TITLE: Expect the Unexpected - Part 1
SERIES: The Unexpected Series
AUTHOR: Jana Kay
EMAIL: jana_kay17@yahoo.com.au
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB, and 20th Century Fox. No profit is being made. The storyline does however, belong to me.
RATING: R
CLASSIFICATION: K/F
SPOILERS: S1 up through to 'Sanctuary' in A:tS, and then breaks away from canon after that.
SUMMARY: Against her better judgment and detective instincts, Kate speaks to Faith while the Slayer is in prison. Their subsequent and completely unexpected friendship is sorely needed when Faith, to her anger and dismay, becomes the last resort in stopping a demon underlord. Just how far will Faith go to save a life and earn her redemption?
NOTES: Kate POV
*****
I lean back in my desk chair and stretch as I try to stifle a yawn. It's late at night on a Friday, but I don't exactly have much of a social life to speak of so I stayed back late, hoping to catch up on some of the never-ending paperwork that manages to pile itself up on my desk between cases.
I scratch the back of my neck lightly as I straighten myself up again, looking around the station as I do.
There are only two other people at their desks besides me.
We're the workaholics. The one's who have pretty much no life outside the grind of work.
At 11:07 at night, the station seems unnaturally quiet, but it's really just my imagination. I grew up in LA. I'm used to noise and commotion. The clatter of trains and the squeal of tires as they take the street turns too fast. Add to that, there's usually always a radio playing somewhere around the station, and the chatter of voices carrying on conversations around me.
But with only two other people around, and both being too busy with their work to look at me, there isn't exactly much talk to be had.
I sigh as I look back down at the open file in front of me. The past week had been rough. Rougher than usual. Violence seemed to be escalating on the streets, and more murders were occurring than I had the stomach for, but I refused to take time off. There were already too many people looking at me as though I was some poor little lost girl. I could feel the whispers going on behind my back about how sooner or later, I'd crack under the pressure. Bend and break.
Apparently, I wasn't giving myself the proper amount of time to grieve. And hey, I'm a woman right, so after death occurs, I'm meant to be really fragile.
Bullshit. That is just plain bullshit.
My father's murder rocked the police community, and finding the killer has been a top priority for many of my senior associates, but so far they're coming up empty handed. Of course, I already know that. I also already know that the killer has been found and justice has been dealt out, just not in the way the rest of my partners expect. And there is no way I can tell them and think they'd understand. They'd think I was crazy.
I thought I was crazy for a while too.
My father's death still hurts though, I won't deny it. It's only been just over two months since he died, and there was just so much stuff that was left unresolved between us. Things I'd been hoping we'd work out eventually, you know, sometime before he had a heart attack or I was killed on the job. Whichever came first.
I don't think he ever knew just how much I loved him, no matter how distant our relationship was, and inside, there's a part of me that never really knew the extent of love he had for me, which makes me feel really sad.
But....
His killers are dead. I can be thankful for that much. Then again, if it hadn't have been for Angel, I'd probably be dead too. I'd only been expecting vampires, not that huge....*thing*....that walked around the corner after I'd staked the guy in front of me.
Then Angel appeared from out of nowhere like he always does, seeming to know exactly where to turn up, and he had a huge axe with him. Truthfully, at that point in the game, I felt like an idiot just armed with a gun and a stake. He saved my life and helped me avenge my father, but when he tried to talk to me afterwards, I just snapped.
I know in his own way, he was trying to comfort me, but I wasn't ready for comfort yet. Then I was rude to him, and really didn't speak to him for a while after that, even though I wanted to.
Believe me, I wanted to apologise, but I didn't know how. I've never been good with the saying sorry part. Then I let it go for too long, and I'm just too uncomfortable around him now. What would I say to him anyway?
Your kind killed my father, but I don't hold anything against you because, hey, you're different?
Well, it'd be the truth. And Angel *is* different. He's proven himself enough to me, actually, more than he had to, but I still don't think that little confession would be welcome by him. It would probably just make him feel like more of an outsider than he already is in the city.
A vampire with a soul is a rarity. He's probably one of a kind.
I shiver as I remember some of the excerpts about Angel's soulless self from one of the books I read, way back when Angel proved to me that nightmares were real.
