Chapter 24 was posted at the same time this chapter was.
A/N I had an idea for a crossover with a slayer and Painkiller Jane. Instead of writing another story I decided to include it as a chapter of this story and like with Buffy, Angel, TimeCop and Supernatural I do not own nor do I have claims to Painkiller Jane. (Most likely this will be the only chapter that Painkiller Jane's characters will show up in the story.)
From beginning to end it took Faith an hour to tell Alexis about how Wolfram & Hart was defeated. She ended the story by saying, "Spike was the vampire with the soul who was made human after the fight."
"That was an awesome story, but I bet Angel was furious that Spike was the vampire to become human in the end," Alexis commented.
"Angel definitely wasn't happy about it at first, but after a couple of weeks of brooding, even he said it was for the best," Faith said.
"Was there a reason that the Powers That Be chose Spike over Angel?" Alexis asked.
"Both Spike and Angel were viscous vampires back in their days, but when it came down to it, Spike changed himself to be good. The only reason that Angel is good is because of the gypsy's curse."
"So the Powers That Be saw Angel's redemption as not being truly genuine because he was cursed to feel remorse," Alexis said almost as a questioned.
"Exactly," Faith said.
"So did you teamed up with Angel right after the defeat of Wolfram & Hart?" Alexis questioned. .
"Well, not right afterwards."
"Why not?" Alexis quickly questioned.
"I was a wanted fugitive and Angel couldn't exactly employ a wanted fugitive."
"What did you do?"
"Before I was a slayer for even a year I had crossed over into the dark side. In fact Buffy attempted to slay me once and she almost succeeded. She did put me in a coma for a few months."
"You killed someone… a human, didn't you?" Faith gave Alexis a curious look. "I'm mean why else would another slayer try to kill you."
"Okay, you're a little too insightful for my taste." Alexis just grinned. "Anyway, killing people isn't me anymore. So in efforts to redeem myself, I never resisted arrest when a cop approached me minutes after the battle with Wolfram & Hart was over. Angel still had a few connections that wasn't completely severed with the destruction of Wolfram & Hart, so a deal was made in my behalf. In that deal I only saw two years more of prison for involuntary manslaughter and my prison escape one year before was removed from the records." Alexis was grinning as Faith continued to say. "In returned, Angel agreed to stay out of certain areas of Los Angeles. Other slayers and demon hunters can patrol that area for evil demonic activity, but Angel and I can't enter."
"So you've been working for Angel ever since you were released from prison?"
"Yeah. I felt helping Angel out was at least I can do for what he did for me."
"I'm glad that things worked out for you."
Faith grinned while saying, "Me too." Faith then noticed as to how comfortable Alexis was and continued to ask, "Alexis, who was chasing you earlier?"
Alexis was caught off guard by Faith's question. Her uneasiness returned. Faith was about to say something else when Alexis finally said, "I don't know. I never saw them before."
"How many were there?"
"Three that I know of. I didn't stick around to find out if there were any more."
"Do you have any clue as to why they'd be chasing you?"
"I'm thinking because I screwed up."
"How did you screw up?"
"Yesterday evening I went to a college party with one of my friends. There was about fifty people and there was drinking. My drinking is what my mom and I were fighting about. I wasn't drunk though; I only had two drinks. Anyway, at the college party there was a fight between two guys; a blood gushing type fight and I was careless. I came into contact with the blood and my appearance changed for a moment. I was near a mirror so I saw the change myself, but since it was somewhat dark, most of them shrugged it off as being a trick of light along with a little too much partying. However, there was this one guy though; a freshman college student. He called someone. His Uncle Andre I think I heard him say. Anyway while he was looking straight at me, he told him that he found a neuro."
"A neuro? What's a neuro?"
Alexis shook her head while saying, "I was hoping that you could tell me."
Faith shook her head and shrugged before asking, "So what happened after you overheard that phone call?"
"Well, I got scared and left the party. Oh and after I got outside, the person who made that called had followed me out and attempted to coax me back inside. When I refused, he took my picture with his cell phone. I tried to take the phone away from him, but he sent it to someone before I could do it. Since the picture was sent, I gave up trying to get the phone away and dashed home. After getting home, my mom smelled that I had been drinking and we got into a huge argument over it. After arguing for a few minutes I stormed out of the house. I went to a friend's house. He snuck me into his room and allowed me to spend the night; however, he had me sneak out real early in the morning. I figured since I was up, I would go get doughnuts from the gas-mart, but as I was walking towards the station, a woman while talking to some guy pumping gas saw me and blurted out, 'Son of bitch. There's the neuro.' I took off running. I ran through alleyways and cut through backyards in order to prevent them from following me by car and I didn't stop until I got here."
