Faith
Faith and Angel had been in the basement sparring. Half sparring, half talking, until Angel had suggested they go into his room to talk. So that's where they ended up, both figuring that Gwen and Gunn were gonna be awhile, considering all the issues they were working through.
Faith lay on his couch while Angel sat in the armchair across from her.
"So, Zac's ok?"
"Yeah... I mean, physically, yeah, he'll be ok. I don't know about everything else though."
"Has he... told you what happened yet?"
"No. I haven't had a huge chance to catch up with him, and he's with his family at the moment. Which is good... he hasn't spent a great deal of time with them lately, I guess... which is my fault."
"Faith."
"I don't mean that in a bad way, I just meant that I feel kinda bad for monopolising his time and ok, what if he hates me for not finding him, and for not rescueing him?"w,
"Does matter that you didn't find him? I thought all that matters was that he's back and ok."
Faith paused. She bit her lip. "I just... sometimes it seems like a sign that things won't work out for us. I know that things get worse before they get better, but sometimes this feels like a worse that is too big."
"Have you told him this?"
Faith's dark eyes filled up and she blinked, causing tears to cascade down her face like a waterfall. "I want to be with him, Angel. That's what I want... but I don't know... isn't it my fault that he was taken? The stalker was trying to break us up and..."
"And if it hadn't been for your love, he might've given up. But he held on... and he's still alive. And so are you. So isn't that something to be thankful for?"
Faith shrugged. She took a deep breath before answering. "I wanted to kill her."
"The girl."
"Yeah. I wanted to so badly. When she was in my house, in MY clothes... I felt..."
"What it was like."
"To be on the other side. When I did that to B. When I went into her life, and caused trouble. So... do I deserve what happened as payback... and if so, why did Zac get dragged into it? He's the one thing in my life that keeps me alive."
"Faith, you're working for redemption... and it's working. Doesn't it prove that? You didn't kill her, sure you wanted to, and maybe a part of you is always going to get that urge... it's what makes you the Slayer. But you didn't kill her."
"Bully for me."
"What's really the problem here?"
"I guess I'm just afraid of losing Zac. Again. We've been torn apart too many times, and this last time... I realised that I can't live without him."
Angel didn't answer, but Faith didn't really expect him to. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Angel turned and looked her in the eyes. She nodded and took another deep breath.
"I guess, yeah. I'm both happy and sad at the same time and I'm still trying to work out how that could be."
Angel and Faith both relaxed in their seats for another hour before going back down to the lobby to wait for Gwen and Gunn.