Title: Stormy Road to Recovery
Author: LissaMarie (owl_eyed_goddess@hotmail.com)
Site: Living Dead Girl...()
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: This story deals with child abuse and neglect and the lasting effects it can have on a person. I don't go into much detail, but still, if that bothers you, please don't read this story.
Spoilers: Very vague ones for around the end of the show.
Disclaimer: I do not own BtVS or AtS. Faith is just my favorite character ever on TV. Joss Whedon is truly a genius.
Summary: A short fic about Faith's childhood.
Author's Note: I love the character of Faith, and Joss provided so little about her background. Hell, he never even told us her last name. This is just my idea of what Faith's childhood may have been like.
Stormy Road to Recovery
By LissaMarie
Faith scanned the room with her deep dark eyes before she pulled herself out of her hiding spot behind the ragged sofa. Her mother had stumbled in minutes ago with yet another man Faith had never met, and the two had gone straight to the apartment's only bedroom.
By the age of 4, Faith had learned to not make herself seen when her mother brought a man home. Seeing that the woman they were about to sleep with had a child had driven commit-fearing men away in the past, and Faith couldn't forget the rage she had felt from her mother when that happened. Faith also worried about the men. She was only 12 years old, but many people had told her that she appeared older. The men that Faith's mother associated with would see nothing wrong with taking pleasure from her that she wasn't willing to freely give.
Faith sat on the couch and tried to tune out the noises coming from the bedroom. All she succeeded in doing was reminding herself that she hadn't eaten at all that day. Her mother hadn't gone grocery shopping once again, and Faith was left to fend for herself.
Deciding that she wouldn't be missed, she grabbed her size-too-small, too-thin jacket off the chair and left the apartment in search of sustenance.
Their apartment building was situated in the bad side of Boston, Massachusetts. Faith kept her eyes on the sidewalk as she made her way past the drug dealers, pimps, and prostitutes that littered the streets trying to keep as inconspicuous as possible. She ignored the comments thrown in her direction as she made her way to the corner store.
The bells above the barred glass door chimed as Faith entered the store. She went straight to the back and grabbed a sandwich and bag of chips which she quickly hid under her clothes. She went back to the front of the store more slowly. At the register, she picked up a couple of 5cent chocolates and paid the suspicious clerk for them.
Without any true desire to go home, Faith went to the park to eat her dinner. She stayed there until the sun began to color the sky when she made her way back to her home.
Her mother was waiting for her when she got in. She wasn't supposed to leave the house at night, and her mother made sure she knew that she had done wrong.
*****
Faith opened her eyes and gazed around in confusion for a few moments until she realized she was in Buffy's room. She hadn't even seen her mother in years and couldn't understand why the dreams still came. She wasn't a weak little girl any more. She was a Slayer with the power to save the world from doom.
Faith knew she was wrong. She was still that girl. It was something she and Angel had talked about at length. Like Angel who had never reconciled with his father before his demon killed him, Faith never made peace with her mother before cirrhosis took her life. Neither of them could ever get over the wounds or win against them in any way.
Faith was on the stormy road to recovery, and maybe someday, that girl that she still was would fully heal.
THE END