Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own all the characters etc involved in this story.
A/N: Welcome to the sequel to Rehabilitation. If you haven't read my other story you probably should to understand some things. I hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I enjoy writing them.
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"Ha! Touchdown, oh yeah go team me," Buffy said as she ran over the line drawn in the sand, throwing her hands triumphantly up in the air and twirling around in a victory dance.
"Not fair B you cheated," Faith yelled running as fast as her little legs would let her trying to catch up to where Buffy was still dancing.
"I so did not, you're just jealous of my talents. Here you can start," she said handing Faith the ball to which the toddler smirked at her cheekily and then took off racing towards her own end zone. Buffy took off running after her sister and Faith squealed with laughter as Buffy tackled her to the ground rolling in the sand so that the older Slayer was lying on her back holding the toddler above her as Faith kicked her arms and legs about laughing and trying to get down.
"I'm exhausted just watching those two. All the splashing and jumping and running, shouldn't relaxing involve less exertion?" Xander asked from where he was seated behind a fire pit trying desperately to get it lit.
"Absolutely. Exertion can lead to sweatiness," Anya said from where she was sitting up on a towel looking over the top of her sunglasses at the two Summers girls.
"Which can cause the pain and heartbreak of stinkiness. Better to just stay put," Tara said smiling from her own towel.
"Well they did just come back from a week of relaxing at the beach and what do we suggest we do? Another day at the beach, they're probably sick of doing nothing and felt like getting rid of some of that extra energy, they are Slayers after all," Willow said.
They all looked up as Faith ran up to the group plopping herself down on the end of Tara's towel.
"Game over?" Willow asked her.
"B broked the ball," Faith said as Buffy came up to the group the deflated football in her hands. The blonde Slayer threw it down on the ground and sat herself down on her own towel, Faith crawling over and situating herself between Buffy's legs leaning back against her sister.
"Xander how are the burgers coming I could eat a horse," Buffy said, Faith's stomach growling at the same time causing the group to giggle.
"I could eat a house too," Faith said pointing to her stomach.
"Wish I could help you out ladies but the, uh, fire's not cooperating. It's comforting to know that I lack the culinary finesse of a caveman," Xander said dropping the matches to the sand and screwing his face up in frustration.
Willow gestured her hand towards the fire, "Ignis incende," she said causing the logs to burst into flame making Xander fall back against the sand in surprise. Faith laughed at that clapping her hands as Xander tried to recover from his shock.
"Wilwow do some more fairy magic," she said looking at the redheaded witch.
"Yeah Will check you out with the witch-fu," Buffy said smiling appreciatively at her friend as Xander started to load the grill up with the beef patties.
"It's no big. You just have to balance the elements so when you affect one, you don't wind up causing," the redhead started but was interrupted by a huge clap of thunder that echoed along the open beach. The group jumped up as rain began to pour down soaking them through and effectively dousing out the new flames. They rushed to grab their things and Buffy grabbed their bags under one arm and held Faith under the other like a football as they all raced up the beach.
"I didn't do it, I didn't do it," Willow shrieked as they sprinted across the sand and towards Xander's van. The rain stopped as they reached the van but the dark and ominous clouds remained so they decided to call it a day as they had to meet Giles later anyway. Buffy bundled Faith up in a hooded towel that was all yellow except for the hood which was the face of a duck. The toddler pulled the towel tight around her as Tara rubbed her hands up and down Faith's arms as the toddler shivered, her teeth chattering.
"Nicely done Willow ruin the perfectly nice sunshine with horrible clouds and loud sounds," Anya scowled from where she had plunked herself in the front passenger seat sticking her head out the window so that she could be heard.
"It's not my fault, sometimes things just go kablooey," Willow defended herself.
"It's okay Will it was still pretty cool that you could do that," Buffy said as she lifted Faith up onto her hip.
"And you made Xander fall over that was funny," Faith said snuggling further into Buffy.
"Hey!" Xander said sticking his tongue out at Faith as he walked past her towards the driver's side door.
Buffy smirked at him as she lifted Faith into her car seat. They had taken it from Joyce's car so that Faith could join them on this trip while Joyce went back to work.
"Come on kids lets hit the road or Giles will have a cow that we're late for another meeting," Buffy said.
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"So there was something I wanted to talk to you about," Buffy said nervously as Giles poured her a cup of tea. Ever since her confrontation with the Initiative she had been thinking a lot about who she was. When it really came down to it she had no idea where her power came from and the thought that it could somehow be taken from her and studied which was what they had done to all the hostiles they had captured.
"You haven't been my Watcher for a while and with everything happening with Faith coming to live with us I haven't been training and I haven't really needed to come to you for help," Buffy started.
"I agree," Giles said coming to sit on the couch next to her setting the teapot on the table and taking a sip from his own steaming cup.
"And then this whole thing with the Initiative, it made me face up to some stuff. Ever since we did that spell where we called on the Slayer essence I've been going out a lot, every night," Buffy said getting up feeling a little restless as she began to pace.
"Patrolling?" Giles looked at her trying to understand where she was going with this.
"Hunting. That's what Riley called it. And he was right. It's what I do. We uh had a conversation once he was certain what I was. He understood my power better than I do. He said the Professor had told him things about the Slayer and that she saw darkness in it," she continued as Giles looked at her concern crossing his features.
"I need to know more. About where I come from, about the other slayers. I mean, maybe, maybe if I could learn to control this thing, I could be stronger, I could be better, especially if I'm going to help Faith. But, I'm scared. I know it's gonna be hard. And I can't do it, without you. I need your help," she looked up at him with a hopeful expression, "I need you to be my Watcher again."
Giles looked at her as surprise flashed across his features being quickly replaced by a large smile. It was true he hadn't been her official Watcher for awhile now and as she grew up he had been feeling a little unneeded, but would never let anyone in on this.
"Of course," was all he said as he rose taking their now empty cups briefly placing a hand on her shoulder before he walked out into his kitchen.
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"I'm just going down to the shops for awhile I need to pick up a few things for school," Buffy said pulling on her jacket as she came to the bottom of the stairs. She wanted to get these things quickly because she had a meeting with Giles to start their new training regime later on. She saw that Faith was lying on her stomach in the middle of the living room floor toys strewn all around her. She was whining about something to her mother when Buffy came fully into the room and Joyce was picking up some of the toys off of the floor.
"If you're going out, why don't you take your sister?" Joyce straightened out blowing a piece of hair out of her face.
"Mom," "Mama," Buffy and Faith whined in unison.
A/N: Well there you have it folk's first chapter of the sequel. As you can probably tell by now this story will be borrowing from the Season Five storyline. I know this doesn't really give away too much of what's going to happen but I thought it was a nice little opener. Review please I love to hear what you guys are thinking.