CHAPTER 2

Faith turned to look at Angel who had a grin on his face, “Willow?!”

“Oh god,” Faith groaned as she collapsed in the chair behind her.

Angel laughed before taking a seat in Giles’s previous chair, “Really? Willow!?”

“What’s wrong with Red?” Faith replied defensively.

“Nothing, she’s grown into an amazing woman,” Angel said with a smile on his face, “I just never thought I’d see the day, I mean you, falling for somebody.”

“Yo, no one ever said anything about falling for anyone, I’m not a walking romance novel dude, I’m not you!” Faith said agitated.

Angel grinned at Faith, “Would ya stop grinning at me, its kind of weird. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without at least one frown line on your face.”

“The words pot and kettle come to mind,” Angel quipped.

“Quit grinning, I’m not in love!” Faith said uncomfortably.

“Are you sure, because if you want help writing her a poem, I’m free for a couple of hours right now,” Angel said looking down at his watch.

“You’re not taking this seriously,” Faith said with dejection in her voice.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just…” Angel hesitated before continuing, “Your heart sped up pretty quick back there.”

Faith gave Angel an inquisitive look before shaking her head and smiling “That’s some pretty creepy shit you got going there, I’d keep it to yourself in future.”

“Duly noted, so…Willow huh?”

Faith stood up and walked over to the door, which was currently open a jar. She peered out at Willow who was currently at the welcome desk talking on the phone, presumably to the Coven in England. Faith looked down and sighed before closing the door gently. She turned around and leant against it, before looking at Angel.

“Do you think it’s weird?” She said before taking her previous seat again.

Angel shook his head before making eye contact with Faith, “Honestly, no. I probably should do, but hey, who would have thought that Cordy and me would have fallen for each other the way we did. Look at Buffy and Spike, I bet when they first met; they never knew where they’d end up. I know I didn’t.” Angel finished off under his breath, “Growth is an incredible thing, you shouldn’t be hung up on what people think.”

Faith listened patiently to his words whilst looking down at her lap, “Yeah, so you think I should go after her?”

Angel smiled again, “No.”

“What?” Faith looked up surprised at his answer, “Why not?”

The vampire stood and stretched his arms out before replying, “Because she’s in a relationship, and if what you’re saying is true, about you not being in love with her. Then it’s not fair to her, or her girlfriend. Are your feelings for her strong enough to be worth all the pain you may cause? From what you’ve told me, the answers no.” Angel looked down at Faith, who looked a little dejected, he crouched down in front of Faith’s chair to look at her on her level, “Faith, I know you feel something for her, but if you want my advice, wait it out. Give yourself time to figure out what it is you’re feeling, and who knows, in the mean time, their relationship may not actually work out.”

Faith looked him in the eyes; “I thought that I was a complete dick when I thought that.”

Angel smiled, “Yeah well, you and I will always have a little dick inside us,” Faith raised her eyebrows at this, “That came out wrong,” Angel knitted his eyebrows together in frustration.

“Dude...” Faith smirked

“I just meant, that, we’ve both got a darker side, we’ve been there and we’ve become it. So it’s always going to be a part of us. But it’s not our thoughts, it’s how we choose to act that mould us into who we become,” Angel finished off gently.

Faith looked at him with a slight smile etched onto her face, Angel rolled his eyes before standing up, “You’re still thinking about the dick thing aren’t you?”

Faith laughed before standing to walk towards the door with Angel, “Dude that was like, easily, the best thing you’ve ever said!”

_____________________________________________________

“Buffy, all I’m saying is maybe you should try and be nicer to Faith, she’s really changed.”

“She really hasn’t!”

“Buffy.”

Buffy sighed before leaning back on the bed next to Willow, “Will, I went to her bedroom the other day, to try and reach out, she practically tried to sleep with me!”

Willow turned to look at Buffy, shock etched on her face, “She what!? Faith’s gay? Well I mean, that’s fine if she is, cos you know, hello,” She said waving a hand down to herself, “Plus I always kind of thought she might be at least bisexual, but still, she tried to sleep with you?”

