Have a Little faith, Part 4

"Hello Lindsey," Holland said, at the foot of the door to his office.  "Good vacation?"

Lindsey leaned back on the chair and smiled.  He had just gotten in this morning.  The funny thing is that he had spent the day looking over his work and saw all the evil he had been dealing with.  Things he did not notice or think about before.  It effected his confidence-- made him unsure if he could pull this off. Angelus was over 200 years ago; he was no dummy.

"Excellent, sir.  It was good to get away from the psychopath for a few days. How is the mental case by the way?"

"Excellent.  Very good assassination-- quick and clean.  I'm glad to see you are feeling and looking
better.  I was beginning to get worried that you would not be able to cut it here."

"Well, I'm better now," Lindsey said and gave a fake smile.  "Bringing him back from the dead looks like it will help us. Even if he is a little unstable.  I'm ready to work for the firm full force."

Holland nodded.  "I can't help but notice you've still wearing a big wooden cross under your shirt and carrying a bulge in your pocket which I believe is a stake unless our medical records about you are wrong."

"Purely safety, sir," he replied, trying to sound confident.  "I have no intention of harming Angelus in
any way.  I'm just trying to make sure that nothing happens to me."

"Nothing will," Holland said.  "Angelus is just joking.  We all share the same goals."

What goals? Lindsey wanted to say, but instead he just said,  "Yes, sir."

"I'm serious," Holland commented.  "Getting Angeluswas extremely difficult and expensive.  If anything happened to him, it would take ten years to get him back.  I don't think you want an Angelus that has spent 10 years in hell, not that you would be around to see it."

Lindsey did not say anything for a moment.  It was obvious Angelus meant more to the firm than he ever would.  Finally he said what he hoped were the right words to Holland. "Sir, I am here to make sure Angelus stays alive for as long as possible.  He is important to the firm and I am loyal to them.  I will not harm Angelus.  These are just to scare him."

Holland nodded.  Although he knew the cross, the stake and the holy water would never frighten Angelus.

"Anyway, enough of the lecture.  How was your vacation?  It's a beautiful drive."

Lindsey nodded.  "It was an absolutely wonderful vacation, the kind where you can find your soul." He noticed the sun was setting.  Soon Angelus would show up.
 

"Lindsey, how I've missed you!" Angelus cried out. He came in and literary gave Lindsey a full kiss on the mouth.

Lindsey pulled away.  Lilah and Lee slowly walked in behind him.

"Was it a good vacation?" Lilah asked and smiled.  "I would have loved to get away." Lindsey could hear a hint of jealousy in her voice, but doubted Lilah would have been interested in the vacation that Lindsey had taken.

He nodded.  "Beautiful drive, lovely oceans, big beautiful sun."

Angelus laughed.  He looked to Lilah "He's finally getting a sense of humor around me."  He grabbed
Lindsey quickly who did not resist.  Instead of harming him, Angelus pulled him in a headlock and gave
him a nuggie.  "I love this guy!  Lindsey, I think I won't kill you.  Instead," Angelus let go of Lindsey
who rubbed his head and zoomed over to Lee.  "I'll kill him!"  Angelus took a small bite from Lee's neck, then released him.  Lee fell to the floor not from the bite but from Angelus' force.

No one said anything not even Lilah.  Lee got up off the floor and rubbed his neck.  It was not bleeding that badly.   Lindsey was happy that at least Angelus no longer despised him.  It might keep him alive for a little longer.

"My god, lighten up!" Angelus said.  "I'm not going to kill anyone.  I admire the three of you.  I had to become a vampire to lose my soul, you just had to become lawyers."

"Angelus, have you ever considered, prozac?" Lee finally asked.

It was the first time Lindsey had seen Lee stand up to Angelus.
 

"Rupert Giles?" Giles looked up to see a tall man, wearing a blue suit that fit like a glove.  His hair
was dark, possible black, combed extremely neat.  He had round glasses.  He also had a British accent.

"Yes."

The man put his hand out and Giles shook it. It was not a very strong grip. "Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.  I'm Faith's new watcher."

Giles almost burst out laughing.  Wesley was going to have his hands full with Faith.  Not to mention
Angelus would probably kill this guy in a second.

Giles subdued his laughter and instead said: "Oh, good, you're here.  We've been waiting for you."

"And where is Faith?" Wesley asked.

Giles looked at his watch, it was 10:30.  "Probably asleep."

"Asleep!" Wesley cried out, as if Giles just cursed. "She should be training!  We have a long road ahead of us.  Angelus won't care if she's sleeping.  It's 10:30 in the morning, she should be training."

"Preciously the reason she should be able to sleep in.  This is the last time she can let her guard down. Angelus is not going to be an easy challenge.  Allow her to have some allowances before he goes against her."

"Thank you," Wesley said.  "I'm sure you did a good job looking over Faith these past few months, but I'm here and I can decide her schedule."

"Do you know anything about her, about her history, about what she has been through?"

"Yes, I'm well aware that her first watcher was killed.  It was very tragic.  I heard she was a
wonderful person."

