A/N: I reduced the rating for now to T for now. There really hasn't been anything besides a little language so far. Be advised that the rating may go up again.
Chapter 3.
"So, you said letting me run wild in Africa was your way of paying me back for way back when. What do you call dragging me back to England?"
"I call it 'for your own good'."
"No." Faith stated calmly as she dusted a vamp. "I told you, there's no way I'm doing three years of high school. I offered to let you tutor me before I took the G.E.D. but there are good reasons I didn't finish last time."
"You are plenty smart, Faith." DD called from the sidelines of the fight. She was carrying a crossbow but not actively engaging in the fight so the demons left her alone for now.
"Being dumb wasn't one of the reasons I dropped out. As I recall, a 'bad attitude' and a 'problem with authority' were the primary issues when I dropped out the first time. Neither of those has improved much. In fact, my attitude with authority is probably worse now than it ever has been." Faith stated as she beheaded the last demon. It was almost literally the last demon in Boston. Anything else in the city was hiding under its own bed. It had taken her only a month to cleanse the city of almost all non-humans. Boston wasn't exactly a hotbed of demon activity.
"But a G.E.D. doesn't convey the same respect as a diploma." Diana argued again. They'd been having the same argument for the better part of a month. "What if I tutored you while you enrolled as a senior?"
"They let 15 year olds enroll as seniors now?" Faith wondered.
"They do if the records say they have enough credits. And if you agree, then that's what the records will say." she offered. "It would mean only one year of schooling and you'd have a diploma at the end."
Assuming we can stop the mayor. Faith thought. "Fine." she agreed. If Buffy could do school and slaying then so could she.
Oh this was such a bad idea. Faith thought as she approached the school. Maybe it was just the knowledge that the Hellmouth was still open just beneath the school and ready to suck them all to a hell-dimension or a giant crater. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so nervous. She vaguely recalled being scared that time that Xander had almost been eviscerated by a couple Tmible demons. But she'd been able to take her nerves out on the demons and then on Xander for scaring her like that. There were no demons in sight here.
Scratch that. Here came that annoying troll, Snyder. Too bad her senses were so good at picking out demons from humans or she'd have sworn the guy was a monster. Unfortunately he was just mundane evil, not really her domain. Yet.
"Ah, Ms. Dormer." Snyder held out his hand and they shook.
Faith was relieved that he didn't offer to shake her hand as well. She wasn't sure if she would have vomited or just crushed it. But she really didn't want to touch him.
"Mr. Snyder, this is the niece that I mentioned, Faith." Diana waved to Faith.
She and Snyder locked in a staring contest. But Faith had faced down far scarier things than him. Last night even. Plus, she had all day. Eventually, Snyder realized that he wasn't going to win this fight and it would be best to back off now and save face. Score one for the new Slayer in town.
Faith was lost in flashbacks as she slowly walked to the only room she had regularly visited here, the library. Xander's goofy smile. His scars. His eye. His calm efficiency in the face of horrible demons. They hadn't been apart for more than a few weeks since she'd brought him back from Africa and it had been several months now since she'd seen him. She hadn't realized how much she'd miss him until she was alone in Boston.
Truly alone too. The man had ruined her for other men. No longer could she just 'get some and get gone'. She was going to make him beg for that one.
Then she opened the doors to the library and there he was. Goofy grin and everything.
But it wasn't him. Wasn't him by a long shot. Barely even a whisper of the demon hunter called Xander Harris. This kid, was just that. A kid. Scared as any kid but not yet scarred like her man was. She felt her shoulders slump as she stopped in the entry way.
She was vaguely aware of Giles standing and saying something but she couldn't hear. Couldn't comprehend anything. Xander was gone. She'd been alone for so long the fact that she'd let him in had surprised them both. But she had and he'd stayed and they were inseparable soon after. And now he was gone. He hadn't left her like she'd always feared. Instead, she had left him. Left him alone with no one to watch his blind side.
She turned and ran.
She, the Dark Slayer. The thing that nightmares had nightmares about. Ran and cried in the girl's bathroom because some little boy with a goofy smile and bad taste in clothes reminded her too much of her husband.
