Of Those Chosen: The Twins - Chapter Thirteen
And here comes Chapter Thirteen, two days earlier than I said I'd have it done. Totally giving a shout-out to midnightsjane, who was a wonderful help with the medical questions I had for this chapter. She rocks my socks and my shoes, yo. That's a lot of rockin'.
Previous chapters are lost on a deserted island with a big, scary monster and probably want to be boinking Dom, just like ninety percent of my friends list does.
Chapter Thirteen
Bright Lights of Morning After
Xander called everyone from a payphone outside a diner the next morning. Faith sat on a bench near him, Rona's borrowed hoodie wrapped around her despite weather far too warm for it. Still, sweat was far better than an arrest for indecent exposure.
Xander leaned against the phone as he made the call. They removed the remains of her shirt that morning before they left the house. Xander took two plastic bags and some towels; he used the towels to wipe down the house for fingerprints and any other evidence they might have left behind, and wrapped the towels and the blood-soaked shirt in the plastic bags. Faith had the bags by her feet -- they would keep the evidence with them until they got to their house, where Willow would find some science-y or magic-y way to get rid of it.
Xander was on the edge of exhaustion, barely vertical; his shoulder braced against the phone was all that kept him upright. With his head wound, Faith had been afraid to let him fall asleep last night, in case he had a concussion. He didn't argue much, a sure sign that he was worse off than he was willing to admit.
Xander hung up the phone and walked over to sit by her on the bench.
"They should be here in about twenty minutes," he said. He chuckled slightly. "Rona tried to play it cool, like she wasn't worried. She said you better have kept her hoodie in one piece."
Faith smiled, but said nothing. She thought about the previous night. About how she kissed Xander, and how he then rolled over on top of her. About how sometimes, when she initiated something or reacted to his touch, he would jerk slightly, as though she wasn't quite what he expected. About how he lifted her arms over her head and held her hands, most of his body weight on her chest, but braced his body on his elbows to take just enough weight off her so she could breathe and enjoy the pressure. About how he paid attention to parts of her body she never thought guys knew about, like her collarbone, the underside of her breasts, and the inside of her elbows.
About how, for the first time in her life, she looked a man in the eyes while he was inside her.
How could she talk to him after that? What was there to say? She had no idea. She was content to sit there on the bench and wait for the others to come, and Xander seemed equally content. She wondered what he thought about. Was he ashamed? Did he regret it? Did he feel guilty? Was she nothing more than a warm body, a port in a storm? Was he wondering what she thought about right now?
They sat together in awkward silence for twenty minutes.
:#:
Robin barely parked the car before he jumped out. Faith could tell he was worried; he looked like he hadn't slept at all the night before. She stood up as he walked over calmly. His gait was tight, controlled, and she could tell he wanted to run over to her. She was glad he didn't.
Willow followed him closely, her eyes only on Xander. Neither wanted to make a scene in front of the diner, but the relief, worry, and concern on their faces were easy to see.
Robin hugged her tightly, his arms around her waist. "I... I'm glad you're okay," he said. She knew what he was about to say: that he was worried about her, scared she wouldn't make it back. He wouldn't say anything like that, though. They both knew what she did, how dangerous it was.
Faith looked back at Xander. He still sat on the bench, an annoyed look on his face as Willow examined the gash on his head. The cut was actually above his hairline, not on his forehead as Faith had originally thought. She wasn't sure if he would need stitches or not, this long after the cut was first opened.
Robin let go of her and pulled back. His hands slid up her sides and he gripped her face, much like she held Xander the night before. She looked up at him, focused on his mouth rather than his eyes as he told her that he always believed she'd make it out okay, that she was tough and a survivor.
And that was the difference between Robin and Xander, she realized. Robin believed in Faith completely, fully, and almost blindly, but Xander knew her. He knew where she came from, he knew what life was for her before she became a Slayer, and he knew her at her very worst. He experienced her worst. When Robin said something about Faith, he expressed his belief in her potential and what she could be. When Xander did the same, it isn't trust or faith, but rather a certainty of who she is and what she can do.
To Robin, Faith is religion; to Xander, she's truth, a tangible reality.
It made her feel guilty, these thoughts and feelings and what she did the night before. Robin was a wonderful boyfriend who treated her better than she ever imagined possible back in Stockton. He was intelligent and kind and had no problem being the boyfriend of a Slayer. And now she had cheated on him, with her Watcher. His colleague.
Faith looked back at Xander. He and Willow laughed at something together, his eyes on the ground, her eyes on him tenderly and exasperated.
Faith turned back to Robin and kissed him.
:#:
Willow wanted to take Xander to the emergency room for stitches. He claimed it was pointless, as the cut had already closed. She claimed that just washing his hair would be enough to open it back up again. He claimed it would draw questions, why he waited ten hours to bring a head wound in for stitching.
In the end, they compromised: Helen gave him four stitches. All the Slayers knew basic first aid, and a few researched other medical techniques which could be useful in the field. Helen was by far the most accomplished; her hands were as steady as a surgeon's, and she was almost as comfortable sewing up a person as staking a vampire.
