Chapter 5.
Buffy and Faith sipped their mochas at the Espresso Pump.
"So yeah, long story short, Snyder's not letting me back in... for now. And where's Willow? She said she was going to meet us here."
"Have you said you're sorry yet?" Faith asked.
"I'm not saying I'm sorry to Snyder." Buffy insisted vehemently.
"Not Snyder. Your friends. Look, your mom kicked you out, if you want to let her twist until she says it first, then I'm with you. I ran away plenty in my day. But I told my friends where I was. Hell, just last month, Double D and me had a huge fight. I ended up staying in a motel on the other side of the city. But, you know what? I called her every morning with the slaying numbers. Now, I may have hung up on her before she could say anything, but I fucking called her. Let her know I was alive."
Buffy was on her feet by that time and walking away with Faith following close behind. "You don't understand." Buffy insisted.
Faith ran beside her, "You can't outrun me B. And we're having this conversation whether you like it or not. So tell me what I don't understand. That Red did the spell too late and you had to send your boyfriend to hell instead of the monster?"
Buffy stopped in her tracks. "How...?"
"Watchers are smart people, Buffy." Faith used her full name and walked a little closer. "The spell worked but he still got sent. Which meant you sent Angel and not Angelus."
"You don't understand what it was like." Buffy whispered.
Faith took her by the shoulders. "I'm no girl-scout. I have done some heinous shit in my day. But, you're right, sending a boyfriend to a hell dimension has not been one of my crimes. But I did try to choke out a boyfriend once. He was trying to help me and I turned on him. The first step to mending that was saying 'I'm sorry'."
"I'm sorry." Faith peeked from behind cover and fired an arrow.
"What?" Xander shouted as he too fired.
"I'm sorry. For everything." Faith said quietly.
Xander gave her a crooked smile and tossed his bow next to his AK. They were almost out of arrows anyway. He pulled a spear. "Me too."
"That's it? You said 'I'm sorry' and he forgave you for trying to kill him?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"He was a pretty special guy." Faith smiled. "And we both agreed that neither of us was sure if I was trying to kill him or just choke him unconscious."
"Whatever. I don't have anything to be sorry for. They're the ones who should be sorry. No one told me they were going to restore his soul." Buffy insisted.
"Everyone did everything in their power to save the world. And it cost us a powerful champion and a friend." Faith told her softly.
"It wasn't fair." Buffy collapsed into tears and Faith's arms.
Faith took it stoically. She reminded herself that Future Buffy would be able to handle shit like this without coming crying to her. She could take one for the team for now. Even if she was standing in the middle of the sidewalk holding the crying girl. Ugh.
"Thanks." Buffy said once she was cried out.
"Don't mention it. Seriously. Ever." Faith told her. "Now go apologize to your friends."
"I still don't-"
"You ran out on them, B." Faith cut her off. "You spent two years with them without giving them any training. Introduced them to the darkest side of the world and then ran out on them. You're fucking lucky none of them died over the summer."
"They should have stayed inside and not gotten involved!" Buffy countered.
"They couldn't! You opened their eyes and they couldn't look away. Let me ask you something. After the Master, if you had come back to life without your powers, would you have still fought?" Faith pointed out.
Buffy thought for a second.
Faith snorted. "Of course you would have. Don't even pretend like you could have ignored it. So, you abandoned your friends to the mouth of hell and now they're pissed at you. It's understandable. 'Sorry' doesn't really cover the shit you dumped on them, but you've got some pretty cool friends. I'm sure they'll forgive you eventually."
"Eventually?"
"Groveling may be involved. But Cordy will probably put down a blanket so you don't get grass stains on your pants." Faith joked.
Dinner the next night was a thoroughly uncomfortable affair. But Faith had warned everyone that would be the case when she nixed plans for a so-called hootenanny; but it needed to be done. Giles was busy researching a zombie cat that had found its way into Joyce's bedroom. Faith didn't remember anything about it and so wasn't any help. His place at the table was taken by a woman who was not in the know, which limited the conversations that would otherwise be taking place. On the plus side, the woman positively would not shut up, which meant that everyone else was saved from having to contribute much.
