We Happy Few: Doin' Hard Time on Redemption Row
by Sibling
At the moment, Buffy didn't care that she'd wept when she'd received Angel's letter about Faith. She didn't care that Angel, Spike, and Dawn were all trying to talk to her, telling her to back down. All she could see and hear was an old enemy apparently come back to taunt her one more time. "What are you doing here, Faith?" she growled as she advanced on her onetime Slaying partner. "I thought you were dead. Or was that just another of your tricks?"

Faith backed away from her, holding her hands up defensively and looking confused. "Hey, B, I knew you were gonna be less than thrilled to see me, but you did call on me!"

"Call on you?!" Buffy replied incredulously. "Are you trying to tell me you're the 'Guardian of the Balance?'" It was the craziest thing she'd ever heard, even crazier than Oz's infamous "attack the Mayor with hummus" plan.

Faith's eyes opened wide. "You mean you didn't know? Not even Angel?" she asked, glancing over at the vampire. He shook his head, clearly as surprised as everyone else at her claim.

An expression of pure fury came over Faith's features. But even before Buffy could prepare for a possible attack, Faith just looked up at the ceiling, fists clenched, and yelled, "You guys really suck, y'know that?!"

Ooooo-kay, Buffy thought. We have officially left Crazy and entered Totally Whacked Out.

Faith continued her rant. "What were you thinking, dropping me in cold like this? How'm I supposed to do my job if B wants to kill me before I even say anything!?"

She paused, as if waiting for an answer, then shouted, even louder than before, "Up until five seconds ago I thought this mess was all Whistler's fault! Now I'm beginning to wonder how the universe has lasted this long with idiots like you running things!"

When she was only answered with more silence, Faith's shoulders sagged. She gave the ceiling one last glare and muttered, "Dammit, bosses, you gotta learn to give in and talk to the hired help now and then." Then she turned back to Buffy with an apologetic expression. "Sorry, B -- and the rest of you, too. I had no idea the guys upstairs would pull something like this. Could we sit down, so I can try to fill you in?"

The Scoobies -- past and present -- were as silent the Powers That Be had been; they just continued to stare at her. Buffy wondered who was crazier: Faith, her . . . or the Powers, if they really had set this whole situation up.

Faith made a face at their hesitation. "Hey, I know you got no reason to trust me. And I know I looked a little crazy back there. But Angel and Cordelia can tell you how crazy working for the Powers That Be -- otherwise known as Their High and Mighty Lords of the Silent Treatment -- can make you." She sighed. "Now, why don't you just let me do my job, and when the crisis is over you can be rid of me." Without waiting for a reply, she walked over to the research tables, picked out a chair, and plunked herself down.

There was a short pause, then the others started taking seats -- keeping at least six feet between themselves and Faith. Buffy herself picked a seat practically on the other side of the room, and tried to ignore the look of disappointment and guilt she saw flash across Faith's face.

Then she saw Angel very deliberately choose a chair right next to Faith, and give the others a challenging look. Buffy felt a twinge at seeing her ex sticking up for someone she'd once considered a mortal enemy. Then again, Angel and Spike were the ones who were supposed to be her mortal enemies . . .

Her thoughts broke off as Angel's unspoken challenge was answered -- by Dawn, who seated herself in the chair on Faith's other side.

Buffy silently freaked for a few seconds, but she didn't say anything. She found herself remembering how cool Dawn had thought Faith was. Remembering Faith convincing Dawn that she didn't have a dorky name; "The only thing that can scare vamps more than me is dawn," she'd said. Remembering Faith chipping in so Dawn could get her ears pierced. Remembering Faith seeing Dawn home safely from dance class when Buffy was in her "secretly-looking-after-Angel" phase.

And try as she might, she couldn't remember a single time when Faith had ever tried to hurt Dawn, even when she went to Buffy's house and tied up her mother.

They were all fake memories of course -- a whim of the monks, or an attempt to forge a relationship between the two girls in case the second Slayer was needed to protect the Key. But the Scoobies had all agreed long ago that they were going to behave as if their memories of Dawn were real. So although seeing Dawn calmly sitting next to Faith wigged Buffy out -- nearly as much as seeing her sister ally herself with Angel -- she tried to hide it. Besides, she tried to remind herself, Dawn's a Slayer now too. She can handle herself.

Faith gave both Angel and Dawn a grateful smile before she began, "As I'm sure you heard, I died in a prison fight just before Thanksgiving. No, don't look like that, Angel," she said with a glance toward the vampire, as he reacted to her statement. "Knowin' B was alive might've made those last couple months in jail a little less gloomy, but it wouldn't've changed anything about that fight. In fact, ol' vampire sponsor of mine," she said, her expression softening, "I owe you more than I can ever say."

She reached out, and gently-but-firmly turned Angel's face so he had to look at her. "When I showed up in L.A., everybody wanted me dead: B, the Council, the police . . . hell, even I wanted me dead. You were the only one who tried to give me a chance. The only one who never gave up on me. Whatever else you may think of me . . . I'll never forget that."

Buffy started to feel a little jealous at the way Faith was looking at Angel, but before she could work up a really good anger, she realized there was no sexuality in it. Faith was looking at Angel . . . the way she herself had often looked at Xander, after he pulled her out of yet another emotional pit. Grateful, happy, and yes, there was love there, but it was brother-sister love.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Faith turned back to face everyone again. "Anyway, it seems that when one of their Champions takes a stand on something like that, even the Powers have to pay attention. So they gave me a little time in jail to think about what I'd done, and to be sure I wasn't gonna backslide, and then they . . . recruited me." She grimaced, and rubbed absently at a spot on her chest, right over her heart. "They got a real nasty way of doin' things, lemme tell ya. I really wish it'd been like the movies or TV, when they only fake someone's death before turning 'em into a secret agent or something."

