Author's Notes: OK, so yeah, ya'll can beat me for taking so long but here it is chapter six.

Disclaimer: So the usual, I don't own Buffy, the characters or anything else recognizable and make zero money from writing this little fic of mine.

Chapter Six

Buffy took in her friends expression, Willow looked ready to burst right there in the corridor.

"Go on Will, tell me whatever it is that has you so excited."

"Well, you know how the council want Faith bonded to Wesley? We can trick them." Willow grinned. "I've found a temporary bond that allows the bonder to can drain a person's strength, it works on witches so it'll almost definitely work on a slayer, they can inflict pain on one another like some of the nasty bonds you mentioned too. The two people can also open themselves up to a telepathic link if they want and stuff. Basically it's a spell that an outside party can cast on two people to help form a partnership but it's temporary. We can do the spell bonding Faith and Wesley and then get the council to witness it working then once they stop watching us, bam presto we take the spell off and no more bond. The only catch is they both have to be willing and obviously we need to know that Wesley won't blab." Willow explained. "I'm just really sorry we couldn't have done this for you Buff."

"It's ok Will, I mean really...it was weird at first and I hated that it was forced but Giles and I get along fine, better than ever really and he's still my watcher not some stranger the council picked so that's good. Actually I'm still in the just grateful I still have Giles as my watcher phase full stop I think." Buffy replied, closing her locker.

"Giles!" Willow squeaked out in surprise. "Morning Giles, we were just talking about Faith and just you know Faith and Wesley and the whole bond thing? And Faith…"

"Will, you're making it sound like we were talking about something worse." Buffy glared at her friend.

"Were you?" He asked, joining them as they headed towards the library.

"Not really." She shrugged. "Nothing that shouldn't be discussed in the halls of sunnydale high is that's what you mean. I think you just took her by surprise."

They made their way into the library to find Wesley stood there waiting for them.

"Wesley, Wesley's here." Willow rambled looking at Buffy. "You didn't tell me Wesley was here."

"Is she alright?" Giles asked, raising his eyebrows at the red head's behavior.

"I'm starting to wonder if she had coffee this morning." She smiled. "Hey Wes, what brings you here this morning?"

"Just wanted to be updated on anything prominent." He replied politely. The two girls went and took a seat, Willow clutched onto her book tightly and looked between Buffy and Giles. Buffy noticed and realized what it was that her friend wanted to know.

"You said you didn't want to force Faith into anything, I'm going to need you to spill it Wes." She spoke up. The Englishman looked rather startled and confused and looked to Giles for a translation.

"She wants to know what your situation is. She wants to know if she can trust you or whether you are completely under the council's control." He explained.

"Oh…" the younger man said quietly. "I-I wouldn't call it complete control precisely."

"He's not ready." Giles said.

"I say if there's something that the council needs to know then you have a duty as a watcher to share it." Wesley spoke up. Buffy decided to take things into her own hands.

"You said yourself, I follow orders right?" she asked.

"I…yes, I was curious as to why such a strong bond was required when you appear to follow orders and have the greater good in mind…" he nodded nervously as she approached him.

"Because to the council, I'm not a person. I'm not a teenage girl with friends, family, thoughts or feelings. I'm a tool. A weapon. Just a tool to be used and when I'm broken, I'm replaced. I'm lucky, I'm not one of those potentials that was just picked up and removed from her family to be trained into nothing more than an attack dog." She told him bluntly. "Because you know what? We had one of those. Kendra was a good slayer, did as her watcher told her, followed the rules; no life, no boys and followed the handbook. How long did she last on the hellmouth exactly?"

"W-well…that was just one case…" he spluttered defensively.

"If I didn't have any friends, I would be dead. Kendra dead. Your only slayer would be Faith. A slayer that your council wants to capture and reprogram until she plays it your way. Who protects the hellmouth then? While she's being retrained? Way I see it…I died already, new slayer called. My job is done, so I think I'm doing your council a favor by continuing to do anything for you at all. Considering that two of the slayers that the council doesn't like are the two that are doing a pretty damn good job I think the council might want to rethink their priorities." She ranted. Giles touched her shoulder, drawing her attention back to the room rather than her speech.

"You died?" Wesley asked.

"How did you think two slayers got here man?" Giles asked shaking his head.

"W-well…we weren't told exactly. When Kendra was called we believed that Buffy had died but then we were told that she was alive and well so we assumed it was some anomaly due to the need for more than one slayer." He replied.

"Oh Quentin knew alright. Buffy went to face a master vampire, following a prophecy that she would face him and die. She died. He fed from her until she was unconscious and left her in a pool of water to drown. She was resuscitated by a teenage boy who selflessly went into the vampire's lair to save her and fortunately he did. I think it's becoming quite clear that your beloved council isn't telling you everything." Giles said, removing his glasses and heading into his office.

"Why would they lie?" Wesley asked quietly. He glanced at Buffy and Willow, who had remained in the room.

