Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The cold hard rain plummeted on the rogue slayer’s face. The dark brunette was rooted to her spot as she watched the vengeful Buffy coming straight towards her. She looked around to see there were so many places she could run to in the darkened cemetery but the thought of running scared Faith more. Gripping Faith’s knife harder as Buffy drew closer. Faith just wanted to run and scream but she couldn’t. Her breathing hitched, and her body shook. She could feel the revenge pouring from Buffy. Faith just wanted to run and keep going, but she needed to know how it would end, every time Buffy came after her, Faith just needed to know. Faith gave up looking around the stormy cemetery and searching for an exit and just concentrated on the blonde slayer who was becoming increasingly closer. Faith took a breath and accepted her fate as Buffy plunged the knife into Faith’s stomach again. Faith was now eye to eye with Buffy. Buffy yanked the blade out, lifted her boot and kicked Faith into the empty grave that was placed conveniently behind her. Time slowed down as she plunged into the grave. The weakened slayer could see the insects crawling through the loosened, wet soil and as time slowed the depth of the hole felt deeper. Then she hit the bottom with a thud, but the brunette slayer was unable to move. Buffy stood over the grave, entranced as the grave slowly filled with dirty, cold rainwater. Faith clutched at her stab wound, trying so hard to stop the bleeding. The water rose higher and higher until almost all of Faith's face was covered. The last thing she saw was the hatred in Buffy’s eyes, and everything went to black.

Faith snapped straight up in her hospital bed; her breathing was rushed, her eyes darted in all direction, not knowing where to look or where she was. Faith didn’t understand where she was, the last thing she remembered was Buffy trying to kill her, over and over again. Then the real memory came through, Buffy stabbing Faith, and then Faith falling to her not so apparent death. She seemed to be in an empty, dark, dirty white room. It looked like something out of a horror movie. She tried to move until she was pulled back. She felt a sharp pain in her arm and looked down to see the IV drip and the heart monitor wires on her chest. She shakily reached up, ripped the wires off her chest and then pulled the needle out of her arm. She took a moment to settle herself as she pumped in panic. Faith slowly pushed the sheets off of her weakened legs as she used all her energy to swing her body round on the bed. Her legs trembled in weakness as the tips of her feet as she slowly planted them on the floor, not knowing how long exactly she had been in that bed; long enough that she needed to give her body a little bit of time to catch up with her brain. Her legs felt weak but usable. She pushed herself up from the bed and took another look around. The dank room screamed of a woman who had been long forgotten and left behind, a feeling that was familiar to Faith. She had always been accustomed to neglectful lone survival. She turned from the depressing sight of the now unused bed and headed for the door. She needed to know what the hell was going on and get back to her original job.

Faith walked down the deserted hospital corridor, looking for anyone amongst the torturous silence. At the end of the hall, she came across a young dark-haired woman in a red jacket and holding a teddy bear, appeared through the fire door. The woman noticed Faith straight away and walked over to her.

“Excuse me; do you know how to get to third floor west from here?” The young woman questions as a confused Faith stops in front of her.

“What?” Faith asked, confused.

“Oh I see…you um need some help or something?”

“Graduation” Faith asked with a bit more confidence now but sounded more like a statement.

“What?” The woman asked, herself now confused.

“Graduation…I gotta get to Sunnydale high graduation now!” Faith snapped, her body starting to get uncomfortable; patience was never her forte.

“Well, you can’t…I mean Sunnydale high isn’t even there anymore,” Fear drenched over Faith with the young woman’s comment. Not knowing how long she had been in the hospital, not knowing whether the mayor or the Scooby’s had come out on top.

“What day is it?” Faith questioned as she now feels the pressure to gain more knowledge and quickly.

“Friday…” The woman answered.

“What date? The date” Faith asked with more urgency.

“February 25th…” The woman replied, looking at Faith more nervously, just about ready to run away and regretting talking to the angry and confused patient in front of her.

“What year?”

“Maybe I should get you a nurse…”

“What happened at the school?”

“Don’t you just wanna...?”

“Just...tell me” Faith snapped at the frightened woman, whilst her words were laced in fear, worried of the answer.

“Well, it was a tragedy really, lots of students died…the principle, the mayor, I really think I should get you some help…”

Faith could no longer concentrate on what the stranger had just told her. The one-man she knew she could rely on was gone, their plan had failed, and now once again, Faith was doomed to walk this Earth alone with nowhere to go. All Faith knew was she needed to get out of that hospital before anyone noticed that she was out of bed. The woman continued to look at Faith nervously, regretting being there at all, wondering how long the stranger had to wait to make an excuse to leave the angry patient that she had managed to upset more. She instead decided to slowly edge backwards to get to the exit that she had just come through. Faith looked up at the woman and could see what was happening, and she just smirked, knowing that after eight months in a coma, she would still beat the woman to the exit.

***

Tara slowly packed the crystals into one of her drawers as Willow put her spellbooks back in her bag. The two women had tried a locator spell to see if they could track Adam but with the magic failing the two decided to call it a night. Not that Willow knew that Tara had purposely done the spell wrong. She couldn’t risk Willow finding out about her demon side, not until she could understand it herself and be able to explain it. She couldn’t risk anyone coming after her without the correct information. Buffy may want to kill her, or worse the commando guys could lock her away forever having experiments done on her. Most of all though Tara feared the way Willow would look at her after she found out. Willow was already conflicted about the two women’s relationship, knowing Tara was part demon could send Willow running. Sure Oz was a werewolf from what Willow had told her, but that was only three nights out of the month, it could be controlled, that might not be the case for the blonde witch. Sure she felt terrible for not helping with finding Adam, but she did what she had to.

“S..ss..sorry the spell was a bust…,” Tara stuttered to Willow as she went to sit on the end of the bed. Willow looked up from her bag where she resided on the floor.

“It’s ok; maybe we could try it again sometime? We may have got something wrong…” Willow said, wearing the same face she usually did when spells didn’t go her way the first time around.

“Yeah sure, I’d like that” Tara responded giving Willow a small, shy smile. Willow smiled back at the blonde as she got off the floor and joined her on the bed.

“So uh…ha…um you know how I told you about Buffy and the rest of the Scooby’s, well did you want to come with me for a meeting this evening?”

“I ttt..thought you weren’t ready for me to meet them?” Tara asked curiously.

“Well truthfully I’m not really, but Buffy noticed that I wasn’t around a lot and I’m not comfortable with lying, so I told her that you were helping me with spells and now she wants to meet, make sure you, not a demon or something..” Willow nervously laughed as she nudged Tara. Tara returned a nervous smile and edged away a bit.

“A DDD…Demon, that’s funny, well I wouldn’t want to impose, you guys have a special thing going, you don’t need anyone new in the mix,”

“Of course we do (Willow grabbed Tara’s hand in shock) I know it wasn’t my idea for you to come but thinking about it, it sure is a good idea, two witches are always better than one, and I’m sure you’ll get on great with everyone,” Willow squeezed Tara’s hand and smiled.

“O..ok if you’re sure, I guess I could meet the gang…for you,” Tara responded looking at the ground, her nerves took over her whole body at the thought of sitting in a room of professional demon hunters. Counting down the days until her twentieth and everyone finding out the truth. Everyone hating Tara for lying to them and hating her for being a demon.

“Great, come on, let’s go to my dorm so I can drop my bag off, and we’ll head over there, this is going to be really good,” Willow beamed as she grabbed Tara’s hand and they headed over to the other side of campus, ready for her first Scooby meeting.

Chapter Text

Faith strutted out of the hospital sporting the young woman’s clothes from before. She quickly made her way over to the one place she knew she needed to be. She stopped across the street from the burnt down ruins of Sunnydale high. The mayor’s plan wasn’t just to destroy the high school, and it's students; it was meant to be this whole godforsaken town.

“This has B written all over it,” Faith thought to herself whilst looking at the derelict school, giving Faith the realisation that she was alone. Everything she had gone through up to this point was for nothing. Even the mayor was gone, and again in her life, Faith didn’t know what direction she should take, all she knew was she needed to survive.
Tearing herself away from the school, Faith slowly made her way through the busy streets of Sunnydale. Faith clutched herself as she walked along, dodging the touch of anyone who almost touched her in passing. While watching all the happy people laughing together, friends were joking and lovers kissing filled Faith with hatred. She had woken up to an unwelcoming world, and now she was lost, so she headed to the one place that she knew wouldn’t have changed in this town—the Scoobies.

Faith carefully snuck down the downstairs outside of Giles’s apartment. She made her way past the old, dried up fountain and over to the window next to the front door and leant against the edge of the window, just enough that she wasn't seen and watched as the Scoobie's began another one of their meetings. Faith looked around the room as Giles and Buffy began to speak. Faith was so confused at that moment and furious, knowing that the group was carrying on with their lives quite happily whilst she was trapped in the hospital. Still, as she stewed, she noticed the group gathered, there was the usual scoobies, Giles, Buffy, Willow and Xander but no Cordelia or Angel or Wolfboy, and there were two new additions. The first being a tall, brown-haired poster boy, with Buffy draped over his lap.

“Well, looks like B’s moved on from Angel, good to know she gutted me for nothing,” Faith thought to herself sarcastically as she watched over the loved up pair.

Then her attention moved to the cute blonde sat next to Red. The blonde looked at the floor nervously, too shy to look up at everybody as the group spoke. Faith couldn’t hear what was being said as she looked at the girl questioningly, losing her senses within her distraction. She couldn’t help but watch as the girl brushed a hair behind her ear. The girl caught Willow’s eye for a moment, and Faith could see straight away there was obviously more than friendship there. Faith wondered if the oblivious group knew that Willow had switched teams.

“Looks like B weren’t the only one to get a new model, Red swapped wolf boy for the hippie chick,” Faith thought as she continued to look around the group and take in what else had changed the whole time she was asleep. She was then brought back to reality as the phone began to ring. Quickly Faith pulled herself from view as Giles came closer to answer the phone. After a moment of listening, Giles handed Buffy the phone. Buffy’s face turned to shock instantly and then hung up the phone.

“What is it?” Giles asks with concern.

“It’s Faith. She’s awake. She beat someone up, took her clothes and disappeared out of the hospital. No one knows where she is,” Buffy told them all in disbelief.

“I’d say this qualifies for a ‘worse timing ever’ award,” Xander retorted sarcastically.

“What do we do?” Willow asked as Tara looked at her, confused.

“Well, we have to find her,” Giles states.

“What about Adam?” Willow questions.

“I’d hate to see the pursuit of a homicidal lunatic get in the way of pursuing a homicidal lunatic,” Xander added with even more sarcasm.

Faith clenched her fist at this, just about ready to crash through the door and show them what a homicidal lunatic really looked like but knowing she’s not prepared for that fight yet; she kept herself hidden and continued to listen.

“Well, Faith’s not exactly low-profile girl. I’ll patrol and wait for her to make a move,” Buffy told them all, not knowing what else to suggest.

“And then what?” Giles asked.

“Oh! I have an idea. Beat the crap out of her,” Willow stated with a gleeful smile.

“Good plan!” Xander happily agreed.

Faith always did hate Willow and seeing her quite happily suggest violence towards the rogue slayer filled Faith with rage. Just as she was planning revenge in her mind, she heard the shy blonde begin to speak quietly, and it stopped Faith in her thoughts.

“Isn’t that a bit v..v..violent? Tara whispered to Willow, defending the unknown woman. Willow looked slightly taken aback which caused Faith to grow a smug grin at the reaction.

“No, Tara’s right. Good on paper but we still have a decision to make. Do we hand her over to the cops? They wouldn’t know what to do with a slayer even if they knew we existed,” Buffy told them.

“What about the council?” Willow asked now making a more adult suggestion than previously.

“Been there. Tried that. Not unlike smothering a forest fire with napalms as I recall,” Xander retorted.

“Well, the initiative, they do have, uh, containment facilities,” Giles stated questioningly.

“One word. Evil,” Xander stated.

“There’s no way around it. Faith is back, and whether I like it or not, she is my responsibility,” Buffy stated dejectedly.

“Yeah, too bad. That was the funnest coma ever,” Willow stated. Tara looked up and frowned at the redhead, not understanding where all the cruel suggestions and comments were coming from that evening.

“We have no idea where she is. We don’t know what she’s thinking, what she’s feeling,” Buffy said.

“Who she’s doing,” Xander adds annoyed.

“She could be terrified. Maybe she doesn’t even remember? Or – or maybe she does – and she’s sorry, and she’s alone, hiding somewhere?” Buffy said with a hopeful tone.

“Uh, perhaps there’s some form of, uh, rehabilitation we just haven’t thought about?” Giles added.

Faith can’t believe what she was hearing, Buffy and Giles were putting up a caring front, if they cared maybe it wouldn’t be a surprise she woke up because perhaps they would’ve visited plus it was too late, and revenge was going to be a bitch. Willow and Xander's snarky comments didn’t help either and just fuelled the hatred and fire in Faith; she was going to make them all pay.

“And if not, ass-kicking makes a solid plan B,” Willow said quite proud of herself.

“You hold a knife to a girl’s throat once, and she won’t let it go...Bitch,” Faith thought to herself as she continued to watch the conversation unfold.

“I’m not gonna rule it out. First thing, we need to find her. Then we can take it from there,” Buffy stated.

Faith took this as her cue to leave; she didn’t want to hear anymore. Her blood was boiling, and her heart and mind were conflicted. For a moment there, she almost thought they care, but nothing changed, all the Scoobies care about was themselves and Faith was always such an inconvenience to them. They would always be high and mighty and want to palm the problem off, but not this time, Faith knew she would find a way to have the upper hand. So quietly, Faith left the garden area and ventured back out into the darkened streets of Sunnydale.

Chapter Text

The next day Tara and Willow traipsed around the college together, discussing the rogue slayer. Willow had called the fellow witch to join her, so they had spent most of the morning on the lookout from the infamous Faith. The two women made their way down the stairs of the social area of the college.

“Thanks for coming with. Hunting for a psychopathic super bitch is definitely in the ‘above and beyond’ category,” Willow told Tara as the witch lightly brushed a hand down Tara’s arm, subtly showing affection that couldn't be misconstrued in public.

“Will, that’s a little harsh, don’t you think?” Tara says taken aback a little by another description given by the redhead.

“No Tare, I’m not. You just don’t know what she’s like, she’s hurt and killed a lot of people; Faith can’t be trusted,” Willow snapped back.

“I’m s..sorry Willow, I just don’t think there’s any need to be so hh...harsh, If she’s as bad as you say she is, then we don’t need to act the same, we need to be an example of how good people don’t judge,” Tara whispered back looking at her feet.

Willow looks at Tara with guilt spread across her face. Willow did hate Faith and understood what Tara was saying, but it was hard not to describe Faith as the vile being that she believed her to be.

“No, I’m sorry, you weren’t around last around, I can’t expect you to feel the same as I do, but I still do appreciate you coming with me today...” Willow sheepishly responded as they continue to walk through the campus.

“It’s okay. Really. So, um, what do we do if we find her?” Tara asked, looking a bit more cheery to stop the situation from becoming awkward between the two.

“Run. Flee. Maybe Skedaddle? We’re not here to engage, this is strictly recon,” Tara giggled at Willow.

“What?” Willow asks.

“You said ‘recon’. You’re like, cool monster fighter,” Tara tells Willow flirtatiously.

“Well you see, I need to keep up appearances, need Faith to know I mean business, she was waiting for Buffy earlier, can’t let her think that I’m scared of her...because I’m not,” Willow says trying to keep a stern face. “Plus, technically, Faith's not a monster, and as for fighting? I'd be lucky if I bruise her fist with my face.”

“Oh...” Tara says, looking unsure.

“What?” Willow asks concerned.

“Face punching… I'm not good with the whole…” Tara explains as she punched the air, which doesn’t look like punching.

“Swimming?” Willow teases.

“Violence,” Tara says, dropping her arms.

“Don't worry - we're sure to spot her first. Faith's like some big cleavage-y slutbomb walking around all. And you’re plenty safe around me,” Willow assures Tara as she links their arms together. Tara nods agreeing with what Willow says and ignoring the insult that slipped through again.

“So… we ‘recon’ 'til nightfall?” Tara asks softly.

“Then, the ritual hiding begins.” Willow states as the two women continue prowling the campus in content silence.

So already today Faith had managed to rile Buffy up (which was her most favourite thing to do) and evade Sunnydale’s finest cops and also receive a little gift from old mayor Richards Wilkins himself. This gift was going to give her the life that Buffy never deserved to live. It’s this that led Faith to her final destination, the Summer’s residence. Upon arrival, Faith had knocked Joyce unconscious and then carried her up to her bedroom and tied her hands together so she couldn’t escape once she had finally woken up.  Faith looked down at the older woman, she always had liked Joyce, not that she cared to admit it out loud, but Joyce was still the mother type figure to her in the early days of her first arrival to Sunnydale. She could always imagine what it would’ve been like to have grown up with Joyce as her mother; she would never take her for granted like Buffy did. Faith could see it more so when she and Joyce had spent Christmas together whilst Buffy went off to save Angel and still took her time coming back after saving him rather than check on her mother. Buffy was selfish and always would be, she did feel kind of bad for what she was doing, but she needed to get Buffy’s attention on her terms.  So whilst Joyce was unconscious, Faith took the liberty of snooping around the house. It had been a while since she visited, seeing as she was in a coma for eight months. She started with Joyce’s dresser and began to open the draws when the first thing she saw was a stack of unopened mail. The mail was all addressed to Buffy Summers.

“Hmm...So I guess B’s been an absentee daughter now she’s out living the college life, think I’ll just hang on to these for a bit,” Faith thinks to herself as she grabbed the letters and continued to look through the draws. She manoeuvred in and out of rooms, not straying too far away from Joyce’s room. After not finding anything else of interest and still with the letters in hand, Faith headed back into the room to find Joyce beginning to wake up.

“Morning, Joyce, nice to see you’re well-rested,” Faith says sarcastically with a fake smile plastered on her face.

“Bite me,” Joyce replied deadpan.

“Ooh and she gets feisty...I like that,”

“What do you want Faith?”

“The same thing you want Joyce, for Buffy to give us the attention we deserve!” Faith responds angrily, and Joyce continued to stare at the unhinged slayer without giving emotion. Faith’s instantly changed from anger to a playful manner deciding to change tactics immediately. “Bet I can guess what you’re thinking?!”

“Really?” Joyce responds now fed up by Faith.

“Your thinking...You’ll never get away with this...am I warm?” Faith acts out dramatically.

“Actually, I was thinking, my daughter, will kill you soon,”

“Is that a fact?”

“More like a bet,”

“Whoa, you got a pair on you Joyce, I like seeing that in a woman your age. Guess you can afford to talk that way. In the world ‘According to Joyce’ Buffy’s gonna come crashing through that door any minute,” Faith finished her rant, grabbed the letters she found earlier and jumped onto the bed and led next to Joyce.

“Look what I found...Buffy Summers, Buffy Summers, Buffy-Lot of letters. She hasn’t been in a while, huh?” Joyce continued to look at Faith in silence, refusing to take the bait. Faith just continued on her own tangent, not even waiting for Joyce to respond.
“And you’d think with a crazy chick like me on the loose, a crazy chick with a wicked grudge against her no less, she’d call and give you a heads up,” Faith snapped as she got up off the bed and began to pace the room.

“I’m sure it just slipped her mind, it’s not like you do anything easily,” Joyce retorts as Faith rolled her eyes.

“You keep telling yourself that Joyce, I know what it’s like. You think your matter – you think you’re a part of something, and you get dumped! It’s like the whole world is moving – but you’re stuck. Like those animals in the tar pits? You’re sinking a little deeper every day, and nobody sees” Faith drifted off into her thoughts for a moment—all the resentment she has towards everyone coming to the surface.

“Ok Faith, whatever you need to sleep at night,” Joyce responded now completely fed up with the situation.

“Don’t tell me you don’t see it, Joyce. You’ve served your purpose. Squirted out the kid, raised her up and now you might as well be dead. Nobody cares. Nobody remembers—especially Buffy, the fabulous superhero. Sooner or later you’ll have to face it – she was over us a long time ago. Too busy climbing onto her new boy toy to give a single thought to the people that matter. You’re her mother, and she just leaves you here to die!” Faith angrily replied as she grabbed a knife off the side and lunged at Joyce.

Suddenly Faith was interrupted as Buffy came crashing through her mother’s window, tackling Faith to the floor. She jumped up quickly and punched Faith in the face.

“Hey mom,” Buffy said out of breath.

“Hi, honey,” Replies a relieved Joyce.

Then Faith came back and returned Buffy’s punch. Buffy swung round and side-kicked Faith, catching her under the jaw, throwing her across the room. Buffy could see Joyce rush to the phone to call the police.

“Mom don’t! Trust me not yet! I can handle this!” Buffy warned her mother.

At the same time, Faith regained her footing and hurled herself at Buffy with all the rage inside her body, throwing them into the hallway. The two women continue to fight as they are both thrown down the stairs. They both tumble to the bottom of the stairs, and without losing momentum, the two women continue to spar, leading them into the dining room. Faith ripped a drawer from the cabinet, disposing of the entire cutlery on the floor and launching it straight at Buffy who managed to block the attack. With Buffy momentarily distracted, Faith ran into the living to grab the gadget that the mayor had left for her which she placed on the fireplace. Still, just as she got hold of the gadget, Buffy flew out of nowhere and tackled Faith into the fireplace knocking the strange device from her hand, and it rolled away. Faith scrambled to get up, but Buffy punched Faith with her full weight, knocking the rogue slayer unconscious. Simultaneously, Joyce entered the living room and rushes over to Buffy’s side and looked down at the unconscious Faith.

“Are you ok honey?” A concerned Joyce asked her daughter as she places a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“As Faith would say, ‘Five by Five’,” Buffy quoted as she continued to look down at the silent slayer, wondering what she was going to do now and trying to hide the fear on her face of the unknown.

Chapter Text

Faith started to wake from her slumber. For a split second, she thought the last couple of days had just been another of her coma dreams, but unfortunately for her, it wasn’t. Faith’s eyes crept open; she was in the darkened basement of the Summer’s residence. As she moved to stand, she was instantly pulled down onto the camp bed beneath her. She looked at her hands and then behind her to see she was chained to the wall. She wrapped her hands around the chain and begun to tug. The chain wasn’t budging.

“Keep pulling Faith; you won’t get out...” Buffy stated as she walks out from the shadows.

“Ah jeez B, if you wanted to get down and dirty, you didn’t need to tie me up...” Faith winks mockingly at Buffy whilst she continues to tug at the chains.

“Joke as much as you want, but you’re not getting out; you’re too much of a danger.”

“Or maybe you just know you can’t beat me, so it’s just easier to keep me chained up?”

“Think what you want Faith, but if you can’t behave like a normal human being, then I’ll keep you chained up until long after I’m dead...”

Faith’s rage built, she couldn’t believe that Buffy had bested her and ruined all of her plans. Faith threw herself at Buffy, but the chains stopped her. Buffy flinched for a split second before seeing Faith couldn’t reach her from where she was stood.

“Come on, B, untie me, you know these won’t hold me forever!  Let’s throw down; I’d rather risk dying than be stuck down here! Let’s finish this for good.” Faith challenged Buffy, desperate to be released.

Buffy walked up to Faith, just close enough that they still couldn’t touch. Buffy pulls the gadget that Faith had brought into the house out of her pocket and raised it to Faith’s eye level.

“Why, Faith? Hoping you get another chance to use this on me? (Faith’s grin drops from her face) What is it? Tell me; don’t tell me, I’m sure Giles will find out eventually...”

 Faith readjusts herself on the camp bed, so she’s sat against the wall.
“Doesn’t matter now anyway...but it would’ve been wicked cool to try out, that’s for sure,”

Buffy shook her head and walked over to the stairs as she places the gadget back in her pocket. She turned hesitantly and looked at Faith.
“What happened to you, Faith?”

“You did B...” Faith states flatly.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Buffy responded in sadness as she climbed the stairs.

Faith listened to the pain in Buffy’s voice, a part of her wanted to call out and speak, but she could never let herself be vulnerable, especially to Buffy Summers. Conflicted by her feelings, Faith cried out in pain while pulling on the chains as hard as possible.
Buffy lets a teardrop from her face as she leaves the basement and listens to cries of her broken sister slayer.

***

Faith had been left to stew in her juices for a couple of hours after her little outburst in the darkened basement, the only light coming from a small light bulb in the ceiling that was just about ready to give out.  Faith just kept thinking about the last 24 hours, wishing she could go back to her 8-month coma. It was a much better prison than the one she was currently in. The door to the basement quietly clicked open and shut. As slow footsteps climbed down the stairs, Faith shifted off her back and sat up, trying to move her hands with the uncomfortably tight chains.

Joyce reached the bottom of the stairs holding a tray with food and water and edged slowly towards the hostage. Faith observed the woman like she was prey. Joyce stopped when she was about two feet away from the bed. Faith eyed her carefully.

“I’m chained to a wall, what do ya think I’m gonna do?” Faith tells Joyce, getting fed up of watching and not knowing what else to do.

“Well, it’s not like you can be trusted...” Joyce said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, maybe B should’ve brought that down (nodding to the tray) or has she left you already?”

“No, she’s upstairs with Giles, I’m quite capable!” Joyce replied deadpan.

“Oh I see, is this your way of getting revenge with no one around? You’ve got some stones, Joyce,” Faith grins.

Joyce quickly walks to the other end of the camp bed, places the tray down and steps away quickly. She grabs a spare chair, pulls it close and sits opposite Faith as she begins to pick at the food.

“No Faith, I have no need to stoop so low...would you have killed me if Buffy hadn’t arrived? Joyce asks with a more motherly tone, not sure if she wants to know the honest answer.

Faith rests down the food she was eating and brushes her hands off.
“What do you think?”

“I think you’re very unhappy and probably would’ve just toyed with me for your own sick pleasure,”

“I guess we’ll never know now; I try not to plan too far ahead...” Faith replied as she goes back to her food. Joyce watches with a frown as Faith finished her food.

“You know when I first met you; I could see you becoming a second daughter to me, and helping Buffy and building a life...it disappoints me so much to see what happened to you, I wish you would’ve let us help you...”

Joyce’s words cut through Faith; with no hate or anger sent in her direction. Faith could feel the vomit rise to her throat. She looked down at her feet that were now curled up on the bed. She so badly just wanted Joyce to scream and shout, but Joyce wasn’t that woman. Joyce had a caring nature that would never change. Instead, Faith just pushed her empty tray to the edge of the bed and turned away from Joyce and clutched her knees. Joyce let out a deflated sigh and grabbed the empty tray; stopping to look at the conflicted girl. Her spare hand hovered for a moment, undecided whether to place a hand on the slayer’s shoulder but after a moment Joyce pulled herself away from the broken girl and left the basement.

The next morning Willow and Tara sat on the edge of Tara’s bed. Willow was absent-mindedly stroking Tara’s forearm with her little finger.

“So B..B...Buffy caught Faith then?” Tara asks Willow after bringing herself out of the comfortable silence.

“You betcha! That psycho has now taken up residence in the Summer’s basement, and I hope she hates every second!” Willow says gleefully.

Tara frowns at the redhead but chooses to ignore her exaggerated dislike for the slayer.
“What’s Buffy’s plan with her then?”

“Well the police are out, I spoke to her last night, and she doesn’t trust the council, she’s thinking about trying to rehabilitate Faith, but it’s risky,” Willow shifts to look at Tara, her look quite sheepish.
“So I thought if Buffy can’t rehabilitate Faith, I’ve been researching some spells and I found one that wipes memories...”

Tara jumps up and stands in front of Willow with a horrified look on her face.
“No, Willow! Whatever you’re thinking, no! Those spells are dangerous, and playing with people’s minds is unethical!”

“Well I was just thinking, if it didn’t work, then she could have a do-over, a...a Faith 2.0, she could start again a..and live a better life, no more being a cleavagy slut bomb or doing that stupid five by five saying that she has...”

“Five...by what five,” Tara asks suddenly confused.

“See that’s the thing, nobody knows!”

Tara shakes her head.

“Either way Willow no, you can’t do that to people, no matter who they are. The only way Faith will better her life is if she learns from her mistakes because she wants to, not because you want to control the situation, it could make everything so much worse!”

Willow looked up at the blonde in shock and suddenly filled with guilt. She stands and takes Tara’s hands in hers.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I’m worried that if this does wrong and no one can help Faith...then she’ll need to die...”

“And if that h..happened, then that’s fates choice, Willow you can’t use magic to make things go your way. You told me about the spell you did when O...Oz left and look how that went; you risk pushing Faith further to darkness,” Tara looked at Willow with hurt and slight fear.

“I’m sorry, I just thought it would help, but I won’t do it ever! I promise...can we just head over to Buffy’s now and try and have a good day?”

Tara looked at Willow intently, trying to figure out if the witch was telling the truth. She could see such great power in the redhead, but she feared that the redhead's need to help in any way possible would send her down a dangerous path, but she knew they didn’t have time to get into that conversation now. She gave a slight smile to the redhead and nodded her head. Willow broke out in a smile.

“Ok come on, I’m so glad you can come to the Scooby meetings now!” And with that Willow led a secretly worried Tara out of the dorm room.

Chapter Text

Faith led on the camp bed for what felt like days. Only having been there for one night she was already feeling dirty, gross and filled with too many thoughts for one person’s mind, so being confined made her want to chew her hands off to get out of her shackles. Faith knew she needed to find a way out without injuring herself; it would be the only way to get away with weakening herself.

She was doing her best to listen to the Scooby meeting upstairs, straining her slayer hearing doing her best to listen to what was being said but could only make out random parts of the conversation. Willow and another girl talked about confinement, and Giles discussed something about the council that just bored Faith to tears. Then there was silence and a lot of shuffling around; something had interrupted the meeting. Then she could hear the faint sound of the front door open and then shut a few seconds later. A moment passed, Faith didn’t dare make a sound in hopes of hearing something else, but she came to the realisation that she must be alone; this could be her chance to escape. Quickly pulling herself into a seated position, Faith frantically started to pull on the chains trying her hardest to disconnect herself from the wall. As she pulled the handcuffs dug deeper into her wrist, threatening to break the skin but Faith ignored the pain when she could see the slightest amount of dust starting to fall from the wall when she suddenly stopped. Faith could hear the handle of the basement door open, and she stopped what she was doing. Letting go of the chain, Faith spun herself around to look as casual as possible. Quiet footsteps climbed down the steps to reveal Tara carrying a glass of water and a banana. Faith instantly recognised her from the Scooby meeting the other night; she eyed the blonde girl curiously. Tara slowly walked to a small table placed by Faith and put the water and banana down without breaking eye contact with Faith, this unnerved Faith, but she wouldn’t let it show. Tara stepped back and sat on the chair placed opposite Faith that all her visitors seem to sit.

“Who are you?” Faith asked in distaste.

“T..T...Tara, I’m a friend of Willow’s,” Tara says now unable to look Faith directly in the eye.

“Yeah I saw you guys together at Giles’s place...sat quite close if I remember...” Faith raised her back and edged forward, closer to Tara.
“So Willow’s not driving stick anymore. Who woulda thought? Guess you never know a person till you’ve been inside their skin,”

Tara starts to shift uncomfortably in her seat as Faith pauses to sip her water. Tara knew that she and Willow hadn’t been open with anyone and thankfully none of her friends expected anything between them, but Faith had been instantly observant, and the two women didn’t even know each other, Faith wasn’t like the others, she has potential.

“And Oz is out of the picture? I never did see two people so much in Love. She just couldn’t get enough of old Oz,” Faith says trying her best to drive the knife deeper.

“She, uh, said he www...”

“He www..what? You gonna get that sentence out sometime today?” Faith mocked Tara. She picked up her banana with a shit-eating grin and began to peel and eat it.

Tara nervously looks at Faith and swallows, intimidated by the Slayer and her abrasive attitude.
“There’s nnn..no need to be rude,”

“How is honesty rude? I say it how I see it and seeing you and Red was wicked obvious what was happening,” Faith placed the banana skin down, still looking Tara up and down, trying to figure out why this stranger had come down to her prison.
“So where’s B? And why are you here? - I don’t even know you or is this part of my punishment too?”

“There was a vampire attack at the church...they didn’t need me so I said I’d watch you...ttt..thought you might want some company,” Tara said with a blush forming on her face. Faith looked at the girl, confused by the situation.

“Why was she nice? I was a bitch to her?” Faith thought to herself as the heat rose in her chest, she pushed herself back against the wall whilst Tara seemed to be studying her with her eyes.

“Yeah well, I was starting to get used to it down here by myself...it’s cool but if you feel so determined to be a good Samaritan then go ahead...don’t complain to me if you get bored, I’m not one for entertaining these days,” Faith states flatly.

Tara's face broke into a half-smirk as confidence built, and she opened her mouth to respond when a crash came from behind both of the women. The basement door flew down the stairs, crashing into the wall. Faith jumped into action not needing to think, the slayer in her taking over. She held her hands up and pleaded to Tara with her eyes. She needed to get out of the chains; she could feel it for her and Tara’s sakes. Tara looked back at the stairs and then back to Faith, she nodded her head, but before she could do anything, a dart hit the side of her neck. She clutched at the dart before dropping to the ground unconscious. Faith stared down at Tara’s body in shock, now she definitely had to escape, or they were both dead. A short, stocky man ran down the steps with a gun in his hand and towards Faith. Readying herself for anything, Faith positioned herself standing on the bed.  The man edged closer to Faith with his gun pointed forward, her eye’s squared in on the man like prey.

“By orders of the watcher’s council you are being brought in...” A foot to the face interrupted the British man and sent him hurtling to the floor next to Tara.
Quickly Faith went to her last resort, she grabbed her left thumb and yanked until she heard the pop of her thumb dislocating itself, she groaned in pain as she was able to ease her hand out of the cuff and quickly popped the thumb back in before it could start to heal. Faith pulled away from the wall as much as she could to grab anything as a weapon, or at least to help her escape. Then another pair of feet came rushing down the stairs, neither of the stern men in their leather jackets stopped. Without thinking, the first man pointed a gun and shot two tranq darts before she could react. Faith pulled out the two darts and slumped on the bed.

“Not cool,” Faith slurred as she dropped into unconsciousness. The first man walked over to Faith and used his gun's base to break Faith’s other cuff. As he reached down to lift the slayer, he turned to the other gruffer man.

“Davis, pick up Rogers and let’s get out of here, we don’t need to be bumpin’ into the other slayer,” he ordered.

“But Dan, what about her? (As he nodded to Tara as he picked up Rogers fire-fighter style) ,”

Dan looked down at Tara for a moment, as he got a better grip of Faith and continued to the stairs.

“Leave her, she didn’t see anything,” And with that, the two men left Tara down in the basement alone.

Chapter Text

As Faith stirred, she could feel cold metal beneath her. Her body felt sore and her head hazy, Faith tried to register where she was until the memories of Tara slumping to the floor shot to the front of her mind; she lurched forward but was jolted and pulled backwards again. Handcuffs dug into the fresh injuries on her wrists.

“Great, more chains...someone give me a break,” Faith thought to herself with annoyance.

Faith looked around where she was sat, she seemed to be in the back of some kind of van, handcuffed and chained to the wall. She looked ahead to see a pair of doors with two small windows at the top, and she couldn’t see or hear much of anything. Deciding to figure out was happening, Faith carefully shifted herself down on to her back and started kicking the side of the van wall as hard as she could. The echoes of her foot slamming against the metal radiated in the ample space the van was located in. The two doors swung open and a very angry Rogers stood in the doorway. The man had two black eyes and a plaster across the top of his nose, injuries sustained when Faith kicked him in the face.

“Shut it!” The man shouts at Faith.

Faith smirked and pulled herself into a sitting position. “Why don’t you come in here and make me England?” Faith offers seductively, attempting to entice the man into the van.

Roger’s narrows his eyes on Faith, he pulls his head back and snapped it forward as he spits on Faith’s face.
“You made a mockery out of this council and if I could I would shoot you right now between the eyes, but lucky for you I can’t but that doesn’t mean I can’t keep you unconscious for the whole of our journey...Now keep it down!” Rogers tells Faith threateningly. He slammed the doors of the van closed, leaving Faith staring at the closed doors and wiping the spit off her face. She was speechless; she knew she had no chance against these psycho council agents.

“How the hell am I gonna get out of this? That Tara chick didn’t see anything and even if she did, no way would B come risk her neck to save me, she had me locked up herself, I’m so screwed,” Faith thought to herself in the darkness of the cold van.

***

A hand stroked Tara’s forehead. The cold hand was slowly brushing Tara’s hair back. Tara slowly opened her eyes to find Willow knelt by Tara’s side stroking her hair soothingly, and a concerned Buffy and Giles stood over them. Tara tried to sit up, so Willow shifted back and helped her move.

“What happened here Tare? Was it Faith?” Willow anxiously asked the blonde witch.

“No not Faith...I..I..I’m not sure, we were just talking and then the door was k..knocked down the stairs and then there was a pain in my neck, and then it all went black...” Tara explained as she feels for the mark on her neck.

Buffy looked down at the discarded dart and then to Giles.

“Looks like tranq darts an there’s hardly any mess, whoever did this knew what they were doing...”

“Yes well I think I know who’s responsible... (Buffy looks at Giles with raised eyebrows) Some gentlemen came to my apartment the other night, they work for the council, and they deal with their more challenging cases...” Giles explained.

“So they’re like bounty hunters...And they came here for Faith?” Buffy enquired trying to make sense of what was happening.

“In a manner of words, yes, they’ve been keeping tabs on Faith in case she woke up, they came to warn us away from Faith...they’re planning to take her back to England,”

“And then what?” Buffy asked.

“Well, most likely she’d be contained until she can be rehabilitated or the next slayer is called...”

“Good,” Willow cut in; both Giles and Buffy turned to look at the witch. “Let the council take her Buffy, Tara almost got hurt because they were after her, now she’s their responsibility,”

“It’s not that simple Will,” Buffy starts to explain.

“No Buffy, it really is, Faith is toxic and you owe her nothing,” Willow snapped now climbing off the floor and helping Tara up alongside her.

“No your right I don’t but I’ve got a chance to change my actions from last year and I may not be able to help her but there’s no way I’m letting the council have her, they can’t be trusted and there’s no way of knowing what they would do with her...” Giles looks at Buffy with pride from what she had said, seeing so much growth in the last year.

“Fine, if that’s what you want but I can’t help Buffy, she’s evil and I can never forgive her...Come on Tare, I’ll take you home...” Willow goes to take Tara’s hand when the blonde witch pulls away. Buffy looks at the two women with sadness and then shock at Tara’s actions.

“Nnn..No Willow, I want to help find Faith, I don’t know what she was like in the past but B..B..Buffy wants to try and help her; then I want to hh...help too. (Tara looked at the ground avoiding eye contact with Willow whilst Buffy beamed with glossy eyes at the blonde witch whom she barely knew but was so willing to help when her best friend wouldn’t) I believe everyone deserves a second chance, and I saw her aura before. It was conflicted and in pain but it didn’t look evil...”

Willow stared at Tara with her mouth agape in disbelief, not sure how to respond. Her eyes welling with tears, the woman she was building a connection with was standing against her.

“Willow,” Giles whispered as he stepped towards the redhead with a calming hand. Willow moves out of the way towards the stairs.

“No, I’m sorry, I...I just need to be away right now, I’ve got to go,” As Willow bursts into tears and ran up the stairs. Buffy looked away from where Willow was stood and turned to Tara.

“Thank you for that, I know that wasn’t easy, are you ok?” Buffy asked

“I’m ok, let’s just find Faith before its t..t..too late,” Tara answers trying to turn the attention away from herself.

“Your right we don’t have time for feelings right now, we need to find Faith, Giles? (she turns to the ex-watcher) Do you know where these guys could be hiding?”

“ 'Fraid not but I do know it’ll take them a few hours to get safe passage to England, we have a little bit of time before they can leave town ...” Giles explained.

“I can do a locator spell but I would need something of Faith’s...” Tara says looking at Buffy with determination. Buffy thinks for a moment, looking between the ex-watcher and the witch.

“Oh yeah, be right back!” Buffy says, suddenly remembering; she tore up the stairs to grab the gadget she had taken from Faith and hid in the fireplace. She grabbed the device and heads back down to the basement and hands the gadget over to Tara. “Faith tried to use this against me the other night when we were fighting, I don’t know what it is and she won’t tell me either,” Buffy explains.

Tara lifts the gadget up to eye level whilst Giles narrowed his eyes at the object. Tara strained her eyes until she could see a slight green spark coming through the object. Tara’s eyes widen in surprise knowing what the object was.
“I know what this is, I mean I’ve only ever sss...seen a picture of the magical stone but I can recognise the power trying to break out, it’s a Katra...it cc..can be used to switch a person’s essence with another...” Tara explains.

“Dear God...I’ve heard about these but I’ve never heard of it being used with technology before,” Giles exclaimed.

“God Faith! What the hell were you thinking?! Now we definitely have to find her so I can kick her ass for trying to steal my life...again!” Buffy shook her head in disbelief pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Right well let’s stay on track, for now, Tara, how about I take you upstairs to do the spell, Buffy, get some weapons ready? Yes?” Giles interjected to calm Buffy. Buffy just nodded at the ex-watcher, and the three go about their tasks.

***

The sudden movement had brought Faith back to reality. She had been sat in complete silence for a couple of hours, exhausted from fighting the chain and only being able to listen to the beat of her thumb throbbing from its earlier dislocation. The pain would be gone soon thanks to slayer healing but until then she used the small amount of pain as a distraction from the silence as she silently tried to think of an escape plan.  The doors to the van opened again with a nervous Davis holding a small paper bag as he slowly climbed into the truck, he slowly edged towards Faith. Faith just kept perfect eye contact with the nervous man.

“Stay back, slayer! This is your only warning; keep your hands at your sides so that I can give you food,”

Faith eyed Davis as he bent down slowly to rest the bag down, taking her chance she kicks Davis’s feet from underneath him. As soon as he landed at Faith’s feet, she gathered the chain and pulls it around his neck and pulls tightly.

“Help! Help!” Davis croaked out, calling for his partners. His face was swelling and turning bright red as he gasped for breath. Dan and Rogers ran to the open doors to see what the commotion was about. They look to see Faith holding Davis hostage.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen, you’re gonna let me go, and I won’t snap this guys neck and I’ll make sure to let you guys run back to the council with your tails between your legs!” Faith ordered as she tightened her grip.

“We go on a job, we always put our affairs in order first...In case of any accident.” Dan calmly states.

A horrified Davis looks at Dan. “Dan...”

“Sorry Davis...” Dan and Rogers walk away from Faith and Davis and head to the middle of the empty warehouse.

“I’m gonna call the council, she’s becoming a pain and we need a contingency plan,” Dan states as he pulls a phone out of his jacket and dials a number and put the phone to his ear.

Back in the van Faith couldn’t believe what had just happened; she just had to make peace with her fate. She pulled the chain from Davis’s neck before he passed out and threw him out of the van. She lays down and stares at the ceiling, continuing to listen to the conversation outside of the van.

“It’s Dan,” Dan states into the phone as he listens to the voice on the other end. He nods his head, cuts the phone off and pulls a gun out of his holster and attaches a silencer. “ They can’t get us passage, they’ve ordered the kill,”

“Torch the place?” Roger’s enquires.

“Get the gas,” Dan nods. Dan walks over to the back of the van as Davis trails him.

“She could’ve killed me, she didn’t...” Davis tells Dan still in a state of disbelief.

“Lucky you,” Dan continues to the window of the van and aims his gun through the bars at Faith. Faith heard everything that was said, she even listened to the silencer being attached, and she was ready for the son of a bitch. She grabbed the gun with her feet, pulling Dan forward and knocking him out on the bars, letting Faith take the gun with her feet as an unconscious Dan drops to the floor.

At the same time, Buffy and Giles charge into the warehouse from a side door. Buffy aimed her crossbow and shot Davis in the arm as Giles climbs into the van’s driving seat and starts to look for the keys. Rogers charges for Buffy and she swiftly knocks Rogers out with a high kick and then runs to the back of the van making sure to climb over the unconscious Dan just as Faith was about to shoot her chains. Sensing a presence, Faith looks up and sees Buffy stood in the doorway.

“Hand over the gun Faith,” Buffy stated. Faith looks from the gun to Buffy weighing her options, she could potentially shoot the chains and get away from Buffy but would it end there? Taking a deep breath, knowing her options were limited, she slid the gun across the metal floor to Buffy, who grabbed the weapon instantly and threw it away.

“You hurt?” She asked flatly, still annoyed about Faith’s body swap plan.

“Five by five B,” Faith says smugly trying to play it cool, not wanting to admit that she’s thankful her sister slayer didn’t leave her to the fate of the council. Buffy rolled her eyes and shut the van doors. She runs around to climb into the passenger side and just nods at Giles. He punches the van into gear and accelerates through some large doors, taking them off their hinges and streaking away into the daylight.

***

The next morning Faith awoke to light streaming across her face, the same thing that had happened every morning she woke up in the basement, only this time when she tried to hide under the covers, she wasn’t blocked by her chains. She inched an eye open and looked at her wrists. They looked a little sore but with the lack of handcuffs now she didn’t seem to care. She rolled over to come face to face with Buffy who was sat in a chair opposite her. There was a glass of juice and a bowl of porridge on the table next to Faith. Slightly unnerved Faith pulled herself up into a seating position.

“So B, you watch me sleep now, didn’t realise that was your thing,” Faith muttered.

“Good morning Faith,” Buffy replied, rolling her eyes again at the slayer.

“So where've the handcuffs gone? Cos I’m betting you’re not letting me go...” Faith asks as she tucked into her porridge.

“No I’m not letting you go, but I figured after the last couple of days, you could do with a break from the handcuffs,”

Faith raises her eyebrows at this.

“So you’re not worried that I might, I dunno, leave the house, you can’t be here 24/7 B,”

“Your right, I can’t be here all the time, that's why Tara did a spell, you can’t physically leave this basement, it’s surrounded by an invisible shield, it’s gonna suck but at least you’re not confined to the bed anymore...” Buffy explains as Faith placed her empty bowl down and continues to drink the entire glass of juice in one and then placing that down too.

“Great, I’m sure doing laps of the basement is gonna keep me real busy...” Faith bit back sarcastically.

“Well, it’s a damn sight better than what you would’ve got if the watchers would have taken you, considering they wanted to gift you a bullet!” Buffy snapped back.

“Either way I’m trapped, I’m never gonna see the light of day if you have your way,”

“It doesn’t have to be that way Faith...last year, everything was handled...badly but I want to try, and I need you to try too, I don’t have anyone in my corner on this, so I’m taking a risk with you,” Buffy pleaded to the rogue slayer.

“And what if I don’t want your help B? So i can go back to you using me when you need something and just ignore me the rest of the time? Just getting to watch your great life with your friends and mom and me back in that crappy motel hoping to be remembered by someone?” The slayer asked rhetorically laced with anger.

“That’s why you wanted to do it, not to hurt me...you wanted to swap bodies to have my life?” Buffy asked, suddenly having a realisation. Faith’s eyes widen in shock that Buffy had figured out what she was planning to do.

“I don’t know what I wanted, I kinda wanted you to know what it was like to have everyone turn against you but at the same time, it could’ve been my chance to start fresh. I got a video from the mayor after I woke up...he said there was nothing left for me in this world and I guess he was right, so he left me that magic jewellery thing for my last chance...” Faith admitted whilst looking down at her hands, not wanting to make eye contact with Buffy.

“So you’re telling me the guy who supposedly cared about you more than anyone told you there was nothing for you...a loved one would give you hope...not dread (Buffy stood and picked up the empty dishes seeing she wasn’t going to get much out of Faith)~ You may not want my help but you’re getting it, you can be a good person, whether you believe it or not!” And with that Buffy turned and left Faith to her own lonely thoughts.

Chapter Text

About a week later, Tara was walking through the park with Willow by her side, they walked close to each other, just barely brushing hands. Willow still wasn’t comfortable being close with Tara in public. Tara was still surprised that she had been introduced to the Scoobies, but that was still only because Buffy had questioned why Willow kept disappearing. Tara understood that coming to terms with new feelings was difficult, but the longer she was introduced as a ‘friend’, the more frustrated she became. She was feeling like a dirty little secret. Tara wanted to broach the subject, but the thought of making Willow feel pressured turned her stomach and filled her with guilt. So when Willow had called Tara to meet her after their disagreement the other night, Tara agreed hoping this would push them to admit more feelings that were having trouble expressing. All that had happened though was Tara receiving the same apology that always came after Willow made a mistake and just wanted to brush past the subject, so again Tara just let the issue go to keep the peace.

“So...um ...Riley’s throwing a party Friday night, did you wanna come with?” Willow asked shyly trying to bring a sense of normalcy between the two women.

“W..wh...Who’s going?” Tara asks.

“Just the usual gang, Buffy, Riley, Xander and Anya...Riley’s throwing it for the initiative guys to relax whilst the Adam nastiness is going on...”

“Yeah sure, I guess that’ll be cool...who’s going to watch Faith?” Tara enquired almost scared at what the red head’s reaction would be.

Willow stiffened at this but tried to relax after talking to Buffy earlier about trying to be a bit more lenient about the Faith subject.
“Um I’m not sure, Giles or Joyce will probably watch her...So whatcha say?”

“Ok, I’ll come...for a little bit...” Tara quietly agrees.

Will gave her a shy smile and nodded just glad that Tara even slightly agreed, maybe on the night she could convince the blonde to stay longer. They carried on with their walk, taking in their surroundings in beautiful Sunnydale. Neither witch was speaking just soaking in the sounds of their own worried thoughts.

***

Faith had hit the 200 mark on her push-ups, covered in sweat and beginning to feel the exhaustion but the slayer pushed through and kept going anyway. If she was forced to stay in the old festering basement, then Faith wanted to make sure she was at her strongest when she would finally have her chance to escape. Buffy would come down every couple of days if her army boy toy wasn’t demanding her time and would make awkward conversation. None of it interested Faith, if talking about Buffy’s day was meant to convince Faith to be a better person, then surely she should be the Pope by now.

Every day was like living in prison; she had the same routine every day. She would wake up and eat a crappy breakfast, half an hour running around the basement and up and down the stairs, eat lunch and chat awkwardly to whoever decided to bring her food that day and then she would lay on her back and wait for dinner.  Although sometimes if Faith was lucky, Joyce would leave the basement door open, so Faith would sneak up quietly and sit at the top of the stairs and watch Passions on the small portable tv in the kitchen. Joyce hadn’t been in the basement since they spoke the other week, but she couldn’t help but think Joyce was doing this on purpose to help the day go quicker for the rogue slayer. Faith had treated Joyce pretty crappy, but there was a time when Faith could imagine Joyce as her mother, and with the small niceties like when a little bit of cinnamon would be added to her morning porridge it was obviously Joyce’s doing, Buffy couldn’t cook to save her life. It was the little things like that which would hit Faith with a slight pang of guilt, but she needed to push that feeling away, she couldn’t give Buffy the satisfaction of knowing they were affecting Faith. Faith wanted to do this her way, and most of all, escape. Faith got off the floor when the push-ups became just too much, grabbed a spare towel and wiped the sweat off her face. It must have been that time of the day again as Buffy entered the basement. She climbed down the stairs with a plate of sandwiches, a bottle of water under her arm and a fold-up table under the other arm and the other hand carrying a box. She handed the plate to Faith and then unfolded the table next to the stairs and placed the box on top.

“What’s this?” Faith gestured to the table as she took a bite out of her sandwich.

“Oh, I brought you a puzzle...” Buffy stated happily with herself. Faith raised her eyebrows at Buffy and continued to eat. “Don’t look at me like that, you’re obviously bored down here, you barely talk and only seem to exercise...plus I felt bad after the other day with Jonathan and his spell hijinks,” Buffy admitted slightly embarrassed.

“So, you should! I didn’t see you having to walk around his mansion like a lovesick puppy, that little dweeb wouldn’t have a chance with me if he were the last man in the world...I’d rather hook up with you B...If I could get my hands on him...” Faith grumbled as she finished her food and placed the plate back down.

“At least he didn’t...you know...do anything with you, he was too busy hiding that demon from us,” Buffy replied trying to be positive.

“Oh, you mean before he tried to convince you all I attacked that stalker and Blondie?” Faith growled, her anger slowly rising, thinking about the annoying hobbit.

“Ok Faith calm down, it’s done now, let’s just move on,” Buffy pleaded with her eyes. “So puzzle? I thought it could keep you busy,”

“No thanks B, it’s not really my thing,” Faith brushed off as she sat back on the camp bed with Buffy looking fed up.

“Fine seeing as talking isn’t your thing either, I’ll go, but I just wanted to tell you mom’s watching you tonight...I’m going out,”

“Well try not to have too much fun; don’t want all that freedom to go to your head,”

“Bite me Faith; you’re down here because you can’t be trusted around people, take responsibility and don’t put your crap on me! Hope you enjoy your puzzle,” Buffy snapped as she grabbed the plate and stomped back up to the house and slamming the door behind her. Faith jumped up and launched her water bottle across the basement, causing it to explode on impact with the wall.

***

A few hours later and exhausted Tara, Giles, Anya and Xander ran out of Mrs Holt’s home. The old lady who once lived in Riley’s building was abusing and punishing children in her care. Tara was sickened listening to the older woman’s story, and her careless attitude towards it like it was nothing but a harmless telling off. Tara’s father may have beaten her any chance he got, but at least it was just her body that would heal but for those kids, that mental and emotional abuse had followed them through to death.

“Ok Giles, what’s the plan? Call Ghostbusters?” Xander asked, trying to lighten the situation.

“Yes very clever Xander, well I say me and Tara will go meet Willow at her dorm and try to get the ghost's attention long enough for you and Anya to get Buffy and Riley out...” Giles ordered.

“Um excuse me, I don’t want to die, what if you can’t get the ghosts to stay away for long enough? I like you Xander, but I’d feel much safer with superpowers nearby...” Anya huffed.

“An, honey, we can’t be picky, we need to save Buffy and Spike’s already bailed on us...” Xander began to explain to his girlfriend.

“Well, we d..d..do know someone a lot stronger than us and could be helpful...” Tara suggested nervously.

“Surely not, we don’t even know if we can trust her to not turn on us,” Giles replied in shock.

“Yes, no murderous slayer please, I’ll take my chance with the angry ghost children,” Anya stated in her blunt tone.

“Mmmm...Mr Giles, I’ve been researching spells, and there’s on that can bind a person to myself. The bind covers us in a 10 feet r...radius. If I did that, Faith wouldn’t escape, and we may be able to see if her t...time in the basement has helped her at all?” Tara almost pleaded with Giles.

“Does the spell come with a contingency plan?” Giles asks the witch as he weighs their options.

“Y..yes the spell would become permanent, if I died or if she killed me then she would never be able to leave me alone,” Tara answered going quiet afterwards.

“Oh do that, that would teach her a lesson...sorry Tara I don’t want you to die,” Anya said quickly. Tara smiled at the ex-demon.

“Ok, Tara do the spell, Xander keep a close eye, make sure Faith doesn’t try anything...Now I’m going to help Willow, you’ll know when we’ve made contact with the ghosts,” Giles instructs them all.

“How will we know?” Xander asks.

“You’ll be able to get in the house,” Giles states flatly. The group split up and head their separate ways before it’s too late to save Buffy and Riley.

***

Joyce chuckled to herself quietly when she got to the bottom of the basement stairs. She had come to witness Faith sat at a small table concentrating on the puzzle's picture and staring at the puzzle pieces intently trying to find the right piece. Watching Faith at that moment made Joyce forget all the terrible things she had done. Faith seemed so innocent; it was very bittersweet to watch. So taking a chance, Joyce carefully pulled a spare chair next to Faith.

“Mind if I help?” Joyce asked quietly. Faith looked up from the puzzle to acknowledge Joyce; she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to concentrate.

“Sure, it’s a free country,” Faith mumbled.

Joyce smiled to herself and carefully manoeuvred herself next to Faith and started to look for pieces. The two women sat together for the next half an hour, contently putting the puzzle together. Faith placed the pieces down carefully that she was holding whilst Joyce continued to work.

“I’m sorry...for hurtin’ you, let’s not make it a thing...but I wanted you to know,” Faith admitted to Joyce quietly and turned back to the puzzle.

Joyce stopped what she was doing, shocked by the statement. She looked at the brunette in awe; this was the first time Faith had taken any responsibility for her actions. With her chest feeling full, she raised a hand and placed it on Faith’s arm. Faith looked at Joyce with glossy eyes, doing her best to stay strong when suddenly Xander, Anya and Tara sprinted down the basement stairs, making Joyce and Faith jump up in surprise to face the group.

“Faith, we need your help!” Tara told Faith firmly.

Chapter Text

“What are you talking about Blondie? If you haven’t noticed, I’m kinda under basement arrest!” Faith replied, slightly annoyed and confused.

“Wait is Buffy in trouble, has something happened?” Joyce jumped in now becoming concerned for her daughter.

Faith looked over to the ageing mother who had become worried about her daughter’s life, the only time she had seen this was at Christmas when the First decided to visit the town. Joyce had spent the whole night pacing around, just waiting for Buffy to contact them but Buffy had decided to be selfish and wait until lunchtime the next day to stroll in with a very much alive Angel. Faith hated how Buffy took her mom for granted. Joyce always worried about her daughter's safety, and now she was witnessing it again. It killed her; Faith always wished she had a mother who had the same amount of concern.

“Well th...there was a ppp..problem at the party earlier...” Tara began to explain.

“Is she ok? Is she hurt?” Joyce’s pressed.

“Well...we don’t think so...” Tara trailed off not knowing how to explain the situation.

Anya sensed Tara’s discomfort and just jumped right in. “For goodness sake, the frat house is haunted, people went crazy, we’re all locked out, and Buffy and Riley are trapped inside bonking ...probably until they die...oh sorry Joyce...” Anya explained bluntly.

Both Joyce and Faith stare at Anya with their mouths agape. Faith broke out into laughter.

“Wait...wait, ghosts are making B do the nasty all night long, I don’t know whether to feel bad of high five her...you never know it might loosen her up, I’m kinda jealous really,” Faith winked at a surprised Tara as she tried her best to hide her enjoyment of what she had just heard.

“F...Faith, it could be torturous for them, not even being in control,” Tara said frowning at the slayer.

“I doubt control is a problem for them right now,” Faith chuckled to herself.

“Faith!” Tara snapped.

“What? I bet army boy would disagree with you on that; he’s probably having a great time,”

“Will you help us or not? We don’t have a lot of time!” Xander added now getting impatient.

“Why should I? After I’m just gonna be shoved back down here, I won’t be anyone’s lapdog,” Faith snapped in annoyance.

“She’s got a point,” Anya agreed shrugging, Tara and Xander look at Anya with raised eyebrows.

“Then show them you deserve to be released, you’re a slayer, there must be a part of you that just wants to help,” Tara pleaded, stepping closer to Faith.

Faith shuffled on the spot whilst everyone looked on at her, she couldn't understand why Tara’s putting so much trust in her. Last time they met she was a bitch, what exactly did the witch want from her? Faith just couldn’t figure the blonde out. Joyce turned to Faith, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Please Faith, help them for me,” Joyce softly asked the slayer with pleading eyes. Faith hesitated for a moment before shrugging off Joyce’s hand.

“I guess I owe B for not letting the council kill me...” Faith mumbled as Joyce beamed at Faith with pride. Xander and Anya breathed a sigh of relief. “So how do we do this? You gonna let the wall down?" Faith asked as she gestures to the exit.

Tara stepped forward and took Faith’s hands in her own. Faith looked at Tara uncomfortably, her hands were cold but so soft, and the touch scared Faith more than it should have. Tara held onto the slayer’s hands carefully and took a deep breath looking into her eyes. Faith’s stomach jolted when their eyes met. There was no judgement or fear. This woman didn’t know Faith but dearly wanted to trust her. It was like at that moment Tara was looking right through her and into her soul, a very tense feeling to the closed-off slayer.

“First we need assurances you won’t run...” Tara told a confused Faith as they continued to hold hands. Tara muttered some words in Latin under her breath. Immediately Faith felt a strong pull towards the other woman.

“What did ya do?” Faith questioned as she yanked her hands out of Tara’s, very uncomfortable with the sudden closeness.

“You can leave the house now but...” Tara started to tell Faith until the slayer jumped onto the stairs in a fast and smooth motion and raced up to the kitchen. Faith hadn’t planned to run, but she needed to know if she could get away, it was the only chance she had. Just as Faith got through the kitchen, she suddenly felt a weight on her back. Her whole body was being thrust back through the basement door and flew down the stairs until she landed at Tara’s feet with a thud.

“Ww...We did say we needed assurances, yyy...you can’t go further than 10 feet from me, or this happens,” Tara explained trying not to look so smug. She carefully helped the groaning slayer get herself up off the floor.

“Great so she ran straight away, and how can we trust her now?” Xander questioned filled with annoyance.

“We can trust her Xander, she did what anyone www...would be given a chance...plus I think she learnt her lessons...haven’t you?” Tara said smirking at Faith whilst the slayer rubbed her head and nods in agreement with the witch.

“Fine...let’s just get Buffy, quicker we do that the quicker we can put the beast back in its cage,” Xander gestured at Faith as they all head up the stairs with Faith glaring at him from behind.

***

Faith, Tara, Xander and Anya all arrived outside Riley’s frat house as quickly as they could. Anya leant against the front door, trying to sense if the building was still being haunted. After a moment she looked to the others and shook her head in defeat.

“D..dd..don’t worry, Willow, said it might take a little while but we’ll knn...know when we can enter,” Tara explained.

Faith wondered around the garden, taking a sweep of her surroundings. It had been weeks since she had felt the wind against her skin. Just feeling the slight breeze and coolness helped remind the slayer that she was still alive. She glanced down at her feet and saw a discarded beer can that was unopened. The slayer eagerly reached down and picked up the can and opened it.

“Score,” Faith muttered to herself as she took a gulp heading back over to the group.

“Faith! Is it really the time for that? Xander asked judgementally

“It’s always a good time for a beer 10 seconds; this is my first real drink in nearly nine months...I took my opportunity,” And with that Faith raised her can to a disgruntled Xander who was still grumbling about her 10-second comment and finished her beer, she threw the can aside once she had emptied it.

