Chapter 18: Finding A Place
******The Next Day******
Faith didn't let it show on her face, but she was anxious as four o'clock moved closer. Her watcher could tell something was up. "What is wrong?" Diane asked. They were in the library with the rest of the group. Everyone but Faith was working on homework.
"Well, one of the teachers is going to come in here in a few minutes," she said.
Suddenly, all eyes were on her.
"What do you mean?" her watcher asked.
"There's this teacher that works at this school that I've saved from vampires twice since I've been here," Faith shared. "Last night, he was trying to save someone else from a vampire, but it was a bit too much for him. He doesn't seem to get the message to leave the vamps to the professionals."
"What did you tell him?" Buffy asked.
"I told him that he shouldn't be risking his neck and that there were people like me and Buffy that took care of those kinds of things," Faith said.
"You gave my name to a stranger?" Buffy asked, outraged.
"Not exactly a stranger—he's one of your teachers," Faith said. She watched the library door open up. "There he is now."
Buffy's eyes widened as she recognized her mother's new male admirer—Mr. Coulson.
All the students looked more than a little shocked—even Oz had an eyebrow raised.
"Hello," Phil said.
"Mr. Coulson? You told our history teacher about the night life?" Xander asked in dismay.
"Actually, she's saved my life twice from the night life in this town," Phil said. "I may be new here, but I'm not stupid. This town is not normal."
Cordelia snorted. "That's an understatement," she said.
"Does my mom know of your close calls?" Buffy asked, giving him an unhappy look.
"No, does she know about the monsters in this town?" Phil asked. "How am I supposed to bring it up if she doesn't? We just started seeing each other—she'll think I'm insane."
"She won't," Buffy said. "She found out in May about this stuff."
"Oh," Phil said. "That's good."
"I'm Diana Jamison-Smythe, but Diane is fine," Faith's watcher said, standing and holding out her hand. "I am Faith's Watcher, which is basically her teacher and mentor. I train and prepare her to fight the monsters in this town."
"Giles is my watcher," Buffy said. However, that was the first time she had heard Faith's watcher's full name, and something about it was bugging her.
"I am glad the girls have someone to help them," Phil said. "I'm Phillip Coulson, but I prefer Phil."
"Giles, what was Merrick's last name?" Buffy said. She hadn't had him as a watcher long, but she remembered it was hyphenated and long. It bothered her that she didn't remember. He was her first watcher and died fighting with her. How could she forget his name?"
Giles looked at Diana and nodded. "He was my uncle," Diana said.
Buffy stood up and looked at the two adults in dismay. "You never thought you should mention that?" Buffy asked.
"I did not see how it was relevant," Diana said.
"What's happening here?" Faith asked, sensing that Buffy was angry at her Watcher.
"It seems that my first watcher, Merrick, who died in Los Angeles when I fought my first Master Vampire, is related to your watcher," Buffy said. "Neither of them thought it was important that I know that."
"I'm sorry, Buffy," Giles said. "I wasn't sure if it would upset you or not."
"My watcher was my responsibility, and I let him get killed," Buffy said. "And you didn't think it was important that I know Faith's watcher was his niece?" She glared and closed her books, throwing them into her bag. Willow and Xander followed suit, so when she left the library, they followed her.
"God, she's so dramatic," Cordelia said, rolling her eyes. She got up much slower as did Oz, putting their stuff in bags. "But she's not wrong to be pissed, Giles. If she can't trust that her teacher is always going to be straight with her—well, that's just really douchey of you."
Giles winced at the cheerleader's insult but said nothing in his defense. After the children left, he gave a cold look to Diana. "I told you that she needed to know," Giles said.
"I still do not see how it is relevant," Diana said dismissively.
"Seriously?" Faith asked. "You are the niece of her first watcher, and you couldn't be bothered to tell her or me? Why didn't I know that? You know, she's going to blame me and think I was keeping it from her, too!" Buffy was finally not mad anymore about her Angel joke and now this.
She stormed out of the library.
"Teenagers really know how to overreact," Phil observed.
