Episode 1a:
"Boys (and girls) of Summer"
by Ironbear
Starring:
Elisha Dushku as "Faith"
Sarah Michelle Gellar as "Buffy Summers"
Anthony Stewart Head as "Rupert Giles"
Nicholas Brendan as "Alexander 'Xander' Harris"
Alyson Hannigan as "Willow Rosenberg"
Charisma Carpenter as "Cordelia Chase"
Seth Green as "Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne"
Co-Starring:
Kristine Sutherland as "Joyce Summers"
Saverio Guerra as "Willy the Snitch"
Guest Starring:
Tyrone Benskin as "Nkuyu Lungombe"
Lucinda Jenney as "Janice"
Timothy Olyphant as "Bus Station Pimp"
David Thewlis as "Bus Station Thug"
Cindy Drummond as Diner Waitress
"...Into each generation a girl is born, a Chosen One. She alone will wield the strength and skill needed to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of evil, stopping the swell of their numbers and the spread of their evil. She alone will stand against the powers of Darkness. She is the Slayer." - Legend of the Slayer
Chapter 1: Ill Met by Gravelight -
Tuesday, July 28th, Sunnydale High School library; afternoon.
"Ooh! Ooh! I found something!" Willow Rosenberg's voice took on an excited tone over the clattering of her keyboard.
"What?" Several pairs of eyes focused curious looks on her from various parts of the library, and Alexander "Xander" Harris got up to stand over the back of her chair so he could peer at the screen of the library computer.
"It's a place that makes and sells air rifles modified to shoot arrows or crossbow bolts," Willow said. "Look! You know, because we're having problems loading crossbows fast enough and all."
"Hrrrmmm," Xander leaned over to look at the screen. "Cool. Compressed air tank, faster to load, easier to aim, better range." It was good thing for all of them that the 'soldier memories' from his Halloween possession hadn't completely faded yet, helping him to know what he was looking at - and for. It was apparent to all of them by now that they badly needed something better to work with if they were going to fill in for their wayward slayer, and survive doing so.
No one in their group wanted to admit that it was starting to look like Buffy Summers wasn't coming back, but the fact that they were starting to make plans for attempting to fill her role on a longer term basis was telling.
"You mean we can maybe dust more than one vamp every other week without getting killed or having to flee in terror?" Cordelia Chase looked up from her nail care. "All for that, raise hands."
"Seconded," Oz lifted a hand and let it drop.
Cordelia frowned, noticing yet again the way that Willow was looking up at Xander as he leaned over her back. Jeeze. If the little red-head got any more blatant, she'd have 'Xander take me now!' tattooed on her eyelids. Good thing that Harris defined oblivious towards his best friend's obvious Xander obsession. Oz glanced away from the pair, met Cordelia's eyes and his brow creased slightly as well - almost making an expression.
"Plus we can make our own wooden bolts here in the wood shop," Xander finished reading his way down the page of images and specifications to the critical information. "And, Holy Greenbacks, Batgirl!" He straightened abruptly, frowning, and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. "No way can we afford that." He shoved his hands in his pockets, "Can you like, flag that for later or something?"
"Bookmark. It's called 'bookmarking'," Willow grinned, then sighed. "I know, but so far, nothing we've found that's useful is like, cheap."
"We should start our own store: Fearful Vampire Hunting on a Shoestring," Xander said.
"Let me see," Cordelia put down her nail file and got up to bump Xander over to one side so she could look at the screen. "Move over, Doof."
"And yet she looks so lifelike," Xander grumbled as he scooted over. "Almost like a real person, only without that annoying courtesy thing."
Cordelia gave him the patented thousand watt grin with all of the insincerity she could muster. "And yet you enjoy the abuse so much. Hrmm... " she tapped a fingernail thoughtfully on her lips, then sighed internally and dug into a pocket. "Go ahead and order them," she said, handing her credit card to Willow. "One for everyone and a couple of extras."
Three pairs of eyebrows put on climbing gear and began to ascend foreheads.
"Cool, and yet unexpectedly generous," Oz remarked.
"What?" Cordelia looked around, arching an eyebrow imperiously. "Like I don't want to live long enough to graduate or something? Oh, please."
"Ah yes. We forgot the lure of enlightened self-interest," Xander said, snickering. He winced as Cordelia smacked him on the shoulder.
