om5

~~~Chapter five~~~

"Ready? Okay!"

Cordelia clapped her hands a second after the rest of the girls did, and grimaced at her blatant mistake. One of a hundred she had made so far in the last twenty minutes. This was hell; pure and simple... it had to be. She had literally died and was now roasting in the bowels of hell. Perhaps if she ever got back to her right time she'd ask Angel if hell had cheerleading and pom-poms.

"Put your hands up in the air!"

Moving her mouth to make it look like she remembered the words, she raised her hands in time for the others to be lowering theirs. As a group the girls stomped their feet in unison. Cordelia knew she was slaughtering the routine. The rest of the girls swung their hips to an unheard beat, kicking high in the air, Cordelia kicked late, feeling the muscle in her left leg pull.

'I liked doing this?' She thought as she stepped on Courtney's right foot as the small blonde stepped right in sync with the other girls and Cordelia went left. Smiling lamely at the other girl Cordelia tried to dredge up this particular routine from her memory with not much luck.

"Like you just don't seem to care!"

She could remember that there was a turn somewhere in the routine right? God please no toe touches, she knew that if she were expected to jump into the air one more time with she would need hospitalization. Peeking a look to the right she saw the girls go to the ground one by one in the splits. She knew it! HELL She knew that this was HELL.

"Cause we're the best around, and we show it!"

Two girls to go. Cordelia contemplated her options. She could just stand there and not follow the routine, claiming mental retardation. Or go for Glory.

"Yeah, yeah, you know it!"

Sliding to the ground Cordelia let out a horrific wail as she felt her muscles pull. Everyone stopped and stared at her. As quickly and painlessly as she could, Cordelia removed herself from the floor and limped for the door.

"Cordelia what is up with you?" Harmony stepped away from the rest of the girls. "First you missed yesterday's practice; you avoided us in the halls
today. Now you're acting like a total spaz."

Cordelia could feel her thigh muscles burning in protest as Harmony went off on her. Looking at the blonde Cordelia tried to recall why she was ever
friends with her. Harmony was a bitch extraordinaire and didn't have the style and flare to pull it of correctly. "Harmony it's been a bad day, well a bad couple of days. Back off or I will flatten your fat ass to the ground." Cordelia tried to muster up any ounce of dignity she possessed and left Harmony and the other's in a state of shock.

Harmony looked behind her. "Is my ass big?"

~~~*~~~

"Faith." Wesley let go of the punching bag and stepped to the side. "What's going on?" Faith took a step away, grabbing her water bottle. She wasn't particularly thirsty; she just needed a way to avoid looking at Wesley.

"Nothing."

It was disturbing seeing this Wesley, there was no hate or loathing shooting from his eyes. He didn't step five feet back anytime she got too close. This Wesley looked so much like the one she knew in LA, but there were so many differences it put her mind in hyper drive. For one thing he didn't have that nasally whine that used to grate on her nerves, his voice was soothing and if possible in control. He did have an earring, and oddly it didn't look queer on him. His glasses were gone, and his hair much more stylish then the little boy hairdo he once sported. Gone was the tweed, and in its place nice fitting jeans and a light blue sweater that showed off a body she had *no* idea he had.

But if she looked too long at Wesley she'd start getting flashes of the torture she had put him through. It was like having snapshots filtering in front of her eyes. Starting with the disappointed looks he used to give her, to the time she tortured him for hours on end. She'd see the blood and the pain she had caused, making it hard for her to breathe.

"This is what I'm talking about. You aren't talking to me, you can barely look at me in the eye. Have you had second thoughts about us?"

Faith's head snapped up, wondering if she was hearing his words correctly. *Us*? There was an us? "No, I'm just tired is all." Wesley took a few steps closer to her and Faith had to force herself from stepping back when he got inside her personal bubble.

"Are you sure?" Reaching out his hand cautiously, he stroked her cheek. Faith felt her pulse quicken, and her breath was caught somewhere between her lungs and her throat. How could *Wesley* provoke such feelings?

