Chapter 10: Pieces: Part II
FAITH’S APARTMENT
BUFFY’S POV
Faith looks at me then jumps out of bed. As she searches her leather jacket for her cell phone, I hear her mutter under her breath, “Well, this can’t be good.” She finds it, answers, then almost immediately starts talking.
“What the fuck? Willy? Jesus calm down! Whoa, whoa, slow down, I can’t understand you. Yeah? Yeah?” She starts rifling through her duffle bag, bringing out a leather bound book and pen she nods then, “Ok, now repeat it all again from the very beginning. Yes I’m serious.” She is furiously writing then she stops “Are you sure about the demon? It’s very important.” She pulls the phone away from her ear then puts it back again, “Jeeze, no offense. Ok, thanks, you’re the best.”
She hangs up then grabs her jeans. “Willy just found your missing piece.”
“What do you mean?” I sit up as she throws me my clothes.
She puts on her jeans, “It’s Emma, come on get dressed.”
I furrow my brow at her, “What the hell are you talking about?” I get out of bed.
She walks over to me, “Trust me?”
“Of course,” I don’t even pause, wow things have changed. Reaching out I stroke her cheek with my thumb then get dressed.
She smiles at me as she dials her phone. “Dawn?” pause “Yeah, look, I need you to wake up Ken and Red. Make sure you and Andrew are armed and Emma’s ok.” pause “Well I just figured he was with you.” pause “Yeah, B and I will be there in 5-10 minutes.”
When she hangs up, I turn her to me, “Faith, you have to tell me what’s going on.”
“I think Red was right, well sort of right, it’s Emma. Willy called to tell me a M’Fashnik demon just dusted one of his best customers because he wouldn’t tell him where the new slayer who got into town a couple of days ago is. Willy thinks it’s me, but I’m thinking Emma’s that little girl you saved and brought to the Coven. And now because no one ever taught her how to mask her power, that demon is hunting her like a bloodhound so he can finish whatever fucked-up job he started for that Goddess.”
“But that doesn’t make sense, why didn’t I recognize her?”
“I don’t know a spell maybe?” Faith offers as she pulls on a T-shirt and grabs her jacket, stuffing the book in the inside pocket.
“But...” I start.
“B, how many M’Fashnik demons have you ever seen in your entire career as a Slayer?”
I nod, “Two.”
“Exactly, it’s like you just said, it can’t be a coincidence. But I think I have a way to find out for sure.”
Finishing getting dressed I follow her out the door. “Yeah, and maybe the Coven has a lot of explaining to do.”
DAWN’S POV
Running into our office I grab the phone, “Hello?” pause “Faith?” pause “Holy crap! Ok, eh how did - ” pause “Ok, you on your way?” I look at the phone then put it down. Andrew is concerned and from what I can gather from that call he has a reason. I walk towards the door, “Get a weapon, go wake up Emma and bring her down here. I’ll get Willow and Kennedy.”
“On it.”
We make it about two steps before slamming into Kennedy who’s walking into our office.
“Who called?” she says as Willow and Emma follow her in.
I look at all of them then back to Ken, “Faith. They’re on their way, something is very wrong. All she said was she wants us armed and looking out for Emma.” I turn to Andrew, “Can you be ready to go to lock down when they get here?”
“On it.” He says again as he moves to his computer.
“Willow?” Emma asks shakily as she steadies herself on the back of a chair. “Can you do a spell to cover my aura, power, whatever you want to call it?”
“Sure, why?”
“You better do it now, something’s, something’s coming for me.” She’s scared.
Willow immediately starts to murmur a chant as Kennedy grabs a machete from the wall. Andrew and I each take broad swords and stand in front of Emma.
A couple of minutes later the front door is thrown open and footsteps are racing towards us.
Kennedy’s arms are cocked back and she takes a full swing as soon as she sees a form coming into the office.
“Kennedy, NO!” Andrew screams at her.
Her arms stop short as if they hit a wall. Simultaneously the machete clangs to the floor as she’s thrown back into the room. She looks up, then shakes her head as Andrew helps her to her feet.
“Whoa, tiger, last thing we need is friendly fire.” Faith looks around; her eyes settle on Emma, relived she blows out a breath. “You ok Ken?”
“Yeah, just cleaning the floor with my ass... again.”
