The Gift, Take Two

Title: The Gift, Take Two – Chapter 7: The Question Before The Court
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: Overall R to NC-17
Timing: End of Season 5
Feedback: Yes please, it really helps keep my morale up when my muse is being difficult.
Spoilers: Everything up to the end of Season 5
Summary: With Faith seemingly out of danger, Buffy has a proposal for the group.
Author’s notes: Huge thanks to Kaz, beta extraordinaire, and to Leila, my friend and sounding board. Also to Gabrielle and Alice, who helped me out of the legal minefield I wrote myself into. And just so we’re clear, my description of the structure of the Watchers’ Council has absolutely no basis in canon.

* * * * *
Spike had just switched on the TV and settled into his battered armchair when the door of his crypt opened, the rusty hinges squeaking. With a sigh, he set down his Bloody Mary (real blood) and turned looked around at the visitor. Seeing Buffy silhouetted against the afternoon sky, he relaxed – he really wasn’t in the mood to deal with demons.

“Don’t you ever knock?” he asked, more out of habit than genuine annoyance.

Buffy smiled slightly as she closed the door. “How’s your leg?”

Spike took a sip of his drink and regarded the injured limb, propped up on a footstool. “Sore, but not as much as yesterday. Should be fine in a day or so.”

“Good.” Buffy paused for a moment, feeling a little awkward in Spike’s company. “Faith’s awake.”

Spike looked around at her. “She going to be all right, then?”

Buffy nodded. “It’ll take a while, but everything’s fixable.” Buffy hesitated before bringing up the real reason she was there. “Spike, I’ve asked everyone to meet at the magic shop tonight at ten: there’s something I need to talk about and I’d like you to be there.”

Spike drained his glass before answering. “All right.”

For a moment Buffy thought he was going to say something more, but he kept silent – until she opened the door to leave. “Will Angel be there?”

“Yes, he’ll be there.”

There was no reply.

* * * * *

The door opened, creaking slightly. Faith stirred, half awake. Her eyes opened blearily, but she came full awake quickly as the moonlight shining through the window revealed the face of her visitor.

“Hey, Fang.”

Angel sat down in a chair by the bed. “How’re you doing?” His usual stoic expression masked a mixture of pleasure and concern over seeing Faith and worrying about her condition.

“I’m okay. I got a bed, three meals a day, and morphine on demand. What more does a girl need?” Faith smiled slightly. She shifted a little, trying to find a position where she could face Angel more comfortably, and winced as her broken ribs protested.

Even in the semi-darkness, Angel spotted her reaction. “Are you using the morphine?”

“Just enough to let me sleep,” she admitted.

“Faith…”

“You ever see someone on a morphine crash?” Faith looked him in the eye, a hint of fear showing on her face. “I have. I’m not gonna put myself through that, ‘specially not in solitary.”

Angel tried to reassure her. “They wouldn’t let you take that much, Faith.”

The Slayer just shook her head minutely. “Not gonna take the chance. ‘Sides, I’m a Slayer, got the whole high-pain-tolerance thing.”

Angel wasn’t happy with that, but decided to drop it – he knew how stubborn Faith could be and he didn’t want to upset her while she was healing. “You’re definitely going back to jail, then?”

Faith just looked up at the ceiling for a moment before answering. “I have to. Still got a lot of time to do, and I don’t think my little breakout’s gonna go down well with the parole board.”

“You could try to hide, maybe go for the border,” he suggested.

“No.” But… “No. I can’t stay out, I’m not ready.” Faith tried to fight down the pleading voice in her mind. But I don’t want to go back.

“You don’t sound too sure of yourself.” Angel reached over and took her hand gently.

“I’m sure. When things got bad, I wanted to…” Faith squeezed her eyes tight shut, but a tear still escaped. “I wanted to kill, Angel. When we realized what Ben had done, what he was – did B tell you about him? He was Glory, and he never even tried to warn us... I wanted to cut him open, see his blood pour out…” The tears began to flow freely down her cheeks. Somewhere deep in her heart, she raged at showing such weakness in front of anyone, even Angel.

Unable to hug the crying girl for fear of hurting her, Angel leaned over and gently cradled Faith’s cheek with his hand. “I doubt you were the only one, Faith.”

Faith looked up at him, her eyes glittering in the moonlight. “It’s not the same, Angel. I can’t let myself think like that, I can’t take the chance, and I still-”

Angel finished for her. “You don’t want to go back.”

Faith shook her head once. “No, I don’t, and that’s why I have to.”

* * * * *

As ten o’clock approached, Buffy nervously paced the length of the Magic Box. The atmosphere in the shop was already tense, and they were still waiting for Xander and Anya. Spike was sitting on the counter and glaring at Angel, who was seated on the stairs up to the gallery, seemingly lost in thought. Giles, Willow, Tara and Dawn had taken seats around the table and were talking quietly.

