For personal enjoyment not for profit, if you recognize it, I don't own it, just bending and folding it.
Chapter 7
Xander adjusted his sport coat and tie. Chad was supposed to be there in a few minutes to drive them to homecoming. Mom had said it was okay to go to dances, but that neither he nor Faith could date individually until sophomore year, which made the subject of Willow liking him a little easier to deal with. He didn't think his mom had any illusions about being able to prevent her either he of Faith from engaging in things she would prefer they wait for, with her work schedule it was almost impossible, but she trusted them, even if she made sure that they had lots of things scheduled so they had less free time to get up to mischief.
His musing was interrupted by the sound of giggling. All three girls had chosen to get ready at the Harris household. Xander finished adjusting his tie and left his bedroom to go downstairs to wait.
His mom was sitting in the living room when he came downstairs, some seventies rock on the radio. Xander saw that she had the camera out to take pictures of the kids.
"So ready for your first high school dance?"
"Mom, we've gone to other dances after games."
"Well yes, but this is the first one where you have a date," His mother said amusement in her eyes. "You'll do fine, just make sure you pay attention to Willow. I know boys your age often don't like to dance but do dance with her." His mom's monologue was interrupted by the doorbell. She wave Xander off as he stood to get the door. Ushering Chad and Jesse into the living room she turned to Chad. "Chad, it's nice to see you again, how are your folks doing?" Xander's mom had met most of the team parents at the cross country meets she'd been able to make it to to cheer for Xander and Faith.
"They're good Mrs. Harris. They wanted me to thank you for letting us come back here after the dance." Chad said fidgeting. Part of allowing Faith and Xander to go to the semi-formal was an agreement that they would come back to the Harris household immediately after the dance let out.
"Chad, you seem like a nice boy so I'm not going to make this too long. Please remember that Faith is only fourteen but she can take care of herself. You guys have a good time and I'll have some snack and sodas ready when you get back." She turned and walked upstairs
"Dang Harris, I thought your mom was going to give me a harder time that that, you're sure it's okay that I'm taking your cousin out?"
"Well, mom has pretty much said neither of us can date in any real way until next year and besides like she said, Faith can take care of herself and you're a good guy."
Any further conversation was stopped by the girls coming down stairs. They had fun at the dance, Xander danced with Willow mostly, but also Faith and Marcie and Gina, Willow and Faith made sure to include Johnathan and Andrew in their group.
The homecoming dance started Xander and Willow unofficially dating. They were almost always in a group so this mostly meant sitting closer together and a few more hugs, although they did share some rather nice kisses and made out rather steamily on New Year's Eve.
After several hours of research and phone calls to regional offices Xander did make another deliberate change to the timeline. He sent letters to the head of the audit division in several IRS offices in other parts of the country. From listening to Cordy vent for hours on end about her dad's misdeeds and all the things the IRS agents asked her about, he had a fairly detailed picture of things and knew that Cordy's grandmother was still alive and therefore in control of her trust fund. Xander hoped that at least that would be spared being gutted by the crumbling of Mr. Chase's scheme. A few weeks later, both Faith and Xander observed a change in Cordelia's demeanor, she was still very sharp tongued, but lost a bit of her haughty demeanor.
Xander did go out for the swim team and convinced both Jesse and Johnathan to go with him. Being exposed to the whole team from tryouts on, it was a nice surprise that there really were only a couple of jerks on the team – most of the rest of the team was content to just swim their events and get things done. There was no sign that the coach had started his enhancement project.
The week before spring break, Faith and Xander were returning some books that they had used for Academic Decathlon, she'd offered to make the returns because the more Willow practiced focusing her magic, the less comfortable she felt in the library, which Faith thought was due to the Hellmouth and when she had shared this idea with Xander, they both thought it was a positive sign that she was not comfortable with the dark energy.
Xander had wandered into the stacks to look for something, Faith wasn't sure what as she set her books on the counter.
"Good afternoon Miss Lehane, I was hoping to speak with you." Mr. Post said
Faith suddenly on guard replied, "Did I miscount, are these overdue?"
"No, Miss, not about that. I've heard your teachers and coaches speak of your abilities and was hoping I could offer you some training to maximize your potential" He explained. "There are things that I can offer to teach you, not normally covered in school."
Faith decided to try to put him on the defensive, "Is this the part where you tell me how special I am and how no one can understand the things that I'm going through? But you know what it's like and can help me be special?"
The Brit was taken a back, "Well, yes."
Faith let him hang for a moment then went for the jugular.
Faith dropped her voice, "Look, you Limey bastard, just because my mom's in jail and I live in a single parent household doesn't make me an easy target for perverts like you."
