Faith goes looking for her father to answer some of her questions left by her mother's return. Buffy tries to help as best she can, leading her to ask questions about her own relationship with her father and whether she should do the same.
"I know, and I've almost got the money. I just need a little more time."
They're collectors?
"You're already late. The boss doesn't like being kept waiting."
The boss? That doesn't sound good.Especially if what I'm feeling is right.
"Look, I'll get him his money as soon as I can, but I can't do this right now. I'm... busy."
Maybe we should step in?
Faith and I lock eyes and there's definitely concern on her face but she's not sure.
"What could you be busy with? You don't have a job."
How's he getting these people their money if he doesn't have a job?
"I have... company."
"Who would you have as company? Everyone hates you."
They shove the door open and Faith's father steps back into the apartment. It has Faith and I standing up, turning to face them.
Whoever they are, I definitely think they're vampires. Otherwise they would've come in by now. If they are collectors, there'd be no strategic advantage to just standing outside like that.
"Oooh, is that how you're making the boss his money? You've become a pimp."
What?
"Hey, watch it."
Faith gets into a defensive position.
"Besides, we're not his girls, we're his security."
Wait... security? When did we decide that?
My fellow slayer starts walking towards the door in a predatory way.
"So don't mess with Pat... or you'll regret it."
Okay, I guess we're doing this.
"Firecracker, what are you doing?"
I mirror her movements.
"You actually expect us to believe you hired two little girls as your protection?"
"And you want us to be scared? Wow, you must really be desperate."
Faith's stance shifts to an attack position.
Oh crap...
"How about a demonstration?"
"Firecracker..."
In a split second, she rushes through the door, knocking her dad out of the way as she attacks one of them while grabbing the other by the throat. To counter, I move to cushion her father as he's stumbling backwards. Once he's okay, I turn my attention to what's going on just outside the door. Faith is lifting the vampire off his feet with one hand on his throat. He speaks while being choked.
"Slayer..."
"You don't come around here anymore.Go back to your boss and tell him that this man's debt is paid. If any of you even try to come back, I'll hunt you and anyone you know down until all of you are dead. Do you understand?"
I guess this is what Faith meant about her going off the rails.
She crushes his windpipe a little more.
"Tell me you understand."
"I-I-.... un-... derstand..."
As soon as he says it, she tosses him onto his friend in a heap. They scramble to leave and quickly do under the obviously scary expression of my ex. When they've gone, she turns to us with a smile.
"Glad that's taken care of."
She walks back into the apartment. Before I can say anything, her father speaks up.
"What just happened?"
"I took care of things for you dad."
He gets an angry look on his face.
Can't say I blame him. But this could be really bad.
"You didn't take care of anything."
She faces him, angry.
"What?"
"They're just going to come back as soon as you leave. You screwed things up for me big time."
Her anger goes to a worse place as she moves closer to him.
"I... screwed things up for you?"
Okay, this is definitely a problem.
"I SCREWED things up FOR YOU?"
I see Faith's hands clench into fists.
Whoa, okay...
Just when she's about to attack, I put myself between her and her father.
"Faith, you don't want to do that."
"Why the hell not?"
"Because you asked me to."
She stops looking at her father long enough to focus on me.
"You asked me to let you know when you go too far. So listen to me..."
I put my hands on her shoulders. The tension in them is obvious.
"You're about to cross a serious line."
She stares back at me for a long time, but eventually she calms down.
Thank god...
"I'm sorry... I... don't know what I was thinking."
I let her go when the tension in her shoulders goes away. Faith steps back and turns her attention to her father.
"I'm sorry dad."
He doesn't speak upright away.
"What just happened?"
"I... got a little carried away. I shouldn't have done what I did."
Again her father doesn't say anything for a second.
"Well, I'm more trying to understand HOW it happened. How did you pick that guy up like that?"
We look at each other.
This wasn't one of the things we talked about. We didn't think it would come up. Then again, we didn't expect to have those two show up like that either.
She does her best to explain it.
"Remember... what we said about, being in crisis management? Not every crisis ends in the best way. Sometimes, we have to do more than just talk someone down."
"So... you're like... trained in martial arts or something?"
That's as good an explanation as any.
"Basically, yeah..."
"Oh... was that part of your training?"
Faith takes a deep breath.
"No, that was... me overreacting. It was mostly just instinct I guess... to protect you."
Silence falls between the three of us before he says anything.
"Thank you firecracker. It means a lot to me that you still care enough to do that for me. I know I haven't done anything to deserve it. But thank you. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to fix this."
Maybe I should ask...
"How much do you owe?"
He waves off the question.
"It doesn't matter. This isn't your problem."
Faith gets there before I do.
"That much huh?"
He tries to put on a firm expression.
"Like I said, this isn't your problem."
Actually...
"It kinda is. I mean, we're the ones who made it worse. It's only fair that we try to fix our mistake."
And maybe take out some vamps if they're pulling some kinda scam.
"Buffy's right. It's the least we can do. How much is it?"
He takes a pretty defeated breath.
"20Gs."
Wow...
"That's a lot of money."
"Which is why I didn't want to get you involved. I don't even want to think about what we'd have to do in order to pay it off."
Faith says it before I can.
"It might not be that much actually."
He gives us a confused look.
"Do you have that kind of money?"
We glance at each other.
"No..."
"Then how..."
"Just, trust us dad. We know what to do."
At least I hope we do.
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