Faith unconsciously stepped into his touch, closing her eyes, enjoying the contact between them. She was caught off guard when she felt his lips brush against hers, first with a feather light pressure that progressed into one of the best kisses she had ever experienced. Wesley controlled the kiss from beginning to end, stopping once to let them breathe, only to lean forward again to seize her mouth.

Faith's head was buzzing, one moment she was floating, next she felt his tongue slip into her mouth causing electrical shocks to run through her blood stream. Hands were running down her back to her ass and she jumped when he gave a slight squeeze. Then it was all over, Wesley pulled away and turned her to the punching bag.

"Practice, you need to practice. We have time to make out later." With a swift swat to rear he gave her a gentle push toward the hanging bag.

~~~*~~~

"Ready?" Willow took a deep breath, and Amy nodded. Both girls walked into the library looking around at the activity on the inside. Giles and Jenny were in the cage gathering weapons and putting them in a black bag. Xander was sitting at the table carving more stakes. It was unnerving to see the smile Jenny flashed their way. Even though she talked to her former mentor and friend yesterday on the phone it was so much more believable to see her in person. Buffy and Angel were sparring in the only open space the library offered.

"I'm glad you two are here." Giles stood and Willow and Amy looked over at him. "There's word of a new vampire nest a few buildings away from the Bronze. If we can get there before sunset we'll have the element of surprise."

"Sure. What do you want us to do?" Willow already in Slayerette mode dropped her bag to the ground.

"I need you to get access to the layout of the tunnels. We need to figure put a way to get Angel and Spike as close to the building as possible." Willow took a step to the computer and froze. Turning around again she stared goggled eyes at the Watcher.

"S-Spike?!?" Willow could barely say the name. Of all the changes she was trying to anticipate Spike being there helping was just not one of them.

"Yes he just called with the location, he should be here in-...Willow dear lord are you okay?" Giles dropped what he was doing, rushing over to the
redhead.

"I-I'm fine." Willow nodded not too reassuringly. It was one thing to have Spike around with a stupid chip in his head, another knowing he was going to be here pre-initiative, chipless. Unless the initiative... Willow shook her head trying to clear it of all the possibilities. This was getting to be way too much.

Buffy stopped and the look she gave Giles was a big fat I told you so. Giles nodded in her direction, letting her know he'd handle it.

Angel watched the scene in front of him. Why would the news of his childe make Willow so shocked? Spike had passed their tests, and had proven to be a trustworthy part of the team. Angel took a step closer to Willow and scrutinized her for a moment. There was something off, besides the new hairdo and clothes that had to be borrowed. Everything looked almost the same, but something was just...

"Willow really you look ill." Giles put out a hand to touch her, and Willow smiled warmly back.

"No, just a little... tired. That's what I get for staying up all night at a slumber party." Amy grabbed Willows arm and started to the computer.

"We'll get you those maps that you need." The blonde said over her shoulder. Everyone exchanged looks but went back to what they were doing.

Amy looked around making sure no one was paying them any attention. "Why the hell is Spike here? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't he supposed to be the big bad still? Causing harm and mayhem?"

"You're asking me? I still don't know where I live." Willow hissed back as turned the computer on.

"While we're searching the underground maps I guess we should find out where you moved to huh?" Amy looked around the library again, wishing they could call it a day.

Taking a calming breath Willow quickly found the maps, having memorized the site years ago. With a few clicks of the mouse she found Sunnydale's white pages. "This doesn't makes any sense. There's no Ira or Shelia Rosenberg." Amy peeked over the redhead's shoulder.

"No but there's a Willow Rosenberg." Pointing Willow's name. Grabbing a pen and paper she wrote down the address and phone number. "That address almost looks familiar." Amy chewed on the end of the pen.

"It should. Giles lives there too, just a few apartments away." Willow scrunched her forehead.

The library door swung open and Cordelia limped through. But before she could open her mouth her hands went to her head and her body collapsed to the ground.