Disclaimers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy & Fox. Numb3rs belongs to Cheryl Heuton and Nick Falacci…I think. (NOT me!)
AN: Well, here's the second part of 'Siblings,' sorry for the wait.
Thanks again to NeverTooOld for beta-reading this chapter!
Warnings: Spoilers for BUFFY S3E3 "Faith, Hope & Trick."
A Call Away
Part II in Mathematics & Magic
By Jess S
Chapter 2: Siblings – Part II
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High School Library, Sunnydale, California – Thursday, September 19, 1996
Buffy couldn't suppress a smile as she watched her mentor's glasses come off his face in one hand and a handkerchief come out of his tweed coat-pocket in the other.
"Good Lord," Giles shook his head, staring in Faith's direction for a long moment as his hands continued to work away at his glasses. After that moment he caught himself and hastily put the glasses back on, smoothly slipping the handkerchief back into his pocket with the ease of long practice. "Forgive me, Miss Lehane," he sighed, "I'm afraid this kind of situation—"
"Wasn't covered in Watcher-training?" Buffy cut in with a forced smirk, not liking the discomfort she could feel rolling off Faith at the Watcher's reaction. When both looked at her she shook her head, continuing the joke in an effort to lighten the mood just enough to make the conversation livable. "Actually, what do you do to train to be a Watcher?"
"Uh—Well, there's a two-year program for college graduates, a-and some combat-trai—but that's hardly relevant right now, Buffy." Giles cut himself off, shaking his head.
Buffy only smiled, pleased that her Watcher's exasperation seemed to have effectively overridden his shock and amused Faith just enough to make her stop glancing towards the doors as if she was getting ready to bolt.
Apparently deciding to ignore her for the moment, Giles smoothly turned his attention back to the younger Slayer, his expression changing to one that was part-sadness, part-resignation. "I am aggrieved to hear of Dr. Dormer's death. I didn't know her well, but she was one of my instructors when I first entered the Council's training program, years ago. She was a good teacher, and a good Watcher."
"Yeah," Faith nodded, biting her lip and blinking rapidly. "She was."
Several moments of heavy silence hung around the trio, then Buffy decided to break it with a sigh as she directed her question at her Watcher, "Does the Council know about her death? When's the funeral?"
Faith started and her eyes widened as she blurted out. "I-I want to be there." When both the other Slayer and Watcher looked at her sadly she shook her head harshly, "She was old enough to be my grandma, but she was more of a mom to me then my own ever was. If she hadn't thought it was important that I keep my name when she adopted me I'd be answering to Dormer now."
Buffy blinked, "Why'd she want you to keep your name?"
"I-I don't know." Faith shook her head again, frowning. "She never told me."
"To Miss Lehane's first, Dr. Dormer's body was recovered last week—the Council has several mages in its employ, who were able to teleport the body back into Council hands, where it was cremated as per her last will and testament. She left no standing requests as to what was to be done with her ashes, but she did leave everything to you. Her belongings are currently being shipped her." Giles explained gently, shaking his head.
"Oh," Faith murmured, looking down for a moment, before adding softly. "Thank you."
Giles nodded again, radiating sympathy even as he turned his attention to Buffy, "To your question—about names—it's Council policy with Potentials and Slayers in Council-care. It was decided early in the eighteenth century that when a Watcher took in a Potential he—or she—would not give her a new name, as doing so would allow the family to claim one of their own had been a Slayer if the Potential was Chosen."
"So?" Buffy frowned.
Giles shook his head, smiling gently at her confusion, "So, that is something that was—and still is—a major concern for almost all Watcher-families. Yes, all are proud to help the Slayer in Her endeavors, but every daughter born into a Watcher family is heavily scrutinized for that reason, and is put under many of the same pressures a known Potential is, even if she has not been identified as such."
"That doesn't seem fair," Faith murmured and Giles shook his head again.
"No, it doesn't. But almost every member of the Watcher's Council can trace their ancestry back to the sibling of a Slayer, so it is nonetheless relevant."
"You can?" Buffy asked in surprise, never having thought about that before. Buffy herself had never had any siblings, but she supposed it was stupid to think that no other Slayer had, even before it had apparently become Council-policy to take Potential Slayers from their families long before they were Called.
"N-No, I personally cannot," Giles shook his head, one hand almost reaching his glasses before he noticed it and hastily jerked it back. "But I am not a member of the Council. Most of the twenty-five members of the Council itself, can trace their lineage to a Slayer's family."
"Oh," Buffy blinked, then shrugged, shooting a quick mock-glare at Faith from the amusement she could feel coming for her before turning her attention back to the Watcher. "So what are we going to do about kissing-toast?"
"Kakistos," Giles corrected with a slightly exasperated sigh before nodding. "And yes, we should deal with him," he agreed, turning to Faith. "Do you remember where his lair is, precisely?"
Faith stared at him for a moment, her eyes widening. "Y-Yeah, but I," the Slayer shook her head roughly. "I-I can't go b-back there!"
Buffy stepped over to the younger Slayer and gently wrapped an arm around her tense shoulders, suppressing a frown at the sheer terror Giles' question had evoked. "You won't have to," when she sensed Giles was about to protest she sent him a sharp glance and a frown. "If he's still in his lair, I'll handle it. But I don't think he is." At the confused looks both Slayer and Watcher gave her, "I think he's coming here," she continued with a shrug. "Just a feeling, but my gut's usually right about this."
Both stared at her for a moment, one in horror the other in surprise, before Giles blinked and hurried into his office. He came back out a second later, a newspaper in hand.
Buffy had to grimace at the sight. She knew her Watcher closely monitored the local news for anything that might be related to the supernatural—paying especially close attention to the obituaries and missing persons—but every time she saw the long lists in the paper she couldn't help but feel like she'd failed all of them. It was her job—her destiny—to protect them, but she could only patrol so often and for so long. She could only be in one place at one time, which meant she did miss vampires, and she did miss victims. Logically, she knew it was unavoidable—Charlie had made sure she understood that this summer, and continually made sure she was aware of just how much good she did, too—but that didn't keep her from feeling guilty.