I'd really hate to meet that version of him, but I know Angel's a completely different person to the demon. I spoke very briefly to Cordelia about it, after the shock wore off and the knowledge sunk in, but you could tell she really wasn't too eager to answer my questions. So I left it alone.
Seeing Angel actually does remind me of my father's death. Just a little bit. Maybe because he's a vampire, or maybe just because he was there when I burst into my father's apartment, I really don't know. But he does remind me. He brings up a little of the residual ache of anger and sadness at a wasted loss of life, that I'm almost convinced now isn't ever going to go away. And I actually hadn't seen Angel until....
I look down at the file in front of me.
Until Faith showed up.
I sigh again as I flip through the written statements, photographs and a signed confession.
There's just something about this girl that troubles me. Her age for one. She's only eighteen. And the list of things she's done, crimes she's committed just seem to go on.
She actually confessed to more things than we had her on, which was a big surprise. But by far the biggest, was actually having her show up and confess in the first place.
I know Angel had a part in that, I just know it.
As irrational as I seemed when I had him cuffed and brought to the station, I was more angry because he hadn't trusted me to help with her. He hadn't trusted me to listen to the things that he had to say about her, and why she had to be handled carefully, and because of that, Wolfram & Hart got dragged into it, and then other cops at the station found out about what was happening, and he ended up leaving me with no choice.
I made damn sure the charges against him were dropped after listening to Faith's confession though.
He cares about her.
I hadn't expected that.
I hadn't expected him to care about a murderer, but he does.
There was a tenderness when they looked at each other across the station. It wasn't born of love, I can tell the difference, but more of comradeship. They'd both been through similar situations, and were coming out the other side stronger.
I know Angel had a part in Faith confessing, but I know that the most part was played by Faith herself.
I pick up one of the pictures of her and stare at it.
She would be an absolutely beautiful girl, if she just didn't look so tired. So worn down around the edges. So frayed in a way. Like the only thing holding her together is her tough as nails attitude.
I actually feel kind of sorry for her, and I have no idea why, because I know she's a murderer. I know her hands have taken people's lives, and I just can't understand why I'm still feeling a kind of tenderness for this girl.
I wonder if she's sleeping right now?
I wonder what she dreams about?
Maybe if I just go take a look....
I get up quietly from my desk as I make my way down to the holding cells. The clock on the wall reads 11:42 as I pause, holding the key up to the lock. I finally start moving again, sliding the large key in and twisting, hearing the lock click as it opens. I pull the door open as I silently walk inside, letting it slip closed behind me as I make my way slowly down the narrow corridor.
Faith's cell is at the very end.
I approach it cautiously. I still don't even know why I'm doing this. A part of me just wants to take a look. Glimpse for a brief moment what she's doing.
I must be going out of my mind.
I can see her now though, so I stop walking. She's curled up on the narrow cot with a thin brown blanket pulled over her.
I take a step closer. Her face seems so young. Her lips are pulled up ever so slightly at the corners. She looks almost angelic.
Now I know I'm crazy. A murderer looking angelic? But somehow, she's pulling me closer, and I'm helpless to stop it.
I walk right up to the heavy metal bars, part of me itching to reach out and grip them as I look at her, but I manage to restrain myself that much.
And I just watch.
Her chest is rising and falling evenly under the blanket, and I know she's sleeping, so it comes as a great shock when her eyes suddenly open.
I take a step back reflexively, even though I know she can't hurt me from where I'm standing. But a tiny part inside of me is insisting that the reason I stepped back, is because if I didn't, I would have stepped forward.
My God, what is wrong with me.
She's staring right back at me now. Her chest is still rising and falling evenly, and I realise that that's actually her normal breathing pattern. Her eyes are big and dark as she looks at me. Almost like she's assessing me, and I unconsciously straighten myself till I'm standing at my full height.
Then she moves.
She slowly sits up and pushes the blanket off of her. Then she pulls her legs up and sits Indian style on the cot as she leans back against the wall, her hands folded together in her lap.
I turn my head for a moment, then look back at her again. I must look like an idiot to her, spying on her while she was....asleep? Well I don't know what the hell she was doing.
I have to say something, or I'll look like an even bigger idiot than I already do. I don't stop to think about why I care what she thinks.
"Did I wake you?"
She shakes her head slightly, still staring at me with eyes almost black as obsidian in the lack of light the cell has.
"No. I was just laying down."
