Trials and Restorations

~ Part 5 ~

Walking inside and staring at the blonde in front of her, a smiling Faith asked,
"How're you doing?"

"Faith?" was all the blonde could almost speechlessly enquire.

Noting the same shocked expression on the employee's face as that on most of the people she had met that day, Faith laughed.
"Cut me some slack, dude," she pleaded, walking into the store. "I've been getting that response the whole day. Though the woman at the bank was a little more impressive with her near-heart attack."

Rushing forward, Robert threw his arms around his former workplace superior. Pulling away and clearing his throat, he adjusted his suit, telling her, "I'm not surprised." He exhaled audibly. "You realise that half the town went to your funeral a couple of years ago."

"So I'm told," the slayer replied. Looking at the man before her, she smiled. "So what's up, Rob? How've you been?"

"Don't even try that!" the store-worker berated. "Where've you been all this time?"

"It is one long story, dude. You got all year?" She looked around the store. "Man, this place has changed so much," she noted. "And what's with the new name? What the hell's a Leha?"

"You're kidding, right?" the bottle-blonde asked.

The slayer shook her head.

"Oh man, after you.. well, died... Buffy bought the place and renamed it."

"Leha?"

"Lehane's. But they haven't finished putting up the neon lights yet. Buffy wants the name done up in time for Christmas."

Stood silently for a moment, "She did that?" was all the slayer could eventually ask, unable to prevent herself from beaming.

"Yeah. Didn't she tell you all this?" the acting store-manager asked, his disbelief apparent.

"We haven't seen her, yet. It's like she disappeared off the face of the planet! This was my last try before I was going to call the cops. Went down to the old place and there was some man there. Tried the clinic, she's off. Went to all her usual haunts and nothing. Do you know if she'll be heading here for closing?"

"No, she doesn't really get involved with the store." Robert paused before clarifying for himself, "So she doesn't know you're back in Sunnydale?"

"Not a clue. It'll be a great surprise, don't you think?"

"Sure," the store assistant replied, attempting a degree of enthusiasm. Looking silently at the brunette with concern, he decided to attempt to busy himself with other things.

"Man, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Rob told her, with the hope that he sounded sincere.

Unable to figure out the problem and too tired to pry, Faith told him, "Anyway, we thought we'd say ‘hey'."

"We?"

"Yeah. Joyce's is with me. She's ju-"

"Little Joyce?!!!" Rob screamed, searching behind the brunette. Again having to clear his throat, he lowered his decibel level asking, "She's with you?"

"I heard my name," Joyce semi-accused entering the store. She looked to Faith, telling her. "Nearest place is some place called the Espresso Pump."

"Oh my God! Little Joycey Summers and all grown up!"

Smiling, Faith introduced,
"J this is Rob. He used to look after the store every time I had to rush down and pick you up from somewhere."

Chiming in, Robert continued, "You hear that? I was a huge part of the reason you made it home safe most nights."

"Well thank you for that, Rob," the youth told him, her gaze focussing on items around the store.

Noting the girl's disinterest, in a bid to cover the silence, Robert looked to Faith.
"So are you guys back for good?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Faith asked, now ready to decrypt the blonde's continued double-speak.

Suddenly interrupting, Joyce tugged on the taller brunette's jacket asking,
"Hey, Faith, what's a Leha?"

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"F. Lehane. D'you know them?"

"What?" Buffy asked looking up from her reading, her attention caught by her husband's question.

"A courier came by," Scott explained. "Dropped this off and said it was urgently requested by an F. Lehane. Should I run it next door?"

Taking the parcel from her hubby's arms, the slayer merely uttered a, "No." Ripping open the packaging, she looked inside and sifted through to find the pack containing her ex's personal belongings.

"So, where have you been all day?" Scott asked, endeavoring to keep his tone nonchalant.

"I told you," Buffy replied, taken aback when catching an official document bearing her ex's photo. Gritting her teeth, she fought to listen to the further interrogation she was being subjected to.

"No, you said you were going to be at work for the rest of the day. I called up about a half-hour after I left and they said you weren't there."

"So you're checking up on me now?"

"Only because you say you're places that you aren't. Honey, why are you lying to me?"

"I didn't feel you needed to know where I was going."

Visibly angry, the brunette retorted, "Why not?"

"So I have to tell you where I'm going at all times?"

"No, not at all times - just today."

Shaking her head at her husband's abruptness, the slayer replied him with a sigh and a, "Scott, drop it."

"Why is it that that's all I hear from you these days? You come home at all hours sometimes with bruises you can't explain and dirt on your clothes. Strange people turn up at our doorstep and you tell me that I should drop it? I want to know what's going on, Buffy and I'm giving you one more chance."

"Before you…?"

Caught off-guard, the good-looking brunette could only laugh in disbelief before he picked up his jacket and car-keys. "Don't wait up, will you," he called, storming out of the house and into the barely lit street.

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"One Mocha-latte with lots of chocolate sprinkles and a cocoa, please," Faith ordered, taking a seat at the counter of the mostly empty Espresso Pump.

"Chocolatey Mocha? A girl after my own heart." Hitting the switch on the coffee-maker and starton ton the hot-chocolate, the waitress glanced over at the sultry brunette's much younger companion sat at one of the coffee-house's booths. In attempt to make conversation, she asked, "Is she your sister?"

"Something like that," Faith replied, watching the woman work.

"You look alike. Both got that really gorgeous smile." Smirking, the waitress added, "Except you have those really sexy dimples." She handed the brunette the freshly made cup of cocoa.

Grinning, Faith took the drink to her booth before promptly returning to her seat at the counter and to the pretty blonde behind
it. Pouring the steaming espresso into a mug, the woman introduced,
"I'm Delana by the way. In case you wondered."

