Doubt

Doubt

****

The morning of their planned ****, Peter woke up earlier than usual and then went to wake up Zack and Sean. The three of them gathered in what passed for an entertainment center of the mansion like home they had found and rented. Sara, Demi, and Alice sleepily joined them while Lacey volunteered to make some coffee for the early risers.

"Please tell me you found something, anything," Peter said as he looked around.

"Sorry Pete," Zack apologized as he nodded over at Demi. "We looked everywhere we could. There's no rap sheet on her, No juvenile records, nothing."

"She's squeaky clean. Not even a parking ticket." Demi added. "It's like she's exactly what she seems to be." Nobody said it, but that was just one of the things raising the red flags around Faith.

"There's no scandals, no rumors around her." Alice chimed in, "Everyone likes her. Everyone agrees, she's smart and sweet, just a simple girl with simple tastes." And there was the other red flag. 'EVERYONE' seemed to like her. Alice and Nikki had even sneaked into Faith's home and found exactly what she appeared to be. A sparce, simple but neat home, almost spartan in its simplicity. Even down to her clothing, just a few floral sundresses, two pairs of pants, a few pairs of shoes, and simple winter clothing. It looked like every personal item could fit inside two large suitcases.

"I couldn't find any medical records of her after she left high school." Sean added. "And even there, well, there's nothing out of the ordinary."

Everyone in their own group found her to be a great person. There was just one thing. Two actually: That had this little group circling back to. One was her casual knowledge of the occult and their prey. Second were her mysterious trips to Europe, of which all they had were the passport records. No hotel, credit cards, nothing. And then there was the way she so easily deflected and avoided any question about this. "Ok, make that three things about her." Peter mumbled.

"So what are we going to do?" Sara asked.

"You girls still insisting on coming?" Peter asked.

"Nikki is dead set on coming. She says she wants to be in there with Kenney at the end." Sara said, "I think Laura wants to come because she doesn't want to seem like she's too scared, and Nellie..." She trailed off; the cheerleader Jace had brought home was too much like Jace. Nothing seemed to faze her, or him for the matter. "I think she's in it for the rush."

Jace seemed to take everything in stride, almost without a care. 'A car fell into a sinkhole? So? Just go around the hole. No big deal' was his take most of the days. If anything of what they had seen and done affected him, it didn't show. Except maybe the way he and Nellie seemed to fuck like rabbits at every opportunity. Maybe that was how they coped, an explosion of life energy to counter all the deaths.

"Breakfast!" Lacey sang cheerfully as she struggled to balance a giant tray with a coffee pot and food for all of them. Sean hurried to help her set it down and start to hand out breakfast. Has they started to eat Sean quickly brought Lacey up to speed on what they had just talked about.

"What about Faith?" Zack asked.

"She's scared of the idea." Sara said, and Alice agreed. "She doesn't want to come."

"It wasn't her idea?" Zack asked the same question Peter wanted to know.

"I don't think so." Alice said, "Nikki kind of sprang it on us all on girls night."

"It's true," Lacey said when she noticed the doubtful look on some of them. "She was practically trembling when she heard of it."

They all looked at each other, as if somehow they were reading each other's minds. They sipped their coffee and ate while they pondered it all.

"So this is either a trap," Zack started to say.

"Or she's really scared of this," Demi concluded.

Peter huffed in silence as he mulled things over for a moment. "Doesn't change much. We're still going today," he said. "We just have to keep an eye on her... and Mason."

"He still insists we should wait," Sean said. "He says she'll tell us when she's ready."

"Yeah, well... we're kinda runing out of time for that," Peter said dourly.

Demi nodded when she saw Peter glance at her. "I'll keep an eye on her. I know how to watch a suspect." As a police officer, she and Zack had plenty of experience watching over suspectedly subdued suspects.

Zack reached down and took off his backup piece, a snub-nosed 22 Beretta he kept in an ankle holster. He passes it to Alice, and she nevously accepts the piece. "I'll... I'll help too."

Lacey shakes her head. "She's not going to betray us." She insists. "She could have done it before. I'm telling you she's really scared of going there."

"It's just a precaution," Peter said calmly.

