Faith and Paige
Faith watched Paige orb out. She looked at Zac's door and lifted her arm to knock.
She was going to tell him.
Maybe.
Whatever happened, she just wanted to see him.
Isaac
Isaac opened the door.
"Hi Faith," he greeted. "Come on in. Zac's not here at the moment though."
He opted not to mention Saku. Zac had better be the one to tell her, if he hadn't already.
Faith
Faith smiled weakly at Isaac and walked in.
"Thanks."
She turned to Isaac.
"Is he... is he in a good mood? I need to tell him something, but I don't want to, because it'll make him hate me."
Isaac
"I sincerely doubt there could be anything you could say to Zac that would make him hate you," Isaac replied, closing the door behind her.
He paused, considering.
"He was... well, he wasn't in a bad mood, last time I saw him. I wouldn't say a good mood, but it certainly wasn't a bad one."
Faith
Faith's eyes filled with tears.
"I think he'd hate me after this..."
She wiped her eyes.
"Ike... if I told you something, could you promise not to tell Zac? Because I need to tell someone, and I still don't really have the courage to tell Zac..."
Isaac
Isaac gave Faith a concerned look and nodded.
"I promise you can tell me anything in confidence without fear of me telling," Isaac assured her. "Faith, what is it? I'm really serious when I say I don't believe there's anything you could do that would make Zac hate you."
Faith
Faith took a deep breath.
"I was pregnant."
She wiped her eyes as the fresh tears started to fall.
Isaac
"Oh Faith..." Isaac said. "Was?"
Okay... that was... how come he wasn't surprised? He picked up a tissue box and held them out to her.
Faith
Faith took a tissue and looked to the ground.
"I lost it..."
She took a deep breath.
"This is where the story gets horribly complicated... because I..."
She burst into tears.
"I met him."
Isaac
Isaac stared, a litte confused.
"You met him? Okay... I think you're going to have to explain from the beginning."
Faith
Faith took another deep breath.
"Ok... this is... you know when I lose my memory? And the night I got it back and I came to see Zac? Well... I got my memory back because I was attacked by a vampire and he slammed my head into a brick wall."
She wiped away her tears again.
"Then... as I was heading back to tell Zac... that I remembered everything and that he was gonna be a dad... again... there was this... this demon, and I didn't see it, and this girl pushed me out of the way, and she died, and then..."
Faith looked to the ground.
"This is where it goes horribly complicated. I was suddenly fifteen years in the future, an alternate reality. And I'd had my son, he was fifteen, but Zac was dead. The world was horrible, there'd been a huge war and everyone had basically died out. But... a small group of us had survived. And these demons were planning to open a hell portal with a Slayer's blood, so we went to stop it. But when we were there, it was too late and the portal had to be closed. By someone who had the blood of a Slayer. That was three of us... Rona, myself and... Walker, my son."
Faith lifted her eyes to meet Ike's, letting him see the pain she'd been carrying with her.
"Rona and I were arguing about who was going to end it, when before I'd realised, Walker had jumped in. And... and then everything stopped. And Paige, future Paige, told me I had a choice. I could turn back time and let Rona jump into the portal, and continue living in that world or... I could stop it from ever happening, and go back fifteen years to when I got my memory back. And stop the demon before it killed the girl who saved me the first time around. Which meant... Zac wouldn't die, but our baby most likely would. I chose Zac... but there was a catch... I'd have to remember everything and I'd be the only one."
Faith took another deep breath.
"At the time, I didn't think it would be too bad. You know? I thought it would be fairly easy to live with, so I accepted. Then... I was brought back to normal time, and I killed the demon but not before... not before he killed the baby. He stuck his claws in... my... oh God!"
Isaac
Isaac let a breath out slowly, digesting all this.
"I... I see..." he said. "At least, I think I do. Faith... Zac isn't going to hate you. Not for that."
"He might be a little depressed that your child died, especially after all the other kids he's been having, but hey, he'd only want to have more sex then, and you'd probably conceive again before long," Isaac thought ironically.
Faith
"He can't know... not yet. I just... I can't. I guess I'm still..."
Faith breathed out.
"I guess I'm still waiting for Zac to wake up and realise what I've known the whole time. He's too good for me."
Isaac and Zac
Isaac shook his head with a wry grin and put an arm around her shoulders.
"Zac says the same thing, only in reverse," he replied. "He thinks you're too good for him! I wish you two would stop thinking that about each other and get it together."
He gave her a hug.
"Don't worry, Zac isn't going to -"
"What the hell?" Zac exploded, having literally just opened the door to the hotel room.
