What's Going On?
Who: Giles, Buffy, and Faith
Where: Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Dawn's Place
When: After the whole 'accidentally killing a slayer' debacle
Status: Complete :)
( Telling What Happened )
Where: Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Dawn's Place
When: After the whole 'accidentally killing a slayer' debacle
Status: Complete :)
( Telling What Happened )
She sat in the car once she pulled up. Her thoughts were on how exactly they were going to deal with this. She and Buffy weren't on good terms - when were they ever? - but the more Faith thought about it, the more she realized the two of them had more and more in common than Buffy would ever admit.
Still, the blond Slayer had come to Faith's rescue. Sure, Faith didn't believe Buffy killed the other Slayer FOR her. But at the same time, Buffy had still risked her life for Faith.
She got out of the car and approached the front door when it opened and a worried Giles let her in.
Faith shut the door behind her. "We got problems, Giles," she told him. "Xander's in the hospital. We found the rogue, but she decided to pull a knife on us. Xander got the sharp end of the knife in the scuffle. He's okay, though. B's in the hospital with him."
She turned to him. "There... was an accident, though. With the rogue. She's dead."
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And then it was like a ton of bricks had hit him. "She's...she's dead?" If she was attacking, then they had to defend themselves...but they had come here in an effort to help her, or possibly save her from herself. This was pretty much the opposite of what they had intended. He pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes for a moment, sinking back down onto the sofa.
He looked up at her after a moment. "You have to tell me what happened." There was no longer a tribunal to report to when a Slayer died in action, or if a Slayer killed another person (he guessed that either Faith or Buffy did the killing by accident). For that he couldn't help but feel a little relieved. It was just something that they had to deal with now, and hopefully they would be able to do so.
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She looked up when Giles confirmed he had heard what she said about the rogue being dead. Her eyes shifted to the ground a moment, hearing him remove his glasses. It was a sign he was perturbed by the news, which was a big fat understatement.
Faith sat back. "We cornered her in the motel room we tracked her down with. It was stupid - we shouldn't have agreed to let Xander be the one to knock on her goddamn door, but the guy's pretty insistent on helpin' so we didn't think much of it. Anyway, the guise only worked for like one fucking minute before she knew the game was up and she attacked Xander with the knife. It got 'em in the arm."
She rubbed her own arm a moment. "Then I came in and wrestled with her a little and she got the better of me for a split second. Next thing I knew, Buffy had tackled her offa me and when they came to a stop, the knife was stickin' outta the rogue."
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He listened to her as she started to describe what had happened. It seemed to him that the Slayer might have been extra edgy when they had approached her. He wasn't sure why they had let Xander go in before them, although he remembered the boy (man, he was a man now) wanting to be rather helpful in all situations. While he was more than capable of defending himself, a nervous and worried Slayer with a knife was not something that he should have been throwing himself against.
And it was Buffy who had done the actual killing. "It sounds like...it was an accident," Giles said after thinking on it for a moment. "After she attacked, I'm not sure it could have come out much better." Not that he had wanted this to happen. Oh no, not at all. The girl had been willing to flee them at every turn, but he had hoped that, once they actually got to her, she would be willing or even wanting to talk.
That hadn't been the case at all, though, it seemed. "Are you OK? Did she hurt you in any way?" he asked Faith.
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Glancing up at him, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm cool, Giles. My pride might've been bruised by lettin' a baby Slayer get the best of me, but other than that, think I was the lucky one outta the three of us."
Faith sat up straight again, running her fingers through her long, dark locks. She looked back at Giles, right into his eyes. "I think B's messed in the head because of all this, G.Think she needs someone to talk to before she jumps off the deep end. I know how that's like, and then some. I think she needs ya'."
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"Me?" He hated that him and Buffy were so estranged that he could barely picture himself talking to her about such a thing happening right now. "Do you think she'd even be willing to talk to me about this?" She might not. She might just push him away and say that she was fine, or just say that she didn't want to talk about this with him. He didn't want her to go down the same route as Faith had done, though, because they hadn't talked to her properly.
