2002
Sunnydale
Faith grunted as she pounced on the vampire, sending the fledgling tumbling backwards, and they both went down. She thrust her stake into the vamp's heart, then hit the ground as the body beneath hers turned to dust. "Oomph." She groaned as she stood, dusting the ashes from her jeans.
"Nice work."
Faith whirled around, stake raised, "Wesley?"
She lowered her arm and watched as her former watcher crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her, "What are you doing here?"
"I didn't want to get in the way at the house." He replied, "Angel and Buffy have explaining to do, Cordelia was talking with Dawn. I was just sitting. I decided to do some patrolling of my own."
"Oh. You patrol now?"
Wesley nodded, and a tense silence fell between them. A small corner of Faith's mind wondered if the world would crumble if she spoke. But the bigger part of her that told the frightened little girl inside to shut up pushed that thought away. Wesley cleared his throat, "So, I assume you're trying to get back into the Slaying groove?"
"Yeah, I guess." Faith replied, shrugging ass he sank down to sit on a headstone, "Gotta start somewhere, though, and slaying is not that place."
"So, where are you starting?"
"Redemption." She whispered, locking eyes with him. He had changed. His face was more rugged, tired. Not old. Not young anymore, though. He wasn't Wesley the Watcher anymore; nerdy, pompous, fumbling. He was different than that naive man.
"Redemption?"
"I need forgiveness, Wesley. I'm working on the people I hurt in Sunnydale, and I think I'm working my way to earning their trust."
"Not that you deserve it."
Faith flinched, but nodded, "I know I don't. Especially not the ones I hurt the most. Like you."
"I'm fine. You didn't hurt me as much as you give yourself credit for." Wesley said coldly, turning to walk away.
"I left scars." She called, "I know, because I have them. On my hands from the glass I used to cut you. I know that you probably hate me."
"I don't hate anyone."
"You're a terrible liar, Wes."
The watcher turned and glared at her, "It's not so much the hate, Faith. It's the WHY? Why did you do it? What happened to make you the way you are."
"Were. The way I was, Wes. And you don't want to know."
"I do."
She laughed bitterly, "Wesley, my problems started long before Sunnydale, and I was never into crying on someone else's shoulders, so forget it."
"I want to know, Faith. I deserve to know."
Faith launched off the headstone and had Wesley pressed against the side of a mausoleum in a fraction of a second, her nose mere centimeters from his, "You really want to know? The whole long, pathetic, sordid story? About how Faith became so bad?" She released him, "Fine."
"I had a nice life when I was little." She began, "Mom, Dad, nice house, lots of love. I guess. My parents didn't get along. Dad left when I was nine. After that, my mother was just lost, I guess. She started drinking, lost her job, we moved to this little apartment in Boston. Mama was in so much pain, all the time. She was on every drug you can list, and she got it however she needed to. Eventually, she would bring these men to the house. I could hear them in her bedroom...I was ten the first time one of her clients left her passed out in the bed and wandered into my room."
Faith looked away from him, hiding tear-streaked cheeks, "After that night, I started hiding on the fire escape whenever she brought a john to the apartment. Then, I left when i was fifteen. Lived above a diner where I worked for hardly any money. I got my meals the same way my mother got her drugs, I suppose. I learned at an early age. A man will buy you something to tide you over till the next day, for such a little price. Twenty minutes behind the diner, and that was it. And I did it again the next day, and the next, and the next. Then, one day, only a few days after I turned seventeen, this lady comes up to me. She buys me a coffee and a cheeseburger, and she tells me she's watcher." She paused, "Imagine that, I think. There are monsters. Ones worse than the ones I get my meals from."
Wesley watched her with veiled eyes as she paced and continued, "So I have this new person, and she watches over me. Makes sure I get three meals a day, she helps me learn what it is to be a Slayer. But I was never good. I couldn't become a normal kid after a few months of free meals. When Kakistos killed her, I hated myself for not being what I should've been...Anyway, I came to Sunnydale, found Buffy. Since my first watcher...I had lost any hope of anyone caring. I was just Faith. Street kid, juvenile delinquent. Worthless."
"Faith--"
"It's not an excuse for anything I did to you, or Buffy, or Xander...any of them. There is no excuse. But I was fucked up then. I still am. I'm just *trying* for normal." She choked on a sob and sat back down, hiding her face in her hands. When two strong arms wrapped around her, she leaned into the embrace and cried.
2003
Sunnydale
Spike's eyes opened slowly. He wasn't sure what time it is, or even what day it was. But it had been hours…or was it minutes…since his last vision had hit. Maybe it was over…Maybe…He hoisted his aching body to his feet and stumbled to the stairs leading upstairs. He sighed in pain as he opened the door, only to be grabbed and yanked up into the kitchen.
"Agh! Bloody Hell—"
"Hello, my William."
Spike blinked up at the slightly blurry face above him, "Dru?"
"Yes! I hope you enjoyed my prezzie to you. Now that you've opened it and played with it, it's time for the next one." She dropped a cold kiss on his forehead, and everything went black.
2002
Sunnydale
"Hey, where are Faith an Wes?"
"Oh, Faith is still patrolling, and I think Wesley went to check everyone into the hotel." Buffy replied at Cordelia's question.
The former cheerleader stretched and yawned, "Speaking of, we should all be going. It's almost midnight and I, for one, am exhausted."
Angel nodded in agreement, "We'll stop by tomorrow evening."
"You don't have to, peaches." Spike said with a syrupy tone, "We won't miss you."
Buffy kicked him and sent him a glare.
"I mean…Alright. See you then." He wrinkled his nose and looked over at Buffy, "Happy?"
"Yes. Very. Thank you." She replied.
Angel rolled his eyes at his childe and the LA gang started to gather up their things and leave. "Tell Faith I'll talk to her soon."
"Will do." Buffy replied as she walked them to the door, "Thanks. For coming, I mean."
"Of course." Angel smiled, "See you tomorrow."
After they had gone, Spike let out a noise of disgust, "*Of Course*" He mimicked, "Pft. I still hate him."
Buffy laughed and walked over to where he sat in the recliner, "You are impossible."
Spike smirked and pulled her down onto his lap, earning a squeal and a laugh. He pulled her head in for a soft kiss, his right hand resting on her belly, "I love you."
"Ditto." She murmured, "Thanks for being nice to Angel."
"Oh the things we do for love." He muttered, looking down at where his hand rested, "As long as we don't have to name our child after the bloody poofter…"
Buffy smacked him playfully and was pulled in for another kiss before being lifted and carried up to their bedroom.