"So what have you found?" Buffy asked, not even saving time for pleasantries when she greeted Giles at the door.
"Well hello to you too," Anya said pushing past the older man and giving Buffy a disdainful look, "You know Xander and I have much better plans than to keep coming over here whenever you call. We had an afternoon of chocolate syrup and many orgasm plans and if it wasn't for you Xander would be eating marshmallows off of me as we speak."
"Yes thank you Anya for reminding us all once again how much we don't wish to hear about your activities with Xander and how saving the world is keeping you from them," Giles said as the rest of the Scoobies moved into the house.
He hung back while the others moved into the living room and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"How's your mother?" he asked the kindness in his eyes nearly making her cry. With everything that had been going on she had gotten used to looking after everyone and not being looked after herself.
"She's better, she's resting but I think she's just glad to be home," Buffy said leaning into the quick hug he gave her.
"As I'm sure yourself and Faith are glad to have her home," Giles said.
"I practically had to pry Faith's hands off of Mom she's so happy to have her back," Buffy said as the two of them joined the others in the living room.
"Well we're all happy to have her back," Xander said smiling warmly as the others nodded, "This house just wasn't the same without her here."
"Thanks again you guys for being so supportive throughout this whole thing," Buffy said, "I don't know how I would've made it through if you hadn't been there."
"It's the packaged deal when you signed on to be friends with us," Willow smirked, "Unfortunately being there for each other in the tough times is apparently something friendship is all about."
"Well I appreciate it hugely, seriously no amount of caramel macchiatos will ever make up for how much I appreciate it," Buffy said sitting down on the arm of the couch.
"We're just happy she's okay," Tara said softly.
"Now I know you are all aware why we have gathered here today," Giles said looking around as they all nodded, "We have finally uncovered some more information about the Key and its origins."
"It wasn't easy either, Giles had to promise to send the box set of Smallville to his contact in Versailles because he doesn't get cable and wouldn't give us the information until we promised," Willow smirked.
"Yes apparently Untrect demons have an affinity for Superman," Giles said shaking his head, "After I promised he was more than willing to share the information he had uncovered. It turns out the order the monks originated from is just outside the town he lives and he was able to get in under the cover of night and get a glimpse of the records they kept."
"The scrolls he found had been written in some sort of code, probably to stop Glory if she ever found them from deciphering what they contained," Willow said.
"Lucky for us Willow seems to have quite the knack for deciphering code and she was able to figure out what it said," Giles said smiling proudly at the redheaded witch.
"It's really quite fascinating, they wrote it in a mixture of binary code and an ancient Sumerian dialect that had already died out by the time the scrolls were even written. They were using binary before it was even really supposed to have been developed," the redheaded witch said excitedly.
"Massive two thumbs up for you Will on the cracking of the code," Xander said.
"Yes well done Willow but shouldn't you be telling us what it said instead of saying how wonderful you are?" Anya asked impatiently.
They had all by now learnt not to take what Anya said to heart so the redheaded witch just smiled at her and found the veiled compliment in what she had said. Buffy, who was still perched on the arm of the couch, tried to stop herself from fidgeting. She too was itching to find out what they had learnt but didn't want to take away from her friend's success in deciphering the ancient text.
"Yes well it turns out that Glory has been stuck in this dimension for over a thousand years. This Key was at one stage a ball of energy that the monks were in charge protecting. Once they became aware that Glory or the Beast as they refer to her was in this dimension they decided it was necessary to give the Key form to better hide it from her," Giles said.
"So Faith is really over a thousand years old," Xander said his eyes widening.
"Faith herself isn't that old, but the energy of the Key which is now inside of her is," Willow told them.
"The first person they put the Key's energy into was a Seer. This Seer received some particularly violent visions which eventually became too much for her and she ended her own life. This particular Seer happened to be the Watcher of a Slayer and when the Slayer found out she had killed herself she went to great and dangerous lengths to resurrect her. The resurrection was successful and the monks realised how important this woman was to the Slayer, a warrior whom they deemed strong enough to protect the Key so the Key was transferred to her," Giles said.
"The monks thought they had gotten rid of Glory once and for all once the date passed for her to be able to use the Key and cross through dimensions back into her own so they returned the Key to its original form and kept it back at the monastery," Willow said.
"On her deathbed the Seer who had originally had the Key inputted into her received a vision about far far in the future, about a time when two Slayers would be called, one dark and one light. She foresaw Glory rising again to have another chance to escape this world back to her own and the utter devastation this would cause. She saw the two Slayers conflicted and this ultimately would lead to their destruction. Due to their confliction the Key, once again in Faith was used to open the portal killing her and then blurring the lines between worlds letting demons run free across the world," Giles said.
"The Monks couldn't let this happen, they were the keepers of the Key and in charge of keeping it away from the Beast so they basically chanted like they'd never done before and rewrote history," Willow said.
"Rewrote history, what do you mean rewrote history?" Buffy asked.
"Everything that has happened to you and Faith, they made it so," Willow told her.
"They set everything in motion, Faith's unhappy childhood, her killing Alan Finch and turning to the Mayor, the Council offering her the chance to change back into her child self something she agreed to because of her childhood and those she had killed and the Council trying to kidnap her all so they would be sure that you Buffy would be inclined to want to protect her even more so," Giles said.