"That would explain the recent rash of disappearances," Giles told them as he opened the paper to the missing persons section
Buffy's frown deepened a bit as the thought crossed her mind—again—that Sunnydale was probably the only small town in America that had actually had a missing persons section in their daily newspaper. For that matter, its high school paper had to be the only one in America that had regular missing persons and obituaries about their student body in their weekly paper. She wasn't surprised at all to sense a bit of confusion from her sister-Slayer at the sight, but gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze as she murmured, "Welcome to Sunnydale—home of the Hellmouth," before releasing her and stepping closer to the table to study the articles Giles had circle in red marker, with Faith quickly following her example.
"Indeed," Giles agreed with a sigh, shaking his head. "Two young men have disappeared in the last twenty-four hours, from the Sunset Ridge district."
"Sunset Ridge?" Faith frowned, glancing at Buffy. "Is that where my motel was?"
"Yup," Buffy replied, deciding not to say more on that as she quickly finished reading the second article. "Both of them work in fast food? The first one was grabbed by suspected-gang-members on PCP. They vandalized the Happy Burger he worked at but didn't steal any of the money from the registers. And the second one disappeared while he was delivering pizza in the middle of the day? That's new. I hope other vamps don't think of that."
Giles nodded, "Yes. And while I don't quite remember Kakistos' profile, such circumstances are consistent with the behavior of some Master Vampires when they first move into a new area."
"Gives 'em easy victims," Buffy nodded, glancing at Faith. "Do you know...?" she trailed off as the younger Slayer shook her head.
"No, he'd been in Missouri for years before the Council sent us after him," she replied, then frowned, shaking her head slightly. "I-I think Diane said he tends to avoid as much modern stuff as he can. But a bunch of his older minions don't, so it could be one of them."
Both looked at Giles, who nodded again. "Yes, that is a logical assumption. One moment," the Watcher disappeared into his office again, and the Slayers could both hear him rummaging around in his file cabinets before he emerged with a thick file-folder in hand. Opening the folder, he began to set its contents out, muttering quietly to himself as he scanned each page before setting it down.
Buffy rolled her eyes when she saw the headings on the pages—Watcher records of Kakistos. She hated reading those, and judging from Faith's expression she didn't care for them much either. You wouldn't think that a supernatural serial killer's history could be made to sound boring and mundane, but somehow the Watchers managed it. She frowned as the part of her conscious that had apparently been taken over by Charlie pointed out that it was information he would probably like to have, as he always wanted to help her and he needed as much data as possible in order to do so. Did that mean she should start asking Giles for files to study—and would he actually expect her to do it? Or maybe Charlie could give her a summary. That might work. Of course, she could just introduce Charlie and Giles, but Charlie was a part of her time in LA, something her friends—including to some extent her mother and her Watcher—didn't want to know about. She came out of her inner debate just in time to see her Watcher set the last paper down, and quickly asked, "So how old is he, anyway?"
Faith glanced at her, apparently surprised that the older Slayer wasn't reaching for the papers with the answer, but Giles just shook his head.
"Kakistos is Greek. It means the worst of the worst, a name which the vampire has lived up to for a very long time. While not quite as old as The Master, whom you," he nodded at Buffy, "faced and slew in May of '95, he is at least several millennia older than any other Master Vampire you have faced." Giles nodded to the papers he'd just pulled out. "Kakistos was old in the times ancient among the ancient Greeks, and like many Master Vampires exhibits especially cruel habits regarding his prey. He—"
"Wait," Buffy frowned at Faith, "I thought you said he was one of Alexander's Generals?"
"I thought he was," Faith replied, also frowning and shaking her head.
Giles nodded as he cut in, "He was, for a time."
"As a vamp?" Buffy blinked, trying to figure how that would work. "Didn't most battles take place during the day back then?"
"Yes," Giles confirmed, point to one of the pages he'd brought out, where they could see a picture of a ring near the top. "He was the owner of the Gem of Amara for several centuries, which allowed him to walk under the light of the sun." He shook his head again as both Slayers stared at him, horrified by the thought. "It was stolen by one of his less-faithful minions shortly after Alexander's death."
"So there's still a vamp out there that can walk around during the day?" Buffy frowned.
"No, the minion who stole the ring—and soon after named himself Levici, or light-master—was overwhelmed by a group of amateur demon-hunters a decade later. What became of the ring after that is anyone's guess, but most hunters would destroy such an object as it could only be of use to their enemies."
Buffy sighed, quickly shaking the idea of vampires walking around in broad daylight—and ignoring the momentary dream of Angel wearing that ring—to return to their original discussion. "Okay, so we should patrol Sunset Ridge tonight, that's mostly warehouses, right? And motels?"
"Yes," the Watcher confirmed, "Council research indicates Kakistos is more likely to favor the warehouses."
"Yeah, Diane said he wasn't much for modernizing," Faith murmured, shrugging when both looked at her. "I do listen some times, and I remember his lair. Nothing electric, all candles and torches. And alligators."
"So he'd probably pick a warehouse that's not close to anything, right? Not near the highway or the harbor, somewhere in the middle?" Buffy blinked as another possibility occurred to her. "There aren't any old castle-like places in the town, are there?"
Giles shook his head. "Only a few significantly modernized ones. The warehouse, where most of the modern technology he might see would be only streetlights and occasionally trucks and cars passing by," Giles nodded again. "That is likely. Though the warehouses closer to highly populated areas should not be discounted."
"Should we check out the pizza place? See where their guy was headed?" Faith suggested.