“Xander I’m bored,” Anya moaned, bored of watching Xander and Faith squabble.

“Well this is kind of a waiting deal hun, I’m sure Willow and Giles will get the mojo going soon,” Xander said trying to calm his volatile girlfriend. “Let’s take a walk around the house and see if there’s another entrance? Maybe talk finally?” Xander suggested pleadingly with his puppy dog eyes.

“Fine, have it your way Xander Harris,” Anya huffed as she began to walk around the house with Xander following close behind.

Tara and Faith watched on as the dysfunctional couple left squabbling with each other. Faith shook her head at them as she felt her body pull as Tara walked further away to the front door, causing Faith to follow quickly.

“I wish you would warn me before you do that,” Faith grumbled.

“Sorry,” Tara slightly laughed, causing Faith to narrow her eyes at the other woman.

“Why aren’t you scared of me?” The brunette asked curiously.

“Why ss...should I be?” Tara replied, trying to cover her nerves. The question made Faith smirk and stand closer to the witch, face to face, barely touching. Close enough to hear Tara’s sudden gulp in her throat.

“Well I’m a big ol’ slayer killer, no one here trusts me, and you thought it would be clever to lock us together...Red can’t be too happy about that...” the brunette said huskily close to Tara’s lips.

“Willow doesn’t make decisions for me...and I only know the Faith stood here today...” Tara responded, now looking Faith straight in the eye, refusing to show any sign of weakness whilst the slayer tries to torment her.

Faith slowly raised the machete, that Xander had reluctantly given her earlier, and pulled it from its holster. She slowly brushes the blade over Tara’s top, dragging the tip of the blade up until it rests on the witches shoulder right next to her face.

“I could cut your throat right now ya know? Because you don’t know me and you’ve got to make me understand why you’re so nice to me? Hopin’, you can ditch Red and get some beaver action from me or do you just want me to pop someone off for you?”

“Your good people Faith, www...whether you see it or not...(Tara took a deep breath as the blade edged closer to her neck) you can threaten me all you want, but I can see through you,” Tara replied as calmly as she could.

Tara’s words cut straight through Faith, the slayer's mouth hung open as she tried to register what the witch had said to her, there were no judgements or anger, Faith didn’t know how to react.

“You can’t kill me Faith, If I die...the spell will become permanent, and you will be bound to my corpse for the rest of your days...I told you I needed insurances...I want to trust you, but that can’t happen until you can learn to trust yourself, Faith,” Tara whispered close to Faith’s mouth, low enough to try and keep the slayer calm.

Suddenly Faith jumped back from the witch and begun to pace back and forth with the machete still in her hand, mumbling incoherently to herself. Tara watched on, unsure what the slayer was going to do next, wishing she had chosen her previous words more carefully. Tara continued to watch the confused and worked up slayer; she could see Faith’s fractured aura again. The different colours seemed to be battling one another, overlapping each other for control. Then Faith stopped, she looked as though she was going to try her luck and run, but then she spun on the spot and headed straight for Tara. Tara stumbled backwards into the front door and thanks to slayer abilities; Faith was instantly in front of the witch. Faith held the machete up to Tara’s throat this time; the witch could feel the cold from the blade touching her skin.

“Maybe I should just kill you anyway; I’d rather drag your corpse around if it means getting shot of this hell hole... (Tara closed her eyes, ready for what may come) But I won’t, I will get out of that basement, no matter what!” Faith quickly kissed Tara on the lips aggressively and then lets the witch go, taking a sudden step back. The two women just stared at each other, both breathing heavily.

At that moment, Xander and Anya rounded the corner quietly bickering to one another. They stopped in their tracks when they came upon Tara, and Faith stood staring at each other, with tension that could be cut with a knife.

“Is everything ok?” Xander asks Tara as he edged over to the two women. Faith rolled her eyes and sat on the porch steps as she placed the machete back in its holster. Tara turned to Xander with a shy forced smile.

“Ooo..of course...Faith just has some anger to deal with,” Tara said sheepishly, not looking at the slayer, still trying to forget the sting of the brunette's lips. It was almost like she was marked for revenge, or it was the only way the woman could release a bit of anger without inflicting pain, but for Tara, it wasn’t welcomed in any form. Even though nobody knew, Tara was technically with Willow. It was like betrayal without giving permission. No matter how complicated her relationship with Willow was at the time, she was not a cheater. The slayer did intrigue the witch admittedly, but she couldn’t keep up with the mood swings and the spontaneous actions, a part of her detested these actions, but another part of her was screaming to learn and understand more.

“Guys I think we’re good to go...” Anya interrupted the moment with her ear pressed to a window.

“Ok, you two keep watch here, me and An will go in and grab Buffy and Riley,” Xander informed them all until a disgruntled Faith stood and faced him.

“I don’t think so dude, you didn’t bring me out of that basement and tie an invisible rope to Blondie and me so I could just keep guard, how about we go in (gestures to herself and Tara), and you both stay here?” Faith told Xander.

“No Buffy needs us and -,” Anya cut in for Xander.

“That’s a brilliant idea, you go risk your life Faith,” Anya responded with a grin.

Before Xander could respond, Faith grabbed Tara’s hand and pulled the witch into the house. The door shut immediately behind them. They both stood stunned for a moment, looking around the abandoned party scene and at the forest that had developed up the stairs and covering a door which was Riley’s room.

They both cautiously walked to the stairs with Faith taking the lead. Neither woman said a word to each other, too on guard to think about speaking. Slowly they began to make their way up the stairs, doing their best to dodge rogue branches and vines with minds of their own. Faith took charge with the machete and began to hack a path for them through the stairs. After a few minutes of struggling, the two women made it to the top of the stairs, without discussing it, they both just ran straight for the door. Faith began to pull at the door, using all of her strength in her until a gust of wind hit them both as more branches surrounded the entrance. The force of the wind threw Tara backwards and over the landing bannisters and to the bottom of the stairs, straight out of Faith's line of sight. The slayer ran to the landing to help the witch when an invisible force grabbed Faith’s leg and dragged her body through the bathroom. Faith did her best to hold onto doorways and tables, but the pull was too strong and ultimately was carried to the bathroom and submerged in the bath.

Meanwhile, Tara was instantly thrown to her feet after landing on her back forcefully, not having a second to register any pain as Faith had been moved further away from her person. Tara had been thrust up the first few steps before having regained control of herself. With pure determination, Tara pushed vines and branches away, using the railing to steady herself. A rogue vine shot up over the railing and through Tara’s hand. The witch cried out in pain but only for a moment. She had too many people relying on her to stop, so she took a firm grip of the vine and ripped it out of her hand. She clutched the injured hand to her chest and pushed on.

Faith was now struggling for breath. She could see the dead children above her, just watching her struggle to stay alive. All of Faith’s strength had slowly disappeared; the fight for oxygen was wearing her out. She began to welcome the darkness. Her last breath was representing her life, floating away in one bubble. Faith tried hard to watch the bubble disappear, so she could remember the moment her life ended, when a set of hands burst through the water wall and grabbed Faith’s shoulders, pulling her out of the water. Faith gasped and spluttered for breath when she realised a dishevelled Tara had saved her life and the creepy dead ghosts were gone. By the time Faith got her breath back, she had realised that she was gripping onto Tara’s good hand. She quickly pulled her hand from the witch and grumbled a quiet and awkward thank you before dragging them both out of the door.

The two women pushed through the hallway, dodging the angry plants, more determined than ever. Tara clutched the back of Faith’s jacket and kept her head ducked down as they reached the doorway to Riley’s room. The vines and the screams of the children became more erratic than before. Faith grabbed the doorknob with both hands and pushed her whole weight onto the door. Tara placed her good hand on the door and helped to push, both women grunting in pain and exhaustion until there was silence. The bedroom door swung open with such ease to reveal a half-covered Buffy and Riley. The naked couple jumped in shocked and tried to cover themselves.

“God Tara! Don’t you knock? And Faith? What the hell?” Buffy snapped at the women almost insulted by the disruption.

“...I should’ve let you both bonk to death...” Faith responds fed up and wet as she and a disgruntled Tara turn to leave the house and a very confused Buffy and Riley.

***

A couple of hours later Faith, Tara, Buffy and Riley trudged through the Summer’s front door, and all piled into the lounge. Faith flung herself onto the armchair, whilst Buffy and Tara shared the sofa and Riley leant against the door frame.

“Well guys thanks for coming to save us, I can’t believe all that happened...” Buffy told Tara and Faith slightly embarrassed with herself. Faith stretched out and grinned at the blonde slayer.

“No worries B, I’m sure all those big O’s were just torture...” Faith said, laughing to herself. Buffy snarled at Faith and threw a pillow in her direction. Tara placed a sympathetic hand on Buffy’s knee and scowled at the rogue slayer.

“Really, Bb...Buffy, it wasn’t your fault. You were under the influence of ppp...powerful magics,” Tara said, giving Buffy’s knee a soft squeeze.

“We were like zombies. I had no control over myself at all,” Buffy says still shell shocked by the events.

“Oh, it must’ve been horrible...” Faith added sarcastically. Buffy and Riley gave each other small smirks whilst thinking back and secretly enjoying the long evening of lovemaking that they had spent together.

“Yes. Horrible,” Buffy stated regaining composure.

“Uh-huh,” Riley agreed.

“Yeah,” Buffy closed.

“Don’t fight the denial too much B,” Faith said with a chuckle. Buffy stood from the sofa and looked at Faith.

“I appreciate everything you did tonight Faith but uh...” Buffy said, not knowing how to finish her sentence. Faith stood up from the chair with her hands in the air.

“I get it B, I’ve got to go back downstairs, might as well be straight with me,” Faith replied already coming to terms with her fate.

“Right, sorry...Tara, can you detach yourselves and then put the wall back up?” Buffy asked the witch.

“Of course,” The witch agreed with a bow of the head.

Tara stood up and slowly walked to Faith and again took both of her hands. For a split second, Tara took a moment to feel the slayers aura for any change. Nothing had changed from earlier, the slayer was still just as conflicted and in pain but there was only one minuscule dot of light, but such a small dot filled Tara with so much hope. Tara continued to mumble some words in Latin again, and instantly the two women felt the pull between them disappear. For a second, it was like losing a limb. Tara then instructed the slayer to go back to the basement. Without question, the slayer nodded her head and went back down the stairs. Tara then re-established the invisible wall. Once completed, Tara headed back into the living room with a curious expression on her face.

“What is it?” Buffy asked curiously.

“Faith tried to escape earlier when she knew the wall was gone, but my attachment charm prevented her...” Tara began to tell Buffy.

“She what?!” Buffy asked horrified.

“Don’t worry, it was fine, but this time she had an opportunity to escape, but she didn’t, she went back downstairs with no arguments,” The witch explained still surprised.

“So, what does that mean?” Buffy asks still a little confused and annoyed.

“I...think, I think this means there could be hope for Faith, she chose not to run for once...” Tara trailed off. Buffy and Riley look at each other stunned. Meanwhile, Tara collected her belongings and headed for the door.  “I should hh..head home but can you let Ww...Willow know I’ll call her tomorrow?” Tara asked at the open front door.

“Yeah sure, be safe, Tara,” Buffy said, still bewildered by what Tara had just told them, as Tara left the house.

“Do you think she can change?” Riley asked.

“I hope so...we could do with a win,” Buffy replied, looking at the basement longingly.

Chapter Text

The Sunnydale university campus was bustling with students on that beautiful sunny morning. Willow and Tara made their way through the campus together, clutching the coffee’s the two women had just purchased. They walked in silence for a while just taking in their surroundings. Watching lecturers rush to class and watching students read on the lawn, all of whom didn’t seem to have a care in the world. Willow decided to take the leap and break the silence that had been deafening to the two women since they met up.

“So...uh how have you been? I haven’t seen you much since the haunted party?” Willow asked as casually as she could.

“Gg...Good, I’ve just been catching up on school work and stuff,” Tara shrugged off.

“Stuff, like help Buffy with Faith stuff?” Willow questioned, slightly annoyed as Tara looked at her nervously. “Buffy told me you’ve been taking Faith for walks with her...”

“Willow I told yy...you that I would help with Faith and Buffy needs my attachment spell,”

“Yeah well I still don’t think Faith can be trusted, you’re probably just wasting your time,” Willow snapped back.

“Well if I do that’s my mistake to make, don’t make your issues mine. I like to help, and I feel like I’m contributing to the Scoobies for once,” Tara said more annoyed now that Willow was so disrespectful of her decisions.

Willow could see she wouldn’t be able to get through Tara’s stubborn exterior. Willow felt like she was living in a crazy world, since when did anyone want to help that murderer? She knew to bide her time, and she’d eventually show Tara, Buffy and all the others that Faith couldn’t be trusted. So taking a breath, Willow gave the blonde a shy smile.

“I’m sorry you’re right, the Faith thing is my thing, let's not ruin our morning before we have to go to Giles’s,” Willow said hoping the blonde would quickly forgive her, so they didn’t need to be upset anymore. Tara looked down at her feet, nervously.

“What is it? I’m sorry I was miss grumpus,” Willow quickly told Tara returning to her childlike accent.

“Oh, it nn..not that...Buffy wants me to swing by the house before going to Mr Giles’s...” Tara told the redhead wanting to avoid yet another spat.

“Oh...well ok, that’s cool,” Willow said slightly hurt she hadn’t known after speaking to Buffy earlier.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, totally! I’ll even come with you, that way we can spend more time together,” Willow told the blonde, playfully nudging her as they continued their walk together.

***

A few hours later, all of the Scoobies had gathered at Gile’s apartment circled around his desk whilst Faith, whom Joyce had forced Buffy to take with her for ‘good behaviour’, was sprawled across the sofa reading a magazine. She was sat just close enough to Tara, who was leant against the counter next to Willow, that she wouldn’t be suddenly pulled over but further away enough that she didn’t need to be near Willow. When Willow and Tara had arrived at Buffy’s earlier to do the attachment spell, she had to deal with snide comments and constant glares from the redhead. It took all of the slayer’s will power not to snap the redhead’s neck. The beating from Buffy would’ve been worth it, but in the last few days, Faith had been practising self-control. Walking with Tara and Buffy a couple of days a week was having a strangely calming effect. Crimes from her past were beginning to weigh on her shoulders. Even her threatening behaviour with Tara gave her a strange sense of guilt she had never felt before. She had only been trying to scare the blonde, but memories of fear in the witches eyes were haunting her. She reluctantly thought she would try the whole redemption thing out, but it didn’t mean she would rush to become a hero, her main goal was to shrug off the hostage gig. Bringing the slayer out of her thoughts was the Scooby meeting suddenly going silent. Faith shifted up on the sofa and leant on the back to see the front door wide open, and Oz stood in the doorway and everyone looking stunned.

“Wolfy! You’re back!” Faith shouted out to break the tension.

“Yeah...you too?” Oz replied with a quirked smile and a confused look, knowing Faith had been in a coma when he left.

“Oz...” Willow whispered to herself, ignoring Faith’s initial reaction.

“Oz...” Tara repeated just as quietly, finally realising it was Willow’s first love who had just walked through the door. The man who stood between her and Willow being together.

“When – when did you get back?” Willow asked the wolf.

“Pretty much now,” Oz replied with his mellow attitude. Xander moved over to Oz for a handshake.

“Oz man, hate to sound grandma but – you don’t call, you don’t write...”

“Yeah sorry,” Oz replied casually in his usual manner.

“So are you here, here? – or just passing through?” Buffy inquired suddenly feeling very protective of her best friend.

“Let’s not bombard Oz with questions right off...” Giles interjected and looked to Oz. “Can I get you something? Some tea...?” He asked. Willow panicked at the thought of her ex-lover and potential love being in the same room so suddenly.

“Tea? Now? With...Oz?”

“Thanks but I’ll pass,” Oz delined. He stepped closer to Willow; Tara couldn’t help but watch on mortified whilst trying to avoid Willow’s eye line. “Look – I’m going over to Devon’s to see if he has a place I can crash. But I was hoping we could talk later. Tonight?” Oz asked Willow softly.

“I – I guess so,”

“I’ll come by your place,”

“Okay,”

Faith continued to watch the interactions from the sidelines. The way Willow was handling the situation was disgraceful. And Tara looked horrified and embarrassed. How could no one in the Scoobies see what was happening with red and blondie? Are they that self-absorbed? None of this would end well, and all Faith could do was watch it all unfold in front of her.

Oz had just left the apartment, leaving a lot of concerned faces. Buffy was trying her best to console Willow whilst ignoring the pure look of hurt on Tara’s face.

“I just...I realised...I’m late for a study group,” Tara stammered, just wanting to escape so she could disappear to let her emotions out.

“Tara – wait,” Willow said reaching out to Tara, who’s backing away to the door.

“It’s okay, y..you should be with your friends, and I should go,” Tara gave a slight wave and turned to leave. “Bye,”

“No, wait!” Faith shouted but not in time; she could feel the magnetic pull throw her from the sofa and out of the door, trailing after a distraught Tara.

Buffy looked at Willow after the display, trying to hide a smile. “I think Tara forgot about the spell,”

***

Tara spent the whole of that night in her dorm room pacing back and forth, picking up the phone multiple times to call Willow but every time putting the phone down without dialling. After seeing Oz turn up at the Scooby meeting, it had put her mind in a loop. She had even hurt Faith, forgetting about the attachment spell in all the humdrum. Luckily for her, Faith didn’t have as much of an issue as she thought she would. It was apparent that Faith could see the pain in Tara’s eyes. She wouldn’t say anything, but she also gave Tara the space she needed, walking behind Tara the whole way to the Summer’s. She even offered to make Tara a cup of tea before having to go back to the basement, all very unFaith behaviour. Normally Faith would’ve bitched the whole way back after being hurt and would never have gone out of her way to make someone feel better with such a simple gesture. Tara had kindly declined the tea Faith offered, and the slayer had just nodded her head in understanding and left Tara alone.

Tara returned to her dorm straight after to release the tears that she had been holding in. Oz was such a big part of Willow’s life, he had brought the young witch out of her shell, and Tara knew she couldn’t compete with him. Tara had always been a loner, which made her nervous, and more importantly, Willow had kept her hidden away whereas Oz had a whole history with her, Oz was cool and knew everyone and had the power to affect Willow. When he left it had put Willow in a dark place before anything had happened between the two women, Willow had mourned for Oz as though he had died. She also knew the main reason she was a still a secret was that Willow was finding it so hard to let Oz go and if Willow came out about the two of them, then Oz was truly be gone, and it would become real.

So after spending the whole night arguing with her inner demons, Tara decided to see Willow instead of calling. Perhaps they could go for breakfast and discuss what had happened with Oz the evening before.

Tara made her way cautiously to Willow’s dorm room. She took a moment to compose herself and knocked on the door. A moment passes before the door opened to reveal Oz stood in the doorway with no Willow in sight. Tara’s face fell. Oz had stayed the night, that was obviously why the redhead hadn’t got in touch with her. She felt so deceived at that moment. Willow had spent the night with her ex with no warning to Tara for the sake of their relationship, she just wanted to run away instantly, but her feet wouldn’t move.

“Oh...sorry. I’ll come back,” Tara managed to get out in shock. She began to leave when Oz stopped her.

“Are you looking for Willow? ‘Cause she’s just down in the bathroom,” Oz replied softly looking Tara with slight concern.

“N..No...That’s ok,”

“I saw you at Giles’ yesterday,” Oz said, making Tara more uncomfortable with his realisation, she tried to inch away, using all her strength not to lose it where she stood.

“Yeah. Sometimes Willow takes me with her to the s..scoobies...”

“You sure you don’t want to come in?” Oz offered.

Tara just smiled and shook her head, trying her best to leave and stop the tears from falling. She quickly turned and walked away as a confused Oz closed the door. Just as she headed around the corner, she caught sight of the redhead returning from the bathroom. The witch looked carefree with fine dark lines under her eyes, showing her lack of sleep. The redhead showed no sign of fleeting conflict for the blonde that she was keeping so heavily in the dark. So as Willow entered her room, Tara took one more exhausted breath and went on her way.

***

After the incident earlier that morning with Oz, Tara couldn’t stand the thought of going back to her dorm room and torturing her mind with thoughts of Willow and Oz together. She decided to distract herself by taking Faith for a walk. She was only meant to go with Buffy, but she was elsewhere and needing protection from the rogue slayer wasn’t her main concern that day.

The two women made their way quietly through the suburban streets of Sunnydale with Faith having disguised herself in a pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap she had borrowed from Joyce. It wasn’t completely inconspicuous, but it helped with any unwanted attention from the police seeing as she was still on the run.

“So you wanna tell me why you took me out on a “bonus day” without B? You feeling brave today or something?” Faith asked the witch with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m not afraid of you Faith,” Tara calmly stated. Faith just huffed. “I j..just needed to get away from campus for a bit,” Tara explained with a hint of sadness thinking about Willow.

“So it’s nothing to do with Wolf boy being back in town?” Faith asked smugly. Tara looked at Faith, shocked by the truthful statement. “I know what’s going on with you and red, it’s wicked obvious...well maybe not to the others, I wasn’t just pulling your strings before, I didn’t actually believe Red swung that way, didn’t think she had the stones,” Faith continued.

“It’s still kinda new, and Willow’s not ready to tell anyone about us yet,”

“So your Red’s dirty little secret?” Faith questioned.

“Not secret...j..just not discussed,” Tara said defensively.

“Whatever you need to think to sleep at night blondie, but what about you?”

“What a-about me?” Tara stammered as she lead Faith to an empty bench.

“Well, what about what you want? Are you ok with it all being on the down-low?” The slayer asked, swinging her arms behind the bench, looking at the witch awkwardly fidgeting with her hands in her lap.

“Honestly? No, but I respect Willow’s wishes, being with a woman is new for her, and it would be disrespectful for me to push her,”

“And how longs has this being going on with you guys?”

“A few months...” Tara said dejectedly.

“Sounds selfish to me but that’s Red all over, girl straight up wants it all, like when she went after Xander when she was still with wolfy...”

“What?” Tara interrupted Faith with the sudden new information.

“Red never mentioned that? It broke her and wolfy up for a while, but she got him back, in the end, dude should’ve grown some balls and stayed the hell away (Tara listened intently, processing Faith’s harsh but true words) So how long are you willing to be a secret before you say something?” Faith asked seriously.

Tara sat in self-reflection for a while, she always knew Willow had a slight controlling nature to her and the disturbing hatred for Faith. Still, she didn’t think she could be a cheat, and as much as Tara tried to ignore it, the whole sneaking around situation made her feel she just wasn’t good enough.
“I guess...I just thought if I gave her time, maybe she could process her feelings without pressure from me...b-but lately it just feels like we’re more distant and no closer to cementing anything...now Oz is back...I worry...” Tara trailed off after admitting her feelings out loud.

“...That she’ll ditch you for him,” Faith finished the sentence. Tara just nodded a silent agreement.

“I went to Willow’s place this morning, O-Oz opened the door...he had b-been there all night, she never thought to tell me...” Tara explained trying her best to hold back tears at the memory.

“That blows...Well now wolfy is back, think about what you want...want and take, that’s my philosophy, don’t do everything to Red’s schedule, take control,” Faith told the witch. Tara slightly smirked, and knocks against Faith’s side playfully whilst the slayer shifted awkwardly.

“Cos want and take worked so well for you,” Tara said, laughing through sniffles.

“Well jeez I didn’t mean murder Red...but it could be funny (Tara raised her eyebrows at the slayer who now sat up straight from the look) seriously though, you can only look after yourself in this world, do what you’ve got to do. Don’t wait on Red. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure couples are meant to both be happy...not just one,” Faith told the blonde.

The slayer toyed with putting an arm around the upset witch. Showing weakness wasn’t her thing though, so instead, she scooted closer to the witch, so their thighs were touching. The two women continue to stare ahead and ignore the connection that was slowly developing. Faith didn’t do friends, but she was having an unsettled feeling of comfortableness with the witch. So they stayed in their content, quiet bubble contemplating life.

Chapter Text

Later on that day, Tara had finally returned to her dorm. She had so many thoughts trampling through her mind at once.  Her conversation with Faith hadn’t helped either. Tara already had concerns about her relationship with Willow, but now with all the latest information in her possession, she couldn’t help but question things more. Tara could see herself falling in love with the redhead but was Willow willing to feel the same. Tara was brought from her thoughts by a knock at the door. Tara got off her bed and went to open the door; she was brought face to face with Willow. The redhead stood rocking on her feet, nervously.

“Hi,” Willow said with an awkward smile.

“Hi” Tara replied, standing to the side to let the redhead in.

“I can only stay a minute, I have class,” Willow told her.

“Me too. I have class too,” Tara agreed.

“I just wanted to let you know, what you saw this morning, it wasn’t –“ Willow started before Tara cut in.

“It’s okay; I always knew if he came back – “

“We just talked. Nothing happened,” Willow took her turn to interject.

“Oh, really?” Tara asked, surprised at how shocked she was that nothing had happened.

“But, you, it was intense. Just talking. We have a lot to talk about...I kind of feel like my head’s going to explode,” Willow said, trying to make a joke out of it.

Tara thinks about what Willow said for a moment. She appreciated receiving the truth but at the same time couldn’t help but feel her heartbreak at how the redhead spoke about her ex-lover. Why did she feel like she still had to show the redhead how much she truly cared for her? How can this man walk back into the redhead’s life and could make Willow question everything? She was beginning to think she was just a temporary replacement. Willow hasn’t cared about how she was feeling about all of this, only how it affected her and Tara wasn't the type of person who appreciated one-way affection.

“Whatever, you know happens? I’ll still be here. I mean, I’ll still be your friend,” Tara mumbled.

“Of course, we’ll be friends. That’s not even a question,” Willow told Tara sounding alarmed.

“I know what Oz means to you...and I think we both know what you want (Willow looked at Tara suddenly hurt) you should be with ww..who makes you happy and that’s Oz. You haven’t been able to tell your friends about us because a part of you knew that admitting us meant you and Oz were truly over,” Tara told Willow now holding her hand in comfort.

“And how can you know that? When I’m not even sure. I mean, I know what he “meant” to me. But he left, and everything changed. I changed. And then we...” Willow rambled whilst choking back tears. Tara placed a hand on Willow’s cheek.

“You don’t need to explain, I will always be here for you, but you want Oz. I saw the look on your face when he turned up at Mr Giles’. For the first moment was pure joy and I’m not one to stand in the way of true love...” Tara told Willow as a tear dropped from her eye as she walked away from the potential love that she never had. Willow broke down holding Tara.

“I’m sorry, Tare. I’m so so sorry. I never wanted this to happen, I’ve been terrible to you,” As she sobbed into the blonde's shoulder. Tara pulled out of the embrace, took Willows hand again and gave a forced smile.

“Well, make sure you're a better friend to me and try not to forget about...I still need a spell buddy,”

“You bet, I could never let you go,” Willow responded with a small laugh and wiped away the tears.

“Now go, you don’t want to be late for class,” Tara told the redhead as she rubbed up and down her arm in a gentle manner.

“Thank you,” Willow smiled, placing a kiss on Tara’s cheek and left the dorm. Tara followed Willow with her eyes until she shut the door on herself. Tara fell to her knees and began to sob. Noticing a sweater that Willow left behind, she held it close to her body whilst trying to calm her tears so she wouldn’t be late. Tara would mourn her lost love later. Quickly, she gathered her bag, cleaned her face, wrapped herself in Willow’s sweater, left the infected dorm room, and headed to class.

***

Oz was looking at notices on the board in the university corridor when an upset Tara headed in his direction. Being in her thoughts, Tara overlooked Oz until it was too late. He looked up, sensing something in the air and turned to face Tara.

“Willow?” Oz wondered until he saw it was only Tara. “Oh – hey. I thought I sm- heard Willow,” Oz commented on his mistake, not realising Tara knew about his werewolf secret. Tara could feel the nervousness creeping up when she noticed the documents that Oz was holding.

“Hey. You’re coming back to school here?” Tara inquired politely.

“Pretty much. I’m feeling oddly motivated,” The wolf smiled to himself as he looked down at the documents. Tara felt like her world was crashing at that moment, this had proved that Oz was here to stay and Tara could never really have Willow. All of their time together, building a relationship was for nothing, which broke Tara’s heart.

“That’s...that’s great. I mean, It’d great for you and Willow, right?”

“I hope so,”

“Good, that’s...Because, really, you two belong together. I think it’s for the b-best...” Oz could see the blonde become more upset. He becomes confused himself at the girl’s strange behaviour, and then he noticed the girl’s sweater, it belonged to Willow. He reached forward to touch the sweater when the blonde instantly pulled away.

“Is that Willow’s?” Oz inquired more urgently.

Tara began to back away, feeling the guilt flood her body, and seeing that the man had become unnerved, making her feel unsafe.
“I hope you’ll be vv-very-“ Oz cut Tara off, grabbing both of her arms.

“You smell like her. She’s all over you. You know that?” Oz questioned, his body language becoming more intense.

“I can’t; I can’t talk about th-tha..”

“But there’s something to talk about?”

Tara couldn’t answer the wolf; she had already said too much. This was a conversation for him and Willow, not involving her. She turned away and hurried down the corridor. Oz began to follow Tara as he became increasingly aggravated.

“She’s...involved? But she said –“ Oz continued.

“I-I have to g-g-g-“ Tara struggled to speak under all the pressure.

“We talked all night, and she never said anything. Nothing I-“

Tara picked up her speed, continuing to walk away from Oz.

“STOP!” Oz cried.

Tara froze on the spot, terrified. Oz was shaking in front of the witch.

“Is she in love with you?” Oz questioned, grabbing Tara’s arm, making the witch jump. His hand slowly began to morph into the wolf. “Talk to me! What is...what...” Oz trailed off, losing breath. He looked down with wide eyes when he noticed his arm. He looked up to see a wide-eyed Tara staring at him in fear and shock as the rest of his body started to follow into the transformation.

“RUN,” Oz ordered the witch.

***

Tara ran as fast as her feet would carry her. Oz had a complete transformation and in the daytime no less. The pain coursing through her body was indescribable. Her body wasn’t physically fit enough to try and outrun a fully grown werewolf. Tara saw an empty lecture hall and headed straight inside, looking over her shoulder at the same time. She ran into the dimly lit room quickly realising she had hit a dead end. The witch spun around to exit back out of the room but wasn’t quick enough when she came face to face with the werewolf blocking her escape. Thinking quickly, Tara turned again and ran through the seating area, hoping to buy enough time to think of an appropriate spell to aid her. Oz caught up behind and started to block every direction accessible to the witch. Finally giving up, Tara climbed over the seats using strength she didn’t know she had, using the adrenaline to weave through and move to the front of the lecture hall. Knowing her options were limited, the blonde decided to make a break for the exit when the wolf leapt across the threshold and landing right in front of Tara, she was trapped. The wolf was ready to pounce on its prey, it snarled whilst salivating through its bared teeth staring right at Tara. The wolf slowly sculked and closed in on the frightened witch. With only one option left the witch began to mumble a spell through her weak stuttering words.

“B-B-Back demon...In the-the name of Th-th...” Tara stopped the incantation abruptly as the wolf suddenly leapt at her. Instinctively Tara grabbed a chair from behind the desk and flung it at the attacking wolf. The wolf yelped mid-air, falling to the floor in a heap.

Tara stood stunned, not thinking she could take a fully grown wolf out with just a chair; she took a step towards it when Riley, Forrest and the commandos entered the lecture hall and surrounded the unconscious Oz. Riley reholstered his pistol that he used to knock the wolf out as the civilian dressed commandos began to bind Oz’s paws and lift him into a black canvas bag. Forrest approached Tara and began to lead her away from the scene.

“Are you ok?” Forrest asked Tara, and she just nodded, still slightly shaken from the attack.

“Where are you...what’s going on?” Tara asked through her rattled state.

“We’ll take it from here,” Forrest told her calmly.

Tara tried her best to object as Riley, and the other commando’s discussed the wolf, but all of her protests fell on deaf ears. She needed Riley to know who the wolf was. The other men started to lift the loaded bag as they were ready to leave.

“You don’t understand. That’s a p-p-p,” Tara tried to explain unable to get her words out in all the distress. She moved forward to try and stop them from leaving, but Forrest blocked her again.

“Listen, we know what we’re doing. You just need to calm down, ok? You’re just in shock. Go outside and get some air,” The commando condescendingly told Tara and then turned back to instruct the others to move out, leaving Tara alone in the darkened lecture hall. She needed to get Willow straight away.

***

 Tara had made sure her priority was to go and find Willow in the library. After explaining to an upset Willow about what happened with Oz and the initiative guys, Willow gathered her things and thanked Tara before rushing off to find Buffy and the Scoobies to organise a rescue mission. It had been Tara who had left behind again with no one to look after her.

Tara understood the redhead’s hurry, but a small part of her had hoped that Willow would have asked her to come along and help, but unless Tara was directly involved, she was ultimately left behind as usual. She didn’t know what to do with herself, she didn’t want to return to her dorm straight away to succumb to her sadness, so instead, she wondered the streets of Sunnydale. She thought about everything in her life at that time, wondering how the rescue Oz mission was going, losing Willow and how it would affect her helping Buffy with Faith? The deep secret that she was desperately hiding from the world and what would become of her life. Would she go back to being the quiet, shy girl with no friends or maybe she could create a new persona? Everything was changing so suddenly, and all she could do was feel so alone drowning in her sorrow.
Getting lost in her mind, Tara hadn’t noticed the sky grow darker and not wanting to be out late by herself; the witch decided to head back to campus, ready to resign herself to her room.

Tara had made good time getting back to campus considering the gruelling day she experience had weakened her. On the way along the path, she could see a blue van parked just outside Willow’s building. Tara could just about see the distinct impressions of Willow and Oz sat in the vehicle. Her heart stalled in her mouth, she was glad to see the wolf had been successfully saved and unharmed but seeing the couple, so close stung deep within. So before any tears could fall, Tara hurried away in the direction of her dorm.

Tara had come home to a blackout in her building, and with no spare candles, the witch ended up crawling onto her bed and curling up into a ball, laying silently in the darkness until all that could be heard were quiet sobs. A little while had passed when a soft knock came to Tara’s door, confused at who could be at the door this late, Tara slowly climbed off the bed and wiped away her tears. Smoothing herself down, she opened the door to find Willow standing in her darkened doorway holding a lit candle and a shy smile.

“No candles? Well, I brought one – it’s extra flamey,” Willow said, passing the candle over Tara as the blonde stepped aside to let her in. Tara’s body tensed with anxiety, wondering why the redhead came over. “Tara, I have to tell you that-“ Willow continued before Tara interrupted.

“I understand. You have to be with the person you l-love,” Tara stuttered.

“I am,” Willow responding with a wide smile. Tara looked at Willow stunned and confused with what was happening.

“Ok now I don’t understand, I-I just saw you with Oz...”

“Well I know you told me to be with him, but I’m here...he’s gone now, and we can be together,” Willow told her hopefully.

“Why did he go? I t-thought he wanted you back?” Tara asked, confused.

“Well he does...did. He realised a part of the wolf was weak when it came to me, and he didn’t want to risk losing control,” The redhead began to explain.

“So he chose to leave? You didn’t tell him to?” Tara questioned becoming slightly annoyed.

“Kinda? Yes, but it’s a good thing! It made me realise how much you mean to me,” Willow told the fellow witch with a light bashfulness.

“T-That’s when you realised?... Not earlier when I told you to b-be with Oz, you never tried to fight for me then,” Tara was so upset with this, she felt like a second choice, not good enough to be fought for. Willow took the candle from Tara’s hands and placed it down and taking Tara’s hands in hers.

“I know, and I feel horrible about everything I put you through. I’m gonna make it up too. Starting right now,” Willow pleaded as she moved in to kiss Tara. Not believing what she had just heard, stepped back.

“No Ww-Willow, we’re over, you can’t make things better when it suits you, you had so many chances to deal with things differently, but you didn’t. You just thought about yourself and how you could control things as usual,” Tara ranted at the other witch.

Willow looked away holding back tears, trying to hide her pain from Tara.

“I’m s-sorry Willow, but we’re over, I won’t come second, I d-deserve better, and I think i-it’s best that you leave,” Tara told Willow without being able to hold eye contact.
The redhead looked so broken, but Tara did her best to stay firm and not feel sorry for the witch that she had developing feelings for. Willow moved slowly towards the door, reaching for the handle before turning back.

“I told Buffy, you know about you and me earlier...” Willow said making one more ditch effort to change the blonde witches mind.

“Good, I’m glad you could be open with her, but it’s too late now, but I wasn’t lying before, I’ll still be here for you as a f-friend, and we can still practice magic, but you and I won’t work. We need to be with people who travel at the same pace as ourselves, I know you don’t want this, but maybe you could have a fresh start and move on from Oz properly and not turn to me now that our relationship is so fractured,” Tara explained to the witch sadly.

Willow had finally given in to her tears and held onto the door handle for dear life. In one day, Willow had lost everything, she had only wanted to keep everybody happy but did the reverse in the long run. Nodding in emotional realisation, Willow opened the door and stepped into the still darkened doorway.

“I am sorry Tara...I’ll see you around I guess,” Willow gave a slight wave to the blonde and disappeared down the blackened corridor.

Tara closed her door with her back to it and soon slid down to the floor broken. Tara had stayed strong for so long before finally breaking. Trying to fight the tears, Tara kept watching the candle until the flame danced to a beat that hypnotised the witch and she eventually faded to sleep curling up next to the door—finally letting the day's events escape her mind briefly.

Chapter Text

Buffy hurried to answer the door of the Summer’s residence. In the doorway, a shy looking Tara stood on the other side. The blonde witch had been surprised that Buffy had asked her to come over out of their regular routine of taking Faith for walks, especially since Tara had just ended things with the slayer’s best friend. So Buffy smiled politely to the witch and invited her in. Buffy led them to the sofa, sitting on either side of the sofa with Tara shifting nervously as Buffy sat up straight, trying to look as composed as possible.

“Thanks for coming over so last minute, I wanted to get Faith out of the house, and I didn’t want – No sorry I’m doing all this wrong, I know you and Willow, well you know...I mean of course, and I appreciate your help, and I still consider you a friend,” Buffy explained as she scooted a little closer to the witch.

Tara looked up from staring at her lap so happy to hear that she wasn’t hated. Tara had dealt with the fact the Scoobies probably wouldn’t want anything to do with her anymore now she wasn’t an essential factor in Willow’s life anymore. No more going to meetings or helping Faith become a better person. Faith was still distrustful of everyone and rough around the edges, but she was slowly but surely changing, and Tara wanted to see the type of person that Faith could become.

“T-That means a lot to me, I’m always happy to help, n-n-no matter what,” Tara told Buffy filling her with relief.

“Good, good...You know Willow’s been really down lately, she didn’t tell me what happened, but I know she’s sorry,” Buffy said trying to put a good light on her best friend subtly. Tara shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She had known that Willow told Buffy about them before they ended things, but she never expected the slayer even to want to discuss it.

“I don’t want to be rude, but I’d r-rr-rather not discuss Willow, what happened between us is private, and I don’t feel comfortable:-“

“Oh god, no Tara I’m sorry, guess my foot loves to sit in my mouth,” Buffy quickly said, trying not to let the blonde feel more uncomfortable than she already was. “Let’s not talk about this...would you like a drink?” Buffy asked as she jumped up and headed to the kitchen, quick to change the subject.

“W-Water please,” Tara replied following Buffy. Buffy opened the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water and passed one of them over to Tara.

“So I’m guessing you didn’t want me here for the awkward conversation – so where are we going?” Tara asked with a quirked smile on her face.

Buffy sighed in relief; the panic of wondering how she would dig herself out of the awkward situation went away when seeing the shy witch had a great way of going with the flow.

“Well actually nowhere, I just wanted to take her out back for some light training, with the whole Adam situation, I need someone who can challenge me physically, plus I think lack of fighting makes Faith a dull girl. I think mom’s hoping I can wear her out so she’ll sleep properly...Oh god, it’s like she’s my child...” Buffy trailed off in the realisation. Her eyes widened at the disturbing image of Buffy cradling Faith in a rocking chair like a baby, only she’s fully grown.

Tara couldn’t help but laugh at Buffy’s face as she got lost in her imagination.
“Of course, that’s not a problem,” The blonde smiled.

“I don’t expect you to sit outside with us all morning, so can you extend the rope on that attachment spell thing?” Buffy asked sheepishly.

“How much longer? 50 feet?” Tara replied calmly.

“You can do that?”

“Most definitely, I only did ten so we can keep an eye on her plus if Faith knew it could go farther, she’d bug me to extend the leash all the time,” Tara chuckled to herself.
“Truth be told, recently whenever we go out, I extend it by another couple of feet, partly as a sign of trust and partly to see if she would notice,”.

The two women started to laugh until they heard a voice come from the basement, which made them laugh even harder, releasing the earlier tension.

“I can hear you both you know!” Faith shouted up from the stairs, annoyed after listening in on the two women since Tara arrived.

***

Faith had been training in the garden for the better part of two hours. After her initial grumble about the conversation that she had purposefully been listening to, Faith agreed to head out and let off some steam; it was better than sitting in the basement reading Patricia Cornwell that Joyce kept lending her.  She had secretly found a love for the books, but she would never say that out loud anytime soon, even if she did, people would probably be more surprised that she could read. So the slayer decidedly welcomed her brief escape for a while. And Tara, not wanting to get in the way happily agreed to help Joyce prepare Lunch for everyone. The two women worked together smoothly, making random light conversation whilst tending to their tasks.

“So Tara, what is it you said you were studying?” Joyce asked whilst chopping ingredients for a salad.

“I’m studying ancient cultures, it’s r-really interests me learning about so many different parts of the world and how things use to be,” Tara responded whilst cooking the meat.

“Really? That sounds very thought-provoking. We get a lot of art from ancient cultures down at the galley; you should come to see it sometime, it could be useful for your schoolwork?” Joyce offered to the young girl.

“Th-Thank you, Mrs Summers, that’s very kind. I would love to,” Tara thanked her excitedly.

“It would be my pleasure Tara, I always welcome anyone who shares a love for an artistic perspective, plus I owe you,”

“You owe me?” Tara asked, surprised by this comment.

“Well you’ve been a big help with Faith, you also seem to have a very calming effect on her,”

“I don’t see how, she barely even speaks to me,” The witch laughed at the thought of having such an effect on the rogue slayer.

“You say that, but she rarely speaks to anyone, we do sometimes have pleasant conversations which usually only happens after you two have been together. Plus she’s always ready and eager to go before you even arrive,” Joyce told Tara proudly.

“Well, I think if I’d been in a basement for two months, I’d be ready to go whenever I had the chance,” Tara joked as she began to plate up food. “Plus I don’t think you can thank me, only Faith can choose her behaviour, no one else but I’m glad to be a positive influence,” She continued.

“Well whatever it is, I’m very proud and glad that Buffy kept her here, she’s really changing,” Joyce beamed thinking of the slayer's progress.

“I agree,” Tara said glad to know that Joyce had some much confidence in the rogue slayer too.

“Ok honey, I think we’re just about done here, I’ll go set the table, can you call the girls in, I think they’ve been out there fighting long enough,” Joyce chuckled as she headed out of the kitchen reflecting on her unique life.

***

Buffy and Faith’s sparring had hit its peak. Both women were drenched in sweat, and their muscles were searing in pain. Both women were secretly enjoying the challenge, causing neither of them to hold back on slayer strength. They had always had a good rhythm together when fighting; it was like watching a dance unfold, bonding two broken souls. Faith was loving every moment of it; it was the freest that she had felt in weeks. Feeling the cool breeze against her moist skin sent a shiver down her spine. The chill was welcomed as opposed to the dank basement air. Soon Buffy called time out pulling Faith from her thoughts and gestured for the brunette to join her on the grass for some water. They both led there for a moment catching their breaths before sitting back up and stretching.

“Damn B, You got any more frustrations you gonna be taking out on me...I’m gonna be sore all day,” Faith grumbled.

“Sorry, guess I’ve just been really stressed lately, we still don’t know where Adam is, and Riley’s on the run, and now Will’s all depressed because her and Tara...um nothing, that’s none of my business...” Catching her mistake, Buffy stopped.

“Oh, you talking about Red and blondie doing the dirty?” Faith said casually whilst taking a sip of water.

“What? How do you know?” Buffy questioned.

“Are you that repressed B? It was wicked obvious; I could see when I was spying on you guy’s Gman’s place, (Buffy rolled her eyes not surprised that Faith would spy on them) The way they eyed each other up...they looked hungry,” Faith retorted.

“Gross, do you have to be so vulgar about it?” Buffy asked, grossed out.

“Hey I just say it as I see it, makes life simpler, and those two were all hot for each other,”

“Yeah, well that’s not the case anymore (Faith raises an eyebrow in interest) Tara broke things off after Oz came back to town, they won’t tell me exactly what happened, but Will’s pretty beat up about it, it’s not been easy...” Buffy explained.

“Huh...losing two people in one day...sucks to be her,” Faith shrugged off.

“I’m glad to see you’ve been working on your empathy skills,” Buffy responds sarcastically.

“You know me B; I don’t do love and feelings, it’s a foreign concept to me, plus Red hates me, not big on caring for people who don’t like me,” The brunette said with a hint of annoyance towards the redhead.

“Willow doesn’t hate you – she just has a strong dislike,” Buffy said defensively.

“Whatever, it’s cool, I’m not looking for amends with Red anytime soon, I’ve got bigger things to worry about, like when am I getting out of the basement?” Faith pushed as she got off the grass and helped Buffy up alongside her.

“Well, I guess we can discuss it, you have been more “tolerant” to be around lately, and you and mom are getting along but I just...”

“Don’t trust me?” Faith finished Buffy’s sentence looking slightly disheartened but trying her best not to show it.

“I’m sorry, but you did try to escape once, and I don’t see the big change, I mean this is the longest conversation we’ve had in weeks. I’d have to be leaving you alone with my mother...” Buffy admitted.

“Ok, well you try living in that basement for months and see how talkative you are?! And if I’m in a basement, how are you supposed to see a change?” Faith questioned, feeling the anger brew inside of her, making heat rise in her body at having to defend herself like the prisoner that she was.

“Ok Faith, calm down, I just meant I haven’t heard you admit that you want to change, this isn’t easy for me either being the prison warden...look I’ll discuss it with mom, and then we’ll talk?” Buffy said, trying to diffuse the situation before Faith lost her temper.

Faith stared at Buffy blankly. She could never admit she wanted to change; Faith had been forced into this against her will, why would she admit anything? But she at least had to give something? Right? Only so she could get out of the basement?

“B...I...” Faith began to speak when Tara appeared at the back door.

Tara opened the door to see the two women stood on the lawn in deep conversation, wearing serious faces. Tara wasn’t sure if she should interrupt, but she could tell by Faith’s fisted hands at her side that she probably should help in some way. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Faith turned and locked eyes with the witch. Tara’s breath hitched when she really looked at the slayer, she was in sweatpants and sports bra, and her whole body was drenched in sweat with a slick gleam. She couldn’t help but stare when a rogue drop of sweat fell from Faith’s forehead and on her collar bone. Tara had never really looked at the slayer in this way but couldn’t help but admire how toned and beautiful she looked. Realising that she had been staring too long and Faith would probably question her, she cleared her throat now getting Buffy’s attention as well.

“Lunch is ready, you’re mom said to come in,” Tara called out to Buffy, quickly escaping back into the kitchen before she could become distracted again, and not in a way that she had expected.

“Can we pause this for now?” Buffy asked, turning back to Faith who was now frowning at the space where Tara had just been. Faith looked back to Buffy and nodded absently and followed her fellow slayer back into the house.

***

Buffy entered the kitchen and headed straight for the fridge. Whilst Buffy was hidden behind the cold door, Faith followed into the kitchen and shut the back door behind her. The brunette hesitated for a moment before accepting defeat and headed for the basement. As her hand grasped the door handle, she stopped when she heard a voice behind her.

“Uh, where do you think you’re going?” Joyce asked as she returned to the kitchen, catching Faith trying to leave. “I set that table for four, and you’re not going anywhere,”

Faith looked to Buffy who had shut the fridge and holding a bottle of soda. Buffy looked to her mother and then back to Faith and just shrugged with a small smile. Faith let go of the door handle and headed past Joyce and into the dining room.

Faith came face to face with a smiling Tara who was already sat at the table. Faith hadn’t seen much of her since their talk on the bench. The witch had seemed so broken then, with so much weight on her shoulders. Now she lit up the room; her break up with Willow seemed to be having a good effect on her.

“Enjoy your session with B-Buffy?” The witch inquired as Faith sat opposite her.

“Yeah it was cool, got to see the birds, look at tree’s, kick B’s ass, can’t ask for more,” Faith replied smugly as she started to plate up some food for herself.

“You did not kick my ass thank you...it was a crappy draw,” Buffy scoffed as she entered the dining room with Joyce. Buffy placed herself next to Tara whilst Joyce took her usual place at the end.

“Whatever you say B, you always were a sore loser,” Faith grinned as she dug into her lunch, almost frightened it’ll be taken away from her.

“Now now girls, I will not have you two bickering at the table,” Joyce scowled at the two slayers playfully.

“Sorry, mom,” Buffy replied, who had also started eating.

Lunch passed by nicely. Joyce, Buffy and Tara made pleasant conversation whilst Faith kept her head down, concentrating only on the food and half-listening to the lunchtime banter.

“So Buffy, what’s happening with Adam?” Tara asked as she finished her meal.

“A big amount of nothing, he’s totally MIA, I’m gonna speak to Giles later and see if there’s anything new, but before that, I'm gonna patrol the initiative caves and see if Adam's being hiding out there,” Buffy explained.

“Are you patrolling alone?” Tara asked, concerned.

“Yeah but it’s cool, it’s just recon, I’m not taking that brick house on again, not until I have to anyway..." Buffy trailed off.

“Perhaps you could take Faith with -,” Joyce began to suggest.

“Uh no-no, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Buffy interjected quickly.

“Why B? Worried I’ll knife ya?” Faith asked, shocking everyone as she hadn’t spoken for so long.

“...no, I just don’t think it’s a good time right now,” Buffy said meekly.

“And when will it be? When the world’s ending? I’m going stagnant in that basement; you said yourself you want me to earn trust from ya?” Faith snapped back.

“It’s more complicated than that, Faith – I don’t trust you! Look I’m sorry that came out wrong-,” Buffy retorted before flooding into guilt.

“No I get it, you were never gonna let me go, I was gonna be chained up like your little lap dog as a prisoner for everyone...you may as well have let the council take me out, at least I knew where I stood with them!” Faith protested throwing down her cutlery and storming out of the room and into the basement, slamming the door hard enough to make the house shake.

“Faith!” Buffy called after the other slayer.

“No honey, let her go, talk to her later, no point of poking the beast,” Joyce said, placing a hand on Buffy’s shoulder to stop her from getting up.

“This is so hard, I get it sucks for her, but I want to hear remorse, I can’t believe she’s changed until I get that, but if I push her, she’ll dig her heels,” Buffy explained exhausted.

“DD-Don’t worry, if you want I’ll speak to her later, see if I can help? Might help to speak to someone who wasn’t around last year?” Tara offered.

“I guess that could help...but didn’t you want to come to the meeting later?” Buffy asked.

Tara thought about Willow being there and not being able to face her just yet, so being a therapist for the evening to a broken slayer seemed like a great substitute. She smiled at Buffy.

“I don’t mind missing one mm-meeting if it means I can be helpful...”

Buffy smiled at the witch, knowing the real reason she wasn’t going, because of Willow. So learning her lesson from earlier decided not to mention it.

“Ok if you’re sure, I’d appreciate it, me and Faith have never been great at communicating...I guess that’s how we ended up here...anyway, thanks for lunch mom. I’ve got to go, but I’ll check in later?” Buffy said as she stood from the table.

“Ok honey, just be safe,” Joyce replied.

“I will...Bye,” Buffy called as the slayer left the house and the two women in the dining room.

Chapter Text

After storming off at lunch, the rogue slayer’s anger towards Buffy had risen exponentially in the hours that followed. Trying to relieve stress, she had resorted to exercising. Her body was still sore from her earlier sparring session but feeling that pain course through her body kept her mind distracted. She went from laps of the basement to sit-ups and then finally push-ups. With every push-up, Faith could feel burning flush through her arms, and she couldn’t stop. It was her only way of escaping, to keep her body strong, no matter what. Buffy Summers wouldn’t be the first person not to trust Faith, and she wouldn’t be the last. Lost in her train of thought, Faith hadn’t noticed her visitor enter the basement. She could see a pair of feet in her peripheral vision. She stopped what she was doing to see who had interrupted her. She turned to see Tara stood at the bottom of the stairs. The girl was just silently watching Faith with great care in her eyes. Faith looked away, confused by the look and went to sit on her camp bed, finally resting her sore body. Tara took a second to watch the slayer before heading over to the spare chair and sitting opposite Faith.

“What are you doing here?” Faith grumbled, not happy with an unexpected guest.

“I-I wanted to see how you are after earlier?” Tara stated simply. Faith sat back and observed the girl carefully; she couldn’t work her out at all. The witch was never rude, took any abuse from Faith like it was nothing and just seemed to care genuinely. That wasn’t normal; no one was just purely good; there was no such thing. Faith knew everyone had a dark depth; it was human nature.

“Yeah, well not great, so if that’s all you wanted, then you can go now,” Faith growled gesturing to the stairs.

Tara took a deep breath before choosing her next choice of words.
“S-She does want to t-trust you, you know,” Tara told the disgruntled slayer.

“No she doesn’t, she just says that so she doesn’t look heartless to everyone,”

“I don’t believe that she really does just want you to be happy,”

“If that’s the case, then why ain’t she here telling me this instead of you?” Faith questions getting more annoyed.

“She didn’t want to upset you more than she already had...and I got a call, she had a run-in with Adam, she’s ok, but she needs rest...” Tara explained softly.

“Serve’s her right for leaving me behind,” Faith scoffed as Tara looked on in shock by Faith’s admission.

“And can you blame her with comments like that!” Tara snapped back, aggravated with the slayer's behaviour.

“Hey if you don’t like it Blondie then you know where to go! I don’t even know why you’re here again? Do you want something? Trying to gain my trust so I can scratch an itch that Red couldn’t?” Faith snapped back, now stood up in a rage, her whole body shaking. She didn’t need this judgement and not from someone she barely knew.  

Tara looked taken aback, and she didn’t even know how to respond. The witch had never taken advantage of anyone; it just wasn’t in her nature.

“N-No, you know why I’m here, Faith I know you’re angry, but you know I just want to hel..p,” Tara began to trail off, beginning to feel uncomfortable as Faith stepped into the witches personal space.

She looked the witch up and down as she inched her face closer to Tara’s. Her lips close enough that Tara could feel Faith’s hot breath spread over her ear. She trembled at the unwanted closeness.

“Admit it, you want to take this body for a ride and keeping me sweet will get you what you need,” Faith whispered seductively with a hint of anger into Tara’s ear.

Tara’s body shivered, and nausea rose in her stomach. Anger doused her insides at the depravity of the slayer. Sickened at her comments and refusing to take any more of the slayer’s anger, Tara threw a hand up which sent Faith flying into the wall, pinning her up with a magical force. Faith struggled against the magic as the annoyed witch walked over to the struggling slayer.  Tara’s eyebrows crossed into a frown, all existence of her innocent charm had suddenly disappeared.

“If you want to be a brat, fine! But now you need some home truths, and you’re going to listen! No, interruptions!” Tara ordered the slayer as she waved her hand again and placed a silence spell on the incapacitated Faith.

“Firstly, that’s the second time you’ve got in my personal space without permission I. Do. Not appreciate it. Secondly Buffy won’t ever trust you when you can’t even admit you want to change, she doesn’t want to force you because she’s conscious of your boundaries. You have so much anger inside you, and you do everything to prove to the world you deserve to be punished. Well here’s an idea, pull your head out of your ass and take responsibility (Tara began to calm herself after her little monologue). I do want to help you but pushing me away with obstinacies proves that you're scared and angry and hiding it using evil...but you have to decide if you enjoy it?” Tara sighed, already exhausted from the small argument.

“I’m going to undo this m-magic now...can I trust you not to hurt me?” Tara asked the now solemn-looking slayer. Faith nodded her head in defeat as Tara waved her hand, Faith landed softly on the floor. Faith slowly padded over to the bed and sat down at Tara watched on. Faith just stared down at her feet, not having anything else in her to give, exhausted from the rage that had consumed her.

“Sorry...I’m not good at talking, never have been, actions always better with me...” Faith trailed off quietly. Tara hesitated for a moment and then sat next to the slayer and shifted to face her.

“Well, you could try it with me? I don’t judge and would never tell anyone what had been discussed; we don’t have a history with each other, I’m completely unbiased...it m-might help you?” Tara asked softly. Faith looked up at Tara with broken features.

“Why are you still being nice, you had me pinned up like two minutes ago...I don’t understand?” Faith questioned, confused by the bright blue eyes that stared back at her.

“I told you, Faith, I want to help, and when I decide you don’t deserve that, then I won’t give it, but for now I’m happy with my decision,” Tara said never breaking eye contact. Faith thought for a moment, not breaking the invisible contact.

“Ok...I’ll try the talking thing...but not today...please,” Faith pleaded through glossy eyes. Tara placed her hand on Faith’s and smiled.

“Of course,” Tara stood up and left the slayers space.

Faith led down onto the bed; she began to cry, letting the tears flood her face, finally letting her pain take over.

***

After her argument with Tara the other night, Faith hadn’t moved from her bed, even ignoring food that was brought down to her. Everything the witch had said to her had struck a chord. Every crappy thing she had ever done was suddenly thrown to the front of her mind, plaguing her with brutal images that Faith had never wanted to revisit. She just led there and contemplated her past decisions, was she justified? She always thought she had been, but what did she know anymore? No matter what she did, life never went the way she wanted it to. Laying there, she listened to the street, footsteps above her head shuffling noises running about the house in a hurry, listening to the pipes creak. Her only possessions in this world were the clothes on her back and the noises that surrounded her. Faith’s world had crumbled to nothing, and it was all her fault.

About an hour after the entire ruckus from upstairs had finally ended and everyone had poured out, Faith has once again returned to her peaceful ambient sounds. A creek came from the stairs; Faith realised the basement door had been opened, but no one entered. Joyce had opened the door for her to go and watch Passions. Faith led there and contemplated ignoring the woman; shun her advances of kindness but a small part of the slayer felt guilty. Out of everyone, Joyce was the only person who had never hurt the slayer, and she had only ever been inviting. After having ignored her the last couple of days and that morning bringing the breakfast, it had made Faith feel unusually guilty. So apprehensively Faith scooted herself off the bed for the first time in a while. She stretched her sore muscles and clicked her joints and slowly made her way up the stairs. As she reached the top step where she would generally perch, Faith saw a plate of food and a water bottle waiting for her, and the tv pointed in her direction. Her mouth twitched into a sideways smile as she sat on the step and leant against the wall. She tentatively reached forward began to eat the food, feeling the energy flood her body with every bite. She demolished the food in minutes, the hunger more relevant than she thought. Afterwards, she finished her water and leant back to enjoy her daily viewing of passions. The first half of the show went by so quickly that Faith hadn’t noticed Joyce had joined her in the kitchen. Faith looked up as Joyce approached her to take the empty plate away.

“Are you ok, Faith?” Joyce asked softly as she placed the plate in the sink and turned to face the slayer.

“I guess...” Faith shrugged

“I’m glad you decided to eat, I was starting to get worried there for a moment,” Joyce chuckled.

“Why,” Faith questioned.

“Because Faith I care, it’s not good to starve yourself and I like you, even if you don’t like yourself,” Joyce explained.

“I want to have a purpose... (Faith looked down at her feet, almost ashamed by her admission) but I don’t want to admit it to B...” Faith whispered embarrassed by what she had shockingly admitted out loud. Joyce laughed at the slayer’s choice of wording. Faith looked back up, almost upset at the reaction. Thinking about her fear of redemption and being rejected.

“I’m sorry sweetie, I don’t mean to laugh, and I understand you and Buffy always seemed to butt heads, but you don’t need to admit anything to Buffy, you’ve already said it out loud, and that’s a huge achievement in itself,” Joyce said beaming with pride.

“But B said...” Faith said before Joyce interrupted.

“Don’t worry about Buffy dear, I can speak to her, but you just opened up for a moment there, and I couldn’t be more proud,” Joyce beamed walking closer to the doorway. Faith stared up at the woman with tears in her eyes. All the emotion was just too much, she needed it to stop then and there, and she wouldn’t allow herself to break. So she wiped her tears and shifted uncomfortably.

“Yeah well don’t get use to it...Anyway, where is B? I heard loads of shuffling earlier?” Faith asked, trying to change the subject. Joyce looked at her, confused until she realised what the slayer was saying.

“Oh! There was an emergency, they said something about a spell and Adam in the initiative, and they were in quite a hurry, Buffy said she would explain it all later...” Joyce explained, Faith’s eyes widened in horror and jumped to her feet.

“When Joyce? When did they go?” Faith asked urgently.

“About an hour or so ago...why? What’s wrong?” Joyce asked now concerned at Faith’s urgency.

“Blondie told me B saw Adam the other day and got her ass beat, she can’t go down there, the initiative hate on her too, if she couldn’t stop Adam out in the open what chance have the Scoobies got?”

“Goodness no, what do we do? Call someone?”

“There’s no time Joyce, You need to get me out so I can get to them!”

“I-I can’t. I’d need to call Tara...” Joyce admitted helplessly.

“We don’t have time for that!” Faith shouted as she started banging her fists on the invisible force field.

“Stop Faith! You’ll get hurt. I’ll call Tara!” Joyce told Faith whilst trying her best to stay calm.

“Can’t...do that...Need ta...Get out!” Faith yelled through punches.

After a couple of minutes of wasting energy whilst Joyce called Tara, Faith stopped for a moment and leant against the barrier catching her breath.

“If I don’t get out B could die, if that happens and I could’ve helped but was stuck in her, then her capturing me was for nothing,” Joyce looked at the girl with sadness clouding her eyes at the thought of her only daughter dying, and she wouldn’t have known.