"And like I so enjoy breaking nails loading crossbows. As if!" Cordelia smiled, "Besides, it's not like Daddy looks at my credit card statements, anyway. So I go without a couple of new outfits until just before school starts."
"Self inflicted clothing deprivation," Oz noted. "Hellmouthy."
"Ok," Xander turned to stare at her. "Where is the real Cordelia Chase and what have you done with her?"
"I'll never tell," Cordelia smirked, and added, "Dweebo," as an afterthought.
"If you're sure?" Willow held the card up, pausing for the answer. She frowned, glad that the other girl couldn't see the expression while she faced the computer. Willow really didn't like the self-appointed 'Queen C of Sunnydale', but even she had to admit that the cheerleader and socialite had more than held up her end of trying to help keep supernatural menaces down to a dull roar over the summer.
"I said so, didn't I?" Cordelia frowned. "Anything else we can think of, while we're at it?"
"A couple of those compound crossbows wouldn't hurt," Xander said. "Well, not hurt us, hopefully."
"There's that place I found where we can buy bottled holy water on line," Willow added.
"Paintball guns," Oz remarked. Everyone looked at the guitarist.
"We mark the vamps so we can track their migration and mating habits?" Xander frowned, ignoring the 'eeww' from the girls.
Oz gave him a microscopic eyebrow lift, almost looking pained, for Oz. "Ink refill kits. Big syringe. Can draw out the dye, inject holy water."
"Oooh! Like for inkjet printers," Willow nodded enthusiastically.
"And seal them back up with a dab of super-glue or epoxy," Xander nodded. "Reach out and splatter vamps the Hellmouth way - now with new and improved technology!"
"Wow." Cordelia arched an eyebrow in Oz's direction. "That was almost verbose."
"Won't happen again." Oz gave her a bland look.
"Couple of the paint ball rifles and several of the pistol kind?" Xander gave his girlfriend an inquiring look, to which she rolled her eyes and nodded. Considering for a moment, Xander added, "Super-soakers?"
"Nah. We can get those at the hobby shop on Main," Cordelia shook her head. "No waiting."
Willow nodded and opened several other browser windows and started entering data. "Delivery?" She paused.
"My house," Cordelia said, after a short pause. "We get deliveries all the time, so no one will blink. And the parental units won't be back until right before school starts."
"We can practice with them out in the woods next door," Xander said, nodding. His girlfriend flashed him a grin and he added. "I can get some hardwood dowels at my job for arrow making, and glue on broadheads at the sporting goods shop." He chuckled, "At least my summer thing at the contracting supply store is good for more than just padding the road trip fund."
"Three day shipping, or overnight?" Willow asked.
Cordelia chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Three day. We can concentrate on grave watching for newbies until then."
"Got it," Willow finished entering amounts, addresses, and credit card number and passed the card back over her shoulder to Cordelia. She leaned back, "All done."
"Cool." Oz went back to his guitar catalog. "Thanks," he added, and the others made sounds of agreement.
"Hey - it's my fashionably clad and elegant neck on the line, too, you know." Cordelia stated, sounding pleased at the acknowledgment.
"Ok, boyz and gurls," Xander clapped his hands together. "We met the 'Scooby Survival Dilemma' and it is ours. What should we do with the rest of our afternoon?"
"Mall. Food and shopping," Cordelia said. She gave Xander - or more accurately, his clothes - a speculative look.
"Oh no. No way am I letting you play 'Dress Up Xan-doll' with my outfit," Xander backed away, holding his fingers in a cross shape between them. "Back, foul woman! Back!"
Cordelia sniffed, "Oh please. Like I'd dignify that pile of rags with the word 'outfit'?" Xander kept backing away until he hit the edge of the counter, and she shrugged. "Your loss, geek-boy. You're still coming to carry packages, though."
"That I can do," Xander lowered his finger cross. "My manly strength is at your disposal, in exchange for a trip through the food court. Ow," he rubbed his arm where Cordelia smacked him.
"Manly, huh?" She hooked her arm through his and glanced at the other two. Oz and Willow shared a moment of silent communication.
"Could eat," Oz allowed.
"We're in," Willow grinned back at him, then turned to Cordelia. "Thanks, Cordy," she said, albiet a bit grudgingly.
"Don't mention it," Cordelia gave a tug on her boyfriend's arm, heading towards the library doors. "To anyone," she added.
...
Tuesday, July 28th, Sunydale bus station; night.