Giles shook his head, "It's certainly worth a try, but I'm afraid the local populace makes a point of forgetting useful facts of that sort. If you get there early enough, you might be able to grab their receipts, but I doubt any of the employees will be willing or consciously able to help us."
Buffy's lips twitched slightly at the disbelief she felt rolling off the younger Slayer, "Like I said," she waited until the brunette looked at her. "Welcome to Sunnydale." She jerked her head towards the library doors, where they could hear students starting to move through the hallways half-an-hour before the first bell was due to ring. "I've probably saved at least half of the kids in this school at some time, and only one in ten—if that—will consciously accept that vampires and demons are real."
"Yes, most do tend to suppress the information. Especially on the Hellmouth," Giles sighed as he finally allowed one of his hands to remove his glasses again and started cleaning them with the other. "The Council has numerous theories about how the, uh, energies from the Hell dimension on the other side of portal may be effecting the local populace around it. Nothing concrete though," he finished, carefully putting his glasses back on and folding up his handkerchief to put it away. "And the phenomena is not only limited to Hellmouths."
"Okay, well I guess I could run over to," Buffy glanced at the newspaper article again, "Tony's Pizza, before school. See what I can dig up." Before Faith could insist on coming along, she added, "While you two figure out how Faith's gonna get into school. The Council's gotta have some strings to pull, right?" she asked Giles, one eyebrow raised.
"Well, yes," Giles nodded, frowning as he did so. "Though it is actually very unusual for an active Slayer to attend school. Normally she's pulled out and homeschooled by her Watcher or another Council employee, ensuring that her school doesn't interfere with her duties."
"Fine, if Faith wants that," Buffy nodded towards her sister-Slayer, "then figure out how you're gonna start homeschooling her or get on the phone with the Council and tell them to get another Watcher out here to help with that." Turning slightly to meet Faith's eyes again, she asked. "Is that what you want, Faith? Or do you want to come to school with me and the gang?"
Faith blinked, looking down for several moments as she thought about it, before finally shaking her head and looking up again. "I never really liked school. Might be different here from what it was like in South Boston, but I liked learning from Diane a lot more." She grinned a little as she continued with a shrug, "Did better on tests, too."
"Okay," Buffy nodded, turning back to her Watcher, "So you need to get on the phone with England and figure out how they're gonna make that work, while I run over to Tony's, OK?"
"Of course," Giles nodded, smiling slightly at his Slayer's assertiveness. "Though, really, Miss Lehane doesn't need to stay behind, and it would certainly be safer for you two to work together."
Buffy chuckled even as she nodded in agreement, sharing a smile with the other Slayer, "That's what Mom said." After a moment she shrugged. "Fine, if you really don't need her help."
"I should be able to manage," Giles chuckled, shaking his head slightly before his face suddenly became serious again. "You will report back afterwards, of course?"
"Yeah," Buffy blinked, frowning at the abrupt switch in emotion she'd felt from him, seen on his face and in his actions. "Always do, don't I? I might have to head to my first class before that, but I have study hall second period."
The Watcher nodded approvingly, before continuing. "At some point today, Buffy, I will need your help with the binding spell for Acathla. I believe I'm lacking the requite details to perform it correctly, which is quite problematic."
"Uh, okay?" Buffy blinked again, still a little uncomfortable with anything to do with Angel, especially since Charlie and Lily were the only ones that actually knew—and actually seemed to care about—what happened that day. But her confusion stemmed from that as well, as the Scoobies, her parents and Giles really hadn't shown much interest in anything that happened before her return to Sunnydale. Giles had been nice and shielded her from the Scoobies questions that first night, but after that no one had said a thing about it. "Sure. But Faith and I probably should get going. I have to be back for class in half-an-hour."
"If you want, I can check it out by myself, B," Faith offered a little hesitantly, sincere concern shining through her eyes at wanting to be helpful.
Buffy shook her head, "Nah. It's not just a few blocks away from here anyway. We'll be back in no time." She started moving towards the door, nodding to her Watcher as she passed him, Faith following her lead. "Later, Giles."
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Eppes' House, Pasadena, California – Thursday, September 19, 1996
Charlie shook his head as he stared at the chalk board. Since Annie had helped him set the garage up as a calculations room this summer, he'd found himself coming out here more and more to work. And think. Sometimes he had to go elsewhere, since his mom liked to think out here, too, but most of the time this served as a perfect refuge.
At the moment though, it was just reminding him of all the times he and Annie spent out here, going over maps and data that Lily's 'watchers' had gathered.
Sometimes they played air hockey: he lost almost every time, and was almost positive that he only won the few times he had because she allowed it. A few times they played Chess, and he'd let her win several times as he taught her how to play, wanting her to like the logic-game despite how much it tended to bore him. Actually, though, once she got used to it she was really hard to beat. Possibly because of the empathetic bond they hadn't been aware of at the time: betraying his emotions somehow, but most likely because the Slayer was instinctively a creature of logic. Once It knew the rules of the game, it came out to play. A few times they played Scrabble and hopelessly confused themselves. Later in the summer they'd tried playing poker too, but quickly found that their empathetic bond made playing against each other truly impossible, as neither was able to hide behind a poker face. Though the one time they'd challenged his parents to bridge—after Charlie'd spent a weekend teaching Annie how to play—they' d completely crushed the older pair. Most of the time, though, when they weren't working on tracking demons or vampires, they'd just talked.
He missed that. Having someone to talk to all the time, any time.
He could still call her on the phone, of course, or email her. But it wasn't the same. They were leading separate lives now, lives that barely intersected except through fairly regular contact by phone or email.
"Knock, knock."
Charlie shook his head, turning towards his mom's voice to find her standing in the doorway to the garage, two steaming mugs in hand. "Yeah, Mom?"
"I made some hot chocolate, you want some?"
Charlie smiled slightly, nodding as he set his chalk down by the board and crossed the garage to accept a mug.