"Okay, you'll stay with me and when Ben gets here in a couple of hours, I'll drive you home," Faith said.
Alexis grinned while saying, "Thanks."
"Hey, no problem. I don't know who these people are, but they're dealing with a slayer now."
In Washington D.C., Kennedy watched Hunter while Buffy, Giles, Xander and Amber met Harry at an empty building that was once a moderate size health club. After the initial introductions between, Harry, Giles and Xander were done, Harry commented, "So, Giles, have you owned a business before?"
"I have actually," Giles said. "Twelve years ago."
"What kind of business was it?" Harry asked.
"It was a magic shop," Giles said. "It was located in Sunnydale California."
"A magical shop," Harry mocked. "Did it make any profit?"
"It paid the bills," Giles said.
"Buffy; Xander, have either of you owned your own business?" Harry asked.
Xander was the first to respond with, "I mainly stayed in construction and maintenance myself."
"What about you, Buffy?" Harry questioned.
"Presently I'm a co-owner of a bookstore in New Sunnydale California," Buffy said. "My partner's name is Willow and we do okay. We have two full time employees and one part-time employee."
"That's good that everyone here is familiar with owning a business," Harry said. "It will make us being co-owners of a karate school easier. Anyway, what does everyone think of this place?"
"It looks nice enough," Buffy said. "However, if you have no objections, I would like Xander to do a pre-inspection to make sure that this place will even pass inspection."
"If Xander knows what to look for, for us to pass inspection then I say, have at it," Harry said.
Xander slightly rubbed his hands together before he began to inspect the building.
At Julius' headquarters, Julius was napping in a dark area of the warehouse when a demon with enough human features to walk around in daylight entered the warehouse. Julius woke up from the sound of the intrusion.
Julius abruptly got to his feet. He changed to his demon face as he faced the demon while saying, "A big mistake trespassing."
"You can't take me, vampire, so I suggest you don't even try," the demon said.
"Who are you?" Julius asked. He then slightly sniffed the air. "What are you? You don't smell human."
"I see that you never met a demon before… not counting other vampires."
"You're a demon?"
"I'm the demon that controls this city, Dr. Briers, and you are operating here without including me in on your operation," he said. "Normally I would make an example out of you and separate your head from your body, but I don't have the final say on that. In fact, I'm under orders to bring you into the fold."
Julius changed back to his human face. As he stepped up to the demon, he asked, "Who are you and how do you know who I am?"
"I'm called, Mysalic," he said as he brought out a pill bottle from his pocket. He then opened the bottle. "You are to take one of these and all will be explained soon."
Julius watched as Mysalic took a capsule from the bottle. When Mysalic handed Julius the capsule, Julius questioned, "What's this for?"
"Take it and all your questions will be answered," Mysalic said.
"What happens if I don't take it?" Julius asked.
"Then I get to make an example of you after all," Mysalic said. Julius just gave Mysalic challenging stare and in a blink of the eye, Mysalic pulled out a wooden stake and ran it through Julius' chest while barely missing the heart. "That was your only warning, vampire." Mysalic yanked the stake from his chest.
Julius stumbled back a step while slightly being doubled over from the pain and covering his wound with his empty hand. He gave Mysalic and disturbed look just before taking the capsule. Once Julius swallowed the capsule Mysalic rattled off an incantation.
When the incantation was over, Julius stumbled a few steps from being dizzy. Just as he was recovering from his dizziness, he questioned, "What in hell did you just do to me?"
Julius heard Lowkey's voice inside his head saying, "Mysalic made it to where we can talk."
Julius quickly jerked his head in all directions while demanding to know, "Who are you? Where are you?"
"You're wasting your time looking for me," Lowkey said. "And you don't have to verbally talk. Because of the spell that Mysalic performed, I can hear your thoughts along with what you hear. And I can see what you see."
Julius stopped looking and asked in a more relaxed tone, "Again who are you and where are you?"
"I'm called Lowkey. Where I am is really not important. What is important is that I can now control your every movement if I desire it. So behave yourself so I don't have to."
"What do you what?"
"The same thing you want; to change the past with that time machine of yours while starting with the elimination of Buffy Summers."
"Who's she?"
"She is the vampire slayer who Capt. Matuzek hired to hunt you down."