“It’s leaving now and...” she turns to Buffy, “confused.” Emma says haltingly as Buffy puts an arm around her. She leans into my sister as if she’s known her all her life.
“So am I, what just happened? We were walking over then all of a sudden I couldn’t feel Emma anymore.” Faith walks over to her, “It was like you were gone, erased. So we ran the rest of the way.”
“Cloaking spell,” Willow says as she makes sure Kennedy is ok. “She said something was after her, so I did a spell to hide her aura. Then you came in like gang-busters.”
Buffy rubs Emma’s back as she guides her to the couch, “Are you ok?”
“I feel like I’m losing my mind, too many thoughts, Faith needs to teach me - ” she and Buffy sink into the couch together.
“I will,” Faith says emphatically, “tonight.”
The front door slams closed. Faith jumps in front of them ready to fight.
“Sorry, that was just me,” Andrew is typing away. “Ok Dawn, it’s all yours.” I move to my desk and begin locking down the school and its grounds.
“Oh God, what’s happening now?” The color is draining from Emma’s face as the sound of locks being turned along with various buzzes and beeps fill the house.
I look up at her from my computer screen, “I’m making sure nothing comes near us again.” As my hands fly over the keyboard thirty flat panel screens flip out from three walls. They flicker on and a slide show starts of every possible angle of the two houses and the surrounding grounds. On the last wall a mural of the Legend of the First Slayer scrolls down revealing a huge 20 foot long, 10 foot high map of the world that’s lit up with many different colored lights.
“Holy shit,” Faith spins around taking it all in, “when did the Scoobys meet James Bond?”
Andrew stands next to me very proud that Faith’s impressed. I take his hand and say, “When I started taking my guy here seriously.” I see a couple of raised eyebrows then Faith chuckles.
“Ok, Mr. and Mrs. Q, tell Emma and me what security is between us and the demon who wants in.
ANDREW’S POV
Dawn looks and me and sees I’m barely containing myself, “Go ahead,” she encourages – as if I need it.
Jumping right in I start, “Well first there are 100 multi-angle cameras located throughout the complex.” I push one screen of my 2 panel monitor to face them showing them a diagram with all the camera locations lit up by red dots. “See? Then we wired infrared, motion, heat and pressure sensitive sensors that activate both an immediate camera position change and laser tracking.”
Faith scoffs, “Get out, a laser?”
“No, really,” I continue very seriously, “depending on what we set it for it can scan, stun or kill.” I realize I’m blushing, “…Star Trek – what an inspiration.”
Interested, Faith probes. “So if something has weight, heat or moves; you’ll see it on the screen and can blast it with your laser?”
“We usually like to scan it first, but yeah. Isn’t it cool? Oh, oh and we can also detect flying objects too. Then there’s the standard stuff: automatic locking windows and doors, remote alarm activation... boring but effective.”
“What’s up with the disco map?” Faith asks.
Looking lovingly at my masterpiece, I laugh, “Well, no one has every called it that before. Blue dots are all active Slayers, yellow are Sleepers; green active Watchers, orange stands for retired ones; the white are the Covens and red Hellmouths. Willow, Dawn and I all helped spell it to accept everyone’s essence, then I converted each essence into binary format so it could be read like data into the server that maintains the hologram and…” I stop and look around, “am I getting too technical?”
Faith squints then nods her head.
“Oh, ok, sorry, ah, then Willow charmed the program to actually follow each person as they move around the world. It’s actually a type of living holographic image. So the data is all stored but can also change as people change and move.” I blush again, I can’t help it. “It’s my baby.”
“Have you learned how to beam people yet? I always wanted to do that.” Faith jokes with me but you can see she is very impressed.
Dawn smiles at me then turns to Faith, “Well what do you think?”
Faith winks, “I think you two are absolutely adorable together.”
DAWN’S POV
“FAITH!!!!” God, she makes me feel like a teenager again, it’s infuriating. Ok, it’s also funny. I shake my head and laugh.
“Seriously,” Faith looks back and forth from me to Andrew, “you guys did an incredible job with all of this and I think everyone will finally be able to get some sleep tonight. Now, speaking of sleep, I made a promise to a certain young lady.” She kneels down in front of Emma, “I’m sorry I didn’t do this earlier, forgive me?”
