Legacy

Chapter Two: Rachel

Willow grabbed her jacket on the way out of her office.

Kennedy wouldn't tell her over the phone why she and Xander needed to come home so quickly, and her assurances that no one was hurt and that the house was fine were not actually reassuring. Something was very wrong.

Willow looked at the schedule to see who was coming on for the evening rush of students. Mark. Gah! Nothing she could do; she hated leaving the newest member of the university library staff in charge during midterm cram sessions, but…gotta go.

She flagged Mark down, handed him a stack of most-requested study guides, patted him on the back, and tried to ignore his look of sheer panic as she left the library.

Willow jumped into her car and pulled out her cell phone, hoping to give Xander a two-minute heads-up so he'd be ready to go, but he didn't answer. I hope Mandy can cover him. She pulled out of the lot and onto the main road-as soon as she could find a quiet enough side street, she'd be able to magic the car right to the back lot of the studio. Then she could get Xander, and the two of them could instantly transport to the house and see what was making Kennedy so anxious…

Kennedy hung up the phone, took a breath to steady herself, and returned to the living room. She slipped her hands in her pockets and studied the slayer before her.

The first thing she noticed (after the dark hair) was Buffy's weight. She seemed to have lost some, and yet, the overall impression was not that of a weaker slayer-she looked harder, if anything. Kennedy had also noticed a faint scar on Buffy's right cheek when she'd first come to the door; she wondered now at the kind of life the slayers had met on the road.

Buffy was standing with her arms crossed, taking everything in and oblivious to Kenney's scrutiny. She was staring at the handmade blanket thrown across the back of the couch, the books on the shelves, the movies piled next to the TV…but mostly her gaze lingered on the few photos in the room. It took Kennedy a second to realize why: everything of their lives before had been buried with the rest of Sunnydale. All of the photos in the house were recent, which meant Buffy wasn't in any of them.

It was like she was never there.

Buffy picked up a framed picture of Willow hugging Dawn as the teenager held up her college acceptance letter.

Kennedy cleared her throat.

Buffy quickly put down the picture and turned to face her. "Hey."

"Willow's on her way. She's got to pick up Xander first."

"Ok."

"Buffy…"

"What?"

Kennedy sighed, slightly irritated. "Who's the kid?"

Buffy looked uncomfortable. "Kennedy, I'd really rather wait until everyone's here to get into that." She glanced at the staircase, where Faith had disappeared to find their littlest guest someplace to sleep.

"Fine. Then at least tell me what's up with your hair."

"Security measure, I guess you could call it." Buffy walked to the bottom of the staircase, listened for a moment, and continued. "The demon world has a new bit of mythology to feed to its more ambitious youth; the story of the dark slayer with the red scythe. Kill her with her own weapon and end the slayer line forever. Fortunately, 'dark hair' is as detailed a description as they seem to give." She leaned against the banister. "Dying my hair has made the demons hesitate just long enough to get us out of a couple of sticky situations."

"Sticky, slimy, pointy…" came the husky voice as Faith appeared at the top of the staircase.

What struck Kennedy the most about Faith was the way she moved; Faith's movements had always been strong, but never particularly smooth (unless she was seducing someone). But now, as Faith came down the stairs, Kennedy noticed the fluidity and grace of each step; combined with the same lighter-but-stronger form she'd noticed on the other slayer, it made for a rather unnerving and threatening appearance.

"Hey, Kennedy."

"Uh…hey."

Faith nodded at Buffy. "She's asleep." She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms.

There was an uncomfortable silence right before someone materialized in front of them in a bright light. On instinct Buffy and Faith assumed fighting stances, but Kennedy jumped in front of them. "Wait! Wait, it's Willow!" An instant later they heard a car door slam and someone running down the drive. The front door burst open and Xander doubled over, trying to catch his breath. "Next time…transport…me too…driveway…long…"

"Kennedy, what…oh. OH!" Willow said, dumbstruck, as she took in the two slayers. Xander saw them too, and slowly straightened up as his breath slowed.

Buffy was terribly nervous and also overjoyed at seeing her friends; unsure of what to do, she just said, "Hey guys…" But Willow had already wrapped her up in a huge hug.

"Buffy! What are you…how did…you're ok!" Willow held Buffy at arm's length and looked her over before turning to Faith. "You're ok too?"

