AND THAT'S THE BLACKOUT!
15/7/11 20:35![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
telarynTitle: Lay Down Your Arms
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
telaryn
Word Count: 628
Fandom: Leverage, BTVS
Characters: Giles, Faith
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: No ownership implied, no profit obtained.
Summary: Faith is finally ready to walk away from her destiny.
Author's Note: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
angst_bingo, for the prompt "depression".
In the end, Faith couldn’t have said what finally drove her over the edge. ”If your reasons are clear, then walk away with a clean conscience. Don’t run away because your feelings are hurt and you’re looking for an excuse.” Everything Eliot had said made sense at the time. She’d taken back her resignation and agreed to take up her Slayer duties again, after an extended vacation at home.
Home she thought, wiping distractedly at the tears in her eyes. There was the truth of it. She’d cried at the outskirts of Boston – the thought of leaving Nate and Eliot and the others behind even for a little while had her so sick and miserable that she almost turned her bike around. Home wasn’t Cleveland and Giles and monsters and destiny anymore.
Home was Nate and all his little quirks and stories and links to a past she’d never known. It was Sophie and her insights into the way people worked, Parker and her enthusiasm and insanity, Hardison and his combination of fear and geekgasms when it came to her and what she could do.
And home was Eliot – the way he made her feel about herself. She mattered to him. She mattered to them all, and more and more Faith was having problems turning her back on that. I’m an afterthought everywhere else. It was something she had accepted about her position in the Slayer organization ages ago – but now with the promise of something more, she wondered why she was continuing to put up with it?
“You know you’ll need to talk to Buffy.”
Faith flinched, startled by how quietly Giles had come up on her. Yet another argument for my quitting. The man who’d been more than her Watcher since Sunnydale fell eased himself to a sitting position in the grass next to her.
“You’ve come a long way, G,” she said, smiling at the casual way he was dressed and the way he was sitting. “I can’t imagine the stuffy librarian you used to be coming out in the middle of the night to hang out in the park with his basket case partner.”
Giles rolled his eyes. “You kids always thought you knew me,” he said. “No matter how much you learned about me, you kept trying to make me into this stuffy old prig.”
Laughing in spite of the tears still spilling silently down her cheeks Faith said, “It would probably help if you didn’t use words like prig.”
“Fair enough,” Giles said, conceding the point. “You’re still going to have to meet with Buffy and work out the details of leaving. I know you don’t think you’re important Faith, but you’ve made a critical place for yourself in the Slayer organization. You can’t just walk away without making the proper arrangements to see that your duties are taken care of.”
Wiping at her eyes again, Faith met his gaze. “You think I’m making a mistake?”
Giles blew out a quiet breath, taking the time to consider her question. “It’s no secret I think very little of your bio-father,” he admitted. “But I would have to be blind to see that your heart isn’t in this anymore, Faith.” He reached out and brushed fingertips against her damp cheek. “And you are starting to rack up a worrisome number of injuries.”
Faith hitched one shoulder, embarrassed that Giles had figured her out so easily. “I’m getting older,” she said defensively. “This is a young Slayer’s game for a reason, you know.”
“This is a game for Slayers with no other drag on their hearts,” Giles said, glaring at her over the top of his glasses. “Enough is enough. If you don’t know how to walk away from this, we’ll figure it out together.”
Author:
telarynWord Count: 628
Fandom: Leverage, BTVS
Characters: Giles, Faith
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: No ownership implied, no profit obtained.
Summary: Faith is finally ready to walk away from her destiny.
Author's Note: Written for
angst_bingo, for the prompt "depression".In the end, Faith couldn’t have said what finally drove her over the edge. ”If your reasons are clear, then walk away with a clean conscience. Don’t run away because your feelings are hurt and you’re looking for an excuse.” Everything Eliot had said made sense at the time. She’d taken back her resignation and agreed to take up her Slayer duties again, after an extended vacation at home.
Home she thought, wiping distractedly at the tears in her eyes. There was the truth of it. She’d cried at the outskirts of Boston – the thought of leaving Nate and Eliot and the others behind even for a little while had her so sick and miserable that she almost turned her bike around. Home wasn’t Cleveland and Giles and monsters and destiny anymore.
Home was Nate and all his little quirks and stories and links to a past she’d never known. It was Sophie and her insights into the way people worked, Parker and her enthusiasm and insanity, Hardison and his combination of fear and geekgasms when it came to her and what she could do.
And home was Eliot – the way he made her feel about herself. She mattered to him. She mattered to them all, and more and more Faith was having problems turning her back on that. I’m an afterthought everywhere else. It was something she had accepted about her position in the Slayer organization ages ago – but now with the promise of something more, she wondered why she was continuing to put up with it?
“You know you’ll need to talk to Buffy.”
Faith flinched, startled by how quietly Giles had come up on her. Yet another argument for my quitting. The man who’d been more than her Watcher since Sunnydale fell eased himself to a sitting position in the grass next to her.
“You’ve come a long way, G,” she said, smiling at the casual way he was dressed and the way he was sitting. “I can’t imagine the stuffy librarian you used to be coming out in the middle of the night to hang out in the park with his basket case partner.”
Giles rolled his eyes. “You kids always thought you knew me,” he said. “No matter how much you learned about me, you kept trying to make me into this stuffy old prig.”
Laughing in spite of the tears still spilling silently down her cheeks Faith said, “It would probably help if you didn’t use words like prig.”
“Fair enough,” Giles said, conceding the point. “You’re still going to have to meet with Buffy and work out the details of leaving. I know you don’t think you’re important Faith, but you’ve made a critical place for yourself in the Slayer organization. You can’t just walk away without making the proper arrangements to see that your duties are taken care of.”
Wiping at her eyes again, Faith met his gaze. “You think I’m making a mistake?”
Giles blew out a quiet breath, taking the time to consider her question. “It’s no secret I think very little of your bio-father,” he admitted. “But I would have to be blind to see that your heart isn’t in this anymore, Faith.” He reached out and brushed fingertips against her damp cheek. “And you are starting to rack up a worrisome number of injuries.”
Faith hitched one shoulder, embarrassed that Giles had figured her out so easily. “I’m getting older,” she said defensively. “This is a young Slayer’s game for a reason, you know.”
“This is a game for Slayers with no other drag on their hearts,” Giles said, glaring at her over the top of his glasses. “Enough is enough. If you don’t know how to walk away from this, we’ll figure it out together.”
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