Faith hauled her backpack out of the overhead rack, yawning and trailing after the handful of other passengers exiting the Greyhound. She shrugged into it and then paused, frowning, as she stepped down to head into the terminal. The ambiance of the Hellmouth hit her the moment her foot touched the pavement, and she froze as an oily feeling of wrongness slithered into her gut through her slayer senses and twisted.
'Whoa! What the fuck is that?' Faith stumbled slightly as she took a step away from the bus. 'Feels like something from one of those Lovecraft books, and it's everywhere.'
Strange town, she could tell already, even without the mystic taint reaching out from everything.. This had to be the first bus station she'd seen during her cross country jaunt that was nearly deserted after dark. No homeless people, druggies, dealers, panhandlers, or chickenhawks lining the sidewalk outside waiting for opportunity, either. Either this place had truly zealous cops - or one hell of a vamp problem come nightfall.
Faith really wasn't willing to bet on the zealous law enforcement.
She rolled her shoulders under the straps and made sure she had a pair of stakes handy in her waistband and jacket pockets. Locating a phone book, she flipped through it until she found a listing for motels, and then tore out the page and the locater map. She decided she could wait on looking up Buffy Summers or her Watcher until tomorrow - after several days on buses and trains, what she wanted now most of all was a place to crash, food, and a shower, not necessarily in that order.
Barely a couple of hours past sundown, she noted. No cabs, but she didn't really want to waste the money on one, either. She wasn't broke by any means, but what she had was going to have to last her for awhile. Glancing at the street signs and getting her bearings, she headed off across town at a steady pace.
...
"Eeek!" Willow made a yelping noise as a clawed hand thrust upwards from the new grave, followed shortly after by another hand, a head in full vamp-face, and a pair of shoulders.
"Let me help you out," Xander leaned forward and reached out a hand to the newly rising vampire, hiding a stake behind his leg in his other hand.
The fledgling vamp gave him a surprised look, blinking dirt out of its eyes, then muttered something that sounded like, "Thanks."
"No prob," Xander grasped the vamps wrist firmly, and then leaned back, pulling it forward and outwards from the grave. There was a moist crunching sound as Cordelia shoved a sharpened mop handle through its exposed back, followed by a startled look from the vamp and an explosion of dust.
"Score," Oz remarked.
"And that, ladies and germs, is how it's done down on the Hellmouth," Xander said. He picked himself up from where the sudden release of tension had dumped him on his butt when the vamp dusted as Cordelia came around the headstone.
Cordelia took a short bow, "And I would like to thank all the little people who have come together to make this moment possible."
"Now, that wasn't very sporting, people," said a voice from behind them.
"Uh oh," Oz said. The four turned to see a trio of very non-new vampires standing a few yards away.
"Umm, guys?" Willow's voice had a slight edge of panic to it. Xander and Cordelia looked to where she pointed and saw two more leaning against a headstone in full game face.
"Yeah. He didn't even get a chance to not take a deep breath on his first night," one of the leaning vamps remarked.
Xander turned to face the three vamps, with Cordelia taking a firmer grip on her stake-staff, as Willow and Oz faced the two leaning vamps. "Well, if we wanted to make this a sport, that might, like, bother us," Harris said, trying to make his voice sound firm and unworried.
Judging from the slight squeak at the end, he didn't think he managed. This was very much of the bad.
"Now look what you've done," the right side vamp of the trio remarked. "Now we're going to go to all the trouble of having to turn a new minion." His yellow eyes fastened on Cordelia as he lunged forward, "You'll do."
There was a thwang! from behind as Oz's crossbow went off, followed by a snarl, a yelp from Willow, and the sound of a vamp dusting. Cordelia brought her sharpened pole up and into the rushing vamp's chest with a muttered, "You wish, ugly," as Xander tried to step into the other two before they reached her.
Things went sideways in a rush after that. Xander had a jumbled impression of Cordelia and Willow screaming and too many limbs moving way too fast as one of the vamps ducked under his swing, and the other went past him in a rush. He managed to get his stake in with his other hand, but he knew with a sickening certainty that he'd missed the heart. A fist caught him on the side of the face with an impact like a ball peen hammer, and he went down in a jumble of teeth, yellow eyes, and bad breath in his face.
He managed to bring a knee up as they went over, resulting in little more than a pissed off grunt from the vamp. Xander noted with a mild detachment a small voice in the back of his mind screaming "We're going to die ohmygodwe'regoingtodiediediegoingtodie- " even while he tried to keep the fangs out of his throat with an arm jammed under the vampire's chin.