"Very true," Giles said. "But I get it. Have a seat, and I will fill you in on things you should know."
Phil was glad the first contact hadn't resulted in anyone pissed at him.
Outside the school, Buffy's friends had let her vent her anger. Then Cordy and Oz caught up with them.
"Hey," Cordelia said, getting Xander's attention. "You guys want to go get some food?"
"Mom's probably got a meal planned," Buffy said. "I get to go tell her that her new beaux is now in the know."
"That's gotta be a good thing," Xander said. "Less secrets to keep."
"Yes, lying is never a good idea for a relationship," Willow said.
Oz nodded. Buffy shrugged, not ready to think about her mother getting serious about any guy, especially a teacher of hers.
"Yo!" Faith yelled, getting their attention. She moved quickly to catch up with them. "I didn't know, B. Honest."
"Why wouldn't she want me to know that?" Buffy asked.
Faith shrugged. "I'm not sure. She's really nice to me, but I have a low bar considering my mom was a mean drunk that often tried to pimp me out to her friends for money," Faith said.
All of them felt a bit sick at her revelation—even Oz was frowning. "That's horrible," Buffy said. "I didn't know."
"It's no big deal—she never succeeded," Faith said. "Even before I got called, I knew how to kick a guy in his nuts."
Both Xander and Oz winced, causing her to snicker. "Works every time," Faith said with a grin.
Cordelia laughed. "I bet it did," she said.
"You guys want to come to my place? Or should I say Tony's house that I live in?" Faith said with a grin. "Today was food delivery day. Prime snacks."
Buffy's eyes brightened. "Well, we were going to go over there Saturday, but let me call Mom," she said. She pulled out the cell phone—Tony made sure they all had their own phone.
Willow was thinking about what her mom had said about Faith's childhood and what Faith herself said and felt really guilty. "Faith, do you like cookies?" she asked.
"Well, sure," Faith said.
"What's your favorite kind?" Willow asked.
"Double chocolate chip," Faith said.
"Peanut butter is better," Xander said.
"Plain chocolate chip is," Cordelia argued.
"Sugar cookies," Oz added.
"Mom said it was fine," Buffy said. "Did someone say cookie? Who's got cookies?"
"We were just talking about our favorites," Faith said.
"All of them are my favorite," Buffy said with a grin.
Faith was glad that she hadn't alienated her sister slayer more and led them to the house.
******The Next Day******
Cordelia was pulling out several items and laid them on her bed when her mother came into her room. "Are you ready for school? It's an odd time to be cleaning out your closet," her mom said, looking at the various items on the bed.
"Yes, I'm ready for school. After school, Xander and I are taking a trip to the nearest consignment shop, so I can sell some of my stuff," she told her mother.
"Why in the world would you do that? Do you need money? Are you in some kind of trouble?" her mom asked.
"No, I'm not but you and Dad are," Cordelia said. She hadn't yet confronted her dad with the things Tony told her. It was her birthday and then he was out of town for work. He'd only been back for a day or so, and she hadn't known how to bring it up. Now she could just let her mom do it. She knew, though, that Tony had spoken to him. Did he tell her mother? Cordelia couldn't let her stay in the dark.
"What do you mean?" her mom asked.
"Tony Stark told me that Dad's not been paying his taxes, and the IRS already had a case going on him," she said. "Tony bought me the car partly to protect me because he knows that it's only a matter of time before Dad loses everything—before all of us lose everything. I suggest you start doing what I'm doing."
Her mother looked at her in dismay and turned to go track down her husband.
Willow had already sold several of her handbags on eBay, so she hadn't had to go all the way to Los Angeles. Then she'd located a nice upscale consignment shop twenty minutes from Sunnydale that was willing to take some of her clothes. Xander had opened a safe deposit box, and she was on the list of people allowed to go to it. They'd already made $6,000 from the three handbags she'd sold online. She would probably get another thousand for the clothes. Willow suggested she sell her shoes online. Cordelia was hoping to have ten thousand saved up. Willow was working on transferring her trust fund to an offshore account and making it look like her dad drained it. The trust fund had a hundred thousand in it, which would pay for college if she didn't get a scholarship.