Emma smiles, “Of course, there is a hell of a lot going on here. I just thought I could handle it, then once the drugs wore off it got overwhelming so fast. I’m sorry I let you guys down. I can help, I want to contribute, I don’t want to be one more thing you have to worry about.” She leans on Buffy again, her frustration only a smidgen more apparent than her exhaustion.
“You haven’t let us down. You have no idea how powerful you are.” Buffy gives her a hug, “Faith and I are only beginning to realize...”
Faith cuts her off with a slow shake of her head; Buffy stops short and looks down. Wow, I wonder what the hell that’s all about.
“Emma, I want you to sit up, hold my hands and concentrate on pushing all the thoughts out of your head except mine.”
Emma’s eyes go wide, “But the last time we touched...”
“It will be ok,” Faith says soothingly, “trust me?” She reaches out her hands.
Slowly Emma nods and clasps hers hands. You can almost feel the magic in the air, then it abruptly stops. After a few minutes Faith’s head snaps back and Emma screws her eyes tightly shut. Both of their breathing is labored and I can make out a thin sheen of sweat forming on Emma’s face.
“That’s it, just like you are physically pushing someone out of a room,” Faith pants. “You’re doing great, now just a few more...ughhh” Faith stops, her brows creases as if in pain then she hangs her head.
Suddenly Emma’s eyes fly open as she breaks contact with Faith. Only then did I realize Buffy’s hand was still on Emma’s back. She turns to Buffy who is just catching her breath, “My God, that all really happened? It wasn’t a hallucination? It was you? You saved me?”
My sister squeezes Emma’s shoulder as she nods, “Yes.” That one word seemed to be a supreme effort for her to speak.
Crying, Emma throws herself into Buffy’s arms. Faith rolls back on her heals, gets up and staggers a bit. With all eyes on Buffy and Emma, no one else notices Faith leave the room. Her head is still down and she looks a little, I don’t know sad maybe. “Ok, I know I was watching but can someone tell me what the hell just happened?”
FAITH’S POV
Well that was fucking intense. I know I shouldn’t have left B to explain it all by herself, she looked a little wiped. But, damn, connecting with the two of them really kicked my ass. I find myself at the kitchen sink so I run the water until it gets cool. Splashing some on my face then grabbing a glass from the dish rack I allow the water to calm me inside and out.
I raised a protective barrier around the three of us because I didn’t want the magic I was using to tip off our location to the demon. I only included B because she was so close to us, I had no clue she was touching Emma. Damn, as the kid pushed out everyone else’s thoughts, I could feel B’s get stronger until I was actually experiencing everything B felt that day: the shock, the pain, the complete and utter emptiness, then Emma feeling so disoriented and frightened. I never linked with two people before and I can see why – what a trip.
Still bent over the sink I feel arms wrapping around my waist. “Hey, why’d you disappear on us?” I turn in her arms. She takes one look at me then pulls me into a fierce hug, “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, just... drained.” I say uncomfortably. I bring my hands up to her face holding her gaze to mine, “I’m really sorry, I didn’t realize you were touching her.” Dropping my hands I look down. “I could feel everything you went through. I ... I didn’t mean to, but I couldn’t help it.”
“Hey,” she lifts my chin up, “it’s ok.” She rests her head against mine and I sigh. She reaches her arms up around my neck, “You were there, you already knew how I felt.”
“But I didn’t feel it Buffy…”
Her lips graze mine. “Don’t worry, I know you didn’t mean to jump into my head,” she whispers as she kisses me again. Her hands float from my shoulders down my arms, “You sure you’re ok?” she asks, concerned.
I look into her eyes and smile, “I am now.”
“Good. Now come on, Emma’s asking for you. She’s a little freaked and I think Kennedy’s come up with a plan.”
We walk back into Dawn and Andrew’s office as Andrew is explaining the holographic map to Emma. She looks up and reaches out her hand, “Faith.” I can’t help but smile as we sit next to her on the couch. “Thank you,” she clasps my hand in hers, “I don’t think I can thank you enough.”
“Glad to help.” I pat her hand then look over to Kennedy, “B tells me you have a plan.”
