Loss of Faith

Chapter 17: A Gift From The Council

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc….

Faith's POV –

After Xander dropped us off at my house, I spent the rest of the night trying to comfort B. She was really takin all that bullshit the mini spouted seriously and it was tearing her up inside. Man, every time I think back on what that bitch said I just wanna wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze till her eyes pop out and her head comes off. Where does she get off callin B unnatural? Comin from someone with a demon aspect shoved up her ass due to the slayer line, she's got no room to talk about what's natural and what's not.

I finally got Buffy calmed down enough for her to fall asleep by lying with her, holdin her close and stroking her hair. All the time murmuring that it would be alright and I loved her. I don't know if she actually believed that it would be alright, but I think she believed I loved her. After all it was only the truth. Either way she relaxed and soon was sleepin in my arms. Every once in a while she would give the cutest grin and she would drool a little. Watching her sleep like that made me smile. I hoped all her dreams tonight stayed good ones. That's how we fell asleep.

This morning I woke up first and after givin B a kiss on the head, went in and took a shower. My muscles were still all tensed with anger over the dumb bitch. But the hot water soon started to soothe them some. Getting out and drying off I went back into the bedroom to find B sittin up and lookin out the window. She smiled over at me when I came in and I jumped onto the bed makin her bounce around.

"Hey there, sexy," I said and kissed her on her nose.

"Ugh, Faith you just slobbered on me," she teased makin a face.

"You're a fine one to talk about slobberin on people, Twinky," I tell her. "Ya just about drowned me last night with your droolin," I laugh at her.

"I do not drool!" She yelped with a shocked look on her face.

"It's okay, B," I tell her. "It was actually kinda cute. Kinda like a teethin puppy."

That really got her goin. She narrows her eyes at me and says, "Are you calling me a dog?"

Next thing I know I'm bein clobbered by a pillow again. What's with her and beatin me with pillows. I would prefer a good old fashion spankin. I'm pretty sure I could get her to prefer it too.

After a coupla minutes of playin around I get up to get dressed while B takes a shower. By the time she's done, I'm downstairs makin breakfast for me and heating up some blood for her. Buffy had cruised by Willie's yesterday before Xander showed up and picked up some packets to have on hand. Seems Willie has an in with the blood bank in town and always has a fresh supply available. I think he likes it better now that Buffy is a paying customer instead of her goin in and beatin on him all the time for information.

When she comes in the kitchen, everything is ready and we sit down at the table. Buffy is watchin me eat and just looks simply beautiful to me. "What are we going to do today?" She asks.

"I was thinkin maybe we could go over to your mom's house and snoop around for the package the Council was sendin over," I said. "Joyce will be at work and the newbie should be at the school with Giles. Whatcha think?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," she says.

When we get to Joyce's house, I park around the corner so we can check out the sitch. It would be kinda bad if we walked in on the mini-slayer while she was watching TV or something. Although I wouldn't mind goin a round or two with her just to, ya know, take the edge off or whatever. I think seein B out in the daylight would give her a major wiggin and I really don't want her runnin off to Giles with any daytime Buffy sightings just yet. That's news I wanna break to him myself.

It looks pretty quite. Joyce's car is gone and we can't see anyone movin around in the widows. I stretch out the slayer sense and don't feel anything so I ask B, "Can ya feel her?"

B closes her eyes for a moment then answers, "No. Either she's gone or dead."

I mumble quietly, "Well, hope springs eternal." I hear B snort out a laugh as we move towards the house.

We go around to the back door and of course it's locked. I'm thinkin about the best way to break in when B lifts a potted plant off the window sill and picks up the key that was hidden there.

"What," she asks me. "So I lost my house keys a lot. They shouldn't make them so small. You would think somebody could come up with a better way to open doors than to have to carry around little pieces of metal that are never where you last put them when you need them."

She's so cute and sincere, with her wide eyed innocent look, that I just have to chuckle at her. "Ya know you're a little bit of a nut, don't ya?" I ask her while smiling. "A cute nut, but still…."

She gives me a pout and says, "Well 'Miss I Never Lose Anything', where's the key you had when you lived here? Ha! See, I'm not the only one who has a problem with losing things."

"Yea, whatever, B," I tell her. "Can we please just go in and see what we can find before someone comes home? Or do ya wanna just hang out here talkin all day?"

Buffy opens the door and we go inside. Since this was her home and she never gave it away, she can come in whenever she pleases without an invite. Movin inside we head for the stairs. Anything worth findin would probably up in the newbie's bedroom. I hope we can find something that would let us know what she's planning.