It was a couple of minutes after ten when the bell over the door rang, announcing Xander and Anya’s arrival. Xander was about to offer some lighthearted greeting when he spotted Angel and Spike. His jaw snapped shut, and he wordlessly took a seat beside Dawn so that he could glower at both vampires without moving his head too much. Anya joined him, her silence displaying an unexpected level of tact.

Everyone looked expectantly at Buffy. She stopped pacing beside the steps to the front of the store and turned to face them, her body held stiffly upright, arms crossed over her chest.

“Thank you for coming, all of you. There’s something I need to talk to you all about, and I’d rather get it over with in one go. It’s about Faith, what’s going to happen to her.” Buffy took a deep breath and asked the question. “Do we send her back to jail, or keep her here?”

There was a moment of shocked silence in the room, then Willow spoke. “Buffy, you’re not actually suggesting we let Faith stay free, are you?”

“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting, Will.” Buffy looked over at her, a hint of desperation in her eyes. “Look, I know how you guys feel about her, but I think she’s earned another chance.”

“I guess life really doesn’t mean life any more.” Xander said bitterly.

Giles cleared his throat before he spoke up. “Personal feelings aside, Xander does have a point, Buffy. Faith has been convicted of a crime and sentenced accordingly.”

“I know, Giles, but what she did here should mean something, shouldn’t it?” Buffy cast her eyes over her friends, searching for any sign of support.

Xander shook his head in disbelief. “So, what, she actually does her job for a change, and she can get away with murder?”

“She’ll never get away with it.” Everyone turned to look at Angel. “She’ll be carrying it with her for the rest of her life. They can’t do anything in jail that’s as bad as what that memory will do to her.”

“Oh, big surprise,” Xander snapped. “The bloodsucking demon’s on the side of the murderer. You want to get in on this too, Bleachboy?” He glared at Spike.

“Xander!” Dawn snapped. “How can you talk about her like this? She saved us all! If she hadn’t been there I’d have been sliced open up on that tower!”

No one noticed Spike’s face darken. Was I even there? My sodding knee says I was, but no one else seems to remember…

“You got an answer for that, Xander?” Buffy said harshly.

“Look, I’m as happy as anyone that Dawn’s safe, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna forget about Faith trying to kill half the people in this room.” Xander shoved his chair away from the table and started pacing.

“H-has…” Tara began, her voice faltering. “Has anyone asked Faith what she wants?”

“She doesn’t want to go back.” Angel replied.

“There’s a shock…” Willow muttered sarcastically.

Angel continued, ignoring the redhead’s comment, “The thought of being free scares her. She’s afraid of what she might do if she’s not locked up.”

“Okay, Faith is talking sense.” Xander observed from the corner, a look of surprise on his face. “Giles, isn’t that a sign of the apocalypse?”

Giles just glared at him and said nothing.

Buffy turned to face her friend and asked, “Why are you being like this? Two days ago you were sitting outside the operating room waiting for Faith and now you’re acting like she’s the enemy again.”

“It’s a lot easier to be nice about her when she’s unconscious, and I don’t have to worry about her strangling me again,” Xander retorted, his expression angry, and almost hurt.

“Is being in jail helping her?” Tara asked, partly to distract Buffy and Xander from snapping at each other and partly because no one else seemed to be considering it. “I-I mean, can they help her?”

“I doubt it.” Buffy replied. “They can’t help her deal with being a Slayer, and that’s what this is really all about. If she hadn’t been a Slayer none of it would have happened, she never would have even come to Sunnydale.”

“And you think you can help her?” Giles questioned, his expression neutral.

“Maybe. I don’t know, but I think we’re the only people who can.”

Willow looked at Buffy sceptically, “So you’re saying she’s our responsibility now?”

“Maybe ours.” Buffy allowed. “But definitely mine. I mean, I know she made a lot of mistakes, but I could have tried harder. I could have helped her if I hadn’t been… distracted.” She didn’t look at Angel.

Xander came and stood by her, wanting to draw a line under their argument. “Buff, you can’t blame yourself for what Faith did. You’re the one who stopped her, remember?”

Buffy closed her eyes for a moment as images of that final fight at Faith’s apartment flooded her mind. “I remember, Xander, believe me I remember…”

“I hate to break up the moralising,” Spike interrupted. “But can we keep Faith around? I mean, are you planning to hide her in the basement permanently, and just wheel her out when there’s slaying to be done?”

“Okay, now Spike’s talking sense, this is officially the Twilight Zone!” Xander joked as he returned to his seat, trying to lighten the mood.

“I hadn’t actually thought that far…” Buffy admitted. “Is there some way we can get the cops to stop looking for her?”

“Bribery often works. “Anya offered.

“It also means giving people lots of money we don’t have, Ahn.” Xander reminded her.

“Well, screw that.”

Spike had a thought. “What about Red? Could you mess with their computers, keep them off our backs that way?”

“Guys, we’re not talking about hacking the Sunnydale coroner’s office here.” Willow replied. Her expression wasn’t encouraging. “I’d have to get into the LAPD, the California Department of Corrections, probably some federal databases since she escaped.”