"Can you not sleep?"
She smiles slightly.
"I'm used to late nights. And to tell you the truth, I really don't need that much sleep."
To tell you the truth?
This girl was more of a mystery than I thought. I've never once heard a criminal use the words 'to tell you the truth' in a conversation before. Then again, I usually don't make a habit of holding conversations with criminals. So why wasn't I leaving yet?
She tilts her head slightly as she studies me.
"You're....Kate....right?"
I start at the fact she knows my name, then I remember that I took her confession, so of course she'd know my name, but a little part of me warms at the fact that she remembered it. She didn't have to. She didn't have to store it in her memory. That was something she did because she wanted to.
I nod at her. "Yeah."
We're silent for a little longer, then she speaks again.
"I don't mean to sound rude, but is there a reason why you're standing there?"
I curse inwardly as I realise I still haven't walked away yet. What am I supposed to say to her now? Why, oh why, do I care?
Dammit, I really wish I knew what was wrong with me.
I try to make the atmosphere less tense.
"I was kind of hoping you'd tell me your life story." I say it with a small smile and a teasing voice, wondering at the same time why I'm making nice with a self confessed killer.
Then as I'm about to open my mouth and say something else, before walking away and forgetting any of this ever happened, she answers me.
The look on her face is utterly serious.
"Do you really wanna know?"
And to my surprise, I find I do.
I'm so shocked, all I can do is nod dumbly while she watches me to make sure I'm not joking. I watch her watch me and I'm falling into her eyes. I never knew anything so dark could be so rich with colours and shades. They're beautiful, and I instinctively know that if I saw her in the light, they'd be a soft, chocolate brown.
But I don't see her in the light. I see her in a sterile metal cell, surrounded by heavy bars, and for some reason, I'm still not walking away. I should have been in and out by now. She should have never noticed me. I was being quiet!
And then she starts talking.
I don't know how long she was talking for, but somewhere along the line, I moved closer to the bars, eventually sitting down in front of them as I listened intently. Soon she came down to join me, our knees facing each other, our positions mimicking each other as she kept right on telling me about herself.
Broken childhood, runaway, high-school drop-out, odd jobs and a ratty apartment, I'd kind of been expecting all that. A sort of gradual lead-up to her eventual hatred of society and thus, her committing all her crimes.
But I wasn't prepared for what she started to describe after that.
Slayer, supernatural powers, patrolling, demon fighting, saving the world, accidental murder of the deputy mayor, downward spiral beginning from there, coma for eight months, revenge on the blonde girl that'd been with Angel when she'd come to confess, escape to LA, plot to kill Angel, and finally the self hatred grew to be too much, and she let Angel finish helping her get back in touch with the peace within herself, with the good, like he'd started to do for her over a year ago.
See? I knew Angel had a part in this. I knew it. For a vampire, he has a really big....well he doesn't have a heart, so I guess it would have to be soul. Angel has a really big soul.
I really wish I'd apologised to him.
Because now I understand why he was reluctant to involve me or turn her over to us.
She even demonstrated her strength on the metal bars that were separating us. She pulled them apart right in front of me with so much ease I forgot to blink -- a lot -- and I almost found myself reaching my hand through the space she'd made and touching her cheek.
But I didn't.
Now I understand why Angel said she was here of her own free will, when he'd pulled me aside to talk after I'd dropped the charges against him. She's really trying to turn her life around. She's had every opportunity to leave, and she hasn't taken it. She wants to stay here. She wants to do penance. She wants to pay for her crimes.
And I'm okay with that.
Eventually, I stand up to leave on shaky legs when she's done. I have no idea how much time has passed, but I know it must be a lot.
She stands up too, and we face each other silently. We're so close, only the bars and a few inches separate us.
Before I have the chance to go, she reaches out her hand and latches onto one of the fingers of my right hand.
"Thanks for listening, Kate."
Without even realising I'm doing it, I untangle my finger from her grip, and grasp her hand firmly. I squeeze it lightly as I smile.
"You're welcome."
She smiles then. A real smile. The first one I've ever seen on her face. She squeezes my hand back and nods her head slightly.
A feeling of....*something*....washes over me and I smile brightly. I get a pang in my chest and for some reason, I feel really happy. I made her smile. I, Kate, somehow managed to make this dark and troubled girl smile. I really wish the bars weren't between us right now, because part of me wants to reach out and pull her into the biggest hug I think I've ever given anyone. I'm not exactly the hugging type.