"You ready?" Faith asked Buffy.
"Yes, but..." Buffy nodded to Pat.
Faith nodded back. She stood up and pulled Pat to her feet and started guiding her to the door. "Sorry whatever your name is. But Buffy's got some private shit she needs to tell everyone. So thanks for the Mexican crap. Have a nice night." she pushed Pat out the door and closed it behind her.
"Faith! Buffy!" Joyce stood to protest the treatment of her friend.
Buffy stood and looked around the table. "I'm sorry."
Joyce sat back down and shut up. Pat could choke on her empanadas. They were dry anyway.
Faith was still by the door, praying she hadn't seen what she thought she saw. She peeked out the window. Zombies. She opened the door, ran out, grabbed Pat, and dragged her back inside. "Sorry everyone." she interrupted just as Buffy was getting going. "Apology's gonna have to wait. We got zombies across the street and headed this way. Grab your spears."
Xander, Oz, and Willow jumped up and grabbed their spears from near the door.
Cordelia shrugged from her chair, "Mine's in my car."
"Too far." Faith stated. "B, you arm up and grab something for Queen-I'm-too-lazy-to-bring-my-spear-with-me. Cordy. You stay inside and guard Joyce and... her" she waved her hand in Pat's direction.
Buffy raced upstairs while Cordy pouted.
"Everyone else: how do you kill a zombie?"
"Cut off its head." Oz offered.
Faith rolled her eyes. "How do you kill a zombie with a spear?"
"Stab it in the head?" Xander took a guess.
"Good. Now technique is important here because skulls are hard, thick, and designed to stop this kind of thing from happening. So, your best bets are to go for the eyes if you have really good aim. Or the easier way is to," Faith lifted her head and rubbed her neck right under her chin. "aim for right about here with an upwards thrust. It's unprotected and you can go straight to the brain. It's also good for killing vampires and just about anything else because a neck has to be flexible by nature and that means it's usually lightly armored."
"That true?" Buffy came back downstairs with two axes and a sword.
"Yep." Faith confirmed. "Okay. B and me'll clear the doorway and the porch. We'll call 'clear' when we're ready for you." Faith took the sword from Buffy in her right hand while Cordy took a smaller ax.
Faith and Buffy cut through the first ranks of zombies that had made it to the yard with spears, sword, and ax. Faith looked around before yelling, "Clear!"
The three Scoobies poured out of the door with efficiency. Faith was proud to note that their spears were ready and all of them checked their surroundings, not just taking her word for it. "Line up here." she ordered. "Take em as they come. B and me'll guard the flanks."
The battle was going well. The zombies moved so slowly that they were quite the letdown after vampires. Buffy and Faith weren't even needed to help yet.
"Cordy!" Xander called. "Do you want a try?"
"Sure!" she ran out and traded weapons with him. Xander ran back inside with his ax.
"Switch hands everyone." Faith ordered. "This is a good chance to get some experience with your off hand."
The sound of the phone ringing carried from inside the house. Joyce answered. "Hello Mr. Giles... Buffy's out front dealing with some zombies. Did you want to talk to her?... No, I think they have it pretty well taken care of... My mask?... Destroy it? Are you sure?..."
A crash told of the backdoor being broken through.
"B, take the backdoor." Faith ordered. "Xander, go with Joyce and smash whatever Giles says is causing this." Faith walked to the right of the house where some zombies were about to flank the three fighters. It wasn't so much tactics as that they happened to be coming from a different direction, probably buried in a different cemetery. That dealt with she trotted back to the left flank. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but there seemed to be more zombies coming faster. She gave a quick glance to make sure the kids were all okay.
Suddenly all the zombies disappeared.
"Man, I love those self-cleaning monsters." Faith commented as she stumbled and recovered from a spear thrust that found no resistance. She turned back to the house to see Buffy and her mom coming out the front door propping Pat up between them. "Now that is what I call a welcome home party!" she yelled.
Buffy and Joyce both glared at her.
"What? She'll wake up tomorrow and remember a great party." Faith declared. It was probably true.