Chapter Nine: I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore

As Faith followed Mrs. Weasley into the kitchen she couldn't help but feel like a little kid who had been caught stealing from the neighbours. She couldn't think of anything that she had done wrong but Mrs. Weasley's tone made it sound like it was something important and no adult had ever really wanted to talk to her unless they wanted something from her or wanted to tell her off. Even as much as she liked Buffy's mother there was always this feeling that while she cared for Faith she was also deep down hoping that Faith would take over the slaying duties from her daughter.

"Before we start cooking we'll have to clean up this mess Fred and George left from a late night snack," Mrs. Weasley said to the brunette Slayer.

When they reached the kitchen sink which was now piled high with dirty dishes Faith was handed a dish towel which she looked at in confusion.

"You can't just wave your wand and clean 'em?" she asked as Mrs. Weasley turned on the tap.

"Sometimes I find washing dishing manually helps me sort through things in my head," Mrs. Weasley said picking up a scrubbing brush.

"Oh," Faith said taking the first plate handed to her.

They worked in silence for awhile and Faith began to feel uneasy as she waited for Mrs. Weasley to start talking about whatever it was she wanted to say. With each scrape of the scrubbing brush the hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she found herself glancing over at the redheaded woman nervously.

"You know with seven children I've gotten pretty good at knowing when someone is hiding something," the older woman said turning on the tap to add more hot water to the sink.

"That must come in handy," Faith said concentrating intently on the bowl she was drying.

"It does and all my children know that if something is bothering them that they can come and tell me anything," Mrs. Weasley said, "I also pride myself on being good at reading people."

"Cool," Faith said tensing when she felt the older woman's gaze turn on her.

"You're not okay," Mrs. Weasley said simply, "And before you tell me you're fine I want you to know that anything you tell me will stay between us, and that I walked past your room late last night."

The older witch started scrubbing the dishes again as Faith closed her eyes. She hated showing weakness to anybody and this woman was basically calling her out on it. Nobody since her first Watcher had ever gotten close enough to be able to read her well enough to actually see behind the defences she put up. Faith knew she was slow to trust but she counted it as a smart move to not open herself up enough for anybody to gain information that could be used against her so she figured that she would give Mrs. Weasley just enough to keep the woman satisfied without giving everything away.

"I have nightmares," she said simply, "Slayer dreams, Buffy and I get them, sort of comes with our line of work. They don't mean nothin'."

"I've also got quite a way of telling when somebody is lying," Mrs. Weasley said.

"I'm not lying," Faith said although even to her own ears she sounded unconvincing.

"Sweetheart I know you don't know be very well and I know you've had a tough time of it," Mrs. Weasley said holding up her hand when Faith started to interrupt her, "It's nothing to be ashamed of. I want you to know that I want to help you and I know you've probably been told this by people before who haven't followed through with their promises but I'm not one of those people. Ask anyone one of my kids and they'll tell you that I follow through on my promises. In fact make sure you ask Ron about the time I promised to make him degnown the garden wandless and he'll tell you I keep my promises."

Faith wanted to believe her but years of broken promises made her wary of believing anything that was promised to her. Mrs. Weasley was warm and obviously loved her children but she couldn't make herself open up to her, at least not yet.

"Buffy was worried about you," Mrs. Weasley said quietly, "Last night after you went to bed she checked on you several times because she wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Really?" Faith asked before cursing herself for the hopeful tone which tinged her voice, "I mean B is pretty much a worrier so that doesn't mean all that much."

"She obviously cares about you," Mrs. Weasley said.

"She cares about a lot of people," Faith shrugged although she couldn't help the surge of excitement that ran through her.

"Not like how she cares about you," Mrs. Weasley said,, "I don't even know if she realises how deeply she cares but you should hold onto that, even if she doesn't show it sometimes it's obvious to outsiders that you are very special to her."

Faith didn't know what to say. Her throat felt dry and she coughed to try and clear it. Mrs. Weasley had basically just told her everything she had ever wanted to hear and her whole body felt like it was tingling with pleasure. She had convinced herself that nothing would ever happen between the two of them but if Mrs. Weasley had noticed something between them after knowing them for only a couple of days then maybe something could happen. In Sunnydale there were so many things working against them; Buffy's friends for one and Angel she suddenly remembered feeling her heart drop.

"She has a boyfriend," she blurted out suddenly feeling her cheeks flush as she inadvertently revealed her feelings.

"Faith," Mrs. Weasley said putting her hand on the younger girl's back, "You two have come here and told us that where there has only ever been one there is now two. If that doesn't spell out meant to be I don't know what does."

For someone who had come to expect very little from life Faith always found it hard to believe when something sounded too good to be true because in her experience more often than not it tended to be so she tried not to take Mrs. Weasley's words too seriously. They continued cleaning in silence as Faith let the older woman's words reverberate around her head. With the strong British accent and the take no nonsense attitude she did remind her of her first Watcher who had given Faith plenty of reasons to trust her. She found herself staring at the older woman intently as she washed the last of the pan and was suddenly overcome with the need to tell someone something after hiding so much of herself for so long.