Kennedy leans on the arm of a chair and nods, “Willow is on the phone with the Coven now and is probably going to be a while so it’s best if everyone gets some sleep. I think I’m the only person who actually slept at all tonight so I’ll stay up till daybreak while you guys take a cat nap. Buff – I called over to the SiT house and Sara said the girls can be ready as quickly as we need, so there’s plenty of back up. I just want to quickly go over what we managed to piece together from what Buffy told us tonight along with what we already knew from Emma and Faith.
Getting up, Ken pushes a button on Dawn’s desk bringing down a white board from the ceiling. Man, this place is really cool. She looks over to Emma, “The demon that Willy told Faith about tonight is the same one that kidnapped you.” She writes same demon on the board with a blue marker. “Willow thinks someone spelled a glamour to hide your true appearance that’s why Buffy didn’t recognize you,” she writes down Emma glamour then continues, “the sedation you were under apparently was for two reasons: one – to stop you from using your power and two – to keep you under the demons radar.” Meds with two lines coming out from it: no power and under radar follow on the board.
“Now this is where it gets a little dicey.” She puts down the marker and picks up a green one. On one side of the board she writes Powers that Be on the other Coven, then Dark Goddess in the middle. She turns around and looks directly at Emma. “It looks like you are in the middle of a power struggle that has something to do with your parents.” She stops then switches back to the blue marker and puts parents on the list.
Ken looks at me, “Can you pay the PtB a visit and see if they can tell you anything?”
Getting up I walk over to her, “They already have,” I hold out my hand, “May I?” She gives me the marker and we turn to the board. I write under PtB - darkness craves light and answers found in questions of past. “Once we figure out what happened to Emma’s parents I think a lot of our questions,” I point to the word on the board, “will be answered,” I tap on the other word.
“Hmmm” Ken nods then looks around the room. “Ok, try and get a couple of hours sleep guys. We got a lot of info here and we haven’t even gotten into what Dawn and Andrew have been working on.” She rubs her head and finally sits on the other couch reading over everything on the white board.
Buffy walks over to her as Andrew and Dawn go upstairs, “You good?”
“Yeah,” Ken nods, “just trying to connect the dots.”
“I have a feeling there’ll be a ton more dots in a couple of hours,” she tilts her head over to Red’s office. You can hear her voice rising.
Ken nods again, “Yeah, you should get some rest. You’re never going to get over your jet lag you know.”
Buffy laughs then turning to me takes my hand while calling good night to Ken over her shoulder.
We follow Emma upstairs. When we reach the second floor Emma gives each of us a huge hug, thanks us again then goes to her room. We go up another flight to B’s room.
We’re finally settling into bed when B turns to me. “It’s funny, but there’s something about Emma that makes me want to take care of her. I mean more than the other SiTs, I don’t know, can’t describe it.”
Rubbing her back I venture, “Maybe it’s all part of the grand inter-connected plan.” I feel her nod against my chest. “You want to know something funnier?” I kiss her forehead.
“What” she looks up at me smiling.
“I feel the same. There’s something about that kid...”
“Yeah.”
Chapter 11: Toil and Trouble
7:00 A.M. WILLOW’S OFFICE
WILLOW’S POV
“Hey, babe. I've been waiting for you.” He lays down a stone and looks over to me standing in the doorway. “Guess the rehab didn't take, huh. That's the way it goes sometimes.” He gets up and walks slowly toward me. “But I gotta say ... I could feel you coming a mile away, the power you got. And you know something, sweetness?” he whispers, “liked it.” He keeps moving closer, all sleazy and creepy-seductive.
I don’t react, just stand there.
“When you first came to me, you were just a little ... slip of a girl.” He gets right up behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders he moves them down slowly down my arms. “Look at you now, all ... growed up. So full of dark juice.” He moves to the other side of me, still behind me, his hands on my shoulders. He reaches up and brushes hair back from my face, and nuzzles my ear.
I still just stand there.
“And you still taste like strawberries. Only now ...” he moves around in front of me “...you're ripe.” He stays right there in my face, almost like he's about to kiss me. He even puts his hand on my chin. “You came because you want something. Don't you?”
I nod slowly.
“I thought so.” He strokes my cheek, “So tell me, Strawberry...” Now his mouth is barely an inch away from mine as he continues to caress my cheek with one hand. “...what on this earth do you want?”
