Giles sat back in his airline seat and reflected back over his two week holiday. Thanks to
Buffy insisting upon his acquired of a cellular phone he had been able to keep in contact
and still enjoy himself. He absolutely hated the thought that he might have been needed
and no one being able to get in touch with him. This was one insistence where he agreed
the technology was worth learning how to use it. There had been no dire need for his
help and he had been able to enjoy his stay without hesitation. He had accomplished both
of his official reasons for being in England as well as his private one. He had delivered
Hank Summers to the Watcher's training center. It was not an official learning center as
far as the public was concerned, of course, but a private library and antique collection
storehouse. It had been with great pleasure that he had delivered Hank to the Watcher in
charge of training, with a complete listing of both the geas and the reasons for them.
That Sam Zebuto was there as well gave much more weight to Hank's punishment with
his fury over Buffy's incarceration to a mental institution. He had also publicly thanked
Giles for his treatment of Kendra while she was in Sunnydale and his permission for the
pen pal status between the two slayers while Kendra had lived. Giles in turn had
expressed both his and Buffy's sorrow at Kendra's death at the hands of Drucilla. It had
been a very satisfying conversation and the capper had been Zebuto's approval of Giles'
actions during the Crucimentum and his refusal to leave Buffy's side. Zebuto was an
extremely well respected Watcher and his public approval of Giles' actions had shocked
the trainees. When one had timidly questioned him, he had roared out that their duty was
to the slayer; not to politics and Buffy Summers and Rupert Giles were still fulfilling their
duties in spite of the political maneuverings of the council. He then had turned to Giles
and quietly offered his help should it be needed. Giles thanked him and said that while
slaying was light during the summer months, he would be sure to contact him during the
next apocalypse. His offhand remark about the next time the world would be in danger of
ending impressed the trainees to no end. That had led to a long discussion of the dual
situations with Glory and the Hectalik over the previous few months. It had been a very
satisfying afternoon.
The other official reason, and also a result of the private one, was sitting beside him. A
small, some what plump woman with long dark hair, Elizabeth Giles was not only his
cousin, but an accomplished teacher with the Devon Coven of Witches. She had tartly
informed him that she would be moving to the United States to teach his charges when he
had inquired about a suitable teacher. She would also be a stand in for the rest of the
family at his wedding, should it actually take place, which she personally doubted as the
slayer's mum couldn't possibly be mad enough to marry the likes of him. If she hadn't
been grinning the entire time he might have believed she was serious in her remarks about
his chances with Joyce. As it was her reaction was much better than the rest of his
family's stunned silence. The idea of the family rebel marrying was astonishing enough,
he supposed to account for their reaction. But he was very glad it hadn't lasted long. His
mother was overjoyed that he had finally found someone to settle down with. The fact
that she was the mother of an active slayer and was aware of the situation was a bonus as
far as his mother was concerned. His father, he was amazed to find out, was also
someone who approved of his actions. Although he had waited until his son had given
him a full accounting of the circumstances surrounding both his firing from the council
and his choosing to woo Joyce before expressing his approval in his short, gruff manner.
"Only thing you could have done boy. Travers was stupid to have tried to continue the
test under those conditions. The slayer's mother is aware of your duties? And supports
them? Good." That had been the end of the matter between father and son.
It was with reluctance that he turned his thoughts to the message that had been slipped to
him by one of the clerks who had witnessed Zebuto's encounter with Giles at the
beginning of his holiday. Zebuto's insistence of loyalty to the slayer over council politics
had already begun to produce a satisfactory result. The clerk had clandestinely come to
him with the information about Faith as he was the only watcher who had any current
contact with the troubled slayer as far as she was aware. If anyone would know the truth
about Faith's situation, she had said it would be Giles. After questioning Giles
extensively about Faith's progress in her rehabilitation, she had cursed Travers, handed
Giles a folder and left. After reading the contents of the folder Giles had joined the clerk
in her swearing fit. Quentin Travers had arraigned for Faith to be released from prison
due to the fact that she had been underage at the time of her confession. This was a ploy
so Travers could get his hands on Faith. He planned to take custody of her until her
eighteenth birthday (which was less than a week away!) at which time he would put Faith
through the Cruciamentum. And he was going to ensure that Faith was unable to survive
it because he wouldn't allow her any weapons at all.
Damn the man! Wesley had been working hard with Faith and her psychiatrist. The
doctor was convinced that Faith would be able to resume her slaying duties within a year.
But if Quentin's manipulation of the situation went unchecked, Faith would either end up
dead (the most likely outcome) or be lost to them forever as she would break again under
the strain of resuming her slaying too soon. He could not allow that to happen. The very
idea of turning over ANY slayer to Quentin Travers now made his skin crawl. Wesley
would be waiting for them at the airport. He hoped Wesley had some ideas on how to
circumvent Travers plans because he was spectacularly clueless as to how to do so.
Wesley was not at the airport. He was currently driving as fast as he could without
drawing attention to himself straight for Sunnydale. He was extremely grateful to have
received Mr. Giles' phone call. The information had come not a moment too soon.
Fortunately, Quentin Travers had not bothered to keep track of him after the council had
fired him or he would have realized that Wesley also had a copy of guardianship papers
for Faith. And that he had been working with both Faith's psychiatric physician and the
warden of her prison.
After Mr. Giles' phone call he had gone straight to the prison to speak to the warden.
Once there he had walked in on Travers' lawyer demanding to have Faith released into his
custody at once. The warden had dismissed the lawyer's claims saying that although his
paperwork was in order, he did not have guardianship over Faith. When the lawyer had
protested that he worked for the IWC which was Faith's guardian of record the warden
had leaned forward and asked where the IWC had been while Faith was in her custody?
