Faith nervously drummed a fingernail on the payphone as she waited. The sound of the telephone at the other end echoed down the line and she began to give up hope. The tiny telephone room was stuffy and hot, there were no chairs in it and she could feel the eyes of the guards on her through the tiny window in the door. Finally, she heard a click as the receiver at the other end was picked up and then Buffy's voice crackled down the line.
"Hello?"
"B?" Not that she needed to ask; that voice was imprinted on her memory. But it seemed to work last time.
"Faith?"
"The one and only."
"Oh." She could hear the other Slayer breathing quietly down the line. "How are you?"
"Not bad. Staying out of trouble, that kinda thing."
"That's good."
"And you?"
She heard Buffy chuckle, a sound that was not full of happiness. "I'm fine. Not much going on here."
"Yeah?"
"You know, vampires, demons, dead magic shop owners - nothing much changes in good old Sunnydale. I don't know why Giles would want to own a magic shop - didn't what happened to the last owner make any impression? And what's with Harmony anyway? As vampires go she's pathetic, but she still comes after my family. Has she got no sense at all?"
Faith blinked. When B vented, she really knew how to vent. "I'm gonna take a wild stab and guess that Harmony is a vampire with ambitions."
"Thinking of joining up with her?"
The dark Slayer winced. Even at her lowest, there had been standards. She squelched the thought; she was trying for redemption, so justifying her past, even to herself, was not allowed.
"No, just trying to make sense of the babble," she replied absently.
"I babble?"
Faith winced again. Pissing off Buffy was not the way to gain her forgiveness and certainly not the way to rebuild a friendship.
"Not bad babble - good babble. Sometimes. Uh, so, B, Giles has a magic shop?"
There was silence at the other end and the Slayer could imagine Buffy frowning at the telephone, debating how much to say and why she had not slammed the handset down yet.
"Yeah," she said eventually. "I think he was feeling useless last year, so I guess there's a reason for it. But still - buying a shop from a guy who got killed because he owned it?"
"B, he's a guy. They have to be doing something that makes them feel useful, not matter how stupid, or they whither and die. It's the way the world works."
"Don't I know it."
Sometimes, Faith reflected, Buffy was just too serious about everything. Not that she did better - her fun was what landed her here in the first place - but still...maybe B could do with lightening up sometimes.
"How...is...is everything ok where you are?" Buffy asked, hesitantly. "Not that I'm concerned, you understand...I just wondered..."
"I'm in prison, B, not the best place in the world. But it was my idea so I'm not looking to escape." Faith grinned wryly. "You're trying to decide why you're still talking to me, aren't you?"
"How'd you guess?"
"I know you."
"You know me that well?"
"I know you well enough to know that right now you're probably pacing around your room, packing up your supplies for patrol and trying to decide which shirt you want to ruin tonight."
There was a long moment of silence and the dark Slayer grinned as imagined Buffy's 'caught in the act' expression. Really, she was too easy to get sometimes.
"Maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm...uh...doing my nails?" Faith chuckled at Buffy's lame attempt at lying. "Yeah, that's right, I'm doing my nails. Definitely no patrol tonight."
"And I'm Mother Theresa," Faith snorted. "B, give it up. I know you too well."
"Why am I listening to you?"
"I don't know. Tell you the truth, I was kinda surprised you didn't slam the phone down last time."
"So was I."
"But we've managed to talk for a couple of minutes without shouting. That's gotta be an improvement."
"That's only because I don't know where to start yelling."
The guard's face appeared at the tiny window in the door and, from the glare Faith received, she gathered it was time to wind up the call.
"I'd love to carry on chatting but I think I'm wanted elsewhere."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. You know prisons - start to look like you're enjoying yourself and they feel they aren't doing their job right. I got a meeting with the counsellor in a few."
"Oh."
"So I'll get going then."
"Ok."
"You never know, maybe I'll call again. You still haven't said all the things you want to say to me."
"I haven't?"
"Come on, B, after everything I did you've gotta have some serious ranting bottled up inside you." Faith could easily imagine the other Slayer's shrug, and the way she was probably fiddling with her shirtsleeve as she tried not to admit how right she was. "Don't worry - you'll get your chance. But I have to go now. Don't want to piss off the nice guard out there."
"Ok."
"Bye."
"Take care of yourself."
The telephone immediately went dead in her ear and Faith grinned, obscurely pleased that B had forgotten herself enough to actually wish her well. Maybe things weren't past salvaging after all.
*finis*