"Vampire slayer?" Julius quickly questioned.
"You are less than a week old… so to speak, so I understand that you never heard of a slayer before and a slayer's job is to kill demons. Killing vampires is a slayer's specialty which is what gives her the title, 'the vampire slayer.'"
"So how do we eliminate this vampire slayer?" Julius questioned. He then listened carefully with a grinned across his face as he heard Lowkey's plan.
Mysalic looked over the time machine with great curiosity and once he realized that Julius was no longer talking to Lowkey, he asked, "So, vampire, how does this work?"
At TEC headquarters in the security office, Capt. Matuzek was fuming as he and the lead security guard for the facility were looking at blank files that were supposed to have been the previous night's surveillance files. The files were supposed to have shown how the fire got started. Other surveillance files were blank throughout the building during the same time frame.
"There has been a severe security breach here last night and I want answers!" Capt. Matuzek practically screamed as there was a knock at the door. "Come in!"
Kennedy stepped in before saying, "You wanted to see Buffy, but Buffy isn't here at the moment. I was wondering if I could be any assistance."
Capt. Matuzek took a second to get a handle on his rage before saying, "Yes, Kennedy. I'm asking all department heads to do an inventory of their things and report if anything that is missing."
Capt. Matuzek saw that Kennedy wanted to ask a question, but after briefly hesitating, she simply said, "Of course." She then backed out while shutting the door behind her.
In Los Angeles, Alexis was giving Faith the directions to her house. Half of a block from the house, Alexis saw a moving van parked across the street from her house. Faith saw the curious expression on Alexis' face and asked, "Is there anything wrong?"
"No one is moving in or out that I know of," Alexis said. "So I'm wondering who has the moving van."
"We should find out," Faith said as she parked her SUV in the closest parking space behind the van. "Wait here and get down out of sight"
"Why?" Alexis asked when Faith turned off the engine.
"I don't have time to explain," Faith said as she opened the door. "Now get down out of sight."
"Okay," Alexis said before hunching down out of view.
Faith stealthy approached the van from the back. She pulled out a long blade switchblade before reaching the van and just as she stepped up to the rear tires, she stabbed the passenger's side tire.
Conner King and Jane Vasco jumped out from the passenger's side as Faith was pocketing her knife. Faith noticed Andre McBride getting out from the driver's side as she was telling the other two, "It seems that you two… I'm mean you three had gotten a flat tire. I hope that there's a spare."
As Andre was moving around from the front of the van, he demanded to know, "Who are you?"
"I'm Faith," she answered. "By chance is one of you two guys is Andre."
"That's me," he said.
As Faith stared at Andre, she said, "You're looking for a friend of mind and I want to know why."
"What friend would that be?" Andre asked as he stepped up to Conner's side.
"Alexis Wilson and I want to know why you're after her."
"I'm afraid that is between us three and her," Andre said. "Now where is she?"
"You just don't get," Faith said. "I'm Alexis' liaison. Before you go anywhere near her, you have to go through me first and that's not going to happen. So let's begin again from the point at where I asked you why that you are after Alexis. And I would like to caution you that a wrong answer will become very painful for you three."
Jane got into Faith's face before saying, "You're a cocky bitch!"
In a quick motion, Faith had hit Jane twice across the face before any of the three could react. In seconds Jane was on the ground dazed.
Connor had charged at Faith and in one swift motion Faith threw Conner flying through the air. He hit the ground several feet from where he was thrown from.
"Shit! Another Neuro," Andre blurted as he reached for his gun to chip Faith.
Faith saw the gun and before Andre had a chance to pull it out Faith gave him a series of kicks and punches that knocked him unconscious.
Jane had recovered from being hit and grabbed Faith from the back. In a quick and precise move, Faith elbowed Jane across the bridge of the nose while breaking her nose. When Jane loosened her gripped from the pain, Faith broke loosed from Jane and turned towards her to strike. She saw Conner charging at her again and threw Jane into him. Jane fell to the ground and before Conner had a chance to recover, Faith struck him with a series of kicks and punches that knocked him unconscious too. Jane, being the last one standing against Faith, tried a futile attempted to subdue her and within a short time she too was knocked unconscious.
Allyson, Alexis' mom, had witness the tail end of the event and came running out while shouting that she was going to call the police. Alexis heard her mom yelling and got out of the SUV. As Alexis stepped up, she blurted out for her mom to hear, "Mom, this is Faith. She's protecting me."