Then the weight came off of his chest abruptly and he found himself choking on a mouth-and-noseful of vamp dust, trying dazedly to blink it out of his eyes. He had a vague impression he was hearing punching sounds, grunts, and a steady string of muttered cursing that would make a sailor proud.
"God" thud "damned" grunt "idiot" crunch "mother-" whap "bloodsu-" thud "bastard!"
Xander felt a hand under one armpit hauling him up and he finally shook the dust out of his eyes to see a disheveled and wild eyed Cordelia pulling up on him, and an equally wild looking brunette girl beating the living crap out of one of the vamps in a whirl of fists and boots. He threw a frantic look around to see a grim looking Oz helping Willow to her feet, and no other vamps in sight. "Wha... ?"
"Humping dirtsucker," the dark haired girl slammed the much worse for wear vamp against a tombstone with a circle kick and stepped back. She threw Xander an exhilarated look and pointed, "Mind if I borrow that?"
While Xander was gawping, trying to make sense out of the situation, Cordelia blew a clump of hair out of her eyes and picked up the fallen stake, tossing it to the newcomer. The girl snagged it out of mid-air with a wide grin, ducked under the vamp's wild swing as he came up and off of the tombstone, slamming it through his chest with a flourish.
"Whoa," the new arrival stepped back from the dust cloud and spun the stake around her hand. "Hate it when they burst right in your nose."
"Tell me!" Cordelia made an ineffectual swipe at the hair straggling down her face, then gave a slight squawk as she took in the grave dirt and grass stains on her outfit. "Ugh! I can't believe I blew off Las Palmas for this!"
The dark haired girl swaggered over to the small group, and handed Xander the stake. "Thanks. Lost mine when I threw it through the vamp menacing shortstuff over there." She put her hands on her hips and looked them over with an insouciant half-grin.
"No." Willow caught her breath, finally. "We should be thanking you," she said, leaning on Oz's shoulder.
"'Preciated," Oz said with his usual economy of phrase.
Cordy gave up on trying to restore her outfit and gave the newcomer a critical once over followed by the thousand-watt Cordelia Chase smile. "Cordelia Chase. Tall, dark, and dorksome here is Xander Harris," she thumped Xander on the shoulder for emphasis - and possibly to help him get his brain restarted. "Short and blue haired over there is Oz, and Miss Sears Catalogue '98 is Willow."
"Hey!" Willow shot Cordelia a glare that would melt steel, which naturally rolled off of the impervious cheerleader.
The dark haired girl nodded, taking it all in. "Cool. I'm Faith."
"Gonna go out on a limb and say there's a new Slayer in town," Oz noted.
"You got it, Ace," Faith said.
"Oz."
"Whatever."
Xander couched the last of the vamp dust out of his lungs and got his voice back, finally. "Thanks for the save," he said, looking the girl over and very much liking what he saw. Dark hair, liquid whiskey colored eyes, tight, faded, black jeans, and wearing a tank top that left little to the imagination even with a lightweight leather jacket over it. Faith smirked and acknowledged the thanks with a nod, the smirk saying clearly that she knew exactly what was going through his mind.
"Tongue in, Harris," Cordelia said. "You're drooling." Xander favored her with a glare.
"I have that effect, most times," Faith said, winking at Cordelia. "Since I seem to have found the Fearless Vampire Killers, can I hazard a guess one of you might know where I can find Buffy Summers?" She frowned when the others exchanged looks and shrugs.
"Ummm... about that, yeah," Xander looked uncomfortable and shrugged again.
"Buffy took off and no one's seen her since," Cordelia stated, matter of factly. She met the other three's glares with a raised chin, "What? She did!"
"Ah, ok... " Faith shook her head and pushed her hair back from her face with both hands. "Her Watcher, then?"
"He'sofftryingtofindBuffyandbringherback," Willow muttered in a fast rush of words.
"Huh?" Faith gave her a nonplussed look.
"Breathe, Willow," Cordelia suggested. "She said Buffy's Watcher is off trying to locate Buffy." She pulled out a brush and started working on getting some semblance of order out of her hair.
"He's not here right now, either," Xander added.
"That would follow," Faith said, nodding. "Right then. So- you guys are holding down the slay fort on your own then?" She frowned, looking around the grave site and the scattered vampire dust, and raised an eyebrow. "No superpowers or anything?"
