Only Hope

By Gidgetgirl

Chapter Eight

“Faith!” Buffy gasped as a vampire turning to dust revealed the darker slayer standing with a man Buffy didn’t recognize. She heard little girl giggling and remembered that she was standing in the middle of a vamp nest with a four year old child. She turned to look at Hopie in time to see her jumping up, trying to hit a vampire in the heart with a stake but too short to reach just standing. The vampire looked mystified and annoyed. Hopie jumped, thrust, and the vampire exploded into dust.

“I got him!” The little girl shrieked happily.

“Kid,” a woman Hopie didn’t know called. “Behind you.” Hopie lashed out with a kick that hit the vamp at the knee with a sickening cracking sound. The she-vampire fell to the ground in pain and Hopie staked her as well. When she realized that both of her stakes had disappeared with the vamps, Hopie pouted. At least she still had her crossbow.

Faith took out three vamps in under five seconds. She was still on her game. Lindsey surprised her by pulling a stake out of his sleeve and throwing it with his well manicured hands, hitting a vamp bull’s eye in the heart. The remaining two vampires, faced with two slayers, a vampire, Connor, Dawn, Lindsey, and a curiously strong little girl, turned to run. Connor took after one, and Dawn followed him, hanging on his sleeve.

“Dawn,” yelled Buffy, taking her attention from her younger charge. Faith and Hopie both charged after the other vamp. Connor caught the first vampire, and he and Dawn returned unharmed to Buffy who immediately realized that she had lost Hopie. She saw the little girl’s dark hair flying behind her as she ran, Faith beside her, after the vampire. Both of them ran into the street with no regard to traffic. Buffy took a sharp intake of breath.

“Hopie,” she yelled, knowing that the little girl couldn’t hear her. All of them ran full speed towards the two of them, knowing that a speeding semi was much likelier to take down the Shanshu and the Slayer than any single vampire. Faith saw the little girl following her and gave up the vampire, opting instead to pick the little girl up and bring her safely out of traffic.

Buffy’s mouth dropped open. Faith going away from a kill? For a child she didn’t even know? It was unthinkable. Hopie was squirming in Faith’s arms.

“Chill out, kiddo,” Faith commanded. Hopie shot her a disgruntled look.

“I was gonna get that vamp,” she told Faith crossly. Faith put her face right next to the little girl’s and whispered something that Buffy couldn’t hear. Hopie made a sad little girl face but nodded. Faith whispered something else and the child giggled gleefully. Buffy openly stared at the two of them, both dark haired and dark eyed, the slayer much bigger than the very tiny girl.

“Hey Buffy,” Faith said softly. “How’s tricks?” She mentally cursed herself for not starting out right like she had wanted to.

“How’s trick?” Hopie asked giggling. Buffy narrowed her eyes at Faith.

“Put her down,” she said. Faith complied. “Hopie, come here please.” Hopie felt wary at the tone in Buffy’s voice. She sounded mad, and if she was mad enough, Buffy might tell on her for running off, and then everyone would be mad. Hopie scuffed her foot on the ground.

Hopie took a hesitant step towards Buffy but then reached out for Faith. “You come too,” she said. Faith took hold of her hand.

“Let her go,” Buffy said to Faith, her voice deadly and cold.

“No,” Hopie said. Buffy gave the little girl a do-you-really-want-to-get-in-trouble-over-this look. “No,” Hopie repeated. “This is Faith, Buffy. Faith is good. She kills vampires too.”

“Not everyone who kills vampires is good,” Buffy said.

“I’ll second that,” Spike quipped, putting his arms around Buffy. “Maybe you should do what Buffy says, half bit.” Buffy unconsciously nuzzled Spike, and Faith’s eyes flew open. B always had had a thing for vamps, she thought, and yet, she was loved and loved like Faith never had.

“No, Mr. Spike,” Hopie said firmly. “Buffy is wrong. Faith is my friend.”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Faith is an evil skank,” she said, and Faith took the blow quietly. Dawn had always, in her memory at least, been the one Sunnydale person who wasn’t on the anti-Faith ship. Connor looked at Dawn and trusted her immediately.

