Chapter 2. Sleeping Beauty.
Faith sees a bunch of nurses coming down the corridor. She backs right back into her room and sees the young man she threw across the room get up.
"I'm sorry," says Faith. "I didn't mean to…I just need to get out of here."
"It's okay," says Riley, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm used to this. Man, the last time I got thrown across the room was by…"
Suddenly, the door opens and in comes a nurse and a doctor. Faith hides behind the door. The nurse and doctor look at Riley and see that the bed is empty.
"Where is she?" asks the doctor. "And who are you? Who authorized him to come in here?"
"Sorry, doctor, but I just got ransacked by your patient," says Riley. "I was walking down the hall and I heard some noise. I came in here and she was headed to the door to get out. She took me by surprise and tossed me over there." Riley points at the wall. "Everything else is a blur."
"Damn it," says the doctor. "Call them now." The doctor says this to the nurse and the nurse rushes out of the room. "Need any medical help?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Good. Now don't mention this to anybody. You hear?"
"Yes, sir."
The doctor looks once more around the room and then leaves. Faith pushes the door and looks at Riley.
"Thanks," says Faith. "Why'd you cover for me? You don't know me. I could be an ex-con or something."
"Nah, I don't see that," says Riley. "I may sound a bit strange and maybe stalkerish, but I've been seeing you since the day I moved here to Sunnydale."
"Kind of made a bad move."
"No, I don't think so. I kind of talked to you almost everyday. They say that if you talk to comatose people, that they could come out of it and…"
"Why did you do this?" asks Faith.
"I don't know."
"You felt sorry for me?"
"No, that's not it at all. Just thought you needed company."
"I need to go." Faith walks up to Riley. "Think you could get me some clothes?"
"Sure." Riley steps out of the room and looks around. He finds a cart with some scrubs on top of it and takes them. "Here you go."
"Not what I was expecting, but it'll have to do." Faith starts to pull off her hospital attire and Riley turns around to give her some privacy. "Aren't you a gentleman."
"What's your name?"
"It's Faith." She throws the hospital clothes on the bed and heads over to the door. "Do you have a car?"
Five minutes later, the two escape the hospital without being seen and head to Riley's car. Riley takes her to his dorm room. He closes the door and locks it. Faith walks around the room, then turns around.
"Here," says Riley. "You could change into some of my girlfriend's clothes."
Faith looks at the clothes and takes them. The word girlfriend dangles in her mind for some strange reason and she keeps looking at the clothes. Riley is looking out the window then turns to Faith, who is still staring at the clothes he gave her.
"What's wrong?" he asks.
"Buffy," says Faith. She remembers Riley's talks with her when she was in her coma. He talked about his problems and about his girlfriend, Buffy.
"Yeah, she's my girlfriend."
"She's the one that put me in the coma."
"What? That can't be. Buffy, she would never…"
"You had doubts about her. You thought she'd killed your professor, what's her name?"
"Yeah, but…"
"She's capable. I know her."
Someone knocks at his door and startles them both. Riley approaches the door and signals Faith to get into the closet.
"Who is it?"
"Riley, it's me, Graham," says the soldier outside. Riley unlocks the door and Graham comes into his room. "I thought you were going to check out the crime scene?"
"Yeah, I was, but something came up."
"What?" Graham's back is facing the closet. As he is talking to Riley, Faith comes out slowly from the closet and grabs him from behind. She pushes him roughly into the closet and closes the door on him. She grabs a chair nearby and puts it against the closet door.
"I'm out of here," says Faith as she runs out of the room.
"Wait!" Riley calls out to her. He looks at the closet door, then decides to run after Faith.
Graham bursts out of the closet, breaking the chair and searches for Riley and the person who pushed him into the closet. The room is empty.
Meanwhile, the Scooby's are talking about Adam and how to get some more info. Buffy is wondering why she hasn't seen Riley and is a little out of it during the conversation. The phone rings and Giles answers it.
"Hello," says Giles. "What? Yes, she is." Giles motions to Buffy. "Um...it's for you." Buffy looks surprised.
"Hello?" says Buffy. "What sort of emergency?" Buffy begins to scrunch up her forehead, looking unhappy at whatever the person on the other line is telling Buffy. "No, I haven't. Thank you, I'll let you know." Buffy puts the phone down.
"What is it?" asks Giles with a concerned tone.
"It's Faith. She's awake." They all look surprised. "She escaped from the hospital without anyone seeing her. No one knows where she is."
"I'd say this qualifies for a "Worst Timing Ever" award," says Xander.
"What do we do?" asks Willow.
"Well, we have to find her," says Giles, stating the obvious.
"What about Adam?"
"I'd hate to see the pursuit of a homicidal lunatic get in the way of pursuing a homicidal lunatic," says Xander.
"Well, Faith's not exactly low-profile girl," says Buffy. "I'll patrol and wait for her to make a move."
"But then what?" asks Giles.
"Oooh! I have an idea!" says Willow. "Beat the crap out of her!"
"Good plan, Will," says Xander.
"Good on paper," says Buffy. "But we still have a decision to make. Do we hand her over to the cops? They wouldn't know what to do with a Slayer even if they knew we existed."
"What about the Council?" asks Willow.
"Been there. Tried that," says Xander. "Not unlike smothering a forest fire with napalm as I recall."
"Well, the Initiative, they do have containment facilities," Giles suggests.
"One word: Evil."
"There's no way around it," says Buffy. "Faith is back and whether I like it or not, she's my responsibility."
"Yeah, too bad," says Willow. "That was our first coma ever."
"We have no idea where she is. We don't know what she's thinking, what she's feeling…"
"Who she's doing," says Xander.
"She could be terrified," says Buffy. "Maybe she doesn't even remember. Or maybe she does and she's sorry and she's alone hiding somewhere."
"Well, perhaps there's some form of rehabilitation we just haven't thought about," says Giles.
"And if not, ass-kicking makes a solid plan B," says Willow with enthusiasm.
"I'm not going to rule it out," says Buffy. "First thing, we need to find her. Then we can take it from there."
Faith is walking around the streets. She is about to go into a shop selling blades, but hesitates a little. Then she sees a police car coming around the corner. She ducks into a corner to hide. Riley then surprises her from behind.
"Are you freaking insane?" says Faith, taking deep breaths.
"Why are you scared of the police?" asks Riley.
"None of your business."
Then some kind of monster comes up to her. Riley sees it before she could do anything. He moves her behind him and tackles the monster.
"Faith…" says the monster as he is tackled by Riley to the floor.
"Okay, he is insane," says Faith.
The two struggle on the ground. Faith decides to intervene with the two and pulls the monster up to her. She pushes him onto the wall and gives him a cold stare. Riley gets up and dusts himself off.
"Your friend sent me," says the monster. "I got a little remembrance from him." She beats the monster up and takes the case from his hands. Then another police car comes around the corner and she quickly goes up a ladder, dodging his searchlight. Riley follows her up, too. Once up the ladder, she opens the case. She begins to watch a video of the late Mayor Wilkins. Riley watches from behind her. Wilkins makes Faith feel a little sad and lonely. He then tells her to open the box in the case she had taken from the monster. She opens it and sees the device he mentioned. The tape finished.
"What's that?" asks Riley as Faith closes the case and turns around.
"Payback."