FIC: New Circumstances (Part 2 of the "Finding Life" Series)

[Patrick Kelly <bandits@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey.

Previous disclaimers still hold. Enjoy :-)

NEW CIRCUMSTANCES (OR - AREN'T SISTERS SUPPOSED TO SHARE?)

The two slayers entered Giles' home around quarter of eight the next morning. Despite
the&excitement of the previous night, they managed to get to sleep. Well rested and
feeling pretty good, they saw their friends sitting around the house, "coupled" but
together on the sofa talking. They stayed standing. The only one not present, was Giles,
who Buffy looked around for.

"Hey guys." Buffy greeted.

Everyone stopped, and looked up at them. More specifically, at Faith. "Hey! It's Buffy!
And Faith!" Xander said, cheerily.

Faith and Buffy exchanged looks.

"Yep. That's us. Here every day. Almost like clockwork even." Buffy said. Her friends were

strange sometimes.

"Whatever." Faith shrugged, shaking her head.

"Um&where's Giles?" Buffy asked finally.

"He's upstairs." Xander said, though all the Scoobies still stared at Faith. "So?"

"So&what?" Faith asked.

"You know," Willow said, excitedly.

"Not&really." Faith was now a little worried. "You all on something?"

"They want to know what you're going to do with the money you got. You know? From the
Mayor? Because you helped him with his evil plan?" Anya elaborated.

Buffy rested her head on Faith's shoulder, standing behind her. "If this were a cartoon,
they'd all have dollar signs in their eyes."

"Oh&right&that." Faith said slowly, pulling Buffy down with her onto the couch. "I gave
it back."

"What?" Tara asked. Everyone was shocked. Not just because of what Faith had just said but

also because of the louder than normal volume of Tara's voice.

"I'll go with that too. What?" Xander said in disbelief.

"I just&didn't really want it. I mean, so what if I never had that kind of cash before?
And never will again?" Faith explained, keeping a straight face very well.

"It's a shame. I tried to change her mind, but she wouldn't budge." Buffy grinned, looking

at Faith. "Not." She gave her a quick kiss. "One." And another. "Inch."

"I get it." Anya said, having a revelation. "They're joking, right? Right?"

The four of them were silent.

Faith sighed. "Of course I kept it! There's no way in hell I'd turn down that much money."



They all breathed again. "Thank God!" Xander said in relief.

"Did you -?" Willow started to ask.

"I'm stickin' it in the bank. First thing we're gonna do is get a new place." Faith said,
looking at Buffy. "Then the necessary entertainment center&"

"Don't forget wardrobe." Buffy pointed out.

"I'm gonna get you into leather if it kills me, B."

"This is all very interesting, but when do we get some money?" Anya asked. They stared at
her. "Oh. Was that the wrong thing to say?"

Giles walked down the stairs, dressed in tweed, his hair still damp from the shower.
"A better question would be, now that you have a substantial amount of wealth, are you
changing your plans to further your education?"

"No, I'm sticking with it." Faith assured him. "No matter how painful it is."

"Good." He smiled.

***

Buffy slid off Faith's lap and walked over to him. "You're dressed."

"Yes, that is generally what one who wishes to live in the world is. Often times daily."

"No." Buffy said, ignoring his attempt at sarcasm. "You're back in tweed. You haven't worn

tweed since you worked at school. What's going on?"

"That's where I'm going, actually."

"To school?"

"Work."

"What? Where?"

He got his bag off the table. "The gallery."

"Mom's gallery?"

"Do you know of any other?"

Buffy thought. "So&she gave you a job?"

"Yes, and I'm very grateful to her for it."

"That's&good. Among the working force again&" She suddenly had a panicked look on her
face. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Hmm?"

"You're supposed to be here. This is our hanging place."

"You can still&'hang'. Just lock the door when you leave. All right?" He said to her as he

moved towards his now repaired front door, and opening it.

"Okay&I guess," Buffy said distractedly. She was surprised at how&weird she felt. He got a

job. That was a good thing.

"Then I'll see you later."

"Yeah&bye, Giles."

