Fanfiction || City of Thieves || Leverage/Angel Crossover Fic || Part Thirteen
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: 121,464 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 | PART TWELVE
CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN
[ Parker ]
Selfish Desires
Parker never usually wandered around at night, and only rarely has it ever been till it reached daylight. But she needed to think, she just needed to get away from the house of crazy and just figure out all the confusing stuff that was invading her head. Confusing things about Hardison and about Sophie and about Faith torturing her one day and apologizing the next and just… everything was so jumbled in her head that she didn’t know what to do to sort it all out so she just… left.
She had absolutely no idea there was a mini manhunt out for her until she heard her name being called by a frantic Sophie. She was up in a tree, barefoot and dressed only in her sleep clothes: shorts and a tank top, just relaxing and attempting to think. Which she didn’t get too far with by the way, the thinking. She found a bird’s nest and was watching an egg hatch before her eyes. She was smiling, fascinated by the small creature… until her name was called again and she looked across the yard to see Sophie half running towards her, though Parker was sure she couldn’t see her in the tree. It had a lot of leaves, but that’s why Parker liked it.
“Parker! PARKER!” Sophie called out, her voice strangled a bit from the strain. Parker looked through the leaves, down at Sophie who ran her hands through her hair and looked around, looking upset. “Oh God, please have her be okay… please…” she prayed softly, stopping for a minute and putting her hand over her mouth. “Fuck,” she mumbled.
Parker didn’t say anything. For some reason she didn’t want to, she wanted to know why Sophie was having a slight heart attack over her being gone, and she didn’t want her to worry, but she was curious about something else for some reason too.
Sophie looked like she was crying now, which made Parker move a little bit, wanting to go down to her, but she stopped when Sophie started talking to the invisible man in the sky again.
Parker never understood why people talked to an invisible man.
“Please have her be okay,” Sophie whispered, leaning against the trunk of the tree. “God please… I can’t… I don’t want her to be gone without me telling her that I… that I…” but she didn’t finish, she started crying again.
“I’m okay, Sophie,” came Parker’s soft voice from up the tree, and Sophie half screamed, half gasped as she stumbled away from the trunk of it, startled. She looked up and saw Parker in there, who was starting to climb down.
“You… you… Damnit Parker! Damn you! DAMN YOU!” Sophie yelled and when Parker hit the ground she was suddenly shoved back into the tree by an angry Sophie. “YOU SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME!” Sophie yelled, and pushed her again, crying more now.
“Sorry, I just-” But Sophie didn’t let her finish, she pushed her again, like it was going to do something, prove a point that Parker didn’t understand. She just didn’t like being pushed so she grabbed Sophie’s wrists and pushed her back a little from her. “Stop! Why are you pushing me?!”
“You let me think you’d been hurt! Dead! I don’t bloody know! You must have heard me, why did you let me…?! DAMNIT PARKER!” Sophie yelled, and went to push her again but Parker grabbed her again, stilling her. Sophie just broke down then and wrapped her arms around Parker, sobbing.
Parker didn’t know what to do, or what was going on.
“Sophie?” she asked, clearly confused. “I just went out for a walk, I’m not gonna die each time I’m away from you or anything,” Parker told her, trying to calm her down but not really knowing how. She patted her on the back kind of awkwardly.
“You don’t understand…” Sophie cried on her shoulder. “Faith’s missing too… we thought… we all thought… that you… that when we couldn’t find you…”
“Faith doesn’t wanna hurt me anymore, Sophie,” Parker told her, thinking that was what she was talking about.
“No! No that wasn’t…” Sophie started, but didn’t finish. She stepped back from Parker a bit, whipping a stray tear away with the back of her hand. She looked at her and said, “It doesn’t matter why right now… I’m just… I’m glad you’re okay. I thought I would never…” Sophie sighed heavily, trying so hard to say something that didn’t seem to want to come out. Parker just looked at her before taking one of the grifter’s hands in hers, thinking that might be the right thing to do.
“What did you want to tell me, Sophie?” Parker asked softly, referring to when she was talking to the invisible man. She wanted to know.
Sophie didn’t speak for a bit. She chewed on her bottom lip, and looked like she was having a war in her head. Finally she took a shaky breath, looked up at her and replied softly, “I wanted to tell you that…” a pause, another deep breath before she decided. “I love you, Parker. That I… that I’m in love with you… God,” she looked down, like she was angry at herself for saying it but knowing she needed to. She looked back up and her voice cracked and went a bit higher as she got out, “I’m so bloody fucking in love with you I don’t know what to do anymore…”
And then she was crying again, and Parker felt this weird feeling in her stomach like something was creeping up to her heart, a warmth of some kind. She smiled a little and squeezed Sophie’s hand that she was holding and told her softly. “I already knew that, remember? I love you too… but you knew that already too.”
“I just… I just needed to tell you,” Sophie explained through her tears, and she sniffed before she continued. “Me telling you, not some bloody tape where I was talking to someone else. Just… me. And I… oh God, what are we gonna do?” She asked, a bit louder than the rest of what she was saying. She looked distressed again. “I can’t stand this anymore, Parker. I can’t stand not being with you,” Sophie told her, and suddenly Parker’s back was pressed up against the tree trunk, and Sophie’s body was against hers, though she didn’t remember moving. Sophie kept talking, her breathing a bit picked up, half from trying to get full breaths through her crying that she was trying to calm down, and half from anticipation. “I can’t keep sitting there looking at you from across the table and wish you’d just look at me. I can’t lie in bed awake at night anymore and wish you were besides me….”
Parker’s own breathing was picking up and she looked up into Sophie’s eyes, not knowing what to say anymore. Not knowing what to do, because she still hadn’t found an answer herself. But it was hard to think even more now, with Sophie’s lips being so close to hers.
“And I sure as hell can’t keep touching myself thinking about you, trying to be quiet, trying to be secret, while Nate’s lying in the bed next to me. I just can’t keep… I can’t keep…” Sophie’s lips brushed against Parker’s, making the thief close her eyes and her heart feel like it misplaced it’s self in her throat. “Fuck I can’t keep pretending, Parker,” Sophie whispered. “Not anymore.”
Parker didn’t think, but she knew she probably should have. But she didn’t want to, she just wanted to feel good with Sophie again, feel all the butterflies and other random insects she made appear in her tummy. That tickly feeling, and all the feelings that went along with being with Sophie. So she wrapped her arms around the brunette’s neck and kissed her then, making a point to not think about Hardison, and what she was about to be doing to the nicest man she’s ever met her in her life.
Sophie was kissing Parker with every ounce of passion she had in her body, like she just needed to be with Parker in that very moment, or that she just couldn’t stand not touching her anymore. Her hands ran through blonde hair and her breathing was coming out in short gasps against her lips. When they broke for only a moment’s air, Parker looked behind Sophie towards the house in the distance and took her hand before dragging her behind the garden so that they could at least hide themselves behind the rose bushes, not needing to be seen.
Sophie pushed her backwards and Parker fell onto the grass, but didn’t have a chance to protest at the rough behavior because suddenly Sophie was on top of her, her lips on her neck, her hands wandering over her thin form and Parker is sure she had forgotten how to speak.
“This is probably the worst idea in the history of… bloody ever,” Sophie gasped out as she lifted Parker’s shirt over her head and tossed it to the ground. Parker was inclined to agree, but not inclined to stop it. She grabbed the hem of Sophie’s shirt and lifted it over the grifter’s head before crashing her lips to hers.
What was it with them and sex outdoors?
Sophie’s hand had made it down Parker’s shorts now though, and Parker gasped hard at the feeling of Sophie’s hand on her again. “Oh god, Sophie!” she panted out against her lips, spreading her legs for the other woman. But as Sophie pressed down on her clit, making Parker gasp a bit harder she asked her in a heated whisper, “Are we going to get in trouble?”
Sophie bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, stilling her hand for a moment before nodding slowly. “Only if they know, yeah…” she looked just as guilty as Parker felt, but for some reason Sophie didn’t move her hand away, and Parker didn’t tell her to stop. Instead, Parker ran her hand down Sophie’s chest, stopping at her breasts.
“Then we can’t tell them, right?” Parker asked, sliding a thumb over Sophie’s already hard nipples. Sophie shook her head no before kissing Parker again, trying to forget about how wrong what both of them were doing was, and Parker reciprocated, arching her back and crying out loudly as Sophie pressed a little firmer against her clit.
Parker’s hands slide down Sophie’s upper body before starting to tug off Sophie’s skirt, just pull it down just enough so she could touch what she wanted. Sophie’s moan from her touch vibrated her lips a little, and Sophie thrust her hips deeper into Parkers hand as her own slid inside of Parker.
“Oh shit…” Parker gasped and laid her head back against the grass as she closed her eyes and moved her hips I time with Sophie’s hand. “Oh god, Sophie… oh my god…”
“Shh…” Sophie shushed her, trying to keep her quiet before slipping her tongue into her mouth, muffling the sound of both of their moans. They were both moving against the other’s hand, hands wandering and tongues claiming for dominance, and Parker could already feel the ecstasy building in the pit of her abdomen, making her rip her mouth away from Sophie’s to gasp hard as Sophie’s fingers curled against her g spot.
“Jesus Christ! Parker?!” came a voice from behind them, making both of them jump and scramble off of each other. Parker shielded her eyes from the sun to see who it was, and saw Cordelia standing there with her hand over her eyes.
“Cordelia!” Sophie exclaimed, grabbing her shirt from off the ground and places it over her chest to cover herself momentarily while she pulled up her shirt. Parker didn’t even bother putting back on her clothes, she was just pissed off with being interrupted.
“Are you guys half stupid? Get dressed!” Cordelia ordered them in a harsh whisper.
“Why are you whispering?” Sophie asked, embarrassed but confused on how secretive Cordelia was being.
“Hardison is right behind me, he wanted to come help find you Sophie, so get dressed now! ” Cordelia whispered urgently, waving her hands before looking back over her shoulder. Both Sophie and Parker’s eyes go wide as they scrambled to get their clothes back on as Cordelia mumbled something about them being complete idiots.
“Cordelia!” both girls heard Hardison yell, “Is she there?”
But he was behind Cordelia in a flash before she could answer, just as Sophie and Parker were picking themselves off the ground. Parker knew she had a guilty look plastered all over her face, but she couldn’t just wipe it off like Sophie could. Hardison just stared at both of them, but mostly at Parker, like he couldn’t believe she was actually in front of him and not in the hands of Wolfram & Hart, and also couldn’t believe what he just half walked in on. He looked torn between just walking away and running to her to hug her. So he just stayed still.
