3
Rome, Italy - May 3rd 2004
Dawn Summers pushes her boyfriend Antonio playfully in the chest as he uses his lanky frame to trap her in the doorframe of the apartment she shares with her sister. His hard chest and the silk shirt that covers it feels wonderful under her hands and as he leans down to kiss her she stops pushing and slides her palms along the smooth fabric of the front of his shirt and across the muscle beneath it to his back. Her mouth meets his lightly at first, the kiss more teasing than passionate, though this changes quickly as both of them begin to flush with excitement. Finally, Dawn lets go of him with one hand and gropes blindly for the door handle. After pawing for it for a moment she finally manages to open it and the weight of their bodies causes the door to swing open far more quickly than she anticipated and the two fall in a giggling heap on the foyer floor.
"Shit!" Dawn registers the startled cry from behind her and she manages to turn onto her stomach and sees her sister in an equally compromising position on the couch, struggling up from beneath her own boyfriend and snatching her unbuttoned blouse closed in a guilty panic. Dawn starts snickering again as Antonio gets to his feet and stretches out a hand to help her up. Buffy also sits up and swats her prone boyfriend on his broad chest and the black man sighs and swings his legs down to take a sitting position as well. He gives Dawn a wink and a grin before standing and moving to stretch out a hand to her boyfriend. "You are Antonio, correct?"
Antonio takes the proffered hand and tries a guilty smile of his own. "Buonasera," the younger man says a trifle stiffly. "I have not the honor of your acquaintance."
"Oh," Dawn stammers, remembering her manners quickly. "Antonio, this is my sister's boyfriend … er," she stammers, not knowing exactly how to introduce him.
"Tim," The Immortal interjects smoothly, elegantly detaching his hand from the other man's grip. He is well over six feet tall, with a muscular upper-body but when he moves it's with the grace of a professional dancer. "My proper name is a bit ponderous I'm afraid. Shortening it is easier than explaining it." He smiles broadly at Antonio and his cheeks dimple charmingly and the Italian can't help but return it. Dawn giggles again. The Immortal's charm is legendary and though she's seen it at work before, it never ceases to amaze her how completely won over people are by him on such short acquaintance. "I understand from Buffy that you and Dawn will be attending AUR together in the fall?"
The American University of Rome was the premier English Language University in the country and Dawn's acceptance had been a source of enormous pride for both the Summers girls and the subject of multiple intercontinental phone-calls of giddy excitement the day they had received the letter, the most memorable of which had been with Robin Wood, Dawn's old principal from Sunnydale. He was in Cleveland now working as a Watcher and the call had ended abruptly when in the background Faith's voice has started shouting loud complaints about being left forgotten and apparently handcuffed to the bed.
"Si," Antonio says proudly, reaching over to squeeze Dawn's hand. "I hope to go to the American University Harvard and study medicine someday, and Father thought it best that I go to an English speaking school to prepare."
"So long as you're not playing Doctor with my sister," Buffy mutters under her breath, jabbing buttons fiercely back through their holes on her blouse. Dawn shoots her a dirty look and Buffy grumbles again and then stands and gives Antonio a lop-sided smile. "Is Antonio staying for supper Dawn?" Her voice is pleasant but her eyes clearly tell her sister that a 'no' here would be the preferred answer.
"An excellent idea Buffy," The Immortal turns to her smiling. Dawn almost laughs out-loud at the obvious lack of enthusiasm on her sister's face. The Immortal chuckles however and takes a cell phone from the pocket of his slacks and punches in a number. "Luigi? Ah yes, Giovanni, my apologies. Your wife and children are well? Excellent." The Immortal gives Dawn a wink as she lights up with recognition. "I know it's terribly late notice but could you arrange a table for four on the terrace for," he checks his watch, "8:30 perhaps? Excellent. Perhaps a bottle of the '98 Brunello di Montalcino could be opened to breathe? Giovanni, you are a prince among men." The Immortal laughs and the sound of it causes everyone else in the room to smile, even the previously non-plussed Buffy. "Give my love to Valentina. Ciao." He kills the call and hits another button. "Santino? Could you please be out front of Miss Summers' building in five minutes? Bello! Thank you Santino." He drops the phone back into his pocket gracefully before smiling at Antonio again. "If you would do me the honor of joining our table of course? The Plaza Evangelista has the finest carciofo al mattone in the city in my humble opinion." Antonio, speechless, just nods and The Immortal takes his hand again and shakes it. "I'll have my driver take you home so you can change if you wish. He'll wait for you to get ready and take you to meet us there Ovviamente." Again Antonio just nods and The Immortal whisks him to the door and before Dawn can say a word of goodbye he is ushering the younger man out the door and to the elevator.