He looked away for a moment, still thinking all of this over. "Maybe she would do better to talk to someone who has already gone through it before?" he suggested. If anyone knew what was going through her head right now, it would be Faith. She had been in this exact situation, actually. She had killed someone who hadn't been a demon or vampire of some type. Maybe she would be better for this than he would.
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She had a feeling he would try and get Buffy to talk to Faith. It seemed logical but right now, Faith didn't think logic had much to do with the situation. "You and me both know she ain't gonna like what I have to say. At least, she won't take my word for it. She'll hear me out, I think me and B got passed that, but I don't think she'll listen. We're still in the stage where we think the other is just tryin' to be 'right' rather than... well, just bein' right, ya' know?"
She leaned over and nudged his arm with her knuckles. "She needs to hear this shit from you, G. Despite everythin', I think you two are a true team. Ain't nothin' gonna change that, even though you think they have. What she needs to hear needs to come from you... For both your sakes."
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He pinched the bridge of his nose when Faith explained that him and Buffy were a true team. "We may have once been a 'true team' as you say, and we'll always be connected, but the trust that we once had is gone, on both sides. I made my mistakes and she made hers."
This might be the opportunity for them to start to rebuild the bridge a bit, though. He stood up. "I will talk to her, though. She might need to hear this from me, but I just hope that she's willing to listen."
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Which she pretty much got.
She knew it, though. She knew no matter how many years could pass, Giles would always be Buffy's Watcher. And it didn't make Faith jealous at all.
Faith sat back in the chair. "Glad you're listenin' to me for once, G," she said with a smirk. "It'll do ya' both good. It's rough. Me? I did the wrong thing and lied to ya' when I killed Wilkins' assistant. That's how rough it can get." Not that Buffy would ever lie to push the blame off of her.
"Good luck," she told him, sincerely.
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"Luck is what I'm going to need to get her to listen to me now," he admitted. He wasn't entirely blameless in all of this, either. The mistake he had made listening to Principal Wood in trying to get rid of Spike. It had made it so that she would never want to listen to a thing he said again, even if his heart had been in the right place with worry about her. Of course, he had been proven wrong in Spike being the one to save them all with that pendant he had been wearing.
He smiled up at Faith. "At least you are here to be the voice of reason between all of us." Something that none of them would have expected to come from Faith, but time had showed all of them that they couldn't exactly have any expectations or assumptions about anyone. It would do them a lot of good to remember that as well.
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Of course, the dead slayer still weighed heavily on her mind. Still way too heavily. She pulled into the driveway of their home and didn't care that her parking job had been a little skewed. She spotted Giles' vehicle still there. She clenched her jaw, ready to climb back in and drive somewhere so she didn't have to deal with him.
She knew there had to be a bar around here somewhere… She sighed. She had faced Xander and had faced zillions of scolding and varying disapproving expressions from Giles. So, she should just go in.
Buffy opened the door quietly, hoping no one would notice her. But, Giles and Faith were sitting on the couch in the living room having a conversation. Probably about her. She stuffed her keys in her jacket pocket and stepped into the living room, arms folding around herself. "Hi," she said, expressionless as she took a seat on the edge of the armchair in the living room. "I'm guessing you heard," she said, glancing at Faith for a moment before she fixed her gaze on Giles.
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"Ah...yes, Faith explained to me what happened," he said to Buffy. "She told me that you were trying to keep the girl from continuing to attack Xander and to keep her from attacking Faith." Which, in his eyes, meant that it wasn't her fault.
Of course, even after all of their time apart, he could still read Buffy pretty well. He could tell that she was feeling like she should have been able to do something better, to keep that girl alive and not kill her. "Buffy, if the girl's first reaction whenever someone talks to her is to either run or attack, her fate was unfortunately sealed." They had followed her through multiple towns, and she had run each time she realized that they were there. He had hoped that they could talk her down, but, after running so many times, she may have thought they were there to attack her, or she felt that attacking them would make them leave her alone.