As we pass by Buffy's old room I see her peek inside with such a sad look on her face it breaks my heart. You can see the longing and regret shining out of her eyes. What happened to her wasn't her fault, she should still be livin here, goin to school, getting ready to graduate and go to college. In some ways B's life may have been as hard as mine. Different, but still hard. I never had all the storybook family stuff to miss. Buffy had it all for most of her life, then it was all taken away from her. It really is harder when you know what you've lost.

I give her a quick hug and pull her down the hall. I wish we could stay for awhile and let her take her time, but there's no tellin when someone will come home and I wanna be far away when they do.

Movin down to the guest room, yea my old room, we go inside and I can't believe the difference. Everything has been organized to death. There's no clothes laying around, the bed is made with creases so sharp they could cut you. The trash can is empty and no soda cans are sitting around. I tell ya my dislike of this Shannon chick just went up another notch. Ya just can't trust someone this obsessively anal.

I look over at B and she looks back and gives me a shrug. Guess she doesn't get it either. We split up, I head over to the dresser and B goes to the bedside table. Opening the drawers I just hafta cringe. Even her clothes are stacked and placed in precise piles. Most people's drawers get a little jumbled just from them being used. And mine are usually all mixed together from me rooting through them for what I wanna wear. These though are almost inhuman. Each article of clothing has a distinct section with a half inch space separating it from anything else. It's a little bit militaristic. Socks strictly with socks, shirts strictly with shirts and separated into collar, button up, or crew neck. I wouldn't be surprised if there were little tags inside each designating the day of the week they were to be worn.

I glance over to Buffy and say, "Do you believe this shit?"

She answers back over her shoulder, "Just further proof of the evil that is the Watchers Council. Anyone that is this orderly has got to have been programmed. Faith, come over here. I think this is what we are looking for."

I close the drawers with a shudder and go over to look at what Buffy found. Inside the nightstand drawer there's a small brown box, about the size of a book but deeper. Openin it up, we find a letter, but nothing else. Readin it over B's shoulder it says:

Shannon,

Enclosed you will find the items we discussed. A small amount introduced into the blood stream will be more than sufficient for your needs. When you have accomplished your task, contact the local representative for disposal of the target. I am sure you will be successful in your assignment and will remember your debt to the Council of Watchers. I have every faith in that you will make me proud.

Sincerely,

Uncle Quentin

"Well that tells us absolutely nothing," I say to B.

"Actually it tells us quite a lot," she answers back. She's got a thoughtful look in her eyes and the cutest little crease in her forehead. "He says 'the items' which would mean there's more than one and he says to 'introduce it into the blood', which could mean inject it. Faith, I think he sent her some kind of tranquilizer she can use on you so they can take you back."

"And they say Blondes are dumb. Ha!" I tease her. "If the mini thinks I'm gonna let her get close enough to inject me with a tranq, she really is crazy. We'll have to get Xand to try and find out what it is. He may even be able to find it and dump it before she can use it."

Buffy grabs my arm and cocks her head to the side like she's listenin to something. "We gotta go, Faith. Someone's coming up to the front door."

Now that she said it, I can feel the slight tingle of the new slayer nearby. We look at each other for a moment then both head for the window in Buffy's old room at the same time. We can walk across the roof and climb down the tree outside. I would rather just go out the front door and over top of the newbie, but it might be better if she didn't know we had been here. Plus there was the whole 'me hanging with the vamp she's been huntin' thing. If she didn't think I was evil incarnate before, that little bit of info would convince her.

As we're passing Joyce's room, I glance inside and I stop in my tracks. Sticking out a little from under the pillow is a small book. A book that looks very familiar. I turn to start into the room but B pulls me along by my hand whispering, "We have to go now. She's opening the front door."

I follow Buff out cause she's right. We are outta time. I know what I saw though, that book was my journal. The one I left for Giles to read. I don't know how Joyce got a hold of it, but it looks like she's been readin it. Shit, Joyce knows that B was alive and turned into a vamp. She also knows I never told her. I'm not sure if that's gonna make things easier or harder, I just know that now I have to talk to Joyce right after I talk to Giles.

If Shannon's here, maybe I can catch up to Giles while he's alone. I wanna know how Joyce got the journal and we need to have a talk about where things lie with us. B's alive and I can't really hold me trying to kill her against him. I'm not sayin things are good between us, just that I don't hate him anymore. I also think before all this is over, I 'm gonna need him. I'll take Buff back to the house and then go to the library. I may even be able to catch Xand there and tell him what we found.