DISCLAIMER: Listen up and Listen good, because I'm only saying this once! OC stuff, not mine. Buffy stuff, not mine.
SUMMARY: the OC/BtVS. Faith was taken from her family when she was ten. Now the Watchers Council is gone she's free to go back, but it's not that easy when over ten years have past and nothing's the same as when you left.
RATING: PG-13 for language.
TIMELINE: Faith is aged 21 in this fic. That makes her 16 when she first arrived in Sunnydale (around the same age Buffy was when she was called). She was 10 when she was taken from her family, so they've been without her for about eleven years. Takes place after 'the Blaze of Glory' for the OC and goes AU (alternate universe) i.e. Trey will not show up. At least not for now, but I may change my mind later.
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, please keep up the suggestions- they really halp make he story better.
Distant Elephants by Kiara
8- FOR WHAT THEY BELIEVED IN…
The gaming trio looked up at the knock on the door.
"Hi Faith! So how'd the bonding talky talk go?" Seth asked with a grin.
Faith looked at him, trying to gage whether he was being insensitive or if that was just his way. She decided on the latter. "Fine thanks. Xander can I talk to you outside for a sec?"
Xander got to his feet without question. "Sure."
"I told them." Faith blurted out the minute the glass door closed behind them. "About the psycho slayer deal. And they still want me."
Xander grinned wildly. "That's great!" He picked her up and swung her round in a circle. He was now looking through the glass into the pool house where they had an audience. Ryan immediately looked away, but Seth just gave him thumbs up and received a slap from Ryan for his troubles.
"Over here." He led her to the side, away from prying eyes.
Faith raised her eyebrows suggestively. "And what are you planning to do out here, all alone where no one can see us?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"Too late." She reached up to press her lips to his. After a minute, Faith pulled back. "I told Mom and Dad I was going to talk to Seth."
"He's not that interesting." Xander murmured with a smile, dipping his head to kiss her again.
"I take it this means you don't regret last night." Faith said when they broke apart. "I really should talk to Seth though. I want to get to know him."
"You should get to know him, and Ryan. They're pretty cool kids."
"That's what Dad said. What?" She asked, seeing Xander's smile.
"I just think it's great the way you're handling this. I mean you've told them the truth and you're already calling them Mom and Dad."
"I've never called them anything else."
"So what are you going to tell Seth and Ryan?"
"The truth. Well, parts of it. Dad said it was okay to tell him about the slayer thing, but he'd rather I tell him an edited version of the slayer gone bad story. He wants us to put it behind us." Faith couldn't stop the smile from spreading her face.
"Then I'll go back to the hotel, let you talk to him alone. If you're okay with that."
Faith thought about it for a while, but the nodded. "I think I can handle two teenage boys."
Xander brushed the hair away from her face, marvelling one again how strongly he'd come to feel for this woman over a relatively short time. "You can do anything you want to."
She grinned up at him. "We won't have a problem then."
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As Xander was walking through the Cohen house, he noticed Sandy staring into space in the living room.
He made his decision and went over to him. "Are you okay, Mr Cohen?"
Sandy looked up, surprised to see him standing there. "Yeah; it's just a lot to get used to."
Xander nodded and took a seat opposite the older man. "I would imagine so."
"You don't think so?"
"This has been my life since I was sixteen. That's eight years of crazy. I can't imagine my life without it anymore."
"Where as I can't imagine it at all, even with all she's told me… and what I read."
"What do you mean?" Xander asked when Sandy offered no further explanation.
"Faith was on the news, in the papers, everything. The hunt for a sixteen-year-old serial killer is fairly big news especially when she has no problems killing men twice her size. Every time I see a case like that I always blame the parents. But Faith didn't have any then." He picked up his glass from the table and downed the whiskey within with a small grimace.
"I'm surprised you even remember reading it. Our friend Willow cast a spell so that no one would recognise Faith from when she was in the news. It must wear off if you know the truth."
Sandy stared at the younger man. Demons, murders, spells… it was all too much for him to comprehend. Up until yesterday, he'd pushed all thoughts of anything supernatural to the back of his mind. Now it was all back out there in massive proportions.
"Magic." Xander said by way of explanation, although it wasn't the most comfortable one in the world.
"Faith said she tried to kill you."
