Flooded
Faith had been so busy bracing herself to go back to the Summers house the next morning she hadn’t considered the possibility that she might run into someone before then. Or more specifically, that they might seek her out.
She expected it to be Dawn, come to get her help on another teenage crisis. So she was torn between being relieved and surprised when she opened the door and Buffy stood there, arms crossed, shifting anxiously from foot to foot. Her hair was pinned back in a bun, and she was wearing a blouse and pencil skirt, but her outfit looked pretty rumpled. There were shards of glass on her blouse, which was untucked, and a tear running down her skirt. Faith raised her eyebrows.
“There’s a demon.” Buffy said flatly, meeting Faith’s eyes with an expression that dared her to disagree.
“Last time I checked, B, there was more than just one.”
Buffy gave an annoyed little huff. “There’s a specific demon.” she clarified. Faith gestured for her to enter.
“You need help fighting it?” Faith asked as she closed the motel door. Buffy took a seat on a nearby chair, the same one that Dawn had chosen to sit in.
“It’s not just fighting it. It’s the whole Slayer gig. Research, beating up demons for information, finding the demon, killing it. It’s just too much right now.”
“Don’t you have people that do the research and shit for you?”
“They aren’t Slayers.”
Faith nodded and stuck her hands in her pockets. “So you want me to take care of the demon for you?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Buffy sighed. "Look, I wouldn't normally come to you, but you're the only other Slayer there is, and I just really can't deal with another demon right now."
Faith shrugged. “I mean, I don’t got any problem killin’ a demon. I just don’t understand why it's such a big deal. We kill demons all the time.”
"It's just too much." Buffy said. She spoke calmly, but looked stricken. She cast Faith a guilty expression. “I don’t know how to do this.” she admitted. “Be an adult and a Slayer. How do I deal with bills and money problems and taking care of Dawn while also having to worry about vampires and demons? It’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not.” Faith agreed. She had a little experience with that struggle herself. “Look, I can help you with the demon. It’s no big deal. But I’m not gonna stay in Sunnydale. You’re gonna have to deal with this shit by yourself eventually.”
Buffy nodded in agreement, although Faith wasn’t really sure the other Slayer had considered that. Buffy quickly launched into a description of the demon and the fight that had happened at a bank (which explained why she was dressed like a guidance counselor). After she had finished, Buffy informed Faith that the rest of her group was researching the demon, but she wanted all hands on deck for this one.
“The bank was robbed afterwards.” Buffy explained. “Which is weird, because demons aren’t usually the bank-robbing type. I think this demon is working with--or for--someone else, and I want to know who it is.”
“You got it, B.” Faith was a little annoyed that this situation was forcing her to take orders from Buffy, but she was trying to be better, and part of that was swallowing her pride sometimes. Fuck, being good really sucked.
Buffy nodded, looking harried but a little relieved. Faith was glad that, for once, she was the cause of Buffy’s relief and not her obvious agitation.
“Somethin’ else on your mind?”
Buffy shook her head. “No. That’s it. Thanks, Faith.”
“No problem.” Faith frowned. Buffy was usually more than eager to dump her shit on Faith’s shoulders and leave, but she seemed distant right now. Like she wasn’t all there. Then again, she had seemed the same way since she had come back from the dead.
Buffy left with no further fanfare, though Faith got the impression there was more she wasn’t saying. Whatever. Emotions weren’t her forte, but demon hunting? That she could do.
…
Buffy had told Faith which bank she was at and where it was. Faith’s first idea was to go to the bank to look for clues, before she remembered that Buffy had mentioned it was robbed. Bank robbery meant police, and police were definitely something Faith wanted to avoid.
Still, that didn’t mean she was out of luck. Faith knew enough about people--and about criminals--to know that Buffy was right: someone had hired that demon. So her plan was to find the demon first, and use it to find whoever its contractor was.
There were only so many places a demon in Sunnydale could go with an armload of cash. Faith’s first bet was the most obvious: the sewers. So she strapped herself with weapons that were easy to clean, pulled on her least favorite clothes (that were also easy to clean) and headed down underground.
