Night Falls
Notes: Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I know, excuses, excuses, but school has been crazy and I'm in the midst of starting my own photography business, so I've been a bit busy. I'll try to update when I can.
Previously:
"All of the washing in the world won't make it go away," Willow said quietly, standing in the doorway of the bathroom.
Chapter Twenty-Two:
Faith watched as the girls worked through a series of exercises. The sun was shining brightly, forcing her to squint. Faith was still amazed at the weather in California. Autumn was nearly over, but she was still hot in her white tank top. In Boston, she would have been bundled up in a heavy coat. If I even had a coat, she though to herself wryly. Buffy paced several yards in front of her, watching the girls with a keen eye. It had been a week since the blonde Slayer killed the uber vamp and she had personally taken charge of the girls' training. She did not want them to be helpless in the face of danger anymore. It was time that they became Slayers in their own right.
Giles had brought back several more girls and the house was beginning to feel crowded. Faith was constantly battling for hot water in the morning and for cereal for breakfast. Dawn had been given the duty of shopping for food and it seemed as though the teenage girl was spending most of her time in the supermarket. Faith snickered, imagining the ridiculously thin girl pushing a cart loaded with groceries through the parking lot. She imagined that the cart probably pushed Dawn, instead of the other way around.
While Buffy had taken a more active role in the girls' training, she still relied on Faith to teach them the finer arts of combat, which was why Faith was waiting for the blonde Slayer to finish. Though Buffy had been a successful Slayer for a number of years, she appreciated Faith's style of fighting. Kendra had been too stiff, she had lacked the passion which made Faith such a great fighter. When Faith had first arrived in Sunnydale, her passion had turned to rage. But she was slowly learning how to control it. Her efforts were paying off and she had become a force to be reckoned with in the field. Though she was satisfied with her progress in slaying, Faith had to admit that she was becoming frustrated in her relationship with Buffy.
The blonde Slayer was obviously attracted to her and obviously cared about her. They had been sleeping in the same bed every night, but thus far, they had not capitalized on their mutual attraction. Faith knew that Buffy had been burned in the recent past by people who had used her for her body, but she also knew that Buffy wanted her just as much as she wanted Buffy. Faith sighed and lit up a cigarette. "In a sharing mood?" Hailey asked, emerging from the back door and sitting next to Faith on the step.
Faith handed Hailey a cigarette and lit it with her own. "How you feeling, sheriff?" Faith asked.
"Fine, why do you ask?" Hailey wondered.
"You've had those bandages on your hands for a week now," Faith pointed out. "No one's ever bothered to explain them."
"I hurt my hands. I thought that was obvious," Hailey retorted.
"Don't play games with me, sheriff. I know there's more to it than that. I saw the look on your face when you killed that Bringer. I didn't mention it before because I wasn't sure if it was my place, but Spike and I have been worried about you."
Hailey looked down at the ground and smiled a little. "Been worried about me, huh?" She said, bumping shoulders with the younger girl. "I'm fine, really. Had a nice long talk with Willow and worked everything out."
"Why am I not convinced?" Faith asked. "Let me guess. You felt so guilty about it afterwards that you couldn't seem to stop seeing blood everywhere. So you ripped up yours hands trying to wash it off."
"How did you know that?" Hailey asked, looking over at her sharply.
"You seem to forget that I was in prison for murdering two people," Faith noted. "I get what guilt is like. I still see the blood everyday. I just know that there isn't a way to get rid of it now."
Hailey nodded and took a drag off of her cigarette. Breathing the smoke back out, she sighed. "I didn't tell Willow this, but that wasn't the first time I killed someone," she said softly.
"What happened?" Faith asked, masking her surprise with some effort.
"It was two weeks after I became sheriff. This guy robbed a convenience store. I got into a chase with him and he crashed his car into a guardrail. When I went to arrest him, he pulled a knife on me," Hailey explained.
"What did you do?" Faith asked, looking over at her.
"I shot him in the chest," Hailey replied. "I've never been able to reconcile that. I know that if he had been given the opportunity, he would have stabbed me. But it just didn't seem like a fair fight. It didn't bother me at first, but afterwards, I started to think that maybe there had been another way for me to handle it."
"Like you said, he would have killed you," Faith rationalized.
"Maybe," Hailey agreed. "But maybe not. I'll never know."
Their conversation was cut short when Dawn opened the door and popped her head outside. "We just got a call from the hospital," she said.
"Why?" Faith asked, rising to her feet. Hailey did the same.
"Apparently a girl was brought in last night with a stab wound to her stomach. She told the doctors to call us this morning, after she regained consciousness," Dawn explained.
"You hear that, B?" Faith asked.
"Yeah," Buffy replied, motioning for the girls to take a break from their training. "Let's go see who she is."
"Want to come?" Faith asked, looking over at Hailey.
"Don't have anything better to do," she replied, flicking her cigarette away.
"You could be training with everyone else," Buffy said pointedly.
"Yeah, but what fun would there be in that?" Hailey replied sarcastically. Buffy rolled her eyes.
