Disclaimer: The quote I paraphrase from Lord of the Rings isn't mine. Don't ask. You'll see what I'm talking about.

Immortality's Gift (The Alternate Version)
Part 23: Evasive Maneuvers

Faith and Dawn were laughing as they entered the Summers home the afternoon after Faith had learned what was really happening in Sunnydale. The former convict held a set of keys, while Dawn carried her backpack over one shoulder. They had just arrived from the town hall. For the past two years, the building had been used as a high school during the day, and it looked to remain that way until a new school was built sometime in the unforeseen future.

As Faith was closing the front door, Dawn commented to her, "You can be my chauffeur any day. You drive way better than Buffy! Of course, Giles drives better than her."

From the dinning room, an indignant exclamation of "WHAT?" came from the just mentioned Slayer, followed by a sharp reprimand from Angel, saying, "Buffy!"

Curious, the two women followed the voices as they heard Angel say angrily, "Don't brake the table, I just fixed it!"

When the two Slayers entered the room, they saw the supernatural couple standing on either side of the table, glaring at each other. Hands resting on her hips, the eldest Slayer snapped out in her most irate and insolent tone, "Well, excuse me! I sometimes still don't know my own strength!"

The souled vampire glowered as he said curtly, "You've been a Slayer for nearly six years. That's no excuse."

Now folding her arms before her, Buffy snarled defensively, "Yeah, well, go take a walk in the sun!"

The tension in the air notched up about a hundred points as Dawn and Faith looked at each other, both thinking the same thing, This isn't about the table.

With an internal sigh and grimace, Faith stepped forward, said firmly, "Alright, enough, you two," and almost stepped back from the glares she received. Drawing in a steadying breath as she purposefully ignored the looks sent her way, she turned her head to glance at Dawn, and hinted pointedly to the youngest Slayer, "Brat, why don't you go up and do your homework while I talk with these two?"

Dawn scowled, knowing the dismissal for what it was, then stomped her way up the stairs, and slammed her bedroom door shut once, then again when it bounced back open. The middle Slayer winced as she saw Buffy's expression darken further. She quickly stepped back and blocked the doorway with her arm, before saying, "Don't," when Buffy began heading out of the dinning room. At the sharp heated expression facing her, Faith added, "She's not the reason you're angry, so don't be taking it out on her, B."

Angel spoke up then, his expression and voice calm once more, saying, "She's right, Buffy. You came in here angry and upset after talking on the phone with Adam, and wouldn't say why. Will you tell us now?"

Faith watched as the anger drained away from Buffy's face, leaving in its wake great weariness, grief, and fear. She found herself hesitantly resting a hand on the eldest Slayer's shoulder, concern filling her. Buffy looked at her questioningly as she suggested, "Why don't we go sit down in the living room? There's some stuff that we need to talk about that we didn't get to in the general confusion of last night and this morning."

Buffy nodded hesitantly while biting her lip, then led the way into the previously mentioned room once Faith dropped her arm. The middle Slayer settled into one of the two chairs in the room, as Angel and Buffy sat down on the couch. She watched as the souled vampire held one of the eldest Slayer's hands in his.

Faith looked up at Buffy as Buffy commented, "I'm amazed at how calm you've been about all that's going on here, Faith. I was half expecting you to fly off the handle when I revealed myself last night. I'm still trying to figure out why Dawn did instead."

Faith shrugged indifferently, and said honestly, "Not much to do in prison, but think and finish my education. That, and Angel was somehow able to get me a shrink that knew about the supernatural. I was able to work out a lot of my problems with her."

"So no more bad girl, huh," Buffy inquired curiously.

Faith snorted, before saying incredulously while gesturing at herself, "As if I could get away with that with this persona!" Her expression became somber, as she added, "Seriously, B, I'm not who I was. Everything I've thought, learned, and done since Sunnydale has made me take a closer look at myself and made me realize how screwed up I was. I might still fall into my old speech patterns on occasion, but I'm no longer that skanky bitch. This new identity I have, and all it means, is just what I needed to start over."

