Kathy's Revenge

Chapter 14
Willows POV

The room is dimly lit as I walk in. Buffy is curled up on the window seat. Her gaze fixed on everything and nothing on the other side of the glass. It seams almost cruel to pull her out of whatever thoughts are holding her attention so. This is Buffy not a lot grabs her attention. “Hey, how you feeling?”

My voice seams to snap her out of her trance. “Hey Will. I’m fine.” From both the look in her eyes and the rasp of her voice I know she’s far from fine.

“I just came up to say good bye. We’re all packed and ready to go. I just feel so guilty leaving you behind like this.” My eyes fall to the bedspread. Guilt and me are old friends. We go way back but this is different. The guilt of leaving my best friend behind after she’s had a breakdown makes me feel worse than skinning a guy alive.

“You’re not leaving me here. I’m just taking a break from everything other world-ly for a while is all. Lorne knows some people who know some people that can help me. Just fills me with confidence. Get me to talk, you know? Soon I should be as right as rain.” She thinks for a moment. Her head cocks to the side and her eyebrows furrow, in the way she does when she’s thinking really hard about something. “Where does that expression come from? Why is rain always right?”

We both laugh at the question. There’s the old Buffy I know and love. “Some British term I think.” The giggles subside and I get serious again. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay. Just for a little while?” And hello guilt.

“Willow if you stay how do you expect the girls to survive?” She states trying to start the serious. I hate it when she’s right.

“You’re right. Faith and Xander aren’t good role models. They’re worse together than they are apart.” To think just a few years ago they were at each other’s throats. Well Faith was at Xander’s at any rate. I put my hand on Buffy’s shoulder. I don’t know why, it just seams like the right thing to do. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, already. Giles and Dawn are staying here with me. So I’m very safe. Dawn has the whole slayer deal going down now so she can protect me for once.” Yeah Dawn getting slayer strength was a surprise to all of us. Who would have thought the mythical key that was made from part of the slayer would turn into a slayer when a certain witch just goes and unlocks all of the slayer potential in the world. We really should have seen that coming shouldn’t we? “Then when I’m all better we’ll drive or fly out to you. No harm done. Call it a vacation.”

I smile at this and suddenly don’t know what to say. “I’d better go. If I don’t now I might never go.” I squeeze her shoulder and begin to walk out. “You get better ok. I’ll call you. Every day.”

“I’ll answer. Every day.” This sends us into giggles again slightly. It still pains me to see her actions so strong and brave when all she really wants to do is curl up and cry. I want to be here for my best friend but at the same time I’m needed to make sure Xander and Faith don’t make all of the new slayers like walking joke machines.

“Talk to you soon Buffy.” I close the door behind me and make my way down to the foyer and outside, onto the big yellow bus. Which is full of jittery teenage girls. This is going to be a long trip.

I hop inside and sit a few seats back from the front. Pushing myself right up against the window so I can just watch the world go by and hopefully ignore any and all complaints from the girls.

Wood isn’t even here to take that for me anymore. I mean he was a principle so he knows how to deal with a bus full of girls but no he decided to stay in LA. Something about not wanting to be around Faith and I thought they were getting along.

“Let’s get this show on the road then!” Xander says sitting down in the seat in front of me. “Full speed ahead driver!” he shouts at Faith who is shutting the doors whilst sitting in the driving seat.

“Aye Aye Cap’in full speed ahead!” she barks, military like back to Xander. I swear those two get worse everyday. How long will these pirate jokes go on for?

So we set off everyone on the bus being pressed into the back of their seats by the acceleration. Eventually the speed evens out and we go about trying to make the hours pass as quickly as possible.

The first few hours of the bus journey consist of all the girls chatting whilst Xander and me play a game of travel connect 4. For some unknown reason Xander keeps winning. I believe the score is 24 – 9 to Xander. Damn connect 4, wait till we stop and I get the travel scrabble out of the trunk!

Ten minutes pass and the chatter is dying down slightly to give way to complaints of needing the bathroom, needing food or needing to stretch their legs. Told you it would be a long trip. Faith soon stops at a less than sanitary truck stop in what looks like a ghost town, just outside St. George. We all get out the bus and go off in segregated groups to use the facilities and walk around.

Xander and Faith are found a short while later in a booth in the shabby looking diner with a truckload of food, stuffing their faces. Why did we bother looking anywhere else? Faith and Xander will always be found as close to food as they can possibly get.

I sit down in the booth behind Xander since there is no room at their table with all of the food they have piled up on it and get out the huge map. I order a burger and fries and whilst waiting for it to be cooked, I plan the route and aim to be in Richfield Green River by sunset to get booked into a hotel for a much-needed rest. You wouldn’t think it but a long bus ride really takes it out of you even though you aren’t doing anything.

My burger and fries arrive and I barely have time to finish eating them before he head back out to the bus. Well it was me who wanted to get to Green River before dark.

Again we’re on the road and this time I am driving. Not such a good idea, I haven’t driven since the Dawn incident and I think it’s showing, I don’t think I have driven over 40mph yet and we’re on the highway.

Faith comes up behind me looks at the road then looks at the speedometer then the road then has to take a look at my speed again. “You’re worse then my granny.” She states.

“You knew your grandmother?” I ask even now trying to pry information from her.

I more hear then see her shrug. Sorry but nothing is going to pry my eyes from this road as long as I’m behind the wheel. “I vaguely remember her.” I think that must be the end of that deep, long meaningful conversation. “We’re going to get pulled over for curb crawling at this rate.” She shakes her head and leans on the dash. “I can’t get pulled over Red. You know that.”

