Chapter 2
Faith was getting frustrated practising against the dummy. She knew Giles had his reasons for slowing her down and making her concentrate on her every move, but Faith enjoyed sparring with a moving target more. Especially if that moving target was a certain blonde slayer.
Giles was standing nearby, watching her going through her form. Faith was busy learning Wing Chun, a form of Kung Fu which requires the body to be relaxed and fluid like water. He thought the style would be helpful in getting Faith to focus more and help her relax in general. She always seemed to have way too much pent up energy and Giles wanted her to channel that energy wisely and use it to her advantage. Always charging into a fight all gung ho and what not, could one day seriously backfire on the younger slayer.
"Bend your knees more Faith. Relax into your song stance. Let gravity pull your core down. Remember you will be much harder to knock down if you move and flow with your opponents energy."
Faith nearly rolled her eyes at Giles, trying not to bow to him and call him Mr Miyagi. This all sounded way too much like some Zen, let's be one with the universe, shit. She can't understand what the problem was with how she was fighting now. Just charge whatever big bad was coming at you, a few hard and fast hits to the head and a stake through the heart and off you go. Why all this slowing down crap?
But, Faith also knew that Giles genuinely cared about her. And she trusted that when he asked her to do something, he was only thinking of what would help her in the long term. He had every reason to throw her to the wolves after all the shit she put him and Buffy and the rest of the Scooby gang through. Instead, he welcomed her back when she returned apprehensively with her tail between her legs from LA. He sat her down and had a long talk with her and though she was reluctant to let down her guard too much, the care and concern she felt from the watcher was touching. She had a gut feeling the old guy really wanted what was best for her and so she threw caution to the wind and decided to actually trust someone else, besides Angel.
Faith was also surprised how the rest of the gang allowed her back in. Well not immediately, but Giles had a sit down with them all. He was careful to remind each and every one of the group how they had some pretty dark moments as well and yet no one was pushed out of the group. They worked through it and were stronger for it. The situation with Faith was no different. And though there were some apprehension in the beginning, Faith tried her utmost for them to see that she was on a path of redemption and slowly, they changed their attitude towards her. Buffy was much harder to sway, understandably, but the older slayer also had a big heart and after some time she actually smiled at the younger girl’s jokes and silly behavior. Faith would never forget the first time Buffy smiled at her after she came back to the fold so to speak. It pulled at her heart and gave her a butter flying feeling in the pit of her stomach. She vowed to herself then and there that she would make Buffy smile at least once a day and berated herself for ever being the cause of any sadness she might have felt.
She still felt guilty about what she had done and wanted to make it up to Buffy in the worst possible way. She would do anything for the older slayer, she was completely hers, but didn't know how to convey it to her without scaring her off. B would freak if she knew the fantasies Faith had about her. About what she wanted Buffy to do to her. Even the pain she wanted the blonde to inflict on her. Pain she felt she deserved. But only at the hands of Buffy. She would be the only one who would make it worthwhile. And truth be told, thinking about it, really got her motor running.
Giles held up his hand showing her to stop what she was doing. Cleaning his glasses he methodically went over the whole idea behind Wing Chun again. Faith was only half listening. Her attention was divided between Giles and Buffy. She could see by her slumped figure that she was not her usual happy self. When she looked up at Willow, Faith could see the tears forming in her eyes. She immediately wanted to march over there and demand who it was that had made Buffy so sad. If anybody hurt her, Faith was more than willing and able to go knock out some teeth and bash in some heads.
"Hey G, I get it. Flow like water, be like rubber or whatever...do you mind if we continue this tomorrow please? I need to take care of something."
Giles gave an exasperated sigh. He knew it was no use to try and get the dark slayer to listen to a word he was saying when her attention was so clearly divided. He had noticed the anxious look on her face when she was looking over at Buffy. He didn't know why she seemed worried, but he was glad that the two were getting so close and looking out for each other more. It made for a very strong united front against evil lurking around every corner.
"Okay Faith. I see you are not going to take in anything else I have to say to you, but tomorrow, I want you back here at noon so we can get some more practice in. It's nearly time we move on to the butterfly swords and I need you to be fully focused for that. Are we clear?"
Faith grinned. Not just because soon she will have some nice sharp swords in her hands to relieve the boredom of pracitising against the dummy, but also because she can finally get over to the object of her affection.
"Of course. I will be here tomorrow, sharp and ready for the training. I just need to take care of something now."
She repeated. Giles nodded and then smiled.
"Off you go then."
She looked over to the table again just as Willow was reaching for Buffy's hand. Itching to get over there and find out who needs to loose a limb or two, she didn't have to be told twice to get going.
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