A/N: I sort of changed the timeline of what happened with Faith after Finch's murder in 'Bad Girls', but I didn't add anything or take anything out.
The Morgue- 6:30pm
Tru is sitting in the office, playing Minesweeper on the computer, waiting for something to happen. Davis walks in and sits next to her. Tru hit's a mine and the game is over, so she turns to look at him.
"It's pretty dead here tonight Dave…no pun intended," she deadpans with a slight smirk on her face.
He looks at her with his usual nervous smile. "I've been thinking about what you told me about your sister," he tells her.
"And you think I'm crazy or my sister is crazy, don't you?" Tru asks with a frown.
"No, no. It's not that," Davis tells her, shaking his head. "I was thinking that maybe I could help," he offers.
"Davis, I don't know," Tru argues, shaking her head. "I just don't want to get you mixed up in all of this supernatural shit too," she says. He gives her a crushed expression and she sighs. "How did you want to help?" She finally asks.
"Well, do you remember that forensic program that I showed you when you thought you killed your ex professor?" He asks, his nervousness slowly giving away, and Tru nods, not sure where this is going. "Well, there is also a criminal database on the program," Davis smiles.
"Really?" She asks incredulously and he nods. "So we could know if it was anyone from…prison," she states, hesitating on the last word. "But what if they were from the government?" She asks her smile fading.
"There are ways around that Tru. We could find whoever fits the description easily," Davis tells her.
Tru smiles at him. "Thanks Davis. I'll think I'll give Faith's friend a call and ask her for some physical descriptions of these guys," she replies as she starts to look through her sister's address book, which somehow appeared in Tru's purse. Wink wink.
"Okay," Davis says with a smile as he casually walks out of the office again. Tru smirks and shakes her head as she finds the number and dials, eagerly anticipating getting this whole ordeal behind her and being able to really catch up with her sister.
Mansfield Cemetery- 6:30pm
Faith goes flying headfirst into a tree as she is thrown by two vampires. As she hit's the trunk, she grunts as she lands in the snow. She stands up and shakes to get the snow off of her head and shoulders.
The two vampires charge her as she regains her composure. She then jumps up and breaks off a dormant branch and drives it home into one of them while ducking the other's punch. Then, she turns around quickly and dusts the last of them. "Dirty snow," she muses to herself with a smirk, looking at the gray spots on the white landscape. She tosses her makeshift stake to the side and walks the rest of the way to Lindsay's.
Hotel- 6:30pm
"Hey Buffy, I'm going to the machine to get a soda. You want?" Dawn asks as she makes her way to the door.
"No thanks Dawnie," Buffy responds, waving off her sister.
"Okay, be right back then," she says with a slight smile as she goes out to the vending machine in the main office. When she enters the office, she finds a tall, middle age man speaking to the desk clerk.
"Hi, I'm Jackson Montgomery from room 712. I wanted to see if you had an extra key for the room that I could use," he asks politely.
"Sure. Wait just a sec while I go get one," the desk clerk says as he goes off into a room behind him.
Jackson turns around and faces Dawn, who finds herself looking on. "Hello," he smiles in his Texas drawl.
"Hi," Dawn responds shyly as she gets her drink from the machine.
"I'm Jackson," he introduces himself.
"Dawn," she says with a timid smile.
"Nice to meet you," he says, shaking her hand and giving her a look of slight familiarity.
"You too," Dawn says, growing wary of the expression the man is throwing at her. "I've got to…" she trails off as she points to the door.
Jackson nods with a knowing smile. "Okay then. Goodbye Dawn," he says quietly as she exits, turning around as the clerk returns with an extra cardkey.
"Here you go Mr. Montgomery," the clerk says as he hands him the key.
"Thank you," Jackson replies as he takes it and returns to his room.
He enters the room and closes the door loudly enough to grab his partner's attention. "What is it Jax?" The shorter man asks, irritated.
"Ty, I just ran into the blonde one's little sister in the office," Jackson informs his partner.
"What are you talking about?" He asks groggily as he sits up on the bed.
"Both of them are here. That means that assassinating Faith will be harder than we originally thought," Jackson tells him in exasperation.
"Damn. That means we'll have to go about it another way," Ty states while rubbing his temples.
