The Gift, Take Two

Title: The Gift, Take Two – Chapter 1: Bad Idea
Email: Dafmeister@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse is owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox and a bunch of other people who aren’t me. No infringement of copyright is intended blah blah blah…
Distribution: Faithfanfiction.net, Mystic Muse, Shades Of Grey, Slayer's Fanfic Archive, A Sorta Fairytale, Oralfxatn, anyone else who tells me first.
Rating: R
Timing: Kicks off in Season 5, between “Forever” and “Intervention”
Feedback: Please do, it keeps my morale up when my muse is being difficult.
Spoilers: Everything up to the end of Season 5
Author’s notes: I started writing this after asking myself “What might happen if Faith was involved in the battle against Glory?” The question first arose after I read Wlfgrrl’s “Reflections”. You don’t need to read that story to understand this one, but I’d recommend it anyway just because it’s good.

Huge thanks to Kaz, beta extraordinaire, and to Leila, my friend and sounding board.

* * * * *

This is a bad idea.

You got a better one?

No.

Then quit complaining.

She won’t want my help.

Probably not, but I’ll have tried.

She’ll probably kill me.

That works too.

I’m not ready.

Will I ever be?

I’m having an actual argument with myself. That can’t be a good sign…

* * * * *

Standing in the twilight gloom of the cemetery, Buffy felt the tears falling softly from her eyes. Every time she visited her mother’s grave it felt a little more real. The initial shock and numbness had lasted for days, and it was only now that she was truly beginning to grieve.

“Hey, B.”

At the sound of that voice, Buffy’s grief disappeared under a tide of other emotions; shock, a flash of fear, and finally, boiling rage.

How DARE she come here!

Buffy spun round on the spot, her foot lashing out. Faith, who had expected exactly this response, didn’t try to defend herself and tumbled to the ground with blood trickling from her nose.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Faith! I knew you were too weak to last in jail, but you should’ve run. Why come to my mother’s grave? To gloat?”

“I came here because I was following you, B! How would I know where she’s buried? Jeez, I only knew she was dead ‘cause Angel told me.”

“Then why? To make my life that little bit less bearable? To try to kill someone else I care about?” Buffy snarled, tears flowing unheeded over her cheeks.

Faith looked up at her old enemy and realized, perhaps for the first time, the depth of Buffy’s sense of betrayal. “Do you want me to answer that?” she whispered.

“YES!” Buffy screamed.

“I’ve been having these dreams, B. I think they’re like those Slayer-prophecy dreams you and Giles used to talk about.” In spite of having thought through what she was going to say on the journey from Stockton, Faith could barely get the words out. “I never had one before. Seemed like something bad was going down in Sunnydale…”

“So, what, you thought you’d bust out of jail and try to really screw things up for us?”

Hearing the note of contempt in Buffy’s voice snapped Faith’s control over her temper. Surging to her feet, she grabbed the smaller girl by the shoulders and yelled in her face, “I thought that MAYBE you could use some HELP!”

Instead of fighting back, Buffy simply burst out laughing. ”You thought YOU could help ME? How? By switching sides again?”

“Damn it, B, I don’t how these dreams work! Maybe this whole thing isn’t as bad as I thought, but I couldn’t just sit there and not try to find out! You look me in the eye and tell me you got it covered, and I’ll go turn myself in again.” Faith half-turned away from her fellow Slayer, trying to hide the fear in her eyes.

“I’ve. Got. It. Covered.”

“Fine!” Faith turned and walked out of the graveyard.

* * * * *

Told you so.

It was the right thing to do.

She’ll never trust me again. Why should she?

I still needed to do it.

Here we go for three months in solitary…

“Faith.”

Yards from the door of the police station, Faith spun around and saw Buffy standing in the shadows of a side alley.

“B! How’d you get here so fast?”

“Car.”

“You drove? Any fatalities?” Faith couldn’t help herself; the idea of Buffy behind the wheel still seemed weird.

“Very funny. You were actually going to turn yourself in, weren’t you?” Buffy couldn’t keep the disbelief from her voice, not that she was trying very hard.

“It’s not like I got anything better to do: my diary’s pretty clear for the next twenty-five to life.” Faith turned back toward the police station, then felt Buffy’s hand on her shoulder.

“Faith, wait.”

“Why? You don’t trust me, you don’t want my help, and the longer I’m missing, the harder they’ll be on me when I go back.”

“Did you expect me to trust you after everything you’ve done?”

“I don’t know… hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

“I can’t take the chance, Faith, there’s too much at stake…”

Faith nodded silently, turning away so Buffy wouldn’t see the tears gathering.

