HOW LIKE A FALLEN ANGEL – Chapter 2
I can set an internal alarm clock and get myself up any time I want. It was something I could do even before I became a Seraph. I got myself up at five AM on Christmas morning. This would allow me time to pop to my apartment, pick up some presents and be back before anyone was awake. I crept out of our room as silently as possible, found an unused room and caught 'the express' to Rome. I found all of the presents and popped back to the Academy. I put one where it would be safe, and the rest, under the tree. I then got coffee going, started a fire, but Windham Hill's Christmas CD on and sat down with 'The Fair God' by Lew Wallace. After about forty five minutes, I still hadn't heard any stirring from the rooms, mice or otherwise. I was thinking about going in and jump starting the festivities when I felt the energy surge of an incoming Seraph. I flared my essence a second to let them know exactly where I was, and in a couple of minutes, Janice was there. She looked great. I helped her with her armful of presents, gave her a hug and asked her how she had been, where she had been and how her assignments had gone. From her response, I could tell that they hadn't all gone well. I let it lay for the moment, but I was determined to speak to her about it later.
After answering all of my questions, and asking a few of her own, she simply paused and looked around the room. "So this is Christmas" was all she said. I left her to bask in the fire and the music and the tree while I fetched her a mug of hot chocolate. When I got back, she was still standing there wide eyed. "I asked a girl I was helping about it, and Brittney had some neat memories, but experiencing it for yourself is nearly overwhelming." The CD was currently playing Jim Brickman's rendition of 'O Holy Night' and I could see tears forming in her eyes at the sound, combined with everything else. She took a second to compose herself and turned to me. "Where's everyone else, I was told that people were usually up at the crack of dawn on Christmas day?"
"That's probably true for kids, and although Dawn and Faith still qualify, at least mentally, most people sleep in a bit if they can." Just as the words were out of my mouth, we heard shuffling in the hallway and three yawning people wandered in. It was Dawn, Faith and Willow. Willow gave a little yip of joy and helped herself to the coffee, Faith hugged Janice and Dawn came up and gave me a hug and kiss. Actually it was several kisses, but who's counting. I looked over to see Faith and Janice smiling and chatting animatedly; it was comforting to see my plans and decisions and hopes fulfilled so completely. After a few whispered sentences, they moved back out of the room, vowing to wake everyone else up; and get them down there for presents. Oz picked that moment to walk in. He quietly eased over to the coffee and started chatting with Willow. Dawn and I just stood there and wished each other a merry Christmas, of course for us; that included even more kissing. Sudden yells and threats from the direction of the guest quarters suggested that Faith and Janice were being successful in rousing the ones that were trying to sleep in.
Soon a laughing Faith and Janice strolled back in, followed by everyone except Buffy. Most of the faces looked less than thrilled to be up at the moment. An exasperated Faith yelled back "get your butt down here Summers, we're all waiting on you.
Unfortunately Buffy chose to answer with "make me."
Faith smiled and started back, unable to resist that kind of challenge. Janice stopped her and then closed her eyes. All the sudden, a noise erupted from Buffy's room that sounded like dueling fire alarms.
Buffy came flying out of her room; not wearing much and her hair all disheveled. As soon as he appeared, Janice opened her eyes and the noise stopped. "What the hell was that" Buffy yelled.
Faith and Janice were almost doubled up with laughter "that was your wake up call, if you try to go back to bed, you will hear it again" Janice said.
Buffy may have been in the mood to comment further on Janice's prank, but Xander cut in "hey, who's for presents?"
Suddenly a lot was forgotten as everyone surged towards the tree and started sorting stuff. As soon as it was properly distributed, everyone started digging in. I got CD's from Xander, Janice and Willow. What was funny was that the CD's I got from Janice were all techno, Celtic music like the 'Chieftains' from Willow and grunge like 'Screaming Trees' from Xander. I guess they all felt I needed to expand my musical horizons. Considering the prior commentary on my musical taste, a lot of laughter accompanied each addition to my musical library.
Oz had gotten all the girls, except Janice, sarongs that had been custom dyed. Each one really seemed to match the person it was intended for.