The sewers were, like the rest of Sunnydale, the same as she remembered. She felt the all-too-familiar feeling of muck and wastewater beneath her feet. The smell was worse than she remembered. There were all kinds of new, terrible smells to uncover in prison, but none of them compared to standing in a sewer, literally ankle-deep in shit.
Faith trekked through the sewer reluctantly. She wasn’t really sure what she was looking for. Buffy had described the demon for her, but the sewers were like kryptonite to her senses. The dark made it harder to see, the smell was overwhelming, and she could hardly hear anything over the sound of rushing water.
Eventually, though, she hit a lucky break. Some vampire lurking around. Maybe the sewers were fucking with his enhanced senses, too, because he didn’t notice her coming until she was pinning him to the wall, stake pressed into his back.
“You seen a demon around here?”
“Slayer,” he snarled, craning his neck to look at her. Faith pressed the stake harder into his back.
“Yeah, I’m kind of in a rush, and I'm not really feeling the whole 'nemesis' gig. Maybe you think that we're natural enemies, but trust me, you barely even register as a threat.” The vampire snarled at that, thrashing. Faith stomped on his leg hard enough that she heard a bone crack. It would heal soon. If she let him live that long. “So here’s what I want from you. You’re gonna tell me if you’ve seen a demon that looks like some kind of lizard-human hybrid around here, and then I’ll decide whether to let you live.”
“Why would I tell you? You’ll just kill me anyways.”
“Okay,” Faith pretended to think for a moment. “How ‘bout this? I either kill you fast,” she pressed the stake into his back again, “or slow. Which one do you want?”
“Slow just means more time for me to kick your ass.” the vampire laughed. Faith shoved her stake wholly through his ribcage until she felt the tip burst through his heart. He dissolved, like they always did. Almost always.
She watched the trail of dust settle on the murky water. There was a dollar bill floating on the current. She spotted it, quickly realizing that it was crisp, if a little soggy. Fresh bank tender.
Faith lunged for the bill, snatching it out of the water. It was limp and soggy, but clearly new. It smelled mostly like sewer, but there was the faintest scent of something sulfuric. It was a scent Faith knew well, though she remembered it best when it was accompanied by expensive cologne.
She wasn't sure if it was Slayer instincts or her sudden urge to hit something real hard, but the stench of the sewer faded away, and the scent of sulfur sharpened. Faith took off running, not even caring that the demon could probably hear her coming a mile away. She didn’t need to catch him off guard. This wasn’t a stealth battle anymore. It was a brawl.
She registered the flash of green, scaly muscle, the two eyes that weren’t the same color, and pulled out her knife. She was moving before he even realized who she was, what she was. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears.
The demon dropped his cartoonish sack of cash and lunged for her. Faith realized quickly that he was trying to grab her, and ducked out of the way just in time to deliver a wicked slash to his side. He roared. “You bitch!”
Faith couldn’t deny she was surprised he could talk, though he was wearing human clothes, so maybe she shouldn’t be.
“Fuck you.” she shot back. He twisted, baring his teeth, and Faith plunged her knife into his chest. It didn’t seem to phase him much. He plucked the knife out and grinned, waggling it at her.
“I’m keeping this.”
“Don’t worry.” Faith pulled another, slightly shorter knife out of her jacket. “I’ve got a spare.”
The demon lunged with her knife, going for her gut. Faith moved just in time for it to slice her hip. Shit. She really hoped that didn’t get infected.
He did the same maneuver again. This time, Faith was expecting it. She leapt back and hurled her knife at him. It hit him in the shoulder. Looking disgruntled, he ripped the knife out. More green ooze trickled into the noxious sludge at their feet.
“Enough of this.” He tossed both of her knives aside and lunged with his hands. He had claws and spikes lining his arms. He didn’t need knives. Then again, neither did Faith.
As soon as he was within an arm’s length of her, Faith grabbed him, using his own momentum to spin him around and slam him to the ground. They never expected her to be able to do that. They always counted on being bigger and stronger than her. And sure, they were bigger, but Faith was faster, and almost always just as strong. So it wasn’t hard to use his own heavy move against him, ending with him sputtering and trying to keep his head above water and Faith sitting atop him, watery waste lapping against her thighs as she pressed her third and final knife to his throat.