"A lot's changing these days. It should be no surprise that you are one of these changes," Angel commented.

"No kidding!" Faith exclaimed while leaning forward. "I know some of what's been going on around here from talking with Soul Man. I don't know everything, though. When did you break up with the beefcake, B? The way you two were going looked pretty strong, from what I saw. What changed?"

Buffy shifted uneasily, took her hand from Angel's, and leaned forward in her own seat. Biting her lip while she clasped her hands before her, the eldest Slayer looked down before replying, "It seemed like it was, but it went downhill fast. When Mom—" she stopped, her voice cracking with emotion. Only Angel putting his hand comfortingly on her back allowed her to continue, saying, "When Mom became ill, I began to spend a lot of time with her and then Dawn when we realized what was going on with her. Riley—" Buffy grimaced, then sighed heavily. "I still don't completely understand what the hell he was thinking...or why he was doing what he was doing. He said he wanted to understand me better, but..."

"What'd he do, B," Faith asked after the other woman trailed off.

Buffy looked up, directly into Faith's eyes, and said bluntly, "He was letting vampires bite him."

Angel growled, as Faith gapped at Buffy in stunned shock, trying to wrap her mind around what she had just heard. As she did this, the other Slayer continued talking, exasperation and disgust in her voice.

"Apparently, he needed to feel needed, since I wasn't paying enough attention to him, or even leaning on him for support." Frustration turned to anger as she exclaimed heatedly, "Well, excuse me, but I was busy taking care of my mom, and making sure the psycho-bitch from hell didn't get a hold of my sister! Then the bastard had the nerve to say I had to choose between him and my family!"

Both eyebrows were raised as Faith stared in disbelief at Buffy's veheminent tone, sensing there was more to it than that, but knew better than to say anything. In the silence that fell, Dawn snorting loudly from the hallway startled everyone.

Buffy's head immediately whipped around to face the hallway as she demanded loudly, "Dawn, why aren't you doing your homework?"

The teenager entered the room, arms folded before her as she leaned back against the doorway. Defensively, Dawn said, "I was just coming down the stairs to get a soda, when I heard what you just said."

"And your snort," Buffy asked tensely.

At this, Dawn rolled her eyes in disbelief, then said, "Just remembering how you acted after Riley left. You over dramatized your grief so much you looked stupid."

"HEY!"

The youngest Slayer pinned the eldest with a look that was far too mature and serious for one her age. She said quietly, "I remember waking up the night he left to hear you laughing loudly in relief into your pillow. So don't go telling me that I don't have a right to say what I did."

An uncomfortable silence descended, and Faith chanced a look at Buffy and Angel. She frowned as she saw the discomfort in the souled vampire's eyes, and in her sister-Slayer's defensive and closed off pose. This was why she had sent the brat upstairs. She was going to have to diffuse this situation somehow to get to the crux of Buffy's attitude earlier.

With a heavy sigh, Faith pleaded with her eyes as she requested, "Dawn, go get your soda, and do your homework, would you?"

They looked at each other for a long moment, before Dawn reluctantly nodded. Soon enough, the teenager was heading back to her room. No one said or did anything until they heard the bedroom door close upstairs, and the sound of the radio coming on.

Shaking her head, Faith turned to look at Buffy, and asked, "So, you ready to talk about what's got you twisted up in such knots?"

Buffy immediately tensed up further, before forcing herself to relax. Shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts, she admitted, "Not really, but I guess I don't have much choice." She drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Since I've become Immortal, I've had a strange sense of something about Dawn. I've talked with both Giles and Adam about this, and we've realized that she has the possibility of being Immortal like me. Considering the life expectancy of Slayers, it's more a certainty than a probability, though."

"Crap," was all that Faith could manage to say.

Buffy laughed once half-heartedly, before saying morosely in agreement, "Yeah."

Angel leaned forward then, touched his wife's arm to draw her attention to him, and asked, "How? You say you talked to both Adam and Giles about this. What did they say?"