What are these feelings she's bringing out in me?
But I decide not to think about it. I made her smile, and for the moment, that's enough.
I squeeze her hand one last time, then pull away slowly.
"Goodnight Faith."
"You too Kate."
I walk up the corridor and reach the door, then I turn back around one last time. She's leaning sideways against the metal, one hand raised near her face and wrapped around a bar. She lifts her other hand and gives a small wave.
I smile at her, and lift mine back.
I push open the door and walk out, remembering to lock it when it closes. The clock on the wall reads 4:56 in the morning, as I make my way to my desk in the dark. I switch on my desk lamp and start collecting my things as I wonder how I'm going to get up later this morning and come into work.
Maybe I should take the day off. Pretend I'm sick.
As I sling my bag over my shoulder and flick off the lamp, I think better of it. I have someone that I have to see later today. Make that two someone's.
It's about time I apologise to Angel. I know there's still some friendship left there to salvage.
And later this morning, I'm bringing Faith breakfast.
I like her. For some reason that I just can't figure out, I like her. She brings out these protective feelings in me that I never even knew I had. Which is really ridiculous considering that she certainly doesn't need protection. Especially after what I just learnt.
But she still brings them out. And I know those feelings aren't just going to go away.
She's more than a murderer. I know that know. Hell, she was once a superhero. Maybe in a way, she still is. Maybe after this is all over, she'll have the chance to be one again.
And I want to help her with that.
I hum quietly to myself as I decide to take the stairs, rather than the elevator to get down to the ground floor.
One of the things my father once told me when I was a little girl, is that we should always expect the unexpected. Then my mother died and he sort of drew in on himself, and that little bit of advice stayed buried within me for so many years. Maybe I should have taken better care to remember it before now.
It would have come in handy so many times throughout the past year, and it certainly would have come in handy earlier tonight.
Expect the unexpected.
I nod my head as I punch in the security code for the alarm system, before opening the door and closing it behind me, making sure to lock it before I turn and start walking down the still busy street.
Expect the unexpected.
Yeah.
I can do that.
End.
SERIES: The Unexpected Series
AUTHOR: Jana Kay
EMAIL: jana_kay17@yahoo.com.au
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB, and 20th Century Fox. No profit is being made. The storyline does however, belong to me.
RATING: R
CLASSIFICATION: K/F
SPOILERS: S1 up through to 'Sanctuary' in A:tS, and then breaks away from canon after that.
SUMMARY: Against her better judgment and detective instincts, Kate speaks to Faith while the Slayer is in prison. Their subsequent and completely unexpected friendship is sorely needed when Faith, to her anger and dismay, becomes the last resort in stopping a demon underlord. Just how far will Faith go to save a life and earn her redemption?
NOTES: Kate POV
*****
I lean back in my desk chair and stretch as I try to stifle a yawn. It's late at night on a Friday, but I don't exactly have much of a social life to speak of so I stayed back late, hoping to catch up on some of the never-ending paperwork that manages to pile itself up on my desk between cases.
I scratch the back of my neck lightly as I straighten myself up again, looking around the station as I do.
There are only two other people at their desks besides me.
We're the workaholics. The one's who have pretty much no life outside the grind of work.
At 11:07 at night, the station seems unnaturally quiet, but it's really just my imagination. I grew up in LA. I'm used to noise and commotion. The clatter of trains and the squeal of tires as they take the street turns too fast. Add to that, there's usually always a radio playing somewhere around the station, and the chatter of voices carrying on conversations around me.
But with only two other people around, and both being too busy with their work to look at me, there isn't exactly much talk to be had.
I sigh as I look back down at the open file in front of me. The past week had been rough. Rougher than usual. Violence seemed to be escalating on the streets, and more murders were occurring than I had the stomach for, but I refused to take time off. There were already too many people looking at me as though I was some poor little lost girl. I could feel the whispers going on behind my back about how sooner or later, I'd crack under the pressure. Bend and break.
Apparently, I wasn't giving myself the proper amount of time to grieve. And hey, I'm a woman right, so after death occurs, I'm meant to be really fragile.
Bullshit. That is just plain bullshit.
