The Quickening

Notes: Sorry for the delay, but my Internet connection has been out since yesterday.

Previously:

"Xander needs to stay here tonight," Faith replied. "I think you can see why."

"Your father did this to you?" Giles asked, watching as Xander looked down at the ground.

"Yeah," Xander replied softly. "I only need to stay here one night. I'll find a place tomorrow."

"Don't be ridiculous," Giles responded. "Stay here as long as you need to."

Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Giles stood as a black silhouette in the doorway to Faith's bedroom. The room was covered in shadows and, though he could not see Faith or Xander inside, he knew that they were there. The light shining at his back from the hallway revealed the shape of two figures lying in the bed, both facing each other, both perfectly content. Giles smiled a little. He was glad that Faith had found someone in Sunnydale with whom she could connect and share her trust. Giles had known from the moment he first saw Faith what kind of girl she was. Some people might have called her a whore, though she did not exactly fit the definition, but Giles mostly would have called her lost. She had been the type of person who needed physical intimacy in order to feel decent about herself.

By forming a momentary connection with a random person, by experience a moment of pleasure amidst a life of pain, Faith had been able to deal with the harsh reality of life. Though life in Sunnydale was not easy, Giles imagined it was far easier for her here than on the run from Kakistos, constantly worrying about trying to survive. Finally, Faith was free to explore other options in life. There were many things that Giles wished he could bring up with her, though he was not sure how she would take them. He believed in education, despite the system's problems. Though, historically, slayers did not live long enough to benefit from higher education, Giles believed that the tides of good and evil were shifting in the world – shifting in favor of all that was good.

For the first time in the history of the world, two slayers were existence, fighting together. That fact alone nearly doubled Faith's chance of survival. Having a Watcher as back up, Giles had to admit, did not particularly scream success. He knew how to fight well enough to ward off a couple of vampires, but he could not say with complete conviction that he would feel comfortable being Buffy's, or Faith's, only source to rely on. Though the Scooby Gang helped, three normal people were still not as effective as one slayer. However, with Buffy having Faith to rely on and vice versa, the chances of one of them being eliminated were very small.

Therefore, he contemplated on many occasions bringing up the topic of school with Faith. He understood her reasons for dropping out of high school. In her neighborhood, school was more of a baby sitting service, confining all of the hoodlums and thugs that lived there in one place for so many hours to allow the rest of the populace a chance to go about their business without fear, until they were released again. Even if Faith had done well in school and graduated, her educational career would have ended there, as her family lacked the financial means to continue her education. Now, however, Faith was living in a town with good kids, a town that promoted success instead of failure.

Giles wanted to see her succeed, but he knew that it would require a great deal of convincing on his part to persuade her to step foot in a school for anything other than training. He knew, however, that there were other options available to her. She could always try to obtain her GED, once she had become accustomed to life in Sunnydale and realized that while she may be struck down early by some fatal blow, she also might not be. Giles felt that in addition to preparing his slayers for their calling, he also had a duty to prepare them for life.

He could not justify denying Buffy or Faith that opportunity to have careers and families simply because of some ritualized practice rooted in centuries of Council dogma. While he fervently believed in the Council's mission to fight evil and prepare slayers for their task, he did not believe in the methods they used to achieve those ends. It seemed that as time ticked away, the Council became more and more corrupt, wallowing in its own rituals, traditions, and opulence, rather than trying to reform in order to engage a new, different world. It was no longer the fifteenth century and it was about time the Council realized that.

Unfortunately, he did not believe that they would. Instead, he decided to take it upon himself to train Buffy and Faith as he saw fit, Council be damned. Faith's attitude against authority seemed to wake something up in him that he had not felt since his days as a youth in England. While he no longer wanted chaos and anarchy to rule the world instead of institutions, he still wanted to rebel against the practices of certain institutions that he felt were entirely antiquated. He had been happy following Council orders for most of his life, secretly questioning their motives, and wondering if perhaps he should step up and do things his own way. He had not done so, partly out of fear that the Council would fire him, and partly because he did not believe that he had what it took inside of his heart to make a change. Now, however, as he watched Faith – a lonely, lost girl, who by all rights should have given up and allowed the world to beat her into its mold a long time ago – he felt inspired to come into his own.

