The Quickening

Notes: Just to clear up any confusion about Cordelia, it was rather implied on the show that while Cordelia cared about Xander, she was more concerned about her own image. That changed once she was gifted with visions from Doyle in season 1 of Angel. After that, she started to care more about other people than herself, not simply because she had visions, but because the visions allowed her to access empathy for other people, something she had struggled with before receiving the visions. Therefore, by asking Faith to take care of Xander, she was insinuating that while she cared about Xander, she wasn't the right person for him at that point in time.

Previously:

"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."

Chapter Eighteen:

Ethan Rayne surveyed the floor of the Milkbar Factory, where his latest attempt to wreak havoc on Sunnydale was being wrapped in shiny tinfoil to be shipped to the masses. The phone rang beside him and Ethan leaned over to pick up the receiver.

"Yes?" He asked, smiling as boxes upon boxes of chocolate bars were sealed for shipment.

"The Boss wanted me to follow up on your progress," Ethan heard Trick's voice crackle through the phone lines. "See how things were going."

"Excellently. You can tell your boss that the slayers will be so distracted trying to keep the adult population of Sunnydale from destroying themselves that they'll have no idea what's really going on," Ethan replied smugly.

"Good. Once the sacrifice is complete, you'll receive the other half of your payment," Trick said. "Talk to you soon."

Ethan hung up the phone as the line went dead. Looking out over the factory, he noticed one of the works idly pick up a candy bar. "Idiot," Ethan muttered to himself and quickly left his office, descending the stairs that led to the floor of the factory. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, walking up behind the worker, who was starting to unwrap the candy bar.

"Trust me," Ethan said, reaching out and taking the candy from him. "You don't want to eat that." The worker nodded sheepishly and turned as Ethan walked away, throwing the candy bar in the nearest trashcan.

……………………….

Faith was starting to get pissed. She had gotten up earlier than usual that morning to go for a run. After leaving a note for Giles, she took a spin around the town, and wound up at the library for training, only to find that Giles wasn't there. In fact, it looked as if he hadn't been in at all that morning. She waited for several hours, hoping that he would show up, only to be disappointed. Her body was wound up tight, itching for a fight because of the lack of action she encountered the night before in the cemetery. She had been looking forward to inflicting some violence that morning on a heavily padded Giles. Faith jumped off her seat on the library table and sauntered out of the library, deciding that if Giles didn't see it fit to show up for training, she didn't have to either.

It was a short walk back to the apartment. As Faith approached, she noticed that the lights were on inside, which was unusual as Giles was rather anal about preserving electricity. Pulling out her key, she stuck it in the door, and slid it open. Music greeted her ears and she stepped inside, closing the door behind her. "Hey, G-man? You here?" She asked, tossing her keys on the coffee table.

"Faith? You're home early," Giles said, walking out of the kitchen with a bottle of beer in his hand and a cigarette in the other. Faith turned and looked at him, rather surprised.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, quite confused.

"What do you mean?" Giles asked, moving into the room and flopping down on an easy chair.

"We were supposed to train this morning," Faith said, before sniffing the air, noticing an odd smell. Smiling suddenly, Faith looked down at Giles. "Are you smoking pot?"

"Of course not," Giles said a seriously as he could before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. Faith couldn't help but laugh along with him. This was a side of Giles she had never seen before. Instead of his usual tweed suit, Giles was clad in a white t-shirt and ripped, faded, blue jeans. Music Faith could only identify as originating from the 60s poured out of the record player in the corner, which Faith had only assumed Giles owned as a decorative piece.

"Are you okay?" Faith asked, slipping out of her jacket and lying it on the back of the couch.

"Never better," Giles replied. "Of course, they don't know that."

"They?"

"The school. I called in sick today," Giles said, leaning forward and whispering conspiratorially. "Shh….don't tell anyone."

Faith nodded. "I promise," she said, leaning forward and whispering as well. She could smell alcohol on Giles's breath.

"Well, now that you're here, I guess I'll have to start acting my age, huh? That is, unless you want to join me," Giles said, offering Faith his joint. Faith stared at him incredulously for a minute.