He took a shower after, one he desperately needed. His hair had gotten long over the year since Sunnydale, since the life where he cared how he looked to the opposite sex, and now reached down almost to his mouth in shaggy, uneven waves. Rona and Janet threatened to hold him down and put it in cornrows every so often.
Still -- long hair on a guy was always a look he liked, ever since he saw Brandon Lee as The Crow a few years before Buffy moved into town. The forward head tilt, long hair falling into his eyes, sneer on his lips, it was always how he pictured a truly dangerous individual. Years of experience with Slayers, almost all of whom wore their hair long and pulled off the look perfectly, reinforced that image.
His long hair held a lot of blood, though.
It washed down over his body and scars, red over light pink and puckered white. The domestic weight he gained after high school was gone, replaced by the body he had back when he regularly ran from and fought with monsters and bullies. The scars stayed, though; the part of his body he couldn't revert to former dimensions. Horizontal scars across his stomach from several different demon attacks, a jagged scar on his elbow from the compound fracture at the end of his junior year, and scars on his knuckles from fist fights with vampires. No scars for his eye; no skin touched there, just eyeball.
He had a simple rubric for the severity of his injuries: who had to clean him up afterward. If he could shower on his own, he was fine.
:#:
Xander returned to his bedroom to find Buffy on the bed, waiting for him.
The angry look on her face stopped any lewd jokes he thought to make.
"Uh, hey, Buff," he said.
She just glared at him silently.
He glanced down at the towel wrapped around his waist. He had no desire to change in front of Buffy, but she was obviously pissed off about something and had no intention of leaving. He didn't want to argue in just a towel, either.
Xander grabbed boxers and a pair of pants and opened his closet door to block Buffy's view of him while he changed. He put the clothes on and came out into his room shirtless; there was only so much leeway she could expect, sitting in his room right after a shower.
"So, what's up?" he said.
Her voice was flat and clipped. "Faith told me about what you did last night."
Xander froze.
"Care to tell me what the hell you were thinking?"
God. He couldn't believe Faith had mentioned it, and to Buffy of all people. He didn't know what he wanted to happen between them, or how to handle what happened, but from the way she greeted Robin that morning, Xander thought Faith wanted to keep it a secret. "I--" he stammered. How could he answer a question he didn't know the answer to? He shrugged and looked down at the floor.
"Of all the-- I can't even believe you would do something so stupid!" Buffy said. "Thank God Faith stopped you!"
Xander jerked his head up to her. "Faith what?" he said quietly.
"Stopped your stupid, suicidal little plan to draw off the vampires and get yourself killed!" Buffy stood up as she continued to rant. "What the hell could make you even think that sending your Slayers away was a good idea? Are you crazy? Are you just trying to get yourself killed?"
"It's my job!" Xander snapped. He walked right up into Buffy's face and loomed over her; she, of course, didn't flinch. "Take a look, Buffy -- I'm not just a Scooby anymore! God, you have never seen me, not from the first day we met, you know that? None of you ever have. Well, look at me now, Buffy. Stop seeing that scared, stupid teenager and wake up. I'm a Watcher. I've got responsibilities now, people who depend on me, and sometimes that means a tough decision has to be made--"
"If you think getting killed is going to do the slightest bit of good for anyone," Buffy cut him off sadly, "then you don't know the first thing about being a Watcher or what you mean to your Slayers."
Xander stared at Buffy as his anger seeped away. He hadn't expected this; he was so used to being the Zeppo in her eyes, he didn't know how to respond when she showed he no longer was.
"Giles tried to do the same thing with me," Buffy said, her voice softer and warmer, "and that's about the highest compliment I can pay you. About a year after he became my Watcher, too, so you're right on schedule." Xander stepped back and sat down on the bed. Buffy grinned slyly. "That was the night I faced the Master. You remember that night, yeah?"
Xander grinned, too, in spite of himself. "Yeah. You knocked him out cold in the library, right in front of Miss Calendar. She told us what you said, about how Giles was the one who showed you the good parts to your destiny, taught you what it really meant to be the Slayer, and you couldn't disappoint him by letting him face it for you once that destiny came to an end."
Buffy stared at him. Think of something cool, tell him I said it, her words echoed in her head. Miss Calendar evidently took her words to heart. Still, seven years after Angelus, Buffy's feelings toward Giles's dead love were mixed at best.
Buffy shook her head and concentrated on what she came to Xander to do. "And you remember later that night?" Buffy asked. "You were a bit more useful than just as bait."
Xander shrugged and looked away. "Yeah, I guess."
"You've got three Slayers who depend on you, Xander." She turned to the door. "If you think all you're good to them for is bait, well... Now who's seeing you and who isn't?"
:#:
Buffy met Faith in her room after she talked with Xander.
Faith paced back and forth in the space between Buffy's bed and dresser. Either she didn't want to sit on her bed to wait, or she was too nervous to stay still. Buffy had no clue which it might be; Faith was, pretty much, beyond her understanding.