"I do have nightmares," she said softly looking at her hands, "But not the Slayer kind like B gets."

"Is that what I heard last night?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I dunno," Faith shrugged, "Maybe, but I-I've been having different ones since I've been here."

"Different how?"

"I think they're of him," she said so quietly she wasn't even sure she had said it out loud.

"Him?" Mrs. Weasley asked handing her the last plate.

"Voldemort."

"Are you sure?"

"No, b-but I think it is. In the dreams I-I'm with him and we do horrible things to people," she said.

"Is this why you were so tired yesterday?"

"It comes over me. I was fine and then suddenly I felt like I couldn't keep my eyes open," Faith said scratching at her tattoo, "Fucking weird feeling too."

"It of course may be nothing," Mrs. Weasley said kindly, "Just your subconscious dealing with all the new information you have learnt over the last couple of days, but it could be something and I would like, with your permission to speak to Dumbledore about it."

"No!" Faith all but yelled, "Just not yet. It could be nothin' like you said so don't go telling anyone till we know."

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Weasley asked, the lines between her eyes deepening.

"I've dealt with enough shit on my own," Faith said defiantly feeling the need to shut herself up now that she had told someone the truth, "They're nothin'."

Mrs. Weasley sighed with the teenager's sudden change of mood but she didn't want to scare her off so she nodded in agreement, "If you're sure but you must promise me something as well. If I'm to tell no one about these dreams I want you to make sure you tell me when you have them or if that feeling of sudden tiredness overcomes you again. Can you promise me that?"

"I guess."

"And Faith, I think you should think about telling Buffy about your dreams."

"No way," Faith said quickly, "B thinks I'm screwed up enough as it is, don't wanna give her any more reasons to think I'm fucked in the head."

"Just think about it," Mrs. Weasley said pulling her in for a quick hug before she could protest, "You might feel better about them if you can talk to her about it," she said ushering her towards the door.

"I thought I was going to help you with breakfast," Faith said in confusion.

"Faith dear, the minute I let anyone help me with my cooking is the minute I let Fred and George try their new Exploding Pizzwangs in my living room."

Faith chuckled as she was pushed out the kitchen door but stopped suddenly holding the door open, "Thanks," she said softly, "It did feel good to tell somebody."

"Anytime dear," Mrs. Weasley said kindly, "And remember our promise."

"I will."

She was sort of surprised that Buffy wasn't pressed up against the door listening in to their conversation but she concentrated on their Slayer connection and eventually found the other Slayer in the living room with Hermione.

"Faith," Hermione said excitedly when she spotted the brunette girl, "Buffy has already gotten the hang of a spell."

"I haven't got the hang of it," Buffy flushed, "But I can say it properly."

"It took Ron three weeks to be able to do that," Hermione said happily, "He'll be right upset when he finds this out."

"Where are the boys?" Faith asked plopping herself down on the couch next to the blonde Slayer.

"Fred and George are showing them some of their new creations up in their room," Hermione said, "But I'm going to bring them down so Buffy can show them her spell casting," she skipped off happily before Buffy could protest.

"What did Mrs. Weasley want to talk to you about?" Buffy asked twirling her wand in her hand.

"Nothing, just wanted to make sure I was handling the cold weather alright," Faith shrugged.

Buffy looked unconvinced but she didn't say anything, staring into Faith's eyes before looking away.

"Are you feeling better?" the blonde asked.

"Didn't know I was sick."

"Last night, I was worried and Ron thought you might be getting sick," Buffy said.

"I'm not sick B," Faith said, "Was just tired is all."

"Are you sure? I'm not gonna have to be nurse Buffy or anything am I?"

"B you can be nurse Buffy to me anytime you like," Faith smirked.

"I don't know why I make it so easy for you to do that," Buffy shook her head.

"You know you love it," Faith chuckled, "So what's this spell 'Mione's been teaching you?"

"It's called Wingardium Leviosa," Buffy said, "It's meant to make things float but I haven't gotten even a wiggle out of my feather," she said pointing to the white feather on the table in front of her.

"Well go on show us how you do it," Faith said pulling her own wand out of the waistband of her jeans.

Buffy showed her how Hermione had waved her wand and the incantation that was used and the two of them giggled at the absurdity of what they were doing, sitting down and waving magic wands about.

"Willow would have a field day with this," Buffy laughed.

"Red would be jealous of our wicked wands," Faith said deftly balancing her wand on the tip of her finger, "Which I'm totally gonna kick your ass with."

"As if," Buffy snorted, "You couldn't kick my ass even if you wanted to."

"B I could kick your ass with my eyes closed."

"Go on then Merlin, show me what you got."

Faith blew her a kiss and ducked out of the way of the blonde's hand which had been going to hit her on the back of her head and turned to face the feather on the table. Concentrating on what she wanted the feather to do she said the incantation Buffy had told her and waved her wand almost shrieking in surprise when it suddenly began to lift off the table.

"Bloody hell."