"Well, someone has to," Willow said.
"Yup." Faith grinned, nodding. "Gotta give you guys an A+ for stones."
"And a D- for active brain cells and self preservation instincts," Cordelia commented dryly. "The Watcher type should be back in a couple-three days."
"Wicked," Faith nodded. "So, what's there to do in this burg?
"Well, it's a bit early for the Bronze," Xander said, then, noticing Cordelia's glare he added hastily, "Not that we'd want to go there all covered in dust and grave dirt, mind you."
"There's a pretty good diner a few blocks up," Willow supplied.
"Decent food," Oz allowed.
"I could eat," Faith said, nodding.
"We'll chip in for yours," Xander stated. "The least we can do considering you probably saved our bacons."
"Wicked," Faith walked off briefly, coming back with a pack and sleeping bag. "Lead on."
...
Kaylee's Diner, Later.
"... ok, so I get snagged by this Big Daddy boss vamp in Missouri who kept alligators as pets, and he throws me into the pen and has me wrasslin' one of 'em, ok?" Faith gestured expansively, sprawled out comfortably with the others in a corner booth at the diner. "Damn' thing must've been at least twelve feet long or more and I'm... "
She broke off the tale as their waitress arrived with their orders, and began setting plates down on the table.
"Will there be anything else?" The waitress asked.
"Refills on the drinks?" Xander asked.
"Sure thing, honey," the waitress put her pad away. "I'll bring you some dessert when you're done here." Like many of Sunnydale's night working residents, she was aware of Sunnydale's after dark life - even if she wouldn't admit to it to anyone - and she and the rest of the staff had gotten used to the odd group of kids who often came in covered in grass stains and dust, with stakes tucked away in various places.
None of them ever realized that that had a lot to do with why the cook always made sure they got extra large portions, and why their desserts and refills never seemed to make in onto their tickets. She brought their drinks, and went back to the counter to speculate with the other waitress on what the kids might have been up to tonight, and why the little blonde girl never seemed to come in with them any longer.
"So," Xander asked with an eyebrow waggle, "Was this naked alligator wrestling?" He referred back to one of Faith's earlier stories with a dreamy expression.
"Well, the alligator was naked," Faith said in a teasing tone, and tossed her head back, laughing, as Cordelia thumped Xander soundly on the back of the head. Willow snickered, glancing at Cordy sympathetically. "Tell ya, I never had more trouble than that one damn' vamp and his minions."
"Xander?" Cordelia glared at his wounded look. "Find a new theme. What is it with you and slayers, anyway? Maybe I should dress up as one and put a stake to your heart."
Xander leered at her, "Oh, please God, let that not be sarcasm."
"You wish," Cordelia rejoined, smirking.
"Relax, girlfriend," Faith picked up her burger and bit into it. She swallowed and took a swig of coke. "Teasing and flirting aside, plenty of fish in the sea, and I don't poach in someone else's cove, if you catch my meaning." She gave Cordelia a serious look.
Cordelia studied her carefully, then gave her a short nod, relaxing slightly. Faith nodded back and bit into a mouthful of fires, winking at her.
"Man, isn't it something how slaying always gives you the hungries and hornies?" She looked expectantly at Cordelia, grinning.
"Eeew," Willlow said, blushing furiously and avoiding Oz's eyes as Xander almost inhaled a mouthful of coke.
"At this rate, Xander will never find out," Cordelia stated, whamming him on the back until he finished choking. She got a suddenly enlightened expression and looked at Faith. "Oh - I get it!"
Faith gave her a confused look back.
"Not the horny thing - yuck. But the new slayer thing. There was one, and then Buffy died for, like, two minutes, so then Kendra was
called, and then when Drusilla killed her, you were called."
Faith nodded. "Pretty much."
"So," Willow put in, apparently casting desperately about for a change of subject from both the 'horny' and the 'dead slayers' things. "Will your Watcher be joining you here?"
"No." Faith swirled a cluster of fries in her ketchup with exaggerated casualness. "She doesn't know I'm down here."
"You took off without your Watcher knowing?" Xander raised his eyebrows, suddenly curious.
"No biggie," Faith shrugged. "I wanted to meet the infamous Buffy Summers, so while Diana was occupied, I took off and headed here."
"Infamous?" Willow asked.
