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Fred was the only one waiting in the Hyperion when Faith got back from her patrol. Papers were spread out in front of her at one end of a long table, with a mysterious contraption sitting on the other end, humming quietly.
“That's new.” Faith gestured to the machine, and Fred’s eyes flicked to it, then back down.
“Oh, that. I’m working on a--a sort of alarm system, that can not just see intruders but also defend itself. And ideally, us. No point in an alarm system that can be disabled before it protects you, right?”
“Right. So, it’s gonna be like a guard dog without the whole pesky being alive thing.”
Fred shook her head. “It’s very much alive. Depending on how you think of alive, that is. If you were Descartes, you wouldn’t even consider a guard dog alive.” She paused. “Then again, if you were Descartes, you’d be one to talk, seeing as how you’d be dead and all.”
Still not quite sure what to make of the cave-dwelling genius, Faith just nodded. She didn’t know who Descartes was--but if he hated dogs, she was fine not knowing.
“Dawn’s not back yet?”
“No.” Fred went back to drawing on the paper in front of her. “Angel and Gunn are still out, too, taking care of that nest Cordelia told them about. Wesley’s at the library.”
“Would’ve guessed the library was closed by now.”
“You know what they say, the city never sleeps.”
“Thought that was New York.”
“This is the other city that never sleeps.” Fred offered her a hint of a smile. “Lately, neither does Wesley. I don’t expect to see him ‘til morning.”
Faith caught herself pacing and glanced at the hotel’s front doors. “Slayer Junior, though. She was patrolling closer to here than I was. She should be back by now.”
“Maybe.”
“Not maybe. If she’s late, she knows to text so we don’t worry. She’s only been patrolling on her own for a few weeks.”
“And she’s been careful, and good at it.” Fred pulled her attention away from her work to focus on Faith. “She’s not a Slayer, junior or otherwise, but she’s learned from the best. You know that better than anyone.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I know.”
The hotel doors opened and Angel walked in, followed by Gunn. The hunter was arguing something Faith couldn’t hear, but she could tell by the deep scowl etched into Angel’s face that Gunn was not winning him over.
Gunn sighed as he dropped a crossbow and a handful of bolts on the table, moving on for now. “Hey.”
“Wesley still researching?” Angel aimed that question at Fred but nodded hello at Faith, who decided she might as well sit after he did.
“Is the Gathwok native to Pylea?” Fred replied without looking up.
The only sound in the room was Fred’s pencil on paper until Faith spoke up. “Since I already know the Wesley part, I’m gonna guess...yes.”
“Oh. Yes.” Fred looked around the table. “That was a yes. And Cordelia’s home, still nursing a vision headache,” she added before Angel could ask.
His brow furrowed, but he didn’t say anything more.
Faith’s phone went off. “Finally,” she told the room. “Dawn’s on her way.”
“Okay, then. She can join in when she arrives.” Fred set her pencil aside and reached for her laptop. “How was everyone’s patrolling? What kind of day has it been?”
Faith pointed at Gunn, who shifted forward in his seat to go first.
“That vamp nest is taken care of. Cordy’s vision led us right to it. We-”
He stopped talking when Faith jumped out of her chair, heading for the lobby. Dawn was standing there, dripping blood on the carpet.
She waved them all back when the others followed Faith to crowd around her.
“I got ambushed as I was leaving,” Dawn said. “Three of them, one of me--but they’re dust now and I’m here.”
“With one eye swelled shut and half your mouth bleeding,” Faith countered.
“And your arm,” Fred added, her eyes fixed on the red spots on the floor.
“Yeah, and my back’s gonna bloom into watercolor bruises where they snuck up on me. I’ve had worse.”
Faith knew she would get nowhere trying to convince Dawn to stop patrolling; they’d had that fight for days before Dawn started going out alone.
I’m older now than Buffy was when she got called, Dawn argued.
You’re not a Slayer, Faith would insist. And Dawn would toss her hair back just like Buffy used to, and stomp right over that point.
No, I’m a Key with Slayer blood. Who you don’t get to boss around.
