Please stop contacting me about art commissions, I'm not interested. Thank you

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A/N Kendra will be arriving soon and we need to talk about her before she does. I've focused more on Faith and Buffy in my stories because I like Faith as a character a lot and she had a huge impact on the show. I also felt bad for her, Giles was responsible for her and yet he cared nothing for her. He left a traumatized teenager basically living on the streets in Sunnydale. Faith and her first Watcher may have been close, Faith's description of her death shows the pain Faith feels and she was forced to watch Giles and Buffy having a close relationship as well, while Giles barely acknowledged her existence. He bears a large responsibility for her downfall.

But Kendra's death was...bad, she deserved more and she never got it.

With Kendra, we have her rigidity and obedience to the teachings of the Watchers to go on and not much else. Most people think she rode in the cargo hold because her Watcher didn't want to pay for a ticket, but I think this could have just been a fake out on the writers part. Because at that point we thought she was one of the assassins hired to kill Buffy. It's possible she rode in the cargo hold just so she could get to Sunnydale as fast as possible since her Watcher, some sort of psychic, had told her trouble was happening soon. It's one of those points that's never clarified.

We can assume her Watcher was just like Quentin Travers or we can believe he cared about a girl he'd raised since she was three or that he falls somewhere in-between. We do know she planned not to tell him that Buffy was involved with a vampire and now they're coming to Sunnydale because Giles is in trouble with the Council for violating their policy regarding Angel. Plus the fact that the curse broke and Angelus was running around.

In a lot of ways she's a blank slate with just an outline drawn. I'm really uncertain how to write her, but I do know I want to give her a chance to grow, like Buffy had.

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"Buffy, you might want to head home first." Giles suggested once they were back on Earth. "See your mother, we can talk tomorrow."

"I have no idea what to tell her." Buffy confessed.

"The way you're dressed should give her a clue you didn't run off to live the high life." Heidi offered. "Unless you're going to go for full disclosure, which she deserves, you could just say you woke up wearing that and not remembering anything. She'll probably take you to the hospital to get checked out."

"Which is a good idea anyway." Xander told her. "You really need to have some specific tests run."

"Like what?" Buffy eyed Xander and the way the four other kids seemed...protective? of him. Just what was going on there?

"Angelus was a dead body whether Angel was in the driver's seat or not." Xander answered. "And old Liam, the human that body belonged to before Darla killed him and Angelus moved in, he had a reputation. Angelus gave Willow STDs and probably gave you them too." He said bluntly, glaring at Buffy. "On top of the torture and everything else he did to her."

Yeah, that cost her the battle with her lunch and she barely made it to the garbage can next to the checkout desk.

Giles glared at Xander, his bluntness had gone too far in Giles' opinion and it had not been necessary to make that statement in front of the others. Xander's face twisted for a moment as he wrestled with his rage and after a minute he said. "Look, Buffy, I'm pissed and I don't know how long I'm going to be pissed and I'm very aware that I'm lashing out. Even being an ass on occasion. In the last oh, five or six days, I've found my parents mutilated bodies, Willow's damaged one, buried my parents and discovered I've got power. To say it's been a lot would be putting it mildly. And you and Giles could have prevented it all from happening, except the power part, that has nothing to do with you. But you, you're also a barely seventeen year old girl who just wanted to have a fairy tale romance. Your Halloween costume clued me in on that. Your fairy tale's turned into a nightmare, not just for yourself, but for all of us. Go home, talk to your Mom, get checked out. And stay away from me for awhile, I need time to deal." He headed for the Library doors, the other four following him as Buffy wiped her mouth and looked at Giles and an uncomfortable Fred.

"Giles, Fred has a project that may be you can help her with." Buffy suggested. "I'm going home and do what Heidi suggested, at least for now, tell Mom I don't remember anything and get tested. Tomorrow you can tell me what's going on with Xander and those four and what Xander means by power."

"I probably am the best person to explain it, at least somewhat." Giles agreed. "And there are things I need to tell you as well, Buffy. We'll talk tomorrow."

"Yeah, tomorrow." Buffy headed out and Giles turned to the silent Fred.

"How can I help you? By the way, I'm Rupert Giles."

"Winifred Burkle, you can call me Fred." Fred set the bag on the Library table. "Do you know anything about Trionic or tryptic languages?"

"A bit." An intrigued Giles bent over the books Fred pulled out of the bag and soon became lost in this new project