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CHAPTER 29: Support in rough times



“Be nice to prison boys,” Faith snickered after taking a vicious bite out of her double chocolate doughnut. “Offer them a midnight gathering in the cafeteria with half-decent food to celebrate New Year, and they turn it into something bloody. I mean, Devon was no angel, but he still didn’t deserve this. It could have been me, you know?”

“No Faith, it wouldn’t have been you. The only reason it happened to him is because Devon never respected the prisoners and by acting the way he did, he made himself a main target for their anger.” Willow said while blowing on the steam rising from her cup of coffee. The week’s events had left her usually perky voice flat and lifeless, and her tired green eyes didn‘t have their familiar spark.

Buffy remained silent, staring pensively out the window of the coffee shop at the passerbys. The Espresso Pump was bursting with activity, crammed with loud and cheery people, but the happy atmosphere wasn’t nearly enough to chase away the gloom at the table by the window. Willow, Faith and herself had stopped for comfort food and coffees after the guard’s funeral, hoping to calm their raging emotions. They had asked Giles to come with them, but he had declined saying that a stiff drink was waiting for him at home.

The past week had been hell for all the prison staff. It had been even harder on Buffy. The warden had been the one to contact Devon’s family to tell them the gruesome new, then she’d spent the week going back and forth between Sunnydale and L.A. to hand out reports, talk in front of an assembly of men in suits who looked at her as if she was the cause of the guard’s death, and sign paperwork. She was emotionally drained.

“It wouldn’t have happened to you.” The redhead continued, trying to sooth Faith‘s restless agitation and anger over New Year‘s drama. “You know how the guys respect you and how protective of you they can get. Remember when that new inmate tried to attack you?”

“Yeah, the poor dude got some major ass-whupping for that one.” Faith managed a small smile at the memory. “Good times.”

The brunette sighed heavily and they all remained silent for a moment, lost in their own not-so-happy thoughts.

“I know it happened at Donovan last month--a guard got stabbed in the yard--” Faith finally said, breaking the heavy silence. “But that’s something I never thought would happen in our neck of the woods. Things are always so quiet at SunnyD that it came as a shock. I always thought we ended up with all the fluffy puppies of the criminal world.”

Willow smiled slightly at the comment, but Buffy didn’t react. Faith gave Willow a meaningful look. Both women had noticed Buffy’s uncharacteristic silence and they were worried about her.

“B? Are you all right?”

It took a moment, but finally processing the fact that she was ‘B’ and therefore, she was the one Faith was talking to, she turned to look at her.

“I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“I said, are you all right? You haven’t said a word since we arrived here. You’re getting me all worried and I’m not used to caring. So spill before my brain explodes.”

Buffy took a sip of her now cold vanilla latte before answering. “Jim dandy. Why? Should I have a reason not to be on board the happy train?”

“Hey, sarcasm girl, chill. Excuse me for caring.” Faith snapped.

The blonde looked down, ashamed by her own attitude. “Sorry, Faith. I didn’t mean to sound like a bitch. It’s just…”

“Too much emotion for a week?” Willow provided helpfully.

“Yeah, that. It feels like I’m stuck in a tornado and it won’t let me go until I’m dizzy enough.”

“Not in Kansa anymore, Dorothy?” Faith smiled slightly.

“Nope. More like the mouth of Hell if you ask me. This week has been so intense and crazy that I can’t even think straight anymore. I can’t wait to get my life back. After hearing the news on TV, my mom left about ten messages on my answering machine, along with the other forty I had waiting, and I haven’t had time to call her back yet.”

“You’re mom worries about you?” Faith whistled. “Nice. You know, I’ve heard of mothers caring about their kids, but it never happened to me so I assumed that was fairytale bullshit.”

“I’m sure your mom understands, Buffy. And if she got it from the news, she probably knows you’re fine. They did say the victim was a male…” She looked at the two women sitting at the table with her. “Didn’t they? I think they did, but you can never be sure. Because if they didn’t, then that’d be of the bad. She could think…”

“They did, Willow.” Buffy interrupted before the redhead’s babbling got too out of hand. “Doesn’t matter though. She still worries about me and now, she’s going to worry even more. She knows the prison is a rough work environment. Hearing that a guard was killed at my prison isn’t gonna give her warm happy feelings. But that’s not why I’m so upset. The guy was under my protection. All of you are. And I let that happen to him. I should have prevented it.”

Faith snorted at that comment. “What’s with the super hero complex, girl? Give me a break… No one could have prevented this and you know that. The only way to avoid a riot would be to have the guys locked up 24/7. Things like that are bound to happen. Especially since they’re getting more clever every day when it comes to making weapons from scratch. If those damn bastards used their brains as much for studying as they use it to come up with new and interesting ways to hurt others, the prison would be full of doctors, lawyers and engineers.”

“That’d be interesting. We could turn the prison into a genius factory.” Willow added, her green eyes dancing with humor.

They all chuckled but their mirth died quickly. Buffy sighed.