Faith stopped and looked up as Buffy entered, but stayed silent until the door closed. "Well?" she said.
Buffy shrugged. "Went fine, I guess. He seems okay to me, Faith -- I mean, as okay as a guy can be after getting hit in the head with a rock."
Faith tossed her hair and resumed pacing. "Nah. No way. Something's up, something's wrong. It's been there for a while, since Sunnydale, maybe even before, I just couldn't see it 'till last night."
Buffy watched Faith pace for a moment. "You'd think his best friends would notice something."
"I see him more often," Faith said. "We work together for hours every day."
"I've known him longer."
"By what? A year and a half? That's not much, not at this point."
"Well, how about Willow?" Buffy said. "She grew up with him. She's known him her entire life."
Faith stopped pacing and quietly said, "Yeah, she grew up with him, but I grew up like him." She shook her head angrily, as if the admission came out before she thought. Faith stalked over to the door, but paused again with her hand on the doorknob. "Look, B, just keep an eye on him. He's barely hanging on right now. I'm worried."
Before Buffy could respond, Faith opened the door and took off.
:#:
Janet and Kim roomed together in Kennedy's house.
The living arrangements were done not long after the gang moved from Sunnydale. Janet and Kim barely knew one another at that point. Kennedy's house had four bedrooms, but Willow wanted an office to put her computer equipment, spellbooks, and things of that nature, so Willow and Kennedy shared a room, Xander and Andrew shared a room, and Janet and Kim shared a room.
They lasted two months until their first fight broke out. Two months later, Willow threatened to turn them into tadpoles if they interrupted another "private tutoring session" with Kennedy. After that, neither spent time in the room unless she was changing or sleeping, which lessened the fighting greatly.
They couldn't avoid one another completely, though.
Janet entered the room in just a towel, fresh out of the shower, and found Kim digging through the closet. Kim turned when Janet entered.
"Hey. Know where my Slayer t-shirt is?" Kim asked. The shirt was her idea of a joke; she hated the band, but loved to wear it out on patrol.
"No."
"Huh. Well, if you see it, toss it on my bed, would you?"
Janet grabbed a pair of pajama pants out of her drawer and slipped them on under her towel. "Sure."
Kim went to leave, but paused at the door. "Overheard Giles talking to Aud," she said. "They're gonna assign them Watchers tonight."
"Cool," Janet said. "Glad to have them in the club."
"They're already in the club," Kim snapped.
"The having-a-Watcher club," Janet clarified. She pulled on a tanktop and wrapped her towel around her hair. "I agreed with you that they've been Slayers for the past year."
"And the rest of it doesn't strike you as messed up?"
Janet turned around and looked at Kim. "What 'rest of it'?"
"They just assign a Watcher, and the Slayer doesn't get a say in it."
"What?" Janet scoffed. "You gotta be kidding me. I trust them -- Wood, Giles, and Harris. They'll make the right choice. Besides, if one of the twins doesn't like who she gets, you know she can say something."
"We're setting a precedent here," Kim argued.
"What?"
"It's the beginning, here, where it all starts. How we do things is how things will be done for generations. The Watchers always controlled the Slayers, told them what to do and who to do it with, and we got a chance to change that for all the girls who come after us," Kim said. "I think we have an obligation to make sure it's done right."
"Kim!" Kennedy called up from downstairs. "Let's go! You don't need that stupid shirt!"
Kim looked back at Janet. "I know you trust our Watchers now, and I do, too. But if we don't take the power now, take a stand now, who knows what kind of Watchers will be around in a hundred years?"
Janet shook her head. "You're just paranoid."
"Think about it," Kim said as she left the room.
:#:
"I would like to keep Audrey under my watch," Giles said. "The intensity of her Slayer dreams worries me, as well as her difficulty in separating them from waking life. And -- while I certainly mean no disrespect to either of you -- I feel my extensive training and experience gives me an advantage in this situation."
"I agree, absolutely," Robin said. He and Xander sat across from Giles; Robin sat in the chair on Xander's right. "I was ready to suggest that if you said otherwise."
Xander nodded. "Yeah," he said.
Giles slowly let out the breath he held. He certainly thought Audrey required extra attention, but he felt both his colleagues more than able to provide that. The juvenile nature of his avoidance embarrassed him, but the main reason he wanted to have Audrey as his Slayer was to avoid the awkwardness of working closely with Katharine every day.
"And as for Katharine..." he said. He trailed off. How long could he avoid her?
"Xander," Robin said.
Xander looked over at him. "Yeah? What's up?"
"No." Robin shook his head. "I mean, Katharine should work with Xander."
Giles leaned forward and put his elbows on his desk. He had figured Robin would want at least one of the new Slayers to work with him. "How do you figure?"
"Well, a couple of things," Robin said. "First off, both of the twins require more attention, as they're new and unsure of themselves, and Xander's more equipped to give that attention than me. I don't think it's a coincidence that my Slayers are the most stand-offish and independent of the group.