Buffy suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine. "So it's true. You really did . . . die?" she asked, with a little hitch in her voice.

Faith looked her right in the eye. "Yeah, B. I died."

The two Slayers shared a look, and just like that, Buffy knew Faith was telling the truth. As crazy as this whole story sounded, she just knew. And she found herself having those old "God, how could I have been such a bitch" thoughts again.

Then Faith shook herself and continued, "So they took me in, and I was given a choice: I could do God-knows-how-many-years of penance as Guardian of the Balance, or spend the rest of eternity in some hellhole dimension. Not much of a choice, but as I said, if it hadn't been for Angel, it would've been straight to the hellhole." She actually grinned at Angel then, and for the first time since she'd appeared, she looked like the old Faith. "You told me you were in the business of saving souls. Guess you were right."

For a moment, Angel smiled back at her. Then he became serious again. "What about my son, Faith? Can you tell me how to get him back?"

Faith's grin faltered. She looked down at the floor for a moment, then quietly answered, "No. There's nothing to tell." She looked up into Angel's stricken face. "Connor's gonna break outta Quortoth on his own tomorrow night. You just have to be ready to meet him."

Angel just stared at her. Then he nodded, his face carefully blank. "Of course. Hell dimension. Time runs differently there." Although he didn't need it, he took a deep breath. "How . . . how old-?"

Faith put her hand on his shoulder. "Almost sixteen. Ready to take his place as a Champion, next to his father." She looked at him a moment longer, then turned to Buffy. "You think we could move this to the training room, B? I think Soulboy here is gonna want something to hit. And . . . there's more. I think you'll all be taking turns with the punching bags and dummies before I'm done," she said mournfully.

* * *

Faith was hoping someone would to try to talk to her as they made their way to the training room. There was so much stuff she needed to let out, she was ready to scream. But she knew that just unloading it all on the Scoobies would be pointless. They needed to be ready to listen before she could start talking.

When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she knew exactly who it was. "Hey, Giles." She stopped and turned around to face him.

The look on his face wasn't exactly forgiving, but it wasn't judgemental either. Faith felt like she was being weighed, like Giles was trying to look inside her and add up all the light and dark stuff in there.

His words caught her off-guard, though. "When you were . . . letting go, earlier . . . you mentioned Whistler. Buffy and Angel told us about his role in their lives, and we were expecting to see him when Angel performed the summoning ritual. What did you mean, you thought this was all his fault?"

She sighed. With that one question, Giles had struck right to the heart of her problem . . . and opened a can of worms he couldn't possibly imagine. "Whistler was my predecessor as the Guardian. He . . . he failed in his duties." She grimaced. "One of his duties was to get Angel on the right path. And he was supposed to make sure he stayed on that path. He . . . Whistler should've told Angel about the happiness clause on the curse. It was his duty to tell him once he got involved with B. I don't know why he didn't. All I know is, everything's gone wrong since the night Angel went bad."

Giles looked stricken. Faith didn't have any special mind-reading powers, but she knew exactly what -- or rather who -- he was thinking of. If Angel hadn't lost his soul, Jenny Calendar would probably still be alive today.

She decided to plow right through. "Acathla should never have been opened. Angel should've never gone to Hell. And . . . you remember the first time I fought with B, it was over Angel and that damn glove. If Angel hadn't gone bad, Mrs. Post couldn't have played me the way she did. I . . . I know everything I did is my responsibility, but . . . "

She took a deep breath. She had to tell someone, or she'd go nuts. Again. "Giles, the Powers showed me what things were supposed to be like. What all our lives were supposed to be. And . . . I shouldn't have gone bad either. Me and Buff were supposed to be the Chosen Two together all this time. The Initiative, Adam, Glory . . . I was supposed to be there for her. And she . . . and the rest of you . . . were supposed to be there for me.

"I had a chance to be happy . . . to be loved. And I threw it away." She felt tears in her eyes. "You have no idea what it's like to know that you died a failure."

"I do."

Faith whirled. Buffy was standing a few steps behind her. She didn't know how long the blonde had been standing there, but there were tears running down Buffy's cheeks, so she'd probably been there for some time.

Then Buffy's words penetrated her brain. "No, B. You died a hero. You gave your life to save the world, to save your sister."

Buffy shook her head. "Not that time, Faith. The first time I died . . . the Master beat me, beat me easily. It was like I wasn't the Slayer at all, just a helpless little girl. And he told me, just before he . . . bit me . . . that I'd gotten the prophecy wrong. I'd set him free by charging in there to fight him. Then there was pain, and weakness . . . and nothing. I died believing that the world was going to end, that everyone I knew was going to die, because I'd screwed up.

"But Xander and Angel found me, and revived me, and I got a second chance. And I made the most of it," she finished.

She took a step closer to Faith. "There's a lotta stuff we have to work out, Faith. I . . . I'm not ready to forgive and forget. But . . . " She took a deep breath. "I'm glad you got a second chance. I'm . . . I'm glad you're alive."

Faith had never been a touchy-feely kind of person. It just wasn't part of her makeup. So she was just as surprised as Buffy when she practically leaped at the blonde Slayer and threw her arms around her. And she cried, the way she'd cried in Angel's arms that night in the alley.

After a few minutes, the sobbing slowed, then stopped, and she sniffled a little, embarrassed at the scene she'd made. But when she pulled back a little, she saw Buffy had been crying too.

Maybe . . . maybe this whole redemption thing was possible after all.

But she had business to do, and now was as good a time as any for one part of it. "B . . . I got a little wedding present for ya. Listen . . . " And she leaned forward and whispered some instructions in Buffy's ear.

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