"We're fine," Faith said quietly.

Kennedy cleared her throat. "You may want to keep it down, baby; there's another one upstairs."

"Another one…?" Willow looked confused.

"Let's go to the kitchen."

They settled in the other room; Buffy and Willow were the only ones who actually sat down. Faith stayed by the back door, Kennedy stood in the middle of the room, and Xander leaned on the island.

"Buffy," Willow said. "What's with your hair?"

"Ohhh, no," Kennedy interrupted. "I know you guys just got here, but that story's boring, and I want to hear about the kid."

"What kid?"

"The person sleeping upstairs is a little girl."

Willow turned to the slayers. "You have a…a child?"

"That's what this is all about?" Xander finally spoke. "You vanish and expect us to deal with that, but then one of you gets knocked up and we get to deal with that too? Because it doesn't fit in with your carefree lifestyle?"

In a second, Faith was across the kitchen and in his face. "That's not what this is about at all, you son of a bitch!" Xander jumped back, but Faith spun around and stormed out the back door. Kennedy followed her.

The slayer hadn't gone far; she was standing in the backyard, arms crossed, staring at the woods that surrounded the house. Kennedy slid her hands in her pockets and stood beside her. "You know he doesn't speak for the rest of us, right?"

"We should have said goodbye."

Kennedy sighed. "Yeah. You should have." They both stared out at the night. "Faith…why did you come back?"

Faith cleared her throat. "I didn't want to; figured one mistake was enough. Didn't want to reopen wounds." Her brow furrowed. "But Buffy felt this was the safest choice for Rachel."

"That's her name?"

Faith didn't say anything.

"Look, are you going to tell me what's going on? Don't feed me this crap about how Buffy wanted to come here and you wanted to stay away-you contacted me."

Faith's eyes flashed to hers.

"That's right. You were freaked, you were panicking, and you looked to me for help. Well, here I am, Faith. And I saw what you wanted to show me. Did you kill him?"

Faith blinked, surprised. "No."

"It's ok if you did. I mean, it's not ok, but…we'll handle it. Is that why you had to bring the kid here? So the authorities wouldn't take her away from you?"

"Kennedy, no!" Faith lowered her voice. "No. I didn't kill the guy; she did."

"Buffy?"

"Rachel," Faith said. "Kennedy, Rachel killed him. She's a slayer."

The door to the bedroom stood slightly ajar and a blanket lay abandoned on the floor. The little girl sat at the top of the steps, silent.

She listened.

"A slayer? But…how old is she?"

"She's four," Buffy said. She shot a look at Xander. "Got that? She's not ours."

Xander frowned and looked away.

Willow raised her eyebrows. "Four. You're sure she's not a…a potential? And that her powers will come, you know…later?"

Buffy shook her head. "She's too strong already."

"But how?" Xander asked. "I mean…powers just don't come that early. You didn't get in trouble in elementary school, did you?"

"No. But I also didn't get my powers through a spell; mine came in high school, when the previous slayer died. You know, the natural way."

"And if you were still a kid at the time," Willow continued, "you wouldn't have even been called."

Buffy looked at her uncomfortably. "Faith and I think our spell has more and more layers that we didn't think about."

"Couldn't think about," Xander clarified. "Busy saving the world, as I recall. We couldn't think about what the spell would do other than help us."

"Well, we're dealing with the consequences now." Buffy sighed and stood up, pressing a hand to her forehead. "The spell guaranteed that every potential would become a full slayer. What we have to figure out is if it's making them slayers from birth, or if they grow into their power when they need it."

Willow frowned. "She's only four years old. Why would she need that kind of power?"

"We got there too late. At first we didn't see Rachel, but we sure as hell saw him. I ran forward to see if he was still alive, felt for a pulse and all that, but there really wasn't any chance."

Kennedy remembered how Faith had been covered in blood in her dream. "But where was Buffy?"

"Buffy found Rachel hiding under the bed and tried to shield her from the body." Faith suddenly broke off.

"…What is it?"

"You wanna go slay?"

Kennedy raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"

Faith shrugged. "Save a lot of time if you lead the way to the trouble spots; though there probably aren't too many in this little place."

Kennedy realized her mouth was hanging open. She closed it. "No…no, there aren't…"

"Let's go then."

