It's Sunday! Again, thank you all so so much for sticking with me and this fic despite the fact that it's taking forever for me to get anywhere with it! I'll see you all next Sunday!
Note: I think my updates are going to start coming later in the morning rather than afternoon/evening because football season is starting and...really.
Also, I'm not exactly happy with this chapter.
Annie finally breathes in relief when she hears Patrick sigh on the other end almost two and a half hours later. She had thought right; it was a long phone call. She'd ended up recounting almost every event since they'd separated, back to him and it was emotionally taking a toll. When he told her he hadn't seen or heard from Faith since shortly after her mother died, her heart felt like it'd been breaking. She wasn't in a position to judge him; she hadn't kept up with the little girl either. And know, knowing that there was a possibility that Faith had hurt people, that she'd killed; it pained her. She was angry at Faith for allowing herself to become that person, but she was angrier at any adult Faith had in her life for not seeing what was happening. And now Faith was an adult and Annie didn't know the first place to look for her.
"Annie…listen," Patrick starts. Annie feels like she's falling back to Earth when she registers his voice. "I've made a few friends through the years; I'll call around and see what I can find out about my kid." He finishes. Annie rolls her eyes.
"Excuse me, Patrick. Did I miss all those times when we were there for her? We can't call her 'our baby' anymore." She says softly.
"You might not be able too but I'm her father." Patrick snaps.
"And I'm her mother," she retorts calmly. "And we pretty much….we abandoned her."
"I didn't abandon her; I went to prison. There's a big difference." He growls.
"Do you think she's going to see it that way?" she asks harshly. "Think about how you felt, Patrick. Your parents died when you were a teenager and you thought they'd abandoned you! We're alive, what's her first reaction going to be?" she doesn't say it to be mean. She says it to bring her back to reality.
"She knows I love her." he says, his voice shaking with anger and other emotions.
"And most children now that Santa isn't real, but that doesn't take away the magic of Christmas, now does it?" she asked back quickly. He was quiet.
"I'll call ya if I find out anything." And with that he hangs up. Annie sighs again, looking down at the puppy resting on her feet.
"What do you think, Boy? Should I let this all go and continue on like I never knew?" she asks. The puppy just stares.
Faith was trying to hold it in, she really was, but sporadic giggles continued to escape her. She glances back at Andrew, her face lighting up with a grin and dimples as she giggles yet again. His face was so red, she was sure he was going to have some kind of stroke but the entire situation amused her even if she wasn't sure why. The two had decided to go and meet up with Cordelia and Amanda. In the process of doing so, they decided to get a little personal shopping done for themselves. It'd started out innocent enough; Andrew asking Faith her opinion on several shirts and her giving them with a grumble and an eye roll. Until a sales associate saw them. That's when it all started. The man had strutted himself right over to Andrew and in all his jock-looking glory, had shamelessly been flirting with Faith small friend for the better part of fifteen minutes. It had been an offhanded comment about Andrew's lips that had tipped the little man off to the associate's real intentions and ever since, Andrew had been fire engine red.
"Feelin' okay, Andy-boy?" Faith jokes. Andrew huffs, opening his mouth to retort but instead closing it again as he fought a bashful smile.
"So do you like the blazer?" the man asks, leaning near Andrew. Andrew almost squeaks and nods shyly, looking anywhere but his new 'friend'. "Good," he smirks. When he rings them up, he winks at Andrew and leans on the counter. "Check the left pocket." He whispers and walks away. Andrew blinks and his mouth opens and closes a few times.
"Well well, aren't you a man killer?" she jokes as they exit the store. Andrew wipes his face to remove the blush.
"I- well-" he stammers. Faith thinks it's the fact that he's so off balance by it that amuses her.
"Oh come on, I bet you had all the pretty boys in Sunnydale chasin' ya." She nudges his arm with her elbow. He thinks and shakes his head.
"Well, no." he says, his face returning to its natural color. "Not many guys have actually expressed an interest in me. Between the fact that I'm not your 'All American Guy' and that I was an outcast, they usually looked over me." He admits. There's no bitterness or even sadness in his tone; just acceptance. For some reason, Faith finds herself bothered by it. She can't pin-point why, nor does she try to evaluate it.
"Well you're in the city now," she says with a grin. "Hope ya like the actor types though; plenty of those floating around here." She says with a shrug.
"I don't have much of a type." He says. "I'm pretty open."
"As long as it's not a woman?" she teases him.
"Definitely," he says dramatically. "Those are difficult creatures to deal with, even for someone as brilliant as myself." He says scurrying off when he sees Amanda. Faith smiles to herself, her eyes automatically finding Cordelia.
"Don't I know it." she says with a shake of her head.