however because suddenly she grabbed him by the shirt again and pulled him forward a bit before pushing him back on to her bed, which made it slam hard into the wall. Damn, she apparently really meant business.
She’s on top of him then, straddling his waist as she unbuttoned his pants and he couldn’t do anything else but just stare at her and let her do what she wants. He sure as hell didn’t want to stop her, not now, not when little Nate was starting to get completely and fully aware of the situation at hand. But he also was still so much in shock by Sophie’s sudden erratic sexual behavior that it hadn’t processed fully about what was going on, and it was rendering him slightly immobile at the moment.
Sophie grabbed his shirt again with both hands and then to his surprise completely ripped it, popping off the buttons. He gasped and was about to protest when suddenly she’s biting at his chest a bit roughly, so he closed his eyes and grabbed her arm hard, squeezing a bit as he let out, “Damnit, Sophie.”
Her eyes flicker up to look at him but she’s still hovered over his chest. She raises her eyebrows and smirks before biting him again, a bit harder, making him cry out. He was never really into the pain in pleasure thing, but that might be because he never tried it. He was finding though that sometimes a little bit of pain could go a long way for pleasure.
He wasn’t immobile for any longer after that. He still wanted to wait until after the three dates and treat her like a lady, but it would be stupid if he said no to a half naked Sophie on top of him that looked like she could possibly eat him alive. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her down to him, crashing his lips to hers, making her utter a stifled moan. Her hands were wandering down his chest and she curled them a bit to scratch the surface of his skin lightly before resting on the top of his jeans, grasping at them as she desperately tried to get them off of him.
He grabbed both of her arms and rolled her over on the bed, getting on top. He worked at getting his pants off as Sophie tore at her own skirt, roughly pulling it off of her and kicking it off at the end of the bed. His sudden urge to consume her was raging through his body like an insatiable fire, and as he found himself naked over the most beautiful woman in the world, he took hold of her panties that she was trying to remove herself and just ripped them. It was half in pay back for her ripping his shirt, but also just because he couldn’t wait for her to get them off.
“God, Nathan,” Sophie gasped out as her eyes took in his form like a hungry animal. But he was barely paying attention to the fact that she was looking at him like that because he was too busy looking at her like that. She had spread her legs for him and Nate seriously didn’t think he had ever seen anything more perfect in his entire life.
She grabbed the back of his neck then and pulled herself up a bit to kiss him hungrily, breathing heavy from anticipation against his lips. “I need you, Nate,” she told him breathlessly as she ran her hand down his body and wrapped her hand around his cock, making him grunt hard and finally push her back down against the sheets. As she worked her skilled magic with her fingers he kissed her neck, making her throw her head back to the side and arc her back as she closed her eyes, taking it all in.
When Sophie removed her hand he slid inside of her, making her gasp hard and she brings her hand above her head instead to slam against the wall instead. “Oh my god,” she pants as her other hand reaches around his back to hold on tightly. “Oh my fucking god…”
Feeling Sophie around him like that was like ecstasy, she was tightening and pulling him in deeper as he looked down at her pleasure stricken face, eyes shut tight and mouth open just slightly so she could let out these little sounds that drove him insane. She gasped hard and then let out this half scream as he pushed into her harder, making the headboard of the bed slam against the wall. He tried to slow down a bit so he wouldn’t alert the entire house to their encounter with the noises, but when he did Sophie demanded, “Harder!”
He wasn’t going to mess with her forthcoming orgasm so he did what she said, hoping no one else was around but knowing that was highly unlikely in a house filled with ten people. Then again, even if he weren’t splintering the furniture at the moment, the rest of the house would still sure as hell hear Sophie, because she was making no effort to keep herself quiet at all. She kept slamming her hand against the wall and crying out loudly, screaming obscenities mixed with his name as she pants hard and digs her nails into his back.
The pounding rhythmic sound of the bed against the wall began to become the soundtrack to Sophie’s moans mixed with Nate’s short groans of pleasure as he can feel her start to contract around him, pulling him in even deeper as her body finally tenses. Her nails are so far into his back he’s sure she’s drawn bloody by now, but it doesn’t matter because all of a sudden she releases and he can feel her essence pour from her body like honey around him, and suddenly he himself is hit with a tidal wave of his sexual gratification and he collapses on her, out of breath and head spinning.
They lay like that, him and her, for a good five minutes, chests heaving and just trying to find a way to form a single thought in the world. He looks down at her finally and presses his lips lightly against hers before whispering, “I love you, Sophie Devereaux.”
