TITLE: Episode 1: Old Friends, New Friends
SERIES: Faith, Rogue Slayer
AUTHOR: elizafan568
EMAIL: elizfaith568@yahoo.com
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.
ARCHIVE/DISTRIBUTION: This site. If you want to post on on your site, just ask.
SPOILERS: Buffy season 7 and Angel season 5
DISCLAIMER: All character are property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. I do not own them. Written for fun not profit.
NOTE: Set post-"Not Fade Away"
Episode 1: Old Friends, New Friends
Faith knew she had the address right. This had to be the place. She’d been her once before.
The building had been huge. Now there was nothing.
She had taken a cab from the airport and began her search. She couldn’t afford to keep using the cab to go all over town so she had let the driver leave her here. Now she kinda regretted that decision.
“What the hell is going on here?” Faith said to no one in particular. Where the towering building of Wolfram & Hart once stood was now a vacant lot. A really big vacant lot, but a vacant lot nonetheless.
“Damn,” Faith thought, “now what do I do? I’ve checked here, the Hyperion, even went back to the rubble that was his first office, nothing. Guess I’ll have to hit the local demon bars to check for info. Whatever happened, it must have been wicked bad.”
Faith noticed a motorcycle across the street, parked outside a seemingly abandoned building. Even had the keys left in it. “Wow, guess some is smiling on me up there, looks like I got myself a free ride.”
Faith ran across the street to the bike. She looked down the street both ways but saw no one. No people, no cars, nothing. She hopped on the bike and started it right up. “I guess knowing a few bikers in the past proved useful after all.” With that, she took off, not willing to give up on Angel. Never would she do that. She would find out what happened no matter what.
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Lorne hated this. Hated being here with his friends dead. Friends that he had chose to abandon to their fate. But someone had to survive. A record had to remain, Lorne just hated that he had decided that it was he who would do that.
He sat alone at a table in some dive demon bar. He had been in such a daze when he had come in he couldn’t even remember the name. Hell, he couldn’t even remember how long he had been there. “God I wish I could get drunk.” he thought.
He notice a bit of a ruckus beginning to raise up around the entrance but didn’t really pay it much attention. It didn’t concern him, nothing really did anymore. The Fyarl demon thrown into his table, shattering it into a pile of wood, however, did.
Lorne stood up from what was left of his table and drinks and looked in the direction the demon had been thrown from. “Hey, just who do you think you are interrupting a guys brooding when….” Lorne started to yell when he realized just who had thrown the demon across the room. A familiar dark-haired girl clad in a black leather jacket, black top, and black jeans stood in the doorway of the bar. It was Faith. “Hey, green boy, long time no see.”
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Faith had been hitting bars all day with no luck. Her patience was already wearing thin when that Fyarl decided to be a tough guy and test his strength against a slayer. She really wasn’t in the mood. She though she might just start an all out bar brawl to let off some steam when she spotted that familiar chin. Her search had finally bared fruit.
The other bar patrons seemed to get the negative vibe coming of Faith as they chose not to take things further and return to what they were doing. Lorne motioned her over to another, still standing, empty table. Faith sat down across from Lorne, while he ordered a couple of drinks for the two of them.
“Well, you sure do know how to make an entrance princess,” Lorne said with a slight grin on his face. First time in a long while he had had one of those.
“Ya, well, I like to make my presence known. Little Miss Center of Attention, that’s me.” Faith grinned back at him. A hollow grin, but a grin nonetheless.
“So, not that I’m not glad to see you and all ,but, what are you doing here?”
Faith slouched back in her chair. “Well, looking for you guys. I got a letter from Angel and…”
“And you came running.” Lorne finished.
“Lorne, what had been going on here? What’s happened? And don’t try to sugar coat it green guy, I’m really not in the mood.”
“I picked up on that. Some really shaky vibes coming off of you.” Lorne took sip of his drink and let out a long sigh.
“Well…” Faith said with an edge to her voice.
“You want the long version or the short version, cupcake?”
Faith leaned in close to Lorne, “The true version. I wanna know everything thing.”
“Alright….” and with that Lorne recounted everything that had happened to them since taking over Wolfram & Hart. Faith listened with an intensity that she didn’t think she possessed. She hung on every last detail of Lorne’s story. Her heart sinking with each dark turn.
