“Get ready for a wet fight,” Spike called.
Xander looked over the edge of the stairs. He could see bodies in Kevlar and holding rifles running up the stairs.
“Um,” Kevin said, holding up a finger in protest as the sprinklers soaked him. “I’m not good at fighting.”
“I’m shocked,” Xander said in a deadpan voice.
“I suppose that means we send him down first,” Spike said, looking at Xander.
“Right,” Xander agreed. “If he can’t fight his best use is as a human shield.”
“What?!” Kevin shouted.
“They’re kidding!” Dawn said. She looked at Spike and Xander worriedly. “You are kidding, right?”
“Of course!” Xander said.
“I wasn’t,” Spike insisted. “I’m a vampire. Got no use for a doctor.”
“Those guys are getting awfully close,” Dawn said.
“Perhaps we should save the jokes for later,” Richard offered.
“I don’t think we should fight,” Spike said. “We drop down the middle of the stairwell and hope they don’t have anyone on the ground floor waiting for us.”
“Small problem,” Dawn offered. “If I drop that far, I’ll break bones.”
“I’ll go first and catch the rest of you as you come down.” He looked at Richard. “If you were to jump over the railing and go down ten stories or so-”
Richard nodded. “You and I will go first.”
Richard and Spike jumped over the rail without hesitation. The downpour of the sprinklers, as well as their helmets, kept the vampires from noticing the falling masses. Spike hit the ground full on and climbed to his feet. Richard pointed his hand toward the floor as he neared impact. The velocity of his descent decreased until he landed on the floor gently as if he’s stepped off the bottom stair.
“You’ll have to teach Dawn that trick,” Spike offered.
“I doubt she’ll let me teach her anything.”
“Know what you mean. You try to kill Buffy or her friends a few times and they hold it against you the rest of you existence. Not fair really. I’m totally past all the times they tried to kill me.”
“Oh, I’ve moved past their killing me as well. But when they blew up the school, they destroyed municipal property. And that, I don’t forgive so easily. Of course, the entire town got sucked into a hole, so maybe I should put that behind me as well.”
“Maybe,” Spike answered. He waved to Dawn and Xander, letting them know it was clear to jump.
Xander and Dawn jumped and were caught by Spike and Richard. The guards hit the platform just below the top landing as Spike and set Dawn down. He waved for Kevin that he was clear to jump. Kevin straddled the railing and prepared to drop.
“One of them’s dropping!” a vamp shouted. Immediately, a single rifle shot rung out, nailing Kevin in the shoulder and knocking him back onto the platform. Two other vamps charged him.
Kevin staggered to his feet and prepared to fight. He threw a limp punch with his good arm. The vamp he swung at dodged the punch while his comrade punched Kevin in the gut.
“Where are your friends?” one vamp asked as the other held him against the wall.
“Killed by the blast, I guess,” Kevin said. “I happened to be in the stairwell. Didn’t see what happened to them.”
The vamp nailed Kevin in the forehead with butt of a rifle. Kevin dropped to the floor unconscious.
“We have to get him,” Richard said frantically.
“Why?” Dawn barked. “Your evil plan won’t work as well without your accomplice?”
“He’s our doctor, Bit,” Spike said.
“He’s the mayor’s doctor,” Xander said. “He was never part of our crew. We leave him.”
Spike began to argue, but Dawn silenced him by holding up her hand. “Two to one, Spike. The mayor’s vote doesn’t count. He’s evil.”
Spike looked at the mayor. “We have to get out of here. We’ll grab your mate as soon as we get a chance. But we need to regroup and come up with a plan.”
Richard looked up and gritted his teeth. Spike was right. There were at least ten vamps with firearms. This wasn’t going to work.
**
“So what do you think?” Connor asked as they moved through the woods.
“I think I’d rather have Angel with us,” Faith answered.
“He said fighting in this dimension makes him weird . . . er.”
Faith laughed. “Once you’re out of his shell, you have a wicked sense of humor.” She put her arm around his shoulder. It was a slightly unnatural feeling for both of them, but they were getting used to it. “Want to talk about Cordy?”