Faith stood up straight and took a deep breath. She placed her hands on the barrier and began to push, using all of her slayer strength available. The harder Faith went, the more she screamed in a mixture of emotions of anger, fear and pain until her pushing paid off. With one final scream, the invisible barrier shattered and Faith fell through the doorway. She quickly jumped to her feet, looked back at the doorway in dismay and looked around to Joyce with fear in her eyes and a determined look on her face. Joyce just looked at Faith still shocked by what had just happened.

“Go!” Joyce told the slayer, bringing Faith back to reality. The slayer nodded her head and ran out of the house.

***

Everything blurred past Faith as the slayer ran as fast as she could through the streets of Sunnydale. She pushed her body to move as quickly as she could go. She could feel the soles of her feet burning, her body not used to so much movement, in no way was it the same as running around the basement. She couldn’t let her pain slow her down, though; she had one goal, get to the initiative. She couldn’t let Buffy go up against this Adam guy alone. The place was bound to be full of army guys and demons, so getting in wouldn’t be easy but not impossible.

Faith came to a stop once she reached the university campus; she looked around to see what direction Riley’s house was in. Faith remembered Tara mentioning the secret facility entrance when she helped with the haunted Jumanji house a few weeks back, not that she paid much attention. So finding the actual door wouldn’t be easy. Her slayer senses came in handy for remembering old routes to help her find her footing from that night; it was like having automatic GPS. The slayer weaved her way through the crowd of students to the other side of the campus. The slayer eventually found the house quicker than she thought she would’ve. She skulked around the house to make sure it was safe to enter. At that moment the slayer realised in her haste, she forgot to bring a weapon, so looking around Faith saw a metal fence close by. She ran over and kicked the end of one of the fence posts and headed back to the house with her new weapon in tow. She returned to the front of the building and cautiously edged to the front door. Taking a second to make sure there were no witnesses, she kicked the door in and entered. The slayer stopped in the doorway to gain her bearings. Her eyes darted around the house, not sure where to go.  As she took another step inside, Faith heard a light creek to the side of her and almost in slow motion Faith ducked as a fist came at her face.

The slayer now crouched down, swung her right leg out and knocked the assailant from under their feet. Faith jumped up to see a demon on the ground with a face that looked just like a lizard. Faith readied herself with the metal fence post in her hands when two crushing hands wrapped its arms her from behind. She couldn’t see who it was but just figured it was the other guy’s buddy. The lizard demon stormed at Faith, so she lifted her feet, kicked the demon backwards and then head butting the demon behind her to get out of the vice grip. Faith roared as she charged at the lizard demon, sending them both to the floor. She straddled the demon and repeatedly punched the demon before grasping the sides of its face and snapped the neck of the demon, making it go limp. Before she could think the same arms from before grabbed Faith from behind and dragged her into the middle of the living area. Instantly Faith bit down on the arm, a leathery texture enveloped her mouth, making her want to gag. She bit harder until she broke into the unnatural skin and liquid oozes from one of the arms spilt out. Faith spat the substance out as the arms let her go, and Faith could turn to face her attacker. The demon had brown leathery skin with a blue face, small horns at the top of the head and tiny holes littered over the facial area.

“Hey, crater face! I’m kinda busy, and you taste nasty,” Faith shouted whilst still spitting out demon blood and spinning her makeshift weapon in her hand.

This angered the demon who charged for Faith; grinning smugly she rolled underneath him, and she started to hit him from behind with the fence pole. The demon leant backwards and swung its arms aimlessly as Faith did her best to dodge. The demon turned to face her, continuing his attack. With a few dodges and side steps, Faith launched the pole into the demon’s left eye. He hit the ground with a thud. Faith continued to stab the demon until she could be sure that it had died. Eventually, she stopped, looking down at her blood-covered hands, she flashed back to the demon she killed for the books of ascension and using it to manipulate Angel. The memories clouded her mind for a moment, unable to remove the images in her mind. In a panic, Faith rubbed her blood ridden hands into her clothes, trying to remove the memories.

Centring herself again, Faith slowly got up off the floor and started to walk around the house, wondering if there are any more surprises’ lurking around. As she reached the hallway, the slayer could hear a distant tapping. The tapping was coming from the walls, following the sound brought her to a large mirror. She placed an ear to the glass to listen; there was definitely something happening. Not wanting to waste any more time, Faith ran and grabbed a chair and began to smash it against the mirror until finally it crumbled and a pair of elevator doors are left visible.

She kicked the remaining glass out of the way and went to the doors. Shaking off the weakness creeping through her muscles, noticing her stamina had depleted over time, the slayer grabbed the crease of the door with her fingertips and began to pull the doors open. The doors stay stiffened until Faith could pull a small enough gap to wedge her foot into and eventually shimmy the doors open. The area was too dark for Faith to see enough but squinting her eyes enough; she could just about see a small light flash beneath her. As she followed the light with her eyes, she soon came face to face with scared army men, exhausted-looking scoobies and a determined Buffy taking the lead. Buffy stared up at the slayer in shock.

“F-Faith – w-w-what?!” Buffy stammered out not expecting to find Faith at their escape.

“I’m here to help B,” Faith said, giving a smug grin as she stretched her arm out to help the blonde slayer.

***

A couple of hours later after helping to retrieve the survivors from the initiative, Buffy, Faith, Giles, Xander and Willow returned to the Summer’s house exhausted from the day’s events. Faith not as much as she wasn’t involved in their uber spell to kill Adam.

They all piled into the living area whilst Faith quietly made her way down to the basement, not noticing Buffy watching her with a quirked eyebrow. Half an hour later, Faith was led on her camp bed, staring up at the ceiling going through the day’s events. She didn’t even know what had come over her, it was only a couple of months ago she wanted Buffy to suffer the way that she had, she was even prepared to switch bodies, but now she charged across Sunnydale to stop her from dying. She wasn’t even sure why she did it. Maybe she had just done it for Joyce, seeing the fear in the mother’s eyes for her daughter’s safety. Was being forced to be around these people really affecting her? Her mind screamed at her to not trust anyone, but her chest yearned to be acknowledged. This was more painful than an injury she had ever been inflicted with, whilst processing her thoughts a sheepish Buffy entered the basement and sat on the chair opposite Faith’s bed.

“You know, you kinda Chuck Norrised that barrier, you don’t have to be down here,” Buffy teased the brunette. Faith jumped, not noticing her guest enter. She sat up to face the other slayer.

“Is that a question or a statement?” Faith inquired.

“Both,” Buffy nodded her head and chuckled. “I spoke with the others, and we agreed to leave that barrier down but put one around the house...so you don’t need to be stuck down here,” Faith looked at the door hesitantly.

“I dunno, guess I’m starting to like it down here...besides you guys have your movie night going on,”

“You could join us if you want?” Buffy said awkwardly. Faith looked at Buffy for a moment, trying to figure out if she was being sincere or not.

“Why did you decide to keep the wall down? I bet Red wasn’t too happy about that choice,” Faith scoffed.

"I’m not gonna lie, it took a bit of convincing, but you came to us when we didn’t even ask...I’m not even sure how you did, from what mom told me it sounded insane, but I’m grateful, so we called Tara to come to do the spell in a bit, Willow’s too weak...So. Go. Roam...explore,” Buffy said with a grin.

“Don’t worry, I’m good here, it’s calm...but I might come up in a bit...get my own food for a change,” Faith shrugged picking at the blanket beside her, not quite knowing how to be. Buffy nodded as she rose from her chair and stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

“Ok, but if you change your mind, I’ll save a spot for you...I’ll probably still be up before dawn arrives,” Buffy gave Faith a small smile not knowing what truths were in her words and headed up the stairs in blissful ignorance.

Faith sat for a moment taking small breaths with her eyes closed, knowing for once she was choosing to be in the basement and for the first time in a very long time, Faith didn’t feel the urge to run away.

Chapter Text

A month had passed since Adam's events in the initiative and the trippy dreams that plagued the Scooby gang. The first slayer had tried to kill them in their dreams, which made it an excellent way for the gang to start their summer. Buffy had moved back into her old room after Riley had decided to leave Sunnydale after the government closed up shop. He wanted to be far away from the Hellmouth stresses, and since Buffy refused to go with him, the slayer and the soldier had parted ways. Faith had also convinced Joyce to upgrade the camp bed to an actual mattress. Even though the house wasn’t off-limits anymore, Faith found that she would always end her day in the basement, it had become her place.

So, keeping to her promise, Faith had been meeting up with Tara twice a week for the last month to talk. They didn’t always speak. Communication wasn’t easy for the slayer, so instead they would walk, or play cards or watch tv, anything that could stop any conversation getting so deep but Tara was determined to break through the rogue slayer’s barriers. So that day they were due to meet, Tara decided on a different tactic. Tara had arrived to drag Faith out of bed at the crack of Dawn which hadn’t gone down well with the brunette slayer who wasn’t an early riser.

“What do you want?” Faith shrugged off Tara’s hand, trying to wake her.

“I need you to come with me, Faith; I’ve already bound us,” Tara whispered.  

“What time is...?”

“6 am...”

“Arrgh, go away! Come back in 5 hours!” Faith shouted from under the quilt.

“Come on Faith please, I’ll get you a coffee from the Espresso Pump...mm-might even get you a doughnut too...” Tara teased as she tried to blackmail the slayer out of bed.

There was silence until a small mumbled voice comes from under the covers.
“Make it three doughnuts, and I might get up,” Tara smiled at the hidden lump.

“Deal, now get up!” Tara laughed as she poked at Faith and left to go upstairs to give the slayer some privacy.

“Damn witch,” Faith mumbled as she got up and started to search for her clothes.

***

Soon after getting ready, Faith and Tara made their way through the crisp morning air and as promised Tara made sure to go to the Expresso Pump to get the slayer caffeinated and fed. This soon woke the slayer up some more and she wasn’t as grumpy and hostile towards the witch. Tara made a mental note not to plan many morning outings with Faith in the future. She couldn’t deal with all the hostile energy coming off the slayer after having her sleep disturbed.

After their pit stop, the two women headed back out on their journey. A few minutes of silence passed, and Faith broke the air.

“So are ya gonna tell me where we’re going, T? Why the mystery?” Faith asked now letting her curiosity get the better of her.

“I thought we could try something different and I thought I’d share with you what I enjoy,” Tara told her with a soft chuckle.

“Why would you want to do that?” Faith asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Faith was still in disbelief at how caring this woman was. In all the time they had spent together, Faith couldn’t find one flaw, well only that she dated Red for a while but she came to her senses soon enough. Faith still couldn’t find common ground with Willow. Willow hated that Faith was still in Sunnydale and that her ex spent so much time with the slayer, so they both made sure to avoid each other as best as possible and that suited Faith just fine.

“Why wouldn’t I? Even if you don’t feel the same, I’ve come to think of you as a ff-friend and friend’s share things that they care about...” Tara said with sincerity in her eyes.

“Ok...So what are we going to do?” Faith asked not sure of how to respond to the acknowledged friendship.

“This,” Tara pointed to the entrance of Sunnydale zoo.

“You woke me up at six to go to the zoo? We couldn’t do this in the day?” Faith retorted slightly miffed.

“What I want to do can only be done in the morning,” Tara told Faith coyly as she led them through the entrance. “Wait here for a second; I’ll be right back,”

Tara ran through the employee entrance and a couple of minutes later ran back through with a set of keys and two visitor badges for both the women. Faith then followed Tara through another set of doors and down a long corridor that looked like something from a hospital. They walked down a couple of turnings before Tara stopped outside a set of double doors. She knocked on the door and waited until a slim blonde-haired woman wearing glasses and a lab coat opened the door, she broke into a broad smile and enveloped Tara into a hug. Faith watched the women curiously; a strange pang struck her in the stomach as Tara embraced the stranger. Her face flushed as she awkwardly shifted on the spot. Tara remembering herself, stepped away from the woman.

“Faith, this is Mel, she’s the reason we were able to get in here ss-so early,” Tara introduced the woman. Mel stepped forward to shake Faith’s hand, but the slayer just stared at the hand offered.

“Um, yeah hey,”

“Hello, Faith,” Mel nodded as she awkwardly retracted her hand. She looked back to Tara. “Let me just grab some papers, and I’ll leave you guys to it,” Mel smiled as she ducked back in the room quickly and reappeared almost instantly.

“If you need anything, just page me, I’ll be around,” Mel rubbed Tara’s arm as she headed off down the corridor. Faith watched the slight touch with narrowed eyes. There was something she didn’t like about Mel, but she just couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

Tara headed into the room and held the door open for Faith to follow. Once Faith got inside the room, she stopped with her eyes wide. It was a huge science lab with a small desk, and a computer with lots of cupboards littered around but the whole back wall was a window looking into an indoor habitat, it was like something out of a movie. Tara stood next to Faith with a smile as she watched the slayer who was in such awe of the view.

“Amazing, isn’t it? This is my favourite place in Sunnydale,” Tara told the slayer.

“How did you get us in here?” Faith asked, pulling her gaze away from the chimp.

“I volunteer here sometimes, more so before I met Willow, I didn’t really have friends, so I would come here on my free days, so I booked a day here and told them I was bringing help,”

“What about that chick? You guys seemed pretty friendly...” Faith said, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

“Mel? You think we’re...? (Tara covered her mouth and began to laugh) Oh no, She nn-nice but very straight and very married...Why jealous she’ll take me away?” She teased the slayer.

“You wish! Just wasn’t believing your sob story that’s all,” Faith shrugged off looking back to the chimps. Tara raised her eyebrows, seeing the badass slayer trying not to blush.
“Anyway, are you gonna tell me what we’re doing in here?”

“We’re going to feed the baby chimps, and there’s six of them, so we’ll probably take us most of the morning,”

“Are we gonna have to go in there to do it?” Faith asked, pointing at the habitat area.

“Well, yes...is that a problem?” Tara asked, trying to conceal her amusement at the slayer's reactions.

“No, I guess, but aren’t the momma chimps gonna be wicked pissed that we’re holding their babies?” Faith asked.

Tara laughed at this, not even trying to hide it. “Not if they’re eating at the same time, we’ll be like their nanny’s for a couple of hours, plus they’re used to it, now come on, no more questions,” Tara grabbed Faith by the shoulders and led her through a side door that goes into the habitat area.

Tara moved Faith off to the side as she ran off and returned with a rucksack and placed it down. She then cautiously made her way over to the chimps sleeping area and very carefully lifted one of the baby chimpanzees and went back over to Faith. She instructed the slayer to sit on the ground and then placed the little chimp into her arms. Faith cradled the chimp and looked at the innocent life in her hands, as the young primate yawned and stirred. Tara then brought over a baby bottle of milk and handed it to Faith. The slayer just stared at the foreign object in her hand. Overcome with emotion; warmth returned to her chest, a feeling that had been long forgotten. The slayer thought she must have been getting ill, Faith had never reacted or felt for others, or so she thought.

“You know this is the part where you feed him,” Tara teased as she began to put out food for the adult chimps.

“Yeah I know...wicked obvious,” Faith shrugged off as she began to feed the little chimp. Tara eventually joined Faith on the floor with her chimp to feed, and they sat comfortably in silence whilst gazing at the beautiful creatures in their arms.

***

After a couple of hours feeding the chimps, even playing with them a little, the two women made their way out and into the actual zoo. They grabbed some food on their way over to the lion’s den so that they could watch the lion’s feed whilst they ate their lunch. They sat on a bench opposite the den as they ate.

“So did you enjoy the chimps?” Tara asked making conversation.

“Yeah I guess...it was cool,” Faith mumbled as she ate.

“That was it? Just cool? Nothing else?” Tara pressed, knowing the slayer had secretly loved the experience. Watching her interact with the chimps was a beautiful sight to see like the brunette didn’t have a care in the world.

“It was different that’s for sure, but I’m not usually down for cute and cuddly, I’m more of the rough and ferocious,” The slayer said with a cocky smile.

“Oh, I see, like those lions over there?” Tara laughed nudging against Faith playfully, who sat still trying not to react and keep her cool exterior. They continued to watch the lions being fed until they returned to the shade to lie together as a family.

“How am I here?” Faith suddenly asked, staring intently at the lion family.

“What do you mean? Tara asked, confused by the sudden question.

“I didn’t think before because there was so much happening, but I’m kind of an outlaw, that’s why we walk in less populated areas, I wear stupid disguises, and I can’t even leave the house...well I can’t anyway, but you know what I mean and when did you stop stuttering?” Faith asked, suddenly noticing more as she spoke.

“I’m comfortable around you, I guess it just went away naturally, I was wondering how long it would take you to notice,” Tara turned her body to face Faith. She took the slayers hand, ignoring the uncomfortable look on her face.
“The other week after you helped with that vamp nest, we all discussed it, and well, it took some convincing, well actually a lot but Willow hacked into your police records and wiped your file...your no longer a fugitive Faith,”

Faith looked down at the hand holding hers and then back into Tara’s eyes. Sometimes Faith could get lost in them; something was calming about them, like an ocean glistening under the sun. She shifted her hand away and ran it through Tara’s hair, making the witch jump.
“But why? Why do that for me? I don’t deserve it; I did a lot of crap...it don’t deserve to be wiped clean...” Faith said, looking at the ground, finally expressing shame for her actions.

“You just answered your question, your showing remorse, more willing to help...Buffy doesn’t want you locked up forever. This is our way of showing support... you're changing whether you want to admit it or not...I’m even proud of you,” Tara told Faith beaming with pride.

“Stop being nice to me...this shouldn’t be happening!” Faith started to panic, looking around for an escape. Tara quickly grabbed the slayer’s wrist.

Faith calm down, you know you won’t get far if you run, I’ll stop ok...I didn’t mean to upset you,” Tara’s eyes searched Faith for forgiveness. Faith’s breathing started to slow as she turned, and her eyes found the lions again who are now all huddled together.

“They look so peaceful, who would’ve thought they were fighting over a carcass five minutes ago, reminds me of my dad...dude was a mean drunk with a wicked strong punch...but he had these sober moments, and he was the best human in the world...but it never lasted...” Faith said aloud, never taking her eyes off the lions.

“What happened to him?” Tara asked, hoping not to push this moment.

“Car crash, the dumbass, tried to drive home from the bar...my mom cried...I laughed...guess I’ve always been a monster...” Faith said as her eyes filled with tears.

“Faith, look at me!” Faith ignored the witch, so Tara placed her hands on both sides of her face and turned her to face the witch. “You are not a monster; you wouldn’t be here if you were...that man should never have been in your life, you can be better...I believe in you...” Tara told the slayer softly. The two women stared at each other, neither one speaking or moving, just their eyes having a secret conversation. A horn noise in the background brought them back to reality.

“That’s the warning for the crocodile feeding, looks like our breaks over, we should get back,” Tara said quickly, letting go of Faith’s face and composing herself from the touching and confusing moment between the two. Faith just nodded not knowing how to proceed, trying to understand the confusing emotions circulating through her body. The women gathered their things and headed back to their busy day, trying to forget the tension they were leaving behind.

***

A few hours later the two finished their day of volunteering, so Tara escorted the slayer back to her metaphorical jailhouse. The two women arrived at the front door and stopped awkwardly for a moment as though they had just finished a date.

“So you gonna break this bind so I can go get dinner, I’m starved...” Faith said, breaking the tension.

“Here’s the thing, I didn’t do the spell, and I wanted to see if you would go by my word that I cast it...I know I lied but you let yourself trust my word and that’s a big thing...I’m sorry if you can’t trust me now, I’d understand...” Tara said now looking at her feet worried about the reaction she may receive. She looked up in shock when Faith started laughing. “What’s so funny?” Tara was more confused than ever.

“I knew there was more to you goody-two-shoes witch, I thought pinning me to a wall was a one-off but you actually pulled one over on me...you’re one of a kind T,” Faith said still laughing. After their other interactions, she was sure this would anger the slayer, but she didn’t expect this.

“Bring it in T, you're ok...you're definitely not predictable...Suppose I could let you off this one time,” Faith quickly hugged the witch and then headed straight into the house not looking back, leaving the witch on the porch alone. Tara started laughing to herself; she had somehow struck a good chord with the slayer. Tara left the porch after building the barrier again to return home chuckling at the thought of what else she may end up discovering about Faith.

Chapter Text

In the days since their trip to the zoo, Tara couldn’t help but think about that day with the dark-haired slayer.  Watching all the different emotions that had ran across the slayer’s face was a sight that Tara had never witnessed in the months that they had known each other. She had always known Faith was capable of empathy and kindness but had never seen it, only her cold untrusting nature. It was progressing, and she was starting to see a bond form between the two, she didn’t feel like she was much help to the Scoobies, but she could help the rogue slayer become the better person she could be. Tara knew it would take a lot of work and support, but she was willing to put the time in, all Faith needed was acknowledgement and encouragement, something that had always been foreign to the young slayer. Tara had spoken to everyone about the Faith they knew from last year, so she could come up with a way to do the opposite, to figure out what went so wrong.

So her plan for that night was to go to Buffy’s and try to really make Faith talk and open up again like she had begun to do the other day. She just knew if Faith could release some of the rage and past issues from inside her, it could be so therapeutic and eye-opening to process the problems that plague her mind. First, though she was sat in the Expresso Pump waiting for Willow to arrive. The redhead has called Tara earlier in the day and invited her for a coffee so they could catch up which Tara happily agreed to. The two women had become good friends since their little breakup. It had been awkward for the couple at first, but they started practising spells together after the whole Adam situation, and soon the tension had disappeared, and they were able to build a friendship. So Tara sat at a table cradling her green tea, watching the world go by and thinking of ways to break through Faith’s barriers.

“Hey! Sorry, I’m late, Giles needed my help indexing his library...I didn’t realise how big his book collection was now he’s not in the library...” Willow greeted Tara as she ran over to the table and settling down opposite the blonde witch.

Tara looked to Willow, slightly startled, not noticing that she had arrived. “Oh, hi! Th-That’s ok; I haven’t been here long,”

“Good,” Willow smiled, staring just a moment too long at the fellow witch that she shook her wondering head out of the trance. “I’m just gonna grab a drink quick,”

Willow bounced up and went over to the counter. Tara watched the redhead order coffee, oblivious to how Willow had looked at her before or anytime they were together. Tara’s mind was always elsewhere these days, and she couldn’t even see it. Willow quickly received her mocha and rushed back over to the table.

“So how have things been?” Willow asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

“It’s been good, just mostly been getting ready for the new semester to start... (Tara said avoiding any mention of Faith) Have you and Buffy decided if you’re rooming together this year?”

“Mmm, no, we decided to get our own rooms, we rarely saw each other when we did live together, and now we’re going to be taking different classes, I guess it just made more sense,” Willow answered playing with the foam on her coffee.

“I get that, it’s smart plus you guys will still see each other at Scooby meetings and at the bronze...” Tara said, trying to be supportive of Willow, who was forcing a smile.

“I guess, it just gets lonely on your own sometimes ya know...?”

“Well it can sometimes, but I find it quite peaceful myself, plus you always see your friend’s every day, and you never know you might meet someone...”

“I’m not so sure...well I kinda already met someone but things didn’t really work out...” Willow sheepishly said as she gazed into Tara’s eyes. Tara’s eyes go wide when she realised the redhead was talking about herself.

“Willow...” Tara started before she was interrupted.

“I know what you’re going to say, but things are different now, I’m more confident with what I want, and we’ve been getting along great, why don’t we try again? Fresh start an all...maybe I could take you to dinner...ya know in public?" Willow looked hopeful as Tara searched her mind for the right words that wouldn’t cause any hurt. Tara placed her hand on Willow’s and looked into her eyes.

“Willow, I’m sorry, but I don’t want that...I’m happy as I am right now and I stand by what I said when we broke up...I do think we’re better as friends...” Willow pulled her hand back after a moment of hope and rested it under the table looking away bashfully.

“So you don’t think there could ever be a chance for us one day?”

“I don’t know what could happen in the future, but all I know is right now, I don’t...look if this friendship is too hard, I can stay away, and you’ve got pretty good with magic...”

“No...Sorry no, I made you uncomfortable, but I would totally be fine with friendship...I just ...I like having you in my life,” Tara gave Willow a small smile to let her know everything was ok.

“Good, I like having you in mine too...how about we forget about this and head back to campus? I have a couple of things I need from my dorm,”

“Sure, it’s getting dark, it’s always better not to travel alone,” Willow smiled; glad she hadn't spoiled their time together. So the two women collected their belongings and headed out of the coffee shop.

***

Willow and Tara made their way through Sunnydale, idly chatting about anything and everything, totally immersed in their own world. Not wanting to take their time, they decided to cut down an alley by the bronze just as the last of the street lights came on. Glass bottles rattled in the distance and cars revved nearby. The unfazed women continued on their journey until a figure walked appeared from the shadows and stood in front of the suddenly stunned women. The two witches jumped and stopped, not daring to move closer towards the unknown danger. The figure appeared to be a vampire;  dressed in cowboy gear and glint of his teeth could be seen in the darkness. His Stenson pulled down just low enough to see his bumpy face and facial hair.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t one of the slayers little pals, how is young Buffy these days?” The vampire sneered at Willow, sizing her up and down like a piece of meat.

“She’d be better if you were dust!” Willow spat with narrowed eyes.

“Now, now, what’s with all the hostility? Do I scare you, girly? Cos I thought we were all just friends here...” The vampire smirked, knowing that he was already getting the reaction he wanted; he always loved playing with his food.

“I don’t know who you are, but if you don’t get out of here, the slayer’s gonna make you regret it later!” Willow threatened the vampire, hoping it would deter him.

“Oh, I’m betting on it freckles!” The vampire gave a wide smile showing off his fangs.

He took a step towards the two women as Willow was mumbling a silent incantation and a small fireball appeared in her hands and threw it at the vampire. The cowboy was too quick and leapt out of the way, flying straight at Willow, knocking her to the floor. The cowboy then launched himself at a frightened Tara who tried her best to defend herself but failed and was overpowered by the vampire's strength. He covered her mouth with one hand whilst grabbing her waist with the other. Tara struggled to free herself from the powerful grip that had her trapped. Willow climbed off the floor in time to see the vampire taking Tara hostage.

“You tell the slayer that I want to party!” The cowboy orders Willow excitedly.

“How will she find you!?” Willow now beginning to panic asked.

“Don’t you worry freckles, I’m sure she'll find a way...me and blondie will have a great time whilst we wait,” The cowboy cackled as he took a tighter grip of Tara and dragged her away into the shadows and disappeared.

***

“Has the movie started yet?” Buffy called from the kitchen as she put the popcorn in a bowl.

“Nah! Still on commercials,” Faith called back as she lounged on the sofa, not taking her gaze away from the television.

Buffy grabbed the popcorn bowl and sat opposite the brunette, making sure she was comfortable before settling down. She looked over at Faith who’s taken over the entire sofa, thinking about how far they had come to be sat comfortably together watching a movie whereas a few months ago they were trying to kill each other.  

“This is nice...don’t you think?”

“Huh? Oh yeah...five by five,” Faith replied, barely listening, staring intensely at the television. Buffy laughed at the distracted slayer when the front door flew open, and Willow charged through the door excessively and out of breath. Instantly the two slayers were on their feet and ready for anything.

“Willow? What is it?” Buffy enquired with a face full of concern.

“It’s...its Tara, she’s been taken,” Willow told them quickly, still out of breath having run the whole way. Faith stepped forward at hearing this, her eye’s became determined and rage built in her throat.

“What do you mean taken? By who?” Buffy questioned more hurriedly, noticing her sister slayer’s whole deminer changing.

“I...I don’t know, we were heading over to the campus when some crazed cowboy looking vamp cornered us, I tried to stop him, but I wasn’t quick enough...he seemed to know you, Buff...”Willow finished looking at Buffy with a sadness, ashamed she couldn’t do more to save Tara.

“Cowboy? What did he look like Will?” Buffy asked, trying to figure out who the vampire was.

Willow rubbed her temples, trying to think. “Um, he had a goatee, Stenson and wore a LOT of denim...” Buffy tutted as she looked up at the ceiling with the sudden realisation.

“Lyle Gorch,”

“Who?” Faith asked, finally making a noise.

“Cowboy vamp. I met him a couple of times; he blames me for his brother and wife's death...last time I saw him...Cordelia threatened him with a spatula on homecoming...” Buffy explained thinking back to last year.

“Slayerfest?” Faith asked.

“Yep...” Buffy replied.

“How do we find him?” Faith asked through gritted teeth. “Spell or something?”

“No...Gorch isn’t that clever...Will, where were you and Tara when he showed up?” Buffy asked the redhead.

“Umm...down an alley close to the bronze...” Willow answered.

“He’ll be there then...Lyle Gorch isn’t a mastermind, plus it's closed tonight, the perfect place to hide out...”

“Right!” Faith snapped, and with that, the brunette ran over to Buffy’s weapon chest and pulled a couple of stakes out and threw a sword over to Buffy who caught it swiftly. She then grabbed her jacket off the stand. She made her way to the front door and waited in front of it calmly, only looking at the door. Buffy looked to Willow.

“Will, could you?”

“Sure,” Willow nodded meekly, not questioning it for the first time. So the redhead closed her eyes and mumbled under her breath. “You’re good to go,” Willow confirmed.
And with that, Faith walked straight out the door without hesitation with Buffy trailing close behind.

***

Both of the slayers arrived at the entrance of the bronze just minutes after leaving the Summer’s residence with the help of their slayer speed. Faith had stormed ahead with only one goal in mind, which made Buffy struggle to keep up. Faith ran over to grab the door handle when Buffy caught up and grabbed her arm to stop her.

“What the hell B?” Faith questioned annoyed not wanting to be held up.

“We can’t just barge in there without a plan. I want to save Tara as well but us charging in will just get her killed,”

Faith looked at Buffy for a moment with the rage still building inside of her, her patience dwindling but she knew the blonde was right. “What are ya thinking then?”

“Let’s go old school, I’ll head in the front and grab his attention...you head to the roof and go through the stage entrance...he won’t be expecting two slayers,” Buffy stated with her commanding slayer tone.

Faith didn’t respond, she just nodded and started her climb to the roof as Buffy entered to the bronze. Faith headed to the roof only thinking of Tara. The first true friend she ever had and now that friend was in danger. Ever since they met, Tara never gave up on her through all the abuse and anger, and now Faith was going to return the favour. Faith pulled open the hatch of the roof and carefully lowered herself in, making sure not to make any noise. She pulled herself down to the light fixtures above the stage, giving her a perfect view of the cowboy stood on the stage next to a tied up Tara, with his hand on her shoulder as he spoke to Buffy, who was doing her best to distract the vampire as she edged towards the stage area. Faith scanned over all the bronze whilst she had the view to make sure there were no surprises waiting for them. The club seemed to empty except for the four of them. Tara was scared and tied up but caught Faith’s eye, who sent her a wink to show they would be ok but Tara’s eyes went wide with fear. Gorch then laughed at something Buffy had said and let go of Tara’s shoulder and stepped away, Faith saw this as her opportunity. She jumped down onto the stage, landing behind Gorch and kicked him in the back of the knee. The vampire cried in pain as he dropped to the ground, rolling onto his clutching his knee. Shaking the pain off, he spun round to come face to face with Faith who was wearing a smug look on her face, ignoring his anger as his vampiric face appeared. He growled at the slayer.

“Slayer! I heard you went, rogue!” Gorch spat.

“And I heard you were a loser, but I guess only one of us had changed!” Faith retorted back shrugging her shoulders.

“Screw you slayer, I’ll just kill all of you!” Gorch launched himself at Faith, throwing her off her stance. He threw two fists at her, that she readily dodged. She spun her body around, landing a flat foot on his chest, throwing him from the stage and to the feet of a willing and ready Buffy who started her dance with the cowboy. Knowing the vampire was now distracted, Faith rushed to Tara’s side and pulled the gag out of the frightened Tara’s mouth and then begun to untie her arm.

“F-Faith,” Tara started.

“Don’t worry T, we’ve got you,” Faith interrupted as she pulled the rope away, freeing one hand.

“No! Look!” Tara shouted as Faith looked up shocked to see what Tara was looking at. Buffy and Gorch were still fighting, Gorch was losing badly as Buffy corned him with nowhere to escape and ready to stake the vampire. As Buffy closed in on Gorch behind the blonde a large demon creature with strange tentacles attached to both of its arms came up behind the oblivious Slayer.

“No!” Faith screamed as she leapt off the stage, leaving a half tied up Tara behind her and threw herself towards Buffy. At the same time, Buffy finished her dance with Gorch and plunged a stake into the cocky looking vampire.

“You shouldn’t have come alone, Gorch!”

“Hahahaha...Oh, I didn’t blondie! Woooo!” Gorch screamed with laughter as turned to ash in front of the blonde. Instantly the air behind Buffy changed and as if in slow motion, she spun around to see a strange-looking demon whose sharpened tentacles moved straight towards Buffy’s face. Time seemed to catch up with itself and a great force pushed Buffy out of the way and knocking her into a wall.

Faith ran full speed from the stage and straight into the unsuspecting Buffy, taking the unsuspecting blow instead. The tentacle slashed at her ribs as she continued through the air, interrupting her direction causing her to roll onto the floor. The pain pierced through her, taking all her breath away. Faith looked up groggily to see a fuzzy-looking Tara fighting with the restraints on her other arm frantically and then turned her head to see Buffy dodging the demon’s swipes, doing her best to protect the injured Faith. Everything stopped in one moment though when a redheaded vampire, with a basic cowgirl look, entered the bronze crying. Buffy and the demon stopped their fight to look at the vampire as Faith slowly pulled herself off the floor, clutching at her laceration, to see what the new visitor wanted.

“First you kill his brother and ugly ass ex-wife and now you take my Gorchy from me? I’m going to drink you dry bitch!” The vampire screamed in her deep Texan accent at Buffy.

The upset vampire charged at Buffy, leaving the demon that had its attention on Faith. The huge demon lurched over the slightly hunched slayer. Its head was covered in a metal mask and its body glistened with a darkened grey colour. The demon swung its sharpened tentacle at Faith who rolled out of the way. She jumped behind him before he had time to look and punched him in the lower back. The demon’s skin was like a natural hardened armour causing the slayers knuckles to crunch on impact. The demon didn’t even flinch, turning around as Faith cried out in pain. The demon lifted Faith up by her shoulders, she struggled to get free as he squeezed her and then threw her at the stage, slamming into the side head first. Faith could barely move through the pain, the demon began to walk over to the slayer. Faith struggled to pull herself up wanting to get away and divert him away from a still half tied up Tara. The pain was too much for Faith to push through and her body fell to the floor in defeat.

Faith could faintly hear Buffy calling her name as she started to slip out of consciousness. The demon skulked closer, lifting his tentacle higher as he got closer, ready for its final blow. As the tentacle dropped down, aiming straight at the unconscious Faith, its body suddenly slowed down. Tara now standing, legs still tied to the chair with her arm outstretched at the demon, struggling to keep control.

“Buffy! Quick! I don’t know how long I can hold him,”

A still fighting Buffy looked over to Tara to see the demon barely frozen in place lurching over a bloodied Faith. Now more determined, Buffy jumped in the air and threw a spin kick at Gorch’s crazy girlfriend, hitting her to the floor. Buffy landed on the floor swiftly and pulled a stake out and plunged it into the vampire’s chest before they had a chance to move. Buffy then spun around and grabbed her sword that was lying on the floor and ran straight at the demon. She swung the sword and sliced right through the demon’s neck in one clean cut. With that an exhausted Tara dropped her arm, the demon unfroze, it's head rolled off and its body followed falling to the floor. Buffy ignored the demon and knelt next to her sister slayer. Blood covered Faith's body and face; she couldn’t even see where the injuries were. Tara finished untying herself and climbed down from the stage and knelt on the other side of Faith. Tara’s hand hovered over the injured slayer, not sure of what to do.

“We should take her to a hospital,” Tara told Buffy. The injured slayer groaned in response, still not opening her eyes.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Faith spent nine months in a coma, I think she’s pretty anti-hospitals, we should take her home and assess her there first,”
Tara just nodded her head in agreement, too focused on Faith to respond.

Buffy scooted forward and gently slid her arms under Faith and lifted her bridal style. Faith groaned in pain as she was moved. Not wasting time, Buffy headed to the exit as Tara climbed around the decapitated demon on the floor.

“What about him? I don’t think he’s gonna go, poof,” Tara asked looking down at the demon who almost killed her friend.

“I’ll send Giles and Xander to do clean up before it opens tomorrow,” Buffy told Tara as she left the bronze with Faith, never looking behind.

Chapter Text

Tara forced her way through the front door of the Summer’s residence, standing aside so Buffy could carry in a heavily bleeding Faith. Willow and Joyce, who had been waiting in the living room, rushed over as Buffy started carrying Faith up the stairs.

“Mom, I’m putting her in the spare room, can you grab the first aid kit?” Buffy called to her mother.

“Of course honey, I’ll be right up,” Joyce called back as she hurried through to the kitchen.

Tara breezed past Willow as she followed Buffy up to the spare room. Buffy placed Faith on the bed carefully as Tara ran to grab towels out of the closet.  Joyce followed in with a bowl of water and the first aid kit and placed it on the bed stand next to Faith. Joyce stepped back as she watched Buffy and Tara begin to strip the sleeping slayer of her top slowly. Joyce looked away sickened by the sight and walked to Willow, who was hovering in the doorway. She placed her hand on Willow’s arm, taking the girls attention away from the scene unfolding.

“Come on, honey. There’s nothing we can do; we should let them do their thing...let’s go call Giles,” Joyce told Willow. Willow looked at Joyce, tears filling her eyes and nodded at the surrogate mother. They left the room, closing the door behind them.

Buffy and Tara continued their work, not noticing the two women leave. They carefully removed Faith’s shirt, and Buffy threw it to the side as Tara began to dip a towel into the water and gently wiped off all the excess blood. Buffy began to layout the sewing kit and bandages out on the bed as the injuries were slowly revealed. There was a large gash above the slayer’s eyebrow, her shoulders and collarbones were bruised a deep purple, and a large laceration went across her ribs on her left side, and her knuckles were bruised, bleeding and most likely broken. If it weren’t for being a slayer, then Faith indeed wouldn’t have survived. Tara looked over to an exhausted Buffy, she had also received minor injuries herself, and her energy had quickly disappeared.

“Why don’t you go get cleaned up and get some food, I can handle this...” Tara told an exhausted Buffy.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind staying...you don’t have to do this, you were just...”  Tara cut the slayer off.

“It’s fine. I’ll shout for help if I need it,”

Buffy looked between the two women, she had a genuine concern for the injured slayer, but there wasn’t anything she could do, she would just be crowding the witch. So she dropped her shoulders and resigned to leave and tend to her injuries. She took one final look at Faith and moved around the bed, brushing a comforting hand on Tara’s shoulder as she left the room.

As soon as she heard the door click shut behind her, Tara stopped what she was doing. She rested the bloodied towel back in the bowl of water and turned on the side of the bed to face Faith. She reached forward to brush the hair out of the slayer's face carefully. A tear started to prickle in Tara’s eyes as she scanned the face in front of her. Blood that hadn’t yet been wiped had dried to the skin; the gash above her eyebrow had stopped bleeding but was still fresh. In her sleeping state, the slayer reminded Tara of an image of a broken angel. This was the most peaceful that she had ever seen the slayer, since the moment that they had met.

Realising that she had been stroking Faith’s hair whilst still staring intensely, Tara pulled her hand away and decided to start stitching the wound on the slayer's rib whilst Faith was still unconscious. She shifted her body down the bed to be level with Faith’s ribs. Carefully she reached across the body and grabbed the supplies that Buffy had laid out. Keeping a steady hand, she threaded the string through the needle. She brushed her hand over Faith’s stomach, taking in the smoothness, as she glided across to the open wound. Not sure of how long she had, Tara made quick work of stitching the wound. It wasn’t easy, the wound was large, and the blood made it difficult to pinch the skin together, but she soon got into a rhythm and finally stitched the wound shut. Just as she was knotting the string as a low groan came from Faith. She started to shift under Tara.

“If you wanted to get my shirt off...you could’ve just asked,” Faith mumbled, still not opening her eyes.

“It’s nice to see your ego wasn’t injured...” Tara responded with a coy smile as she cut the string and started threading the needle for the next wound.

“What happened to psycho squid?” Faith asked laced in pain as she opened her eyes to look at the witch.

“I froze him, and Buffy beheaded him,” Tara explained as she started cleaning the area around Faith’s head wound.

“And you’re ok?” Faith asked in her low husk, looking up at Tara with concern in her eyes.

“I’m ok...well better than you anyway...you’re lucky to be alive,”

“More impressed I’m not in a coma...I’m not am I? This isn’t a weird nightmare that ends with Buffy stabbing me?”

Tara’s eyes widened at the admission as she watched Faith shift upwards slightly, trying to move through the unbearable pain. She looked at Faith with care and leaned forward, growing closer to the slayer’s face, so they’re only inches apart. They stared into each other’s eyes as Tara reached a hand up to Faith’s forehead as their lips slowly got closer together. Faith’s breath hitched, and her chest fluttered at the blonde witch’s forwardness just as Tara lightly touched the forehead wound.

“Ow,” Faith suddenly flinched backwards. “What the hell T?” Faith asked now annoyed at the burning pain she received from Tara’s touch.

Tara sat back giggling at the slayer. “I’m sorry, I figured the pain would prove you’re awake,”

“Well next time, don’t!” Faith snapped.

“Baby.” Tara retorted still wearing her signature sideways smile.

“Vixen,” Faith stated, trying not to laugh looking at her friend. Tara shook her head at the exchange as she carefully pushed Faith against the headboard to finish cleaning Faith’s face.

“Ok, I’m ready to close this up now,” Tara said as she grabbed the needle and shifted towards Faith’s head until the slayer grabbed her wrist, stopping her. Tara looked at the slayer questioningly.

“Wait...I can’t do this sober...” Faith whispered, ashamed of her weakness.

“Boy, do you know how to woo a girl,” Tara blushed, trying to break the increasing tension that was beginning to fill the room.

“Serious, that hurt like a bitch when you touched it, I need a drink,” Faith said with a raspy voice.

“Ok,” Tara said tentatively. She placed the needle down and left the room, stopping at the top of the stairs. “Mrs Summers?” Tara called down. Tara didn’t have to wait long before Joyce appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

“Yes, dear?”

“Do you happen to have any strong alcohol?” Tara asked sheepishly.

“Oh to disinfect wounds?” Joyce asked obliviously.

“Only if the disinfecting is happening in Faith’s stomach,” Tara laughed.

“Ooh, ok I think I have some brandy, I’ll bring it up,” Joyce chuckled, heading back out to the kitchen.

Tara returned to the room, Faith watched confused, but before she could say anything, a knock came at the door, and Joyce entered with a smile. She handed a bottle of brandy and some pills to Tara.
“I grabbed some Tylenol as well, in case she can’t sleep,”

“Thank y-you Mrs Summer’s,”

“You’re welcome dear, shout when you’re up, and I’ll bring some food for you both,” And with that, Joyce left the women alone again. Tara went over to Faith and helped the slayer sit up properly. She reached for the bottle, removed the cap and placed it at the slayer’s lips for her drink. She pulled the bottle away as Faith pulled a disgusted face from the burn of pure alcohol.

“Ready?” Tara asked after a few more disgruntled sips.

“Almost...give me a couple of those...” Faith pointed to the pills. Tara placed the tablets in Faith’s mouth and grabbed the brandy for Faith to take them.

“Ok, no more brandy for you...only water,” Tara order the now more relaxed slayer.

“Ok boss,”

“Right, now hold still,” Tara told the slayer as she began to stitch the wound.

“You know, you should feel privileged,” Faith said, trying not to wince from the pain.

“Oh yeah, why’s that?”

“I don’t usually let anyone tell me what to do,”

“Well, you’re not exactly in a position to fight me,” Tara replied, still concentrating on her stitching.

“Maybe not but my mouth is fine, and that didn't fight you neither,” Faith said casually closing her eyes as the mixture of brandy and pills slowly began to take effect.

"I'm sure it would be the same if anyone else were tending to you," Tara replied, shaking her head at the half-conscious slayer.

“Probably...but you’re the only one I like touching me,” This statement made Tara’s eyebrows rise.

What was the slayer saying? Was this an admission of truth or just her drunken haze speaking?

Faith continued her slurred talking. “There’s something about you, I can feel it. I saw it when I met you...I think you have a secret Tara Maclay...”

Tara started to panic internally. Could Faith’s slayer instincts sense the demon in her? Did that mean Buffy could too? They couldn’t be, her birthday wasn’t for months, she was still safe.

“Maybe I do but what about you Faith, do you have secrets?” Tara asked, trying to mask her worry.

“Only ones I want to forget...”

“Like what?...Faith?” Tara paused what she was doing to see the slayer had succumbed to sleep. Sighing at the relief of the escape of their conversation, which she hoped the medication would make Faith forget. Tara quickly finished her task; she quickly cleaned and patched up the rest of her body. Tara then covered the slayer in a fresh sheet, bent down and placed a chaste kiss on the slayer’s forehead.

“Thank you for saving me Faith,” Tara whispered, taking a moment to take in the beauty in front of her, before leaving the room and the wounded slayer to heal and rest. Tara now had some thinking to do.

***

A few hours later, a sore and groggy Faith woke up in a dark room with only a small dim light radiating the space.  She tried to shift her body to a sitting up position, but the searing pain from her ribs pulled her back down onto the bed with a grunt. Movement came from the side of Faith’s bed; Buffy had been curled up in a chair watching over her younger sister slayer. Buffy noticed that Faith had woken up and went to her aid to help lift her, so she was sat up. She reached over the side of the bed to hand Faith a glass of water. Faith shakily reached for the glass with her bandaged hands and brought the water to her lips. She emptied the glass quickly, trying to quench her hours of dehydration. Buffy took the glass away as she placed a tray of food in Faith’s lap and sat back in her chair as Faith began her feast.

“Where’d T go?” Faith asked through mouthfuls.

“She went home to get some things, she said she’d be back soon,” Buffy told the slayer who was trying to look more preoccupied with her food. “How are you feeling?”

“Like a demon with tentacles kicked the crap out of me...” Faith responded between bites of food.

“...Thank you for saving me...” Buffy said sheepishly, not used to having this type of conversation with Faith in a very long time, especially in such a safe environment.

“Don’t sweat it B; I just know your mom would’ve been pissed if I had let you die,” Faith shrugged off Buffy’s thanks as she continued eating.

“Admit it Faith. You wanted to help...I saw you when you found out about Tara, you act hard, but you care...I have to admit, you’ve changed,” Buffy told the fellow slayer in admiration.

Faith continued to eat until she finished the plate. Buffy got up and took the plate away and helped Faith lay back down.

“You say changed...I haven’t...My priorities changed. For the first time in my life, I’ve been forced to face my past and think about it every day...I don’t want that life anymore...”

“And what do you want now?” Buffy enquired trying not to push the brunette.

“Other than my own Jacuzzi? I don’t know...I want the anger to stop,” Faith said, unable to look Buffy in the eye.

“Everything takes time, and for what it’s worth, I’m glad I stopped the council taking you...” Buffy reached her hand across and rested it on Faith’s arm lovingly. Faith shifted uncomfortably, removing her arm from underneath Buffy.

“Ahem, Yeah well I’m in too much pain for this pity party, how’s ‘bout you pass me some more of those pills?”

“Oh, yeah, sure...” Buffy quickly jumped up and gave Faith the pills that she took immediately. Faith rested her head down and closed her eyes, praying for sleep to take hold so she could leave the emotions surrounding her and the blonde that she once viewed as her enemy.

Chapter Text

The next evening, Joyce quietly entered the darkened room that Faith resided. The slayer had been sleeping on and off all day. People had been coming in all day, taking it in turns watching over the injured slayer. Tara was asleep in the corner curled up in an armchair; she had been a constant by Faith’s side all day, not wanting to leave until she was sure the slayer’s injuries weren’t going to have any permanent damage. So before heading to bed, Joyce decided to check in on Faith as she hadn’t had a spare moment to spend time with her with the hustle of the day. She went over to Faith’s bed where the slayer was propped up, looking around at Joyce in the darkness.

“Mrs S, what’s up?” Faith whispered, cringing at the pain coming from her ribs. Joyce sat on the side of the bed next to Faith, careful not to hurt the patient.

“Just thought I’d come and look in on you now the house is emptier and quiet,” Joyce gave a quiet chuckle.

“Yeah, I don’t get why there were so many people here, I was asleep all day, kinda weird to watch me lay here the whole time,”

“Honey, they were here to make sure you were ok because they care,”

“Then why didn’t they bring me anything? People in hospitals get chocolate and grapes, I didn’t,” Faith asked, confused. Joyce gave another chuckle at this, not wanting to wake the sleeping witch.

“Don’t worry I’ll make you pancakes for breakfast,”

“Sweet,” Faith said impressed already forgetting about the lack of received gifts.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” Joyce asked only just noticing that the slayer was awake before she entered.

“Too wired, all those pills and sleep and now I’m wide awake, just figured I’d take advantage of the quiet, not much else I can do...so she fell asleep here?” Faith asked, looking over at the sleeping witch. Joyce looked over to the witch and then back to Faith.

“Looks like...she’s been here all day, said she wouldn’t leave until she knew you were strong enough, such a sweet girl,” Joyce smiled thoughtfully. Faith continued to watch over Tara, conscious of her deep breathing, and the sad expression that graced the witches face.
“She cares about you a lot,” Joyce told Faith, grabbing the slayer's attention back.

“More fool her...” Faith responded still looking at the witch.

“You really need to stop doing that,”

“What?”

“Thinking so lowly of yourself, you need a more positive attitude, or nothing will ever change for you, that girl stood up for you when no one else would and cared about your wellbeing, stop pushing her away especially with things you don’t mean,”

Faith looked back to Joyce, with slight glossy eyes.

“Why would I want to get attached when I know she’ll just end up leaving, people always do,”

“And some people can surprise you, and you need to open yourself up more, let people get to know you and not the persona you want the world to see,”  

Faith dropped her head against the headboard. Faith was too tired for so much emotional talk at that moment, but when it came to Joyce Summers, the mother she always wanted, she would give her the time she needed. If not only to make up for the horrible things she put her through in the past but because she enjoyed the older woman’s company.

“And what if this is just me?” Faith finally responded, looking to Joyce.

“Do you believe that?”

“Sorta...I don’t know much of anything these days...I don’t really trust myself, what if I ruin everything and it hurts her? I feel so much pressure to become something that feels so foreign to me; I keep hearing it takes time, but I never felt a part of reality completely or connect with anyone let alone just trying to be normal...”

“Honey don’t worry about what everyone says, just take everything a day at a time, you worry so much for someone who doesn’t need anyone, no one ever knows who they are, I sure don’t, and I am a lot older than you, you just need to be making better decisions, and the good will follow, trust me life isn’t as bad as you think, just try not to be so negative unless you really need to,”

“Thanks, Mrs S, you’re so much better with words than Buffy,” Faith said, trying to lighten the moment a bit more.

“And that’s why my daughter is the fighter, and I’m not, we all have our strength, You and Buffy won’t admit it, but you’re both quite similar, as neither of you is great at communicating, but we still have time to work on that,” Joyce laughed, still keeping her voice low.
“And this is the third time that you’ve saved my daughter; I’ll always be grateful to you. You didn’t have to do what you did, but you did, so if you’re having a bad day or do something bad, make sure you come to me, and I’ll remind you of this, no matter the time,” Faith gave a small smile back to the mother.

“You think your gonna have to then?”

“Maybe but everyone has setbacks, it’s just a part of life,” Joyce rubbed a comforting hand on the slayer's legs and turned to get some pills and water off the bedside table. “Here, take these, you need some sleep, I can’t be talking to you all night now can I?” Joyce laughed as Faith took the pills and water.

The mother helped the slayer who didn’t even put up a fight lie down; she was still very weak from her injuries. As soon as the slayer was comfortable, she moved around the bed to a sleeping Tara.

“Now you can’t sleep here all night...Tara, honey, you need to go to bed...” Joyce whispered to the witch, who just gave a low moan in her sleep at the disturbance.

“What ya doin’?” Faith whispered from the bed, trying her best to fight the sleep to see what was happening.

“Sssh, go to sleep, Tara needs to be comfortable too,” Joyce whispered back.

Faith’s head fell back on to the bed, not having the energy to talk anymore. So Joyce carefully hooked her hand under Tara’s arm and started to lift the sleeping witch gently. Tara, in her disorientated state, began to comply and unravel herself from the chair.

“It's ok sweetie, come on over to the bed,” Joyce said as she guided Tara to the bed with a now sleeping Faith. She manoeuvred the witch down and pulled a blanket over Tara’s slightly shivering body.

Joyce stood back and looked down at the two women, who had in succession, rolled towards each other only leaving a small amount of space between their two bodies, and Faith’s fingertips brushed against Tara’s arm, almost protective. Joyce couldn’t help but think how cute the two women looked, sleeping so close. She wasn’t blind, Joyce could see the magnetism between the women, and they always found ways to be near each other, but no else could see it, not even themselves. Joyce could sense that good things were ahead of them, and couldn’t wait to see how it would all unfold. Taking herself away to let the women sleep and so she could get some rest herself, Joyce left Tara and Faith in the darkened room to heal together.

***

When Tara woke up that morning, she could feel tickling on her face. She lifted her hand from a lump underneath her hand to brush her hair out of her face. Upon moving the hair though, she found it wasn’t hers. So a still groggy Tara cracked one of her eyes open and was shocked to see Faith, laying very close. Tara must have been holding her in her sleep. How did she get there? The last thing she remembered was sitting on the chair watching over Faith, there’s no way she would have invaded the slayer's space without her permission. So doing her best not to wake the slayer, she gently pulled herself away and carefully slipped off the bed. She looked back down to where she had been led, confused and a little scared about how comfortable she had felt laying there. She could only hope Faith hadn’t noticed, that the slayer was in a medicated enough state to have been asleep all night. She looked at the clock, it was seven am, early enough to slip out unnoticed and go back to her dorm for some fresh clothes and a shower. The witch hadn’t wanted to leave Faith until she knew the slayer’s injuries were going to be healing well enough, but she needed some time alone, to contemplate how she had awoken. And how confusingly lovely it had felt, she felt so safe and protected. Usually, she just woke up alone and tense, a feeling she more familiar with. Tara just had to remember that this wouldn’t be a regular event, Faith was her friend and still healing in so many ways, there would never be anything between them, and she shouldn’t expect anything less.
So grabbing her jacket from the chair, Tara quietly tiptoed out of the room until she touched the door handle.

“I do have super hearing you know, I heard you open your eyes,” Faith told the witch without opening her eyes. Tara dropped her head and laughed at the cockiness of the slayer. She was so good at making Tara forget her worries, without even knowing it most of the time.

“Sorry didn’t realise I’d be so annoyingly loud,” Tara chuckled still looking at the door, not wanting to wake the house with their talking.

“Where you goin’?” Faith asked still half asleep.

“Just home, I need to freshen up,” She whispered in a calming tone.

“You’re coming back, right?" Faith slurred her head now pointing in Tara’s direction but keeping her eyes closed.

“Do you think you’ll need me?” Tara hesitant about what to do, not wanting to crowd the slayer, wondering if she should start keeping boundaries.

“I always do...” Faith trailed off as she rolled to the side and falling back into slumber. Tara just smiled at the disorientated slayer.

“Ok Faith, see you soon,” Tara lifted her head and left the room. More content to be returning.

Chapter Text

A week had now passed since Tara’s kidnapping, and every morning Tara would arrive at the Summer’s residence. She would spend all day looking after Faith until the evening when she would head back to the dorm. Tara thought this was a more sensible decision after waking up next to the slayer one morning. To avoid any mishaps again, she made sure to go home at the end of the day and not fall asleep.

On this morning, Tara was doing her usual routine of checking Faith’s wounds and redressing them, but with the slayer’s accelerated healing, she was already feeling stronger. The bruising on her collar bones and shoulders had disappeared, and she could move her fingers much better, but they were still severely bruised. As far as cuts, they had grown smaller but still quite deep, which slowed the slayer down.

“So...I’m feeling a lot better today...” Faith said casually as she put her shirt back on,

“That’s good,” Tara said, putting the first aid kit away.

“I was thinking we could go out...”

“Together?” Tara responded suddenly, shocked by the slayer’s sudden bluntness.

“Yeah...I know I’m not completely healed...Maybe go for a walk and stretch my legs?” Faith suggested innocently.

Tara sighed in relief after understanding what the slayer actually meant but now slightly embarrassed that her mind went to such preposterous conclusion straight away.

“Faith, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea like you said, you’re not fully healed,” Tara explained.

“Come on T; I’ve been stuck in bed for a week, I’ve got an ass print in the mattress...please?” Faith pleaded almost ready to beg.

Tara laughed at the puppy-like expression that appeared on Faith’s face.

“I suppose we could go for a short walk after lunch, BUT you have to take regular stops, I’m not carrying you back if you get tired, got it?” Tara ordered.

“Yes ma’am,” Faith mock saluted the witch.

“Now get some more rest on that ass print, I’ll be back,” Tara gave another order as she left the room.

“Ok Mrs Terminator,” Faith grinned as she laid herself back down on the bed knowing she had gotten her own way.

***

A couple of hours later, Tara and Faith were out on their walk. They almost made it to the edge of town after a few insisted pit stops from Tara. Faith’s movements were slow, so their short walk was becoming quite the journey. They started passing through the rougher side of town; Tara began to feel agitated as the sunset was setting in. She knew they shouldn’t be out much longer.

“Faith, I think we should probably head back now,” Tara suggested nervously.

“Not yet, can’t we wait until its dark and then we’ll head back, I can’t get enough of this,” Faith said stretching herself out as they passed a seedy demon bar.

“It’s basically dark al–,” Tara began to tell the ignorant slayer.

“Faith!” A vampire shouted from behind them. Both women spun around to see a vampire had exited the bar and had recognised the slayer.

“Oh, crap...Hey Shorty!...miss me?" Faith greeted the vampire in a very patronising tone. Tara began to look nervous, knowing they were in no way prepared for a fight.

“You should’ve stayed in that coma bitch! You ain’t got Wilkins to protect you now!” Shorty growled leering towards the slayer. Faith took a confident step forward.

“Shorty, you were always a piss poor excuse for a vamp, I don’t need protecting,” Faith antagonised the vampire.

“Faith, no, you can’t...” Tara hissed to Faith.

“Don’t worry, I got this-,” Faith was cut off with a punch to the stomach, the impact vibrated through her already damaged ribs, sending her to the floor. The pain in her ribs knocked the wind out of her; catching her breath wasn’t easy. “Ok, I don’t got this,”

Faith scrambled off the floor with Tara’s help. The vampire ran straight at Faith again, but she was ready for him this time. She dodged his punches, not very well, but still dodged. She grabbed his fist and twisted the wrist, causing it to crack, and Shorty dropped to his knees. Faith then grabbed his head and slammed his face to the floor before stomping on his back. Clutching her side, Faith turned and grabbed Tara’s hand for them to start running and make their escape. Faith led Tara away from the bar and down multiple alleyways, looking behind her to make sure they weren’t being followed; they dropped to the side of an old dumpster.

“Are y-yy-you ok?” Tara asked the wounded slayer, struggling to catch her breath.

“I will be, but we need to get out of here before he catches up to us,” Faith leant back against the wall trying to breathe through the throbbing pain searing through her body. Tara looked at her with deep concern; she looked around them to weigh their options.

“We can go to mine, the campus isn’t far...it’ll be safer,” Tara suggested anxiously, knowing they would be risking a lot running back to the Summer’s, the slayer wouldn’t be able to make it in her weakened state. Faith just nodded in agreement; the pain was too much for her to suggest anything else. So Tara put Faith’s arm around her shoulder, and the two women made their way out of the alley and slowly ran to campus.

A few minutes later, the two exhausted women made it back to Tara’s dorm. Tara hurried Faith through the door so she could lock it behind them. Tara busied herself, closing the curtains whilst Faith stood in the middle of the room and looked at her surroundings, the room was dark with Wiccan trinkets and spell books and fairy lights draped everywhere. The room had a very calming effect on the slayer; it reminded her of the basement but with a more homely feel to it. She hadn’t expected this to be the type of place that Tara would live in, but it still suited her at the same time.

“Faith, get on the bed,” Tara told the slayer, bringing her out of her thoughts.

“No dinner first?” Faith tried to joke as she sat back on the edge of the bed.

“You’re hurt again, is this really the time for jokes?” An exhausted Tara stated.

“T, lighten up, everything’s five by five,” Faith said as she brushed off Tara’s annoyance. Tara stormed over to Faith and pulled her top up to reveal her stitches had ripped, and fresh blood was seeping from the wound.

“Does this look five by five to you?” Tara huffed letting the shirt drop.

“Yeah I get it, I screwed up but why have you always got to be so serious? We’re safe now,” Faith snapped.

“And why have you got to be so careless, you wouldn’t have if you had just listened to me!”

“I didn’t ask you to be my carer!”

“No, you just asked me to come with you!”

“Well if I could go alone then I would,” Faith scoffed at the witch.

“God, you’re so stubborn!”

“You started it!”

“Because I’m worried about you, you could’ve got hurt again!”

“And I’m sorry!”

“Well, that’s all I wanted to hear!”

“Then why are we fighting?”

“I don’t know anymore!” Tara, who was still shouting, suddenly started to laugh with a very confused Faith watching her.

“Girl, you crazy, you know that?” Faith shifted uncomfortably, still watching the laughing witch. Tara composed herself again and went to sit on the bed next to the slayer.

“I’m sorry...I was worried something bad would happen and then it did and now you’re stuck here...”

“I’ve been stuck in worse places...” Faith nudged Tara making her smile; showing her there were no hard feelings.

“Look just take your top off, so I can patch that cut, I’d rather you didn’t bleed all over my bed,” Tara rose from the bed and began to gather bandages as Faith slowly unbuttoned her shirt and took it off, leaving her in just her bra waiting for the witch.