Once Lorne had finished he ordered another bottle of tequila. Faith sat in a state of shock. She couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe it, but she knew Lorne was right. Angel was gone. Along with Wesely, Spike, Gunn, and Illyira/Fred. She didn’t know what to say.
“You okay Faith. Can I do anything?” Lorne asked, real concern in his voice.
“No…I…just don’t know what to do now. What about Connor, does he know?” The memory altering spell that had been cast by Vale had worn off after his death. Lorne’s mentioning of Connor had jogged Faith’s memory.
“I don’t know, I don’t think so.” Lorne replied.
“Well, he should know. He deserves to know. I mean, I never really liked the kid, but its not right for him to not know his dad’s fate. I know how bad it feels to not know about your dad..” Faith said with downcast eyes.
“Well, I know where he lives now. If you wanna stop by and check on him. Tell him about Angel….
“Ya,” Faith interrupted , “That sounds like a good idea. He’s all that’s left of Angel. I wanna make sure he’s okay. It’s all I can do for Angel now.”
“Faith…” Lorne said in almost a whisper.
“He’s dead and I wasn’t there for him in the end. I will never forgive myself for letting that happen. I owed him more than that. It’s the least I can do.”
“Faith, I don’t think Angel would expect anything from you at this point. He was proud of you. He always will be. You don’t need to prove anything.”
“I know that…” Faith stood up from the table, “…but I just gotta do something, anything. I can’t just sit around and do nothing. If I do then…”
“I understand, Faith. I’ll come with you. Anything’s better than sitting here trying to forget the past.” Lorne said as he rose from his chair, following Faith out of the bar.
“Cool, I’d appreciate the company,” Faith said with a faint smile across her face. “But I hope you don’t mind riding on the back.” She said as she motioned to the motorcycle out front.
“Oh sure, I don’t mind at all….” Lorne replied through gritted teeth. Faith looked at him for a moment then got on the bike. Lorne sat down behind her, wrapping his arms around her waste.
“Now, green boy, don’t go getting any ideas.”
“Whatever do you mean?” Lorne said with a grin. It felt good to have someone around.
“Maybe I still do have a future helping people after all.” Lorne thought to himself. “And maybe, just maybe, it’s with this dark princess here in front of me.” For the first time in awhile, Lorne started to feel better. Not a lot, but it was a start.
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Andrew Wells. Valuable member of the new Scooby regime entrusted with this most important of missions. Only he could handle such a task.
At least that’s what Andrew would like to think, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that the gang just used Faith’s sudden departure as an excuse to get rid of him. It didn’t matter. If it was one thing he knew how to do, and do well, it was make the best of a bad situation.
Giles had sent him out on the very next flight to LA after Faith had left. Its not that he didn’t trust Faith, its just that he was worried about her and didn’t think it was all that good of an idea for her to be alone at a time like this. At the same time he didn’t want to send anyone that Faith had any real issues with. At least, that’s how Andrew was rationalizing it. Now that he was here in LA, though, he didn’t know where to start.
He pulled out a list given to him by Giles of locations Angel and co. were known to have either lived at or frequented. Andrew hailed a cab to begin his search. He sure was glad Giles gave him plenty of money, he could be taking cabs for awhile.
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It was nightfall by the time Faith and Lorne reached the quite, little house in the suburbs on the outskirts of LA. Lorne shakily dismounted the bike followed by Faith.
“Bike sure is a smooth ride isn’t it Lorne.” Faith said with the utmost of confidence in her driving skills.
“Ya, sure, real smooth.” Lorne said as he staggered up the driveway of the house, trying to fix his extremely messed up hair.
“You really gotta learn to appreciate the finer things in life, green boy. Motorcycle riding being one of them.” Faith grinned as she watched Lorne fight to keep his balance.
“I’ll get back to you on that one peaches.” Lorne said as he made a mental note to never ride on a motorcycle with Faith at the wheel again.
As they approached the door, a feeling of dread pasted over Faith. She wasn’t nervous about meeting Connor again, but of how she was going to break the news to him. Lorne had said he wasn’t the edgy kid he once was, but still, telling him his father was dead wasn’t going to go over easy.
“Uh, Lorne, shouldn’t you hide or something? You do kinda stand out.”
“Not to worry, Faith. Connor and his “parents” have met me before. No need to worry about that.”
“Okay, if you say so.” she said as she knocked lightly on the door. A man answered the door.
“Yes, how can I help….Oh, Mrs. Lorne, its good to see you again. Is something wrong?”