Faith
Faith pulled apart from Isaac quickly, her heart thumping in shock.
"Zac!"
She jumped up from the bed and fidgeted awkwardly.
"You're back," she said lamely.
Zac and Isaac
"Wasn't expecting me back so soon?" Zac asked sarcastically. "Was hoping for more time to yourselves?"
"Zac, don't be silly," Isaac replied.
"Don't be silly? Is that what you call it? Well gee Ike, that's an interesting way of describing walking in on your girlfriend in the arms of your brother!"
Faith
"Zac, you've got the wrong idea, this isn't what it must look like."
Faith sighed.
"We were just talking."
Zac and Isaac
"Oh sure," Zac replied, fighting back tears. "That's what they always say! It's not what it looks like!"
It explained everything. Why she had been so distant. Heck Faith and Isaac were even about the same age.
"Zac -"
"Shut up Isaac! I can't believe you would... you would..." Zac couldn't say it.
"Zac, Faith is not cheating on you with me," Isaac said. "I have enough girl problems as it is without causing problems between us too."
"Oh please. You've probably had that reasoning worked out ages ago in case I found out," Zac accused.
She didn't love him. He knew it. Faith didn't love him any more.
Faith
"Zac, no!" Faith reached out for him.
"I would never do that to you... Zac, I love you, you have to believe me..."
Zac and Isaac
Zac shook his head violently and moved away from her.
"Zac, quit being stupid -"
"Oh, I'm stupid now am I?"
"That's not what I - Ow! Zac!"
Zac glared at him, and Isaac glared back, rubbing his arm where Zac had uped the temperature briefly.
Faith
"Zac!" Faith looked at Zac, then Ike, then back at Zac.
"If you're going to hurt someone, hurt me."
Zac and Isaac
"Zac, nothing is going on," Isaac said slowly and tensely.
"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you!"
"Ow! Zac stop doing that!"
"Or what?"
Isaac telekinetically threw him at the wall.
"Nothing you can do could possibly hurt me worse than I already am!" Zac shouted miserably.
Faith
Faith watched the fight going on before her.
"Stop it, Zac! Dammit, I don't want to do this!"
She grabbed his shoulders and was thrown back as he struggled. Without thinking, as a reflex, she hit him with a powerful right hook.
"Oh God, Zac..." She lifted her hands to her mouth. "I am so sorry."
Zac
Silence.
"Go away Faith. I hope I never see you again!"
The moment Zac said that he wanted to take it back. Instead, he bit his bottom lip hard, then lunged at Isaac in a rage for taking away the woman he loved.
Faith
Faith gasped, her eyes filling with tears.
She pulled Zac off Isaac.
"Goddammit Zac, I am not going to walk away from this!"
She held Zac back with one hand and looked deeply into his eyes.
"It was nothing, just a misunderstanding, nothing is going on! For God's Sake, Zac, I love you! And I'm sorry for hitting you, but I'm trying to stop you from making a mistake!"
Zac and Isaac
"I'm making a mistake? Ohhhh no. I don't think so," Zac replied. "Everything makes sense now. You ignoring me, and then even when you started talking to me just how distant you were being even during sex."
"Okay so there are some things I just don't wanna hear," Isaac began.
"Shut up Isaac!"
"Why?" Isaac asked quietly. "All we're trying to tell you is that we're not going behind your back! But maybe that's the problem, Zac. You do behind your girlfriends' backs, so it's easier for you to accept that Faith's cheating than having a harmless conversation. Don't judge people as yourself."
Zac glared at him, and then swung a fist toward his face. Isaac deflected it easily telekinetically.
"By the way Zac, you know how I learned another way to use my telekinesis when I was blind? I've been practicing."
Faith
"Dammit Zac, don't be so stupid. Why the hell would I want Ike for if I have you?" Faith yelled, then turned to Ike. "No offence."
She took a deep breath.
"How was I distant? I was always here, Zac, as often as I could be. I made sacrifices to come and see you, I never once cheated on you, and I accepted and forgave you after all the times you did it to me! So if you think I'm cheating on you with Isaac, isn't it then hypocritical of you to get angry at me? Have you no logic at all, or has that concept just abandoned you completely?!"
Isaac and Zac
"None taken," Isaac said.
"Distance isn't always measured in the pyhsical, Faith," Zac replied. "You were always preoccupied. And now I know why. You were having a relationship with him."
Zac pointed accusingly at Isaac.
