Alex pushed open the doors to the library and walked in. Giles was waiting for him and simply motioned to him to sit at the table and sat down across from him.
"First off I want apologize for any actions of mine that have caused you any pain. I honestly didn't realize how I was behaving towards you or why. After talking it over with Joyce, I have come to the conclusion that my ignoring you stemmed from the fact that you remind me of myself at your age and I didn't like myself nor do I like remembering my behavior. That isn't to say you have behaved like I did, more because I was afraid you eventually would. I was a very angry young man. I resented my father's assumption that I would follow him into being a Watcher and felt I had little control over my life."
"You do a better job of controlling your anger than I did and have embraced something I once ran from, namely the battle against the darkness. I think I resented the fact that you have chosen a path I fought to avoid."
"I didn't mean to treat you as I have. I just never took the time to examine my own actions or the reasons for my behavior. I am not trying to make excuses, just trying to explain."
"Ok, I can see that. I won't lie Giles, it did hurt that you kept brushing me aside. I just want you to know, I understand I can be irritating, I get carried away sometimes and go overboard. Part of that is the clown mask I've been wearing to make Willow happy. I need to learn how to stand up to her. You need to learn to stand up to Buffy. You can support her without giving into her all the time. I resent both their attempts to make choices for me, but it doesn't help when you let them. You either don't seem to notice their behavior or cave to it. Which I also resent. I get that Buffy's a Slayer, but we're supposed to be a team, which means all of us should get some attention."
"Agreed, I hope that in the future we can discuss any issues that come up as frankly as we have done today, that will hopefully keep such issues from boiling up again."
"Now could you give me an idea of what you do know?"
"Well, I have taken some AP Science courses, but mainly the AP classes I have taken are the humanities. Literature, History and languages, English of course and 2 years AP Spanish. I really am bad at Math and having Willow tutor me at least lets me maintain a B in my math classes. I don't like computers, but not because I'm a technophob like you, but because I prefer to read. I like books. Besides English and Spanish, I have picked enough Umbrian and Etruscan that I don't need your translation dictionaries for more than double checking. Soldier Boy, the one whose fatigues I got, gave me Farsi and Russian, and my other self was stationed in Germany and beginning to learn German. And thanks to both of them and my own efforts, I can say shit in 12 languages."
Giles blinked and said "That's quite an impressive list. Anything else I should know?"
"Well if we are going to be honest, I have a few things I need to say and I apologize in advance if I offend you, but if I don't say something, these are things that will fester. Please understand, these are legitimate concerns."
"Very well, go ahead."
"Giles, your Council has no idea how to fight a war. Your primary weapon is a teenage girl that you treat like both a weapon and a sacrifice. You tell her it is a 'sacred duty' to die for humanity, so you can claim your fighting the war. Both Slayers and Watchers are ill prepared to fight any semblance of a war. Your send them out without backup, protection or adequate weapons. Anyone going into battle needs armor and modern ones can be custom made to fit under clothes and even include neck guards. Getting up close and personal with a vampire or demon is unnecessary. Gunpowder was invented 2000 years ago, Giles. With it you can kill even vampires and demon at a distance. Dragons Breath cartridges can turn a shotgun into a flamethrower. A specialized grenade can burn out the vampires in a nest. Even wood shards in a shotgun mean you can dust without getting up close and personal. Slayers should be taught more modern means of fighting in addition to your traditional methods."
"And as for Watchers, Giles, things like mystical diagnosis after stuff like possessions, should be standard operating procedure. Regular diagnostics should be done to make sure malignant magic hasn't been cast. And psychology courses should be required for all Watchers. Threat assessing requires them. Intelligence wins wars just as much as brute force does."
"Speaking of threat assessments, you really dropped the ball in regards to Angel. Here you have a vampire who claimed to have a soul and was under a curse. You never bothered to check on his claim, let alone investigate the curse itself. As a magic user yourself, you should have been aware that curses have out clauses and you should have checked on what Angel's out clause was. You endangered us all by not checking and your treatment of Ms. Calender for her not knowing about the clause, which yes, she too should known, was hypocritical. You blamed her for making the same mistake you made."