She smiled a bit, her own eyes misting over that Nate could only assume was from the intense feeling, and she said softly, “I love you too, Nathan.”
CHAPTER SIXTY THREE
[ Sophie ]
Complications
Dinner was like hell.
When everyone filed into the kitchen to grab some of the Chinese food Eliot had ordered, everyone was staring at her and Nate constantly. It was embarrassing, and it made her feel like she wanted to disappear. The worst part about it wasn’t just that though, it was the look Parker was giving her. Sophie knew she had no right to look at her that way, after all, she was with Hardison and Sophie was dating Nate, but that didn’t make it any better. She still felt this overwhelming sense of guilt because it was because of her that she jumped on Nate so furiously, trying to forget her and trying to move forward with her life, leaving her behind even though she had just admitted she might be in love with her also.
But Sophie didn’t want that to be true, she didn’t want Parker to love her. It was bad enough that she had to come to terms with the fact that she loved Parker, but for her to reciprocate the feelings made it so much more complicated. She didn’t know what to do because she did love Nate as well, and she even felt guilty when he looked her in the eyes after that and told her he loved her, because she didn’t do it out of love. She used him as a tool to forget, and while she loved every moment of it and loved being close to Nate in that way, it still didn’t help the fact that she basically had used him.
Sophie wasn’t stupid, it might be nice with Nate here in this moment, but sooner or later he’ll go back to brooding, back to trying to subconsciously try to find a way to make his life miserable because he loved making camp there. And then what? Could Sophie really handle that? She didn’t understand why he couldn’t just be happy with her, but that was a bit hypocritical because she clearly wasn’t happy with just him either. Part of her still longed for Parker, and she tried so hard to bury that underneath everything inside of her because she knew how wrong it was.
It didn’t help the situation any further by the way Parker was staring at her though, like she was slightly upset by the entire thing. Parker was always so nonchalant and full of acceptance with the world around her even if she shouldn’t be that it was slightly unnerving.
“So what’d you break?” Cordelia asked her then, looking at her curiously as she passed her the lo mien.
“Excuse me?” Sophie asked, hoping to Christ that she wasn’t referring to what she thought she was referring to. She knew Cordelia had a bad case of word vomit, she’d just spit out anything that was on her mind regardless of who it was around or the embarrassment it would cause others, but Sophie was hoping that she wouldn’t do this to her. She was her friend after all. But she guessed that even that wouldn’t stop her, and unfortunately she was right.
“The whole house heard something splinter, Sophie,” Cordelia responded, which made Sophie flush and Nate clear his throat loudly.
“Please, Cordelia,” Sophie whispered to her embarrassed, just wanting her to let it go. Here eyes flickered over to Parker and she pursed her lips together before she looked down at her food, not wanting to look Sophie in the eyes.
“Twenty bucks on the bed,” came a voice from behind her, and Sophie turned around and almost choked on her food as her eyes locked on Faith. “Way to go, British, didn’t know you had it in you. You put on quite a show, shook B’s room pretty bad.”
Wesley, Sophie, and Cordelia seemed to be the only one’s that seemed completely shocked and freaked out by the sudden presence of Faith in the room. Parker was frightened, clearly, but yelled out as she pointed, “You’re supposed to be locked in the room!”
“Faith!” Buffy said exasperated as she slammed down her fork on the plate, making it clatter. “I told you I’d bring you food, you’re not supposed to be out here.”
“I know,” Faith said, the cocky mock no longer in her voice. She curled her arms around herself and looked at everyone at the table before coughing a bit, looking slightly awkward. “I just wanted to-”
“If you apologize I’ll rip out your tongue.”
“Eliot!” Angel exclaimed, shocked by his statement. But Eliot didn’t look like he was joking; he got up and stood in front of Parker, making his statement silently.
“No, Angel,” Faith said, waving his hand at him. “I deserved that, I know I do.”
She looked at Parker then, like she was studying her, taking her in. Parker looked unnerved by Faith staring at her and she slid a little further back behind Eliot. Then Faith’s face formed into guilt and remorse and she started, “Girl, look… you’re a sweet kid, you really are. You didn’t deserve anything that I did to you; I took out my anger on you and that… that wasn’t right. It was pretty fucking horrible, actually. And I know that no matter how much I can stand here and apologize it’s never going to make a difference, and it probably shouldn’t. I fucked with you bad and I can’t take it back even though I’d like to. So I just…” she sighed a bit and bit her lower lip before finishing. “I just want to let you know that I am really sorry.” She looked at Eliot then who looked like he was going to come after her and she just says, “If you want to rip my tongue out now, fine. At least I got it out.”