“I found Parker,” is all Sophie offers.
“We fell down,” Parker explains, trying to lie but she was never any good at that. It came out awkwardly.
She was in trouble. She knew it. Big trouble.
“Went for a run before you fell too?” Hardison asked angrily, finally being able to speak. Parker’s eyes went wide and she looked over at Sophie, who had red patches on her cheeks a bit and her hair was mussed up. Parker self consciously ran her fingers through her hair to make sure it laid flat, and Hardison continued. “You seem awfully flushed for some reason.” His eyes shifted over to Parker, and she took a step towards him, hoping he would let her, but he took a step back. “Don’t come near me,” he told her.
“Alec…” Parker started, but Hardison shook his head. Parker felt her heart drop into her stomach.
“Don’t,” he told her. “I know you’re impulsive, I know you’re reckless… but I never thought you’d be this fucking cruel.”
“Alec!” Parker exclaimed again, and tried to go near him, but he pushed her back softly, just needing her to be away from him. Parker didn’t like this feeling; it felt like something dirty was inside of her that she couldn’t reach to clean.
“Might want to fix your shorts, your hangin’ out a bit,” he told her, and Parker automatically adjusted her shorts, realizing they were still shifted a bit to the side. She looked at him like she didn’t know what to do, because she didn’t. She didn’t know how to make it better.
“Hardison, this is my fault…” Sophie tried, attempting to save Parker, but Hardison just turned to her and said simply:
“Yeah, I know.”
He shook his head and looked at both women like they disgusted him before saying, “We need to go back to the house, we have to find Faith.”
“Alec, please… I’m sorry!” Parker begged. She doesn’t think she’s ever begged anyone for anything in her life other than sex and to not be physically beaten, and she hated it but she knew she needed to.
“I just don’t want to talk to you right now, Parker. I don’t. We have a job to do, so let’s go do it.”
And then he left, and Cordelia followed him without another word, not knowing what to say either. Sophie looked at Parker and said, “I’m so sorry, Parker…”
Parker set her jaw and looked at her, she thinks she’s about to cry and she doesn’t like that. “Whatever,” she says and stalks off back towards the house, not wanting to be around Sophie right now either.
She just fucked everything up, and she wished she could just blame Sophie for it all, but it was her fault too.
A/N: Yes, okay, I know I abandoned this for almost two months. I totally suck. However, to be honest I got bored with it and felt like I needed to write some other things. This story is really LONG so I just can't sit here and write one thing for months, I go a bit stir crazy. But don't worry, I don't like to leave stories unfinished so I'll always come back eventually and update.
CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT
[ Faith ]
Captive
This was seriously not what she had in mind for the night.
All Faith wanted to do was blow off a little steam, that was it. Just slay some vamps, grab a burger or six, and then come back and crawl in bed with Buffy and hopefully do a little more than just sleep. She really did not want to be there, in the current fucked up situation that she was in. No, not all. She’d rather sit through a Yankees game and cheer for them instead of the Sox than be where she was, and that was saying a lot.
But Faith still couldn’t really wrap her mind around that, the whole her and Buffy thing. She keeps kind of half expecting it to be some kind of cruel joke, and honestly as much as she loves Buffy she wouldn’t put it past her. It wasn’t like she was all buddy buddy with her before, or ever really. They both tried to be cruel and destroy each other’s lives again and again, so part of her wondered if maybe this was just another game. Another way to hurt her, with the biggest weapon she’s ever had against her.
But a large part of her was praying that it wasn’t, and that Buffy was going to storm through those doors any minute in a wave of kick ass fury and get her the fuck out of there. Not that Faith particularly wanted to be rescued, but she wasn’t seeing many other options at this point. She never played the damsel in distress well, and the fact that she was nothing but at this point seriously annoyed her.
Fucking force field crap. She’s hit it again with her fists, but that didn’t feel so good the last time she did it. Kinda stung. A lot.
She couldn’t believe she let them get one up on her. Then again, being stormed from all sides by forty guys who looked like black ops tend to have an advantage, even over a super strength slayer. Especially over a super strength slayer that decided to have the baby inside her make her nauseous again for the third time that day at that very moment. She can’t help but think the thing inside her must be a little bit evil and planned that, otherwise it could have waited another hour to make her want to puke up her own intestines.
Then again, if it was her child, it’s gotta have a bit of evil in there somewhere. She sure as fuck obviously does.
“Faith,” came a voice from the other side of the room, and Faith looked up. “So nice of you to stop by.”
“You know me, always up for a chat,” Faith said, standing up now and coming over to the edge of the force field, but not close enough to touch it. “So what was the big emergency that you couldn’t just give me a call?”
Lilah smirked, a bit tongue in cheek and walked over to her, her heels clapping against the stone floor. Faith kind of wanted to shove that heel through her neck. “Just checking up. Thought you’d be out of town by now, but seems you really do have quite the unhealthy obsession with the other slayer.”
“Yeah well, some shit never changes,” Faith told her, her eyes narrowing. She really wished she could just hit the bitch, she never liked when she couldn’t hit things. It just got her more angry.
“Apparently,” Lilah stated, and then started picking at her nails absentmindedly as she looked at her captive. “We’d like to offer you a room, as our guest, for the next nine months give or take.”
“I’ll pass, thanks.”
Lilah laughed, “I’m sorry, I guess my word ‘offer’ might have been a bit misleading. What I meant to say is that you will be staying with us for the next nine months or so.” A small smile curled at the edge of her lip and said, “If you be a good girl, we’ll give you a room with a TV and everything.”
“Good ain’t something I’m known for,” Faith told her with a sneer, and had to make herself back up a bit before she tried to go through the force field head first and probably shock her entire system. So chose instead to lean against the wall, arms still crossed over her chest.
“Yes well, nine months is a long time.”
“Yeah, enough time for B to get me the fuck outta here,” Faith told her, and gave her a smirk of her own. But Lilah just laughed.
“There’s no one coming for you, Faith. No one cares.”
And then she left, walking out the far door to be replaced by two guards on either side of it. Faith turned and let out a scream as she punched the wall, just needing to hit something. She wished what Lilah said didn’t effect her in any way, that she was one hundred percent sure that Buffy was coming… but she wasn’t.
She slouched down against the wall, knees tucked into herself as she just glared at the two guards across the way. She knew why they wanted her from the moment all those men surrounded her: her baby. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. They had to prophecy, so they were bound to figure out she was the slayer that got knocked up sooner or later.
Which on that note, she still doesn’t understand why it couldn’t have been Buffy. She clearly would have made a better mother. The only thing Faith knows about childcare is to feed it and when it shits it’s self to change it’s diaper.
She probably should just give the thing to Eliot when she has it. Assuming she is out of here by then, anyway. Though she doubts Eliot would want it either.
Poor kid, ain’t no one gonna know how to take care of it.
Faith sighed and closed her eyes. She was tired as hell, and the beating she took wasn’t helping any. As she drifted off to sleep she found herself half hoping that she would have a Slayer dream and she could talk to Buffy, but it didn’t happen. So when she woke up the next morning, she punched the wall again, just needing to get out all this anger inside of her.
She fucking hated being here. Trapped like some sort of god damned animal.
“Morning, sunshine,” Faith heard from behind her and turned to see Lilah standing there again, only this time in black heels. Faith thinks for a minute those heels would look better sticking out of her neck than the blue one’s she wore yesterday would. They would match the blood from the wound rather nicely.
“What,” Faith said flatly, barely even a question.
“Time to go to your new home for the next nine months, are you excited?” Lilah said, the sarcasm dripping from it so thick it made Faith want to hit something again. But then again, she always wanted to hit things.
“Ecstatic,” Faith answered dryly, but in her head was thinking of an escape route. Transport meant no force field… or so she thought.
“Oh now, stop having that look,” Lilah chided her with a grin and little wag over her perfectly polished finger. “Our psychics are keeping that force field around you the entire way there, and will only follow you to our designated destination. Meaning you try to run a way your not supposed to go and the force field stops. And you? Well you are in a lot of pain once you run smack into it.”
Once she got out of this Faith was definitely gonna feed her her own designer shoe. Definitely.
“So come on, no time like the present,” Lilah told her and left the room. Faith just blinked for a minute before taking a step forward, watching the force field conform around her to match where she was. It was weird, kind of like being in a bubble. Faith is sure she saw a movie like that once.
She did have half a mind to run, but really didn’t want to test the theory of it stopping if she went off course. She was never good with magic, it just wasn’t her thing. She can stake, slice, and dice with the best of them, but when it comes to all the voodoo crap? Nothing. So getting out of this was beyond her expertise.
The room was small, but it at least had a bed. No TV yet, but apparently she had to earn that privilege. It also had a bathroom, which was something she had been desperately needing for the past half an hour. She turned and looked at Lilah, who stood in the doorway.
“When I close this door the force field will form around the room, so you can feel free to move around, run laps, whatever it is that you do. But don’t worry, we’ll be watching you,” she pointed around the room, but Faith didn’t see any kind of cameras. Mystical probably.
See, and this is why she hated magic. It was like cheating.
“Our doctors will come in to poke and prod at you a bit in a couple days, but do us a favor and try not to kill any, would you? We just hate having to re-staff, and we would also hate to have to restrain you,” Lilah told her with a smirk, and a little annoying wave before she closed the door behind her.
Just when she did, the force field around her retreated to the corners of the room, and Faith wished she knew what to do. She didn’t like this whole helpless getup she had going on right now, it just didn’t wear well on her. So after she went to the bathroom she focused on the only thing she knew she did have: trying to get in touch with Buffy through her dreams.
CHAPTER SIXTY NINE
[ Hardison ]
The Surprise Guest
It felt like someone stabbed him. Right between his rib cage, near his left lung… near his heart. It felt like someone stabbed him, over and over again. But what it made it worse is that it was someone that he considered a friend, Sophie… the one that stabbed him. He was mad at Parker, but he was furious at Sophie. She had Nate now, what right did she have to go and put her hands all over his girlfriend? Why did she have to go and screw everything up?
Parker was vulnerable, Hardison knew that. It really wouldn’t be hard to coherence her into bed but he didn’t want to just do that! He wanted to take care of her, love her and respect her as a person, not just this sex object. And Sophie… Sophie just had to go and fuck it all up, fuck her up, quite literally, because that’s what she does best.