“Who hired you?”
“Like I’m going to tell you,” the demon laughed, in between mouthfuls of raw sewage. Faith thought that she should be disgusted, but she could still only smell sulfur and the phantom smell of cologne.
“If you don’t, I’ll kill you.”
“You’ll kill me either way.”
Faith smirked, pressing the knife in deeper. “Maybe not. If you’re real good, I might let you live.”
“I know how this game goes, Slayer.” The demon shook his head in disgust. “Two Slayers. What has this world come to?”
Faith’s grin widened.
“You don’t know who I am, do you?”
“You’re the other Slayer. I’ve heard about you. The crazy one.”
“Oh, no. I’m not the crazy Slayer." Faith pressed her knife deep enough that she felt a vein burst. Every inch of her felt electrified, to have a knife in her hand, to do what she was good at again. "I’m the evil Slayer.” The demon made a sound, though it was hard to tell if that was because of the knife or the dregs of shit he was gargling.
He spat something into the water. “What does that mean? You kill even more ruthlessly than the other Slayer?”
“It means I’m not like Buffy. I don’t fight demons unless I want something from them, and I don’t kill them unless they piss me off. Which you are starting to do. Understand?”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
Faith pulled out her trump card. “I was the Mayor’s right hand man, before B and her band of merry misfits killed him.”
She knew that he knew who the Mayor was. The Ascension would have been huge in the demon community, even if it had failed.
“So you don’t work with the Slayer from the bank?” the demon looked suspicious, or as suspicious as someone like him could look.
“I’ve tried to kill her more times than I’ve worked with her.”
“Then why did you come looking for me right after I attacked her?”
“I don't give a shit that you attacked her. I'm just you couldn't take her down for good.”
“I know you’re lying," The demon snarled, baring his teeth at her again.
“I’m not lying when I tell you that I wished she had stayed dead. She deserves to be in the ground. And I’m not lying when I tell you that no one controls me, that I work alone, and that I’m the one on top of you with your life in my hands, a life that will be cut short if you don’t fucking tell me who hired you.”
“Fine. They’re not worth it, anyway.” The demon gave her an address, and Faith nodded. She made no effort to get off him.
“I told you where they were. Now get off me, or I’m gonna have to kill you.”
“That’s the thing.” said Faith, and she could feel the rage surging, her muscles burning with it, her chest aching, as she shoved the blade of the knife deeper into his throat, feeling it cut through muscle and bone, until finally his head was cleaved from his shoulders and her blade hit stone. “I lied.”
…
Faith went back to the motel and called Buffy to tell her that the demon was dead. She didn’t mention that he was probably hired, or that she got the mastermind’s address.
After that, she tossed her filthy clothes in the corner of the bathroom, deciding she would probably have to burn them. Or maybe she’d keep them to wear whenever she had to be in the same room as her boss. The smell ought to keep him from grabbing her, at least.
She rinsed the grime from the sewer off under the weak water pressure of the dingy motel bathroom, changed into some cleaner clothes, and wiped off her knives. Then she set off towards the address the demon had given her, bringing a stake and a knife in case it wasn’t human. If they were human, they’d just have to settle for her fists.
She’d half-expected the address to lead to a crypt or abandoned warehouse somewhere, but instead she found herself standing on the steps of a perfectly normal, suburban house. There was a dark-haired woman in a sunhat knelt over a small garden out front. The sun was setting. Faith wondered why she was still out gardening.
The woman looked up as Faith approached the door, leapt to her feet, and rushed over. “Hi,” she said, smiling in that fake, almost pitying way that older women frequently looked at her with, “Can I help you?”
Faith shrugged. “Dunno. I look familiar to you?” She was hoping that maybe the woman would recognize her as the Slayer if she had any connection to the demon, but was a long shot.