I lift my own hand to touch Rack's face the same way. But then I start to squeeze. “Just to take a little tour.” My other hand comes up and smacks onto Rack's chest. Magic begins to flow. Rack gasps and groans helplessly. His body glows and little sparks of lightning flash around him. I continue to hold him by the chin with one hand the other on his chest, slowly lifting him up off the ground as the magic crackles between us.
“For Christ-sake Willow wake up!” Kennedy yells.
I’m gasping, can’t move, my eyes fly open. Looking around, I’m completely disoriented.
“Baby, please wake up.” I hear through my daze. We’re lying on my couch, I was trying to get a little sleep and Ken was waiting for the others to come downstairs. My legs are pinned under hers and she’s holding my arms straight out and apart.
“What are you…” I stop when I see the trail of magic crackle and spark from my fingertips. “… K – K – Kennedy…”
“You’re in control now, Willow. You have the power; the power doesn’t have you, just concentrate,” she says soothingly, “and reel it in.”
It takes a few minutes but I do. “I’m ok.” She doesn’t release me. “Really babe, I’m ok.” As soon as she lets go I turn around and bury my head in her neck. She holds me as I cry and I’m crying for many reasons. Ok, first, the loss of control scares me shitless; I haven’t lost it in years. For it to happen now, in my sleep, FUCK! But maybe more disturbing, is that I missed that rush and let me tell you that little taste was such a tease.
“What were you dreaming?” She asks as she smoothes my hair.
I look up at her and sigh, “Killing Rack, taking his magic, feeling his power become mine.”
She nods knowingly, “It felt good didn’t it?” She gently brushes the back of her hand on my cheek. “And now you feel guilty for enjoying it?”
“Well, I, I,” turning away from her I whisper, “yes.” She holds me tighter and I wonder how did I manage to be so lucky to share my life with this woman? I swear she knows me better than I know myself.
“Come on, let’s get you some coffee and try to figure out why this happened.”
BUFFY’S ROOM
FAITH’S POV
I jump up feeling a blast of magic, then it’s gone.
B jumps up after me, “What? What happened?”
I shake my head, “I don’t know.” Falling back into bed, I bring her with me. “Some kind of burst of magic,” I pull her closer to me, “but it’s gone now.” I kiss her forehead as I rub her back, willing it not to be time to get up yet. I just want to stay here with her and not deal with the insanity that’s going on around us.
As if reading my mind she props herself up on an elbow, “Before things get all crazy today,” her lips descend on my eyes, nose, mouth, “I want you to know how happy I am you’re here. That you came back to me.” She lowers her head to mine giving me a slow, languid kiss. Breaking away, she tilts her head then starts to brush my hair away from my face. “I know you have the whole PtB thing going on, but I meant what I said yesterday: now that you’re back, I’m not letting you go.”
You know, I can almost feel tears in my eyes, almost. I smile at her as I swallow that lump in my throat, “I can’t promise I’ll always be here, but I can promise I’ll always come back.” My voice cracks a little then I pull her close to me.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more,” she whispers in my ear.
It seems almost too apropos when there is a knock at her door.
We move out of each other’s arms. “This is why I got an apartment, B,” I smirk thanking the Gods we actually have clothes on.
“Come in,” she calls as she shakes her head at me, “I seem to remember Willy, 3 a.m. cell phone call…Hmmm?” She lifts her eyebrows.
Emma peaks in, “Am I interrupting?”
I smile, “Nothing that won’t be continued later.”
She comes in and sits on the edge of the bed. “There was a gust of magic, dark magic, it felt…” she trails off.
I lean forward, “What?”
“It felt like my Dad, but bad. I don’t know how else to explain it.” Looking up at both of us, she proceeds to blow us away, “It was Willow.” Seeing our reaction she quickly adds, “But it’s ok now, she stopped it and Kennedy’s with her.”
“What?” B is not happy. “Are you sure?” She jumps out of bed and comes around to sit by her.
Looking over at B, I cut in, “Magic is like a fingerprint, and everyone’s is just a little bit different. That’s how the Coven knew it was Red when she went off the deep end. I’ve been keeping everything pretty much masked ever since I saw the PtB so all I could feel was the blast, not the type or owner.” I turn my head to Emma, “I thought you were going to try and shut it all out?”
“I was… I mean I am… shit Faith, I was sleeping!”