"Are you serious?" She asked. Giles nodded and motioned for her to take the cigarette. "Okay," Faith said, hesitating slightly as she reached out and took it from Giles.

"Oh, Joyce should be joining us shortly," Giles said, just remembering.

"Buffy's mom? Why's she coming here?" Faith asked as she took a drag off the cigarette. She inhaled deeply, holding the smoke in for several moments before exhaling slowly.

"Just to hang out," Giles replied noncommittally. "But, I think I've got a real shot at knobbing her."

Faith broke out into a fit of coughs, hoping that she had entirely misunderstood what Giles had said. "Knobbing her?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, you know….jumping her, shagging her," Giles said by way of explanation.

"You're gonna have sex with Buffy's mom," Faith stated, taking another drag off the joint, and trying desperately to shove out of her mind the mental image that had formed.

"She seemed pretty open to it last night," Giles replied.

"Last night? I thought you went over there to talk to Buffy about something," Faith stated.

"I did. But she showed up late. She's been a real flake lately," Giles said accusingly.

"Same could be said about you," Faith muttered to herself, passing the joint back to Giles.

"What's that?" Giles asked, leaning forward to hear her better.

"I just remembered I've got some place to be," Faith said, rising to her feet. Turning, she grabbed her jacket and keys and headed toward the door. "Hey, uh, have fun, yeah?" She said as Giles puffed on his cigarette. He flashed her a thumbs up sign and Faith shook her head, leaving the apartment.

………………………….

Faith wandered through the halls of Sunnydale High, trying to find Buffy. It would have been easier if the world weren't spinning utterly out of control. "Starting to get the just say no approach," Faith muttered to herself as she stopped walking and leaned against the wall for a moment to steady herself. It had been a long time since she used any sort of psychotropic substance. She usually shied away from drugs, remembering the effect they had on her mother's life. But her mother had been more of a crack head than a pothead.

Faith turned and looked down the hall as she heard one of the classroom doors open. Buffy, Willow, and Xander walked out together, all looking rather concerned. Cordelia walked out with several other students, flashing a quick glance at Xander before walking the other way down the hall. "Hey!" Faith said, walking forward to meet Buffy and the others.

"Hey," Buffy said, greeting her. "Are you okay?" She asked, noticing Faith sway a little.

"Yeah, five by five," Faith replied.

"Are you sure, you're eyes seem a little red," Willow said, leaning forward to get a better look. She stepped back almost immediately. "You've been smoking pot, haven't you!" She said accusingly.

"What? No," Faith instantly replied. Then she remembered that she had. "Oh, well, maybe a little."

"What?" Xander asked, instantly concerned.

"It's cool. Giles gave it to me," Faith replied. "Which is actually why I'm here," she said, pulling Buffy aside. "Giles is acting really weird."

"You've seen him?" Buffy asked, relieved. "He didn't show up for study hall. I was worried."

"Wait, what do you mean Giles gave you pot?" Willow asked, interrupting the conversation.

"Like I said, he's been acting weird," Faith responded. Turning back to Buffy, she said, "You might want to go over to his place and talk to him."

"Why?" Buffy asked, instantly seeing that there was more to Faith's suggestion than met the eye.

"I think he's got some ulterior motives with your mom," Faith replied as delicately as she could in her slightly impaired state.

"Ulterior motives?" Xander asked, not getting it.

Faith rolled her eyes. "Giles wants to bang Buffy's mom," she said, noticing Buffy's eyes bug out.

"Oh God," Xander said, shivering at the mental image that popped up in his mind. "Why did I ask?"

"This is horrible," Buffy said. "We have to stop them."

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying," Faith replied as Buffy yanked her down the hallway by her arm.

"We'll meet up with you guys later!" Buffy shouted back to Xander and Willow, who were still standing in the hallway, stunned.

"So, she's not at all what she seems, huh?" Willow replied, recovering, and motioning to Faith as Buffy dragged her out of the school. "'Cuz I definitely didn't think she had serious substance abuse problems," Willow replied sarcastically, the many times she had seen Faith drinking hard liquor at the Bronze popping into her mind.

Xander sighed. "Something weird is going on."