Because Sophie wants everything, everything that isn’t hers already. She wants it all. The selfish little…
But Parker wasn’t hers! And Hardison will be damned if she’s going to ruin that for him.
“You find her?” Nate asked as Hardison pushes open the double doors into the house with incredible force and a scowl on his face.
“Yeah, with Parker,” Hardison told him, not trying to make it completely obvious how mad he was, but Nate seemed to pick up on it.
“Parker? I thought she was- Sophie!” Nate yelled as he looked past Hardison to see Sophie coming towards him slowly. Parker was in front of her, briskly walking away with a pained scowl of her own on her face, arms folded into her chest. She pushes past Nate and Hardison sees only a glimpse of her face before she turns it away from him, and if he didn’t know any better it looked like Parker was about to start crying.
“Parker? Parker! Where’s Faith?” Buffy exclaimed as she walked into the room and saw the blonde standing there. She walked up her briskly, desperately, and put her hands on her arms as she asked again, “Where’s Faith??”
“I don’t know, get off of me!” Parker replied, her voice breaking a little as she moved away from her. Buffy didn’t even seem to notice anything was wrong with her, and as everyone else piled into the hallway at the sound of the commotion she sat in a chair with her head in her hands.
“Parker!” Eliot exclaimed and walked over to her quickly, only to stop when he saw her face. Her jaw was set and she was staring at the far wall, trying so hard to fight that tears that were threatening to fall any minute. But she was trying; she was trying really hard not to let anyone notice.
Unfortunately, most everyone did notice.
“What’s wrong?” Eliot asked her, a bit softer this time. He put a hand on her shoulder and when she moved it away from him and stepped back, he looked at Hardison like he needed to do something about it because she was his girl.
But he wasn’t going to do anything about it, not now. Right now they had a job to do, there wasn’t much time to try to fix a relationship.
Then there was a knock on the door, and all eyes turned towards it. Who the hell could that be? Everyone was inside. Eliot went over to open it, and Hardison heard him ask, “Who are you?”
“Buffy!” the man cried as he looked past Eliot and saw her sitting there.
Buffy looked up, and her eyes went wide. “Riley??”
Who the hell was Riley? Hardison just stared at the man as he walked past Eliot and into the house, bringing a confused Buffy into his arms and kissing her softly on the lips. But Buffy didn’t reciprocate much; she just looked kind of shocked.
Looks like Parker and Sophie aren’t the only cheating people in the house.
“What… what are you doing here?” Buffy asked him as he let him go.
“Great,” Angel said in a low voice that was almost a growl before he stalked off, making Eliot turn and follow, but not without a glare towards Riley, who apparently made Angel mad just with his presence.
“I heard you were in trouble, so I came to…” then he looked around. “Who are all these people?”
“You heard I was…? What? From who?” Buffy asked, clearly confused.
“Uh, not to interrupt, but who the hell are you?” Nate asked, turning away from Sophie for a minute and their little private conversation that Sophie didn’t look too happy to be having in the first place, so she looked a bit relieved when Nate got distracted. She looked over at Parker, but Parker didn’t look at her. Then she looked at Hardison, and he just narrowed his eyes at her.
He didn’t want her even looking at her right now.
“Riley, I’m Buffy’s boyfriend… and who the hell are you?” Riley answered. Nate’s eyes went a bit wide and looked at Buffy, who behind Riley was waving her hands trying to tell him not to mention anything with Faith.
Nate just shook his head. Hardison knows how he feels. Women and all their dirty little secrets.
“I’m Nathan Ford,” Nate introduced, and shook his hand. “Parker, Hardison, Sophie, and Eliot… who stepped out for a minute, they’re with me.”
“They’re helping us with something,” Buffy told him, which made Riley turn to look at her.
“You didn’t think to ask me for help?”
“No, no… Riley, that’s not it. They called me and…” Buffy just shook her head and sighed as she decided sitting down was the best route. “It’s just complicated. Faith…”
“Did you find her? We can transport her back to the Initiative if you’d like, since I doubt prison can hold a slayer,” Riley put in, trying to help. If only he knew how wrong he was.
“No, no… she’s… Wolfram and Hart have her. We have to get her back, this whole prophecy mumbo jumbo and…” Buffy sighed again. She obviously didn’t want to have to explain this. She obviously was hating that he showed up too.
“We have another room,” Nate offered, but that just made Buffy glare at him.
Riley didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll put my stuff in there, then you can tell me all about this prophecy, okay? I can help.”
“Okay…” Buffy said weakly, quietly. Defeated. She did however shove Nate a little bit as she followed Riley into the other room, just for good measure since he just invited Riley into a house where he could learn that Buffy had been cheating on him.
But Hardison thought it was better to know than to not. While it hurt, every fucking inch of him hurt because of Parker, at least he wasn’t blindly thinking she was faithful anymore. He felt like such an idiot though, because before he did.
Nate turned back to Sophie, and he asked her in a soft undertone, though Hardison could still hear him. “What were you… did you…? Sophie…” he put his hand on her arm, but she just looked away from him. Nate took away his hand and said, “Fine, if she’s what you want then fine. Don’t let me stop you.”
And then he walked away, and Sophie looked over at Parker. But Hardison wasn’t going to have that, so he said, “No.”
Sophie looked up at him, so did Parker. But he was addressing Sophie, “Just go,” he told her, and nodded his head towards the direction Nate was going. Sophie just looked at him for a long time, and almost looked like she was going to argue. But with one look at Parker who wouldn’t look at her back, she turned and left.
Parker was still staring at him. “You hate me,” she told him.
“I don’t hate you,” Hardison replied, but revised with: “I’m freaking furious with you, but I don’t hate you.” Parker looked down at the ground, arms folded still tightly into herself.
Her voice cracked when she said, mostly to her still bare feet, “I’m sorry…” and then Hardison heard her sniff, and watched her bring the back of her hand up to her eyes to furiously wipe away the tears. Hardison knows how much she hates crying. “But I love her, I can’t just…”
Hardison thinks his heart is ripping in half from those words.
But then she looked up, tearful and apologetic and told him, “But I love you too.” Hardison blinked, he wasn’t ready for that. That was a whole different kind of sensation. “I’m in love with you a lot, a whole lot, and I’m really, really sorry… I don’t… I just don’t what I’m supposed to… I don’t understand…”
And then she was crying. Not the kind of crying that she was doing before, the barely-crying with the stern determined face. No, now she was practically bawling, her choked sobs coming out strangled, and Hardison did the only thing he knew how to do, and came over to her and wrapped his arms around the girl.
“Shhh… come on Parker…” Hardison hushed her as he stroked her hair. Parker’s tiny hands grabbed onto his jacket and held on for dear life while she cried into his chest. Hardison knows he has ever right to be angry with her, but after she told him she loved him and started crying, he just couldn’t just stand there and watch her look so miserable. “We’ll figure out something… I promise,” he told her.
And he was going to try, but had no idea how to fix this problem himself.
A/N: *looks around guiltily* So... hi *waves* Er... yeah, haven't updated this since freaking September, but hey look! A new chapter! .... Yeah I know I suck.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
[ Eliot ]
Drama, Jealousy, and a Whole Lot of Headaches
The whole fuckin’ house was an emotional disaster.
Parker was cheating on Hardison with Sophie; Sophie was cheating on Nate with Parker. Buffy was cheating on this new dude - whatever the fuck his name was, Roger or something - with Faith. Faith was fuck knows where with his unborn kid at the hands of his evil twin and the bitch from hell. Angel was pissed about Ronny or whoever cause he’s mackin’ on Buffy - which, by the fuckin’ way, Eliot really didn’t feel like dealing with right now either. Not like he’s all waving the gay flag now and gettin’ all girly and emotional but seriously, after the day they’ve had, he really doesn’t want to watch his boy…something, whatever he is, get all bent out of shape because his exgirlfriend is a whore.
Yet he stormed out right after Angel did just cause it felt appropriate.
Of course Tall Dark and Undead started on his broodfest down in the basement; he seemed to like everything dark and dank. Eliot had the urge to smack him and tell him to get over it, but instead he opted to sit down next to him on the stairs. Neither of them said anything for awhile.
Finally Eliot decided to break the silence with, “Buffy’s a slut.”
Angel looked over at him, trying to look mad that Eliot said that but a small smile was tugging at the corner of his lips, threatening to escape. “She’s confused,” was all he responded.
“Bullshit. She had a boyfriend and fucked around on him with Psycho of the Year. Fuck her, man.”
“Speaking of-” Angel started, but Eliot’s look of surprise and immediate anger makes him quickly restate, “I mean Faith, not the… fucking her part. We need to come up with a plan. We can’t leave her at the hands of Wolfram & Hart.”
“Yeah, try plannin’ a rescue when your troops are stuck in a fuckin’ episode of Melrose Place.”
“They need to get over it.”
“So do you,” Eliot pointed out flatly, choosing to not look at him. He stared at the wall instead; the dank, dark, depressing as fuck looking wall. Fuck down here.
“I’m just angry that he’s here.”
“Rodney?”
“Riley.”
“Whatever. I don’t want him here either; rather not have more people I barely know have the run down on what I do for a living. Want me to kick his ass out the damn door?” Eliot asked, meaning every single word.
Angel looked appreciative, but hesitated. “…He’s with the government. Military. Special Forces or something; I had Wes run a background check on him after I heard.” The way he said it, he knew Eliot wouldn’t like it. But he told him. Honesty and all that. Better he found out from him than the hard way. But still.
“Yeah, then it’s about time he leaves then,” Eliot resolved, standing up. Fuck no was he about to have some Captain America around. But Angel puts his hand on his arm, stopping him.
“You know Buffy won’t let you.”
“Fuck Buffy, man.”
“Eliot, don’t pick a fight with her,” Angel asked, almost pleadingly if not for the tired tone in his voice. “We don’t need that right now.”
“She’s so fuckin’ stupid, Angel. Why the hell would she want to keep him around when she’s trying to rescue her other lover? Has the bleach sunk that far into her skull that it made her retarded? All she’s doing is setting up more god damn drama and that’s the last thing this house needs right now.”
Angel’s grip on Eliot’s arm tightened and Eliot see’s the vampire’s eyes flash. “Stop talking that way about Buffy.”
“Why? Bitch don’t mean jack to me.”
“Yeah? Well she means something to me,” Angel told him flatly. Eliot looks at him for a long time, hardness in his eyes. Yeah? Well fuck that.
“I’m still in love with her, Eliot.”