Ok, can’t help but laugh when she curses, it’s cute with her little accent. “Alright, let’s get dressed and downstairs, see what’s the what.”
B is already picking out her clothes, “I’m going to grab a quick shower,” then disappears into the bathroom.
“Me too,” Emma gets up, “can you guys get me on your way down? I don’t want to…”
“No problem, I understand, see you in ten minutes, ok?”
Emma nods and leaves. I still can’t help thinking there is more than meets the eye with this kid. Maybe I should take her to the PtB? I walk into B’s bathroom to ask her.
“I’ll be done in a second.”
“I was thinking of taking Em to the PtB,” I say as I strip out of my jammies.
“Do you think they’ll tell you anything else if...” she falters as I join her in the shower.
“What?” I ask as I catch her eyes opening wide, “I’m just trying to be efficient, you know speed up the process.”
B laughs; “You’re more than welcome babe, but I don’t know about speeding up the process…” her words drift away as she trails a soapy finger across my collarbone then down my chest, aw shit.
“Yeah, ok, so I thought it was a good idea at the time…” I watch her smile then lean her head back to rinse the shampoo from her hair... so beautiful.
My hands find their way to her waist. She pulls her head out of the water’s stream and wraps her arms around my neck. Leaning into me she places a soft kiss on my lips then breaks away and steps out of the shower, “We will continue this later,” she promises and gets dressed.
THE KITCHEN
WILLOW’S POV
Dawn and Andrew are telling me about a SiT in London when Buffy, Faith and Emma come downstairs together. All of them are looking at me kinda funny. “Alright, I know you guys felt it so let’s just start with #1 – Yes, it was dark magic; #2 – No, nothing like this has ever happened before; and #3 Yes, I called the Coven. Now, they had a ton to say so grab some coffee and sit.”
“Hey everyone,” Kennedy calls out as she walks in with a huge brown bag. “Sunday morning bagels anyone? Just got ‘em fresh from the bagel joint.” She starts to unpack the bag onto plates on the table.
“Cool.” Faith takes one and the others soon follow.
“Good,” I continue, “Ms Hartness is flying out today so she’ll be here tonight to go over the details with Emma, but I convinced her, especially after the major bizarre-o-ness this morning,” I turn to Emma, “to tell me about your Dad.”
“Oh God.” She gasps.
“Goddess to be exact,” I correct her.
“Huh?”
“Ok, get ready because truth really is stranger than fiction or mythology in this case. Anyway, about 50 years ago the Goddess Ereshkigal, longing to be in human form, possessed the body of a woman for at least ten years that they know of. During that time she gave birth to two sons. The younger boy called Nathan was Emma’s father.” I stop and look at Ken then Buffy, “The older was known in the magic circles as ‘Rack’”.
“Holy shit!” Buffy and Kennedy say in unison.
I hold up my hand to stay their questions for the moment. “Emma, the others can fill you in on my history with Rack, not really wanting to go there.” I bow my head for a moment then continue, “Now, both boys embraced the magical powers they inherited from their mother but Nathan rejected the darkness while Rack, well he became a dealer in it.”
“Hang one sec Red.” Now Faith knows all about me and Rack, more than most actually. It was the major topic of discussion during our long car ride from LA to Sunnydale years ago. “Emma said this morning that the power she felt was like her Dad’s but bad. Did you ‘channel’ Rack’s power?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that but basically in a word, yes.”
“Did you kill him?” Emma asks softly.
I push out a labored breath, “Yes.”
“I was four.” She murmurs.
We all stop and look at her.
“My father said it was best when we found out. It’s ok Willow, his life is not to be mourned, he was a bad man.”
Tears are flowing down my face, “Thank you Emma.” This kid is really amazing. I wipe my face and try to continue but Buffy stands and walks over to me.
“We can do this later Wills,” her hand is on my shoulder.
I shake my head, “No, it’s ok; I want it all out there so we can be prepared.” I pat her hand, “Go sit,” I shoo her away. Taking a deep breath, I start again, “Ok, let’s talk about the Coven. They knew about the boys and who their mother was. When Nathan married Kate, Emma’s mother, the Coven took more of an interest in him. This interest was peaked further when you were born,” I hold Emma’s gaze. “What do you remember about the day your parents died?”