The woman looked her up and down, smile faltering slightly. “Are you one of Warren’s girls?” she asked, sounding somehow hopeful and disappointed at the same time. “There’ve been all kinds of strange women around since he and Katrina broke up. Do you know Katrina? She was such a nice girl. And smart, too!”
Faith didn’t know who Warren was, or who Katrina was. But from the sound of it, he was a teenage boy. Teenage boy plus magic beyond his understanding could equal hiring a demon to rob a bank. If not, maybe he would at least know who did summon the demon. Maybe his dad was a real douchebag, or something.
“Yeah, I’m Warren’s girl.” Faith said. “Can I see him?”
The woman looked at Faith again, and frowned. “Well, I don’t know.” she began slowly. “He’s in the basement right now, and I don’t like the idea of him being alone down there with a girl. But then, Andrew and Jonathan are down there, too, and he wouldn’t do anything with them around. Do you know Andrew and Jonathan?”
“Sure. We hang out together all the time.”
“Good.” the woman seemed appeased by this, and let Faith into the house. Warren’s mother--or at least that's what Faith assumed she was--gestured for Faith to follow her down a hallway.
“Do you go to school with Warren?” she asked as they walked.
“No.”
“Oh.” She seemed disappointed by this. “How did you two meet, then?
“At the Bronze.”
“When did he go to the Bronze?”
“Dunno.”
The woman gave Faith a very dubious look, and then stopped. They had reached a door. She opened it and poked her head down.
“Warren! There’s a girl here to see you!”
There was a pause. Then a voice came shouting back up the stairs, “What girl? Is it Katrina?”
“No, it’s some other girl. She said the two of you met at the Bronze?”
Another pause. Faith heard the sound of whispering. She figured she would be turned away, because there was no way this Warren would just let a stranger into his basement. But after a few moments of frantic, argumentative whispering, Warren’s voice rang out again.
“Send her down!”
Warren’s mother looked expectantly at Faith. Faith stepped into the stairway, and the woman smiled. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” she said, which was an objectively ridiculous thing to say because Faith didn’t know her, and had no idea what she would or wouldn’t do.
The basement door closed behind her, and as Faith looked down at the stairs, she realized what a stupid plan this was. She should have scoped the house out, watched the people who lived there, tried to figure out who would be most likely to summon a demon. She shouldn’t have done this. She had no idea what, or who, she was facing. As she descended the stairs, a hand went for the knife at her side. She didn’t want to kill again. She really didn’t. But now she was worried she didn’t have a choice.
Of course, those fears quickly dissipated when she reached the bottom of the stairs and found herself standing in what could only be described as a nerd lair. The basement was unfinished, which explained why the three boys sitting in front of her were propped in beanbag chairs. Two of them were striking awkward poses that were clearly meant to be sexy (they weren't working). The one furthest to the right was just sitting there, looking wary and vaguely annoyed. There was something about him that Faith instantly didn’t trust, something much more sinister than the other two boys. They were clearly harmless, though idiots. But this one… he was dangerous. She recognized the look of someone on the edge of darkness. It wasn't easily forgotten.
“Hey, I know you!” cried the boy in the middle, interrupting Faith's silent showdown with his friend. He had dark hair like the one on the right, but was clearly much shorter than either of them, even sitting down. Faith couldn’t say she recognized him at all, and the fact that he recognized her set her on edge.
“You’re a friend of Buffy’s, right?” the boy in the middle spoke amicably, but the other two noticeably tensed.
“Jonathan,” hissed the boy to the left, an average-looking guy with spiky blond hair and wide eyes, “Buffy is our nemesis. So if this girl is her friend…”
“I’m not Buffy’s friend.” Faith said flatly. Jonathan made a confused face.
“But you two were always hanging out when we were in high school. I remember. I saw you two skip together once. You were at Homecoming, too! You made a big scene, told Scott Hope that he gave you an STD, or something. Did you know he's gay now?”
Faith hadn't known that, and quite frankly, she didn't care. She'd only ever cared about him when he was a part of Buffy's life.
“I'm not here to make small talk.”
“So why are you here?” asked the dark-haired one, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “We’ve already established that you know the Slayer. You were even friends with her. Why should we trust you?”