Eliot scoffed. “You’re doing fuckin’ excellent at this dating thing, let me tell you.” He tried to get his arm out of Angel’s grip but Angel doesn’t budge. “Get your hand off of me, Vampire.”
“Eliot, will you stop being-”
“Let me go before I break your wrist.”
“You think you can?”
“Try me.”
The two men just stare at each other; eyes blazing. Eliot didn’t want to deal with this right now. They had shit to do and a flamboyant bitchfest wasn’t gonna fuckin’ solve a goddamn thing. And yet, what were they doing? Freaking fantastic.
“Just because I’m in love with her doesn’t mean I’m not capable of loving someone else,” Angel told him quietly.
“Yeah? Good for you.”
“Eliot, just stop for one second and listen.”
“I’m not jealous, if that’s what you’re trying to get at. I’m actually quite in the realm of not giving two shits at this point about anything other than what needs to get done,” Eliot said. He still wanted his arm back, but even though he’s sure he could hold his own against a vampire, he’s not so sure about actually winning the fight.
“You’re not jealous.” It sounded more like a disbelieving statement than a question.
“Fuck it, okay? I don’t care,” Eliot responded flatly.
“Yeah you do.”
“No, I really don’t. Look, all that jealousy petty drama bullshit? I think everyone upstairs already have that covered for all of us. I ain’t going down that road.”
“Then don’t,” Angel said, pulling Eliot’s arm a little, gently, to have him sit back down next to him. Eliot relented with a sigh. Yeah, he didn’t want to go down that road. There were more important things. Fuck Buffy, fuck Captain America.
“So how do we do this?” Eliot asked after a long stretch of silence.
“Getting Faith back?”
“That too.”
Angel chuckled a little and let his hand rest on Eliot’s knee. He shrugged. “Faith… I guess we start researching. Figure out what properties Wolfram & Hart own, though wherever they have her will probably be hidden well; mystical barriers, whatever they’ll try to throw at us. I’ll have Buffy call Willow, see if maybe she can help.”
“Who’s Willow?”
“One of Buffy’s friends. She’s a witch.”
“And then?”
“And then we see if we can find anything. We got time. They want her baby and it’s not coming out for another nine months or so… hopefully,” Angel said, his last word coming out unsure.
“Hopefully? What, like she could pop any sooner? Doubt it.”
“Mystical pregnancies aren’t always what they seem, Eliot. She could be the size of a beach ball tomorrow for all we know,” Angel said honestly.
“Well that’s fucking great,” Eliot responded, sighing. This is really a whole lot of bullshit. He started feeling the early signs of the splitting fuckin’ migraine he was about to have and started rubbing his temples. “So basically, we’re just fucked then.”
“Optimism,” Angel reminded him.
“Yeah, right.”
Angel smirked, looking over at him. He saw Eliot trying to dull his forthcoming pain and moved his hands away, replacing them with his own. “Here, let me. Close your eyes.”
Eliot does what he asked and let Angel take over. Within minutes the pain was gone and he opened his eyes in surprise. “How did you do that?”
Angel just shrugged, a sly smile appearing on his lips. “Been around a long time; learned a few things.”
“You gotta teach me that.”
Angel laughed. “No. I do that and then you don’t have a reason to come back to me.”
Eliot cocked his eyebrow, smirking a little. “You’re kind of a sneaky bastard, you know that?”
Angel just smiled at him, amused. He puts his hand on Eliot’s knee again but uses it to help him get up, then reaches for Eliot’s hand. “Come on; let’s go try to mellow out the drama upstairs.”
Eliot made a face. “Do we have to? I say fuck that and we just stay down here till they figure it out themselves.”
“We’d probably be down here for a long time then.”
Eliot smirked, pushing Angel up against the wall of the stairwell, keeping his body flush with his. “Not really seeing the problem.”
Angel pretended to think long and hard about that, then said with a shrug, “I guess it could wait an hour.”
An hour? Try two. Eliot just laughed as his mouth found Angel’s, kissing him fiercely and trying to ignore the sure signs of destruction going on above their heads in the living room.
CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE
[ Buffy ]
No Time For This
There was a lot Buffy Summers could handle. Demons, vampires, an apocalypse or three? No problem! Just give her something sharp and point her in the right direction and she'll save the day and look great doing it. But she's never cheated before; this is entirely new territory. Unexplored waters that's going to have it adulterer-eating sharks come up and bite her in the ass because for the life of her, she has no idea what to do right now.
She can't handle this.
She could barely handle the thought of Wolfram & Hart having Faith and now suddenly Riley had to appear out of thin air? She bets the Powers That Be are just having one big, cruel laugh at her expense right now. Yeah? Well laugh it up... They are so off her Christmas list this year.
Buffy found herself standing there, jaw dropped a little as Riley unpacked his bags like he was at home. What was she supposed to say? He was rambling on, demanding why she didn't tell her what was going on; slipping into that annoying relationship area where he questions if she trusts her and God, she does not have time for this right now.
“Look Riley, I'm sorry, but this was kind of a last minute type thing. I don't exactly have all the time in the world to sit down and talk it out either; the longer we wait, the longer Wolfram & Hart have to do God only knows what to Faith and we can't risk them corrupting the child.”
Riley froze, blinking. As he turned he asked slowly, “Did I hear you right? The child?”
Buffy sighs, annoyed that she has to explain this. They don't have time for this, dammit! “Yes, Faith's pregnant. The child's been prophesied and unless we get her back in one piece, the whole world is in danger of going kersplat, okay?” Her impatience was showing in her voice, but she didn't care. Riley went to open his mouth and she held up her hand, silencing him. “No, no questions. I'm sorry but I can't sit here and explain this in depth right now. Can't you just look at this as one of you... what are they? Retrieval missions, or whatever? I'm sure the government doesn't tell you 'why' all that often.”
Riley didn't look too happy with being left out of the loop, but he nodded. “Whatever you need, Buffy. You know I'm always going to be here for you.”
“Great.” She didn't sound like it was all that great at all. Off of Riley's hurt look, she responded with a sigh, “Sorry, I'm just stressed to the max. I need to talk to Angel... to Nate. We just... need to figure out a plan. But this whole damn house is falling apart and I don't even know if we can get everyone into the same room anymore.”
Riley gave her a soft smile as he came up to her, putting his arm around her shoulder. He leaned in and kissed her forehead and said sweetly, “I'm sorry you're stressed out, baby. Just point me in the direction to shoot, okay?”
Buffy nodded, sighing softly. It felt awkward, him being all over her; like something of the past. But she couldn't tell him about her and Faith; not now. She couldn't afford the unnecessary drama and they had more important things to do.
Untangling herself from Riley, she smiled at him softly before turning and exiting the room. She found Nate rather quickly. “Can you get your people?” she asked. Nate looked like the stress from everything was wearing him down; he looked so much older suddenly. But he nodded. “Alright, I'll get Angel and... everyone else. Meet here in ten,” Buffy told him before walking off to gather up everyone else.
Cordelia was easy to find; she was at the basement door, ear pressed to the wood. “What are you doing?” Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“What? Nothing,” Cordelia said, straighting up. For an “actress”, she was an awful liar.
“Who's down there?”
Cordelia rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as she leaned against the doorway. “Angel and Eliot,” she admitted. Off of Buffy's look she exclaims, “What? With all the drama in this house its hard not to be intrigued.”
“Whatever,” Buffy says, dismissing her. Cordelia was such a waste of time and space, in her opinion. “Just do me a favor and find Wesley? We're meeting in the living room in ten.”
Cordelia shot her a snotty look, but left the room to do so. Buffy banged on the basement door. “Angel? Come on, we need you upstairs now!” she shouted.
“Alright, alright, keep your panties on; we're coming,” came the gruff voice of Eliot from the other side of it. Buffy was so sick of people giving her attitude, but instead of giving him a piece of her mind, she strode back into the living room; waiting for the others. There just wasn't any time anymore for arguing and all this ridiculous drama.
Ten minutes later, the whole motley crew sat around the living room. Some were angry, some were anxious, but all of them were silent. Finally Buffy, fed up, exclaimed, “So what are we going to do?! We can't just sit here!”
“I thought the Slayer was supposed to be the one with all the plans,” Cordelia sniped.
“Shut up, Cordelia.”
“Both of you shut up,” Angel said, holding out his hands to silence the two of them. Buffy looked at him, eyebrows raised that he would talk to her like that. “I'm sorry,” Angel apologizes, “But like you said; we don't have much time. I was talking to Eliot down in the basement and we both think it'd be a good idea if you tried to call Willow. Maybe she could try to locate her.”
Buffy has no idea why she didn't think of that a long time ago. God, when Faith is concerned it's like her head isn't screwed on straight. Then again, apparently nothing was straight about Buffy when Faith was concerned. “Alright, I'll call her in a sec-wait,” she stops herself, remembering something. Turning to Riley she asked, “Who told you I was in trouble?” That seemed awfully suspect, given the circumstances.
Riley's face shows surprise. “I... I don't know. It came in from the anonymous tip line.”
“You have an anonymous tip line?” Buffy asks in disbelief. “What kind of secret government organization has an anonymous tip line? You're supposed to be a secret.”
“We've dealt with civilians before, as you have, in the line of duty. Some of them want a secure way to reach us if they see anything else bad go down. Of course their memories are modified so they don't remember who we are or why they know to call us, but they're conditioned to do so without question.”
“Are you experimenting on people, now?” Buffy asks, horrified.
“No!” Riley protests. “It's been tested and is completely safe, Buffy. We wouldn't use something on humans that we wouldn't use on ourselves.”
Buffy held up her hand, stopping him. She didn't want to hear this. God, she hated the Initiative; she didn't understand how Riley could be involved with people like that.
“Wait, your branch of the government experiments on people?” Nate asked, outraged. The White-Hat, looking out for the little guys.
“Nate, leave it,” Sophie said quietly, putting a hand on his arm. She knew they didn't have time for that. Nate shook it off from her though. “What, I can't even touch you now, is that it?” she asked, furious herself because of his behavior towards her.
“You-” Nate starts, but is cut off.
“Stop it, all of you!” Buffy exclaimed. “We don't have time for this! So everyone put your drama on hold until we get Faith back, is that clear?!” She understood that they all had their problems, she had her own as well. But time was running out the longer they sat there and argued amongst themselves.
She didn't give them time to answer though, instead she picked up her phone and dialed Willow's number. When the witch answered she asked, “Wills, how long will it take you to get to LA?”