“No, no, nothing like that. We just need to speak to you son Connor for a minute. Really, there’s no cause for any concern.”
“Well, he’s leaving in the morning to move into his new dorm on campus, but since you guys did so much for us, I don’t see the harm in it, please come in.”
“Thank you, this shouldn’t take long at all.” Lorne said as he and Faith entered the house.
Connor’s dad flipped on a light in the den they had entered and went to get Connor. Faith walked around the room examining the pictures hanging on the walls. Lorne sat down on the couch. A few seconds later, he returned with Connor. He immediately recognized Lorne and Faith and almost knew what was going on.
“Uh, dad,” Conner said, “Can you give us a minute?”
“Sure son. You can see them out, just don’t stay up too late, you got an early start in the morning.”
“Sure thing dad. Night”
“Goodnight.” he said as he went back to bed.
“Let me guess, Angel, I mean, my father’s dead, isn’t he?”
Faith turned suddenly with a look of surprise on her face and stepped toward Connor. “What!? How did you know?”
“I was there when the Wolfram & Hart building started to collapse. Dad told me to leave, that something big and bad was coming. I wanted to stay and help but he wouldn’t let me. Later that night, I felt something. Something bad. I…just knew.”
“I see…”Lorne said as he looked down towards the floor. “Well, that’s why we came. To make sure you knew and that you were okay.”
“I’m okay, I guess. Okay as could be expected anyways.”
“Your not planning on doing anything rash or stupid are you? Revenge or anything?’ Faith asked.
“No…nothing like that. I do have this urge to do something though. With dad and the others gone, LA is certainly lacking in the champion department.”
“Ya know, I was kinda thinking of doing the same thing. I really wasn’t getting much done over in England and I’m sure the gang could use someone stationed here in the States. LA seems like as good a place as any to set up shop. Besides, I’m sure there are plenty of new slayers around here that could use some help, if I need to give Giles an excuse to stay.”
“Has that been your plan all along Faith?” Lorne asked, more than a little surprised.
“No, not really. ”Faith replied. “It just sorta gradually came to me. Way I figure, its probably the best thing for me right now. And the best why to honor Angel’s memory. I think its something he’d want me to do. Its something I need to do. The fight for redemption’s a bitch but what can you do.” Faith said with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Well, if your serious about this Faith, I think I might be able to help, if you want me.” Lorne asked, hoping she would.
“Of course I want you Green Boy. You don’t think I’d leave you to drown alone in a bar again, do you?” Faith said with a smile and gave Lorne a light punch on the shoulder. “What about you, boy wonder? You up for performing some good deeds?”
“Well, it would be nice to have some company in the hero gig. Why not?”
“Alright then, looks like we got ourselves the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.” Faith said with more than a little sarcasm.
“So, what do we do now, faithful leader? No pun intended.” Lorne asked with a grin.
“Well, I guess you and me find a hotel to crash for the night and then we’ll meet up with Connor in the morning.”
“What should I tell my parents?” Connor asked.
“Don’t tell them anything. Your supposed to be moving into your dorm tomorrow, being the good little college boy, let them keep thinking that. The less they know, the better for them.
“Ya, your probably right, I guess. “
“I think that about does it for tonight then, right Faith?”
“True. We should get going, might take us a little while to find an empty hotel nearby. We’ll see you in the tomorrow then Connor.” Faith said as she headed out the door followed by Lorne.
“Ya, I can’t wait to hope back on that back. Its so much fun.” Lorne said with a roll of his eyes.
“Goodnight guys, see ya tomorrow.” Connor closed the door.
Faith and Lorne sped off, Lorne holding on for dear life. “I hope I don’t have to do this many more times.” Lorne prayed to himself. He certainly didn’t get the appeal of a motorcycle, but he knew Faith enjoyed it, so he wasn’t gonna complain. Any joy she could find at right now wasn’t worth complaining about.
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“What am I doing?” Connor thought. As he walked back to his bedroom. “I’m supposed to be leading a normal life now, but here I am getting back into it.”
Connor laid back down on his bed. “A little late for regrets now. Besides, working with Faith can’t be a bad thing. Not looking as great as she does. A grin crossed Connor’s face as he rolled over and closed his eyes. Sleep soon took him and his dreams where filled with the dark slayer in action. He couldn’t wait to fight side by side with the raven beauty.