Sighing, Faith gestured to the table. “Sit so we can bandage you up. Fred was just starting the check-in.”
Once they were gathered back together, Fred took down notes from Gunn while Faith and Angel tended to Dawn’s wounds.
Gunn concluded his report with, “We expected ten and there were more like fourteen.”
“Thirteen,” Angel said. “The one that got away was human. Homeless.”
“Well, that explains why you didn’t chase him,” Gunn replied. “You think he was food for later?”
“Probably. Whoever he was, he hadn’t been turned, so he’s not our concern.”
Tapping away at her notes, Fred hummed to herself for a moment. “You're next, Faith. Statistics.”
Faith flipped her chair around to drape her arms over the back--her version of business mode. “You guys do a lot more math here than they ever did in Sunnydale,” she pointed out.
Dawn grinned. “Are you calling them nerds? Because I’m pretty sure that they’re all, like, ten times smarter than us, in a badass way. Fred builds murder gadgets.”
“Only when it’s absolutely necessary.” Fred cleared her throat. “Now, back to your patrols. It’s important to Wesley that we keep track, try to chart patterns in the city. How are we supposed to see the really Big Bads coming unless we follow the data?”
“Trying to predict evil seems like a waste of time to me.” Though Faith wasn’t sold on the maps and numbers approach her former Watcher was obsessed with these days, it did her no harm to play along. “But I ran into two demons and I think...a witch who was trying to resurrect the dead.”
Fred nodded. “You can go over the demons with Wesley tomorrow, get the specific species notated.”
Dawn touched Faith’s forearm lightly, drawing her attention away from Fred.
“You...you didn’t kill the witch, did you?”
“Nah. I don’t kill humans anymore, remember? Don't worry about that.”
“What did you do, then?” Fred was still in scientist mode, her curiosity covered by a clipped tone. “I’m sure it’s dangerous to have people out there trying to, what, create zombies?”
Dawn shook her head. “It’s not that simple. And it happens more than you’d think. The trying, I mean.”
Faith knew what she was thinking about--why tears were creeping into her throat.
“Hey, you don’t have to-”
“No. I mean, I’m kind of the expert, right? What use are experts if they keep their know-how to themselves?”
Faith shut her mouth and rested her chin on her hands, but her eyes tracked them both as Dawn continued. Fred’s time in Pylea made her unpredictable, and considering magic sent her there in the first place, she could still be pretty touchy about it. If Dawn needed her, Faith would jump in.
“You know how my mom died, before I came here? It was right after I found out I was the Key, when things were already...really hard. And Buffy’s friends--her best friend Willow and Willow’s girlfriend--are witches. I found out from them, kind of, that there are spells to bring the dead back to life.”
She glanced at Faith. “You have to understand, Buffy was suddenly in charge of everything. She couldn’t drop it all and focus on me. And I thought, I hoped...that I could just fix it. If I could bring Mom back, then it wouldn’t hurt anymore and no one would be sad anymore and I wouldn’t feel so lost.”
“You’re saying you actually tried to reanimate your mother?” Fred’s eyes were huge. “I mean, I know people do all kinds of dangerous things with spells, but you--your sister was a Slayer. You knew better.”
Dawn dug her fingertips into her jeans, keeping herself calm. People who weren’t there couldn’t be expected to understand; she knew that. Even most of the people who were there didn’t fully understand.
But she had forgiven her younger self for a lot of sins--she couldn’t have gone on if she hadn’t. Sometimes she forgot how it would sound from the outside.
“I should have. But I was desperate, and drowning, so I tried.” She bit her bottom lip hard, remembering. “And then when Buffy found out, and I saw how hopeful she was...I knew it was wrong, doing that to her. And to my mom. The hope wasn’t real. So, I stopped it.”
“Just like I stopped this witch,” Faith said. In her peripheral vision, she saw Dawn relax against the table in relief as everyone’s attention returned to the Slayer.
“And how did you do that, exactly?”