“About that. I have a present for you.”

“For me. Really? What is it?” She’s like a small child on Christmas. No, no Hanukkah. I’ve not seen this side of Faith before. Makes me want to push this as far as it will go. I’m so evil. In a not, so evil way. I don’t do evil anymore; I’m a good girl. If I could stop mind babbling anytime now that would be of the good.

“You can’t have it while I’m driving.” I say not taking my eyes off the road. My grip on the wheel getting impossibly tighter. What comes after white knuckling?

“Well pull over then.” She’s so exited it’s unbelievable.

“I’ll give it you when we stop ok.”

”We’ll stop when you pull over.” Insistent child isn’t she? Wonder how bad she would be if it was actually Christmas… or Hanukkah

“I’ll pull over if you drive the rest of the way. It’s only 50 miles.” I say with slight innocence in my voice. It I trusted myself to look away from the road I would do the whole batting of my eyes lids and everything.

“Well we’ll never get there at this rate. Pull over let me take the wheel.” A frustrated and childlike Faith is amusing when separate. It’s even better when it’s al mixed together.

Less than 5 minuets later she’s behind the wheel doing… lets say she’s going a lot faster than I was. “How fast you going Faith.” Xander asks. With a death grip on the side of his seat, so he isn’t thrown off it.

“’Undred knots cap’in!” She replies. Even now with the Pirate jokes. When will this end. I don’t think I can stand this forever.

Needless to say it doesn’t take us long to get to our destination. Xander goes off to get rooms for us all and she’s practically jumping up and down on the spot asking for her present.

Luckily he comes back hands full of keys. “Sorry ladies” He loves being the only man apart from Andrew on the trip. To be honest we all have theory’s concerning Andrews’s sexuality. “We’re going to have to double up for the night. Andrew you’re with me.” Now I have to wonder if Xander was really joking about me gay-ing him up all those weeks ago.

He hands over the keys to me and I start to distribute. It doesn’t occur to me that the last key I’m left with is for Faith and me. “Looks like were bunking together.” She says all smiles. She just wants her present. Maybe I shouldn’t have said the word present then she wouldn’t be like a hyper 5 year old on speed.

I tried all the way there to get that smile off her face but it wasn’t budging.

We arrive in the room and it’s surprisingly nice, the outside wasn’t much but the inside is not bad at all. The room is quite big and clean with an en-suite bathroom and huge king size bed. The décor isn’t much, flowery and sort of yellow but apart from that its great. I go to walk into the bathroom with my overnight bag and a change of clothes to freshen up from the bus ride but Faith tugs on my arm and gives me a puppy dog look. She actually whines at me and it’s so cute. It would just be cruel to make her wait any longer for her present. Something inside me just wants to keep that cute look on her face. I wonder if I actually called her cute she would rip one of my exterior body parts off.

“Fine!” I say throwing my arms in the air. I pull a book out of my bag, open it and hand her a folded piece of paper.

“What is it?” She hasn’t even looked down at it and she wants me to tell her what it is.

”Read it.”

She looks down and begins to read mumbling to herself as she does. Her eyes go wide as she realises what it is. She looks up her eyes still wide. If they get any bigger I think they might pop out. “You’re going to kill me?” I think I actually scared her. I didn’t think this out so well.

“Not exactly.” I hand her another sheet of paper and she begins to read that.

“I…” She reads it over again. Then looks to the first piece of paper then to the second again trying to work out exactly what I’m giving her. “I don’t understand.”

I smile at the confusion on her face. Not as cute as the puppy look but I can deal. I take the first paper from her. “This is your death certificate. Look. Faith Jane Lehane died in a car crash three months ago.” I point out both the time and cause of death. And don’t even try to think that I won’t be using her middle name for something at some point. It’s just to big a thing to pass up. “This.” I pull out the second page I gave her. “Is a birth certificate for one Faith Jane Spencer. Which from this moment forward is you. This is your new identity” It seams to take a while to sink in properly. “Faith you’re free.”

”Free.” She whispers probably more to her self just to hear herself say it. She’s reading the documents again. “I’m not wanted anymore?”

“Why would they look for you when you’re dead Faith?”

She looks up from the documents and a crease marries her brow. “Why?”

Such an innocent question and I don’t have an answer. She deserves one but I don’t have one for her. That’s like asking why Dr. Frederick Cook why he walked all the way to the North Pole apart from the reason it was just there. “I just wanted to do something nice for you. Call it a peace offering.”

All of the child like manner I was enjoying earlier that’s gone. Where did it go? Bring it back. “But I hurt you Red, really hurt you. Do you not remember the whole knife to your throat incident?”

“A world of no.” Remember it like it was yesterday still gives me the willys. “But I sort of understand now Faith. You were in a bad place and you couldn’t climb out of it. I’ve been that deep. Probably deeper and I guess now I understand the pull of it.” I could have worded that better but I’m trying really hard to stop myself from going into full babble mode here. “What I’m trying to say is I know you’ve changed. Saved the world remember. You can do so much more good on the outside. Besides the food has got to be better.”

A smile spreads across her face and she practically jumps on me with her hug. “I wont go off the rails again. I promise. Totally on board with the whole saving the world thing. And.”

I think she might have gone on if I hadn’t stopped her. “I know Faith that’s why I did it. Now you have to let me go so I can freshen up so we can eat.”