Cordelia leaned back against Xander's shoulder and studied the other girl as she began relating how she'd gotten curious about Buffy from her Watcher's journals. There was something slightly.. off... about the dark haired slayer. An expert at both reading people and at keeping more under her own surface than she showed to the world around her, Cordelia sensed similar traits in Faith. She was also an expert at telling the truth while keeping some of it in reserve, and she didn't have any problems sensing when someone else was doing the same. She'd have bet Xander's road trip fund that Faith was leaving things out of her explanation of her Watcher's absence.
She could also sense that there was an odd streak of fragility and wound-tight nervous tension underlying Faith's bravado and sarcasm. Not that the girl wasn't tough - there was a sense of a hard streak of steel there too - but also a curiously vulnerable sense to go with it. On the other hand, Faith was a damned good fighter. Different and wilder in style from Buffy, but her exuberance and obvious relish of slaying was a pleasant change from Buffy's "I hate being the Chosen One and just want to give it up - except when there's another slayer around" angsting. Cordelia flicked her eyes to Oz, then to Faith and back, and getting a slight knowing look in return. She nodded and tuned back into the conversation.
"So, Princess B just took off on you guys, huh?"
Xander shrugged, "Well, not quite just like that. There was this matter of having to kill her evil boyfriend and send him to Hell."
"Whoa," Faith sat back, giving Harris a serious look. "Heavy."
"Yup, mucho angsto," Xander nodded. "Not much choice in it though, considering Angelus was about to end the world at the time, after his evil psycho queen killed Kendra."
Willow kicked Xander under the table and shot him the death glare to end all death glares. "Ow - what?"
"Angelnotangelusandyoushouldn'tjustblurtthatouttojustanyone-" Willow muttered.
"Whoa whoa, again, waitaminnit there," Faith cut across Willow's babble, looking around the table. "B's boyfriend was one of the Scourge of Europe? A vamp?"
Cordelia nodded reluctantly, "Well, not when he was her boyfriend, but, yeah. Kinda."
"Whoa. That's wicked kinky." Faith gave her an incredulous look, and said, "I thought the manual said we were supposed to slay 'em, not lay 'em." She got a Willow death glare of her own that went completely unnoticed by her.
Xander coughed, attempting vainly to choke back a bark of laughter, "Well, in theory, anyway... "
"Angel had a soul then," Willow stated, scowling ferociously at everyone at the table.
Cordelia beamed at Faith, "Well, there's theory, and then there's practice, obviously." She frowned, "Wait - there's a manual?"
"Slayer's Handbook, yup," Faith nodded, finishing up her burger and trying to ignore the sudden charged atmosphere around the table.
"Ah. Giles said it wouldn't be of any use to the Buffster," Xander put in with a lopsided grin, attempting to defuse things.
Faith nodded, "Can't say I ever found it much use."
"So," Oz interjected, "How did you get here from... ?" He got a grateful look from his girlfriend for the subject change.
"Boston?" Faith grinned and went with the diversion. She shrugged, "Bus to New York, hopped a freight train to St. Louis, hitched a bit, snagged a pickup truck from the alligator vamp after he got dusted, then Amtrak and a few freight liners to Arizona across Texas and New Mexico. Train to Reno, bus to Santa Barbara and then here. No big." She finished her coke, and added, "Made pretty good time, all in all."
"Wow," Willow gave her a wide eyed look. "All the way from Boston?" She asked, curious.
"How'd you make expenses?" Xander asked. "I'm kinda planning a cross country trip after graduation."
"This and that," Faith shrugged. "Mostly raided vamp nests and took cash and stuff to pawn after they were dusted." She shook her head at the looks that got, "Not too hard to take out a nest - hit it in the day time, go in fast while they're waking up and recovering. Boom." Faith figured it best to leave out the 'rolling the occasional pimp or dealer' parts.
"If you're a slayer, anyway," Cordelia acknowledged.
"You guys do ok. You dusted two out of five and Oz there looked to be handling a third before I showed up," Faith said.
"You stole money from vampires?" Willow stared at her, "But... but... but... "
"What?" Faith looked at her, "They didn't have any use for it any more."
Xander cleared his throat, "The few times we brought it up, Buffy shot down the idea."
"She thought making money off of slaying was wrong," Cordelia added, watching Faith curiously to see what her reaction would be.
