Disclaimer: As always, I don't own anything but Celeste. Not much action in this chapter but its important nonetheless! Hope you enjoy!
Surprises
Faith slowly walked up the quiet walkway of Celeste's house, lost in thoughts. Though she was ever aware of the surroundings around her – what kind of Slayer would she be if she got ambushed by a fledging on her watcher's grass – she could not help but think about her face off with Ransofor. He was powerful. More powerful than any creature she had faced before.
He didn't lie about that, Faith admitted to herself as she opened the door to the house. Arrogant conceited bastard, but powerful as hell.
Faith stepped into the house, the surprisingly heavy door opening with a groan of its hinges. Darkness greeted her. She frowned, unconsciously pulling a stake out of her jacket as she stepped forward and closed the door behind her. As she opened up her Slayer-sense to study the room, the lights around her turned on suddenly, the brightness causing her to squint her eyes. As her eyes adjusted quickly to the bright light, she could only stare at the room in front of her.
"Surprise!"
Five voices screamed that one word at her, each of them smiling at her. Faith stood stunned for a moment as she looked around, the reality of the situation slowly sinking in. Streamers of all different colors decorated the room, going from one end to the other in a mismatch of styles. Groups of balloons were scattered around the house. Each of the five people in front of her was wearing ridiculous party hats. And she could swear that she could smell a freshly cooked…
"Cake?" Oz asked her, pulling her back to the moment. He motioned to the giant cake that lay on the table in front of him. She walked over to him warily, a wide grin crossing her face as she looked at it.
The grin quickly turned into a chuckle, the chuckle into an all out laugh as she looked at the cake design. A figure, which she guessed was suppose to stand for her, was standing jauntily in the middle of the cake with a staked demon besides her – complete with x's for eyes and tongue flopping out of its mouth. She stared at the cake as she laughed, catching her breath long enough to say, "Guys, this is ridiculous!"
"Yet quite accurate," Celeste said as she walked over to Faith, placing a hand on her Slayer's shoulder. "Except I don't know many demons whose eyes turn into x's after they're killed…"
Faith shook her head at her as she looked up from the cake. "All of you are just nuts. Screws loose in the head and all that jazz."
"Yes, well if we have to look like nuts, so do you."
Faith turned to look at the speaker, who was holding a party hat and looking at the Slayer expectantly. She was a little shorter than the Slayer with bleached blonde hair. She looked normal enough. But Faith could swear there was something…off…about her.
"It is customary to wear stupid hats and engage in pointless rituals at a person's birthday," the speaker continued, seemingly not noticing the odd look Faith was now giving her. "And if I have to take part in this absurd ritual, so do you."
With that, the woman placed the party hat on Faith's head and took a step back, looking at Faith expectantly. Faith merely stared at the woman, eyebrow raised as she attempted to sort through the….extreme weirdness of the person standing in front of her. Celeste laughed at Faith's silence.
"Faith, this is Anya," Celeste said as though that name explained it all. When Faith merely turned her gaze from Anya to Celeste, Celeste sighed. "Anya is a vengeance demon. A few years ago she lost her powers and tried to assimilate into human society. But she once again got her powers, though her work with vengeance is slightly limited. She's also rather blunt."
"I got that," Faith said, sparing another glance at Anya. "And I thought I was blunt. You just take it to a whole new level."
"Yes, I know," Anya said, accepting the comment she viewed as going without saying.
Faith stared at her for a few more seconds before turning away. "Right. Anyway, what's the deal? Streamers? Balloons? We've got major mojo out there – we don't have time for this."
"But I made dip!" Clem exclaimed, holding up a large bowl. "And once there's dip, you can't decide not to have a party. Dip makes the party official. Besides, we have that whole cake and that would be sad if it just went to waste…"
"Which, it's not going to," Celeste interrupted as Clem began to trail off. "While there are important matters at hand, it is your birthday Faith. And since Mister Giles always allotted time for Buffy to celebrate her birthday, even in the midst of an apocalypse, I don't see why we can't celebrate yours. So that's that."
