E-mail:  ka18008@attbi.com

Rating:  PG-13

Lingo:  Some Bostonian lingo, some slang, some swears

Violence:  very minor

Spoilers:  3^rd Season

"So I’m a slayer, huh? Cool… what are you here for? I can take care of myself." The girl said to the strange, British woman that stood before her. Little did she know that this stranger would become the first person she would trust in her entire life.

"I am your watcher, Faith, and I will train you. I believe I will make you a good slayer- and your training will help you stay alive. To every generation there are 2 chosen ones. They alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. YOU are a slayer." This woman was kind and warm- something Faith had never experienced before. This made her slightly intrigued as to what this woman was telling her about her ‘destiny’. "Now, you will come with me to the cemetery and you will see your power and why you must learn to harness it. Learn to use it wisely and this ability will help all the people around you as well as yourself."

"Alright, I’ll come, but if I don’t like it… can I split?" Faith had learned by her experiences with her mother that she shouldn’t jump into any committal without knowing what it was. "Wait a minute- did you say ‘there are 2 chosen ones’? Who’s the other lucky winner?"

Faith and her watcher walked to the cemetery, and as they did, her watcher’s words stuck in her mind- "no one is better than you, no one is better than you"… she knew then that her future lay in slaying. They walked quietly, the only sound heard was the occasionally sounds of the people walking by, walking to the safety of their homes before it got dark. Then, her watcher, who was determined to make Faith trust her and listen to her, decided to speak.

"Now," her watcher said. "When we get there, it is crucial that you prepare and is ready when the sun goes down. You must remember to stay alert and focused at all times."

"Yeah, whatever. So what’s with this ‘wooden stake’ deal?" Faith asked. "Why can’t I just use a gun, or at least something you can shoot from a distance?"

"Actually, you CAN use a crossbow, which is fairly easy, as long as the arrow is made of wood." Faith’s watcher decided that it was time to give Faith the rules of slaying. "See, a vampire can only be killed by certain things- wooden stake, beheading, sunlight, and fire will get the job done. Although holy water, a crucifix, and garlic can also harm a vampire, they cannot kill them. It is essential that you always carry around a stake, and a crucifix for safety.

"Also, when you stake a vampire, you must do it in the heart, or it will just hurt the vamp- they won’t die." Her watcher wanted Faith to be prepared- she didn’t want her to be killed.

Watching the last beam of sunlight fall behind the trees and darkness beginning to fall, Faith felt ready to battle the undead. She had now to stake and kill a vamp- what else did she need to know? She would soon learn… As Faith and her watcher waited for her very first vamp to rise, she started thinking. "Will I be able to tell Kenny about these new ‘special powers’? I know I don’t really tell him anything, but this would be a wicked cool thing to show off… then he’d know I can kick his ass if he ever pisses me off, not like I couldn’t anyways- I mean, he’s a drummer. Or, even better, I could have a reason for dropping out of school! And as I live entirely large, I can kick some demon ass and no one can tell me what to do…" Faith was so engrossed in her thinking that she didn’t see or hear the vamp coming up behind her until the words "Look out behind you!" was shouted. She turned around only to see a guy with a suit and tie covered in dirt and a look that screamed plastic surgery to remove a huge bump in the middle of his eyebrows swing his arm at her. Without realizing it, she quickly ducked and swung around behind him. Then she jabbed a few strong and quick punches that she had seen stunt people do in those kung fu movies, and with a finishing touch, she knocked him to the ground with a forceful sidekick. As he was falling, Faith grabbed the stake she had left on a nearby tombstone she had been sitting on. As she turned around to finish him off, she was pushed hard against the cold marble stone, and looked up and saw the vamp lunging toward her.

He pinned her to the ground and said, "Hehe… you’re cuter pinned down. But this is your stop. Congratulations- you will be the first human blood I will feed- "

Suddenly, Faith felt a strong sense of relief as the weight on top of her was lifted and dust fell upon her. She looked up to see her watcher- one hand was holding a stake and the other was held out before her to take. "Are you alright? I’m sorry- I should have trained you before we came out hunting." Her watcher looked genuinely concerned, and Faith gazed at her wearily.

"I’m 5x5, just wondering how I could’ve let that vamp jump me like that. I mean, I had him!" Faith answered. Seeing her watcher give her such a doubtful look, she added, "Really, I’m fine. So, this is what we call hunting… sounds good to me."

At first, as Faith looked around her, she was confused about where she was. It was a rather large-sized apartment considering the fact that the big bay windows overlooked the Charles River. Apartments there were usually hard to find since on one side of the river, the MIT campus is overlooking it, and the other side, its BU, so there is almost no space for regular apartments, but the little that were there are really expensive. But she shrugged it off- "I guess watchers get wicked big salaries." She thought inwardly.

As she walked around and saw what appeared to be a neat and cozy-feeling place, complete with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room- her thoughts suddenly drifted. All this information that she received that day was sinking in, and little bits of it were flashing in her mind- slayer, watcher, slayer, watcher, chosen one, slayer, slayer… as her watcher touched her arm, she jolted back into reality. "Nice little place you got here." she said, distractedly.

"Yes, it is." Her watcher was very proud of what she had done to this once dark and filthy place, so much that she didn’t notice Faith had drifted off into her own world of thinking. An apartment in one of the oldest buildings of Boston, she felt it was one of the cleanest and well kept. "And this is where you are going to live." She pointed to the bedroom at the end of the hall.