"Do you have any suggestions as to how we do it then?" Jackson asks skeptically.
"Faith has a history here. People know who she was and who she hung out with. We can make it look like some random killing. A gang fight or drive-by. This is South Boston after all, these things have been known to happen," Ty states with certainty.
"Tyler, no. We can't do that because it will still be investigated," Jackson replies, shaking his head.
"Please, we have ways around that. They'll turn the other cheek if we tell them about it ahead of time and it will just be another 'unsolved' murder. Besides, it's not like anyone will miss her," he shrugs.
"I think that the blonde woman will be suspicious. I mean, her friend breaks out of prison and soon is killed. It sounds suspicious, even to me," Jackson points out. "We can always make it look like a suicide," he says after a slight pause, as he takes a seat on the end of the bed.
"How do you propose we do that?" Tyler inquires, beginning to like the idea.
"That knife she used to kill those two men is sitting in an evidence room in L.A. It was held there after her trial and conviction. One call and it could be sent here," he says conspiratorially.
"What does it matter what kind of knife we use?" The shorter man asks with confusion.
"It'll make it seem more authentic. Killing herself with the knife she used to kill others will give it the appearance of poetic justice, don't you think?" He asks with an evil grin.
"It will take a couple of days to get it sent here. We'll have to wait. And anyways, won't they-"
Jackson raises his hand to cut off his partner's question. "Neither party want to deal with her anymore. She is a massive liability and a menace to society at large. It was unanimous and so they have given us full discretion as to how to carry this out. They'll send us the knife," he says with finality.
"Okay then, I'll make the call," Tyler offers as he picks up the phone.
Lindsay's Apartment- 6:45pm
Faith leans in the doorway and knocks gently on the door, which promptly swings open. Lindsay blushes as Faith smirks at her, now knowing that she had been waiting for Faith by the door.
"Hey are you okay?" Lindsay asks as she sees blood on Faith.
"I'm fine," Faith replies in an obvious tone, but then looks down at herself. "Déjà vu huh?" She smirks.
"Don't joke," Lindsay chides as she ushers Faith into the living room. "Sit," she orders and Faith obeys, making sure she isn't going to get blood on the couch. "I'll see if I have a first aid kit or something," she says as she disappears down a hallway.
"It's probably just a scratch Linds," Faith calls, her words falling on deaf ears. She runs a hand, covered in dried blood, idly through her melted snow-soaked hair.
Lindsay returns with a small box with a red cross on the top. "You're in luck," she says as she hold up the case and sits on the coffee table in front of Faith. She takes a quick look at Faith, sizing up most of the obvious damage.
"I thought Tru was supposed to be the doctor," Faith weakly states, trying to hide her discomfort at being under scrutiny.
Lindsay sees that Faith has a cut above her right eye and a gash across her arm, cutting through the denim jacket Faith is wearing. "Take off your jacket," Lindsay orders with a stern expression, cutting any smart reply from Faith.
Lindsay gently puts alcohol above Faith's eye and Faith hisses. "Do you usually go picking fights with vampires?" She asks sternly, making Faith grunt in pain at the contact.
Faith gives her a look. "They jumped me. But I guess it was my bad for being in the cemetery in the first place," Faith shrugs.
Lindsay nods in understanding, knowing why Faith had gone to the cemetery in the first place and feeling bad for even making a comment about it. "So, care to tell me what happened in Sunnydale that would make you kill two people?" She asks, trying to sound conversational.
Faith winces nevertheless. "I guess I probably should explain myself, huh?" She asks rhetorically. Lindsay waits patiently for Faith to begin. "Well, you know I left when we were 15," she begins. "What you don't know is that I spent the next two years zigzagging across the country," she states.
"Wait, it took you two years to get out there?" Lindsay asks with surprise, causing Faith to grunt in pain as she applied to much pressure to the wound on her arm. "Sorry," she apologizes quietly.
Faith smiles slightly and continues. "Well, yeah. I didn't know another Slayer had been called. I didn't know until I got to San Francisco in September of '98 where I heard two vamps talking about being recruited by the mayor of Sunnydale to open the Hellmouth. So, I staked them and got to Sunnydale less than a month later," she shrugs.
