Seveteen: Behind Bars
A/N- Ok guys so this chapter and maybe the one after, is going to focus on Faith's life in prision which we didn't see in the Angel episodes, so I'm hoping you guys would like to know what that might have been like for her. I know I would!
Enjoy! X
A wild spirit locked in a cage. It truly was Faith's version of hell but she knew this was exactly where she should be. She had done a bad thing and now she had to pay for it, in full.
The first few weeks had been about showing the other prisioners that she wasn't to be messed with and that, 'No, she wasn't going to be someone's bitch'.
If anything, she would make them her bitch, but Faith wasn't interested in anything like that. She just wanted to do her time and find some kind of peace within herself.
At lunchtime, she always sat on her own.
Her cellmates were a little afraid of her after she'd rammed that girl's head through a wall only the other day.
Faith was fine with installing a little fear; just because she'd turned over a new leaf didn't mean she'd be little Miss Sunshine. She'd still be Faith, just a lot wiser from learning from her mistakes.
Faith sat hunched over a lunch tray, poking the same piece of crap around on it with a plastic spoon. The food in here really did suck.
She kept her head down, listening to different conversations, waiting for her name to come up just in case one of them or a few, were planning on trying to get the jump on her.
It was visiting day tomorrow and Faith wondered if anyone would show.
The last one to visit her had been Angel but that had been a week ago.
Maybe he was busy.
As Faith mulled this over, one of the prisioners- a new one- walked past her and knocked her tray on the floor.
"Oh look at that, you dropped your tray." She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Faith looked down at the tray and then slowly up at the new girl.
"No. You did." She told her.
The other girl smiled but it was a cruel smile.
Ok, so this girl was bigger, taller and looked more like a fucking bulldog than an actual human being but Faith had taken on much nastier things that this.
"Shouldn't you pick it up?" The girl questioned.
"Nah, I think you should."
The lunch room went very quiet as Faith got to her feet.
The other girl seemed to like all the attention.
"It's your tray."
"You dropped it." Faith countered.
"Pick it up!"
Faith raised an eyebrow before standing in the girl's personal space.
"Alright, you're new here so I'mma let this slide but you need to know that you don't get to push me around, honey. You don't even want to try it."
The bulldog girl chuckled.
"Oh, I suppose you haven't heard of me then."
Faith shrugged.
"Can't say I have."
The girl gave Faith a shove backward and the slayer hit her back on the table.
Her first thought was to punch, to make this girl become accustomed to a world of hurt but she held back. She was stronger than all of the girl's in here and unless they really pushed her, Faith wouldn't fight back and use her abilities to her advantage but this girl? This bulldog? She was working her last nerve.
"Name's Trina and everybody knows not to mess with me. I've done some really bad shit, stuff you couldn't even imagine, and you're in here for what? Unpaid parking fines?"
Faith grinned coldly and straightened.
"No. I'm a murderer."
Bulldog girl's smile faded just a little.
Faith took a step forward and the girl backed up.
"I've killed people and I don't know how long I'm gonna be in here for, now I got no problem with adding another name to my list, you wanna be on it, bulldog?"
The girl screwed her face up at Faith.
"What d'you call me?"
"Bulldog, name matches the face." She sneered gesturing to the girl's face with circular hand motions.
The girl lunged at Faith but she jumped up and back, onto the table behind her.
Bulldog swung for her again and Faith kicked out, snapping the girl's head back.
A few guards came then and pulled bulldog away from Faith.
As they did, she heard one of them talking to the new girl;
"You don't ever mess with that one, she's crazy."
Faith grinned a little as another guard came and joined his co-worker, pulling Faith off of the table.
"It's solitary confinement for you."
"Oh come on! She attacked me!"
"She didn't even hit you." One guard muttered as they dragged her out of the lunch room.
So Faith was stuck in a cell even worse than her own.
It gave her a lot of time to think, which was probably the idea, and paced around, the dim light giving her a slight headache.
She had been in solitary confinement before but she'd been known to make herself tired, she knew she wouldn't sleep otherwise.
She sat down in one of the corners and let out a sigh as she closed her eyes against the light.
"Anyone in there?"
Faith frowned as she heard a voice coming through from the other side of the wall.
"Yeah." She replied.
"I'm Amy. I got put in here for trying to strangle my cellmate. She had it coming."
Faith's frown deepend.
"What did she do?"
There was a pause.
"She's...a little handsy."
Faith bit back a grin.
She'd met girls like that her first day in here and she doubted that the new ones wouldn't try it on as well.
"Fair enough. Did you wanna kill her?"
"Yeah, least she wouldn't touch me again."
Faith rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"What you in for?"
"Sellin' drugs."
Faith licked her lips.
She still hadn't met another prisoner that had killed. Assault, yes. Vandalism, sure but murder? Not as yet.