My father's murder rocked the police community, and finding the killer has been a top priority for many of my senior associates, but so far they're coming up empty handed. Of course, I already know that. I also already know that the killer has been found and justice has been dealt out, just not in the way the rest of my partners expect. And there is no way I can tell them and think they'd understand. They'd think I was crazy.
I thought I was crazy for a while too.
My father's death still hurts though, I won't deny it. It's only been just over two months since he died, and there was just so much stuff that was left unresolved between us. Things I'd been hoping we'd work out eventually, you know, sometime before he had a heart attack or I was killed on the job. Whichever came first.
I don't think he ever knew just how much I loved him, no matter how distant our relationship was, and inside, there's a part of me that never really knew the extent of love he had for me, which makes me feel really sad.
But....
His killers are dead. I can be thankful for that much. Then again, if it hadn't have been for Angel, I'd probably be dead too. I'd only been expecting vampires, not that huge....*thing*....that walked around the corner after I'd staked the guy in front of me.
Then Angel appeared from out of nowhere like he always does, seeming to know exactly where to turn up, and he had a huge axe with him. Truthfully, at that point in the game, I felt like an idiot just armed with a gun and a stake. He saved my life and helped me avenge my father, but when he tried to talk to me afterwards, I just snapped.
I know in his own way, he was trying to comfort me, but I wasn't ready for comfort yet. Then I was rude to him, and really didn't speak to him for a while after that, even though I wanted to.
Believe me, I wanted to apologise, but I didn't know how. I've never been good with the saying sorry part. Then I let it go for too long, and I'm just too uncomfortable around him now. What would I say to him anyway?
Your kind killed my father, but I don't hold anything against you because, hey, you're different?
Well, it'd be the truth. And Angel *is* different. He's proven himself enough to me, actually, more than he had to, but I still don't think that little confession would be welcome by him. It would probably just make him feel like more of an outsider than he already is in the city.
A vampire with a soul is a rarity. He's probably one of a kind.
I shiver as I remember some of the excerpts about Angel's soulless self from one of the books I read, way back when Angel proved to me that nightmares were real.
I'd really hate to meet that version of him, but I know Angel's a completely different person to the demon. I spoke very briefly to Cordelia about it, after the shock wore off and the knowledge sunk in, but you could tell she really wasn't too eager to answer my questions. So I left it alone.
Seeing Angel actually does remind me of my father's death. Just a little bit. Maybe because he's a vampire, or maybe just because he was there when I burst into my father's apartment, I really don't know. But he does remind me. He brings up a little of the residual ache of anger and sadness at a wasted loss of life, that I'm almost convinced now isn't ever going to go away. And I actually hadn't seen Angel until....
I look down at the file in front of me.
Until Faith showed up.
I sigh again as I flip through the written statements, photographs and a signed confession.
There's just something about this girl that troubles me. Her age for one. She's only eighteen. And the list of things she's done, crimes she's committed just seem to go on.
She actually confessed to more things than we had her on, which was a big surprise. But by far the biggest, was actually having her show up and confess in the first place.
I know Angel had a part in that, I just know it.
As irrational as I seemed when I had him cuffed and brought to the station, I was more angry because he hadn't trusted me to help with her. He hadn't trusted me to listen to the things that he had to say about her, and why she had to be handled carefully, and because of that, Wolfram & Hart got dragged into it, and then other cops at the station found out about what was happening, and he ended up leaving me with no choice.
I made damn sure the charges against him were dropped after listening to Faith's confession though.
He cares about her.
I hadn't expected that.
I hadn't expected him to care about a murderer, but he does.
There was a tenderness when they looked at each other across the station. It wasn't born of love, I can tell the difference, but more of comradeship. They'd both been through similar situations, and were coming out the other side stronger.
I know Angel had a part in Faith confessing, but I know that the most part was played by Faith herself.
I pick up one of the pictures of her and stare at it.
She would be an absolutely beautiful girl, if she just didn't look so tired. So worn down around the edges. So frayed in a way. Like the only thing holding her together is her tough as nails attitude.
I actually feel kind of sorry for her, and I have no idea why, because I know she's a murderer. I know her hands have taken people's lives, and I just can't understand why I'm still feeling a kind of tenderness for this girl.
I wonder if she's sleeping right now?
I wonder what she dreams about?
Maybe if I just go take a look....