“Eliot, sit down please,” Angel requested softly, taking his hand. Eliot didn’t move for a minute though, just stared Faith down. Parker was looking at Faith like she didn’t know what to make of her.
“Sit down, Eliot,” Parker said finally, which made him look down at her. She nodded, “She doesn’t want to hurt me anymore, she wants to hurt herself.” She looked at Faith then though and set her jaw before addressing her, “But you’re not forgiven. I know you’re sorry but I just… can’t. Okay?”
Faith nodded and looked down at the ground before looking over at Buffy. “Bring me some egg rolls, B. And the deadbolt so no one’s gotta worry anymore.”
Then she was gone, and everyone was now staring at Parker. She didn’t say anything though, just got up and started to walk out of the room. Hardison went to follow but she turned and said, “I just want to be alone for a minute, okay?” She gave him a light kiss before he nodded, sitting back down.
After ten minutes, Sophie excused herself to go to the bathroom. With Parker gone everyone decided to continue staring at her and Nate again, and she just couldn’t take it anymore. She walked down the hall, her eyes resting for a moment on Buffy’s door, knowing Faith was inside. She hated that woman with every once of her being for what she did to Parker, but at the same time in some twisted way she understood her. Not for what she did, no. But just in the way she sometimes thought.
The door opened then, and Sophie jumped a mile as she was face to face with her. “Oh, it’s you,” Faith said, then noticing Sophie’s fear stricken look she stepped back a couple steps, trying to not frighten her. “I heard someone outside, why are you just standin’ here?”
Sophie blinked, feeling weird that she was having a conversation with Faith when she wasn’t safely locked behind bars. “I was just thinking,” she tells her, her voice shaking a bit. She didn’t like that she was so afraid around her. She talked a lot of shit to her before, but that was when she was safely locked up so she couldn’t do anything about what Sophie had said. Now she can, and that worried her.
“Oh, well…” Faith started, then shrugged and put her hand on the door to close it. But before it closed all the way and Sophie started to walk away, it opened again and Faith’s head poked out the door.
“Sophie?” she asked, and Sophie turned, hoping to god she wasn’t going to suddenly have a change of heart about this whole reformation thing and stab her or something. But she didn’t move her hands at all, which Sophie assumed was a good thing since that meant there would be no knife involved. Instead she asked, “Why were you fuckin’ that dude anyway? Thought you were into Parker.”
Sophie blinked, not believing Faith was actually asking her this. Was she trying to bond or something? What the bleeding hell? “I’m dating him,” she told her, hoping that would be the end of it and she could just get out of there. But of course it wasn’t.
“Why?” she asked. Sophie just shook her head and backed up.
“I don’t want to talk about this with you, why are you…?” Sophie was slightly stuttering now, not knowing exactly what to say and why exactly this conversation was even going on in the first place. Why did Faith even care?
“The ‘fuck to forget’, Peaches. I know it well, I used to be the champion of that game,” Faith told her with a knowing look and a shrug. Sophie opened her mouth in shock that number one, Faith felt the need to call her ‘peaches’ and number two that she would assume that she… fuck, that she assumed right was the biggest problem out of that entire statement.
But before Sophie could say anything Faith offered, “But I’ll let you know from experience, it’s wicked better to have the thing you keep trying to make up for, cause everything else will never be as good.” Then she closed the door, leaving Sophie there to continue staring at it like she was trying to figure out if they really just had that conversation and she didn’t hallucinate it or anything.
The nagging part that kept bugging Sophie was the fact that she knew Faith was right, and that made her feel horrible. Was she really just trying to make up for Parker? And if she was, isn’t that a bit backwards? She should have been with her to make up for Nate, which was the original plan anyway. But it didn’t seem like she played the game this time: the game played her.
She turned then and looked to her right at Parker’s closed door, and then for once, going with a feeling and not stopping to think about whether it would be right or not, she walked over to the door and held up her hand to knock on it. But before her knuckles met the wood she stopped and sighed heavily. She wanted to knock, she did, but then she thought about it. That’s always what keeps holding her back isn’t it? The damn thinking.
“Shit,” Sophie muttered before putting her hand back down. She couldn’t do this right now, not just after consummating her relationship with Nate. She bit her lower lip and then turned slowly before walking away, wishing for once she’d just have the guts to go with how she feels.
CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR
[ Buffy ]
Psychic Bonds
After dinner, everyone filed out of the kitchen, leaving Buffy to make a plate for Faith. After piling as much food as she could on there, because hell, the girl could seriously eat, she walked back down the hall to her bedroom. When she walked in, Faith was sharpening her stake and looked up with a smile.
“Nice… grub,” she said and put down the stake and held out her hands for the food. Buffy handed it to her but then put her hands on her hips.
“Faith…” she started as Faith started to chow down on her food. “You shouldn’t have come out there. I mean I know you wanted to-”
“B,” Faith interrupted, her mouth full of food. “Please don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t do. Seriously.”
“I was just-”
“I said what I had to say to Parker, okay? I had to say something. I fucked her up, Buffy,” Faith explained and looked at her like she should know that. Buffy sighed.
“I know.”
“Okay then,” Faith said, finishing the conversation. She looked up again at her though after a minute and asked, “You get the deadbolt?”
“No, it’s still out in the living room,” Buffy replied and Faith rolled her eyes. “What?” Buffy asked as she folded her arms over her chest in response to Faith’s expression.
“Can you just get it please? I mean… they all… they all hate me and are scared of me, ya know?” she looked down a bit and took another bite of her food before finishing, still not looking up. “Gotta keep them safe from me or whatever.”
“Faith, I don’t think you’re going to-” Buffy started.
“Yeah but they do,” Faith replied, shooting her a look before popping and egg roll in her mouth. “I’ve screwed with everyone enough, B. Frankly I don’t even know why the fuck you’re around me. I’ve screwed with you worst of all.”
Buffy was silent for a minute before sitting on the bed next to her and picking at the bed sheets a little awkwardly, “We’ve already talked about that…”
“Not really,” Faith replied, looking up from her dinner. “Saying ‘I’m sorry’ ain’t exactly tellin’ stories, Buffy.”
Buffy sighed and bit her bottom lip before mumbling, “I don’t really want to get into that right now, okay?”
“So you’d rather just fuck me and pretend it never happened then?” Faith asked her.
“No!” Buffy exclaimed. “That’s not… that’s not what I meant! I just don’t think now’s a great time, is all. I mean we just…” she sighed and went on, “Can we just be somewhat happy for once, please?” She just didn’t want to talk about all of that right now, bringing all that up is just unpleasant.
Faith rolled her eyes a bit but said nothing else, just started eating again. They were both silent for a little while until Faith spoke. “What are you going to tell beef-stick?”
“Riley,” Buffy corrects for what she feels like is for the millionth time. “And… I don’t know yet.”
“But you’re going to tell him, right?”
“Tell him what exactly?” Buffy asked, then mocked, “Oh hi, Riley, sorry to tell you this, but when I went to go stop Faith from being on a psychotic rampage, I ended up slipping and falling face first into her vagina, so I guess we shouldn’t date anymore.”
Faith almost choked on her food from laughing. “Did you just say vagina?”
“Shut up, Faith.”
“No, seriously,” Faith said, entirely amused with her, “Say it again.”
“Shut up, Faith,” Buffy stressed, glaring a bit. She didn’t want to get made fun of right now. She crossed her arm over her chest to further enhance her annoyance with the situation.
“Vagina,” Faith mocked again with a laugh.
“I’m gonna kick your ass in a minute,” Buffy warned.
“Ohh, I’m scared now,” Faith taunted and smirked. Buffy glared again.
“I’m warning you.”
“Vagina,” Faith mocked again, and Buffy knew she just loved pushing her buttons.
“I’m going to count to five…” Buffy started.
“Vagina,” Faith said again.
“One,” Buffy said, looking at her pointedly.
“Buffy likes touching my vagina.”
“Two,” Buffy said, her glare even worse. Did she really just say that?
“B likes licking VAGINA,” Faith went on, not planning on stopping.
“Okay, that’s it!” Buffy said and pushed her back against the bed, making Faith laugh and try to get her off of her.
“You said five! You didn’t even get to three!” Faith protested as she fought to get Buffy off of her, but couldn’t because she was laughing so hard. Buffy didn’t answer, but finally got both of Faith’s wrists and pinned them on the bed.
“You… suck,” Buffy told her. Faith smirked.
“I suck something,” she replied. Buffy made a face and groaned.
“Okay, that was tactless, even for you.”
“Eat me,” Faith told her, Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Just eat your food, loser.”
“Eat me first,” Faith countered. Buffy was finding herself smirking, despite herself.