“You shouldn’t. I’m not hear to earn you dorks’ trust.”
“Hey!” cried the blond one, clearly outraged. “We’re not dorks!”
Faith looked pointedly around the room. “That's fair.” she heard Jonathan mutter.
“Enough.” said the dark-haired one, who Faith had now surmised was the leader. He pinned Faith with a look. “Who are you, and why are you here? If you don’t tell us, we’ll have to kill you.”
“What?” cried the blond boy, clearly not interested in murder. “Warren!” protested Jonathan. Warren ignored both of them.
Faith sized up Warren, then both of his friends. They were human. She wasn’t. It wouldn’t be hard to take them down. She could probably do it without breaking a single thing in the basement. But she didn’t like going into fights she knew she would win, so she just gave Warren her nastiest little smile.
“You couldn’t kill me even if you wanted to. But I can kill you. All three of you. Easily. Which is why you’re going to tell me what I want to know.”
“Oh, yeah?” Warren challenged. Jonathan and the other one looked like they were about to piss themselves. “And what, exactly, do you think we’re going to tell you?”
“Why did you hire that demon to rob the bank? What are you planning?”
Warren didn’t answer, but Faith noticed the blond one’s eyes darted to a whiteboard nearby. She looked over at it.
It was a to-do list. Quite possibly the stupidest to-do list Faith had ever seen. Control the weather? ‘The gorilla thing’? Girls was written on there twice. She looked back at the three of them and laughed.
“That's what you guys were planning to do with the money?”
“It’s a solid plan.” protested the blond one. Faith thought it was interesting that even when he tried to assert himself, his voice came out as a sad little whine. Still, Jonathan nodded in agreement, so at least he had that going for him.
“Shut up, both of you.” Warren snapped. He glared at the two of them until they fell into contrite silence, and then turned back to Faith.
“So maybe we haven't figured out the minutiae of our plans yet. That doesn't mean we're not threats to the Slayer, or the newest member of her little girl group.” He gave Faith a distasteful once-over. Faith bristled. She was used to attention from men, especially scummy men like Warren, but it didn't mean she had to like it.
“Buffy's the Slayer, but you're just a girl. We could totally beat up a girl.” the blond one piped up.
“Good luck with that, nerds." Faith said, and turned to leave. She heard a chorus of protests as she went, ranging from Warren's mildly sinister, "You're going to regret this," to Jonathan's cheery, "Say hi to Buffy for me." She ignored them all, focusing on trying to keep from giving each of them a black eye as she walked out of the house, not even bothering to say goodbye to Warren's mother. She really didn't have the fortitude. How the hell did Buffy deal with stupid shit like this and not go insane?
…
It was unbelievable, really. All that chaos and freaking over one demon who turned out to be hired by three dorks. Even the next day, Faith was shaking her head about it, mostly pissed that she'd wasted a day in the sewer only to end up in some kind of freakshow nerd dungeon. Those idiots.
As she reached the Summers house, just like she had promised, Faith realized she would have to explain all of this to Buffy and crew. Not just the dead demon, but the boys who had hired him, too. She wasn't used to having to explain herself. God, this Sunnydale gig just kept finding new ways to suck, didn't it?
Faith knocked on the door, dimly aware that she was more afraid of this than she had been facing both a vampire and a demon yesterday.
The door opened. Willow answered again. She looked at Faith and said, “Oh, good. We were just leaving.” as she briskly brushed past Faith, Tara in tow. The other witch gave Faith an apologetic look as they left.
The doorway was empty now, and Faith stood still, unsure whether or not this meant she was invited in. As she stood awkwardly in front of the open door, Dawn bounded by, spotted Faith, and paused.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. She didn’t sound angry or accusatory, but Faith still bristled a little bit. It was an excellent question. What was she doing here?
Giles walked over to the doorway, apparently overhearing the conversation. “Oh, good, Faith,” he said in that insufferably British accent of his. “Buffy told me you’d be coming by.”
“Yeah, I’m here.” Faith grumbled. Giles gave her an uncomfortable smile. Well, at least he seemed aware of the situation.
