Faith must’ve been feeling charitable or something.  She agreed that she wouldn’t call Xander ‘Sinbad’ anymore.  What was the big deal anyway?  She grinned.  She'd just come up with something new soon enough.

“What canary did you eat?” Xander asked.  “From what I see, there’s nothing much to smile about around this place.”

He had her there.  Talk about gloom.  They hadn’t come across any vampires in this part of town so far, but they had seen their fair share of the homeless, drug dealers, and prostitutes.

“God,” Faith said.  “Could this place be any more depressing?”

“We’re not in the best part of town,” Xander noted, casually glancing around.

“Is there a best part of town?”

“I guess.  From what Emma said, anyway.”  Xander shrugged his shoulders.  “Just remind me to never come down here by myself.”

“Hey, Xander.”

“What?”

“Don’t ever come down here by yourself,” Faith said, smiling.

“Oh, thanks for that.”

“Anytime.”  Faith’s brows creased together in thought.  “You know what sucks?”

“What?” 

“Trying hard in not getting lost because everything looks the same,” she said.

“The same?”

Faith pointed to the decrepit building they had just passed.  If it was just one building, okay, no big.  But the block they had turned down, the entire street looked that way.  One building after another was nothing more than a burnt out, broken down, crumbling mess.  It looked like a war zone to Faith, and she wasn’t thinking about a vamp or demon war zone, she was thinking more along the lines of a full-blown military war…or a Godzilla rampage.

Shit, she was hanging out with Xander too much.

“How can they let it get so bad?” Xander asked, walking a little faster to keep up with Faith.

Faith noticed he was breathing hard, so she slowed down.  “Who knows?  Corruption.  Lack of funds.  Lack of caring.  I’ll tell you what, I’ve been around, and this ranks up there as one of the worst places I’ve ever seen.”

“I’d think that Boston would have its share of areas like this too,” Xander said.

“Yeah, it had its share too,” she said, quickening her pace.

“Jeez.  Slow down!” he said, rushing to keep up with her.  “I don’t mind a good run now and then, but enough of the constant speedy walking.  Wait!  It’s because I brought up Boston, isn’t it?”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“You two lost?”  Someone stepped out from an alley they had just passed. 

Faith turned.  No game face, she thought as she studied him.  Long dark coat, hands in pockets, knitted hat.  That didn’t mean much.  Vamps acted and dressed differently in every city she’d been to.  This would be her first Detroit vamp, if he indeed turned out to be one.

“Can’t say we are,” she said, moving and standing between him and Xander.

He moved a little closer to them.  “Kind of late to be out, isn’t it?  Especially in this part of time.  It's not normal.”

Faith was beginning to think that maybe her slayer-vibe was broken.  Then she smiled.  It was a tad delayed, but there it was, her vamp-tingle.  “What?  Something wrong with taking a walk?”

“You two white breads aren’t from around here, are you?”

“White breads?”  Faith laughed.  “Okay, that expression is from the seventies?  Or would white bread be the eighties?  Am I right?  Come on; tell me if I’m close,” she asked, glancing at Xander.  “Which one is it?”  She turned back to stare once again at the vamp.

They were so predictable.  Once Faith had made him, his game face was on.

“Can I ask you one thing?  Have you ever heard the expression ‘Vampire Slayer’?  Just curious,” she asked, rolling her shoulders and firming her grip on the stake in her coat pocket.

The vampire’s confidence faltered for a moment.  His eyes darted from side to side, looking for a way to escape. 

They always did that too.

“I was thinking of letting you go with a message,” Faith began.  She didn’t need to be standing as close to Xander as she was to hear his sudden intake of breath.  “You know, tell all your homies that Detroit now has three slayers on their turf.  But then again, I’d be shirking my responsibility of making sure you didn’t hurt anyone, so I guess I’ll be going with my normal Plan A.”

“Plan A?” the vampire asked.

“Dusting you.”

XXXXX

Faith wiped the dust from her jacket and shook out her gloves.  She could feel it on her face too.  A nice, cold wind gust had come whipping up just as she was staking him.  She really hated vamp dust.  It got everywhere.  Well, almost everywhere. 

“Homies?”  Xander asked, as they began walking again.

“What?” Faith asked, sliding her gloves back on and putting her stake back in her pocket.

“Homies?” he repeated.

“Nothing else came to mind.”

“Boys?  Crew?”

Was Xander actually challenging her on her slayer quippiness?  Faith glared at him.

“What was I saying?  Homies is just fine,” Xander said.

That was better.  Faith put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him to her.  “See, that’s why we get along so well.  You just get me!”

Xander laughed, but Faith could feel his unease.  His body had immediately tensed up as she had pulled him to her.  Yeah, she touched him, so fuckin’ what?  It wasn't like she was hitting on him or something.

XXXXX

“So it went well, then?” Giles asked as they all piled into the van.

“If 'well' means one vamp,” Faith said, taking her now familiar position in the back.  “That’s all we saw.  One.”

“We didn’t have much better luck,” Buffy added.  “Will and I only came across two ourselves and some… um, people that were out.”

Faith laughed.  “I can guess what kind of people, B.”

“Warned you guys,” Emma said, sitting down next to Faith.  “You were heading down into the really bad parts of the city.  What did you expect?”

“Someone seems a little cranky,” Xander said.

Emma blushed.  “Sorry.  Mr. Giles and I didn’t find any.  Faith got one.  Buffy got two.  Me, the hometown girl, didn’t get any.”

“Are different hellmouths, well, different?” Buffy asked.