She punctuated the last words with a nod of her head, not allowing any arguments on the contrary. Faith was about to say something when suddenly, Celeste's eyes lit up. "Oh! And don't forget the presents!"
"Presents?" Faith asked, spinning around to see where Celeste was looking. Faith's eyes widened in shock as she glanced at the table across the room, piled with an array of gifts. She took a step forward as the light gleamed off of the ribbons. For a moment, she felt tears welling up in her eyes at the thought they had put in, the effort they had put in to give her a surprise party. But she quickly blinked the tears away and turned back to the others.
"Thanks," she said her voice softer than usual. "No one's ever cared enough to have a birthday party for me."
Celeste squeezed Faith's shoulder, smiling at her. "Well, then its time that someone does."
Faith smiled back, though everyone could tell she was obviously a little embarrassed about the show of emotions. Oz intervened quickly, waving a knife towards the cake expectantly.
"So…want some cake? It looks like its pretty good. And Clem there isn't a bad cook."
Faith smiled at him, walking over to the cake. He cut a piece for her and as she sat down on the couch, everyone followed suit. Soon, the cake was mostly gone and everyone sat on furniture around her. Faith set her cake down and looked at the presents in front of her.
"Go ahead and open them. They won't bite." Clem encouraged her. She smiled at him and picked up the smallest box on the top. Anya immediately sat up straighter as Faith began to open it.
"Oh, that one is from me," Anya said loudly. "So what if it's smaller than all the other ones. It's probably the best one here anyway."
All of the others glanced at her for a moment, but she merely shrugged. "What? It could be true. Besides, she should feel lucky that I gave her such a good gift. Giving away a gift goes against business in so many ways that even I can't count them all. Do you know how much business and money I could lose if I give away some of my merchandise? It's a good thing birthdays only happen once a year."
"O-of course Anya," Jonathan stuttered, looking at the vengeance demon nervously. She merely beamed at him, unphased by his stuttering. Faith shook her head at both of them and finished unwrapping the gift and opening the box it lay in.
She pulled a thin gold chain out of the paper wrapping inside the box, uncovering a blue amulet that hung from the chain. Faith slowly twirled the amulet around, watching as it caught the light every time it moved. She immediately put it around her neck. As she did, a faint blue aura covered her, causing her to look at Anya in alarm. "What the – "
"It's a protective amulet," Anya explained matter-of-factly. "The light was just the magic of the amulet recognizing you and giving its protective powers to you. The chain is virtually unbreakable too, so the amulet will last even during a vampire fight or whatever demon you may be fighting. As long as it's not me."
"Thanks Anya," Faith said as she put the box down. "I'll take care of it."
The vengeance demon nodded in approval as Faith picked up the next gift, caught off guard by the weight of the box. Though it was not particularly heavy, she had not expecting the box to weigh more than the last. She carefully opened the gift, pulling out a set of throwing knives. Intricate designs covered the handles of the knives and as she dug farther into the box, she found wraps that could be placed around her arms or legs in order to hold the knives. She tested the weight of the blades, smiling as she found they were in very good shape.
"Who are these from?" she asked. "These babies rock!"
"They're from me," Jonathan ventured shyly, smiling at her. She smiled back at him and put the knives slowly down on the table and moved onto the next gift.
The next gift was far lighter than the last and she opened it quickly. As she pushed the tissue paper inside away, she sat there in awe for a moment before pulling out gift. It was the sheer blouse with the blue tank top and the blue patterned skirt she had seen at the mall only a few days earlier. She turned to her watcher but Celeste only shook her head and motioned towards Clem.
"I wasn't sure what to get you, you see," he explained, talking with his hands. "And then Celeste told me about this outfit and I thought it was pretty but I still wasn't sure – "
"Clem," Faith interrupted, holding up a hand. He stopped talking abruptly and looked at her expectantly. She smiled at him. "Thank you."