Faith matched Fred’s no-nonsense tone. “I destroyed her circle--it’s the easiest way. No more ritual, no resurrection, no zombies. And I told her who I was, so she’d know to expect me if she tries it again.”
“We should step up cemetery patrols for a while,” Angel decided, watching Dawn with concern. “Until we know if this was connected to something bigger.”
“Like a certain law firm?” Gunn began tucking crossbow bolts in his pockets. “Agreed. Sign me up.”
Fred paused her typing. “Was that all for you?”
Glad to be done, Faith nodded. It didn’t seem fair, them taking a detour into Dawn’s biggest regrets--like a second ambush, kicking her when she was already bleeding.
Part of her wanted to remind the group that Buffy got brought back from the dead, too, and everybody back in Sunnydale was treating it like a miracle worth celebrating. She couldn’t say that, though. Just another kind of ambush.
“It’s me then, right?” Dawn smoothed her hand down the bandage on her arm. “Like I said, it was three vampires who did this.”
“Distinguishing characteristics?”
“Two female, one male, the guy was very ‘80s. The hair band look was his downfall,” she added with a smile. “Easy to get a grip on for staking purposes.”
“What about the rest of your night?”
“Pretty quiet.” Dawn thought it over. “One more vamp, right when I got there, fresh out of the grave. Easy kill. No demons that I came across, definitely nothing as interesting as a necromancer.”
“Well, between y’all, that’s sixteen vampires, two demons, and-”
“A partridge in a pear tree,” Faith shot back, making Dawn laugh.
“One witch, not murdered. Pretty good for one day.”
“Speaking of that, I’m going to call it a night. You’ll be alright?” Angel asked Dawn.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll stay here tomorrow,” she promised.
“I’m out, too,” Gunn said. He grabbed the crossbow on his way. Faith wondered if he slept with weapons at the ready. Wouldn’t be surprised if he did.
“If anyone needs me, I’ll be working late for a while.” Fred could have been talking about the patrol notes, or her new toy, Faith wasn’t sure which. But she was pretty sure that either way, Fred would be waiting up until Wesley came home.
“Not going to bed?” Dawn asked when Faith pushed her chair in. Everybody knew by now that Faith got wired, not tired, after slaying. And lucky her, headquarters had excellent accommodations.
“Training time,” she replied, unsurprised when Dawn followed. Not thrilled about it under the circumstances, but not surprised. “You should get some rest.”
“I can’t sleep yet.” Dawn frowned as Faith grabbed a sword. “I may not be able to sleep at all--I usually sleep on my back.”
“You’ll figure it out.”
“Yep.”
They were both silent for a while as Faith ran through some slow movements with the sword, strength training and building muscle memory.
Dawn hadn’t gotten much chance to handle a sword yet--she was hoping Cordelia would teach her. So far, Cordelia was more easily swayed by a girl power argument than Faith or Fred, and less overprotective.
“So how close were you really?” Faith asked, her back to Dawn.
She could see the strain in Faith’s shoulders as she pushed the sword forward, arms fully extended. “Close to what?”
“Y’know. The end. The screwup you can’t come back from.”
“I didn’t screw up.” Dawn jutted her chin out. “I beat three vampires at once, on my own, without Slayer strength.”
“You let them get the jump on you. Said so yourself.”
“An ambush isn’t the same as a screwup. You’ve gotten beaten up way worse than this. I’ve seen it.”
“Yeah. When I wasn’t careful enough.”
“Well, I’m always careful.”
Faith exhaled hard as she set the sword aside, finally turning to face Dawn. “Not enough. It only takes one, you get that? One that's stronger than you, one wrong move, one mistake. You have to be even better because you’re not a Slayer. And you don’t get to die on my watch, because nobody’ll be able to bring you back.”
Dawn crossed her arms. "We've been through this. You've said it like a million times."
“Because it's important. This matters.” You matter, Faith added silently, even when you feel like you don’t.
She had a hunch that Dawn’s flight from Sunnydale was about more than Buffy’s death and resurrection--abandonment issues wrapped up in fear that she didn’t have a place in the world anymore.