"Why do you need protecting?" Allyson asked. "And where have you been all night?"
"These three are after your daughter for some reason, Mrs. Wilson, and I'm going to find out why," Faith said. "Alexis, holler out if you see any of these three move."
"Where are you going?" Alexis asked.
"I have chains in the back of the SUV. The chains aren't very thick or strong, but it should be strong enough to hold these three… at least long enough to get some answers anyway." Faith then walked towards her SUV.
Faith was a few feet away when Allyson said, "Alexis, explain to me what's going on?"
"Mom, I know that I'm a demon… or half demon," Alexis began. "Faith was the one to explain what kind of demon I am."
In a slightly stunned manner, Allyson said, "Okay, I didn't realize that you knew. You're definitely not showing any signs of what you are."
"But I am, Mom," Alexis said. She then began explaining to her mom what her demon half allows her to do.
Within in a short time, Faith had chained Jane, Andre and Conner up and had carried them one by one into Allyson's house. The three were on the floor face down. The gun that Andre had was tucked away at Faith's back.
They were in the house for five minutes when Jane came around first. Faith was explaining to Allyson how she met Alexis when Jane asked, "So what are your plans for us?"
Faith faced Jane and noticed that Jane's nose had completely healed. Faith then said, "My immediate plans are to find out all I can about you three and you can start by telling me your name."
"I'm Jane. You know which one of the two is Andre and the other is Conner."
"Okay, Jane, what's a neuro?" Faith asked.
"Neuro is short for neurological aberrant," Jane answered. "Each neuro has his or her own unique mutant ability. Yours apparently is super strength and agility while Alexis Wilson is shape shifting."
"I'm no neuro," Alexis quickly said.
"Alexis," Faith blurted out. "I'll handle this."
"Fine," Alexis said.
"You were searching for Alexis because you wrongfully thought that she's a neuro," Faith commented. "What were you going to do with Alexis once you caught her?"
"Chip her and then send her to a secure facility with other chipped neuros in order to keep her away from the non-neuro population," Jane answered.
"You were going to put a behavior modification chip in her to controller her?" Faith asked. Before Jane could answer, Faith continued to ask, "Are you part of a new reformed Initiative group?"
In a confused manner, Jane quickly questioned, "Behavior modification chip? Initiative group? What are you talking about?"
"If it's not a behavior modification chip then what kind of chip is it?" Faith asked as Andre was waking up.
"The chip is to neutralize the neuro to make him or her harmless," Jane said.
"If the chip makes a neuro harmless then why lock the chipped neuros away from the non-neuro population?" Faith asked.
"The chip can be shorted out," Jane said. "We keep them inside a secure facility so they can't short out their chip."
"What does the chip do to non-neuros?" Faith asked.
"Nothing," Jane answered.
"Are you sure?" Faith asked.
"We chipped non-neuros before while thinking that they were neuros at the time and no harm came to them," Jane said.
"Do you take them to a special lab to chip them?" Faith asked.
Andre was the one to answer, "The gun that I was reaching for is how we chip neuros."
Faith pulled out the gun while asking, "This gun shoots chips to neutralize neuros?"
"Yes," Jane and Andre answered as Conner was waking up.
"Alexis, go get me a clean cup," Faith said.
"Why do you need a cup for?" Alexis asked.
"I'm going to prove to them that we are no neuros," Faith said. "So go get me that cup."
In a skeptical tone, Alexis said, "O-okay." As Alexis was walking away, she commented, "I can't see how a cup can prove that."
Faith had pulled out her knife when Alexis was halfway to the kitchen. Alexis was gone for only a minute and once she returned with the cup, Faith told her, "Put the cup on the coffee table." Once the cup was on the table, Faith sliced opened the palm of her own hand.
"What in hell are you doing?" Allyson exclaimed just before Faith dripped blood into the cup.
"You'll see in a moment," Faith said. "Alexis, can you go get me something so I can wrap my hand?"
"Sure," Alexis said before walking away.
Alexis was gone for a couple of minute and when she returned with a rag, she handed it to Faith. Faith continued to fill the cup until it was enough to fill two shot glasses. She then wrapped her wound. Once the wound was wrapped, she went and unchained Jane.
As Jane was standing up, Faith asked, "Are you certain that the chip won't harm non-neuros?"
"Yes, I'm very certain," Jane confirmed.
"Good, because I'm going to let you chip me and then Alexis," Faith said.
"What?" Alexis quickly blurted out as Faith was handing Jane the gun.
