Starbuck's- 8:10am
Faith strolls in and sits across from her oldest sister, who glances up before she takes another sip of her coffee. She does a double take as she takes a closer look. "What are you wearing?" She sputters as she sees the plain white t-shirt and the leather jacket and pants.
Faith pouts with an underlying smirk. "You don't like?" Faith teases.
"I…I…" Meredith stammers as she gestures to her sister's wardrobe. She takes a deep breath and a moment to compose herself. "It just doesn't seem like you," she says in response.
"Oh," Faith draws out, as if she is gaining some powerful insight. "So, this outfit is not very 'Tru Davies'. Is that what you're saying?" She asks with a barely concealed grin.
Meredith eyes her sister warily. "Yes. That is exactly what I'm saying," she tells her. There is a brief pause where Meredith keeps casting suspicious glances at Faith. "What are you up to?" She finally asks.
Faith turns to her sister and attempts to look naive. "Why do I have to be up to something?" She asks while batting her eyes with exaggerated innocence.
"Cute Tru. What, is it 'Hooker Day' at the morgue or something ?" Meredith asks. She reminds me of someone right now, but who? She thinks, trying to place her sister's behavior.
"That hurt Meredith, it really does. I mean, here I am spending time with my beloved older sister, who I feel like I haven't seen in years, and she thinks I'm up to something," Faith says melodramatically, feigning hurt. She catches Tru sneaking in the front door of the store and smirks.
"Aren't you?" Meredith asks with a quirked eyebrow.
"Never," Faith says with conviction before sighing. "I'm going to go get some coffee. I barely slept at all last night," she says as she stands up and walks off, leaving Meredith to stare into her near empty cup.
"What are you thinking about?" Tru asks as she takes a seat next to her perturbed looking sister.
"I'm just thinking about why you're acting so-" Meredith stops as she looks up and sees her sister dressed as she normally does. "…weird," she finishes. "I thought you were getting coffee," she says slowly.
"I was?" Tru asks, no sign of mischief in her eyes.
"I thought that's what you said you were going to do," Meredith points out.
"What are you talking about?" Tru asks. "Are you feeling okay?" She asks with concern as she reaches over to feel her sister's forehead.
"I'm sure she's feeling fine," comes a voice from behind Meredith.
Meredith turns around sharply and sees Faith, cup in hand and a smile on her face. All the color drains from Meredith's face. "Faith," she croaks out looking equal parts confused and surprised.
"Yeah, that's me," Faith says as she sets down her cup and prepares to sit in an empty seat.
However, Meredith surprises both Faith and Tru when she suddenly jumps out of her seat and envelops Faith in a tight hug. "Oh my god, where have you been?" She asks, choking back her emotions as Faith, self-consciously, hugs back lightly.
Once released, Faith clears her throat and sits down. "You know, here and there," she says vaguely.
"I can't believe you're really here," Meredith says in astonishment.
"It's so weird seeing her again, isn't it?" Tru agrees.
"You know, I am sitting right here?" Faith asks quirking an eyebrow.
Meredith turns to look at Faith. "It really is good to see you again Faith," she smiles softly. "What brings you back to Boston?" She asks after a moment of silence.
Faith takes a deep breath and leans back in her seat. "Where I was, so much stuff was happening and finally once it was all taken care of, I decided to come home," she explains casually.
"Right, you were busy for seven years?" Meredith asks skeptically.
"Not the whole seven years. I thought about you guys a lot and there were so many times when I regretted leaving. Sometimes I wished I could take it all back and come home," Faith blurts out in one breath.
"Well, why didn't you?" Meredith further pursues. "Why didn't you take a break or something and come home…or call even?" She asks with a hurt expression.
"Because I just couldn't, okay? There were things that I couldn't exactly take a break from and call home and especially not come home," Faith tells her while on the verge of tears.
"Like what?" Tru asks in general confusion.
Faith opens her mouth and closes it several times for several minutes before sighing deeply and looking down at her hands. "I was in a coma for about 8 months back in '99 and-"
"There's an 'and'?" Tru asks desperately.
"Uh, yeah," Faith stammers as she runs her fingers through her hair. "I was in…prison from October of '99 to February of this year," she says slowly, not making eye contact with either of her sisters.
"You were in prison for three and a half years?" Meredith asks harshly.
"Yes," Faith answers after she takes a minute to get her breathing under control and push back the fear hanging at the back of her throat. Nine years of slaying demons and preventing apocalypses and none of them are half as scary as my oldest sister when she's mad at me. She thinks grimly.
"For what?" Tru asks before Meredith has an aneurysm, not even thinking that it could be anything too serious.
"Homicide," Faith mumbles under her breath. Meredith and Tru stare in shock at their little sister.
"You killed someone?" Meredith asks in a troubled tone.
"It was all a mistake though, right? I mean, surely you couldn't kill anyone," Tru states, grasping for straws.
"I didn't kill someone," Faith begins and her sisters let out a sigh of relief. "I killed two someones," she continues, hanging her head.
"How?" Tru finds herself asking despite the feeling of her heart rising up through her throat.
"Stabbed them both. The first one was an accident, the second one…wasn't," Faith explains, hesitating at the end.
"Faith," Meredith begins tentatively. "None of that matters to us okay? You're still our sister and all that matters is that you're home now," she says softly as she reaches across the table and takes a hold of her younger sister's hand.
"Yeah," Tru agrees as she looks at the entranceway to the café.
"What is it?" Meredith asks as she looks where her sister is looking. "Harrison is here," she says in a dull tone.
"Hey guys," he says as he jogs up having seen them. "Who are-" he begins his question to Faith's back, until she turns around. "Faith!" Harrison exclaims in happy surprise.
"Hey Har," Faith smirks, trying to forget the depth of the previous conversation.
"Wow," Harrison states as he looks at her in amazement. "You look-"
"-so much like Tru?" Faith guesses the end of his sentence.
"No," he shakes his head. "Well, I mean…yes, but that wasn't what I was going to say," he stammers while Tru and Meredith chuckle at his behavior while Faith raises an eyebrow. "You look just like I remembered," he says.
"Is that good or bad?" Faith asks with a smirk.
"No one really knows when it comes to you does it?" He asks with a smile as he takes a seat next to his estranged sister.
Buffy, Willow and Dawn's hotel room-5pm
"Buffy, will you please stop pacing," an irritated Willow asks her friend as Buffy continues walking back in forth in their room.
Buffy stops and looks sympathetically at her friend. "Sorry Will, I'm just anxious to see what is going to happen," she says quietly.
Willow sighs and sits up on her bed. "Yeah, we all are, but it isn't helping that you're making everyone nervous by pacing like that," she reasons.
"Yeah, I know that," Buffy sighs and takes a seat next to Willow. "It's just that I don't know what to expect because Faith never talked bout her family and it'll just be kind of weird," she admits. Willow nods in understanding.
"Hey, can we go now?" Dawn asks as she flounces out of the bathroom.
Buffy rolls her eyes and nods. Willow smirks. "Yeah Dawn, let's go talk to Faith now," Willow says as she and Buffy stand up.
Together, the three of them exit the room and make their way to Tru's apartment to meet Faith's family.
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Yes, this took forever and I just didn't know what to do with it. This chapter did kind of suck, I know, but I promise the next one won't be as bad.