Faith opened the door to the motel after patrolling, heading straight to the bathroom without greeting the other occupants of the room.
She winced at the cut on her forehead, studying it intently in the mirror, trying to gauge how deep it actually was.
Sam & Dean
Sam watched her pass as Dean got a phone call, flipping his phone open and putting it to his ear.
"Yeah? Hey Jonas! Yeah I know, we got the call... two days ago?" Dean looked at Sam for confirmation, who shrugged.
"Yeah sure. What, right now? Where are you? ... Oh ok. Yeah I'll be there. Bye."
He hung up and Sam's eyebrows rose.
"Jonas is at Townie's right now. Somehing about that poltergeist thing Bobby called us about?" he frowned.
"Don't worry, go," Sam nodded, "I'll stay here with Faith."
"Yeah I thought you might," Dean got up from the bed and grabbed his gun, "you two have to kiss and make up eventually."
"Whatever," Sam shrugged, "say hi to Daphne if she's there."
"Will do," Dean saluted, "SEE YA FAITH!" he called on his way out the door.
Faith
A half hearted "see ya" came from the bathroom, before the shower started running.
Faith undressed and hopped under the water, letting the dirt from the night's patrol wash off her body. She closed her eyes, tilting her head back under the spray and tried to relax.
Eventually, she and Sam were probably going to have to talk. She'd been a bit shut off since the other night...
Sam & Ruby
Sam meanwhile, got his own phone call.
"Hello?"
"Heya Sam," came Ruby's voice, "you able to get out tonight?"
"Not really, Dean's taken off on a job and I'm here with Faith."
"Oh, fine," Ruby sounded haughty, "you know, because the fate of the wolrd rests on your sex life."
"Ruby I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you tomorrow."
"You'd better. Because I'm coming whether you're ready or not."
The line went dead.
Sam stared at the phone for a moment, then sighed and put it away.
Faith
Faith dried herself off, and wrapped a towel around her body before walking back out to the bedroom, somewhat hesitant to be alone with Sam.
She really didn't want to actually have to talk about anything complex tonight. Maybe she could just sleep with him and he'd forget there was tension.
She gingerly touched the cut on her face again, as the other hand reached for clothes.
Sam
"Hey," Sam greeted as she walked in.
"So ah... Dean got called out to take care of a poltergeist thing. And considering the company I'm not sure he'll be back at all tonight," he informed her.
Faith
"Oh, ok."
Faith dropped the towel and dressed in a fresh singlet and sweatpants.
"So we have the place to ourselves? Cool."
She sat down on the opposite bed from Sam, using the towel to scrunch her hair dry.
Sam
"Unless you want me to look up something to hunt," Sam shrugged, "or we could go out for dinner."
Faith
Yeah," Faith said absently, pulling her attention away from her hair drying for a second.
"Dinner maybe. I'm not in the mood for fighting again."
Boy was she not in the mood for fighting.
Sam
Sam nodded, feeling the tension hit him like a block a wood suddenly.
He took out his phone to call the service desk, but hesitated.
"Faith?" he began, not sure how to continue.
Faith
Faith got up while he was busy with his phone, and headed for the bathroom to hang her towel up.
"Yeah?" she said, coming back out, forcing her tone back to casual. "What's up?"
Sam
Sam took a deep breath, finding it hard to look her in the eye.
"You are," he said finally.
Faith
"I'm up? Oook."
Faith looked at him, eyes oddly cold and distant.
Sam
"Faith don't do this," Sam pleaded.
"Tell me what's wrong."
Faith
Faith closed her eyes for a moment, unnerved by his tone, but when she reopened them, they had a little more warmth.
"Nothing's wrong."
Sam
"Don't lie to me," Sam stared her down.
Faith
"I'm fine, it's fine. Everything is fine."
Faith sat down across from him again.
She avoided looking in his direction.
Sam
"Don't lie to me," Sam's voice rose.
Faith
Faith sighed slightly, glancing up at him, face suddenly very tired.
"Fine."
Sam
Sam sat back on the bed, waiting.
Faith
Faith turned away, reaching for her bag.
"I really don't know what you expect from me right now."
Sam
"I don't expect anything," Sam frowned, confused.
Faith
Faith's eyes widened slightly.
"What?"
Sam
"Faith, you're confusing me," Sam said dejectedly.
"I've never asked you to be more than yourself. What else could I possibly want from you?"
Faith
Faith shook her head as if to clear it.
"It's nothing. Honestly. Oz just put something in my head and it confused me. It's ok."
Sam
Sam's jaw jutted as he grew more annoyed.
"Obviously it's not ok it's meant you haven't spoken to me properly in days," he pointed out.
