Priestly stood a few metres away, concealed partly by the shadows of the tree he stood under. He'd snuck out to watch Faith patrol, or whatever it was she had called it, even though Sam had insisted he stay under his supervision. He shook his head slightly, then refocused on the scene in front of him. He watched Faith stake a vampire, and then he took a step forward, once he was sure she was done.
"So that's what you do?" he asked, giving her a timid smile when she looked at him.
Faith nodded, completely unsurprised by his sudden appearance. "Partly. It's more complicated these days, what with more demons and different breeds of vampires popping up all over the place. That, and the Slayer virus that wiped a whole heap of us out... "
Priestly walked alongside his mother, glancing at her every so often. He was silent for a long moment, trying to find the right words to say what he wanted to say to her.
"How come you don't hate me?" he finally asked. "I mean, Sam hates me."
Faith stopped walking and faced him. She shrugged. "I've noticed you're not too fond of Sam yourself."
Priestly ignored her and pressed the other issue. "But you don't hate me. Why?"
She was quiet for a moment, and then she sighed, tucking some hair behind her ears. "Maybe because I understand you more than they do."
"Because you're my Mom?" he asked, sounding a little confused.
Faith let out a chuckle. "No. Well, maybe that's part of it, but mostly because I've been there. We're not so different, you and I."
"What do you mean?"
"It seems like forever ago now, but really it wasn't... did Ty tell you about what I did? Why I was in jail?"
Priestly nodded slowly. "He said you killed people. You were evil."
She sighed. "About that, he's probably not all that wrong. Look, I'm not perfect, I don't claim to be. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life and I trusted the wrong people. The wrong person, really."
"Go on," he said, after she had been quiet for a little while.
"I can't make excuses for myself," Faith told him. "And I won't. But I lived my life without any real family, and he offered me that. I knew that he wasn't good, but he was good to me. For the first time in my – then – crappy sixteen years of existence, I found someone who treated me like I was important. Like he cared. And so, I followed him blindly. Without question. Because I needed to feel like I belonged somewhere. To someone."
Priestly chewed on his bottom lip, his eyes lowered to the ground.
"So I get it," she went on. "I get what it's like to believe in someone so implicitly, to do whatever they ask without question, no matter how wrong they are. But, Priestly, you have a choice. You have a choice to walk away and do what you know is right, deep down. You're not a killer. I can tell just by looking at you."
"How do you know?" his voice cracked slightly.
Faith smiled, and touched his arm gently. "Because you're our son. Because you were taken away from us as a baby, and you didn't have a say in what happened. But now you do. You have a choice now. I can't force you to stay with us. I can't tell you what to do, because you have to want to do it. You have to make these decisions for your life. And I'll help you. I'll always help you, no matter what you choose. Even if you choose to leave now. But I want it to be your choice. Because that is what separates us from the soulless, Priestly. Choices."
"I don't hate you, you know," Priestly said after a minute. "And I don't think you're evil."
She nodded. "I know."
He returned his gaze to the ground. "If it's not too difficult for you... could you tell me about my sisters?"