“I feel like such a hypocrite. I mean… here I am, all upset, and I didn’t even like the guy. He devoted all his waking hours to talking behind my back and making sure that everybody hates me.”

“It’s normal you feel that way, Buffy. When someone dies, people usually spend hours saying nice things about that person and how they’re going to miss him. But Devon wasn’t really nice.”

“Did you know him well?” Buffy asked Willow.

Faith snorted and Buffy gave her curious look.

“What?” Then she jumped to the wrong conclusion and looking at the red head, her eyes widened in shock. “You didn’t sleep with him, did you?”

Faith burst out laughing and Willow turned red.

“God, NO!”

“Then why did you laugh, Faith?”

“Because it’s kinda funny how Will hated the guy’s guts, and yet, owes him her sappy romantic love story. It’s deliciously ironic… But I think Miss Smarty-pants should be the one to tell the story.”

Buffy looked at Willow expectantly.

“It’s no big deal, really. It’s just that--well--Devon used to be the front man for Dingoes Ate My Baby before they were known. He was a jerk, but one day, he came to work and invited everybody to his gig at The Bronze. I hated his guts, but you know me… I’m a softy. So when I found out no one was going, I decided to be nice and stop by. That’s how I met Oz. A few weeks later, the guys decided to kick Devon out of the band and Oz became the lead singer. After that, Devon started calling me Yoko. As if I had anything to do with him getting kicked out of the band” Willow pouted, obviously still upset.

Buffy didn’t know what to say. “Wow. That’s… wow. So I guess I’m not the only one with conflicted feelings here today?”

“Nope. Make that two of us.”

“Hey! What about me?” Faith huffed, annoyed at being left out. “I have conflicted feeling too you know.”

“That’s hardly front page news, Faith.” Buffy pointed out, a smirk on her face. The brunette narrowed her eyes threateningly, but didn’t answer.

“Did something happen with Devon?” Willow asked, unable to help her curiosity.

“You bet! I kicked his ass good and proper once. I had just started at SunnyD and Devon thought his seniority gave him the right to try the goods. He cornered me one night in the lunch room and tried to feel me up. Let’s just say he left the room with a nasty black eye and couldn’t sit for a week. I’m sure his balls where the size of grapefruits when I was done with him. Or maybe just regular size since he had very small ones to start with. ”

“And now that he’s dead, you’re feeling guilty about this?” Willow asked with a warm, compassionate smile.

Faith snickered. “As if. I just wanted to share a funny story to cheer you girls up.”

Willow rolled her eyes while Buffy tried in vain to suppress her laughter. But all the stress she had accumulated over the past week was suddenly too much for her and she started giggling madly. Her hilarity was contagious and it didn’t take long for the two other women to give in. Soon, they were all in hysterics with people at the tables around giving them strange looks.

When Buffy calmed down enough to speak, she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at her two friends.

“You do realize we’re nuts, right?”

“Speaking for myself, I’ve always been on the crazy side of the tracks so I’m not too worried. But I seriously think the last week would have turned anybody wacko. I‘m just shocked that we haven’t been trying on straight jackets for size yet. ” Faith winked playfully at Buffy.

“At least, we can still laugh. So I think there is hope for us.” Willow added cheerfully.

Buffy smiled at her childhood friend. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

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Buffy walked into the cafeteria, closely followed by Giles and Faith. The rest of the staff was already there waiting for her to arrive. Two hundred and forty six inmates were gathered in the room, sitting at the tables. Their usual rowdiness had been somewhat toned down by the seriousness of the situation. Even the ones currently in isolation had been brought out to hear what the warden had to say. The only ones who would be missing the speech were the twelve who were locked away permanently in what they called the ‘prison inside the prison’. These were guys who had committed crimes while inside, and that included the two guys who had attacked Devon on that fateful night of New Year’s Eve. But they didn’t need to hear her speech because they’d already had their own version of it when Buffy had stopped by for a personal visit. Unfortunately for them, their version had been a whole lot scarier than the one the rest of the guys were about to hear.

The guards, as well as the other staff members, all looked up when the woman they now recognized as their boss walked in. Her gaze was glacial, her body rigid with barely controlled rage. The inmates instantly started whispering amongst themselves, the hushed sound growing louder as Buffy stood there in silence. The longer she remained immobile and quiet, the more confused both staff and prisoners became. It lasted until her cold stare started making everybody uncomfortable. One by one, the prisoners shut their mouths, until silence was finally restored. Almost.

One man kept talking, not caring that he could be heard, and showing a lack of respect that was typical of him. Buffy focused her murderous stare on the dark haired prisoner, but he seemed oblivious. When he chuckled at some clever comment he’d made, she lost it.

In three quick strides, she was in the prisoner’s face, grabbing him roughly by the front of his shirt and lifting him slightly off the chair in her fury. “Do you think it’s funny, Parker? Do you? Cause watch me not laugh.”

She held his glare steadily until he looked down, intimidated by the hatred he saw in the young woman’s eyes.

Buffy finally turned to look at two of the guards standing there. “Take him away to the hole. See who’s laughing now.”

