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 look up at Faith as she sits in a chair next to her father, a needle in her arm for the IV that's attached, slowly feeding her father blood.
I came with her to try and help but I haven't really done much of it at all. I didn't help her when she attacked those thugs. I didn't help when we went over to see the guy Faith's father owes money to. And now I can't help with the fact that she's hooked up to an IV giving him blood. Despite all my attempts to do something, it hasn't really worked out in any serious way. It's all just going so incredibly wrong. She might as well just tell me to go home and deal with this on her own, for all the help I've been to her.
But she keeps saying that she needs someone to help her through it. And she wants me to be that person for her. How can I say no to that? After everything we've been through, there isn't really anything that I would deny her if she asked. She means too much to me for me not to. Which is still a weird feeling in a lot of ways. To feel so close to someone but also kinda separated from them at the same time. Maybe that's why I feel so useless all the time. Because I can't figure out a way to be in this weird space with her.
Now is not the time to be figuring this out though. We're both going through stuff and if there's anything we've learned from what's happened between us, it's that neither of us makes the best decisions when life is intense like this. If we don't, we might not really help each other with all this. And that could only end up so much worse. Especially with the way things are going with these supernatural mobsters or whatever they are.
They feel like they might be a little more dangerous than we thought. If the way they reacted to us threatening them is any indication. He just brushed us off like we were barely even there. And they knew who we were. Or at least whoever it was that Faith beat up to save her father did. It's a bad idea to think that they didn't know who we were when we attacked him in his office. I'm worried that if we can't make them afraid, we're going to have to go even further and that could be terrible.
Faith slumps forward a little but catches herself.
Whoa...
I rush to her side.
"Faith? You okay?"
"I'm good B... you don't have to worry about me."
"Except you're falling over. You need to take a break."
"I'm okay... I can handle it."
She's trying way too hard.
"You're not invincible Faith. Stop trying to act like you are. Take a break."
She watches me for a second, trying to figure out how serious I am. Then she takes a breath.
"Maybe you're right."
That's something at least.
"I'll go get the nurse."
I get up and head for the door. Just as I do, there's a groan from her father's hospital bed.
Is he...
Turning back, I see Faith jump to her feet and nearly fall over.
He throws his arm out, hitting a railing and putting a dent into it.
Wait... that doesn't look right.
Eventually, he opens his eyes, looks around and sees us, kinda confused.
"Faith?"
She smiles at his question.
"Yeah dad, it's me. You're in the hospital. They beat you up pretty badly."
He looks around, confused.
"I... they... their faces..."
Faces? Did they vamp out in front of him?
"What about them? What did you see?"
He puts a hand on his forehead as he shakes it off.
"It... I'm sure I was imagining things."
Faith glances over at me, and I nod.
I know where she's going with this.
"Whatever it is, you can tell us."
There's a long silence where he doesn't say anything.
"They looked like... monsters..."
We should probably ask.
"Bad teeth? Bumpy forehead?"
He looks at me with confusion, then at Faith.
"Did they attack you too?"
"No, dad... we... we've dealt with people like this before."
"Do you owe them money? Is that why you came to see me? To pay them off?"
"No... we..."
Maybe I should try this.
"We've had clients that have. A few of the people they owed used the same kind of... monsters."
He watches us for awhile to make sure we're really serious.
"What did you do?"
Faith decides to be as vague as she can.
"We... resolved the conflict. It's how we got the training we did. We couldn't be safe if we didn't know how to fight back. But... we didn't think they would come after you this soon. And it almost got you killed. I'm sorry."
My ex's father looks down at his feet for a moment, taking a deep breath.
"It's not your fault firecracker. It's mine. If I hadn't had to borrow the money, I wouldn't be in the hospital right now."
He shifts his focus to Faith.
"You wouldn't have to see me like this. As a total failure."
They stare at each other a while.
He feels like a failure, just like Faith does. It makes a certain kind of sense.
She reaches out and take her father's hand.
"We'll fix it dad... I promise. But right now, we just have to focus on you getting better."
I put my hand on Faith's shoulder. She looks at me and smiles.
We'll find a way to do something. I know we will.
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