They needed to get the ball rolling. Now.
TBC...
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: 121,464 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 | PART TWELVE
CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN
[ Parker ]
Selfish Desires
Parker never usually wandered around at night, and only rarely has it ever been till it reached daylight. But she needed to think, she just needed to get away from the house of crazy and just figure out all the confusing stuff that was invading her head. Confusing things about Hardison and about Sophie and about Faith torturing her one day and apologizing the next and just… everything was so jumbled in her head that she didn’t know what to do to sort it all out so she just… left.
She had absolutely no idea there was a mini manhunt out for her until she heard her name being called by a frantic Sophie. She was up in a tree, barefoot and dressed only in her sleep clothes: shorts and a tank top, just relaxing and attempting to think. Which she didn’t get too far with by the way, the thinking. She found a bird’s nest and was watching an egg hatch before her eyes. She was smiling, fascinated by the small creature… until her name was called again and she looked across the yard to see Sophie half running towards her, though Parker was sure she couldn’t see her in the tree. It had a lot of leaves, but that’s why Parker liked it.
“Parker! PARKER!” Sophie called out, her voice strangled a bit from the strain. Parker looked through the leaves, down at Sophie who ran her hands through her hair and looked around, looking upset. “Oh God, please have her be okay… please…” she prayed softly, stopping for a minute and putting her hand over her mouth. “Fuck,” she mumbled.
Parker didn’t say anything. For some reason she didn’t want to, she wanted to know why Sophie was having a slight heart attack over her being gone, and she didn’t want her to worry, but she was curious about something else for some reason too.
Sophie looked like she was crying now, which made Parker move a little bit, wanting to go down to her, but she stopped when Sophie started talking to the invisible man in the sky again.
Parker never understood why people talked to an invisible man.
“Please have her be okay,” Sophie whispered, leaning against the trunk of the tree. “God please… I can’t… I don’t want her to be gone without me telling her that I… that I…” but she didn’t finish, she started crying again.
“I’m okay, Sophie,” came Parker’s soft voice from up the tree, and Sophie half screamed, half gasped as she stumbled away from the trunk of it, startled. She looked up and saw Parker in there, who was starting to climb down.
“You… you… Damnit Parker! Damn you! DAMN YOU!” Sophie yelled and when Parker hit the ground she was suddenly shoved back into the tree by an angry Sophie. “YOU SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME!” Sophie yelled, and pushed her again, crying more now.
“Sorry, I just-” But Sophie didn’t let her finish, she pushed her again, like it was going to do something, prove a point that Parker didn’t understand. She just didn’t like being pushed so she grabbed Sophie’s wrists and pushed her back a little from her. “Stop! Why are you pushing me?!”
“You let me think you’d been hurt! Dead! I don’t bloody know! You must have heard me, why did you let me…?! DAMNIT PARKER!” Sophie yelled, and went to push her again but Parker grabbed her again, stilling her. Sophie just broke down then and wrapped her arms around Parker, sobbing.
Parker didn’t know what to do, or what was going on.
“Sophie?” she asked, clearly confused. “I just went out for a walk, I’m not gonna die each time I’m away from you or anything,” Parker told her, trying to calm her down but not really knowing how. She patted her on the back kind of awkwardly.
“You don’t understand…” Sophie cried on her shoulder. “Faith’s missing too… we thought… we all thought… that you… that when we couldn’t find you…”
“Faith doesn’t wanna hurt me anymore, Sophie,” Parker told her, thinking that was what she was talking about.
“No! No that wasn’t…” Sophie started, but didn’t finish. She stepped back from Parker a bit, whipping a stray tear away with the back of her hand. She looked at her and said, “It doesn’t matter why right now… I’m just… I’m glad you’re okay. I thought I would never…” Sophie sighed heavily, trying so hard to say something that didn’t seem to want to come out. Parker just looked at her before taking one of the grifter’s hands in hers, thinking that might be the right thing to do.
“What did you want to tell me, Sophie?” Parker asked softly, referring to when she was talking to the invisible man. She wanted to know.
Sophie didn’t speak for a bit. She chewed on her bottom lip, and looked like she was having a war in her head. Finally she took a shaky breath, looked up at her and replied softly, “I wanted to tell you that…” a pause, another deep breath before she decided. “I love you, Parker. That I… that I’m in love with you… God,” she looked down, like she was angry at herself for saying it but knowing she needed to. She looked back up and her voice cracked and went a bit higher as she got out, “I’m so bloody fucking in love with you I don’t know what to do anymore…”
And then she was crying again, and Parker felt this weird feeling in her stomach like something was creeping up to her heart, a warmth of some kind. She smiled a little and squeezed Sophie’s hand that she was holding and told her softly. “I already knew that, remember? I love you too… but you knew that already too.”
“I just… I just needed to tell you,” Sophie explained through her tears, and she sniffed before she continued. “Me telling you, not some bloody tape where I was talking to someone else. Just… me. And I… oh God, what are we gonna do?” She asked, a bit louder than the rest of what she was saying. She looked distressed again. “I can’t stand this anymore, Parker. I can’t stand not being with you,” Sophie told her, and suddenly Parker’s back was pressed up against the tree trunk, and Sophie’s body was against hers, though she didn’t remember moving. Sophie kept talking, her breathing a bit picked up, half from trying to get full breaths through her crying that she was trying to calm down, and half from anticipation. “I can’t keep sitting there looking at you from across the table and wish you’d just look at me. I can’t lie in bed awake at night anymore and wish you were besides me….”
Parker’s own breathing was picking up and she looked up into Sophie’s eyes, not knowing what to say anymore. Not knowing what to do, because she still hadn’t found an answer herself. But it was hard to think even more now, with Sophie’s lips being so close to hers.
“And I sure as hell can’t keep touching myself thinking about you, trying to be quiet, trying to be secret, while Nate’s lying in the bed next to me. I just can’t keep… I can’t keep…” Sophie’s lips brushed against Parker’s, making the thief close her eyes and her heart feel like it misplaced it’s self in her throat. “Fuck I can’t keep pretending, Parker,” Sophie whispered. “Not anymore.”
Parker didn’t think, but she knew she probably should have. But she didn’t want to, she just wanted to feel good with Sophie again, feel all the butterflies and other random insects she made appear in her tummy. That tickly feeling, and all the feelings that went along with being with Sophie. So she wrapped her arms around the brunette’s neck and kissed her then, making a point to not think about Hardison, and what she was about to be doing to the nicest man she’s ever met her in her life.
Sophie was kissing Parker with every ounce of passion she had in her body, like she just needed to be with Parker in that very moment, or that she just couldn’t stand not touching her anymore. Her hands ran through blonde hair and her breathing was coming out in short gasps against her lips. When they broke for only a moment’s air, Parker looked behind Sophie towards the house in the distance and took her hand before dragging her behind the garden so that they could at least hide themselves behind the rose bushes, not needing to be seen.
Sophie pushed her backwards and Parker fell onto the grass, but didn’t have a chance to protest at the rough behavior because suddenly Sophie was on top of her, her lips on her neck, her hands wandering over her thin form and Parker is sure she had forgotten how to speak.
“This is probably the worst idea in the history of… bloody ever,” Sophie gasped out as she lifted Parker’s shirt over her head and tossed it to the ground. Parker was inclined to agree, but not inclined to stop it. She grabbed the hem of Sophie’s shirt and lifted it over the grifter’s head before crashing her lips to hers.
What was it with them and sex outdoors?
Sophie’s hand had made it down Parker’s shorts now though, and Parker gasped hard at the feeling of Sophie’s hand on her again. “Oh god, Sophie!” she panted out against her lips, spreading her legs for the other woman. But as Sophie pressed down on her clit, making Parker gasp a bit harder she asked her in a heated whisper, “Are we going to get in trouble?”
Sophie bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, stilling her hand for a moment before nodding slowly. “Only if they know, yeah…” she looked just as guilty as Parker felt, but for some reason Sophie didn’t move her hand away, and Parker didn’t tell her to stop. Instead, Parker ran her hand down Sophie’s chest, stopping at her breasts.
“Then we can’t tell them, right?” Parker asked, sliding a thumb over Sophie’s already hard nipples. Sophie shook her head no before kissing Parker again, trying to forget about how wrong what both of them were doing was, and Parker reciprocated, arching her back and crying out loudly as Sophie pressed a little firmer against her clit.
Parker’s hands slide down Sophie’s upper body before starting to tug off Sophie’s skirt, just pull it down just enough so she could touch what she wanted. Sophie’s moan from her touch vibrated her lips a little, and Sophie thrust her hips deeper into Parkers hand as her own slid inside of Parker.
“Oh shit…” Parker gasped and laid her head back against the grass as she closed her eyes and moved her hips I time with Sophie’s hand. “Oh god, Sophie… oh my god…”
“Shh…” Sophie shushed her, trying to keep her quiet before slipping her tongue into her mouth, muffling the sound of both of their moans. They were both moving against the other’s hand, hands wandering and tongues claiming for dominance, and Parker could already feel the ecstasy building in the pit of her abdomen, making her rip her mouth away from Sophie’s to gasp hard as Sophie’s fingers curled against her g spot.
“Jesus Christ! Parker?!” came a voice from behind them, making both of them jump and scramble off of each other. Parker shielded her eyes from the sun to see who it was, and saw Cordelia standing there with her hand over her eyes.
“Cordelia!” Sophie exclaimed, grabbing her shirt from off the ground and places it over her chest to cover herself momentarily while she pulled up her shirt. Parker didn’t even bother putting back on her clothes, she was just pissed off with being interrupted.
“Are you guys half stupid? Get dressed!” Cordelia ordered them in a harsh whisper.
“Why are you whispering?” Sophie asked, embarrassed but confused on how secretive Cordelia was being.
“Hardison is right behind me, he wanted to come help find you Sophie, so get dressed now! ” Cordelia whispered urgently, waving her hands before looking back over her shoulder. Both Sophie and Parker’s eyes go wide as they scrambled to get their clothes back on as Cordelia mumbled something about them being complete idiots.
“Cordelia!” both girls heard Hardison yell, “Is she there?”
But he was behind Cordelia in a flash before she could answer, just as Sophie and Parker were picking themselves off the ground. Parker knew she had a guilty look plastered all over her face, but she couldn’t just wipe it off like Sophie could. Hardison just stared at both of them, but mostly at Parker, like he couldn’t believe she was actually in front of him and not in the hands of Wolfram & Hart, and also couldn’t believe what he just half walked in on. He looked torn between just walking away and running to her to hug her. So he just stayed still.