I get up quietly from my desk as I make my way down to the holding cells. The clock on the wall reads 11:42 as I pause, holding the key up to the lock. I finally start moving again, sliding the large key in and twisting, hearing the lock click as it opens. I pull the door open as I silently walk inside, letting it slip closed behind me as I make my way slowly down the narrow corridor.
Faith's cell is at the very end.
I approach it cautiously. I still don't even know why I'm doing this. A part of me just wants to take a look. Glimpse for a brief moment what she's doing.
I must be going out of my mind.
I can see her now though, so I stop walking. She's curled up on the narrow cot with a thin brown blanket pulled over her.
I take a step closer. Her face seems so young. Her lips are pulled up ever so slightly at the corners. She looks almost angelic.
Now I know I'm crazy. A murderer looking angelic? But somehow, she's pulling me closer, and I'm helpless to stop it.
I walk right up to the heavy metal bars, part of me itching to reach out and grip them as I look at her, but I manage to restrain myself that much.
And I just watch.
Her chest is rising and falling evenly under the blanket, and I know she's sleeping, so it comes as a great shock when her eyes suddenly open.
I take a step back reflexively, even though I know she can't hurt me from where I'm standing. But a tiny part inside of me is insisting that the reason I stepped back, is because if I didn't, I would have stepped forward.
My God, what is wrong with me.
She's staring right back at me now. Her chest is still rising and falling evenly, and I realise that that's actually her normal breathing pattern. Her eyes are big and dark as she looks at me. Almost like she's assessing me, and I unconsciously straighten myself till I'm standing at my full height.
Then she moves.
She slowly sits up and pushes the blanket off of her. Then she pulls her legs up and sits Indian style on the cot as she leans back against the wall, her hands folded together in her lap.
I turn my head for a moment, then look back at her again. I must look like an idiot to her, spying on her while she was....asleep? Well I don't know what the hell she was doing.
I have to say something, or I'll look like an even bigger idiot than I already do. I don't stop to think about why I care what she thinks.
"Did I wake you?"
She shakes her head slightly, still staring at me with eyes almost black as obsidian in the lack of light the cell has.
"No. I was just laying down."
"Can you not sleep?"
She smiles slightly.
"I'm used to late nights. And to tell you the truth, I really don't need that much sleep."
To tell you the truth?
This girl was more of a mystery than I thought. I've never once heard a criminal use the words 'to tell you the truth' in a conversation before. Then again, I usually don't make a habit of holding conversations with criminals. So why wasn't I leaving yet?
She tilts her head slightly as she studies me.
"You're....Kate....right?"
I start at the fact she knows my name, then I remember that I took her confession, so of course she'd know my name, but a little part of me warms at the fact that she remembered it. She didn't have to. She didn't have to store it in her memory. That was something she did because she wanted to.
I nod at her. "Yeah."
We're silent for a little longer, then she speaks again.
"I don't mean to sound rude, but is there a reason why you're standing there?"
I curse inwardly as I realise I still haven't walked away yet. What am I supposed to say to her now? Why, oh why, do I care?
Dammit, I really wish I knew what was wrong with me.
I try to make the atmosphere less tense.
"I was kind of hoping you'd tell me your life story." I say it with a small smile and a teasing voice, wondering at the same time why I'm making nice with a self confessed killer.
Then as I'm about to open my mouth and say something else, before walking away and forgetting any of this ever happened, she answers me.
The look on her face is utterly serious.
"Do you really wanna know?"
And to my surprise, I find I do.
I'm so shocked, all I can do is nod dumbly while she watches me to make sure I'm not joking. I watch her watch me and I'm falling into her eyes. I never knew anything so dark could be so rich with colours and shades. They're beautiful, and I instinctively know that if I saw her in the light, they'd be a soft, chocolate brown.
But I don't see her in the light. I see her in a sterile metal cell, surrounded by heavy bars, and for some reason, I'm still not walking away. I should have been in and out by now. She should have never noticed me. I was being quiet!
And then she starts talking.
I don't know how long she was talking for, but somewhere along the line, I moved closer to the bars, eventually sitting down in front of them as I listened intently. Soon she came down to join me, our knees facing each other, our positions mimicking each other as she kept right on telling me about herself.
Broken childhood, runaway, high-school drop-out, odd jobs and a ratty apartment, I'd kind of been expecting all that. A sort of gradual lead-up to her eventual hatred of society and thus, her committing all her crimes.
