"So, Faith, how are you?" the woman says, her eyes cold.

"Fabulous, and you?" She grinds out, rhythmically clenching and unclenching her fists tightly. Her left hand starts to bleed from the pressure on her palm.

"Great. How was prison? I heard it was nice this time of year," she says as if talking about the weather and Faith begins to shake with rage. "Not that I'm surprised, I always knew that you were a more than a little fucked up," she says with a harsh grin.

"You bitch," Faith growls as she lunges at her. Missy reacts immediately by reaching out and grabbing Faith by the waist before she can reach her mother.

"You never told me that Cliff and I had a sister," Missy says accusatorily at her mother.

"She wasn't worth mentioning," she says with the same icy expression, her nose turned up at her oldest daughter.

Faith screws her eyes shut, warding off tears that the woman doesn't deserve. "I'm going to go now. I'll see you tomorrow Missy," she says slowly and calmly as she opens her eyes and looks only at Missy before turning on her heel and walking out.

"She sure has grown up," the man says lamely as the front door shuts.

"Yeah, she has," Missy spits out, throwing a glare at her mother. She grabs Faith's jacket and heads out the door after her.

Faith gets out to her car and rests her hands on the side of the car door. "Damn it!" She in a shuddering breath as she bangs on the door, her body starting the wrack with sobs. Behind her, she hears the front door open, then close again. She doesn't bother to turn around, already knowing who it is.

"Hey," Missy says softly. "You, um, forgot your coat," she says, offering the item to her.

"Naturally. I can't even do the whole 'dramatic exit' thing right," Faith sighs with her attempt to lighten the mood.

"Faith, you told me that your parents were dead," Missy says, not accusingly, but as more of a question.

"I told you a lot of things," Faith replies, but then resigns herself with a sigh. "She's dead to me," she says after a moment. "She walked out of my life...twice and she's the reason that my father is dead. The last time she walked out of my life, I thought it was for good. That is when she died to me," she muses.

"Well, you're both back now. Maybe it's something that you can patch up between you two," Missy says hopefully.

"Some things can't be forgiven or forgotten. We clash and I accept that. I also accept that we can never be all right," Faith replies. "She never wanted me in her life. If that's the way it's got to be, then that's the way it is," she says with a shrug.

"She's your mother Faith," Missy tries to reason as she puts a hand on Faith's shoulder.

"Not anymore. She's your mother now. I haven't had one in a long time," Faith replies as she shrugs off Missy's hand. "That woman is just Rebecca to me. We have different last names and different lives," Faith sighs. She gets into the car and drives off towards her apartment. Missy watches Faith drive off before slowly turning to go back into her own house with a sigh.

"Is she gone?" Rebecca asks from the doorway to her bedroom as Missy enters the house.

"Yeah. Thanks to you," Missy growls. "What could she possibly have done to you if she was just, what, four years old? Huh?" She demands.

"She lived," Rebecca says callously as she turns and goes back into her room. Once she closes the door, she leans against it and slides down with her back resting against the door. She then starts to cry softly.

"What is her fucking problem?" Missy mumbles under her breath to no one in particular.

"Hey kiddo. You might want to sit down because there is a lot of stuff that you don't know," her dad says gently as he sits down on the couch next to where Missy is standing.

Faith pulls up to her apartment, closes her eyes and rests her head against the steering wheel. With a deep sigh, she found it in her to get up and walk up to her place. She enters her apartment and lets everything out.

Faith leans back against her door and starts sobbing. She lets her rage build up and slams her fist into the wall next to her before setting her stuff down and going right back out to let off some steam.

"You're kidding right. Please tell me that you're kidding," Missy pleads with tears in her eyes.

"I'm afraid not sweetie," he says sympathetically. "Before your mother and I were married, she and I were having an affair behind her first husband's back. She got pregnant with Faith, then you and Cliff nearly five years later," he tells her.

"But why me then? Why doesn't Mom hate me like she does Faith?" She wonders angrily. "What could Faith have possibly done at four years old to piss Mom off to the point of hating her?"

"She just breathed honey. All Faith had to do was breath," he says, sadly shaking his head.

"Why didn't she come with you and Mom when you guys got married? She was your daughter too, why didn't you want her?" Missy asks with confusion.

"Oh, honey. I wanted...want her. Me not loving her was never an issue. Your mother was the one that had the problem with Faith," he explains.

"Why? She couldn't have done anything Dad," Missy says.

"She reminds her too much of her old husband and her old life. Having Faith around just reminded her of it. That and the fact that Faith is just like her last husband was. Both wild, carefree and had a fiery temper. Your mother always resented her for her spirit and energy," he says.

"But Faith was only four when all this went down right? I mean, people can change in fifteen years," Missy says. "That's about as long as it's been right? Fifteen years?"