She smiled coldly as both of Parker’s arms were grabbed by the guards and he was lifted off the chair.

“Anybody else thinks it’s funny?”

She waited a beat for an answer, but the inmates were all looking down in silence. Even Spike, who was sitting with Gunn right next to where she was standing, couldn’t quite look at her.

“Didn’t think so.”

But as the guards attempted to put the handcuffs on an enraged Parker, the prisoner managed to shove them away and lunged at Buffy. In a heartbeat, Spike was on his feet to interfere, closely followed by Gunn. To her credit, Buffy didn’t flinch or even back away. She just stood there glaring menacingly at Parker while more guards rushed to her side, worried that this would turn into another riot.

Spike put himself protectively between the warden and Parker while Gunn held the other prisoner back from behind, his arms wrapped painfully tight around the smaller man.

“What the bloody hell did you think you were doing there, you stupid git?” Spike said, his voice dangerously calm. The look in his eyes was a promise of excruciating pain in Parker’s near future if he didn’t back off.

“Attempting to wipe the smile off that fucking whore’s face. That’s what.”

Spike took a step forward, his self-control wearing thin. No one called Buffy a whore. She put her hand on his arm to stop him, and he did, but the clenching and unclenching of his fists and the tension in his jaw told her that one more word from Parker and Spike would lose it. She prayed that the bastard would shut his mouth; she didn‘t want Spike to get into a fight with him.

“Watch it, mate. The bird’s doing her job, just like Devon was. He might have been a right bastard, but he didn’t deserve what happened to him. It’s wankers like you that make all our lives miserable in here. So maybe you should take a moment to rethink what you were about to do. I wager you’ll have a lot of time alone in the hole to think, so use it. And if you don’t see the light and still feel like attacking the warden, you and me will have a go. You can be sure of it. Now bugger off.”

As if on cue, the two guards, angry that they had let Parker escape their hold, pushed him roughly face first against a table and slapped the handcuffs on his wrists.

The whole room watched in silence as Parker was led away. Buffy turned to Gunn and Spike and gave them a quick grateful nod.

“Thank you. Both of you. You’re Gunn, right?” She asked the tall black man.

“Yes ma’am. Don’t worry, it was nothing. Parker’s an asshole.”

She smiled at the comment, her eyes darting to Spike. He was trying to pretend that nothing happened, but she could tell he was upset. Deciding not to say anything and thank him in private instead, she turned back to the room.

“Life just got a whole lot harder… for all of you. Leaders, followers, innocent, guilty, I don’t give a fuck. I try to keep life bearable for you in here, and THAT’S HOW YOU THANK ME?! Mark my words: you will all pay for this heinous crime. The next month will be HELL.” She paused to look around the room, making sure she put her point across. “Maybe this way, next time some smart ass decides to start a party, you’ll stop him instead of following like sheep. You lost my trust and now you’ll have to work to get it back. Let the lesson be learned.”

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Buffy was emotionally exhausted after talking to everybody for more than half an hour, describing the punishment in detail and laying out the new rules that would be applied for the next month. She was now walking down a hall with Giles and Faith after leaving the cafeteria and the protesting prisoners, when a small group of the guards stopped her.

“Ms. Summers?”

She turned to face them, unsure of what they wanted. She looked up at the one who had addressed her, a tall black guy who looked like a bodybuilder. For a second, she tried remembering his name. Roger?… no, Raymond.

“Yes, Raymond. Is there something wrong?” She looked questioningly at the five other guards standing a step behind him.

The black giant looked almost embarrassed. He couldn’t quite meet her eyes when he spoke. “We’ve been talking, Ms. Summers. Ya know… After all that happened this week and all that. We just thought, well…”

Buffy sighed tiredly. “What is it you want to tell me, Raymond?”

Her voice was lifeless, as if she’d used all the energy she had left to speak to the prisoners and now the fight had drained out of her. If these guys were there to tell her how incompetent she was or how much they hated working for her, she wouldn’t have the strength to even answer, let alone to defend herself.

“We’ve acted like real jerks towards you Ms. Summers. That wasn’t right.”

There were a few nods from the men behind him. Buffy frowned in confusion, but let him finish what he had to say.

“Since you arrived here, we did everything we could to make your life horrible and you didn’t deserve that. You’re doing a great job here and we wanted to say that we’re sorry and you can count on us to back you up from now on.”

Buffy was dumbfounded and it took her a few moments to collect her thoughts and get over her shock. She finally managed a smile, eyes bright with the tears she was not going to shed in front of them.

“Thank you… All of you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

She could at least say that today, she’d won a battle.

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A/N: Hey... and don't forget my reviews. It's like my pay check lol Need it. OK, fine. I know I haven't been good and it took me a long time to update, but that doesn't mean I deserve to be punished. Does it? I hope not. Is it my fault if I have to work, damn it? Alright, I promise to be good from now on. I've already started writing chapter 30 and 31 so the next update should be soon. Come on guys, give me some feedback :)





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