"Wait a minute, did I just hear you right?" Faith suddenly looked up. "Listen, lady, that’s really nice of you to offer me your place to live in, really, very sweet. But I got a place- I don’t need yours."

"No I insist. I’ve seen your ‘place’. You might as well call it a hole in the wall; it’s so small and dark. No, it’ll be much better if you stay here- there’s enough space to do some training, its along the Charles River so you’ll get a nice sense of scenery when you go running. Also, the nearest T stop is only a half a block away, so it’ll be easy to travel anywhere." Her watcher had thought about where she was to live very carefully, because she wanted to make sure Faith was secure and had a good roof over her head. She was so young that it pained her to think what hell she would go through in the rough times ahead.

"Oh, alright- but there are a couple of conditions I’d like to state right now." Faith wasn’t sure what she was getting herself into when she agreed, but she knew she would have a helluva hard time explaining to Kenny why she wasn’t going to live with him anymore.

"State them if you must, but I will say right now that I might not permit these conditions even if you beg me to." She was considered to be one of the best watchers in the world. She was gentle, yet strong and firm.

"First of all, I don’t want you to always be hounding me about where or what time I go out- I don’t need a mother. Second, I can bring over anybody I want." Faith didn’t want her life to be restricted after so long of living on her own.

"Don’t worry- I would never badger you. I know you need your privacy, plus most of your nights will consist of patrolling and slaying." Her watcher had already set specific plans on Faith’s training times, patrolling, and social life, and she would not let Faith tell her differently. "And I will not have anybody else in this apartment except yourself and I. This place will be filled with training gear, and weapons, and I will not permit others to see and discover your identity. Don’t even try to argue with me. It’s not worth it- I’m not going to change my mind."

"Fine- whatever. I’ll follow your little rules for a while, but that’s it. We’ll talk about this again later." Faith, although she desperately wanted things to go her way, didn’t want to displease her watcher on the very first day they had met.

"Good, it’s settled. You know, Faith, another reason why I would like it if you stayed here is to help me learn my way around here. I have only been here less than a week, and already I’ve gotten lost!" She knew mentioning that mishap would convince Faith- a proud Bostonian who knew her ways about- to stay with her if she mentioned she didn’t know her way around Boston.

"Hey, woman, where you been all day? I thought you were goin’ to come to my gig." Kenny was obviously a little ticked that Faith would miss something as important as his gig.

"Ya know, Ken, there can be things a little more important than hearing you play the same songs you’ve been playing. Besides, I didn’t wanna go to that stupid gig anyways." Faith was so happy to finally be able to speak her mind and not worry about getting hit.

"You really got it in for ya, woman." Kenny didn’t like this new Faith- he couldn’t have his woman bossing him around! "And what was so important that you had to miss my gig? We played a new song tonight!"

"Oh, so my things aren’t as important as yours? What, you think you’re better than me, that it? Say it- you think you’re better than me!" Faith had definitely wanted to have sex with Kenny that night since that was probably the last time she would see him or any other guy for a while, but now she didn’t care. He couldn’t treat her this way, and she wasn’t going to take it anymore. "I’m not going to take this shit anymore! You can’t control my life, ok? Its MY life- and I’ll do whatever the hell I wanna do, so lay off."

"Jeez, what you getting so worked up about, woman?" Kenny knew when to stop with Faith- he knew her temper, and while her strength wasn’t as strong as his- he didn’t like fighting. "It’s all cool- I was just concerned that something happened to you." Kenny always used charm to soften her so she would do it with him, and he wanted to that night.

"Stop calling me woman! Wait, you know what- whatever. Look, I just came back here tonight to pack my stuff and tell you I’m leaving." Faith knew Kenny would go ballistic when he heard she wasn’t gonna stay with him anymore- who would pay half the rent?

"What! Why’re you leaving me? Just cuz we had this little fight doesn’t mean I don’t love you." Kenny was scared that he might lose Faith- and not just in a money-needing capacity. This was the first girl he had ever had real feelings about- and he would turn abusive before he let her go.

"Oh yeah, right, you love me, I forgot about that." Faith knew she was being a little mean about the sarcastic tone in her voice, but she knew Kenny only liked her because she paid most of the rent.

"Its true, and I don’t want to see you leave me." Kenny was getting ready to fight, and Faith knew this.

"And what are you goin’ to do about it? Fight me?" She said, as she held her arms out and challenged him. "Come on, tough guy, let’s see your stuff."

As she wandered through the streets towards her new home, she started to run. She had had all this energy stored up since the night before, but she couldn’t figure out why. Little did she know that on the other side of the country, the night before was the day that marked the death of Kendra.

Arriving at the door of the apartment, she fetched the keys her watcher gave her from the pocket of her flared jeans. After finally figuring out which key went into which lock, she let herself in. "Hey, I’m back." She said, as she brought her stuff to her new room. As she entered, she could see her new watcher putting sheets onto her bed, giving her plenty of pillows and blankets, and making sure the TV worked. Faith knew she would be well taken care of, unlike what her life would have been if she stayed with Kenny.

"Hello Faith, I imagine you hadn’t any trouble bringing your bags here?" Her watcher said pleasantly. "I have just finished up here, so make yourself at home."

"Thanks." Faith said as she dropped her stuff into a big heap on the floor and started out after her watcher. Then, after seeing the look on her face, Faith reentered her room and started to put things away.

"Very good." Her watcher smiled, and then went out to the kitchen. "Are you hungry? I can make you something to eat before we go to bed."