Grimacing, the eldest Slayer admitted, "Actually, it's more what Whistler said, and they figured out. The two of them were at the Magic Box discussing something, when he popped in this morning. Apparently, the demon needed to tell Giles about a few things concerning me and Dawn, and since Adam was there, he was pulled into the explanations."

"What did they tell you," Angel asked as Faith sat back in her seat, willing to just watch and listen as this played out when she saw Buffy turn to face the souled vampire.

"Several things," Buffy answered. "They learned how I could be Immortal, when they say that I shouldn't be. It seems when those monks made Dawn from you and me, some of the Key's power leaked into me. That's why I could close that portal her blood created. You could have probably done it, as well, if we had known about you, Angel. Well, when I did that, along with Dawn's wish for me not to die, I became Immortal."

The eldest Slayer paused and frowned. She had clearly reached a point that she did not want to say, yet knew she must. Sighing in grim resignation, Buffy continued. "It also seems that the Powers That Be had more of a hand in Dawn's creation than we had already thought."

"In what way," Angel asked, once again taking Buffy's hand.

Looking into Angel's eyes, Buffy answered, "According to Whistler, this isn't the first time the Key has been given a body of some sort. Apparently, this is the Key's six hundred, sixty-fifth incarnation."

Angel stiffened in understanding, while Faith remained confused...and now uneasy. Wanting to understand, yet dreading it, she asked, "What's that mean?"

Buffy looked at her, and said, "It's kinda complicated. In simple terms, it means that if the Key's reincarnated again, Evil will have full control of it."

"That don't explain much," Faith stated.

Buffy nodded her agreement, and replied, "Yeah, it doesn't. The long version goes back to the creation of the universe. The Key was left over energy from all that, from what I understand. When Good and Evil began fighting over who should own it, They came to an agreement. Good had just won a major battle against Evil at that time, so Evil said Good could have the Key until its six hundred sixty-sixth incarnation. When that happens, Evil would have it...probably forever."

Faith blinked, then said, "Okay, I know the Brat is this Key thing, from what she said before, but what does that really mean? Why're Good and Evil so hot to have her?"

Angel was the one who answered this time, saying, "Think back to what Buffy was saying, Faith. The Key is the power left over from when the universe was created. Now, imagine that power also having the ability to destroy the universe, and maybe all alternate universes, too."

Chills worked its way down Faith's back as she shuddered in realization. Unable to keep the horror out of her voice, she asked, "How the hell are we supposed to keep that from happening? The kid's mortal!"

Buffy gave a wry smile, her eyes emotionless, as she answered, "That's why the Powers That Be rigged a few things when They meddled with Dawn's creation. It's because of this that she's pre-Immortal."

Faith simply stared at Buffy, having already forgotten that little tidbit, before shaking her head and muttering, "Well, shit."

Buffy laughed shortly in humorless agreement, then said, "You've no idea."

Faith rubbed her forehead as if to stall the headache that was starting to grow there, then said and asked plaintively, "I need time to think about all this. Can we change the subject?"

Angel chuckled, as Buffy said, "Sure. How 'bout this: Willow got an email last night from Xander. Looks like I'm not going to be the only Scooby married when he and Anya get back from Las Vegas."

Faith quirked an eyebrow, before saying, "Cool. The guy deserves some happiness after everything he's gone through with us Slayers and all that crap. Speaking of being married, how're you two together? Last time I heard, you guys couldn't be with each other 'cause of the soul thing."

A slow grin took over Buffy's face as she said, "Kinda no longer a problem. Willow and Tara did a spell recently that superglued Angel's soul in place. They also got rid of some of the demon, too."

Both eyebrows were now up, as Faith responded, "No shit?" Buffy nodded, which caused the dark-haired Slayer to grin as well. "About damned time!"

"I agree with you on that," Angel said. After a glance at Buffy that Faith couldn't read, he added, "There's something we wanted to talk to you about, Faith. How would you like a job overseeing the art gallery that Joyce owned?"

Faith gawked as Buffy nodded her agreement to what Angel said. She found it hard to believe the amount of trust these two were willing to show her. Then she remembered a conversation she had had with Giles earlier today.