“Not really.”
Faith and Connor quickly moved back to back as a patrol of Priest soldiers fell upon them. Faith quickly threw a knife into the forehead of the one with the bow and arrow so that they wouldn’t have to worry about him during a sword fight.
“Lorne says he gets a not-quite-over-Cordy vibe from you,” Faith said as she kicked one trooper and threw her elbow back to nail another.
“Was Billy the soldier the first guy you had sex with?” Connor asked as he crossed swords with another trooper. He had a knife mounted on his left wrist. As their swords pushed against each other, Connor swung his left hand over and slashed the Pylean’s sword hand, forcing the trooper to drop the sword.
“What?!” Faith asked, clearly offended. She slammed his sword into her opponent’s neck and twisted it until its head popped off.
Connor was confused by Faith’s reaction. “Let me guess. People don’t talk about this stuff.” He grabbed the fallen sword and, using both his and the Pylean’s sword like a pair of scissor, chopped the trooper’s head off.
“No, people don’t,” Faith smiled. “But I don’t like people much and get the feeling you don’t either. So, yeah. Billy was my maiden voyage. Not that I was a maiden when it was done.”
“Did you ever get completely over him?” Connor asked as he handed Faith the extra sword and pulled out his small battle axe. The axe was a favorite weapon of his.
Faith also used the two swords like scissors to take an opponent’s head off. “I’ve heard stories about your hearing, so I’m guessing you know I’m not completely over him.”
Connor gave Faith a dirty smile. “Thanks, by the way. I overheard some of the stuff you told him to do and Dawn really liked it.” Connor turned forward and again and slammed the axe into an enemy’s head, splitting his skull.
“Then maybe she should be thanking me,” Faith laughed.
“You think I’m telling her where I found out about that stuff?” Connor looked down at the demons. “So, we have to desecrate the bodies now, right?”
Faith made a grossed out face. She looked at Connor’s confused reaction, then shook it off. “Oh. Sorry. You mean in a non-sexual way. Sorry, you said desecrate their bodies and I got this image of . . . not important. Let’s get hacking.”
“This reminds me of one of those war movies,” Connor said as he started chopping up one of the enemy soldiers. “Like Full Metal Jacket or The Thin Pink Line.”
“That’s Thin Red Line,” Faith laughed.
***
“His name is General Kerazad,” Cordy said.
“He doesn’t seem very obedient,” Angel said.
“He’s not. He’s not happy. He’d rather be out on the battle field.”
“But you need him here for strategizing.”
“Yeah,” Cordy said. “That and the fact that if I put him at the head of an army, I can’t be sure he won’t turn them over to the Priests.”
“And he’s in charge of your planning?” Angel asked.
“Here,” Cordy said. “I can keep an eye on him.”
Lorne stepped into the chamber where Angel and Cordy were talking. “Hey, kids. What’s up?”
“Cordy’s generals may be planning to betray her,” Angel said.
“Of course they are,” Lorne said. “They’re Pylean.”
“The situation here is a precarious one,” Cordy conceded. “But if Kerazad gives me bad advice, I can just ignore it. And keeping him here means denying the Priests one more of Pylea’s strongest military minds. Of course, I have one less now that Lorne’s mother died.”
“My mother helped you?” Lorne asked, clearly shocked.
“I have the entire Anaved Valley and the surrounding mountains because of her.”
“She took a valley, huh?” Angel smiled.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Lorne said. “The Anaved Valley and the two mountain ranges surrounding it make up about a third of Pylea’s land mass.”
Angel raised his eyebrows. “Woah.”
Cordy took Lorne’s hand. “I know she never showed it, but . . . she was very proud of you.”
Lorne’s smile dropped into an incredulous don’t-lie-to-me glare.
“Okay, she never said that,” Cordy said, throwing her hands up. “Last time I try to boost anyone’s self esteem.”
****
“As soon as the sun goes down, we’ll do some recon. See if they’re in the same spot as before.” Spike was looking down at a common map of Los Angeles County spread out on the table of the cheap motel room. Richard sat across from him. Dawn and Xander sat on the bed.