She put the box down on the table and picked up the second to last gift, shaking it in amusement. The others chuckled at her, shaking her head at her antics. She opened the box, only to find two smaller boxes inside. "Funny, guys."
She picked the larger of the two boxes and opened it first, tearing away wrapping paper in a frenzy. When the paper was pulled away, a familiar weapon dropped to the ground. She picked up the weapon, memories of past conversations coming back to her.
"Mr. Pointy," she whispered, turning the stake over in her hand. "But didn't B…"
"She wanted you to have it," Oz spoke up. "She said she didn't have a use for it anymore. You would need it more than she would now. Same thing with the other gift."
Faith put Mr. Pointy down and quickly opened the other box, pulling out a silver cross necklace in a stunned silence. She recognized the necklace just as she recognized the stake. She picked it up carefully, holding the silver cross in her hand.
"I didn't think B would ever let this go," Faith murmured half to herself, half to those around her. Nobody answered her though, instead letting her sit in wonder as she stared at the silver cross. She finally let him go. After all these years, she let him go.
Tearing herself away from the necklace she put it down with the other gifts. She picked up the last and final gift and tore it open, knowing the whole time that it was from her Watcher. After all of the other gifts, she did not know what to expect. Celeste could have gotten her anything. She opened the box carefully, frowning as she pulled a book out from the box. She turned to look at her watcher skeptically, arching an eyebrow at her.
"A book?"
Celeste shook her head, a secretive smile on her face. "Open it up first."
Faith shrugged and opened the book to the first page, eyes widening as she immediately recognized the handwriting.
The Watcher Diary of Faith Wilkins
As recorded by Sarah Neal
1997 –
There was no date after the 1997. Faith closed her eyes, knowing fully well why the second date had never been added. Sarah Neal had been killed before the end of the Watcher Diary could be added. Faith closed the book and stared at it for a moment, not having the strength to read any of it just yet. She was silent as she placed it down on the table with the other gifts. She was about to put the box it had been in down when she noticed something else, partially covered by tissue paper. She moved the tissue paper aside and picked up the medium sized picture frame that was underneath.
Her own face stared back at her, eyebrow raised and a half smile crossing her lips. She held a stake lazily in her hand. But that was not what caught Faith's attention. It was the woman partially in the background of the photo. Her glasses had slipped partway down her nose and her head was cocked at an angle as she stared on in amusement. Her brown hair was pulled back in a sensible bun and the clothing she wore was the typical Watcher tweed. But there was a sparkle of life in her eyes that kept Faith from taking her too seriously.
Faith looked up from the picture and turned to her current watcher. Celeste smiled back nervously. "I didn't think you had any picture of the two of you, since most Slayers don't. But I thought that you might like having a memory of your old watcher."
Faith didn't respond but simply nodded, placing the picture frame on the table by the rest of the gifts. All was silent for a few moments before Faith looked up again, a smile plastered on her face.
"Any more surprises?" she asked cheekily. "A scantily clad man jumping out of a cake? Demons appearing out of nowhere? Apocalypse?"
Anya stood up immediately. "No, none of that. I objected to the scantily clad man jumping out of the cake because he wouldn't be able to give me orgasms. And demons are not good for birthdays. So I've heard, at least. But I discovered the most amusing pastime that many humans take part in and I figured that it would make the party very memorable to everyone involved."
She walked out of the room for a moment as Faith glanced at the others warily. They merely shook their heads at her, not giving an answer to her look. Anya walked back in, carrying a large square device with a microphone attached.
"No. No way." Faith exclaimed as she jumped up from the couch and began backing away. "I don't karaoke. Screw that."
She tried backing away but quickly found that the others were more than a little persistent. Soon, she was sitting back down on the couch with the song "Hungry Eyes" playing in the background, almost completely covered by Anya's singing. Faith groaned and put her head in her hands, smiling as she shook her head.