"They put her through all of that, that abuse just to make sure I'd want to protect her," Buffy said standing suddenly from the couch, "They made her suffer, forced her to feel so alone because they wanted me to protect her. All those things her Mom did to her," Buffy trailed off feeling such sadness for the young girl that rested upstairs, "All the things I said to her."
Even though she knew four year old Faith didn't remember what had gone down when she had been a teenager she was still felt sick that someone would make it so another human being had to suffer the way she had.
"You don't know it was the monks that wrote the way your relationship would go the first time around. The Seer's vision said the two of you were conflicted so it may have been that either way you would have had troubles getting along," Giles said.
"I am just so sick of people playing with my life," Buffy sighed running a hand through her hair, "I mean who knows what would have happened if Faith hadn't agreed to be turned back into her four year old self. Do they think I would have been so willing to save her if she was still murder happy Faith? I know she was hurting and I know we all played a part in that but what if we hadn't? What if she had had a happy life? We don't know, without their interference she could have been happy the first time around. Maybe we wouldn't have gotten along but she might have been happy."
"I know this is hard to hear but there is no point in torturing yourself with what ifs," Giles said moving to stand closer to his Slayer, "The only thing we can do now is protect Faith and do all that we can to prevent Glory from opening that portal."
The others in the room seemed stunned at the extent the monks had gone to in order to ensure the Slayer would protect the Key. That is except for Willow and Tara who had been helping with the research. Buffy could hardly believe how her life had been moulded to their will, she would protect Faith with her life there was no debating that but what did it say about her as a person that it took the other girl to fall to such a low before the monks thought she would care enough to save her.
She was pulled from her thoughts when a small voice called her name and they looked to see Faith standing at the foot of the stairs, rubbing her eyes with Mr. Gordo clutched in her hand.
"Baby I thought you were having a nap," Buffy said motioning for the toddler to come over to where she sat on the arm of the couch.
"I woked up," the toddler said simply as Buffy lifted her up and onto her lap, "I had a bad dream."
"What was it about?" Giles asked obviously interested to see if it was connected to what they had been previously discussing.
"I dunno," Faith said suddenly shy when she realised they were all looking at her, "It was about the monster in the story you told me about Angel and Cordy," she whispered in Buffy's ear.
"I knew I shouldn't have told you that story," Buffy chuckled, "Did you get to the part where Angel and Cordy and I killed the monster?"
"No," Faith said shaking her head.
"Well we did and it's gone now so you don't have to have scary dreams about it," Buffy said smoothing her hand over Faith's head.
"How come everyone is here?" Faith asked.
"We had to talk about Slayer stuff," Buffy told her.
"You don't gotta go out tonight do you?" Faith asked trying to twist in Buffy's lap so she could face the blonde Slayer.
"Not tonight, you and I are going to make Mom a special welcome home dinner, how does that sound?" Buffy asked.
"Can we have ice cream?" Faith asked her eyes lighting up at the prospect.
"I think a special welcome home Mom dinner deserves some ice cream," Buffy smiled.
"Yay, I'm gonna go and tell Mama," Faith said scrambling off Buffy's lap.
"If she's still sleeping don't you dare wake her up," Buffy called.
"I won't promise," Faith called back, already half way up the stairs.
"She's going to wake Mom up isn't she," Buffy said a moment later.
"Yeah," everyone in the room nodded.
"Okay....Faith!" Buffy called running out the room.
"Guess the meeting is adjourned then," Xander said standing and pulling Anya to her feet.
"Yes well we shall speak soon," Giles said bidding them all farewell, leaving after he wrote a quick note to Buffy telling her they would speak later.
"Who knew my girls were such fantastic chefs," Joyce said putting her napkin on the table.
"We didn't cook it Mama B called someone on the phone," Faith said licking the last of her ice cream off the phone.
"B also said don't tell Mom we ordered in," Buffy glared at the toddler.
"Well the placement on the plates was nice," Joyce smirked using a napkin to wipe the ice cream from Faith's face.
"We are glad to have you home Mom," Buffy said.
"I'm glad to be back home with my girls," Joyce said kissing the top of Faith's head and taking hold of Buffy's hand across the table, "I'm so proud of how well the two of you handled this whole situation."
"We were very brave like superheros weren't we Mama," Faith said smiling proudly.
"Yes you were baby," Joyce smiled, "And it is time for all good superheros to be in bed."
"Do I gotta?" Faith whined.
"Yes, you've had some late nights these last couple of days so I want you to get a proper night's sleep," Joyce said standing from her chair, "Buffy honey don't clean up I'll just put Faith to bed and then I'll come down and do it."
"It's okay Mom I got it," Buffy said gathering up the dishes.
She could hear Faith protesting as they walked out of the room and smiled at the young girl's stubbornness. She had just finished clearing the table when she heard Faith's footsteps thundering down the stairs. Expecting to get jumped on at any moment she frowned when she wasn't faced with a bundle of Faith sized energy. Stepping out into the entrance way her blood froze in her veins with what she saw. Faith, dressed in her pyjamas and holding her stuffed cow toy was standing in front of Glory who looked perfectly at home seated in one of their arm chairs.
The only thought running through her mind was, "God no."