Tara turned to see the waiting Faith and almost dropped everything she was holding. Her breath hitched and colour flooded her cheeks at the sight. It wasn’t the first time she had seen Faith without her top on, there was that time when Faith trained with Buffy or for the last week when dealing with her injuries but she never tried to look in a disrespectful way. Faith needed to be treated before but now her body was healing nicely, Tara couldn’t help but take in the beauty before her. Faith made her beauty look effortless. Her eye’s screamed pain but everything else was like a goddess. It hurt Tara’s heart to think this woman could be so damaged but also had so much potential for good. The more she got to know the slayer, the more difficult she found to ignore the attraction but she knew nothing would ever come of it. Not only because of what she was destined to become but because Faith could never want her. Tara was a woman for one thing and a friend next. She could never risk the trust they were building with romantic feelings. Drawing her eyes away from Faith, Tara joined the slayer on the bed and began to clean and bind her wounds again. It didn’t take as long this time around. After covering the wounds, Tara put the things away, then grabbed a shirt and shorts out of the drawer and gave it to Faith.

“What’s this for?” Faith asked confused, looking at the clothes.

“Did you want to sleep in leather pants? Can’t imagine it’s comfortable,” Tara laughed.

“Oh right,” Faith thought for a moment whilst looking at the clothes like she was figuring out what to do with them. She shrugged her shoulders and removed her bra to start changing. Tara flushed at the sight and quickly turned around, trying to busy herself. Faith laughed at the witch.
“Don’t tell me you’re a prude now?”

“NN-No, I’m not, I just wasn’t expecting you to be so brazen...” Tara stuttered back.

“Ok firstly, I’m done you can stop hiding, second, we’re both women, nothing you ain’t seen before,” Faith said crawling up to the back of the bed and resting her back against the headboard.

“I guess I’m just not as free as you are and you probably don’t want someone like me looking...” Tara trailed off slightly embarrassed.

“What the hell are you...Oh the gay thing...who cares, you not exactly a predator besides I look good, don’t really care who sees this,” Faith said cockily upon realising why the witch turned away.

“Well I like to be respectful; no woman deserves to be ogled like a piece of meat...”

“So you think I’m ogle worthy?” Faith raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“I’m not blind, I can see how beautiful you are if that’s what you're suggesting?” Tara started to match Faith’s cocky behaviour.

Faith’s face dropped at this and suddenly pulled her knees up to her chest. “I ain’t beautiful...”

Tara looked at the slayer, sadness filling her eyes. She sat opposite Faith on the bed and placed a hand on her knee, getting the slayer's attention.
“I don’t know why you would think that about yourself but you are you know...beautiful,”

“No, I’m not...”

“How can you say this sweetie?” Tara asked.

“I just ain’t...no one gave me a reason to think otherwise. I’ve always been the party girl, the one all the boys wanted to screw. No one’s ever called me anything other than sexy...” Faith said almost laughing at herself.

“What about your mother?” Tara asked horrified by what she was hearing.

“What about her? She was a drunken whore and then after dad died she was never home, that woman never had a good word to say about anyone,” Faith brushed Tara’s hand off of her knee and got up from the bed and started stretching her arms around. “So you got any food in this joint?” Faith asked casually trying to change the subject.

“You always do that,” Tara shook her head and stood from the bed.

“Do what?” The brunette asked.

“This, anytime we talk...like really talk, you find a way to escape,”

“Maybe I don’t like talking, why do you have to keep pushing?” Faith asked now growing annoyed, not wanting to speak about herself anymore.

“Talking is a part of what makes us human, Faith you need to heal in so many ways, talking about our past helps us grow,”

“If it’s so important, how come you never talk about your past?” Faith asked now deflecting again.

“You’ve never asked me anything,” Tara stated simply.

“Huh?” Faith asked thrown off.

“You’ve never asked me about my past, I’m not saying you don’t care but in all the times we’ve spoken, you’ve never asked. You obviously have an issue with your past and I would never push you to talk if you didn’t want to, this is all at your pace, you can ask me whatever you want...that’s what friends do,”

“Well I’m not talking and you can’t make me, I won’t go back there!” Faith said getting worked up and shaking.

“What are you talking about sweetie? No one’s going to make you go anywhere,” Tara reached a hand forward to Faith but the slayer flinched and began to cry.

“Don’t touch me! Stop being nice, pin me to the wall, I deserve it,” Faith grew more upset; she started shifting on the spot, looking to escape the room. She looked towards the door but Tara saw it instantly. The witch lunged forward and wrapped her arms around the crying slayer. Faith tried to pull away but Tara wouldn’t let go.

“Sssh, calm down...Faith its ok, just stop!” At that, Faith stopped struggling and her tears grew stronger. Tara continued to hush the slayer whilst stroking her hair. Tara’s heart broke again, no wonder the slayer turned out the way she had. Her past was obviously traumatic; the women had never received genuine affection before. After a few minutes of staying in the same position, Faith’s breathing began to even out and the tears slowed. Tara didn’t want to let the slayer go until she knew she was ok, so they didn’t move.

After a couple of hours of holding each other, the two women finally released. Tara had made them both food and pretended their earlier conversation hadn’t happened for the sake of the emotional slayer. Tara went about getting ready for sleep after eating and the slayer couldn’t help but just silently watch her. Her movements were graceful and it calmed the rogue slayer. She had always felt a pull towards the witch since the moment she laid eyes on her. She just wanted to protect her, even as a slayer she had never felt the need to protect a person so much as she did for the witch. It was as though they were both running from their pasts. Faith found herself caring for a woman who could never be with her. Faith was broken and if Tara was with her, she would only cause the witch pain. Nobody she got close to survived.

“You ok?” Tara asked pulling Faith from her thoughts.

“Um yeah, just tired I guess,” Faith said shaking off the daze.

“Ok, I’ll just grab the sleeping bag and we can go to sleep,” Faith just nodded and started to climb onto the floor.
“Faith what are you doing?” Tara asked shocked.

“I’m going to sleep on the floor...” Faith stated as though it was obvious.

“You’re not sleeping on the floor your hurt...I am,” Faith jumped up off the floor.

“This is your place, I’ll be fine down there,” Faith said.

“And if you hurt yourself more, I’ll feel so guilty...” Tara explained as Faith looked over at the double bed.

“Ok then, we’ll share?” The slayer suggested.

“We can’t do that...”

“Why not? Not trust that I’ll kill you in your sleep?”

“Of course not!” Tara said offended. 

“Get in then, one night won’t hurt, so chill ok?” Faith told her as she climbed under the covers.

Tara just nodded not having any other argument, so taking a deep breath; she moved around the bed and joined Faith. She quickly shut off the light and they both lay on their backs, side by side. They both lay in silence for a few moments, just listening to the sounds of the hallway and each other’s nervous breathing until Faith broke the tension building.

“T?” Faith whispered with her husky voice.

“Yeah?” Tara whispered back.

“Why did you want to help me? No one else did and you didn’t even know me...” Tara took a moment before answering.

“You just answered it, I didn't know you and everyone was ready to give up. I believe everyone deserves a second chance, even a rogue slayer...” Faith just listened silently.

“Goodnight Tara,” Faith whispered with her eyes already closed.

Tara felt a lump in her throat, knowing this was the first time she had heard the slayer consciously not refer to her with a nickname. Faith really did use actions better than words in so many ways.

“Goodnight Faith,”

Chapter Text

Another week had passed since Faith had awoken in Tara’s arms and after sneaking out, they hadn’t spoken since. It wasn’t intentional, but she needed time to think and heal without the confusing feelings that were developing for the witch. Faith had never particularly been an affectionate person, and waking up in the witches arms was definitely a surprise. It was the best night’s sleep she had had in a long time.  It scared the hell out of her, and she was so glad the witch had been asleep, so she didn’t have to see Faith being weak and making things awkward between the two.

Tara hadn’t made contact either, so she had either woken up at some point and was embarrassed also, or she was just annoyed that the slayer had left the next morning without saying a word. So trying to keep herself distracted, Faith went about her week, her wounds were all healed now, and the barrier had not been put back up around the Summer’s which she had taken full advantage of.  Well taken advantage in the only way the new Faith would, this included one meaningless dalliance with a guy she met at the bronze, and the rest of the time was errands that she made for Mrs Summers. She didn’t see the point in just partying and fighting like she used to, even her one night stand wasn’t like it used to be. She regretted it and didn’t find the thrill of using and abusing like in the old days. The blonde witch kept popping in her head which didn’t help either, all she could see was the blonde being so disappointed with her, and then the flashes went a bit more x rated than she had anticipated, which brought more confusion to the slayer. So she just figured she would ignore how she use to act and see what could happen instead.

The slayer had made her way to Giles’s apartment after spending her morning exercising. She entered the apartment to find Buffy and Giles sitting on the sofa. So she sauntered over and collapsed onto the armchair and swung her feet onto the coffee table.

“Good morning, Faith, “Giles greeted the slayer whilst ignoring how she used his coffee table as a footrest.

“What up? Xan man told me you and B wanted to see me, so what’s the big bad?” Faith asked.

“Um...there is none?” Buffy responded confused and wondering if there was a big bad that she had just forgotten about.

“Oh, well then what couldn’t wait until I saw you at the house?” Faith asked now taking the role of the confused slayer.

Giles smiled at Buffy and nodded. She pulled a key out of her pocket and threw it to Faith.

“What’s this for?” Faith asked, catching the key mid-air and examined it.

“It’s the key to your old penthouse...” Buffy said, with a proud smile.

“Gonna need some more info here guys, that was Wilkin’s place?” Faith pushed.

“Ah yes...well when Willow expunged your record she came across some things, and it turns out he had it in your name, the deeds are yours if you would like it?” Giles explained with a smile.

“Hold up. You’re telling me you’ve known for weeks that I owned my own place and you let me stay in that crusty basement?” Faith questioned, annoyed.

“Technically yes but so much has happened between that point and we want to make sure-,”

“That I wasn’t going to kill anyone?” Faith interrupted.

“As horrible as it sounds but yes. Faith when you woke up from that coma you were a danger to yourself and others around you, but since then you’ve grown and begun your redemption, you haven’t had your magical barrier for a while now, and you still choose to come back rather than escape...” Giles explained calmly.

“So, what now? You kicking me out?” Faith asked looking between Giles and Buffy.

“No! –No...but if you want to, you can move into your own place...we trust you, Faith,” Buffy smiled.

“Oh cool, well maybe, I’ll think about it...uh thanks (Gestures with the key) I’ll speak to you guys later...” Faith shifted uncomfortably with the key and then left the apartment, unsure how to handle all the positive vibes.

“Do you think she’ll be ok?” Buffy questioned her watcher.

“No...But she will be, she’s surprised us all,” Giles smiled, thinking about his other slayer's progress.

***

Faith entered the Summer’s residence to find Joyce sat in the kitchen reading the newspaper. She kept her head down and headed straight to the basement

“Hold up now! Come and sit please,” Joyce called without looking away from the newspaper, stopping Faith in her tracks.

“What have I done?” Faith asked almost like a teenager.

“Well I have a plate of croissants here, and you didn’t even steal one on the way past, so what’s wrong?” Joyce replied, now putting her paper down. Faith rolled her eyes and joined Joyce at the kitchen island.

“B and Giles gave me the key to my old penthouse, turns out Wilkins’s had it put in my name,”

“So is this a good thing or a bad thing?” Joyce asked, not sure of which way to steer the conversation.

“Good thing...I guess,” Faith shrugged, leaning on her arm on the table.

“You don’t seem too sure,” Joyce assessed.

“Aaargh, I don’t get why this is wiggin’ me out, I should be pumped that I have my own place, but I just feel empty,” Joyce chuckled lightly at the slayer and placed her hand on Faith’s arm lovingly.

“Oh honey, so much happened there and you haven’t been back in a year, you’ve either been in a hospital or my basement, you shouldn’t expect yourself to feel great about it, I’d be nervous,”

“I’m not nervous, though...I just don’t know what I am...do you want me to move out?” Faith asked not knowing how to centre herself.

“Of course I don’t but how long did you think you would be staying here?”

Faith just shrugged at the mother. “I dunno, just figured I’d just kit out that basement into a sweet pad and then once you retired, I’d just fight B for the property....”

“Seriously?” Joyce asked not sure if the slayer was joking or not.

“Maybe...it was just a rough draft...” Faith said now thinking about how she would design the basement if it were permanent.

“Honestly honey, why don’t you just go see the place, think about and if you don’t want to go back there then you are always welcome here, nothing’s the end of the world, and there’s always a solution,” Joyce said smiling.

“Really?”

“Of course, you started here as a prisoner, but now you’re a guest, so don’t forget it,”

“Thanks, Mrs S, guess I’ve got somewhere to be then...” Faith ended the conversation, not knowing how else to respond to the compliment. She jumps up and takes one of the croissants off Joyce’s plate as she leaves the mother back to her newspaper.

***

Tara had spent most of the morning in her dorm room, getting ahead of her reading before college started again.  It had been a week since she had seen the slayer. She had woken up with a peaceful Faith cradled into her chest.  The sight was unexpected, but the witch couldn’t bring herself to move the slayer away.  Instead, she closed her eyes and embraced the innocence of the situation and let the slayer stay in her place and get as much needed rest as possible. Tara had fallen back to slumber, but she was alone when she awoke, and Faith was gone. Tara could only think the slayer needed space. The night before had been very emotionally stressful, so she made the conscious decision to stay away for a while, and honestly, Tara appreciated the break. The confusing feelings between herself and the slayer were becoming more and more prominent. She knew they should distance themselves for a while, but Tara honestly didn’t want to. She enjoyed the slayer's company and would much rather spend the last couple of weeks of summer with Faith than in her dorm working for no reason. She had spent many times thinking of reasons she could use to see Faith, but short of making up a vampire attack, there were no reasons, so Tara stayed away and hoped that soon she could have her friend back.

Tara just about finished her reading and was about to practice some spells when a knock came from the door. The witch wasn’t expecting anyone, so she closed her books and answered the door to come face to face with Faith.

“Hey,” Faith said, looking at Tara like a nervous child.

“HH-Hey,” Tara stuttered back not expecting the slayer to be stood there.

“Mind if I come in?” Faith asked.

“Oh sure,” Tara agreed, standing aside to let the slayer in. Faith walked in and straight away began to handle random trinkets in the room.

“Sorry we haven’t spoken, guess I’ve been busy, they kept the barrier down now so doing a mad amount of errands for Mrs S...”

“I heard about that...you don’t want to be stuck with a keeper, you’re free...” Tara said bashfully.

“Don’t say that, I said I like being around you,” Faith said sternly. “Don’t put yourself down, T,” 

Tara gulped and looked at Faith. She could feel her body tingle, memories of waking up with the slayer in her arms were flooding her mind. She couldn’t let their conversation become serious again, in case she left again.

“You’ve healed really well,” Tara gestured to Faith's face.

“Oh yeah, magical slayer healing,” Faith laughed, she grew nervous and started shifting on her feet. “Are you busy today?”

“Uh, no...Has something happened?” Tara asked the slayer who looked ever so nervous.

“No I just, I got to go check somewhere out, I haven’t been there in a while...I wanted to know if you would come with me? You know what I just turned up it's cool, I’ll hit you up later-,” Faith turned to leave.

“I can go,” Tara stated before Faith could open the door. Faith turned back around, slightly stunned.

“Really?” Faith asked more hopefully as Tara nodded.

“Where did you need to go?” Tara asked.

About thirty minutes later, Faith and Tara were stood in the middle of Faith’s old penthouse. It hadn’t been touched since the night Buffy and Faith had fought, and Faith was put in a coma. Everywhere the slayer looked, old memories kept crashing into her mind. She could see the first time she saw this place and how excited she had been especially with all the new gifts Wilkins kept giving her, she could see the day she wore a dress and how special it had made her feel, to be wanted and the fight she had with Buffy that burnt straight to her core. Being confined in the Summers for so long, she almost managed to forget her past but seeing this place; it disabled her. She walked over to the window that she and Buffy had thrown themselves through during the fight. The windows had been boarded up and it was covered in graffiti.

“What happened to this place?” Tara asked, making her way through the mess.

“Dunno, looks like squatters (she looked around the trashed apartment and vandalism scattered around the walls) it weren’t that bad last time I was here, me and B were only fighting, the worst we did was to the window...”

“Fighting?”

“Yeah, the night I ended up with a knife in my gut and in a coma, didn’t think B had the balls,” Faith chuckled to herself with a strange sense of nostalgia.

“I’m sorry, this place must bring back awful memories for you?” Tara said, moving closer to Faith.

Faith just shrugged at Tara, trying to pretend that she wasn’t bothered.

“It’s cool, this place is so trashed I’m not even sure I remember what it use to look like... (Faith got distracted by something on the other side of the room) dude look at that bed, it has a huge hole in the middle...how?” Faith said as she started listing off the damages. Tara began to laugh; she couldn’t help but smile, watching the slayer develop domesticity.

Faith caught Tara’s eye whilst looking around. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, it’s just nice to see you be so normal,”

“I’m acting the same as normal,” Faith replied, confused.

“What I mean is, you’re in your own environment, you’re not talking about demons or vampires, it’s nice to see you relax even if it is looking at your trashed apartment,” Tara laughed.

“I still gotta decide if I want to live here or not...” Faith said making room for herself and Tara to sit on the musty sofa. Tara walked over to Faith to join her.

“You’re thinking of leaving Buffy’s?” Tara asked, worrying it may cause a distance between the two of them.

“I wasn’t...and the G gave me the key to this place, turns out Wilkins put it in my name, and I guess B wants her basement back...” Faith rationalised.

“Or she trusts you so much she thinks you need your own space? Look at this place, yes it’s a mess, but a bit of work and it could look great...Not many people as young as you are lucky enough to own property, don’t think Buffy is just trying to get rid of you,” Tara said placing a hand on Faith’s leg for comfort.

“Would you help me? Like, fix this place up? I’m not even sure where I’d start,” Faith asked as she rubbed her temples.

“You want me to help?” Tara asked, slightly surprised.

“I did just ask, do you just like repeating me?” Tara pushed Faith’s shoulder, playfully.

“I can totally help but classes start-up in a couple of weeks,” Tara explained.

“That’s cool; we can get a lot done in that time. Cleaning it first, but I don’t know where I’ll get the money to fix or replace anything, not many places hire a high school dropout,”

“Don’t worry about that yet, let’s just clean everything first, you can worry about money later,” Faith just nodded her head whilst listening. “Now let’s make a plan and go from there,”

Chapter Text

“This place looks really good, Faith,” Buffy praised her fellow slayer.

It had taken just over a week, but between Faith and Tara, they had managed to clear the apartment and clean it top to bottom. They had only managed to salvage the bed frame and the sofa, which took a thorough dusting. A very proud Faith managed to find an old mattress in a random alley whilst on patrol; Tara couldn’t bear to tell the slayer it wasn’t the best choice. So instead kept her mouth closed and used the most potent chemicals she could find to make sure the slayer didn’t catch any back alley diseases. Faith had also convinced Xander to replace the glass in the window, which Tara had enjoyed watching as Anya wouldn’t leave her boyfriend's side in fear that Faith might try to seduce him.  Faith had also taken great pleasure in teasing the ex-demon about how she had taken the carpenters virginity. Strangely, Xander had managed to fix the windows in record time, so he could escape before his girlfriend tried to take vengeance out on the slayer.

“Thanks, B, I just need some furniture and paint this place, and it’ll be done, the maintenance guy said he had some old paint I could take, so I should be done by the weekend,” Faith explained.

Buffy nodded whilst looking around the room. “That’s...that’s great, are you sure you don’t want to stay at the house until it’s done? You don’t have to move in today,” Buffy offered, trying not to come off concerned.

“Nah, its time; besides, the place is safe now...why gonna miss me, B?” Faith teased.

“Yeah, sure, I’m gonna miss you raiding my fridge and your marathon baths,” Buffy shrugged off.

“Whatever you say, B,” Faith smirked.

“I must say, Faith, you’ve done remarkably well,” Giles complimented the slayer as he entered the room from looking around the apartment.

“T did most of it; I was basically the muscle...” Faith shrugged off the compliment.

“Regardless, you both did excellent work, any plans for when you’re finished?” Giles asked.

“Dunno, I guess look for a job; slaying doesn’t exactly pay the bills,” Faith said, not sure of what her plan was.

“That’s excellent to hear...anyway; you probably want to enjoy your new home. I’ll grab the rest of your things from the car,” With that, Giles exited the apartment, leaving the two slayers alone together.

“Sooo...you and Tara are hanging out a lot lately?” Buffy asked, trying to be casual.

“Yeah? And?” Faith asked defensively with a hint of aggression in her husky tone.

“Oh nothing, I just never seen you spend so much time with someone. I mean, I get before with the spells, but you're free now,”

“T’s cool, we just get on, I guess, I don’t see the issue,” Faith frowned, telling Buffy.

“There’s not one, its good that you found someone,”

“Found someone? We’re friends. Nothing else. I’m still loose and free,”

“Oh...Oh right, yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean anything by...have you since, you know? Been back? I’m sorry, that’s none of my business,” Buffy said, now embarrassed.

“Nah, it’s cool, a couple of weeks ago, I used and abused some guy, didn’t get his name, but I’ll survive,” Faith told Buffy, trying to make sure she didn’t suspect any feelings that she may have for the witch. Buffy went to respond when they heard a throat clearing behind them. Giles and Tara were stood in the doorway, both holding a bag.

“T, hey, what’s happening?” Faith greeted the witch, now internally panicking that the witch may have heard their conversation. Tara was smiling shyly as she continued to enter the apartment with Giles.

“I...I just brought those sss-sheets I promised you. Did I cc-come at a bad time?” Tara asked, trying so hard to keep eye contact, doing her best to act like she hadn’t heard anything. Faith could tell something was wrong; she must have heard about Faith’s one night stand. Tara must be so disappointed? But why? Faith decided to continue to try and act normally.

“Oh great, thanks,” Faith said, taking the bags from Tara and Giles and placing them in the living room. The room fell silent; Buffy could feel the tension and now regretted opening her mouth, and she wasn’t sure why.

“So I think we’re going to go. I need to get the car back to mom; she wants to spend more time together before I go back to college...you know...but we’ll see you Sunday for lunch?” Buffy asked as she nudged Giles, and they both slowly headed to the door.

“Yeah, sure I’ll be there; I can’t say no to Mrs S,”

“Great, it was good seeing you, Tara,” Buffy waved.

“You tt-too Buffy,” Tara stuttered and gave a small wave back.

“Quite, goodbye, girls,” Giles nodded as he closed the door behind him.

Both Tara and Faith stood in the living room in silence, staring at the floor, neither knowing what to say. Tara was in good spirits when she had left for the slayer’s apartment. The two women were growing so close that week and the tension was slowly building between them. Tara didn’t know what it was, but she knew the slayer was feeling something. She could always feel the slayer’s eyes on her like she was searching for something. Tara knew it was nothing romantic, and it never would be, but something was happening even if the feelings weren’t returned. So standing in the doorway to hear Faith had slept with a man cemented the fact Tara didn’t have a future with the slayer; she wanted other things. At that moment, that one kiss Faith had planted on Tara all those months ago came to the front of her mind. The taste of her lips coated her senses. She knew that would be the only experience she would have with the rogue slayer.

“I sh-should go too...” Tara gestured to the door.

“You don’t have ta; we could hang or something?” Faith offered.

“N-n-no, it’s fine, I sss-“ Faith cut the witch off.

“Why are you stuttering? You haven’t done that in a long time... (Faith suddenly has a realisation) You heard me and B...” Faith hung her head in slight shame.

“Sorry, I didn’t mm-mean to listen in like that...” Tara said nervously, feeling like she had intruded into something that wasn’t her business.

“You shouldn’t be sorry, I shouldn’t have run my mouth; you didn’t need to find out like that,” Faith told the witch, ashamed of herself.

“Faith, you don’t owe me an explanation; you're free and single. It’s none of my business who you’re intimate with...” Tara said, now looking at the ashamed slayer, realising she had no business acting differently with the slayer. Nothing had ever happened between them. They were just friends.

“Yeah...yeah, I know that, but you shouldn’t have to hear that...” Faith said.

“Why? Think I’m too innocent to hear about sex?” Tara asked, now a bit defensive but also trying to lighten the mood.

“No! Just don’t want you to see this side of me...it’s shameful, I’m the get and get gone girl, but you never saw me that way, and it was nice...I didn’t even want to sleep with that guy, I just did, it’s all I know what to do,” Faith explained now dropping herself down on the sofa.

Tara’s eyes filled with tears watching the slayer. She couldn’t believe Faith felt that way; Tara would never judge Faith no matter what. She had seen under the slayers tough exterior, and she couldn’t be more different from how everybody perceived her. Tara hurried over to the sofa and sat next to the slayer, and grabbed her hand.

“But you don’t need to be that girl if you don’t want to; I still see you as the Faith that I’ve gotten to know, you don’t need to hide anything from me ever!” Tara told Faith, who looked up, so their eyes are locked.

“So you’re not upset with me?” Faith asked, not able to look up.

“Of course not, I won’t lie. I was shocked, but that’s none of my business. I don’t run your life,”

“But I like your input...” Faith stated innocently. Tara was shocked by this; the slayer continued to surprise her with unexpected honesty.

“Just know, Faith, you shouldn’t have to worry about telling me things, your my friend and I trust your decisions, and I’m a big girl; I can handle a lot more than you think...”

“Are you sure you can’t stay for a while?”

“Sure... let's order a pizza,” Tara smiled, giving in and putting Faith at ease.

***

About an hour later, Tara and Faith had managed to relax into their usual behaviours with each other. Tara was telling Faith about the new classes she would be taking that year. Faith had never been very academic, that’s how she had ended up a high school dropout, but she continued to smile and nod, just content on listening to the witch’s voice. They were interrupted by a knock at the door.

“That’ll be the pizza guy, I’ll get it,” Faith said as she jumped up from the sofa and answered the door. She was met with a blow to the face, throwing the slayer backwards. Shorty stepped in with another vampire, both wearing a full demonic face and a smile on their faces.

“Oh, god Faith (Tara ran over to Faith’s side, helping her up) how did he get in?” Tara asked in shock.

“My fault, I invited him in when I worked for the mayor, guess I forgot,” Faith explained, now pissed as she stood from the floor.

“Great job too; when I heard you were back around here, I knew we’d get to finish our ‘chat’,” The vampire grinned at the slayer with psychotic eyes.

“How about we skip the chat, and I just dust you?” Faith suggested, ready to fight, especially as this time she was fully healed from her injuries.

“Bring it, traitor!” Shorty gestured for her to come at him.

“AAARGH!” Faith screamed as she threw herself at Shorty.

They both tumbled to the floor, rolling around for a few moments fighting for control; meanwhile, Shorty’s accomplice started rounding in on Tara. The witch took a couple of steps backwards and knocked her foot on a box. She grabbed an umbrella sticking out of it and whipped it open into the vampire's face, and pushed it into him, making him stumble and fall over the sofa. Quickly looking around, trying not to get distracted by Faith’s battle, she noticed a vacuum cleaner by the fallen vampire. She gestured her hand using telekinesis to pull the cord and wrap it around the vampire’s neck. She clenched her fist, making the cord pull so tight it decapitated the vampire’s head and turned him to dust. Just then, the witch was struck in the head by an unknown object, but whatever it was, Faith had just dodged it. Seeing Tara get hit only made Faith more furious. She continued to punch and kick Shorty until he grabbed an oncoming kick and threw Faith through her newly fixed window and onto the balcony that she and Buffy had once fought.

“You dick! I just had that fixed!” Faith snapped as she got off the floor and brushed away the glass.

Shorty just jumped through the broken window laughing; he reached down and grabbed Faith by the hair and threw her backwards. Tara suddenly appeared at the window and caught Faith’s eye. There was blood on her forehead where she had been hit. She lifted a stake into view and threw it to Faith as Shorty was closing in.

“I’m gonna drink you dry, and then I’m gonna have that tasty blonde for dessert,” Shorty grinned just as Faith caught the stake mid air and thrust it into his chest.

“Sorry dude, she’s not into guys,” Shorty’s face dropped as he turned to dust.

“Are you ok?” Tara called from the window.

“Five by five,” Faith replied, getting back up from the floor again and climbed up through the broken window and back into the apartment.

“What about you? You took a pretty bad hit back there,” Faith asked, looking over Tara for any injuries.

“It looks worse than what it is,” Tara brushed off Faith’s concern.

Faith brought a hand up to push back Tara’s hair from her face to reveal the cut just under the hairline. Both of the women’s eyes locked at that moment, all of Tara’s pain instantly disappeared, and Faith was getting lost in the witch. Their heads inched closer. There was nowhere to run, Faith’s mouth began to part, and Tara’s breathing increased, her heartbeat ringing through her ears. Was Faith actually about to kiss her? As their faces grew closer, everything seemed to stop. Tara took one more deep breath just as their lips met.

“Uh, excuse me?” A voice came from the doorway; both women jumped back and looked to where the interruption came from. A very confused pizza guy was stood in the hall by the open door. “I’ve got your pizza,” The guy told them as he looked around at the destroyed apartment.

***

A little while later, the two women got the pizza and paid off the delivery guy with an overly large tip in hopes he’ll forget what he witnessed. However, before they could eat, Faith demanded that she clean Tara’s cut and then cover the smashed window. The two women sat on the sofa as Faith cleaned the wound with a cloth.

“I don’t think it needs stitches, but you should stay here tonight just in case you have a concussion,” Faith told the witch.

“Only if you let me put up an anti-vampire invitation spell, who knows how many pissed off demons are looking for you,” Tara laughed.

“Not gonna lie, there’s probably a few; I’m a traitor from all sides, I really do know how to rub people the wrong way...I’m sorry you got hurt; it’s my fault,” Faith shook her head.

“Your right. It’s your fault,” Tara gave a coy smile as Faith finished what she was doing. Faith smiled back at the witch’s cheeky remark, grabbed a slice of pizza, and lounged back on the sofa opposite Tara.

“Think I liked it better when you stuttered,” Faith said teasingly.

“No, you don’t,” Tara smiled, grabbing her own slice and relaxed back, ready to spend another evening and night with the slayer.  

She did her best to try and ignore the fact that they had both almost kissed, but Faith hadn’t mentioned it, so it must've just been something at the moment that was misconstrued. Faith always said she got hungry and horny after a fight, it could’ve seemed like something it wasn’t, but either way, it was making Tara’s chest go crazy. Her skin was vibrating; she felt so alive and wished they could carry on what they started but not wanting to ruin the moment, she just did her best to push the memory to the back of her mind.

Faith looked on at the happy witch, still trying to wrap her head around what almost happened between the two of them. She almost kissed the witch; seeing her injured just brought out all of Faith’s protectiveness. She feared losing Tara, and in that moment, the pull for Tara’s touch was irresistible. Still, after the interruption, Faith questioned everything, secretly happy nothing happened, not wanting to take advantage of the witch, especially when she didn’t know where her feelings were at; the witch deserved more than to be used. Now she just needed to figure out if it was a one-off or if it could happen again.

Chapter Text

After the events with Shorty, Faith and Tara hadn’t managed to find time to see each other. Faith was busy repairing the recent damage and decorating the apartment, whilst Tara was busy preparing for classes. They had managed to meet up with the rest of the gang at the beach before school started. They decided on a barbeque at the beach, but whilst there, Tara couldn’t help but drool over Faith in her bikini. Faith had spent the better part of an hour throwing a football around with Buffy, building up a lovely gleam of sweat that the sunlight bounced off beautifully. Tara could’ve sworn that Faith had noticed her looking, but she couldn’t have. The slayer was continually turning away and keeping busy; the witch was just paranoid. Faith had made no signs that she had any interest in the witch; they barely spoke since their awkward interaction the other week. There was no sign of different behaviours from Faith but what Tara didn’t know was Faith was distant on purpose.

When Faith had first arrived at the beach, she had immediately noticed Tara in her swimsuit and sarong; she had always seen that the witch was beautiful but had also wondered what she looked like underneath her flowing choice of clothes. And from what Faith could see, she wasn’t disappointed; she could feel the blush creeping up her face every time Faith looked at Tara and not being used to feeling so embarrassed, she did her best to avoid eye contact. Then Faith had to put up with Willow making a pathetic attempt at flirting with her fellow witch. It filled the slayer with rage, knowing that Willow was still trying to get with Tara even though she knew Tara didn’t want it. Luckily she didn’t have to do much avoidance when Willow made the heavens open and ruin beach day with a torrential downpour when a spell she did to light the barbeque backfired.

So this brought them to a few days later, and they had all been called to Giles’ apartment for an emergency Scooby meeting. They all sat in the living room; Willow, Tara and Buffy sat on the sofa whilst Faith sat on the floor opposite, and Xander and Anya curled up together on the armchair, whilst Giles walked around the room and looked over them all like the father figure he was.

“So you’re trying to tell me you met “the” Dracula? Like not some fake ass sesame street version?” Faith questioned, not quite believing what she heard.

“Yeah, so then Buffy’s all – look out! – and then friggin’ Dracula’s standing right behind us, and can I just say he’s in serious need of a monster make-over,” Xander excitedly finished the rest of his story.

“And then he lunges at us – like whoosh! And -,” Willow added.

“He totally looked shorter in person -,” Xander told them.

“I told you he heard of me, right? Can you believe that? Count famous heard of me?” Buffy told the rest of the group for what felt like the tenth time that morning.

“No B...this is the first we’re hearing it, brand new information,” Faith replied with her most deadpan face, trying to ignore the jealousy bubbling inside of her. Tara tried her best to stifle a laugh at this.

“Sorry. Am I repeato girl? I guess I’m a little blown away,” Buffy bowed her head, a little embarrassed.

“Don’t worry, B, you’re the slayer; I’ve got a while to go before I’m noticed like that. I’m not surprised he’s heard of you,” Faith offered a branch to her fellow slayer.

“I guess. But the way he said it, he made it sound so-,”

“Sexy,” Willow finished Buffy’s sentence in her dreamy daze.

“Kinda. He of the dark, penetrating eyes and deep accent...,” Buffy described as her mind drifted into her own little world.

“You think Dracula’s sexy?” Tara asked Willow in a slightly judgemental tone; this time, Faith stifled a laugh.

“What? Oh no, he was – yuck,” Willow replied, quickly brushing off her earlier compliment.

“Right except for the whole tall, dark and handsome thing. Yucko,” Anya casually responded in her usual sarcastic manner.

As Xander and Anya continued their conversation, talking about meeting Dracula in her demon days, everyone watched on whilst Faith got lost in her thoughts of disinterest and tuned out. She turned her gaze away to Tara, who was watching the conversation unfold. As though she could feel Faith watching, she turned to lock eyes with one another. They both got lost in each other for a moment as Tara gave the slayer a small smile. Before anyone could notice their silent exchange, they are pulled out of it by Giles addressing Faith.

“Does that sound good, Faith?” Giles asked his slayer, not paying attention to her lack of interest.

“Hmm? What?” Faith asked, having missed everything that was said.

“Tonight? Can you patrol, maybe see if you can get any information on a Dracula type arriving in town?” Giles asked, oblivious to why Faith wasn’t paying attention.

“Yeah, sure, I got this,” Faith agreed, not having any other plans that night.

“And remember Faith, if you come across him, don’t engage; we have no clue what abilities he possesses that other vampires do not,” Giles warned.

“Chill G, I’ll stay away from Count Dorkula, besides its B who gets the hots for vamps,” Faith teased, winking in Buffy’s direction, who rolled her eyes at the comment.

“Alright, Willow, you and Tara find anything you can on the actual legend of Vlad the Impaler on the internet. I’ll search the library,” Giles told the two witches, who nodded in agreement.

“Ok, guys; let’s say we reconvene here in the morning?” Buffy suggested rhetorically. Everyone agreed to the plan and went their separate ways.

***

After an uneventful patrol and an unsuccessful attempt at beating Willy the snitch for information, she had arrived at Giles’ apartment the next morning with no new information. Willow and Tara couldn’t turn up anything new, but they had discovered that Buffy was visited by Dracula and placed under his thrall. Giles and Faith took it upon themselves to find Dracula, leaving Buffy with Xander and Anya whilst Willow and Tara placed an anti-invitation spell on the Summers residence.

Faith and Giles had searched all around Sunnydale, looking for large buildings that Dracula may be taking residence in. Bumping into Spike on their search helped narrow down what they were looking for after he gave them a little insight on who Dracula was, which had finally brought them outside a large castle on the top of a hill. With stormy weather developing around them, it looked like the beginning of a bad horror film.

“You know G, the whole time I’ve been in good ol’ SunnyD...I’ve never noticed...”

“A castle?” Giles finished Faith’s sentence for her.

The two made their way into the spooky castle together; the entire building was lit by candlelight. They walked down the darkened hallways looking for any sign of Dracula.

“We should cover more ground, you stay here, and I’ll go down that corridor,” Faith instructed as the two separated and went in their own directions.

Faith made her way through the castle cautiously, making sure to look behind her as often as possible as lightning flashed through the darkened corridor. Faith could’ve laughed at the lousy stereotype when she realised this corridor didn’t seem to have an ending. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked behind her; all she could see was another dead end. Now confused, she took a different direction and entered the room directly to the left of her. She walked straight into a large piano room; the room was empty except for a large organ in the middle of the room and another door on the opposite side. She slowly walked across the hardwood floor, the room echoing with every step. A deep, echoed tune sound came from the organ, rippling through the silence, but no one was playing. Faith moved cautiously toward the instrument; a few more keys began to play by themselves. She spun around on the spot immediately to see if she was alone and then turned back; as she grew closer to the organ, the keys sped up. She ran straight to the keys, which stopped before she had a chance to touch them. Faith reached a hand out and touched one of the keys, but no sound followed, confused; she tilted her head to look inside of it when hundreds of bats flew out from the deep depths of the organ. Surrounding the slayer, she punched all around her, trying to dodge the mass amount of fluttering wings whipping her face. She screamed in rage, making the bats more agitated. The bats started to overlap on top of each other, speeding around in circles confusing the slayer's vision before shooting upwards in a block, disappearing into the blank ceiling. Once the noise faded, Faith carefully moved her hands away from her face to reveal she was alone again; the bats were gone. Not wanting to find out what else was going to jump out in the haunted house, Faith headed for the second door; she closed the door behind to find herself back where she had left Giles.

She had managed to travel in a complete circle unbeknownst to her. In the distance, the slayer could just about hear the faint sound of giggling. Not sure if she should go towards the sound after her encounter with the bats and with the hallways having a mind of their own, but then Faith could hear Giles' unmistakable sound in some struggle. Not even hesitating at her watcher being in danger, she ran down to the end of the hallway and ripped open the only door available, only to catch herself, realising there was no floor underneath. She looked down to see a dark pit below her, but then a hand landed on her shoulder, and she spun round to see a crazed looking Xander.

“Nobody harms my master,” Xander told the slayer.

“Your master? You and Anya trying to kink up your already disturbing sex life or something?” Faith asked, confused by what Xander was talking about, wasting time that she didn’t have.

“You want him? You come through me,” Xander stated, stepping back and raising his fists, ready to fight. Faith just shook her head and punched Xander in the face, knocking him out.

“You got it, Xan man, now have a time out,” Faith responded with her usual quip before turning back to the doorway. She looked down and squinted, using her more developed slayer vision to see Giles laying on the ground with his shirt open and in a daze with three female vampires on top of him, seducing his body. Faith pulled a cross out of the back of her jeans and brandished it towards the vampires.

“Giles!” Faith shouted, trying to get her watchers attention. The three women hissed up at Faith and scattered away. Faith laid down on her front and stretched her hand down to Giles, who still seemed to be in a daze.

“Come on; we’ve gotta go!” Faith shouted.

This seemed to wake Giles up slightly, who pulled himself up from the floor drunkenly and grabbed the slayer’s hand, who then pulled him up and out of the pit.

“Thank God you came. I was doomed. There was no possible escape – (Giles stopped and noticed that one of his shoes had fallen off in the pit). Is that my shoe? Silly me, I’ll just pop down and  -,” Giles tried to climb back down into the pit until Faith stopped him and pulled him back.

“Uh uh, no more sex pit for you, England,” Faith told her glamoured watcher.

***

Faith and Giles soon found Buffy just after she had staked Dracula (even if it did take a few goes), and once Xander had put them all through his diva fit, they all finally headed home. Faith walked a still, slightly glamoured Giles back to his apartment first before going to her place. Now going past midnight, the slayer decided to spend the rest of the night on the sofa watching the tv that she had stolen from Spike’s crypt. So she was surprised to enter her apartment and be welcomed with the smell of food cooking. She cautiously made her way to the kitchen to find Tara pulling a pot out of the oven. Faith stood in the doorway, shocked by the unexpected visitor, not prepared for the sight in front of her as Tara turned to place the pot on the table when she caught sight of the slayer.

“Oh Faith, hi,” Tara said, trying not to seem too surprised.

“Hi...?”, Faith said with a questioning tone. “What’s going on here?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure what time you’d be back, so I thought I’d make something to leave for you to eat,” Tara explained, now serving some stew up for Faith.

“Ok...why?” Faith asked, still confused by the kind gesture.

“I always feel bad you have to come home to an empty apartment after slaying, so I thought if tonight were rough dealing with Dracula, it would be nice for you to come home to already prepared food...” Tara said, now slightly embarrassed by her act of kindness.

Faith didn’t respond; she just looked at the witch, still always so surprised when the witch does nice things for her. She left the doorway and sat at the table with Tara, and began to eat. Faith stormed through the food before helping herself to seconds. Tara finished her portion and gazed over at the slayer who had just finished her seconds. Faith started licking her fingers when she noticed the witch watching her.

“Why are you really here?” Faith asked suspiciously.  Tara didn’t expect the sudden bluntness.

“I told-,”

“Nope, there’s another reason...what is it?” Faith asked more forcibly. Tara looked down at her hands in her lap.

“I missed you,” Tara admitted quietly.

Faith’s eyes widen at the admission. She had also missed the witch too but could never bear to admit it out loud before, not wanting to show weakness. She sat back in her chair more relaxed and cleared her throat, trying not to look awkward.

“Me too...” The slayer mumbled, looking at her feet.

Now it was Tara’s turn to look up; her heart skipped a beat, hearing those two words made her body chill. Tara couldn’t keep ignoring her feelings; she tried so hard, but her birthday was getting closer; she couldn’t bear to hurt the slayer, especially when there was a huge chance Faith would have to kill her.

“Thanks for the stew; it tasted wicked,” Faith quickly changed the subject.

“You’re welcome, Faith,” Tara smiled at the slayer lovingly, hiding the pain of what was soon to come.

Chapter Text

The next couple of weeks seemed to fly by with all the happenings for Faith. Buffy’s bratty little sister got herself kidnapped by Harmony and Anya injured in the process, which no one would hear the end of, much to Faith’s annoyance. Giles had also bought the magic box and managed to rope Faith into helping with renovations before the big opening which he also roped her into, but when it came to earning spare cash, the disgruntled slayer wasn’t about to complain. Xander got cloned by a psycho demon who was actually aiming for Buffy, and more recently, a new big bad made herself known. Faith hadn’t seen this new evil because she helped Giles with his grand opening, but this chick just seemed to be a super-strong Cordelia from Buffy's description. For the consolation prize of getting her ass kicked, Buffy had acquired a mystical glowing ball. Then, Joyce ended up in the hospital; Faith had taken the news hard and ended up in Tara’s dorm room for the night. The slayer didn’t want anyone to see she was upset, but she also didn’t want to be alone. She hadn’t spoken a word the whole night but led next to Tara in her bed in silence. She needed the soothing vibes of the witch, and Tara would never turn the slayer away when she was in need. Tara didn’t question or push the slayer, and when they woke in the morning wrapped in each other’s arms, they just went their separate ways, thankful for the night of comfort that would never be mentioned again in a silent agreement between the two.

So that brought Faith to the present day in Buffy’s new dorm room with the rest of the Scoobies, helping her fellow slayer pack her things up and move back out.

“But we just helped her move this stuff in a few days ago! (Saw Buffy) And it was fun!” Anya said, disgruntled as she crossed the room with a lamp in her hands over to the exit.

“Yeah, I guess it’s kind of sudden, but I’m hardly ever here, and with mom being ill, I figured I’d save some cash,” Buffy explained sheepishly as she dragged a disgruntled Dawn to help her fold sheets.

“I just can’t believe you’d want to give up this cherry corner suite...” Xander said, astonished whilst pointing at the exit as Anya entered again.

“Just a few days after we moved you in,” Anya added, faking a smile.

“It’s no big, now we’ve got this new big bad, it feels safer,” Buffy said, covering for the reason she leaving to protect her mystically created sister.

“I think that’s smart,” Willow agreed with an approving nod. Willow exited the room with a box as Faith entered, looking for more boxes to move. Faith looked over to gaze at Tara in the closet, packing away Buffy’s clothes quite contentedly when she looked to see Buffy bend down and wince.

“Still feeling it, hey B?” Faith asked Buffy, knowing she’s still feeling her fight with the crazy blonde chick.

“Nothing like getting your ass kicked to...make your ass hurt,” Buffy retorted, still slightly pissed that she lost.

“You’ll totally get her next time,” Dawn told her older sister with confidence.

“Cause you’ll have back up, Baby. She’s messin’ with ALL of us,” Xander chimed in supportively.

“Yes, we’ll find her weaknesses and then...,” Giles started to say until a silent Tara cut in.

“Yeah, you learn her source, and we’ll introduce her to her insect reflection,” Tara said cleverly with a smile until the polite silent expressions pointed in her direction. Except for Faith giving a small smile, which paled in comparison to how uncomfortable everyone else made her feel. “That was funny if you’ve studied Taglarin mystic rites...and...are a total dork...” Tara whispered as she grabbed the box of clothes and left the room.

“What’s Taglarin,” Faith asked once Tara left the room as not to embarrass the girl more so than she actually was.

“Actually, it’s quite interesting; it involves a person’s centre power and the karmic cycle...that was actually quite humorous,” Giles chuckled to himself whilst the rest of the Scooby’s continued to look on clueless.

Then Willow, looking around behind her shoulder, hurried into the room.

“Okay, guys, now remember, you gotta be at the Bronze by eight,” Willow told the gang as they all tried to remember what she was talking about.

“Bronze...,” Buffy said slowly.

“Tomorrow night! Tara’s birthday!” Willow emphasised.

Faith’s eyes widened in surprise; how did she not know it was Tara’s birthday? With all the time they spent together and spoke, this had never come up once, and Willow knew about it! Well, they were kind of together at one point...but she planned a surprise party? Willow was making it no secret that she wanted the blonde witch back. Should she go? Of course, she should; Tara would want her there, or so Faith hoped she would.

“We have to bring presents, right? Birth is a present thing?” The ex-demon asked anxiously, which pulled Faith out of her thoughts and back into the moment.

“I got something...picked out, yeah...” Xander jumped in with his white lie.

“You all can still come, right? I mean, I know there’s this new evil and all...” Willow asked, scared her friends had all forgotten.

“No, no, we can make it. I could definitely use a break from all this craziness,” Buffy stated, putting the redhead at ease.

Faith rolled her eyes, knowing Buffy was thinking more of herself than of Tara. The two weren’t close friends, and since Buffy’s encounter with the mysterious women a couple of nights ago, it was making Buffy act more on edge and more selfish than usual. Then a realisation hit Faith. What was she going to get for Tara’s birthday?

***

Later on that morning, Tara had met with Willow to make their way to the magic box. On the way, Tara was explaining her earlier joke about the mysterious villain, which Willow understood straight away and couldn’t help but laugh. As she finished her explanation, they entered the magic box, laughing animatedly between them.

“Well, what do you know,” The sound of the man’s voice made Tara stop in her tracks instantly.

The blood drained from the witch's face when she saw the man stood in front of her. Faith, Buffy and Xander sat behind him surrounded by books at the table, now turning their attention to the scene unfolding whilst Anya looked on from the till, and Giles stood in the background keeping a close eye.

“What’s the matter? Don’t got a hug for your big brother?” The man asked with his arms outstretched to Tara.

“You’re related to that?” Faith questioned out loud, forgetting other people could hear her, making them jump.

“Tara didn’t say she had a brother? I’m a dirty little secret?” The man asked, questioned in a friendly way.

“D-Donny, these are m-my friends,” Tara introduced her brother to the group nervously. Everybody murmured polite hellos whilst Faith kept a close eye on the brother, feeling a bad vibe coming from him and already concerned that the witch had started stuttering as soon as she saw the sibling.

“What? Alla, you hang out?” Donny asked, nudging an uncomfortable Tara playfully. “That’s more people than you MET in high school. Tara wasn’t too social back when. I don’t think she spoke til she was eight...,” Donny laughed, telling the group, making Tara’s embarrassment grow.

“How did you find – I mean, how come you came?” Tara quickly changed her wording to avoid suspicion, but Faith had already noticed the slip.

“Well, duh, birthday girl. We came down in the camper, been all over the campus-,” Donny began to explain.

“We?” Tara asked, now panicked.

“Dad, you know and Cousin Beth. We went all over campus looking. They oughta circle back here in a bit,” Donny trailed off just as an older man and a girl about Tara’s age enter the magic box. Tara looked behind her and slightly inched towards them apprehensively. “Look who I found...” Donny sang.

“Dad! Hi!” Tara called out, trying her best to sound happy.

“Well. There’s my girl,” Mr Maclay greeted his daughter in an awkwardly informal hug lasting seconds.

“It’s such an s-surprise. Hey Beth,” Tara waved nervously. Beth just smiled back meekly.

“One of your dorm mates said you might be here...” Mr Maclay told his daughter with a very unimpressed look on his face.

“Oh...Oh, these are friends...this is Mr Giles, he runs the shop,” Tara introduced, knowing her father preferred authoritative figures.

“How do you do,” Giles responded with a handshake.

“Pleasure, (Mr Maclay responded before turning back to Tara) Well, I don’t mean to interrupt your plans; I know we’ve come on you kind of suddenly. But I thought we’d have dinner,” Mr Maclay proposed.

“Okay,” Tara responded quickly, just wanting them to leave.

“Why don’t I pick you up at six? And we’ll...do some catching up,” Mr Maclay stated suspiciously. Still, only Tara could notice this, her father had never been a very caring man, and this whole show made the young witch very sceptical about their true intentions, knowing full well what her birthday meant for her.

“Yes, sir,” Tara agreed.

Mr Maclay nodded to the group and then turned to leave with Cousin Beth on his trail and Donny waving annoying goodbyes to everyone. Once the door shut with its final ring, the room went silent. No one was quite sure of what to say as Tara took her seat next to Faith; Giles changed the subject and began discussing the research that had been found to help break all of the uncomfortable tension. Quietly Faith scooted her chair a little closer to Tara so she could speak low enough so that no one but Tara could hear.

“Hey, you ok, T?” Faith whispered, grabbing Tara’s attention. The blonde tilted her head in Faith directions, so she could still try to concentrate on what Giles was saying.

“Yeah,” She whispered back, not knowing what to say when her head was swimming with so many thoughts and fears that she just wasn’t sure of how to express.

“Should I be worried about the out of towners?” Faith asked in a serious tone, feeling very protective of the witch.

“No, they’re just my family; I was just surprised, is all,” Tara looked the rest of the way at Faith and gave her an unconvincing smile before turning back to the group to listen, ending the conversation before it could begin.

Faith leant back in her chair, eying the witch suspiciously; she always knew the witch was hiding something, and now she was sure. Tara wasn’t happy to see her family; it was obvious to anyone who had eyes, and Faith wanted to find out why.

***

Tara returned to her dorm room a couple of hours after the magic box incident to find her father stood in her room and looking at all of her things. He had told her in no certain terms that she would be returning home with her family. He didn’t want her friends to see the demon that she would become. Tara had worked so hard to escape her family all that time ago, and now they had found her, and the only option she had left was to run away again, but she didn’t want to leave Sunnydale; this was her home now. She had built a life here, and there must be a different option that the witch hadn’t thought of yet. She still had until midnight to create a plan; maybe she could find a spell that could stop her demon side from coming out, or perhaps she could glamour herself so she could stay hidden. Whilst going through all the possibilities in her head, there was a knock at her door. Tara’s heart skipped a beat, she wasn’t meeting her father anymore, but maybe he came back early to take her away so that she wouldn’t be prepared. So ready for the worst, Tara edged slowly to the door and pulled it open slightly to see a casual Faith leaning against the wall opposite with one foot resting on the wall. Upon seeing the door open, Faith stood up straight.

“Hey, can I come in?” Faith asked with an intense look on her face.

“Yeah, sure,” Tara invited the slayer in, still too busy thinking about her own situation.

“How was dinner?” Faith asked, making small talk. Tara just nodded her head, making Faith think otherwise instantly. “So, uh, Gman wants us all to meet about this new mega-bitch,”

“Oh, you should go, they don’t need for that, you can fill me in...” Tara disputes, not wanting to waste the little time she had left.

“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly any help there, but I’m going...maybe you and red could do some mojo to find this chick?” Faith suggested to the witch, not wanting her to feel she was useless.

“We tried that before? It didn’t work,” Tara argued, now becoming more exasperated with the unwanted distraction.

“You know what they say; practice makes perfect or something like that?” Faith shrugged, ignoring the agitated Tara. The witch had started acting differently since her family had arrived, but Faith didn’t care if she was holding up the witch in any way.

“Well, I’m tired. I could try with her tomorrow,” Tara suggested trying her best to end the discussion.

“Come on T, just an hour-,”

“My family’s here; I can’t just...not everything revolves around the scoobies and stuff...” Tara snapped at Faith.

“You know what, ever since your secret family turned up, you started acting a bit weird, didn’t realise you were gonna turn into a dick! I figured you’d want a distraction from them, but I guess I was wrong, your obviously very happy they’re here...” Faith snapped back, offended by the witches tone.

“No, no, I’m...there’s just so much going on. I’m just...I’m really tired,” Tara could see the hurt in Faith’s eyes that she had caused and wanted to just come out with the truth, but she couldn’t; she couldn’t cause more disappointment.

“Sure whatever,” Faith shrugged, not convinced.

“I’ll see you in the morning, and you can fill me in?” Tara asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yeah...we’ll see,” Faith said, letting herself out of the dorm room, slamming it shut behind her.

Tara watched on, hating how she had lied to the slayer, the one person she would never want to hurt. Then a thought came to her; she hurried over to the desk and started looking through the spell books until she came across a particular spell and hesitated for a moment. This could be the spell that solved her problem of having to leave Sunnydale.

Chapter Text

After her not so pleasant encounter with Tara, Faith was in a foul mood. She knew it was too early to go on patrol, so instead, she went to the training room in the magic box to burn off some frustrations and anger. She had utterly abused the practice dummy until there wasn't much left but a wooden pole, scraps of clothes hanging from it and piles of hay on the floor around it. She then moved on to the punching bag, letting all her anger out; her muscles were burning but not enough to make her forget why she was angry. This was all too new to Faith, and she had no idea how to deal with her emotions. In the recent months, she would just get locked in the Summers’ basement, but now she had nowhere to go and trying her best to be a better person stopped her from taking her aggression on anyone she came into contact with. The irony of the situation was that the one person who had tried their very best to help Faith and keep her calm was the one who was the source of all this anger. Tara had lied straight to Faith’s face, and the slayer could feel it instantly; the two women had grown close enough that they could sense each other’s feelings without having to ask about it. All the slayer wanted to do was inflict revenge on the witch, shake her so hard that she would spew the truth out, and the self-restraint was like torture; all Faith wanted to do was stick to the status quo. Giving up on the punching bag, afraid she would have to pay for another piece of broken equipment, she didn’t need Giles taking it out of the little wages that he gave her. Deciding on a different activity, Faith positioned herself opposite a large bare wall and ran straight at it; as she got close, she stretched her leg so that she would run up the wall and backflipped perfectly into a standing position. She kept repeating this action, getting faster with every flip; her body was still screaming, resentment flushing through her pores; if she couldn’t hurt anyone, then all she could do was settle for inflicting that torture to herself. After quite a few wall flips, she then moved to the pommel horse and worked her core, spinning her legs around as many as she could, keeping her eyes focussed in front of her. She just wanted her brain to shut off; Tara had hurt her so much, and the one person that she thought she could trust had made her feel like a fool. How could she be attracted to someone who could pretend with her so easily? Everyone always questioned why she would have worked with the mayor. Still, no matter how evil he was, he never lied, he made no excuses, and now this just proved that Faith really couldn’t trust anyone but herself, but she was determined to not go back to how she was; she needed to prove everyone and herself that she was better than that. So she continued with the torture, siphoning her anger and pain into extreme exercise.

“So, were you planning to kill yourself before the meeting? I didn’t think it would be that bad...” Buffy called to Faith, bringing the slayer out of her thoughts as Buffy tried to make light of the situation. Faith looked at Buffy with a frown before launching herself down from the horse and in front of Buffy. The rogue slayer began to stretch out her limbs as the burning in her limbs started to calm down.

“Not really in the mood to joke right now, B,” Faith told Buffy as the blonde slayer sat on the crash mats near to Faith.

“I can see that, and I’m pretty sure the dummy got the hint too...” Buffy lightly joked, not wanting to make Faith’s anger worse; the two slayers looked over to the remnants of the dummy and then looked back to each other. Faith grabbed a bottle of water and sat next to Buffy on the mats. “What’s got you all grouchy? You were fine earlier, and now you're causing Giles to have a coronary with all the damage you're doing back here?”

Faith drained the water she had, placed the empty bottle down, and slid back to rest against the wall, letting her vibrating body finally relax.

“Like it matters, we all know he’ll just make me or Xan fix it all...could be worse, I could have killed someone...” Faith shrugged at Buffy’s not so impressed expression on her face. Buffy raised an eyebrow at Faith. “Ahh, fine...why you got to look at me like that man? I thought it was funny...I went to T’s before here, and there’s definitely something wiggy going on with her...”

“And that made you this angry?” Buffy asked, now confused.

“No, her lying did, since her family rocked up, she’s been kinda shifty,”

“And some people get like that, Family’s can drive people crazy, and she obviously wasn’t expecting to see them, maybe give Tara some slack?” Buffy told Faith, trying to smooth out the situation.

 “Nah, somethings off...I can feel it in my slayer's bones, she’s never mentioned her family before today, and they can make her act so weird; you must have seen it?”
Buffy thought for a moment, looking like it was something she didn’t want to get dragged into.

“I guess she did look shocked, but I figured anyone would be with such a surprise; I’m more surprised they’re all related. I mean, you saw her brother right, couldn’t believe they were related...” Buffy’s eyed widen at the thought of the buffoon man that she had met earlier.

“That’s it, what if they’re not her family? No one’s really asked T about her life before Sunnydale; just because she said they’re family doesn’t mean they are...it was all very unexpected, and it would explain why she’s acting like a dick...”

“Do you think there might be something more going on? (Buffy hesitated for a moment) So what’s the plan?” Buffy asked calmly.

“Huh?” Faith wasn’t expecting that response.

“What do you want to do about it? Anything’s better than you being pissed back here for hours,”

“Umm, I’m not sure; go check them out, I guess? See if they’re up to anything? They came to the Hellmouth willingly; they must be insane...”

“...or up to no good...” Buffy finished her fellow slayer’s sentence. “Ok, after I drop Dawn home later, we’ll go check out where they’re staying?”

“Ok, do we tell anyone?” Faith asked, now getting up from the crash mats.

“No, we have nothing concrete to go on, so we just stay quiet unless we find something,” Buffy stated as she rose from the mats also. “Now come on, you smell, and we have to go listen to Giles talk about research,”

“Oh joy, where’s a vampire attack when you need one?” Faith replied sarcastically as Buffy laughed, and they both left the training room together.

***

A little while later, Tara snuck in through the back of the magic box and quietly crept across the training room and to the shop's doorway. She carefully peered around the door to see all the scoobies sat around the table, discussing the new big bad and all the research that had been done. Making sure that nobody had noticed her, Tara lifted her hand, opened it out flat in front of her face, and quietly started an incantation.

“Blind Cadria, desolate queen, work my will upon them all, my obedience to you,” She blew the red powder that was in her hand.

A red mist lifted up and flew through the magic box and around the group. The fog settled in the middle of the group before shooting into all of their eyes. All of their eyes glowed red for a split second, and then they all jerked backwards. Tara watched intently to make sure her friends were ok, and the spell hadn’t backfired. A second later, they all shook off the haze and carried on with their conversation, not even noticing the interruption. Just as Tara was about to leave, she caught sight of Faith whittling stakes on the edge of the table; her face looked so complex and concentrated. Ashamed for how she treated the slayer, Tara turned and left the magic shop, knowing that she had betrayed everyone, but it was for the best; that’s what the witch told herself at least.

Sometime after Tara had left the magic box and the meeting was over, Faith was sat on the counter reading a magazine as she waited for Buffy to finish training so they could go on their covert mission to check out the Maclay family. Willow kept running to the door in hopes of Tara joining them that evening; luckily for Faith, that wasn’t the case, whilst Giles busied himself with some books, and Anya did her daily money count behind the counter. The bell of the magic shop door chimed, everybody looked up, knowing the shop was closed, but it must have just been the wind. Faith just rolled her eyes and carried on with her magazine, but just as she did, it was almost as if she could feel the air change when an invisible force grabbed Faith’s legs and flipped her over behind the counter. She landed on the ground with a loud thud, hitting the side of her head as she went down. Her hand went straight to her head, clutching at the throbbing that had just appeared. The pain made it hard for her to open her eyes, but she could hear a ruckus going on in the shop. The sound of smashing erupted in her eardrums, and she just knew she had to push through the pain. She strained and opened her eyes; she looked up to see Anya stood behind the counter, clutching onto an overly large magnifying glass in her hands. Reaching up, Faith grabbed the side of the counter and pulled herself up, pushing through the groggy dizziness that enveloped her whole body. As she stood with a slightly shaky footing, she looked around to see Dawn hidden under a desk, as Xander, Willow and Giles were fighting invisible foes. So without a second thought, Faith launched herself over the countertop and trampled straight towards whatever was currently attacking the group. Aiming for the invisible space that Giles was grappling with, Faith tackled the invisible space and was surprised by the solid object that she impacted with. Faith and the invisible force tumbled to the ground.