“Hopie,” he said softly. “Come away from the girl.” Hopie glared at Connor.

“Why don’t you see her?” she asked him angrily. “You should see her, but you don’t! Stop touching Dawn’s hair and look at her.” Hopie pulled Faith closer to her. Buffy glared at the small child.

“We’re going home,” she said. “Now, or I tell Cordy you ran into traffic.” Buffy knew it was a low blow, but she couldn’t stand seeing the child standing next to Faith, standing like Faith, looking like Faith.

Hopie shocked everyone by bursting into tears. Buffy was mortified, Connor was shocked, and Spike looked decidedly uncomfortable. The only other time any of them had seen Hopie cry was after her terrifying Angelous vision, and here she was wailing in the way of small children, that look-at-me-I’m-crying cry of other, normal four year olds.

“Hopie,” Connor said, “what are you doing?” Hopie cried louder.

“It’s not fa-a-a-air,” she sobbed, making fair a four syllable word like a champion whiner. “Faith is go-oo-ood!” The little girl burst into sobs again. Buffy gave in.

“Fine,” the slayer muttered, sounding very much like a four year old herself. She looked at Lindsey.

“Who are you?” she asked. He grinned devilishly.

“I don’t think you want to know, but I need to talk to Angel, and regardless of whether Faith is goo-oo-ood, she needs your protection.” Buffy was not a happy camper. All of them walked toward the Hyperion in momentary silence, Hopie holding firmly onto Faith’s hand.

“You ever heard of not giving in to a tantrum, B?” Faith asked. “Kid’s gonna be a brat if you give in all the time.” Buffy glared at her. Hopie beamed at her. Faith looked at Buffy, honestly looked at her, straight in the eyes. Buffy looked back and didn’t like what she saw: sorrow, humanity, grief.

Spike nodded thoughtfully, thinking that perhaps Faith was right concerning the half bit. Wasn’t right to give the kid her way in everything, Spike thought in a fatherly moment, trying not to picture the children he knew he could never have: little slayers, little Spikes. He sighed.

“Hope,” he barked out. “Come here.” Hopie shrugged and let go of Faith’s hand, walking over to Spike. Hopie looked up at Mr. Spike, who was trying to keep this weird grin off of his face. Spike tried to harden himself against the little girl eyes, still wet from the day’s tears. It took him a moment, but he managed. He grabbed the little girl’s shoulder and said in a very serious voice, “Don’t you ever run out into traffic like that again, and when Buffy or Angel or who-bloody-ever that’s good tells you to do something, you do it.” He made his voice mean. Hopie looked at him like he was a simpleton.

“Faith already told me about the street thing,” she said. “She was mad at me, too, that’s how I know she’s good, plus she doesn’t feel grrrr to me.” Everyone had a hard time picturing Faith scolding the little girl.

Spike tried to resume the fatherly role. “And you don’t cry to get what you want, you talk like a big girl.” Hopie looked up at him with huge saucer eyes.

“No one would listen,” she replied. Spike gave up trying, settling for shooting the little girl a look, which Connor spoiled by smiling softly at Hopie. “And you,” Spike said, turning on Angel’s son. “Get your bloody hands out of Dawn’s hair if you want to keep them.”

“Spi-i-ike,” whined Dawn, proving herself more of a master whiner than even Hopie. Buffy smiled at Spike for trying, and wound her arm around his stomach unabashedly.

“Faith,” Hopie whispered in that childlike whisper that really isn’t even all that quiet, “did you know Buffy and Mr. Spike are special friends?” Buffy practically choked on her tongue, and Spike let out a satisfied laugh. Neither of them had said anything to the child about their relationship. Faith nodded at the child seriously.