Dawn turns to look at her sister and sticks out her tongue. "You'd think that after six months some of his manners would have rubbed off on you."
"Shut up," Buffy grumbles, still trying to get her last button done up. "And what was with the smooch-fest tumbling into the room? I thought you guys only met a few weeks ago?"
"And I suppose you two were just trading shirts then?" Dawn asks innocently, batting her eyes at her older sister. "Antonio is a gentleman Buffy. Besides, after six dates smooching is totally on the agenda. It's almost a law."
Buffy opens her mouth to reply but the strident ring of the telephone cuts her off before she can speak. Neither of them were used to the weird Italian ring-tones yet and several times Buffy had mistaken it for the doorbell. She strides over and picks it up, covering the mouthpiece and looking at her sister. "And for your information, smooching is only acceptable after the seventh date."
"And shirtless couch rugby is how many dates?"
"Smartass," Buffy mutters before uncovering the mouthpiece. "Ciao?" She listens for a moment. "Giles! … Oh, not much. Dawn is skanking it up in hallways with Italian boys apparently and Andrew headed back to London a few days ago as you're probably well aware." The Immortal comes back in at that moment and smiles at Dawn before shooting an inquisitive look at Buffy. She just smiles at him and holds up a finger. "Look Giles, I'd love to chat but Dawn and I are going out soon and …" she trails off, a furrow appearing in her brow. She moves to an end table and gets a pen and pad of paper from the drawer. "Xander's okay though right?" Dawn shoots Buffy a worried look but she just shakes her head. "Good. So when is he coming to London? … Gotcha. Yeah, Dawn and I will get some stuff packed and we'll be there Friday. See you then." Buffy hangs up the phone and is immediately assaulted by questions from her younger sister.
"What happened to Xander?" she demands.
"Xander's fine Dawn," she shoots her sister a warning look and shakes her head a fraction. "He … found something. That thing we were looking for."
"The Al Hatari Bustani," The Immortal inquires gently. He sees the shocked looks on the sisters' faces and shrugs elegantly. "I have many friends in Africa ciccina. Your friend's search has not gone unnoticed. As a matter of fact, his guide is a former employee of mine." He frowns gently and runs his thumb across the small white-gold earring in his left ear. There is an immaculate diamond stud in his right ear. "What he searches for … it is something not meant to be found." Though his English is flawless with just the slightest trace of an English accent, Dawn is once again struck by how formally he tends to speak.
"What do you know about it?" Buffy asks, a little more harshly than she'd meant to. The Immortal just smiles and motions for the two women to sit down. After they are seated he frowns slightly and speaks. "The Dead Garden is a place of great magicks. Dark magicks. It is the place that the first," He pauses and snorts in mild revulsion. "What they did to that girl … unforgivable."
"You were there?" Dawn asks incredulously.
"No Dawn," The Immortal shakes his head. Even I am not that ancient. No," his voice lowers perceptibly and his frown deepens. "But many knew the tale. The girl they called The Primitive. The first of the Slayers." He pats Buffy on the knee and then gives her a warm smile. "But how can I regret what they did when it means that I got to meet you? I am selfish perhaps." Buffy's cheeks are mantled with a furious blush from the compliment but The Immortal pretends not to notice and continues. "Such an act of cruelty and the invoking of such magicks stains a place. To purposely force such a black gift on an innocent child and create that legacy left a shadow of great evil on the place and afterward it became a temple of dark worship for many ancient tribes and demons."
"You mean that the legacy is evil? That Slayers are evil?" Buffy is frowning at The Immortal and for the first time in their acquaintance, Dawn can sense that Buffy is getting very angry with him.