Her late husband. Might as well start thinking of herself as a widow now because he was gone and she was never getting him back.
...
No. She was Faith the Fucking Vampire Slayer and no fucking way was she going to let some measly vengeance demon keep her and Xander apart. Just stick to the plan. She was going to sit on the Hellmouth and wait for that Anya. And if she couldn't do it then she'd beat it out of D'Hoffryn. She took a deep breath and wiped her face. It was then that she realized that someone was calling her name and starting to sound a bit frantic.
"Faith!" DD yelled and pounded.
"Yeah?" she opened the stall door.
"Are you...? I mean I was calling..." DD stammered.
"M'fine. Just some memories. Surprised me is all." Faith stepped past her watcher and went to the sink. She washed her face. "See? All better. Though it's a good thing I don't wear so much makeup any more. That cake batter took forever to apply."
It was time to face the music.
Faith didn't see Xander again for a couple weeks. She didn't talk to anyone in the old gang while she was in England, just hopped on a plane for America. Once there she took up her old life and rode her bike up and down both North and South America killing demons as she went. In a demon bar just south of the US border, he sat down next to her and ordered a beer. He had his blind side toward her; she wasn't sure if that was a show of faith or if he just wanted to keep his eye on the other patrons more than he did her.
"The council would like you to stop shaking down demons for spending money." he told his beer.
"The council can kiss my ass." she replied as she took a sip of her own beer.
"It's not that bad, Faith. You promise to be good and Buffy signs you a big, fat check. You should get it while you can and hold out for back pay too." Xander sipped his drink.
"What do you mean, 'get it while you can'?" she queried.
Xander turned to look at her. "Come on. Who do you think taught Anya her business sense? She was an excellent student, I'll admit. But Buffy... not so much. She's burning through centuries of capital paying all the Slayers. I'm just saying that you should get yours before it's all gone."
"What? I thought they were super-rich and shit." Faith said, surprised.
"I know, right? I thought that too. But I really only saw anyone besides Giles and Wesley twice and both times they were trying to show Buffy who was boss. I think it warped our perceptions." Xander shook his head. "But when you think about it makes sense. Before Buffy, they were only ever supporting one Slayer at a time. And, sure they had to buy a new set of weapons every six months or so, but except for travel and logistical expense reimbursements the council never paid watchers much and Slayers nothing."
"Cheap bastards." Faith spat.
"Broke bastards." Xander corrected. "I know Buffy likes to point out that the council is older than the Vatican, but the Vatican has millions of people donating millions of dollars to it every week. I found some of their financial records in a safe house in Rome. The records were from before World War Two so I think they were hedging their bets in case Britain lost. But anyway, at least before WW2 most of the council expenditures were either expenses related to getting watchers and Slayers where they needed to be or for making sure they were armed when they got there. And they just didn't have much in the way of income. A few properties they rented out and selling the odd priceless relic that a Slayer found."
"And now there's no more income?" Faith guessed.
Xander shrugged. "She's selling off every relic that's not evil. And she's flooding the market so we're getting less with every sale."
Faith sighed. "Fine. I'll think about it. Is that it?" she finished off her beer.
"No." Xander finished his as well. "They also assigned me to be your watcher."
"Why the fuck would they do that? We don't even like each other." she turned to face him.
"No one else would take you." he told her plainly. "I'm supposed to and I quote 'rein her in a bit'. Unquote."
"Or else what? They send the guys in black pajamas again?" Faith's tone got hard.
"Nah. Turns out they were only contracted for limited engagements. And Buffy has no interest in paying them another dime." Xander soothed. "Listen. This isn't a bad deal. You've got eight years of back pay coming. Plus hazard pay for time on the Hellmouth. All you have to do let me follow you around a bit, let me know what and how many you slay, and cut back on shaking down living demons."
"Just the living ones?" Faith caught the allusion and gave an evil grin.
Xander's smile matched her own. "As long as there aren't any witnesses to whine to the council."
Faith considered that for a moment, finished her beer then turned and walked towards the exit. "How much money we talkin'? And we're taking my bike."
"A lot of money." Xander answered the first question. "And we'll each take our own bikes."
