No Matter What
by Kevin
Part five
[reviews]
TITLE: No Matter What
AUTHOR: Kevin
DISCLAIMER: All original characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I own Joy and Anne.
SUMMARY: Buffy didn't return to Sunnydale after running away to LA.
DISTRIBUTION: I Kind of Love You.
Part 5
Faith fell in step beside Buffy as she headed back towards the motel to collect her car so they could drive to the diner. Faith turned to Buffy and said, "Thanks for letting me tag along." Buffy just nodded again. Suddenly Faith slapped her forehead and said "Hey, my bad here. Here I am tagging along with you and I haven't even introduced myself. My names Faith. ... The Vampire Slayer." This last bit she added as an after thought. "Though I guess you already got that bit if you can feel me like I feel you." Without waiting for Buffy to answer she carried on "So you're Buffy and this little bundle of beauty must be Joy. Nice to finally meet you, you as in Buffy you know cause no one knew about Joy. What you did in there this morning was a lot more than I would have given the circumstances. I mean you got all the history with those guys yet you let Anya an me stay when you could have asked us to leave." They continued in silence for a few moments then Faith said "Look B. there's ..." Buffy interrupted, saying "Can we just leave this till we get some food please." "Yeah, sure, no big" replied Faith quietly, guessing that was a subtle way of being told to shut up.
Reaching the motel car park Buffy fished in her pocket for the keys. After getting Joy strapped in she got in the drivers seat and looking at Faith said "Well, you coming or not." Faith ran round to the passenger side and jumped in as Buffy started to pull away. Less than ten minutes later Buffy pulled into the diner. Switching off the ignition, she made no attempt to get out of the car. Turning to Faith she said "Right, I know we've gotta have a long talk, being slayers an all, but right now I've got a whole lot of mess to deal with. I know you wanna tell me stuff but can we just keep it light, just don't lay any heavy on me, okay." "Deal" replied Faith opening her door and climbing out. She went round to the driver's side and opened the back door to help Buffy with Joy. "No" said Buffy as she shut her door. "She hasn't been round too many people and right now I don't know enough about you to trust her to you." Faith raised her hands and backed away. "Okay B. no problem." "And will not call me that. My name is Buffy," said Buffy as she picked up Joy from her seat. "Sorry" replied Faith, "It's just the way I am." Without answering Buffy made her way into the diner.
Finding a booth in the window Buffy sat Joy down and taking a menu asked her what she wanted to eat. Faith sat down opposite Buffy and started to scan the menu above the counter. When the waitress came over she looked at Buffy and then Joy. Bending to whisper to Buffy, she said, "Are you the girl who used..." Buffy interrupted her by starting to order their food. When she'd finished the waitress turned to Faith and Buffy raised an eyebrow as it seemed Faith was ordering half the menu. Having got the order she took one more look at Buffy and Joy and went back to the counter. Faith looked at Buffy and said "Seems like that grapevine extends everywhere. Kinda surprised we didn't hear about it." Buffy made no reply, instead she just sat there looking at Faith. "What" said Faith?" "Nothing" replied Buffy "Just waiting for you to continue what you started to say before we got to the car." Faith frowned for a couple of seconds then said "Right, well you said nothing heavy so I'll leave a lot out for now. Short version is I've been here about three an half years. My watcher, before she was killed said if ever I was in trouble I should get myself to Sunnydale where I'd find help from you. I hid myself for a couple of days before going out looking for vamps." Faith said the last word very quietly so that anybody near wouldn't hear her. "First night out I find X'man and Red wandering round the cemetery armed to the teeth with crosses, holy water and stakes. Lucky for them I got there before the three vamps did because they wouldn't have managed. Dusting them was easy. I told them to go home and leave the hunting to me. You should have been there, his face was a picture. Red tho' she just looked at me and said "I guess you're a slayer then?" I musta looked like I was a billboard for slayers at that point. When she told me that they knew about the nasties and slayers, that was when I found you were not in town and nobody had heard from you. I asked Red if your watcher was still here and when she said Giles was still there I thought I might as well go an see him." Faith paused as the waitress