Kennedy glanced back at the house before leading Faith through the woods. Once it cleared out a little, they broke into a run. They ran side by side, but Kennedy could tell Faith was holding back; her strides were effortless. She looked a lot more comfortable on the run. Kennedy mentally kicked herself-of course…that's what we're doing...

Sure enough, soon Faith was comfortable enough to start talking again.

"We first noticed her when we stopped in a town for some food. We're in line at the burger place and this little kid is staring at us, right?"

Faith suddenly made a sharp turn off course. Kennedy stumbled, then followed suit, figuring it was better to let the other slayer do her thing, whatever it was.

"She's staring at us like she knows us. Then her mom comes and says, you know, it's not nice to stare, blah blah blah, and leads her away." She jumped over a log. "But then she looks back at us and catches my eye, and I just know it-she's one of us. But it's more than that. I can feel her. Like I feel the other slayers; just as strong."

"Full powers? But how old is she?" Kennedy changed direction, feeling a vampire was close.

Faith stayed next to her and shook her head. "Not old." She leapt up and grabbed a low branch. She swung her legs up, hooked them on the next branch, and tightened her abs to bring her up into the tree. Kennedy stared up at her; Faith grinned. "Jump."

"Whatever!"

"Better do it fast."

Kennedy jumped; Faith grabbed her arm and pulled her the rest of the way up. No sooner had Kennedy's feet left the ground then a bottle shattered against the tree trunk where she'd been standing. She gasped; Faith clamped a hand over her mouth and whispered in her ear, "You're wearing a white tank top. They could see you."

As the vampires crashed through the brush to see where their target had gone, Faith released Kennedy and dropped into their midst.

There were four of them. Faith picked up the closest one and threw him into two others before delivering a roundhouse kick to the fourth, sending him sprawling. She reached up and broke off a branch as the first three picked themselves up. One leapt at her and she rolled, popped up, and drove her makeshift stake into the chests of his friends one-two-three and they turned to dust…

The last one turned around to face her; the look on his face was not unlike the one on Kennedy's.

Faith cocked an eyebrow at him.

He ran.

She raced after him.

All of five seconds later, Kennedy heard a brief struggle and the familiar sound of a slay. Faith reappeared under the tree and looked up at her. "I'm glad slaying's a spectator sport now."

Kennedy dropped to the ground and brushed herself off. "Like you even gave me a chance! You trying to set a record or something?!"

"Nah. It's just…you know, with everything we've been though, the apocalypses, the demons…it's easy to start taking the vamps for granted. Underestimating them." She stopped again, and seemed to get lost in her own thoughts.

"Faith."

"Yeah?"

"Who was the guy, why is he dead, little kid slayer. Go."

"He was her mother's boyfriend," Buffy said as Willow poured them each some tea. "Rachel and her mother had been living on their own for some time when he came into their lives. He helped them out, picking up Rachel from school, staying with her when her mother worked late, which was often."

"What did she do?" Xander asked.

"She ran a little grocery store; they lived above it."

"Let me guess," Xander sighed. "This boyfriend only seemed like a great guy…but then he took an extra interest in his girlfriend's kid. Right?"

Buffy put down her tea and stared at the table. "That's…what we thought too. We kept an eye on things for awhile, waiting for him to slip up, give us a reason to get involved." She paused, gathering her thoughts before looking up at her friends. "Then one night we're watching the place and a gang of kids heads in and starts trouble. Little stuff, stupid stuff; they're teenagers. And they seem kind of drunk…"

The store was a twenty-four hour kind of place in a prime retail location close to local schools, larger apartment buildings, a few bars and a movie theater. During the week, Rachel's mother tried not to work past one in the morning so that she could still make her daughter breakfast and take her to school. Since Rachel's father had left the picture a year and a half before, her mother had become determined that Rachel would not feel as though she had lost both parents.

Her boyfriend worked days at a large hardware store; they'd met about six months before the slayers came to town. Rachel seemed shy around people, especially men, but her face lit up whenever he was around (even though she still didn't say much; she never did).

Still, Faith had immediately been suspicious of him. When Buffy suggested it was because of her own history, Faith ignored her. They continued to watch the little slayer, keeping an extra eye on the boyfriend as they waited to see why they could already sense Rachel's full powers.