“Can you do it?” Buffy asked, her voice almost a whisper.

“Maybe, with a lot of preparation and some magic thrown in. Or I could end up sharing a cell with Faith for the next twenty years.”

Buffy’s shoulders slumped and she sat down on the steps, defeated.

“What about the Council?” Dawn’s question surprised everyone. “I mean, they’re always going on about how much pull they have with the government, maybe they can do something?”

Xander’s derisive snort left no doubt about his opinion. Anya put her arm around his shoulders and asked, “Do they even know she’s escaped?”

“They know.” Giles replied. “They were monitoring her, from a distance – I don’t think they wanted to chance another confrontation with Angel or Buffy. Quentin Travers contacted me the night Faith arrived here. I told him what had happened and convinced him to leave the matter in our hands.”

“Do you think Travers would help?” Buffy asked.

Giles took of his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We might be able to convince Quentin, but whether he could persuade the rest of the Council…”

“I-I thought Mr. Travers was head of the Council,” Tara said, confused.

Shaking his head, Giles replied, “Quentin is in charge of the Operations division. He’s responsible for the Slayer, and the various tactical units the Council has scattered around the world. There are three other divisions: Training, Research and Logistics. The Council itself is made up of the four divisional heads and the Chairman – I suppose you could say he’s the head of the Council, but there’s really no one person in charge.”

“But the Council could do it?” Buffy asked, not really interested in the finer points of bureaucracy.

Giles nodded. “Almost certainly. They may be the only people who can, or at least the only ones we have access to. Assuming, of course, we decide to do this. Are you sure you’ve thought this through, Buffy? If Faith turns on us again, I’m not sure there will be any way we can bring her back.”

“I’ve thought about it, Giles, believe me.” Buffy answered. “But what if I die? Can we be sure there’ll be another Slayer called? If not, Faith’ll be all there is. You want to just leave her in a cell until we need her? We might as well just paint “In case of emergency, break glass” on the prison gates!” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Giles, I shouldn’t be shouting at you…”

“It’s all right, Buffy, We’ve all had a rather trying few days, it’s only to be expected that we’re all on a short fuse.” Giles looked over at the staircase. “Angel, you’ve been… monitoring… Faith since she was arrested. What do you think?”

“She wants redemption, and she knows she has to earn it. She thinks she can only do that in jail, but I think, in the end, it’ll just end up hurting her.” Angel took an unnecessary breath, and continued. “She’s a Slayer. She knows that there are things in the world that she was chosen to fight. Sooner or later that’s going to start gnawing at her. I think the only way she can truly redeem herself is by fulfilling that destiny, and I think it should be here, where she can face her past.”

Buffy stood. “So, do we agree? We contact the Council and see if we can make this work?”

Silence reigned for a moment as everyone looked at Willow and Xander. Finally, Xander spoke. “Look, I just want to go on record as saying that I don’t like this, but I’ll give it a shot.”

Anya looked puzzled. “You’re not going to argue any more?”

“Ahn, it wouldn’t help. Besides, if Buffy and Giles think this can work, then I’m willing to believe them.” Xander looked around the group. “Just remember; if this goes wrong, you’re all in for a rousing chorus of ‘I told you so!’ before I bleed to death.”

Buffy smiled her thanks before turning to Willow. “How about you, Will?”

Willow frowned and said “Okay. Just as long as we don’t have to trust her. Or like her.”

“Thanks, guys.” Buffy turned to her Watcher. “Giles, make the call.”

“I think I’ll leave it for a couple of hours, Buffy, it’s not much past six in the morning in London.” Giles said, looking at his watch. “I doubt Quentin will be more likely to help us if we wake him up.”

“Do we tell Faith?” Tara asked.

Buffy shook her head. “Not until we know if we can make it happen or not. I don’t want to get her hopes up.” Everyone nodded, some more enthusiastically than others. Angel’s brow furrowed in thought and Buffy spotted the change immediately. “Something wrong?”

“Maybe. I just thought of a complication, or a possible one. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” Angel stood and walked over to the table. “Willow, if I give you a name could you use it to track down an address on your computer?”

“Yeah, sure.” Willow replied, her tone curious, as Angel wrote something in a notebook, tore the page out and handed it to her. She read the name and asked, “Who is this?”

“He’s… an old acquaintance from L.A. I think he’s in Oklahoma these days. That’s where he was heading last time I saw him.” Angel walked over to Buffy and gave her a quick hug. “Speaking of L.A., I think I’d better be heading back.”

“You sure you can’t stay another day or two?” Buffy asked. “I’m sure Faith would like to see you again.”

“I’m sure. I left Cordy and Wes babysitting a crazy physicist – don’t ask. I should at least drop in before I head for Oklahoma.

Buffy nodded her understanding and walked with him to the door. Angel looked deep into her eyes and whispered, “If you need me, you know I’ll be there for you, right?” She smiled at him and nodded. Another brief hug, and he was gone.