"Why don't we go watch the koi for a bit? It's been a while since we talked out there," Mrs. Eppes suggested, before turning and walking away without wait for his response.
Charlie glanced at the math he'd been working on, but shrugged as he figured he was at a stopping point—it wasn't like he'd been thinking about it for the last ten minutes anyway—and followed her, taking a few sip of his hot cocoa as he went. As he reached the koi pond he realized that she had put some planning into this, clearly wanting to talk, as she'd set up two lawn chairs by the pond before coming to get him. And she'd poured the hot cocoa before asking him if he wanted any, not that he ever said no. With a sigh, he set his mug on the ground before dropping into his seat and then reclaiming the mug.
"How're you doing, sweetheart?"
Charlie blinked, looking up to meet his mother's concerned expression. "Fine, I guess," he replied with a shrug.
"Really?"
"Well..." Charlie was silent for several moments before he sighed again. "I miss Don. And I miss Annie, but," he shrugged, "there's not much I can do about that, is there?"
"You talked to Annie just a few days ago, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Well, by email, mostly."
"But its not the same?" She nodded, smiling slightly as he nodded in return. "I know. I feel the same way about Donnie. What's even worse is all the long periods of time when he's out of contact, hunting down some monster who-knows-where... I guess I didn't like it when he started in Detroit, because I knew he'd still be in danger there, but this is worse."
"Donnie calls you guys all the time, though, doesn't he? Almost every week?"
Mrs. Eppes shrugged, "Pretty much. But we still worry. Me, your Dad, and you, too." She shook her head, taking a sip from her hot cocoa. "Annie was a nice distraction from that."
"But she had to go back," Charlie nodded.
"Yes, she did. She's back in school now?"
Charlie nodded again, "Yeah. Had to call a few favors in for her, but she's back in now." At the look his mother gave him, he elaborated. "Her school principal doesn't like her, and didn't want to let her back in school. I told the superintendent about it, and he overruled him. Now I think they're inspecting the school, or at least the Principal's job performance, but Annie hasn't mentioned anything."
After a few moments of silent nodding, Mrs. Eppes asked. "When was the last time you talked to Donnie?"
"Before last night, you mean?" Charlie blinked, frowning in confusion for a moment as he struggled to remember. "Uh, um, after I got out of the hospital, I think. I was still a little out of it because of the pain meds. But Annie said he called for me, and Dad gave me the phone."
"In June, you mean?" Mrs. Eppes demanded, incredulous. "Your brother hadn't called you since then?"
"Well, no. I mean he's talked to you and Dad, but that was the last time we really talked," Charlie admitted, then hurried to explain as he saw a storm cloud building on his mother's face. "It's not his fault. Both of us have been busy. I've been working on, um, you know: math, and he's been in the field a lot." Seeing the storm on his mother's face—and her emotions in general—lessening slightly, he tried to distract her. "It sounds like he likes it, though."
After a moment, Mrs. Eppes sighed. "It does, doesn't it?" she shook her head. "He promised that he's only going to do this for a few years, just to gain experience and move up in the Bureau." She shook her head. "How's Annie doing?"
"Good," Charlie nodded, shrugging. "Better, at least. I mean, she hasn't really said anything about school except being happy she's back in. But with one of the Superintendent's assistants watching Principal Snyder all the time, he can't bother her, so hopefully she has it a bit easier now." He shook his head, chuckling. "She says she's doing well in math."
Mrs. Eppes laughed, "I'm not surprised. You're a good teacher, you always have been, as long as you remember—"
"To dumb everything down for my audience?"
"To explain everything clearly, with lots and lots of examples." Mrs. Eppes shook her head again. "You're so good with those examples of yours that it still amazes me that you had so much trouble in English in school. I don't see why you couldn't translate that ability into metaphors and similes."
"I can," Charlie shrugged, "as long as I'm writing about math."
Mrs. Eppes rolled her eyes, "That's not quite what I mean, my little genius." She shook her head, smiling as both started laughing. A few moments later they both looked towards the house as the familiar sound of a truck pulling into the driveway met their ears. "Sounds like your father's home, so I should start supper." She paused for a moment, finishing her hot chocolate, before looking at him again. "You should call Annie and see if there's any time you can visit her in the near future. Or maybe even on the weekend after you start at CalSci."
Charlie nodded, liking the idea, though he was pretty sure Annie wouldn't. "I'll do that." He blinked as his number-obsessed mind reminded him of something, "Her birthday around then, too."*(2)
"A perfect reason to visit her," Mrs. Eppes nodded, and grinned. "And I'll work on making your brother call more."
"No, Mom—"
"Family is one of the most important things in life, Charlie," Mrs. Eppes cut in, her voice firm. "And I won't have my boys drifting apart simply because they're too busy or too lazy to call each other. Now we never know when Donnie can take calls, so that means we need to get him to make the effort to start the calls himself."
Charlie nodded, then sighed. "But I don't want him to be mad at me."
Mrs. Eppes laughed, "That last year at Princeton, when you were by yourself, did you resent having to call home every week?"
"No, but," Charlie shook his head, "but you wanted me to call. And I liked talking to you and Dad, and Donnie when he was here."
"And your brother likes talking to you, just like we do." Seeing her younger son's still skeptical expression she shook her head, and bent down to place a kiss on his curls. "Don't worry so much, little one. You're brother loves you," she shook her head. "Honestly, I'd think you'd have more trouble calling Annie than Don. You haven't even known her for a whole year."
Charlie shrugged, "She never told me to get lost or that she didn't want to hang out with me." He shook his head, chuckling at a few memories. "The only times she really annoyed me was when she'd drag me away from some of my work, but that was usually for something equally fun—sometimes more fun."
Mrs. Eppes shook her head, "Yes, I never thought I'd see the say when you would admit to enjoying clubbing. Though how you got into the clubs when neither one of you is over twenty-one I don't understand."
