The Courtship of Buffy Summers

The Sunday morning sun shines in through the window and onto the sleeping faces in the bedroom. Two of the girls groan in a little irritation and turn in their beds to find a comfortable position with their faces away from the very annoying light. The motion from one of the beds causes the one below it to move and wake up the slumbering girl. ‘Fuck! I hate bunk beds. This is total bullshit,’ Faith thinks as she’s woken up from a very nice dream featuring the bottled blonde she’s trying so hard to win over.


‘What the fuck are you doing here? I thought you were Buffy’s narrator?’ the sleepy, and very angry girl thinks. ‘No way, fuck this. You’re not gonna follow me around and talk about what I’m doing. This isn’t the real world house. Now fuck off, and don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.’ Despite her protest I don’t go away. The blonde one is on groundation now and not happy. There’s only so much verbal abuse a narrator can take.


The irritated brunette closes her eyes and tries to go back to sleep. She can hear the other people in the house getting up to start the day and she knows that sleep isn’t going to be coming back to her any time soon. If she really wanted to you could just ignore it and go back to sleep, but the trouble she would have to go through isn’t worth it. ‘This is bullshit. Two more years of this shit and I’m getting the fuck outta here.’


She hears the bedroom door creep open, but she doesn’t move. ‘Maybe if I play dead he’ll go away,’ she thinks as she hears the tiny footsteps walking towards her. ‘If I was on the top bunk this shit wouldn’t be happening. Maybe I can kick Amy’s ass out of it. Then I’ll get to sleep in one of these fuckin days. This whole sleeping here thing is driving me crazy.’ She tries so hard not to move when she feels the tiny breaths fall against her face, and she tries so hard not to smile when she feels a tiny finger poke one of her closed eyes.


“Faith,” the tiny voice whispers. But she stays still playing dead hoping against all odds that it will work. “Faith.” He pokes her again in the eye, and this time a little harder. “Faith, wake up. It’s morning time. Faith, get up.” The little boy pinches Faith’s nostrils closed, and because she isn’t expecting the move she panics and sits up as fast as she can, hitting her head on the bed above her.


“Fuck! Motherfucker!” she yells and grabs the top of her head. She presses down a little and then looks at her hand, checking for blood, but she doesn’t see any. She looks over at the little boy and he looks on the brink of tears. “Tanner don’t cry. I wasn’t yelling at you.” She picks the small boy up and gives him a hug. When she sits him down on the bed he doesn’t look upset anymore. “There, that’s better. No more cryin, ok?” He nods his head and she wipes the tears away that started to make their way down his cheeks.


“Would you shut the fuck up? I’m trying to sleep,” Amy says from the top bunk and rolls onto her stomach, trying to get comfortable again. Faith gets off her bed and picks the boy up and props him on her hip.


“Fuck you. If you’d let me have the top bunk he wouldn’t come in here to wake me up.” ‘There, now she can think about that. Maybe now she’ll let me have the top.’ She makes her way out of the bedroom and into the living room. She sits the redheaded boy down on the couch and turns the TV on. “There, watch cartoons.” She makes her way into the kitchen and sees the very typical scene. She still isn’t too used to it because it’s rare that she is home in time for breakfast on any day of the week, but she has to admit that this is kind of nice.


The tall brunette woman is making up some bowls of cereal while three of the kids who live in this house sit at the table and wait impatiently for her to finish. The tall, dishwater blonde man is leaning against the counter, drinking his coffee and reading the sports section of the newspaper. They’re ok as far as foster parents go. She still misses her old home even if it wasn’t the best place in the world.


She is lucky to be in this house and she knows it. She’s heard horror stories about kids who get raped and beat by their foster parents, and social services does nothing about it because the workers are too busy to come back every month and check on them like they’re supposed to. The one thing that Faith really hates about this place is the number of people living in it.


There’s Brian who’s ten, Lauren is seven, and Tanner is only two and half. They’re the Doriann’s biological children. Then there are the foster children. Amy, Marcus, Faith, and Natalia. Amy is the oldest, she’ll be eighteen in two weeks. Natalia is the youngest, she just turned thirteen four days ago. Faith and Marcus are both sixteen. It’s very crowded in this house and Faith hates it. It’s always loud, and chaotic and Faith just wants to get away from it most of the time.


“Well, it’s nice to see you up,” Bill says and takes a sip from his coffee. “When did you finally get in last night?” Faith doesn’t answer, she just rolls her eyes and takes her seat at the table. She doesn’t want to talk about this now. She hasn’t told any of them about Buffy and she doesn’t plan on it. They’ll just want to meet her, and the less Buffy knows about Faith’s home life the better. ‘She doesn’t need to know about this shit.’


“Where were you last night?” Bill asks and adds some more sugar to his coffee. ‘Why the fuck does he care? It’s none of his damn business,’ Faith thinks and rests her head on the table. “I asked you a question, and I expect an answer.” ‘Does he always have to be such a dick?’ The man never used to ask Faith about her nightly excursions. He and his wife simply thought that Faith was sneaky out as a way of rebelling, and if they didn’t make a big deal about it she’d see she wasn’t going to get any attention for it and would stop. That isn’t the case however and the parents are starting to get frustrated with Faith’s behavior.