“Practically!” Buffy said in a distressed tone, “She was all, ‘Oh I would totally do you right now B, I mean you’re a wicked hottie, but like I’ve gotta go sit in the basement and stare at the walls for a while like the criminally insane psycho that I am,’” Buffy said in her best Boston accent.

Willow turned to look back at the ceiling, “You noticed that too huh?”

“What the psycho part?” Buffy said looking at Willow.

“The basement thing, you know team Angel have a camera set up in there right?”

“They do? That’s a little weird. Maybe we could record Faith rocking back and forth like a loon and make it go viral.”

“Buffy!” Willow playfully slapped Buffy on the arm.

“I’m kidding…sort of,” Buffy replied.

“Well anyway,” Willow continued, “I kind of peeped, I didn’t mean too, but I did. She doesn’t just sit in the basement, Buffy she sits in the cage. She hasn’t been out of prison that long. I was wondering if it’s some kind of coping mechanism. You know, sitting in there. I’ve heard of prisoners being released and not adjusting well to the outside world, do you think that’s what it could be?”

“I don’t know…you seem awfully blasé about her trying to sleep with me,” Buffy replied.

“Well we could chalk it up to two things, either she was just being Faith, or it’s odd behavior and I add it to the cage thing. Maybe I should talk to Angel, I’m kind of worried about her Buffy,” Willow said thoughtfully.

“Well don’t be, I just put it down to her being dumb, I still vote for the viral video option.”

“Buffy!”

_______________________________________________

CHAPTER 4

ONE MONTH LATER:

I’ve been walking round this castle, yeah you heard me right, castle, for like 2 hours now. I’m the only one here. Red had been so snowed under, she didn’t really have time to go through my records to clean them. I think I’m kind of glad about that. I know she’s gonna do it sooner or later, I just don’t want her seeing all my early shit too ya know? Stealing cars, fights, might even be a couple of drug charges there. Okay so I was never in juvi too long, but still, it doesn’t look good. So yeah, no passport for me. Yet. I was the only one that got teleported straight here. Not gonna lie, never been on one, but I still think I’d prefer a plane ride to doing that again.  I vomited as soon as I got here, thank god Red didn’t come with me. I’m gonna hazard a guess, that’s its not an attractive look!

The other’s get here tonight, I don’t really know how the time difference works, but I know I got a couple hours before they even have to be at the airport in L.A.

This place is the kick! Giles flew to the UK a week after we had the big meeting, but he had to fly back to L.A to go over some stuff with Red. Anyway, for the short time that he was here, he managed to at least fix up the living area. The bedrooms are the only areas that are fully furnished. I dumped my one bag full of clothes Wesley got me when I broke out, in a room that I claimed as my own. What can I say, first come first served right?

I’m pretty sure I haven’t covered the entire ground of this castle yet, it’s kind of freaky being alone here, cos you see, I’m not alone. After the first hour, I had this feeling something was following me. Like around me you know? So I was literally walking to the door of the basement, I know, I know, I got a thing for basements, and I’m not even shitting you, the latch pulled itself up and the door opened. There’s some kinda ghost here. I don’t think it’s evil, I don’t get that vibe. Like I said, it’s a little freaky, but I’m not scared. I’ve been around a ghost before. Back in my crazy days when I tried to shake up Cordelia, she had some kind of spazzed out demonic energy in her apartment. I remember it kind of made it difficult for me to break in. Kept throwing shit at me while I was waiting for her to get back. I ended up threatening to kill her if it didn’t stop. Well that made it stop.

I don’t know what kind of ghost this is, but it feels okay. Nothing bad ya know? I’ve named it Sam, after Sam Wheat. You know the movie Ghost? Before you say it, I was forced to watch it in prison, I don’t want you to go around thinking I’m into chick flicks or whatever. Besides, Sam’s kind of like a unisex name, so it fits. It’s not like I know what this ghost was packing back in its living days!

Well other than walking into a bunch of empty rooms for a few hours, there’s not much to tell.

