Holiday Request Ficlet #19: Sometimes, It's a Life

[viciouswishes]

Title: Sometimes, It's a Life
Author: viciouswishes
For: nikitangel
Fandom: Buffyverse
Pairing: none, Faith
Rating: G
Setting: Post-"Amends"
Words: 200
Prompt: Faith and something we didn't see during the episode "Amends"
Summary: Faith spends her time waiting for Buffy.

Faith ate her pancakes, drenched in syrup as she and Joyce waited for Buffy. They'd been waiting for Buffy all night, having at one point both fell asleep on the couch watching It's a Wonderful Life. The freaky snow was still wigging her out, because in California, it didn't snow. One of what she considered the few perks of Sunnydale.

Besides, the snow looked funny. Like it was fake or something. Faith stabbed her last pancake.

There were Santa presents under the tree. For Faith, for Buffy, and for most of the Scoobies. Giles' name was suspiciously absent, but she couldn't imagine him giving into the idea of pretending to believe in Santa. Unless she and Buffy were sent out to kill a fat man in a red suit.

Joyce busied cooking and Faith wanted to help out. But she just thought of the time she'd almost burned down an apartment when cooking a potato in the microwave and of her own mother yelling. So instead, she smiled when Joyce came to get the dirty dishes and Faith went into the living room to watch TV. Maybe Joyce would join her if she put a Law & Order marathon.

Comments

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

What a nice, normal moment for Faith vene if she's worried about screwing up. (And fake snow - hee.)

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

Thank you. (I had to throw something about the horrid fake snow, because omg, it was like no one on the set had ever seen snow.)

[thedeadparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee. Being sent out to kill a fat man in a red suit.

I really like the domesticity of this, mostly because it's Faith, and she doesn't really get to have a lot of these tranquil, almost normal moments.

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

Faith's just a little cynical about Santa. ;)

Thank you. I'm glad that the quiet moment worked for you.

[nikitangel.livejournal.com]

Aw, I really like this. Especially her noticing that the snow looked fake! She'd be the only one of them to really know. And her not knowing how to handle helping Joyce really resonated. Thank you so much!

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I'm so glad that you liked it and that the senario worked for you. *g*

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered what went on that night -- Faith and Joyce seem (in retrospect) so unlikely to be able to 'hang out' for that much time.

I always thought Faith would have become too fidgety and impatient and bored by then, and just left, but her loneliness is also powerful, so staying (esp. to wait for Buffy!) is more plausible than I thought.

I like the bits of humor, her speculation over Giles and Santa. Damn.

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

When I sat down to write this, I did consider doing a Faith leaves and then has some fun on her own spin. But I considered that in winter, by the time the sun rose (when it started to snow) that it was like 8 a.m. or close to and that Faith was still there. So I'm glad that I made the transistion work for you emotionally, not just time-based. :)

Thanks!

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

This is why so much fanfic works around this time in the series -- there were some weeks/months when she wanted to still be there, if you know what I mean. Later she became way more closed off and cynical, as did Buffy.

[sweptawaybayou.livejournal.com]

i love how you get right inside the character's head and put us there.

Really enjoyed reading this.

:)

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon. I'm glad that you enjoyed it. :)

[sheepfairy.livejournal.com]

Oh, nifty. I like the softness of this, and the things about Giles and the snow are nice touches.

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm glad that those things all worked for you to make Faith's world a little softer. (Now that this sounds like a bad tissue commercial.)

Re: here via nikitangel's LJ

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm so glad that you enjoyed it!

[empressvesica.livejournal.com]

Lovely. If only Faith had more of these moments...

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Yes, some balance in canon would've been lovely. :)

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

Such a sweet, quiet little scene for Faith.

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it. :)