"Has it occurred to you that the fact that we haven't heard anything about Faith might be a good thing?"

Rupert Giles stared at Wesley Wyndham-Price with dark eyes. The fact that the Watcher's Council was no more had no bearing on his ideas of how things should be done. Neither did it matter that Wesley had long since been thrown out of the Watchers. The loss of a title or its governing body did not change a person's duty. Wesley's duty was to keep an eye on his Slayer, and he was still failing at that duty.

Giles understood the younger man's reluctance, though. It was the same reluctance he had felt when it came to trusting Angel who, as Angelus, had given Giles over to his darling Drusilla for torture. But, they all knew that there had been something more to Faith's torture of her former Watcher years ago. She'd been in pain, and Wesley claimed that he had forgiven her. Now, a year after Faith's disappearance, Giles wasn't too sure he believed him.

"How could this possibly be a good thing, Wesley? How could no word of or about Faith be anything but disastrous?"

Wesley sighed and his body sagged. "We've kept a close eye on hospitals all around the world. She hasn't been admitted anywhere. A new Slayer hasn't been called, which means that she is still alive. And, she's not been imprisoned again, either."

"And that, you can thank Willow for."

Willow Rosenberg was one of the most powerful witches that Giles had ever seen, but there had still been spells that didn't work for her. Whenever she tried to blur the mind, it didn't work... until it was absolutely necessary. She had erased Faith from the minds of those who would come after her. The last thing they needed in the wake of Sunnydale's destruction was for Faith to be captured and put back in jail.

And yet, it wasn't all Willow's doing that kept Faith a free woman. Giles had turned his nose up at Angel and his merry band of demon fighters for their alliance with the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart. There was a thick, definite line between good and evil. Good did not make deals with evil. However, Giles was forced to admit the usefulness of Angel's alliance with the Senior Partners. It was Wolfram & Hart who destroyed all evidence that Faith was a fugitive from justice. As far as the law was concerned, because of the firm and Willow, Faith had never existed.

"That's not what I meant, Giles." Wesley closed his eyes. His hand rose and he pressed the pad of his middle finger against his temple, then rotated. He turned slow circles against his skin. "I meant, she hasn't done anything else. She hasn't gotten herself into trouble."

"This is Faith, we're talking about here. She's not altogether sane, Wesley." Giles took off his glasses and stood abruptly. He walked back and forth behind his desk, then moved around it. "You realize how much like Buffy you sound? Next, you'll be trying to tell me that if Faith doesn't want to be found, she won't be."

"Because that's true. Faith has never been one to play group games, Giles."

"She's also never been one to abandon a crisis. She may not have enjoyed being a Slayer, but she knew her duty. She wouldn't have left, knowing that the world was near an end. She would have fought it out."

"Are you trying to say that she was taken by something? Someone?"

"I don't know, and that is what bothers me." Giles stopped beside the window and stared out. "There must be something wrong. She disappeared without a trace. It's been over a year, and no one has heard anything. I don't like the idea of a Slayer out there, especially one with Faith's background, without any supervision."

"Angel is looking for her. We all are." Wesley stood, but he didn't move forward. "Spike isn't much help outside of Los Angeles. We still can't find a way to break his ties with Wolfram & Hart. But, Angel thinks he's getting closer. Every time he gets a lead, she's gone. We're trying to find some sort of pattern. However... when we do find her..." He sighed. "What do we do, then? If she really did run, she won't come back easily."

Giles hesitated. His first thought was to send Buffy after her, but that would only send her farther. There was too much animosity between the two, too much rivalry on Faith's side. She would bolt the second Buffy came near, but Angel... "She trusts Angel."

"Yes. But, will that bring her back? Is that even what we're after? To get her back?"

Giles turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"We're everywhere now. Buffy travels as much as she can to do her duty. Perhaps, having Faith out there is a good thing. Perhaps, all we have to do is let her know how much she is needed. We could let her travel, let her have her privacy, as long as she still Slays."

"And who will watch her? Will you go with her? Will you trail her footsteps?"

"Why do you even care? You've never been close to Faith."

"Because I'm a Watcher!" Giles surprised himself with the loudness and strength of his voice. "My duty in life is to look after the Slayer. We have all failed Faith time and again. I will not do it, again."

He had prospered with one Slayer and failed miserably with the other. Faith hadn't been his charge, but as a Watcher, weren't all Slayers his children to guide and teach? She had been so insolent, so distant, Giles had never given her much of a chance. He treated her like the unruly child, while praising the other. He knew Buffy. He hadn't known Faith. He was partly to blame for what she had become, and he would never forget that. If she were out there alone, somewhere, the least that he could do was let her know that she was welcome back with them. That she wasn't forgotten.

Giles let his body shake with a heavy sigh. His head lowered for a second, then slowly raised to look at Wesley. "We have to find her. No matter what the outcome may be. We can't just leave a Slayer on her own. We did that once, and we will not do it again."