Kennedy stood next to Giles as she watched the last of the delivery men finish setting up the final treadmill in the newly renovated Gym.
“I don’t get why we need treadmills, can’t we just run in the vast majority of nothingness located immediately outside the castle?”
“I…didn’t think of that,” Giles turned to the deliveryman as he was walking past, “What’s your refund policy?”
The delivery man looked back at the 15 treadmills him and his team carried in and set up, then looked at Giles “Are you being serious mate?”
“Erm…no, of course it’s fine, thank you, Kennedy here will see you out.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes at Giles and followed the man outside, passing Buffy on the way.
“Wow looks impressive!” Buffy said as she entered the gym.
“Yes it has shaped up rather well, I must say.”
“I say we charge 30 dollars, my bad, pounds to all the wildlife outside, unlimited use membership.”
Giles smiled at Buffy, “Yes well, as amusing as it would be watching rabbits lifting weights, I think we’ll need it free for our girls. Speaking of, they’ve all gone shopping with Xander, did you wish to train?”
Buffy stretched her arms; “It’s been a while since I’ve had a training session with my watcher,” She smiled at Giles and moved over to the mats.
“I’m not sure I’m your watcher anymore, my duties have been incredibly different over the past year or so,” He said sadly as he walked over to the mats where Buffy was now sitting.
“I’ve been thinking about that Giles, and I know the council doesn’t really operate anymore, thank god, but I do think the idea of a watcher is important, I don’t know what I would have done without you. I don’t know if I’d still be alive if I didn’t have you to guide me, in an ideal world, every slayer should have one.” She looked at him to gage his reaction before continuing, “That’s actually what I came to talk to you about, maybe training people up to become watchers, Dawn wants to do it, believe it or not, I think Andrew would be good at it, and maybe if there’s slayers that don’t want to fight, we could find a place for them there. Still fighting, just not on the front line, so to speak. What do you think?”
Giles was silent for a moment before taking his glasses off, “I think it sounds like a lot of hard work, but do able. It would mean a lot of demonology study for whoever wants to volunteer themselves... I think it’s a great idea Buffy, I just question whether or not I’m the right man to guide them…It’s been a while.”
Buffy sat quietly for a moment before jumping to her feet, “Well I guess it’s time to dust off the old tweed suits,” Giles looked up at her from his place on the mats and laughed, “Come on watcher, slayer here, waiting for her training session.”
Giles stood up and smiled at Buffy, “Indeed.”
_________________________________________________
Faith walked into Willow’s new office, “Hey, you wanted to see me?”
Willow smiled at Faith, “Sure, just thought I’d tell you that you’re officially not a fugitive on the run anymore, give it a week, and you should have your passport too.”
Faith looked surprised “For real? You mean I can stop telling strangers my name’s Lucy Diamond?”
Willow laughed, “Who’s your Amy?”
Faith grinned before taking a seat in front of Willow’s desk, “I’m not sure if I’ve found her yet!”
Willow raised her eyebrow, “Lesbian references, people will talk.”
“Ahh let em, I got the whole prison deal to back me up, thanks by the way.”
“No problem, so… not sure huh?” Willow prodded.
Suddenly Faith experienced something that had only come to her a few times in life. Nervousness, “Erm…I don’t know.”
Willow smiled reassuringly, “I might be way out of line here, but is it Buffy?”
Faith eyes bugged out at Willow “Hell no! We are talking about the same prissy little, self righteous, necro maniac right?”
Willow looked surprised at Faith’s answer, she had been so sure that she’d sensed some kind of love sick puppy vibe from Faith, she just assumed it was for Buffy, due to their fiery chemistry over the years.
“Really?”
“Yeah why did you think it was her?” Faith asked.
“It’s just…it doesn’t matter.”
“No come on, tell me,” Faith pushed.
“It’s just Buffy seemed convinced that you tried to hit on her not too long ago.”
“What!? I never…” Realization hit Faith, “No way is she turning that round on me, she came to my bedroom to hit on me. I swear Red, I turned her down flat. I was practically a second away from showing her that I’ve got a pulse just to get her to leave me alone.”
Willow eyed Faith for a moment, “But there is someone…so who is it?”
Faith locked eyes with Willow and suddenly felt an overwhelming need to escape, she broke Willow’s gaze and looked down into her lap, before speaking quietly “I...erm…I told some of the girls I’d take them patrolling tonight,” Faith stood up and smiled at Willow, “I better go see where they’re at,” She said before leaving the room.
Willow silently watched her leave with concern etched on her face.
A WEEK LATER
Kennedy watched Buffy, and Giles leave the room, after they had finished patching her and Faith up. When they were alone she turned to Faith and approached her with anger.
“What the hell was that back there?”