“Come and talk to the others. If they’re willing to let you, you can stay.”

Faith couldn’t help laughing bitterly at that idea. “Might as well turn myself in now, B. Saves time.”

“Lose the self-pity, Faith, you’ve got no right to it. Take the chance or give up, your choice.”

The dark Slayer took a deep breath. “Which way to the car?”

* * * * *

“How’s Dawn doing?” Faith broke the uneasy silence that had settled over the Jeep.

“About as well as can be expected. She’s had a lot to process lately.” Like finding out she didn’t exist a year ago. Buffy wasn’t sure how, or even if, she should let Faith in on that little gem of information.

“And the others? Is Red still with that blonde girl?” Faith wracked her mind to remember the other girl’s name, but came up blank.

“Yes, Willow is still with Tara.”

“Xander?”

“Still with Anya.”

“What about…” Faith trailed off.

“What about what?”

“You and Riley?” Did I screw that up for you?

“We broke up.”

“Why?” Please, please, please not because of me!

“We… just weren’t right for each other.”

“Oh.”

Silence descended for a while.

“I’m sorry about your mom.”

Buffy looked across at Faith, who was staring rigidly ahead. The other woman seemed sincere. Buffy simply didn’t know what to make of what was happening. She couldn’t even say why she hadn’t let Faith turn herself in.

As the Jeep approached 1630 Revello, Buffy was immediately worried. “Something’s wrong.”

“What?”

“Xander and Giles are here.” Buffy pointed out the BMW and Ford.

“Great…” Faith muttered.

“Second thoughts?”

“More like fifth.” Come on, Faith, get it together! “Let’s go.”

As soon as the Jeep stopped, Buffy sprang out, trying to imagine what would have brought Giles and Xander over like this. Flinging the door open, she was confronted by not only Giles and Xander, but the rest of the Scooby Gang as well. Willow and Tara were flipping through what looked like spellbooks. Anya was pacing in circles around Giles, who was assembling the tranq gun, while Xander was comparing axes for weight and reach. The only one sitting still was Dawn, who looked plain scared.

“What’s happened? Is it Glory? Dawn, are you okay?” Buffy was kneeling in front of her sister before Faith had even made it into the house.

Giles cleared his throat. “Shortly after you left, Dawn had a phone call from Angel. It seems Faith has escaped.”

“Just what we need, Psycho-Slayer on the loose again.” Xander said bitterly, finally picking an axe and moving on to crossbows.

Buffy let out a sigh of relief that she didn’t have anything more to deal with that night. “I, uh, already know about Faith…”

Various cries of “What?” and “How?” came from around the room.

“Hi guys.”

Everyone turned to see Faith standing in the doorway.

Faith had known this wasn’t going to be easy, but the wave of fear, hate and disgust directed at her was so intense that she took a step back before she realized what she was doing. She steadied herself against the doorframe and looked over at Buffy. “I told you this was a waste of time, B.”

“Buffy, what the hell is going on?” Xander snapped.

“Guys, just calm down for a second. Hear what she’s got to say, then we’ll decide what to do.”

“What’s there to decide? This is Faith we’re talking about!”

“Xander, just listen for a moment please.” Giles didn’t understand what was happening, but he’d seen Faith’s mask slip a little, caught the defeated look on her face at Xander’s reaction. “Faith?”

Leaning against the wall, never meeting anyone’s gaze, Faith began. “A few days ago, I started have these dreams, nightmares really. I mean, I get nightmares a lot, but these were different, they weren’t about me and the stuff I did. My first Watcher told me that sometimes Slayers get dreams about things they’re going to face, but she didn’t explain much. I heard you guys talking about them sometimes before…”

Willow finished for her. “Before you betrayed us?”

Yeah, thanks Red, really needed to be reminded of that… “Anyway, the first time I figured it was just my fucked-up subconscious screwing with me, but I kept getting the same dream over and over. Seemed like someone was trying to tell me something so I hopped the wall and headed here.”

Xander snorted derisively. “Oh, you ‘hopped the wall’, just like that?”

“You think I’d stay somewhere like that without making sure I could get out if I had to?

Giles silenced Xander’s next remark with a glare. “Faith, can you tell us something about this dream?”

“Well, it’s all pretty mixed up, but I know I’m in Sunnydale – I can see that huge neon sign on the front of the movie theatre. I’m standing somewhere high, like the top of a building, and there’s this weird light, but I can’t see where it’s coming from. And there’s blood somewhere, I can smell it. And then I’m back on the ground, and the light’s gone, and I can see you guys, and you’re looking down at something on the ground and crying. I couldn’t just sit there and not at least warn you.”

