"H-how can you be here?" Faith stuttered.

"Come on, that's not the faith I know, where's your fire gone?" Faith simply stared at him with wonder "we'll soon get you out of here my dear. Have they been treating you ok? I hear prisons are very unhygienic, I had a mind to bring some bleach in here for you" The mayor let out a childish giggle and looked at Faith as a very proud father would do to his new born daughter.

"I'm not saying I'm not glad to see you, but, it's just the whole you not being dead anymore thing that's kina wigging me out"

"That's more like it, ask away, and if you don't get the answer you want you could always kill me" he giggled again "but I can understand that you're confused. Do you really know what went on when I died?"

"kinda, I hear it was wicked violent, shame I missed it"

"there's that fire" exclaimed the mayor, as if he had just discovered something amazing. "but do you mind if I get serious for a moment?" Faith informed him that she didn't . "you heard about me becoming a snake and getting blown up didn't you?" Faith nodded. "That's my faith, I knew you'd find out. Anyway, as you know I could be killed after I had reached ascension, but a tiny little explosion like that wasn't going to stop me now was it? Of course not, I cling on to life, like you. I should know, I've been doing it for longer than anyone dares to remember. So, after I was "killed", I decided not to draw attention to myself for a while, not that I could have done even if I wanted too, though my mind was intact, my body was very much destroyed. Think of a balloon being popped, that was me, snake carcass everywhere, funny when you think about it, but you wouldn't believe how much of a mess snakes make when they explode. So there I was, unable to move and of course worried sick about you, what would you do if I wasn't there to take care of you? Well, get yourself into prison obviously, I must say I am disappointed in you for that, but I'm sure we can get you out soon. How much time have we got left?"

Faith checked the hospital white clock hanging on the wall "about five minutes"

"I'd better hurry up then hadn't i? so, there didn't seem to be anything I could do, not being able to move is quite hard to get out of without someone else's help and of course there was no-one who even knew I was there, bit of a problem really, what I needed was someone to come and find me, so you can imagine my delight when a group of apocalypse demons came. They weren't particularly intelligent and very easy to manipulate, I managed to convince them to do a tiny little spell for me before they got on with bringing about the end of the world, I won't go into details about it, let's just say lots of blood and ritual sacrifices. Not a pleasant site, honestly, if I'd had a stomach it would have been churning. But to cut a long story short, it brought back my real body and the slayer never got word of it, I was sorry to hear she'd stopped those demons, we'd grown quite attached in that time, all those rituals can really make you bond. So of course you know what my first thought was. You. I had to see my darling Faith. I went to the hospital and they told me you'd woken up, caused quite a stir as I hear. I was ecstatic at this news, you were safe and well, but it did make finding you slightly harder. I searched for weeks, lots of tedious things that would bore you like crazy but I found you and here I am." The mayor smiled at Faith, willing her to say something, but she was dumbstruck.

"I'm so happy to see you" Faith finally said, managing to produce a smile herself.

"You should smile more, it really lights up your face. I know it's not cool but you kids should stop asking so depressed all the time" the mayor said warmly.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Time's up, time to go back to your cell little lady" the guard called out from the back of the room and began to make his way towards faith.

"No, please, just five more minutes" Faith pleased but was interrupted by the mayor.

"No no faith, they have to have rules, I have to leave now" Faith looked like a child who had just got a lump of coal for Christmas and not the bike she had always wanted. "I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise" and with that he left, making Faith be escorted back to her room where Elissa was waiting with more sarcastic comments and Faith with many unanswered questions.