But I wasn't prepared for what she started to describe after that.
Slayer, supernatural powers, patrolling, demon fighting, saving the world, accidental murder of the deputy mayor, downward spiral beginning from there, coma for eight months, revenge on the blonde girl that'd been with Angel when she'd come to confess, escape to LA, plot to kill Angel, and finally the self hatred grew to be too much, and she let Angel finish helping her get back in touch with the peace within herself, with the good, like he'd started to do for her over a year ago.
See? I knew Angel had a part in this. I knew it. For a vampire, he has a really big....well he doesn't have a heart, so I guess it would have to be soul. Angel has a really big soul.
I really wish I'd apologised to him.
Because now I understand why he was reluctant to involve me or turn her over to us.
She even demonstrated her strength on the metal bars that were separating us. She pulled them apart right in front of me with so much ease I forgot to blink -- a lot -- and I almost found myself reaching my hand through the space she'd made and touching her cheek.
But I didn't.
Now I understand why Angel said she was here of her own free will, when he'd pulled me aside to talk after I'd dropped the charges against him. She's really trying to turn her life around. She's had every opportunity to leave, and she hasn't taken it. She wants to stay here. She wants to do penance. She wants to pay for her crimes.
And I'm okay with that.
Eventually, I stand up to leave on shaky legs when she's done. I have no idea how much time has passed, but I know it must be a lot.
She stands up too, and we face each other silently. We're so close, only the bars and a few inches separate us.
Before I have the chance to go, she reaches out her hand and latches onto one of the fingers of my right hand.
"Thanks for listening, Kate."
Without even realising I'm doing it, I untangle my finger from her grip, and grasp her hand firmly. I squeeze it lightly as I smile.
"You're welcome."
She smiles then. A real smile. The first one I've ever seen on her face. She squeezes my hand back and nods her head slightly.
A feeling of....*something*....washes over me and I smile brightly. I get a pang in my chest and for some reason, I feel really happy. I made her smile. I, Kate, somehow managed to make this dark and troubled girl smile. I really wish the bars weren't between us right now, because part of me wants to reach out and pull her into the biggest hug I think I've ever given anyone. I'm not exactly the hugging type.
What are these feelings she's bringing out in me?
But I decide not to think about it. I made her smile, and for the moment, that's enough.
I squeeze her hand one last time, then pull away slowly.
"Goodnight Faith."
"You too Kate."
I walk up the corridor and reach the door, then I turn back around one last time. She's leaning sideways against the metal, one hand raised near her face and wrapped around a bar. She lifts her other hand and gives a small wave.
I smile at her, and lift mine back.
I push open the door and walk out, remembering to lock it when it closes. The clock on the wall reads 4:56 in the morning, as I make my way to my desk in the dark. I switch on my desk lamp and start collecting my things as I wonder how I'm going to get up later this morning and come into work.
Maybe I should take the day off. Pretend I'm sick.
As I sling my bag over my shoulder and flick off the lamp, I think better of it. I have someone that I have to see later today. Make that two someone's.
It's about time I apologise to Angel. I know there's still some friendship left there to salvage.
And later this morning, I'm bringing Faith breakfast.
I like her. For some reason that I just can't figure out, I like her. She brings out these protective feelings in me that I never even knew I had. Which is really ridiculous considering that she certainly doesn't need protection. Especially after what I just learnt.
But she still brings them out. And I know those feelings aren't just going to go away.
She's more than a murderer. I know that know. Hell, she was once a superhero. Maybe in a way, she still is. Maybe after this is all over, she'll have the chance to be one again.
And I want to help her with that.
I hum quietly to myself as I decide to take the stairs, rather than the elevator to get down to the ground floor.
One of the things my father once told me when I was a little girl, is that we should always expect the unexpected. Then my mother died and he sort of drew in on himself, and that little bit of advice stayed buried within me for so many years. Maybe I should have taken better care to remember it before now.
It would have come in handy so many times throughout the past year, and it certainly would have come in handy earlier tonight.
Expect the unexpected.
I nod my head as I punch in the security code for the alarm system, before opening the door and closing it behind me, making sure to lock it before I turn and start walking down the still busy street.
Expect the unexpected.
Yeah.
I can do that.
End.