But there was nothing. Day in, day out, the child seemed to have nothing but love for both of the adults in her life. Faith became frustrated-hadn't the girl been trying to tell them something that day at the fast-food place? Buffy suggested that perhaps the child had just recognized them as being like herself, even though she couldn't possibly understand exactly what they all were. Faith disagreed.

In a last effort, the slayers decided to stop following the boyfriend and the little slayer and instead focus on the grocery store itself…

They quickly realized that the late-night clientele could easily be the cause of stress in the child's life. It wouldn't be hard for the little one to overhear the more difficult customers, grabbing snacks on their way home from a long night at the bar.

One night, the slayers were watching from a bench in the park across the street when Rachel's mother was working the register; her coworker was taking a quick break. She was alone when a particularly rowdy group of teens stumbled in, yelling and tossing bags of chips across the store, making lewd gestures at her.

Buffy touched Faith's arm-the girl's mother had come from behind the register to stand between the gang and the steps leading to the upstairs apartment. They could only think of one reason to leave the register vulnerable-the little girl must have woken up and come downstairs.

The slayers were heading across the street to help when the nightmare began.

Three vampires (vampires! They hadn't thought about vampires in weeks!) had been lurking in the shadows in the alley next to the store, waiting for just this kind of moment. They raced into the store and pulled the doors shut, sliding a metal pipe through the handles to lock it. They looked viciously at their defenseless meal of drunken teens, a frightened mother, and her small child…

Buffy and Faith threw themselves against the doors as hard as they could with no effect-one of the vamps leered at them and snapped his jaws as the other two grabbed the nearest boy and sank their fangs into his neck.

They could hear Rachel screaming over everyone else. A second teen went down. Two more noticed a back window; they pushed past Rachel's mother, pushing her into the vampires as they lunged at the boys.

"Noooo!" Faith screamed.

The slayers pushed a final time and the glass gave way; Faith seized the metal pipe and started whaling on the vampires. The boys succeeded in breaking the back window and started climbing out.

Rachel's mother was on the ground; Buffy rushed to her but could see that she was gone. She whipped around. Where's Rachel…

The little girl was no longer on the steps. Buffy's heart leapt into the throat.

"What…Molly? Oh God, Molly!"

One of the vampires broke away from Faith to lunge at the newcomer-the boyfriend. "Get out of here!" Faith yelled. She tackled the vampire, but the other two made for the back of the store. One of the teens who hadn't made it out the window bolted for the apartment steps to escape even as Buffy intercepted the creatures. She managed to break off a piece of a display shelf and stake one of them, but as she did the teen's body came flying back down the steps, landing next to her with a crunch. She stared at him, wide-eyed, and kicked the second vamp across the store. She felt for a pulse…He's alive. But her attention turned to the apartment steps as she realized the child had done this.

She heard Faith cry out behind her; her lover had been hit in the small of the back with the metal pipe by the second vamp. Buffy ran to her, staking the vamp that had hit her. When the last one went for Buffy, Faith flew to him and twisted off his head in one quick motion.

Buffy held Faith's face in her hands. "Are you all right?" She breathed.

Faith nodded, but then her eyes went wide as she looked over Buffy's shoulder. "No…wait! Don't go up there!"

But the boyfriend ran up the steps of the apartment, determined to save the child where he had failed the mother…

Faith pushed herself off the floor and ran as fast as she could, taking the steps three at a time. Buffy was a second behind her and heard the blood-curdling screams of a man facing a horrible end.

She ran into Faith, who had paused in a bedroom doorway. "Oh God…oh God no…" she was whispering. Buffy could smell all of the blood in the room and clamped her hand over her mouth.

After her brief hesitation, Faith ran to the body on the floor and dropped to her knees. She pressed her hands to what was left of him, trying uselessly to save him. He was good…he was good to them…

They became aware of the whimpers at the same time and locked eyes. Under the bed.

Buffy got down on the floor, trying to avoid the blood as much as possible. She flipped onto her back to avoid the knife thrust out at her; she grabbed the little girl's wrist and twisted, making her drop the weapon. She pulled the child (who was clutching a teddy bear with her other hand) to her and held her tightly, whispering over and over that it was ok, they had her, she was safe, everything would be ok.

Buffy glanced back at Faith; the other slayer seemed to be snapping out of a trance. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours…

"…and we just…left," Faith finished.