I guess I’ll just tell you about the last month. I stopped avoiding Kennedy. I talked to her like Red asked, and without telling her the real reasons, managed to talk my way back into her good books. We’ve hung out a few times, but nothing like how we used to hang before. Just doesn’t feel right. It’s cool though, she’s started to form pretty good friendships with some of the other newbie’s, so I don’t feel like I’m abandoning her or anything. Even though we’ve smoothed things over, I still get a weird vibe from her, just now and then. Like she’s tryna figure something out.

B has been more of a bitch than ever, actually that’s not entirely true. She had a moment of relapse. About a week ago, I came to the realization that for Red’s sake I should probably make an effort with B. So I went to her room with a peace offering. See I recently made three stakes for myself, really cool ones with bits of silver embedded in them. I found a cloth full of shreds of silver when I was getting a book for Angel, he told me some warlock exchanged them with him for a favor. Well anyway, Angel gave me a few pieces when he saw I was carving a few stakes. I’m not really sure if the whole silver through the heart thing is actually relevant anywhere in demonology, but they look cool as fuck! So I decided to give one to B.  She totally dug it at first. Then it just got weird. She gave me this really long hug, first of all, I’m not into hugs. At all, and this one was like longer than Schindlers List! So like I gently pushed her away, and told her I’m not into that touchy feely stuff. That I wasn’t giving her the stake to like get felt up or nothing. I mean, it was a joke! Well anyway the bitch punched me. I give her a present and try and be nice about it, and she punches me! I went flying through her open doorway into the corridor, in front of all the newbie’s, before she slammed the door shut on me. I don’t know what’s up her ass, but that’s the last time I try and play nice with her. She kept the stake. Bitch.

Red’s been super nice. We’ve been hanging out a lot lately. She’s been talking me through how to adjust to life after the big house. It was kind of out of the blue, but I wasn’t about to question it or nothing. Hey, if it means we get to hang out one on one, that’s fine with me. I thought about what Angel said, and I’ve given it time. I don’t really know what to call how I feel.  But it’s intense. I’m sticking to the plan though, wait it out. Who knows, I might get over it. In the mean time, I figured there’s no harm in just hanging out with Red.

She came down to the basement one evening, and asked if she could join me. I was stunned; I really didn’t think I’d be interrupted, least of all by her! So she came and sat by me, and started asking me about the prison. What it was like, did I make friends, etc. I’ve heard about girls that think con’s are kind of a turn on. When I was inside, we had the option of getting mail from girls, and guys all over the world. Like a pen pal. So I was thinking, cool Red’s got some kind of kink for prisoners! I should have known better, turns out she just wanted to make sure I transitioned okay to life in the real world. She’s too good for my filthy mind.

Another time, we were hanging out in my bedroom, it was so relaxed you know, we’d spent a while just talking about dark shit. It got pretty heavy, and I wanted to lighten the mood. So I asked her to teach me a magic trick! She kind of looked surprised at first, and then she smiled, stood up, went to my desk and got something. A pencil. She placed it in between us, and I swear she didn’t even look like she was concentrating; she could have been playing the Playstation whilst riding a unicycle and still float that pencil without blinking an eye! She’s kind of awesome like that! So I listened to what she told me, and I concentrated. Nothing happened. I tried again. Still nothing. Then something awesome happened. She laughed, then held my hands and told me to concentrate again.  The thing lifted up, it was so cool. I still think it was her that did it, but it was nice of her to humor me like that!

She’s got the most amazing smile, I’m such a dumb ass, how did I not see that before?

I think I’m gonna go into town, there’s like 6 identical black cars out front, I noticed a bunch of keys in the kitchen. I’m gonna see what my new town’s all about!

Buffy, Xander, Willow and Kennedy were currently in a four seater, 2 facing each other on the plane.

Xander was currently in the middle of throwing a peanut over a few seats, aiming for Andrew’s head.

“Ow! Mr. Giles, he’s doing it again,” Andrew complained whilst rubbing his head, “I’m going to have peanut salt in my hair!”