Faith
"I'm sorry I'm not like other girls," Faith retorted. "I don't sit down and do the talking about feelings every day thing. I just don't."
She rubbed her nose.
"I don't know what you want!"
Sam
Sam closed his eyes for a moment, knowing he was going to regret this.
"Tell me why you've been distant these few days," he demanded both telepathically and verbally, standing from the bed as he did so.
Faith
"I can't compete with your ghosts, Sam," Faith blurted out, then raised a hand to cover her mouth.
A betrayed look crossed through her eyes and she stood, punching Sam in the face with a powerful right hook.
Sam
Sam recoiled from the blow, holding his face. After a while he nodded, knowing he'd deserved it.
"I'm sorry," he apologised, eyes to the floor.
Faith
"Don't do that again," Faith said quietly.
She sat back down.
Sam
Sam breathed heavily, not letting his eyes water.
"Jess and Madison are gone," he said after a long moment of silence, his voice wavering slightly.
"And they're not coming back. I know that. I shouldn't have come back. But now that I have, you're the only one I care about that way."
He stared at the wall and sat on the bed again, not even able to look in her direction let alone at her.
"But if you can't deal with the fact that I still mourn them, then we're going to have some serious problems. You don't just get over people like that. People that made such a difference - had such a positive influence - in a life like mine. If you can't handle that..."
He let his voice trail off as he rubbed his eyes.
Faith
"You don't get it," Faith told him softly.
"You don't get me. That's not my... you just... I need you to stop."
She looked at the ground.
"Stop being so... I don't know what you want from me. You say it's nothing, but it can't be nothing. No one wants nothing from someone else. You don't know what it's like on this side."
Sam
"No, I don't. Because you won't tell me," Sam hit back, looking up at her with red eyes.
"Relationships aren't tit for tat Faith. I don't love you because I want to sleep with you, I love you because I love your mentality. I like you for you. And what could you possibly have that I would want? We're not material people."
Faith
"Stop saying that!" Faith said, looking away from him.
She took a deep breath.
"There's so much about me that you don't understand because you weren't there, Sam. We didn't know each other back then, and you can't hear about it from Wes, from Angel, and know what happened. I can't make you understand it. I can't make you see what this side is like, where nothing is in control and nothing makes sense. There's just pain and hate and nothing you do means anything."
Sam
Sam paused, looked away, then looked up at her.
"If nothing I do means anything, then why are you still here with us?" he asked simply.
Faith
"I can fix that."
Faith's jaw tightened and she stood, starting to throw her things into her bag.
Sam
As she made for the door, Sam took a deep breath and cringed.
"Stop," he demanded, unfairly using his powers again to control her movements instead of speech.
"You're not leaving until we tie this up. Talk to me."
Faith
"Don't," Faith said, her voice dangerous.
She looked at him, eyes blazing.
"Am I your prisoner here?"
Sam
Sam held her gaze, then looked away.
"No," he denied, "but the lengths I have to go to just to get conversation out of you these days makes me feel like a warden."
Faith
"I'm not a talker, you knew that when you signed up for this."
Faith shook her head.
Sam
"I know," Sam nodded.
"But I didn't think the relationship would suddenly end without me knowing what went wrong, either."
Faith
"That's probably what Zac thought," Faith muttered.
She turned away from Sam.
Sam
"I guess I shouldn't have hoped for anything more," Sam scoffed.
Faith
"Don't make me out to be the bad guy," Faith said, glaring at him.
"Because you don't know what happened in that relationship. So sometimes I have a hard time trusting people, because I do and then it just ends. It just goes badly."
Sam
"Right," Sam couldn't help but laugh.
"So I'm the bad guy then. When I don't know what's going on. That makes sense."
Faith
"I never said you were the bad guy," Faith said, looking over at him.
In an instant, her eyes were hard again, no sign of any earlier emotion.
"Maybe this was a mistake."
Her fingers traced across the tattoo on her arm.
"Maybe he was wrong."
Sam
"Maybe 'he' was," Sam stood from the bed.
He was fed up with her secrets for the night, and couldn't be bothered fighting anymore.
"If you want to go, go. But don't come back."
He gave her a glance, then disappeared into the bathroom. He half hoped Ruby would show up and take him away for the night.
Faith
Faith glanced towards the bathroom, then slung her bag over her shoulder.
She opened the door to the motel, taking one last look around.
"Bye Sam."
She closed the door behind her.
Sam
Sam stared at himself in the mirror as he heard the door close, angry with himself.
This was xactly what he'd told Tru would happen. He took that step... and it was over. She'd freaked out.
He sniffed a little and rubbed his eye again, then dug his phone out of his pocket and dialled.
"Hey... Ruby? Let's go. Yeah, now."