Charlie blinked, then shook his head again. "They weren't—well," he shrugged. "You have seen Annie when she's really dolled herself up, right?" he asked, silently begging forgiveness for the fib he was about to give.
"Of course, what does that—"
"When the bouncers saw her, they weren't really thinking about IDs," Charlie cut in, hoping his Mom would drop it at that. The real reason she had no trouble getting into clubs was because apparently bouncing for clubs was a common profession for part-demons, who would never even think of getting in The Slayer's way. How, exactly, all of them recognized her on sight, he wasn't sure.
A part of him resented not being able to worry openly about Annie's 'job,' like all of them did about Don's. Yes, Don occasionally ran into the dangerous criminals he was looking for and they had every right to worry about him. But Annie ran into dangerous monsters every night. Went looking for them regularly. She didn't really have any back-up. The only reason there was even a second Slayer was because she'd been killed—drowned—for a brief, but long enough time to activate the next Slayer. And Kendra had barely lasted a year.
Still, he couldn't hold that against his parents. And he couldn't hold the secrecy against Annie, she had more then enough to worry about on her own.
"Oh." Mrs. Eppes blinked, coloring slightly as she shook her head, she probably would have continued if the back door hadn't opened just then, drawing both their eyes towards it.
"What're you two doing out here?" Alan Eppes asked, smiling as he walked towards them, apparently already having changed out of his work clothes for the day. "Watching the koi?"
"And drinking cocoa," Charlie confirmed with a smile.
Mr. Eppes chuckled, shaking his head. "What more could you want on a night like this? Though you might want to head in," he jerked his chin towards the darkening sky. "Looks like it'll rain soon." Then he glanced at his wife, "Do you want to order out tonight, dear?"
Mrs. Eppes started to shake her head, then reconsidered, sighing. "Hmm, some Chinese would be nice, I guess."
"And they usually aren't busy on Wednesdays," Charlie added, liking the idea of Chinese food, though he held nothing against most of the food his mother prepared. It was just some of the weirder dishes—with eggplant and artichokes—that he didn't like.
"It's Thursday, actually, but Chinese is good then, too," Mr. Eppes confirmed with a chuckle as he led the way in. Holding the door open for both of them just as it started to sprinkle, he asked, "How're Donnie and Annie doing?" saying nothing of the confused expression on their young genius's face as he tried to figure out the day of the week.
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Sunset Ridge District, Sunnydale, California – Thursday, September 19, 1996
Buffy and Giles expectations for Tony's Pizza had been accurate: the little restaurant and its employees had not only been useless, but also completely uninterested in being helpful. Tony himself had even threatened to call the cops after they'd been there for more then ten minutes without ordering anything.
So here they were on patrol just after sunset, wandering around warehouses as the sky became darker and darker. Faith glanced around, frowning. "Aren't we a bit early for patrolling?"
"Yeah," Buffy nodded, her eyes scanning each of the warehouses even as she tried to reach out with her Slayer-senses for nearby vamps. In LA, she could generally sense vamps from a mile or two away, more if there were a lot of them gathered in one spot, but in Sunnydale it was harder. The Hellmouth fogged it all up, so the best she could normally hope for was a general direction. That and maybe a scream if the vamps had cornered someone. "But we're not really patrolling here. We're looking for anywhere Kakistos might be holed up."
"Oh, yeah." Faith murmured, and the note of nervousness in her voice made Buffy glance at her.
"Faith," Buffy stopped and waited for Faith to look at her as the younger Slayer also stopped. When the other girl's dark, anxious eyes met hers, she continued. "You do the math, okay? There's two of us and one of him. And I doubt he brought his alligators with him."
"His minions—"
"Are nothing. Most Master Vamp's only keep a few minions around them. And we can deal with that, right?" She sighed, wrapping a gentle arm around the younger girl's shoulders when she didn't reply right away. "You're not alone anymore. You've got me to watch your back, and I've got you, right?" After a moment of silence Buffy shook her head gently and asked, "You want to head home for the night? I can look by myself if you want to take—"
"No!" Faith was blinking rapidly as she finally looked up to meet the other Slayer's gaze, her eyes glistening a bit as she nodded hesitantly. "I-I can do it." She took a deep breath and nodded again. "We're the Chosen Two."
Buffy smiled widely, also nodding as she gave Faith's shoulders a gentle squeeze before releasing her. "Right." Raising an eyebrow, she asked. "Ready to keep looking?"
Faith nodded, smiling slightly as they started walking again, both looking around with slightly narrowed eyes.
Buffy smiled a little as she sensed Faith struggling to reach out with her senses, but said nothing. If anything, it was pretty impressive that Faith was even trying. Buffy had given up on it after Merrick's death, especially on the Hellmouth. It was only Charlie's arguments for logic and patterns and the like that got her to take it up again, with extensive meditation to help her develop it.
"So what about you, B?" Faith asked after a few moments of silence as they made their way around another corner. "What was your toughest kill?"
Buffy blinked, her mind flying back to the moment she'd run Angel through and then pushed him into Acathla's portal to Hell, before she shook her head. "Um, well, all of the Big Bad's are difficult, I guess."
"Yeah," Faith nodded in agreement, pausing for a second before adding hesitantly. "Still, your last one must of been harder, huh?" When Buffy's eyes flew to hers, she shrugged a little nervously. "D-Diane talked about it. The Angel-Angelus thing. Not sure how I'd react to that."
Buffy sighed, shaking her head as she forced herself to keep moving down the street, trying to keep her thoughts off the memories the conversation drew up. "Yeah. Killing Angel was hard. Really hard."
They walked in silence for several more seconds before Faith suddenly stopped, "Wait."
Buffy also stopped and turned to look at her, surprised to see her frowning also. "What?" she asked, glancing around again to see if she'd missed something, but not seeing or sensing anything nearby.
