The Quickening

Previously:

Faith had been rather surprised when Xander didn't immediately make a move on her after the break up with Cordelia. Now, however, she realized that he was holding back because he didn't know how she would react to him. Even more surprising to her, however, was the fact that he defended her to Willow, one of his oldest friends.

Chapter Seventeen:

Faith twiddled her stake and sighed as she sat on a gravestone in the cemetery waiting for something – anything to happen. Buffy had bailed on her early, citing the need to cram her brain full of useless facts for the SAT test. Faith had been tempted to follow her to see if Buffy was really going home, but opted against it. Being caught stalking her partner in crime would strain their relationship even more and Faith had no idea how she would explain herself if Buffy did catch her. Thus far, patrol had been entirely fruitless, without a single vampire showing its face for the entire two hours Faith had been wandering around town, looking for something to kill.

"Screw this," Faith said, leaping off the headstone. "I'm goin' home," she shouted. "Any vamps wanna come out and play, now's the time to do it." Faith paused and waited, hearing nothing but silence and the echoing of her voice around the cemetery. "Helpless, stranded, teenage girl," Faith shouted again. Sighing loudly, she turned and she started walking back to town.

Her stomach growled loudly as she walked and she wondered what Giles had made for dinner. Though she didn't like to think of him as her Watcher, as Kate would always be her Watcher, even though she was dead, Faith found herself learning a great deal about slaying from him. Her style had always been passionate and wild, but under his tutelage, she was starting to learn to control herself a bit more, to anticipate the moves of her opponents, and to decide on a plan of attack before striking. Though Giles could have easily tried to turn Faith into a carbon copy of Buffy, instead, he worked with her natural tendencies and focused on improving them, rather than changing them.

As Faith neared her new home, she pulled out the key Giles had given her, smiling when she felt the cold steel press against her fingers. It reminded her of her apartment key when she lived in Boston. She had stolen her mom's key one night while she was drunk. She ran fifteen blocks to the hardware store to have a copy made so that she wouldn't have to find the apartment manager every time she was locked out. Her mother would forget to leave the spare key, if one even existed, under the doormat for her for when she came home from school.

After Kate had been killed by Kakistos, Faith took some money Kate had lying around her house and bought a bus ticket with it. The first rest stop the bus stopped at, Faith tossed her old apartment key in the bathroom trashcan. She felt like throwing away her key was the last thing she needed to do to let Boston go. It dawned on her, however, that she would never be able to let her old home go. Even though she never liked it there, it had still been the place where she grew up, the place where her family lived. Running a hand through her hair, she stuck the key in the lock on the front door and slid it open. She never wanted to have to throw out another key. More importantly, she never wanted to have to get on a bus and run away from her life again.

The apartment was dark as she stepped inside. "Giles?" Faith called, flipping on the lights. When he didn't answer her, she quickly walked through the apartment, searching for him, only to find no one there. "That's weird," she muttered to herself as she wandered into the kitchen.

Faith immediately noticed a note taped to the fridge, written in Giles's nearly perfect, cursive writing. Ripping it off, Faith quickly scanned the contents and read it. Apparently, Giles had gone over to Buffy's house to talk to her about something of the utmost importance. Faith smirked, having a feeling that Buffy was going to be in trouble. At the bottom of the note, Giles wrote a postscript stating that he had left a twenty-dollar bill on the kitchen counter, with which she could buy herself dinner.

Faith glanced over at the phone, hesitating for a moment before picking it up and dialing Xander's phone number. The phone rang several times before a gruff, male voice answered it. "What?" The man spat out in a hostile tone.

"Is Xander there?" Faith asked, slipping the money into her pocket.

"Who is this?" He asked.

"Faith," Faith replied, slightly annoyed. "Is he there or not?

"Hold on," he said, moving the phone away from his mouth and shouting through the house. "Xander! There's some bitch on the phone for you!"

Faith looked down at the receiver in surprise. "That was nice," she muttered to herself. She could hear Xander take the phone and mutter something before answering. "Hey, who was that?" Faith asked, flopping down on the couch.

"My dad," Xander said wearily. "Sorry about what he yelled. It's nothing personal. He says that about everyone."

"It's cool," Faith replied. "Not like I haven't been called that before."

"Well, you do get along so well with people," Xander joked. "So what's up?"

"I've got some money burning a hole in my pocket for a change. Wanna go to some seedy diner and get dinner?" Faith asked. She could practically see Xander smile into the phone.

"Yeah, want me to come get you?" He asked.

"Nah, just meet me there. The one by the motel," Faith said. "See ya soon." Hanging up the phone, she grabbed her key off the coffee table and walked over to the front door. Flipping the lights back off, she left the apartment, locking the door behind her.

It was chilly outside, but nowhere near the temperature it would have been in Boston at that time of year. Faith always hated the cold weather. It seemed to sink down into her very bones. Even now, she could feel the ache of Boston winters. Wrapping her jacket tighter around her body, she started walking down the street toward the diner. She wondered why Giles had gone to Buffy's house to talk to her. Perhaps it was about Buffy's constant tardiness for patrol and her recent tendency to leave training early. Faith didn't understand why Buffy pushed her identity as a slayer away.

Faith wasn't a religious person, nor did she particularly think of God as any sort of controlling factor in her life, yet, she couldn't deny the importance of being a slayer. It was fate, destiny, and they were the only ones who could do it. Most of the people that went about their daily lives had no idea what really existed in the world. They were entirely helpless. Every time Buffy slacked off, it meant that no one would be there when a vampire decided to attack someone. At the same time, Faith knew that they couldn't be everywhere. People died every night from vampire bites, even when they went on patrol. They couldn't stop all of the evil in the world, but Faith believed that they had the duty to try.

"Hey!" Faith heard a voice call from behind her. Faith turned to see Cordelia stepping out of a shop she had just passed. "Wait up," Cordelia called after her, walking towards her. Faith cringed. She had been trying to avoid Cordelia after her very public break up with Xander.

"What's up?" Faith asked, shoving her hands in her pockets awkwardly.

"So, you and Xander, huh?" Cordelia asked, rather accusingly.

"It ain't like that," Faith replied. "We're just friends."

"Just friends who walk down the street at like eight o'clock in the morning holding hands and wearing each others' clothes?" Cordelia stated, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Last time I checked, Xander never tried to wear any of my clothes," Faith pointed out.

"So not the point," Cordelia spat out. Then she softened a bit. "Look, I don't care, okay? You can have him. He's all yours."

"Gee, thanks," Faith said sarcastically.

"Just…," Cordelia hesitated. "Take care of him, you know? He's fragile. He won't ever admit that, God forbid. But he doesn't really think. He just jumps into things, always trying to help people no matter what the cost to himself. I just don't want to see him get hurt."

Faith nodded and looked down at her shoes, then back up at Cordelia. "I'll look out for him," she said. Cordelia smiled a little and nodded, before her face clouded over again.

"Good. That's all I wanted," she said, turning and walking back to the store she had come out of.
Faith watched her go before continuing down the street towards the diner. "That was weird."