"Maybe I need to have a talk with Willow about you," Buffy said jokingly.
"Now that's harsh, B," Faith said. "Using the girlfriend."
"It would get the job done though," Buffy replied.
"She's devious," Hailey said to Faith. "How do you put up with her?"
"I really have no idea," Faith said, watching Buffy walk ahead of them with a triumphant grin on her face. "But it's really kinda worth it."
………………………………
"What happened?" Buffy asked sympathetically as she sat next to the injured girl in the hospital, holding her hand.
"My Watcher had told me to come to you if anything happened, after the Council was destroyed. I never thought I would have to, but then one day I came home from school and he wad dead. I just left. I didn't even pack anything. I've been on the run every since. The Bringers have been following me everywhere I go. I thought I had outrun them, though, after I left Los Angeles," the girl replied, wincing with pain as she shifted in the bed.
"Take your time," Hailey suggested. "Can we get you anything?"
"Some water?" The girl asked.
"I'll get it," Faith said, moving over to the bathroom.
"So you left Los Angeles," Buffy prodded.
"I had been hitching rides to get up here. I was passing through this little town when I ran into another group of Bringers. They almost had me, but this car stopped and picked me up. I thought I would be safe with him," the girl said, shuddering suddenly.
"Him?" Hailey asked.
The girl's eyes turned dark as she recalled some bitter and painful memory. "Yeah. He was a preacher, or something. At least he was dressed as one. He said that his name was Caleb."
"Caleb," Buffy stated.
"We don't know any Caleb," Hailey said, looking over at her.
"Must be a new player," Buffy commented. Faith reemerged from the bathroom with a glass of water.
"Here," she said, handing it to the girl, who accepted it with a shaking hand.
After taking a drink, she said, "He was nice enough to begin with. We got away from the Bringers. But then he started to get weird. He liked to talk. He just talked and talked and talked. But he had a serious problem with women."
"What do you mean?" Faith asked, sitting down next to Buffy in one of the hospital chairs.
"He said I was a dirty girl and that dirty girls needed to be punished. But that I was needed to serve a higher purpose. He wanted me to give you a message," she said.
"What did he say?" Buffy asked, her blood running cold.
"I have something of yours," the girl stated.
………………………..
"What do you think he was talking about?" Faith asked as they left the hospital.
"Xander," Buffy replied.
"What?" Hailey asked.
"No one has seen him in a couple of days," Buffy replied. "Not since he stalked out of the house after we told him about us," she said, looking over at Faith. "Even Anya hasn't seen him."
"That doesn't mean that the First has him," Faith replied.
"Where is he then? Besides, I recall you saying that if the First had him, it would want to brag about it. What do you call that?" Buffy asked Faith.
"I can see where this is going. You need to stop panicking. I'm sure Xander is fine. Right now, we need to worry about who Caleb is, rather than what he supposedly has," Hailey said.
"So you just want me to forget that Xander could be hurt, dead, or worse," Buffy stated angrily.
"No, but I want you get your head in the game," Hailey replied, feeling her own anger start to surface. "Here you are telling us how we're supposed to be this army. But you want to run off at the first provocation and risk everything. An army has to plan."
"I didn't say that," Buffy said.
"Really? So if we found out where Caleb was right now, you wouldn't want to go confront him?" Hailey asked.
Buffy looked down at the ground. "She has a point, B," Faith said.
"You're on her side?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"This isn't about sides," Faith said. "But how about we compromise? Let's have Willow do a locator spell. See if we can't figure out where Xander is on our own before we rally the Calvary and storm Caleb's secret liar, okay?"
"Okay," Buffy grumbled.
"This is good. Willow wanted to do another spell as well," Hailey said.
"She did?" Faith asked.
"Well, wanted may be too strong of a word. But she mentioned considering doing a spell to keep the First out of the house," Hailey said.
"Can she do that?" Buffy asked.
"She's Willow," Hailey replied. "She can do anything."
……………………….
"How long have you been gone?" A British voice asked, snapping Xander out of his thoughts as he drove his uncle's car up a long, winding road.
"A week," Xander said.
"And you didn't tell them where you were going?" the other man asked.
"No," Xander replied. "I was a little pissed off when I left, Wes."
"Why did you decide to come to Los Angeles," Wesley replied, glancing over at him.
"I didn't. I just sort of ended up there. Once I got there, I figured I'd come check out Angel Investigations. After that, I realized that we could use your help up in Sunnydale," Xander said. "You're one of two Watchers left alive that I know about."
"I'm glad you came," Wesley stated. "I do want to help. I'd also like another chance with Faith."
"Why?" Xander asked. "She's dangerous."
"Yes, she is. But not to me. Or to you, for that matter. I know you don't believe it, Xander, and I understand, but she has changed. I've seen it," Wes said.
"I don't know," Xander mumbled.
"Give her a chance. She'll surprise you," Wes said, smiling a little.
"Maybe that's what I'm afraid of," Xander responded.
"When should we arrive?" Wes asked, glancing out of the window as the California coast rolled by.
Xander smiled grimly, "Sunset."