"Second, I'm more comfortable in an administrative position than an instructing position, and I'd like to begin to move more in that direction. I always thought I was a better principal than teacher, not counting the whole evil-school-falling-into-Hell thing." He shook his head and leaned forward. "We have to start preparing to find more Slayers, and we're already stressed to the maximum regarding our Watcher to Slayer ratio now. We need more Watchers, we need more structure within our ranks, and we can't wait until Slayers start pouring in."
"Proactive versus reactive," Xander said quietly.
"What?"
"Just something Katharine said to me, that first day she was here. She mentioned how we were all reactive instead of proactive."
Robin nodded. "Exactly. We need to find more Watchers now, before it's too late."
Giles removed his glasses. "Unfortunately, the Bringers were extraordinarily thorough in regards to the Watchers' Council. Even those merely in the first stages of consideration for Council membership were killed. I have contacts in occult circles I can approach for candidates, but it will take quite some time."
"I was thinking we should contact that guy Connor Reilly," Robin said.
"The one who called Faith?" Xander said.
"Yes. She said he sounded intelligent, and he knows about Slayers already."
Giles nodded. "It's a start. I'll make the calls tomorrow. However, Robin, until our numbers significantly increase, you will be needed on both ends, instruction and administration."
"I understand."
"I'd offer to work your training if you do my research," Xander said, "but I think if we let Janet and Kim spar together, we'd be down two Slayers."
They all chuckled, and Giles slipped his glasses back on. "I'd like to talk about last night's ambush now, if we could," he said.
Xander nodded. "The girls did great," he said. "They fought through it beautifully, turned the tables on the vamps pretty quickly. Especially Audrey -- her sparring is horrible, but put her up across from a vamp, and she turns into Jackie Chan."
"I don't know," Robin said slowly.
"No, seriously, she's incredible," Xander said. "She did this thing where she dove through--"
"No, sorry, that's not what I meant," Robin interrupted. "I didn't mean Audrey doesn't fight well or anything. What I mean is, I don't think the ambush was a failure, on their part."
"Go on," Giles said.
"Well, from what you've said, it was extremely premeditated," Robin said. "They took the time to get the blurb in the paper, took out the security guards, all of that. And then used tactics that were just terrible for a kill -- but excellent if someone wanted to observe the Slayers in action."
"So you think that the ambush might have gone exactly as the vampires planned it?" Giles asked.
"We dusted at least twelve vamps," Xander said. "That's a pretty high price."
"If we're dealing with one or two intelligent leaders, I can't think of any reason we should assume that this enemy cares about the loss of troops," Robin said. "That attack had a purpose, and it wasn't to kill Slayers -- although if that happened, I'm sure it would've been seen as a bonus."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Xander said.
"Find out who was behind it," Robin said.
:#:
Katharine could tell something bothered her sister. Audrey always slept on her side, curled up into a little ball with the covers pulled up to her nose. Tonight, she lied flat on her back, the covers tucked underneath her arms.
Katharine could guess what the problem was.
Xander came to her earlier that night and told her that in two days, once the trial period was over, she would join Faith, Janet, and Rona as one of his Slayers. About the same time, she saw Buffy and Giles pull Audrey aside and talk to her.
She was actually glad that Giles wasn't her Watcher. Ever since the night when she gave him the guitar, he had avoided her, and when that failed things were extremely awkward between them no matter how much she tried to just ignore him or put him to ease.
She figured Audrey felt differently that her crush wasn't her Watcher.
"You awake?" Audrey said. Her voice sounded tiny in the dark room.
"Yes," Katharine said. Silence. "Aud. What's wrong?"
"I... It's Xander. I like Xander."
"I know."
Audrey jerked upright. "You know? Oh, God, does he know?"
Katharine scoffed. "He's a boy. They never know."
Audrey groaned and flopped back against her pillow. After a moment, Katharine got up out of her bed and climbed into bed with her sister. Audrey curled up beside her, her head on Katharine's shoulder, and Katharine stroked her hair.
"What's bothering you, Audrey?" Katharine said. "Liking a boy doesn't usually make people sad."
"He's seen them," Audrey said softly.
"He's seen what?"
"Her breasts, Faith's breasts," Audrey said quickly. "Xander's seen Faith's breasts, and she's all pretty and sexy like you -- but dumber -- and now he's your Watcher and not mine and some other girl like Faith is going to charm him--"
Katharine held Audrey gently against her as she cried. She could feel her sniffles against her neck.
"Honey, no," Katharine said. "No one's going to go charming him except you, I promise. Not me, not Faith, no one. Okay?"
Audrey nodded. "But he's seen her--"
"You think there are guys in this world who haven't seen Faith's bosoms?"
Audrey laughed. "That's from A League of Their Own," she said.
Katharine nodded. "I know. And you tell anyone I like that movie, and I kick your butt."
"You'll try." Audrey tried to smile, but it wouldn't stick. She broke down again, harder this time. "Kat, I'm a freak even among the freaks," she sobbed. "No one is gonna want me."
