Chapter 20 – Saturday: Faith
Good thing about being a Slayer, you don't have to wake up early because of your job. So, Faith was surprised, and a tad pissed with the insistent hard knocking on her door at ... ten-thirty in the morning. She stood up, clad in her birthday suit, and looked at the door. Shock value or non-shock value? She looked at the digital clock on the stand, and decided. It was Saturday, after all.
"YEAH?" she opened the door, almost tearing it off. Two pair of eyes almost rolled out of their sockets. One belonged to her sister Slayer, B, and the other, obviously, to Jeeves. The first's jaw almost fell on the ground, the second turned around quickly. But both yelled "FAITH!" at almost the same time. The Dark Slayer smiled, and got back in, calmly removing some panties and a long t-shirt from her bag. "What d'ya want?" she asked, while dressing. Buffy's jaw returned to work in a few moments. "We-we...we...well...we..."
Faith smirked. "There is a phrase somewhere in all those 'we', isn't it?"
Buffy's surprise vanished with the now almost decently clad Slayer, and she turned around to Giles. "This is not gonna work, Giles. It's the worst idea of the bad ideas."
Giles, still with his back turned, asked. "I-is she decent?"
"Yeah, Jeeves, I am. You can turn now. And what bad idea is this?"
Giles turned around, but instead of looking straight to the Slayer, he looked at her room. The place, as He-Man had said, was a rat hole, where even the rats wouldn't want to live. The Watcher finally looked at her, and he removed his glasses. "We-well, Faith, we came here to make a proposition to you. Can we come in?" he asked.
Faith shrugged, and sat on her bed. They entered, and Buffy looked to a chair in a corner. She looked to it, looked to the state the room was in, and decided against it.
"What proposition? And couldn't it be later? I'm a Slayer, I need my beauty sleep."
Buffy actually smiled. "I keep telling him that, but does he listen? Noooo. And it's the weekend Giles, no school. Week-/end/. Emphasis on end," she said.
Giles sighed. One was enough. Two...
"Well, I believe that Buffy must speak first."
Buffy glared at him. This was not part of the deal. She turned back to her and sighed. "I...I mean we...want you to come live with us."
Faith lost a bit of her attitude, and asked, surprised. "Why?"
"First of all, this hole should have been demolished a long time ago. No one should live in a place like this," Buffy said, looking at the room with disgust. "I guess even the roaches do some strikes to ask for better conditions once in a while. Two, I have room in my home, a comfy bed and decent plumbing."
"Ain't your mom gonna argue about a stranger?"
Buffy stiffened, and Faith noticed. "Did I say something wrong?"
"My...mother died about four months ago."
"I-I'm sorry," she said, sincerely.
"No. No problem. You didn't know. It's just...still too soon."
"And your dad?" Faith asked. Since she had such a crappy family, if those two bastards could be called a family, she had to ask. She wouldn't jump into a situation like that, not for Buffy nor anyone. Never again.
"Somewhere in Spain, humping his secretary," she said, pissed. He hadn't even showed up for the funeral.
"Buffy!" Giles said, critically.
"What? It's true," she answered, almost in the same tone. "Anyway, Giles is mine and Dawn's legal guardian. The Council used it's muscles once again to have their 'precious' Slayer on the Hellmouth, instead in a foster home in Bumfuck, Alabama."
"Buffy!" Giles repeated again, in the same tone. Buffy chose to ignore him this time.
"Who's Dawn?" Faith asked, smirking.
"My annoying little sister. Don't worry, she knows all about Slaying."
"Do you have cable? If you do, I pack my bag right now."
"We can come to a deal. Right, Giles?" Buffy said, looking to her Watcher, and motioning for him to continue. He stopped cleaning his glasses, and put them back on.
"What Buffy is referring to is the deal she has with the Council. She convinced them to give her a salary, and she convinced me to extend the same benefit to you. I've already spoken to the Council, and pending a final decision, this matter will be closed by the end of next week."
"Slaying and be paid for that? How did you manage to do that?" Faith asked, surprised. Her sister Slayer was full of surprises.