Giles gave everyone books, no surprise there. I got one on early Christianity.
Buffy and Faith gave Dawn and I matching restored 1863 Colt Navy revolvers, the kind that shoot powder and ball instead of prepared bullets. With these they gave us a supply of balls that were silver. "So you don't have to mix it up if you don't want to" Faith said. The pistols were beautiful and perfectly restored.
I gave Dawn a large silver cross, with a ruby heart at the center. On the back it said 'to the answer of my heart's every wish'. She loved it, thank goodness.
Dawn got me a leather duster that had sheaths built into the lining os that I could carry my weapons a bit more discretely.
Janice opened her present from Faith, and we were all struck silent. She had given the younger girl the knife that the mayor had given her. It was probably the last bit of her former life that she had held on to, and now she was giving it away. Janice was silent for a moment or two, and then looking up, realized exactly what it was and what it meant to the dark slayer. She leaned over and gave her adopted sister a fierce hug.
Faith's present from Janice was equally memorable; she opened a box and there were two knife size replicas of Janice's sword (what was it with this girl and knives). They were exact in every way, including the symbol at the hilts, and I knew that no human had made them. Faith was stunned by the beauty of the gift and thanked Janice profusely.
Then
I left and brought in Buffy and Faith's present from Dawn and
myself. I set it down in front of them, and there was an immediate
bump from the box. They carefully opened it together, and when the
lid was off, they saw two balls of fluff. One was a Schipperke puppy
with the tail intact, and the other was an American Eskimo puppy.
They looked exactly alike except that one was solid black and the
other solid white. The Schip looked up and planting its feet on the
Eski, jumped yipping right into Buffy's arms. The Eski just shot
Faith a mournful look, as if to say 'see what I've got to put up
with' and immediately Faith was cooing and pulling the puppy from
the box. It was funny because the
Eski kept giving the Schip
disapproving glances, the kind that Faith was used to receiving, so
she said that her dog would be named 'Annie'. When she heard
this, Buffy looked up from the Schip bounding all over and attacking
the paper and yipping constantly and declared that her puppy would be
named 'Spazz'. Immediately all the girls were fawning all over
the puppies and making silly sounds. The guys just didn't seem to
get it.
Eventually Dawn asked if there were any presents left, and Janice spoke up "I've got something that isn't exactly a Christmas present, but this seems like a good time for it"; and standing, she removed an envelope from her shirt and began to read:
To Whom It May Concern:
I have been told, in such a way as I believe that Ms Faith LeHane, a fugitive from the State of California, has rendered great service to both her country and indeed the world. While I cannot and will not condone the circumstances that caused her incarceration, I can and do believe that she is not the same person that she once was. I therefore grant this pardon to Ms LeHane for all crimes prior to this day, and declare that she is free from any prosecution or recrimination due to her past deeds. A copy of the official pardon will be filed with the State of California and Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Again, Ms LeHane, thank you for all that you have done, and continue to do, my father spoke of points of light that you can only see when things are dark, I believe that you are a very bright light indeed. Good luck and God bless.
George W Bush
P.S. My daughter Barb asked me it you were the singer for the group the 'Faithful Remnants'. I checked with agent Finn and he confirmed that you were. Barb then played a bootleg copy of a song called 'Anne'. I must admit that I usually like country and western, but that was a real dilly of a song. If you ever release it on CD, I would love a copy. Thanks.
Janice finished reading and there wasn't a dry eye in the house, especially Faith's. Buffy spoke, her voice husky with emotion "freedom, that's one hell of a present". Janice had not experienced what everyone else had so she was surprised at the degree that the letter had affected everyone. Buffy leaned forward and hugged Faith "you're free, and you've got your name and your life back" she whispered to her sister slayer, this just served to make Faith cry all the harder. Suddenly everyone was joining Buffy, and there was a huge group hug that centered on Faith. I know that the brunet was a bit embarrassed by her display of emotion, but I also knew that she finally felt secure enough with all of us to allow us to see her weak, and that was quite a change from the old Faith.