"Not at all," The Immortal shakes his head. "Sometimes acts of great darkness can be necessary in war. What those men did was atrocious and Machiavellian, but sometimes the greater good must be served and balance maintained by acts of great cruelty. The act itself is what stained the place so long ago. The legacy of the Slayer itself however is a balance. A force of great good," he hesitates and again Dawn is struck by a first in her friendship with The Immortal. He seems uncomfortable. "Balance is a key feature of all things Buffy. It is the very fabric of all that we know of existence. The balance of gravity versus strength keeps us on the ground. The balance of night and day allows us to marvel at both the bliss of sunshine and the beauty of the night. The world has a way of making things balance and when we throw that balance out of whack," he shrugs again, "Sometimes the universe reacts in kind."
"You're talking about what we did in Sunnydale aren't you?" Buffy is still frowning but she looks extremely rapt by what her boyfriend is saying. "You're telling me that somehow, by expanding the Slayer legacy, we kicked some sort of cosmic teeter-totter that's now swinging up to hit us in the ass?"
The Immortal looks at her briefly and then suddenly bursts out laughing. He kisses Buffy firmly and affectionately and runs the dark flesh of his fingertips along her cheek. "You have such a way with words darling. Yes, in a manner of speaking that may be exactly what is happening."
"You should come to London with us," Buffy blurts. She senses that he's about to start laughing again but interjects. "Seriously. You know way more about this then I do apparently and you seem to have sources that the Watcher's Council won't. I'd really like you to come."
"Buffy," The Immortal holds a petulant hand out toward her and shakes his head but she cuts him off.
"I know what you're going to say. You're going to say that the Watcher's Council will hardly take the advice of someone like you and that you don't like to get involved or take sides, but I'm not asking you as a Slayer or demon fighter. I'm asking you because if you help some of my friends may be in less danger and I'm asking you because I'm your girlfriend and I need your help." Buffy lifts her chin and gazes steadily into his dark eyes.
The Immortal is silent for a moment and then nods briefly, taking her small hand into his large warm one. "I will do as you ask."
"GOOD," Dawn says in exasperation. "I was starting to think we'd never eat." She gets up and hurries off to her bedroom to pick out an outfit for dinner. The restaurant was by far her favorite.
"You should start getting ready too," The Immortal says gently to Buffy. She leans over and gives him a swift kiss before sweeping off to her own room to change. The Immortal watches her lithe form disappear behind her bedroom door and sighs. He removes his phone from his pocket and dials another number. "Bennici? We have a problem."
4
Cleveland Ohio – May 3rd, 2004
Faith had started days a lot worse but Sunday in her lexicon was supposed to be about rest, sex, football on TV, sex, a nap, dinner, more football, sex and sleep. She shot a filthy look at Robin who was riding a bicycle along side her and the three other Slayers as they jogged along the beach of Lake Erie at 8 a.m. that morning. Protecting a Hellmouth wasn't supposed to be fun, but as a senior Slayer she'd at least figured that she'd get Sundays to loaf. Robin's the fucking Watcher after all, she thought as she secretly wished for a cigarette. Why the hell am I stuck with Slayer-sitting with him? Well at least they were planning on going to the Browns game that afternoon. Beer and hotdogs solve a lot of problems, even if it's not a Sox game, she thought to herself, grinning in spite of the early hour. Her trainees were keeping up nicely and truth be told, it was Robin on the bike that was starting to look tired. Shit, we've only done 5 miles, she thought maliciously and picked up the pace, forcing her boyfriend to speed up as well. Her fellow Slayers were keeping up nicely and Faith was starting to think that maybe she and Robin could slink away to Vegas for a few days. Despite the gutting it had taken last year, the Watcher's Council still had massive connections in all kinds of legal circles and after turning herself back in to the police following the destruction of Sunnydale, her previous murder conviction had suddenly found itself under review and the authorities had become miraculously accommodating, ruling a self-defense verdict in her case. Suddenly Faith Lehane went from convicted murderer to upstanding citizen overnight, her prison-break being conveniently forgotten. Angel had seen to that.
Out of all the Sunnydale survivors, only she and Willow seemed to be convinced of Angel's motives in taking over the most notorious demon law-firm in the western hemisphere. Of course, she was the only one who knew why. Somehow, everyone seemed to have forgotten about Angel's son Connor. Faith, being more criminal minded than the rest of the gang, had understood that somehow this mass amnesia must have been linked to his deal with Wolfram and Hart. Only she seemed to remember the events of the previous year and she correctly assumed it was because that when she had taken her trip down memory-lane with the vampire, she had inherited his memories and as such was somehow exempt from whatever mojo the firm had worked to eliminate those events from everyone else. Trusting the vampire as she did, she had felt no need to illuminate the rest of them for his sake. In this regard, she had come to respect Willow all the more. Despite the fact that the witch was obviously under the same thrall as everyone else, her loyalty to Angel as a friend and Champion was something that Faith could appreciate. It was the witch that had urged Faith to call Angel and have the Wolfram and Hart lawyers work her jail-break case. Within days it was resolved and she'd gotten a passport in record time to link up with the rest of the gang in England.