"I have my ways," she said, mysteriously.
"Is the money good?"
"It gives us a nice shopping spree once in a while. With both our incomes, should be a breeze."
"Yay! Gimme five minutes!" she said, jumping from the bed, and starting to collect her stuff.
"Wait a moment, I have something to add, and this is my personal contribution," Giles said, and Faith stopped cold, turning back to him. "Since you are staying in Buffy's house, I've arranged with the Council so you could be enrolled in Sunnydale High."
The dark Slayer shook her head and looked the Watcher straight in the eye.
"Why, Jeeves? I mean, what's the reason? Slayers don't have such a long life, and besides, school's ain't my stuff."
"What if that isn't true? If you live to attain a long life, why don't you learn something else beyond slaying?"
"May the Council never hear you, Giles," Buffy said, smiling.
"Fat chance of that happening," she murmured. "Ok, suppose that I accept. Again, why? I'm not smart enough. Never was," she said, attitude changing to one Giles had seen in another young person not too long ago.
"Whoever said that to you must be stupid, because He-Man told me exactly the opposite last night, and I'm more inclined to believe him."
Buffy found the declaration quite odd, but decided to speak with him later on, when they could be alone.
"Hey, it's easy. Do your tests, they will shove you into a year, you ask for Willow's help and voilá, before you knew it, G-day!" Buffy said.
"Willow?" Faith asked, confused.
"The redhead you met yesterday."
"Oh, yeah," Faith smiled. She seemed like a nice girl. "She smart?"
"She's the Blue Power Ranger and Mr. Fantastic rolled together in a cool package."
Giles' and Faith's synchronized "Huh?" made Buffy sigh. "Yeah, she's smart," she said, defeated.
Faith grinned. "Ok, I'll bite. School, whatever. Let me finish packin'."
Faith looked around the town, while Giles drove them to B's house. If not for the unusual number of cemeteries, it could pass for any small Californian town. Near noon, the streets were crowded, with small kids playing on gardens, Johns and Marks and Peters washing their cars and mowing their lawns, their wives chatting or cleaning or doing normal things.
It looked almost normal enough, if it wasn't for the underlying feeling of danger and fear present in every surreptitiously look, every controlled gesture. People knew something was wrong, they just didn't accept it. Mankind was so stupid sometimes.
Faith snorted. "What?" the blonde seated behind her asked.
"They don't see it, do they?" she pointed to the people outside.
Buffy understood immediately, Giles as well. "Perhaps it's for the better," Giles said first. "If they had real proof, all it would cause would be panic and more danger. So, sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss."
The brunette Slayer looked to her Watcher, and looked outside again. "Do you really believe that?"
"Yes," Giles answered, without a second thought.
Faith looked at his profile, and she smiled deviously. "Ok, now remove all the stuffy Watcher-English pose and answer me. D'ya truly believe that?"
Giles already knew his true answer. Ignorance was bliss, but there was a more powerful expression for their situation: Strength in numbers.
"No," he said, and continued. "But we can't work under presumptions."
Buffy had been following the conversation with rapt attention. She was the one who answered, echoing Faith's feelings. "Sometimes, I wish we could. But I have accepted that if the truth came forward, we would have another war, and this one would be impossible to win."
"Why?" Faith asked, half turning her body to look at her sister Slayer's face.
"If something like revelation of the creepy night life appeared, everyone would panic, and it just would take an odd and eccentric human neighbor to be pointed as a 'demon' for everything we fight for to go down the drain."
"Soon, all it would take was someone pointing a finger at another someone to initiate another Witch Hunt. And I truly hope that no one wants that," Giles finished.
Faith was silenced after that, deep in thought.
They arrived at Buffy's home a few minutes later, Giles parking his car at the garage. Faith climbed out, and looked to the house.
"Nice joint, B," she said honestly, grabbing her duffle from the trunk.
