The Quickening

Notes: Thanks for the reviews. Keep them coming.

Previously:

"You want to sleep here tonight?" He asked. He could see relief spread over Faith's face when he didn't press her further about her evening's activities.

"If you don't mind," Faith said, looking over at him hopefully.

Chapter Thirteen:

Xander watched the golden light of the sun creep in through his bedroom window. The floor turned into a chiaroscuro pattern of light and dark. The shadows were losing ground, however, and slowly crept back further into the room as the light began to make its way up the covers on the foot of the bed. Xander felt Faith stir in his arms and his heart nearly stopped. He didn't know how she would react when she woke up, realizing that she had spent the entire night sleeping next to him, with the length of her body pressed against his.

Based on all of the stories he had heard her tell, gathered around one of the tables at the Bronze, he didn't imagine she would be too happy to find him there. But Xander was starting to see that Faith was so much more than those stories. In fact, she seemed to use those stories to hide who she really was, as if she was afraid that if she was honest with people, they would think less of her. He could feel Faith's eyes flutter open against his chest and she involuntarily pulled away from him. Sitting up, she ran a hand through her wild, dark hair and looked over at him.

"Hey," she said, her voice gravelly from sleep. Xander sat up as well and rested his back against the headboard.

"Hey," he replied. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah," Faith said, smiling a little. "What time is it?"

"About eight," he responded. "Far too early to actually be awake on a Saturday morning," he joked.

"Not for me," Faith grumbled. "Giles seems to think that I need to haul my ass in everyday to train. Like training wouldn't be just as effective at eleven."

"When are you supposed to be there?" Xander asked, leaning forward.

"Nine. Why?" Faith asked, looking over at him.

"Wanna grab some breakfast?" Xander asked hopefully.

Faith smiled. "I thought it was too early to be awake," she said jokingly.

"Don't use my grumblings against me," Xander returned. "Besides, I have to talk to Giles about something anyway. So it's not like I'm going out of my way here."

"God forbid," Faith said, laughing. "Let's motor," she said, rising to her feet. "I gotta stop by the motel first."

Faith grabbed her dress off Xander's desk chair, slipped her boots on, and waited outside for Xander to change. A few minutes later, he appeared next to her and they started walking back to the motel. There were some people milling about, but for the most part, it was still too early for the residents of Sunnydale to be out and about. Still, Faith felt a little strange walking down the street wearing a pair of Xander's sweat pants and one of his t-shirts. "So where are we going for chow?" She asked.

"There's this diner not far away from the motel. I hear it absolutely sucks, but it's cheap, and the last time I checked, neither of us was doing so well in the financial department," Xander said. A comfortable silence fell between them and Xander looked over at Faith. He discreetly reached over and took her hand in his, waiting with bated breath as her arm tensed and then slowly relaxed.

…………………………….

Cordelia screeched to a halt at the second to last red light before the high school. She hated Saturday morning practices. But as a faithful member of the cheerleading squad, with her status as a popular icon slowly fading everyday she stayed with Xander Harris, there was no way in hell she was going to miss a practice and give people another reason to talk about her behind her back. She flipped her visor down and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was perfect, as usual, her make up was perfect, as usual, and despite how hard she tried to find any evidence of her family's waning fortunes wearing on her face, she couldn't.

She flipped the visor up again and stared at the light, debating whether she should risk running it. She couldn't see any cars on the road with her. As she glanced around, her eyes rested on two people walking down the sidewalk. She instantly recognized Xander. She was about to roll her window down to greet him when she noticed that he was walking with a girl, who appeared to be wearing his clothes. Squinting her eyes, she looked closer and discovered that he and this girl were holding hands and that, if her memory served her correctly, the girl was Faith, the second string, slutty slayer who had just shown up a few days ago.

"What the hell," Cordelia whispered to herself as she watched them walking in the direction of the Sunnydale Motor Lodge. She glanced down at the clock on her dashboard. It was only a few minutes passed eight. She knew Xander well enough to know that he never woke up earlier than noon on a Saturday morning. If he was out with Faith this early, than the only logical conclusion to reach would be that he and Faith had spent the night together. She could only imagine what they had been doing. Although, given Faith's reputation, she didn't have to let her imagination wander too far.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered to herself. "He's cheating on me with that slut," she stated incredulously. The light changed. Cordelia debated for a moment whether to pull over and confront him, but if she did, than she would be late to practice. If she were late, she would have to give a reason, and knowing her old friends, they would see through any lame excuse she could come up with. The last thing she wanted to do was explain how she had caught her boyfriend cheating with a girl who obviously didn't know the meaning of no. Cordelia slammed her foot on the gas and her car shot forward. She was letting Xander off the hook now, but he would regret his infidelity later.

