A/N: I should perhaps have chosen the "T" rating, I'm new to this site and unfamiliar with what is customary here as well as just how things work. There is no explicit sex in this story; others I may post may be a bit more 'adult' in nature, but this one is a love story, and a tale of women coming to understand themselves.

The Dawning of Faith

Chapter 15

"Not yet," Dawn said, "but I hope to be, someday."

Fortunately, the rest of Giles' set was not quite so tender, and Buffy, Faith, and Dawn left just he was launching into "Freebird".

"For an old guy…" Faith began.

"Uh-huh," chorused Buffy and Dawn.

The ride home was conducted in companionable silence, each woman's thoughts her own. Faith was particularly distant, and when they got home, she merely nodded to Buffy and Dawn before she went to bed.

"I think Giles' singing really touched Faith," Buffy said.

"I hope so," Dawn answered her, "oh dear," she continued, looking at a trail of dropped purses and coats.

The living area was crowded with giddy Slayers trying to play 'Twister'. Willow was standing to one side shaking her head in amusement.

"Good call on making more Elixir of Fire, Dawn. Some girls have to learn the hard way," Willow told her.

"We should have let them loose sooner," Buffy admitted, "can't pen up a healthy Slayer and not expect her to break out. Heck with it, let 'em have fun. Faith, Dawn, and I can cover for any of them that are too sick to patrol tomorrow. They'd better be ready come Monday though. That's a school day. You should have heard Giles, Willow."

"Giles is good, think he'll play at the club Wednesday?"

"He will if he knows what's good for him," Dawn promised. "There was some good music in the olden days."

"He sang this old love song; it seems a little silly out of context, but when he performed it…"

"Uh-huh," Dawn agreed.

"Sounds pretty romantic," Willow ventured.

"Yeah," Buffy shook herself visibly, and continued, "anything happen I need to know about?"

"Not really, one guy got out of line, but Mike, the club manager, threw him out before he got hurt. Poor fool tried to put the moves on Candace," Willow told her.

"Ouch, he had about as much chance there as I do with Giles," Buffy said.

"HUH?" Willow choked.

"You had to be there Will," Dawn promised her, "it's okay. Buffy isn't after Giles, Mom got there first, and that would be creepy."

"HUH?"

"Later," Buffy told her, "night guys, I'm beat." Buffy went off to her room, and Willow and Dawn stood together watching the giggling Slayers tumble around on the floor.

'How did things go this evening?" Willow asked.

"I'm not sure," Dawn told her, "there were times when I felt really close to Faith, like she was going to reach out to me, but she never did. Maybe I'm just imagining it, maybe it's just me. I know she cares about me, a lot, but that's not the same thing as being in love, is it?"

"It's part of it, but not all, no. I wish I could help you Dawnie, but it's just not up to me. I have to be really careful not to influence either one of you, I want you both to be happy, but if I slip and use my power to nudge things along, it could be horrible," Willow explained.

"I know that, and I don't want you to. I get to be with her, train with her, fight with her. If that's all I can have, it's more than a lot of people have, isn't it?"

"Yes it is. Feel up to taking a couple tests tomorrow? Just general aptitude stuff the Coven came up with," Willow asked.

"Sure thing, 'night Will, see you at breakfast." Dawn kissed Willow on the cheek and went to her room; Willow took a seat on the couch and tried to identify Kennedy among the tangle of bodies on the floor. Her thoughts however, were elsewhere.

"Faith, you are just plain chickenshit," Faith told her reflection. "If ever there was a perfect time to tell someone you love them, it was tonight. Face it bitch, you're yellow." She went to bed and stared at the ceiling in the dark.

"It's more than a lot of people have," Dawn said aloud as she crawled beneath the covers. Blessedly, Dawn fell asleep quickly, her dreams filled with a pair of shining dark eyes.

Faith did not appear at breakfast on Sunday, or at lunch. Dawn had an interesting day with Willow, and really enjoyed the tests that the coven had created for her.

"How did I do?" she asked when the last one was done.

"I don't know, I have to send them back to the coven for interpretation. And speaking of that, since I won't really know how to structure your lessons until I hear back from the coven, Faith and I are going to switch schedules with you. It might take several days to get the results."

"Snail mail?" Dawn asked, clearly disappointed at the implied delay.

"Witch, please," Willow said with a grin as she waved her hand. The testing materials vanished.

"Cool! What was that?" Dawn asked.

"Teleportation spell. It's fairly advanced; you might be able to work up to them though. Things are easier than people. Not many witches can teleport, it's really dangerous, and it takes a lot out of you."

