Title: The Assistant, part 51
Author: Sweetdoggie (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
Pairing: B/G
Rating: R
Summary: Wesley and Faith
Spoilers: season 4
Disclaimer: No permission has been granted to use the characters. They are owned by their creator, Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, UPN, WB, and Mutant Enemy. This story is non-profit and is intended solely as entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended.
As soon as they hung up the phone it rang, causing Giles to yelp in surprise. Buffy grabbed the phone. “Buffy Giles here.”
“Buffy? It’s Wesley. Faith! Faith’s awake!”
“Oh my God, Wes! Is she OK? Should we come?”
“The doctors want to run some tests, but she says she feels fine. If all things go well, we should be home by the weekend. Oh, Buffy! I can’t begin to tell you how very happy I truly am.”
“Giles and I will come down and help you pack up. This is such great news! Here, tell Giles!”
She passed the phone to her husband and Watcher and grinned to see his face light up. He talked to the younger Watcher for another few minutes before hanging up. Turning to his wife he grabbed her, rolled her in his arms and hugged her till she was short of breath.
“This is wonderful news!”
“The best,” she agreed.
“We should celebrate. Let’s go out for breakfast.”
“Mmmm. Good plan.”
During breakfast, they made extensive preparations to bring the other Slayer and her Watcher home. Buffy was so excited she could barely eat. Giles finally ended up feeding her bits off his own fork while she talked and gestured excitedly.
“We’ll go down this weekend and pick them up. Wesley might wish for several days alone with his Slayer, you know.”
Buffy looked struck by the idea. “Do you think they’re feeling the bond?”
“Wesley is, certainly. I believe that Faith was experiencing the beginnings herself before her injury.”
“Good. They need each other.”
“I think so as well.”
“Wesley really shaped up.”
“Yes. He went from a callow youth to a man to be proud of in a very few months time.”
“Do you think Anna will bond with her Watcher?”
“She’s awfully young yet. I wouldn’t expect her to start forming those sorts of bonds for at least two years, possibly longer.”
“She’s old enough to start having crushes. Just because she’s still a kid, I don’t thing you should underestimate the power of emerging hormones. Besides, I don’t want to wait another two years for her to come home. Maybe she’ll pick a compatible Watcher and they can all come back here.”
“It’s possible, I suppose. But she may not come to the Hellmouth at all, you know. The Council may feel that two Slayers is enough and send her elsewhere.”
“No way! She’s coming here where we can watch out for her.”
“I feel that way myself, but it isn’t always our choice.”
“You know what the Council can do with itself, don’t you?”
“Now, Buffy…” he grinned at the expression on her face.
They decided to rent a U-haul, drive down to LA, get Wes packed up and drive back to Sunnydale the next day. Buffy was practically hopping with anticipation at seeing two missing members of her family again.
Friday finally rolled around and Giles rented the truck. He had filled an overnight bag for both himself and Buffy, though he doubted she’d approve of his choices. Luckily, she was too excited to care what clothing he had picked out for her and simply got in the vehicle with no complaints.
When they pulled to a stop in front of Wesley’s apartment building, she leaped out of the vehicle almost before it had come to a complete stop, tore up the stairs and met Wesley at the door with a hug that nearly lifted him off his feet. He returned her exuberant greeting and spun her around in his arms before returning her to the ground once more. By that time, Giles had parked the truck and stepped lightly up to the happy pair, a grin on his own face. He and Wesley started out with a handshake but pulled each other into a quick embrace as their emotions took over.
“Good to see you looking so well, Wesley,” Giles told him gruffly.
“Thank you, Rupert. It’s so good to have the both of you here.” He looked over his shoulder and smiled. “I believe there is someone else here who is happy to see you as well.”
Faith bounded up to them. She looked a little thinner and was awfully pale, but was otherwise apparently unharmed by her long months in a coma.
“Buffy! Good to see you, sis.”
The two girls hugged. “I hear you’ve been having some adventures without me.”
“Nothing all that interesting; fought a Frankenstein monster guy. Toasted him. Saved Riley. Met the First Slayer.”
“Riley? Not, ‘I’m a psychology major’, Riley?”
“The one and only.”
Faith shook her head. “So, what was the First Slayer like?”
“Major ‘tude, bad hair.”
The girls grinned at each other, understanding perfectly that their battles had been hard and deadly and that they had both been extraordinarily lucky. They turned at one and looked into their respective Watcher’s eyes. The men were living up to their calling and stood gazing at the girls with love and devotion.
Giles stepped forward and gave Faith a quick hug before stepping back to look her over carefully. “You look very good, Faith.”
“Well, I had a nice long rest, but now I’m totally ready to kick evil butt again.”
“Don’t push yourself. I’m sure you’d like to train a bit before getting back on the horse.”
She just rolled her eyes. “I haven’t had a good kill for almost a year! I’m like, deprived or something, Giles.”
He patted her shoulder. “I’m sure you shall do marvelously, my dear, but would you humor this old man by letting me watch you spar a bit first?”
Faith made a show of looking around him to either side before turning to Buffy. “What’s he talking about, Buff? I don’t see any old men here, do you?”
Buffy bent down and looked under the coffee table then stretched over the back of the couch as if searching for something. “Nope. I see two really handsome Watchers, but no old men.”
Giles flushed and spoke dryly. “Nevertheless…”
Faith gave in with better grace than Buffy would have showed. “Oh, all right. I love pummeling Wesley anyhow and he hasn’t fought for a long time either. We both need some practice.”
“I shall be delighted to let you pummel me, my love,” Wesley told her, red-faced.
Buffy raised an eyebrow at his term of endearment. “Am I picking up on some bonding vibes?”
It was Faith’s turn to blush. “Ah, well, yeah. We sorta bonded when I got out of the hospital. It was totally accidental,” she hastened to assure the other couple. “I mean, it wasn’t like I planned to jump him and who knew that jacket he was wearing was so flimsy it just sort of fell off when I gave it a tiny little tug?”
Giles looked sternly at Wesley, eyebrow raised before pounding him on the back with a happy grin. “Congratulations, you two. I was hoping this would happen for you.”
“I had no idea that it was so wonderful,” Wesley explained. “No wonder you nearly killed me when I first arrived. If someone tried to take Faith from me now, I’d kill them. I just didn’t know it felt like this.”
Buffy grinned at him. “Wow, I’m so happy I could just dance! Merrick will be so pleased…Now if we could just get a Watcher for Anna…”
“Faith and I want to marry,” Wesley explained when she settled down for a moment. “We were hoping you wouldn’t object.”
“Object? Why would I object? Two people I love found each other. I think its great.”
He smiled softly at the tiny blonde. “We were rather hoping you and Rupert could be the Best Man and the Maid of Honor.”
“Mom could be the mother of the bride and Merrick could give you away, Faith!” Buffy bounced a couple more times. “This is gonna be so cool!”
The girls talked and giggled all night as the truck was slowly packed. Luckily, Wesley wasn’t a man who owned a lot of possessions and it only took about four hours to finish moving his stuff. Faith had one change of clothes—she hadn’t needed much while she was in a coma and Wesley had simply purchased a T-shirt and jeans at her request.
Giles and Wesley had looked on indulgently whenever the two girls got together and started whispering.
Wesley looked at the elder Watcher. “I find that I’m rather glad I don’t know what they’re talking about.”
“Yes, indeed. I, too, feel that might be a very good thing.”