Faith glanced at her before turning her back on her, and began putting her jacket back on, “My bad, I thought you could handle a vamp by yourself.”
Kennedy angrily spun Faith round and shoved her against the wall, “You just stood there!”
“You need to learn Kennedy! We can’t always be there to baby you through a patrol. You want this so bad? You need to up your game,” Faith moved to walk past and leave, not before stopping and making eye contact with Kennedy, “oh and for the record, you touch me again, and I’ll rip your stitches open and shove your head through your gaping wound.”
“…You’re disgusting.” Kennedy said
Faith’s smile sent a shiver down Kennedy’s spine, “bout time you figured that out.”
Faith sped past Buffy and Giles in the hallway and walked straight outside the front of the castle, she looked back on herself, before continuing to walk around the building to the side and finally leant against a wall. She released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, before pulling her cell phone out and immediately dropping it. Looking down at her hands, she suddenly realized she had been shaking. She quickly bent down and picked up the cell phone again before dialing the only phone number she had ever memorized.
“Faith?”
“Hey big guy.”
“How’re you doing? I’m sorry about the other week, I’m still tryna figure out that scoop thing, I think Fred’s going to have a mental breakdown if she has to go through it with me again.”
Faith smiled, immediately starting to feel herself calm, “Yeah, it’s Skype by the way, and it’s cool, no big…”
“Is everything okay?”
“…”
“Faith?”
“I just, I dunno if I can do this.”
“Well, you’re actions have proved otherwise.”
“No, my thoughts.”
“We’ve gone over this Faith, it’s not about the thoughts.”
“But it is!” Faith took a deep breath before continuing, “You don’t know the kind of things I’ve been thinking lately, there’s someone here that just pushes all the wrong buttons…I almost let her die tonight.”
“…”
“I mean, no, I wouldn’t have let that happen, but I wanted too.”
“And that’s exactly what I’m talking about, your actions define who you are, not your thoughts… I know you Faith, I know you wouldn’t have let something happen to...?”
“…Kennedy.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, exactly. I mean, normal people don’t think like this Angel.”
“Well I hate to break it to you Faith, but you’re not normal, neither am I.”
“I gotta get out of here, I can’t stay here and watch them be together all the time, it takes me to a bad place.”
“…Are you in love with her Faith?”
“…Does love feel like this?”
“Sometimes.”
“Then maybe I am,” Faith looked down at her shoes before angrily rubbing tears off of her face.
“Well then maybe it’s time to take that risk? Talk to Willow, or if you don’t want to do that, you could always come back here. There will always be a home and a job for you here.”
“I can’t tell Red how I feel, I just can’t!”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to.”
“Would it make me a coward if I left?” Faith said before taking a deep breath and looking up at the stars.
“…I can’t answer that.”
Faith scoffed before replying “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Faith…”
Faith stayed quiet whilst gathering herself together again, Angel also remained quiet, knowing she was still on the line, just respecting her need for silence in that moment. Still looking up at the stars, she finally broke her gaze away from their beauty to look at the forest in the near distance, before speaking up again. “I’m gonna stay, you’re right, my thoughts are my own deal. It’s my actions that count. I’ve screwed up my calling enough for one lifetime. I got a responsibility, and I want to be here to … ”
“Protect her? I know the feeling.”
“Angel thanks, I’m sorry I keep putting this on you.”
“I know you think there’s not enough sorry’s in the world to atone for your actions, but leaning on me is something you never have to apologize for.”
“…Thanks.”
“Anytime.” The call ended as Faith slid her phone shut, she closed her eyes for a moment, before walking round to the back entrance of the Castle, wanting to avoid as many people as possible.
Unbeknownst to Faith, Kennedy had stepped out of the shadows with a mixture of anger and determination on her face. She stood for a moment, before back tracking to the front of Castle.
The following day Faith had decided she needed to do some damage control. She made her way down the many hallways poking her head into every other room, looking for the person she needed to talk to. As she entered the Gym, she faltered before she walked over to one of the punching bags.
“Hey,” Faith said uncomfortably.
Kennedy threw a final punch at the bag, and then held it still. She looked over at Faith, “Hey,” She replied before turning her head back to stare at the bag.
Faith watched her for a moment before deciding it was best to just jump straight to it, “Listen, I wanted to apologize about yesterday, I was way out of line.”
Kennedy turned her body to fully face Faith, she looked at her intently for a moment before breaking out into a smile “It’s cool, there’s a rumor going round that you come with issues,” Kennedy said as she approached the bench where her water bottle was.
Faith laughed and walked over to the bench to sit with Kennedy, “Yeah, I think there might be a little too much truth in that.”
Kennedy took a swig of her water and looked around the gym, making sure they were alone, “Yeah? Tell me.”
