The Path To Redemption
Chapter 5
Author: twin who likes to travel
Raring: PG-13
Summary: Faith is confronted by both Dawn and Buffy over what happened the previous night.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Reviews: I would like them. Constructive criticism is ok.
Author's notes: Since they didn't give us a lot of information on Faith, I'm going to assume the only things Buffy found out about her is where she grew up and about the boys she mentioned on the show. I'm going with my own opinions to explain Faith's behavior around everyone. As for her age, I decided to make it that she's not that much younger than Buffy. Buffy was around twenty-two by the end of the show. The italicized words in this chapter are for a flashback from the season three episode "Graduation Day".
Thursday, May 22nd, 9:00 AM, Faith's hospital room
Buffy was asleep in a chair along the wall across from Faith while Dawn slept in the same chair she had been in since going back into Faith's room the previous day. However, when Buffy had fallen asleep, she had moved the chair a little bit closer to Faith's right side. Her head was titled backward while she held Faith's right hand with her left. Both awoke to the noise from Faith.
"Where am I? Is Dawn ok?" Faith asked before focusing on the happy and excited faces of Buffy and Dawn.
"You're in a local hospital. You've been here since we brought you in last night," Buffy declared as the brunette attempted to sit up but groaned in pain again before succeeding.
"What am I doin' in a hospital?"
"What's the last thing you remember?" the blonde questioned as she slowly got out of her chair and stretched briefly.
"Well, I was fighting one of those unknown demons. I had kicked him as he was trying to get my knife outta his chest. He hit me on the way down. I grabbed the sword and tried to take its head off. So what happened after that?"
"You took his head off before falling to the ground," Dawn confirmed as she rubbed the back of her own neck and her hero stared at her.
"Then what?"
"Because of you, we found out that decapitating it makes it explode into a puddle of goo."
"Wicked. I'm sorry I missed it. Man, that thing hit almost as hard as 'The Beast'."
"I'm going to get the doctor," Buffy claimed as she headed to the door.
"Good, see if they'll let me outta here, aight?"
"Ok," Buffy smirked back at her before leaving.
Faith then gazed at Dawn for about a minute before she saw a few tears falling onto the younger girl's cheeks.
"Whatcha cryin' for, D? We're alive. You don't seem to have any bruises. I guess other than this cast, whatever is on my nose, and the few marks on my face like B has, I'm fine."
"You don't realize what you did last night, do you?" Dawn answered as she wiped away the tears.
"I killed another demon; just another step in my path to redemption."
"It was more than that. You…You saved my life."
"I wouldn't go…"
Before Faith could continue, she was shocked by Dawn hugging her. Dawn broke the hug immediately after she realized what she was doing. Faith's smirk surprisingly made her want to kiss the slayer this time, which she did after a few moments of hesitation. Faith knew that she should stop the other girl before Buffy came back, but it felt good so she didn't. She even used her right hand to massage Dawn's neck as they kissed. It had gotten the younger girl to moan softly. The kiss was broken less than a minute later by several gasps and a yelp from Buffy.
"Dawn, what are you doing?"
"I'm thanking the girl who saved…," she tried to explain to everyone but stopped when the same doctor had appeared beside her sister.
"Can you give us a minute or two?" Buffy requested to the woman standing beside her.
"Sure," the woman agreed and stepped out of the room.
When the door closed, Dawn spoke again.
"Like I was saying, I was thanking the girl who saved my life. Do you have a problem with that?"
"No, but…but you could have just said thanks and left it at that. Was it her idea for you to kiss her?" Buffy inquired as she almost glared at the other slayer.
"It was hers, not mine. Not that I minded. Dawn is a very cute girl. We were talking, and she got all emotional and kissed me."
They all saw the blush on Dawn's face at hearing that.
"Why were you rubbing Dawnie's neck?" Willow quizzed with a curious smile.
"I think D strained it a little. How long have you been here, D?"
"I was here all night."
"All night? I didn't think B would let you do that."
"She was here all night too."
"Really?"
"Yes," the blonde sighed, "Thanks for keeping your promise about watching her back."
"No problem, B," Faith replied casually but couldn't hide the smirk at being thanked again, "So get the doc back in here. I wanna leave already."
The doctor reappeared about fifteen seconds later.
"Miss, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"Go ahead," Faith offered but was kind of nervous about what could happen next.
"Do you normally get in fights like you did last night?"
Faith arched her eyebrow at everyone, including the doctor.
"Your friends said that you were attacked by some drunks who wanted to start a fight."
