Mothers (girlxgirl) (Book 3)

A Mother's Love

Buffy's POV

I walk straight into my mom's hospital room, stopping a few feet from her. She's being tended to by a nurse, but I don't care.

"How could you?"

Mom looks up at me, she doesn't say anything.

"After what she did?"

My mom looks at the nurse for a second.

"Nurse, would you give us a few minutes?"

She glances at me and then at my mother.

"Sure..."

The nurse leaves.

"How could you call Faith? How could you ask her to come here and not tell me?"

She takes a deep breath.

"I didn't tell you because I wasn't sure you'd let her come."

"You're damn right I wouldn't have let her come here. She KILLED DAWN!"

Mom just looks at me for a minute.

"Yes, she did. But that doesn't change the fact that I need to speak with her."

"Why? What could you have to talk to her about?"

Mom's eyes drift down to her feet.

Oh my god, is she?

"You're going to forgive her? After she killed your daughter?"

"No I..."

"Would you forgive her if she had killed me? What if I had been on that tower and she had pushed ME? Would you have forgiven her THEN too?"

"BUFFY ANNE SUMMERS! You listen here..."

I stop talking and listen to my mother.

"I didn't say anything about forgiving her. You're angry and you're jumping to conclusions. Now calm down and let me explain."

What the hell am I doing? I'm yelling at my sick mother.

I run a hand through my hair.

"I, I'm sorry... I don't know what's wrong with me."

"I have no intention of forgiving Faith. What she did was wrong, and nothing she can say or do will change that. But as I've told you before, love isn't always about forgiveness. And as hard as this may be for you to accept, I still love Faith like she were my own daughter."

"But what she did..."

"Was wrong, I've already said that Buffy. But have you forgotten about what happened with Ted?"

What?

I'm not really sure what she's trying to say so I just keep quiet.

"My ex-boyfriend... Ted? You killed him, remember?"

"He, he was a robot..."

"Did you know that when you hit him and knocked him down the stairs?"

"N-no..."

"I didn't find out until over a year later. Up until he showed up out of the blue the day after, I was completely convinced that you had killed the man I was in love with. But I knew even before that, even though you had killed him that I would do everything in my power to keep you from going to jail for it, because you were my daughter and I loved you. I know that the situations are different in a lot of ways. Dawn was incredibly unique, something I knew from the moment I held her in my arms after she was born. And I know that Dawn meant just as much to me as she did to you. But on a basic level, the situations are the same. You killed someone that I loved deeply, no matter how it came about, and Faith killed someone you loved deeply. Believe me... I understand what you're going through. But I came to a decision a long time ago that I loved my daughters unconditionally, and Faith as far as I'm concerned is still my daughter. Nothing either of you could ever do could change how I feel about the both of you. Not even what Faith did to Dawn can change it. I need Faith to know that in case something happens to me."