“You need to eat,” she told her, but wasn’t sure if she entirely agreed with that plan of action either.
“It’s bad to fuck on a full stomach, I read that somewhere.”
“Oh jeez,” Buffy said and got off of her, rolling her eyes and laughing a bit. “Come on, just eat.” She sat back down on the bed and watched Faith sit up, but not before licking her bottom lip a bit and staring at her like she still was planning on the alternate route.
“Faith…” Buffy warned, putting her finger up to halt her. “Food, now.”
Faith made a grumpy face but picked up her fork and made an over exaggerated motion as she took a bite. Buffy smiled, “Good girl.”
“Still think my plan was funner,” Faith mumbled around her noodles.
“I don’t doubt that,” Buffy said with a smirk.
After Faith ate, she reverted to her plan B. Which might literally be called ‘Plan B’ in her head, cause that’s what Faith called her. She tossed her plate to the other side of the bed before crawling over to her and started to kiss up Buffy’s neck. Buffy closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Faith.
It was a different feeling for Buffy, to be with Faith like this. It wasn’t just like sex as one would normally perceive it, it was more like an explosion… feelings everywhere. She could feel Faith even when she wasn’t touching her, could feel Faith’s emotions, it was like being connected on an entirely new level.
“Jesus,” Buffy breathed out as she could feel Faith’s hand on her breast, but then Faith started giggling a bit. Buffy opened her eyes, “What?”
“B… I didn’t actually touch you,” Faith told her, half amused but also half in awe.
“What?” Buffy asked, pulling back a bit to look at her, confused. “I felt it, and it wasn’t a hum… that was solid.”
Faith’s shook her head, “No… it wasn’t. Watch. Close your eyes.”
Buffy looked at her skeptically, not seeing how Faith was about to prove her point with her eyes closed, but did so. Then she gasped as she felt it again, and moaned slightly. “Open them,” Faith told her, and she did… and her eyes went wide.
Faith wasn’t touching her… she was maybe two inches away from her.
“This is wicked cool!” Faith exclaimed, excited, then got this look of concentration on her face as she moved her hand lower, to hover a couple inches between her legs.
“Oh my god!” Buffy gasped out, then pulled away from her, panting a bit. “How… that’s not possible…”
Faith smirked and replied, “Half the things in our world ain’t possible, B. Why should this be any different? Come on, try with me.”
“What do I… do exactly?” Buffy asked, not sure how to even begin. She put her hand up a few inches away from Faith, but nothing happened.
“You got to imagine doing it, in your head. Want to do it,” Faith told her.
“Um… okay,” Buffy said, still not really understanding how this was working but closed her eyes for a minute and pictured touching Faith, playing with her nipples as she moved her hands a bit, wanting to see Faith react to her touch, and then heard Faith gasp. Buffy opened her eyes, “Okay… this… this is weird.”
“But a cool weird,” Faith said with a smile.
“Are we like psychically connected or something?” Buffy asked her, still not understanding it.
“We have slayer dreams… we get in each other’s head, so ain’t that like psychic kind of?” Faith asked her. Buffy shrugged.
“I guess so…” she shook her head, “This is kind of like Freaky Friday or something.”
“No, B. That would be when we switched bodies,” Faith corrected and laughed. Buffy rolled her eyes.
“You know what I mean.”
Faith shrugged and picked up her stake that she was sharpening off the bed. “I’m gonna go slay during primetime, wanna come with? Get the hornies out after?” she smirked. “Already took care of the hungries.”
“H&H isn’t real, Faith. That’s just you,” Buffy told her.
“Lies,” Faith said and stood up as she got her coat. “You coming?”
“Nah, I’m gonna put the lock on the door, I’ll see you when you get back, okay? If you’re lucky maybe I’ll take care of that other H for you,” she smirked at her, which made Faith’s grin widen.
“Suit yourself. And I’ll hold you to that, you know.”
“I know you will,” Buffy replied. “Have fun, don’t die.”
Faith scoffed, “Please B, I ain’t gonna die. I’m Faith: The Vampire Slayer.”
Buffy just giggled.
CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE
[ Angel ]
Missing Persons
Angel was awoken rudely the next morning by banging on his bedroom door, and unfortunately… so was Eliot.
“What the fuck time do you call this?!” Eliot yelled, half awake, turning towards the door and glaring at whoever was on the other side of this.
“Angel? Angel it’s me,” came Buffy’s rushed voice from the other side, which made Eliot roll his eyes and yawn.