"Buffy...this isn't your fault," he finally said to her. "I had hoped that we could bring this girl in, but she was against us from day one. If she attacked you, then it was self defense."
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Even after everything, there was understanding. And even forgiveness. Her brow crinkled, not sure she wanted this reaction. Shouldn't she be punished? Shouldn't she be carted off to the nearest Watcher jail? Not that she would go willingly, but still. She just couldn't believe that everyone was taking it so well.
"It's not…my fault?" she repeated the words softly, still confused by his understanding.
"You're right," she said after a long pause. "But, I still feel just awful. I can't stop picturing what happened," she reached up and rubbed her eyes, as though that would make the image disappear. "I know she was attacking us, but she was a Slayer. I made her that way. Because I made Willow do the spell, she was forced to be a Slayer and went all nutso. Not all people can handle it…and I wanted to help her," she sighed, not intending for that all to come spilling out, but it was definitely the root of her guilt.
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"If you didn't feel awful about it, you wouldn't be human, Buffy," he pointed out to her. "Just because you were justified doesn't mean that you will necessarily feel great about what ended up happening." Especially since the girl had been made a Slayer by Buffy's decision to enact them all. "The judgment to activate all the Slayers was one that had to be made, Buffy. We wouldn't have survived with just you and Faith and a bunch of regular girls." Sad but true. The lot of them had barely survived, anyway.
"I know you wanted to help her, so did I," Giles admitted to her. "We chased her across the country in an effort to make her understand what was going on." He sighed. "Faith and I both tried to talk to her, but all she did was run some more. It wasn't that she didn't believe or even that she couldn't handle what we were telling her. She liked the idea of being strong, but wanted to use it for her own benefit."
He looked away. "She's not the first who rejected the idea of being a Slayer. She's certainly not the first to attack people." Faith wasn't even the first to do that. "Even if she had been called as a Slayer in the old way, I think her reaction would have been the same. Her reaction had nothing to do with the spell you had Willow cast, Buffy."
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She wondered if Faith had felt the same after Buffy tried to tell her it wasn't her fault for killing that man. But, there was a difference. Buffy cared and said so, while Faith pretended not to care. And Buffy was a bit less stubborn. So, maybe she should just accept it and move on?
Even if she did, she knew she'd still see the dead girl in her dreams. But, eventually that too would fade. The incident would become a distant memory. These thoughts filled her as Giles comforting words continued. "So, maybe it's better this way," she thought sadly. She remembered the mental patient that had become a slayer in Los Angeles and wondered if it would have been better or more merciful to end her life, instead of continue keeping her locked up for her own good.
"I guess I didn't really think of the consequences when I had Will do the spell," she said, "I just assumed, Poof! All the potentials are slayers and we'll all come together to save the world and lalala all would be right with the puppies and kittens." She sighed, "I guess I overlooked the whole potential criminally insane and mentally insane people that might be slayers."
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"Better may be a strong word, but it's a situation that I think would have come up if it were you, Xander, or Faith going there, or Faith and myself going there on our own," he admitted to her. He hated that this girl just wasn't properly cut out to be a Slayer. To even put it that way felt like he was dismissing it too quickly, but it was true. Every potential was not necessarily made to be a Slayer. Dana, the mental patient, had shown just how true that was before.
"Even if there was still the old line of Slayers, the line could have passed to any girl that had mental problems," Giles told her. "It's happened before. The Council would just find a way to get the girl out of wherever she was being kept and keep her on a very tight leash. It still didn't usually work out." He had grown to dislike even talking about the old Council, considering what all they did for the 'greater good.' He knew for sure that they would have tried to use Dana, or worse, just 'put her down' in an effort to get a Slayer that was more controllable and predictable.
"At the time, that was the best idea that could have been come up with." Many more people would have died if they hadn't activated all of the Slayers. None of them may have survived long enough to get out of there.
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