Alone in the living room, Buffy, Willow, and Xander sat silently for a moment. Then Willow spoke. "What do you think happened? May...maybe a prison riot? Or...she could have choked on a chicken bone."
"A
chicken bone?"
Xander looked frustrated. "She's the Slayer, Will, not my grandma."
"People choke, Xander, it's a normal thing...okay, maybe not normal, but common...it happens, okay? And it could have happened to her."
Xander didn't appear to really be listening to Willow. "I just...why didn't we know? I mean, why didn't we keep better tabs on her? We should have, that would have been the smart thing to do right?" He looked to Buffy.
"I don't know, Xander. I guess we just forgot about her - I mean, I know I did. I thought she'd be in jail, and out of our lives, forever." She paused. "And, you know, I don't have time to feel sad. Not right now. Maybe another time, I would have been. Another Big Bad, one with some kind of weakness we can fight. But right now, I have girls in the basement to train, and a new Slayer who needs to learn how to use her strength. And you guys need to keep researching."
"We will, Buffy," Willow said. "Just...I didn't expect to feel sad about Faith."
"Will," Buffy said without looking back as she walked to the basement door, "you don't have time either. You can be sad when we defeat the First."
~ ~ ~
Two days later, Faith showed up on the Summers' front porch. Dawn answered the door, gaping in astonishment for a moment. Faith stood back uncertainly on the porch, the full moon hanging low behind her. Then Dawn screamed, slamming the door. The others came running.
"Dawn, what is it? A Bringer?" Buffy grabbed Dawn's arm, quickly checking to see if she was hurt and then scanning the front hall intently.
"Dawnie, are you okay?" Xander held a thick book aloft, brandishing it like an axe.
"Buffy...I...on the porch..." Dawn was shaking, one hand over her mouth.
Willow ran to the living room and peered out the front window. "Oh my God. Faith."
"What?"
Buffy opened the door so fast the hinge screws protested loudly.
"Hey, B." Faith attempted a smile. She looked pale, and older than anyone remembered. But then, they were all older. "Look, I...I know you weren't expecting me, but..." Faith took in the looks of shock and horror on everyone's faces. "What?"
"You're...you're dead! I mean, supposed to be. Well, because, there's a new Slayer and everything, which means you died, but you're here, and..." Xander gestured wildly with the book until Willow stepped up and took it away from him.
"Um, really not dead. Because, check me out. Here I am."
"But there really was a new Slayer called. You have to be dead," Dawn said, still shaking.
"Look, I think I know why you're all freaking out. I know I have no right to ask, but you're going to want to hear what I have to say. Can I come in and explain it?"
Buffy didn't answer for a moment, assessing Faith carefully. After a minute had passed, she said "At this point, there probably is a perfectly Hellmouthy explanation for this. Fine. Come in."
"Thanks, B." Faith walked toward the living room, stopping short at the sight of the potentials gathered around the doorway, trying to hear the conversation in the hall. "Ummm...I just
left
a women's prison - what's with all the girls?" Faith looked pointedly at Willow, who responded with a glare of her own.
"Yeah, these are," Buffy gestured, "these are potential Slayers." Rona cleared her throat loudly. "Except her. She's the new Slayer. She was called two days ago, and she's got the strength and the speed, and a seer confirmed it. Which brings me back to the question of how are you here and alive if another Slayer got called?"
Faith walked into the living room, scrutinizing the potentials, and Rona in particular. She flopped down in an overstuffed chair, dangling one booted foot over an arm. "I don't know what you heard, B, but I'm walking around. Doesn't the fact that I'm sitting here mean anything?"
"Maybe she's just a projection of the First," Molly said.
"I'll grab her," Andrew volunteered, already standing as close to Faith's chair as he could without actually sitting on the arm.
"What? What are you talking about?" Faith looked confused. "And any part of you that touches me is getting ripped off your body." She pointed at Andrew.
"The Big Bad we're fighting - it's the First Evil," Buffy explained.
"That thing that tried to kill Angel at Christmas when I was here?"
"Wow - good memory," Buffy said. "Well, it can't take physical form, and so it appears as kind of a hologram thing in the form of people who are dead, or have died but are still alive...like...well, like me."
"I'm solid, B," Faith said. "Check it out." She stretched her leg and kicked Andrew in the ribs, causing him to yelp and jump back. "See?"
"Yeah, she's real," Andrew said, rubbing his side and glaring at Faith. "And mean," he muttered under his breath. Faith smiled a fuck-you smile at him.
"Okay, not the First. But what happened to you? Why do we have another Slayer?" Buffy was growing impatient.
"There was a riot in prison, and - I'm not too clear on what happened, but one minute I was fighting and then I woke up in the infirmary. The doc said they had to re-start my heart."
"So you died like Buffy did? And then came back, and that's why there's another Slayer?" Dawn asked.
"Guess so."
"Of course!" Willow seemed chagrined that she hadn't figured it out sooner.
"Then how did you get out of prison? Were you paroled?" Xander leaned forward, curiosity replacing his initial shock.
"For Murder 2? Not likely!" Faith smirked. "It was just convenient to bust out, when things went permanently dark." At the looks of confusion, Faith asked, "Don't you guys know what's going on in L.A.? Some crazy shit is happening. There's a demon that blotted out the sun for a while, through some badass magic, and the vamps and demons were running all over the place. And the prison got crazy, so I busted out."
Buffy, Willow, and Xander spoke at once.
"Is Angel okay?"
"Oh my God!"
"What the hell?"
"He's okay, B.," Faith answered. "I mean, he's involved in it, but he's okay. When I busted out, I went to his place, looking to help."
"To...help?" Xander asked?
"Yeah, it was really crazy, with the sun all dark and the demons running wild, and I thought Angel could use my help. I owed it to him." At the continued looks of confusion, she added, "Look, Angel kept in touch with me while I was in prison, and he's...you guys don't really keep in touch, do you?"
"Not really," Buffy said.
Faith smiled.
Rona interrupted. "Look, this is good, right? Three Slayers? We might really have a chance against the First, with three of us."
"Yeah, if two Slayers are good, three have to be better, right?" Xander asked, hastily adding, "I didn't even mean that in a dirty way, I swear!"
"Buffy?" Willow looked at her, trying to gauge her reaction.
"Yeah," Buffy answered slowly, looking away for a moment as she thought. "That could be what we need. Nothing else has worked so far, and we're out of ideas. Yes." She snapped out of her reverie, focusing on Faith once again.
"Faith, look. I know we've had differences in the past." Buffy paused. "Okay, we've tried to
kill
each other in the past. But what we're in the middle of right now is big, and scary, and it's not going to stand by while we fight over things that happened a long time ago. Now, we can really use your help. It might make the difference we need to defeat the First. But only if we put aside what happened between us and work together. Can you do that?"
"That's why I'm here, Buffy," Faith said. "I'm not here to fight you. That's over. That green demon guy who works with Angel can read minds, or see the future, or something. He said I needed to come here. So I'm here. Whatever you need, I'm your girl."
Faith stood, extending her arm, hand out, to Buffy. "Okay?"
Buffy took it. "Okay."
Without warning, Faith pulled Buffy to her with preternatural speed. Her eyes flashed golden as ridges distorted her once-familiar face. Before anyone could react, Faith tore into Buffy's jugular vein.
[FINIS]