“All you,” is all he offered as he put the covers back over his head. “And tell your ex girlfriend that this is an obnoxious time in the morning to be doing that,” he mumbled under the covers, which made Angel roll his eyes this time. A lot of help Eliot was.
He was snoring almost immediately and Angel picked himself out of bed, trying to find shorts or at least something to put on before he walked out the door naked. Eliot had decided to thank him in his own way last night, and while they didn’t have sex… they came damn near close.
Finding a pair of boxers he was pretty sure was actually Eliot’s, he pulled them on before opening the door to see Buffy… who looked a mess. He didn’t even have a chance to ask because she just blurted out, “Faith didn’t come back last night after slaying.”
Angel sighed and leaned against the threshold of the door. He knew something like this might happen. “Buffy… I’m sorry. But you should have known she might-”
“No!” she exclaimed, angry that Angel assumed she ran off. “Faith wouldn’t do that! Now that she… not now that we…” she trailed off and shifted back and forth on her feet and finished, “She just wouldn’t go. Not now.”
“How do you know…?”
“I just do!” Buffy cried, which made Eliot swear something half inaudible underneath the covers from her being so loud. Buffy ignored him. “Something bad has happened Angel, I can feel it.”
“Just… try to calm down right now, okay? We’ll have everyone split up and look for her when everyone’s awake.”
“Then wake up everyone!” Buffy yelled, and Eliot swore again, this time throwing a pillow at the door, but all it did was hit Angel’s back.
“Buffy, calm down. I’m sure it’s nothing. Just a late slay… you know how she gets after those,” Angel said, trying to make a point, but all it did was make Buffy blow up even more.
“Yes! Hungry and horny and she can get both of those from me now so something is wrong!” she yelled.
“I know she loves you Buffy, but she’s also… she’s a little unfaithful. She might have gotten scared about what was going on with you guys and maybe…” Angel was trying to be helpful, trying to convince Buffy that maybe Faith wasn’t lying dead somewhere, but all it did was make it worse.
“She wouldn’t do that to me!” Buffy screamed, and now Eliot was up out of bed, standing there in front of both of them stalk nude, looking furious.
“It is six thirty in the fucking morning,” he said dangerously.
Buffy covered her eyes after taking one look at him and exclaimed, “Ew, God! Put on some clothes!”
“What in the hell is so wrong that warrants you to be a loud ass bitch this early?!” Eliot yelled at her, which makes Buffy’s eyes flash at being called a bitch. She takes a step towards him, but Angel puts a hand on her chest to stop her.
“Alright, alright, calm down children. Buffy, come on, let’s leave Eliot to sleep,” he guided her out the door, while she loudly protested.
“But Faith is missing!”
“Good,” Eliot says as he slams the door behind them, which makes Buffy almost jump towards it again but Angel holds her back.
“Buffy, you need to relax. We’ll look for her, okay? Give it a couple hours anyway, she might show up.”
“God, nevermind Angel. Apparently if I need something done I have to do it myself, like I always have to,” Buffy retorts and pushes past him, grabbing her coat on the way out the door. “I’ll find her myself.”
“Buffy…” Angel started, but the door slammed behind her with a loud bang, and he just let her go. She probably was worrying over nothing, the sun had barely risen, Faith still had plenty of time to come back. She usually never came back from slaying until at least eight or nine in the morning anyway, always getting her fix afterwards.
Angel tried to go back to sleep, but was stopped by Cordelia. Did no one know it was an ungodly time to be awake right now? He could deal with it, but this was getting ridiculous. She poked her head out her door and said, “Will you just deal with her so we can all get some sleep?” And then the door slammed in his face.
He was getting sick of all the damn doors.
He sighed, how was he supposed to deal with her? He couldn’t go after her… daylight and all that. He walked back into his bedroom to find Eliot sprawled face first on his bed and he picked up his cell phone. Dialing Faith’s number because, hell, it couldn’t hurt to try, he put the phone up to his ear. Voicemail. He dialed Buffy’s. Voicemail.
Well, he tried.
Climbing back into bed, Eliot made some sort of sleepy protest and then pretty much smothered him with his own body. “What the fuck was that?” he muttered, half awake.
“Buffy thinks Faith is missing, but she’s probably just out doing… whatever it is that she does after she slays,” Angel said, settling back down into bed.
“Fucking drama queens,” Eliot muttered. He yawned, “Hope she is missing.”
“Eliot,” Angel said softly, but sternly. “Carrying your child, remember?”
Eliot sighed and mumbled against his chest, “I know, but there ain’t no way in hell I’m going to justify worrying over her in my head. Seems a bit fucked up.”