"She did; a long time ago. If I gave up on all my friends that tried to kill me then I wouldn't have any left."
"What's she like?" Sandy asked finally.
"Hasn't she told you?"
"She told us what she's done, not what she's like. You two are together right?"
Xander found himself blushing. "Yes. Only very recently though."
Sandy found himself smiling at Xander's reaction. "That's good. You seem like a good guy, she needs that. Or so I would presume."
Xander paused, unsure of how to react. "She's changed a lot in the last few weeks; actually, she hasn't really stopped changing since I've known her. She's one of the strongest people I know, she came back to help us even though she knew she'd probably die doing so. She's brave too- she stayed in the hellmouth as everything collapsed in around her just to help get a few girls out that she'd only known for a couple of weeks."
"Go on." Sandy urged him.
"There was a time when she had everyone believe that she's as tough as she pretends she is, but those of us that know her well know she's not like that. Most of the new slayers she trains are either in total awe or petrified of her, most are a mixture of the two. A few others and I know there's more to her than that. She cares about people, why else would she bother to save the world? She's scared of being rejected and works on the basis that it's better to hurt someone before they can hurt you. She's hasn't been happy since we met her, but I think that's about to change. But she's terrified that you will turn her away."
"She doesn't need to worry about that."
Xander shrugged. "It's not me you have to convince. She's been let down a lot, how many times I'm not sure, but it has to be a lot to trust a demon just because they offer you a place to stay and a bit of attention. Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to tell her."
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"So Xander's pretty cool." Seth said to fill the awkward silence that had fallen.
"Well, cool's not really the word I'd use, but yeah." Faith said with a snort. "Mom and Dad, well they thought you might have some questions."
"Maybe I should go, let you two get to know each other again." Ryan stood up to leave, but Faith gestured for him to stay.
"From what I hear, you're part of this family. And it's such a long story to tell twice."
"She speaks the truth, my friend. Come; sit." Seth patted the bed next to him getting a strange look from Faith, but he ignored it. "Why did you leave?"
"I didn't want to, believe me."
"Then why didn't you come back?"
"It wasn't that easy. I had a job, I had to take care of people and it wasn't something that anyone else could take over for me."
Seth and Ryan exchanged looks. They could tell by the tone of her voice that it was something serious. "What was it?"
She took a deep breath. One thing Sandy had told her was that Seth was good at adapting to things, he'd accepted that he had a sister within a few hours and only yelled at his parents for not telling him about her sooner once. They were bound to find out sooner or later, and the Council had no qualms about family knowing the truth about the slayer calling.
"I'm a slayer."
"A what now?"
Faith took a deep breath. "A slayer. A girl given special powers by the powers that be and chosen to help protect the world from demons."
Seth laughed. "That's a good one, something right out of Atomic County, wouldn't you say Ryan."
Ryan cleared this throat, eyeing Faith carefully. "I don't think she's joking."
Seth turned to him disbelievingly. "Ryan! Of course she's joking! It's no more believable that Cosmo Girl!"
"Who is based on Marissa; a real person. Who would make something like that up? They'd have to be crazy."
"You're telling me you believe this rubbish? And they say I'm weird!" In a way, Ryan's reaction was more surprising than the tale his sister was telling him.
Ryan shrugged, a hand going to the scar at his neck. Faith noticed.
"Did you get bitten?"
Another shrug. His own brother had thought him crazy when he had gone back to the sleazy motel they were staying at in L.A. with blood pouring down his neck saying that he'd been attacked by a freakishly strong man with fangs and ridges and the only thing which had saved him was another man shoving a stick through it's chest and causing his attacker to vanish.
"I can prove it." Faith offered, resolving to speak to Ryan later. At Seth's disbelieving nod, she went over to him, grabbed his ankle and lifted him into the air upside down.
Seth squeaked finding himself upside down and being held up by his rather weak looking sister. "I think under the circumstance we can give you the benefit of the doubt. Please put me down."
Faith grinned and lightly tossed him on the bed.
Ryan was staring at her wide eyed. "I'd hate to come up against you in a fight."
Her eyes clouded over. "I don't fight humans."
"Wha-" Seth swallowed, trying to find his voice again. "What do you fight?"
"Demons. Mostly vampires, probably only see an actual demon about once a week depending on how many girls we've got out on patrol."