***

Willy tossed a Relayn heart into the trash after draining the blood and fluids into a
glass. Wiping his hands with a towel, he slid the drink down the bar to the demon that had

requested it. They were paying customers, and as long as he kept seeing green, he'd mix
anything they wanted. He knew most of the demons in town because they were regulars, and
his "no fighting" policy had been surprisingly obeyed. He had gotten used to the routine,
and was always a little suspicious when something new entered his establishment.

One of those something's just had.

It walked in with a quiet confidence he had never seen before. Almost dignified. There was

a cloak around most of its face, so only its white, glowing eyes and dark hair was
visible. Its hands and feet were clawed and disfigured, and its skin had a purple tint.
Willy noticed that it had wings that were retracted behind its back. He was definitely
intimidated as it walked up to his counter.

"What can I get ya?"

"Information."

Willy had standards. No matter how intimidating the demon. "I don't do that anymore." He
shrugged. "Sorry, pal."

"No?" It seemed shocked. "I have just arrived, and I asked a very foul smelling human, I
assume it was a human, where I could find out certain details. He pointed me to this
establishment. Are you not the proprietor?"

"No, that's me. But all I do is serve drinks. Can I get ya something?"

"Simply what I need to know."

"Come on, what's your drink?"

"I doubt you want to find out."

"Ah&sure&right." Wait a second. This wasn't - "Raziel?"

"How do you know who I am?"

"Word got around to me that you might be dropping by. When the Council wants something, I
figure it's best if I do what they say. Get what I mean?"

"What did they want you to do?"

"Follow me." Willy walked out from behind the bar, and led Raziel to a door at the back of

the bar "In there. I'm not involved in this. The slayers'll have my head."
Raziel moved to open the door. "You're a vamp, right?"

Raziel nodded.

"And you didn't crisp in the sun?"

"I had forgotten. With today's breed, even the oldest of them is susceptible to sunlight.
I am not."

Raziel walked in to the darkened storage area, not even waiting for Willy's response. He
immediately knew he wasn't alone.

"Show yourself."

"Relax, Raziel. I'm with the Council. They sent me here to help you get acquainted. I can
answer all your questions, but from now on, it would be best if you would try and use
discretion." A female, British voice spoke.

Raziel sighed. "Hiding? What world have I entered?" He walked closer to her.
"Very well. But&you know my name, yet I don't know yours."

"Olivia."

***

"I miss Giles." Willow announced from her spot on the floor. "It feels wrong."

The gang had been sitting in his house for an hour, staring at the TV. Buffy and Faith
were still on the couch, and Xander and Anya just sat up against his bookshelf.

"Huh?" Tara asked, lying beside her.

"Being here when he's not. Just feels&wrong."

"I miss him too, Will." Buffy said, glad someone else was feeling it too.

Anya laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Well first of all, you're acting like he died or something. And two, you finally know how

he felt. I just think it's amusing." Anya explained.

"What are you talking about?" Willow asked.

"He was here twenty four hours a day, and the two of you were always off doing some
college activity. He never got to see you, and he had all this time on his hands. He
missed that stupid library.

"Now you have nothing to do, and he does. And you expect him to be around whenever you're
here. Too late. He got a life. Deal with it."

"Hey I -" Willow tried to defend herself.

"She's right, Will." Buffy admitted, sad and ashamed. "I'm such a jerk."

"We're both bad, neglecting&" Willow sighed.

"You're realizing that now?" Anya asked.

Faith turned and gave her a "don't say that again or I'll hurt you" look.

"You're not." Tara assured Willow.

"Guess this means if he's got a job I really have to get one. I could feel better about my

absence of employment because he didn't have any. Now that's ruined." Xander grumbled. "I
miss him too, though. He's the G-Man."

Faith stood up, dragging Buffy with her. "It's getting wicked depressing in here, so I say

we motor."

"Where?" Buffy asked, sullenly.

"Anywhere but here." Anya said, leaving.

***

Giles sat in room that Joyce had cleared out for him. He had been studying the "wooden
sword" for a few hours now, not having any luck identifying its origins. He shined a lamp
down on several open books, as he turned sword around, running his fingers over the
markings. Usually it took a lot to get him frustrated, but he was quickly reaching his
limit. He felt like all his knowledge was useless.

