DISCLAIMER AND AUTHOR'S NOTE: All Buffy The Vampire Slayer stuff belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and Warner Brothers. No copyright infringement was intended in the writing of this fiction. All other characters that appear belong to me. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies may be made for private use only and must include this copyright notice and disclaimer. There is some subtext in this story. If this kind of stuff is not legal where you live, if you're under 18 or if you don't like the notion of two women being in love, then you should find something else to read. This story was inspired by Dominatrix's story Into the Blues, which was a response to some challenge. It can be found at BuffyNFaith Mailing List. A snippet.

Strangers
By Kristjan Brezovnik

Faith sat in her cell alone, awaiting the trial. She felt strangely calm, but she knew that this calm would only last for a short while. Sure, she had finally done something right… No, she corrected herself, she did what Buffy had told her to do. Which, in a way, was the right thing to do. She sighed, wishing she was better at distinguishing good from bad.

She had screwed up big time, but at least they were her choices, even if they were the wrong ones. She had thought that she could handle anything. Boy, was she ever wrong. She couldn't handle anything, not her duty as a Slayer, not her attraction to Buffy, anything. Her life was a complete mess at the moment and she hoped that she would be able to get her life back in order. Or at least make sense of why she had done the things she had done. She just hoped that Buffy would still be alive when she got out, so she make it up to her, tell her that she was sorry, tell her that she… loved her.

She sighed again. Buffy. The one person that went out of her way to help her, even when she kept hurting her. She wished she had had more courage when they had first met and had simply told her how she felt about her, even if it would have made things awkward for them.

"You've got visitors," a voice interrupted her reverie.

"Huh?" Faith asked, jerking, and looked at the guard.

"Visitors," the guard repeated.

He opened the cell and Faith let him cuff her. She couldn't help but smile, the cuffs, or even the bars, weren't what kept her in here, it was her mind. And Buffy's… demand.

She followed the guard to the visitors' room. There she looked around and frowned, not recognizing anyone. Then she noticed that a couple was watching her and she realized they were familiar. It took her a moment to realize they were her parents. She stared at them for a few moments, not sure whether she should talk to them or not. She sighed, deciding to get it over with. She went to them.

"Oh, Faith, honey," her mother said and hugged her.

Faith almost backed off, but she didn't want to make a scene. So she just let her mother hug her.

"Faith," her father said when her mother stopped hugging her.

"Don't worry, honey, we'll get you out," her mother said, wiping her tears.

Faith looked at her father and then back at her mother.

"No, you won't," she then slowly said.

"What?" her mother said, surprised. "Don't worry, honey, we can get the best lawyers and…"

"No, you don't understand," Faith interrupted her. "I. Want. To be. Here." She glanced at her father. "I killed three people, I beat up others and I hurt people who wanted to be my friends. I'm not running away again. I deserve to be here. And when I get out, I'll try to make up for what I've done."

Her parents stared at her, surprised.

"Faith, honey, you don't mean that," her mother said.

Faith gave her a blank look.

"I'm dead serious about it," Faith said and frowned as she realized that the word dead was not appropriate.

"Faith, listen to your mother," her father said.

Faith looked at him.

"I did," she said. "And I became a rich bitch. And a coward." She glanced at her mother. "You're only here because you're worried about your reputation. I was in coma for eight months and you never came to visit." She sighed, glad that she wasn't angry anymore. "I almost didn't recognize you when I saw you. You're strangers to me and I'm a stranger to you. Go home," she said calmly.

Her parents stared at her, shocked. Faith glanced at them one last time and then left.

"Oh, honey," Faith's mother said when Faith was gone, and hugged her husband.

"Come, let's go home," Faith's father said and led his wife out.

"Do you think we'll ever see her again?"

"We can stay here for the trial. And we can visit her in prison."

"You think?" Faith's mother asked, looking at him hopefully.

"It will be hard and we'll have to be patient if we want her back in our lives."

Faith's mother nodded and leaned her head on her husband's shoulder.

"I do."

"So do I."

The End