You and me, girlfriend. The Chosen two!
Faith was a surprise. She was supposed to go home to Boston, or maybe look after slayers in the Northeast. But she'd discovered after a month that she really couldn't go home again. And she'd broken up with Robin so New York, where he'd become principal and watcher for one of the new slayers, was out.
She had new lease on life, and a full pardon thanks to Jasmine's generosity and power over the Governor of California. And absolutely no clue what to do with it.
They tried assigning her to the Hellmouth in Cleveland, but that didn't work out too well either. They were implementing a new model for Slayer-Watcher teamwork, but Faith didn't really fit in well. The newly minted watchers couldn't earn her respect, the young slayers looked up to her too much to act as equals, and Kennedy kept giving her the evil eye when she suggested working with Willow. Faith was going to go roaming, or perhaps make her way to LA when Andrew brought up the "nobody slays alone" rule.
So Faith packed up and trundled off to Chicago.
The whole point
of being on my own was the independence thing. I've got this really busy schedule
filled with stuff I want to do, so I won't be around much. If you can be okay
with that, than we can talk trial basis.
I'm trusting you not to get me kicked out or cost me my deposit. There
will be rules, and if you follow them everything will be peachy keen. So. Good
to see you too. Wanna go kill something?
And busy beaver Buffy needed to find Faith something to do. College was pretty much out, even if Faith hadn't gotten her G.E.D. while still in prison. So, on Buffy's insistence, her new roommate signed up at the Technical Institute and took a job working in a body shop. She spared a brief thought, wondering where Pike was, and if he had his own business by now. Given Buffy's past experiences, and driving record, having someone mechanically inclined around was an absolute necessity. But that was the drill - Faith had to have her own stuff going on, because Buffy was tired of having to take care of people all the time.
"That's what I do right? Get lost and go looking for Buffy. But I think prison changed me. You have to make friends to get through, and you have schedules and work. I can take care of myself a lot better now. I just thought, maybe we could have some fun, and this might be good. Anyway, just think of me as being here to help. It's kind of an ex-con, rehab thing...no, Al-Anon because of my mother...anyway, we can cover more ground and back each other up. Plus that wardrobe, B? No way in hell are you survivng a real Chicago winter without some outside assistance..."
On a certain level, it made sense. There were at least fifty slayers now. They were supposed to be equals. And they were. Except for Buffy and Faith. The rest were just teenagers, and they'd never had to carry the loneliness and burden the way The Two did. None of them would ever know each other like Buffy and Faith. The kind of understanding and kinship gained in five or so fights to the death, and from living in the other person's skin.
It was only right that they fight side-by-side.
Plus, new and improved Faith was actually a pretty decent roommie. Prison had apparently instilled some manners and self-discipline. It'd also helped her get a better sense of herself. It was pretty clear early on that Faith was going to be about as comfortable hanging around campus as she would have been in Cambridge. But unlike her time in Sunnydale, Faith had managed to find a set of her own friends, who - while admittedly from a different background than Buffy was used to - were pretty decent folk.
Buffy had her book groups with the wine-and-cheese crowd; Faith had the guys over for Bears 'n' beer. Carolyn from down the hall, started calling them Felix and Oscar and it stuck pretty quick. But other times, they would stay up after patrol to watch old Hong Kong chop socky movies on the International Channel.
It's cool having you around. It helps that you weren't in Sunnydale for the worst of the drama. And there's that part where I can live with myself for taking nights off, enough sleep time to function during the day, a real sparring partner, and the quality first aid. Plus Midwestern humour - totally different, so you are much appreciated on that score too. Things should have been like this between us the first time. But jeez, get your own damned popcorn!