“I found Parker,” is all Sophie offers.
“We fell down,” Parker explains, trying to lie but she was never any good at that. It came out awkwardly.
She was in trouble. She knew it. Big trouble.
“Went for a run before you fell too?” Hardison asked angrily, finally being able to speak. Parker’s eyes went wide and she looked over at Sophie, who had red patches on her cheeks a bit and her hair was mussed up. Parker self consciously ran her fingers through her hair to make sure it laid flat, and Hardison continued. “You seem awfully flushed for some reason.” His eyes shifted over to Parker, and she took a step towards him, hoping he would let her, but he took a step back. “Don’t come near me,” he told her.
“Alec…” Parker started, but Hardison shook his head. Parker felt her heart drop into her stomach.
“Don’t,” he told her. “I know you’re impulsive, I know you’re reckless… but I never thought you’d be this fucking cruel.”
“Alec!” Parker exclaimed again, and tried to go near him, but he pushed her back softly, just needing her to be away from him. Parker didn’t like this feeling; it felt like something dirty was inside of her that she couldn’t reach to clean.
“Might want to fix your shorts, your hangin’ out a bit,” he told her, and Parker automatically adjusted her shorts, realizing they were still shifted a bit to the side. She looked at him like she didn’t know what to do, because she didn’t. She didn’t know how to make it better.
“Hardison, this is my fault…” Sophie tried, attempting to save Parker, but Hardison just turned to her and said simply:
“Yeah, I know.”
He shook his head and looked at both women like they disgusted him before saying, “We need to go back to the house, we have to find Faith.”
“Alec, please… I’m sorry!” Parker begged. She doesn’t think she’s ever begged anyone for anything in her life other than sex and to not be physically beaten, and she hated it but she knew she needed to.
“I just don’t want to talk to you right now, Parker. I don’t. We have a job to do, so let’s go do it.”
And then he left, and Cordelia followed him without another word, not knowing what to say either. Sophie looked at Parker and said, “I’m so sorry, Parker…”
Parker set her jaw and looked at her, she thinks she’s about to cry and she doesn’t like that. “Whatever,” she says and stalks off back towards the house, not wanting to be around Sophie right now either.
She just fucked everything up, and she wished she could just blame Sophie for it all, but it was her fault too.
A/N: Yes, okay, I know I abandoned this for almost two months. I totally suck. However, to be honest I got bored with it and felt like I needed to write some other things. This story is really LONG so I just can't sit here and write one thing for months, I go a bit stir crazy. But don't worry, I don't like to leave stories unfinished so I'll always come back eventually and update.
CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT
[ Faith ]
Captive
This was seriously not what she had in mind for the night.
All Faith wanted to do was blow off a little steam, that was it. Just slay some vamps, grab a burger or six, and then come back and crawl in bed with Buffy and hopefully do a little more than just sleep. She really did not want to be there, in the current fucked up situation that she was in. No, not all. She’d rather sit through a Yankees game and cheer for them instead of the Sox than be where she was, and that was saying a lot.
But Faith still couldn’t really wrap her mind around that, the whole her and Buffy thing. She keeps kind of half expecting it to be some kind of cruel joke, and honestly as much as she loves Buffy she wouldn’t put it past her. It wasn’t like she was all buddy buddy with her before, or ever really. They both tried to be cruel and destroy each other’s lives again and again, so part of her wondered if maybe this was just another game. Another way to hurt her, with the biggest weapon she’s ever had against her.
But a large part of her was praying that it wasn’t, and that Buffy was going to storm through those doors any minute in a wave of kick ass fury and get her the fuck out of there. Not that Faith particularly wanted to be rescued, but she wasn’t seeing many other options at this point. She never played the damsel in distress well, and the fact that she was nothing but at this point seriously annoyed her.
Fucking force field crap. She’s hit it again with her fists, but that didn’t feel so good the last time she did it. Kinda stung. A lot.
She couldn’t believe she let them get one up on her. Then again, being stormed from all sides by forty guys who looked like black ops tend to have an advantage, even over a super strength slayer. Especially over a super strength slayer that decided to have the baby inside her make her nauseous again for the third time that day at that very moment. She can’t help but think the thing inside her must be a little bit evil and planned that, otherwise it could have waited another hour to make her want to puke up her own intestines.
Then again, if it was her child, it’s gotta have a bit of evil in there somewhere. She sure as fuck obviously does.
“Faith,” came a voice from the other side of the room, and Faith looked up. “So nice of you to stop by.”
“You know me, always up for a chat,” Faith said, standing up now and coming over to the edge of the force field, but not close enough to touch it. “So what was the big emergency that you couldn’t just give me a call?”
Lilah smirked, a bit tongue in cheek and walked over to her, her heels clapping against the stone floor. Faith kind of wanted to shove that heel through her neck. “Just checking up. Thought you’d be out of town by now, but seems you really do have quite the unhealthy obsession with the other slayer.”
“Yeah well, some shit never changes,” Faith told her, her eyes narrowing. She really wished she could just hit the bitch, she never liked when she couldn’t hit things. It just got her more angry.
“Apparently,” Lilah stated, and then started picking at her nails absentmindedly as she looked at her captive. “We’d like to offer you a room, as our guest, for the next nine months give or take.”
“I’ll pass, thanks.”
Lilah laughed, “I’m sorry, I guess my word ‘offer’ might have been a bit misleading. What I meant to say is that you will be staying with us for the next nine months or so.” A small smile curled at the edge of her lip and said, “If you be a good girl, we’ll give you a room with a TV and everything.”
“Good ain’t something I’m known for,” Faith told her with a sneer, and had to make herself back up a bit before she tried to go through the force field head first and probably shock her entire system. So chose instead to lean against the wall, arms still crossed over her chest.
“Yes well, nine months is a long time.”
“Yeah, enough time for B to get me the fuck outta here,” Faith told her, and gave her a smirk of her own. But Lilah just laughed.
“There’s no one coming for you, Faith. No one cares.”
And then she left, walking out the far door to be replaced by two guards on either side of it. Faith turned and let out a scream as she punched the wall, just needing to hit something. She wished what Lilah said didn’t effect her in any way, that she was one hundred percent sure that Buffy was coming… but she wasn’t.
She slouched down against the wall, knees tucked into herself as she just glared at the two guards across the way. She knew why they wanted her from the moment all those men surrounded her: her baby. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. They had to prophecy, so they were bound to figure out she was the slayer that got knocked up sooner or later.
Which on that note, she still doesn’t understand why it couldn’t have been Buffy. She clearly would have made a better mother. The only thing Faith knows about childcare is to feed it and when it shits it’s self to change it’s diaper.
She probably should just give the thing to Eliot when she has it. Assuming she is out of here by then, anyway. Though she doubts Eliot would want it either.
Poor kid, ain’t no one gonna know how to take care of it.
Faith sighed and closed her eyes. She was tired as hell, and the beating she took wasn’t helping any. As she drifted off to sleep she found herself half hoping that she would have a Slayer dream and she could talk to Buffy, but it didn’t happen. So when she woke up the next morning, she punched the wall again, just needing to get out all this anger inside of her.
She fucking hated being here. Trapped like some sort of god damned animal.
“Morning, sunshine,” Faith heard from behind her and turned to see Lilah standing there again, only this time in black heels. Faith thinks for a minute those heels would look better sticking out of her neck than the blue one’s she wore yesterday would. They would match the blood from the wound rather nicely.
“What,” Faith said flatly, barely even a question.
“Time to go to your new home for the next nine months, are you excited?” Lilah said, the sarcasm dripping from it so thick it made Faith want to hit something again. But then again, she always wanted to hit things.
“Ecstatic,” Faith answered dryly, but in her head was thinking of an escape route. Transport meant no force field… or so she thought.
“Oh now, stop having that look,” Lilah chided her with a grin and little wag over her perfectly polished finger. “Our psychics are keeping that force field around you the entire way there, and will only follow you to our designated destination. Meaning you try to run a way your not supposed to go and the force field stops. And you? Well you are in a lot of pain once you run smack into it.”
Once she got out of this Faith was definitely gonna feed her her own designer shoe. Definitely.
“So come on, no time like the present,” Lilah told her and left the room. Faith just blinked for a minute before taking a step forward, watching the force field conform around her to match where she was. It was weird, kind of like being in a bubble. Faith is sure she saw a movie like that once.
She did have half a mind to run, but really didn’t want to test the theory of it stopping if she went off course. She was never good with magic, it just wasn’t her thing. She can stake, slice, and dice with the best of them, but when it comes to all the voodoo crap? Nothing. So getting out of this was beyond her expertise.
The room was small, but it at least had a bed. No TV yet, but apparently she had to earn that privilege. It also had a bathroom, which was something she had been desperately needing for the past half an hour. She turned and looked at Lilah, who stood in the doorway.
“When I close this door the force field will form around the room, so you can feel free to move around, run laps, whatever it is that you do. But don’t worry, we’ll be watching you,” she pointed around the room, but Faith didn’t see any kind of cameras. Mystical probably.
See, and this is why she hated magic. It was like cheating.
“Our doctors will come in to poke and prod at you a bit in a couple days, but do us a favor and try not to kill any, would you? We just hate having to re-staff, and we would also hate to have to restrain you,” Lilah told her with a smirk, and a little annoying wave before she closed the door behind her.
Just when she did, the force field around her retreated to the corners of the room, and Faith wished she knew what to do. She didn’t like this whole helpless getup she had going on right now, it just didn’t wear well on her. So after she went to the bathroom she focused on the only thing she knew she did have: trying to get in touch with Buffy through her dreams.
CHAPTER SIXTY NINE
[ Hardison ]
The Surprise Guest
It felt like someone stabbed him. Right between his rib cage, near his left lung… near his heart. It felt like someone stabbed him, over and over again. But what it made it worse is that it was someone that he considered a friend, Sophie… the one that stabbed him. He was mad at Parker, but he was furious at Sophie. She had Nate now, what right did she have to go and put her hands all over his girlfriend? Why did she have to go and screw everything up?
Parker was vulnerable, Hardison knew that. It really wouldn’t be hard to coherence her into bed but he didn’t want to just do that! He wanted to take care of her, love her and respect her as a person, not just this sex object. And Sophie… Sophie just had to go and fuck it all up, fuck her up, quite literally, because that’s what she does best.