…………………………

Xander watched Faith stretching out of the corner of his eye as he waited for Giles to come out of his office. They had eaten a quick breakfast at the diner Xander recommended, both agreeing that the food was less than desirable, but the prices were right on target. Xander had been amazed at the amount of food Faith could pack away. Faith explained that her slayer metabolism allowed her to eat more than most people could. In fact, if she didn't eat as much as she did, she actually lost weight. Xander tried to recall seeing Buffy eat as much as Faith did, but he couldn't. However, he imagined that there were many differences between slayers, and perhaps Faith's metabolism was one such difference.

"What can I help you with, Xander?" Giles asked, coming out of his office. Xander turned his attention away from Faith.

"I wanted to talk to you about Faith, actually," he said lowly. He knew that Faith would be able to hear him if he talked too loud, with her slayer hearing.

"Ah, well, let's go in my office, shall we?" Giles said, picking up on Xander's intention to keep their conversation secret. Giles led him into his office and shut the door behind them. "What about Faith?"

"Have you been to the motel she's staying at?" Xander asked as he took a seat across from Giles.

"No, I can't say I have," Giles stated. "To be honest, I wasn't sure where Faith was staying."

"What, it never occurred to you to ask?" Xander shot out before he could stop himself. "Sorry," he said instantly. "It's just, she's here, and no one really seems to care how she's getting by."

"Except for you," Giles pointed out.

"Yeah, except for me," Xander admitted. "But I can't really do anything about it."

"So what do you want me to do?" Giles asked.

"The motel is a shit hole," Xander said, "pardon the language. She can barely pay for it and the manager's a jerk. It's in a bad part of town and I can only imagine what she has to hear through the walls every night, if you get my meaning."

"You want me to find a better place for her to stay?" Giles prodded, trying to get at what Xander was really asking him.

"Well, I thought maybe she could stay with you," Xander suggested. "I mean, her Watcher's dead. So doesn't that make you her Watcher by default?"

"Absent any ruling by the Council, I imagine so. I suppose, as her Watcher, I should be looking out for her best interests," Giles finished. "What makes you think that Faith will even want to stay with me? She'll lose her independence. From what I can gather, independence is very important to her."

"It is. But it's like she's torn in half, you know. Part of her wants to pull away from everyone because she doesn't want to need anyone to survive. But another part of her wants to be a part of the group, wants to be included. She's so used to surviving on her own that she wants to know what it's like to need people again. She doesn't trust you now, but if you give her a chance to, she will," Xander said.

"How do you know?" Giles asked.

"Come on," Xander replied. "You know that she and I aren't all that different. Just change my circumstances a little and I'd be her."

"I see," Giles responded. He could tell that Xander was sincere in his desire to help Faith. He also knew that everything he said was correct. Xander wasn't the only one who shared similarities with the dark haired slayer. Giles distinctly remembered a time in his life when he had to depend on himself to live and when he didn't trust anyone but himself. He looked at Faith and he felt as if he were looking in the mirror at a younger version of himself. He knew what it was like to struggle, to feel out of control, and never to know what was right. "Well, I'll do what I can. I can't promise anything. Faith will have to decide on her own whether to accept my offer. I'll go to the motel tonight and talk to her, on her own ground, where she'll be most comfortable."

"Thanks, man," Xander said, smiling with relief. "I really appreciate it."

"You're quite welcome. I just hope she realizes that she can trust me," Giles said, mostly to himself.

"Well, I gotta get out of here. See ya around," Xander said, rising to his feet and opening the office door. Giles nodded his goodbye.

"You leavin'?" Faith asked when she saw Xander emerge. She was still stretching.

"Yeah. I got stuff to do around the house. I'll see ya later though, right?" Xander said, smiling.

"Yeah," Faith replied as Giles came out of the office. Xander nodded and headed towards the library doors.

"You ready to begin?" Giles asked, grabbing a couple of weapons.

Faith watched Xander leave before looking over at Giles with a cocky grin, "Hell yeah."