Kennedy stared at her, speechless. Faith ran her hands through her hair. They were almost back at the house.

"We knew we had to take her with us. The store was…Jesus, it was a mess. And the apartment…" she shook her head and pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. "Kennedy, she's four years old. She's a baby. And she's a really strong slayer."

"And she's already taken a human life," Kennedy added softly.

"She doesn't know that, though," Buffy said.

Willow and Xander looked confused. "Wait," the witch started, "she doesn't know that what she did killed somebody?"

"She doesn't know he was human; she thought she was attacking the monsters. She struck without thinking, on instinct. I don't even think she knows it was…"

"Buffy," Xander interrupted. He was staring at the kitchen door, where a little girl was staring at them, wide-eyed.

Buffy's heart dropped into her stomach. "Rachel…"

The girl turned and fled through the living room and out the front door.

The others rushed after her. Buffy leapt off the front steps and was halfway down the drive when Faith appeared out of the woods beside the house and scooped up the young slayer, gripping her tightly as she fought and cried. Kennedy was with her.

Buffy slowed, then stopped in front of Faith.

Faith frowned at her. "What is this? What happened?" Willow and Xander were coming up behind them.

"I…she…she overheard us talking." Buffy swallowed. "About…everything."

Faith set her jaw; Rachel had stopped fighting and wrapped her arms around Faith's neck, burying her face in her shoulder. She was still crying.

Faith's eyes blazed at her lover. She carried Rachel back to the house without saying another word. Buffy looked every inch as angry when she stalked back after them.

Kennedy, Willow, and Xander looked at each other with raised eyebrows after the slayers' chilly exchange. Xander broke the uncomfortable silence.

"This can't be good."

Faith slipped out of Rachel's room and pulled the door shut behind her; the littlest slayer had finally fallen asleep. She leaned against the door a moment, sensing the child's presence through the thick wood; she was calmer, breathing evenly… Satisfied, the slayer turned and walked down the stairs.

Buffy was waiting for her.

Faith slowed. "Hey."

Buffy glared at her and Faith had the decency to look away. "B…I didn't…Buffy, I'm sorry."

"I know you are protective of her, but that is no excuse for what you did to me out there."

"I didn't mean…"

"You treated me like a child," Buffy hissed. "You scolded me, in front of my friends! You were so…condescending…"

"Our friends, Buffy," Faith said, stepping up to the other slayer. "Our friends."

Buffy crossed her arms. "You're missing the point, especially when you didn't even want to come back here." She stalked into the kitchen.

Faith was on her heels. "What the hell is your problem?"

Buffy whirled on her. "My problem is you making me feel about two inches tall while you puff yourself up as Faith, Savior of All Children."

"Excuse me?!"

"I had no idea Rachel was listening to us. I feel horrible about what she overheard, but you made me feel so…incompetent!"

"And I'm trying to apologize for…"

"I gave up everything for you," Buffy choked. "My friends. My family. I gave them up for their own safety and because you asked me to."

Faith was caught off-guard by the apparent change of topic. She leaned against the door frame while she collected her thoughts and tried not to sound too hurt. "You…didn't have to come with me."

Buffy threw up her hands and shook her head.

Faith swallowed. "Are you saying…do you…are you sorry you said yes?"

Buffy stared at her through angry tears. "No. If you asked me again, and I knew all the fights that were to come, the lack of food, the sleeping on the ground…I would still go with you. I love you."

Faith blinked. "Then…what…?"

"Since this child has come into our lives, a child who I love just as much as you do, by the way…"

"A child we could give a good life to…" Faith said, stepping closer.

Buffy held up a hand to stop her. "Let's not get into that right now." She walked to the back door and stared out. "When I left with you, I was giving up more than you were. I don't think you can argue that. But now, since we've had Rachel and I look at you with her I'm…I've gotten scared, Faith. So scared."

She turned to face her. "I know that if you asked me to, I would leave with you right now, all over again. But now that you have someone to lose, to really lose, would you leave with me? If I asked you to? Don't answer that," Buffy said sharply as she walked out of the kitchen. "We both know what you're going to say; I just don't know if it's the truth."

Faith stayed in the kitchen. She could hear Buffy unfolding the pullout couch in the living room and knew better than to think they'd be sharing it tonight.