"I already read your name tag," Faith confessed. "That's a beautiful name; a little unusual though."

"I'm from Long Island; nothing's usual there."

"I dunno," the slayer disagreed. "I know the greatest guy who's from all over New York and he has nothing but great things to say about it."

"Don't get me wrong," Delana clarified. "New York's a great place. It's just that sometimes.. it gets a little unusual."

"Like how?"

"I don't know," the uniformed worker replied. Unable to explain, she diverted, "Wow, this guy's really got you loving The Big Apple. Is he your boyfriend? Ex? Brother?"

"None of the above," Faith clarified. "He’s a guy I met in the army."

Creaming the espresso, the waitress looked up. "You're in the army?"

"Surprised?"

Handing over the Mocha latte, the waitress confessed, "Well you've certainly got the body for it."

"Is that a compliment?" Faith had to ask, taking the handle of the cup.

"If you're free some other time, maybe we could meet up and I could tell you."

"Maybe," Faith told her. "If I'm free." The brunette handed the woman a five-dollar bill.

"This one's on me," the waitress told her. "But the next'll have to be on you."

"No problem," the slayer assured, flashing a grin. "'Til next time, D." Leaving the table, the slayer ordered her lighter-haired companion to her side, the both of them leaving the coffee house.

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Placing hand-picked flowers on a grave, Buffy stood, fighting back the impending urge to shed tears.

"I miss you," she whispered, gazing at the engraving on the concrete slab. "I really miss you."

Taking a deep breath, the slayer straightened her clothing. Wiping now emerging tears, she attempted to return to a calmer state. Slowly leaving the graveyard, she joined her patrol partner.

Walking silently beside the older slayer, Amanda felt compelled to suggest, "I can finish the last cemetery alone, Buffy. You can go home if you want."

"Are you sure?" the fairer of them asked.

"Positive," Amanda returned. Cutting in before Buffy could give her the usual orders, she added, "I'll check in before I go to bed."

Nodding, Buffy formed a smile. Waving goodbye, she took the quickest route back to her car. Entering the vehicle, the slayer started the engine and accelerated toward her home, her convertible BMW speeding past an emerging clearing in the bushes.

"You're gonna spill that," Faith warned Joyce as they took a short- cut through the more wooded areas of Sunnydale. Letting the youngster through the created clearing, she followed, glancing around. Suddenly stopping, the slayer took Joyce's hand her senses alerted to trouble in their proximity.

"Uh-oh," She exclaimed looking toward the low growling she was picking up and watching a group of vampires approaching a lone young woman across the road from her. "We got ourselves party situation." The slayer broke off a branch from a nearby tree, instructing Joyce to, "Wait here."

"Oh, let me come," the younger girl pleaded, clutching her newly bought cup of hot chocolate.

"C'mon then," the slayer shouted back to her, tearing off towards the scene where the woman was now engaging in combat with the fiends.

Taking on two of the five, the brunette made quick work of the vampires, her fighting skills quickly returning after laying dormant for so long. She round-housed the tallest of her foes, flooring him and inserting the branch from her hand into his heart. Looking to her partner, she found the adolescent having trouble with the vampire she had chosen to fight. Picking up a heap of mud and gravel from the ground, the brunette called,

"J, duck," waiting for the girl to obey, before throwing the dirt at the attacking vampire. Capitalizing on her distraction, the slayer plunged her make-shift stake beneath the undead's left breast and watched her foe turn to dust. Helping the other woman with the last vampire, she took the male by its upper arms and held him steady as the younger of the two staked the vampire.

"Thank you," the stranger decided to say. "It got a little hairy for a moment there."

"Nice moves you got there," Faith observed, dusting the remains of their former adversary from her clothing.

"Thank you," the young woman replied. "You too. Are you guys some sort of freelance demon-fighting team?"

"Something like that," the slayer replied. "You?"

"It's kind of my job. My watcher- I mean my w-w-"

"You have a watcher? You're a slayer," Faith realised, her discovery more a statement than a question.

"You know about slayers?" the girl asked.

"A fair deal," the brunette replied. Looking to Joyce, she proceeded to ask the stranger. "Who's your watcher?"

"An ex.. well.. ex-ish slayer actually." Smiling sheepishly, the brunette awkwardly stuck out her hand. "I'm Amanda."

"Nice to meet you," Faith told her, briefly shaking the hand.

Laughing, the longer-haired brunette prompted, "Now you're supposed to tell me your name."

"How ‘bout we skip the intro and go back to what you were saying about Buffy."

"Buffy?" Amanda snapped, defensively. "I didn't say anything about Buffy."

"The ex-slayer? Who else could it be?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the brunette attempted. Alarmed and looking from the Missouri girl to the silent youngster, she quizzed, "Who are you two?"

"Stop kidding around," Faith instructed advancing towards the younger girl, feeling herself getting worked up. "Are you talking about her or not?"

"Leave me alone," the slayer ordered, back-stepping and moving into a run, calling behind her, "Stay away from me!"

"I think you scared her off," Joyce observed.

"She was being retarded. It was a simple question."

"We should go after her and explain," the younger female attempted before being pulled back by the brunette.

"Nah. She's useless."

"But she might know where my mom lives."

"And the chances of her taking us now are about slim to none." Calming, Faith decided, "But that's kind of cool. At least she's
looking out for her."

"Why didn't you let me tell her who we were?"

"'Cause kiddo, what if she isn't who she says she is? I don't really want too many people knowing we're back in town." Faith took the younger girl by the hand "Don't worry, we'll catch your mom tomorrow."


TBC...