"Have you ever done it?"

"Not to myself or anyone I cared about. Tara and I did it to Glory once. Didn't send the bitch far enough though, she came back," She said ruefully.

"Glory was a C-word," Dawn spat.

"Infinitely," agreed Willow. "Are you going out on patrol tonight?"

"Buffy and I are going to sweep Shady Rest, I haven't seen Faith today, I hope she's okay."

"I'm sure she is," Willow assured the younger woman, "maybe she just has some stuff to think over."

"That's kind of what I'm afraid of," Dawn admitted. Willow stroked Dawn's hair and held her close. She didn't have anything to say, however.

"Willow, could you come and join me in the study? That is, if you and Dawn have finished the testing, I received something rather extraordinary in the post yesterday that I think you'll be interested in."

"It's okay Will, go. I need to get ready to patrol after supper. It'll be fun going out with Buffy, it's been a while."

"Okay sweetie, I'll see you later," Willow headed for the study, and Dawn went to her room and laid out the clothes she would wear on patrol.

"I guess I'll go and see if I can help with supper," she said aloud. She relentlessly suppressed all thoughts of what Faith might be doing. At least she tried to.

"What is it Giles?" asked Willow as she entered the study.

"A package from Wesley," Giles replied.

"Wes? Isn't he…"

"Dead? Yes, regrettably he is, this was delayed in the mail. He sent it just before that huge battle in Los Angeles where he and Spike and Angel raised such havoc with the underworld. He seemed to realize that things might go badly with them. Wolfram and Hart still haven't recovered."

"Good. What was in it?"

"A book."

"What book?" asked Willow, her interest piqued.

"All of them, apparently."

Faith was precisely where she had been since awakening, seated on the floor of her bedroom and deep in meditation. This was a technique that her original watcher had taught her before she had been killed, and it was one that Faith had avoided because of the painful memories it evoked. But just now she needed the peace it offered, and she needed the insight into herself.

"Good one, Dawn!" exclaimed Buffy, as the vampire collapsed into a small pile.

"This thing is wicked," Dawn said proudly.

"Son of a bitch," breathed Buffy.

"Who? Me?"

"Polgara demon, back me up, but be careful. These things have these long bony spikes that come out of their forearms. They're not too fast, but they're strong as hell and really aggressive. Let me do the work, and if I get taken down, you run, you hear me?"

"I can't-"

"You can and you will. Promise or leave now, got it?"

"Got it."

"Just watch my back, let's go." Buffy readied the Scythe and moved to intercept the Polgara; however as soon as it saw her, it raced to the attack.

Dawn watched avidly as Buffy fought, she paid attention to how she used her weapon, and how the demon fought, and she looked for its weak points. She found one, and she edged closer. Buffy neatly dodged a thrust of the spike by the Polgara, and managed to break the thing off with a stroke of the Scythe. She had been trying for its arm, however, and the unexpectedly weak resistance caused her to overbalance and left her vulnerable for an instant. Buffy saw a blur of motion out of the corner of her eye, and the demon collapsed onto one knee. The Scythe made short work of its neck after that, and Buffy looked around and saw Dawn standing at a safe distance to one side, her eyes moving as she surveyed the landscape.

"What did you do?" Buffy asked.

"I had seen that it always turned to the left after you evaded it, so when you went over on your follow-through I ran past and cut the hamstring on the outside leg. I knew it couldn't turn quickly enough to get at me. Are you mad?"

"I did ask you to watch my back," Buffy admitted, "and I'd have to say you did that just fine. As your sister, I'm a little pissed. But as the Slayer, I have to admit that your plan was effective and that the risk was acceptable. Good job Dawn. I can't bring you out here and not expect you to react. Now, what would you have done if it had killed me?"

"I would have run back home, gotten all of the Slayers and Willow, and then hunted it down and cut it to bits."

"Fair enough. Did you have any trouble making the cut? Polgaras are pretty tough."

"It was tougher than a vampire neck," Dawn admitted, "I'm not sure I could have taken the leg off, probably not, not through the bone."

"Something to remember then, but Yoshi seems to have come up with a pretty good weapon. You're learning really fast, Dawn."

"I've been paying attention, I remember what you taught me, and I learned a lot from Faith in just one lesson."

"No doubt about that, let's go home. Want to get ice cream on the way?"

"Sure, that would be great."

"What do you have a taste for?"

"Really dark chocolate, I think," Dawn answered, something close to the color of her hair…