Disclaimer: Since my name is not Joss Whedon, 'Buffy: The Vampire Slayer', 'Angel' and the characters associated with the show belong to someone who in't me. I also do not own the storyline, that is taken from gidgetgirl's 'The Lost Child Challenge' (details below) posted at the Chocolate Covered Strawberries Archive.
The Lost Child Challenge
When Faith was fourteen, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend. After that, she left home on her own, pregnant with the rapist's child. When she was found by the Council, her first Watcher took the baby, assuring Faith that it would be taken care of... the Watcher then was killed by Kakistos before she could give Faith more information. Now, years later, the child has come back into Faith's life.
Requirements:
Faith dealing with mixed feelings about the child: a mother's love and the memory of the rape.
- The child having a Faith-esque attitude problem
- The council having had some hand in the child's conception
- The child having an amazing destiny
- Faith wanting to save her daughter from her own mistakes
Author's Note I: To Imzadi and C'est Magnifique - I won't answer the 'S' and 'H' question now, but if you compare the files of the two 'S's - Buffy and Kennedy - with the 'H' - Faith - you might figure it out.
Author's Note II: To C'est Magnifique - Eleanor was born in Boston on May 19th 1998.
Author's Note III: To chattypandagurl - Next chapter.
Chapter 2
Roger Wyndham-Pryce gasped like a landed fish as Faith wrapped her hands around his neck, intent on choking the life out of him.
He looked across at the others, silently willing them to rescue him, but for some reason they seemed remarkably unwilling to come to his aid.
It wasn't until his face had turned a rather alarming shade of blue that the angry Slayer loosened her grasp enough to allow him to draw a shallow, choking breath.
"Where is she?" She ground out the question through gritted teeth. "What did you do with my daughter?"
"I don't know who you're talking about."
"Giles?" Faith's voice was coldly conversational. "Exactly how mad would the Council be if I tortured this bastard?"
"There is no Council to speak of." He told her, knowing that she knew this.
"Even better." Her eyes glinted dangerously.
Roger was deeply regretting that he, hearing that the three Slayers, their Watcher and friends had invaded the Council's inner sanctum, had made his way to the record room to indignantly demand that they cease their activities.
"So what'll it be?" She gave him a mock-cheerful smile. "There are five basic torture groups; blunt, shart, hot, cold and loud. I'm thinking of adding a new one - electric. Any preference? Or do you feel like talking to me?"
Too intimidated to do anything else, he nodded hastily. "I'll tell you everything I know."
May 20th, 1998.
"Don't look. It will be easier for you if you don't see her." Constance's voice had been gentle as she held her, soothing her as though she were a child.
She had warned her that, if she saw the face of the baby girl, it would haunt her.
The tiny white coffin had been buried, sealed, in the small cemetery near the hospital.
The grave was marked with a small statue of an angel bearing the date of birth, but no name.
Faith had determinedly suppressed her tears, reminding herself sternly that she would not have been able to take care of a baby, that it was better this way.
Try as she might to ignore the thought, she was haunted by the idea that she had done something wrong, that the late nights she had spent in clubs, the alcohol she had drunk, had killed her baby.
She had hated Bryan, had hated that hisspawn was squirming inside her.
Had her hatred poisoned her baby?
"It's not your fault." Constance had reassured her, as if she had read her thoughts. "There was nothing you could have done."
Though she normally shyed away from physical contact, she had allowed the Watcher to hug her, grateful for the comfort, glad that she still had her.
Within three months, Constance had been killed.
"She lied to me." Faith's voice was hoarse. "I trusted her."
None of them knew what they should say.
Roger Wyndham-Pryce, understandably eager to cooperate, had hastened to find out everything he could about the little girl, though he had said that most of the information about her was classified and that not even he had had access to it until very recently.
"She's five now." Faith mused aloud
She had missed out on five years.
She hated herself for having agreed that it would have been better for her to allow her 'stillborn' daughter to be buried without looking at her.
If she had only insisted on seeing her baby . . .
She had never spoken of her baby after the funeral.
She and Constance had studiously avoided the subject and even the Mayor, who had been as close to a father as she had ever known, had never been told.
Faith hadn't had the displeasure of meeting Quentin Travers but, if what she had heard from Buffy, Giles and the others was any indication, he had been far from pleasant.
She shuddered inwardly.
If he had hurt her daughter in any way she was going to have Willow resurrect him just so that she could have the satisfaction of killing him herself.
Slowly.
A reluctant cough at the doorway announced Roger's presence.
His hand trembled ever so slightly as he held out a large envelope.
"This is the address." He said, understandably nervous about facing the seething Slayer. "And a photograph. That's all I can get without proper access. . ."
Faith eagerly tore the envelope from his hand, cutting him off. She ripped the envelope open, sending a slip of paper and a photograph flying.
Giles picked up the slip of paper, studying the address on it. "This estate is in Kent. I know of it."
Faith barely heard him.
The photograph was of an average size and for the briefest of instants, she had been afraid to look at it, afraid that her daughter would look like Bryan.
She didn't know whether she could handle that.
She stared at the image for several minutes without saying a word.
"Faith?" Buffy's tone was gentle. "Are you okay?"
The younger woman nodded, biting her lip. "She's beautiful."
TBC.
Author's Note: That's all for now. Don't forget to review. Next chapter - Faith meets Eleanor.