The bell chimed again, and Tara hurried into the magic box to see the disaster in front of her. Faith was on the floor wrestling a demon that she couldn’t see whilst Willow and Anya were fending off a demon who was throttling Xander. Buffy entered through from the training with a demon trailing close behind her, ready to attack.

“Buffy! Behind you!” Tara warned the slayer.

Buffy spun around instantly and started to hold off the invisible demon until it threw her across the table, throwing her into the demon who was still wrestling with Faith. Tara ran further into the shop, panicked by the sight that she had created, now putting them all in danger. Faith jumped up from the floor after Buffy knocked it away and looked to Tara.

“T, can you see them? We’re blind here,” Faith shouted to Tara.

“Oh, god...Blind Cadria, lift your veil, give evil form and break my spell -,” Then just as a demon came visible, one appeared in front of Tara and hit her in the face, throwing her into the side of the counter.

“Tara!” Mr Maclay shouted as he entered the magic box with Donny and Cousin Beth trailing behind.

The demon that had hit Tara turned its attention to her father and ran straight for him, ready to attack. Mr Maclay dropped to the floor in shock at the sight of the demon. Out of nowhere, Buffy kicked the demon’s feet out from under it, so their chin slammed onto the top step. She quickly jumped around and slammed her boot into the demon’s neck, killing it instantly. The room fell silent as Faith moved over to an injured Tara, Giles proceeded to pull Dawn out from under his desk, and Spike strutted in from the training room.

“What in the name of God is that...?” Mr Maclay questioned as he climbed up from the floor.

“Lei-ach demon. Fun little buggers; big with the marrow – sucking,” Spike casually explained as he entered the room.

“I don’t understand...” Mr Maclay said, flabbergasted by what just happened.

“I’m not sure either,” Buffy said, now turning her attention to Tara with a serious look on her face.

“I’m so sss-sorry, I didn’t mean...I was just trying to hide...The spell went wrong...” Tara stuttered nervously, knowing she had been caught out and ready for the backlash.

“What? T what spell? Why you hiding?” Faith questioned with growing concern at the distraught witch.

“I didn’t want you to see...what I am,” Tara said, looking into Faith’s eye, trying to hide the tears that were glossing her eyes.

“What?” Faith asked, still not understanding.

“I told you, you try to run from it, you’ll put these people in danger. And my god...” Mr Maclay said with a clear hint of judgement.

“I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt,” Tara said, now addressing the whole room. Buffy looked at Tara, still waiting for more information.

“I think you better explain. What do you mean, what you are?” Buffy ordered Tara. Faith stepped in front of Tara protectively, almost as a shield from Buffy.

“Demon (they all look to Mr Maclay) the women in our family have...demon in them. Her mother had it; it’s where the magic comes from; this isn’t something we generally like to share with strangers. We came to take her home before...well, before things like this started happening,” Mr Maclay gestured across the room to all the dead demons.

“You put a spell on us to keep us from seeing your demon side. That’s why we couldn’t see our attackers,” Giles said, finally putting all the pieces together.

“Nearly got us all killed,” Buffy stated, looking over at a shaken Dawn. Tara rose from the floor and steadied herself, stepping out from behind a shocked Faith.

“I’ll go. I’m very sorry,” Tara addressed the room after accepting defeat that she would be leaving everyone. Leaving Faith.

“The camper’s outside,” Mr Maclay told Tara.

“Hold up, wait! (Faith placed a hand on Tara’s shoulder so they could face each other) She just screwed up a stupid spell; Red does that all the time. Can’t she make a mistake?” Faith addressed Buffy, almost pleading to her fellow slayer, whilst Willow looked on disgruntled after Faith’s comment.

“It’s not the point, and it’s not your concern; the girl belongs with us. We know how to control her problem,” Mr Maclay said until Faith raised a hand to silence the man as she continued to look at Tara, who was now looking down at her feet, ashamed by everything.

“Tara, lookup (Tara did as she was told, also shocked the slayer had used her name and not a nickname) everything you’ve done to help me, was that all a lie? You’re my friend, you could’ve told me...or do you not actually trust me?” Faith questioned seriously in her low husky tone, searching the witch’s eyes for the truth.

“No! No...” Tara had now given into the tears and let them fall, no longer holding them in.

“Do you want to go?” Faith asked sincerely, almost forgetting they weren’t the only people in the room.

“That is not your decision, young lady –,” Faith cut off Mr Maclay.

“Back off, dipshit! (Faith turned back to Tara ignoring Mr Maclay’s interruption) Do you want to leave?” Faith asked the witch again, who responded by shaking her head.

“You are going to do what I say, young lady, and you’re going to come with your family, so nobody gets killed, even if that means I come down and get you myself,” Mr Maclay snapped in frustration.

“You want to take her, Mr Maclay? Sure go ahead (Instantly Faith grabbed Tara’s wrist, ready to run and take everyone on, she couldn’t believe Buffy would give in so easily), but you’re gonna have to go through me first!”

“And me!” Dawn chimed in, standing next to her sister with a determined look on her face. Faith stood stone-faced, confused by what was happening. She expected everyone to turn against the witch, but it wasn’t the case. She continued to hold Tara’s wrist, not ready to let go, not wanting to lose that connection.

“You wanna take Tara out of here against her will, then you gotta come through us,” Buffy told Mr Maclay.

All Tara could do was stand behind them all, trying not to focus on the heat coming from Faith’s hand that was gripping her wrist; so many emotions were flooding her senses with how everyone was protecting her.

“Is this a joke? I am not gonna be threatened by some little girls,” Mr Maclay laughed off the absurd idea.

“Well, you’re not just dealing with some girls,” Giles added.

“You’re dealing with all of us,” Xander added from behind the counter.

“This is insane! You people have no right to interfere in Tara’s affairs. We are her blood kin – who the hell are you?” Mr Maclay asked, now enraged.

“We’re family,” Buffy stated calmly.

Tara cried more at this admission, originally expecting to be shunned and turned away instead of being protected. Mr Maclay turned away in defeat as Donny stepped down the steps, baffled.

“Dad, you’re not gonna let them -,” Donny stopped in front of Faith and Tara. “ Tara, if you don’t get in that car, I swear by God, I’m gonna beat you down,” Donny threatened.

“Try it, hill billyboy; I’m ready for a tussle”, Faith said, cracking her knuckles menacingly. Donny just eyed the slayer for a moment before backing away.

“Well, I hope you’ll be happy hanging around with a disgusting demon,” Beth spat. Anya took and instant offence and raised her hand.

“Um, hi, yeah, what kind of demon is she? I know many demons who are very helpful members of society, and well, Tara doesn’t look like a demon...so what type?” Anya questioned.

“What does it matter? Demon’s demon and evil is evil,” Mr Maclay sneered in disgust and impatience.

“Well, let’s narrow this down then...” Anya began.

“Oooh, I see...why don’t I make this simple...” Spike piped up; he approached Tara, tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention and then punched her in the nose. The moment his fist touched the nose, Spike had to grab his head in agony.

“AAAHHH!” Spike howled.

“Ow!” Tara shouted in pain, not expecting the punch.

“What the f...wait, he’s in pain?” Faith first annoyed and then suddenly relieved.

“He hit my nose!” Tara said gleefully whilst clutching her nose.

“And that only works with humans...” Buffy told Mr Maclay smugly.

“There’s no demon in there. That’s just the family legend, am I right? Bit of spin to keep the ladies in line? Oh, you’re a piece of work. I like you,” Spike said, slightly impressed by the human as he headed back out of the magic box, through the training room.

“Mr Maclay, I’d say your business her is finished,” Giles said with finality.

“Tara, for eighteen years, your family has taken care of you and supported you, if you want to turn you back -,” Mr Maclay started to make one more last-ditch effort to make Tara comply when his daughter cut him off.

“Dad...just go,” Tara told her father with newfound strength, finally feeling free. Mr Maclay took a moment and then turned to leave with Donny and Beth following. Just as Beth reached the exit, she looked around at Tara hatefully.

“Are you happy now?” Beth spat at her cousin.

Tara just smiled at her as she left, knowing she had made the right decision, and she was exactly where she belonged.

***

Faith stood outside the Bronze for the last five minutes, watching patrons enter and leave the building. She had arrived later than everyone else for Tara’s birthday and was feeling unusually anxious. Faith hadn’t seen Tara since the night before; she still couldn’t believe what had happened. All those months of wondering what the witch was hiding and what she was hiding was a complete lie. No wonder she hadn’t said anything with two slayers around her; she was probably petrified. So finally pulling herself together and loosening her grip on the gift she had been clutching for Tara. Her palms were sweating; she wasn't used to being wanted at a social event; she would usually just turned up uninvited. So making her way into the bronze, she scanned the room to see Giles, Buffy, Dawn, Xander, and Anya crouched around a small table covered in gifts, talking animatedly. The whole area was decorated in streamers and balloons; obviously, all of Willow’s doing. Faith made her way over to the table; Buffy looked up to see Faith heading over and smiled at her.

“Hey! You made it,” Buffy said with a genuine tone.

“Yeah, I guess (Faith looked around the club). Where’s T?” Faith asked casually.

“She’s on the dancefloor with Will...great...I’ll be right back. I need to get Dawn,” Buffy huffed, resting her drink down to stop her sister from running around the Bronze again.

Faith shrugged, not caring and turned to look at the dance floor only to find Tara and Willow slow dancing in the middle of the floor. It felt like a punch to the stomach, they looked so close, and Faith couldn’t help the jealousy sweeping through her. Tara had never actually told the slayer why she had broken up with Willow, but now Faith was beginning to think it was because of the demon secret. It made sense, and now she was free to be happy. Faith couldn’t handle the emotions and turned away just as Tara caught sight of her. Faith moved to leave when she bumped into Giles.

“Oh, sorry, Faith, I didn’t see you there; Willow did a great job, don’t you think,” Giles gestured around the room with an annoyingly happy smile on his face as he greeted the slayer.

“Oh yeah, look, I’ve gotta go, forgot to do something, say hi for me,” Faith said, making her excuses and shot past the watcher before he could reply.

She straight out of the front door and stops and soon as she hit fresh air. She took a deep breath before starting to walk away, only getting a few feet away when she heard a voice behind her.

“Faith?” The slayer turned to see Tara stood outside the Bronze, looking at her concerned. The witch looked so beautiful in her dress; even with the look of worry on her face, Faith found it difficult to look at her but did her best not to look away. “Your leaving?”

“Uh yeah, I’ve got something to do...”

“Don’t give me that crap,” Tara frowned at Faith, disarming the slayer with her sudden confidence.

“What?” Faith asked.

“You heard me, I saw you in there...nothing’s going on with Willow and me...it was just a dance,” Tara explained with hurt in her eyes.

“You don’t gotta explain yourself to me; you can do what you want,” Faith shrugged off, trying not to look bothered when really her heart skipped a beat when she heard they weren’t together.

“Obviously not if you're storming off (Tara stepped forward, so she was in front of Faith). Willow isn’t the person I want, and I think you know that,” Tara said, resting her hand on Faith’s cheek so the slayer would look straight at her.

“I...I know,” Faith said, swallowing her nerves, not sure of how to express herself.

“I always said I would never push you, and I’ve been ignoring my feelings for so long...but it’s you, Faith and I know you’re not the type for monogamy...hell, I don’t even know if you like women, but since last night I realised hiding things doesn’t help and I want to be free. To tell the truth, to be me and be with...who I want,” Tara told Faith, trying to fight back the tears, readying herself for the rejection.

“I could never be good enough for you,” Faith responded sadly.

“Don’t you think that’s for me to decide? Faith, I won’t push you but if you don’t want this, tell me now so we can go back to being friends,” Tara almost pleaded.

Faith went to speak, but nothing left her mouth. Tara just nodded her head in understanding; she let go of Faith and started walking back to the Bronze.

“It’s always been you, even when I didn’t know it (Tara stopped walking and listened, not turning around). You make me feel things I never knew I could feel. I couldn’t handle seeing you with Red because I wanted to be the one dancing with you; I just thought you would never want to be with a murderer,” Faith finished calling out, hoping she hadn’t lost her chance. Tara turned around, her face soaked with tears.

“I only see the Faith I know, and I think she’s pretty great; I thought I was the one who wasn’t good enough,” Tara said through tears, stepping closer to Faith whilst Faith did the same thing so they could meet in the middle.

“I want you in my life, and I’m not sure how to do it; this is all new to me...” Faith explained shakily as all her barriers began to drop.

“Then we can figure it out together,” Tara told her with a slight joyful laugh.

Tara’s face got closer to Faith’s. They take a second to look at each other, looking for consent and then finally, their lips met. The kiss started slow, just tasting each other for the first time. Faith could taste Tara’s tears on her lips, but soon the want increased, and the kiss became heated. Faith took Tara’s face in her hands whilst Tara wrapped her arm around Faith’s back. They stood in place for a few minutes, just exploring each other for the first time until breathlessness took over, and they parted so they could catch their breath. They continued looking into each other’s eyes whilst panting, forgetting where they were stood. Tara reached a hand up and brushed some hair from Faith’s face with a smile.

“Happy Birthday,” Faith gave a small smile as Tara gave a soft chuckle at the first statement made after their kiss.

“Thank you, Faith,” Tara looked down and saw the crumpled present in Faith’s hand; Faith followed Tara’s eye and realised what she was looking at.

“Oh yeah, I got you something; it’s pretty crappy,” The slayer handed the present to Tara. She opened it to find a little stuffed baby chimp toy.

“Oh, I love it!” Tara exclaimed with glee, too many happy emotion taking over the body.

“Really? It reminded me of when we went to the zoo...”

“Really, this is the best birthday,” Tara told Faith as she pulled them back together so she could be kissing the willing slayer and not for the last time that night.

Chapter Text

Faith woke the next day with a hot breath spreading against her neck and an arm draped across her stomach. She looked down to see a very content Tara almost sleeping on top of her. Faith couldn’t help but smirk at the sight after finally admitting their feelings for each other last night; the two women had finally made it back to the party after a few more stolen kisses.

They both agreed not to mention anything to the others until they had spoken properly about what was happening, so when they entered the Bronze again. Tara went back to her role of centre of attention whilst Faith stayed in the background watching on. Although it doesn’t matter how cool and relaxed Faith wanted to appear, she could never resist a dance session to let loose. She was riding on a very secretive high, so escaping to the dance floor worked great, and she even managed to get a couple of dances in with Tara. It was more provocative than the witch was used to but lucky for Faith, everyone was so used to her dancing style that none of the Scoobies questioned how she was being, so they were free to enjoy each other in that way. The two women had done their best not to look at each other too often when they were around people, but all they wanted was to be alone with each other. When the night drew to a close, Willow tried to offer to escort Tara back to campus, but Tara quickly declined the disappointed redhead instantly. She made her excuses and left with Faith once she knew everyone was heading home. The two women didn’t discuss where they were going; they naturally gravitated to Faith’s apartment. Tara had taken Faith’s hand as they walked the whole way to Faith’s in silence with only their hands making contact. Faith couldn’t understand why people felt the need to hold hands, never having been affectionate in the past. It just looked awkward to her and just another way to slow her down, but now she was doing the one thing she hated but looking at how happy her witch looked, Faith just kept her mouth shut and her hand connected to Tara’s.

Once they got inside, tension refilled the air, so Tara continued taking control as she had all night, and she once again took Faith’s hand and led her to the bedroom. Faith had stood in the doorway awkwardly, not sure of how to proceed. Tara walked over to the slayer’s drawers and pulled a t-shirt out. Carefully Tara proceeded to unzip her dress and let it fall to the ground, leaving her in her underwear. Faith was in awe, and she started to tremble; this was going too fast for the slayer and for the first time in Faith’s life, she wasn’t ready to be intimate. Then she saw Tara pull the baggy t-shirt on, then removed her bra from underneath, climbed into the bed, pulled the covers over her, and just waited, not even saying a word. It was then that Faith understood, going to bed didn’t always mean sex, and the witch wasn’t expecting anything; she was simply going to bed. So Faith slowly stepped into the room and walked over to the bed's edge, never taking her eyes off Tara. She unbuckled her belt and unbuttoned her jeans, and pushed them down to the floor and then almost mirroring Tara, she took her bra off underneath her bra too. Remembering how uncomfortable Tara had become that time she undressed in the witches dorm room, Faith made sure to avoid her usual state of sleeping naked. She climbed into the bed, pulled the covers up to her chin and switched the light off next to her, draping the two women in darkness. She led there rigid for a moment, just listening to the noises from the street, not sure of how to behave in her own bed. She never felt so unnerved and happy all at the same time. Faith had shared a bed with Tara a few times, but this was different, and she was terrified; she had started something that she didn’t even know how to proceed with. And then she felt soft skin against her cheek; Tara had kissed Faith on the cheek and wished her goodnight, allowing the slayer to relax and calm her overactive mind.

So being led there watching Tara slumber, her chest rising up and down in a relaxing motion, was the most calming sight Faith had ever witnessed. She bent down and placed a soft, chaste kiss on the witch’s forehead; Tara stirred under the touch and slowly opened her eyes. She took a moment to remember where she was, and then with a smile, she looked up to see Faith, and all the memories from the night before came flooding back.

“Morning,” Tara croaked with her morning voice.

“Hey,” Faith husked quietly.

“Oh, sorry, I’m led all over you...” Tara realised how she was positioned and started to shift until Faith stopped her.

“It’s ok...I’m ok,” Faith reassured the witch, not wanting to lose the comfort. Tara just nodded her head tentatively and led back down against Faith’s chest.

“So, have you started freaking out yet?” Tara teased.

“Why would I do that?” Faith asked, confused.

“I saw you last night when we went to bed; you looked like a deer caught in headlights, ready to run for the hills and now...well, I’m here,” Tara said, now shifting and leant on her elbow so she could face the slayer.

“Well, I wasn’t sure what you were planning...” Faith said sheepishly.

“Planning? ...what could I be...Ooooh...” Tara started laughing.

“What’s so funny,” Faith asked, annoyed, thinking the witch was laughing at her.

“Nothing, sweetie, I’m sorry I guess I should’ve communicated before...I’m not ready for that; we haven’t even had a proper conversation about what this is. I just wanted to be close to you, that’s all. I would never expect you to...you know,” Tara told the slayer apologetically as she held her hand.

“Oh yeah, totally, I knew that,” Faith bluffed, trying to hide her shock that Tara hadn’t expected sex, considering an easy lay is something that Faith was used to being branded as.

“No, you didn’t,” Tara gave her sideways coy smile.

“Ok, I didn’t, but how was I to know with the whole stripping in front of me thing...girl, you can be mysterious when you want to be,” Faith nudged her playfully. Tara laughed, pressing a kiss to Faith’s lips, and then jumped up and headed out of the bedroom.

“Where are you going?” Faith called after Tara whilst being left in the bed.

“Somewhere mysterious,” Tara called back as she headed into the bathroom and closed the door behind herself.

Faith laughed to herself, glad that the witch always knew how to break the tension in the best ways. Faith never was good at expressing herself, and the witch understood that, so shaking her head, she climbed out of bed and pulled her clothes on from the night before. Faith ran her fingers through her hair like a brush, shook away her bed hair, and headed to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, a fully clothed Tara entered the kitchen and swiftly wrapped her arms around Faith’s waist, facing the opposite way pouring them both a coffee.

“Look whose back,” Faith said with a smirk turning to face the witch and placed her hands on her waist.  

“Hope you don’t mind I stole your clothes,” Tara hummed back, looking down at the shirt and joggers she was now wearing.

“No sweat...you look good,” Faith charmed whilst swooping in for a kiss. They both reluctantly pulled away, and Faith handed a mug to Tara, and they both headed to the sofa.

“Have you got to rush off?” Faith asked, trying not to show how much she wanted the witch to stay.

“I’m sure I can be persuaded to stay for a couple of hours (Tara teased as she curled her feet up and leant back against the sofa), but I have got reading to do for class tomorrow, so I can’t stay too long...” Tara explained.

“That’s cool. I was gonna get some training in before patrol tonight anyway...I can walk you back to campus if you want?” Faith suggested trying not to smother the witch.

“That would be nice,” Tara said as she took another sip of coffee and then placed it down on the coffee table as Faith mirrored her. “So...us...” Tara trailed off, not quite sure of what to say.

“Yup....us... (Silence for a couple of minutes, both women lost on what to say) Look, I’m sorry, I’m not sure what I’m doing,” Faith apologised.

“And you think I do? I’m just as lost, I’ve never had a relationship either, I’ve never been with anyone...in fact,” Tara confessed, almost ashamed of herself.

“Well, it’s not like I’ve been anyone either, never been one to stick around long enough for anything to last...” Faith shrugged, no entirely understanding what Tara was trying to say.

“No, Faith, I’m not sure you understand me...I’ve never been with anyone...physically...” Tara emphasised, slightly embarrassed.

“Physicall-? (Realisation hits Faith mid-sentence)...Ohhh,” Faith finally understood, instantly getting lost in her thoughts.

“It’s not a problem, is it? I know you’ve probably had a few...partners, I get if it’s an issue...” Tara said, nervous of rejection, mentally kicking herself, knowing she should’ve raised this subject long before wanting to get involved with Faith.

“What? No! ...no, I’m just surprised, I mean you’re...you’re gorgeous, and I thought you and Red...you know...bumped uglies” Faith jumped in quickly, not wanting to give Tara the wrong impression. Tara blushed at the compliment, noticing the slayer had slipped it into the conversation.

“Myself and Willow were complicated, she was still discovering herself and I didn’t feel comfortable giving my virginity to someone willing to hide whatever we have,” Tara explained as Faith tried to hide her annoyance at how the Redhead could’ve treated the witch this way. Faith couldn’t imagine hiding the blonde witch away; she deserved to be happy.

“So you see, I’m no expert. I’ve never really done the things couples do,”

“What do couples normally do at the start?” Faith asked curiously, oblivious to what the social norms were.

“I guess they go on a date, get to know each other, but you usually do that stuff in public. I kinda did that, but I don’t think it counts in my dorm,” Tara shrugged innocently, looking down at her hands that were playing with the string of her joggers.

“Let’s do that then,” Faith stated casually as she grabbed her mug of coffee to drain the rest.

“Do what?” Tara looked up, confused by the random statement.

“Let’s go on a date, you and me...tomorrow night, we’ll do that couple thing...” Faith gestured towards nothing.

“Really? Would you be comfortable with that? We might be seen?” Tara asked, not sure if Faith was being serious.

“I don’t care what people think, and If I’m seen with you, then so what...we may as well start somewhere, but I can’t promise it’ll be wining and dining,” Faith said, looking cool as she sprawled on the sofa, resting her legs on Tara’s lap, the witch stroking her feet instinctively.

“I wouldn’t expect anything else (She laughed) But I’d love to go on a date with you, as long as you’re sure you want this?” Tara said, giving Faith one last chance to back out.

Faith lunged forward and grabbed Tara, and kissed her fiercely. Tara took a second to respond before kissing the slayer back passionately; a couple of minutes passed before Faith pulled away, giving the witch some space.

“What do you think?” Faith replied rhetorically with a smug smile and her raspy voice, only inches away from the breathless witches face. They both moved back in for a kiss, and before they knew it, they were lost in each other again. They both sunk into the sofa, content on how they were going to be spending their morning.

***

Later that afternoon, Faith headed to the magic box for training after escorting Tara back to the campus.  She spent a few hours in the back of the shop, trying her best to get back to peak physical condition and not think about her new love life that was causing every nerve in her body and mind to twitch. From the moment she had left the blonde witch at the campus after a heated goodbye up until that very moment, Faith had already begun to question everything. She was convinced that none of this real; maybe she was still in a coma and never really woke up. Why would Tara want to be with a killer with a very sketchy reputation and past, Tara was so pure and Faith, well she wasn’t. Faith spent every day trying to repress her urges to punish others and give in to her deep-rooted anger. Now she had asked another person on a date, not just anyone but her complete opposite, that magnetised attraction drew the women together on a deeper level that defied words. Everything that Faith knew was suddenly changing, and now after a few hours of sweating and her mind swirling with too many confusing thoughts that she couldn’t concentrate. So she packed her things away and headed back into the shop. She padded over to the table and perched herself on top, still in her training clothes and drained a bottle of water. The shop was empty, which was typical for that time of day except for Anya, who was behind the counter; she was making herself busy with sorting stock. Without looking up from her work, Anya addressed the slayer.

“Do you have to sit on the table with those sweaty clothes on? You know there’s a perfectly good chair next to you...” Anya questioned the slayer with a slight huff.

Faith rolled her eyes and placed the empty water bottle next to her.

“Chill girl, I really don’t think the mass of customers will be offended...” Faith retorted with a sarcastic smirk. Anya looked up at Faith with an annoyance in her eyes and then returned to her work unimpressed.

“Fine, I’ll wipe the table after me, jeez,” Faith says, showing her hands in peace, knowing the ex-demon didn’t find her funny.

Anya ignored the slayer whilst carrying on with her work; Faith huffed and looked around the empty store, not knowing quite what to do with herself, she still had a couple of hours before patrol, and no one else was around to annoy. She focussed on Anya for a moment before she got a brainwave.

“So...how did Xander manage to get you?” Faith asked the ex-demon, trying to fake interest whilst failing.

“Excuse me?” A confused and irritated Anya replied, taking her attention away from her work and onto the slayer invading her space.

“Well, being in a coma, I’ve been out of the loop, and I just wondered how seven-minute wonder managed to bag himself a hot ex-demon girlfriend,” Faith responded with a forced compliment which seemed to work judging by the blush creeping up on Anya’s face.

“Well...you know...” Anya waved away, still focussed on the last comment.

“Well...no...I mean did he pursue you, wine and dine...that kind of thing?” Faith questioned more so now, trying not to sound pushy.

“Oh no, nothing like that, I asked him to prom, and then I left so the mayor wouldn’t kill me, and then I came back so I could sleep with him to get him out of my system,” Anya explained as a matter of fact.

“That sounds romantic...?” Faith quirked her eyebrow, not sure of how else to respond.

“Who needs romance? I’m over 1000 years old; Xander is so much nicer than anyone else I’ve been with... It probably doesn’t help none of them had souls, but that’s not the point, and well, the sex is great. We have lots of it,” Anya smiled, satisfied by her explanation.

“And you’re ok with just sex?”

“Faith, we don’t just have sex; that’s just one of the perks...I don’t need Xander to be romantic. It’s the little things he does...like runs me a bath or listens to me talk even if he doesn’t think what I’m saying is human enough or the kiss he always gives me as soon as he sees me. He doesn’t need to take me to fancy restaurants to show he loves me but buying me lots of nice things definitely helps,” Anya explained as she faded into her own daydream.

“Yeah, but it wouldn’t have been like that at the beginning, straight to love?” Faith asked.

“Oh no, it was mostly sex, but Xander was also poor, so I would go and watch him at work a lot; I really enjoyed that. I didn’t care where I was with him as long as we were together,” Anya smiled to herself and turned back to her work.

Faith thought for a moment, processing what the ex-demon had just said before suddenly forming a plan in her mind.

“I’ve gotta go!” Faith said out loud suddenly after a couple of minutes of silence, making Anya jump. Faith quickly grabbed her things and ran out of the shop with a confused Anya shouting after her.

“Hey! You were meant to clean the sweaty table!”

Chapter Text

Later that day, Faith made her way to the Summer’s residence, letting herself in, comfortable enough to not knock first, not that she asked permission in the past. She stepped in and looked around the house; there didn't seem to be any movement. The house seemed to be empty. Faith started to scope out the area, looking around for any sign of somebody being at home. She entered the kitchen, making sure to check that nobody was in the backyard. Faith pulled herself up by the kitchen sink, her toes only just touching the floor as she craned her neck up to the window, only to find nothing, huffing partly from the lack of people around her and boredom for another part. Making her way over to the fridge, the slayers wrenched open the door lazily, pulling out a large bottle of soda and taking a huge gulp right there and then. As she tilted her head back to down the fizzy substance, a thud came from above her head. Frowning, the slayer looked around, placing the soda down on the middle island.

“Hello?” The rogue slayer called.

Cautiously Faith stepped towards the living room; silence fell around the house again. Concentrating as she listened out for anything else and reaching for the nearest heavy object, which just so happened to be a remote control when another thud came from upstairs, and Faith just ran. Jumping over the bannister and running towards the noise brought her straight to Buffy’s room. Taking a deep breath, readying herself for what danger may be lurking in the room, Faith grasped the door handle and turned it, opening the door. In front of Faith was a pained Buffy, clutching her stomach with her hand and her other hand placed on the bed trying to pull herself up.

“Shit, B!” Faith exclaimed as she bounded into the room, hooking her arm under Buffy’s shoulder and helped her fellow injured slayer onto the bed.

“Thanks...I feel like an idiot. I couldn’t even get up...,” Buffy said, shaking her head, only just being able to look at Faith without wincing.

“How did you even end up down there?” Faith asked, confused as she pulled a chair up to sit next to Buffy’s bed. Buffy just looked at Faith, not knowing what to say; sighing in defeat, she pulled her top up to show blooded bandages. Faith dragged out a long low whistle.

“Damn B, who tried to gut you? You’re lucky you’re not in a coma...”

“Ha ha, very funny... a vamp last night got lucky staking me with my own stake,”

“Super vamp?”

“Nope, just your run of the mill...regular vamp,”

“And how did you end up on the floor?”

“I was trying to get the first aid kit from under the bed to change these (Gestures to her stomach), but it hurt too much, and I fell and then again trying to get back up,”
Faith just stared at Buffy for a moment and then reached forward and grabbed the first aid kit from the floor, and sat next to Buffy on the bed.

“Ok, blondie...strip,”

“What?” Buffy asked, confused, now clutching at her top as well as her stomach.

“Well, I can’t change those bandages if they’re covered,” Faith said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You’re going to change them?” Buffy asked with raised eyebrows.

“You’re welcome to try again yourself?” Faith said, resting the first aid kit down.

“Sorry, I’m just more surprised your offering,”

“Figured I’d try something, try not to bitch too much and tell me about this vamp,” Faith said pointedly at Buffy and began to change the bandages.

“Nothing special, he looked like something out of a bad 80’s punk video with wild black hair...turned my stake on me...”

“Vamp dead?”

“No...Spike saved me, and then I passed out; he brought me back here before the sun went up,” Faith started laughing at this.

“I don’t know what’s funnier, Spike saving you or you passing out, at least when you gutted me, I went out in a blaze of glory,”

“You dropped on to a moving truck,”

“A well-timed moving truck-,” Faith retorted when Dawn rushed in the room.

“Sorry to interrupt whatever. This. Is. (Dawn waves her hands in front of Buffy and Faith) but mom’s coming,” Dawn warned.

So Buffy straightened herself up as Faith quickly shoved the old bandages and first aid kit under the bed. As Faith sat back up as a happy looking, Joyce walked into the room behind Dawn.

“Hey Faith,” Joyce said lovingly at the unexpected visitor.

“Hey Mrs S, You feeling good today?” Faith returned a genuine smile. Everyone noticed this moment of contentment in Faith except Faith herself, and it warmed Joyce’s heart to see.

“I’m fine, bordering on chipper and tomorrow planning on being obnoxious...are you staying for dinner, honey?” Joyce asked.

“No, can do, I’m patrolling tonight, so I won’t be here long,” Faith shrugged.

“Ok, honey, next time, Buffy, when you have a minute, I’d like to go over the grocery list for next week?” Joyce said as she turned her attention to her daughter.

“You got it,” Buffy nodded, trying her best to ignore the pain in her stomach.

“Are you disinfecting something?” Joyce asked, catching sight of medical alcohol that Faith had forgotten to hide.

“Huh? Oh, uh -,”

“Mine! Some nail polish experiment that’s doomed before they even begin,” Dawn tried to laugh off as she jumped in to grab the alcohol.

“But you just keep pushing the envelope, honey,” Joyce smiled at Dawn and left the bedroom, pulling the door behind her, leaving the girls in the room.

“Did I just pull a slayer related mom cover-up thing? Come on, who’s the man?” Dawn said as she smiled at Buffy, looking proud of herself.

“You are. A very short, annoying man,” Buffy retorted, turning Dawn’s proud moment into an insult. Dawn’s smile dropped into a face of annoyance. “If I show you something, you promise you won’t tell?” Buffy asked as she gave in to her younger sister’s pout. Dawn gave a gesture crossing her heart, so grabbing the bottom of her shirt, Buffy lifted it to reveal her bandages.

“Oh, cool! (Buffy’s face didn’t look impressed by her sister’s reaction) I mean, gross!” Dawn quickly backtracked.

"And Mom cannot know. Ok? You'll help me with the household stuff?" Buffy told her sister with a pleading look.

“Oh, sure, I save your butt, and you dump all your chores on me...I got it. You’re covered. We’re good. Just lucky it’s not bikini season,” Buffy just gave a small smile and stroked Dawn’s hair.

“So D-Swings got that covered, I’ll try and find this vamp,” Faith chimed in as she grew tired of the emotional moment that was beginning to transpire.

“By yourself?” Buffy asked, slightly shocked.

“Yeah, I’m a big girl now. I think I’ll cope,” Faith said as she looked at Buffy, baffled.

“Do me a favour? Take the gang with you?” Buffy asked her fellow slayer hopefully.

“Hell no,” Faith answered immediately, almost insulted by the question.

“Why not?” A shocked Buffy responded, making Dawn jump.

“I’m not taking them; Xander and his demon chick’s constant bickering drive me crazy, yo! And Red don’t like me, and I don’t like her (Buffy continued to stare, not changing her expression) uuggghh damn Scoobies, if I find a nest or something more dangerous on patrol, I will call but not before,” Faith said with finality and exhaustion.

“When do I get to patrol?” Dawn piped up.

“Not until you’re never,” Buffy hit back. Dawn huffed as Faith watched on, amused.

“Yeah, so I’m gonna let you guys work through your stuff, B, call me if you need anything,” Faith just nodded at the two girls and left the room.

Faith headed down the stairs and headed to the kitchen in search of Joyce. She walked into the kitchen, where she found a struggling Joyce trying to lift large boxes off the kitchen floor. A shocked Faith ran straight over to Joyce, stopping her from what she was doing.

“Hey! Back up, Mrs S, I got it,” Faith told the surrogate mother and proceeded to lift the large boxes off the floor and on to the kitchen counter.

“Oh, thank you, dear; looks like getting them up those basement stairs really took it out of me...” Joyce said as she gave the slayer a small, slightly embarrassed smile.

“Come on. You should sit down; you should’ve called me or B,” Faith told the older woman as she ushered Joyce over to the sofa.

“Nonsense, you girls were talking, and I’m not going to let Buffy do anything whilst she’s injured; she needs to rest,” Joyce added casually as she sat back.

“B ain’t hurt,” Faith said, trying her very best to bluff. Joyce just waved her hand at the slayer, not believing what they said.

“Oh, don’t lie for her, Faith, it doesn’t suit you, she may have got away with being a slayer for four years, but since then, I’ve made sure to pay more attention, if Buffy wants to tell me about it she can but for now let’s just let her think she’s hiding it well,”

“Mrs S, I’m impressed...very shady of you, how’d you find out?”

“I love my daughter, but she’s not the smartest knife in the drawer; she probably shouldn’t have put bloodied bandages into the bathroom bin and put that together with her not leaving her room all day and Dawn doing experiments with disinfectant, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist,”

“Check you out, remind me not to hide anything from you,” Faith said, amused by Joyce’s admission.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t Faith, even when in your bad patch, you were always honest; I think that’s one of your strengths,”

Faith just gave a small smile. Never being good with taking compliments, she grew uncomfortable. She knew the one person that she could talk to about her relationship with was Joyce. Feeling like a small child, Faith gulped and fidgeted where she sat. Joyce looked on at the slayer, very content, enjoying the silence that had just fallen between them.

“So uh, speaking of honesty...I kinda got this thing tomorrow...?” Faith started, not sure why she was finding it so difficult to get her words out.

“Oh, is it a slayer thing?” Joyce asked happily, oblivious.

“...No...more like a. Date. Thing...” Faith told Joyce awkwardly as she looked around the room.

“A date? And who is the young man?” Joyce asked, her face lighting up with enthusiasm.

“ (Making incoherent sounds) ... it’s... it’s ah...it’s not a –,”

“It’s Tara,” Joyce happily finished the sentence as she saw the slayer struggle, wearing her most proud smile. Faith’s jaw dropped, shocked at how casual Joyce had been.

“How? ...” Faith started to ask, still shocked that Joyce could’ve known when they had only got together the night before.

“Oh honey, I just said I’m much more observant these days, and I have seen the way you and that girl look at each other...in all the time I’ve known you, I have never seen that kind of emotion come through your eyes. I could always see there was a connection...admittedly, I wasn’t sure what type, but she helped you in so many ways; I think she was what you’ve always needed,” Joyce told Faith like a proud mother. A single tear rolled down Faith’s left cheek; her throat felt like a sponge had been rolled into the middle of her throat, all known words getting caught in her chest.

“Yeah, well (Clearing her throat). She’s pretty cool, and I have no idea what I’m doing; that’s why I came here...” Faith admitted taking a deep breath.

“Not sure of what, dear?” Joyce asked, confused.

“Like what to do on dates or like that thing people do when they get together...”

“Be in a relationship?”

Faith clicked her finger ecstatically. “Yup, that’s the one,”

“I’m not really sure how much help I can be, every relationship is different, and it’ll be the same for you and Tara; just be there for her, you two will find your way of doing things,”

“I guess...what if I’m not good enough for her?”

“You won’t find out until you go through the motions...just don’t worry about screwing up or not being good enough and just work on getting to know that girl, you might surprise yourself, Faith,”

Chapter Text

The next day Tara had spent the better half of the day panicking about her impending date with the rogue slayer. She tried her best to keep busy, but in the last couple of days, so much had happened, and it was all so hard to process. Of course, Tara was so happy she had finally admitted her true feelings, but now she couldn’t help but think that she had been too forceful. After the high of finally dealing with her family, Tara didn’t want to waste any time or opportunity anymore, but she couldn’t help this slight niggling feeling that the slayer wasn’t ready and they should just be sticking to their original friendship, it was going so well after all. Tara couldn’t help but be selfish and keep hope that this was something that Faith wanted too. So finally decided to try and push her thoughts away and try and concentrate on her date.

The evening had crept up quicker than Tara thought it would. Faith was late by a couple of hours. The witch kept telling herself that the slayer had probably got caught up with vampires or slayer business, but as more time passed and not even a phone call, the witch concluded that her earlier thoughts were correct. The witch decided to give up waiting and head to bed with a disappointed sigh, knowing her plans had inevitably changed. Grabbing her night things, Tara began to get ready for bed. Tara swiftly pulled her shirt off when there was a sharp rapping at the window. A stunned Tara spun her feet in the direction of the noise to come face to face with a smirking Faith outside her window. Quickly covering herself with the discarded shirt, a shaken Tara ran over to the window and promptly opened it, letting the slayer come in and stepped back.

“You’ve really got to stop stripping in front of me like this,” Faith winked at Tara as she straightened herself up from climbing in.

“Well, if you had come to the door, it wouldn’t be a problem,” Tara replied playfully with a slight annoyance. Faith raised her hands in surrender.

“Ok, I’m sorry, I know I’m late, but I did it for a reason,” Faith protested.

“And climbing through the window?” Tara asked eyebrow raised, waiting for the slayer's response.

“Well, I was thinking, I’m just being me and jumping up to your window is quicker and easier than coming through the building, and I think you should see who I am...” Faith trailed off, trying to figure out Tara’s expression at that time.

“So for me to get to know you, you scale the side of a building and get here two hours late? I’m not getting a good impression, if I’m honest,” Tara snapped slightly as she pulled her shirt back on. Faith crossed the room and grabbed the witch’s hands.

“This doesn’t look good, but you need to know what I’m really like, and for that, I needed to wait until it was late enough to show you,” Faith explained sheepishly. Tara furrowed her eyebrows at Faith.

“Well, a warning would’ve been nice...I thought you changed your mind; I felt like a fool,” Tara admitted quietly, looking to the ground. Faith’s eyes widened, realising her mistake; she quickly tucked her finger under Tara’s chin and lifted her face, so they were facing each other. Faith placed a soft kiss on the witch’s lips, making Tara catch her breath as the slayer pulled away.

“I’m sorry I didn’t think, but I haven’t changed my mind...so, still want to come with me? I promise to use the door this time...,” Faith playfully pleaded whilst swinging the witch’s arms. Tara’s face broke into her signature sideways smirk, which Faith’s lips quickly reciprocated. Faith ran and grabbed Tara’s jacket and lead both of them out of the dorm room.

“Oh yeah, you look great, by the way,” Faith added as they left the room together.

***

Faith led Tara deep into the darkened cemetery; they had been wandering around the graves for a little while in such an awkward silence. Neither knew how to act with each other after leaving Tara’s dorm. Faith embarrassed and kicking herself for upsetting the witch whilst Tara couldn’t shake the slight annoyance at how she had been treated. She could tell the slayer was nervous and way in over her head, but she had been made to feel like a fool for a moment, and she deserved to go through the motions. If she was going to be different from before, she couldn’t just act like she wasn’t upset; she wouldn’t hide anymore or for anyone, even if she wanted to hold that one person and make them feel better and ignore her feelings.

They continued on their route; Faith was staring at the ground, too nervous to look at Tara. The witch couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“So, patrolling, huh? I knew you weren’t a "wine and dine" kind of girl, but I definitely didn’t expect this...” Tara blurted out,  instantly realising that she hadn’t said it in her head but instead breaking the silence.

“What can I say? I like to be different,” Faith winked at the witch, trying to convince herself and Tara that she knew what she was doing; Tara just raised an eyebrow, clearly not convinced. “Ok...so B got beat yesterday by some vamp; she’s ok but needs me to cover patrol, so I thought we could include it in our date, maybe watch me work my magic?” Faith said, trying to fake confidence in her ridiculous plan.

“Poor Buffy, of course, you should’ve just said...so what did you plan originally?” Tara questioned with an innocent enough look on her face, trying to hide her enjoyment of trying to watch faith talk her way out, having witnessed Faith’s strange behaviour all evening.

“Something much better, like mind-blowing stuff...”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Tara asked, faking interest as she moved closer to the awkward slayer.

“Well, stuff that definitely wouldn’t be in a graveyard...of course...,” Faith brushed off as she pushed the fake confidence in her fake answer whilst Tara continued to move in closer, so their bodies pressed together.

“You’re so full of crap,” Tara said in a low breath as her lips were centimetres away from Faiths and then stepped back with a knowing grin.

“Say wha’?” Faith exclaimed, now raising her eyebrows, expecting the shy witch’s response.

“You want me to see the real you? And now this? Faith, I wasn’t born yesterday; you have no clue what you’re doing; it’s like you’re making it all up as you go along. I’ve seen you in action so many times before, or have you forget?” Tara told the slayer as she tried to repress a laugh.

Faith’s shoulders dropped in defeat, running a hand through her wavy brown locks; she positioned herself against a nearby grave, leaning against it.

“Urgh, fine, I have no clue what I’m doing. I even tried to get ideas from Anya, but every time I thought of something, I would change my mind, and then B got hurt...did I screw this up?” Tara looked on at the disappointed slayer before beginning to laugh; Faith scowled in response to Tara’s laughing.

“T? You been snorting some magic powder or something?” Faith asked as she could feel anger building up inside of her; she knew that she had made some mistakes that evening, but there was no need to be made fun of; it was humiliating.

“I’m sorry, but the thought of you getting ideas from Anya just pushed me over the edge (Tara moved to Faith as she stifled her laugh and held her hands). You haven’t screwed anything up buuut you will if you don’t just talk to me, you can be yourself without climbing through my window...,”

A snapping sound came from behind Tara at that moment, so without thinking, Faith looked around the witch to see a prowling punk-looking vampire heading in their direction. Faith pulled a stake from her jeans and sent it straight to the vampire’s heart, turning it to dust instantly. Faith turned back to Tara ignoring the brief interruptions.

“You were saying?” Faith asked casually, her husky voice not even cracking. Tara smiled at the slayer and leant in for a soft kiss.

“Just stop being stupid. I like you. I don’t need special gestures to be impressed...just you,” Tara reassured Faith as her cheeks grew red. Faith just looked over Tara with no emotion and just nodded.

“Ok, let’s get out of here then,” Faith told the witch, now trying to tug Tara away.

“What about the vampire who attacked Buffy?” Tara asked, looking back at the graves as she was being pulled away.

“We got him. B said it was punk vamp with a bad 80’s mop on its head, plus he had a stake in his hand...must’ve been a trophy from beating the slayer’s ass...we’re five by five,” Faith explained as she continued to lead them out of the graveyard not even looking back, so sure of herself.

“So where are we going then?” Tara asked, confused, still not knowing what was happening that night.

***

After Faith had dragged Tara from the cemetery and led them to her apartment, she quickly gathered some things into a bag and, in a flash, pulled Tara back out and up some stairs. They stepped out onto the roof, where an amused and confused Tara gasped at what she saw. Pinned up on the wall where they had entered was a large white sheet, and the opposite was an old theatre projector and then next to that was two tattered camping chairs. Faith kept herself stood by the door, just watching as Tara explored the new environment in front of her. Tara turned to Faith with a massive smile on her face.

“How did all this happen?” Tara asked in wonder. Faith smirked at the witch mischievously and went over to the projector, resting the bag down next to it.

“Just after I moved in, I was on patrol and saw that it had been thrown out behind the movie theatre, and there were some movie reels in a box. So I figured I’d bring it back and see if it worked (Faith began to fiddle with the projector and added a reel to it), and no one ever comes up here; it’s a good place for quiet and somewhere to think. So their loss is my gain,” Faith shrugged casually as the projector started to hum, and she joined Tara on the chair.

She grabbed the bag and pulled out a blanket, placing it over the witch’s lap, never looking up the entire time, and Tara watched her with quiet fascination. Faith then pulled out a bottle of soda, a couple of cups and a bag of Cheetos, resting them down by the chairs. Faith turned and flicked a switch on the projector, and the reel started to spin and play the movie. An old black and white film appeared on the screen. Quickly the slayer poured them both a drink and settled back in her chair, and began to watch the slightly worn film. The two women lost themselves in the movie; all the town's sounds disappeared into the night as they forgot the rest of the world.

Tara glanced across to Faith for a second to see tiny goosebumps forming on her arm. So she grabbed her chair and scooted closer; Faith looked up when she heard the scrapping on the floor. She frowned, confused by what the witch was doing and the tiny interruption. Tara then pulled the blanket across and onto Faith’s lap as well, so they were both sharing.

“What are ya doing?” Faith asked, not understanding what was happening.

“You look cold, and this blanket is too big for just me...,” Tara said, nudging the confused Faith with her shoulder.

“Oh. Ok, cool...thanks,” Faith responded, stunned at the kind gesture.

Faith could feel a warming in her stomach from this, a feeling she had never really experienced before. Tara smiled at the slayer before taking Faith’s hand and turning back to the movie. Faith looked down at the two hands connected and then back up to the blonde. Watching the witch look, so content at that moment made all of Faith’s senses tingle. She wanted to reach out and show the witch how much she cared and tell her everything she was feeling but at the same time; she wanted to jump off that roof and leave town before she could cause the witch any hurt. Faith got so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed the film had finished, and an amused Tara was watching the distracted slayer right back. So Tara slowly reached for the Cheetos and threw one at the slayer’s face, knocking her back to reality.

“Hey, what gives?” Faith asked, realising what just happened.

“I didn’t realise my face was more interesting than the movie,” Tara teased.

“Did it finish? I’ll put a new one on,” Faith said as she moved to stand up when Tara rested a hand on her arm to stop her.

“Don’t...let’s just talk for a bit?” Tara said softly, not wanting to scare the slayer with such intimacy.

“Uh, ok...what about?” Faith asked, worried about what the witch may want to talk about.

“Nothing bad if that helps? Where did you go before? You looked like you were in deep thought?” Tara asked quietly, tilting her head, waiting for the slayer to respond. Faith just looked back at Tara, not quite sure how to form words. Tara curled her hand around Faith’s again. “You can talk to me, remember? I don’t judge,”

“I was thinking...about...you,” Faith admitted dropping her head in embarrassment. “I still kind of find all of this surreal... you and me trying to do the normal thing, I guess,”

“So is this a being with a girl thing or just being with my thing?” Tara asked, listening patiently, hiding her anticipation of what the answer could be.

“I don’t care about the girl thing; I’ve never done the nasty with one. I mean, I swear me and B came close at one point...but whatever...I guess I just can’t help but think that I’m bad for you...you’re like this pure thing, and I don’t want people to treat you differently cos you’re with a murderer...” Faith said, finding the conversation so awkward but also trying to keep her promise of communicating with the witch.

“You’re talking in the past sense again, but no one would treat me differently, things have changed, you and Buffy get on, you’re helping now...,” Tara said, brushing a hand through Faith’s hair soothingly.

“You say that, but if they knew, I’d soon be seen as that girl locked in the basement, like I’m taking advantage or something,” Faith told the witch as her blood boiled, thinking about the scoobies finding out.

“So what?” Tara stated. Faith’s head whipped up at the statement. “Since when have you ever cared what other people thought? I certainly don’t, I’ve spent too much of my life hiding myself, and if the others don’t respect this, then that’s their problem,”

“Why do you like me? Let’s face it. I was a dick to you when we first met,” Faith asked without thinking, still shocked by the witch’s admission.

Tara smiled at the emotional slayer; seeing such a vulnerable Faith made Tara’s heart swell with pain and happiness. So she carefully pushed the blanket aside and stood from the chair; she stepped in front of the slayer and placed herself in Faith’s lap, and wrapped her arms around her neck, so they’re both facing each other.

“When we first met, all I could see was your anger, but I also saw your aura, it was fractured and laced in pain...you’re not a bad person, you just needed help, and through all that trapped anger, you still managed to let the real you out. Faith, I think you’re extraordinary, and you’ve brought a different side of me out, and I like it. I could never force you to be mine, but you make me happy in ways I just can’t express,” Tara admitted.

Faith’s eyes were glossy with tears, not sure how to deal with all the affection she was receiving. Tara brushed a thumb across Faith’s cheek and leant in for a kiss. Their lips met slowly; Tara was careful to give Faith time to reciprocate. Soon the slayer took control, and the kiss became more heated. Their tongues were brushing each other’s lips, tasting satisfaction before sharing each other’s space. A couple of minutes later, the two women pull apart, gasping for air. Tara’s face fell straight into the slayer’s shoulder, embarrassed by the forcefulness. The slayer lightly nudged Tara; the witch lifted her head and was greeted by a smiling Faith. A sight Tara could never get tired of.

“Come on. You’re sleeping here tonight...no funny business, I promise,” Faith told the witch.

“Nothing wrong with a little bit of funny business,” Tara teased back, and she led her head back on the slayer’s shoulder.

The two women soon made their way back to Faith’s apartment and into bed. Tara had borrowed some clothes to sleep in, and they were much more relaxed about the sleeping arrangements this time around. Faith was led on her back with a sleepy Tara led into her side, and Faith’s arm wrapped around her shoulders. Faith looked down at the half-asleep blonde, only just being able to see part of her face in the darkened bedroom.

“T?” Faith whispered into the silence.

“Mmm?” Tara mumbled incoherently, almost falling into a deep sleep.

“I am ya know...yours...,” Faith quietly admitted into the darkness, knowing the beautiful witch who had truly captured the slayer’s heart had fallen asleep.

The next morning Tara awoke with the morning sun streaming across her face. She stretched her arms out, slowly waking her body up. As she stretched, the witch reached out to find the empty and cold space next to her. She sat up in the bed to try and listen out to where the slayer had gone. She hadn’t expected to wake up alone, but it wasn’t the end of the world; she couldn’t imagine Faith had abandoned her in her own apartment. So Tara got herself up and left the bedroom searching for the slayer; as she opened the bedroom door, her ears filled with music coming from the kitchen. Tara followed the music as it got louder with every step. As she entered the kitchen, her eyes fell on the brunette slayer dancing to some punk band whilst pouring two bowls with cereal. As she spun on the spot, the slayer quickly registered Tara stood in the doorway with an amused smile on her face. Faith quickly switched off the music, greeted the witch with a kiss, and then returned to the cereal to pour the milk.

“Morning. You hungry?” Faith asked, her voice even more so husky than usual, looking so relaxed for a change, proud of the cereal breakfast she had just created for them both. Tara chuckled and sat at the table as the slayer joined her.

“Sure, why not?” Tara laughed rhetorically.

Just as the witch went to take a bit of her cereal, a ringing started echoing around the kitchen. Faith jumped, not expecting the noise and answered the ringing phone. The slayer barely said hello when she slammed the phone down, her face as white as a sheet. Tara dropped her spoon with deep concern.

“Faith Honey? What is it?” Tara asked worriedly. The slayer raised her face to look at the witch, her solemn look unchanged.

“We need to go,” Faith stated seriously.

Chapter Text

The witch and the slayer tore through the hospital, making their way to the waiting area. A sheepish Willow rose from her seat and greeted the two women as Giles looked on from his spot with a sleeping Dawn next to him.

“Where’s B?” An agitated Faith hurriedly asked Willow.

“She’s down the hall with Mrs Summer’s, the hospital called last minute, so it was all unplanned; she said to send you straight down once you got here,” Willow explained meekly.

Faith looked to Tara, ignoring that Willow was still stood there watching them both.

“Are you gonna be ok here?” Faith asked the witch, just quiet enough that only she could hear. Tara reached her hand out and placed it on Faith’s arm comfortingly.

“Go. I’m not going anywhere,” Tara told Faith whilst giving her a supportive smile.

Faith nodded, looking Tara in the eyes, making sure that she was sincere before disappearing down the hall. Willow watched the two women’s interactions with curiosity, not quite sure of what their body language with each other was being. Tara then looked back to Willow with a small smile.

“So...you and Faith...came here...together?” Willow asked, trying to act as casual as possible and not like a jealous ex.

“Um, yeah. We were having breakfast when Mr Giles called...,” Tara explained, not seeing Willow’s confused expression and the hurt in her eyes. Willow looked up at the clock in the waiting area and looked back to Tara.

“Its ten o clock...Giles called a couple of hours ago, bit early to be having breakfast together, isn’t it?” The redhead said, giving a half laugh as she tried to pass the comment off as a joke.

“No, I don’t, and I don’t see the issue,” Tara said, seeing through the Redhead’s fake attempt to hide her annoyance.

“Oh no..no, no issue...it’s just surprising is all,”

“Surprising? Because we had breakfast early or because I was with Faith?” The blonde witch asked defensively, doing her best to control her temper. Willow just continued to stare at Tara with her mouth open, unsure how to form words, shocked by the girl’s sudden bluntness. Tara took pity on the Redhead, realising just how abrasive her defence was.

“I’m sorry, let’s not talk about this; we’re all here for Mrs Summers,” Tara said, trying to keep the peace and end the conversation. She didn’t have the time or energy to defend herself from her ex and deal with such jealous behaviour.

“But there’s something to talk about?” Willow pressed a little, worry building.

“I...not now, Willow!” Tara snapped in a hushed tone as she brushed past Willow, plastered a forced smile on her face, and walked over to Giles, leaving a disgruntled and suspicious Willow behind.

Faith made her way hastily down the corridor of the hospital, doing her best not to crash into an orderly or push strangers out of the way. After her phone call with Giles, Tara had to calm Faith down and stop her from leaving the house straight away, it was just a scan, but Faith couldn’t help but think the worse when it came to Joyce Summer’s. The one woman who treated her like a daughter and the one person Faith wanted to make up for the way she had treated the older woman. As she rounded a corner, she could see, Buffy was stood outside a room in conversation with a doctor. Faith stopped and watched for a moment, not wanting to intrude. She watched the back and forth, never seeing Buffy look so weak before; whatever was going on must have been serious. The doctor soon left with a dazed Buffy just staring into space. Faith slowly walked up to her fellow slayer and placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. Buffy looked up with glossy eyes.

“Hey B, what’s the stitch?” Faith asked, trying not to seem too serious in front of the upset blonde.

“Oh Faith, hey...uh...mom got a call last night for a scan, but now she’s going for surgery...” Buffy explained as she did her best to wipe the tears from her eyes as she spoke.

“Surgery? Is she gonna be ok?” Faith asked as she looked through the window of the door at Mrs Summer’s just led up in bed, looking at scans that had been left up on the wall.

“Yeah, nothing to be concerned about, but they found a shadow and want to do a biopsy, that’s all...,”

“That’s all? Shit B, are you sure your ok?” Faith asked.

“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting it all, ya know, we came in for a last-minute scan, and now she’s having surgery,” Buffy said as she trailed off, still distant from reality.

“What can I do?” Faith asked, knowing there was a reason she had been called in, not just to be told about Joyce.

“Well, Giles said he’d take Dawn back to school in a bit and then keep an eye on her at the magic box but can you do patrol for a couple of days? I know you’ve already picked up the slack, but now with mom and this demon chick out there...” Faith just puts her hand up to stop Buffy.

“It’s cool, B, I’ve got it,” Faith said with finality.

“Are you sure? I'd really appreciate it,” Buffy asked worriedly.

“When it comes to Mrs S, I’m down for anything, so don’t mention it, seriously,” Faith said, ready to leave, all of the politeness and niceties made Faith so uncomfortable, and she didn’t like hospitals.

“Did you wanna see mom before you go?” Buffy asked genuinely.

Faith looked at Buffy thoughtful for a moment; their relationship had come so far in the recent months, and then looking back to Joyce, it was all too much for Faith to cope with, she would be more helpful away and doing her job, helping Buffy in any way she could.

“Nah, I’ve been here too long already getting that itchy feeling; you go be with your mom, maybe do a puzzle, “ Faith teased as she made her quick escape through the hospital, too scared to speak to Joyce Summers and deal with what was happening.

***

A few days later, after the events at the hospital, Faith had been in full slayer mode; she hadn’t stopped. Her head was swirling with stress; she had never felt so much responsibility before, not even when she thought she was the only slayer. The night she took over slayer duties, the demon chick “Glory”, as Buffy discovered her name, had sent a snake demon to the shop. It didn’t do anything, but it worked Buffy up enough that she and Giles chased after it, leaving Faith to look after Dawn and the magic box. Buffy had killed the snake but never spoke of it again, Faith was suspicious at first, but with Joyce in the hospital, she ignored those feelings. Joyce was still unwell and ended up having surgery; the night she returned from the hospital, an extraterrestrial demon came down to kill all the crazies in Sunnydale, including Mrs Summers. Luckily Spike and Buffy had managed to kill the intergalactic demon before she could reach the house in time. It was then that Buffy decided to take a couple of weeks off so she could look after her mom, and Faith readily agreed, seeing this as her chance to prove how good she could be.

Faith spent her days helping at the magic box whilst Giles went away to England for a few days for research on their new blonde demon, whilst at night she would patrol Sunnydale. She had never been so involved with the Scoobies, research and teamwork before, and it had never been Faith’s thing; she always found going it alone was easier and quicker. This time though, things had changed; she couldn’t repeat history no matter how much her body was willing her just to let go and do things her way. She knew to be a better person; she would need to play well with others even if she didn’t get on with anyone, especially when she discovered a vamp nest that would feed on volunteer humans and the Scoobie’s insisted on helping to clear the nest out. She spent more time making sure the others didn’t get hurt than actually dust vampires, which let a few of them escape. So instead of going home that night, Faith went rogue and hunted down the rest of the vampires by herself. She had felt bad for lying but having the freedom to let her frustrations out was freeing, and if she was taking it out on vamps, then there was no need for her to feel guilty; it’s not like they were human. She didn’t like going behind the Scoobie’s backs, and it seemed to have started Faith’s nightmares. She just wanted to release all her strength, the feeling of wrapping her hands around some poor innocent’s throat kept her up all night. Every aspect of her life was violence, and now it had taken over her mind. So Faith instead got minimal sleep so she could patrol longer, hoping the more violence she inflicted then, the more chance that her nightmares would disappear, stopping the temptation to kill.

So in her exhausted, sleep-deprived state, Faith had received a frantic call from Tara telling her to go to the magic box. Willow and Anya had somehow managed to make a troll appear, who also happened to be Anya’s ex. Faith had tried to act surprised, but after everything she had experience in Sunnydale over the years, this was easily the most logical thing she had witnessed. So after dealing with that mess and the hilarity that was Willow and Anya interacting, Faith couldn’t help but love when Anya would push all of the Redhead’s buttons; she always loved how exasperated Willow would get no matter the situation. Faith left the magic box to stick to her new patrolling routine, praying that it was quiet so she could return home to bed. It was her penultimate night alone before Buffy returned to her duties, and so far, she had been quite lucky since word got around that there were now two slayers living on the Hellmouth, so vampires tended to keep their distance. She just wanted to go back to normal and have a chance to see Tara again, in a non-Scooby capacity. Since their date, they had barely anytime alone or even talked, and it was beginning to get to the slayer. She had never really depended on another person before but going from seeing the witch almost every day to suddenly nothing was having a significant effect on her.

Faith made her way through the main streets of Sunnydale as her distance from the magic box grew, making her way to the cemetery when she could hear a ringing in the distance. It was quite late in the evening, so the streets were pretty empty. As tempting as it was for the rogue slayer to ignore the noise and leave it to Sunnydale’s finest to deal with, all she could think was “WWBD” – “What would Buffy do?” And knowing the goody two shoes, she wouldn’t keep her nose out of it. Huffing in defeat, Faith decided to swing past whatever was making the noise before getting back to her routine; it had already been interrupted once that day, and she didn’t need anything adding to that.

With her hands shoved in her jean pockets, Faith made her way through the quiet town to a row of expensive shops, the kind of place Cordelia used to live back in the day. As she grew closer, she could see the line of shops with bright lights illuminating through the large windows. Nothing looked out of the norm until a body slammed into the front of one of the boutique windows; the moment she saw the flash of body, Faith charged to the shop without hesitation. The slayer stormed through the entrance to see a blonde woman in a skimpy silver dress lifting a female shop assistant above her head and snapping the victim’s neck, and dropping her to the floor with next to no effort. Faith stood in shock for a moment; this was obviously the demon chick Glory that Buffy had gone up against. The glamorous woman wiped her hands on her dress and turned to face Faith. The woman’s hands dropped to her side, not seeming to be shocked by Faith’s presence with a small malicious smile formed on her face.

