Chapter 12

(Yes, this is where the prologue goes, in case anyone didn't pick up on it.)

Faith sat in the passenger seat, bracing herself against the interior. The woman driving her – Miss Calendar, apparently – seemed like she was mostly over her near-death at Angelus' hands, but her hands were clutching the steering wheel so hard her knuckles were white. And every now and then an uncontrollable tremor would make the car twitch across the road. Faith didn't have her license and barely knew how to drive, but she was about to order her to pull over and take the wheel herself.

It also didn't hurt that Faith had no idea where they were or where they were going. Willow had suggested going to Giles' home, and Faith thought it was a good idea. For one, it as some place that Miss Calendar could find. For another, he had a good stockpile of weaponry hidden around. For a third, it was where Angelus had taken her body, and since Faith had just totally screwed up his plans, it was one place Willow was fairly sure he wouldn't go right now. They eventually found their way and Miss Calendar (mostly) safely parked the car.

As soon as the engine was off, Faith began talking rapidly. She and Willow had spent the drive over preparing for this little talk. (It had also kept Faith from freaking out over several near-accidents with parked cars, light posts, and one permanently-traumatized black cat.)

"OK, I'm gonna see you to the door, but then I gotta split. No, I don't have time to explain, but I can't stick around here; there are other places I gotta be, other people I gotta help. Now, Angelus trashed your lab and busted up your computer and your printer. He thinks he's ruined your attempt to recreate the spell to give him back his soul, or at least cost you several weeks' work. But he's old, he doesn't understand computers. He didn't find that disk you made saving everything."

"How do you know about that disk? I'd only just finished it when he showed up!"

Because I have this annoying voice in my head that remembers finding it in a couple of weeks. "Never mind. Tomorrow you go to the lab and find the disk. I think it might have fallen beside your desk. You then go to another computer and make a copy of it and give it to Willow. If you two work together, you can probably get that spell ready and cast it in a few days, long before Angelus thinks he has to worry about it again. Got that?"

They got out of the car and walked quickly to Giles' door. It turns out Giles had the same apartment he'd had when Faith had come to Sunnydale, and she quickly found his spare key. (He'd made sure all the Scoobies knew where it was in case of emergencies, and Faith had kinda sorta qualified as a Scooby and this definitely counted as an emergency.)

"You say you've never met Rupert, but how did you know where that key was?"

"No I said he's never met me." Faith! Hush! She's traumatized, but she's not stupid! Don't give her any hints! Faith winced at Willow's shouting. "Anyway, I gotta get going. Go in there, lock it behind you, and don't let anyone in." She unlocked the door and returned the key to its hiding place. "Giles should be here in a while, so you wait for him."

Before Miss Calendar could protest or ask more questions, Faith shoved her through the door. "Now, lock it up and don't let anyone in. And remember what I said about the disk!"

Faith then ran away from Giles' apartment. She didn't have any particular destination in mind, just somewhere where she was hoping there wouldn't be any Scoobies or, worse, Angelus.

She could hear the smugness in Willow's thoughts. Hey, look at you. You not only saved Miss Calendar, you did it without killing Angelus and gave her the best chance of turning him back into Angel. Forget the armor, we ought to get you a cape!

Not so fast, Red. First up, no capes. For one, they don't go with my leathers. For another, you made me watch that supid movie about the superhero family, and I know why capes are bad. Faith hopped over a fence and swerved back towards the general direction of the school. Besides Giles' apartment, that was one other place she suspected no one important would be. Willow had told her that they hadn't found Miss Calendar's lab being trashed until the next morning.

As she ran, Faith found herself thinking at Willow. So, what now?

I guess you think about what you just learned.

Faith snorted mentally as she swerved between two parked cars. Like some stupid kid's show? I gotta spell out the moral I learned?

Willow gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. Can't hurt. This is supposed to help you grow as a hero. You got any better ideas?

Faith hopped a fence, cutting through back yards for a bit. She hoped nobody around here had dogs. Oh, this is crap. Let's see... I don't always need to kill to win, I don't always need to fight to win, and sometimes it's more important to save the innocent than catch the bad guy.

Willow applauded. Very good, Faith! When you get tired of Slaying, maybe you can get a job writing kid's cartoons.

So, how do we know if we're done here? What sort of sign should we be watching for?

At that moment Faith tripped on a curb. She caught herself on the ground. That was weird. I haven't tripped like that since I became a Slayer. You know, the whole superhuman balance thing. She blinked and suddenly realized that was she sprawled on a hardwood floor, not pavement or grass. Further, it was daylight.

Faith, I think we just got our sign that we were done with saving Miss Calendar...