"We're not neuros, so that chip won't do anything to us," Faith said.
"Let me unchain my friends first," Jane said.
"I'll release them once I'm chipped," Faith said.
"Go ahead, chip her," Conner said.
"Okay," Jane said. "Oh and this will be at the back of the neck." Faith moved her hair to bare her neck. Jane raised the gun to Faith's neck and chipped her.
"Now that stung a little," Faith said as she rubbed the spot on her neck. "Okay, now chip Alexis while I'll remove the chains from your friends."
As Jane moved to chip Alexis, Faith bent down and used her slayer strength and broke the chains that bound Andre with little effort.
Andre saw her breaking the chains with very little struggle and said, "You weren't affected by the chip."
"I'm not a neuro," Faith said as she broke the chains that bound Conner. She then stood up while holding a five-foot piece of the chain. Andre and Conner got on their feet as well. When Faith faced Alexis, Alexis was rubbing the back of her neck with a sour expression on her face. "Okay, Alexis. You've been chipped. Now I want you to drink the blood in the cup."
"Eeww," Alexis blurted out. "Can I just touch it with my fingers?"
"I have a reason that I want you to drink it," Faith said. "And drink it all."
"Fine," Alexis said. She then picked up the cup of blood; closed her eyes; held her nose and drank the blood. Within an instant, Alexis changed into and maintain the appearance of Faith at the age of seventeen.
"My god, she just shape shifted into a younger version of you," Conner blurted.
"Damn, I forgot how good I looked at seventeen," Faith commented.
Alexis immediately moved towards a mirror and said as she saw her reflection, "Wow, I can be your little sister, Faith."
"If she's not a neuro then how can she do that?" Andre questioned.
"Alexis is half echo demon from her father's side…" Faith said.
"She's half demon?" Jane quickly mocked in disbelief.
"Everything that you heard about that lurks at night and convinced yourself by the light of day that couldn't be true is real," Faith said. "Vampires and demons are real. So yes, Alexis is half demon on her dad's side and half human from her mom's side. And by her being an echo demon, she more than looks like me at the moment. In all intents and purposes she is me; at least for about five to ten minutes. Once she digests my blood, she will revert back to her former self; however, while she's in that form, she has my strength."
Alexis grinned real big before questioning, "I have your strength?"
Faith held out the chain for Alexis to take while saying, "Check for yourself."
Alexis took the chain and with the same amount of effort that Faith had to use, Alexis broke the chain.
Alexis smiled before saying, "You never told me the part of me gaining the strengths when I echo someone."
"Yeah, well, that's something that I didn't really want to advertise to you," Faith said. "And as well as echoing someone's strengths you will echo someone's weaknesses too."
"So are you a demon too?" Conner questioned.
"Just the opposite actually," Faith said. "I'm the slayer… well, I'm not 'the' slayer, but I'm a slayer. Normally there is only one at a time, but through manipulation during the past sixteen years and a fluke incident during the past twenty-four hours, there are presently five slayers."
"And what is a slayer?" Andre asked.
"A slayer is the one who slay vampires, demons and fights the forces of darkness," Faith simply stated.
"But you're not slaying Alexis, who you just indicated as a half echo demon that apparently shape shifts from drinking blood," Jane pointed out.
"Alexis is a non-threatening demon," Faith said. "I only worry about killing the threatening ones."
"What makes her a non-threatening demon versus a threatening one?" Conner questioned.
"With echo demons, the mother governs the appearance and temperament of the offspring," Faith explained. "Alexis' mom is human; therefore Alexis' natural appearance, temperament and desires are human."
"And the only way for her to change her appearance is for her to drink blood?" Jane questioned.
"Eating uncooked fresh flesh will do it too," Faith said.
"Drinking that blood was disgusting enough, thank you very much," Alexis said. Faith just grinned.
"Last night my nephew saw you at a college party…" Andre was only able to get out.
"You were at a college party, Alexis?" Allyson blurted out.
Alexis cringed while timidly saying, "Yes."
"Oh, yeah, you're definitely a normal teenager," Jane commented.
"Mrs. Wilson, you can worry about parenting and disciplining her later, but first I would like to know how your daughter had changed her appearance at that party if she didn't drink blood or eat fresh flesh," Andre said.
"There was a fight at the party and I came in contact with someone's blood," Alexis said.
