"Was that really necessary?" Bourne asked from the ground, as soon as he could get his breathing under control.
"Yes, it was. I will not start anything with someone that has hit me," Faith said as she lent back against a weight machine while still looking down at the prone man.
"Well, big question for the big girl." Bourne asked, "What makes you think I want to be with you?"
"What?" Faith was a little floored, "But...You came back."
"My son is here. That's it," Bourne said, calm and cool once again. "You're his mother. But after what has been done to me, I still don't know you, and you sure as hell don't know me."
Faith stood there, her mind running wild with all her thoughts. Him leaving or staying. What she wanted. What she didn't want. What was right. What was wrong with her? Even when she had been evil and working for the mayor years ago, she knew why she was there. Now, within a few minutes, she was lost.
For his part, Bourne just stood there looking at her, his insides knotting. She had attacked him. He understood her reasoning, but he wouldn't stand for that. If he had a relationship with someone, it was as equals, not one where one or the other was always out for payback. Payback was not a thing to build anything on.
"I am not sorry for that," Faith said finally.
"An I am not for ANYTHING I have ever done," Bourne replied. "I have done a lot of bad stuff to a lot of people. And I don't feel sorry for any of it. Most deserved what happened to them. The others were just on the wrong side of things."
"Not even when you stunned me?" Faith asked, her voice carrying a hurt tone, and what was funny Bourne didn't know who it hurt more - her or him.
"No," Bourne sat back. "I'm not sorry for that either. You, your Council, your whole group, didn't even give me a chance to talk; they just attacked. I defended myself. I could have done a whole lot more. Within the first hour of being here, I had access to your Computers. All your agents files were open. I have your personal address. Family, friends away from this place. Phone logs. I know just about everything about all the major players here. Hell, I have what you watched on pay-per view for the last three years. I even found your old prison records. That cost a little money, but the files were still in the prison records. Hard copy only, in a back area. Your lawyer friends did good work, but no one can do everything. People always cut corners."
"So you're threatening me?" Faith asked standing up.
"God, woman!" Bourne almost shouted. "Someone doesn't agree with how you and your friends work, doesn't fit into what you think the world should be, and suddenly they're a threat? I got away from that when I left THEM. What next? Sit on my chest and choke me again?"
"No," Faith replied, looking at Bourne with fire in her eyes. "You throw out what you can do and how you could hurt us, and it's not threatening us? And digging up what happened a long time ago ain't going to help you."
"Faith," Bourne said, calming down, "you're right, I shouldn't tell you about not getting payback, then throw something like that out. But your group is like a workman with only a hammer: every problem looks like a nail. And it's how you all react."
"We don't," Faith said adamantly.
"Yes, you do," Bourne said, waving a hand in front of himself. "Example!"
"We thought we were protecting one of own, Xander," Faith said, nowhere near so sure of herself as before.
"Did you even think to ask?" Bourne asked. "You sat with me all night, we talked about everything. Not once did I lie to you. And you knew everything I said was true, and everything you told me was true." A pause. "Did you even think to come to me alone and ask what was going on? To see if I was on the level? Hell, if you read my file, I don't target people like Xander. He was a good guy, and I always went after the scum of the world. But no, you couldn't have read something, anything. No, you just wanted to hit something.
"So in you roared, like the Hell's Angels, to take me down for not being what you thought I was. And when I didn't just roll over, all you did was get bigger guns."
"Come on, you expect me to believe that you would have just come in if I had asked?" Faith asked unbelievingly.
"No, but we could have talked, no one would have been hurt, and then I might have came in. Or I might not have. But you didn't leave me any choice now, did you?"
"Come on, you had a choice," Faith said, but in her mind, she was starting to doubt herself.
"No, I didn't," Bourne replied. "I will never be used or controlled again. I have enough of that for the rest of my life."
Faith drew back, and for the first time, looked at it from Bourne's point of view. And wondered if maybe they were wrong.
"Maybe you're right," Faith finally told Bourne, biting her bottom lip.
"Ok," Bourne said rubbing the marks where the barbs from the stun gun hit him. "We're even. From now on, no more pay backs. I have done a lot of bad in this world, and will spend the rest of my days trying to make it right, whether you like it or not. And I want to get to know my son, and you, if you want me to. I have already talked to Willow and if you don't want to see me, you never will. But I WILL be in my son's life. Maybe I'll just be a shadow in yours. And that will be up to you. I've made my mind up about you and want to try and make it work."
"So if I don't want to see you, you'll just run around behind my back to see our son?"
"Yes, I want to spend as much time with him as I can. And no matter what you want, I will be in his life. But if you don't want see me, you won't. I'll visit with Willow and Alex, but you'll never have to see me again. And then only, if you want to see me."
"I want to." Faith paused, then said, "I won't keep you from our son. But it will be his choice. He's old enough to make up him mind on see you. I won't force the issue with him. But I will be pulling for you."
"Fair enough."
And for the first time, Bourne felt like he was making headway into a new life. The last time that had happened was the happy times on the Beaches with Marie.