Faith stopped as she reached the parking lot and eyed the bike that was parked next to hers. It was clearly Xander's. She could see the pistol grip of a shotgun camouflaged into the body of the bike. And she could tell the two flags on the back hid sharpened spears. "Nice bike. Surprised you don't have an AK strapped somewhere."
"Under the seat." he commented offhandedly as he mounted up. "Where to, boss?"
"Boss?" she was a bit taken aback as she too mounted. No one had ever called her 'boss' before.
"You're the Slayer. I'm just the watcher. I follow you. I let the council know we're still alive, how many things we've killed recently, and where to send our paychecks. Other than that; it's all on you." he smiled brightly. The effect was somewhat ruined by the eyepatch and the helmet he put on.
"First thing you're going to do is make me some of those flag-spears you got on your bike."
The second time entering the Library went much better, though Faith grimaced at the first impression she had made. "Bad sushi." she explained.
"For breakfast?" Cordelia asked holding Xander's hand.
Cordy and Xander were together. She really hadn't been expecting that. She had blocked out that they had ever dated at all in fact. But now a few things were coming back from her first days on the Hellmouth. "Left over from last night. Thought it was still okay. Guess not." she covered.
"Man, all slayers must be idiots or something." Cordy shook her head.
Faith was a bit nonplussed. It had been a long time since anyone had dared to say something like that to her and mean it. Then again, the Cordy she knew had been dead for a while and no one outside their group would have dared insult the Slayers. Especially not her.
Faith's staring caused Giles to jump in. "Ms. Chase is a friend of Buffy, my- my own Slayer. As are all the students in the Library currently. They are all aware of the supernatural world and occasionally assist Buffy in her- in her slaying. ... When she's here."
Faith noticed Giles then. Wow, she had forgotten how young he was when they'd first met. Hot too. If she was stuck here and Xander was dating Cordy, maybe she could grapple with him. "Hey. It's- five by five with me." she had stopped using that expression a long time ago and it no longer came as naturally as it once had. But it had been a term associated with her at one point and she wanted to keep it like that. "I was never big with the secret identity thing anyways." Which was true. She and Buffy were (or had been) about equally famous, but whereas Buffy had mostly retired/taken a desk job after Sunnydale, Faith had kept right on going for years afterwards. She had killed thousands of demons and hung out in demon bars around the world. Demons had known her by name, face, and reputation while Buffy had only been a name.
Introductions out of the way, DD left to do... whatever it was that watchers did while their Slayers were in school. Faith promised to talk weapons and training with Giles later; she wanted to make sure there were some spears stashed around the school. They were attacked here far too often if memory served. Then she left with Willow, Xander and Cordelia.
The three Sunnydalers detailed most of the events that had happened on campus, including both Spike and Angelus' attacks, as they gave her a tour.
"You guys are a hoot and a half." she said honestly. The Xander and Willow she knew didn't laugh or tell stories like this quite as much. Future Cordelia was also on the quiet side what with the being dead and all. She missed that.
Still, she missed her Xander more and seeing this kid make out with Cordelia was turning her stomach.
They said their goodbyes and headed to class. As she walked away Faith could hear Cordelia say "Man, did you see the way she looked at me? What a bitch."
"Yeah Cordelia." Xander agreed sarcastically. "It couldn't have anything to do with you calling her an idiot earlier, could it?"
Faith agreed to meet the gang in front of the Bronze that night from where they'd show her the town's real nightlife. She was pretty sure she remembered the way to the club. But there was one thing she needed to do first. She got some money from DD but explained only that it was personal, she bought a mini fridge and a gallon bucket of pig's blood from the butcher. Buying the blood while the sun still shined made the butcher much less nervous. She then took both things to the mansion on Crawford street. She had no idea when Angel would return except that it was after Buffy got back so he shouldn't have been there yet. She unpacked the fridge and plugged it in a back room. She left the shelves out and just stuck the bucket of blood in there. She pulled a paper wrapped bendy-straw from her pocket and set it on the fridge. When Angel returned, she'd be ready.
A/N: Technically Xander and Cordelia spent the first episode of S.3 (and the first day and night of school) getting back together. Skipping that because... ok just because.