"Maybe because they don't want anyone asking questions. They don't want to face the fact that the council may have been wrong." She shrugged. "Giles and I…we do follow the council, up to a point but I'm not taking any orders blindly and Giles isn't either."

"What did you have in mind?" he asked.

"Are you willing to stand against your own Uncle is necessary?" Giles asked, returning from his office with not one but two cups of tea, one for himself and another for Wesley.

"I…as long as it's for the greater good of the world then I can do that." He nodded. Giles observed the younger man, it looked like Buffy had shaken him up a bit. "From what I've seen over the past two few months, Buffy follows her calling and does her job…she reports to you and I don't believe that such a severe bonding was necessary for her. I can agree that in this instance the council is wrong."

"Well that's a start." Buffy nodded looking rather pleased with herself. "Faith. Is a bit more of a liability I know, but she's not evil. She's a good slayer, she came to save your backside and has been coming and going to help me out. She doesn't need retraining. She needs a chance."

"She is an adult slayer, she requires a bond of some kind to ground her." He countered.

"I have to agree with him." Giles spoke up. "But I believe that a standard bond should be the only bond ever used."

"If the council wouldn't agree to that with Buffy, they most certainly won't for Faith." The younger watcher said shaking his head. "I'm sorry but I can't see a way out of this. I can refuse but all that will do is end with me losing my position and another watcher coming to do the same."

"We sort of have a plan. Well…Willow does." Buffy said. Giles glanced at the two girls in surprise.

"And when were you planning on sharing this plan of yours?" he asked seriously.

"Will only found it last night, she told me this morning." Buffy shrugged. "Will, wanna explain it for us?"

"Wesley, do you promise we can trust you with this idea? I mean you can always turn it down and then it's like it was never mentioned right?" Willow asked shyly.

"I think I can agree to that at least." He nodded.

"I found a temporary bonding spell. It has the same affects as some of the ones the council have suggested for Faith. Basically I could do the spell and be the middle party, you can do a demonstration for the council that Faith is under your control, although in reality you can each control one another." Willow explained.

"How do you know Faith won't use that bond to control me and get away?" he asked.

"That's the outside party's job. They can dissolve the bond at any time and also change it, allow all the powers one way or the other. If I think you're trying to control Faith when you shouldn't…I can just poof, bond gone. If I think Faith's out of control I can shift all the control to you so that she can't fight back and you can take her in to the council." She said, handing Giles the book. "We were sort of hoping that we could leave you guys under this bond for about six months in place of the bond that would be renewed every three months and then get you to request to the council that a normal basic bond is used because she's been good and followed orders."

"It sounds workable." Giles nodded.

"I vote we do it then shake the hell out of the council." Buffy said grimly.

"I would certainly be willing to try it this way first." Wesley nodded. "But will Faith?"

"I guess the next time she comes this way we'll find out." Buffy said. "Gotta be better then the alternative. Come on Will, English awaits."

Giles went to answer the knock at his door, his eyes moved to the broadsword in the umbrella stand where he always kept it. It was always handy to have a weapon within easy reach in this town.

"Oh, Buffy, come in." He greeted her. "Is there a problem?"

"Nope, not a problem." She replied. "Just giving you the scoop. I saw Faith on patrol tonight. I filled her in."

"And what was her response?" He asked her, gesturing to the couch for her to take a seat. "Would you like a beverage of any kind?"

"Just water would be good, thanks." She replied. "Faith said she would think about it and then if all is a go she'll meet us at the library one morning. She didn't say which morning but since we're there most mornings I guess it doesn't matter."

"Did she seem willing?" He asked.

"Well, she liked the idea that Willow could take the bond away if Wesley turns evil on us. Its hard to tell though, she's always been a bit more of a work alone kinda gal." Buffy shrugged.

"So Willow has been researching our bond." He commented after a moment of silence.

"Not ours, I told a little white lie and said I didn't really know much about ours but gave her the name of the one Wesley was told to use for Faith." She explained. "I was going to tell her but...it's easy to keep that night separate in my head if no one else knows, at least until I finish high school. I mean, I'm pretty sure if the wrong person heard it could cost your job eighteen or not."

"Quite so." He nodded. "That was probably a wise move, for now at least. Although I'm sure Willow could be trusted not to alert any authorities."

"I know that, but you never know whose listening and like I said for the moment I'm pretty much trying to put it outta my mind until things get back to normal." She said. "And it's not just my personal stuff I'd be telling either, it's yours too so...I figured we decide later what and when to tell the others."

"Alright, so besides that, patrol was the usual?" He asked, changing the subject. She nodded and placed her now empty glass on the table.

"I should probably head home before Mom worries." She told him, getting to her feet and heading to the door. "Night Giles."

"Goodnight." He told her, as she shut the door behind her. He stared out the window as she walked past it before turning to get himself ready for bed. Despite the extreme nature of the bond, it had seemingly not damaged their relationship at all. He thought back to the conversation that he had heard this morning between Buffy and Willow and smiled, she was right, they were just lucky that they were still in this together.