“Can I help you?” Glory asked with a vindictive attitude.

“Well, I was looking for someone to help me buy a shirt, but it looks like you killed them all,” Faith replied sarcastically, doing her best to keep a cool and calm exterior.

“Oh honey, I don’t think there’s anyone who can save your fashion sense,” Glory mocked as she waved her finger up and down at Faith’s current outfit of her usual jeans, vest top and a leather jacket.

Faith continued to look at Glory with a stone face, not impressed by the Cordelia wannabe stood in front of her. Just listening to her voice, the slayer couldn’t understand how Buffy couldn’t beat this chick in a fight. Faith gave a low, breathy laugh as she took a step towards the blonde-haired woman.

“Guess I‘ll just have to settle for kicking your skanky ass,”

Faith stormed straight for Glory, not giving the woman a second to respond. The slayer landed two punches on the woman, who barely flinched at this; glory then grabbed the third fist heading for her and pushed herself against it, throwing Faith across the store and landing on a couple of clothes rails. The sudden impact winded the slayer but not having time to acknowledge it; Faith struggled to her feet as she shook off any pain her body may have been feeling.

Glory was now sat on a countertop filing her nails as she waited for the slayer to get back to her feet. Faith scowled at the woman, who didn’t seem to take anything seriously. Everything about this woman just filled the slayer with rage; she needed to show the stranger she wasn’t one to be messed with. Balling a fist, Faith took a step forward as she planned her attack.

“I wouldn’t bother if I were you...I could snap your neck before your puny body could throw a punch,” Glory stated as she continued to look down at her nails. Faith rose an eyebrow at the statement; she didn’t like to be talked down to, especially by a slutty supermodel demon with far too much self-confidence.

“Pretty cocky for someone who got a lucky shot,” Faith retorted un-intimidated.Glory threw the nail file to the side and hopped off the counter; she sauntered over to Faith and stopped until their faces were mere centimetres away.

“Take a shot, sweet cheeks, I dare you,” Glory breathed at Faith, who instantly took the bait.

The slayer threw her head back and slammed it into Glory’s face, knocking the woman backwards. Glory pinched her nose and looked back at Faith once she regained her footing.

“What is it with strong women in this town; it’s like an infestation...sooo annoying!” Glory snapped.

The blonde stepped back and grabbed the side of the counter and, with ease, ripped it up from the floor and launched it at a surprised Faith, who barely got out of the way in time. The slayer rolled across the floor and flipped up whilst kicking Glory in the face as she landed.

“Ugh...enough with the face!” Glory screamed at the slayer.

Glory swung her fist, hitting Faith in the stomach, sending her up to the ceiling and then back down to the floor in one fell swoop. Before Faith could get her footing, Glory grabbed the back of the slayer’s jacket and threw her across the shop, knocking into a shelf of shoes that descended on her with the impact. Faith clutched at her ribs that had broken her fall and quite possibly herself. Pushing shoes and boxes aside, a now seething Faith climbed up awkwardly off the floor. Glory just stood and watched with a bemused look on her face.

“You’re the other one I heard about...a slayer? I thought the other one was tacky; turns out it comes with the job...hmph,” Glory stated, just as unimpressed with Faith as she was Buffy.

“Then you must be Glory, sound as stuck up as you were described,” Faith replied as she wiped some blood from her lip.

“Oh, chill out, Brooklyn. It’s like you want me to kill you,” Glory replied as though she was bored. Taking herself across the room, Glory found herself a spot on a sofa by the fitting room, leaving an angry Faith just to watch on. Faith took a step forward to get a clearer view of the frustrating woman.

“Why don’t you wanna fight, afraid I’ll beat ya?” Faith asked cockily, doing her best to coax the woman to face her; she refused to have her ass kicked so easily. Glory laughed patronisingly; she leant back and crossed her legs seductively and rested her chin on her fist.

“Oh honey, slayers don’t concern me especially substitute slayers,” Glory replied bitchily, knowing she was hitting the right nerves.

“I ain’t a substitute bitch,” Faith growled back.

“Then, what are you? See, the only thing I’ve heard about is Buffy, the super slayer...nothing good about the killer slayer who wasn’t even good at that, look at you...it’s pathetic,” Glory shook her head in embarrassment for the slayer.

“Well, maybe telling an ex-killer that she’s pathetic probably ain’t a good idea,” Faith snapped as she whipped a small knife from her waistband and threw it at Glory’s chest. Instantly Glory stopped the blade of the knife in her hand just inches away from hitting her. She gripped the blade tightly; Glory tutted at a shocked Faith then shaking her head, she threw the knife back, going straight through Faith’s shoulder.

Faith dropped to her knee as the pain from the blade spread through her arm, forgetting how to hold herself up. She reached up with her uninjured right arm to the handle of the knife. Faith tightened her grip while heavy breathing through gritted teeth, pulled the knife out and threw the bloodied blade to the ground. Using her hand to put pressure on the wound, Faith looked up at Glory with blood lust. She wanted to punish the arrogant woman who seemed to be getting lucky shots in.

“Good, now you’re quiet. Can I finally have a moment to talk? (Glory flicked her hair back with a huff making Faith roll her eyes) So after meeting your boss, I did my research, and I know a lot about you and sweetie; you sound like a hot mess,” Glory told the slayer as she rose from the sofa and started to peruse the clothes on the hangers that had managed to escape the carnage.

“Then you’ve been talking...to the wrong people, that’s...past tense...and she ain't...my boss,” Faith managed to say through waves of pain, her hand still doing its best to stop the blood from pouring out.

“Oh no, you’re still a hot mess; look at all your anger, it literally takes over in seconds, and that isn’t a good look for anyone. You’re clearly unhappy and have no direction if you can’t get a good reputation as good or evil,” Glory told the slayer unapologetically.

“So what? You’re not going to kill me...just so you can insult me instead?” Faith forced out, not wanting a psychology talk from a psychopath. Glory turned away from the clothes and walked over to the crumpled slayer on the floor that was doing her best to stay upright as dizziness and nausea took over.

“I’m not killing you because I think we can help each other sweet cheeks,” Glory said, raising a seductive eyebrow.

“I don’t...think there’s any helping you,” Faith snapped back, unable to restrain herself from responding.

Glory just gave an un-amused smile and kicked Faith in the face knocking the slayer down. The side of Faith’s face slammed onto the carpeted floor; she could feel the rough material grate on her skin as her cheekbone crunched on impact. The slayer groaned, too exhausted to feel anger anymore. So taking the last piece of dignity she had left, Faith moved her shaky hands and pushed her broken body off of the ground, so she was kneeling again, looking Glory in the eye once more.

“No more funny remarks? Good...now, where was I? Oh yeah, seeing as you’re a loser with no direction, I figured I could give you purpose, see I can’t find my key, and I’m pretty sure that blonde bitch has it!” Glory snapped, almost developing a tantrum as she worked herself up.

“What key? Like a door? (Faith took slow deep breaths as she tried to numb herself from the pain) And you ain’t got nothing I want, lady,” Faith replied unimpressed, letting the stranger talk so she could look for her chance to escape.

“Oh honey, do you know how powerful I could make you...you could run this pathetic town...finally be the top slayer. All you have to do is find my key and tell me where it is,” Glory crawled onto the floor, so she was level with Faith. She lifted her hand and started to push pieces of the slayer’s hair behind her ears and then slowly stroked her fingertips across Faith’s forehead. Faith kept her mouth shut as she watched the psychotic woman’s actions in front of her, not knowing what she was expecting to happen.
“...Hmm, what I would do to eat you up right now...but I won’t (Glory pulled her hand away from a confused Faith) Well, if you’re nice, I won’t,” Glory laughed as she got back off the floor.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but I ain’t helping you, so you might as well kill me,” Faith spat; she refused to go back to the past; she couldn’t betray Buffy again.

“No, you’ll change your mind; I know you will. You’re a survivor like me, and you’ll do whatever you can to survive; you always do. So when you’re done with whatever this act is, which is super cute by the way, just find me what I need,” Glory shrugged, unfazed by Faith’s persistent defiance. Glory casually grabbed some clothes off the hangers and headed to the exit.

“What if I don‘t...change my mind?” Faith asked, not wanting to know the answer.

“Oh sweetie, when I get my key...and I will, you’ll have wished I killed you right now,” And with that, Glory left a broken and bleeding Faith knelt on the floor of the store. All Faith could do was stare off into the distance of where Glory had just exited, feeling the uselessness fall from her shoulders as she contemplated the events that had just happened.

***

Faith just about managed to get the keys in her front door before falling through the doorway. The small distance from the clothes shop to Faith’s apartment felt like such a long journey. The slayer was weak from the loss of blood that had thankfully clotted on the way home. Faith could’ve stayed on the floor of that shop all night, but the mixture of injuries, dead bodies and the new thoughts in her head were almost debilitating. Still, the risk of unwanted police attention forced Faith to move and push the issues down inside her like all of her other feelings and forced her body to leave.

The front door flew open as Faith trampled in the doorway. She kicked the door shut behind her and stumbled into the kitchen area. Her body was weak, and she needed to fix her wounds. Instead, the slayer reached for the fridge and pulled a cold beer out and drained half of the bottle straight away.

“Faith...Sweetie?” Tara’s distant voice called as the witch left the bathroom. “I got my essay done early, so I thought I’d pop round and see if you were back from patrol...I hope you don’t mind...I missed you...”

Tara headed into the kitchen to see a bloody and dishevelled Faith nursing a cold beer.

“Jesus...Faith!” A worried Tara exclaimed as she ran to Faith, who seemed to be in a world of her own. She took the bottle from the slayer and led her to the bathroom, sitting the slayer on the toilet. Tara rushed about collecting bandages and cloths to clean the slayer and check for injuries.

“Faith, can you talk to me? What happened?” Tara asked, now knelt in front of the slayer. Taking a second to return to reality, she looked down at the witch who was now cleaning her shoulder wound.

“So I met Glory,” Faith replied, her voice much hoarser than usual.

“What?” Tara asked, shocked, stopping her movements for a moment before returning to the wounds.

“Yeah, found her killing everyone in one of those posh clothes shops,” Faith replied, wincing at Tara’s touch, shifting uncomfortably.

“Was she looking for something?” Tara asked as she finished binding the shoulder and moved onto the cuts on Faith’s face.

“Just a new wardrobe, and I interrupted...,” Faith replied, staring off into the distance. Glory’s words still trawling through her mind, making her question everything. She had this amazing girl in front of her, and all she could think was, had she changed or was Glory right about her?

Tara looked on at Faith with concern on her face, Faith looked so lost to the witch, and it was heartbreaking to see. She leant forward and placed a soft kiss on the slayer’s lips. Faith’s eyes returned to reality with the touch and looked at the worried witch in front of her.

“Are you sure it was just clothes? Did she say anything to you?” Tara asked sensitively.

“Ahem...she wanted me to help her find something called “the key”...whatever the hell that is,” Faith half told Tara as she pinched the bridge of her nose, concentrating on that moment, not wanting to show the witch something might be wrong. “Think she heard about Faith from two years ago, hoping I would turn on B,”

“So you told her no?” Tara as she finished with Faith’s wounds. She got to her feet so she could lead them to the sofa.

“Pretty much,” Faith replied as they both sat down; Faith leant back, shifting and stretching her body.

“So why leave you like this? Why not finish the job?” Tara asked, confused, knowing anytime Buffy interacted with Glory, it had never been this bad, worried that Faith was hiding something from her.

“Maybe she thinks I’ll change my mind after she beat the crap out of me? Either way, next time, I won’t be sleep-deprived, and I’ll be ready for her,” Faith finished as she realised what she said when she saw Tara’s face drop.

“You’ve been patrolling on no sleep?!” Tara replied with a hint of worry and annoyance in her tone.

“It’s no big; it just been busy this week without B on duty, I just need some sleep tonight, and I’ll be fine,” Faith told Tara, brushing off the issue.

“That’s not the point Faith, we’ve barely seen each other because you’re busy being Faith and Buffy, but now I find out you almost died because you’re not looking after yourself; how can you be so blahzay? Five minutes ago you looked like you saw a ghost and now nothing...I’m going to call Buffy and tell her you need help...,” Tara went to get the phone when Faith reached out to stop her from leaving.

“Don’t we agreed she would be with Mrs S...It’s my last patrol tomorrow, and honestly, I’ve never done this whilst trying to juggle a normal life; I don’t get how B does it...just let me rest and get tomorrow done,” Faith almost pleaded.

“What about Glory?” Tara asked, slightly defeated.

“Easy, she won’t kill me, she wants my help, and I’ll tell B what happened once G is back, no point worrying anyone over nothing. Just let her have one more day; I’ll be fine after I sleep, I swear. The only bonus of being a slayer, I heal quickly,” Faith told Tara taking the witch’s hand. “And tomorrow night, I will patrol, and we will meet at the Bronze like we planned, and I’ve been looking forward to that all week, this doesn’t have to be the end of the world,”

Tara looked at Faith’s pleading face; she always had a great way of making Tara relax no matter what the situation. Tara didn’t want to let anything go, but she trusts that Faith knew what she was doing. Tara couldn’t coddle the slayer; she should only air her concerns and show support.

“Fine...but you have to promise me you will talk to Buffy about this; it doesn’t give me a good feeling inside and the thought of anything happening to you...,” Tara trailed off, looking down at their hands entwined. Faith just lifted Tara’s chin to look at each other and placed a kiss on Tara’s lips that the witch happily returned.

“I will be fine...you give me a reason to want to survive...I’ve never had anyone in my life that made me fear death before...,” Faith admitted, a little embarrassed. Tara’s eyes glossed at the admission, and she held Faith’s cheek in her hand.

“Come on; you need sleep. Let’s get you to bed because if you’re like this at the Bronze tomorrow, I’ll be dragging you home to bed myself,” Tara told the slayer lovingly. Faith just grinned and wiggled her eyebrows at Tara.

“Who need’s sleep when I get an offer like that,” Faith joked cockily, noticing the innuendo that Tara hadn’t. Tara just held her hand out for the slayer to take and rolled her eyes.

“Oh, ssh or I’ll leave your ass on the sofa,” Tara said as Faith took the outstretched hand, and the witch helped the slayer to her bedroom.

***

Faith hadn’t managed to get any sleep that night, not even with Tara laying by her side. Tara always relaxed the slayer, and when they were together, sleeping came so easily but not that night. Faith was plagued with more nightmares, some of it was flashes from her past, and some was her killing everybody around her until she was alone. She had woken up multiple times before giving up altogether, spending her night watching Tara in a peaceful slumber, and when the witch woke, Faith quickly faked sleep as not to cause issues.

So for the rest of the day, Faith dragged her way through her work at the magic box, still dealing with the knife wound in her shoulder that was taking it’s sweet ass time to heal. She spent the day cleaning up after Willow and Anya’s troll spell, which they happily left anything too heavy to lift for Faith. Then after making her shoulder bleed twice and avoiding Anya, Faith finally made her way to patrolling. She had been waiting for this moment all day long; she felt like a kid waiting for the school bell to ring. All she had to do was a quick sweep of town, and she could finally be with Tara, and hopefully, that would help all the bad thoughts in her head, and the nightmares disappear. It was starting to make her think evil was ingrained in her whole body, and there was no escaping it, and after what Glory said, it was making her paranoid.

After a couple of hours of patrol and self-reflection, it was time to wrap up and head to the Bronze. The night had turned up empty, much to the exhausted slayer's pleasure. So as the slayer headed out of the cemetery, a branch snapped behind her. Faith stopped in her tracks, letting out an exhausted sigh; she spun around to come face to face with Spike, who was casually leant against a tree smoking a cigarette.

“What are you doing here, Spike?” Faith asked, annoyed that her night was now getting held up.

“Lovely night for a walk slayer, nothing wrong with that,” Spike shrugged.

“You? Walk? More like stalking, I could smell you around all night,”

“I like to get a fight in before bed, figured if I found any nasty’s, they’d be near the slayer,” Spike said, throwing his cigarette down and stamping on it.

“Oh, really? And here was me thinking you thought I was Buffy seeing as your totally obsessed with her,” Faith stated with her arms crossed. Spike jumped up from the tree, a little startled by the comment.

“Pah! I am not!” Spike blurted out, doing his best not to get caught out by his new developing feelings for the slayer.

“Yes, you are! You’re always hanging around the house, and I’ve seen the way you look at her. It's uber-creepy,” Faith said with a scrunched up face.

“I only look at her so I can figure out how to kill her, love,” Spike jumped in, angry that Faith was the only Scoobie who could figure him out.

“More like you’re obsessed,” Faith corrected the vampire.

“No, you’re obsessed,” Spike shot back.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Faith replied, getting fed up with the whole conversation.

“Oh yeah, it does! Look at you walking around like you’re all big bad slayer, all reformed when it was only a few months ago you tried to swap bodies with Buffy! Face it, you want her life, always have, and now you’re playing happy life, so no one will see you’re still that screwed up killer that you’ve always been!” Spike sneered, getting up close to Faith.

The slayer saw red and punched Spike in the nose, sending him to the floor.

“Screw off Spike, if it weren’t for that chip, I’d stake you right now, your pathetic,” And with that, Faith left the cemetery and very pissed off and bloodied Spike behind.

***

Meanwhile, at the Bronze, Tara sat at a corner table with a soda she'd been nursing for an hour, waiting for her slayer to meet her. Faith wasn’t running late; Tara was having a very strange day and couldn’t keep focus, so she headed to the Bronze early and just watched the band play whilst she waited. Since the night before, Tara couldn’t help the feeling something wasn’t right; she had never seen the slayer this way before. She had seen Faith happy, scared or sad but not like the look she had in her eye, that vacant, lost look. She knew taking on all of Buffy’s responsibilities may have been soon for the slayer seeking redemption, and now with Glory in the mix, the witch couldn’t help but sense the air changing around her. She was scared for Faith but all at the same time wanted to trust her; she was slowly falling for the woman. It was fast, but the instant connection to Faith made Tara feel more alive than she ever had before. It was completely different from how it had been when she dated Willow, she and Faith both came from broken pasts, and their souls instinctively wanted to heal each other. She would never tell Faith that, not yet, not so early. They hadn’t even discussed if they were in a relationship; telling the slayer she was falling in love could scare Faith away. Faith needed to progress in her own time, and for Faith, she was happy to wait.

“Hi, Tara!” Tara had her attention pulled away by her name being called next to her. A smiling Buffy greeted Tara’s sight.

“B...Buffy, hi, what are you doing here?” Tara asked, trying to mask her surprise.

“Well, mom’s doing good, and Dawn’s at a friend’s, so I figured I deserved a break. Figured I’d come to see if any of the gang was here...are you here alone?” Buffy asked, catching sight of the drink Tara was nursing and searched the room around her.

“Oh nnnno, I’m just waiting for F-Faith to get off patrol; she should be here any minute,” Tara explained nervously.

“Cool, I’ll hang with you guys then...unless I’m intruding?” Buffy asked, internally panicking as she realised she hadn’t really spent much alone time with Tara. Tara hesitated for a moment looking at the awkward look Buffy was sporting.

“You’re not; we’d love to hang with you,” Tara told Buffy feeling sorry for her, knowing she was sacrificing alone time with Faith. Buffy broke out in a relieved smile.

“Great, I’m just going to the bathroom; I’ll be back,” Buffy rushed off into the crowd leaving Tara alone at the table once again, so the witch turned her attention back to the band again. Before a minute could pass, the witch felt a hand on her shoulder; she smiled, knowing Faith had arrived and in good time.

“Hey you -,” Tara began as she turned around to see a tall frat boy smiling at the witch.

“Hey to you too,” The frat boy sneered at Tara as he undressed her with his eyes. Tara pushed the boy’s hand off her shoulder, awkwardly.

“Sorry, I thought you were s-someone else, c-c-can I help you?” Tara asked, her body language turning timid.

“That stutter is adorable; can I buy you a drink?” The frat boy leaned in, so his face was close to Tara’s, making the witch feel uncomfortable.

“No, thank you, an m-my friend will be back soon,”

“That’s ok; how about a dance while you wait?” The boy pushed more now.

“No, thank you,” Tara insisted as she looked around the boy hoping to see Buffy.

“Come on, baby, it’s just a dance. Why don’t you be nice to a guy?” The frat boy almost pleaded, not taking a hint or didn’t want to.

“Please leave m-me alone; I’m really not interested. I’m sorry,” Tara said more firmly, now trying to get the frat boy to leave.

The frat boy didn’t look happy at this; he didn’t appreciate rejection. The boy grabbed Tara’s wrist and pulled her close as she struggled to pull away. His face grew closer to hers so she could smell the alcohol on his breath.

“One dance and I’ll leave you alone. What’s the problem with that?!” The frat boy half asked and half-shouted, now being more aggressive.

“No! Get off me!” Tara struggled to get away as his grip tightened.

“Why are you being so diffic-,” The frat boy was cut off when Faith appeared from nowhere and pinned him against the wall, making him let go of Tara instantly.

“I’m pretty sure the lady said no dick wad!” Faith spat at the boy, tightening her grip on him; a fire burned in her eyes that she hadn’t had for a while.

“Get off me, you psycho bitch!” The boy snarled, trying to struggle free. Faith narrowed her rage-filled eyes.

“You want a psycho? I’ll give you a psycho!” Faith screamed as she launched the boy across the dance floor, making the crowd scatter like skittles as the boy crashed into an empty table full of glasses. “And I hate being called a bitch!” Faith stated as she stormed over to the shaken frat boy, not even noticing a shocked Tara watching on. Faith leapt onto the boy as he tried to get off the floor and straddled him.

“Jeez, lady, I’m sorry, I’ll leave her alone!” The frat boy pleaded with the raging slayer who had finally snapped.

“Sorry? Sorry’s not good enough!” Faith shouted as she began to punch the frat boy in the face.

The boy struggled to move his face away, but the slayer’s strength and speed were too much to resist. Faith continued to punch until his face was bloodied, not knowing how to stop. Suddenly her fist was caught mid-air by a furious looking Buffy. As the realisation of Faith’s actions hit home, Buffy lifted Faith off the floor by her injured shoulder and punched Faith with so much force; the brunette flew backwards, landing at Tara’s feet. Shaking off the blow, Faith climbed up to her feet to face an angry Buffy, and a horrified looking Tara and a room full of scared patrons.

“What the hell was that, Faith?!” Buffy screamed at Faith as she tried to get her breath back.

Faith looked down at her bleeding knuckles and then at the two women. She looked straight to Tara, who couldn’t keep eye contact. Faith’s heart broke at that moment; Tara had finally seen the monster that she was.

I...I’m sorry...I don’t...I...,” Faith tried to speak, but the tears building took control. She turned on her heel and sped off out of the Bronze. Buffy and Tara quickly followed, trying to fight through the crowd in their way. As they got through the exit, they found an empty street with a couple of stragglers hanging around, and Faith had disappeared.

“Damn it!” Buffy snapped, looking around to see where Faith had gone. “Tara, what happened in there?”

A shell shocked Tara looked to Buffy; still replaying the events in her head, she shook her head in disbelief.

“It happened so fast, that guy was being pushy with me, quite forceful wanting me to dance with him and then Faith came out of nowhere and just lost it; I’ve never seen her like that before,” Tara said, doing her best to understand the past few moments in her head, not understanding why Faith would behave in that way after such a long time.

Buffy brushed a hand through her hair, taking a look around her once more before turning back to Tara with glossy eyes and a glimpse of regret.

“Well, I have, and it didn’t end well,”

Chapter Text

Tara and Buffy set off at a brisk pace as they left the Bronze in search of Faith. Both women walked in silence, not sure of what to say to each other. Buffy was seething; she was watching history repeat itself in front of her, wondering if she had dealt with Faith in the right way or if Faith’s behaviour was too ingrained inside of her. 

Whereas all Tara felt was worry and dread, she didn’t understand where this behaviour had come, she knew the rogue slayer was tired lately, but even that couldn’t cause someone to lose control in the way the rogue slayer had. Everything had happened so fast, and she just wished she hadn’t been so shocked by the whole thing; maybe Faith wouldn’t have run away if she could’ve only held her hand and spoke to her rather than let Buffy’s anger and surprise panic the brunette. She couldn’t help it, though, even though she had been told about Faith’s past and her behaviours, it was something Tara hadn’t physically seen with her own eyes. Knowing what someone was like and then actually seeing it was a completely different thing. From the moment Tara and Faith had met, Tara hadn’t seen any violence that warranted being worried about, had she fell into a false sense of security, had Tara made the right decision when going after a relationship with the slayer. Was everything too soon? Seeing the good in the slayer had made everyone think that things were ok, but it was just a case of see no evil, hear no evil?

Tara couldn’t keep thinking about it; she knew she had to speak to the source first before jumping to any conclusions or regretting any decisions that she had been sure of in her mind to make. They had already made their way through town until they reached Faith’s apartment. Luckily for them both, Faith had given Tara a spare key for emergencies when she had moved back in. She rarely had to use it as they would typically be together in the apartment, but this time it was handy. Buffy had given the witch a quirked look when she realised that she had a key, but Buffy kept her opinions to herself, and Tara proceeded to let them in. They entered the flat to see that nothing had been moved. They split up to see if Faith was inside or hiding away. Whilst Buffy checked the bedroom, Tara made her way up to the rooftop to see if Faith had gone up there, but she found nothing. She had known Faith for a while, but areas the slayer would go to seemed to be foreign to the witch. Faith was never good about opening up about herself, she always tried, but it was always vague; she never liked to get into specifics. So begrudgingly, Tara made her way back to the flat where she found Buffy stood in the kitchen.

“No luck?” Tara asked Buffy, who had waited for the witch to come back.

“No, we should move on...I should’ve thought she wouldn’t be stupid enough to come back here...where did you go?” Buffy asked, leaning on the kitchen table.

“The r-r-roof. She likes to go up there sometimes but nothing...,” Tara replied nervously.

“So where should we check now? Giles isn’t back until tomorrow. Should we call the rest of the gang?” Buffy asked, but it sounded more like a statement.

“Maybe we should hold off until we’ve checked more places?” Tara asked, knowing Faith’s relationship with the rest of the gang, and she also didn’t want to hear Willow judgements about the slayer.

“It’ll take too long for us to cover that much ground alone,” Buffy said, shaking her head at the idea.

“Not if we split up, we could cover more ground that way,” Tara spoke up, knowing the fewer people involved, the less likelihood of scaring Faith off more if someone else found her.

“I can’t let you look for her alone when she’s like this; it might not be safe,” Buffy sympathised.

“It’ll be fine; Faith won’t hurt me, Buffy,” Tara told the slayer.

“You sound very confident about that, Tara. What makes you think that?”Buffy questioned the girl, intrigued by the comment.

“Myself and Faith have a special kind of relationship. I have never been scared of her, and even if she did try, I’m capable of looking after myself,” Tara told the blonde slayer, meaning to stand her ground.

“Yes, but now we don’t know how she’ll react; she didn’t exactly stick around to talk,” Buffy explained.

“I didn’t know how she would be when she was in the basement, but it was ok to leave me with her then?” Tara reasoned. Buffy stood up from the table she was leaning on.

“That was different; there was magic involved,” Buffy argued back.

“No, Buffy, that magic was to stop Faith running away, not from hurting me; I trust that Faith wouldn’t be a danger to me,” Tara replied, keeping her calm. She needed to be on Faith’s side if Buffy wasn’t going to be.

“And how can you know that? What’s the deal with you two anyway?” Buffy asked, now suspicious of why the witch was defending Faith so much.

Tara looked down at her feet, not sure of how to answer. She knew Faith had said she wouldn’t be ashamed of being seen with Tara, but she didn’t want to go behind the slayer's back and discuss their relationship when it hadn’t started yet.

“We...well...with getting to know each other in the basement and seeing our friendship develop since then...we started dating, it’s all kind of new to both of us really,” Tara nervously told a shocked looking Buffy.

“You and...Faith?” Buffy slowly asked, still processing the new information in her head.

“...Yeah,” Tara said quietly, nodding her head, now feeling awkward as she watched Buffy’s nonsensical reaction.

“When did you...uh...get together?” Buffy asked as she cleared her throat, trying to gain her composure from the shock.

“We had been tiptoeing around each other for a while, but we finally admitted our feelings on my birthday...,” Tara admitted quietly.

“I know Faith liked to flirt with everyone, but...I thought that was just Faith being Faith. I didn’t realise she was attracted to...,”

“Women? Yeah, me neither, but I guess our connection was undeniable,” Tara gave a half-laugh, thinking back on the little dance she and Faith would do before they got together.

“Is she the reason you and Will didn’t work out?” Buffy asked with gained curiosity as all of the pieces slowly came together of the two women’s relationship.

“Faith had nothing to do with Willow and me; it probably would’ve happened if I had never met her...things with Willow and me were...complicated, we’re much better as friends now,” Tara explained, shaking her head. She knew this was the kind of reaction she was expecting to receive, especially from Willow’s best friend.

Buffy just nodded along as she listened to the witch speak; learning this kind of information didn’t help the situation. Faith had still committed a brutal act against a defenceless human.

“So that’s why you think she wouldn’t hurt you?” Buffy now pushed.

“That and the fact she’s a changed person, we can’t react to her like it was last year, we need to go about this a different way than before...show her that we’ve changed as well,” Tara pressed, not allowing Buffy to go to a place of judgement like she had before.

Buffy’s took a deep breath listening to Tara’s words; she dropped her head in defeat as she remembered her actions all that time ago.

“So what are you suggesting we do?” Buffy asked as she pinched the bridge of her nose and looked back up.

“I have an idea of where to look next...but it’s a long shot. If that goes wrong, then we call Willow and do a tracking spell; I think if we found her alone, it might keep the situation that little bit calmer,” Tara suggested with hopefulness. Buffy nodded as she finally thought; she crossed her arms and looked back at the witch.

“Ok, I’ll check the docks as well...last time this happened, she tried to high tail it out of town...if I don’t hear from you in an hour...I’m going to have to get the gang,” Buffy stated, now back in serious slayer mode.

“...You think she would leave town?” Tara asked, slightly fearful of losing the rogue slayer that she had spent so long building a relationship with.

“One thing Faith’s always been good at was running away from her problems; I don’t know if that’s the case now, but we need to be ready for anything...so are we in agreement?” Buffy stated again before she would let Tara go anywhere. Tara just looked at the ground to hide her glossy eyes and just nodded her head.

“OK...,” Buffy stated with seriousness, doing her best not to feel sorry for the witch when she needed to concentrate on her sister slayer. Nodding her head, Buffy brushed past Tara whilst squeezing a hand on her shoulder as she passed and left the apartment.

After a moment of being left in silence, Tara lifted her head from looking at the floor and wiped her teary eyes. She took a deep breath through her nose and pushed her fears aside, she didn’t have long, and it wasn’t the time to be upset.

***

After leaving Faith’s apartment, Tara headed for the one place she thought Faith might have gone, Sunnydale High School. She remembered Faith telling her that when she woke from her coma, it was the first thing she asked about and the first place she headed; maybe she had gone back there. None of the Scooby’s would have thought to look there, so it would be the perfect hiding spot. She knew Faith didn’t want to be found, and knowing it was where Faith had first begun her wayward path in Sunnydale; then it would be the perfect place to hide.

Tara took care as she approached the old burnt out high school entrance, careful to look around her for any sign of the slayer or any dangers that may be lurking around her or in the school, the perfect place for any vampires or demons to hide or nest. Finding an opening in the wreckage, Tara pulled a flashlight from her bag and carefully climbed through the gap, making sure to avoid any of the structure that might not be safe. She stepped into what seemed to be the school's main hallway, she guessed from the size of it and the hundreds of destroyed lockers that littered the once standing walls. Slowly she made her way through the blackened corridor, doing her best to avoid any mayor guts or cracks in the unstable floor. The smell invaded her senses as she looked around; the old destroyed school had just been abandoned and left to its sad fate, like the town didn’t care about it anymore, finally free from all of its past dangers.

Tara tried to imagine what it would’ve been like to go to the high school, what the corridors would’ve looked like to walk them every day, with all the different bustling students rushing to classes or friends hanging out in front of their lockers without a care in the world. She smiled at the thoughts of how much life use to fill this now destroyed building.

She meandered deeper through the hallway, wondering what her life would’ve been like if she had gone to Sunnydale High. Would she have been popular, unlike her life back home where friends were a foreign concept? Would she have known the Scooby’s? Would she have been able to help Faith before things went wrong? All questions Tara couldn’t answer or ever know.

The witch wasn’t quite sure where she was going, but she figured heading further in would be her best bet. She came to a large open area; it was filled with a large amount of mayor meat, clearly the main source of the bomb blast. In some of the rubble, she could see a partially burnt and destroyed sign with the letters A.R.Y written on it. The witch could only assume it was the sign for the library, which Tara remembered Willow mentioning was where the mouth of hell was situated and where the Scooby’s spent the majority of their time, where everything had started and ended for them all. She knew it needed to be checked, so climbing over the rubble and watching every footstep, steadying herself as she journeyed through her obstacle. The floor was uneven and made it difficult for her to move as she used the wall to keep her balance. She ducked under a fallen door frame and crawled into the open space that must have been the library.

As she entered the destroyed cavern of the formerly known library, Tara edged in slowly as she could hear distant tapping, unsure of what she may walk in on. In the middle of the room was a large open hole with a small body sat on its edge. As she crept closer, she could make out the figure of Faith, who was throwing rocks into the large hole that she had her feet dangling over. Tara took a deep breath composing herself, and walked up to Faith, not sure of what she was going to do or say, but before she could get close enough, Faith spoke, stopping the witch in her tracks.

“Do you think there’s really a mouth down there? I’ve been throwing rocks down here for hours, but I can’t hear nothin’,” Faith asked absently, never turning her attention away from the hole.

“Faith?” Tara questioned, concerned by the slayer’s unsafe actions.

“I’ve been told this is the mouth of hell, more like a bottomless pit of inconvenience...Can you imagine just jumping in? Taking the fight to the source, not wait around like chumps?” Faith shook her head, pissed at the sight of what laid out the pathway of her existence.

“Don’t talk like that. Going down there would be suicide,” Tara replied, shocked by the thought. She quickly caught herself at her own panicked voice as she began to edge closer towards the disturbed slayer.

“Faith...honey...why don’t you come away so we can talk?” Tara asked in a low voice, not to make any sudden movements.

“I always thought being round this thing was why I became a killer like it infected me overtime. I’ve always been broken...makes sense I would turn out evil...,” Faith said, still keeping her attention down at the hole.

Tara’s heart broke at Faith’s words, a lump formed in her throat. How had such a strong, beautiful girl gone her whole life being made to think that her existence was destined to bad? How did no one see the issues that she must have had? Taking a risk, Tara shuffled over to where Faith was sat and carefully crouched to the floor and positioned herself next to Faith. She swung her legs over the edge and did her best not to look down at the blackness below. Taking deep, steady breaths so as not to panic, Tara reached a hand and placed it over Faith’s closest to her. Faith broke out of her daze at the instant contact and slowly turned her head to look at Tara. Her eyes were bloodshot, and the outside area of the eyes was red and puffy. There were light bruising along her headline; it looked like they were self-inflicted. She looked down at the hand, holding hers and back up to a slightly frightened Tara.

“Is...he dead?” Faith whispered, barely loud enough for Tara to hear.

“No (Tara gently shook her head). He’s pretty banged up, but he should live,” Tara told the slayer honestly. Faith just nodded and looked back down into the hole.

“I think Buffy should’ve let the council take me away...I haven’t changed...I’m a fraud,” Faith admitted out loud as she held back the tears that were burning her eyes.

“You are not a fraud; you have done so much good in the last few months,” Tara argued back, not wanting Faith to think so low of herself.

“Sure I have...as Buffy’s sidekick, but the only thing people remember is who I use to be,” Faith said with a half-laugh.

“Redemption isn’t easy, and it definitely doesn’t come overnight as long as you know who you are and where you want to go; that’s all that matters,” Tara told the slayer as she squeezed on the hand she was covering.

“And who am I? Where am I going? I live in a town that is constantly in Buffy fricken’ Summers shadow. I’ve spent my whole life living life like I was living in the moment but really...I have no identity. I exist with no purpose,” Faith said, finally letting the tears fall as she continued to stare into the darkness.

“Where is all this coming from? Why have you never said anything before if you feel like this?” Tara asked as her tears mirrored Faith’s.

“Why would I? So I can be pitied?” Faith snapped.

Tara looked taken aback by the slayer’s reaction; she went to respond but stopped herself, not wanting to cause an argument. Instead, she closed her eyes and breathed for a moment, choosing her words carefully.

“Is that why you hurt that guy at the Bronze?” Tara asked softly. Faith’s head whipped up to look at Tara.

“I was protecting you,” Faith stated, her eyes filled with hurt.

“That wasn’t just protection, Faith...there was far too much anger for that,” Tara explained with a frown.

“He had his arm on you. I needed to stop him...,” Faith trailed off as she tried to defend her actions. Tara shook her head slowly and placed her hand on the slayer’s arm now.

“He wasn’t a demon...and you know that wasn’t how you were supposed to be; I saw that on your face straight after...talk to me. Don’t become that girl from last year...,” Tara and Faith locked eyes. The guilt was overwhelming the slayer in a way she hadn’t felt before.

“I just wanted to prove I was good...First, Glory told me I would never be good, and I should work for her...then Spike last night telling me I could never be Buffy and that I just wanted to be her...I’ve busted my ass these last couple of weeks and still no one cares...I will always be reminded of my past...,” Faith spat as she felt the resentment rise inside of her.

“Glory and Spike had no right to speak to you like that, but of course you’re going to be reminded, enough time hasn’t passed...,” Faith looked at Tara in shock, surprised by the statement. “...but the point of redemption is to push through and to prove you’ve changed no matter what is said; you need to overcome that,” Tara reached a hand up to cup the slayer’s cheek.

Faith leaned into the touch, the softness of the witch’s hand bringing her comfort. Tears streamed down her face as she began to think she didn’t deserve the comfort she was given. She began to shake her head, trying to throw out all the bad thoughts rolling around in her mind. The feeling she would always start to feel when she was overwhelmed, usually before she would let all her frustrations out on the closest person to her but looking at the witch who had now pulled her hand away and the look of concern had returned. Shuffling backwards, Faith pulled herself up from the hole and rose from the ground. Grabbing clumps of her hair, she pulled tightly, wanting to feel something other than her own madness.

“Faith?” Tara called out in concern as Faith slowly made her way to the exit.

Tara frowned at the worrying sight and turned herself around to follow the slayer, but as she began to rise off the floor, she lost her footing under the rubble and slipped backwards. The witch screamed out as she fell back into the hole. Reaching her arms out in desperation to try and grab anything before plummeting to her death. Grabbing the first thing she could reach, Tara’s hand held a broken pipe sticking out of the floor. The broken metal sliced through her hand as she grasped tightly to stop her fall.

“Faith! Help!” Tara screamed out as the sharp pipe dug deeper into her hand, making her bleed more. The blood poured out quickly, making her grip loosen; she looked down at the blackness beneath her. The pain in her hand burned as she began to slip off of the pipe.

Suddenly a hand clasped around Tara’s arm. Tara looked up to see a distressed Faith holding on to her. Faith grasped her hand around Tara tightly as she pulled the woman out of the hole, pulling them both to safety away from the opening. Faith wrapped her arms around the blonde, pulling her closer; she almost lost her.

After a couple of minutes of just holding each other, Faith released Tara from the embrace and looked her over, pulling the injured hand closer to examine the damage.

“You could’ve let me fall,” Tara admitted quietly as she had silently watched the slayer’s movements.

“I could never let you go,” Faith told the witch without a second thought with a fear still lingering in her eyes.

Faith glided her hand above the bleeding wound on Tara’s hand, careful not to touch it, not wanting to hurt the woman. She could feel her heart beating through her chest, scared that she would hurt Tara rather than protect her. She felt like she was the reason for the fall.

“Does this not prove who you truly are? No matter your feelings or trepidations, you still chose to save me. You are a good person, Faith, the person I chose to be with...the person I chose to come and find tonight because I couldn’t bear to lose you,”

Faith cried, unable to respond; she could understand what was being said, but the noise could not leave her mouth; all words got caught in her throat.

“Will you come with me and at least leave this place?” Tara asked the conflicted woman. Faith began to shake her head slowly.

“You’ll make me see Buffy...I don’t want to see anyone,” Faith croaked out.

“We don’t have to see anyone; we can go to mine...I need to fix this wound...just come with me there, and we can just go from there...I promise,” Faith just thought for a moment and then silently nodded.

Tara reached her good hand out for Faith to take, who took the hand cautiously, and the two women slowly climbed from the ground, never letting go of each other. Faith turned her head and look back at the hole and then back to Tara.

“I’ll look after you...I promise,” Tara told the slayer, squeezing her hand affectionately.

Not even replying, Faith just put her arm around Tara’s shoulders and pulled her close and began their walk out of the High School.

Chapter Text

Tara gingerly pushed the dorm room door open; she entered the room with her injured hand clutched to her front that had now soaked her top in blood as a timid Faith followed behind her. As Faith stopped in the middle of the room not quite sure of what to do, Tara closed the door and quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around the open wound that had finally begun to clot itself but still not fast enough.

“Just take a seat...I need to call Buffy,” Tara told the petrified slayer whose eyes grew wide at the mention of other slayer’s name.
“Don’t worry; I just need to check-in...She won’t come here,” Tara reassured Faith whose breath had started to speed up in a panic.

The witch went over to the slayer and gently guided the panicked slayer to the bed and then made her way past to the bedside table. Quickly dialling the number Tara listened to the dial tone as she clutched her injured hand closer as the pain continued to radiate.

“Hello? Buffy? Yes, I’ve found her...everything is ok but it’ll probably be best to leave us alone....no, I’m fine, can I call you tomorrow and we can talk then...Ok, I will don’t worry...Goodnight,” Tara placed the phone down and turned back to the terrified Faith who was now just staring into space.

“Is she coming?” Is all Faith could say as she shakily continued to look away.

“No, I just needed to let her know I found you...I told you we would be alone,” Tara again reassured the brunette as she took a small zipped bag from her dresser and joined Faith on the edge of the bed.

The witch shuffled back fully onto the bed as Faith continued to stare ahead in a daze. The blonde looked at the slayer with sympathy and pain wishing she could press a button and fix whatever was wrong but couldn’t before turning her attention back to the bag on her lap. With her injured hand still wrapped up and clutched to her front she struggled to use the zip on the bag one-handed. Trying to open the zip was a slow process, it kept getting caught as she tugged on the metal ring, and she knew she needed help but the slayer seemed to be in a world of her own, so with no other option and being unable to call for help, Tara continued to struggle.

After a minute of fiddling a hand appeared over the bag and was pulled away from Tara’s grasp. In confusion, Tara looked up to see a very quiet Faith taking the bag and slowly unzipping it. Without saying a word the slayer opened the bag and pulled out some loose bandages and a sewing kit, she then placed them carefully onto the bed next to the witch. She then wrapped a soft hand around the wrist of Tara’s injured hand and pulled it away from the witch’s body so the palm was facing upwards. The witch quietly hissed as Faith un-wrapped the towel from the wound as Tara watched in fascination. Faith frowned at the sound.

“Did I hurt you?” The slayer asked still looking at the hand unable to make eye contact.

“It wasn’t you, it just stings is all,” Tara reassured Faith as she tried to gain some kind of eye contact.

Faith just silently nodded, standing from the bed Faith walked over to Tara’s fridge and took out a bottle of water and grabbed a towel hanging off the back of the door and made her way back over to the bed, still never saying a word.
Opening the water bottle, Faith poured some of the water onto the towel soaking it, then carefully taking the witches wrist again she began to pat away at the wound, vigilantly cleaning the area.

“Faith?” Tara asked quietly to get the slayer’s attention.

Faith just continued to clean the open wound ignoring the call of her name. Tara placed her other hand over the top of the towel stopping Faith’s motions.

“Faith...look at me,” Tara said a bit more firmly.

A few seconds later Faith looked up at Tara, her eyes bloodshot and glazed with tears, the slayer swallowed and clenched her jaw.

“You don’t have to do this,” Tara told her softly.

“...Yeah I do,” Faith replied quietly. “You’re hurt because of me,”

“You didn’t do this to me...,”

“...But it happened because you came looking for me,” Faith finished the witches sentence.

Faith continued to clean the wound with Tara lost for words. Faith continued to work in silence for a couple of minutes before placing the now bloodied towel down beside her.

“This needs stitches...,” Faith told Tara whilst still looking down.

“Ok...,” Tara replied as she looked down at the gaping wound and back to Faith. “I trust you to do it,”

“I...I can’t,” Faith started before Tara put her hand on Faith’s cheek to centre the woman.

“Yes you can...be better than what you think you are,” Tara told the slayer lovingly with a small smile.

“It’ll hurt,” Faith just stated showing her acknowledgement.

“That’s ok...we all have to live with a little bit of pain sometimes...it’s just how we cope with it that matters,” Tara leant forward and placed a soft kiss on the slayer’s lips before leaning back to patiently wait.

Faith just nodded her head still unable to respond knowing the witch wasn’t just talking about her injury. Taking the sewing kit, the slayer took out a needle and thread and with shaky hands, she threaded the needle. Pulling the injured hand closer, Faith hovered the needle just above the wound and looked up at Tara for consent. The blonde silently nodded letting Faith proceed to pinch the damaged skin together and pass the needle through the first patch of skin. Tara hissed again at the pain, not expecting the skin to feel so tight and sensitive after the nerves in her hand had been torn apart.

“I know you’re not ok right now but this would go a lot easier if you could distract me,” Tara said quickly wincing through the pain.

“I don’t know what to say,” Faith responded as she concentrated on her task.

“Tell me anything, it could be how to cook bacon...ahhh...anything,” Tara said through hisses. Faith gave a slight chuckle causing Tara to raise an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?”

“You...thinking bacon would be a distraction...ya know when I first became a slayer I got pretty banged up...I was on a power trip and went vamp hunting behind my watchers back...,” Faith began her story as she continued stitching.

“What happened?” Tara asked now intrigued.

“I came across this demon...I found him in a back alley and got cocky,”

“So then what?”

“Let’s just say it was like a cocker spaniel trying to bite a lion...I charged him and it was like hitting a wall, he threw me around like a ragdoll,” Faith continued as Tara became entranced in the story now forgetting about her hand.

 “So how did you get away?”Tara asked now not even noticing the pain.

“He got me pinned to a wall and I managed to jab him in the eye with a stake...didn’t kill him but he let go so I could get the hell out of there,” Faith gave a breathy laugh at the memory.

“What did your watched say when she found out?” Tara inquired.

“She didn’t, I avoided her for a week until I was healed but the funny part was...this demon...he sliced all the way down my arm...,”

“That’s the funny part?”

“Nope...I didn’t have insurance and couldn’t call my watcher so I got hold of a stapler...,”

“You didn’t?” Tara asked with wide-eyed astonishment as Faith nodded.

“I stapled my own arm back together, it hurt like a bitch, it took all night with this tiny paper stapler, in the end, I put the staples in with my hand so it would be quicker,”

“And that worked?”

“Not really but after that, I made sure to learn how to stitch, I never knew if I would be lucky enough to have stationary around to help in the future,” Tara laughed at the silly story coming from the slayer.
“And now...we’re...done,” Faith finished as she cut the remaining thread away.

Putting the needle away, Faith grabbed the bandaged and wrapped the freshly stitched wound as Tara continued to watch on affectionately. Once Faith finished with the bandages, Tara rose up from the bed and retrieved another towel and returned to her spot.

“Now it’s your turn,” Tara told a frowning Faith.

“What?” Faith replied raspier than usual.

Tara gestured to Faith’s face. “The scratches...they need to be cleaned...,”

“Oh,” Faith replied looking down ashamed by her own actions.

Grabbing the water bottle, Tara mirrored Faith previous movements and poured water on the towel. Carefully Tara took some of the brunette’s hair and pushed it behind her ear and began to dab at the scratches that littered her face.

“So are you going to tell me why you hurt yourself,” Tara asked softly, now wanting to distract the slayer.

“I was trying to get the bad thoughts out, I felt like my head was going to implode,” Faith admitted Tara stopped her movements.

“What thoughts sweetie?” Faith just shook her head not wanting to return to that place, that abyss of dark thoughts that invaded her mind and sent her to near insanity.
“I know it’s hard for you to talk but something isn’t ok, I want to help you but I can’t do that when you keep everything inside,”

“I don’t want to get angry again, if I think about it I can’t handle it,”

“Faith, honey, how often have you felt like this?” Tara asked as she continued to clean the slayer’s face as a way to show she wasn’t shocked by what she was hearing, trying to keep things more casual.

“...Dunno...most of my life...I just kinda explode then end up with five hundred crazy voices in my head telling me what’s wrong with me...then a couple of hours later it’s like nothing happened...as long as I don’t think about it I can usually keep it away for a while...,” Faith shrugged like the new information was nothing.

Tara finished cleaning the scratches and as soon as the towel was placed done Faith had jumped up and was walking around the room and stretching her arms out and above her head.

“Do you ever feel other ways?” Tara asked with a frown as she watched on at the sudden movement.

Faith stopped her stretching and started to walk over to the witch with a quirked eyebrow. She bent down so her face was mere inches away from Tara’s face.
“Oh I definitely feel lots of things,” Faith said seductively.

Tara pulled her head back from the unsettling behaviour. “Faith...what are you doing?”

“I don’t know...what...you’re talking about...,” Faith said slowly as she went in for a kiss with a horrified Tara pushing her away.

“Stop, we’re not doing this,” Tara said firmly. Not happy with the rejection, Faith stood back up and stormed over to the door. “Where are you going?”

“To find a good time!” Faith snapped as she pulled the door open which suddenly slammed shut on the slayer. Faith spun around to face the witch. “What the hell?!”

“I am not letting you leave! You went from beating a man to a psychotic break to trying to seducing me! You’re going to stay and talk whether you like it or not!” Tara snapped now standing from the bed to face the slayer that she had stopped from leaving.

Faith looked furious with clenched fists. “I don’t want to talk!”

“Well, you have to unless you’re telling me you really are a monster and everything you’ve said and done in the last few months has been a lie?!”

“Well, maybe it was!” Faith fired back.

The two women stared at each other in silence, the tension was palpable. Neither knew what to say, Faith began to shake, so many emotions were rushing through her body. She wanted to run, leave town and never return but her feet wouldn’t move, they were locked to the floor. The tears fell rapidly with Faith following them to the ground. Her knees hit the floor fast with Tara by her side in seconds holding the slayer close.

“Sssh...it’s ok,” Tara whispered as she rocked back and forth with her arms wrapped around the crying slayer, the last five minutes instantly forgotten. “Just let it out,”

And so Faith sobbed, she let everything inside of her out as she held onto the witch as though her life depended on it. All feelings of anger and worthlessness left her body through tears, after weeks of repressing her thoughts, feelings and insecurities, Faith actually allowed her body to express these emotions.

Tara continued to rock the slayer until the sound of her sobs began to dissipate into the darkness that had gradually surrounded them. Sniffling quietly a begrudged Faith pulled herself out of Tara’s embrace and sat up to wipe her eyes as Tara stroked the brunette’s hair lovingly.

“I’m sorry you shouldn’t have to deal with my shit,” Faith said softly.

“If I gave up on you then it would just be giving you permission to give up, I can see the kind of person you could be, I just wish you would believe in yourself more and open up,” Tara whispered back.

“What’s wrong with me?” Faith asked almost like a lost child.

“Nothing’s wrong with you...but I do think we need to find you help and it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Faith just silently nodded along with heavy eyes, all of the day’s events and emotions finally affecting her.

“I’m tired,” Faith replied just not knowing what to say.

“Then let’s get you to bed, you’re staying here and tomorrow once you’ve rested we can talk properly...ok,” Tara gently told the slayer not really giving her an option.

Faith looked up at the witch solemnly. “Are you sure?”

Tara took Faith’s hand and squeezed it with a sad smile. “I’m in this for the good and the bad,”

***

Faith woke up in a disorientated haze with all the events from the last twenty-four hours flooding her mind. Her head pounded from all the crying and her face stung as she could feel the sore afterburn of the scratches that littered her face as she rubbed away the morning tiredness. Again she awoke with the usual arm that covered her whenever she shared a bed with Tara.
Faith turned her head to look at the witch who was still sound asleep, she rolled her head back so she was staring up at the ceiling, she was stuck in a thought of just leaping from the bed and just running away as fast as she could but as she felt the weight of the arm on top of her she was instantly struck with memories.

Every moment from when she woke from the coma up until that point all that connected everything and how her life progressed was Tara. Tara had been the only person who had believed in her and fought for her, even through the toxic behaviour at the beginning, it gave Faith the strength to push through all the dark thoughts. As she contemplated having to face the issues of her mind as she had never done before brought conflict to the slayer.

So carefully taking the arm rested on her, Faith peeled the arm away and quietly sat up on the bed and looked around the room contemplatively. She looked around the small dorm that had become the witch’s home. The bookcases were lined with a mixture of textbooks and spellbooks. Trinkets, crystals and candles were dotted around the room respectively with Wiccan designed scarf’s covering the walls. The room was very Tara and in its gloominess it brought comfort to the slayer, it reminded her of her, an area of darkness with Tara at its centre. She had never cared about a person as much as she did for Tara and it scared the hell out of her, she felt so much pressure to be better for the blonde in fear of losing her, a pressure that would eat her up on the inside every day.

“Are you planning to run away?” A croaky Tara asked with her eyes closed bringing the slayer out of her daze.

“Thought ‘bout it,” Faith admitted with a soft chuckle.

Tara groggily opened her eyes and pulled herself up so she was lazily leant against the headboard with her gaze still on the slayer.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Tara replied calmly. Faith twisted her body around so she was facing the witch, still cross-legged on the edge of the bed.

“When things go sideways for me...I always ran...found a way to start a new life and forget everything else...but now things feel different,” A raspy Faith told the blonde who just looked on listening intently.

“How so, what changed?” The witch asked.

“...You...couldn’t imagine...well you know,” Faith said getting uncomfortable.

“No I don’t think I do...,” An amused Tara said sitting up straight now.

“Don’t do this to me...you do,” Faith said rolling her eyes.

“Nope, I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Tara replied now toying with the brunette.

Faith took a deep breath knowing the witch was playing stupid on purpose.
“...You ok...I don’t want to go anywhere without you...,”

Tara just smiled at the admission seeing how it hard it was for the slayer to admit out loud.

“Thank you,” Tara replied with a small smile as Faith dropped her shoulders at the response.

“Thank you? That’s all you have to say?”

“Well...yeah, I appreciate you telling me that, I know it wasn’t easy but when you share feelings you shouldn’t expect so much all the time...plus a lot happened last night...there’s still a lot to talk about and share,” Tara explained as she climbed out of the bed and began to collect her wash things.

“Ok...ok I get you...can I at least get some caffeine first...I need to wake up more first?” Faith asked deciding to go against her instincts to argue back. Tara just laughed.

“Yes, of course, I’ve just woken up too Faith, I wasn’t about to jump straight into it...I’m going to wash up then we can go to the Espresso pump...,” Tara walked around the bed and placed a kiss on the slayer’s forehead and left the dorm room leaving Faith behind to wait for her.

***

A couple of hours later Tara and Faith found themselves situated in the back of the Espresso pump with their coffees at a small intimate table. The women had been sat in silence for a few minutes quietly sipping their coffee, neither of them knew what to say or where to start. Faith held the coffee cup in her hand and swished around the little amount of liquid that was left at the bottom as Tara just watched on. Not wanting the silence to carry on Tara cleared her throat gaining the slayer's attention; Faith stopped playing with the cup and looked up sheepishly as she looked at the raised eyebrow pointed in her direction. She put down the cup that she had been playing with and sat up straight against her chair.

“Sorry,” Faith mumbled like a child who had just got into trouble.

“How are you feeling today?” Tara asked gently making sure to choose her words carefully. Faith just shrugged not really having an opinion on how she felt about last night.

“Ok...I guess...,” Faith replied.

“...Faith, I’m going to need more than ok,” Tara pushed.

“...Honestly? I don’t feel anything...I know last night was crazy with that guy and me going loco but I don’t feel anything, like it didn’t happen...,” Faith replied shamefully. Tara reached a hand across the table to take the slayer’s hand.

“And you’re acknowledging it and that’s the important part, would you want it to happen again?”

“No! That dude didn’t deserve me pummelling him even if he was a douche but at the same time it felt so easy...it’s like I wasn’t in the driver’s seat and just watching, all those times in the past I just found it easier to give in, fighting it was exhausting,”

“Have you ever thought about speaking to a professional, trying to get to the root of everything?” Tara asked knowing there was only so much she could help with, knowing her own limitations.

Faith just gave a breathy laugh as she let go of Tara’s hand and leant back into her chair and crossed her arms.
“With what money? I’ve never had any and I still don’t,” Faith gave off an attitude that Tara instantly picked up on.

“Faith don’t start with me, it’s hard enough keeping up with your emotions, don’t get angry when I’m just trying to help,” Tara asserted back. Faith dropped her raised eyebrows and uncrossed her arms at this.

“Sorry, I do try to stay calm but it’s hard ya know?” The slayer apologised looking on at the woman who tried to give her hope on a daily basis.

“It’s fine...well it’s not but it will be. The university does discount therapy so their students can practice, would you consider that?”

“What if I don’t like it? And how would I avoid any slayer topics?” Faith questioned as though looking for obstacles.

“Well do a couple of sessions and if it’s not for you then we can try something else and we can always come up with a fake story for the slayer thing? I know you don’t want this but could you at least try for me? Let’s show everyone you’re not what they think you are,” Tara pleaded knowing this could be the slayers last chance to prove herself.

Faith hesitated as she weighed her options and every time her mind went back to Tara and the future they could have together, Tara was her purpose to live for and seeing the worried witch in front of her just broke her heart.

“Ok. I’ll try it but what about everyone else? Buffy? Giles? Are they going to throw me back in the basement again?” Faith asked giving in. Tara looked around guiltily and down at her cup.

“You won’t go back to the basement...but you do need to talk to Buffy and tell her what you told me, it’s the only way to keep the trust,” Tara admitted bashfully to a shocked Faith.

“Can’t it wait for a couple of days? Give me time to get my head straight?” Faith asked petrified at the thought of how her fellow slayer would react.

“...Well, I may have called her when you were showering and told her it would happen today...,” Tara explained trailing off quietly as a panicked Faith jumped up from her seat.

The slayer’s body began to vibrate, not ready to speak out or deal with any judgements or anger directed towards her and it made her nauseous to think about it.
“W...Well, when is this meant to happen?” Faith asked with the panic obvious in her raspy voice as she looked down at Tara who seemed too nervous to answer.

“Now,” Came a voice from behind Faith.

Taking a deep breath and swallowing down the lump in her throat, Faith slowly turned around coming face to face with a very unimpressed looking Buffy.

Chapter Text

Chapter 29

 Faith stormed out of the Espresso Pump with Buffy and Tara following close behind. The brunette walked down the street as fast as her legs could carry her, she wasn’t prepared for the events that had just unfolded and felt so blindsided by Tara’s decision that hadn’t immediately been shared with her. She felt so lied to and really didn’t want to deal with Buffy; she didn’t need to be judged and talked down to like a child. Her blood was boiling and she needed to get away before making another bad decision. She charged through the busy streets of Sunnydale ignoring the two women following behind, she turned into a cul de sac of houses where all the people around her began to dissipate, looking for a direction where she could escape easily.

 “Faith, stop!” Tara called out as her fast walk had developed into a small run, finding it hard to keep up with the two slayers.

 “Just leave me alone!” Faith called back as she turned on the spot as she continued to walk backwards.

 “Faith, don’t do this!” Buffy warned.

 “Do what B? You’re the ones who plotted behind my back!” Faith spat back.

 “We didn’t plot, we just knew if you had your own way you would’ve stayed away as long as possible,” Tara tried to reason as she struggled to keep up.

 Faith stopped suddenly causing Buffy and Tara to stop abruptly.

 “So all that stuff about proving I can be different was bull when you decided I wouldn’t act any different!” Faith snapped at the witch.

Tara opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out, she realised the rogue slayer was right, she had behaved just like everyone else when she made an assumption.

“Faith, she was just doing what she thought was best!" Buffy said trying to defend the witch and diffuse the situation.

“No Buffy, she’s right (Buffy looked to Tara surprised) I always tell you that you can be anything you want and to show everyone how much you’ve changed and I decided your actions before you did. I should’ve spoken to you before ambushing you. I’m sorry,” Tara said now addressing Faith who had her lips tightly shut with a clenched jaw.

“So why do it? After everything you said last night?” Faith asked through gritted teeth. Tara shook her head at a loss as she stepped forward past a now uncomfortable Buffy who just watched on as the witch stepped closer to the annoyed brunette.

“I panicked...I was scared that your emotions would take over again and it would just make everything go on longer, I should’ve trusted you,” Tara admitted wanting to just reach out for the slayer but was too scared of the rejection.

“Yeah well all I think now is your a huge hypocrite,” Faith stopped before the anger in her would let her say something more hurtful.

“There must be something I can do to make everything ok?” Tara pleaded as she went to reach for the slayer who instantly pulled away.

“You can leave me alone...I really don’t want to be around you...you’re just like everyone else, I thought you were different,” And with that Faith turned on her heel and left a bleary-eyed Tara and began to walk away.

Buffy ran over to Tara and placed a comforting hand on the crying witches shoulder. “Tara, I...,” Buffy started before being interrupted.

“...Just go after her...,” Tara whispered through light sobs. Buffy frowned.

“What about you?” Buffy asked concerned.

“I’ll be fine...just make sure she’s ok,” Tara let out turning herself away, too embarrassed to face the blonde slayer.

Buffy gave one more concerned look towards Tara before running down the road towards Faith who had already created a fair amount of distance between them. Tara just stayed watching into the distance as she was struck with guilt and sadness.

***

Buffy raced through the streets hot on Faith’s tail who had been leading her through back alleys and past warehouses as the brunette tried to lose her but the blonde slayer refused to let Faith get away.