came back with the drinks. "Anyway, next morning I took myself off to see G'man and the rest as they say is history." Faith paused again, wondering how to tell Buffy the next bit. "Look B. sorry, Buffy, I don't know how to put this bit so it sounds right, just believe me, it wasn't my doing. He asked me where I was staying and when I told him which motel I'd found a room in he just looked at me and went off to his office where he made a call. I couldn't hear what he said but when he came out he told me that if I was going to stay in SunnyD' then he could think of a better place for me to stay. When I said I was staying till I'd found you he looked kinda sad for a second then just took me out to his car and drove me to ....." Faith stopped to look at Buffy, but couldn't read anything from her blank expression. "Your mom's which is where I've been ever since." Faith just sat there waiting, she realised she didn't know what she was waiting for. At this point Faith was rescued the waitress coming back with their food. At least now, she wouldn't have to look at Buffy. Faith started tucking into her food. After a couple of mouthfuls she risked taking a peek at Buffy, who she saw was busy making sure that Joy could manage. 'God, she loves that kid so much' thought Faith, who then moved her attention to what Buffy was going to eat. 'How does she manage on that amount? But, hey I remember when I had little or no money and I bet she made sure Joy had food before she did.' Faith continued eating while these thoughts went round in her head. When she'd finished Faith looked up to see that Buffy was making sure that Joy was eating all hers while she just picked at her own food. "Buffy?" Faith waited until she had her attention before continuing, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way okay? But if your cutting your own food because your low on cash this is gonna be my treat and I won't take no as an answer. It ain't pity or anything like that, it's just that I know what amount we can eat to keep going, okay?" Buffy stopped picking and looked up at Faith. "It's okay, I kinda got used to it. If I change it suddenly all I'll do is make myself ill but thanks anyway." Buffy went back to picking at her food, adding "So you want to continue with what you were saying." "not much more to add at this point Buffy." Faith made sure she didn't slip and call her B. "Only that about a week after I moved in it seemed that Red's parents took off again to somewhere or other and your mom asked her to come and stay as well. I think that was more for D's benefit than Red's tho'. After that, well keeping it light like you asked it just seemed that we became a family. Funny that, I never really had a family before so it was nice." Faith felt she'd said enough at this point, so she finished by saying "I'll just shut up now. You've probably heard enough about me for one day." Buffy said nothing until she'd finished eating, then looking up at Faith she just said "Thank you, for keeping them all safe." Faith said, "You wanna get back then?" Buffy just nodded, so Faith signalled the waitress for the check. Buffy reached into her purse but Faith shook her head, "Like I said my treat." While Faith paid the check, Buffy picked up Joy and returned to the car. After settling Joy and climbing into her seat Buffy thought 'So that explains Will' living at mine, but Faith as well, didn't expect that.' Faith jumped in shutting the door gently as she'd seen Joy drifting off to sleep already. Not looking round Buffy started the car and drove back to the Magic Box. Seeing that Joy was fast asleep by this time Buffy decided she had to start trusting Faith so she turned to her and said "Will you stay with her for a minute please." Faith just smiled and said "Sure." Buffy entered the shop and saw the remains of Pizza and Doughnuts lying on the table. This bought a tiny smile to her face. 'They haven't changed have they?' "Look guys I'm kinda whacked out right now so I'm gonna take Joy back to the motel and have a nap." Turning to her mom she said "If it's alright with you I'll come by later and we can talk." "Okay baby, if that what you want to do I won't rush you" said Joyce. Looking at Giles she added "I'll come and see you tomorrow and the rest of you, we'll catch up soon, very soon, I promise." With this last piece, she looked over at Willow who just said "You'd better missy, we have a LOT to talk about." With that Buffy turned a left. Getting back in the car she turned to Faith and said "You staying here or can I drop you off somewhere." Not wanting to make things bad for Buffy she replied "No, I'll stay here and catch up with you later." With this she got out of the car and Buffy drove off towards the motel.
TBC