"You?" Amy asked.
Faith sucked in a breath before answering.
"I killed somebody."
There was a slight pause.
"Anyone you knew?"
Faith frowned and shook her head as she looked down at her hands, as if she could still the blood there.
"No...that still doesn't make it right though."
"Did you mean it?"
"What?" She asked, the question throwing her off guard.
"Did you mean to kill him?"
Again, Faith shook her head.
"No. He came outta nowhere." She said distantly, as she recalled the entire scene.
"That sucks."
Faith nodded.
"Yeah but that's why I'm in here. Do the crime, you do the time, right?"
"I guess. But sometimes you don't have a choice." Amy said.
"I did. I was...impulsive."
"Everyone makes mistakes." Amy offered helpfully.
Faith smirked but there was no feeling behind it. She'd killed a man, mistake or not. Maybe if she'd let Buffy talk to Giles in the first place, she wouldn't be here now but then maybe in here, she had a shot at forgiving herself or something close to it.
Faith found herself in solitary for another few days until she was finally let out and back in her own cell.
Another few weeks passed until a guard came for her.
She frowned as she looked up from the magazine she was reading on her bed.
"Lehane, you got a visitor."
Faith put the magazine down and got up, frowning slightly and then wondering if it could be Angel.
She didn't know anyone else who would want to see her.
She followed the guard down to the rooms and stopped in the doorway when she saw the blonde seated on the other side of the glass.
She then got herself together and sat down, picking up the phone as Buffy did the same.
"Hi." Buffy said with some warmth to her voice.
"Hey."
There was a long pause.
"Didn't think I'd be gettin' a visit from you." Faith said with a small grin.
"I wanted to come and see you. I basically drove you here so..."
"Yeah. You did, but maybe it's for the best."
Buffy only nodded.
"So, how have you been?"
Faith shrugged.
"You know me, five by five."
Buffy grinned and shook her head.
"Same old Faith, huh?"
"Not quite. A lot's changed, B. A lot had to change."
Both slayers looked at each other for a long while before Faith spoke up.
"So, you here to see me or you gonna see Angel too?"
Buffy looked down and then back up at Faith.
"I'm just here to see you."
Faith nodded.
"Cool. How's things goin' with soldier boy?"
Buffy shrugged.
"It's not. He's gone."
Faith sat back and frowned.
"He ended it?"
Buffy nodded.
Faith had no idea what to say to that. She didn't know of anything she could say that would be comforting or positive, so she just said the first thing that came into her mind.
"Well it's his loss, B."
Buffy forced a smile but didn't say anything.
"Has Angel been to see you?"
Faith shrugged.
"Once but he's got a lot on, y'know, saving the world, kinda like what you do."
Buffy smirked, she knew Faith was teasing her.
"What about you? Do you miss being on the outside?"
Faith stretched.
"Yeah but it's only been a few weeks, B. I'm not getting suicidal yet."
"Yet?" Buffy questioned, a tinge of panic to her voice.
"Relax, I'm kidding. I'm where I'm supposed to be and that's that."
Buffy smiled at her.
"Who would've thought that we'd be here, having a civil conversation when months ago we were trying to kill each other."
Faith's smile dropped despite Buffy's attempt at keeping things light.
"I never wanted to kill you, B. I may have said it, may have even thought it but I wouldn't have done it. I don't have it in me." She said quietly.
Buffy raised an eyebrow.
"To kill? Cause' you kinda-"
"To kill you." Faith amended.
Buffy looked down, feeling foolish.
"Oh...right. Listen, Faith, about that-"
"Nah, I don't wanna get into all that. You know how I feel, B, but I'm dealin' and soon, I'll move on and forget all about...everything that happened."
Buffy looked up with eyes filled with child-like innocence.
Faith hated how she could act so strong and yet be so incredibly fragile all at the same time.
"You'd forget about me?"
Faith shook her head.
"No. Never. But don't go gettin' any ideas, blondie. I'm getting over you."
Buffy smiled and played with the ring on her finger.
The claddagh ring that Angel had given her. She'd only recently started wearing it again.
Faith pretended not to notice.
The bell rang that visiting hours were over and Faith sighed.
Buffy did the same.
"That went way too quick." Buffy said with a raise of her eyebrows.
"Yeah. You comin' back again?" Faith asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
Buffy nodded.
"When I can."
Faith nodded but she didn't believe the other girl.
Like Angel, Buffy would be too busy. Hell! She hand't expected to even see her today but here she was!
They both stood and hung up their phones.
Buffy gave Faith a little wave and Faith smiled a little and gave her a tiny salute, because Faith didn't wave. It wasn't really her style.
But still, she turned away, heading back to her cell with a smile on her face.
A/N- Next, Faith gets some bad news but how will she handle it?