"And Buffy's inability to do the job in regards to Angelus, means you should have just called in Kendra and let her handle it instead of letting Angelus toy with Buffy's emotions for months. Those actions all ended up enabling an apocalypse, which could have been avoided with just a little foresight."
"You introduced Willow to magic, Giles. You essentially handed her a live bomb and told her to figure out how it worked herself. She has had no oversight for months, you have no idea what spells she's learned. Not to mention, Cordy and Oz both told you she looked like she was possessed when she did the soul spell and you never bothered to check her out until Epione told you what had actually happened when Willow did cast that spell. We also have no idea where the soul was before the spell. Was it in heaven, purgatory or reincarnated? If it was the later than someone died to make that spell work. It should have been checked into before it ever got that far."
"Buffy's attitude towards normal people is ludicrous. Humans are the most dangerous predator on the planet. We are the things that make other predators step wide. We are the most tenacious survivors. We invent new ways of killing with every generation. Knowledge is and always has been the key to winning any war. Brain power set humans apart from the beginning, Giles. We are creative, adaptable and dangerous. Underestimating humans is the quickest way to die. It's time Watchers and Slayers remember that."
Giles stared at Alex, amazed at the flood of words and realized to his horror, the boy was right. There wasn't a single word he could refute.
A sound from the direction of the doors at the library entrance had him turning to see Faith and Cordelia staring, wide eyed at them.
"Wow, X, how long have you been holding all that in?"
"Since I started figuring out what all Soldier Boy had left me," he answered. "I have been trying to talk about it, but haven't been able get anyone to pay attention. All it took was getting possessed again to finally be heard."
Cordelia walked over to Alex and gracefully lowered herself onto his lap and leaned her forehead against his. She took a deep breath, which he found himself copying and felt himself relaxing. He moved his face to the junction of her neck and shoulder and breathed in her clean, slightly flowery scent 'was that her bath wash or perfume?' he thought, 'Oh who cares, she smells great,'
Giles took off his glasses and started cleaning them. "I don't know enough about modern weapons to form an opinion about them, but everything else you said, well I find I can't refute any of it. You made many excellent points and I will need to think about them. In the meantime, you should both get to class. Amelia, my friend who is a witch, will be arriving around 2:00 o'clock and school gets out at 2:30, so please return then and we can discuss this further, along with your new status and its implications."
"Faith, would you mind staying so we can talk as well?"
"Sure, G, no probs."
Alex and Cordelia stood and knotting their hands together, left the library.
Giles motioned Faith to the seat they had vacated and asked. "How are you doing Faith."
"Fine, Mrs. S made me move into her spare room yesterday and got me some new clothes. She says I need to finish my education, either by enrolling here, homeschooling or get my GED. I'm trying to make up my mind which way I want to go."
"That's good. Faith I must apologize again for neglecting you. I really have no excuse that I can offer that would make my behavior exceptable. All I can offer is a sincere apology and the promise to make you as much a priority as I do Buffy from now on."
"Epione says I got let things out or I'll end up getting 'jacked like X did, so I gotta tell you it hurt, that I didn't seem to matter. But if you really are willing then so am I. We can go from here, ok?"
"Ok, Faith. You know you really are a splendid Slayer, but I would like to get to know who Faith is. Let's start with your name and go from there, shall we?"
"Sure, I'm Faith Lahane, I'm 17, I'm from Boston and my birthdate is February 18th."
They spent the next hour talking and getting to know each other. Giles found himself even more annoyed with his own behavior as he discovered just how little he new about Faith. Which was even less than he had known about Alexander.
A/N Before anyone gets on me about Alex knowing all these languages, I am trying to show the practical type of knowledge a soldier can gain. Many learn the languages of the countries they are stationed in. My brother served 4 tours in Iraq and learned enough Arabic to get by. My father served during Vietnam and learned the local dialect. He used to annoy my mother by swearing in it. And remember Xander could translate Klingon at a glance. As a trekkie myself who attempted to learn it, I can tell you, it isn't an easy language, constructed or not. Just because it wasn't mentioned doesn't mean he couldn't have acquired these languages. All I am saying is it's possible.