The moment she saw who was waiting for her, she started to turn around so the guard could take her back to her cell. I smacked on the glass. It wasn’t something people were supposed to do and I heard someone yell about. The noise got Faith’s attention though. I motioned for her to sit down and pick up the stupid little phone.
Warily, she came back over and picked it up. “What do you want?”
For half a second, I was very glad that there was thick glass between the two of us. It wouldn’t hold someone like her for long though. “I’m going to talk for a couple of minutes and I need you to listen carefully. Got it?”
“Why should I listen to you?”
I could see her knuckles tightening around the phone and I wondered how long it would take before she snapped it in half. “It’s your choice. Either way, I’m going to tell you something. What you do with the information is totally up to you.”
Her teeth started to worry her lower lip. She glanced around for a second before leaning a little closer. “Angel’s not dead, is he?”
What she said caught me off guard. I blinked a couple of times. “No, he’s fine. This isn’t about Angel at all. It’s about you, Faith.”
Relief flashed over her face so quickly that I almost thought it had been a trick of my imagination. What I saw now though was suspicion. “What about me?”
I took a deep breath, hoping that I wouldn’t screw this up. “The Senior Partners are not happy. You were never supposed to be brought in. They need Angel alive for something big in the future. So my boss informed me that I’m supposed to ‘fix the mistake we made’. The guy whose jaw you broke refused to have anything to do with this and Lilah... I think she’s afraid of you too. It would take me ten minutes to get you out of here legally, make all those previous charges vanish so you can start over. Whatever you want to do, as your lawyer, I’m at your disposal and I have the firm’s money to make it happen.”
Faith’s jaw had dropped open and her mouth was moving, but no sounds were coming out. When she finally did speak, it was barely above a whisper. “I can’t.”
“This isn’t a trick, Faith. I can have you on a plane to wherever you want in less than an hour.” My words didn’t have quite the effect I was hoping because I saw her start to shake a little. She was murmuring something so low that I couldn’t hear it. “Why can’t you?”
“How can I walk away after what I’ve done?” Faith’s head came up and there was so much pain on her face that part of me wanted to reach out and comfort her. “I need to pay for it.”
I’d gone over her file before coming here. No one had been in to see Faith since the day she’d turned herself in to the police, not Angel and not the ex-Watcher she’d tortured. After what she’d done in Sunnydale, I doubted any of them would visit either. That left her completely alone, alone to slowly be consumed by guilt while rotting away behind bars. And I had played a part in it.
“Don’t you think you already have?” She’d been here for six months, spent half of that in solitary because the other prisoners kept picking fights. I knew that she could have hurt them all badly, but she never fought back. Faith had been accepting what they dished out. Redemption was a bitch.
“I...” She sighed. “I wouldn’t have anywhere to go.”
“You could stay with me until you figure it out.” The words were out of my mouth before I even thought about. I’m not sure which of us was more surprised.
“Knowing what I’ve done and who I am, you’d do something like that?”
“Yeah, I would.” My brain was telling me that a slightly unstable slayer with the strength to easily snap my neck would not make a very good room mate, but I told it to shut the hell up. “If you want to think about it, I can come back later in the week.”
She was quiet for a few minutes, just sitting there with her eyes closed. When they opened again, I could see fear in them. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
---
I held the door open for her as she carried the bags in. Faith wasn’t sure how long she’d be staying with me, so we’d gone shopping for the basics. She was nervous, unsure of herself, and I understood that. “If Angel figures out that I’m staying with you, he won’t be happy.”
No, he wouldn’t. The odds were really good that he’d try to put my head through a wall until I revealed what had to be an evil master plan that involved her. “I know.” I started to put the food in the fridge and turned to look at her. “The guest room is down the hall on the left. You can stay as long as you need. I’m not home much, spend most of my time either in court or at the office, but I sleep here. If you need anything I don’t have, leave a note.”
“Why are you being nice to me?” She tossed a bag of apples my way one-handed and I almost stumbled backwards as I caught it.
“I’m not always an asshole. Besides, after everything you’ve been through over the last couple years, I think you deserve a break.” Sometimes it seemed to me that the good guys could be much crueler than the people I tended to work with. Maybe that’s why she’d stuck around with the Mayor instead of her supposed friends. “I need to go through some files for a case tomorrow. Take a look around, get yourself settled.”
Twenty minutes later, she plopped herself down on the couch next to me. “So what’s this case of yours?”
I flipped over the next page, studying the pictures. “It’s just your typical ‘evil bad guy needs to be kept out of jail so he can keep doing jobs for Wolfram and Hart’ deal. You’d be surprised at how many clients fit that description.”