"Drunks?" Faith muttered and caught the signal to agree with what her 'friends' had told the other woman, "Oh, right. Sometimes, I guess."
"So how was a group of drunken men able to break your arm?"
"Steel pipe," Faith lied before the rest could say anything.
"Ok. I guess that's how the bruises got on the rest of your body."
"What other ones?"
"You have some around your chest and on your abdomen. You're lucky that they didn't break any other bones."
Faith lifted up her hospital gown just enough to see under it and saw the black and purple marks on her body.
"Yeah, lucky me," Faith grunted.
"Is fighting like that how you got your scar?"
"What scar?"
'The one around the middle of your abdomen," the doctor informed her.
"Somethin' like that," Faith responded before going into a daze with Buffy, who peered down at the floor for a few seconds after shaking it off.
Their friends sensed that both slayers had flashed back to the night of their fight years ago.
"You did it," Faith announced after glancing down at where she had been stabbed. She then punched Buffy and looked back at the wound again, "You killed me."
Buffy watched Faith get onto the ledge from where she had fallen. The brunette peeked over her left shoulder before facing the blonde again.
"Still won't help your boy though. Shoulda been there, B. Quite a ride."
Buffy could only watch again as Faith did a freefall off the building onto a truck passing by below.
"So can I go now?" Faith challenged with aggravation clearly showing on her face.
"I just need to do a quick check up, so if your friends could leave the room until I'm done and you're dressed."
The rest of them quietly and quickly left the room. As soon as they left, the doctor did as she said. Faith came out of the room about five minutes later with the doctor following right behind her.
"I guess she can go home with us," Buffy assumed.
"Yes, she can. I advised her to not do anything like what got her here last night or anything else strenuous that could prolong her injuries. Come back in a month. The cast should be able to come off by then or at least soon."
Faith only rolled her eyes and walked away. Everyone except Buffy and Dawn quickly joined her.
"Kind of stubborn, isn't she?" the doctor stated.
"Yeah, uh, we might not be here for another month," the sisters informed her.
"Ok. Any doctor should be able to take it off, but if they need anything from us be sure to let us know."
"Sure, thank you," they concluded before chasing after the others in their group.
Sometime later, the hotel lobby
"I guess we're both sidelined for awhile," Robin chuckled at Faith's aggravation.
"Screw that. I'm a slayer. The bruises should be gone in a day or two."
"Faith, you heard the doctor. You need to rest," Buffy reminded her.
"So what, B, I'm not spending the rest of my birthday sober and in bed without company," Faith blurted out and groaned at revealing the secret she had kept from them since they met.
"IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY?" both Summers girls accidentally shouted.
"Yeah, no big deal."
"How old are you today?" Dawn continued.
"Twenty-two."
"Wow you're not that much younger than Buffy. We should throw you a party."
"No need for that. I'll just go get some alcohol and find some other way to pass the time until this day is over."
"Come on; it could be fun."
"Really, D. It's ok. I mean I haven't had one before so why start now?"
"You have never had a birthday party?" Dawn gasped.
"Well, when you never get presents, a party is kind of pointless."
"Never?" Dawn gasped again.
"Yeah. My mom didn't love me enough to do any of that. I'm going to go change then get some beer. Got any cash on ya, Angel? I don't have any on me right now."
"We'll see when you get back downstairs."
"Whatever," Faith mumbled before swiftly climbing the stairs leading to her room.
She didn't bother to notice the reactions as she left. There was a variety of shock, regret, and sadness.
"We HAVE to throw her a party and get her something," Dawn insisted as more tears made their way down her cheeks.
"You heard what she said," Buffy mentioned without a second thought.
"I DON'T care. I want to throw her one. Almost everyone deserves a party, especially if they've NEVER had one. Who's with me?" Dawn said before seeing what the others thought.
She smiled a little as she discovered her sadness was shared with Willow and Fred.
"I am," the redhead asserted.
The rest voiced their agreement on the idea. They came up with the plan of Dawn distracting her by taking the brunette on a shopping trip courtesy of Angel.
As soon as the girls left, the Angel crew would get the lobby set up for the surprise party and the others would go get presents for the birthday girl.
Slightly over an hour later, the same shopping center they had gone to the day before
The duo had been searching for a present for around half an hour before
Faith felt the need to say more than her opinion when Dawn suggested something.
"So why are you doin' this, D?"
"Doing what?"
"Takin' me shoppin' when you know it's not my thing."
"Because Angel wanted to get you something. We already told you that."
"Just Angel?"