"That was the first time you even heard of Buffy?" Lindsay asks.
"Yeah, my Watcher wasn't clear enough. I figured that once I was dead for good another Slayer would be called, not if I were to die for just a second," Faith tells her. "But, yeah, I heard there was another Slayer so I decided to check it out, see if I could help," she says. "Kakistos had been off of my radar for a few months so I figured he slipped up and got himself dusted or something," she smirks.
"Who's Kakistos?" Lindsay asks as if she had missed something somewhere down the line.
"He was the big nasty vamp that killed my Watcher and caused me to take off. I made sure he knew so I could lure him away from you guys here," Faith states, growing a little timid on the sensitive topic.
"So, where did things get out of control?" Is Lindsay's next question, trying not to sound to eager.
Faith huffs out a deep breath as she shifts on the couch. "Well…"
Hotel- 7pm
"Hey Dawnie, what's up?" Willow asks as she sees the perturbed expression on the young girl's face.
Dawn looks up to see that both Buffy and Willow are staring at her. "There was this guy in the office when I went to get a drink," she says with a strange expression on her face.
"Oh, guy. I should've guessed," Buffy jokes.
Dawn rolls her eyes. "I mean, he gave me this weird expression, like he knew me or something. But, I know I definitely didn't know him," she tells them.
"What did he look like? Was he British?" Buffy asks, narrowing her eyes.
"He was tallish and oldish," Dawn replies. "But he wasn't British, he sounded kind of southern," she tells them, scrunching up her face in thought.
"Buffy, come on, some weirdo pedophile doesn't make someone an assassin," Willow says to Buffy in regards to the man in the office.
"You're probably right," Buffy sighs as she sits down and continues her channel-surfing.
Room 712- 7:30pm
Tyler hangs up the phone with a self satisfied smile on his face. "They said they'd have
the knife here tomorrow, tomorrow night at the latest," he informs his friend.
"That's fabulous," Jackson replies before growing thoughtful. "Now all we have to do is figure out how to carry this out," he says furrowing his brows in concentration.
"She's staying with her sister right?" Tyler asks and Jackson starts to look through a thick manila folder. "What do we know about her?" He asks as Jackson nods.
"Truth Ann Davies. She works the night shift at the city morgue," Jackson reads. "Her home address is in here as well. So this is perfect, we can plan Faith's 'suicide' to be sometime tomorrow night," he states conspiratorially.
Lindsay's Apartment- 8pm
"So let me get this straight," Lindsay begins as Faith finishes up. "You killed a man and decided to make things better by joining forces with the enemy?" She asks rhetorically. "Tell me where the logic in that is," she all but orders.
Faith sighs and rubs her eyes. "I accidentally killed a man and I had to go to the Mayor to help B and her friends," she explains.
"Why? I still don't know how that makes sense," Lindsay replies with frustration.
"He knew who did it. He knew that it was the Slayers and he knew who the Slayers were," Faith states and Lindsay doesn't look too impressed. "The man had the power to send B and I to prison before his ascension. We couldn't have been any good to anybody by rotting away in prison as the guy ate her classmates and took over the world," she explains slowly.
"I see," Lindsay nods. "But I still don't understand why you felt that you had to go to him and, eventually, turn your back on them. There had to have been a better way to save both of your asses," she wonders.
"As you can imagine, I had to do something and I wasn't thinking particularly clear after this had all happened. After a short series of events, it seemed like the only choice," Faith tells her. "And besides, it worked out for B. I managed to get him to focus on something other than his murdered friend," she shrugs.
Lindsay lets Faith's words sink in a moment before scrunching up her nose. "That's disgusting," she says in a disturbed tone.
Faith sits there a moment before she begins to laugh. "Not like that. He told me I reminded him of his daughter back when he was still human and that's how he treated me…you weirdo," she chuckles.
"Oh," Lindsay blushes. "What series of events was it that led you to him?" She asks after a moment.
Faith pauses and looks down at her hands. "I was going to come home. You know, with Kakistos dead and me doing more harm than good, it just seemed like the right idea," she begins.
"What happened?" Lindsay prods.
"The next day I had to think fast and I told Giles that B was the one that killed Allen Finch," Faith admits.
"Why did you blame it on Buffy like that?" Lindsay asks, almost appalled.
