Au visited in The Protectors and Faith.
Rupert Giles was not a man to cower in fear. He was, however a man who often had difficulty admitting to others his personal mistakes. Or having others see evidence of such. See Eyghon. But as had been recently pointed out to him, he had two Slayers on his hands and he was neglecting one of them. Again, glaringly obvious given he had not known her last name until the other reality version of Xander Harris' grandmother had pointed it out. But once he acknowledged his errors he did set out to correct them. Which is why Faith, Xander and Cordelia were currently sitting in the library. Giles needed to address his errors with Faith and he hoped Xander and Cordelia could help him with that. Xander could explain about his grandmother, for instance.
"Faith, I wish to begin by apologizing. It has recently been pointed out to me that I have not been paying you the attention I should be. I asked the others not to mention something that had occured recently until I could confirm or deny the information we'd received. It has recently been confirmed. I'll let Xander explain."
"Faith, have you ever heard of alternate realities? It's were different versions of our lives occur, based on decisions people make. For instance, in this reality, my grandmother died when I was five in a car accident. Recently we met another version of her from another reality. Along with another version of myself, Cordelia, a friend who in this reality became a vampire I staked and Giles. There were a few others, but you wouldn't recognize their names. Anyway, other Grandma told us she was a seer. She knew about Buffy and Angel, their Buffy was dead and they had never met Angel. She said Buffy and Willow would be responsible for destroying Magic. But the path to that began when I revived Buffy after the Master fed on her. Having two Slayers is damaging the Slayer essence. Apparently, sometime in the future, it'll give Buffy the idea to activate all potentials. Which will lead to alot of people dieing. Lit up like neon signs, she called it, with people around them also dieing. She also said Willow would do some really nasty things with Magic, including trying to end the world. And using it to break me and Cordy up, which Willow has admitted to. It seems when she did the soul curse on Angel, she accidentally traded a piece of her own soul for the power to do it. In the process, she murdered an unborn child. Angel's soul had reincarnated. Other Grandma challenged us to test her claims and consult the Oracles. We've tested the claims and consulted the Oracles. They confirmed everything she said. Giles has arranged for Willow to spend the rest of the school year in England, with a coven he knows there, healing. Her parents think she got some sort of scholarship. The Oracles also say, you're the True Slayer. Only you have the capacity to pass on the essence within you when you die. Other Grandma also got pissed at Giles for neglecting you."
"I hadn't realized I was being neglectful. I guess I thought if you needed anything you'd ask." Giles didn't see the carefully blank look on Faith's face but Xander did. He decided if they really were going to help Faith, he'd need to bite an imaginary bullet.
Xander said quietly, "If you have to ask, it means people didn't see or care." The look on Faith's face was of understanding and sympathy as she looked back him.
"I don't understand, Xander. What does that mean?" Giles asked.
"When I was kid I got hurt alot. Unexplained bruises, even broken bones. The doctors decided it was an issue with spatial awareness. I was misjudging the world around me and bumping into things. They never managed to put the injuries and living in the same house as two drunks together."
"My Ma liked to shoot up. She had boyfriends who thought I'd be more fun to play with then her." Faith said, softly.
There was a look of dawning horror on Giles' face as he finally began to understand. Two of the children he cared for had been abused. Xander's jokes and Faith's outrageousness were means of hiding from a pain too difficult to deal with. He really had been blind.
Over the next several weeks a number of changes occured with the Scoobies. Faith was moved to an apartment that was carefully warded. The others helped her to decorate it and Giles arranged for the Council to cover the expenses of it, along with a stipend.
He arranged for Xander to be listed as his Research Assistant with the Council as well, which came with a salary. He began teaching Xander to be a Field Watcher. Once he graduated, he'd be able to move into his own apartment. Which turned out to be fortuitous for Cordelia as well, when her father got caught cheating on his taxes, she moved in with Xander. They'd been back together for months at that point.
When Xander and Cordelia's mystical potentials activated, Giles was able to guide them in controlling them.
Buffy and Faith began working out together as well as patrolling together. When they were attacked one night by a large group of vampires and Arthur Finch, the deputy mayor, wondered into their dust up, Faith managed to push him out of the way.
That of course, led to a whole lot of other changes with the Scoobies.