“You swear a lot in the morning,” Angel observed with a smirk.
“I’m fucking tired.”
Angel smirked more as Eliot, half awake, started kissing his neck. His hand roamed down Angel’s smooth chest, making him close his eyes and forget Buffy and forget Faith for all of a minute… until another knock was heard on the door.
“Oh for the love of shit, what now?!” Eliot yelled.
“Eliot!” Hardison’s voice came through the door.
“Hardison, it’s fucking six in the damn morning! Go away!”
More banging, “Eliot, this is serious!” Eliot let out a frustrated sigh and got out of bed, opening the door stark nude once again. Hardison let put a yelp and covered his eyes.
“Damnit, Eliot, I think you’ve blinded me!”
“Spit it out,” Eliot said dangerously, he obviously was not the most pleasant person in the morning.
Hardison continued to cover his eyes and said, “Parker’s been gone all night, she’s not answering her cell. I don’t know where she is… I’m… kinda worried.”
Eliot sighed, slamming his fist against the wall, making a hole in it. Hardison takes his hand away from his eyes to stare at Eliot who was producing massive violence already this early. “Fuck, alright. I’m awake.” He turned back into the room and grabbed a pair of shorts before pulling them on.
“Why do all of the girls gotta run off this damn early?” he muttered to himself as angel picked himself off the bed as well. Faith being gone was one thing… but for both of them to be gone? That didn’t sound good… at all.
“Who else is gone?” Hardison asked.
“Faith,” Angel answered, making Hardison’s eyes go wide.
“You don’t think she…”
“If she did, I’ll fucking kill her. Baby or not,” Eliot said with a growl, though Angel could tell he didn’t think it was really her, otherwise there would have been a much bigger reaction. Angel didn’t think so either, which was the scary thing. There wasn’t anything that could link their two disappearances together except…
“Wolfram and Hart,” Angel said with a sigh. “Damnit.”
“Why would they take Parker?” Hardison asked, who’s voice got a little higher due to his fear over the situation.
“I don’t know, that doesn’t make sense. But Faith… shit,” Angel said and shook his head. “She should have never left here.”
“Come on,” Eliot said to Hardison as he stormed out of the room.
“Where are we going?” Hardison asked as he watched him march down the hall.
“To fuck up everyone else’s sleep,” he answered, before starting to bang on doors.
CHAPTER SIXTY SIX
[ Cordelia ]
Assembling The Search Party
Of course something would go wrong with the resident psycho, of course. Why anyone would think any different, Cordelia didn’t understand. Parker though, that was what was making most everyone freak out - especially Hardison and apparently Sophie, who both ran off to find her and neither have come back yet. She was sprawled on the armchair in the living room, one leg over the arm of it, looking at Angel expectantly. She was waiting for the plan of action, but it seemed no one knew exactly what it was yet.
She looked calm, but inside she was really scared about what could have happened. Not to Faith of course, but to Parker. It seemed to be her coping mechanism; bitchiness and sarcasm all while trying to seem collected.
“Call Buffy again,” Angel said while pacing back and forth in the living room slowly, his hand on his head as he tried to think.
“What do you think this is?” Cordelia asked rhetorically as she waved a phone at him. Yes, the bitchiness.
“Just keep calling,” Angel said. Cordelia rolled her eyes and pressed redial.
“Where is Sophie?” Nate asked as he came in the room, looking like he didn’t know where he was supposed to be going. “I mean Parker, where is Parker? Eliot! Where’s Hardison? Did he GPS her location? We find her we probably find Faith too…. ELIOT!”
“I don’t know where anyone is, Nate! I’m not a damn fountain of information. Hardison ran off after he talked to me and I don’t know where the hell Sophie is, and I sure as hell don’t know where Parker is, but if you just let me go down to that fucking office and beat the hell out of someone we might actually find out!” Eliot yelled, slamming his fist into the wall.
“Eliot, everything can’t be fixed by you just kicking the crap out of everyone you see!” Nate exclaimed, then looked around and asked to himself more than to anyone, “Where the hell is Sophie?!”
“She’s not wearing shoes,” came a voice from behind them, and Cordelia looked up from the drama and put down the phone that reached voicemail another time and saw Hardison come in.
“How do you know that?” Wesley asked, who had been all too quiet the whole time, making Cordelia jump a bit because she forgot he was there.