“We don’t need to wait until dark,” Richard said. “Xander and I could do it now.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you alone,” Xander cut in.
“It’s probably better we take them during the day,” Richard continued, ignoring Xander. “They are vampires, after all.”
“Yeah, but that keeps me out of play,” Spike replied.
“That’s minus one for us and minus two dozen for them,” Richard countered.
“Perhaps you’re not hearing the part where Xander and I will be a part of no plan that Mayor Wilkins forms to rescue his friends.”
Richard quickly turned and snapped at Dawn. “And what about your friends? Don’t you care about them? Let’s not forget that these vampires wiped out the remains of Wolfram & Hart and possibly the Watcher’s Council. Buffy, Willow, Giles, and all your other little friends are missing. And they’re the only ones who have the answers.”
Dawn stood and walked to the map. “Then both Xander and I will go with Wilkins,” she said to Spike. “You stay here. Maybe try to get contact with someone from the . . .”
Dawn sat and put her head in her hands. She stifled the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. Not until now had she allowed herself to really think about what had happened. It had been weeks since she’d heard from anyone in the council.
Dawn finished off pushing her tears back down, deep inside her. “Wilkins, Xander, get your stuff. We’re going now.”
*****
Faith picked up momentum when she led the division that held Grzmpd Point down from the high ground. She hit the Priest army below and rolled right over them. Two back up divisions of Priest troops flooded into the area. Groosalugg’s saw the movement and brought his Northern Regiment in behind them. The Priest forces were crushed between the two fronts of the Monarch army.
The Priests rallied their remaining troops and pushed into the capital. Landok brought his troops in from the south and swung to the north, converging with the troops commanded by Faith and Groo. The massive army charged into the capital and decimated the Priest army.
“Today is a new day for Pylea,” Cordelia called as she ascended the platform. “The vast resources we have wasted fighting our own people can be used to develop more medicines, build more roads and homes, and help facilitate the growth of this land.”
Most of the Priests had been assassinated or killed in battle during the course of the war. The three remaining High Priests loyal to Wolfram & Hart were bound on the platfrom with their heads on chopping blocks.
“Pylea will be a place of peace and mercy and forgiveness,” Cordelia said. The Priests looked at each other hopefully.
Cordy smiled. “Starting tomorrow.”
Three axes dropped and the Priests were beheaded. The crowd cheered.
“So I guess this is it,” Cordy said as she arrived at Faith’s SUV.
“I don’t know,” Angel said. “I’ll try to come back every now and then.”
“That’d be nice,” Cordy said. “But . . .” she didn’t know what to say.
“I know,” Angel said sadly. “Earth needs its champion. Pylea needs its queen. Different paths, yada yada yada. Screwed over again by the powers that be.”
“It’s for the best. I would so give you perfect happiness.”
Cordy turned to Faith and reached out to hug her.
“Sorry,” Faith said as she stepped back and put her hands up protectively. “I don’t do hugs. Especially with chicks. Except when I’m in prison, but that’s a prison thing. Never mind. I’ve said too much.”
“I don’t know how to thank you,” Cordy said. “If not for you-”
“Pylea would be a sadder, lonelier place,” Faith said. “It’s good to be one of the good guys on days that the good guys win. Makes me feel . . . I don’t know. Something.”
Cordy turned to Connor. “The guy with the plan,” she smiled. Connor smiled shyly and looked at the ground.
“Wait a sec,” Faith said. “His plan was coming off a hill. I’m the one who came up with the idea of using the momentum to kick evil ass.”
“Want a hug?” Cordy asked Faith. Faith backed away and put her hands up again. Cordy looked back to Connor. “I’m glad you moved on.”
“I . . . whatever.” Connor shrugged. “You never get over your first love completely.”
Lorne eyed Connor and Cordy and smiled slightly.
“Connor . . .” Cordy began in a worried voice.
“I don’t mean that I want to have sex with you again,” Connor said, a little annoyed by Cordy’s posture.
“Oh,” Cordy said happily.
“I only want to have sex with Dawn,” Connor continued, slightly more agitated.
“That’s good,” Cordy smiled.