Faith’s blood was pumping fast, all she could hear was her own heartbeat. Her feet pounded on the pavement below her, growing in speed with every step. She could still see Buffy chasing behind, slowly catching up, she had taken so many detours but was unable to shake the fellow slayer.

Getting desperate for an escape Faith headed straight for the graveyard hoping to find a way to disappear through there. She weaved her way through the gravestones and tombs but Buffy was ready, the blonde took to the roofs of the mausoleums as she gained some distance and in one fell swoop she dove from the sky and tackled Faith to the floor.

As soon as Faith’s body hit the floor her reflexes kicked in and she swung a fist straight into Buffy’s face throwing the woman to the side of her. Ignoring the impact as Faith shuffled to get off of the floor; Buffy twirled her legs and hooked them around Faith’s waist flipping around so Buffy was now straddling the brunette. Faith struggled under Buffy as she tried to wriggle free, Buffy grabbed at Buffy’s wrists and pinned her arms to the ground.

Faith screamed out in frustration throwing her body around just wanting to get free from the weight on top of her. Buffy felt like she was on a mechanical bull, the brute force of Faith’s strength and anger was difficult to control but she just held on tightly, praying the younger slayer would soon grow tired or at least get bored of fighting.

Faith threw her head up to head-butt Buffy who readily dodged the impact whilst making sure to not lose her grip on the brunette. The rogue slayer screamed, all frustrations carried up to the surface and blew over Buffy’s face and in that moment Buffy almost felt Faith’s anger as a part of her own emotions. The brunette’s screams travelled through Buffy’s pores, bubbling through her veins making herself nauseous but she refused to give up, she knew Tara was right when their past behaviours with Faith needed to change if anything was ever going to progress between them.

“Goddammit Faith, calm down!” Buffy screamed as she slammed Faith’s arms against the ground trying her best to gain control. “You need to stop!”

“No, let me go!” Faith shouted back as she tried to wriggle away.

“Faith this isn’t you! Let me help, please!” Buffy cried out in desperation making Faith stop everything she was doing and just stared up at the blonde slayer.

Both slayers looked at each other in silence, Buffy with confusion whereas Faith was in pure shock, never expecting those words to ever be said to her from one Buffy Summers.

“W...What?” Faith whispered in disbelief.

“Let me help you, please don’t let history repeat itself,” Buffy replied genuinely, all signs of her anger and distrust long gone.

Faith continued to breathe heavily as she led her head back down on the ground as she let the anger dissipate through her body turning into light tingles, the prickles affecting every nerve ending. A cloud slowly descended through her mind as the events of the last hour or so began to merge into one, like everything that had happened was a dream placed into her head. As she relived the memories in her mind the more they slipped away and covering her in a confused haze.

Seeing the brunette was no longer a threat, Buffy cautiously let go of Faith’s wrists. Sitting up straight on her knees, the slayer pushed herself up off the ground and stretched out an arm for Faith. The brunette stared at the offered hand for a moment before grabbing it and was pulled up from the Earth. As soon as she was eye level with the other slayer, Faith took her hand back and let Buffy’s arm drop. She took an uncomfortable step back giving both the women a bit of space between them.

***

Buffy and Faith spent the rest of the afternoon aimlessly walking around the cemetery until they found themselves sat on the roof edge of a mausoleum before night set in. Buffy had just followed Faith in silence not knowing what to say nor wanting to cause an argument but stuck close sensing Faith didn’t want to be left alone. They stared out across the sky and as they witnessed the sun began to make its slow descent downwards past their eye line.

“So is this you helping me, following me like a stalker and waiting for me to talk?” Faith asked finally giving in as she realised Buffy wasn’t going to leave her alone.

“Pretty much, it seems to have worked...,” Buffy shrugged causing Faith to roll her eyes.

“Are you still pissed?” Faith asked not sure of Buffy’s body language.

“No...Well yeah a little but can you blame me?”

“I guess not...I did go all Faith 1999...I’m sorry ok,” Faith replied now just fed up of herself.

“Did...you actually...just apologise?” Buffy asked as her head whipped to the side looking at Faith in surprise.

“Hey don’t make a thing of it ok, it won’t happen again,” Faith replied holding a hand up in warning.

“Again? I’m shocked the words escaped your mouth and you didn’t implode,” Buffy teased nudging her shoulder into Faith; the brunette just rolled her eyes. “You know I was so angry last night, I was about ready to lock you up in the strongest cell I could find, I was convinced you had pulled the wool over our eyes,”

“You still feel that way?” Faith asked staring out ahead of her.

“Oh I’m still mad as hell but not like last night,”

“What changed?”

“Tara...,” Buffy stated simply as Faith looked at the blonde with slight annoyance in her eyes at the witches name. “...She reminded me that we’re in the present and yes the worst thing you could’ve done was run away but you have changed and it doesn’t make sense for you to explode the way you did,”

“Running away was the worst? Dude I pummelled that guy.” Faith joked dryly.

“Ok yeah that was really bad but you didn’t stop to take responsibility which is way worse and hearing the way Tara defend you even after finding you I had to reconsider things...She really does care about you...,”

“Yeah, sure she does...She was just using me like everyone else in the past but actions speak louder than words,”

“And you got all that from her calling me to the Espresso Pump...Wow, Tara really needs to question her taste in women,”

“...Wait, you know?” Faith asked taken aback.

“Yeah Tara told me last night when I was ready to rip you a new one...or was that not ok?” Buffy asked worried she had put Tara in a worst light.

“No it’s fine...I guess I’m just surprised...like acknowledging us even if we‘re not fully an us yet...But it doesn’t change anything, she lied and that’s how it starts,” Faith said shaking any thoughts of the witch out of her head.

“Really, you think Tara is the type of person to use you and compulsively lie?

“I didn’t before, she use to be the only one in my corner-,”

“-and she still is that person!” Buffy cut in and argued back.

“Then why the sneakiness? She spent all night telling me to prove myself and then went behind my back, where’s the trust there huh?”

“So what? Don’t give me that crap, you would’ve stayed away from me as long as possible, you’re just looking for a reason to find an out,”

“I don’t think so B,” Faith shrugged as she disregarded the statement.

“Uhuh F, it all makes sense now. You two have been gooey-eyed since you first met and all she’s done is stand up for you and defend you, you’re just looking for an out before anything gets too serious,” Buffy challenged the younger slayer.

Faith just looked at Buffy with glossy eyes, she would never admit Buffy was right but she couldn’t bear the thought of hurting Tara. She was so close to falling apart last night and if that happened again who knows what could happen. She had already shown everyone that she was capable of anything and seeing Tara genuinely scared of her just flashed images of a potential future in her head of ruining the witch’s life.

Buffy narrowed her eyes as realisation hit as she watched Faith hold back any emotion.
“You love her...don't you?” Buffy challenged Faith.

Faith just looked down at her feet dangling over the edge of the roof as a lone tear dropped.
“It doesn’t matter because Glory was right, I am just a hot mess,” Faith shrugged feeling so lost and confused, never expecting to be discussing her love life with Buffy Summers.

“Glory, when did you see Glory?” Buffy responded to the admission in shock.

“A few days ago...I was going to tell you when you weren’t helping your mom out, she basically kicked the crap out of me, told me how useless I am and then offered me a job,”

“A job, what kind of job?” Buffy pressed now focussed on Glory and what the mysterious woman could be planning.

“She said if I helped her find some key, in return I could run Sunnydale and get rid of you...,” Buffy just looked at Faith with slight anticipation. “...And I obviously told her to buzz off,”

Buffy let out a breath she didn’t realise that she was holding as Faith rolled her eyes at the predictable behaviour.
“Oh yeah...yeah of course...so you think your little meeting with her pushed you over the edge?”

“I guess...I dunno...A lot happened this week...maybe I do need help...,” Faith admitted, tired of the constant battles in life and in her mind.

“Maybe you do but when I first met you, you would never have admitted that out loud...you have come a long way since then,” Buffy reassured the brunette who was now becoming awkward from all the niceties between them.

“So what now?” Faith asked after a moment.

“Giles is back tomorrow, I’m going to have to update him and tell him everything that happened since he left,” Faith just nodded along.

“Can I tell him?” Faith asked quietly.

“You’re not going to shop me in again are you?” Buffy joked in a serious tone.

“Funny B, I just think it's better coming from me ya know...But will you be there too?” Faith shyly asked for support, Buffy just gave a small smile.

“Yeah sure...any excuse to watch Giles get frustrated with new information...him finding out the troll will just be a bonus too,” Buffy teased to lighten the mood.

It went silent again as the two women looked ahead in a content silence as they watched the sun almost disappear completely welcoming the night. It was the most still they had ever been together and it was such a peaceful feeling.

“We should probably go...I need to go and check on mom and Dawn,” Buffy said as she pushed off the roof and landed smoothly on the ground.

“Guess I should head back before my grilling tomorrow,” Faith agreed begrudgingly as she followed Buffy’s movements.

“Back to yours...or Tara’s?” Buffy enquired with little subtly. Faith just shook her head.

“I think I just need to be alone tonight B...and don’t worry I won’t run,”

“...I’m not, I trust you,” Buffy replied sincerely. Faith nodded with an embarrassed slanted smile as she and Buffy made their way slowly out of the graveyard.

“B, have you heard of a key?” Faith asked as she remembered what Glory had asked her to do.

“A key?” Buffy crumpled her eyebrows as she coyly replied.

“Yeah Glory mentioned she was looking for one...do you know what she was talking about?” Faith pushed as she picked up on Buffy’s bad lying skills.

They walked in silence again as Buffy contemplated what to say and thinking about the day’s events and how out of control things can become just from one small lie. Stopping her movements, Buffy turned and faced a confused looking Faith.

“Giles and I know about it, we found out as soon as Glory came on the scene,” Buffy admitted taking a risk of what response she would get.

“So why didn’t you tell me?” Faith asked as she pushed her anger down.

“We didn’t tell anyone, the less people who know the better, at least until we had more information...,”

“So that’s why G went to England, you sent him on a research mission?”

“Well that was his idea but yeah...please don’t be angry,” Buffy pleaded not having the energy to fight Faith again that day.

“Are you and G gonna tell me everything tomorrow or is this all I’m allowed to know?”

“If anyone else would’ve asked I would’ve denied it but you’re a slayer too and I did just say I trust you. You can know everything that we do but no one else can know,” Buffy explained to Faith who just nodded silently with a distant look in her eyes.

Faith contemplated how to react, a part of her felt so betrayed that she wasn’t trusted with this information before but then she thought about how she doesn’t exactly have a history of being trusted with information in the past. This was the moment she had to pick her decision carefully and not let her emotions take over, she needed to prove herself. A moment later the slayer looked at Buffy with her signature grin.

“Then we’re five by five B,”

Chapter Text

The next evening Faith had found herself sat on Buffy’s porch fence as she waited for the Scoobie’s to finish up their catch up meeting with Giles now he was back in town. She had spent most of the day watching crappy films in her apartment and ignoring any phone calls from Tara.
She felt bad that she refused to talk to the witch but until she could get her head around her own feelings and how that could affect her future and everyone around her it was easier to keep the witch at an arm's length for her own safety and happiness, so she moped around and did her best to figure out what she would say to Giles. So when Buffy called to make sure she would go over she had failed to mention that everyone would be in attendance and when she arrived to see the Scoobies through the living room window, upon seeing this Faith resigned herself to staying outside until they decided it was time to leave.

First Xander and Anya appeared as they left through the front door. They were cuddled up and looked about ready to enjoy an early night together. As the door shut behind them Xander looked up and noticed Faith sat on the fence with one leg hanging off the edge casually.

“Faith?”Xander questioningly stated.

“What’s up?” Faith replied with a small nod.

“What are you doing out here, are we not cool enough to hang out with now or something?” The man joked innocently, obviously unaware of Faith’s actions in the last few days.

Faith raised an eyebrow ready to give a cheeky response back just to tease the couple when the front door opened and a blonde and redhead appeared with laughter following them. Faith’s face went white and any response she had quickly disappeared. Her eyes moved straight to Tara who at that moment instantly noticed the slayer. It felt like an hour passed for them but in reality, it took a split second for Faith to look down at the ground uncomfortably. Tara looked on with hurt which wasn’t missed by Willow who had also stopped laughing to see what Tara had seen. She looked between the two women confused by the behaviour but was quick to keep her opinions to herself.

Tara looked down in sadness as she felt the slayer’s silent rejection but before anyone could comment Buffy appeared in the doorway.

“What are you guys still doing here...?” Buffy asked with a joyful tone as she reached the doorway. As she appeared she realised everyone was quiet and had their attention pointed to Faith who was sat in silence.

“Hey Buffster, did you put Faith in the corner again?” Xander mocked to break the awkward silence that had fallen upon everyone.

“Oh Faith, you made it...we were just finishing up...have you been here long?” Buffy asked the brunette as she ignored Xander’s joke.

“Ahem, Nah just got here, figured I’d wait for the party to clear out, is G here?” Faith replied casually knowing she had actually been there a lot longer.

“Honey we need to go, we’re going to miss the show with the cakes,” Anya added to Xander as boredom struck her, ignoring all the awkward looks and atmosphere.

“Oh...yeah sure...sorry...do you gals want a lift?” Xander asked now addressing the two witches.

“Oh I don’t mind walking, how about you Tare?” Willow replied innocently hoping she could have some alone time with the blonde.

Tara had already clocked onto what Willow was planning and really wasn’t in the mood for conversation with anyone. Seeing Faith had already brought so many feelings to the surface was bad enough without a grilling from Willow.

“Actually a lift would be nice I’m quite tired,” Tara addressed Xander and Willow making sure to avoid Faith’s eye line.

“Sorry Will I guess that’s three out of four, you can come with us...we’ll leave you guys to it,” Xander smiled as he took a step back leaving space to let all the women go ahead of him.

Anya happily took her opportunity and headed off the porch. Tara gave a side glance to Faith who made sure to stare at the ground as she followed behind Anya. Willow looked between Faith and Tara suspiciously one more time before giving Buffy another hug and headed to Xander’s car with an oblivious Xander following by her side.

As the gang left the porch a now silent Faith stood up and walked towards Buffy who was still stood in the doorway watching everything unfold.

“Thanks for telling me everyone would be here,” Faith stated sarcastically.

“Oh ssh, you’re just touchy cos you’re too chicken to talk to Tara,” Buffy rolled her eyes and started walking back into the living room leaving Faith to follow.

“I am not a chicken!” Faith called as she followed Buffy and kicked the door shut behind her.

“Who’s having chicken?” Giles asked only catching the end of what was being said as he placed his cup down from where he was sat in the armchair.

Buffy laughed at the baffled looking ex-watcher and took a place on the sofa as Faith slumped down on the other end of the sofa.

“Hello Faith, how have you been?” Giles greeted the other slayer happily.

Faith screwed up her mouth and looked at Giles guiltily and then to Buffy who shrugged back at her and then turned her attention back to Giles who had already caught onto the silent looks.

“Oh god, what happened? Do I even want to know?” Giles asked dreading what he was about to hear.

Both slayers just looked at each other one more time before Faith began her explanation of what happened whilst he was away. She started off light with what happened with the troll in the magic box which did make the ex-watcher clean his glasses quite a few times. Once over the shock of Willow and Anya’s magical adventure she moved on to her run-in with Glory straight after with Buffy listening much more intently this time as she wasn’t around to witness the actual events. She then explained her conversation with Spike with little bits tweaked for Buffy’s sake which left her with the final part of her story, the frat guy that she beat up and how she handled it afterwards.

None of it was easy for Faith to say out loud, the whole time she just wanted to find a way to place the blame onto somebody else and it took all the resilience that she possessed to just keep telling the truth no matter how hard it was. The whole story felt like it was taking hours for her to tell with all her inner conflict but in reality, it had only taken a few minutes.

Finally saying her peace, Faith sat back against the sofa with her arms crossed as Giles got up from his seat and paced the room silently. Buffy looked on in nervous anticipation and scooted over so she was closer to Faith, without taking her eyes off of Giles she leaned her head close to the other slayer’s.

“I think you broke him...he’s not even making that clucking sound he makes when he’s annoyed...,” Buffy whispered to Faith.

“She did not ‘break’ me Buffy,” Giles responded making the two slayers jump. “I am deeply disappointed though, this isn’t exactly what I was hoping to come back to,”

“I’m sorry G, I know I screwed up,” Faith replied to the ex-watcher as she sat up straight. Giles released a breath and removed his glasses again to clean as he looked at the guilt-ridden Faith.

Giles dropped his shoulders in defeat as he looked at the slayer whose bags under her eyes showed the lack of sleep she obviously not had in a while. Her body still showed the slight remnants of bruising and cuts that littered her. She was obviously punishing herself more than anybody else. He stopped pacing and sat back on the edge of his seat and leaned closer to the two slayers.

“I understand slips can happen and if what you’re saying and feeling is true then perhaps we need to start looking more closely at how we can help you. Perhaps look at how you both split slayer duties and build more structure and look more into this therapist that Tara spoke about, obviously, this isn’t the best time what with the council coming to town...,” Giles explained empathetically.

“Excuse you?” Faith asked with wide eyes. Buffy shot forward at Giles’s slip.

“Giles we haven’t told her about the council yet,” Buffy hissed looking over at the shocked brunette.

“Ah yes, sorry...they have information on Glory that we cannot obtain,”

“Why? Why are they coming – can they not come?” Faith asked thinking on when the last two times she interacted with the council and both times she was being kidnapped.

“See that’s exactly what I said,” Buffy pointed out at Faith’s response. Giles ignored the comment.

“Faith, it’s imperative that we receive this new information,” Giles pushed.

“Yeah yeah I get it but don’t expect me to be around when they get here,” Faith replied returning to her tough demeanour.

“I actually thought it would be a good idea for you to be there if not to support Buffy but perhaps to show them the progress that you’ve made so far. I know we’ve hit a blip but that still doesn’t undo what progress you have made,” Giles said as he tried to appeal to Faith’s better nature.

“I dunno G...,” Faith replied hesitantly.

“Please Faith, I could really do with some backup, they make my toes curl just as much as yours,” Buffy said jumping in to back Giles up.

“Last time I saw them they tried to kill me,” Faith argued.

“Uh, same here! And I quit!”

“Yeah well, I’m a murderer!”

“...Yeah, well-,”

“Enough!” Giles snapped at the squabbling. “This isn’t a competition, Buffy you stay quiet and Faith you can be there when the council arrive. We will make sure nothing happens to you when they’re around...And we can say this is penance for your behaviour, give you time to think about your actions,”

“Hold up, what happened to discussing this?” Faith exclaimed defensively.

“I changed my mind, if we all have to suffer then you can suffer too,” Giles said with finality. Faith looked to Buffy baffled but all she received back was a shrug of the shoulders leaving Faith to slump back onto the sofa in a huff.

***

The next evening Faith made her way through the streets of Sunnydale, heading over to the magic box. Giles had just called for her to meet him and Buffy there, not thinking to ask why, she just left straight away and headed right there.

As she rounded the corner she could see someone walking straight ahead of her, squinting her eyes she could see the flash of blonde that was Buffy. Picking up the pace, Faith fell into a light jog and caught up to the fast walking Buffy. Faith placed a hand on Buffy’s shoulder causing the other slayer to jump and turn towards the hand.

“Oh god Faith you made me jump,” Buffy breathed as the two women started walking in sync, getting closer to the magic box.

“Yeah, I can see, what’s got you so uptight?” Faith inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh...um nothing...just a long day. I hope Giles doesn’t keep us too long, I just want my bed,” Buffy whined as the magic box came into view.

“Did he tell you what was up? He was pretty blunt on the phone,”

“No, he left a message with mom; he didn’t say why...I hope it’s nothing bad,”

“Could be Glory?” Faith suggested knowing that was their priority lately.

“He might have information on the key...Ya know...I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk to you about the key last night-,”

“-No it’s cool...I’ve been thinking I don’t want to know anything, (Buffy looked surprised) not yet anyway. I want to wait until you know more and ready for everyone to know,” Faith interrupted.

“Why? I don’t understand, you wanted to before?” Buffy asked.

“I just think it’s safer, I’ve already had that Glory chick sniffing around, we shouldn’t risk me knowing anything,” Faith told the blonde having decided she wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility.

“Are you sure?” Buffy asked as they stood outside of the dimly lit magic box with her hand resting on the doorknob.

“Yeah, it’s all good, I think I’ll just plead ignorance for a while,” Faith gave a forced side smile.

Buffy just nodded knowing there was more to it but didn’t want to push, Faith had been through a lot, at least one of them should get a slight break in any way that they can. Turning the handle the usual bell rung as both women entered coming face to face with a shop full of watchers.

“Nope,” “Bad day. Bad, Baaad...,” The two women reacted immediately as they started to back away but they were already noticed.

“Miss Summers...good to see you again...Miss Lehane... I’m glad you made it,” Quentin Travers greeted the two slayers making it known that he had seen them.

“Mr Travers,” Buffy stated more than greeted as a stone-faced Faith followed Buffy into the centre of the shop, keeping her guard up the whole time.

“Giles has just been telling us of your training regimen. Perhaps you’ll both favour us with a demonstration... whilst we're here?” Quentin suggested.

“Right now?” Buffy asked nervously as she looked at the unimpressed Faith who was just staring dead-on at Quentin.

“No need to rush you,” Quentin raised a hand in defence.

“They’re...staying a little longer than I had anticipated,” Giles said ruefully.

“We’ve already laid out our project for Mr Giles-,”

“-Seeing as you want to use us why don’t you lay it out for us,” Faith snapped as she interrupted. She was furious with the way he spoke. She had never met him before and he was already talking like they were dirt on the bottom of his shoe with his fake attempt at politeness. Quentin just looked at Faith intently still looking calm as if intrigued by the brunette slayer.

“Nigel?” Was the only response that Quentin gave whilst still locking eyes with Faith. A watcher of Indian descent stepped forward to address the slayers.

“It’s an exhaustive examination of your procedures and abilities. We’ll observe your training, talk to your friends...,”

“Talk to my friends?” Buffy jumped in surprise.

“Yes, we understand you’re still taking civilians out on patrol,” Quentin replied with a patronising chuckle.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” Buffy rolled her head in disbelief.

“Buffy...I can sense your resistance, and I don’t blame you but I think your watcher hasn’t reminded you lately of the resolute status of players in our little game. The council fight evil. The slayer is the instrument by which we fight. The council remains, the slayers change. It’s been that way from the beginning,” Quentin lectured to the blonde slayer.

“Bit of outdated thinking there England, you’re not wanted here,” Faith added in annoyance.

“Rather hypocritical for someone who had almost killed a young man a few days ago, (Faith’s mouth dropped open) we always do our research before entering any establishment and the only reason we haven’t taken you into custody is because we’ve decided to review your skills alongside miss Summers, to make sure your peers around you haven’t made a wrong decision in your so-called redemption. So if you’ll just let me speak to Buffy because I think she’s understanding me,” Quentin said calmly as he turned his attention back to Buffy as Faith clenched her jaw in anger and leant against the bookcase with her arms crossed.

“Glory is stronger than both of you. She’s a more powerful instrument if you will. We can help you. We have information that will help. Pass the review and we give it to you without reservation. Fail the review, either through incompetence or by resisting our recommendations...-,”

“Resisting your recommendations? They fail if we don’t do whatever you say! How much under your thumb do you think we are?” Giles jumped in angrily as he defended his slayers.

“How much do you want our help?” Quentin calmly stated unbothered by the outburst.

“They are not your bloody instruments and you have no right to do any of this!” Giles angrily poked his finger at Quentin as nearby watchers jumped forward and restrained him.

“Giles!” Buffy exclaimed at the man’s behaviour. Giles shrugged off the watchers and moved away from Quentin.

“I understand you think this is unfair but there are factors which should motivate you to go along with the review. Now, I don’t want to do this but obviously we could shut this place down permanently,” Quentin threatened with ease.

“You can’t do that. You don’t have that kind of power,” Buffy snapped at the threat.

“He’s all talk B,” Faith said as she joined Buffy’s side as she stared Quentin down.

“Of course we do, and a great deal more. In fact, if you insist on fighting us, we’ll arrange to have Mr Giles deported within the day. Never set foot in this country again...and you Miss Lehane. We will have your criminal record re-established and have you placed in deep isolation until the next slayer is called. Now perhaps you’re used to idle threats and sloppy discipline Miss Summers but you’re dealing with grown-ups now...Am I making myself clear?” Quentin stated not even blinking to show how serious he was being.

Buffy was fuming as her gaze moved from Quentin to Giles and finally to Faith who had dropped her crossed arms and stormed out of the magic box, unable to deal with the threats and escaping before she could show Quentin how she really felt.

Buffy watched her fellow slayer leave before turning her attention back to Quentin with a glare that could kill.

Chapter Text

“I need to know a little bit more about the slayers, and about both of you. Your relationship whatever you can tell me,” The Indian watcher known as Nigel told the two witches who were sat nervously on the edge of Willow’s bed in her dorm room.

He stood over them in an authoritative manner as he looked down on them like children, with their nervous bodies sat close together and with their hands held into place in their laps as they looked up at him unsure of how to act or present themselves.

Tara had rushed over to Willow’s dorm that morning when Buffy called them both the night before to warn them of their impending questioning. This was something that Tara just wasn’t prepared for. After finishing up her lectures the witch had planned to hide away for the weekend and not speak to anyone, after what happened with herself and Faith she just didn’t want to face the world. She had tried to get hold of the slayer on multiple occasions but it always went to answer phone and when she had seen Faith on Buffy’s porch the other evening she thought she had felt her heart ripped in two. The slayer couldn’t even look at her and there was no way of speaking to her with everyone around, she had screwed up the one thing that she just didn’t want to let go of. She just didn’t know how to show Faith that she could be trusted after betraying her, it was only a small lie but enough of one to dismiss her credibility. She couldn’t bear to see the slayer and be rejected again and now she was stuck in a room with Willow who still very much wanted them to get back together and since their conversation in the hospital had been desperate for them both to talk. Tara had been good at avoiding the witch for a while but now she had no other option. She had arrived at Willows early and within seconds the council had appeared, there were no niceties and it was straight to business.

“O-o-our relationship?” Tara stammered confusedly as to how her and Willow’s relationship could have anything to do with the interview. Herself and Willow looked at each other nervously and then back to Nigel who was waiting patiently for a response.

“Well we’re friends,” Willow uttered nervously.

“Good friends,” Tara agreed with a small smile looking to Willow for agreement.

“Well we were more...girlfriends...gay together...but not anymore,” Willow babbled in nervousness with Tara now looking at her with a concerned raised eyebrow.

“Past tense...now just friendship...very good friendship,” Tara reaffirmed as she shuffled on the bed putting a small amount of space between herself and Willow.

“I meant your relationship with the slayers,” Nigel replied flat after a moment of just looking at the two women blankly.

“Oh...s-s-sorry,” Tara replied meekly embarrassed by her lapse of judgement.

Nigel rolled his eyes and scribbled some notes down on his clipboard aggressively for a minute leaving the room in silence as Willow and Tara just waited.

“Buffy’s the best, she’s very good at what she does and has always been very loyal. She’s saved the world so many times, Giles, Xander and I helped her last year by merging into one to defeat a government made demon,” Willow said as she ignored the last awkward moment to shine her best friend in a good light.

“Are you saying the Miss Summers needs that level of help from you often?” Nigel asked.

“No, no she doesn’t need help,” Willow quickly argued.

“She’d be fine without us. Sometimes she goes off and does stuff without even telling us,” Tara jumped to help Willow.

“Not that she’s a, a weird loner or anything,” Willow quickly jumped on the defence knowing what Tara had said sounded like.

“I’m not sure we’re saying this right,” Tara said looking at Willow defeated.

“See, here’s the thing. We...we can do magic’s. I’m working on this ball of sunshine thing. See, I have this theory,” Willow said now addressing Nigel.

“It’s very cool,” Tara agreed.

“A..and if it works, easier slaying for Buffy. Not that it’s hard for her now!” Willow quickly backtracked.

“Interesting. What level are you at?” Nigel enquired as he wrote more notes.

“Level?” Tara asked confused.

“Magical proficiency level?” Nigel asked like it was common knowledge.

“Oh! Uh, high, a high level. Very high. One of those...top levels,” Willow said trying her best to lie.

“Five!” Tara blurted out trying to help her cause as Willow mouthed five back to her and she just shrugged. Nigel just looked at them suspiciously as he wrote more notes down.

“And you’re registered as practising witches under the names as you gave them to me?” Nigel confirmed.

“R...registered?” Tara asked with slight panic.

“Oh yes! Yes, of course, we’re...-,”

“-...r-r-registered,” Tara finished for the redhead confirming her fake story. Nigel just looked them both over not completely believing them but continued to write more notes.

“And what of Miss Lehane?” Nigel asked now looking up from his clipboard.

“W...what about Faith?” Tara asked nervously whilst Willow stayed silent.

“Miss Lehane recently came to work with you all again after waking from her coma, so do you have any concerns about her ability for slaying?” Nigel asked the two women.

“No...,” “Yes...,” Both answered at the same time, they looked at each other in shock of each other’s response.

“Interesting, you both seem conflicted on this,” Nigel said looking over them intrigued.

“I have slight concerns...yes but I think I’m allowed to...it’s only recently she’s started to help slay...a-and I worry that she will just go back to old behaviours...,” Willow admitted not looking in a shocked Tara’s direction.

“And you? You did say otherwise,” Nigel asked addressing Tara who was still looking at Willow. She turned to the watcher and swallowed a lump in her throat.

“I have only known Faith since she woke from her coma and I think her progress for redemption has been good...Faith is not the person that she was last year...,” Tara said defensively.

“Right, and you stand by this after her altercation the other night,” Nigel enquired looking over her notes.

“What...altercation?” Willow asked confused.

“Miss Lehane attacked a student and then fled the scene,” The watcher stated with Willow watching in shock.

“She did not attack anyone...she was defending me...it just got out of hand...there were extenuating circumstances...,” Tara told the watcher who just scribbled on his clipboard as she spoke.

“So you didn’t know about this? The watcher asked Willow. The redhead just shook her head in shock. “So I’m right to think not all of your friends knew about this? Are there usually this many secrets?”

“It’s not a secret...just no one was told yet...,” Tara trailed off looking down at her lap.

“Right...I think that’s enough for today...Thank you both for your time and I assume we will see you both this evening for the debrief?” Nigel said as he and his fellow watchers who accompanied him headed to the door. Willow stood from the bed and followed him to the door.

“Of course...uh I hope we helped...,” Willow said trying to be polite.

“Oh yes...you both were...very informative,” Nigel told them enigmatically. He turned away and left the two women as he and his colleagues left the dorm room.

Willow turned around after closing the door to face an angry-looking Tara. They stared at each other for a moment in silence
“You look angry...,” Willow said self consciously breaking the silence between them.

“I can’t believe you just threw Faith under the bus like that!” Tara snapped.

“And I can’t believe that Faith hurt someone and I didn’t know,” Willow replied with the same tone.

“What so you could judge her like you always do?” Tara argued back.

“Hey if Faith is back to her old ways we all have a right to know and I did nothing wrong, they wanted us to tell the truth and so I did,” Willow said more forcefully.

“She is not back to her old ways, she made a mistake and is paying for it,” Tara replied with the same tone.

“Of course you would say that,”

“What’s that suppose to mean?”

“You two are joined at the hip; you would never say a bad word about her, it’s like you’re in love with her or something?!”

Tara looked at the ground as she heard Willow’s words; this was a conversation she never wanted to have especially with Willow. Willow watched on at Tara’s reaction and everything suddenly made sense.

“Are you...in love with Faith?” Willow asked quietly as she held back a lump in her throat.

“It’s complicated Willow?” Tara whispered still unable to lookup.

“Well un-complicate it, is something going on?” Willow asked as her eyes began to well with tears.

Tara thought for a second, she didn’t even know if Faith wanted her anymore. So much had happened in the last couple of days and now she was being interrogated about her love life. She didn’t want to lie to Willow but she didn’t want to tell the truth either. She knew it would upset the redhead no matter what she said. So calmly Tara stood from the bed and grabbed her bag.

“Willow I really don’t want to speak about this right now, I’m sorry if your upset but you want answers that I just can’t give you right now,” Tara told Willow as she held back tears as Willow’s began to fall.

Tara made her way over to the door when a hand grabbed her arm. She looked around as Willow stopped her from leaving.

“Please don’t go,” Willow pleaded unable to hide her sadness as the thought of finally losing Tara.

“I...I can’t...I’ll see you tonight...I’m sorry,” Tara pushed Willow’s hand off her arm and she turned and left the room. She charged down the hallway so she could escape all of the emotions that she wasn’t ready to face yet.

***

Faith went to enter the training room of the magic box when the door opened on her and Buffy appeared, the blonde jumped at the sight of Faith and pulled the door shut behind so it was just the two of them in the shop.

“Are you here for your review?” Buffy asked Faith.

“Yeah...thought about screwing it off but figured better not,” Faith shrugged. “How’d it go?”

“Awful...they made me protect a dummy blindfolded,” Buffy said solemnly as she thought back to the test.

“Could be worse, it’ll be a breeze,” Faith said now not feeling too anxious.

“You have to take instructions in Japanese...so I ignored them and it went great...but the dummy still died...,” Buffy cringed at her own mistakes.

“Great, I’ve got no chance then...I know what, tell me the moves they made you do and I’ll just do that,” Faith said.

“What? No. They’d probably know we’d do that anyway and just change the moves...besides I’m not having you pass if I fail,” The blonde lectured Faith loosely.

“You suck...suppose I should probably get in there, you gonna hang around here?” Faith asked trying to deviate from having to face the council.

“Can’t. I need to go and check on mom but I’ll be back later for the British invasion,” Buffy replied as she walked around Faith and went to grab her bag off the table. “Don’t worry you’ll do great...if not we can just fail together,”

“Can’t I just beat Travers up? I can be in and out in seconds?” Faith asked as she gestured to the training room. Buffy gave a slight chuckle and then shook her head.

“Probably not...but I like your thinking,” Buffy turned and headed to the front of the shop as she shook the thought of throwing Quentin across the shop. “You’ll be fine...most likely,” Buffy called over her shoulder as she left the shop and a grumbled Faith.

“Gee thanks,” Faith said to herself sarcastically.

Taking a deep breath Faith pumped herself up ready for what was behind that door, bringing her usual Faith charm to the surface the brunette grabbed the door handle before she could change her mind and entered the room. There was a room full of watchers surrounding the room with Quentin Travers and Giles stood on the other side of the room stood next to a fighting dummy with a deep hole in its front, which was obviously where the axe had got it.

“Nice of you to join us, Miss Lehane,” Quentin greeted Faith with a fake happy disposition.

“Hello Faith,” Giles greeted with a supportive smile. Faith responded to the ex-watcher with a nod.

“Now you’re here we can start-,”

“I’m gonna stop you there Travers, I already know what’s coming and I don’t know Japanese so I’m not going to play your little game,” Faith warned Quentin who just chuckled at her.

“You won’t be doing the same tests as Miss Summers, you both have different attributes and we had something else planned for you,” Quentin responded.

“Oh...like what?” Faith replied not expecting the response.

“We understand that since awakening from your coma you’ve only been assisting Miss Summers in the last few months so your training isn’t at the height of what it should be so we thought we would focus on your decisive skills,” Quentin explained to a confused Faith.

“Ok...so who have I got to fight?” Faith asked eyeballing the watcher dressed in martial arts clothing who already seemed tired from his sparring with Buffy.

“I’m afraid this won’t be physical,” Quentin stepped aside to reveal a small table and a chair with a piece of paper and a pen.

“School work? I didn’t do that when I went to high school,” Faith rolled her eyes as she turned to leave.

“Faith, wait,” Giles called out causing the slayer to stop and turn back around. “This isn’t a test of intelligence; it’s just to see how you would react to certain situations, it won’t take long and then you can go,”

Faith looked between the two men and then at the table, she had never been an academic person and that was never going to change, she had always been a doer. The thought of the test made her sick to her stomach and then she looked at the expectant look on Giles’s face and she thought about how much she had let him down. He was patient with her and only wanted the best, which she could tell. Then she thought of Buffy and not wanting to ruin any chance of her getting information about Glory, Buffy said all she wanted to do was help and her walking out of that room would be throwing it back in the blonde slayers face. Then finally Tara, she honestly didn’t know what was happening with her lately but the one thing that kept popping up was the witch’s voice reminding her to show people who she was and that she wasn't a selfish screw-up. She didn’t want to give the council any reason to think otherwise so begrudgingly she walked forward brushing past Quentin and pulled the chair out aggressively and sat down. She sat back against the chair with her arms crossed and just waited.

“Ah very good...you’ll have thirty minutes to complete the test from when I turn on the stopwatch,” Quentin instructed the slayer not giving her any chance to change her mind. “And you may begin...now,”

Quentin turned on the stopwatch and Faith picked up the pen off of the table. She took the paper and read the first line. Every question were a series of case studies with multiple choices, her mind was racing at all the questions and panic set in. Faith didn’t know where to start and time was ticking, she started tapping the pen on the table ferociously as all the question began to blend into one. It was now that she started to think she’d prefer to have to fight with Japanese instructions than do this and then she felt warmth on her shoulder. Faith looked up to see Giles had placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t think about it Faith, you can do this...just take it one question at a time...all I ask is that you try,” Giles smiled sympathetically as he whispered to the slayer.

Faith just looked up and nodded silently as she felt the ex-watchers encouragement, Giles took his hand away and stepped away as they heard Quentin clearing his throat to end the interaction forcing Faith to turn her attention back to the test.

Half an hour later the test was finished; Faith placed her pen down and pushed the test away which was instantly taken away by a random watching who was stood close by. The test felt like hell, there were so many different answers and the thought of picking anything that was wrong made her sick and there was no way of knowing what kind of answer the watcher's council expected. By the end of the test she questioned all of her abilities and could only think of how she had probably let everyone down. So the slayer rose from her chair stepping away and turned to face Quentin and Giles.

“Very good, did you manage to complete all the questions?” Quentin asked smugly.

“Yeah I finished your stinking test...are we done here?” Faith snapped as she felt the anger bubble inside of her.

“Well yes but...-,” Quentin started but didn’t finish as Faith stormed out of the training room just wanting to get away from the stupidity that she felt inside. She didn’t care if they had anything else to say, she just wanted to forget about everything.

Faith stormed through the magic box with slightly glossy eyes as she rushed to the exit, even ignoring Anya as she passed, she just wanted as much distance as possible and to be alone. The council knew that she hadn’t finished high school and they knew that testing her mentally was going to be torture when she wasn’t even prepared. It was like they were out to get her by not even testing her the same way as Buffy. She had trained every day since leaving the basement and even in the basement she tried to keep active and she knew Giles would’ve vouched for her. Now embarrassment took over and she just couldn't think straight.

So Faith tore through the door of the magic box with such speed that she crashed in an unknown object within seconds that she didn't have a chance to see what she hit and went tumbling to the ground with it. As soon as her body hit the ground the annoyed slayer sat straight up ignoring any pain ready to let out some of the anger that she was holding in no matter who or what it was.

“What the hell -,” Faith snapped until she saw what she hit and all the colour drained from her face.

“Faith? Are you ok?” Tara asked as she sat up opposite the slayer with a look of concern.

Chapter Text

Faith held her hand out to help the witch off of the floor giving the most contact towards Tara for the first time in days. It was like electric when their hands touched causing Faith to snatch her hand away as soon as the witch was stable. Tara flinched at the retraction and quickly wrapped her arms around herself missing the memory of the slayer's soft hands on her skin.

“Are you hurt?” Faith asked uncomfortably, still unable to look Tara in the eye.

“Y-yes...I’m ok,” Tara stuttered nervously.

“Ok,” Faith stated. She looked over the witch for a second before rushing past her to try and get away.

“Wait,” Tara called out causing the slayer to stop. She wasn’t quite sure what to say but she couldn’t let the brunette run away again after being given the first opportunity for interaction.

Faith stopped her movements mirroring that night outside the Bronze when Tara called out to her as she was running away on the witch’s birthday as they finally admitted their hidden feelings. The same thing Faith was doing in the present day. Faith shivered at the sound of the witch’s voice, it shot straight through her like a warmth that wasn’t invited. Hesitating for a moment Faith contemplated just running away and ignoring the witch but her feet wouldn’t move. She inched her body round to come face to face with the witch who was still clutching herself nervously.

“How long are you going to keep ignoring me?” Tara said a bit more firmly this time.

“You know I haven’t put too much thought into it,” Faith quipped sarcastically.

“Real mature Faith, be a smartass,” Tara replied annoyed by the response.

“What do you want from me, T? You lied...sorry I can’t forget it so easily!” Faith snapped back as she extended her arms with an overdramatic shrug of the shoulders.

“One lie? I made one mistake and now you're punishing me for it...how many times do I need to apologise before you’ll talk to me...I miss you,” Tara admitted trying to catch any sign of the Faith that she knew.

“...I don’t know ok. I just...,” Faith’s eyes were welling with tears as she trailed off, unable to think with the strain of everything finally getting to her. She turned and slowly walked away as the tears started to fall.

Sensing something was wrong Tara started a fast walk and chased after the distressed slayer with a lot more ease this time around. She reached an arm out and grabbed the slayer’s shoulder and spun her around so they could face each other again. Faith had broken, the tears had been completely released and the slayer was no longer trying to hide them. Tara didn’t even ask for permission when she pulled the slayer in for an embrace, at first Faith couldn’t handle it and tried to pull away but Tara’s grip just wouldn’t budge and as she held on tightly. And the fresh smell that was Tara enveloped the slayer’s senses her body melted in the embrace and the slayer let everything melt away. She hid her face in the crook of the witch’s neck and just sobbed with Tara calming her with soothing tones.

Sometime later Tara had managed to calm the slayer down enough to walk her away from the magic box and prying eyes all around and to a secluded area where they settled on an empty bench. They sat in silence for a while with Tara just holding Faith’s hand whilst also keeping a slight distance so as not to make the slayer feel pressured. The witch wanted so badly to just hold and kiss the slayer and make her feel safe and secure but she knew it just couldn’t be done, things had changed between them and it was just too soon to go back to how things had been. So she respected the slayer's wishes and just sat there and waited.

Faith just stared ahead into the distance, the warmth of the hand on hers brought a peace to her that just made everything else disappear, she wouldn’t admit it but she had missed it so much and every time she looked at the witch she just wanted to kiss her and remember the feeling of her lips. The soft and supple lips that tasted so sweet and made her feel wanted in a way that she had never felt before but the fear of being hurt was so much stronger than all of that.

“So what happened back there to upset you so much? You left the magic box pretty fast,” Tara asked as she pulled the slayer out of her thoughts unable to wait in the silence anymore.

“I just finished those dick weeds review,” Faith said holding the lump in the back of her throat as she turned to look at the witch with her red and puffy eyes.

“I guess you’re talking about the council,” Tara nodded in the realisation of the slayer's description.

“They made me do my review...it was a written test...those dicks,” Faith shook her head in anger at the memory.

“I’m sorry Faith, I know how you feel about school but that doesn’t define who you are...,”

“...Like that matter’s to the council, as far as they’re concerned I’m an ex-killer competing against Buffy and we all know Buffy’s the better slayer,” Faith interrupted angrily.

“That’s not true, you’re just as good as Buffy,” Tara disputed as she looked over the broken slayer.

“You have no clue about the council, about what they can do and how they think!” Faith snapped back.

“Then explain it to me so I can understand,” The witch maintained doing her best to calm the situation and the clearly upset slayer.

“What like how you explained about your family?!” Faith threw back.

Tara gave back a look of hurt at the sudden comparison, never expecting the slayer to have spoken to her like that. For a second it looked like a flash of guilt spread across Faith’s face but quickly disappeared as she stood her ground. Tara stood from the bench doing her best to hold back tears.

“You know what Faith...maybe you’re right maybe you’re not as good as Buffy. My family was a completely different situation and you know it. I just wanted to help and instead, you’re pushing me away and punishing me for one mistake. Screw you, Faith,” Tara shook her head in disappointment and stormed off as the tears appeared leaving the angry slayer sat by herself.

Faith watched as the witch walked away, she didn’t even know why she said what she did. She had never meant it but it was an easier decision to hurt the witch rather than focus on her own problems and insecurities. This day was getting shittier and shittier for the slayer and it probably wasn’t going to end there.

***

A few hours later after Tara had left Faith on the bench she found herself at the magic box sat on the balcony with Xander, Willow and Anya. She was so upset after what Faith had said, the slayer knew how much of a sore spot her family were and how much of a painful past that she had, if anyone could understand a bad upbringing it would be Faith but instead, she had it thrown in her face when all she was trying to do was be supportive. All this time she thought that herself and the slayer were just at a blip in their relationship but now all she could do was question everything and if what they had was real and not something they had both managed to get caught up in due to the dramatics of everything surrounding them. A part of her didn’t even want to go to the meeting but she knew she needed to be there, to at least find out the outcome, her curiosity was too strong especially with trying to find out what the council were really about and how they had managed to have such an effect on all of the Scooby’s.

The watchers gathered all around the shop whilst Quentin stayed seated at the table as Giles paced around behind him, they had all been waiting for the slayer’s to arrive for the meeting to start but they were late so silence enveloped the room instead. They all just waited with hesitation or urgency, all of the watchers doing what they did best.

“Look at them. Big tough council members pickin’ on the books,” Xander whispered as he watched down from the balcony.

“Fascists,” Willow whispered as she agreed.

“Why doesn’t Mr Giles put them all out of here?” Tara enquired not understanding why the council had been allowed to stay so long and act the way they had been.

“Because if they deport him, they’re not just destroying his career, they’re...condemning the man to a lifetime diet of blood sausage, bangers, and mash.” Xander shook his head in disbelief as Tara looked on shocked.

Tara then understood the fear that Faith had, if they were willing to deport Giles then what would they do to Faith if she didn’t conform to what they wanted? There was nothing that neither she nor anyone else could do, they were all helpless but to just watch and just see how events unfolded.

“Well, your Slayer’s are twenty minutes late and counting, Rupert,” Quentin told Giles as he looked at his pocket watch and returned it to his jacket.

“They will be here, I assure you,” Giles stated calmly as he himself wondered what could’ve been the hold-up.

Quentin just looked at Giles and chuckle. “Yes, but when?”

***

Faith had found herself staring at the entrance of the magic box not ready to walk in and face the music. After Tara had angrily left her at the bench Faith had broken down again knowing she ruined the one person that she had never intended to hurt but that was just her life, screw up after screw up. She had too many thoughts at once, all of her life decisions pouring through her along with what would happen if she failed this review. She had been pushing herself so much to be better, to show everyone that she was just misunderstood and wanted to be the best that she could and not be defined by her past.

She had returned to her apartment begrudgingly not wanting to be seen by anyone or get in another situation where she could affect anyone with her bad luck. She contemplated running out of town, it’s not like she had anything to stick around for. She had already slipped and hurt an innocent and it wouldn’t be long before everyone found out and the judgements began, she had pushed Tara away so much that there was just no going back and then there was the council. The people who were forcing her to stand up and be compared to Buffy, someone who she knew she couldn’t be. Buffy was the real slayer she always had, Faith’s slayer abilities had only been awakened because of a mistake, she would always be second best.

She spent the next few hours arguing with herself and trying to decide what to do, she even thought about packing up her things and heading to LA. She had heard that Angel had set up shop there with a private detective agency, he had always wanted to help her and it’s not like he was completely a goody two shoes and he would understand the whole redemption thing. She was in two minds of what to do but there was this little voice inside her head telling her to stay, to rewrite her past and show everyone what she could do and to stand by Buffy’s side and not let her sister slayer think that all the time she had put in to trust Faith wasn’t wasted.

So after doing her best to avoid the impending meetings she had slowly made her way through the town which had brought her to that moment where her feet had decided to stop working. She wasn’t sure how long she had been stood there but it was long enough that the cold night air had finally gotten to her and her breath was visible. So after looking around her as she took one last look of contemplation to run the slayer stepped forward and stepped through the front door of the shop.

The bell of the shop rang as everyone in the room turned to look in her direction, slowly she stepped further in with her eyes only Quentin who was calmly sat at the table waiting, not noticing anyone else around him. The room seemed too quiet so the meeting obviously hadn’t started, sensing something was wrong the slayer looked around the room at the scattered watchers and Giles and the rest of the Scoobies but no Buffy.

“Miss Lehane, I’m glad to see you returned after your abrupt exit earlier, I see you’ve come alone, Miss Summers not with you?” Quentin enquired calmly.

“No...I haven’t seen her...-,” Faith was unable to finish her sentence when a heavyweight hit her in the back sending her to the floor.

“Faith!” The slayer could hear Giles scream out suddenly.

Before she could lift to her head to see what the scuffling sound was that had just appeared, another weight hit her. Her body dropped down again as the pain spread out through her body and cold metal dropped on top of her. A set of hands rolled her body over in her disorientated state, she looked up to see three watchers above her. Two of them were pinning her down whilst the other was quickly tying her legs in chains. Shaking off the haze in her head Faith began to thrash around, doing her best to get the men to let go of her so she could get away. One of the men pinning her down fiddled with his pocket and pulled out a needle, Faith saw this and wrenched her hand free and backhanded him throwing him backwards. She then swung her free hand hitting the other watcher holding her down in the face making him loosen his grip.

Faith sat up and lifted her legs hitting the watcher with the chains and throwing him on his back. Reaching forward she pulled the chains off and jumped to her feet and spun around. Quentin was still sat calmly whilst two male watchers were holding Giles down on the table and another two watchers had crossbow pointed at Xander, Willow, Anya and Tara on the balcony. Faith eyes widened at the obviously planned attack but before she could react there were a popping sound and two thin metal wires shot around the slayer's body restricting her movement, she screamed out in frustration before the three watchers who had attacked before grabbed hold of her causing her to stop.

All Tara could do was watch the events unfold in front of her as she watched the council ambush them all, taking their chance whilst Buffy wasn’t there. They were defenceless, she looked to the side of her and Willow looked just as shocked as she was. Willow looked around and noticed the blonde looking at her and widened her eyes as though to communicate with her fellow witch. Willow inched her hand closer to Tara like on the night of the gentlemen attack and Tara instantly knew what the redhead was thinking with Tara just nodding in agreement. She grabbed Willows hand and their heads shot round to face the watchers who had their grip on Faith but nothing happened. The watchers noticed the witches and just smirked. Quentin caught this and stood from the table and turned to face the witches, he put his hand in his inside pocket and pulled out a strange-looking talisman.

“Don’t tell me you thought we were foolish enough to not come prepared? Once we found out you two were witches we brought the necessary precautions. This talisman has the ability to counteract any magics used around us,” Quentin calmly told them before turning back around to sit back in his seat at the table.

“You burke,” Giles growled with the watcher holding him pressing him harder into the table at the comment.

“Now now Giles, don’t react or we’ll take you as well,” Quentin stated.

“What the hell are you doin’ Travers!” Faith snapped at the leader as she struggled in her bindings.

“I’m afraid this is the end of your time in Sunnydale,”

“So what? I failed your stupid test?!”

Quentin chuckled. “There was no test, Miss Lehane, we just needed you to think there was one. You’ve already evaded us twice, it’s time for you to end your time here and return with us to England,”

“You knew all along this was going to happen,” Faith replied through gritted teeth. She was helpless and there was nothing she could do, all of her decisions had been taken out of her hands.

“Yes, we did. You are unhinged Miss Lehane and now is the perfect time to take you into custody without Miss Summers getting involved. We didn’t want to be so violent but sometimes needs must. So you can either come with us willing or we can do this forcefully. The choice is yours,” Quentin told Faith with an eery calmness.

Then the front door crashed open and in stepped Buffy holding a long sword and wearing a pissed off look.

“How about forcibly?” Buffy stated angrily.

The slayer jumped forward with the watchers who were holding Faith running straight at her. She grabbed the man in front of her and threw him at the other knocking them back like bowling pins. Then two arrows whizzed through the air that she dodged just missing them as they hit the wall behind her. Taking the sword she struck the chains holding Faith sending them to the floor and setting the brunette free. The two slayers stepped forward instinctively in sync and faced the room. The two men holding the crossbows lowered them knowing they didn’t stand a chance against the two slayers together.

Quentin looked from the two women who were ready for a fight and over to the watchers that were holding Giles down and raised his eyebrows to sign to let the ex-watcher go. They stepped back letting Giles stand up and readjust his jacket with a look of pure anger on his face.

“You ok?” Buffy asked Faith quietly.

“Yeah I’m good,” Faith replied with a serious look on her face.

“Buffy...your back..was there an attack?” Giles enquired making sure his slayer was ok after her lateness.

“Yeah...looks like not the only one tonight though,” Buffy replied looking around the room as the watches retreated away from the slayer and to the other side of the shop.

Buffy walked down the steps as Faith stood her ground, staying back so to control the vengeance that she wanted to inflict at that moment.

“Well, this is certainly awkward...I suppose the review-,” Quentin started until Buffy walked over and placed the sword down in front of him on his papers.

“There isn’t going to be a review,” Buffy stated angrily.

“Excuse me?” Quentin replied with a confused look.

“No review. No interrogation. No questions you know I can’t answer. No hoops, no jumps (Nigel started to speak) and no interruptions. (Nigel closed his mouth as Buffy looked around and began to pace)  See. . . I’ve had a lot of people talking at me the last few days. Everyone just lining up to tell me how unimportant I am. And I’ve finally figured out why (Buffy then turned her attention to Quentin) Power. I have it. They don’t. This bothers them,” Buffy started her monologue as she moved back to the table removing her coat. “Glory...came to my home today,”

“Buffy, are you-,” Giles started saying alarmed.

“Just to talk. She told me I’m a bug, I’m a flea, she could squash me in a second. Only she didn’t. She came into my home, and we talked. We had what in her warped brain probably passes for a civilized conversation. Why?... Because she needs something from me. Because I have power over her,” Buffy continued her pacing as she addressed the room. “You guys didn’t come all the way from England to determine whether or not I was good enough to be let back in. You came to beg me to let you back in. To give your jobs, your lives some semblance of meaning, taking Faith was just a bonus for you”

“This is beyond insolence-,” Buffy picked up the sword and threw it at the wall close to Nigel’s face.

“I’m fairly certain I said no interruptions. You’re Watchers. Without a Slayer, you’re pretty much just watchin’ Masterpiece Theater. You can’t stop Glory. You can’t do anything with the information you have except maybe publish it in the "‘Everyone Thinks We’re Insane-O’s Home Journal’ ” (Buffy addressed Quentin again) So here’s how it’s gonna work. You’re gonna tell me everything you know. Then you’re gonna go away. You’ll contact me if and when you have any further information about Glory. The magic shop will remain open. Mr Giles will stay here as my official Watcher, reinstated at full salary...,”

“...Retroactively,” Giles coughed adding to what Buffy said as the slayer just glanced at him and went back to pacing and addressing the room.

“...to be paid retroactively from the month he was fired. Faith WILL stay here as my responsibility and without your involvement and I will continue my work with the help of my friends...,”

“I, uh, I...don't want a sword thrown at me, but, but, civilians, I-we’re talking about children,” A very nervous female watcher addressed Buffy from behind the counter.

Buffy looked up at her friends staring down from the balcony. “We’re talking about two very powerful witches and a thousand-year-old ex-demon.,”

“Willow’s a demon?!” Anya cried out scared that she would be found out with a surprised Willow looking at her.

“The boy? No power there,” Another watcher stood by Giles stated flatly.

“The boy had clocked more field time than all of you combined. He’s part of the unit,” Buffy growled back at the watcher as she defended her friend. The slayer then turned her attention back to everyone.

“Now. You all may be very good at your jobs. The only way we’re gonna find out is if you work with me. You can all take your time thinking about that. (Buffy turned back to face Quentin again) But I want an answer right now from Quentin, ’cause I think he’s understanding me,” Buffy stated as she quoted the watcher from earlier.

“Uh, your terms are acceptable,” Quentin cleared his throat as he reluctantly agreed. Everyone on the balcony started cheering as they watched Buffy win her battle with the council and Giles beaming proudly but they all stopped quickly, embarrassed by the outburst.

“See? No biggie...Faith have you got anything else you want to add?” Buffy called over her shoulder to Faith who had stayed quiet the whole time.

“I think you covered it B...but uh just one thing... (Faith walked down the steps and stopped in front of Quentin and got in close so only he could hear) You come for me again England and I promise you, I’ll show you what an unhinged rogue slayer really looks like...kay?” Faith threatened the watcher finishing with a fake smile and stepping away from the table as Quentin just nodded nervously.

“Uh, Rupert,” Quentin addressed the newly re-hired watcher.

“Quentin?” Giles looked up as he was addressed again.

“When we inventoried your shop, we found a bottle of single malt scotch behind the, uh, incense holders...,”

“Well, it’s, it’s not, you know, during working hours...,” Giles began to defend the alcohol.

“I think I could use a glass,” Quentin stated after the stress of the evening.

“Well, I suppose we could-,” Giles started as he went to find the scotch.

“Just a minute (Giles stopped his movements) Glory. I wanna know,” Buffy stated impatiently as she watched the watcher stall.

“Well, there’s a lot to go through,” Quentin said as he shuffled through some papers in front of him.

“Just tell me what kind of demon I’m fighting?”

“Well, that’s the thing, you see. Glory isn’t a demon,”

“What is she?” Buffy asked with a frown as Faith stood up straight to listen clearly in curiosity.

“She’s a god,” Quentin stated.

“Oh,” Was all Buffy could muster as Faith looked on shocked by the revelation.

***

Soon after the shock information of what Glory really was Tara, Willow, Xander and Anya left the shop to leave Buffy, Faith and Giles to talk to the council more in-depth. Tara and Willow split off from Xander and Anya once they got close to the campus and continued on home together. They walked for a while in silence as they both went over the evening events in their heads.

Tara was blown away by what had happened, she almost lost Faith forever and there was nothing she could do about it, she knew everyone had a bad opinion about the watcher's council but she didn’t realise how sneaky and controlling they actually were. A part of her was glad to be out of there and away from their intense auras but another part of her was afraid that as soon as they had all left that they had another trick up their sleeve to try and get their own way but she had to keep positive that the battle was over and Buffy finally had control of the situation. As they grew closer to the campus buildings Willow continued to follow Tara towards her dorm room.

“Uh, Willow aren’t you going the wrong way?” Tara asked as she finally came out of her thoughts and noticed the redhead was still by her side.

“I just thought I walk you to your door, it’s been a long night and I just want to make sure you get back ok...,” Willow replied giving a small smile.

“Oh...well thank you, Willow, but I’m sure I’ll be fine from here,” Tara told the fellow witch as they made their way up some stairs.

“Truthfully...I just wanted to apologise about earlier when the watcher’s were interviewing us, I shouldn’t have said anything about Faith...I may have my issues but she didn’t deserve to be treated like that and I feel like I’m partly responsible,” Willow replied with a sad smile.

“Willow that wasn’t your fault, they were going to try and take her anyway no matter what we said, if anything I should be apologising for getting angry at you, you were just voicing your opinion which you have every right to,” Tara replied apologetically.

The two women got to the top of the stairs and entered through some doors bringing them to the hallway of Tara’s dorm. They continued walking down with a slightly awkward air.

“I think we can both agree we both acted like dummies and I don’t ever want to be fighting with you,” Willow smiled.

“So is that why you tried to help back at the shop? With magic?” Tara asked.

“Partly and I knew you would be upset if they took her away...everyone would. Just because I don’t like Faith doesn’t mean everyone should suffer and if I have the power to help then I will,” Willow stated as they stopped outside of Tara’s door. They both looked at the door and then at each other.

“So I guess this is my stop...,” Tara said as Willow looked like she wanted to be invited in.

“...Yeah, I guess so,” Willow finished.

The redhead looked at Tara with an intensity making the blonde uncomfortable. Taking a step forward, Willow leant in slowly as though trying to kiss Tara, so panicking Tara jumped back and pulled her door keys out and jangled them in front of a disappointed Willow.

“It’s getting late but...I’ll see you tomorrow evening at the shop?” Tara said quickly with a forced smile as she put her keys in the lock and proceeded to open the door.

“Uh...yeah totally...goodnight Tara,” Willow replied with a smile hiding her sadness from the rejection.

“Goodnight Willow,” Tara smiled back as she stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind her leaving Willow to slowly walk away from the door hesitantly.

Tara released a deep breath at the awkwardness that had just happened, she couldn’t keep dealing with Willow’s unwillingness to see that nothing was going to happen between them. It was frustrating but she didn’t have the heart to hurt the redhead but she knew it was something she was going to have to deal with at some point. Looking around her empty room and feeling the silence that surrounded her Tara removed her jacket and hung it up on the back of the door when there was a quiet knock. Tara rolled her eyes and sighed.

“What now Willow?” Tara thought to herself too tired to deal with anything else that night.

Placing her hand on the door handle, Tara took in a breath and put a fake smile on her face and opened the door. Her smile disappeared as soon as the door opened not expecting her visitor.

“Faith...?” Tara breathed, surprised to see the slayer stood there rocking on her heels.

“Hi,” Faith replied with a shy side smile.

Chapter Text

Tara stared on awestruck at the slayer stood in front of her especially after their interaction earlier that day and so soon after the events of the council. She scanned over Faith who was looking back at her with a nervous disposition as she rocked on her feet in the doorway. Tara frowned at the sight with confusion and concern.

This was the last thing the witch had expected to happen when she had finally thought her stressful day had come to an end. She didn’t even know how to react, it was like time had suddenly slowed down and all she could hear was her heart thumping in her chest wondering what was going to happen next. In the last few days, every interaction with Faith had been so unpredictable and she just didn’t know if she had the energy for it anymore.

“F...Faith, what are you doing here?” Tara asked finally bringing herself back to reality after the deafening silence had gone on for too long.

“Uh...can we talk?” Faith asked nervously.

“I...guess...,” Tara replied hesitantly knowing all their recent interactions hadn’t ended well. Faith just stood and waited whilst her eyes darted all around the witch.

“This hallway’s kinda crampt...can I come in?” Faith said trying to make a joke but it landed flat on both sides as Tara just watched on with no emotion on her face making it more difficult for the slayer to gauge what the witch’s reaction was.