'Might as well deal with that straight up', Faith thought. "Well, I'm not Buffy Summers. I don't intend to be Buffy Summers," Faith gave the other brunette a level stare. "The bad guys didn't need it any longer, their victims weren't coming back for it, and I figure it beat hooking or robbing tourists for cash. And it's not like you can fit flipping burgers in around a slaying schedule, right?" She paused, "Kinda poetic having the vamps fund their own slaying."
Faith leaned back, waiting, outwardly relaxed but tense on the insides. 'Well, this is where I lose the little whitebread kids,' she thought. 'But, fuck - not like I'm going to pretend to much to be something I'm not just to score points.'
"But... " Willow spread her hands, unable to quite articulate a good objection to the matter of fact statement. The casual mention of prostitution derailed her as well. Xander and Oz just exchanged looks and shrugged.
Cordelia tilted her head slightly and studied the other girl, seemingly aware that Faith was studying her back just as intently, despite her casual surface. For some reason, Cordelia's opinion on this seemed to be the one that mattered.. After a long moment, Cordelia smiled slowly and gave Faith a short nod, "Makes perfect sense to me."
Faith studied her a moment longer, then nodded back and grinned. "Works." The waitress coming back with refills and dessert for their table cut through the tension, and everyone relaxed a bit, digging in.
"Back to the 'infamous' thing," Xander suggested.
Faith stretched and leaned back, comfortably stuffed. "So, you guys been helping out with the slaying for awhile now?" She countered.
"For a couple of years," Willow nodded. "Except for Oz."
"Late bloomer," Oz said. Faith grinned at him.
"You guys already know the stuff that's in the Watcher's journals, then." Faith shrugged, "Like, it true that B stole a bazooka to take out that Judge demon?"
"Oh yeah!" Willow nodded furiously. "That was cool!"
"Except that Xander came up with the plan, and I helped him steal the locket launcher," Cordelia said nonchalantly, studying her nails.
"No shit?" Faith studied her, then gave Xander and Cordy an impressed look. "Get outta town."
"No, really," Willow said. "But but - Buffy was the one that actually shot it," she added, torn between loyalty to Xander and not wanting to downplay Buffy's contributions.
"And Cordelia killed that bug assassin," Xander said.
"And eew - I was still picking bugs out of my hair a week later. Yuck!" Cordelia made a face. "Besides, so not sure that counted - I just stepped on them after we laid the glue trap."
"Willow," Oz put in, and everyone looked at him. "Does most of our information gathering." He considered a moment, "And is kinda magicky." Willow squeezed his arm and beamed at him.
"And when Buffy died the first time?" Cordelia said, "Xander and Angel were the ones who went down into the Master's tunnels after her and brought her back with CPR."
Faith ignored Willow's nodding and looked at Xander, "That true?"
Xander just shrugged in response, "Was when Angel was pre-Evil Deadboy."
Cordelia went on, "Of course, Buffy swears it was Angel who brought her back, but vampires? So not with the breathing thing, you know?"
Faith studied Xander out of the corner of her eye while Cordelia was talking, and saw him school himself to look bland when she got to the part about doubting Angel doing CPR, and nodded to herself mentally. There was definitely more to that story than Harris wanted anyone to know. Huh. So the geeky guy was responsible for saving the 'legendary' Buffy Summers and for Faith being called, eh? Whoda thunk it?
"So, what you're saying is most of the stuff in the journals is really a team thing," Faith asked, focusing back on Cordelia.
"Buffy was the star player, but everyone pitches in or we wouldn't be alive right now," Cordelia stated, emphatically.
"Oh, but we wouldn't have been able to do any of it without Buffy there to, to, do like the hero thing," Willow asserted. Xander nodded, supporting her statement.
Faith frowned, "My Watcher always said that the Slayer is supposed to work by herself." Everyone around the table got still suddenly, and she winced inside, looking down at her empty dessert plate.
"Kendra went by the Watcher's manual," Xander said, quietly. He exchanged looks with Cordelia and then glanced down.
Faith shifted uncomfortably, hating trying to figure out the right and wrong things to say with a new crowd. Especially when there were as many potential land mines to step in as there seemed to be with this group, "But what I learned on the streets was you tend to live a lot longer when your crew's watching your back." The others relaxed slightly, nodding.
"Her back is the part above where your eyes usually fall, dweebo," Cordelia said, nudging Xander's shoulder.
Faith looked up and grinned as Willow snickered at Xander's expression. 'This might just be all right,' she thought.