Buffy stood quietly outside Xander's house, waiting for her friend to arrive at the door and counting to ten in her head in order to cool down. Xander bounded down the stairs and out the door, shutting in behind him quickly.
"Sorry about that," he said, as the two of them started to walk around the block. "Dad gets a little obnoxious when he's… awake…. What's up? Bad things going down? Demonage? Maybe a little apocalypse?"
"Just wanted to see how you are, actually," Buffy said, smiling at him. "We got worried about you today."
"Yeah, I don't know what's up," Xander said. "It's really weird, but I feel fine now, excepting the residual pain from apparently smacking my head into the library floor."
"Good," Buffy said. "So, here's an interesting item in the news. You're worried about Faith."
Xander chuckled. "Subtle."
"I'm sneaky," she said. "So what's up with that?"
Xander shrugged. "Like I said, I saw the crap she's living in. What do you want, Buff? She's a Slayer, like you."
"Not like me."
"Okay, fine, but the point is she's a Slayer. Fighting evil, doing the good, all that. She shouldn't have to live in a rat hole."
"Yeah," Buffy said. "I've seen it."
Xander looked at her. "How come you didn't say anything?"
Buffy shrugged. "Cuz the last time I saw it, I was mad at her for trying to steal all my friends, and then, you know, Angel was back and…"
"Slipped your mind?"
Buffy glanced at the ground, ashamed. "Yeah."
"Bad things happen to the best of us, Buffy," he said. "And hey, they happen to me, too." Buffy rolled her eyes and waited for Xander to continue. He didn't.
"That's it?" she asked. "Bad things happen?"
"Yeah, well, my mind's all over the place tonight. It's the best I can do on short notice."
Buffy smiled up at him as they got back to his house. "Okay," she said. "Well, get rest, or else Willow will beat you senseless."
"You sure there's no apocalypse?" he asked, a little too hopefully for Buffy's comfort, but she set it aside for the moment and smiled.
"Sorry," she said. "Nothing big nor bad tonight."
"Ah well," he said. "Thanks for coming to check on me."
"Glad you're feeling better," she said. "Night, Xander."
"Night, Buffy," he said.
Buffy watched Xander walk back into his house, and shook her head. "Someday," she said to herself, "I'm gonna ask him about what goes on in there."
Buffy walked away intent on finishing her patrol and getting home before 1 am. After all, she still had homework to do.
Surprise registered momentarily across Faith's face, before she recovered and returned to her uncaring façade.
"What's up, Geeves? What are you doing on this side of the tracks? And at lunchtime?"
"Coming to see you, as a matter of fact," Giles said. He pointed inside. "May I?"
Faith shrugged and stepped back from the door.
"Interesting accommodations," Giles said. "Quite um… Spartan."
"What can I say?" Faith said. "Warrior doesn't need much."
"No, I suppose not," Giles said. "However, a young woman such as yourself often does. I imagine if Buffy were forced to live in quarters such as this, she would… spaz out, as I believe she might say."
"Yeah, well, I ain't her."
"No, you're not, are you?" he said, with a note of surprise in his voice. He hadn't considered before, but Faith and Buffy were very likely as different as were Buffy and Kendra. "It is a testament to your character that you have not complained. Most girls your age would scoff at such a… lackluster dwelling."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, Faith, that you're doing very well here. I am… proud of what you've accomplished, and though I am no longer technically your Watcher, I do still feel responsible for your well being. I can see that you are doing well here, and I respect that, however… should you care for more habitable accommodations, it can be seen to."
"You offerin' to let me stay at your place?"
"No," Giles said. "As much as that would benefit both you and I financially, it would be unseemly for a man in my position to be domiciled with a young woman in yours. I simply offer that we find you a more acceptable place to live. Perhaps an apartment of some sort. This place, I'm sure, has been host to any number of… immoral liaisons."
"Yeah, plus all the screwing," Faith said. "Anyway, it's a nice thought, but I can't exactly afford that."
"No, I expect not," Giles said. "Which is why I will pay for it."
"What?"
"As well as reimbursing you for any money you have spent on this hotel."
"You can't be serious," she said.
"Don't I look serious?"
"Xander put you up to this, didn't he?"
Giles was a little surprised. "I wouldn't say he put me up to it, but he did bring it to my attention. And I apologize for not looking into it sooner. Why did you assume it was Xander? According to him, he was only here for a very short time."
"He actually talked about that?" Faith asked. "To you?"
Giles was again surprised. She was certainly getting worked up about a little bathroom talk. "Certainly," Giles said. "It may not be a common topic of conversation, but it comes up now and again. Especially with Xander around."
"Really."
"It's only to be expected, I suppose," Giles said. "Teenage boys, and all that. Anyhow, I have a faculty meeting I'm supposed to be attending. If you're free, perhaps you might like to go apartment hunting this afternoon. Say, three o'clock?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks," Faith said, surprised by the man's generosity and pissed as hell at Xander.
"Until later, then," Giles said. He let himself out of the room, and shook his head. It really was a travesty, he thought, that a Slayer under his care should be living in such poor housing. He would have to remember to thank Xander for bringing it to his attention. Giles checked his watch and made for his car. Lunch was almost over, and he did have appearances to keep up. After all, librarian was now his only job, and it behooved him to keep it.
"So, you think there's something fishy going on?" Buffy asked. She and Willow were in the library, talking and waiting for Giles to tell them to do something.
"I don't know," Willow said. "It's just, it's weird, don't you think?"
"I do think," Buffy said. "But I don't know that it's fishy."
"I don't know that it's fishy either. But, I think it might be. And I know I don't want him to get hurt or anything."
"Me either," Buffy said. "But don't you think… I mean, he's eighteen. And he knows how to make decisions, and he knows he can talk to us. You especially."
"Me not especially," Willow said. "Ever since we, you know… well, I don't think I've been a very good friend. I mean, I didn't know he was spending more time with Faith. Did you?"
"But was he?" Buffy asked. "He said he gave her a ride back there and used the bathroom. That doesn't sound exactly dangerous, or long-timey."
"I know," Willow said. "I'm probably just being paranoid. But, I can't get over the feeling there's something he's not telling us."
"I don't know," Buffy said. "But, we have to trust him."
Willow nodded as Buffy looked at her watch.
"Where's Giles?" Buffy asked. "He was supposed to meet us here like a half hour ago."
"I don't know," Willow said. "Maybe… there's a teacher's meeting he forgot about."
"Giles? Forget? Not possible."
"I guess," Willow said. "I wonder what's really going on."
"Going on with what?" Xander asked as he swaggered into the library, munching on an apple.
"Uh, Giles," Buffy said, thinking as quickly as she could. "He's all not here."
"Yeah, I know," Xander said. "I dropped by earlier, he said he was taking Faith apartment hunting. You know, so she doesn't live in such… uh…"
"Squalor?" Buffy supplied.
Xander tapped his nose with one hand, and pointed at Buffy with the other.
"So where have you been the past half hour?" Willow asked as Xander sat down next to her.
"Detention," he said. "But Mrs. Robinson fell asleep, so I left."
"What were you in detention for?" Buffy asked.
Xander shrugged. "Skipping class yesterday so I could fall unconscious."
"How's your head?" Willow asked.
"Not so throbby."
The three friends sat there in a comfortable silence, as Xander ate his apple.
"So, Bronze tonight?" Buffy asked after a minute.
Xander and Willow both nodded. They continued to sit. Buffy checked her watch after another minute.
"How long does it take to find an apartment, anyway?" she asked.
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End Chapter 2