“Yeah, Hopie, I knew,” she said with a straight face. Buffy didn’t hear any condemnation in her voice. Everyone, even her closest friends, had had trouble swallowing her relationship with Spike. She was expecting accusations, or at the least rude comments, and when she looked at Faith’s face, all she saw was understanding.

“How did you know that?” Spike asked Hopie, honestly curious. Hopie rolled her eyes.

“ ‘Cause Momma and Angel are special friends and they do that fluffy look too.” When everyone looked confused, Hopie demonstrated, making her eyes go big and round. Spike gave a masculine swagger.

“You hear that, Slayer?” he said. “You give me fluffy eyes.”

“Actually, I think the kid was talking about you,” Faith clarified. Hopie nodded vigorously. Everyone else laughed.

“You have fluffy eyes too,” Hopie told Connor, “but I think you should stop now, because I’m not THAT good at sharing yet.” Connor straightened his face, and Dawn blushed, happy that someone was giving her fluffy eyes and that she felt equally fluffy about that person as well. Hopie looked closely at Lindsey.

“Do I look fluffy?” he asked her seriously. She shook her head emphatically.

“You look sad,” she replied. Faith thought that the kid was just a little nutso. Lindsey looked many things (godlike among them), but not sad. “Are you sad?” Hopie asked seriously. Lindsey shrugged.

“Sometimes,” he replied and then, shooting Faith a look, “sometimes not.” To everyone’s great relief, Hopie closed her mouth and remained silent the rest of the way home.

When they arrived at the Hyperion, Hopie raced through the front door. When Faith heard a growl coming from behind the door, she ran to throw herself in front of Hopie. The child giggled. “You didn’t get me this time, Uncle Angel!” Hopie said gleefully, “but I think you got Faith!” Faith gave Angel a steady look.

“Hello, Angel,” she said quietly. Angel looked at her and nodded solemnly.

“Hey Faith,” he said gently. Lindsey walked through the door. “Hello, Lindsey,” Angel said. “The funniest thing happened the other day. Turns out Hopie has a destiny that you didn’t bother to fill us in on when you helped us out with the adoption thing.” Lindsey shrugged. Angel didn’t change his relaxed position at all, but the hairs on the back of Buffy’s neck started to stand on end, warning her of his anger at the man, who was obviously the ex-lawyer from Wolfram and Hart.

Cordelia swept into the room. She took a good look at Hopie before she even saw the others in the room. “Were you good for Buffy and Spike?” Cordy asked. Hopie shot Buffy a hopeful look. Buffy sighed.

“She killed two vamps and chased a third,” Buffy said, omitting the fact that the chased vamp had been chased into oncoming traffic. Faith was right: Hopie did have her wrapped around her little finger. Cordelia’s mother radar flipped on in time to catch Hopie’s please-don’t-tell-on-me look.

“What happened?” she asked, picking the little girl up and nuzzling her. Hopie snuggled down in Cordy’s arms.

“Well,” Hopie said with the air of a great storyteller. “Faith killed vamps and so did Buffy and Connor and Mr. Spike and me, but not Dawn, and then Faith and me chased one of them and we were bad cause we didn’t look both ways with the street, but we were okay and then Buffy didn’t believe me that Faith was good and then I cried and then Buffy let Faith come too, and Mr. Spike yelled at me.” Hopie took a deep breath. Cordelia was temporarily speechless.

“And,” Lindsey added, “apparently Mr. Spike and Buffy are special friends, and so are Hopie’s momma and her uncle Angel. Whether or not Connor and Dawn are special friends has yet to be seen.”

Angel shot his son a look. “They sure as hell better not be,” Spike said. “Or I’m going to have to kill them both. Slowly.” Dawn blushed violently and a little pink appeared on Connor’s cheeks as well. Hopie shot Lindsey a thankful look for distracting everyone from the street part of her story. Cordelia hugged the little girl tightly, laughing at her definition of special friends. She wondered exactly why it was that she was Momma and Angel was just Uncle Angel. What did she expect, she wondered, for Hopie to call Angel Daddy? Even Connor rarely called him Dad.