“I just mean . . .” Connor sighed. “I think I’ll always be sad you didn’t love me.”
Cordy leaned forward and gently kissed him. “Dawn’s a lucky girl. And you’re lucky to have found her. You two are going to be happy, Connor. I can tell.”
“Okay,” Faith said. “We need to get home. Fight our own little war. Good times.”
******
“Oh my god, what happened?” Lorne said as they entered the burned out shell of the Hyperion. Angel had already headed back east.
“Well,” Faith said. “Seeing as we were on the same inter-dimensional trip as you were, we wouldn’t really know, would we?”
Connor looked around frantically for some sign of Dawn. He was upset he couldn’t find one until he realized that was probably a good thing.
“Let me call the emergency voice mail Dawn set up,” Faith said as she dialed. She listened through a couple of messages and nodded. “Okay, they’re at a dodgy motel. Spike’s words, not mine. Looks like we’re doing the rescue mission thing to save the doctor.”
“Why’s Spike leaving a messages?” Connor said. “It’s Dawn’s number. Why didn’t she-”
“She’s fine, Connor,” Faith said. “Let’s get over there so we can catch up on old times in person.”
*******
A couple hours later, the team was together again at the dodgy motel. After a long and anxiety-inducing wait, Lorne finally had Spike alone.
“Did you do it?” Lorne whispered as he came through the door. Spike nodded slightly, then brushed past Lorne, leaving the motel room.
“Where are they?” Spike asked, looking around the parking lot.
“I suggested they pick up some groceries before coming by,” Lorne said. “Thought we might need a talk before Connor and his super-hearing showed up.”
“I don’t like this, Green,” Spike said, lighting a cigarette.
Lorne took the pack from Spike and lit his own. “I don’t like it either. But sometimes people get off their paths. And they need a little push to get back on it.”
“Why didn’t you just leave him alone when he was anger boy?” Spike asked.
“Because he was suicidal,” Lorne answered. “I need him feral, not dead.”
Spike gave Lorne an angry look.
“Let me rephrase,” Lorne said. “The world needs him feral.
“Along with fate, destiny, and all that crap.” Spike glanced back at the hotel room. “The Little Bit is coming.”
“I know this will be tough on her, but it’s for the better.” Lorne raised his voice slightly. “He kissed Cordy in Pylea, you know. Said something about never getting over your first love.”
These words of course coincided with Dawn opening the door to come outside. “What?” she asked in an angry voice. She was already angry about the revelation that Connor had slept with Buffy. Now this.
“You really better be talking about Angel,” Dawn said. “But . . . but Cordy wasn’t his first love.”
Spike reached out to comfort Dawn, but she was already heading down to the parking lot. Faith and Connor had pulled up in the SUV. Connor was carrying two bags of groceries.
“I told you that movie was called The Thin Red Line,” Faith said. Faith had showed him the video at the grocery store.
“I thought it was pink.” Seeing Dawn running toward him, Connor grinned widely. “Hey!” he said, so happy to see Dawn.
“You asshole!” Dawn shouted, shoving Connor as hard as she could. “You total, total asshole!”
“What?” Connor protested.
“You kissed Cordelia!”
“I thought you were over that?” Connor said, confused at Dawn’s sudden anger.
“Not two years ago! You kissed her in Pylea.”
“Dawn,” Faith said in her best try-to-stay-calm voice. “It was a goodbye peck.”
Dawn turned angrily on Faith. “What about never getting over your first love? Did he say that?”
“What I meant,” Connor began desperately.
“I’m pretty sure I know what you meant!” Dawn shouted. “I can’t believe this. First Cordy, then my sister, then Cordy again!”
“What?” Connor said. “What about your sister?”
“You slept with her!” Dawn yelled.
“No I didn’t!” Connor yelled back, now angry himself.
“Yes you did!” Dawn yelled.
“Dawn,” Faith cut in again. “You can’t . . . I mean, that was when he was different.”
“What are you talking about?” Connor said, turning on Faith.
“When that spell was on you to make you Frat Boy Connor,” Faith started nervously. “You kind of slept with Buffy.”
