It had been the most boring nine months of Faith's life. The child within her caused the only excitement, by apparently trying to kick it's way out of her. Through the pain, Faith smiled in pride. Her kid was strong; Very strong. But all too soon, Faith found herself dreading the birth. She did not want to have this child, because once she did, it would be taken away. She probably wouldn't even see her own daughter- she knew instinctively that she was a girl. So when she felt wetness, and a tight pain in her stomach, she tried to hide it as much as possible. God knows what she was gonna do- its not as if she could really hide labour from the doctors, but she wanted to try. It was pointless. Next time a doctor came to check on her, he saw the strained look that she couldn't help, and knew what was happening. Lydecker was there moments later, smiling at her,
"So it's time." He said. "Be a good girl now." He gave the order for her to be moved into another room for the delivery, and several doctors removed her restraints and helped her out of her room. The moment she was through the door, Faith fought as hard as she could. She knocked doctors flying, but could not run. Doctors and soldiers grabbed her, dragging her literally kicking and screaming down the hall,
"No! You can't take her!" She yelled, "I wont let you take my baby! NO!" But it was no good. She was flung onto another bed, and strapped down again. A doctor filled a syringe with something Faith knew she didn't want inside her, and said,
"Don't worry, you wont feel a thing." Faith yelled with anger and pain as another contraction commenced, but the doctor stuck the needle into her arm, and she felt her eyes droop as tears flowed from them.
"No…" She whimpered, and everything went dark.
Faith awoke slowly. She could feel soft sheets beneath her, and the air smelt fresh, clean… she tried to remember the last time she'd awoken to such a nice smell, and all she could come up with was when she'd lived in that kick ass apartment the mayor gave her. It took a while for her mind to travel from there to the present, and everything that had happened.
Her eyes snapped open, the grogginess of her long sedation rapidly receding. Her arms and legs were strapped down, but she could just about sit up. Faith frowned. She was in a small room, with white walls, white sheets, and peachy coloured curtains around the window. The door was plain wood, and she knew for sure this was not Manticore. There was a glass of water on the chest beside the bed, and in the chair beside that, sat a woman with a kind face. Her uniform gave her away as a nurse.
"Shh… relax." She said gently, "Calm down."
"Where the f*ck am I!?" Faith demanded. The woman looked sympathetic,
"It's ok, you're in a hospital dear."
"A hospital?" Faith repeated.
"Yes, Faith, a hospital. You were moved here yesterday- the doctor thought you would be happier here." Faith frowned- what the hell was going on!?
"Where's my baby?" She asked. The woman raised her eyebrows, and sighed,
"Oh my dear…" She said, "They said you would take some work…"
"Huh?"
"You don't have a baby, Faith. You have to let go of the delusions…"
"Delusions? What the hell are you talking about? Where's Naomi? I'm not crazy- they took my child!"
"No, dear. You've been in a psychiatric facility for almost a year now."
"What!?" Faith exclaimed, "No no no… I'm not crazy- not anymore- I went to the lab, an Lyde.."
"No, Faith…" The nurse insisted, "You must listen to me. There is no one called Lydecker. You never went to any lab! You were removed to the facility when the prison guards reported your peculiar behaviour."
"Prison… no… not… I haven't…" Faith shook her head in frustration, "I escaped!" she cried, "To help Angel!"
"These people don't exist, Faith, it's all in your head, I'm sorry."
"NO!" Faith yelled, straining against the straps. "Lemme go!" She demanded. Not that it surprised her, but soon enough another nurse appeared with sedatives. She drifted off to the thought that pretty soon she'd have more sedatives in her than blood.
Over the next few months, Faith was treated for her delusions. The doctors told her they didn't know how long she'd been having them- it was very possible that these people she kept talking about never existed even before she was in prison. Apparently talk with Police and justice system officials suggested that her crimes had even been based on these hallucinations. Eventually, Faith began to realise that if there were this many people who claimed it was all un-true, then maybe it really was. She stopped fighting. She went along with the exercises and treatments, and after over four months in the hospital, the nurse came in with a huge grin on her face.
"Today is the day, sweety." She said. Faith resisted the ugre to make gagging noises, and just raised her eyebrows. The nurse came forwards, and removed the straps. "No more restraints." She said. Faith almost didn't believe her.
"Serious? No more? I can move?"
"Yep!" The nurse squeaked "You can even have a shower!" It sounded dumb, but Faith had been supervised constantly for months. She'd never been anywhere with restraints or handcuffs, never even trusted to be alone for the length of time it took to wash. So for her, this was big.
"Wicked!" Faith exclaimed.
So that day, she had a shower, and all the things that she'd convinced herself of melted away with the water when she was able to examine her own body. There was a nasty scar on her stomach- if Buffy didn't exist then where the hell did that come from? Sure they'd explained away the bite mark on her throat, but coupled with this, as well as the extensive stretch marks… I know I was never that fat. Faith thought. She had had a child, she had fought Buffy, she had been bitten by Angelus, she had not been hallucinating. She felt sure that if she looked in old papers, then Sunnydale would have collapsed into the ground for unknown reasons; All the inhabitants will have left about a fortnight before; and Faith knew, just simply knew that she had had another life within her. Lydecker had sent her here- tried to make her forget by thinking she was crazy. She did not know why she wasn't dead. She had no clue why he hadn't just gotten rid of her- but she did know she was getting out as soon as possible.
Faith kept up the pretence anyway. She pretended that everything was fine, even after many months more had past. She couldn't risk trying to escape- if she was caught, they would know she had been faking, and I would just start all over again.
Faith had been there over a year. She hated it, but put up with it because she knew she had to.
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Sorry it was short, but there will be more eventually. *sheepish grins*
Please review!