Waking up next to Faith was turning out to be one of the better parts of this whole girlfriend thing. When Buffy woke up, it was with one of Faith's arms slung over her and sunlight streaming through the window, just like one of those bad romcoms she and her mom had watched together on bad days.
And yet, they had things to do, so Buffy moved Faith's arm aside and went to take a shower. When she got out, wrapped in a towel, Faith was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed.
"Ready to face the world?" Faith asked.
"More like face the unstable fifteen-year-old," Buffy answered. "Which, with Dawn around, is not an unfamiliar experience."
Faith laughed. "You think Dawn would take over an abandoned building with vampire slaves?"
"If she had had Slayer powers at fifteen," Buffy said, putting on a bra,"I wouldn't have put it past her."
"I'm guessing this girl is more like me," Faith said. "She's not going to want our help."
Buffy stopped with her shirt halfway over her head and sighed. "I know. But she's our responsibility." She pulled the shirt all the way on and turned to Faith. "I understand Giles so much more now."
"We were terrible to him," Faith agreed. "I mean, I feel awful about it, and I was only there for, what, six months?"
"Not counting time spent as the Mayor's minion," Buffy added.
"Yeah. God, that poor man."
"Of course, that was technically Wesley's fault," Buffy said. She strapped a stake to her thigh and stuck another one in her boot. She tossed two more to Faith, who caught them easily.
Faith laughed as she hid the stakes on her body. "Yeah, sure, 'cause Giles totally wasn't the one beating himself up at night over it."
"He was so disappointed in himself," Buffy murmured, sitting on the bed and putting an arm around Faith's waist. "When you were evil. He tried not to let me see, but I know Giles."
"Good old Giles," Faith said. "Always trying to be everyone's dad." She stood abruptly, linking arms with Buffy. "All right, time to face the day."
First, though, they had to face Angel and everyone else who actually had jobs to do. Buffy came down the stairs, still arm-in arm with Faith, feeling awkwardly on display to the others, who were sitting around in the lobby, eating donuts and going through paperwork. Tina wasn't down yet, but Buffy figured that was for the better, since she was going to want to come along, and it wasn't safe for her.
"Morning, everybody," Faith said. She plucked a donut out of the box. "How's it going?"
"Stressful as always," Wesley said, not looking up.
Faith broke the donut in two and handed half to Buffy.
"Thanks," Buffy said.
"We're out," Faith told the group as a whole. "See you later."
"See you," Angel replied, his voice distant.
Buffy and Faith sauntered out into the streets.
"I forgot how much walking there is in cities," Buffy said. "We're close to this theater, and it's still farther than the Bronze was from my house."
"Just means your legs will be even nicer," Faith teased.
Buffy grinned back. "What's wrong with the way my legs are now?"
Faith made a show out of checking. "Nothing, B. Don't you worry."
When they got to the theater, they found it dingy and apparently vacant. Still, they crept to the door, trying to get a glimpse of the inside.
"We're going to have to be careful about this," Faith said. "This girl's not going to listen to us if we start by killing her slaves."
"So… what do we do? Go in saying we've come to offer her a better life?"
"I don't know." Faith sighed. "This used to be me, B. My first Watcher? She found me living out of a tattoo parlor after I'd staked the owner, making deals with demons so I could eat. And I was twelve. Not even a Slayer yet."
"God. Did Angel say how old this girl is?"
"Not old enough," Faith said. "Shit. Let's just go in."
"Just as us?"
"Just as us." Faith reached out and took Buffy's hand. "You ready?"
Buffy nodded, and together she and Faith pushed open the double doors. They found themselves in a typical movie theater lobby, with weak light from high-up windows illuminating the shapes of ticket booths and shining off the grungy and blood-stained tile floor. No one was in the room, presumably due to the direct sunlight.
Faith and Buffy exchanged a glance, and then they moved on into the alley-like corridor between the lobby and the actual rooms with the screens. It was dimly lit by flashlights taped to the wall; the effect was almost comically eerie. It was exactly the sort of thing that Buffy would have expected from a younger version of Faith.
It was easy to tell which theater housed the Slayer; the door was open, and there was noise from within. There seemed to be some sort of commotion- nothing violent, just a lot of yelling.
Buffy looked at Faith, and Faith looked at Buffy, and they nodded, joined hands, and walked into the room together.
This was the only even remotely well-lit room, a chandelier of taped-together flashlights hanging from the ceiling illuminating a crowd of vampires arguing over a dead body on the ground. The theater chairs had all been ripped from the ground and thrown to the sides of the room. At first, Buffy couldn't tell where the Slayer was, but then she saw the girl sitting in the last remaining row of chairs, watching the vampires argue. Her posture was tall, but her clothes were ratty, and she had clearly cut her own shoulder-length hair. She was young, too; maybe ten or eleven. Too young.
It was only a moment before the girl noticed Faith and Buffy. She stood, and a moment later the vampires arguing fell silent.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice thin in the big theater.
"I'm Faith, and this is Buffy," Faith said, taking a step in. "You Nadia?"
"Why?"