“I was out, alright? Amy goes out all the time and you don’t give her any shit about it.” The large man slams the paper down on the counter, the palm of his hand slaps against the tiled top and makes a loud noise. The coffee maker, and toaster both shake from the impact.


“Watch your mouth,” he barks at her and sets his mug down on the counter. Everyone is too used to this sight. Faith and Bill fight all the time. It’s just what they do. “Amy asks for permission to go out, and she obeys the curfew. Which are two things you’re going to start doing.” Faith stands up from the table and stares into the angry brown eyes looking back at her.


“Screw you, Bill. I don’t have to listen to you, you’re not my dad, and you never will be!” she yells and he takes a step towards her. He would never hit any of the children, he doesn’t even believe in spanking, but the intimidation from his size works on most of them. Faith is not one of them, however, and she holds her ground. He remembers that he’s the adult, and he calms himself down.


“I may not be your dad, but I am responsible for you. If you don’t like it, then oh well. When you turn eighteen you can do whatever you want, but until then you are going to start following my rules. You got that?” Faith doesn’t know what to say. Even if she doesn’t agree with a word the man is saying she doesn’t want to push her luck because he might decide to give her back to social services and she’ll go to a different foster home, or a group home. The thought almost makes her shudder.


“Now, go tell the others breakfast is ready.” Seeing no point in staying in the room and fighting, Faith stomps off. She goes into her bedroom and slams the door, and gets yelled at by the other girls still in their beds. She lays down on her bed and stares at the bottom of the one above her. ‘This is fuckin bullshit. He never used to bug me about this shit. I can’t wait to turn eighteen. Then I won’t have to put up with this bullshit, that’s for sure.’


It’s nightfall before Faith finally leaves the bedroom. She thought about leaving earlier just to get out of the house, but all of her friends are busy this weekend and Buffy is grounded, and that left her with nowhere to go. Hunger finally won out, and the smell of cooked food coming from the kitchen made her stomach growl in protest of just staying in the room. She notices that Amy and Marcus are gone, but she doesn’t think anything of it. They go out together every Sunday as their brother-sister bonding time. But Faith does feel a little pang of longing at the thought of it.


“Faith!” Tanner yells out from his highchair and claps his hands together. Out of everyone in the house the little boys craves her attention the most. She doesn’t know why, and it’s only moderately irritating. Even then it only gets on her nerves in the morning when he wakes her up. Other then that she likes the fact that the little boy wants her around. “Mommy look, Faith’s up!” Everyone at the table looks over at the brunette girl and the feeling of having all their eyes on her is a little odd.


“Glad you finally decided to get up,” Judy says and gets up from the table. “I’ll make you a plate.” Faith tries to protest against it but the woman insists. ‘Well, if she really wants to why stop her?’ She sits down at the table and watches as the woman dishes out some chicken, roasted potatoes, corn, and a roll. All of it looks and smells great, and Faith is glad she didn’t go out. “Look, Faith.” ‘Oh crap, I was wondering when the catch would show itself.’ “We’re not trying to be mean.” She puts the plate down in front of Faith and hands the girl a fork.


“But Bill and I came up with these rules to help keep you guys safe.” ‘Yeah right, they just want to control us.’ “I know it seems unfair, but we need to know where you are so we can get a hold of you in case there’s an emergency or you need to be picked up.” ‘If I needed to be picked up I’d call them and tell them where I am.’


“And midnight is late enough for a girl your age to be staying out. You don’t need to be out all night, doing whatever it is you do when you’re out.” She gives Faith a knowing look but doesn’t say anything in front of the younger kids. Faith decides to say something and hopes she words this right. She doesn’t like fighting with Judy because she’s the nicest woman Faith has ever known. Challenging authority figures is something Faith has done since she was a small child, and Bill is the biggest authority figure in this house so she has no problem going up against him every once in a while.


“I know you just want me safe, but you don’t need to worry because I am.” She gives the older woman and equally knowing look and Judy sighs. She is open with the woman about her night life. She lies to Bill because he would completely freak out and probably lock her in the bedroom forever. But Judy understands what Faith is going to, to a certain degree. ‘But I’m not going to be doing that shit anymore. Buffy said we’re not gonna be exclusive but I know she’ll get pissed if I keep seein other people. So I don’t see what it can hurt.’ Swallowing her pride, and taking note of the bitter taste Faith thinks of something to say.


“But if you guys are worried that much then I’ll stop going out.” The two adults look at her in shock. “I did some thinking today and I don’t wanna keep doing what I’m doing.” Well, that’s not exactly true now is it? You just want to do it with someone else. ‘Shut up.’ “So I’m...sorry for all the fighting.” Bill and Judy are still looking at her like she just grew two heads and a tail. She decides to change the subject, or better yet, remove herself from the situation. She looks around for an excuse to leave and finds the perfect one. “Tanner’s done eating, I’ll give him his bath.” She gets up from the table and takes the boy out of his highchair.