“Well, some people came, and there was a lot of fighting, then there was magic everywhere and then everyone was dead. After that I went to the new parents. They put me in the hospital after a couple of months.”
Nodding I reach out to touch her hand. “This is going to be confusing and somewhat contradictory. The members of the Coven really are good people, but they made some very bad decisions, especially where it concerns you. Those people who came, where witches from the Coven. They wanted to protect you from the Goddess and felt the best way to do that was to take you away from your parents. As you can imagine, your parents felt otherwise, that’s why the fight, and the magic. It all got out of control really quickly. By the time Ms. Hartness found out what had happened, another Coven elder had already placed you with your adoptive parents.”
“They killed my parents? And now one of them is coming here? I don’t want to see her. I don’t want to ever see any of them! I just, well, I won’t be here, please Faith can I stay with you?” She is trying really hard not to cry.
Faith catches my eye then turns to Emma, “Of course you can stay with me, no problem. You don’t have to see anyone you don’t want to.”
Sighing, I agree, “Emma we are here to help you. No one is going to make you do anything you don’t want to, just like Faith said. But just for the record, Ms. Hartness didn’t send that team to your parents so blaming her is misplaced.”
Buffy chimes in, “She’s the one who sent me to rescue you from that demon. And she helped Willow when she was having a hard time. She’s one of the good guys.”
Not convinced, Emma asks Buffy, “Promise?”
“I promise.” Buffy is quite solemn in her response.
She sees Buffy means it, “Ok, but what if someone else decides to take me again. I want you and me to stay with Faith.”
Faith shakes her head, “You’d be a hell of a lot safer here with Andrew and Dawn’s laser fortress jimmy-jammy working.”
“In that case can you stay here?” She’s pleading now.
Faith looks at Buffy who blushes then clears her throat. “Of course Faith can stay here Emma, we’re going to hunker down and figure all this out.”
Feeling like I’m fading fast, “Ok, I’m going to crash. AND DON’T WORRY, the Coven told me a spell to cast before I sleep so there will be no repeats of this morning.” Kennedy is immediately at my side. I lean on her, more than I realize I needed to as I stand. “I’ll see you all later.”
LATER THAT AFTERNOON
ANDREW & DAWN’S OFFICE
ANDREW’S POV
I’ve been staring at the code of this program for the past hour and I know I’m just a line or two away from getting it to work.
“Hey” Faith calls out. “Dawn said your needed me?”
I get up and gesture to the chair in front of me, “Yes, please sit. I need to get a DNA sample from you so I can enter it into the security screen. That way you can come and go without tripping any alarms.”
She narrows her eyes at me, “You serious?”
“You bet.” I open my desk drawer and take out a sterile swab from its wrapper, “Now open wide.” I lightly swipe the inside of her cheek then put the swab into a test tube of solution. “This solution will take your cells from the swab so when I put it in this centrifuge,” I cover the tube then drop it into the mini behind my desk, after a moment of whirling, “presto, I read the data from your DNA into the hologram map, see?” We both turn and look up at the map and watch a purple light appear in Cleveland.
“Dude, I thought you said Slayers were blue?” Faith’s eyebrows are arched.
“It should be,” I start to check the programming then I stop. “Oh my God... OH – MY – GOD!”
Faith stands up “What? What?”
Wildly I look at her as I jump out from behind my desk. “We did it!” I pull her into a huge hug.
“Ah, Andrew? You can let go and start telling me what the fuck is going on just about now-ish.”
Stepping back I go back to my desk, “The program is right; it’s you that’s different, wait.” I rummage through my test tubes and put another into the mini. Suddenly another purple light goes on next to Faith’s. “HA! Will you look at that? It’s Emma. I never got a chance to load her into the program yesterday.”
She furrows her brow and looks back at the map, “So the blue Slayer mixes with the white witch and apparently pink demon making purple?”
“You have no idea what kind of a breakthrough this is, it took Dawn and I almost two years to get this working. I can’t believe it could adjust to a new being. Maybe we should start calling it HAL?” I turn to her, “You think?”
“Everybody knows that didn’t work out well, so don’t push the luck here.”
Sitting down again I start to try and isolate the demonic parts of their DNA. “You know, now that I have this, I can start to try and come up with a way to track demons.”