He liked to think of himself as somewhat of an expert on demon languages, because it
obviously wasn't a man-made artifact, but the markings were like nothing he had ever seen
before. If it was demonic, he concluded, than it predated anything he knew of. And that
was somewhat shocking, because he knew of languages during the Jurassic era.

If the sword was constructed before then&

There was a knock on the door. "Yes?" He asked as Joyce opened it.

"How's it going?"

"I was able to date all but one of piece of the shipment."

"That's wonderful. What's giving you trouble?"

"This frustratingly remarkable sword. It's going slowly, I'm afraid."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm sure it'll just take time." Joyce nervously cleared her

throat. "We're slow on visitors today, so I was about to order some lunch. Interested?"

"I suppose I could use a break."

Joyce smiled. "Chinese okay?"

***

"Now," Olivia began, "you'll want to know about the slayers. They told me you had never
faced one before, so two might be a -"

Raziel stared at the window high on the wall of the storage room, directly across from it
was a rather large cage. "I'm not interested in them."

"I'd think you would be."

He turned around. "I must get the Soul Reaver first. No matter how much I know these
slayers, without that weapon, they will always have me at an advantage. I must continually

feed on souls. And that is a weakness I cannot afford. Now that I no longer have access to

the Spirit Realm, if I do not satisfy this&" He sighed, "accursed hunger, I will die."

"And the sword -?"

"Souls endlessly course through it feeding me. And it will give me access to magicks and
the Spirit Realm once again. If I am to do battle with humans matching my own physical
strength, I want to be fully prepared."

"Then shall we go retrieve it?"

"Yes. I feel the need growing. We must hurry."

"The sewer tunnels will be quicker. And safer."

"Lead the way."

***

"It figures that the 'SunCinema's Grand Re-Opening' would have twenty-four brand spanking
new theatres showing 'Titanic'. Shudder." Xander said feeling chills.

The six of them walked down the street.

"The sad thing is we had nothing better to do and sat through it." Buffy added.

"I thought it was sweet." Willow said. Her friends stared at her. "Well I did."

"And the sinking wasn't very realistic." Anya complained. "There was a lot more gore and
organs."

"Um&how do you know that?" Tara asked, a little afraid.

Xander stopped and faced his girlfriend. "Honey, you didn't&"

Anya grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She grabbed his hand. "We just did a
relationship activity, right? So let's go have sex now."

He followed numbly, as she pulled him along. The group continued walking, now down to
four.

"Wasn't that bad." Faith said.

"What?" Three voices asked unbelieving.

"Once I started using my imagination, I kept seeing this blonde laying on that couch."
Faith grinned at Buffy and kissed her hard. "But she wasn't alone."

Faith slid her hands down to Buffy's butt and gave it a squeeze. Buffy drew in a sharp
breath. "Oh yeah. Definitely leather for you."

Willow and Tara gaped.

"You're in public!" Willow squealed, looking around nervously.

"So?" They asked.

The wiccans looked at each other in disbelief.

"As much as I want to&see where this goes&" Buffy said, "Will and I want to go see Giles,
remember?"

Faith kissed her again. "I'll be waiting."

Tara, with a sudden rush of courage, wrapped her arms around Willow's neck and followed
Faith's example, kissing Willow passionately. "See you later." She said softly as she and
Faith walked away from their girlfriends.

"You with me, Will?"

Willow nodded mutely. Buffy grabbed her stunned and speechless friend's hand, and they
walked towards the gallery. A few seconds later, Willow's shock was replaced with a happy,

lopsided grin.

***

Joyce and Giles sat in the "break room", just a room with two tables and a few chairs,
eating egg rolls and white rice.

"I just want you to know how much I appreciate this. I&haven't felt the same since the
library was destroyed&well, since Buffy moved on. This is what I needed." He told Joyce
truthfully.

"You and I have something in common then. Ever since Buffy started college, I just miss
knowing she's safe in bed when I come home at night. They say college is a big change for
the kids, but they never really think about the parents."

"No. They don't, do they?"

They continued eating in silence for a few more minutes, before Joyce spoke again.
"Look&Rupert, we haven't talked about what&happened between us and..."