“No bath,” the boy says as he’s lifted out of the chair and propped on Faith’s hip. Despite his small protest he’s still carried into the bathroom. “No bath.” Faith gives him a little look and he pouts the biggest pout the girl has ever seen. ‘I’m so glad Buffy doesn’t know how to do that or I’d be a goner.’ “No bath.” He makes himself sound pathetic, and Faith almost buys into it. But then she remembers that she’s sixteen, and he’s two and a half. She shouldn’t let a little kid manipulate her, that would totally kill the badass image she tries to keep up.


“Yes a bath.” She turns the handles until the water is the perfect temperature and she waits for the tub to fill up with enough water before she turns it off, and strips the boy down. He doesn’t fight against her. The protest from earlier was just an attempt to see if he could get away with something, but he couldn’t. “There, doesn’t the water feel good?” He nods his head yes and grabs his toys out of the plastic pitcher. She uses it to wet the boy’s hair so she can wash it.


“Ok, head back,” she says and uses one hand to block the water from dripping down to the boy’s eyes. She rinses out the shampoo conditioner combo and lets the boy play for a little while longer before she pulls releases the plug and the water starts to drain. “Come on, it’s time to get out.” He yawns widely and holds his arms up so she can lift him out of the tub.


“It’s almost your bedtime,” she says and smiles when he pouts and shakes his head no. ‘God, this kid is so damn cute.’ She wraps the towel around his little body and gets a diaper from the hall closet. She takes him into his bedroom and lays him down on the floor. She puts the diaper on him and dresses him in his footsie pajamas. After she puts the towel in the hamper she grabs his favorite book off the bookshelf and carries him out to the living room. Even though it’s only eight thirty at night everyone else has gone off to bed.


“Gonna read a book?” Tanner asks and looks up at Faith as she sits down in the recliner. ‘I could so totally get used to this,’ she thinks and nods her head yes. She reads him the story about the cat in the large hat that shows up at the children’s house and causes all sorts of chaos while their mother is out. She reads it three times before he finally doses off to sleep. She doesn’t get up to put him in his bed, though. She revels in the feeling of the little body nestled against her. She can’t help but get a little nostalgic at feeling.


She groans a little when there’s a few small knocks at the door. ‘Who the fuck is that?’ she thinks as she stands up and gently lays the sleeping boy down in the recliner. He doesn’t wake up, but when there’s more knocking at the door he moves around a little and Faith wants to yell at whoever has come here at this ungodly hour of nine twenty-three. She opens the door and gets ready to give this person a piece of her mind. But then she sees who it is, and she stops cold. Her mind goes numb and her body tenses up.


“Don’t tell me you’re not happy to see me,” the man says and smiles his very charming smile. It seems to pull Faith out of the shock she went into and she flies into the guy’s arms and lets out a very girly squeal. They hug for what seems like forever but to Faith it isn’t long enough. “Alright, stop with the girliness.” Faith pulls back from the hug and gives him a big smile, but can’t help it as she rolls her eyes a little bit.


"What, you have too much testosterone to show me some love?” she asks and the guy rolls his eyes, but the smile doesn’t go away. “When did you get here?” She gets out of the way and lets him in the house. She isn’t sure how the foster parents are going to feel about him being here but she doesn’t care. ‘If they don’t like it they can fuck off.’


“A little while ago. And the Sunnydale bus station could really use a good cleaning. So, on a scale of one to ten, how surprised are you to see me?” They sit down on the couch and the man notices the little boy laying in the recliner fast asleep. “He’s not yours is he? ‘Cause if he is you are in a world of hurt.” He looks over at Faith and she just rolls her eyes. She gives the twenty-something year old a small punch on the arm.


“Whatever, like you’d do anything to me. And no he’s not mine. He’s the parental’s youngest.” ‘Did I really just use the word parental?’ “I better put him in his bed. I’ll get some blankets and stuff for the couch. The motels in this town are nasty, there’s no way you’re staying in one of those.” She picks up the sleeping boy and leaves the room before he can ask her how she would know that.


The last thing she needs is him getting mad at her for doing some stuff that he wouldn’t approve of. ‘But I have to tell him the truth eventually. Leaving out details is not lying, it’s just sugarcoating. Hopefully he won’t be mad.’ She gets some extra blankets out of the hall closet along with a pillow and goes back into living room. She can’t help but smile when she sees that the tall, brunette boy dressed in some grubby jeans, a stained blue t-shirt, and some old converse shoes that look like they’re about to fall apart. But she’s more then happy to see him despite those imperfections, and the fact that he could really use a shower.


She covers him up with the blanket and gives him a little kiss on the cheek. She decides to sleep in the living room as well because if her foster parents find a strange man sleeping on their couch when they wake up in the morning they’re not going to take stay calm about it. So she turns out all the lights, sits down next to him on the couch and covers up with the second blanket she had brought out just in case.


She fights off the urge to curl up next to him, but can’t take it any longer. She rests her head on his chest and wraps one of his large, tattooed arms around her and closes her eyes. She stays awake for as long as she can. She listens to the sounds of his breathing, and his heartbeat. She smiles at the up and down motion of his chest, and snuggles into him as close as she can without actually sitting on his lap. As she slowly drifts off to sleep she feels at home for the first time in eight years.