Eventually the water works subsided and Xander spoke up "I still have a present to give". We were still kind of centered on Faith, but we all turned to hem as he removed a small box from his pocket. Looking up at his girlfriend he asked "Allana Cipparrone, will you marry me?"
Suddenly there was silence, complete and total. Even Spazz had shut up for the moment, probably because she was chewing on my new coat; it was so quiet that you could hear everyone breathing.
She looked scared for a second, but said "Yes, oh yes" and threw herself into Xander's arms.
Just a moment ago, everyone had been crying, now we were celebrating, that's why I loved these people so. We all took turns congratulating Xander and Allana. Of course we were all invited to the wedding on July first. Dawn was even asked to be maid of honor; and Xander asked if I would be a groomsman. Needless to say, we both agreed and wished them well.
We had a great day. Spazz and Annie provided hours of amusement and those of us who had missed out were regaled with tales from Xander's first almost wedding. I got a kick out of how Anya wanted the term 'sex poodle' in the vows. One other thing that I noticed that day was the attention Willow was paying to Oz and vice versa. To me it felt like they were discovering each other all over again. After a truly spectacular dinner, there was just one last piece of business to take care of.
I knocked on Faith's door, and was told to come in. I found Janice inside trying to teach Faith to play chess. Annie was there as well, periodically attacking the pieces, both on and off the board.
"OK, so why the hell does the horse move that way?"
"It just does."
"Well that's stupid!"
"No, that's chess." Janice chuckled at Faith's frustration.
"Hey Ian, do you understand this crazy ass game?"
"Yes I do" I answered "but this is not the time for a chess lesson."
Faith looked up, a bit alarmed at my tone "what's going on Ian?"
I didn't answer her; I just looked at Janice, who suddenly was not looking at either of us.
Faith looked to her adopted sister, "what's going on Little J?"
Janice continued to be silent. I could feel that Faith was starting to get angry, when Janice started talking. "I was down in Brazil, working to settle a feud between some farmers and some eco-activists. You wouldn't think that two groups like that would resort to violence, but each of them had. In addition, they had hired gangs of criminals to do the things that they could not bring themselves to do. They disgusted me on a fundamental level, the way that they were so casual about killing and rape and torture. Anyway, it took some time, but I finally got the heads of each group to sit down and talk. And it was working. They were about to reach a compromise when the heads of the gangs broke in and killed them both. You see, peace would have meant that they were out of jobs, and they enjoyed what they were doing too much. As soon as it happened, I just lost it. I attacked them; I pulled my sword and so wanted to kill them, but slowly so it would be agonizing. I did cut the hand off of the one that was threatening me with a gun, but the others were unarmed, and it was all I could do to restrain myself. That outburst of rage and hatred meant that I had to be reviewed, and Ian can tell you what that is like. I was so ashamed of myself, feeling like I had betrayed my calling, I still want to hurt them at times, I mean it's getting better, but the anger is still there, mostly because I cannot do anything to them."
Faith gathered the sobbing girl into her arms "never be ashamed of being human sis, it's when you stop, that I would be ashamed." Faith shot a look at me, and I nodded. She turned back to Janice and began to tell the story of a certain Seraph and a father that had sold his daughter to a demon cult. She held nothing back, in describing the situation or my reaction to it; the anger and loathing; the desire for vengeance, and the wish to be the instrument of that vengeance. I felt my guts knot up, reliving that situation and realizing that even now, I was not completely over it. I looked down at Janice and saw that Annie was in her arms and licking the tears off her face. Faith, looking into her eyes, said "you will get over it, in time you'll heal, don't let one incident corrupt all the good that you have done and are still to do".
"Listen to your sister" I said. "I will always listen whenever you need to talk, but I could not give you better advice than she already has. Hear her words and heal."
I eased myself out of the room, letting the two of them comfort each other. I knew that with Faith's support, Janice would be fine. I went back to my room to help Dawn get ready to leave in the morning. Just seeing her, here and now served to remind me of just how fortunate I was. I realized that I would never receive a greater gift than her love and friendship. Softly I closed the door and kissed her and held her, and wrapped her in my feeling of contentment.
The next morning we went back to work.