Xander sat back and quietly laughed before turning to Buffy who was sitting on his right, “Ya know I think for a guy with one eye, that was pretty impressive, did you see how it bounced off his head?”

Buffy rolled her eyes, “You need to get it to stick in his hair, you’re doing it all wrong,” Buffy took a peanut from Xander’s hand, and without taking much aim managed to get the peanut to embed itself into the front quiff of Andrews hair.

“Mr. Giles!!” Andrew whined as he pulled the peanut out of his hair.

“Oh for goodness sake,” Giles stood up and walked over to Buffy, Xander, Willow and Kennedy, the last of whom was trying hard to stifle a laugh. “You four insisted on sitting together in order to work out plans for the upcoming weeks, you’ve made me sit with Andrew, who not only has a fear of flying, but also has an absurd belief that all British people have inside knowledge of whether or not the cast of Red Dwarf are planning another reunion. I would appreciate it, if you would keep your antics to yourself, and make my journey slightly more bearable,” Giles finished before returning to his seat.

Willow looked at the others before speaking, “Well, as amusing as that was, I agree with Giles, we have a lot to plan, and seeing as we have nothing to do for this journey, it’s the best time to go over it, and look I have multicolored highlighters, see? A good time is yet to be had!” She smiled.

Buffy leaned forward and reached for a pad of paper, “I honestly think the best thing to do for the upcoming weeks is as much training as possible, for all the newbie’s, they’ve literally been thrown into the deep end the moment they became slayers. They need to learn some control techniques. Slow down a little and learn what it is they’ve become,” She said looking at Willow.

“I agree, Giles and I are still going through paperwork. We need to find doctors, that are willing to stay on sight with us. Preferably people that are in the know about what goes bump in the night. If it’s okay with you Buffy, I’d kind of like to enlist Dawn in helping us out with that. She’s always been good with research, it might be a good start for her, make her feel valued,” Willow replied.

Buffy nodded, before Willow continued, “I guess in the mean time, you and Faith could work together in training the girls?”

“I can teach the girls too,” Kennedy spoke up, at which Buffy and Willow made eye contact. Willow turned to Kennedy.

“Sweetie, I think it’s best you take this opportunity to learn as much as you can…in Buffy and Faith’s classes,” Willow said.

“This is stupid, okay I haven’t been a slayer that long, but I had a watcher! I’m way more experienced than any of them. You shouldn’t put me in the same league as the newbies,” Kennedy replied

“You kind of are a newbie,” Xander added to which he received a death glare from Kennedy.

Willow hesitated before replying “We’ll talk about it when we get th-“

“No, I mean you want us to take direction from Faith? What’s she gonna teach them that I can’t? It’s not like she’s a model slayer! She’s spent the last four years in Jail, and before that she was either in a coma or killing people! Buffy and I can handle this Willow, maybe Faith’s the one that should be taking the class,” Kennedy looked at the others before continuing “I like Faith, she’s cool to hang around, but I’m not gonna forget what she is. She’s a murderer.”

“Well in case you’re forgetting, so am I. If you want a first-hand account, go ask the guy pulling peanuts out of his hair!” Willow said, struggling to keep her cool.

“That’s different,” Kennedy said as she sat back in her seat and looked out of the plane window.

“How is it different? What, I’m allowed to atone, but she’s not?” Willow looked to Buffy and Xander for help, upon realizing she wasn’t about to receive any, she continued but this time to all three of them, rather than just Kennedy.

“Faith is the Slayer, in the true form of it. She’s the current chosen one; the line runs through her, we can’t just demote her! Sure she hasn’t had the best track record, but she’s experienced enough to know what she’s doing. Second to Buffy, she’s the longest living Slayer that’s ever been. Plus, she wasn’t always bad; she’s trained with watchers, and went out and fought alone at one time.  Her understanding of the dark side is far more valuable that you even seem to want to realize. Faith and Buffy are teaching the classes together, and you’ll be there, as a pupil. That’s final.”