He had gone to both extremes, rebelling against everything and meekly following orders. It was about time he started to find some middle ground. One of the figures lying in the bed rolled over and propped itself up. "Hey, you okay?" Faith asked groggily, her voice scratchy from sleep. Giles smiled.

"Yes, everything is fine. Go back to sleep," he replied.

"You sure?" Faith asked, dropping back down onto the bed and rolling over.

"I'm sure," Giles answered. He listened to her breathing even out until he knew she was asleep again. Often, when he had been alone in his apartment, he would miss England. He had many friends and family members there, people who he missed when the moon rose up over the horizon and the long hours of night began to tick by. Buffy had become like a daughter to him in the short time he had known her. The others had similarly found places for themselves in his heart. But he knew that if he had a choice, he could leave them and go back to England.

Then Faith showed up in Sunnydale. At first, she had seemed almost like a burden – to wild for her own good. But as he got to know her better, he began to see himself mirrored in her eyes. He realized that she was much more like him than any of the others. Buffy would always love him as Giles, but he was not sure if she could love him as the Ripper. He tried to shelter her from that side of his personality as best he could, mostly out of fear that she would reject him for it. He knew, however, that Faith cared for both sides of his personality equally. She did not judge him for the things he had done in his past because he knew that there were things in her past that she was ashamed of as well. He and Faith were connected in a way that he and Buffy could never be connected. As he stood in the doorway to her bedroom, Giles realized that he could never leave her. Though he had friends and family back in England, the only person that truly mattered to him beyond anything else was lying in that bed just a few feet away, in Sunnydale, California.

Turning, he quietly closed her bedroom door and walked out into the living room. He poured himself a cup of tea and moved over to the window. The night did not seem as dark anymore. The shadows no longer moved with unnamed evils waiting to strike at any moment. Instead, Giles looked up into the sky and saw the moon smiling back down at him, bright and plump. Sunnydale was changing before his very eyes. Instead of seeing the small town on a Hellmouth, full of mysteries and paranormal phenomenon, he was starting to see home.

…………………..

Faith and Xander had awoken the next morning to the smell of pancakes cooking in the kitchen. Faith could not remember the last time someone had made pancakes for her for breakfast. "Hey," Faith said, slipping onto one of the kitchen chairs. Xander followed suit.

"Good morning," Giles replied, sliding a plate of pancakes across the table to each of them.

"You have a paper around?" Xander asked, taking a sip from the cup of tea Giles sat in front of him.

"Yes, I thought you might want to look at the apartment listings," Giles replied, sliding the newspaper across to him. "If you wouldn't mind cleaning up, I have some errands to run this morning."

"Of course," Faith replied. Giles nodded and walked out of the kitchen, gathering his keys and coat. He called a goodbye to them as he left.

"Pancakes, huh? This an every morning type of thing?" Xander asked.

"Nah, I think he was just trying to impress you," Faith replied jokingly. "See anything?" She asked as Xander skimmed through the newspaper.

"Yeah, there are a couple of listings I could probably afford. I need to get a job though," Xander replied.

"Shouldn't be hard, seeing as how there's such a high turn over rate in this town, what with the high death rate and all," Faith responded. Xander chuckled.

"Way to be optimistic," Xander said.

"I try," Faith answered. "So, hey, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What's up?" Xander asked, flipping the newspaper closed and giving her his complete attention.

"Giles talked to me about becoming my legal guardian the other day," Faith said, looking down at her plate. "I don't know if I should let him or not."

"Why not?" Xander asked, surprised. Faith shrugged.

"I haven't had very good parental experiences," Faith replied. "I just don't know how many more disappointments I can handle."

"Well, I can tell you one thing," Xander answered, "Giles isn't the kind of guy who disappoints. You can trust him, probably more than anyone else."

"So you think I should do it then? Let him become my legal guardian," Faith said, looking up at him.

"Absolutely," Xander replied. "But don't just listen to me. You have to make the choice." Faith nodded. She had a choice to make and she was not entirely sure how to make it.