Author: Lucinda

Rating: Y-14 for violence

Eleventh in the 'My Daughter' series

Main characters: Sean and Tom Cassidy

Disclaimer: Quentin Travers, Lilah Morgan, and Faith are the creation of Joss Whedon for the series BtVS and/or Angel the Series. Caine Marko, Tom and Sean Cassidy, and Charles Xavier are the creations of Marvel comics.

Distribution: with the rest of the My Daughter series.

Notes: AU after Faith turned herself in during S1 Angel/S4 BtVS.

Sean nodded, thinking about what his cousin had said. He'd already known that Eileen had some objections to part of Tom's past. The idea that she hadn't wanted a child to grow up with 'that sort of bad influence' wasn't a surprise. Less surprising was that Tom was concerned for his daughter, Faith.

"Of course, she has managed to get into a spot of trouble lately," Tom admitted. "Avoiding my influence doesn't seem to have entirely helped."

"What sort of trouble?" Sean wasn't certain that he'd like the answer, but it had to be asked.

"I'm sure that things got exaggerated. It was probably all a muddle from the fact that she's..." Tom shook his head.

"Pick a thought and finish it, please," Sean begged, rubbing at his temple. "She'd only be what, fifteen? Sixteen? Is she a mutant then?"

"She's sixteen. As far as I know she's not a mutant. She's something called a Slayer," Tom smiled just a little, though his eyes were worried. "A gods-chosen warrior woman, out fighting all the nasties that lurk in the dark corners. The sort of things that Gran used to tell tales about."

"The tales that gave us nightmares?" Sean asked, remembering some of those stories.

"Those would be the ones," Tom agreed with a bitter sigh. "That miserable worm Travers is in charge of a group of people that look for girls who might become those warriors, and then they try to control their lives."

"Ahhh," Sean leaned back, relieved to finally know why his cousin had gone to London. "What sort of training does this group give these girls? The ones they think might become warriors? Or what did you call her, a Slayer?"

"I'm not to certain, but I didn't like the way they view her. Any of them, all of them. To him, they're all interchangeable. If the Slayer dies, there will be another one, so it doesn't matter if she dies." Tom's shillelagh was glowing again, this time a bright yellow and orange.

Sean winced. "You still haven't told me what sort of trouble she's in."

"Well, she's currently at the prison," Tom admitted.

"Sixteen's too young for a job," Sean sighed, and rubbed at the back of his neck. "What did she do?"

"I don't think everything's quite on the up and up with the charges. I've been through enough to know when something seems off. She's no saint, but I don't think..."

"Tom. Why is she there?" Sean bit each word out individually.

"Murder."

For a moment, Sean blinked in silence. Then he swore, using several words and phrases that had also come from Gran, when she didn't think they could hear her.

"I didn't think you'd be pleased to hear that," Tom admitted.

"You said that you think something's off somewhere along the line," Sean began. "I'm not an expert on American law, but if you can get me copies of all the paperwork, I can take a look at what they have. Investigational procedures, the evidence in the case, transcripts of the trial if you can get it."

"You'll help?" Tom blinked, looking at Sean in shock.

"She's family, so the least I owe the girl is to find out if they followed the right procedures to get her where she is today. And if it will annoy that Travers fellow..."

"Have you met him?" Tom frowned again.

"Nae, Jean and Betsy went to try to figure out why you dropped in on a historical society. Betsy and myself both thought that the idea of a historical society located there was quite a bit off," Sean answered. "They had quite a few things to say about him, and... let's say he didn't leave a good impression on the pair of them." Sean grinned, remembering some of the things that they'd said. He still didn't know what a couple of the Chinese words Betsy'd used meant, but they couldn't have been very nice.

"A historical society? There?" Tom shook his head. "Absurd."

"Indeed. Now that I know why you're here, I have to agree - this has nothing to do with Xavier's school. This is family. I don't know if I'll like the girl, but I owe it to her to try to give her a fair chance. Those don't go to everybody in this world," Sean spoke again, one hand clenching into a fist. "Besides, you took good care of Theresa."

"She's family as well, even if she did grow up to be a bit of a do-gooder like you," Tom smirked. "Don't worry, we'll get that paperwork."

"Fair enough," Sean agreed. Part of him felt like he was somehow making a mistake, straying so far from the way things normally went. He wasn't supposed to be helping the criminals... but he wasn't helping criminals. Not really.

He was helping family.

End MD11: His Daughter's Chance.