The others were silent for a few moments, until Xander spoke up “Well, I was thinking Andrew and I could build a security unit, I could help Andrew learn a bit about carpentry…” Xander trailed off as Kennedy abruptly stood up and moved to the other side of the plane to sit with the newbie’s, “Well that was rude.”

Willow sighed and rubbed at her forehead, “Forget it Xander, go on.”

________________________________________________

It had taken four taxis’ to get all of them from the airport to the castle. Giles had spent most of the car ride staring at the meter and multiplying it by four, then muttering about expenses.

As the cars pulled up, Giles got out of the vehicle and looked at the five parked cars in the driveway. “That’s odd, I ordered six of these.”

“Maybe Faith’s gone on a joyride, ya know, just to add to her ever growing rap sheet,” Buffy said as she walked past him. He shook his head before turning to the drivers to settle the bill.

Dawn stood staring up at the castle, “This is incredible, I feel like I’m moving into Hogwarts!”

“You’re not gonna make us all wear robes to class are you?” Vi said, Buffy turned to look at her strangely before Vi continued, “I hope Faith cooked something, I’m starving.”

“I think we may have to order out,” Buffy replied.

Willow walked up to the others “I’m not sure, we’re pretty far out in the middle of nowhere, I don’t know if anyone will deliver this far.”

“Well you’re not bloody wrong there, do you know how much those thieving bastards just charged me!?” Giles said as he watched the taxi drivers pull out of the driveway.

After everyone had unloaded their things, most of which, including all the weapons had been teleported over with Faith, everyone was feeling exhausted and hungry. Xander, Willow, Buffy, Giles and Vi were all in the kitchen. The other’s had opted for a tour around the castle.

“Why didn’t we stop off and get groceries on the way here?” Vi said solemnly whilst munching on an ice cube she found in the freezer.

“Xander and myself will take one of the cars, and come back with groceries,” Giles said whilst taking a seat at the table.

“But it’s so late, it’s like,” Vi looked at the clock on the wall “9.30 already, will anything be open?”

“Well if worst comes to worst, I believe there is a vegetable patch somewhere outside on the grounds, the previous owner took a liking to growing cabbages,” Giles replied, to which he received numerous groans.

Just at that moment Andrew came barging into the kitchen with Dawn “Do we have any bug spray?” he blurted out as he began to furiously search the shelves.

Dawn rolled her eyes at him, “Andrew you can’t get rid of a ghost with bug spray!”

“There’s a ghost?!” Xander and Buffy shrieked in unison.

“Aha!” he turned around with a spray can of Raid in his hand, “We can but try, young sibling of the slayer, we can but try,” he said before running out of the kitchen again with Dawn hot on his heels.

“Okay, why did nobody mention there was a ghost here, did you know about this?” Xander asked Giles as he stood up and began to pace.

“Oh god, why did I watch Paranormal Activity on the plane,” Buffy said with her head in her hands.

A light outside the window caught Willow’s attention, she stood to investigate “It’s a friendly ghost, I felt it’s presence as we walked in, it’s nothing to worry about,” squinting to see through the darkness, she realized the lights belonged to a car that was about to pull up in the driveway, “I think Faith’s back.”

All five of them stood to greet Faith outside.

Faith had just got out of the car when she saw the five approach her.

“Where the hell have you been!?” Buffy exclaimed.

Faith smirked at the blonde, “Just wanted to see what this place had to offer B, gotta say, the quick answer, is not much.”

“Faith, I would rather you didn’t drive any of the cars just yet, you’re not insured,” Giles said whilst taking his glasses off.

Faith watched him whilst walking over to the passenger side of the vehicle, she opened the door, “I’m guessing you’re not gonna want any of these then,” she said whilst pulling out a stack of about 10 large pizza boxes.

“Oh my god!!” Vi screamed excitedly, and leapt forward to take the boxes from Faith.

“There’s another 10 on the back seat,” Faith said before walking over to the trunk, “Guys I got a few days worth of groceries, wanna give me a hand?”

Willow approached the trunk of the car and smiled at Faith, “Thanks for this.”

“No problem,” Faith smiled back.