"Angel?" Faith asked, then shook her head. "I thought you had to kill him after he lost his soul. Wasn't he Angelus then?"
Buffy stared at her for a moment, her eyes wide as her slip-up hit her.
"I-I mean, Red—your friend, Willow—she told me that they tried to restore his soul and thought they got it the second time, but—"
"They were too late." Buffy looked down for a moment, taking a deep breath as she struggled to recollect herself and explain, fighting the urge to run away at the same time. After a moment she decided to continue, but didn't look up. "I-I was about to take him out, and, um, something," she shook her head. "S-Suddenly he was Angel again. He-He didn't remember anything that he—that Angelus—had done. He just held me." Buffy bit her lip, blinking back tears as she continued again. "B-But it was too late. Angelus had—the portal was opening, a-and I had to. So I told him that I loved him. And I kissed him. And I killed him." She didn't look up as she heard Faith move slightly, but she did start when she felt the younger girl's arms wrap around her.
"I'm sorry, B," Faith murmured, her voice almost too quiet for the other Slayer to hear.
Buffy nodded slightly, returning the hug for only a moment before she drew back, one hand flying to her face to wipe away the tears that had just started to fall as she blinked the rest back. "Me too. W-We should—" she waved down the street.
Faith shook her head slightly, a short laugh bursting out as she replied. "Yeah, we probably should. Course, now we're both basket-cases, so we probably shouldn't, but I guess Slayers really aren't supposed to take nights off, huh?"
"Yeah," Buffy nodded in agreement, sighing as she added. "Well, we can. Just not when we know a big bad is in town, killing every night." She looked up to see Faith nodding, her mouth opening as if to say something, but Buffy's instincts took over as a snarl from the Slayer made her look past Faith just in time to see a small group of vamps rushing towards them in the just-dark-enough street. "Look out," she snapped, moving forward quickly to put herself between the younger Slayer and the approaching danger, just as she would do for all her friends. She blinked slightly in surprise as she felt Faith then slide into a fighting stance right next to her, but the Slayer accepted it and logically she should to. Even though she really had no time to argue as the six vamps got closer. "Okay, I got six—"
"Three for me and three for you," Faith agreed, just as the vamps reached them.
Buffy sidestepped one vamp, smoothly backing up until she was back-to-back with Faith even as she blocked a blow from another vamp and used his forward momentum to flip him over, throwing him away from them. She blinked as she felt Faith move a few steps away, and grinned—while pulling out her stake—as she glanced towards her in time to see the younger Slayer flipping a garbage can onto one vamp and then kicking it away, the vamp rolling several feet before it was able to stop, struggling to get out. Buffy sidestepped the first vamp again, purposefully backing up towards Faith even as she raised her stake and stabbed forward just as the vamp tried to grab her again, taking another step back as he crumbled to dust.
"Oh, come on, my dead mother hits harder than that!"
Buffy glanced towards Faith again, to see her flipping one vamp onto some nearby construction equipment and pinning him only to start pummeling him with her fists instead of pulling out her stake. "Faith—" she was cut off by a vamp grabbing her from behind, and dropped to her knees to flip him over her head, loosing her stake in the process but still managing to kick him away from her even as two more vamps, a new one and Faith's garbage-can-vamp—the smell gave him away—attacked her. She blocked and ducked several blows from each as she tried to back-up towards Faith again, glancing over to see her still pounding the pinned vamp. "Faith!" she snapped, glaring as the brunette started and glances towards her, "stake him already and give me a h—" She was cut off as another new vamp showed up, tackling her with the other three to drive her away from Faith.
"For Kakistos we live!" the new vamp snarled in her ear, "For Kakistos you die!"
As she felt the vamp moving to bite her, Buffy pitched herself forward again to throw him off, swinging a leg around to trip up the other two as she did so. "Fa—" she stopped as she saw the younger Slayer stabbing a stake into one of the vamps she kicked down, and nodded quickly as she managed to catch the stake the brunette threw at her. "Thanks," she nodded, dashing forward to pin the vamp she'd thrown even as Faith staked the other one, and only just managing to keep herself from staking the last—talkative—one.
She shook her head as she saw Faith coming towards her with a stake raised, "Uh-uh."
The brunette frowned at her. "Why—"
Buffy shot her a small smile, "I don't feel like wandering around Sunset Ridge all night." She jerked her head at the struggling vamp, "He's gonna tell us where Kakistos is."
After a moment, Faith grinned, "Right," she nodded, then glanced towards the construction equipment. "I think I saw some rope over there. You got 'im?"
Buffy grunted, "Yeah," and whacked the struggling vamp's head into the ground as he tried to rise again even as Faith ran over to the dusty construction equipment and then hurried back with several lengths of rope in hand. It took a bit of effort to get him tied to a nearby streetlight, but finally they did and both stepped back, Faith glancing at Buffy for what to do next. Buffy shook her head and raised an eyebrow at the vamp even as she reached her hands up to take her necklace off. "I don't suppose you'll just tell us where Kakistos is? We're gonna dust you either way, but that way'd be a lot less painful."
The vampire glared at both of them before snarling again, "For Kakistos we live! For Kakistos you die!"
Buffy rolled her eyes, "All righty then."
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Angels' House, Los Angeles, California – Thursday, September 19, 1996
Charlie shook his head as he paid his cab driver before making his way inside, nodding in thanks to one of the House's workers as the older man—who'd probably been a few years younger than Charlie when he'd first been captured by Ken—held the door open for him. "Thanks."
It still amazed him how far Angel's House had come in just the last three months. Sure, they'd had a couple hundred people that were used to working hard ready and eager to help when they started, but almost immediately people had started coming from all around the city to help build the house up. The owners of the lots on either side of the house had both donated the lots and buildings to Angel's House within the first week, so the plans they'd been making originally had immediately been tripled. Now Angel's House was probably the largest homeless shelter in the city, and it was certainly one of the biggest community centers. It was a shelter at night and in poor weather, but open all day too, as a spot that local residents now often gathered, many only subconsciously aware of the House's status at a sanctuary from the supernatural threats in the city.