“What are you guys doing here?” Cordelia asked Lindsey and Faith finally. “Not that I have a thing against having people who have preciously tried to kill those nearest and dearest to me in my own home, but satisfy my curiosity.”

Faith looked at Lindsey, knowing that he was better in the way of explanations than she was.

“If I know the way Lilah and the partners think, and trust me I do, the first thing they’ll try to do is even the score in Hopie’s conjunctive soul with a few questionable destiny deportations.” Buffy rolled her eyes. Lindsey definitely talked like a lawyer.

“They already tried,” Cordelia informed him tersely. “She refused the essence of Angelous.” Lindsey rolled with the punches.

“Pure evil,” he said, “could hypothetically be refused by strength of will. A questionable essence, neither entirely good nor evil in itself, would present Hopie with a much harder time.” Everyone looked at Faith. They understood now. Already, Faith felt again like she just wasn’t good enough to be part of the save-the-world-a-lot gang, L.A. and Sunnydale divisions.

In the study, Willow, Anya, Xander, Giles, Fred, and Gunn were doing research. More accurately, Willow, Giles, and Fred were doing research, Xander and Gunn were having a meter stick sword fight, and Anya was staring off into space blankly. “Wow,” said Willow. “Look at this. If you translate this script as having a Neo-classical Hindi subtext, it talks about the Shanshu, but if you don’t, it predicts the building of the Microsoft Empire. Neat.” Giles took off his glasses.

“What does it say?” he asked.

“That the monopoly ruling won’t bring down the great empire,” Willow started. Then she ducked her head sheepishly. “You mean what does it say about Hopie. If I’m reading this right, it speaks of a champion, a protector, who the Shanshu child will immediately recognize and claim for her own. One person destined to protect her until she can…” Willow’s voice trailed off. “I can’t tell what the rest says.” Giles took the book from her, but he failed as well.

“A champion,” Fred said, “like Angel.”

“But dead boy doesn’t really seem to be Hopie’s chosen one, just her dear old uncle,” Xander commented. There was a short pause in the room.

“If not Angel,” Giles commented, “then it must be Connor.” Everyone nodded, the bond between the two coming into greater focus.

“If Hopie’s magic will give Angel a permanent soul, and Hopie has four destinies already, does she have another destiny of her own?” Willow asked musingly. No one had an answer.

“It’s mayhaps too early to tell. Hopie’s only four, Willow, most destinies do not surface until much later. Slayers aren’t called until they are around fourteen or fifteen at the earliest. If she’s meant to be a seer or a champion or who knows what else, her own destiny will remain well hidden for some time to come.” Willow knew what Giles wasn’t saying, that if she could translate the rest of the passage, they might know more about what Hopie was capable of.

Simultaneously, Hopie was showcasing to Faith her ability to wrap everyone within a one square mile radius around her little finger. Everyone, even Spike, who didn’t much care for cartoons (he said they were too freakish, ironic coming from a demon) and Dawn and Connor, who desperately wanted some alone time, were watching The Little Mermaid. Angel hummed under his breath.

Faith sat next to Lindsey, wanting badly to rest her head against his shoulder but pulling back from human contact. Hopie was sitting in Cordelia’s lap, wide awake and enjoying the show. Dawn wound her hand through Connor’s while he played with her hair with the other hand. Buffy leaned her head against Spike’s shoulder, knowing that he too knew what it was like to long to be part of another world.

“Momma,” Hopie said, looking at all of the couples surrounding her, “how long until I can have a special friend, too?”

“Never,” Angel said.

“Not until you’re twenty,” Cordy said reasonably, thinking that that sounded safely distant.

Connor shot Cordy a dirty look. “Not until I’m dead,” he said. Dawn squeezed his hand.

“Isn’t that a little unreasonable?” she asked him. Connor stared at her for a moment and then nodded.

“My Connor has fluffy eyes again!” Hopie squealed.

No, thought Dawn, my Connor has fluffy eyes. For me.

 

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