"We heard you were pretty powerful," Faith said. "We wanted to check out your operation."
"I like your light," Buffy said.
"Are you going to take me away?" Nadia asked.
"Only if you let us," Buffy told her.
"Here's the deal," Faith said. "You have power. So do we. We know how to help you use that power."
Nadia didn't say anything.
"And we have, like, beds that aren't in movie theaters," Buffy said.
"Really?" Nadia took a few steps towards Buffy and Faith.
"Yup," Faith said.
Nadia glanced back at her vampires, who were all looking between her, Buffy, and Faith.
"Can you guys make them stop fighting?"
"Depends," Buffy said. "Can we kill them?"
Nadia paused, clearly making a decision. "No, they're mine," she said. "They're my job." She looked at Buffy and Faith. "And if I go with you, I won't need them anymore." She looked at the crowd of vampires, reaching for her pocket, and the vampires immediately ran for the door. By silent agreement, Buffy and Faith pushed them back without staking any of them.
Nadia had pulled out a knife and a squirt bottle, and a moment later, she was spraying the vampires with what was obviously holy water and practically sawing their heads off with the knife when they were incapacitated from the pain.
"Kid can fight," Faith said under the shouts and thuds of the fight.
"Guess she's a Slayer," Buffy agreed.
Five minutes later, Nadia was standing in a pile of dust, her knife and her spray bottle at her sides.
"Okay," she said. "You promise you have a real bed?"
"We promise," Buffy said. "Come on, we'll take you to our friend's hotel."
"Your friend has a hotel? Is he rich?"
"Just lucky," Faith told her. "But the kind of lucky with a warm bed and kind words."
"And then we'll take you to England, where we have other friends and more girls like you," Buffy said.
"Okay."
So Buffy and Faith walked out of the theater, Nadia between them. On the way back, they explained a little bit about being a Slayer, which Nadia seemed to take pretty well. Buffy got the feeling that she knew a lot more than anyone could explain, even if she didn't know the words for it.
Angel made some more calls that night and got everyone plane tickets to London for the next day, which gave Faith, Buffy, and their new Slayers the rest of that day to get acclimated to the concept of moving to England and to scrounge up enough clothes to wear while they were doing it.
The next morning came faster than expected, and suddenly Buffy was in an airport, feeling very much like a mom, trying not to lose Faith and two kids in the crowd. Nadia and Tina had never been in an airport before, and Buffy suspected that maybe Faith hadn't either, with all the gaping she was doing. So Buffy was the navigator, the one who got them through security, the one who found the gate, and the one who sat with the luggage while Faith ran off with the kids to go find lunch.
When the three were back with sandwiches for themselves and for Buffy, Faith watched the kids wolf down the sandwiches like they had never seen food before and laughed a grim laugh.
"Used to be me, B."
"Is it weird for you, doing this for someone else?"
"Is it weird for you to suddenly be a Giles?" Faith asked. "I mean, come on, B. That's what we are. We're just younger, hotter Gileses."
"Stronger, too," Buffy said.
"And better-dressed."
"What's a Giles?" Tina asked. She was methodically folding the paper her sandwich had been wrapped in.
"Giles is a person," Buffy said. "He trained me. You'll meet him in London."
"He's okay," Faith said. "He's like Wesley, but calmer."
Buffy grinned. "Don't let him hear you say that."
"Nah, B. I'll tell him you said it."
It wasn't long before they boarded the plane. Buffy had never liked planes, but that was nothing compared to how on-edge Faith was. Nadia and Tina seemed okay, more caught up in the novelty than anything, but Faith was practically shaking. She was good at hiding it; Buffy wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been so completely attuned to Faith's movement. She wasn't sure what to think of that.
Fortunately, the flight went off without a hitch. They had to switch planes in New York, but that was easy, and by then even Faith was more at ease with the whole thing, or at least better at hiding her discomfort. On the way to England, she and Buffy worked together to finish the crossword in one of the in-flight magazines, and then they started telling Nadia and Tina their best Slayer stories in quiet voices.
Buffy was beginning to understand that this was going to become a common thing; sitting with Faith, telling younger Slayers about the good old days. She had known that being a Slayer aged you; she hadn't known that she would live to be a grandmother.
They had enough stories to fill the whole flight, but they didn't get the chance to tell them; Nadia's eyelids started to droop, and so Buffy and Faith left her and Tina to sleep. Buffy flipped through the SkyMall magazine, pointing out the most ridiculous items to Faith, who was doodling on the napkin that had come with her last meal.
Before long, the plane came in for a landing at the London airport. When Buffy had last talked to Giles on the phone, he had said that he and the other Scoobies had found a good base of operations in a small town by London; somehow, Watcher connections had helped them acquire an actual old boarding school. He had promised a welcoming committee when Buffy and Faith arrived with the new Slayers, but he hadn't said who would be on it. So a tired Buffy and Faith led a dazed Nadia and Tina through the airport and to the arrivals platform, where the sun was just barely rising. They had left L. A. in the morning, too, but because of the shift in time zones and the length of the flight, they had jumped from dawn to dawn.