Still, a surprisingly large number of people had also come forward, aware of the supernatural and wanting to help, thus Angel's Watch was born. According to Lily, most of those in-the-know were in gangs, but she claimed that wasn't really surprising, considering they were the ones stuck on the streets and living much closer to the vamps and demons then the civilians that worked 9 to 5 in the skyscrapers.
Either way, it now meant that to all—or at least most—of the gangs in LA, Angel's House was a violence-free zone. Charlie was still a bit amazed that Lily had convinced all the gang leaders to agree to this, but it was all to apparent in just how crowded the House now was. Glancing through the doorways off of the main lobby, every room he could see seemed full. And it looked like it wasn't just the locals who lived nearby anymore. No, he could see a lot of new faces—undoubtedly all of the gang members Lily said were now welcome at the shelter.
"Hey, you're Dr. Eppes, right?"
Charlie started slightly, forcing a small smile to his face even as he pushed his nervousness down while turning towards the unfamiliar voice. "Yeah," he replied, accepting the hand the African-American man had extended towards him as he stopped. He didn't recognize the man, and he wasn't in any of the right age groups to have been one of the prisoners that escaped with them as he looked older then Charlie, but younger then Don. So that meant he must be one of the volunteers. Or, more likely, one of the gang members Lily had mentioned. "Do I—"
"Name's Gunn," the slightly older man replied, shaking his hand firmly. "Lily said you'd be in this afternoon. I've been waiting to meet you."*(1)
Charlie blinked, but nodded quickly, his smile more genuine as he replied, "Yeah, she mentioned you. It's nice to meet you."
"Yeah, you too," Gunn replied, before finally releasing his hand and drawing back a bit, dark eyes scanning up and down Charlie's form before he nodded a bit, seemingly to himself. "So, everyone's saying you helped put all of this together? And the break out?"
Charlie blinked again, but nodded slowly. "Uh, I-I had a bit more to do with this then our original escape, really. I just—"
"Kept Annie and I sane until she was able to lead the escape?" Lily interrupted, coming up beside them with a smile. She turned to Gunn before Charlie could reply. "Gunn, I see you've met Charlie?"
"Just starting to," the gang leader confirmed.
"Well, why don't we head up to my office, then?" Lily invited, returning her eyes to Charlie. "I have some stuff for you to look at, like I said before." Then she grimaced as she added, "I would've set it up for you in your office, but I think the Watch is still using it as an armory."
Charlie shook his head in amusement, remembering the last time they'd tried to make use of his little-used office only find weapons of all sorts all over the place. "Okay," looking at Gunn he murmured, "it was nice to meet you—"
"Same here, but if it's all the same, I'd like to head up with you for a bit," Gunn interrupted smoothly, nodding to Lily. "We were gonna talk about how my teams might be able to work with the Watch."
Lily nodded, "Yeah, that's mostly what we have to talk about anyway." She glanced over towards the room Gunn had come out of to greet Charlie, where several young men and women in similar dark-attire to his were playing various games. "Do you want to bring anyone else up, too?"
Gun shook his head, "Nah. Alonna'll keep them under control."
Lily nodded and turned towards the nearby staircase, both Charlie and Gunn following as she led the way up three flights of stairs, to the fourth floor, where all of their offices were and where most of the research and training for the Watch was done.
Gunn nodded to the training equipment as they crossed the floor. "Fancy stuff."
"Yeah," Lily nodded, rolling her eyes as she moved into her office and held the door open for them. "That was the last thing Annie did before moving home: make sure the gym was well-stocked."
"Will I be meeting Annie any time soon?" Gunn asked curiously. "Heard a lot about her the last few weeks."
Both Charlie and Lily chuckled, but Charlie shook his head. "Annie probably won't be back in LA for a while, unless we run into any emergencies. She's watching the Hellmouth and trying to finish High School right now."
Gunn shot him a surprised look at that, "She's still in school?"
Charlie nodded, "Yeah, she should graduate in the spring."
"Must be nice," Gunn shook his head, his eyes distant for a moment before he seemed to come back to himself and shrugged. "Me? I don't have the time. Dropped out after eighth grade, had to support my sister after some vamps got my 'rents, started goin' after all this," he finished, with a nod at the maps Lily was setting up.
Lily nodded, that same sad look on her face. "Better then me. I never went to public school. My mama was supposed to home school me after my dad died, but she never finished school either. If my grandpa hadn't insisted on it, I probably wouldn't know how to read." She shook her head, grinning slightly. "'Course, they probably regretted teaching me that, since it's where I got the idea to runaway from."
Charlie was quiet a moment as he looked at both of them, before murmuring, "We're going to be offering a bunch of classes here, you should take advantage of them."
"Yeah, Lily mentioned that," Gunn nodded again. "Mosta the gang's gonna be here during the day for that stuff," then he grinned as he nodded towards the door, towards the gym, "And the gym."
"You should come too, both of you," Charlie insisted, continuing firmly as both looked at him. "You should at least sit in on a few classes." He glanced at Lily, "Bob's gonna be giving an SAT-prep course and one to help people earn their GED, right? And I'm going to be teaching a Beginner Math Course, in addition to Math for Non-Mathematicians. All of that could help you get into college. Hopefully I'll even be able to get at least one of the courses affiliated with CalSci, so students could use it for college credit, though they would have to pay for that."
After a moment, Gunn nodded again, "Yeah, maybe I will. I don't know. Your Watch has added a lot of fighters to our side, so maybe I'll have the time." He nodded to Lily again, "I was talkin' to Lily earlier about teachin' a few classes myself. Karate and Krav Maga," he continued with a shrug, "Gonna take a refresher course at the Y first, to make sure I remember the basics from when I took classes as a kid there, but I've been usin' the moves so long they're kinda second nature to me now."