Katharine stroked Audrey's hair and rocked her gently, a familiar position for her. "Shh, sweetie, it's okay," she whispered as Audrey's tears fell. "Everything's gonna be okay. There's no crying in baseball."
-:-
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Previous chapters are lost on a deserted island with a big, scary monster and probably want to be boinking Dom, just like ninety percent of my friends list does.
Chapter Thirteen
Bright Lights of Morning After
Xander called everyone from a payphone outside a diner the next morning. Faith sat on a bench near him, Rona's borrowed hoodie wrapped around her despite weather far too warm for it. Still, sweat was far better than an arrest for indecent exposure.
Xander leaned against the phone as he made the call. They removed the remains of her shirt that morning before they left the house. Xander took two plastic bags and some towels; he used the towels to wipe down the house for fingerprints and any other evidence they might have left behind, and wrapped the towels and the blood-soaked shirt in the plastic bags. Faith had the bags by her feet -- they would keep the evidence with them until they got to their house, where Willow would find some science-y or magic-y way to get rid of it.
Xander was on the edge of exhaustion, barely vertical; his shoulder braced against the phone was all that kept him upright. With his head wound, Faith had been afraid to let him fall asleep last night, in case he had a concussion. He didn't argue much, a sure sign that he was worse off than he was willing to admit.
Xander hung up the phone and walked over to sit by her on the bench.
"They should be here in about twenty minutes," he said. He chuckled slightly. "Rona tried to play it cool, like she wasn't worried. She said you better have kept her hoodie in one piece."
Faith smiled, but said nothing. She thought about the previous night. About how she kissed Xander, and how he then rolled over on top of her. About how sometimes, when she initiated something or reacted to his touch, he would jerk slightly, as though she wasn't quite what he expected. About how he lifted her arms over her head and held her hands, most of his body weight on her chest, but braced his body on his elbows to take just enough weight off her so she could breathe and enjoy the pressure. About how he paid attention to parts of her body she never thought guys knew about, like her collarbone, the underside of her breasts, and the inside of her elbows.
About how, for the first time in her life, she looked a man in the eyes while he was inside her.
How could she talk to him after that? What was there to say? She had no idea. She was content to sit there on the bench and wait for the others to come, and Xander seemed equally content. She wondered what he thought about. Was he ashamed? Did he regret it? Did he feel guilty? Was she nothing more than a warm body, a port in a storm? Was he wondering what she thought about right now?
They sat together in awkward silence for twenty minutes.
:#:
Robin barely parked the car before he jumped out. Faith could tell he was worried; he looked like he hadn't slept at all the night before. She stood up as he walked over calmly. His gait was tight, controlled, and she could tell he wanted to run over to her. She was glad he didn't.
Willow followed him closely, her eyes only on Xander. Neither wanted to make a scene in front of the diner, but the relief, worry, and concern on their faces were easy to see.
Robin hugged her tightly, his arms around her waist. "I... I'm glad you're okay," he said. She knew what he was about to say: that he was worried about her, scared she wouldn't make it back. He wouldn't say anything like that, though. They both knew what she did, how dangerous it was.
Faith looked back at Xander. He still sat on the bench, an annoyed look on his face as Willow examined the gash on his head. The cut was actually above his hairline, not on his forehead as Faith had originally thought. She wasn't sure if he would need stitches or not, this long after the cut was first opened.
Robin let go of her and pulled back. His hands slid up her sides and he gripped her face, much like she held Xander the night before. She looked up at him, focused on his mouth rather than his eyes as he told her that he always believed she'd make it out okay, that she was tough and a survivor.
And that was the difference between Robin and Xander, she realized. Robin believed in Faith completely, fully, and almost blindly, but Xander knew her. He knew where she came from, he knew what life was for her before she became a Slayer, and he knew her at her very worst. He experienced her worst. When Robin said something about Faith, he expressed his belief in her potential and what she could be. When Xander did the same, it isn't trust or faith, but rather a certainty of who she is and what she can do.
To Robin, Faith is religion; to Xander, she's truth, a tangible reality.
It made her feel guilty, these thoughts and feelings and what she did the night before. Robin was a wonderful boyfriend who treated her better than she ever imagined possible back in Stockton. He was intelligent and kind and had no problem being the boyfriend of a Slayer. And now she had cheated on him, with her Watcher. His colleague.
Faith looked back at Xander. He and Willow laughed at something together, his eyes on the ground, her eyes on him tenderly and exasperated.
Faith turned back to Robin and kissed him.
:#:
Willow wanted to take Xander to the emergency room for stitches. He claimed it was pointless, as the cut had already closed. She claimed that just washing his hair would be enough to open it back up again. He claimed it would draw questions, why he waited ten hours to bring a head wound in for stitching.
In the end, they compromised: Helen gave him four stitches. All the Slayers knew basic first aid, and a few researched other medical techniques which could be useful in the field. Helen was by far the most accomplished; her hands were as steady as a surgeon's, and she was almost as comfortable sewing up a person as staking a vampire.