"Want me to watch Mason?" Sean asked. The idea was unsettling for him.

"You think he's in on it? That it's all an act?" Zack asked.

"Maybe. They haven't had sex." Alice added.

Peter raised an eyebrow and looked at Sara and Demi. "We keep track of these things." Sara said, and the four girls all nodded.

"They're just waiting for all this to end." Lacey said.

"You mean Faith is waiting for all this to end." Sara said knowingly, to which Lacey nodded.

Peter shook his head. "Ask Patrick to keep an eye on him," he told Sean. He couldn't spare Sean or Zack to watch over Mason. It wasn't Jace's style to do so, and once the fight started, Kenney was a wrecking ball with his crowbar. "I'll ask Mason and Jace to take point. I want you to protect the girls."

A deep, rambunctious cry sounded from somewhere in the building, followed by a high-pitched feminine squeal. Again, the deep voice sounded triumphant, and they all knew that Jace and Nellie were up.

"Let's go." Peter sighed as they finished their breakfast and headed down to meet the rest of the team.

****

Down in the kitchen, Jace and Nellie were whirlwinds. Their joyfully danced around each other as they made pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon for everyone. Their joyful energy is contagious, and soon the rest join in.

"Come on, Patty boy!" Jace grins as he hands Patrick two plates heaped with food, "We got a big day today, gotta keep your strength up!"

Patrick took the plates and handed one to Laura. He tiredly sat down next to his girlfriend and for the thousandth time asked how they could have so much energy.

"You okay?" Laura asked worriedly, "You didn't sleep well last night."

"Just a bad dream," Patrick said.

"Looked like it was more than just one bad dream," Laura said as she hugged Patrick.

"It will be alright," Patrick assured his girlfriend. "Besides, how do you know it was more than once?

Ever since this had started, he had a couple of bad dreams and nightmares sometimes. So had most of the others. Some hide it better than others. Nikki had confided once how bad it had been with Kenney. At least he had been sleeping better these last few months. A few months ago, they had asked Nellie about Jace, and she said that he always slept like a baby. Every single night. He didn't even snore.

"Are we going to kick some ass or what!?" Jace said as he gave Mason a high-five when he and Faith came into the kitchen.

"We're going to kick ass!" Mason agreed as he let Faith shoo him to a seat at the table. Faith quickly went over and gave Nellie a friendly hug before she started to prepare two plates of food for her and Mason. She set the plates in front of Mason, and he could see she had arranged the bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns to form a smiling face with a heart next to it.

"Thanks, babe," Mason said as they shared a tender kiss.

"It feels like it's going to be a good day," she said cheerfully. But Mason could sense the tension in her voice.

Mason took her hand and leaned in to whisper. "Don't worry. It's going to be ok." He kissed her forehead and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Be careful, honey," Faith whispered.

"It will be alright," Mason reassured her again.

"Mason..." Faith whispered. "I know we want to wait till after all this and we get married and all... but if... no, when we get back... we can... we can... you know..."

Mason nodded. He knew she wanted to wait to have sex. It had been a very frustrating year. At first he had doubts about her intentions; he thought she was stringing him along, playing with his emotions. He quickly noticed that she tried to avoid uncomfortable questions about her past. It made him pay very careful attention to her, fearing she had ulterior motives. But with time, he realized that she really was the sweet girl she appeared to be. He never caught her faking a smile, sneaking around, or doing anything behind his back. He had come to trust her.

And she made the best "Himmel und Erde" and "Engelskuchen" that he had ever tried.

****

Patrick nodded in agreement when Sean whispered into his ear. His already tiered and worried expression turned to a darker mood. has if things weren't bad enough

Laura instantly caught his darkened mood. She moved closer and sat on his lap. Wrapping her arms around him, she whispered into hear. "What's wrong?"

"They want me to keep an eye on Mason." Patrick said his voice was strained. "Watch out for Faith."

Laura nodded. She also had her doubts. But if Patrick could struggle through, so could she. She couldn't abandon him.

***

Note: "Himmel und Erde" is "Heaven and Earth," and "Engelskuchen" is "Angel Cake."