Giles almost choked. "Ah&"

"We're both adults and I should have&we should have&been able to talk about it. And Buffy
reading my mind was not how I wanted her to find out. I know it's been awhile but we've
left it go and -"

"You're right. To be honest, I was always somewhat afraid to -" He stopped talking, and
his face quickly looked surprised. "Olivia?"

Standing in the doorway, were Olivia and Raziel. She held up a gun.

"Hello, Ripper."

***

Faith got out of the shower, and slipped on red leather pants and a dark green tank top.
She had to show Buffy that leather wasn't all black and dark colors. Bright normally
wasn't her thing, but if it could get Buffy out of those Gap clothes she always wore,
she'd make sacrifices.

She laid down on the bed and was trying to decide whether to study or do an apartment
search. Before she could choose, there was a knock on the door. Instantly on guard, she
moved to the door, and opened it just enough so she could see out. It was the same man who

had given her the check.

She opened the door wider. "Come to give me more cash?"

"I'm afraid not. But I neglected to say some things last night, and due to legal reasons,
you might want to hear them."

Faith moved out of the way and the man entered, going to shut the door.

"Leave it open. It'll be easier to kick your ass out that way. If I have to."

He cleared his throat. "Hopefully you won't."

"Start talkin'."

"I was Mr. Wilkins' lawyer. I work for a firm in LA. Wolfram and Hart." He handed her his
card. She glanced at it, unimpressed. "Well, it seems he had specific wishes in his will
concerning the money which he wanted you to receive."

"Well I know it had nothing with giving half of it to charity."

"No, but he did say that under certain circumstances, the money couldn't be used.
Repeatedly he mentioned a name. Buffy Summers."

She got close to his face. "What about her?"

"Simply that if by some, 'unfortunate turn of events', you were to associate with this
person and use the money with her, there would be&repercussions. He wanted to make sure
you were making the right choices."

"Is that a threat?"

"I'm just relaying his wishes."

"Well he's dead. He can't do anything. It's my life."

"Don't get me wrong, Faith. I agree with you. But I know how resourceful my client was."

"What do you mean by that?" She grabbed his tie.

He held up his hands. "I've said what I've come to say." She let go and he turned to door.

"Good luck. I hope you pass."

He walked out, and Faith stood there, trying to shake it off. "It's bullshit. He can't
control me anymore."

She almost convinced herself. Almost.

***

"What's going on?" Joyce asked. She turned around, and saw what Giles did. "Oh my God."

"Just give us the sword, and we go." Olivia said.

"Tell me." Giles said.

"I should've gotten out sooner. When I told you they were coming her, I had no idea they
were listening."

"They&the Council?"

"Yes, it was tapped, Ripper. They told their team to move in earlier, and offered me a
choice. Work for them or die. What would you have chosen?"

He looked sad. "I'm sorry."

Joyce watched them talk and immediately figured out how well they knew each other. She
closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, and look at Olivia's companion. He stayed silent
the entire time.

"I'm sorry too." She looked down at the floor for a second, and then up at him again. "But

I'm still alive, and well taken care of."

"They promised me that they'd leave us be."

"And they have. They're not controlling this. They're in Britain. The sword, please."

"I can't give it to you. Besides, it's safely locked away."

"Be rational. It's not just your life at stake."

"I am. I don't believe you'll fire."

She looked hesitant. And then she fired into the wall. Joyce screamed. Raziel turned to
Olivia. "What is their relationship to the slayers?"

"She is one's mother, and he used to be a Watcher."

"So it would anger them if these two were to die. I do not want them angry. An angry
opponent is a dangerous opponent. It's too early, and it would be a foolish mistake."

"What about -?"

"I've learned patience. But," he rushed Giles and grabbed him, "I am hungry."

A green light passed from Giles into Raziel's mouth. After a few seconds, he dropped Giles

to the ground, and motioned for Olivia to leave with him. Before they did though, Olivia
looked down at Giles.

Joyce crouched down, over him. He was shaking, and seemed to be taking gulps of air. She
didn't know what had happened.

"Mom? Are you back -?" Buffy asked, as she and Willow walked in the doorway.

"Oh my God, Giles!" Willow yelled, running in.

"Mom, what happened? Mom?" Buffy asked, trying to figure out what to do.

Joyce couldn't speak.