She had pointed at Wesley waiting patiently at the back of her office. "He not only has
the proper paperwork stating that he is Faith's legal guardian, he has been here a
minimum of three times a week, every week. He has been to every joint counciling
session that Faith's psychiatrist has scheduled. He has met with myself and the heads of
each of the three shifts of guards once a month to check on her behavior and to see if
there was anything he could do for her or us. The last thing Faith needs right now is an
indifferent guardian. As Mr. Pryce has the proper paperwork and hasn't gone more than
three days without checking on Faith the entire time she has been here, I am refusing to
release Faith into anyone's custody but his. Good day, gentlemen!"
Wesley knew it was only due to the shock of the warden's refusal that he was able to get
Faith out of the prison without interference from the lawyer or the retrieval team the
lawyer must have had waiting. Now they were headed straight for Sunnydale. He had
called Doyle and sent him to pick up Mr. Giles and whomever was accompanying him.
He thought that the lawyer would go to the Hyperion looking for Faith. Travers wouldn't
believe that Wesley or Faith were still friends with anyone in Sunnydale, and so would
send the retrieval team to Wesley's place of residence. Too bad for them Angel and Gunn
would be waiting.
Faith kept looking behind them. She didn't know what was going on, but she trusted
Wes. He had gotten her through a lot of heavy shit while she was in prison. Not to
mention the fact that she had really been sorry she'd hurt him. He was an ok guy now that
he'd gotten the stick out of his ass. It had gotten to the point where she was telling him
more than she told the head shrinker that he had gotten her. Not that she was stupid
enough to think that she didn't need to see the doc anymore. She figured she'd been
through enough shit to keep that lady busy for years, and that was before the whole being
called as the slayer deal. But she and Wes were duing their best to build the kind of
relationship that B and Jeeves had. That had been one of the hardest things of all to
admit, even harder than the fact that she had screwed up. B was a better slayer than she
was. But she had done it because it was the truth. Doc kept telling her that if she kept
denying the truth she would always remain locked in the prison she had made for herself,
being a worthless slut bomb just like her mother. It had hurt being told straight up what
she had done to herself besides the obvious, but it was worth it in the end. If she hadn't
been able to admit it to the doc, she wouldn't have been able to say it to Wes, and he
would never have realized that no one had ever told her about a slayer's hyped up drives.
She had always thought they were just her. Buffy didn't seem to have any problems with
wanting sex and huge amounts of food all the time. As Wes wasn't her first Watcher, he'd
thought she'd already known. He'd told her about the meditation potential slayers were
taught as one of the many ways to divert and control what he had called 'slayer induced
moods'. She'd told him he made it sound like a planet sized case of PMS. He'd just
looked at her and said that too, on occasion. The whole thing had really rocked her
world. It had taught her that there was good stuff waiting on the other side of the pain,
she just had to face the pain first.
Facing up to the fact that Buffy was a better slayer than she was had made her ask the one
question she had never bothered to ask before. Why? When she had asked Wes and the
pain and resentment had poured out of her he hadn't done what she had expected and
given her a platitude. He'd actually admitted he didn't know. Then he'd done the
unthinkable. He'd gone to Giles and asked for Buffy's Watcher diaries. Even more
amazing, Giles had given them to him. Then he had taken her own diaries and compared
them. What he had found had shocked them both, although for different reasons. She
had never known that Buffy had trained every day both with Jeeves and on her own. It
was something she had never seen. What had shocked Wes was that Buffy had managed
to ride the fine line between giving in to the slayer and letting it ride her. Watcher raised
slayers were taught to never give in to the slayer as it would bring disaster. Faith hadn't
even tried. She had welcomed the slayer with open arms and look where that had gotten
her. It had come as one hell of a shock. It had also explained what had been happening
to her while she was in prison. By being determined to pay for what she had done she
had chosen to control the slayer spirit rather than let it control her. It didn't make the
drives any easier to take, but little by little, the things that had been driving her nuts,
didn't bother her so much. But still, now that she was out, she was going to have to figure
out new ways to deal with things. She hadn't expected to get out so soon. And why was
she out? The warden had known she was underage when she confessed. Everyone had
known. As long as she was willing to plead guilty no one had cared how old she was.
Wes in fact, was one of the very few who had cared at all. It had taken a while, but she
had finally figured out that Wes had over heard her beg Angel for death. That had been
her rock bottom, not prison. And how sad was it that prison had been a step up for her?
"You can stop looking. They won't expect us to go to Sunnydale. They'll be looking for
us at the Hyperion." Wesley said when Faith looked behind them for what seemed the
hundredth time.
"Who is they? And why'd they spring me? I ain't ready Wes! Doc said so!" Wesley
noticed her fidgeting increase.
"They are the Watcher's Council. And as to why, I'm afraid that is because you are about
to turn eighteen." Wesley said flatly.
"Oh Shit!" Faith breathed. B had warned her about the birthday present the idiot's
council had given her for her eighteenth birthday.
"Indeed. If you die during the Cruciamentum they rid themselves not only of a rouge
slayer in an approved manner, but they will also have an new slayer to deal with. Buffy
has refused to work for them and they cannot or will not persuade her otherwise."
"Yeah, some poor girl who's had her brain turned off so they can order her around until
she dies." Faith shuddered. She felt terrible for the potentials raised by the council.
Yeah, they got the information and training they needed, but who wants to be a
brainwashed robot? "Thanks Wes."
"For what?" he asked puzzled.
"For not giving up on me."