Dawn was fighting the biggest existential crisis that Faith had ever seen--and she knew Angel, so that was saying something--all because some monks got creative and Buffy had a savior complex.
Faith wasn’t exactly the best pick to help anybody through a crisis. Which sucked, because she didn’t think the others had noticed, so Dawn was stuck with her.
“Okay,” the teen said quietly, more to her shoes than Faith.
“Okay what?”
“Okay. I’ll try harder. I’ll be more careful.”
Faith brushed off the wave of relief at--for once--winning the argument. Trying to play Watcher to a teenager who wouldn’t listen and couldn’t be grounded? Also sucked. Pretty sure they called that irony.
“Listen. Just...stop trying so hard to be Buffy.”
“I’m not-”
She cut off her protest. “Stop trying to be a Slayer at all, I mean, Stop trying to be brave like Cordelia, or tough like Gunn, or smart like Fred. We’re all trying to help you, but not so you can be like us. You have to fight your own way, if you’re gonna do it right. Keep learning, maybe take a break from solo patrols until you can see straight again...then just be Dawn. “
Dawn rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Okay, Obi-Wan.”
“Don’t you mean Yoda? You’re not Darth Vader.”
“Yeah, but Obi-Wan’s cooler. Yoda was super creepy,” Dawn declared.
Having sat through way too many Star Wars movies with Fred and Dawn, Faith could no longer use ignorance to get out of these debates. But deflection worked, too.
“You swear you’ll take it easy?”
“God! Dead horse much? Yes, I swear.” Dawn led the way out of the training room, ready to attempt sleep.
“Good. Angel will be relieved.”
Faith suppressed a smile as Dawn spun around, eyes narrowed.
“Why exactly is that?”
“All that free time back, he can spend on brooding instead. Come on--you have to know that if you don’t play it safe, you’re gonna have a tall, dark and lurking shadow through every cemetery.”
“Ugh.” Dawn couldn’t argue, once Faith put the idea in her head. “He really would, wouldn’t he?”
“Every. Single. Cemetery.” Faith grinned. “So get your rest, stick to research. Do us all a favor.”
Nobody ever said it, understanding that it would put even more pressure on Dawn than she was putting on herself, but the whole team knew: Dawn had become family so quickly, all of them worried about losing her.
It was why Angel wouldn’t let her fully join Angel Investigations until she was at least eighteen, and why he really had shadowed her on a few early patrols. She pretended not to notice.
It was why Gunn treated her like his lost sister, and Cordelia taught her what she wished she’d learned years earlier, both of them seeing their past in her present.
But when Fred took her on tangents outside the GED material, or Lorne made her giggle during karaoke, or Wesley swore she would find obscure demonology useful, it felt like home. Weird and new, but home.
And Faith, for all her worrying, never acted like Dawn was still a kid. She remembered becoming a Slayer, the terror and the power she felt at that age, and she knew the worst that was out there. She would make sure Dawn was ready.
“Yeah, yeah. You should rest too,” Dawn said, pulling Faith back to the moment. “Don’t stay up all night watching TV.”
“Hey, who’s the teenager here?”
“Me...but you watch more TV than I do.”
Faith led the way up the stairs. “I just like having it on in the background.”
“Well, it’s not good for your sleep. I read about it.”
“I think it’s all that reading that’s bad for you.”
“I’ll tell Fred you said that.” Dawn stopped in front of her door upstairs. “Or Wesley. Or Angel.”
Faith held up her hands, backing away towards her own door. “I’m just sayin,’ you should watch some TV while you’re out of commission. Fit some fun in between your super serious studying.”
No longer teasing, she added, “And if you need anything, you know-”
“I know where all of you are.” Dawn promised. “I’ll be fine. See you tomorrow.”
“’Night.”
Faith dropped onto her bed without turning the light off. Fred’s words came back to her, uninvited, and she turned over to stare at the ceiling. What kind of day had it been?
When she closed her eyes, she could still see Dawn standing there, bleeding. A hell of a day.
But they’d all survived.
So, all things considered, life remained five by five.