“What do you need to find the M’Fashnik demon that’s after Emma?”
I nod slowly, “Well, first I need to isolate the demon DNA, probably get samples from different demons to see if there are variations, but that’s not likely to happen, so I guess I have to analyze what I have. I might ask you for a blood sample just to have more to work with...” I trail off as I notice Faith is staring intently at the map again. “You feel responsible for her don’t you?”
She turns to me, “Very much so and I can’t figure out why, B does too.”
“Oh I think I know why.”
“Yeah Q? What’s your theory?”
“Think about it Faith, she’s an orphan, at age15 has a shitload of power she has no idea how to handle and there’s that unmistakable hint of evil surrounding her. Sound like anyone you know?”
She looks down. Wiping her hands on her jeans she narrows her eyes at me, “You know a lot for someone who wasn’t there.”
Smiling, I nod, “Dawn remembers everything.”
“How do you explain B then?”
Leaning back in my chair I put my feet on my desk, “Well that’s even easier, Emma reminds her of you. She’ll always feel guilty for not being there for you when you guys were younger. She doesn’t want history to repeat itself.” I stop for a minute and watch her nod her head in agreement. “Ever wonder why she works with the lost ones Faith? The ones who are misunderstood, in trouble and discarded from their families? Do you think a Slayer who’s also psychologist can help them in ways others can’t?”
“Wow, you impress me again, my friend.”
I shrug, “I’m a geek, and I know a lot of stuff.”
She smiles when I wink at her, “I’ll bet.” She goes to leave then turns around, “How about I go talk to Willy and see if I can get some samples from his clientele? That would help you, right?”
“Jesus, Faith that would be tremendous.”
“Consider it done.” She says as she walks out of my office.
TOWER CITY MALL – DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND
EMMA’S POV
This place is fantastic! I’ve never seen so many stores under one roof. We’ve been shopping for hours and have had to go back to the car twice to unload our bundles. Not only did Buffy buy me a complete Fall AND Winter wardrobe, but also workout gear, running shoes, boots... she’s crazy. Then she bought a ton of stuff for Faith’s apartment: dishes, glasses, silverware, pots & pans, not to mention jeans, shirts and a winter jacket. I think she has a massive shopping problem, but I’m not going to complain.
Buffy looks up at me as we sip our mochas, “Think we’ve done enough damage here for one day?”
I laugh, “One day? I believe I’m set for quite a while! And this coffee is marvelous; I think it’s my new favorite thing.”
“Willow loves them too; let’s get her one for the road.”
I know she can barely see out the rearview as we drive home. Hmmm, I have a home. God, I don’t ever want to leave here. That Ms. Hartness better not try to make me, because I won’t go. Looking over at Buffy as she drives I can’t help but feel this is what it must be like to have an older sister. Everyone at the house makes me feel so comfortable, but her and Faith, they treat me like I really belong in their lives. Funny, none of us were even in each other’s lives a couple of weeks ago and now I feel like we’re a family.
She glances over at me “You ok? You’re kinda quiet.”
I sigh, “Yeah, just thinking how different everything was a couple of weeks ago.”
Buffy laughs, “Yeah, I hear ya.”
Smiling at her I venture, “You make each other very happy.”
She narrows her eyes at me, “Emma, are you... you know?”
I tilt my head and raise my eyebrows, “Huh? Oh, no, no, all you have to do is look at you guys, no extra stuff needed.”
She nods as she pulls into the driveway. “Faith and I will never let anything happen to you.” The look of determination on her face is almost as reassuring as the conviction in her voice.
“I know and you can’t imagine how safe that makes me feel.”
“Good!” she pats my leg. “Now let’s get these goodies inside.” Looking in the back she falters, “This might take a couple of trips.” We laugh.
We walk in laden down with packages. “We’re home!” Buffy calls out. Willow walks out from her office. “Hey Wills, we got you something... thought you’d like some mocha goodness before it gets all scary serious later.” Buffy hands her the coffee.
Willow still looks tired and rather sad actually. “Thanks Buff, but it already has.” She leans against the wall as Ms. Hartness steps out into the hallway.
“It’s not as bad as all that, Willow.” She turns to us, “Hi Buffy, glad to see you are well. And Emma, it’s good to see you again, we have a lot to talk about.”