He took a shower after, one he desperately needed. His hair had gotten long over the year since Sunnydale, since the life where he cared how he looked to the opposite sex, and now reached down almost to his mouth in shaggy, uneven waves. Rona and Janet threatened to hold him down and put it in cornrows every so often.
Still -- long hair on a guy was always a look he liked, ever since he saw Brandon Lee as The Crow a few years before Buffy moved into town. The forward head tilt, long hair falling into his eyes, sneer on his lips, it was always how he pictured a truly dangerous individual. Years of experience with Slayers, almost all of whom wore their hair long and pulled off the look perfectly, reinforced that image.
His long hair held a lot of blood, though.
It washed down over his body and scars, red over light pink and puckered white. The domestic weight he gained after high school was gone, replaced by the body he had back when he regularly ran from and fought with monsters and bullies. The scars stayed, though; the part of his body he couldn't revert to former dimensions. Horizontal scars across his stomach from several different demon attacks, a jagged scar on his elbow from the compound fracture at the end of his junior year, and scars on his knuckles from fist fights with vampires. No scars for his eye; no skin touched there, just eyeball.
He had a simple rubric for the severity of his injuries: who had to clean him up afterward. If he could shower on his own, he was fine.
:#:
Xander returned to his bedroom to find Buffy on the bed, waiting for him.
The angry look on her face stopped any lewd jokes he thought to make.
"Uh, hey, Buff," he said.
She just glared at him silently.
He glanced down at the towel wrapped around his waist. He had no desire to change in front of Buffy, but she was obviously pissed off about something and had no intention of leaving. He didn't want to argue in just a towel, either.
Xander grabbed boxers and a pair of pants and opened his closet door to block Buffy's view of him while he changed. He put the clothes on and came out into his room shirtless; there was only so much leeway she could expect, sitting in his room right after a shower.
"So, what's up?" he said.
Her voice was flat and clipped. "Faith told me about what you did last night."
Xander froze.
"Care to tell me what the hell you were thinking?"
God. He couldn't believe Faith had mentioned it, and to Buffy of all people. He didn't know what he wanted to happen between them, or how to handle what happened, but from the way she greeted Robin that morning, Xander thought Faith wanted to keep it a secret. "I--" he stammered. How could he answer a question he didn't know the answer to? He shrugged and looked down at the floor.
"Of all the-- I can't even believe you would do something so stupid!" Buffy said. "Thank God Faith stopped you!"
Xander jerked his head up to her. "Faith what?" he said quietly.
"Stopped your stupid, suicidal little plan to draw off the vampires and get yourself killed!" Buffy stood up as she continued to rant. "What the hell could make you even think that sending your Slayers away was a good idea? Are you crazy? Are you just trying to get yourself killed?"
"It's my job!" Xander snapped. He walked right up into Buffy's face and loomed over her; she, of course, didn't flinch. "Take a look, Buffy -- I'm not just a Scooby anymore! God, you have never seen me, not from the first day we met, you know that? None of you ever have. Well, look at me now, Buffy. Stop seeing that scared, stupid teenager and wake up. I'm a Watcher. I've got responsibilities now, people who depend on me, and sometimes that means a tough decision has to be made--"
"If you think getting killed is going to do the slightest bit of good for anyone," Buffy cut him off sadly, "then you don't know the first thing about being a Watcher or what you mean to your Slayers."
Xander stared at Buffy as his anger seeped away. He hadn't expected this; he was so used to being the Zeppo in her eyes, he didn't know how to respond when she showed he no longer was.
"Giles tried to do the same thing with me," Buffy said, her voice softer and warmer, "and that's about the highest compliment I can pay you. About a year after he became my Watcher, too, so you're right on schedule." Xander stepped back and sat down on the bed. Buffy grinned slyly. "That was the night I faced the Master. You remember that night, yeah?"
Xander grinned, too, in spite of himself. "Yeah. You knocked him out cold in the library, right in front of Miss Calendar. She told us what you said, about how Giles was the one who showed you the good parts to your destiny, taught you what it really meant to be the Slayer, and you couldn't disappoint him by letting him face it for you once that destiny came to an end."
Buffy stared at him. Think of something cool, tell him I said it, her words echoed in her head. Miss Calendar evidently took her words to heart. Still, seven years after Angelus, Buffy's feelings toward Giles's dead love were mixed at best.
Buffy shook her head and concentrated on what she came to Xander to do. "And you remember later that night?" Buffy asked. "You were a bit more useful than just as bait."
Xander shrugged and looked away. "Yeah, I guess."
"You've got three Slayers who depend on you, Xander." She turned to the door. "If you think all you're good to them for is bait, well... Now who's seeing you and who isn't?"
:#:
Buffy met Faith in her room after she talked with Xander.
Faith paced back and forth in the space between Buffy's bed and dresser. Either she didn't want to sit on her bed to wait, or she was too nervous to stay still. Buffy had no clue which it might be; Faith was, pretty much, beyond her understanding.
Faith stopped and looked up as Buffy entered, but stayed silent until the door closed. "Well?" she said.