Tony, of course, already said that he'd pay for all of them to go to school. However, that was Cordelia's money, and she wasn't about to let the government take it because her dad was a greedy bastard. Pepper also told them that she'd put the money the Council gave them in money market accounts, and the IRS would not be able to touch it.
No matter what happened, Cordelia would be okay.
*****Fall Break*****
Tony came into town with Pepper and Dr. Banner. All the kids were excited to see him, but Faith was anxious as she'd only met him long enough to say hi.
"The gang is all here!" Tony announced as he and Pepper entered his newly rebuilt mansion. Willow hugged her mother while Cordelia and Buffy hugged Tony.
Everyone said hello to Dr. Banner, and Giles introduced himself and Faith to Bruce.
"It's great to meet you," he said.
"Oh, there's my watcher, Princess Di," Faith said with a wink.
"I think not," Diana said. "Please call me Diana or Diane."
"Do you really have a cure, Dr. Banner?" Willow asked him, holding her boyfriend's hand.
"We have something we think might work," Tony said for him. "I've been talking to the doctor and scientist that works at this school for mutants. They gave me us some ideas."
"There's a school for mutants?" Willow asked, her eyes wide.
"What's a mutant?" Buffy asked.
"That was my question," Faith said, grinning.
"It's basically when a human has involved to a higher level of biology that the chromosomes change, creating a gene that they refer to as the X-gene. It's basically a mutation in the genes, which is where the word mutant comes from." Bruce explained. "It causes the individual to have some kind of extraordinary sense or deformity."
"Deformity? Like a third eye?" Xander asked.
"No, but some will change colors or have extra hair—almost like an animal. Some have abilities not unlike a slayer, but it's not mystical. It's nature," Bruce said.
"The kids at the school have all kinds of really cool powers," Tony said, his eyes lighting up. "One can cause fire another ice. One can control the weather—the head of the school can read minds."
"I hope your mind didn't horrify him too much," Cordelia said with a grin.
Tony laughed. "Probably," he said.
"So you want to turn Oz into a mutant?" Willow asked.
"Well, he already has lycanthropy," Bruce said. "The idea is we don't exactly cure it as he's been a werewolf for over a year. I haven't had any luck eliminating the virus from my blood samples. What we want to do is make it to where he is never controlled by his wolf, but he can draw on the powers of a wolf. If I introduce the X-gene to him, he should be able to call on the power of the wolf whenever he wants. More like a mutant would do."
"So he'd be like a wolfman instead of a werewolf?" Xander asked.
"Sort of," Bruce said.
"Would I still infect people?" Oz wondered. The idea that he could one day infect Willow terrified him. When he kissed her, he kept himself well in check. A passionate kiss could contain a small bite—it would be his worst nightmare.
"That's not something we can know until we alter your blood and then test it on a mouse," Bruce said.
"What if he becomes like a big 'ole furball?" Cordelia asked.
"Science is about risk," Tony said. "If he becomes furry, well, you can shave him."
The kids snickered while Willow looked horrified.
"Honey, Oz doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do," Pepper said.
"Don't worry, Oz, we're not going to inject you now," Bruce said. "We have to do a few more test and synthesize a bit of your blood and run some tests on it. I'm not going to gamble with your health. I'll be very confident of the outcome before I give it to you. I also have two adult werewolves that I met, who would be willing to be used as a test subject."
"That's good," Oz said.
"I'm ready to see my two slayers fight. Have you schooled her yet, Buffy?" Tony asked, looking between the two slayers.
"We spar," Buffy said. "Faith is a good fighter."
"Yea, I can hold my own, but Buffy's too fast," Faith admitted. "She usually beats me."
"Hey, yesterday, you knocked me on my ass," Buffy acknowledged.
"That's 'cause Xander came in with snacks, distracting you," Faith said, grinning. They had come over to the mansion the weekend before, and everyone had a good time. Red's bodyguard came several times the past week, training with all of them. It was starting to feel like a home, and Faith had never been happier.
