author: Lucinda

rating: pg13

fifth story in 'My Daughter' series

main character: Tom Cassidy, Faith

appearances by Cain Marco, mentions of Angel (the vampire, not the X-Man)

Disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to Faith (creation of Joss Whedon for Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Tom and Cain - creations of Marvel Comics.

Distribution: Paula, Twisting the Hellmouth, Wic - anyone else ask. If I've said yes for a previous short BtVS/X-Men crossover, you can have this if you want.

note: for those unfamiliar with the character of Black Tom Cassidy, he is an Irish criminal (and mutant). His partner in crime is the Juggernaut (Cain Marko) and they have had a fairly long and colorful criminal career spanning much of Europe. Tom has a cousin named Sean Cassidy (Banshee of the X-Men) who worked for Interpol for a while.

set during season 4(BtVS), after Faith turned herself into the police in Los Angeles. After OZT, Before the High Evolutionary tried to muck things up.

Tom reluctantly concluded that it probably would raise too many questions if he visited Faith the day after his first trip. Maybe the American prison officials didn't know who he was, but if he drew their suspicions, it wouldn't be that hard for them to find out. If someone started efforts to take him into captivity - again - it would only inhibit his efforts to help Faith.

So he spent the next few days trying to gather information on Quentin Travers and these Watchers. An address, as much information on the building as he could, possibly an estimation on numbers and defenses.

According to his tax records, Travers worked for a private museum. An old collection of 'folklore and historical artifacts', which sounded somewhere between laughable and almost logical. Folklore, like stories of vampires and monsters? Artifacts, as in a collection of weapons, or as in magical what's-it's? The possibility of the Watchers having magical defenses did make things a bit more complicated...

"Stop pacing." Cain's voice sounded almost bored. "You're going to put me to sleep if you keep it up."

"There are too many things we don't know. Numbers, defenses, do they have magic?" He shook his head, walking across the room again.

"Just go visit your little girl, maybe she can fill in a few blanks. I can wait outside and hold up a wall."

Tom smiled, looking forward to seeing his daughter again. "That should do well then. Where did I put those radios?"

Cain chuckled as Tom searched, and then they both made their way towards the prison. Another visit with a daughter that he knew less about than he knew about his most frequent enemies. Not for the first time, it occurred to Tom that his life was strange.

The trip to the prison was tedious and uneventful. Once again, he was carefully checked for weapons, again claiming his shillelagh as a cane. By itself, a chunk of wood wouldn't be able to put a dent or crack into their reinforced glass anyhow. He wasn't certain if the warden missed the small radio in his ear or mistook it for a hearing aide, but he was finally let through to talk to Faith.

Slowly, as if he was a crippled old man, he made his way to the visitor's area, and sank into the hard chair. Faith was making her way to her own hard seat, looking better today – cleaner, almost more cheerful.

She leaned closer, and traced her finger over the glass. Her voice was soft, almost hesitant as she greeted him. "Hey dad."

"Faith." He smiled, and tapped his radio briefly, just enough that Cain would know he was safely inside. "It's good to see you again."

"I wasn't sure if you'd come back or not." She glanced down for a moment, and her eyes paused over the shillelagh before returning to his face with a half smile. "How do you like LA?"

"Mmmm. It's not too different from several other large cities that I've seen, except for the people who tried to attack us the other night." He glanced towards the guard, just far enough away to give the illusion of privacy, but placed at a good angle to read lips, if that was one of his talents. "Possibly a local gang? There were... yellow eyes."

Looking worried, she sat up, giving him a quick glance over, as if trying to look for injuries. "Those guys... They can be trouble. You didn't get hurt?"

"Now don't you worry quite that much. I had my partner with me, and Cain's a tough man to get the better of. It'll take far more than a few street toughs to manage it." He chuckled, fingers tracing the grain of his shillelagh. "But they were a surprise."

"They can be a very nasty surprise." Faith looked as if she was lost in unhappy memories for a few moments, her fingers tapping quickly against the table. Shaking her head, she looked back up, and asked "Are you sure the two of you weren't hurt?"

"More disturbed than anything else." He sighed, and wondered how she'd take his news. "I was a bit surprised that you've only had two other visitors. And the detective."

"Yeah..." Faith leaned back, her arms crossed in front of her. "I'm pretty sure Wes is feeling guilty, like the whole thing's his fault. He didn't help much, but he didn't make it all happen. And Angel..."

"Who is this Angel? A friend of yours?" He figured that there was no reason not to ask her. She might even tell him.

"Sort of. He's done some bad things before too, and he's on a brooding redemption thing. I think he'd like me to be his student in the Art of Brood." Faith shrugged, glancing away.

Tom frowned, wondering why she didn't want to talk about Angel. Were they more than friends? Lovers? Enemies? Did he have some connection with the things that she'd done? Ah, he could find out more later. "I had a few words with Wyndham-Price."

"You talked to Wesley?" There was something in Faith's voice, in her eyes. It was more than surprise, but he couldn't quite decipher it. "What did he have to say?"

"A few things about failing to measure up to an impossible task, a few things about his former employer, a fellow called Travers." Tom put one hand up, rubbing over the prominent bruise on his chin. "And he said you're something called a Slayer. We had a bit of a talk about that."

"Wait a minute..." Faith leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. "Just where did you get that bruise anyhow?"

"I have the oddest feeling that Mr. Wyndham-Price thought Travers had sent me." He didn't quite answer her question. "Which reminds me... I think I'd like to go have a face to face with him."

"You and Travers?" For a moment, she looked as if she wasn't certain whether to laugh or not. Then, she looked at his hand, firmly grasping the shillelagh, and her expression changed to a rather menacing smile. "Somehow, I don't think it would be comparing stories about American food."

"No, it wouldn't." He agreed, not wanting to say too much. "Does the man have any particularly... unusual protections?"

Faith snorted. "On himself, probably not. I was told... Apparently, he thinks those sorts of things are too mumbo-jumbo and superstitious, and he won't bend his dignity that far. But the headquarters... Those have been there long before he was. There could be a few built in. Of course, the majority of them are stuffy, and pretty stuck on tradition. If it hasn't been tested and approved of for a few centuries, it's not good enough. London branch doesn't even approve of guns."

"No guns, ehhh?" Tom chuckled, thinking about that. If not guns, then that would be things like swords, or axes. Maybe staves. He could deal with those. Especially wooden weapons. "Maybe I'd best go have a talk. After all, I'm a few years overdue for a parent-teacher sort of talk. Maybe I should go straight for the administration?"

"Parent-teacher talks, huh?" Faith laughed. "This having a dad thing could be pretty interesting."

"Well, someone needs to try to look after you." He stood up, remembering that the guards were supposed to think he needed a cane for a limp. "I'll just go offer some comments about your education."

Faith giggled, and then tried to stop herself, muttering something that he couldn't quite catch. "Give him one for me, will you?"

"Of course, my girl. Of course I will." He nodded at the guard and started his way out of the prison.

It was time to start arranging a flight to England.

End MD5: My Daughter's Friends.