It was already early evening when Connor parked their car in the driveway to 1630 Revello Drive. Based on the imposing sign at the city limits Faith had expected the whole city to follow a similar pattern. But the route they took didn't reveal almost anything out of the ordinary. For all practical purposes Sunnydale looked to outsider eyes just like any other small SoCal city – at least during the daylight hours.
As she stepped out of the car feeling more than a little anxious, Faith couldn't avoid her eyes seeking out one particular window in the house's façade – Buffy's old room. It was dark, like she knew it would be, but it still gave her a sick feeling. Buffy wasn't home and would never be again.
She knew from what Tara had told her that the Witch lived there now with Dawn, but still seeing her open the front door with her own key felt totally weird.
'Whoah! Memory lane!' she whistled quietly as she stepped through the door into the foyer. A vivid recollection of a Christmas three-and-a-half years previously almost made her stumble.
"Tara?" came the question and the sound of running footsteps from the second floor as the rest of the trio stepped inside. "Did you...?"
The Squirt had grown, like... really grown, since Faith last saw her. On the second-floor landing Dawn was looking down at them with hands pressed to her mouth and eyes almost comically wide.
"Faith?" she asked quietly as if not really believing what her eyes told her.
"Yeah, Crack-of-Dawn, it's me," Faith tried to smile at the younger girl, hoping it didn't look like a grimace.
Dawn took the steps down slowly and precisely, never taking her eyes off Faith. Once they were standing almost face-to-face, Faith could see that the lanky girl was already taller than herself.
She was subconsciously prepared for some reaction, but the bitch-slap still shocked her.
"That's for breaking my heart, you selfish bitch," Dawn stated coldly and emotionlessly.
Then Faith found herself in a full embrace.
"This is for coming back. I've missed you terribly," Dawn sniffled in Faith's neck, her shoulders shaking.
"Hey, it's ok," Faith said somewhat lamely and awkwardly patted Dawn in the back. "I've missed you too, Half-pint."
"I'm taller than you, asshole," Dawn half-laughed, half-sobbed. "With B-Buffy gone, you're the dwarf around here."
"Yeah," Faith muttered. "About that. I'm sorry for your mom and sister. I wish..."
"Don't," Dawn shook her head and disentangled herself from the embrace. "I know what you mean, and we'll talk about it later. Swear to me... no wishes."
"You got it," Faith promised after a quick glance at Tara who nodded briefly.
With the initial emotions exhausted, Dawn really noticed the third member of Faith's entourage for the first time. She knew that Tara had contacted Angel for outside help, and that vampire had then dropped the bombshell that he had a son whom he would be assigning to aid the Sunnydale gang. She had not known what to expect, despite knowing that Connor was Angel and Darla's child, but not the fact that he was cute.
"Hi, um... Connor," she practically muttered, already feeling a wave of blushing rising to her cheeks.
"Yeah, hi," Connor replied quietly. "You're Dawn, right?"
'OMG, he knows my name!' was the first unbidden thought that popped into Dawn's mind before she could help herself. "Yeah, um, nice to meet you," she said aloud, mentally banging her head against a wall. 'Get a grip, Dawn Marie Summers, and the foot out of your mouth!'
"Yeah, you too," Connor replied lamely. 'Nice going! As if she would be interested in you.'
What followed was a short, uncomfortable silence during which everyone looked basically at anything except each other. It was ended by a very loud growl originating from Faith's stomach. That broke the awkwardness as everyone, except the Slayer herself, broke out in laughter.
"I guess someone's hungry... again," Tara chuckled at the look on Faith's face. "I'll go fix us a dinner. Why don't you get yourself freshened up, Faith? Dawn? Help me in the kitchen?"
Connor looked around with a few blinks as the three women quickly disappeared from around him, each to their own tasks. That left him totally alone, so he just shrugged his shoulders and stepped into the living room. Sitting down on the sofa, he picked up the remote and turned on the TV. He wasn't really able to concentrate on anything playing on the screen, but it was still a welcome distraction.
Faith took her first solitary shower in two-and-a-quarter years, relishing in the feeling of being able to totally relax under the gentle spray. Real shampoo, fragrant body washes, exfoliants and, above all, warm water in abundance. Watching the white suds spiral down into the drain made her feel like she was washing away her years behind bars. She was still a wanted fugitive, but for a few glorious minutes, she really felt free.
After a thorough full-body clean-up she just closed her eyes and let the water flow over her. Despite her overall relaxed state, she couldn't help Tara's earlier story from popping into her mind.
So, some sinister warlock, known only as "Rack", had taken advantage of Buffy's death and gotten control of the city by making some very shady deals with the Sunnydale underworld – and as far this city went, that was literal.