Her shoulders slumped in dejection as she said, "I'd love to, but Giles kinda already offered me a job helping out at the Magic Box."

"I know, Giles told me," Buffy said. "You don't have to be there all the time. In fact, I've already offered Willow and Tara work at the gallery, too. Between the three of you and your skills, you should be able to keep the place open. It's this, or I'm gonna have to sell it."

Faith thought about that for a minute, before saying with a lighter heart, "Tell you what, if Giles doesn't mind and those two agree, I'll do it."

"Great!" Buffy said, relief evident. "I'm sure we'll be able to work something out. Which reminds me: how would you like to live here?"

"For real," Faith asked, stunned.

Buffy nodded, then explained, "Dawn and I are moving in with Angel once Summer Break hits. I don't want to sell this place so that I have somewhere to stay when I visit."

And the surprises just keep on coming, the dark Slayer thought. She gave herself a moment to collect her thoughts, and to think thoroughly through what was being offered her. After a minute, she shrugged one shoulder and said, "Sure. So am I renting or what?"

Buffy shook her head, saying, "No rent, unless you want to?"

Faith nodded, and answered, "I'd feel better if I did."

"Alright," came the other Slayer's response, but just as she was about to say more the doorbell rang. Rubbing her neck, Buffy commented, "Feels like Adam's here."

Just then, Dawn was heard clamoring down the stairs as she shouted, "I've got it!" Jumping the last few steps, she landed with a heavy thud and ran to the door.

Faith rose from her seat to watch as the teenager yanked open the door. In an accusing voice, Dawn said, "You're late!"

The Immortal Faith had met last night stood in the doorway. He said in a cultured drawling tone, amusement in his eyes, "An Immortal is never late, Dawn Summers. Nor are they early. They arrive precisely when they mean to."

There was a pause as the Immortal and teenager looked at each other, then the scowl Dawn wore transformed into a mischievous grin of delight. Before Adam had time to respond, the youngest Slayer pulled him inside, the door slamming shut behind them as they came into the living room.

Faith sat back down as the two passed her, thinking, Figures. Leave it to the Brat to find similar obsessions with someone that's a near perfect stranger.

As Dawn plopped down on the ground beside the chair the Immortal took, Buffy said warningly to her daughter, "Dawn, quit slamming the doors shut! Do it again, and you'll find yourself mopping and vacuuming all the floors in the house."

The teenager rolled her eyes as she huffed out a breath, which caused Faith to chuckle and comment, "Fat chance of that happenin', B."

Faith caught Angel looking heavenward for a moment as Buffy glowered at her, before the souled vampire said to Adam, "On the phone earlier, you said you wanted to talk to us. What about?"

"It better not be another bombshell like earlier," Buffy muttered sullenly.

Ignoring Buffy's comment and Dawn's look of curiosity, Adam answered, "I'd like to coordinate our schedules, especially since we will not be able to openly communicate our locations while Mr. Travers is here."

"Some of our schedules are up in the air at the moment," Faith commented. "We might want to wait until the Watcher and witches get here before we set anything in stone."

The Immortal inclined his head in agreement as Buffy said, "We might not be able to say when, but we can plan where. I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to chance Quentin stumbling on me and Dawn training."

Faith was the first one to speak after that, suggesting, "Well, what about the gallery?" Off of everyone's looks, she explained, "If I'm remembering the layout and size of the place right, we'd just have to shuffle a few things around a bit to clear one of the storage rooms in back."

Buffy was already shaking her head. Regretfully, the light-haired Slayer said, "It's a great idea, but we can't for a couple of reasons. One: it'd be too obvious, and two: contractual obligations make it impossible. Mom hired a security firm to watch over the place for a year not long before she died, and I can't get the contract canceled. Everything has to be closed and locked up by eight at night."

After a moment of silence to mull that over, Adam said, "I noticed a lot of empty warehouses when I surveyed the town after arriving here. Why not use one of them?"

The Slayers in the room frowned, as Angel answered, saying, "Those buildings aren't as empty as you think. My kind thrive in this town, and that's where they usually hang out during the day."