"Not exactly," he says uncomfortably.

"Mother." Punch. "Fucking." Kick. "Bitch." Punch. "Thinks that." Trip. "She can." Kick. "Treat." Duck. "Me like." Punch. "Shit just because." Kick. "She's my." Stake. "Mother." Poof. Faith sighs as she looks around the cemetery at the piles of dust. She puts her stake back into her jacket and wipes off her hand and dusts of her pants. Then, she turns around and walks out of the cemetery towards her apartment.

"What do you mean 'not exactly'?" Missy asks suspiciously.

"Well, do you remember when we were still living in Boston when you were eleven?" He asks and Missy nods slowly. "Faith had come by our house," he says.

"I don't remember that," Missy says with confusion.

"I don't imagine that you would," he tells her. "You were at school and Faith had already dropped out more than a month ago. She was all bloody and she was trying to hold back her tears," he says, trying to hold back his own tears.

"Oh my god," she murmurs. "What happened?"

"I was the one who answered the door and I saw her like that, so I let her in. Your mother came down and saw her. She froze in her steps and asked what she was doing there. Faith looked at her and said that she had no where else to go and that a friend of hers had just been killed," he says tearfully.

"What? Why didn't she go to her father or someone else?" She asks, wanting to add ' or her Watcher', but holding it in.

"Her father, her mother's first husband rather, had died nine years back. Faith was seven at the time. After that, she had bounced from foster home to foster home She didn't want to go to one of them," he states. "Anyways, your mother asks if Faith was the one who killed her friend. Faith looked at her and actually growled at her before saying that she would never kill anyone. She turned and walked out the door and that was the last we heard of her for a short while."

"How short of a while?" Missy asks.

"About a year and a half later, we got a letter from the Los Angeles Women's State Penitentiary saying that Faith had been convicted of murder in the first and several assault and battery charges. Since Faith wasn't even seventeen, they had to notify your mom and myself," he says while shaking his head.

"You guys didn't want Cliff and I to know about her because you thought we'd try and see her?" She wonders.

"That and we wanted to protect you from her," he says and Missy cocks her head to one side. "She has a long history of violence that goes back before she was incarcerated," he explains. "We didn't want to put you and your brother in danger."

"Faith isn't dangerous," she states with conviction. "She's been totally harmless since I met her," she says.

"How long ago did you meet her?" He asks skeptically.

"Yesterday," she mumbles back. "But she's passive and hasn't tried anything," she defends. "I trust her completely."

Faith steps back into her apartment and takes off her jacket. She hisses with pain as she pulls it off of her left hand having forgotten smashing it up. Then she goes into the bathroom and washes her hand off with warm water. She turns off the faucet and looks up into the mirror.

"God I hate that woman," Faith mumbles to herself as she stares into her eyes in the mirror. "Shit, it's too late to be trying to do the whole 'soul searching' thing," she says as she flips off the light and drags herself to her bed.

"We should do something Dad," Missy says with determination.

"Do what about what sweetie?" He asks.

"We should get Faith and Mom to talk things out you know. It's never too late," she says.

"They do need to work things out, but I don't know if they'll want to," he says sadly.

"They have a lot to work out. There is obviously a lot between them that needs to be resolved," she says.

"I'll speak to your mother about it. Good night Missy," he says. He turns around before he gets to the stairs. "You can call Faith up and ask her if you like," he says as somewhat of an afterthought.

"Yeah," she says with a smile. He nods and goes upstairs. Missy leans over and picks up the phone and dials Faith's number.

"Fuck off," is the tired, mumbled response on Faith's end of the line.

"Faith, it's me," Missy says apprehensively. Faith grunts and Missy takes it as a cue to continue. "Look, I know that there is a lot of stuff that you need to deal with when it comes to your...our mom. I was wondering if maybe you would want to try and resolve it tomorrow?" She asks, mentally crossing her fingers. There is a pause on the other end and Missy begins to worry that Faith has fallen asleep. "Faith?" She asks.

"I heard you," Faith says softly. There is another pause. "Yeah, I'll do it. There's some shit I need to says to her too," she says darkly.

"That's good that you want to talk," Missy says, smiling despite Faith's choice of wording it.

"But I guarantee that this won't end in hugs and puppies," Faith comments. "I got to go," she says.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow," Missy says with a self-satisfied grin as she hangs up.

"Missy," her dad calls and Missy looks up. "Your mother agreed to talk to Faith tomorrow.

"This is good, right?" Missy says, doubt creeping into her face. Her father just nods, not completely sure whether or not this will work according to plan. He goes back into his room as Missy makes her way up to hers.

"This will either begin to patch things up, or widen the rift between them. I hope that this is the right thing," she mumbles to herself.