Xander laughed. "I do have impeccable timing," he said.
"I think so," Cordelia said, kissing his check.
"He is so tapping that," Faith whispered to Buffy, who tried not to laugh. Faith was both offensive and maddening, but she also had a wicked sense of humor that Buffy was starting to appreciate.
"Well, I am going to head home. Let's have the girls' spar tomorrow," Giles said.
"You can't leave yet, Rupert. I want to show you the new toys I brought to kill demons," Tony said.
"Only if you feed me—I forgot to eat lunch," Giles admitted. "We had a new shipment of books in."
"How could you forget to eat? That's insane!" Xander said.
"Some people value things more than food," Cordelia said.
"I value you more than food," Xander said, pulling her into his arms, causing her to blush and giggle.
"Gag me," Buffy muttered.
"Seriously," Faith agreed.
"Green is a good color on you, Buffy," Cordelia said, flashing her a smug look.
Buffy stuck out her tongue.
"Who's hungry?" Tony asked. "How's the pizza in this town?"
"Compared to New York, pretty sucky," Buffy said. "But it's amazing what you can get used to."
"So we'll have dinner, and you all can tell me about school. Tomorrow, you and Faith can wow me with your mad skills," Tony said, throwing his arm around her shoulder.
Faith watched them and felt a pang of loneliness. Buffy was so close with Tony, who was freakin' Iron Man. All of them were. Would she ever fit in like that?
"Faith, I'm going to turn in," her watcher said. "You have fun with your friends."
She said goodnight to her watcher and followed the teenagers into the large living room area. Xander was already on the phone ordering pizza.
"What's your topping?" he asked Faith.
She shrugged. "I eat it all," she said.
"Cool," Xander said.
Tony looked at Faith in approval. "A female that isn't a picking eater? I didn't know such a creature existed!" he exclaimed, earning glares, frowns and an elbow from Buffy.
He laughed, feeling good with his kids.
Dr. Banner approached Faith, giving her a shy smile. "So, hmm, Faith, I was wondering something," he said, surprising her.
"What?" Faith asked.
"Did you know you were going to be the next one called?" he asked. "Tony said the Council located you not too long before you were called. Did they know it'd be you?"
Tony heard the question and looked up, wanting to know. "That's a good question. I was wondering how that works," he said, looking at Rupert.
"No, I didn't know," Faith said.
"The Council knows only who has the potential to be called," Giles said. "There's no way to determine who it will be or to predict in advance. However, in history, there has been a prophecy or two that made it a bit easier to at least know nationality."
"I bet those stuck-up Brits were pissed to have yet another American called," Cordelia said.
"You would be right," Giles said, smiling.
Faith felt more comfortable as Dr. Banner asked her another question and everyone seemed interested in hearing what she had to say.
Maybe she didn't have to be an outsider forever.
*****Later That Night******
A car pulled up right outside of Sunnydale. "Tell me again, Mr. Trick, why going to a hellmouth is a good idea? The Order of Aurelius died in this town—even the so-called Master, its head, died at the hand of the slayer. She killed Darla and Angelus," Kakistos said.
"The slayer didn't kill Darla—the traitor Angel did," Mr. Trick said. "This town is ripe for some new management. The dark energy from the hellmouth will ensure an increase of your power. If you destroy the slayers, the city will be yours. Your legend as the greatest vampire in history will be sealed."
"Only Spike has ever killed two slayers," Kakistos said. "I nearly killed one back in Greece long ago. I spent too much time playing with her, however, and she jumped out of my castle to escape me, thus robbing me of my victory."
"I'm assuming she didn't survive the fall," Mr. Trick said.
"Of course not," he said, glaring. "What a waste of blood. I nearly destroyed my castle—I was so enraged."
"Well, the slayers here are teenagers—mere children. You know how spoiled American teenagers are," Mr. Trick said. "This will be the easiest slayer kills in modern history."
Kakistos grinned. "I do enjoy making history."
Mr. Trick had a feeling Sunnydale would be just the place for them.
******Chapter End******