Adam's frown joined the others'.

Thoughtfully, Dawn said after a moment, "What if we had Willow and Tara set up wards to keep away those that meant us harm? Maybe even put something on the warehouse so that demons wouldn't see the place?"

"That's a thought," Buffy said in agreement, then admitted, "but I still don't like where. The only place I'd feel comfortable being at is the Magic Box. With Quentin here, that's not possible, though. If there was only some way for us not to be noticed by him!"

At those words, Faith felt as though a light bulb had gone on above her head. Leaning forward in her seat with sudden excitement, she said, "What about this: we use the Magic Box, and place the wards Dawn was thinkin' about on the shop?"

"That...just might work," Buffy replied, amazement in her voice.

"We'd have to ask Willow and Tara if they can do it, before we do anything," Angel stated.

"Mmmhmm. Speaking of them," Buffy said, "I wonder what's taking them so long? Maybe I should call and find out what's going on."

The eldest Slayer had risen from her seat and was heading to the hall phone when the doorbell rang. From her vantage point, Faith watched as Buffy changed directions, peeked through the peephole, and gave a relieved sigh.

Opening the door, Buffy said to those on the other side, "What took you?"

Smiling faintly, Willow answered as she stepped through the doorway, followed by Tara and Giles, "Giles was having car troubles, so we swung by and picked him up on the way."

Buffy nodded, escorted them into the living room, and frowned at seeing nearly all the seats already taken. Leaving, she quickly came back with chairs from the dinning room. Rising from her seat, Faith told the Watcher to take hers, and then grabbed one of the chairs the other Slayer had brought in.

When everyone had settled in their chosen or offered seat, Buffy said, "I know two of you haven't really met, so let me make intros." She gestured as she spoke next. "Tara, Faith. Faith, Tara. She's Willow's girlfriend."

"We've kinda already met," Tara said softly, her eyes hesitant.

Faith mentally winced, remembering when that had been...and what she had been doing at the time. Preparing herself for possible refusal and a tongue-lashing, she said nervously to the light-haired witch, "Yeah, about that...I want to apologize, if you'll let me."

Tara gazed at her, and the Slayer had a feeling that the witch was seeing more than what was physically there. When almost two minutes had passed, Tara said in that still quiet voice, "Apology accepted." At Faith's wild-eyed look of stunned surprise, she explained matter-of-factly, "I've had time to learn about you since last we met. Dawn also told me this morning about what's currently going on with you when I picked her up for school. Also, I can read auras. What I see in yours tells me that you are trying to make up for your past and start over. I won't deny you my acceptance because I can see that you honestly want to change."

Faith blinked back the tears that suddenly wanted to fall, and when she realized that wasn't going to work, roughly rubbed her eyes. Her throat and chest felt too tight with emotion. In a gruff voice, she said, "Damn, you sure know how to make a girl want to cry."

"She does know how to get to the heart of a matter," Willow said with a touch of pride, causing Faith to look at her. Seeing the dark Slayer gazing at her, the witch added seriously, "She's talked me into giving you a chance, but I'll be watching."

Faith nodded her understanding. She had been expecting some trouble with her presence on the Hellmouth, but not exactly from whom she was actually getting snubbed by. With this thought in mind, she asked the redhead, "So I take it you and your girl are willing to work with me at the gallery?"

"Not only there," Giles said once Willow nodded, "but at my shop, as well."

Faith was flabbergasted as she gawked at the Watcher, before demanding, "How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"I have a tentative schedule in mind," Giles admitted. "We can discuss it later."

"Speaking of things we need to discuss," Buffy said, drawing attention to herself, "there's a reason we're here instead of the Magic Box as usual. What are we gonna do to get Quentin out of our hair?"

Silence fell, as each was lost in their own thoughts, then Giles said as he wiped his glasses, "He will not leave until he is satisfied with the situation. I am also afraid that the situation he will wish to see dealt with is not the one we are portraying to him. He could have very easily sent a field Watcher to bring Faith here, but he didn't. There is always an ulterior motive to whatever he does when he gets personally involved."