Faith looked at her with an uncomfortable smile on her face, “We’d be here all day.”
Kennedy swiveled her body on the bench to face Faith, “You want me to trust you?”
Faith looked a little stunned by Kennedy’s question, but slowly nodded.
“Good, cos I want to trust you too. But I can’t do that unless you tell me what runs around in that head of yours.”
Faith immediately looked away and stood up, she rubbed her hand against her mouth whilst looking over at the exit of the gym, the last of which Kennedy noticed.
“Okay,” Kennedy laughed, gaining Faith’s attention, “How about you just explain yesterday to me, I mean you don’t really owe me any more than that.”
“I guess you’re right…” Faith said unsure of herself.
Kennedy stood and walked over to the mats, “Come spar with me.”
“You taking a psychology course I don’t know about?” Faith laughed as she followed Kennedy to the mats, “This is totally an approach Angel would take.”
Kennedy shook her head whilst smiling, “No psychology course, just trying to be a friend…That’s what we are right? Friends?”
Faith smiled back at Kennedy, “Yeah I guess so.”
“Good.” Before Faith saw it coming, Kennedy struck out at Faith clocking her against her jaw and sending her straight down onto the mat.
Faith looked up at Kennedy before wiping a little blood away from her nose. She flipped herself back to her feet, “You tryna fast track to big girl clothes?”
“You told me I need to up my game.” Kennedy said as they began to circle each other.
“I guess I did…You really wanna play hard?”
“Absolutely,” Kennedy jabbed at Faith, who easily avoided it, “Why did you threaten to shove my head into my stitches yesterday?”
Faith smiled, “Cos it’s a vile thing to say, and vile shocks.”
“So you like to shock people?”
“No,” Faith blocked a kick by grabbing Kennedy’s foot, twisting it, and sending her straight into the ground, “Sometime’s I just like to remind myself.”
“Remind yourself of what?” Kennedy asked before flipping herself back to her feet.
“Of how normal people don’t think what I think.”
Kennedy tried to elbow Faith in the face, but Faith easily avoided it and sent Kennedy back to the ground, “It keeps me grounded, see what I did there?” Faith smirked
Kennedy stood back up, a serious look on her face, “You’re not playing hard enough, this is the big bad Faith everyone resents?” She said before managing to land a kick to Faith’s abdomen, winding her in the process. Faith coughed a few times, whilst Kennedy took the opportunity to land a flurry of punches to Faith’s head. Suddenly getting aggravated by the constant violence, Faith upped her game.
An hour later Faith and Kennedy lay sprawled across the mats, blood and bruises visible on both of them.
“I think we gave Edward Norton and Brad Pitt a run for their money,” Faith said as she stared up at the ceiling.
Kennedy turned her head to look at Faith, “So let’s rewind, you say you think messed up stuff right? And that makes you what, a freak?”
“Are we still doing this?” Faith groaned as she tried to move onto her side
“I wanna know Faith, I’m not walking out of here looking like Carrie covered in pigs blood, if it’s not gonna be worth it.”
Faith smirked at Kennedy, “You don’t look that bad.”
“Faith!”
“I don’t know! Okay, I just…sometimes I think there’s something wrong with the part that makes me good,” Faith glanced at Kennedy before carrying on, “My soul. Like maybe its defective.”
Kennedy looked at Faith before bursting out laughing, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”
Faith looked at Kennedy, before getting to her feet, “You know what, screw you, I don’t even know why I’m talking to you, you’re just some random newbie. You can’t even begin to know what this is all about.” Faith turned around and began to walk towards the exit.
Kennedy sat up and looked at Faith, “What you think I haven’t had a hard life?”
Faith spun round to face Kennedy on the mats, “Yeah I’m sure you had a real hard time tryna figure out where you were, ya know, every time you got lost in a wing!” She turned round to leave again.
This time, Kennedy watched her exit, she lay back on the mats and smiled to herself.
Kennedy shut the door and leant against it. She felt awful, her whole body was screaming in pain, and she was pretty sure Faith was in a similar way. She walked over to her bathroom and looked in the mirror. Faith was right, she didn’t really look that bad. Well not as bad as she felt. Her left eye was already swollen and black, she had a nasty bruise on her cheek, and blood smeared down around her mouth and cheek, where her nose had bled before.
Standing in front of the mirror, she stared at herself and wondered if what she was about to do was justified. Knowing if there was ever a last chance to back out, this would be it.
She sighed and walked over to the phone, picking it up she dialed an internal number to Willow’s office.
Hearing Willow answer, Kennedy took a deep breath before speaking, “Will, baby I need you come to our room”
“Is everything okay?”
“Not really. Its Faith. She attacked me.”