Because Sophie wants everything, everything that isn’t hers already. She wants it all. The selfish little…
But Parker wasn’t hers! And Hardison will be damned if she’s going to ruin that for him.
“You find her?” Nate asked as Hardison pushes open the double doors into the house with incredible force and a scowl on his face.
“Yeah, with Parker,” Hardison told him, not trying to make it completely obvious how mad he was, but Nate seemed to pick up on it.
“Parker? I thought she was- Sophie!” Nate yelled as he looked past Hardison to see Sophie coming towards him slowly. Parker was in front of her, briskly walking away with a pained scowl of her own on her face, arms folded into her chest. She pushes past Nate and Hardison sees only a glimpse of her face before she turns it away from him, and if he didn’t know any better it looked like Parker was about to start crying.
“Parker? Parker! Where’s Faith?” Buffy exclaimed as she walked into the room and saw the blonde standing there. She walked up her briskly, desperately, and put her hands on her arms as she asked again, “Where’s Faith??”
“I don’t know, get off of me!” Parker replied, her voice breaking a little as she moved away from her. Buffy didn’t even seem to notice anything was wrong with her, and as everyone else piled into the hallway at the sound of the commotion she sat in a chair with her head in her hands.
“Parker!” Eliot exclaimed and walked over to her quickly, only to stop when he saw her face. Her jaw was set and she was staring at the far wall, trying so hard to fight that tears that were threatening to fall any minute. But she was trying; she was trying really hard not to let anyone notice.
Unfortunately, most everyone did notice.
“What’s wrong?” Eliot asked her, a bit softer this time. He put a hand on her shoulder and when she moved it away from him and stepped back, he looked at Hardison like he needed to do something about it because she was his girl.
But he wasn’t going to do anything about it, not now. Right now they had a job to do, there wasn’t much time to try to fix a relationship.
Then there was a knock on the door, and all eyes turned towards it. Who the hell could that be? Everyone was inside. Eliot went over to open it, and Hardison heard him ask, “Who are you?”
“Buffy!” the man cried as he looked past Eliot and saw her sitting there.
Buffy looked up, and her eyes went wide. “Riley??”
Who the hell was Riley? Hardison just stared at the man as he walked past Eliot and into the house, bringing a confused Buffy into his arms and kissing her softly on the lips. But Buffy didn’t reciprocate much; she just looked kind of shocked.
Looks like Parker and Sophie aren’t the only cheating people in the house.
“What… what are you doing here?” Buffy asked him as he let him go.
“Great,” Angel said in a low voice that was almost a growl before he stalked off, making Eliot turn and follow, but not without a glare towards Riley, who apparently made Angel mad just with his presence.
“I heard you were in trouble, so I came to…” then he looked around. “Who are all these people?”
“You heard I was…? What? From who?” Buffy asked, clearly confused.
“Uh, not to interrupt, but who the hell are you?” Nate asked, turning away from Sophie for a minute and their little private conversation that Sophie didn’t look too happy to be having in the first place, so she looked a bit relieved when Nate got distracted. She looked over at Parker, but Parker didn’t look at her. Then she looked at Hardison, and he just narrowed his eyes at her.
He didn’t want her even looking at her right now.
“Riley, I’m Buffy’s boyfriend… and who the hell are you?” Riley answered. Nate’s eyes went a bit wide and looked at Buffy, who behind Riley was waving her hands trying to tell him not to mention anything with Faith.
Nate just shook his head. Hardison knows how he feels. Women and all their dirty little secrets.
“I’m Nathan Ford,” Nate introduced, and shook his hand. “Parker, Hardison, Sophie, and Eliot… who stepped out for a minute, they’re with me.”
“They’re helping us with something,” Buffy told him, which made Riley turn to look at her.
“You didn’t think to ask me for help?”
“No, no… Riley, that’s not it. They called me and…” Buffy just shook her head and sighed as she decided sitting down was the best route. “It’s just complicated. Faith…”
“Did you find her? We can transport her back to the Initiative if you’d like, since I doubt prison can hold a slayer,” Riley put in, trying to help. If only he knew how wrong he was.
“No, no… she’s… Wolfram and Hart have her. We have to get her back, this whole prophecy mumbo jumbo and…” Buffy sighed again. She obviously didn’t want to have to explain this. She obviously was hating that he showed up too.
“We have another room,” Nate offered, but that just made Buffy glare at him.
Riley didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll put my stuff in there, then you can tell me all about this prophecy, okay? I can help.”
“Okay…” Buffy said weakly, quietly. Defeated. She did however shove Nate a little bit as she followed Riley into the other room, just for good measure since he just invited Riley into a house where he could learn that Buffy had been cheating on him.
But Hardison thought it was better to know than to not. While it hurt, every fucking inch of him hurt because of Parker, at least he wasn’t blindly thinking she was faithful anymore. He felt like such an idiot though, because before he did.
Nate turned back to Sophie, and he asked her in a soft undertone, though Hardison could still hear him. “What were you… did you…? Sophie…” he put his hand on her arm, but she just looked away from him. Nate took away his hand and said, “Fine, if she’s what you want then fine. Don’t let me stop you.”
And then he walked away, and Sophie looked over at Parker. But Hardison wasn’t going to have that, so he said, “No.”
Sophie looked up at him, so did Parker. But he was addressing Sophie, “Just go,” he told her, and nodded his head towards the direction Nate was going. Sophie just looked at him for a long time, and almost looked like she was going to argue. But with one look at Parker who wouldn’t look at her back, she turned and left.
Parker was still staring at him. “You hate me,” she told him.
“I don’t hate you,” Hardison replied, but revised with: “I’m freaking furious with you, but I don’t hate you.” Parker looked down at the ground, arms folded still tightly into herself.
Her voice cracked when she said, mostly to her still bare feet, “I’m sorry…” and then Hardison heard her sniff, and watched her bring the back of her hand up to her eyes to furiously wipe away the tears. Hardison knows how much she hates crying. “But I love her, I can’t just…”
Hardison thinks his heart is ripping in half from those words.
But then she looked up, tearful and apologetic and told him, “But I love you too.” Hardison blinked, he wasn’t ready for that. That was a whole different kind of sensation. “I’m in love with you a lot, a whole lot, and I’m really, really sorry… I don’t… I just don’t what I’m supposed to… I don’t understand…”
And then she was crying. Not the kind of crying that she was doing before, the barely-crying with the stern determined face. No, now she was practically bawling, her choked sobs coming out strangled, and Hardison did the only thing he knew how to do, and came over to her and wrapped his arms around the girl.
“Shhh… come on Parker…” Hardison hushed her as he stroked her hair. Parker’s tiny hands grabbed onto his jacket and held on for dear life while she cried into his chest. Hardison knows he has ever right to be angry with her, but after she told him she loved him and started crying, he just couldn’t just stand there and watch her look so miserable. “We’ll figure out something… I promise,” he told her.
And he was going to try, but had no idea how to fix this problem himself.
A/N: *looks around guiltily* So... hi *waves* Er... yeah, haven't updated this since freaking September, but hey look! A new chapter! .... Yeah I know I suck.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
[ Eliot ]
Drama, Jealousy, and a Whole Lot of Headaches
The whole fuckin’ house was an emotional disaster.
Parker was cheating on Hardison with Sophie; Sophie was cheating on Nate with Parker. Buffy was cheating on this new dude - whatever the fuck his name was, Roger or something - with Faith. Faith was fuck knows where with his unborn kid at the hands of his evil twin and the bitch from hell. Angel was pissed about Ronny or whoever cause he’s mackin’ on Buffy - which, by the fuckin’ way, Eliot really didn’t feel like dealing with right now either. Not like he’s all waving the gay flag now and gettin’ all girly and emotional but seriously, after the day they’ve had, he really doesn’t want to watch his boy…something, whatever he is, get all bent out of shape because his exgirlfriend is a whore.
Yet he stormed out right after Angel did just cause it felt appropriate.
Of course Tall Dark and Undead started on his broodfest down in the basement; he seemed to like everything dark and dank. Eliot had the urge to smack him and tell him to get over it, but instead he opted to sit down next to him on the stairs. Neither of them said anything for awhile.
Finally Eliot decided to break the silence with, “Buffy’s a slut.”
Angel looked over at him, trying to look mad that Eliot said that but a small smile was tugging at the corner of his lips, threatening to escape. “She’s confused,” was all he responded.
“Bullshit. She had a boyfriend and fucked around on him with Psycho of the Year. Fuck her, man.”
“Speaking of-” Angel started, but Eliot’s look of surprise and immediate anger makes him quickly restate, “I mean Faith, not the… fucking her part. We need to come up with a plan. We can’t leave her at the hands of Wolfram & Hart.”
“Yeah, try plannin’ a rescue when your troops are stuck in a fuckin’ episode of Melrose Place.”
“They need to get over it.”
“So do you,” Eliot pointed out flatly, choosing to not look at him. He stared at the wall instead; the dank, dark, depressing as fuck looking wall. Fuck down here.
“I’m just angry that he’s here.”
“Rodney?”
“Riley.”
“Whatever. I don’t want him here either; rather not have more people I barely know have the run down on what I do for a living. Want me to kick his ass out the damn door?” Eliot asked, meaning every single word.
Angel looked appreciative, but hesitated. “…He’s with the government. Military. Special Forces or something; I had Wes run a background check on him after I heard.” The way he said it, he knew Eliot wouldn’t like it. But he told him. Honesty and all that. Better he found out from him than the hard way. But still.
“Yeah, then it’s about time he leaves then,” Eliot resolved, standing up. Fuck no was he about to have some Captain America around. But Angel puts his hand on his arm, stopping him.
“You know Buffy won’t let you.”
“Fuck Buffy, man.”
“Eliot, don’t pick a fight with her,” Angel asked, almost pleadingly if not for the tired tone in his voice. “We don’t need that right now.”
“She’s so fuckin’ stupid, Angel. Why the hell would she want to keep him around when she’s trying to rescue her other lover? Has the bleach sunk that far into her skull that it made her retarded? All she’s doing is setting up more god damn drama and that’s the last thing this house needs right now.”
Angel’s grip on Eliot’s arm tightened and Eliot see’s the vampire’s eyes flash. “Stop talking that way about Buffy.”
“Why? Bitch don’t mean jack to me.”
“Yeah? Well she means something to me,” Angel told him flatly. Eliot looks at him for a long time, hardness in his eyes. Yeah? Well fuck that.
“I’m still in love with her, Eliot.”