“You knew about this too!” Dawn yelled at Faith.
“I didn’t mean to!” Connor yelled. “I don’t even remember it!”
“But she does!” Dawn shouted. “My sister and the most obnoxious girl at her high school have slept with my boyfriend. They’ve seen him naked. They’ve felt him naked. And now, to top it all off, I have to hear you’ll always be in love with Cordelia!”
Before anyone could answer, Dawn turned and stormed back to the hotel room.
Connor started to follow, but Faith put a hand on his shoulder to restrain him. “Just give her a few minutes. Then go in begging for forgiveness.”
“But I-”
“Didn’t do anything wrong,” Faith said, finishing his sentence. “I know. And so does she. But it doesn’t matter. A few minutes. Then beg forgiveness.”
Lorne passed Faith as he made his way to the parking lot. He glanced back to see an awkward exchange between Faith and Spike before they headed into the motel room.
Connor sat on a curb and buried his head in his hands. He tried to be strong, but human emotions were such a mystery to him. He felt helpless and confused. Finally, he began crying.
“I’m sorry,” Lorne said, sitting next to the boy. Lorne knew he had to do what he was about to do. It didn’t stop him from feeling nauseous. “Breaking up is never easy.”
“What?!” Connor said angrily through his teary eyes.
“I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you, Connor.” Lorne felt like retching. He hated himself for doing this, but he’d hate himself more if he didn’t do it. “But it’s over. I know it’ll be hard for you, but eventually you’ll get over this. For now, come on in and help us plan rescuing the doctor from that warehouse.”
Connor moved so fast, Lorne barely noticed. The boy ran out of the motel parking lot and jumped up onto the elevated highway. In an almost exact imitation of Connor’s gesture earlier, Lorne lowered his head to his hands and started weeping. Connor would go to the warehouse, of course. And that would lead him to his destiny. Soon, it would all be over.
********
“Come on, Dawn, open up,” Faith shouted, banging on the bathroom door. “I have to piss like a racehorse.”
“Oh Faith,” Richard groaned reproachfully from the table. “Is that language really necessary?”
“She’s been in there over an hour, mate,” Spike said. “I think ‘piss like a racehorse’ is rather understated, given the circumstances.” The vampire looked up as Lorne entered the room, looking pale and disheveled. “Hope you’re happy,” Spike growled.
“I was just going to sneak away,” Lorne said. “But I wanted to say goodbye.”
“Good bye?” Faith laughed. “We reattach your head. Then you come back and open your big fat mouth, causing Connor to run off and Dawn to lock herself in the bathroom for an hour.”
“That’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Richard said. “She did leave to go to the convenience store across the street twenty minutes ago.”
“Now you’re leaving?” Faith continued, ignoring Richard’s comment. “You know what? Go. It’s probably for the best.”
“It is,” Lorne said. “All of this is.”
“All of this is what?” Faith asked.
“For the best.” Lorne stepped backward through the door and pulled it closed in front of him.
“Shit,” Faith said.
“Language,” Richard scolded her.
Faith plopped down on the bed and sighed. Some leader she was turning out to be. She let her temper chase away another valuable team member. Dawn was locked in the bathroom and Connor was god knows where.
“Dawn!” Faith shouted. “Open the goddamn door or I’m kicking it in!” Faith figured her temper had brought her this far. She figured, for better or worse, she might as well just ride it out.
Dawn opened the door just enough to put her tear-streaked face through the gap. “Can I talk to you?” she whimpered.
“I hate playing big sister.” Faith stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind them.
“Connor’s being a jerk,” Faith said. “Sorry. But thing’s will work out. End of pep talk. Now get out so I can piss.”
Dawn sat on the edge of the tub and looked up at Faith. The girl looked more scared than Faith had ever seen her.
“Dawn,” Faith whispered, kneeling so she was eye-to-eye with the sitting girl. “Dawn, what is it?” Faith’s motherly instincts kicked in despite her best efforts.
Dawn nodded to the sink. Faith turned and saw the white stick. A pregnancy test. And in the middle of it, the thin pink line told Faith that Dawn Summers was going to be a mother.
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