The rest was history. Robin had kept his word and Faith had found herself in an entirely new situation; that of a woman in love. The Watcher was extremely patient with her own initial standoffish-ness and at the same time was not afraid to call her on her own bullshit. The two had spent several happy months combing the globe for new Slayers and when Faith had volunteered to return to the states and work in Cleveland to guard the new Hellmouth, Robin had elected to come with her and train a batch of the newbies as a full blown Watcher. There had been growing pains of course and Faith certainly wasn't the type to get giddy over a guy, but over the past year her and Robin's relationship had turned from one of animal sex (though that was still there, and in full force too) to one of partners. Real partners. Robin seemed to value her toughness and frank opinions, and she has learned to respect his intelligence and advice as they worked to train the new Slayers. Plus the animal sex was great.
Faith pulls up just as it looks like Robin may actually collapse and turns to the three other girls grinning evilly. "Well the original plan had us going to the gym next and practicing take-down techniques but since its Sunday and your Watcher looks like he's about to puke up an organ or two, I think you should all go home and get some rest." Wood shoots her a grateful glance as he wobbles up on the bicycle and nearly falls off of it next to them. One of the Slayers who was also from Boston originally gives Faith a grin and swats Robin on the ass as he staggers past them to the boardwalk to sit on its edge.
"What time tomorrow Skip?" she asks with a wink.
Taryn has started the habit of calling Faith 'Skipper' which has since shortened to 'Skip' almost upon their first meeting in South Boston and the rest of the girls had taken it up. The nickname had made Faith feel decidedly uneasy and fiercely proud at the same time. She still felt very uncomfortable in a leadership role but the girls seemed to idolize her and the occasional visits from Willow and Giles who were now Deputy-Head and Head of the Council of Watchers respectively, praising her training techniques and leadership had helped a great deal to boosting her confidence. Even the one visit they'd received from Buffy who was a living legend in the eyes of her students had ended with Buffy remarking that Faith seemed to be doing a remarkable job with the girls. Not all of her reviews were quite so flattering however. These reviews tended to be a small voice in the back of her mind that sounded remarkably like Richard Wilkins. She had heard it whispering to her the other night when she'd been brushing her teeth in the mirror of the bathroom in her and Robin's apartment. They'll never trust you Firecracker. Not the way I did. Not when It's just you and me, alone with what we did together, all the hate and rage. You'll never be a part of them Faith. Not like you want to be. And here we are, together again. Just us, cold, alone and afraid of the dark.
Faith shook off the memory and grinned at the younger Slayer. "Better make it after two Taryn," she jerks a thumb at Robin who is now sitting on the edge of the boardwalk, gasping for air. "It looks like Robin will need most of today and tomorrow morning to recover."
"Deal," Taryn and the other girls head up the beach toward where Angela, the oldest of the new Slayers, had parked her Jetta earlier. Faith heads to the boardwalk and takes a seat next to her still-gasping boyfriend.
"You gonna make it gramps?"
Robin gives her a wry look and runs a hand over his sweaty face. "Second-hand smoke isn't going to help you know," he gives her a disapproving look as she lights a cigarette and blows a fragrant cloud into the spring breeze.
"You'll manage," she opines curtly, relishing the warm spring morning in spite of herself. The morning sun feels good on her shoulders and the lapping of the waves on the newly thawed lakeshore is soothing. She stretches catlike when the cell phone on her hip starts going off with a strident ring. It's a Giles ring. She frowns and removes it from the waistband of her tear-aways and flips the phone open. "Hi Giles." She listens intently and then swats Robin on the shoulder who leaves off thinking about dry-heaving and gives her a questioning look. "He did? And then what happened?" Her frown deepens and Robin could swear he heard her mutter an obscenity under her breath. "What time? Okay, Friday it is. Bye." She closes the phone and gives Robin a wry smile. "How do you feel about a weekend in London?"
TBC