"Her first watcher was brutally murdered by a vampire who then kept searching for her.  She thought she was getting a new watcher who turned out to be an evil one in disguise.  She is also a very head strong young woman, but fragile emotionally and has issues of trust-"

"I can take care of that," Wesley replied.  "Faith can trust me.  I won't let her down."

"I surely hope so."

The door to the library opened and Buffy entered. She looked confused, than walked over to Giles and Wesley.

"Ah, Buffy," Giles said. "I want you to meet someone. Buffy, this is Wesley Wyndam Price."

"I'm Faith's watcher," Wesley said.

Buffy did what Giles had kept himself from doing, she laughed.

"What's so funny?" Wesley asked, clueless.

"Oh nothing.  You're not evil?"

"What?" Wesley asked.  He seemed confused.

"Last one was evil."

"No, I am nothing like Gwendolyn Post," Wesley said. "I am here to help prepare Faith to take on Angelus."

"Good luck," Buffy replied, a little condescending.

"Well, Faith is a Slayer, I am a capable watcher.  I am sure we can handle Angelus."

"I wasn't talking about Angelus," Buffy said and smiled.

"Oh, yes," Wesley replied and still seemed clueless. "I am well aware of Faith being difficult."

Buffy just laughed again.  "Well, anyway, Giles, just came to check in before class.  Any news on the
Mayor?"

Giles shook his head.

"Nice to meet you Wesley," Buffy said and laughed again.

"Like wise, Buffy," he replied, a little confused. He could not believe that Giles would let Buffy act
that way.

Buffy walked out the door.

"You seem to have your hands full," Wesley said.

Giles smiled.  Wesley did not know the half of it. In a few days, Wesley would wish he would have someone as easy to deal with as Buffy.

"Now the council says you have an inside man--  I believe his name is Lindsey McDonald?"

Giles nodded.  "Yes, he is an attorney with Wolfram and Hart.  He's been keeping us up to date with
Angelus' activities."

"And you trust this man?  Wolfram and Hart are notorious for working for darkness."

"If Angelus ever found out what Lindsey did, he's as good as dead.  That I trust."

"And to give him ample time for Angelus to not be suspicious, we need to stay in Sunnydale for a few
more months.  Will he be able to handle himself for those months?"

Giles looked down.  "I certainly hope so."
 

Faith came into the library about a half-hour later. She walked over to Wesley and Giles, and then looked Wesley over and made an odd face.

"New Watcher?" she finally said.

"New Watcher," Giles replied.

"Screw that," she said and walked out of the library before both Giles and Wesley could respond.
Giles looked at Wesley who seemed like he's in a state of shock.

"I did warn you, Faith is shall we say, very spirited and independent.  She was on her own for a little
while without a watcher and I believe she spent some time on her own before she was called."

"Yet, she seems to look up to you."

Giles did not say anything, he just took off his glasses and wiped them.  He did not start speaking
again for a moment until he put his glasses back on. "How about I go talk to her?"

"Good, maybe you can talk some sense into her.  We don't have time to play these silly psychological
games.  We need to go to Los Angeles and kill Angelus."

"Wesley, you have to understand something about Faith. You have to accommodate her a little.  You need to compromise."

"There is no compromise, we have to defeat Angelus."

"I understand that, but look at Buffy.  She'll be 18 next week.  Slayers usually don't last that long.  I think Buffy has because of her independence. If you want Faith to survive, you have to let her have some of her own life."

Wesley did not say anything.

"How about I talk to her and see if she'll be willing to compromise with you.  You won't get rid of Angelus if you two keep fighting."

Wesley still did not say anything, he just nodded.
 

"Faith?"

She did not go far.  She was sitting on a bench right outside the library.  Students were walking past her, not paying any attention to the look of distress she had on her face. Giles looked over his student for the past few months.  She had a fierce loyalty, streetsmart and very tough.  However, he noticed
something about her.  He was sometimes afraid of her, not afraid that she would hurt him, but fearful that there was a time bomb inside waiting to go off. When she saw Giles, she tried to smile.  Wesley was
right about one thing, Faith did look up to him.

"I know Wesley seems to be a little twerp, but-" Giles smiled. "I can't think of anything else to say."

That got a small laugh from Faith.  "I gotta take orders from that dork?"

Giles nodded.

"Ain't happenin'.  My first watcher was way cooler than this idiot.  She didn't care that I was on my own.  I could tell this guy won't let me do anything with his stupid looking suit and all."

"Faith-" Giles wasn't sure what to say.  "What's more important here, your pride or stopping Angelus?"

Faith did not say anything.  "Why can't you be my watcher?"

"Because I'm Buffy's watcher."

"Can't we switch?"

Giles smiled.  "I know he is-But we need to stop Angelus.  There are people relying on you. "

Faith looked down.   "I'm ditching this guy as soon as we get rid of Angelus and get Lindsey in a
safehouse."

Giles laughed. "I've talked to him about compromise with you.  He seems open to it.  Perhaps you should discuss it with him."

"I'd rather work alone."

"You need someone to look over you Faith and to train you.  Wesley may be a twerp, but he's knowledgeable. You'll need that for fighting Angelus.  He's not your
run of the mill vampire."

Continue to Part 5

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