Again, Lily nodded, before raising an eyebrow at Charlie. "Speaking of taking classes, you should really sign up for one of those. Remember, Annie wanted you too?"
Charlie shrugged, now uncomfortable. "I'm really not good at that sor—"
"Nah, man. You should come." Gunn cut in, his voice firm but also much more excited then it had been before. "If you're gonna be around any of this stuff a long time, you gotta know how ta defend yourself."
"Besides, didn't you already start some lessons with Annie when she was here?" Lily asked, frowning slightly as she tried to remember.
"Not really," Charlie shrugged. "Mostly she just gave me a big cross and a water gun full of holy water—she never explained how she got that—and then took me on patrol with her." Then he winced. "She tried to make me better at dodging a few times by making me practice while she threw things at me, but that never lasted long. She always freaked out whenever she hit me too hard."
"Well I won't 'freak out,'" Gunn laughed as he reassured him, "and once you know some moves from actual training dodging should be easier anyway." He shrugged again, "That probably is the best way to teach most ta go up against vamps anyway, since most of 'em are really strong. Problem is they're fast too." Then he blinked as one of Charlie's earlier comments registered, "And it's really not hard to get holy water. You just take a jug of water to a priest or rabbi, or anyone that can bless something really, and ask 'em to do it. Some of the ones that don't see much of the streets might give you a funny look for it, but all'a the ones around here don't mind."
"Oh," Charlie blinked, before grinning a bit sheepishly. "That makes sense." Then he sighed. "Yeah. I guess I should take some classes then, shouldn't I?"
"Tell ya what, we'll trade, all right?" Gunn told him, grinning. "Every time you come to one'a my classes, I'll go to one a yours."
Charlie grimaced, narrowing his eyes at the older man as something occurred to him. "Somehow that doesn't seem like a very comfortable arrangement." At the confused looks both sent him, he added, "Letting you hurt me for teaching you, I mean.
Both Gunn and Lily laughed.
"Maybe, but I'd be hurting you for your own good, you know." Gunn pointed out, thinking for a moment before adding, "How about this: for every class you attend, me and my whole gang'll go to one of yours?" He raised an eyebrow and extended his hand for the second time that night. "We got a deal?"
Charlie looked at the gang leader for a long moment, and glanced at Lily, before finally giving in to the encouraging voice in the back of his head that sounded a lot like Annie, and accepting the older man's hand again. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess we do."
"Good," Gunn nodded, smiling slightly as they shook hands before releasing Charlie and turning slightly towards Lily's desks to raise an eyebrow at the maps and data-sheets she laid out. "Maybe I'll understand some of that after those classes, huh?" he gestured to the raw data sheets Charlie had set-up for the Watch leaders to keep track of sightings, stakings, etc., in the area.
"Actually, it's not very complica—"
"Yeah, yeah," Gunn cut Charlie off, grinning slightly as he nodded to the map of LA. "What'd the colors mean?"
Charlie stared at him for a moment, before his mind connected the teasing attitude to the one Annie often took whenever she didn't want to try and follow some of the math he'd used to help her with her patrols and just wanted the results, then rolled his eyes before deciding to move on, figuring they really should get down to the business he came there for at some point in that afternoon. And hopefully, after a few classes, at least a few of the Watch members would be able and willing to work with him on the actual analyses he ran for the Watch, but for now he was really all they had. "The black X's are known vampire-nests, the lighter red areas have higher vamp-populations, and the darker red dots are areas we've spotted demons in. The orange..."
End of Chapter 2: Siblings – Part II.
AN: Well, I hope everyone liked the chapter. Again, sorry for the wait. This chapter just won't end. That's why 'Siblings' is now a three-parter instead of the two-part piece I originally planned.
Anyway, now Charlie's met Gunn! :-D
(1) Once again, I'm playing with the timeline a little bit. This time, I'm playing with Gunn's age. Technically at this point he's supposed to still be a teenager, as he is when Angel meets him, but I've really never thought of him as one. For one thing, I'm actually going with the actor—J. August Richard's—real birth date, so it's not too realistic. It just means Gunn is five years older here then he was in the canon. Which just makes sense to me, since I've essentially made him the big vampire hunter in LA, among all of the LA's gangs, at this point. If he was just a kid that wouldn't seem very realistic, no matter how good he was/is.
(2) Again, I've just the timeline a little for Buffy's age. I don't think Joss gave us an actual day, but most figure it would be some time in January since that's when most of her birthday episodes aired. But for my series her birthday is in Februay.
On a different note: Though I now have wonderful beta-reader, and several more readers offering to help on that front—which I've very, very thankful for—I'm still looking for anyone that can help me with some of the math Charlie might use later in the series. I would like to include monologs of 'Charlie Vision' and higher level math without skimming over it, but I haven't gone near any calculus since high school and that was the highest I ever got in math (I don't count the Algebra and Statistics I've taken in college, because the Pre-Calc and Physics I took at my prep school was MUCH harder). I've already joined a group that offers medical advice for stories, does anyone know of similar groups for math and/or science? Any help at all on that front would be immensely appreciated.
Comments and constructive criticism are still more then welcome, so please REVIEW!!! (Oh, and if you do notice something I need to work on and mention it, I might ask for any kind of help you can offer to follow up on that. If you don't want me to contact you for such help, please say so where you're leaving the review.)
The next chapter really is almost done, so the wait shouldn't be too long. I just have to get it to the point where I actually LIKE it, which is really the major problem with the 'Siblings' part so far. I really liked Part I, but II and III are being difficult. Either way, I should have it some time in the next week.
Bye for now!
Jess S
NEXT: Chapter 3: Siblings – Part III.