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, D. I might not be the brightest out of all of you, but I think I can tell what's goin' on here."
"Nothing else is going on other than this shopping trip, so try to enjoy it and pick something to make Angel happy."
"Fine, but I know that the rest are plannin' a party for me and possibly even gettin' me presents."
"I swear we're not. It was solely Angel's decision to get you something since you called him a friend. The rest of us are letting you do what you want to do, just as long as it's legal."
"So then a round in the sack with ya is out of the question?" Faith teased but could almost imagine what it would be like to get the younger girl into her bed. She added when Dawn only gaped at her, "I'm only kidding. Big sis wouldn't like it too much if I tried to get her lil' sis into my bed. No matter how fun it could be. Not to mention that's illegal since I know you're not eighteen yet."
"It's not in Europe. I mean the age of consent law."
"Oh, really? What is it there?"
"In Scotland, I think it's fourteen or sixteen and sixteen in most of Europe "
"And you know this how?"
"I did a check awhile back."
"Why would you do that?"
"I was…curious, ok?"
"So then you're ready to have sex with someone?"
"I don't know, maybe."
"Maybe's cool. But if you're wonderin' what it would be like to do that with a girl, especially a hot one with superpowers, I would be willin' to show ya when you are ready."
She smirked at hearing Dawn gulp and whispered to her when they both spotted a couple of guys ogling them. Faith suddenly placed a quick kiss on the other girl's left cheek before checking out some other stores.
"I guess they should be done setting up for it by now. The party I mean."
"There is no…," Dawn griped until she became confused at why Faith looked down toward the floor in front of her.
"Your friends might be fooled by the lies you and Buffy tell them. But I can feel when you are."
Faith smirked before encouraging her to peer down at the same spot she had done earlier. She saw Faith's arm extended out as if she was going to grab Dawn's hand. When Faith didn't move from that position and smirked for a second time, the younger girl slowly raised her hand out and gently grabbed Faith's. She smiled back as the slayer just as gently squeezed her hand and led her farther away from the stores. Dawn sighed happily as they exited the mall and got a surprise from the formerly rogue slayer. After seeing they were alone, at least temporarily, Faith pushed Dawn back to a wall and got even closer.
"The kiss inside was for fun. This kiss is for the one you gave me in the hospital. Ya can't tell B though. She'd freak a little. Understand?"
"Yes," Dawn relented softly as Faith placed her hands on Dawn's hips and kissed her just as softly for a few seconds before pulling away.
"How was that?" Faith chuckled as she removed her hands from Dawn's hips.
"Five by five," Dawn admitted, "How was it for you?"
"It didn't suck," Faith revealed instantly and smirked.
At seeing Dawn smile, Faith pulled her close again and hugged her for ten seconds. Dawn sighed happily for a second time at how strangely comforting the hug had been. She didn't know that the older girl had peeked down at her butt and was internally struggling with the thought of touching it in some way.
Sometime later, outside the Hyperion hotel
The duo returned to see a darkened lobby with something covering the windows to block out the sunlight. Faith smirked at the way the other girl nervously bit her lower lip. A lip she had enjoyed kissing.
"Hmm, it looks kind of dark in there. I wonder what's going to happen next," Faith voiced sarcastically as they both took a few steps closer to the door.
"I don't know," Dawn remarked while holding in a sigh at how obvious everyone had been.
"Riiight," Faith chuckled as she prolonged her response to show that she didn't believe the younger girl, "Well, let's get this over with."
"Please try to act surprised," Dawn pleaded.
"I ain't makin' any promises, D."
Faith slowly opened the door. A few seconds later, the lights came on.
"SURPRISE!" they all yelled as loud as they could.
Faith humored the younger girl by acting surprised but decided to fake anger as well.
"Whose idea was this?" she growled, successfully getting them to believe she was angry.
"It was Dawn's. We told her not to," Xander and Andrew confessed together and ended it with, "OW!"
Faith had smirked as both of them were punched in the arm by the closest slayer. Buffy had hit Xander while Kennedy had hit Andrew.
"Well, it was," Andrew whined, only to get hit again.
"I knew it," the brunette almost hissed at Dawn before setting the bag down on the floor.
Faith's reaction had scared the girl a little, along with almost everyone from Sunnydale. Only Buffy had remained calm. They watched as Faith marched away from them and toward the kitchen. Dawn trailed behind her until she was stopped by a small but powerful hand landing on her right shoulder. She spun around to find Buffy silently suggesting that she shouldn't follow her. Dawn ignored it and chased after the birthday girl anyway.