"An echo demon will change just for a brief moment if he or she comes into physical contact with someone's blood," Faith added. "It usually happens so quickly that the echo demon doesn't even know that his or her appearance had changed, unless, like in Alexis' case, she was standing next to a mirror. Also here's a good tidbit to know. An echo demon can't change genders. If Alexis drinks blood from someone of the male gender, she changes into the female version of that person. And as you see here, she also maintains her own age. Anyway what's the sitch with you three? I mean do you chip and ship all neuros or just the ones that you don't like?"
"We have a no exception policy even though Jane and my fourth crewmember Riley had each turned a blind eye to one," Andre said.
Faith saw Jane turning away while holding her tongue as Alexis questioned, "No exceptions even if the person's ability is harmless?"
"There are no harmless neuros in spite of how harmless it seems at the time," Andre said.
"That's pretty self-righteous of you," Allyson said.
"We have determined that neuros can't distinguish right from wrong," Andre said.
"Is that true with Jane as well?" Faith questioned. "You think Jane can't distinguish right from wrong?"
"I'm no neuro," Jane quickly said.
Faith uncovered her hand and showed her wound to Jane while saying, "Quick healing for me comes included with the slayer's package deal. And you heal in minutes even with a broken nose." Jane slightly rubbed her nose. "Which is much faster than I can heal. So why do you heal quickly?"
"That information is on a need to know basis and you don't need to know," Andre said. "She's no neuro. Several different tests were done to prove that."
"Okay, I'll take your word that Jane is no neuro, but in my world of demon fighting, there are no black and white situations," Faith said. "There are only shades of gray and how you can see only black and white in your world of hunting neuros is beyond me."
"If I start seeing shades of gray then dangerous people could go unchecked," Andre said. "I can't take that risk." He glanced at Jane and Conner. "We can't take that risk."
"Fair enough," Faith said. "But to be clear about this, Alexis is my responsibility. I'll keep her in check if she needs to be kept in check."
"Fair enough," Andre said. "Anyway, since there are no neuros here, we should change that flat tire and leave."
"Since a certain demon slayer flattened it, perhaps she should be the one to change it," Conner hinted to.
Faith grinned while saying, "The correct term is vampire slayer and I'm an old fashion gal. Changing flat tires is men's work."
Conner grinned before uttering, "Yeah and why don't I believe that."
"With her super strength, she would severely over tighten the lug nuts anyway and…" Andre was only able to say.
"I can control my strength when I need to," Faith said.
"I'm sure you believe that, but I don't want to take the chance that you would accidentally break the lug bolts," Andre said.
"I wouldn't break any lug bolts," Faith insisted.
"How easily that you broke those chains you can't honestly expect me to believe that you haven't broken anything like a lug bolt on several occasions?" Andre questioned.
"Okay, Conner, point me in the direction of the spare," Faith said. "I'm changing that flat and without breaking any lug bolts."
When Faith stormed towards the door in front of everyone, Andre grinned. Allyson saw the grinned on Andre's face and shook her head with a grinned.
Alexis was about to trail behind Faith and Andre's group when Allyson quickly said, "Alexis, you need to stay in here for a few more minutes."
Alexis stopped at the door. As she faced her mom, she asked, "Why?"
"You look like Faith at the moment and our neighbors don't need to see you reverting back to your true features in the next few minutes," Allyson said.
Alexis grinned before saying, "Oops, I didn't think of that."
"It's a good thing that I thought about it then," Allyson said. "Besides, I want to discuss you going to that college party last night."
"Am I grounded?" Alexis quickly asked.
"I was going to, but then Jane mentioned that you were a normal teenager and I have to agree," Allyson said. "When I was your age, I also ended up at a college party once."
"So I'm not grounded?" Alexis questioned.
Allyson shook her head while saying, "Not this time."
"Cool."
"Stay away from college parties until you are actually in college though and no more drinking until you're twenty-one," Allyson firmly stated.
"Yes, Ma'am," Alexis said.
Outside, Faith was almost done changing the flat tire when Alexis stepped out of the house while looking like herself.
Once the tire was changed, Andre's group said their goodbyes, got in the van and drove away.
Faith was about to say her goodbye to Alexis, but hesitated when a thought came to her. Alexis was about to ask about it when Faith commented, "I've told you my plans earlier about going on a long drive to check on this woman named Dana." Alexis just nodded. "Would you care to come with me and keep me company?"
Alexis grinned before saying, "I'd like that. I should tell my mom where I'm going though."
"I'll wait for you at the vehicle," Faith said. Alexis nodded before walking back towards her house.