Faith sighs. "I knew that Giles and everyone didn't like me very much, if at all, and they would never forgive me and think I did it on purpose, but I knew they wouldn't think twice about forgiving B," she says in a defeated tone. "It didn't work," she quietly states.
"What happened after that?" She asks again.
"Well, I went back to the hotel and started to pack. I was irritated and really pissed off and the last thing I wanted was company. However, Xander came knocking on my door wanting to talk because he thought we had a 'connection'," she says, laughing sardonically.
"You slept with him?" Lindsay finds herself asking, already knowing the answer.
Faith nods almost imperceptibly, keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact. "I threw him on the bed and started choking him. Then he yelled out 'come in' and I had no idea what was going on until I turned and Soul Boy cold-cocked me into unconsciousness," she continues shaking her head. "Then I woke up chained to a wall in Soul Boy's mansion and I let him go on in the 'heart to bleeding heart' manner. The only things bleeding were my ears at the end of his diatribe. Anyways, it was like an ambush as the Council's men tried to take me away," she finishes, trying to sound nonchalant.
Lindsay can see that all of these things had affected her deeply. "So you escaped the Council and went to the Mayor," she concludes.
"No," Faith states. "I tried to escape on this departing ship that night. Buffy found me and tried to get me to come back and 'get help'," she says, not bothering to hide her bitterness. "I was about to blow her off when we were jumped by some of the Mayor's vamps. We fought and a crate was about to fall on me when B pushed me out of the way and saved the both of us. Then I dusted the Mayor's right hand man to save B and I knew at that point that I owed her a lot more than saving her from one simple vampire. That's why I went to the Mayor, because I needed to help her just this one last time before coming home," she states. "But of course, that's not how things went down," she finishes, trying to stop the tears that are beginning to flow.
Lindsay envelops Faith into a much needed hug, which the other woman reluctantly returns. "Thank you for telling me Faith," she whispers into her ear.
"Thanks for listening," Faith replies, but suddenly kicks herself for being so corny. "I mean, you're the first person to actually listen to my side," she responds, trying to be casual.
Tru's Apartment- 12:30am
"Faith!" Tru shouts as she enters the apartment. "Faith! Where the hell are you?" She asks as she searches the apartment.
"Right here," Faith replies from behind her sister. Tru jumps and Faith chuckles. "I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth," she smirks.
"At 12:30 in the morning?" Tru asks skeptically. "Were you drinking or something and didn't want me to know?" She asks with a quirked eyebrow.
Faith shakes her head with a light smile. "I was getting ready to go to bed and brushing my teeth is something I do before going to bed," she answers as if her sister was a slower version of Forrest Gump.
"You still do that?" Tru asks amazed.
"Of course, it's the only good habit I picked up from the Mayor. Besides, just because I'm a Slayer, with have a short life expectancy, is no excuse for bad hygiene," Faith replies with a sheepish shrug.
"That's not funny," Tru states seriously as she subtly clenches the papers in her hand.
"What's that?" Faith asks as she points to the pages.
Tru, realizes that she has them. "Oh, I made up a composite picture on the computer of the two men sent to kill you," she tells Faith slowly.
"How did you get a description? The only person who would know is…Did you get a hold of Cordelia?" Faith asks suspicious.
Tru looks guilty as sin. "Uh, yeah I did, but it was only to help," she stammers.
"Oh, well. Let's see what we have here. Maybe I'll remember them from somewhere or something," she shrugs back.
Tru smirks as she hands them to Faith. "Anyone you recognize?" She asks curiously.
Faith studies the pictures for a moment. "No, I don't remember them from anywhere," she states. "Maybe they're hired from the Council or something," she speculates for a moment. "We'll go show the pictures to Buffy, Willow and Dawn tomorrow. Maybe they'll recognize one of them," she says as she sets down the pictures.
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I just wanted to tell you all that when I had nearly finished this chapter, a glitch in my piece of shit laptop made me lose the last two pages. I just want everyone to know that it was really good and if you think it isn't so much now, remember that I tried to get it as close as possible. ;)
And, also, the only reason why it took so long is that I can only access this file on my laptop, which wouldn't even come on up until now.
A million times sorry to all who read this.