"Zac -"
"I told you about Dez right after. I told you straight away. She was nothing more than a freakin, drunken one-night-stand. You've been ignoring me this past month! If you hadn't been ignoring me, I wouldn't have slept around. But I guess in that we're even. Except you were having a relationship and I was just having sex."
"I see it's easy for you to justify," Isaac said.
"And," Zac went on, ignoring Isaac. "I told you from day one that I had problems. You knew I cheat. But if it's any freaking consolation to you I've cheated on you less than I did on Julie or anyone else. I was trying so, so, so hard to be good. But then..."
He shook his head and turned away from them.
"I can't look at you any more."
Faith
"Oh so this is clearly all my fault! It's my fault that you slept around, isn't it? Because it makes it easier that way, doesn't it?"
Faith took a deep breath.
"It's so easy for you to believe that I was in a relationship with Isaac, isn't it? Because that way, it doesn't matter that you cheated on me! It makes it ok for you to have done that!"
Faith's tears fell from her eyes as she looked at Zac, the one person she'd ever loved and cared about.
"I hate that you think you know what you saw. What you saw was simply Isaac being a friend to me. Which is more than I ever really deserved from him. Look, you... you know what? If you don't want to believe me, that's fine, because I'm clearly not going to be able to convince you to see the truth, that there was and is nothing between Isaac and I. If I was preoccupied, it's because I have had other things on my mind, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but now I'm sorta glad I didn't. If you don't want to see me again, then I respect that choice. Goodbye."
Faith ran from the room and called for Paige.
Zac and Isaac
Zac felt the tears pricking at his eyes as Faith ran out. A part of him wanted to run after and beg for forgiveness.
"Zac," Isaac began.
That urge went. Zac whirled on his brother.
"I hate you!" He shouted.
Zac lunged at Isaac.
Saku
Saku was sucking on his thumb and playing with fireballs as Faith ran past. His brown-black eyes went wide. She was a sad lady. Poor pretty lady. He went to find his daddy, thumb still firmly stuck in his mouth. He watched his daddy lunge at who he had been told to call Uncle Ike, and started to cry. The fire got out of his fragile control.
Zac and Isaac
Isaac telekinetically threw Zac off him and then his eyes widened.
"Zac! Get control of your offspring!"
Zac would have ignored this if it hadn't been for the very obvious presence of fire balls in the room.
"Saku!"
Isaac now forgotten, Zac attempted to kill the flames by lowering the room temperature. That would freeze the water molecules in the air and then... yeah... it worked in theory anyway.
"Saku," he said more gently as he picked up his son. "Stop this please..."
"Okay note to self, I suck at this."
Saku
Saku's lip quivered in distress. "Sowwie," he lisped. "Didn't mean to. Pwaying with the pwetty fwire." Big dark eyes begged for forgiveness as tears rolled down his face. "Don't fight."
Zac and Isaac
"Okay, okay," Zac agreed. "No more fighting. Don't, don't worry. I'm not mad at you."
"I'll help you bring your things in?" Isaac offered hopefully.
Zac was about to bittery inform him it wasn't neccesary, when he continued:
"I hear you and your daddy went shopping today, Saku."
Saku
"Yep!" Saku nodded, then stuck his thumb back in his mouth. He regarded Ike thoughtfully for a moment, then pulled it back out to comment, "Noisy. Not like Nan's temple." The thumb went back into his mouth as he leant his head against Zac's shoulder.
Zac and Isaac
Zac gave a sigh of relief. Isaac took the moment to slipped out of the room and start bringing the two boxes outside. He picked them up normall, but used his telekinesis support them.
"It wasn't neccesary, Ike," Zac said, attempting not to sound nasty in front of Saku.
"Really, Zac, it was no problem. Besides you have your hands full at the moment."
Isaac couldn't believe how stupid Zac was being. Even if he he was the kind to go out with another man's woman, he wouldn't choose his brothers'! Zac was just being stupid, not to mention hypocritical.
Saku
Saku looked around with wide eyes, sensing something was wrong but not sure what. "Down," he said commandingly, and added in that wriggle toddlers specilase in to make adults drop them. He shifted into cat, dropped to the ground, shifted back upwards again and walked towards Ike. "I got toys," he told the older Hanson brother. "Open da boxes, pwease." Saku looked up at Ike.
Isaac and Zac
"Sure thing," Isaac said.
Isaac opened up one of the boxes.
"Oooh, look at this," he said. "You're gonna have fun!"
Zac really wanted to pound Isaac into the dust right then.
Faith was gone, out of his life, and it was all his fault.
He couldn't believe his brother - his own brother - had betrayed him.