Ty put his hand to the broken payphone, closing his eyes as he focused his power on fixing the machine. He dialled Faith's number as soon as he got a dialtone, and waited for her to pick up.
The kid, or Priestly, as he'd come to calling him, was sleeping - for once - in the baby carrier on his chest.
~*~*~*~
Faith was woken up by the ringing of her cell phone, and she groped for it in the dark. She squinted at the screen, sleep filled eyes unable to see properly, before lifting it to her ear.
"Hello?" she murmured.
"Hello Faith," Ty said pleasantly, disguising his own voice.
Faith sat up straight. "You have him, don't you?"
"Do you mean little Priestly?" Ty asked. "If so, then yes."
"You son of a bitch."
A truck beeped as it drove past Ty and he cursed inwardly as Priestly woke up, greeting him with screams and cries.
Faith's hand flew to her mouth as she listened.
"Give me back my son," she seethed.
"Do you want to talk to him?" Ty taunted.
He held the phone against Priestly's ear and the baby screamed again.
"Oh my God," she whispered.
At the sound of Faith's voice, Priestly instantly calmed, the tears stopping abruptly and Ty looked at him in wonder.
Priestly gurgled happily as Faith spoke again. "Hey kiddo. We're gonna get you out of this real soon, k?"
Ty slipped the phone back against his ear. "'Fraid not, sweetheart. Stop following us."
And with that, he hung up.
"No!" Faith yelled. "You bastard."
Sam & Dean
Sam shot up in bed at Faith's yelling, Dean barely managng to push himself up and slit his eyes open.
"Faith? What is it?" Sam breathed.
Faith
"He just called," Faith said, still staring at the phone in her hand.
"Told me to stop following them."
Dean
"What? Who?" Dean's voice cracked.
Faith
"Whoever took... the kid."
Faith frowned and tried to call the number back, only to be greeted by a mechanical voice informing her that the payphone was broken.
"Who has named him, by the way."
Sam & Dean
Sam gulped as Dean sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Could you get any take on who he was?" Sam asked.
Faith
Faith shook her head.
"No, he was disguising his voice."
She fell silent, and after a minute, she was horrified to realise that she was crying.
Sam
"Hey, hey," Sam slipped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into him.
"It's ok. We're not gonna stop. Don't think we will," he insisted calmly.
Faith
Faith shook her head slightly.
"No, it's not... you wouldn't understand. It's nothing."
Sam
"I wouldn't understand?" Sam's eyebrows rose, obvously rather offended.
Faith
"That's not what I..."
Faith rubbed at her eyes.
"It's just... I heard him, Sam. And I know we didn't want him or anything, but I heard him. He's a person now. And he was crying and..."
She had to stop again, because the crying had overtaken.
Dean & Sam
"He's not a person," Dean said sternly, "he never was, and never will be. He's just another damn creature of evil that needs to be put down."
Sam glared at him for going on the attack while Faith was obviously upset.
Faith
Faith shook her head again, covering her face with her hands.
"Nevermind," she said quietly.
Dean
"How soon can we contact the professor again?" Dean asked.
Faith
"He'll contact us when something changes."
Faith sniffed, then took a deep breath.
Dean & Sam
"Yeah but how often is he checking?" Dean pointed out.
"Let's just leave it for tonight," Sam said calmly, "we're not thinking straight. We'll start early tomorrow and hit the road and canvas if we have to."
Faith
Faith lay back against the pillows, rolling over to face away from Sam.
"Yeah. Let's do that."
Dean & Sam
"Fine," Dean grumbled, falling back into bed and pulling the covers over himself.
Sam watched both of them for a moment, before facing in to Faith and laying down beside her.
"We'll find him," he whispered.
Faith
Faith nodded and reached for Sam's hand before closing her eyes.