And then they saw Dawn, who was getting out of a massive maroon van. She had already seen Faith and Buffy, and she was walking towards them with a purpose.
"Hey, guys. Good to see you. These your Slayers?"
"Yup," Buffy said. "Nadia and Tina."
"Cool." Dawn looked down at Nadia and Tina. "Can I take your bags?"
Tina offered hers up, but Nadia clutched hers closer to her chest.
"You can take mine," Buffy said cheerfully.
Dawn glared, but she took Buffy's bag. It wasn't very big, anyway; all it had in it was clothes scavenged from California stores. Buffy had had to leave even Mr. Pointy behind with Angel to avoid any mishaps with airport security.
Dawn stuffed Buffy's and Tina's bags into the back of the van, and Faith followed suit with hers. Nadia wouldn't let go, and the van was big enough that there was space for her to keep her bag- just a backpack, really- with her.
Giles was behind the wheel, and the minute everyone was in the van, he began maneuvering out of the arrivals area. He was introduced to Nadia and Tina and made some small talk with Buffy and Faith about their flight before he got to the real issues.
"Your idea of a boarding school is a good one," he said, "but we are therefore going to require teachers. We certainly have enough students, but nowhere near enough people who are educated and know about the supernatural world."
"What about the older Potentials?" Faith asked. "There must be girls who had Watchers and all that and then didn't get called. Some of them have to have some schooling, right?"
"I hadn't thought of that," said Giles. "Perhaps I will call them up. We still have a summer before the school year starts, of course."
Buffy could see the plans building themselves in her mind's eye. They would have a boarding school, full of young Slayers from (hopefully) all over the world, and they would teach those Slayers and send them out into the world, back home or wherever they wanted to go… it was daunting.
But it was what had to be done, and even with all the new Slayers, Buffy would always be the one to do what had to be done.
When the car pulled up in front of the school, Buffy's jaw dropped. It was the exact stereotype of a British boarding school, complete with ivy-covered walls.
"It needs a little upkeep," Giles said, "but it's certainly pretty."
"He's being modest," Dawn said, turning all the way around in her seat. "It's amazing. There's a huge library, like our books barely fill it, and there's two whole gyms and some really big fields for you guys to train, and classrooms and dorms and everything."
"I look forward to seeing the inside," Buffy said.
"Wait," Dawn said. "I didn't get to the best part. Buffy, there are houses on campus. They're supposed to be for professors to live, but there are like five girls in each one, and there are still a bunch left over, and I'm living in one with Andrew- just as a friend, he's gay- and Giles is in one, and Willow and Kennedy, and there's one for you, too, and you, Faith, if you even want to live alone. The Watchers are loaded."
"Wait," Faith said. "You have a house with Andrew?"
"Has he tried to redecorate the bathrooms yet?" Buffy asked.
"I had to threaten witchcraft to keep him out of mine."
"You do witchcraft?" Buffy shrieked.
"No," Dawn said. The car had stopped, and she opened her door. "But he doesn't know that."
"How much room is there?" Faith asked, getting out of the car. "In this house."
"Ours has three bedrooms," Dawn said. "I think there are some with four. Why?"
Buffy got out of the car and came around in time to hear Faith saying, "These kids deserve a home."
"You adopting Slayers already?" Buffy asked. "I knew you were a softie."
"These girls- they need love," Faith said. "And adults to take care of them and all that."
"And we're the adults?" Buffy asked. "Scary." She shrugged. "Still, you're not wrong. I'm in." She looked behind her to where Nadia and Tina were clambering out of the car. "Are you thinking like a fostercare kind of deal? Girls come to us, we get them to feel the love for a bit, we send them to the dorms with everyone else?"
"Sure."
"Cool. Okay." Buffy paused to collect herself. "Lots of kids for Buffy and Faith. So, Dawn, where do we go?"
"Follow me." Dawn tucked some hair behind her ear and started walking. Buffy and Faith followed.
"When did you become such a grown-up, Dawn?" Faith asked.
"A couple apocalypses ago," Dawn answered. "Not like you would know."
"Be nice," Buffy admonished.
"Sorry." She obviously wasn't.
"And to think," Buffy said, "I was celebrating the death of your snarky, immature past. Faith's trying, okay?"
"Sorry." This time, it was serious.
"All good," Faith said. "It's not like I've been around. No apocalypses in jail."
"Wow. Think I can get me a gig like that?"
"Murdered anyone lately?"
"Yeah, but they were already dead."
"Sorry, doesn't count."
Buffy shrugged. "My loss."
"Not really. The whole redemption thing kind of makes it not worth it."
Buffy grabbed Faith's hand and squeezed.
"I saw that," Dawn said, glancing back. "Ew."
"Can't help it if your sister's hot, kiddo."
"Can I repeat, ew?" Dawn turned around and gestured down a walkway. "Anyway, we're here."
Buffy and Faith turned to look at their new home.
"Looks good," Buffy said.
"Better than anything I grew up in," Faith agreed.
Hand in hand, Buffy and Faith went up the path to the house, the next generation of Slayers in tow.