Faith stepped inside. “Do you want something to eat?” Dawn asked. “I’m about to make a peanut butter and jelly quesadilla.”
“No you’re not.” interjected Buffy, who had just entered from the kitchen. “You’re about to eat your eggs and go to school.”
Dawn looked from Faith to Buffy, pleading. “Come on, Buffy. I’m at least old enough to hear you guys talk!”
“The kid knows what I did, B. It’s not like it’ll get worse than that. Right?”
Buffy gave Dawn a stern look, then imitated the expression with Faith. “Go eat your breakfast.”
Dawn pouted as she walked into the kitchen. Buffy ushered Faith calmly into the living room, where Giles was sitting on a couch bedecked in cutesy sheets. If Faith weren’t so unnerved by the situation, she might have laughed.
Faith sat down in a nearby chair. Buffy sat next to Giles. As she sat, Faith caught him giving her a soft, affectionate look. He seemed glad that she was back. Then again, so did everyone else. Would they still be happy if they knew where she was back from?
They sat in silence for a moment. Faith listened to the sound of Dawn chewing. Buffy and Giles stared at her and finally, unable to stand it any longer, Faith looked at Giles and blurted out, “I’m sorry, okay?” Giles blinked in surprise.
“B told me I owe you an apology, and she’s probably right.” Faith looked down at her hands. “I did some shitty things back… back then. But I’m better now, I swear. Been slayin’ again for months, and I haven’t killed a human yet.”
“That’s good, Faith.” Faith hated how patronizingly encouraging Giles’s tone was.
“So, what?” Now that the apology was over, Faith was able to look him in the eyes again. “I say I’m sorry and we’re done? That’s it?”
He leaned forward, ignoring her question entirely, which Faith guessed was an answer in of itself. “Tell us about the demon you killed yesterday.”
“I dunno. It looked like Buffy described it. Big. Ugly. Mean. I killed it. It was hired to do the robbery thing, but I found who hired it pretty easily.”
“Who hired it?” asked Buffy.
“Couple of dorks. I don’t think they’ll be a problem again.”
Buffy and Giles exchanged a confused look. “The demon that robbed a bank was hired by… nerds?” asked Buffy.
“Yeah. I mean, that’s what it seemed like to me. Three nerds sitting in a basement, plotting how they’re gonna get laid or something. I dunno. It was sad and weird, and I don’t think you have to worry about them anyways. They seemed mostly harmless.”
“‘Mostly’ harmless?” Giles repeated dubiously.
“Well, their leader, some guy named Warren-”
“Warren?” Buffy interrupted, eyes wide. Faith was getting really sick of people just repeating what she was saying.
“Did he have brown hair, a long face, kind of a creepy stare?” asked Buffy. Faith shrugged. “Sure. That’s one way to describe him.”
Buffy looked over at Giles. “Giles, that’s the guy that built that robot girl, and Buffybot.”
Giles furrowed his brow. “Really? Are you sure?”
“It sounds like it.” Buffy looked back at Faith. “Did he seem like he built creepy robot girlfriends to keep himself company?”
“B, I’m gonna be honest with you: I have no idea how to answer that.”
“Fair enough.” Buffy conceded.
“He did seem dangerous, though.”
“Dangerous?” Giles took off his glasses to polish. “How so?”
“I don’t know. I just got a bad feeling from him. The other two seemed like they were just getting into something they didn’t understand, but him? I don’t trust him.”
Buffy nodded. “Noted. I’ll hold back a little less if I ever have to beat him up.”
“If you do, make sure to bring me along." Faith grinned, and for a moment, Buffy shared her smile. It was almost like old times.
“Faith," Giles began cautiously, "While I am pleased about your enthusiasm-”
"Relax, G." said Faith, interrupting whatever magnimonious monologue Giles was about to go on. "Beating up a couple nerds isn't gonna send me back over the edge or nothin'. If anything, I think it would help. Those three gave off kind of a creepy vibe, you know?"