"Demons?" Ryan croaked. It made his life in Chino look functional. And it also meant that he wasn't crazy.
Miraculously, Seth seemed to be taking it all in his stride even if he still didn't really believe her. "So do you, like, save the world?"
"Only three times so far, but I think B's into double figures by now. So is Xander. Mostly it doesn't get onto a global scale… And you were being sarcastic, weren't you?" Faith shrugged. Oh well, the looks on their faces were downright funny. "So… any other questions?"
Seth gaped a bit but recovered admirably. "Just one; how do you feel about water-polo players?"
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When Faith went back into the main house, she was surprised to see Xander still there. "Hi, what are you still doing here? I thought you'd gone back to the hotel."
"I was just talking to your Dad."
Faith looked between the pair, fighting the worry felt by any girl felt when she caught her new boyfriend talking to their father. "You are?"
"Yes he is. I'm going to teach him how to surf." Sandy grinned.
"He's going to try." Xander corrected.
"You're staying?" Faith said with a smile.
"If you'll have me."
"Of course, but aren't you needed back at the centre?"
"I'm here as long as you'll have me here." Xander said firmly. "They'll have to find a new carpenter."
"You're a carpenter?" Sandy asked surprised. He'd assumed that Xander just helped Faith.
"I am. Up until last year, saving the world didn't pay, so we all had to have second jobs. I did carpentry and construction. It comes in helpful when you have to rebuild your house every time a demon comes round too."
"Ryan used to work construction during the summers. He wants to be an architect."
Xander perked up immediately interested. "Oh yeah? I helped design the new Watchers Headquarters, it's a good job."
Faith smiled, it all seemed too natural, like she had never been away. "I hate to break this up, but we've got to go. We have to check in with headquarters; make sure there's nothing big starting."
"Is that likely?" Sandy asked worried.
Xander answered for her. "Not really. At this time of year it's rare for there to be a big uprising and there have been no signs or prophecies that something big is coming."
"It's just to be on the safe side." Faith continued.
"Okay. Will you be coming back tomorrow? We could have that family dinner I've been trying to organise for ages!"
Faith's immediate reaction was to pull away. She'd never really felt comfortable with the family functions, she'd even skipped Christmas dinner with the Scoobs last year. But she was changing a lot over these few days, why stop now? "Sounds great. Is Mom about?"
Sandy smiled; he loved hearing Faith claim them as parents. "No, she had to go to a magazine launch for her work. It's been organised for weeks so she couldn't get out of it without telling your Grandfather something and we didn't really want to set Caleb on you just yet. She would have come to say goodbye, but we thought it would be best to leave you to get to know the boys."
"That's fine, I'll see her tomorrow."
Five minutes later, Faith and Xander were walking down the driveway and out of Pelican Cove where their hire car would be waiting- a Watchers Council car visiting the Cohen house once was fine, but every day would raise suspicions.
As they were walking, Faith looked suddenly over to the left and stiffened.
"Get down!"
He obeyed without question, dropping to the floor and rolling out of the way as Faith jumped over him and staked the vampire trying to sneak up on them in one fluid movement.
Xander watched another approach and swing a punch at Faith's cheek, ready to jump in and help if it looked like Faith needed it. But that vampire soon found itself on the pointy end of a stake.
Recognition dawned on the second vampires face a moment before he was dust. "Not you!"
"Are there anymore?" Xander asked, craning his neck around to try and see what his eye patch prevented.
"No." Faith offered her hand to Xander and pulled him up. "What the fuck was that?"
"That was a vampire, Faith." Xander said patronisingly.
"You don't say! But what was it doing in Newport? There's no hellmouth here!"
Xander shook his head. He had no more idea than she did. "Are you okay?"
She reached up to find a small cut on her cheek where the second vampire had managed to get in a lucky hit. She could feel a bruise forming which would look lovely tomorrow, but she shrugged it off casually. "I'm fine. Didn't even feel it."
"Do you ever?" Xander rolled his eyes at her blasé attitude, but turned serious quickly. "Now we really need to speak to Giles."
Faith sighed. "You can take the girl out of Sunnydale…"
"But you can't take the Sunnydale out of the girl." Xander continued with a smirk. "Come on, we better get to work."
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Next Chapter: The Cohen's get a taste of a slayers life.
And yes, I am setting this up so some more characters can make an entrance. Review!