Eliot scoffed. “You’re doing fuckin’ excellent at this dating thing, let me tell you.” He tried to get his arm out of Angel’s grip but Angel doesn’t budge. “Get your hand off of me, Vampire.”
“Eliot, will you stop being-”
“Let me go before I break your wrist.”
“You think you can?”
“Try me.”
The two men just stare at each other; eyes blazing. Eliot didn’t want to deal with this right now. They had shit to do and a flamboyant bitchfest wasn’t gonna fuckin’ solve a goddamn thing. And yet, what were they doing? Freaking fantastic.
“Just because I’m in love with her doesn’t mean I’m not capable of loving someone else,” Angel told him quietly.
“Yeah? Good for you.”
“Eliot, just stop for one second and listen.”
“I’m not jealous, if that’s what you’re trying to get at. I’m actually quite in the realm of not giving two shits at this point about anything other than what needs to get done,” Eliot said. He still wanted his arm back, but even though he’s sure he could hold his own against a vampire, he’s not so sure about actually winning the fight.
“You’re not jealous.” It sounded more like a disbelieving statement than a question.
“Fuck it, okay? I don’t care,” Eliot responded flatly.
“Yeah you do.”
“No, I really don’t. Look, all that jealousy petty drama bullshit? I think everyone upstairs already have that covered for all of us. I ain’t going down that road.”
“Then don’t,” Angel said, pulling Eliot’s arm a little, gently, to have him sit back down next to him. Eliot relented with a sigh. Yeah, he didn’t want to go down that road. There were more important things. Fuck Buffy, fuck Captain America.
“So how do we do this?” Eliot asked after a long stretch of silence.
“Getting Faith back?”
“That too.”
Angel chuckled a little and let his hand rest on Eliot’s knee. He shrugged. “Faith… I guess we start researching. Figure out what properties Wolfram & Hart own, though wherever they have her will probably be hidden well; mystical barriers, whatever they’ll try to throw at us. I’ll have Buffy call Willow, see if maybe she can help.”
“Who’s Willow?”
“One of Buffy’s friends. She’s a witch.”
“And then?”
“And then we see if we can find anything. We got time. They want her baby and it’s not coming out for another nine months or so… hopefully,” Angel said, his last word coming out unsure.
“Hopefully? What, like she could pop any sooner? Doubt it.”
“Mystical pregnancies aren’t always what they seem, Eliot. She could be the size of a beach ball tomorrow for all we know,” Angel said honestly.
“Well that’s fucking great,” Eliot responded, sighing. This is really a whole lot of bullshit. He started feeling the early signs of the splitting fuckin’ migraine he was about to have and started rubbing his temples. “So basically, we’re just fucked then.”
“Optimism,” Angel reminded him.
“Yeah, right.”
Angel smirked, looking over at him. He saw Eliot trying to dull his forthcoming pain and moved his hands away, replacing them with his own. “Here, let me. Close your eyes.”
Eliot does what he asked and let Angel take over. Within minutes the pain was gone and he opened his eyes in surprise. “How did you do that?”
Angel just shrugged, a sly smile appearing on his lips. “Been around a long time; learned a few things.”
“You gotta teach me that.”
Angel laughed. “No. I do that and then you don’t have a reason to come back to me.”
Eliot cocked his eyebrow, smirking a little. “You’re kind of a sneaky bastard, you know that?”
Angel just smiled at him, amused. He puts his hand on Eliot’s knee again but uses it to help him get up, then reaches for Eliot’s hand. “Come on; let’s go try to mellow out the drama upstairs.”
Eliot made a face. “Do we have to? I say fuck that and we just stay down here till they figure it out themselves.”
“We’d probably be down here for a long time then.”
Eliot smirked, pushing Angel up against the wall of the stairwell, keeping his body flush with his. “Not really seeing the problem.”
Angel pretended to think long and hard about that, then said with a shrug, “I guess it could wait an hour.”
An hour? Try two. Eliot just laughed as his mouth found Angel’s, kissing him fiercely and trying to ignore the sure signs of destruction going on above their heads in the living room.
CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE
[ Buffy ]
No Time For This
There was a lot Buffy Summers could handle. Demons, vampires, an apocalypse or three? No problem! Just give her something sharp and point her in the right direction and she'll save the day and look great doing it. But she's never cheated before; this is entirely new territory. Unexplored waters that's going to have it adulterer-eating sharks come up and bite her in the ass because for the life of her, she has no idea what to do right now.
She can't handle this.
She could barely handle the thought of Wolfram & Hart having Faith and now suddenly Riley had to appear out of thin air? She bets the Powers That Be are just having one big, cruel laugh at her expense right now. Yeah? Well laugh it up... They are so off her Christmas list this year.
Buffy found herself standing there, jaw dropped a little as Riley unpacked his bags like he was at home. What was she supposed to say? He was rambling on, demanding why she didn't tell her what was going on; slipping into that annoying relationship area where he questions if she trusts her and God, she does not have time for this right now.
“Look Riley, I'm sorry, but this was kind of a last minute type thing. I don't exactly have all the time in the world to sit down and talk it out either; the longer we wait, the longer Wolfram & Hart have to do God only knows what to Faith and we can't risk them corrupting the child.”
Riley froze, blinking. As he turned he asked slowly, “Did I hear you right? The child?”
Buffy sighs, annoyed that she has to explain this. They don't have time for this, dammit! “Yes, Faith's pregnant. The child's been prophesied and unless we get her back in one piece, the whole world is in danger of going kersplat, okay?” Her impatience was showing in her voice, but she didn't care. Riley went to open his mouth and she held up her hand, silencing him. “No, no questions. I'm sorry but I can't sit here and explain this in depth right now. Can't you just look at this as one of you... what are they? Retrieval missions, or whatever? I'm sure the government doesn't tell you 'why' all that often.”
Riley didn't look too happy with being left out of the loop, but he nodded. “Whatever you need, Buffy. You know I'm always going to be here for you.”
“Great.” She didn't sound like it was all that great at all. Off of Riley's hurt look, she responded with a sigh, “Sorry, I'm just stressed to the max. I need to talk to Angel... to Nate. We just... need to figure out a plan. But this whole damn house is falling apart and I don't even know if we can get everyone into the same room anymore.”
Riley gave her a soft smile as he came up to her, putting his arm around her shoulder. He leaned in and kissed her forehead and said sweetly, “I'm sorry you're stressed out, baby. Just point me in the direction to shoot, okay?”
Buffy nodded, sighing softly. It felt awkward, him being all over her; like something of the past. But she couldn't tell him about her and Faith; not now. She couldn't afford the unnecessary drama and they had more important things to do.
Untangling herself from Riley, she smiled at him softly before turning and exiting the room. She found Nate rather quickly. “Can you get your people?” she asked. Nate looked like the stress from everything was wearing him down; he looked so much older suddenly. But he nodded. “Alright, I'll get Angel and... everyone else. Meet here in ten,” Buffy told him before walking off to gather up everyone else.
Cordelia was easy to find; she was at the basement door, ear pressed to the wood. “What are you doing?” Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“What? Nothing,” Cordelia said, straighting up. For an “actress”, she was an awful liar.
“Who's down there?”
Cordelia rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as she leaned against the doorway. “Angel and Eliot,” she admitted. Off of Buffy's look she exclaims, “What? With all the drama in this house its hard not to be intrigued.”
“Whatever,” Buffy says, dismissing her. Cordelia was such a waste of time and space, in her opinion. “Just do me a favor and find Wesley? We're meeting in the living room in ten.”
Cordelia shot her a snotty look, but left the room to do so. Buffy banged on the basement door. “Angel? Come on, we need you upstairs now!” she shouted.
“Alright, alright, keep your panties on; we're coming,” came the gruff voice of Eliot from the other side of it. Buffy was so sick of people giving her attitude, but instead of giving him a piece of her mind, she strode back into the living room; waiting for the others. There just wasn't any time anymore for arguing and all this ridiculous drama.
Ten minutes later, the whole motley crew sat around the living room. Some were angry, some were anxious, but all of them were silent. Finally Buffy, fed up, exclaimed, “So what are we going to do?! We can't just sit here!”
“I thought the Slayer was supposed to be the one with all the plans,” Cordelia sniped.
“Shut up, Cordelia.”
“Both of you shut up,” Angel said, holding out his hands to silence the two of them. Buffy looked at him, eyebrows raised that he would talk to her like that. “I'm sorry,” Angel apologizes, “But like you said; we don't have much time. I was talking to Eliot down in the basement and we both think it'd be a good idea if you tried to call Willow. Maybe she could try to locate her.”
Buffy has no idea why she didn't think of that a long time ago. God, when Faith is concerned it's like her head isn't screwed on straight. Then again, apparently nothing was straight about Buffy when Faith was concerned. “Alright, I'll call her in a sec-wait,” she stops herself, remembering something. Turning to Riley she asked, “Who told you I was in trouble?” That seemed awfully suspect, given the circumstances.
Riley's face shows surprise. “I... I don't know. It came in from the anonymous tip line.”
“You have an anonymous tip line?” Buffy asks in disbelief. “What kind of secret government organization has an anonymous tip line? You're supposed to be a secret.”
“We've dealt with civilians before, as you have, in the line of duty. Some of them want a secure way to reach us if they see anything else bad go down. Of course their memories are modified so they don't remember who we are or why they know to call us, but they're conditioned to do so without question.”
“Are you experimenting on people, now?” Buffy asks, horrified.
“No!” Riley protests. “It's been tested and is completely safe, Buffy. We wouldn't use something on humans that we wouldn't use on ourselves.”
Buffy held up her hand, stopping him. She didn't want to hear this. God, she hated the Initiative; she didn't understand how Riley could be involved with people like that.
“Wait, your branch of the government experiments on people?” Nate asked, outraged. The White-Hat, looking out for the little guys.
“Nate, leave it,” Sophie said quietly, putting a hand on his arm. She knew they didn't have time for that. Nate shook it off from her though. “What, I can't even touch you now, is that it?” she asked, furious herself because of his behavior towards her.
“You-” Nate starts, but is cut off.
“Stop it, all of you!” Buffy exclaimed. “We don't have time for this! So everyone put your drama on hold until we get Faith back, is that clear?!” She understood that they all had their problems, she had her own as well. But time was running out the longer they sat there and argued amongst themselves.
She didn't give them time to answer though, instead she picked up her phone and dialed Willow's number. When the witch answered she asked, “Wills, how long will it take you to get to LA?”
They needed to get the ball rolling. Now.
TBC...