The favours went both ways and now Sunnydale was practically a tourist attraction and theme park for all kinds of undead creatures and other dark beings. Within that particular demographic, the place was known as "Hellmouthland".
During the day Sunnydale was in all practical aspects just a normal SoCal city where kids went to school and adults to work. No one was allowed to leave the city limits without express permission, though, and that particular prohibition was enforced through individual traces on certain listed people and a charm that mentally prevented people from leaving. Apparently, the spell made people heading for the city limits forget what they were doing and find plausible reasons why they had to turn immediately back.
Of course, the city wasn't totally isolated as that would have just raised unwanted suspicions. Occasional people driving through, deliveries and so on were allowed in, but the charm made sure they couldn't really recall what exactly happened while inside Sunnydale's city limits.
But at night... Faith suppressed a shudder. The term "concentration camp" wasn't too far from the truth. She turned off the shower and quickly applied some moisturizer after having dried herself off. She put on the same clothes Tara had given her as they were still very much clean. She would have to start building up a wardrobe, soon, as it seemed she would be staying where she was for an undetermined time.
The dinner consisted of a huge lasagne Bolognese and a smaller vegetarian version. Not so surprisingly, Tara scooped a little over a half of the meat version on Faith's plate, two-thirds of what remained on Connor's and the rest she offered to Dawn. She herself was the only vegetarian present, so she took half of the vege version, saving the other half for next day's lunch.
The discussion around the table consisted primarily of Dawn chattering away at breakneck speed, hardly remembering to put any food in her mouth. She was seated across Faith to whom she directed most of her monologue. Tara was watching all this with a hidden, relieved smile. Still, despite all the apparently relaxed atmosphere around the table, she was instinctively aware of the approaching dusk, as she knew Faith to be as well – based partly on the brief sideway glances the Slayer threw in the direction of the curtained window to her left.
Opposite her, Connor kept mostly silent, concentrating fully on the plate in front of him. Still, Tara could tell that he was fully aware of everything that was said around the table. Tara had already taken a sisterly liking to the boy, who despite his outward brash demeanour had a quiet, melancholy side to him – much like his father.
Next to Connor and diagonally opposite to her, Faith nodded and exclaimed in all the right spots while Dawn peppered her with some very impressive stream-of-consciousness word-barrage. Still, she could see that the Slayer's mind was at least partly elsewhere despite all the visible attention she gave Dawn.
Faith, the Slayer. It was useless to deny that she was attracted to the gorgeous brunette. Ever since their brief encounter in the Bronze during the body-switch episode, she had had a secret fascination with the whirlwind-like girl. Faith, in Buffy's body, had seen right through her in those brief moments. It would have been all too easy to hate the girl for what she had done, but Tara had felt nothing but sadness and regret ever since Buffy told them of the events leading up to Faith's voluntary surrender to the police in L.A.
And now the Slayer was there with them. During their drive Tara had initiated basically harmless physical contact with Faith – perhaps driven by her sub-conscious desires. Faith had not pulled away from the contact, and eventually even responded verbally in a semi-flirtatious manner. From what she remembered from Buffy, that was just who Faith was – most likely it didn't mean anything serious. It was a far fetch the Slayer could be even remotely interested in someone like herself – provided she liked girls that way in the first place.
"So, Faith, are you gonna patrol tonight?"
That direct question from Dawn brought everyone back to focus, and the overall atmosphere around the table thickened noticeably.
The Slayer stayed silent for several long moments, just munching on her lasagne, while everyone's attention was centred on her.
"Nah, too risky," Faith responded eventually, much to everyone's surprise. "Yo, listen," she continued after seeing the shock on Dawn's and Tara's face. Beside her the Kid gave an affirmative nod, so it was clear he was at least partly aware of the strategic and tactical situation. Maybe he really could be of use after all. "There's this Chinese philosopher guy who wrote a book about military stuff a few millennia ago. I kinda picked up the book in the prison library one day. In it he says, 'know your enemy and know yourself'. Now, I'm not gonna rush in with stakes blazing when I don't fucking know the whole deal. So, here's how it's gonna be. Tonight, I'm gonna do some passive surveillance through the windows. You say they don't bother with this place, right? Off limits?"
After an affirmative nod from Dawn and Tara, Faith continued.
"So, daytime is still mostly safe, from what Blondie told me. Tomorrow me, the Kid and you, Blondie, are gonna take a slow, leisure joyride around town where you'll spot for me every major centre of fucked-up activity around here, immediately obvious or not. Then...," she left the last sentence hanging in the air.
"Then?" Tara gave in eventually.
"Then, we're gonna start rounding up some white hats, starting with Rupert fucking Giles."