"Thanks. Come in," she said, opening the front door. Dawn was in the living room watching TV. "Hey, Dawnie, there's someone I'd like you to meet. Dawn, this is Faith. Faith, this is Dawn?"
"The annoying one?" Faith asked, and Dawn glared at her. The Slayer smirked. "Blame your sister."
Dawn turned her death glare to her sister, who only shrugged. "Hi, welcome. You the new Slayer? What's the last cool demon you killed? Hi, Giles" she said, extending her hand. Faith laughed, and captured her hand. When she did that, something strange happened, as if electricity ran along the brief contact. The kid removed her hand, not giving the impression of feeling anything.
Buffy only spoke a "Dawn!", and called her sister Slayer upstairs. "Come on, follow me."
The Watcher stayed behind, while Faith climbed the stairs, looking around. The place was comfortable enough, and quite well kept. Buffy arrived in front of a door, and opened it. "This is gonna be your room. It's full of stuff right now, but tomorrow we can take those things outta here with some help from Willow and Xand. You can sleep in my room tonight. It's a king size bed. Hope you don't snore."
"Nobody complained before," she said, looking at the crowded room. It would look nice, after they took out the stuff.
Buffy showed the rest of the house to her, and they came back to the living room, where Dawn was on a heated discussion with Giles.
"But Giles, research isn't dangerous. Looking at funny drawings in a book ain't gonna open the Hellmouth!" the girl spoke.
"Sometimes, Dawn, that's all that it takes, depending on the book. I can understand you wanting to help, but I simply don't know if it's wise. An extra pair of eyes is always helpful, but I wouldn't want you involved in this part of your sister's life."
Dawn huffed, hands contracting involuntarily. It was really irritating not being able to reveal her true origin. She could probably read, comment and fill in the blanks of every book in the possession of the Council of Watchers, and she could cast some pretty helpful and powerful spells, but she couldn't do a thing without the approval of a sister who was several million years younger than she. Said 'sister' approached, with the new Slayer, Faith, right at her side.
"I'm already involved, Giles. This is my /sister/ we're talking about."
"And it's my decision, right?" Buffy asked, looking at Giles. Both their arguments were valid, and if she was true to herself, Dawn really was involved in all of her life.
"Yes," Dawn said, in a low tone.
Buffy thought it over for a few moments, and looked at her younger sister. "Ok, you can help, but there are rules: One, you don't go anywhere alone at night without me accompanying you. Two, you only research what Giles tells you is safe. Three, absolutely /no/ heroics, what we do is dangerous, it's not a bad TV series. It's that, or nothing. Deal?"
Dawn pouted, but agreed, nodding her head.
"I didn't hear you. Do we have a deal?"
"Yes, we have a deal," she said, annoyed.
"Good. Now, what about I order something for us to eat? You staying, Giles?" Buffy asked, to the already standing up Watcher.
"I'm afraid not, Buffy. With all these happenings in the last days, I still didn't have time to organize the boxes that the Council sent me. I'm going back to the library to put some order onto them. And Faith, before I forget, here," he said, passing her two one hundred dollar bills. Faith's and Buffy's eyes almost jumped out of their sockets. "I believe you'll need some basic necessities, and until the Council normalizes your salary, I think you can manage with that."
"I think...I'll manage," the Slayer said, with a devious smirk in place. "Thanks, Jeeves."
"Don't you call anyone by name?" Dawn asked.
"Why, Squirt, feeling left out?"
Dawn moaned, while her sister grinned.
Faith returned from her shopping spree filled with bags in the middle of the afternoon. She'd never had so much money to spend in one go, so she took her time, and with the help of Buffy, she had managed to purchase a lot of goodies. Buffy had stayed behind, going to Red's home for something. Damn, she still hadn't told her sister Slayer about the real reason she had come to SunnyHell. She would have to do that as soon as B arrived.
She opened the unlocked front door, depositing the bags on the couch. She thought on shouting her entrance, but changed her mind when she heard the sound of a man speaking loudly on the second floor.
Walking silently upstairs, she approached the closed door to Dawn's room, and kept listening.
- To be continued -