"Still, it wouldn't be the worst idea for us to work together, talk about your methods and how this is going work with you and Buffy."
“I appreciate the offer, G, but we’ve been down this road before. I don’t need a mentor, and you sure as hell aren’t gonna be one to me.”
“I just want to make sure you’re not going to-”
“Going to what? Kill someone again?”
“Faith.” Buffy chastised quietly. Faith looked over at her. She looked tired. She always looked tired these days.
“Look, G, those days are behind me, I swear. I’m trying to be better. But I can’t be better with everyone in this town breathing down my neck, trying to make me someone I’m not or prove that I’m a monster. So while I’m here, can everyone please just back off?”
“How long are you here for?" Giles interrupted, again steering the conversation away from what Faith was trying to talk about. "If I may ask?”
Faith shrugged. “I dunno. A couple more days? I have a job to get back to. Rent to pay.” At that, Giles looked mildly surprised. “I can’t stay here forever. I only came back because of what happened with Buffy.”
Giles looked over at Buffy and frowned. “You knew they were going to bring her back?”
“I had a Slayer dream. I came to stop it.”
Something in him tensed, just like Faith knew it would. He regarded her carefully. “Why?”
Faith thought about telling him the truth. She hated keeping Buffy’s secrets. But then she looked at Buffy, and knew she couldn’t. So instead she told him. “My dream said something about the balance of nature being upset if B got brought back, or something. I figured it was something I should stop.”
She expected Giles to be angry that she had tried to keep him from his precious Buffy, but instead he looked relieved.
“I really am glad you’re back, Faith.” he said, and there was a sincerity to his words Faith hadn’t experienced in a while. She knew that he didn’t just mean back in Sunnydale, either. She still had wrongs to right with him, just like the rest of the Scoobies, but it was nice to for once not be treated like shit. It was nice that at least someone recognized that she was trying to do better.
“Yeah,” said Faith. “Me too.”
“We really should talk more about how this is going to work. You being back and out of prison. Even if you do intend to work out of Cleveland, which I’m certainly not saying is a bad idea-”
The phone rang. Buffy sprang up to get it.
“Ideally, you and Buffy would work together again, or at least be allies.” Giles continued. “But with your history, I’m not sure that’s the smartest or most sustainable path.”
"I'm a big girl. I can handle it."
"Well it's not just about what you can handle."
Both Faith and Giles looked over to the other room where Buffy was on the phone. Faith nodded.
"I know."
Buffy walked back into the room, looking distant and distracted--more than usual.
“B? What’s wrong?” asked Faith, eyeing the other Slayer cautiously. Buffy looked over at her, and her eyes widened, like she had forgotten Faith was even there.
“Angel.” she said.
“Is he in trouble?” Giles said, brow furrowed in concern.
“He knows that I’m…” Buffy trailed off, like she couldn’t quite finish the sentence. “He needs to see me. I need to see him.”
“Of course.” said Giles gently. Faith had always wondered what it would be like to be treated with that kind of kindness and support. “You’ll leave for LA tomorrow.”
“Not LA. And not… here. Somewhere in the middle. Angel knows a place.”
“Well, we really should finish our discussion before you go. And don’t forget, Buffy, we have those bills to go over-”
“I have to go now.” Buffy insisted, though Faith had no idea why Buffy wanted to see Angel so badly. Last time she had checked, they had parted on bad terms.
As she started towards the door, Buffy paused, and turned back to Giles just long enough to say, “Thanks for taking care of all of this for me, Giles.” Giles nodded. Buffy was out the door too quickly to see Giles’s tight smile fade into a worried expression, but Faith caught it. He turned away, starting towards the dining room table to sort some papers. Faith got up to leave. It wasn’t her business, and she really didn’t want to get involved in whatever emotional strife was going on here. Still, Giles looked just worried enough that Faith, damn her common sense, stopped by the dining room long enough to say, “Let me know when B’s back. We can have that talk you wanted, or whatever.”
Giles gave her a weak smile. “Thank you, Faith.”
Faith waved him off and left the house, silently cursing herself for letting yet another piece of her life get entangled with the other Slayer’s.