“After the thing with Faith I put GPS trackers in all of Parker’s shoes - in all everyone’s shoes…” that made Eliot check his own curiously, “And if she ain’t on the grid than she ain’t wearing any shoes. Why the hell would she go out without any shoes?!”
“Alright, alright, Hardison calm down. We’ll find her,” Nate promised as he rubbed his temples. “Has anyone seen Sophie?”
“She… uh,” Cordelia started, but wasn’t sure she should finish. But she didn’t want all of them to think she’s missing too, so she finished, “I saw her when I woke up.”
“Well does she know about this? Where the hell is she?” Nate asked, frustrated that his team wasn’t all here during a crisis.
“Yeah… yeah, she knows…” Cordelia said slowly, and then Nate got it. He set his jaw and shook his head before mumbling under his breath.
“Of course she does… that’s why she’s not here. How stupid of me…”
Cordelia was actually starting to feel bad for the man. Cordelia knew Sophie loved him, but by some twist of fate she seemed to love Parker just a little bit more. Maybe it was because he waited so long that he missed his mark, his time. But even though Nate knowing made her feel bad for him, she also felt bad for…
“Nate, just leave it, okay? They had sex, get over it. They ain’t gonna do it again,” Hardison demanded.
…Cordelia felt bad for Hardison, and how naïve he seemed to be.
“Can we just shut about that shit, seriously!” Eliot exclaimed, angry now. “Wolfram and Hart probably has Parker and my unborn child, Damnit!”
Nate stopped, and so did Hardison. They both turned to him, blinking a bit. They had never heard Eliot refer to anything about his child before, ever. Angel however, didn’t seem surprised. He put a hand on Eliot’s shoulder, to either comfort him or calm him, maybe both.
“We’ll get them back, Eliot. I promise,” Angel said.
“What’s the plan?” Cordelia asked, pressing redial on her phone again. It was becoming more automatic than conscious, so when Buffy answered, her eyes went wide and she sat straight up. “Buffy! Where are you?”
“I can’t feel her!” came Buffy’s erratic voice through the phone.
“What?”
“She’s not here!” Buffy yelled. “She’s not at Wolfram and Hart, I’d be able to feel her even standing out here. I can’t feel her!”
“Alright… alright, Buffy, come back to the house. Angel-”
“We don’t have time!” Buffy yelled, “What if they’re trying to kill her, or dissect her, or something else just as equal on the badness scale and I-!” Cordelia held the phone away from her hear and held it out to Angel helplessly. Angel grabbed it from her and attempted to calm his ex down.
“Buffy? Buffy! Calm down, they’re not going to kill her, they want the child. They’re probably just hiding her somewhere for the next couple of months, okay? Look, you need to come back. Parker is missing too, we need to go find both of them together… all of us,” Angel told her. “We have time,” he stressed lastly.
There was a long pause, and Angel nodded a bit as the rest of them watched her. Finally he said, “Alright,” and hung up the phone. He tossed it back to Cordelia and she caught it, before he let out a heavy breath.
“Someone find Sophie, and when they both get back we’ll make a plan. I’m going to…” he sighed and shook his head. “Check the footage from the security cameras, see which way they headed, see if they were together by any chance before they both disappeared.”
“I’m with you,” Hardison said, and followed Angel out of the room. Wesley got up a minute later and left, but didn’t say where he was going.
“I’ll…” Cordelia looked at Nate as she got up. “I’ll try to find Sophie.”
“No,” Nate shook his head and grabbed his own phone. “I’ll find her, Hardison put GPS trackers in all our shoes… she’ll show up on here. She’d never leave the house without her shoes… she loves them all too damn much.”
That’s what Cordelia was afraid of.
“Nate, just let her do it,” Eliot told him, getting up and sighing a bit. He looked at him pointedly and said, “You probably don’t wanna know what’s going on with them anyway, and right now… it just ain’t even what’s important. We gotta go save Parker… and my kid.”
Cordelia blinked at him, not believing he just said that to Nate. It was true; it wasn’t what was important right now, but Nate set his jaw, his eyes narrowing. He knew Eliot knew something, and right now Cordelia knew that too - and that wasn’t good.
But Nate finally said through clenched teeth, like it was hard for him to know that he was right. “Yeah, alright.” He looked at Cordelia, “Find her, just bring her back here.”
He threw Cordelia his own phone with the GPS locater and she caught it before he walked out the door, Eliot behind him.
Cordelia sighed, this wasn’t gonna go over well when this has all ended.
TBC…
THIS STORY IS NEVER ENDING! LOL
PART THIRTEEN IS HERE.