Buffy shrugged. "Went fine, I guess. He seems okay to me, Faith -- I mean, as okay as a guy can be after getting hit in the head with a rock."
Faith tossed her hair and resumed pacing. "Nah. No way. Something's up, something's wrong. It's been there for a while, since Sunnydale, maybe even before, I just couldn't see it 'till last night."
Buffy watched Faith pace for a moment. "You'd think his best friends would notice something."
"I see him more often," Faith said. "We work together for hours every day."
"I've known him longer."
"By what? A year and a half? That's not much, not at this point."
"Well, how about Willow?" Buffy said. "She grew up with him. She's known him her entire life."
Faith stopped pacing and quietly said, "Yeah, she grew up with him, but I grew up like him." She shook her head angrily, as if the admission came out before she thought. Faith stalked over to the door, but paused again with her hand on the doorknob. "Look, B, just keep an eye on him. He's barely hanging on right now. I'm worried."
Before Buffy could respond, Faith opened the door and took off.
:#:
Janet and Kim roomed together in Kennedy's house.
The living arrangements were done not long after the gang moved from Sunnydale. Janet and Kim barely knew one another at that point. Kennedy's house had four bedrooms, but Willow wanted an office to put her computer equipment, spellbooks, and things of that nature, so Willow and Kennedy shared a room, Xander and Andrew shared a room, and Janet and Kim shared a room.
They lasted two months until their first fight broke out. Two months later, Willow threatened to turn them into tadpoles if they interrupted another "private tutoring session" with Kennedy. After that, neither spent time in the room unless she was changing or sleeping, which lessened the fighting greatly.
They couldn't avoid one another completely, though.
Janet entered the room in just a towel, fresh out of the shower, and found Kim digging through the closet. Kim turned when Janet entered.
"Hey. Know where my Slayer t-shirt is?" Kim asked. The shirt was her idea of a joke; she hated the band, but loved to wear it out on patrol.
"No."
"Huh. Well, if you see it, toss it on my bed, would you?"
Janet grabbed a pair of pajama pants out of her drawer and slipped them on under her towel. "Sure."
Kim went to leave, but paused at the door. "Overheard Giles talking to Aud," she said. "They're gonna assign them Watchers tonight."
"Cool," Janet said. "Glad to have them in the club."
"They're already in the club," Kim snapped.
"The having-a-Watcher club," Janet clarified. She pulled on a tanktop and wrapped her towel around her hair. "I agreed with you that they've been Slayers for the past year."
"And the rest of it doesn't strike you as messed up?"
Janet turned around and looked at Kim. "What 'rest of it'?"
"They just assign a Watcher, and the Slayer doesn't get a say in it."
"What?" Janet scoffed. "You gotta be kidding me. I trust them -- Wood, Giles, and Harris. They'll make the right choice. Besides, if one of the twins doesn't like who she gets, you know she can say something."
"We're setting a precedent here," Kim argued.
"What?"
"It's the beginning, here, where it all starts. How we do things is how things will be done for generations. The Watchers always controlled the Slayers, told them what to do and who to do it with, and we got a chance to change that for all the girls who come after us," Kim said. "I think we have an obligation to make sure it's done right."
"Kim!" Kennedy called up from downstairs. "Let's go! You don't need that stupid shirt!"
Kim looked back at Janet. "I know you trust our Watchers now, and I do, too. But if we don't take the power now, take a stand now, who knows what kind of Watchers will be around in a hundred years?"
Janet shook her head. "You're just paranoid."
"Think about it," Kim said as she left the room.
:#:
"I would like to keep Audrey under my watch," Giles said. "The intensity of her Slayer dreams worries me, as well as her difficulty in separating them from waking life. And -- while I certainly mean no disrespect to either of you -- I feel my extensive training and experience gives me an advantage in this situation."
"I agree, absolutely," Robin said. He and Xander sat across from Giles; Robin sat in the chair on Xander's right. "I was ready to suggest that if you said otherwise."
Xander nodded. "Yeah," he said.
Giles slowly let out the breath he held. He certainly thought Audrey required extra attention, but he felt both his colleagues more than able to provide that. The juvenile nature of his avoidance embarrassed him, but the main reason he wanted to have Audrey as his Slayer was to avoid the awkwardness of working closely with Katharine every day.
"And as for Katharine..." he said. He trailed off. How long could he avoid her?
"Xander," Robin said.
Xander looked over at him. "Yeah? What's up?"
"No." Robin shook his head. "I mean, Katharine should work with Xander."
Giles leaned forward and put his elbows on his desk. He had figured Robin would want at least one of the new Slayers to work with him. "How do you figure?"
"Well, a couple of things," Robin said. "First off, both of the twins require more attention, as they're new and unsure of themselves, and Xander's more equipped to give that attention than me. I don't think it's a coincidence that my Slayers are the most stand-offish and independent of the group.