“Contrary to popular belief,” Giles said.  “This is only my second hellmouth.  There were some references in the Watcher tomes…”

“Oh, like they’ll do us any good now,” Faith said.

“The ones that were spared have some information contained in them, but definitely not to the detail that we would require.  Why do you ask, Buffy?”

“Well, in Sunnydale we were practically tripping over them.  Here, we pretty much have to hunt for them.  Just seems kinda weird.”

“Weird usually means that something bad is going to happen,” Willow said.  “Let’s not say 'weird,' let’s say 'different.'  Yes, different.  Weird usually means apocalypses and hell-on-earth and stuff.  Different means, ‘Hey, look, it’s different, but not necessarily bad.”

“What’s with all the doom?” Xander asked.

Willow shrugged.  “Not all doomy.  It’s only my second hellmouth too.  Guess I just expected it to be…Sunnydale.”

“Hello, expert on board,” Faith said.  “Want to know what’s normal?  Askin’ the person who has been here for a year might help.”

“As a matter of fact, I did,” Giles said.  “Emma, would you care to share with the others what you told me?”

“Not like there’s much to tell.  I would get out three, maybe four nights a week.  Come out around midnight.  Stay out until 3:00 or 4:00.  On those nights, I might see two vampires, at least that’s the way it’s been over the last couple of months.  Before that there seemed to be more.  But I really wasn’t counting or anything.”

“Whoa,” Faith said.  “Hold me back.  All the increased demon activity?  This place doesn’t know what increased demon activity is.  Are you sure your sources didn’t say, ‘decreased demon activity’?”

“My sources said…”

“Giles, who exactly are your sources?  Not like the Watcher’s Council is telling you what to do anymore.”  Faith could physically feel herself launching into attack mode and she wasn’t sure why.
 
Giles shifted uncomfortably in the driver’s seat.  Clearing his throat, he said quietly, “It was an anonymous tip.  A message left at the villa in Italy.”

“An anonymous tip?” Buffy asked.  “As in, ‘Hey there’s a bunch of baddies in Detroit; you should go check them out.  And by the way, I’m not telling you who I am,’ kind of tip?”

“Basically, yes.”

“And we just ran here?” Faith asked, shocked.  “No extra checking or anything?”

“What do you think we’re doing now, Faith?” Giles asked, irritation creeping into his voice. 
 
“Not much from what I can tell,” Faith muttered.

“Detroit is on a hellmouth,” Giles continued, “and we need slayers here.  When I received the message that something could be happening, I took it as a sign that it was time for us to move on, to reestablish our presence on this hellmouth.  Truth be told, we would have come here even if I hadn’t gotten the message.”

“Enough,” Buffy said.  “We’re here, so let’s just make the best of it.  I’m thinking not a lot of vamps, a good thing.”

“They gotta be somewhere, B.  If not here, then where?  It’s a hellmouth, for God’s sake.”

XXXXX

Faith wasn’t surprised that they were all hungry by the time they got back to the house.  Giles had decided that it was too late to stop somewhere, so he figured they’d have to make do with what they had in the kitchen.

“We have hot dogs,” Xander said, grabbing a couple of packages out of the freezer.

“Oooh,” Willow said.  “There’s mustard and ketchup and relish.  We could have dogs with all the fixin's.”

“They taste better barbequed,” Faith said, grabbing a jar of pickles out of the cupboard, opening it and jamming one into her mouth.

“Not exactly the barbequing kind of weather here,” Buffy said. 

“And yet another reminder,” Faith grumbled, shoving another pickle into her mouth.

“I found some chips,” Emma exclaimed.  “Sour cream and onion.  Those are pretty much my favorites.”

“I do believe we will need to do some shopping for food items,” Giles said.  “It’ll be Sunnydale all over again.”

“But no pending apocalypse,” Buffy quipped.

“Not yet anyway,” Faith said, putting the lid back on the pickles.  “Chips.  Share.” 

“If Dawn were here, she and Andrew would be fighting over those chips,” Xander said.  “Too bad there isn’t any chip dip.  We could double our onion loving chip-dippy-breath.”

“Don’t think that will be a problem in the foreseeable future,” Giles said, changing the subject.

“Chip-dippy-breath?”

Giles just looked at Xander.  “I was thinking that perhaps we should not send for the others to join us just yet.”
 
“Others?” Emma asked quietly.

“Our original plan was to bring more slayers to Detroit.  That in addition to a few people who are awaiting our word overseas,” Giles said.  “Since we do not know what is going on exactly, it would probably be in everyone’s best interest if we postponed, barring any objections that is.”

“Dawn?” Buffy asked.

“Kennedy?” Willow asked at almost the same time.

“No Andrew?” Xander asked, sounding more than a little pleased.

“If agreed, they would not be immediately joining us,” Giles said.

“It’s probably for the best.  At least until we find out what’s going on,” Buffy said.  “I miss Dawn, but it probably is a good idea.”

“Who are all these people?” Emma asked.

“You had to ask,” Faith said, swinging herself up and sitting on the counter.

“Emma, you might as well sit down,” Xander said pulling out a chair for her.  “This could take awhile.”

Later, after each one, aside from Faith, had given Emma a brief look back over their past, Emma declared, “My life is SO boring.”  She put her hands up in surrender.  “Forget it!  I can’t take anymore.  Do any of you people have stories that don’t involve sisters that are keys, vampires that have gypsy curses; geeks who try to end the world and people you know who died horribly?”

“I was in jail,” Faith said, shrugging.

“For what?”

“Killing someone.”

Emma just stared at her.

“It’s a long story.  And if you ask me, compared to all of this,” Faith said, jumping off the counter, “jail was boring.”

 

Part 5
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