"Great," Dawn muttered darkly. "Why don't we just feed him to the vamps?"

The other two Slayers showed interest in the idea, until Giles said reprovingly, "Dawn."

"I'd love to sic the Taraka Order on him," Buffy said, scowling at nothing in particular. Her words caused Angel to frown at her, but he remained silent.

"What about a memory charm to make him forget about our supposed demon/Immortal problem," Willow suggested.

Giles shook his head, then said, "It won't work. The Council trains all Watchers to recognize if something like that is done. Also, a report has already been made with Records. If he returns and doesn't file his observations here, nor can recall such an event needing observation, it will cause us untold problems."

Tara stirred, and said, "As we can't hurt him, or take away his memory, what about making it so that he doesn't notice her, even if they're in the same room?"

"That could work," Dawn said hopefully, then desperately added, "but what about me?"

"She's right," Giles responded. "If we do that, as well as a charm to not notice Dawn's training, he would become suspicious...especially once he notices us reacting to things he can't see or notice."

"Damnit," Buffy muttered in frustration, a sentiment most were taking up by this point. "Any other suggestions, people?"

Leaning back in his seat, a calculating look in his eyes, Adam suggested mercilessly, "When next Quentin comes to the shop, we place a spell on him to 'compel' him to do what we need him to do. In the event that he tries to tell what he knows about Buffy or Dawn, he will find himself unable to, as well as ill."

An uncomfortable silence descended, no one sure how to respond to what had just been said. Faith watched as Giles gave the Immortal a look that was a cross between disproval and a warning. Adam merely raised a single eyebrow, as though to dare the Watcher to say what he obviously wanted to say.

Stifling a snort, that dark Slayer frowned as a thought came to her. Gazing fully at the Watcher, faith said, "Giles." She waited until he was looking at her, before then saying, "Couldn't we get Quentin to leave the fastest if he thinks we've dealt with this Immortal/demon thing? Well, I remember when you guys tricked me into revealing I switched sides. Couldn't we get that sorcerer dude to pretend he's this Immortal, and convince some neutral or good demon to give us a hand?"

Taking off his glasses to wipe them with a handkerchief, he thought for a moment, then said with careful consideration, "It would work, were it not for one simple fact: the mage that aided us then, will not do so now. I called in a dept then, and I have no such insurance now."

Disappointment filled her as she muttered a curse to herself.

Silence once again fell, everyone trying to come up with even the glimmer of an idea. Several minutes passed, before Angel spoke up. There was a look in his eyes that made Faith internally wince, having had it aimed at her once.

"I have an idea," the souled vampire stated. "What if we put a warning spell system on the Magic Box and around each of our residences, keyed to Quentin. That way, we'd have advanced warning of his arrival, allowing Buffy to get out of sight, and for Dawn to hide what she was doing if she's training."

After a moment, Giles inquired, "Willow, Tara, would you be able to help in such an endeavor?"

Willow already looked deep in thought, as Tara replied, "I think we can. Give us tonight to work on it, and we'll get it set up tomorrow."

Buffy nodded, then stood. Once standing, she glanced around at everyone, and said, "I don't know about you guys, but I think we've planned ourselves out. All we can do now is wait and see what happens. We'll figure out what needs doing when we know something's not working. Now that I've said that, who's all up for some dinner?"

There was a unanimous agreement at that as a few stood up to help in the kitchen, leaving the others to talk about whatever they wanted until dinner was ready.


Credits:

I have to give credit where credit is do. The concept of exactly how powerful the Key is goes to Tals (thank you for letting me use it!) and the wonderful story Dawn Summers, Marine (specifically the last part). Go read it, it's amazing! My Beta Harry needs recognition, as well, for a few ideas on how to deal with Quentin. I also need to give thanks to Methos and his behemoth round-robin story Tales from the Barman.... I wouldn't of had the idea for how the wards should work otherwise! Both stories are found at tthfanfic-com (put a period where the dash is).

Next Part: So how well did Illyria's Ascension go? (evil grin)