CH 2
As I wake up I can feel warm sun on my face. Not something I'm particularly used to but it feels nice. Shortly after I open my eyes and stretch I hear a small knock at the door. How do they know I'm awake? There's no way that would've woken me up if that's what they were going for.
There's another small knock followed immediately by a loud one. I hear Willow criticize someone's knocking skills. Then I hear a guy's voice say something about not wanting to wake me up in the first place. That was Xander. I guess he's not exactly thrilled that I'm back. Well screw em, I gotta job to do.
"Faith are you awake? Can I come in?" Willow calls.
"Yeah Red I'm up, come on in" I call back and she opens the door slowly peeking her head in just to make sure. When she sees I'm not naked or anything she comes all the way in.
"Hey there, gonna sleep all day? We've got some breakfast left over for ya downstairs. Tara's a pretty good cook y'know, made bacon and eggs and pancakes; which probly won't be as great heated back up but I'm sure it'll be good compared to what you're used to eating. Oh! Not that you got used to eating bad food just, well y'know, prison food has a bad reputation and all that" as she comes to the end of her infamous babbles I can't help but smile.
"Thanks Red, I can hardly wait. And you'd be surprised, I can actually say I've had worse than what I got in the joint" I reply and she smiles as well, though hers looks a bit forced.
"Ok then, I guess we'll see you down in a bit for breakfast and debriefing. Haha, listen to me, sounding all secret agenty" she says and leaves with a small wave.
I lie back down and stare at the ceiling sighing. 'The world definitely wasn't ready to lose you Buff, we need you back' I think to myself. I glance around the sunlit room and all the memories of every time I've ever been in here flood into my head. I close my eyes and let each one float in and play like a little movie.
After only about 5 minutes of that I feel the lump at the back of my throat form. So deciding I've had way more than my share of memory lane for the day I jump up and head to the bathroom for a shower.
Being in prison does have its advantages ya know, though very rare. For example I can now wash myself, shampoo and conditioner my hair and even shave in 6 minutes. Not bad if you ask me. So after that's done I throw on some tight black jeans, a white tank, and my trademark boots then head downstairs for some much needed grub.
As I come off the stairs and into the kitchen I see just about the whole gang here; only Giles is missing. I guess he decided heading back to England was the best plan. I guess I can see that….if I look hard enough, though I know we all wanted him to stay, me most definitely included there.
Willow and Tara are leaning against the counter by the fridge, Xander is sitting at the table with a scowl in his face and coffee in his hands, and Dawn is up from her seat at the table and heading for me. Without a word I'm engulfed in a hug and she copies Willow almost exactly with the head in shoulder technique.
"Hey kiddo, how ya been?" I manage to get out as she seems to be squeezing as hard as she can.
"Hi Faith, I missed you, how long are you here for? Are you going to be staying with us? Do you remember how to get around the town? Do you want me to show you?!" I smile at her onslaught of questions and decide to answer them the best I can in order.
"Ah well lets see, I'm not sure how long I'm staying, I guess I'm staying here as long as that's cool with you, I'm pretty sure I remember how to get around but if you're up for it I'd love a review tour." By the end of my answering she has a smile on as well, which I think is a good thing. I know she's young and all but she had to have taken Buffy's death really hard. She may be a kid but she's not stupid.
"Alright great! I'll go get changed!" and just like that, she takes off up the stairs to get dressed. I take this opportunity to sit down and dig into a plate heaped full of food that Willow sets in front of me.
"So everyone's just moved on and accepted you as a replacement, aye? I guess this is what you've always wanted…" Xander says bitterly and Willow smacks him on the shoulder. I can tell this isn't gonna be fun at all since he's clearly still grieving loads. It's not that I don't get it, but he doesn't hafta speak to me if all he's gonna do is try to take shots at me.
"You know that's not why I'm here, and if you don't know you do now." I say calmly and stare him straight in the eyes. He scoffs and finishes his coffee then stands.
"Yeah well none of that'll matter after tonight, we won't need you anymore and you can go back to whatever whole you decided to crawl out of in the first place." He says and slams the mug down on the counter.
"Xander!" Willow starts what I'm assuming would've been a scolding on his manners, or lack of, but he's out the back door before she can get into it. I wonder what the hell he was talking about though. Normally I'd just ignore any of his snide remarks about me but what he said almost didn't even make sense….something about tonight I think? Oh well.
"Faith I'm really sorry, h-he's just really taking this hard, we all are. Don't pay any attention to anything he s-says ok?" I nod and just keep on eating. Suddenly this Dawn outing is looking to be more and more in MY benefit rather than HERS.