Buffy looked straight into the dark eyes as she asked, “Why not just use the phone?”

Faith’s mouth twitched into a brief, wry smile. “You saying you wouldn’t have hung up on me?

Everyone was silent for a moment, then Buffy stood up. “If that’s all you’ve got to say, Faith, go wait out back while we talk this over.” Faith looked over the group once, trying to assess the chances of them believing her, and didn’t like what she saw. Closing the back door behind her, she sat on the steps and lit what she expected would be her last cigarette for a long time.

* * * * *

“Anyone believe her?” Buffy sounded skeptical.

“No way. Absolutely no way.” Xander was staring at the door as though he expected Faith to burst through and attack at any second. “How can you even ask that after everything she’s done?”

“He’s got a point, Buffy, Faith doesn’t exactly have a good track record for honesty.” Willow was managing to stay calmer than her old friend, but was still jumpy – she probably wasn’t even aware that she was compulsively straightening up the books and papers on the table.

“On the other hand,” Giles broke in, “she did voluntarily turn herself in and remained in jail for a year, when she clearly could have escaped almost at will.”

Buffy had begun pacing nervously. “Giles, what did you think about the dream she described?”

“Well, it certainly sounded like a prophetic dream…”

“You mean big on the ‘You’re all gonna die!’ and sketchy on the stopping it part?” Buffy knew only too well how vague such dreams were. “Dawn? Tara? Anya? What do you guys think?”

“I don’t like her.” Anya said firmly. “She hurt Xander, stole your body, threatened Willow-”

“We’re all well aware of Faith’s transgressions, Anya.” Giles cut in. “The question is, can we trust her?”

“I-I believe her.”

Everyone turned to look at Tara. “Why, baby?” Willow asked quietly.

“I think she’s scared – of us, that we won’t believe her.”

“Tara, you don’t know Faith like we do, you don’t know the damage she can do.” Xander remained firmly unconvinced.

Tara lowered her head, but refused to back down. “I know she’s not the same person I met last year.”

Buffy sat down beside her sister. “What do you think, Dawn?”

“I don’t know. I mean, if we ignore her, and she’s telling the truth then something really bad happens, but if we trust her and she’s lying I’m stuck between Faith and Glory… I think Tara’s right, though.”

Buffy looked around at her friends. “So, what do we do?”

* * * * *

Sitting on the back steps, Faith had long ago finished her cigarette and was now simply savouring the night air. Occasionally she could hear raised voices from inside the house, but tried to block them out and just enjoy being free. Eventually, she heard the door open. She didn’t need to look to know it was Buffy standing behind her.

“So what’s the verdict?”

Buffy sat down beside Faith, carefully not looking at her. “You’re staying here. Giles and Dawn are setting up a bed in the basement. We need to keep you out of sight; I’m pretty sure the cops won’t be happy if they find out we’re hiding an escaped convict.”

Faith smiled slightly at that. “I didn’t think any of you would believe me…”

“Well, we talked it over, and then I called Angel, and we decided to give you a chance to prove yourself.”

“Got it. Was Angel mad I didn’t call him?”

“He was… worried. I told him you’d call tonight.” Looking at her fellow Slayer for a moment, Buffy wondered what Angel saw in her that the rest of them didn’t. “I suppose I’d better fill you in on what’s happening…”

“Won’t be able to do much if you don’t, B.” Faith’s attempt to lighten the mood fell flat.

“Glory. Her name’s Glory, and she’s a god.”

Faith’s eyes widened at that. “A god, as in… a GOD?”

“Yeah. Seems she’s stuck here in the body of a human, so she doesn’t have much in the way of power – except that she’s stronger than me and seems to be completely invulnerable.”

“Great. So what’s her deal? She just in town to soak up the Hellmouth vibe?”

“She’s looking for something called the Key. We have it. We don’t know what it does, but no-one thinks letting her get it would be a good idea.” I can’t tell her the whole story, I can’t afford to trust her that far…

Silence reigned for a moment before Buffy spoke again. “You’re not going to ask what the Key is?”

Faith, with a little help from the darkness, was able to hide her disappointment at Buffy not trusting her completely. Like I have any right to it… “I figure, if you want me to know, you’ll tell me. Asking won’t change that.”

“You’re right. If you show me you can be trusted, I’ll think about telling you.” Buffy stood up. “Mess with us, just once, and I’ll kill you.”

Faith heard the door close behind her, and wondered if she could manage not to screw this up again.