She leaned over to look at the papers, brushing her shoulder against mine. “Is that what I am?”
“What?” I snapped the folder shut. “You’re... the firm has no claim on you and they can’t give you any orders. As soon as you walked out of that prison, you were free of everything. Sugar, you have another chance at life here, you can go anywhere and do anything you want.”
“You’re not going to make me do anything I don’t want to do?” Her hand snaked into my lap and I froze. “And if you call me sugar again, I’m going to tie your dick in a knot.”
Swallowing a couple of times, I met her eyes. “I’ll make a note of it. Now move your fucking hand and back the hell off.”
I didn’t think she was going to do it. Her fingers tightened just enough to make me groan softly. “Move it like this?” There was amusement in Faith’s voice, which made me scowl.
“As much as I would love a hand job from a slayer, I’d really appreciate it if you took your damn hand off my cock.” I wasn’t stupid enough to touch her, she might get angry and then I’d be without one of my favorite body parts.
Her thumb slid back and forth, giving me just enough friction to wish I hadn’t worth such tight pants. “You’re letting me stay here and don’t expect anything in return? I find that hard to believe.”
This time I did move, curling my fingers around her wrist. My touch was feather light because any more pressure than that could spook her. “Exactly what kind of a person do you think I am? You really think I busted you out of there so I could have my very own slayer sex kitten?” The very image of that was hilarious and made me laugh.
Laughing was a very bad thing. She moved as quickly as a vampire and I suddenly found myself on my back on the floor with her hands around my throat and her body straddled over my chest. “I’m not some kind of game or a project.”
I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs. There was no way in hell that I could knock her loose. Faith’s grip tightened and I saw two of her hovering over me. Just as I started to blackout, her eyes widened in horror and she let go. Gasping and choking, I rubbed my fingers over my bruised flesh, trying to make my lungs work again.
Faith started to move towards the front door. If she left, I doubted that she would come back. And once she started running, she’d keep running for the rest of her life. “Faith.” It came out as more of a croak than anything. I spat blood on the carpet as I rolled over onto my hands and knees. “Stay.”
“Are you out of your damn mind? I almost killed your stupid ass!” She came towards me, but looked about ready to bolt.
“But you stopped.” Holding on to the edge of the couch, I slowly pulled my body onto it. I felt dizzy as hell and my throat was killing me. “Stay.”
Faith stared at me for a moment before walking into the kitchen. When she came back, she had a bag of frozen vegetables and a glass of water. “Here, put this on your throat.”
The cold felt good against my skin and I closed my eyes. Taking a few sips of the water helped too. I felt her sit down next to me. “I can’t do this.” She made a noise that was close to a sob and I sat up.
“Come here, Faith.”
Going against everything that my brain was telling me to do, I reached out and pulled her into my arms. She went so still that I expected to be picking up my teeth any second. Then Faith leaned into the embrace, curling her body into mine. “It’s going to be okay.” Maybe not tonight or tomorrow, but eventually she’d be able to pick up the shattered pieces of her life and try to move on.
Her face was buried in my neck and I could feel my skin growing damp. My throat hurt too much to talk or even hum, so I brought my hand up and rubbed her back in small circles. Faith trembled and shook against me, whispering things that had been bottled up for so damn long that I was surprised that she hadn’t snapped long before what happened in Sunnydale.
Angel may have spared her life after what she’d done to the Watcher, but he hadn’t healed any of the other damage. I wondered if anyone had even tried. Someone should have done something long before now. She’d been shattered before Lilah had brought her in.
After a while, she quieted down and I heard her whisper my name. “I’m sorry.”
I brushed her hair away from her face. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine. I think we should both go get some sleep.”
She looked a lot younger than she was. Stolen innocence tends to do that to people. “I... I don’t want to be alone. Is that okay?” Her eyes moved towards my throat.
“Yeah, it’s okay.”
Faith eased off of my body and helped me to my feet. When we reached my room, I left the light off so I wouldn’t see the bruises on my throat in the mirror. I grabbed a pair of pajama bottoms and got changed in the bathroom. She was waiting in the bed for me when I came back.
I made myself comfortable and then she pressed her body against mine. Curling my arm around her frame, I pulled her closer. “I’m not going anywhere, Faith. You can rest.”
She sighed. I felt her body slowly begin to relax and she soon fell asleep. It took me a while longer to drift off. I hadn’t planned on any of this. I only thought she’d stay the night and then head off somewhere. But now I knew she was going to be here for a while. And part of me didn’t mind that at all. She needed help, needed to be whole again, and maybe I was the one who could do it.
Author's Chapter Notes:
AU after Sanctuary
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.