"Miss, I'm sorry that wasn't what I meant at all." Post stammered. He looked at her and Faith could tell he was trying to find a way to salvage his position. His eyes went to Faith's wrist where she wore her charm. "Your charm, does it have the effect that you were told it would?"
Faith thought for a second deciding whether or not to give him an inch. Deciding that it would be impossible to fly completely under the radar she spoke, "Yes, a friend of mine helped me make this and yes it does what the book she had said it would."
"The combination of your skills led me to believe you might be the right person for learning special skills and a talent for magic certainly supports this. That is one of the things for which I can provide you training."
"Look Nigel, just because you recognize a charm I'm wearing doesn't mean I'm going to trust you." Faith said. "I warn you, I used a baseball bat on the knee of the last guy that tried to take advantage of me."
"I assure you Miss Lehane, I have no intentions to harm you or mistreat you." Post replied settling himself.
"Good, because Faith also has friends and family who will do anything to make sure she's safe," Xander said from the corner of the counter causing Post to jump a second time.
"Now, I might call that strike one against you," Xander stated. "For someone who doesn't want to harm my cousin, I find it odd that I had a sudden unexplainable desire to be elsewhere upon entering the library."
Post paled, "I apologize for that, I thought it would be best if Miss Lehane and I speak alone."
"Then ask."
"Again, Miss, I apologize."
"So you want to teach me magic?" Faith asked.
"If you show a talent for it among other skills," Post replied, looking over to where Xander was standing.
"Mr. Post, I'm willing to listen to what you have to say, but until I trust you a whole lot more, I'm not willing to spend time alone with you," Faith told him.
"Understood," Post replied.
"Besides if what you want to discuss is magic, I have a friend who has some talent who might also like whatever teaching you have."
"Maybe," was Post's reply
Post looked around the Library to make sure there was no one else, "The world is older than we know…" – he went into the standard watcher introduction speech – "When the most recent slayer was called, one of the council's seers said 'a girl with potential from the city that sparked the revolution is shrouded near the mouth of hell to the west,' there are more than one Hellmouth in the world and more than one city that sparked revolution, since I am the watcher who currently observes Sunnydale I was tasked with locating you if you were here."
"Okay you've said potential now twice and I'm not thinking it's because of my English grades." Faith said.
"Yes, the Council identifies girls that have the potential to be called as a slayer and make sure they receive the proper training. You are actually much older than the typical discovered potential so it is thought that it will be unlikely that you are called, but we would be remiss in not bringing you under the supervision of the Council." Post explained.
"Supervision?"
"Yes, normally here in the states, we would bring in a female watcher who would become your guardian."
"I'm perfectly happy with my Aunt Jessica, thank you very much," Faith stated firmly.
"Yes, and in California, at your age, your opinion would be taken into account by the courts before change of permanent guardianship could be effected," Post answered.
"Just so we're clear, that would also make me much less likely to cooperate with you people." Faith said.
"I see that."
"So, since you aren't going to go that way, what do you propose?"
"As I've stated, the basic training includes martial arts, research languages, and demonology."
"I'm not going to be summoning demons." Faith told him giving him a look.
"Not the summoning of demons, learning to identify the more common ones and knowing what breeds of demon are neutral and what to look out for in the dangerous ones."
"And the magic lessons?"
"As I said if you show an aptitude for it then there are things I can teach you. Most slayers don't practice magic though because the majority of their access to mystic energies are tied up in their slayer abilities. That being said, I would be happy to assist your friend in their studies."
The rest of the spring continued on, Faith's schedule didn't change much. After observing Faith and Xander's Hapkido class, Post decided that was adequate for the time being for martial arts especially as they were both testing for their blue belt and had begun working with the dan bong, short stick. He was surprised that she spoke French but set some beginning Greek and Latin for her. Demonology was just reading and talking about references once a week.
Uncle Rory had moved on from just having them doing general clean up around the business and washing the cars that customers were picking up, which provided them with some nice tip money over and above the cash Rory was paying them, to teaching them car repair using his project cars as the learning tools. Rory didn't do paint or upholstery at his shop, but they learned most other things from engine and electrical to basic dent repair.
Having Post provide instruction for Willow did lead to another significant change. Willow's discomfort with the library led Mr. Post to the discovery of the location of the Hellmouth and caused him to move his research library to a house that the Watcher council purchased near UCS. Willow, under Post's tutelage, developed psychic shields to prevent the energy of the Hellmouth from affecting her abilities.
They had staked several vampires, but no sign of Darla yet.