"Second, I'm more comfortable in an administrative position than an instructing position, and I'd like to begin to move more in that direction. I always thought I was a better principal than teacher, not counting the whole evil-school-falling-into-Hell thing." He shook his head and leaned forward. "We have to start preparing to find more Slayers, and we're already stressed to the maximum regarding our Watcher to Slayer ratio now. We need more Watchers, we need more structure within our ranks, and we can't wait until Slayers start pouring in."
"Proactive versus reactive," Xander said quietly.
"What?"
"Just something Katharine said to me, that first day she was here. She mentioned how we were all reactive instead of proactive."
Robin nodded. "Exactly. We need to find more Watchers now, before it's too late."
Giles removed his glasses. "Unfortunately, the Bringers were extraordinarily thorough in regards to the Watchers' Council. Even those merely in the first stages of consideration for Council membership were killed. I have contacts in occult circles I can approach for candidates, but it will take quite some time."
"I was thinking we should contact that guy Connor Reilly," Robin said.
"The one who called Faith?" Xander said.
"Yes. She said he sounded intelligent, and he knows about Slayers already."
Giles nodded. "It's a start. I'll make the calls tomorrow. However, Robin, until our numbers significantly increase, you will be needed on both ends, instruction and administration."
"I understand."
"I'd offer to work your training if you do my research," Xander said, "but I think if we let Janet and Kim spar together, we'd be down two Slayers."
They all chuckled, and Giles slipped his glasses back on. "I'd like to talk about last night's ambush now, if we could," he said.
Xander nodded. "The girls did great," he said. "They fought through it beautifully, turned the tables on the vamps pretty quickly. Especially Audrey -- her sparring is horrible, but put her up across from a vamp, and she turns into Jackie Chan."
"I don't know," Robin said slowly.
"No, seriously, she's incredible," Xander said. "She did this thing where she dove through--"
"No, sorry, that's not what I meant," Robin interrupted. "I didn't mean Audrey doesn't fight well or anything. What I mean is, I don't think the ambush was a failure, on their part."
"Go on," Giles said.
"Well, from what you've said, it was extremely premeditated," Robin said. "They took the time to get the blurb in the paper, took out the security guards, all of that. And then used tactics that were just terrible for a kill -- but excellent if someone wanted to observe the Slayers in action."
"So you think that the ambush might have gone exactly as the vampires planned it?" Giles asked.
"We dusted at least twelve vamps," Xander said. "That's a pretty high price."
"If we're dealing with one or two intelligent leaders, I can't think of any reason we should assume that this enemy cares about the loss of troops," Robin said. "That attack had a purpose, and it wasn't to kill Slayers -- although if that happened, I'm sure it would've been seen as a bonus."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Xander said.
"Find out who was behind it," Robin said.
:#:
Katharine could tell something bothered her sister. Audrey always slept on her side, curled up into a little ball with the covers pulled up to her nose. Tonight, she lied flat on her back, the covers tucked underneath her arms.
Katharine could guess what the problem was.
Xander came to her earlier that night and told her that in two days, once the trial period was over, she would join Faith, Janet, and Rona as one of his Slayers. About the same time, she saw Buffy and Giles pull Audrey aside and talk to her.
She was actually glad that Giles wasn't her Watcher. Ever since the night when she gave him the guitar, he had avoided her, and when that failed things were extremely awkward between them no matter how much she tried to just ignore him or put him to ease.
She figured Audrey felt differently that her crush wasn't her Watcher.
"You awake?" Audrey said. Her voice sounded tiny in the dark room.
"Yes," Katharine said. Silence. "Aud. What's wrong?"
"I... It's Xander. I like Xander."
"I know."
Audrey jerked upright. "You know? Oh, God, does he know?"
Katharine scoffed. "He's a boy. They never know."
Audrey groaned and flopped back against her pillow. After a moment, Katharine got up out of her bed and climbed into bed with her sister. Audrey curled up beside her, her head on Katharine's shoulder, and Katharine stroked her hair.
"What's bothering you, Audrey?" Katharine said. "Liking a boy doesn't usually make people sad."
"He's seen them," Audrey said softly.
"He's seen what?"
"Her breasts, Faith's breasts," Audrey said quickly. "Xander's seen Faith's breasts, and she's all pretty and sexy like you -- but dumber -- and now he's your Watcher and not mine and some other girl like Faith is going to charm him--"
Katharine held Audrey gently against her as she cried. She could feel her sniffles against her neck.
"Honey, no," Katharine said. "No one's going to go charming him except you, I promise. Not me, not Faith, no one. Okay?"
Audrey nodded. "But he's seen her--"
"You think there are guys in this world who haven't seen Faith's bosoms?"
Audrey laughed. "That's from A League of Their Own," she said.
Katharine nodded. "I know. And you tell anyone I like that movie, and I kick your butt."
"You'll try." Audrey tried to smile, but it wouldn't stick. She broke down again, harder this time. "Kat, I'm a freak even among the freaks," she sobbed. "No one is gonna want me."
Katharine stroked Audrey's hair and rocked her gently, a familiar position for her. "Shh, sweetie, it's okay," she whispered as Audrey's tears fell. "Everything's gonna be okay. There's no crying in baseball."
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