A/N : I have absolutely no idea how prisons work, so this is probably scattered with mistakes, but I read somewhere that Xena really was shown in many women's prison and was pretty popular, and this popped into my head. If you see any grammar or spelling mistakes, please tell me, I only aim to improve.
Disclaimer : Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Mutant Enemy, Xena : Warrior Princess belongs to Universal Studios and Pacific Renaissance Pictures Ltd. I own nothing.
Every Saturday, in the common room, they showed Xena re-runs.
Faith hadn't really watched the show before going to jail – her crappy reception in the motel in Sunnydale didn't really allow regular TV watching, and before SunnyD... well, before hadn't been much fun either – but she had caught a few episodes here and there and had rather enjoyed it. Strong, hot, ass-kicking chicks were always good in her book.
But they had started showing the series starting from the beginning not long after she arrived, and she had started watching and found herself really liking it. There was something besides the hot chicks being the strongest characters on the show that drew her in. She found herself particularly interested in the sidekick – working alongside the hero, always doing what she had to, developing her character on the sidelines, and getting next to no recognition. She also found herself particularly drawn to the emphasis the show put on her blood innocence. Faith knew that it wouldn't take much soul-searching to figure out why she liked her so much, but she always made sure to stay off that path. Soul-searching, in her world, was dangerous.
The show was surprisingly popular with the inmates. Faith wondered why, sometimes – it certainly had enough campy and mushy stuff that she figured murderers and criminals wouldn't really like it – then she remembered why she was there, that she was just as much a murderer and a criminal and she still liked it, and decided to stop wondering about these kind of things. Still, the show's popularity made for a full common room every Saturday, and despite her newfound dislike for crowds, Faith found herself settling down to watch the show every week. At least, the reputation she had built in the first few weeks gave her some room – after one of the prison's top dogs had tried to make Faith her bitch and had been beaten to a bloody pulp by one pissed-off Slayer, everyone made sure to keep their distance – and she always had a decent seat to sit in.
So Faith watched the friendship between the two main characters evolve in a way that made her heart clench – but she refused to analyze why just as much as she refused to analyze why she liked the sidekick so much. Some things were better left alone.
She kept watching until season three, when Gabrielle accidentally killed someone, was forced in a situation where both she and Xena made some very bad choices, and both grew apart quickly and dramatically.
She stopped watching when Xena tried to kill Gabrielle and couldn't bring herself to watch it again.