Tara just nodded silently and stepped aside so the slayer could let herself into the room. Faith gingerly entered heading straight to the middle of the room rubbing her knuckles in a self-soothing manner. Tara closed the door as she watched on as Faith just looked around the room aimlessly looking almost lost as to why she was there.

“Faith what is this all about?” Tara asked too exhausted for a conversation.

“Just sit...I need to say something and then I’ll leave I promise,” Faith said gesturing to the bed as a hesitant Tara sat down opposite her.

Faith held her hand out in front of her and grabbed it as it started to tremor. “Jeez look at that, I can’t stop shaking,” The slayer said giving a nervous chuckle.

“I’m really tired -,”

“- I’ll be quick, I swear,” Faith jumped in stopping Tara from speaking. Tara closed her mouth and just waited patiently.

Faith could feel the lump in her throat as she searched her mind for the right words to say. Looking at Tara made her shake in fear, a feeling she hadn’t felt before especially when her life wasn’t in danger but she knew she had to get everything off her chest.

“So I’m not good at this but I want to try...talking to me is like a weakness, ya know like my kryptonite but I want to do it for you. These last few days have been crazy...I’ve been crazy...no I’ve been a bitch and I let you take the brunt of it. When you lied I felt threatened...I felt betrayed...like you were everyone in my past that let me down,”

“Faith...,”

“No wait - but you’re not everyone else, I made you the bad guy in my head because it was easier than saying what I really felt. Tonight I was going to leave, grab the little amount of crap I own and leave tonight but I didn’t I chose to be here...I didn’t want everyone to be right about me so I went to the magic box and those asshats almost took me away. They took my choice away, they almost took away my life...almost took me away from you and I’ve never been so scared. The first time I saw you...you were sat in Giles’s place and I needed to know who you were and then you came to the basement and you really looked at me,”

Tara’s eyes welled with tears as she listened to the slayer begin to open up; she had not expected any of this. These were the most feelings she had ever heard the slayer express out loud. The slayer began to pace back and forth and all the witch could do was stay quiet and see where she was going with her monologue.

“I really didn’t want to be here...I had a plan...take B’s body and skip town and make a new life but my plans shifted. All I see and hear anymore is you; you’ve taken over my life in all aspects. It drives me crazy that I can’t make one decision without hearing you’ve voice or wondering what you would say. I’m my own person dammit not what people want me to be! But I’m not that because I’m yours now...I know I’ve probably ruined everything but I can’t picture my life without you in it and knowing I could’ve been locked up underground in the tea-drinking country and never been able to see you every day made me scared for once...you make me want to live and I’ve never been scared of death...in fact, I welcomed it. So what I’m trying to say is...I love you. I love who you are. I love your beauty. I love the way you make my heart beat fast just at the mention of your name. I love the way you hold me at night. I love the way you forced your way into my life and made me see the world for what it really is. You’re the best part of me and if I’ve already ruined this then I understand that because you deserve the best and I just needed you to know that...so uh yeah...I’ll leave you alone now,” An uncomfortable looking Faith had stopped pacing mid-speech and looked at the now crying witch one more time before heading straight for the door.

“You can’t say something like that and just leave!” Tara snapped. Faith slowly turned round to Tara who was now standing and wiping away the tears from her face.

“I said I would leave once I said my peace...,” Faith chocked out not wanting to cry herself, she couldn’t handle any more tears.

“Saying your peace is one thing...but that wasn’t...was all of that true?” Tara asked as she gazed into the slayer’s eyes. The slayer's aura was streaming out and it was beautiful. The fractures were healing and that one dot of light she had once seen was now shining bright, doing its best to fight back against the dark. Everything Faith had said was now swirling around in her mind.

“I’m a lot of things but I ain’t a liar,” Faith replied not moving from her spot by the door, never taking her sight off of the witch.

Tara took a step closer and then stopped herself, she was so conflicted. “You really hurt me. I kept thinking that I had been in the wrong...,” Faith quickly took a step forward leaving only inches between the two women.

“It was all me, T, I’m a mess and I know I’ve lost your trust but you have been nothing but good...better than anyone in Sunnydale...hell probably in the world,” Faith said shaking her head.

“Then if that’s true then how are you just stood there? How are you not kissing me right now?!” Tara almost pleaded through tears.

And without a second thought, the slayer stepped forward and took Tara’s face in her hands and proceeded to connect their lips. All bad feelings disappeared instantly as electricity sparked between the two and their mouths fought for control. Tara’s hands found Faith’s face wanting to feel more of the woman who was kissing her like they hadn’t seen each other in months.

The kiss became more heated as Tara slid down from Faith’s face and pushed back her denim jacket, Faith helped shrugged the clothing from her shoulders whilst never moving her lips away. As soon as the jacket hit the floor the two women stumbled backwards until the back of Tara’s legs hit the end of the bed and they both fell down with Faith laying on top of the witch.

Faith kiss moved across the witch’s face and down to her neck, nibbling at her collarbone making the witch whimper in ecstasy. Her whole body tingled as she felt the slayer explore her body. Running her hands over the slayer’s back just wanting to feel her, she grabbed the bottom of her top and pulled it over the slayer’s head in one smooth movement. Faith stopped kissing Tara and hovered over the blonde now in just a bra, her chest heaving rapidly as her breathing sped up.

Faith looked at Tara with her newly plumped lips from all the kissing. “Are you sure about this?” Faith asked nervously, not sure if she was asking the witch or herself.

“I want you, Faith...I love you too,” Tara said through haggard breaths.

Faith looked on scared, scared of all the emotions now residing in her body. She was about to experience something with someone who had never been intimate before, the responsibility of not ruining this pivotal moment was huge to the slayer. All she had thought about for weeks was what it would be like to be with the witch sexually and now it was finally happening it was all so fast.

“Faith if you don’t want this we can stop,” Tara said slightly concerned as she sat up on her elbows.

“I do...I just don’t want to screw up...I’ve never been with someone I actually wanted before,” Faith said embarrassed. Tara’s signature smile appeared on her face as she looked into the slayer’s eyes.

“And I don’t want to screw up with someone who has experience...but I want to try if you will,” Tara just waited for a response as she watched the slayer’s brain ticking.

Not saying a word Faith leant back down and kissed the witch, lowering her back down on to the bed so they could resume their dance. Faith’s hands ran down Tara’s sides gently and took hold of the witch’s shirt; she pulled it up with Tara lifting her arms up to help remove the unwanted material. Faith’s breath hitched at the sight, seeing Tara’s supple breasts in her bra. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.  So placing her lips on the witch’s collar bones, she nipped her way down, over the mounds and across her soft stomach until she got to the jeans and gently undid the button and peeling away the trousers leaving Tara in only her underwear.

Not wanting to leave the witch feeling self-conscious, Faith reached down to her own leather trousers and tugged at the button when a hand covered hers. Faith looked up to see Tara now in a seated position with her hand covering Faith’s. Understanding the witch wanted to see the slayer just as much as Faith wanted to see her; she removed her hands and let the witch undo her trousers. They pushed the trousers down together with Faith discarding them on the floor.

Staying in her position on top of Tara the two women took a moment to look over each other’s bodies fully, never having experienced each other fully before, their want for each other increased as they admired each other, with Faith’s hard abs and soft skin and Tara smooth, fair skin. They fitted together perfectly as Faith lowered herself back down so one leg was in between Tara’s and she was laying on top of the witch. They began to kiss again as Faith instinctively rocked back and forth pressing into Tara’s mound and her own rubbed against the witch’s leg. Their bodies trembled as they rocked away against each other, their arousal building quickly.

Tara hooked her leg around the back of Faith surprising her as she switched their positions and Tara was now on top. The witch mirrored Faith’s actions and proceeded to kiss down Faith’s neck and across her chest. She reached a hand and cupped one of Faith’s breasts. She gently squeezed the breast under the material, rubbing it gently making the slayer arch her back in pleasure. Wanting to feel more, Faith reached behind her back and undid the clasp on her bra, loosening it so Tara could throw it aside and place her mouth over the now free breast, with one hand massaging her left breast, she sucked on the erect nipple of the other breast. Not wanting to waste time, Tara then switched and sucked on the other nipple sending shockwaves through Faith’s insides.

Surprising Tara this time, Faith sat up and fiddled with the back of Tara’s bra as she kissed the witch and pulled the spare material off of her. She placed her hands on Tara’s plump pert breasts and rubbed them as she teased the lightly pink nibbles between her thumb and index finger causing the witch to throw her head back in europhia. The feeling of Faith’s hands all over her filled her with excitement, unable to contain herself anymore Tara pushed Faith back down against the bed and curled her fingers around the top of the slayer sexy lace thong and pulled it slowly down Faith’s toned legs whilst never losing eye contact.

All Faith could do was watch on, she was enamoured by the woman on top of her, Tara exhumed so much confidence and it was sexy as hell. Faith hadn’t expected her to take so much control but she definitely wasn’t against it. Tara dragged her fingertips up the insides of Faith’s legs causing the slayer to moan out just wanting to feel more. Tara smirked at the sound, enjoying the fact she could cause the slayer to make sounds that turned herself on even more so too. She still wanted to explore the body in front of her, first pressing her lips on the faded scar where Buffy had stabbed her a couple of years ago. Faith flinched at the touch; Tara looked up to make sure what she was doing was ok but the slayer didn’t argue back and led her head back down against the pillow.

So Tara proceeded to kiss along the scar and make her way up the slayer’s body, licking and nipping along until she reached the slayer's lips. Not wanting to stay away for too long she kissed the slayer with more of a force whilst dragging her hand down until she got to the groin and her hand faltered. A soft nervous chuckle fell from Tara’s lips.

Sensing the hesitation Faith wrapped her legs around Tara and flipped them over. “Why don’t you let me take the lead first?” The slayer growled in her raspy tone as a smile grew on her face. Tara smirked back at Faith as her insecurities disappeared quickly.

Faith kissed her way down Tara luscious body, taking in every taste and scent on the way down not wanting to miss anything until she reached the witch’s underwear. Without hesitation, Faith pulled the underwear off and kissed her way down both of Tara’s legs making them shake in anticipation. Faith laid down on her front and placed a soft kiss just above the witch’s vagina as a pre-warning before dragging her tongue down and through the woman’s slits. The warmth spread across the slayer’s mouth as she tasted the sweet juices that glistened on the pubic region. She swiped up and down in swift motions before making round circular movements on the throbbing bud causing the witch to twitch in excitement.

Tara had never felt anything like it; she ached for more as her clit sent sparks throughout her making her arousal build more and more. Faith smiled as she could feel the yearning underneath her and not wanting to disappoint as she stroked a soft hand up across Tara trembling legs and brought it up to her opening. Moving her mouth away, Faith climbed back up Tara’s body so they were face to face, so she could see the worked up look on Tara’s face as she eased two fingers inside of her. Tara’s body arched as she let out a silent cry as Faith slowly pumped in and out of the witch, careful of not hurting her. Faith was scared that her slayer strength would take over in all of the excitement but she made sure to concentrate on the beautiful woman who had now dug her nails into the slayer’s back. This instantly made the slayer vagina throb in excitement; she could feel how good she was making Tara feel. Tara ground her hips into Faith’s hand as Faith took a breast in her mouth not wanting to disconnect in any way. The more Tara would grind the faster Faith would pump. She could feel Tara’s walls tighten around her fingers as she picked up speed.

Tara was almost seeing stars, she could feel Faith inside of her and it felt so much better than she could ever have dreamed. She noticed Faith had got distracted with her chest but she wanted to see the slayer, she wanted to look into her eyes when she came. Tara slid a hand in Faith’s hair and gently pulled her upwards so they were eye level. For a second she was scared she had hurt the slayer but instead a deep intensity filled the slayer’s eyes, she must have enjoyed the slight pain of her hair being pulled as she pumped into the witch a lot faster. Tara could feel an explosion inside of her building. Her legs twitched beneath the slayer who just stared into her eyes with a look of passionate determination.

“Oh god Faith...I love you so much!” Tara cried out as she grabbed the slayer’s hair again and pulled her in for a kiss as she began to orgasm.

 A wave of pleasure crashed through her as her body rode out an orgasm that swam throughout her body. The two women’s lips parted as Tara slowly came down from her high, and Faith watched on in fascination never having put so much care and attention into making another person feel so good compared to her dalliances in the past. As the walls around Faith’s fingers relaxed finally, the slayer extracted her fingers and kissed the witch passionately once more. She stayed on top of the witch as she waited for Tara to get her breath back.

Faith brushed a hand through Tara’s hair lovingly as they led in a content silence together. The silence didn’t last long though as Tara’s need to return the favour bubbled up inside of her and she was already rolling them both over so she was now straddling the slayer. Faith grinned at the movement as Tara’s hands began to explore Faith’s torso once again, taking a firm grip of her breasts noticing that the slayer seemed to like the intensity of a bit of pain and it made Faith writhe underneath her. She could feel the slayer’s body moving around more so with her as her crotch began to thrust up against the witch just wanting to be touched.

Tara smiled as she lightly dragged her nails down Faith’s front until she was low enough to brush her hand through Faith’s folds. It felt amazing to the witch just being able to feel the warmth in her hand. Seductively she rubbed her hand through the wetness and found the slayer’s clit. Pressing her body against the slayer she rubbed the area harder making the slayer’s breath hitch and her body twitch. She loved feeling the slayers body against hers as Faith’s moans deepened which turned Tara on all over again feeling her own arousal build up again. Seeing how worked up the brunette was, Tara took the plunge and inserted two fingers into the already tight and wet slayer. Faith gasped as she felt Tara’s fingers inside of her. Tara curled her fingers as she thrust in and out looking up at Faith who was now gripping at her own hair as her hips bucked.

“Uh...more...,” Faith cried out in haggard breaths.

Tara slipped a third finger in and began to pump faster and harder gaining more moans from the slayer. Faith was in her element, no one had ever made her feel so good during sex before without her having to take control. The witch knew all the right places to touch and had already figured out her need for pain. Tara lifted her head and bit down on Faith’s neck putting pressure on her pulse point sending out shockwaves everywhere. Wanting more of the sensual pain, Faith lifted her legs so they were bent giving Tara more room to move. So Tara pumped harder as the walls tightened more so, almost making it hard for her hand to move.

Then it happened, as Tara thrust her fingers she twisted her hand sending Faith over the edge. She screamed out loud enough for most of the dorm to hear but neither of the women cared at that moment.  An orgasm ripped throughout Faith, it both scared her and calmed her at the same time. She just wanted the witch to keep touching her, so as she came Tara continued to pump her fingers not realising that the orgasm had started to calm down, Faith was still tight and knew what she wanted. So before she could tell the witch to stop another earth-shattering orgasm hit her. This time her arms wrapped around Tara pulling them even closer together, she kissed the witch sharing the orgasm that she was already experiencing. Neither knew how it happened but once again Tara orgasmed too. They held on tightly as they both rode through the waves together as they both calmed down into a sensitive bliss.

Tara slowly removed her hand carefully as Faith twitched at the now empty feeling from where Tara had once been. The witch peeled herself off of the slayer and led down on her back as they both tried to get their breaths back. Feeling the cold Tara rolled on to her side and led her head on Faith’s shoulder looking for comfort and heat. She looked up at the slayer who was just staring up at the ceiling silently.

“What are you thinking?” Tara whispered in the darkness that had descended over the room.

Faith turned her head to look at Tara. “You know this is usually the part where I would leave; this is new for me,”

“Is it a bad thing that you’re still here?” Tara asked a little nervously wondering if the slayer had changed her mind and it was all a mistake.

“Nah...No it’s not...just different,” Faith admitted quietly as she placed her arm around Tara and pulled her closer.

Tara smiled at the gesture and nuzzled into the slayer more as she soaked up the satisfying haze that they were lying in. She felt so much more connected to the slayer now finally opening up to each other completely. The way they merged together for a moment it was like they were one as their souls bonded.

Faith led with her arm holding the witch close as her minded repeatedly played out what happened between them over and over again, the amount of love and emotion overwhelmed her. Her body was screaming out to run away like it normally did but the closeness she was experiencing was so much more powerful. She never knew how powerful and freeing it could be to completely opening herself up to another human being could be. She had wasted so much time in her past being full of hate and anger but being with Tara made all of that disappear, she never wanted to lose that feeling.

Faith could feel a shiver beneath her as she looked over at the content Tara laying into her and realised that now they had finished making love that they had returned to reality and that reality was cold and dark with both of them very naked.

“You’re cold,” Faith stated to the witch. Tara looked up at the slayer with a loving look.

“We should probably get some clothes on...or just get under the covers?” Tara whispered as she sat up and placed a soft kiss to the slayer’s lips causing Faith’s body to tremble in excitement again.

Not noticing how the kiss had affected the slayer, Tara stood up from the bed and faced Faith. Faith’s eyes raked over the witch’s naked form, fully taking in the beauty that was covered in darkness and a small amount of light that shone in through the window. A part of her just wanted to pounce again and ravish the witch, just wanting to please the blonde woman endlessly.

“Or we could...not?” Faith suggested as she sat up on the bed with a slight seductive air about her. Tara raised an intrigued eyebrow.

“What were you thinking?” Tara asked curiously.

“Well it’s not too late...we could ya know?” Faith said now crawling across the bed and sitting on her knees as she wrapped her hands around the naked witch’s waist.

“You know that really was amazing...you are amazing and I would really love that...,”

“...But?” Faith asked a little disheartened.

“I’m so tired...I’m sorry. You feel so damn good and I would love to just be with you all night but today has been so long and...,” Tara trailed off when she noticed Faith smirking back at her.

“I wore you out?” Faith finished.

“I’m sorry, I suck so much,” Tara dropped her shoulders disappointed in herself.

“You don’t suck...I guess I just did my job right,” Faith gave a quiet laugh.

“But I do...this was so great and you really are so beautiful, I thought our first time would be so memorable and...-“

“-...you don’t think that was memorable? That was the best sex I’ve ever had,” Faith replied feeling a bit dejected at her own abilities.

“Really? I was so worried my inexperience wouldn’t be good enough and the way you made me feel...wow,” Tara replied thinking back on the way the slayer had touched her.

“T...you rocked my world, I thought I would be too much for you,” Faith admitted.

“Oh you could never be too much Faith, you made me feel so alive...and I’m so sorry I can’t be more for you,” Tara said with tired eyes.

Faith looked over the witch in all her beautiful glory and went in for a kiss. The kiss was short and soft but enough to comfort the guilty witch.

“You are enough for me... it's fine we’ll just sleep. I waited long enough for this and I can wait a bit longer for round two...you’re worth the wait,”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes...I will gladly wait for you again...you’re a goddess,” Faith told the witch truthfully knowing she didn’t want to let the witch go again.

“Thank you Faith...and I definitely don’t want to wait too long for a repeat,” Tara leant in and kissed the slayer with a bit more want causing the kiss to become heated.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes until they broke for air, letting a yawn escape from the witch’s lips.

“Ok come on,” Faith said as she jumped up from the bed and pulled the covers back and instructed for the witch to climb back into bed.

Not questioning anything, Tara climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over her as she waited for the slayer to follow. Faith looked down at the content witch with a smile, almost feeling like everything was a dream.

“Are you coming?” Tara said with her eyes closed waiting for the slayer’s body heat to join her.

“Yeah...,” Faith whispered as she walked around the bed and climbed in under the covers, Tara instantly rolled over and straight into Faith’s arms.

“...I love you Faith...,” Tara mumbled as she quickly drifted off to sleep feeling safe and secure for the first time in a while.

“I love you too T,” Faith replied as she led back and watched the witch’s breath fall into even movements.

Faith fought off sleep as long as possible not wanting the night to end, scared that she would awaken to find it was all a dream. She wasn’t strong enough to resist though as her heavy eyelids took control and the two women stayed wrapped up together subconsciously never wanting to let each other go.

Chapter Text

Faith’s eyes flickered open slowly, the room was so bright and all that could be heard was a loud ringing next to her head. With a groan and a stretch, Faith rolled over on to her side and reached out for the loud ringing and slapped her hand around until she found the top of the alarm clock. Fiddling slightly, Faith hit the switch to stop the two bells ringing at the top of the alarm clock. Letting a deep breath out in the newly acquired silence, the slayer sat up in the floral white double bed and gazed around the bright yellow bedroom with a smile on her face. Ready for a new day the slayer flipped the covers off of her body and climbed out of the bed. She stepped across the soft carpet and into the ensuite bathroom.

 With a jaunty look on her face Faith proceeded to wash her face and clean her teeth in the sink, barely taking her eyes off of the mirror in front of her. There was an upbeat tune surrounding the slayer that only she could hear, helping her get ready and prepared for the day ahead. So grabbing the nearest comb, Faith moved on to her hair picking up a large jar of hair wax beside the sink and taking a small scoop of the sticky substance she began to comb it through her hair, slicking her hair back neatly and smoothly.
Taking one last look to make sure her appearance was suitable, the brunette moved back into the bedroom and strutted over to some clothes that had been laid out on the bed for her. She slipped on her favourite checkered trousers, with a crisp white fitted shirt and finishing off the look with a bold red tie. She was ready to start the day.

With a skip in her step, Faith walked out into the hallway which led to a small staircase and instantly the brunette was struck by the smell of bacon travelling up from the stairs. Her body almost floated down the stairs like something out of a cartoon as her nostrils followed the sweet smell. The smell brought her to the kitchen door only to be greeted by a smiling Tara. The witch was dressed like a 1950’s housewife with juicy red lips, a polka dot swing dress and bright red high heels. The blonde placed down the plate she had in her hand onto the side and replaced it with a fresh mug of coffee. She strutted across the kitchen and handed the mug to Faith as she placed a kiss on the slayer’s cheek, leaving a lipstick mark behind.

“Good morning Sweetheart, did you sleep well?” Tara asked in a pleasant upbeat tone as she moved back across the kitchen to finish preparing the breakfast. 

“Excellent but I would’ve slept better if I had woken up next to you,” Faith replied with a flirtatious raised eyebrow and took a sip of the steaming coffee in her hand.

“Now aren’t you the charmer? Don’t worry about me you have a lot of work to do, Glory doesn’t come to those who wait,” Tara winked as she turned around and waved a spatula in Faith’s direction playfully.

“But I can’t find the key; if I want Glory I’ll need it?” Faith said confused as she patted her trousers down with her free hand.

“Oh, honey when has that ever held you back, take off the mask and do what you do best,” Tara smiled as she looked straight into Faith’s eyes.

“What about Buffy?” Faith asked with a shiver, slowly becoming aware of her surroundings.

“Buffy isn’t the key, she’s just the answer...,” Tara replied enigmatically as she told the confused slayer with a distant look in her eyes.

Faith let Tara’s words wash over her as she finally came back to reality to see she wasn’t in the world that she knew, barely recognising the Tara she thought she knew in front of her with her new retro fashion sense and the classic 50’s surroundings but as confused as she was she also felt slight normalcy that she hadn’t recognised before. The brunette took a step forward to reply to Tara who seemed to have frozen in place when a doorbell rang behind them, Faith looked behind her towards the noise and then back to the housewife who was now smiling brightly like the last couple of minutes hadn’t happened.

“Could you get that please Sweetie, I wouldn’t want to ruin breakfast by stepping away,” Tara said cheerily as she turned back to the stove not giving Faith a choice.

“Uh...sure...I guess,” Faith answered dismally and turned her attention to the front door.

The slayer edged away from the kitchen, casually looking over her shoulder to Tara that wasn’t her own, almost fearful that she was going to be suddenly be attacked, things were far too happy and bright at that moment and not one bit of her trusted it. Taking the short walk to the front door Faith made her way over as the doorbell continued to ring with the sound getting louder and louder.

She reached out for the door handle cautiously, mystified as to where this world would take her next. Ignoring all fears the brunette wrenched the door open quickly only to come face to face with a smaller olive-skinned woman with dark braided hair with her arms crossed firmly.

“Faith, how long were you going to ignore da call?” The woman asked sternly in an authoritative Jamaican accent.

“Who the hell are you?” Faith questioned, not impressed by the stranger presented to her.

“Me name’s Kendra and we need to talk,” The smaller woman replied ominously.

“Yeah no thanks, I’ve already had enough conversations for one day,” Faith said as she went to shut the door on the strange woman who quickly planted her arm to stop the door being closed.

Faith used as much strength as she could to try and push the door shut but the smaller seemed to equally match her causing Faith to become more frustrated and annoyed.

“You don’t get a choice Faith; you’ve already wasted enough time as it is!” Kendra called causing Faith to stop and pull the door back.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Faith asked her anger levels rising as she grew tired of all the mysterious talk that she didn’t understand.

“I didn’t die so you could jump back and forth picking sides,” Kendra snapped with her arms crossed again as she looked at Faith disapprovingly.

“I dunno who you think you are but no one’s ever died for me,” Faith stated flatly.

“Then how do you think you got ya slayer abilities?” Kendra asked with a raised eyebrow.

Faith’s face dropped at the realisation of what had been said. “It’s you ain’t it, you’re that chick who was slayer before me, that was meant to take over for Buffy?”

“Looks like you’re not as stupid as ya look, too bad your choices haven’t been smarter,” Kendra said in a more spiteful tone. Faith raised her eyes unimpressed by the statement and took a step out of the front door pulling the door closed behind her so she was stood mere centimetres away from Kendra now.

“Are you here for a reason or just to piss me off?”

“Why, what are ya going to do? Kill me?” Kendra asked now testing the obviously angry slayer stood in front of her, Faith balled a fist doing her best to restrain herself.

“I don’t do that anymore, or did you not get the memo in the afterlife?” Faith shot back through gritted teeth.

“Oh yeah, I heard...but how long is that going to last?” Kendra asked as she took a step back to lean against the porch fence that surrounded the house.

“You’ve got to be kidding? You brought me into this 1950’s wet dream just so you can find out if I want to kill people again?” Faith shook her as she looked at the smug look on Kendra’s face.

“Why would I make dis? This was all you...your dream of the perfect life. Dat’s you all over Faith, always trying to pretend to be something you’re not rather than just be yourself,”

“That’s BS, you don’t know anything about me, your just some dead nobody with a grudge!” Faith growled. With that statement, Kendra leapt forward and slammed Faith up against the brick wall with her forearm pressed against the slayer’s neck who was now struggling to get free.

“I’m the dead nobody that knows that you have a decision to make, you’re gonna go one of two ways. You choose wrong and everyone you love will die, which means blondie in the kitchen and the powers that be will get involved this time,”

“And do what, ruin my life? They already did by making me a slayer!” Faith snapped as she struggled to keep her breath as Kendra pushed hard on her neck.

“You were chosen for a reason...You should be privileged!” Kendra barked bad fed up of Faith’s attitude.

“I’d rather be dead!” Kendra let go of Faith shocked by the response, she looked over the breathless slayer in confusion.

“I don’t understand...what do ya mean dead?” Kendra asked with narrowed eyes.

“I don’t want this life...this is Buffy’s life and always has been...it’s why you didn’t survive, I wasn’t meant to be a slayer...hell I’m surprised I survived this long and haven’t followed you...I mean it wouldn’t be like I didn’t deserve it,” Faith told her sister slayer as she rubbed her neck after being pinned back.

“Faith, there is always a plan for everyone, even if ya don’t see it. You’ve always found a way to avoid fate, you were meant for better things,” Kendra said now a bit more sympathetic as she looked over the now seemingly broken Faith.

The two women stood in silence for a few moments, Faith looked over Kendra, at the slayer who came before her, the slayer that barely managed to survive a year, and the girl that had trained her entire life to fight the forces of darkness. She was the embodiment of what a slayer should be; much better than Faith and Buffy combined and now she was visiting Faith beyond the grave. The slayer had no comprehension of what was really happening but she knew that it wasn’t real, how could it be?

“Ya need to make a choice soon Faith, Glory doesn’t come to those who wait,” Kendra stated after a few moments of silence.

Faith looked at Kendra trying to understand what she meant by that statement, the same statement Tara had said mere moments before but before she could answer everything around her began to go hazy. She shook her head trying to shake the feeling off, her stomach became nauseous and reality began to shift. Faith did her best to keep her focus on Kendra who just continued to watch on without emotion.

“Honey what’s taking so long, you’re going to be late for work,” Faith spun round to see Tara poke her head out of the front door.

“Sorry darling, I was just talking to... (Faith turned around to see empty space) uh no one...,” Faith trailed off confused, not remembering that Kendra had even been stood there and turned back around to Tara.

“Well come back in then, breakfast is ready and the children want to see you before they leave for school,” Tara smiled sweetly and headed back in the house leaving Faith stood on the porch alone.

Faith took one more look around her and the empty neighbourhood, trying to remember why she had gone out there in the first place. She closed her eyes trying to think hard but it was all too blurry, it’s like there was a block in her mind.

“Faith, Sweetie, are you coming back?” Tara’s distant voice called from inside the house, Faith opened her eyes at this.

“Coming!” Faith called back as she turned back around and headed back into the house as everything turned to black.

***

Faith’s eyes shot open in the graze of the bright morning sun, she looked around the room confused about her whereabouts. As her eyes adjusted to the light, Faith turned her head to the side to come face to face with a softly sleeping Tara who had her arm wrapped across Faith’s naked torso. All of the events of the night before flashed in the slayer's mind as the couple’s night of passion and proclamation of love arrived at the front of her mind.

Then her brain trailed back to the strange dream she had just experienced, her mind was becoming foggy and quickly, images flashed in her mind but it was just becoming nonsense. All that stood out were random sentences that didn’t make any sense to the slayer, all she knew was that things weren’t so simple anymore and she had some big decisions to make.

Gently taking the witches arm, Faith carefully removed it from her stomach making sure not to bring the blonde out of her slumber. She extracted herself from the bed and made her way over to the small armchair in the corner of the room. Grabbing the blanket that’s draped across the back of the chair, Faith sat down whilst pulling her knees up to her naked chest and covered herself.

She sat in silence and mindlessly watched the sleeping witch in front of her as the morning continued on around her, still going through images in her head. A vague recollection of Tara wearing bright Red lipstick, a small woman with dark braided hair and a sense of fear or warning, if only she could remember everything that had been said. The slayer couldn’t tell if she had just had a prophetic slayer dream of it was just the randomness that was her own mind. Yet she couldn’t help but feel that with everything that had happened in the recent weeks up until that moment was the universe's trying to tell her something but what?

“What are you doing over there?” A voice came causing Faith to blink and realise that Tara had woken up and was now sat up with the bedspread covering her.

“Couldn’t sleep...,” Faith shrugged.

“You could’ve woke me, I don’t mind,” Tara replied kindly not noticing that Faith had been lost in her own thoughts.

“Nah, you look cute when you sleep,” Faith admitted brazenly causing Tara to blush.

“Don’t get all shy on me now, you were plenty confident last night,” Faith teased the witch.

“It’s not the same and you know it,” Tara replied back playfully.

“Not really I mean the only difference from last night is our bodies being covered (Faith stands from the chair seductively and lets the blanket fall from her body leaving her naked in front of Tara) but that can be easily fixed,” Faith said alluringly as Tara’s face became redder.

Faith took slow steps over to the bed not taking her eyes away from Tara’s as the witch bit her lip with a mixture of nervousness and excitement and slightly pulled the cover closer to her chest. Faith took her time placing each knee on the edge of the bed, getting closer and closer to the witch. Tara held her breath in anticipation of what the slayer could be planning to do next and then Faith pounced and all Tara could do was let out a laugh.

Faith tickled the witch mercilessly with Tara doing her best to push the slayer’s hand off her body unable to contain the laughter that fell from her mouth. Everything felt so free and easy between them both; it was the easiest things had felt between the two of them in such a long time. Tara loved this version of Faith and she had missed spending time with her over the last couple of weeks but now that they had finally opened up it felt like the fresh start that they both needed and deserved.

“Ok I give, I give...please stop,” Tara giggled as tears began to stream down her face.

Faith stopped her movements where she had Tara’s hands pinned above her head and her naked body was now covering Tara’s as the covers had slipped away during the light-hearted scuffle. Faith looked between Tara’s eyes and plump lips as she steadied her breathing, looking over the beauty beneath her, feeling so content in that moment. Dipping her head down she took Tara’s lips with her own and the two women began to passionately kiss, the feeling of the night before rushing back to the present. The two women quickly became excited as Faith began to position herself between the witch’s legs ready to pick up where they had left off.

Then a knocking echoed the room just as the intensity started to build causing Faith to drop her head in the crook of Tara’s neck in frustration of the interruption.

“Don’t worry they’ll go away,” Tara whispered as she ran her hand through the back of Faith’s hair pulling the slayer closer.

The knocking came again, getting louder this time causing the two women to stop what they were doing. Faith threw herself off of Tara and led on her back. Tara huffed at the inconvenient knocking and sat up from the bed.

“I’ll get rid of them, just wait here and be quiet,” Tara told the slayer as she grabbed a bathrobe and moved over to the door with Faith already slipping back under the covers.

“Didn’t realise I was already your dirty little secret...sex has changed you,” Faith winked at the witch.

“Sssh, half the dorm probably heard us last night, can I not have a bit of privacy in the morning?” Tara chastised playfully. Faith just raised her hands in defence mockingly.

Making sure her robe was closed; Tara grabbed the doorknob and pulled it open slightly so she was covering any view of the room.

“Willow?” Tara said trying not to sound surprised at the sight of the smiling Redhead who was waiting expectantly.

“Morning, sorry to come round uninvited...I just wanted to apologise for last night, I was way out of line,” Willow said guiltily.

“It’s fine really Willow, it’s all forgotten,” Tara replied wanting to hurry the interaction.

“I just can’t help but feel guilty; I shouldn’t do anything to ruin our friendship and I just wanted you to know that,” Willow pushed.

“You haven’t ruined anything at all and I do appreciate you coming here but we can talk more lately ok? Bye,” Tara said quickly as she started to close the door on the Redhead. Before the door could shut though Willow pressed her hand on the door and pushed it open before Tara could notice and pushed it wide it open.

“Before I let you go, did you want to get breakfast or something...?” Willow trailed off as the smile dropped from her face as she was faced with a naked Faith underneath Tara’s bed covers.

Willow’s mouth dropped open at the slayer grinning in front of her as Tara looked on horrified at Willow’s newfound discovery.

“Is that an open invitation for breakfast Red? I’m starved,” An amused Faith replied to Willow who looked on in shock.

Chapter Text

“I’ve never particularly felt like a part of this reality. Even as a kid I always felt like I was on the outside trying to figure out a way of fitting in. As I got older…reality became more of a dream, like everything around me was planned and I hadn’t been kept in the loop. If that can’t turn a girl crazy then I don’t know what else would,” Faith gave a breathy chuckle as she admitted out loud something she had never shared before with anyone.

Opposite her in the slightly darkened room which was put that way to give a more “relaxed” environment sat a young man in his early twenties with short brown hair combed in a slicked-back professional manner, watched on as Faith spoke candidly about how she felt, casually looking down at the pad on his lap to take notes.

This was Faith’s third session with the student psychologist that Tara had introduced her to, at first Faith had been on the defensive, not feeling comfortable enough to open up no matter how much she promised Tara she would but after a stern talking-to from Joyce one evening she found herself opening up in ways that she had never expected to. The last few weeks had been quite stressful which also became a factor in her embracing therapy too. After the unexpected discovery of her and Tara’s relationship by Willow, it didn’t take long for it to become common knowledge by everyone, causing Faith to keep a safe distance away from the gang and the drama that followed and just focused on slaying and her new romance with Tara. She had managed to miss the runaway antics of Dawn on Buffy’s birthday and the uncomfortable behaviour coming from everyone since that night which probably coincided with everyone finding out about her new relationship which made sense as to why Tara was acting slightly uncomfortable when talking about that night, especially when the blonde witch had helped Willow ward off Glory when out looking for the young teenager.

Buffy had also come to her sometime later wanting to speak to Faith about the key and where it was but the rogue slayer was adamant that she wanted to know anything, she didn’t trust herself and after the dream she had about Kendra, she definitely didn’t want to know anything until the situation became dire and she had no other choice. Then she had to deal with Spike going all psycho and kidnapping Buffy along with his ex-girlfriend Drusilla as he admitted his disturbing feelings for the blonde slayer, luckily since Drusilla’s attack on the train Faith had been out hunting and managed to a find very upset and pissed looking Harmony and followed her to Spike’s basement where he had the two women chained up. Faith was going to get involved until she saw all of the women turn against the lone vampire, she stayed away mostly to make sure nothing went sideways but once Buffy was able to escape all she could do was continue to watch from a distance, not overstepping herself in the uncomfortable situation that she was pretty sure Buffy wouldn’t want everyone knowing the full details off unless she chose to tell anyone.

So this brought Faith to present day, where she was finally starting to open up as she watched Buffy’s troubles made her body react and remember things from her past and knowing that Buffy would never speak out honestly about her problems made Faith want to do better for herself, for Tara and everyone else around her. Speaking the truth felt like her skin was peeling off and folding in on itself, so aware of how uncomfortable it was but the more she started to speak the less she noticed the strange sensation that had once overwhelmed her.

“That’s a very profound way of looking at it Faith but that doesn’t necessarily make you crazy, but it does make you seem more self-aware which is never a bad thing,” The young therapist replied to Faith’s observation. “But I’m afraid that’s all the time we have for this week Faith, we’ll have to pick this up next week,”

Faith nodded as she rose from her chair the same time as the young therapist and rubbed her hands on her side as she did after every session from the sweating she hadn’t noticed had appeared until that point.

“Sure thing doc, same time next week?” Faith replied brushing off any residual emotions that had been previously present.

“Sounds good Faith…you’re doing good work here, you’ve come along way in just a couple of sessions,” The therapist told Faith encouraging with a small smile.

Faith gave a brief silent nod in acknowledgement, not sure of how to take the compliment without seeming awkward and left the office. The slayer always found once her session was over she always wanted to make as much distance between herself and the office as possible. She knew what she was doing was good for her but at the same time she wanted to put it behind her as soon as she was finished, it helped her process all the information that had been passed back and forth a lot quicker in her mind. Opening up to a stranger was a strange and uncomfortable but each time she did it also felt like a weight had been lifted that she hadn’t known that she had been carrying. The only people that knew about the therapy was herself, Tara and Joyce, this was something she wasn’t ready to share with anyone, it felt like something that was just hers and didn’t need anyone else's opinion on it. It wasn’t hard to considering no one would assume this is something that the slayer would do plus no one took that much of an interest in her life in that way, years of giving off a certain persona seemed to help her build that kind of privacy.

So making her way over to the Summer’s residence Faith did her best to shake off any obvious emotions that might catch her out, not wanting to bring attention to where she had been. With nothing to do at the magic box, no demons to chase and Tara in lesson Faith decided to annoy Buffy and avoid having to sit around her apartment thinking over the last hour and how it was affecting her mentally. She made it to the house in a great time and was already feeling partially normal and to demonstrate that Faith entered the house without knocking like she had so many times before as she felt so comfortable in the home that had housed her for so many months the year before.

In the living room, Buffy sat on the sofa with her younger sister Dawn teasing a nervous-looking Joyce who was stood opposite them in a nice black fitting dress with a floral design on the front. Knowing she hadn’t been noticed entering the house, Faith positioned herself in the doorway of the living room and wolf-whistled at the older woman making everyone turn in her direction slightly surprised at the noise.

“Mrs J, look at you…who are you trying to impress with the sexy dress?” Faith wiggled her eyebrows causing Joyce to blush.

“Faith would you mind not undressing my mother with your eyes?” Buffy replied raising her eyebrows at her fellow slayer disapprovingly.

“Hey there’s no undressing, I’m just very approving of the look,” Faith said defensively.

“See Mom, even Faith approves and she never compliments anyone!” Dawn exclaimed unabashedly with a shrug of the shoulders.

“Honey, now, don’t be rude,” Joyce replied softly to her teenage daughter.

“It’s cool Mrs S, its kinda true but you’re the exception,” Faith replied lightly with a wink and took her self to the armchair and threw herself down lazily. “So what are we all talking about?” 

“Mom’s got a date tonight and Buffy’s going to a party to meet a guy,” Dawan explain’s ignoring the annoyed look she received from her sister.

“I am not going to meet a guy, I’m just going to hang with the gang…you’re going right?” Buffy said turning to Faith now for acknowledgement.

“Yeah T mentioned something about a party…but if Xander asks me anymore weird girl on girl questions then I’m out of there,” Faith replied flatly causing Dawn to frown.

“Girl on girl?” Dawn asked confused as Buffy and Joyce widen their eyes in surprise at the response.

“I think Mom needs to spin again just so we can be sure,” Buffy replied quickly changing the subject as she gave Faith a look to shut up causing the brunette to shrug her shoulders not understanding there are certain things she shouldn’t mention in front of the littlest Summers.

“Oooh yeah. Spin again. Real fast this time,” Dawn said excitedly with the distraction as Joyce dropped her shoulders defeated.

“Very funny but I’ve been messed with enough I think,” Joyce replied sternly but in a fun tone.

“Come on, We should probably leave Mom to get ready. I’m going to the magic box and you can come with, go and get your stuff,” Buffy ordered as she lightly pushed her sister up off of the sofa.

“Fiiiine,” Dawn replied rolling her eyes and climbing up and heading to the stairs.

“You coming with?” Buffy asked addressing a bored-looking Faith.

“Uh yeah…I’ve got nothing else to do,” Faith shrugged keeping her cool persona as she still shrugged off the after-effects of the therapy session.

“Cool, I’m just gonna grab some stuff and I’ll be back down,” With that Buffy disappeared up the stairs behind her sister leaving Joyce and Faith alone.

Joyce looked at Faith curiously before taking over Buffy’s spot on the sofa opposite Faith.

“What’s wrong with you then?” Joyce asked making Faith jump and turn to the older woman.

“Huh?”

“Something’s off with you, I can tell these things,” Joyce said plainly as the looked the younger woman up and down suspiciously.

“I’m fine, it’s just been one of those mornings ya know?” Faith lied not wanting to get into one of her surrogate mother-daughter chats after such a full-on therapy session.

Joyce just gave Faith a look that she didn’t believe what was being said and wasn’t about to back down.

“Is it Tara? Are you both having problems?” Joyce asked with concern. Faith sat up straight as this.

“Nah, we’re good, things are going well. Even if everyone has a bad habit of staring at us like we’re animals in the zoo,” Faith rolled her eyes at the number of times she and Tara walked into a room and all of the scoobies would turn to stare at them immediately.

“Well dear it's not like any of them are used to you being in a relationship, give it time and they’ll soon find something else to focus on…so if that’s not it then what it is? You’ve been like this for a couple of weeks,” Joyce shifted slightly closer on her seat with concern.

Faith let out a breath in defeat and just looked at the concerned woman in front of her, who not long ago was wrapped up in a dressing gown and recovering from brain surgery was now back to trying to take care of Faith, there wasn’t much she could hide from the woman who had seen her at her best and her worst.
“I’m fine, I’ve just got some stuff going on and I don’t know what the best decision to make is. It’s just slayer stuff and I haven’t figured out how to talk to B and Giles about it yet,”

“Ahhh slayer stuff, well I’m not sure I can be much help there but I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon nothing is ever that bad, and you know what they say, Glory doesn’t come to those who wait,” Joyce gave a small supportive smile as Faith’s face dropped in shock of Joyce’s choice of words.

“Why would…-,”

“You ready to go?” Buffy interrupted Faith who was still in shock and staring at the smiling Joyce. “Is everything ok?” Faith turned to look at Buffy and quickly shook off the look off her face.

“Sorry B didn’t notice you come down, too busy checking your mom out in that hot dress,” Faith gave a cheeky wink to a now disgusted looking Buffy and stood up ready to leave.

“Oh Faith, don’t tease her, she already has to deal with her mother going out on a date, she doesn’t need you giving her a complex as well, Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to fuss over my dress more,  you girls have fun at the shop,” Joyce said as she rose from the sofa and walked over to Buffy to kiss her on the cheek and then Dawn who was stood behind her sister and left to go upstairs, leaving Faith, Buffy and Dawn downstairs.

***

A couple of hours later Tara and Anya walked into the magic shop together still discussing the strange interaction they just had with the woman looking for her boyfriend down the street. The woman had seemed pleasant but also a tad bit obsessive but Tara wasn’t one to judge, people in love all acted in different ways and if she wanted to walk the streets asking strangers if they had seen her boyfriend then she supposed that was the girls prerogative.

Anya had found it all highly hilarious but as usual, found it as a direct root to turn the event into a conversation about herself and Xander, another example of love as its highest and again Tara would just happily smile and nod along because that’s what made Anya happy and the witch could never be rude about the way someone wanted to express that love.

As the standard ring of the entrance bell rang, Anya shot off from Tara’s side to go and greet Xander who was sat at the table reading a comic book who looked up with a wide grin on his face to greet the ex-demon. Tara watched the couple embrace and she couldn't help the smile that formed on her face and that smile continued to grow as at that exact moment Faith appeared from the back room and immediately locked eyes with her. The two women had stopped in their respective doorways and just gazed at each other like there was no one else in the room. They did that a lot lately since finally admitting their feelings and taking a step forward in their relationship, they spent their nights making sweet love and in the day when they weren’t in their usual routine or fighting the forces of darkness then they would just be watching each other. Sure the others would watch them in confusion but neither of the women cared as they were the happiest that they had felt in a long time.

After a few seconds of just smiling at each other, Giles and Willow appeared behind Faith in the doorway and the watcher whispered something in the slayer’s ear causing her to look away and just nod along to whatever he had said. Willow squeezed past the pair as Giles spoke and made her way over to the table giving a now frowning Tara a small smile and sat down. Tara wasn’t sure why the little scene she had just witnessed gave her a weird sensation inside but it did and for what felt like minutes, it was only seconds later that Giles moved away from Faith and over to the till and giving a welcoming smile to Tara who still hadn’t moved from when she had entered the shop.

“Good afternoon Tara, how are we today?” Giles said in a joyous tone as he started looking at the stock from behind the counter.

“Oh I’m very well Mr Giles, thank you for asking,” Tara replied pulling herself from her thoughts and began her descent down the stairs where Faith had walked over to meet her. The slayer pressed a kiss the witches cheek and guided them both to spare chairs at the table.

“What was that all about?” Tara murmured to Faith as they sat down.

“What was what?” Faith replied confused.

“You Giles and Willow coming out of the backroom, you all looked really serious?” Tara pressed.

Faith looked at Tara to the back room and back at the witch as though replaying those moments back in her head.

“Ohhh, that was nothing. I was just training and Red rilled me up a little. You know how it can be with us. Giles was just telling me to calm down or whatever,” Faith whispered back so only they could hear as she looked to the side of her to see Willow looking at both of them with the same annoyed looked that she had worn since catching the two women in bed together. Faith Looked to Willow and gave her a sly wink causing the Redhead’s face to go bright red n annoyance and turned away to talk to Xander.

“You know you could be the bigger person rather than antagonise her?” Tara whispered when Faith turned her attention back to her with a pleased look on her face.

“And where’s the fun in that?” Faith whispered back teasingly.

“I hope you’re going to behave yourself tonight,” Tara replied unable to hide a smile.

“As if I would doing anything that would get me in trouble with you,” Faith said wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“Vixen,” Tara said as she pursed her lips to stop her from jumping forward and kissing the rogue slayer. Tara wasn’t one for public displays of affection but Faith had a way of wanting her to go against she knew but the witch had decided if this was a good thing or bad thing yet.

“Ahem,” Xander cleared his throat uncomfortable bringing the two women out of their own little world and looked round to see Xander, Willow and Anya all just staring at them.

“You know you guys don’t need to always stare at us when we interact, it’s starting to look pervy,” Faith stated in annoyance.

“Pervy? What? No? We just…uh…little help here,” Xander said in a flubbed tone not knowing how to answer looking to Willow and Anya for help.

“Oh for goodness sake, Faith you use to kill and Tara you use to date Willow…not that any of us knew until you both broke up. It weirds us out still and also your in the middle of the shop, I have patrons who want to give me money and not watch both of you almost making out all the time,” Anya stated in her non-tactile way and walked off in a huff to join Giles behind the counter.

Everyone stayed silent, not sure how to respond to what Anya had just said even though every one of the Scooby’s had been thinking it. Xander and Willow had an uncomfortable look on their face as they looked back down at what they had been initially doing at the table whilst Tara had a surprised look on her face where a blush had appeared and her shyer side took over more. Then without a warning Faith burst out laughing, even making Giles jump behind the counter and drop the book that he was holding. Faith swung back on her chair holding on to her sides, laughing like it was the best joke she had heard all year, everyone looked at Faith surprised by her reaction and also a little scared.

“Uhh Faith, are you ok? Because I for one am a little scared…I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh in a non-psychopathic way...I wish Buffy hadn't gone back home but I'm worried we need back up,” Xander stated with a scared chuckle as Faith brought her chair legs back down and wiped at the couple of tears that sprung from her eyes.

“Oh jeez…that was the best…I needed that. Thank you demon chick for stating the truth that everyone else is too chicken to say,” Faith said pointing to Anya as she tried to regulate her breathing.

“You’re welcome (Anya gave a wide smile as she ignores the demon comment) See Xander my honesty can be a good thing sometimes, and I have plenty more where that is…now could you all please leave?” Anya stated as she opened the cash register and started to pull notes out.

Everyone at the table gave a slight chuckle.

“No seriously, I have stock take and you’re all in my way…go away,” And with that Anya looked back to her money ending the conversation leaving the group dumbfounded at each other.

Chapter Text

Later that night Faith and Tara finished getting ready for bed and settled down to turn out the lights after the excitable evening they had just experienced. Not only had they got the pleasure to witness Spike being thrown through a window but they had witnessed a robot do it who had also happened to be the same woman that Tara and Anya had met earlier that day. The whole night had been a whirlwind, from convincing Buffy to take that nurse guy Ben’s number to having to listen to Xander and Anya analyse party snacks which made Faith want to throw herself out of a window. Although watching Willow squirm as she checked out the robot and didn’t realise that Faith or Tara had noticed had managed to make up for everything, that entertained Faith to no ends.

As soon as the events of the party had died down the scoobies had all found themselves discussing the night’s events and coming to the conclusion that the strange woman they had all encountered was an actual real-life robot. Buffy decided to take it upon herself to go in search for the creator “Warren”. Faith had offered to take the job but the blonde slayer insisted that now her mother was doing better she just wanted to get back to normal and take some of the slack away from Faith. So not having the energy to argue with a very stubborn Buffy, Faith made her way back to her apartment with Tara in tow.

The women had stayed relatively quiet since leaving the others as they made their way through the streets of Sunnydale, Faith didn’t think anything of the silence but Tara’s brain was moving at 100 miles a minute. Something wasn’t right and she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. It started back in the magic box when Faith had left the back room with Giles and Willow but then again at the party something just didn’t sit right with the witch. Faith seemed a lot more affectionate towards her than usual. It wasn’t that they were ashamed of their relationship but both of the women usually preferred to keep PDA to a low level as it wasn’t in their nature to feel the need to show off their feelings but as soon as they arrived at the party Faith didn’t want to leave her side or stop touching her, to some distant eyes Faith would just seem like she had a few drinks and enjoying herself but Tara knew better and there just wasn’t something right. Then Willow seemed to have more of an aversion to the rogue slayer, more so than when she had discovered the slayer in Tara’s bed or when Faith had awoken from her coma. She could barely look the brunette in the eyes compared to the evil stares that she would usually shoot.

Perhaps she was just overthinking things but the witch just knew something wasn’t right but knew there was no point in bringing anything up without any evidence to stand by. So she put on her signature smile and just followed her girlfriend home. As soon as they walked through the door they fell into their newly created routine and went about getting ready for bed before it got any later.

“Faith?” Tara asked as they pulled back the covers of the bed to climb in.

“Hmm?” The slayer replied as she straightened up her pillows, something she wouldn’t have done a year ago normally passing out wherever she felt comfortable and this almost felt domesticated for her.

And yet having a girlfriend of her own was even more of a foreign concept to her, Faith had never attached herself to anyone like that emotionally, determined to live a single life forever but her time with Tara had changed her and she wasn’t going to argue with it anymore and if that meant going to bed at a reasonable hour after creating an evening routine before sleeping then the rogue slayer welcomed it.

“Did you notice how Willow was being at the party?” Tara asked tentatively, finding the right words not wanting to sound overbearing.

“Checking out that robot chick? Yeah, that girl’s got wicked kinks that I never knew about,” Faith chuckled back at the memory of watching Willow go red-faced when she expressed her opinions on the robot out loud.

“No not that (Tara replied with a light chuckle)…I was talking about how she was acting towards you, she wasn’t just being awkward about us, she seemed angry towards but also kind of scared…are you sure nothing happened at the magic box earlier?” Tara asked calmly trying to hide her concern as she climbed under the covers.

Faith stopped her movements as she climbed into bed at what Tara had just said, she wasn’t sure how to react, she hadn’t noticed anything but then most of the time Faith didn’t try to pay any attention to someone who naturally didn’t like her and with Tara around it was hard to pay attention to anything else. So taking a deep breath in through her nose, Faith calmly climbed into bed next to Tara who waited patiently for her reply.

“I didn’t really see her be any different from normally honestly. She was probably just still annoyed after I told her to bug off earlier in the training room, I wouldn’t think about it,” Faith gave a brushed off response as she led down and got comfortable.

Tara stayed sat up with furrowed brows as she listened to what Faith had to say, she could feel something wasn’t be said and she didn’t like it.
“I don’t think so, I’ve seen Willow annoyed at you and this wasn’t it. Are you sure something didn’t happen?”

“So what, you just don’t believe what I have to say anymore?” Faith snapped as she reacted without thinking making Tara’s face looked taken aback.

“No, I’m not saying that at all. I’m just worried about Willow is all,”

“So that means I’ve done something wrong? Red always seems to have a problem with someone or something,”

“Faith don’t be like that, I don’t understand why you’re getting so defensive all of a sudden,”

“I’m not, I didn’t expect to be talking about Willow right before we go to sleep, she’s not exactly something I want to be popping in my dreams,”

“I really think you’re overreacting, this doesn’t even need to be an argument,” Tara tried to calm the situation and placed her hand over the slayers, barely touching her before Faith yanked her hand away like she had just been shocked.

Faith looked at Tara with a mixture of hurt and anger in her face, whilst working with her therapist she had been working on controlling her initial reaction to things but tonight wasn’t one of those nights and the slayer could feel that inside of her. Realising this Faith climbed out of the bed, dragging her pillow with her as she stood up. Facing away from the other woman Faith closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths as she tried to steady her emotions. Faith was hurt that she felt like she had to explain herself whilst knowing she hadn’t done anything wrong, it was like a part of Tara still didn’t trust her. She turned back round to face the witch who was looking back at her with hurt spread across her face too. A pang of guilt hit Faith as soon as she saw Tara’s expression but she knew she was too annoyed to do anything about it, she needed to get away before she said something she would end up regretting.

“I’m gonna crash on the sofa,” Faith shrugged doing her best not to show any emotion.

“Sweetie you don’t need to do that…,” Tara started until Faith raised a hand to stop her.

“I just need some time ok,” Faith stated as she turned around and left the bedroom, leaving a very confused Tara in bed alone wondering how she had managed to cause such an argument.

***

A couple of hours later, Faith found herself led on her sofa staring up at the ceiling in the darkened living room with the only light coming from the muted television that was beaming luminous light against the side of her body. The instant that she left the bedroom Faith knew that she wasn’t going to be sleeping that night, her mind was racing as she analysed the day's events in her head up until her little spat with Tara. Faith hadn’t expected Willow to act strangely all day after their confrontation in the training room, especially strange enough that Tara picked up on the behaviour. Even though she had been angry she knew that anger was because of Willow and Tara just ended up taking the brunt of it.

It wasn’t fair on Tara, she was only concerned and looking out for her friend. No matter what happened between the two witches, Tara still held a place in her heart for the redhead and Faith understood that, the same way Tara understood Faith’s past and didn’t judge her for it. Yet Faith couldn’t find it in herself to get up off of that sofa and return to her place in bed next to the woman she loved, the stubbornness enveloped her body, leaving her to stare up at the ceiling berating herself and wait for morning to arrive.

The silence sat thick in the air, Faith’s Slayer senses were attuned to her surroundings, she could hear the deep breathing of a sleeping Tara in the other room, the bathroom tap slowly dripping against the inside of the basin and a light shuffling noise coming from the hallway outside of the front door. At first, Faith just assumed it was one of her neighbours coming home late and just carried on staring at the ceiling waiting for them to disappear into their apartment so she could be left alone with her undisturbed silence but then the shuffling continued until she heard the lightest of taps against the front door. Faith’s head quirked up instantly at that noise, she never received guests especially at 3 am. It was probably just a drunk neighbour falling against her door but seeing as she had nothing else to do the slayer figured she may as well check it out.

Quietly Faith shifted the blanket aside that she had draped over her body and listened out another time for Tara’s breathing, making sure the woman was still asleep and wasn’t going to be disturbed before taking light steps in her bare feet across the cold hardwood floor. The shuffling noise had seemed to stop but she could tell there was someone out there, the slayer could see a shadow moving in between the light that squeezed underneath the door. Whoever was out there was trying to be sneaky but wasn’t doing a good job at all, so not taking any chances Faith grabbed the first thing near her as she made her way to the door. It was just an umbrella that Tara had left there after an unbearably wet day but Faith knew at least 50 ways to injure a person just using it and that’s all that mattered.

As she got closer that shadow seemed to have stopped moving and was now waiting outside the door. Taking one last look behind her to make sure that this wasn’t just a distraction to get her attention elsewhere, the slayer lunged forward and pulled on the door handle letting the light filter in from the hallway as she came face to face with a scabby looking demon in monks clothing and a devious smile on his face. Faith’s eyes widened in shock not expecting this kind of guest at her door so without thinking Faith pulled the door shut behind her and threw herself at the demon, pinning him to the wall in the hallway with the umbrella holding him up by the throat.

“What the hell are you doing, I said don’t come anywhere near my place, what if someone saw you?!” Faith whispered angrily not wanting to draw any intention to the two of them.

“I’m sorry but Glorificus…,” The demon started to croak out before an angry Faith pushed more on the umbrella to limit his breathing.

“And don’t use that name, she knows the rules and you shouldn’t be here. No get the hell out of here before I do more damage with this thing,” Faith threatened as her husky voice hissed at him in anger.

“She…n-needs to see y-you,” The demon said through strained breaths.

“Well she can wait and you can get the hell out of here before I rip out your tongue and make you eat it,” The rogue slayer growled as she let the demon go and stepped back.

The minion grabbed at his throat and rubbed it as he let the unlimited oxygen return to his body. He kept his head pointed at the floor as he addressed Faith again.
“I can only apology but she does request an audience with you as soon as possible,”

“Like I said she can wait, as soon as I can get away I’ll be there…and if she doesn’t like it…tough,” Faith stated ending their conversation as she held her head firmly up and all emotion had drained away from her face as she watched the demon nod silently back at her in understanding.

The demon looked up at her one last time before silently shuffling away leaving Faith stood alone in the hallways as the crackling of annoyance tingled through her fingertips as she slowly counted to ten in her mind, riding the wave as she tried to calm herself down, not wanting to return to the apartment in any kind of mood. She was so pissed at the rude intrusion and at the same time thankful that no one had seen them. Faith looked up and down to make sure the demon had left and that no one else seemed to be lurking around, not wanting any other surprises that night.

After a few moments, Faith turned back and quietly let herself back into her apartment with only the sound of a light click of the door as it shut behind her and rested the umbrella down beside the door, returning to the darkness of the living room only this time she was faced with the silhouette of Tara stood in the doorway of the bedroom rubbing her sleep ridden eyes.

“Where did you go?” Tara asked in her sleepy and confused state after waking up to remember that Faith wasn’t next to her and feeling the cold and empty space made her get up and go in search of the slayer.

“Uh I thought I heard something but it was just one of the neighbours coming home drunk,” Faith quickly lied, hoping the sleepy Tara wouldn’t question what she said.

“Oh,” Tara just replied quietly as she looked away from Faith and to the space on the sofa where Faith had been trying to sleep and the flashing of the silent tv that just seemed to be stuck on the shopping channel, suddenly remembering why the brunette had gone out there in the first place.

“You should go back to bed, it’s still late,” Faith whispered bringing Tara’s attention back to her.

“Will you come with me? I don’t like it when we sleep apart,” Tara asked in that innocent tone that Faith could never say no to. She knew she was in the wrong and it wasn’t fair to make the witch suffer, when they could instead be comfortable and wrapped up in each other's arms.

Tara just looked at Faith expectantly, not pushing or saying a word, just waiting. After having managed to upset the slayer earlier the last thing she wanted to do was upset her again. She hated sleeping alone and now just seeing the sight of where Faith had made her new bed just upset her even more, she just wanted them to be ok again. She didn’t want this to become something bigger than it needed to be, not after everything they had been through before and all the unnecessary time they had lost.

Faith looked into Tara’s silky blue eyes and bedridden hair, looking as beautiful as ever even with lack of sleep. Faith’s mind wandered back to a few minutes ago in the hallway and the way she was keeping secrets, especially after arguing about Willow and still lying. They had finally started to build a relationship and she was lying profusely but looking at Tara from across the room without a clue of any of it happening and having blind trust, it broke Faith’s heart.

“Yeah…let me just switch this off (points to the tv) and I’ll be in,” Faith replied quietly with a weak smile.

Tara returned the smile straight away and nodded in acknowledgement, she turned to leave the living room but turned back around one more time gingerly.
“I love you, Faith,”

“I love you too,” Faith replied honestly with a heavy heart and a small smile. Tara beamed back at the slayer and headed back to bed oblivious of what was actually happening.

***

The next day all of the Scoobies found themselves gathered around the table at the magic box whilst Giles stood at the side making tea and Willow had her computer in front of her researching leads. They had all met to get Giles up to speed on what had happened at the party the night before with the robot woman that they had all encountered.

“And you’re certain that she was a robot?” Giles enquired as he poured himself a cup of tea.

“Absolutely,” Buffy confirmed confidently.

“Well, she practically had “Genuine Moulded Plastic” stamped to her ass,” Tara said abruptly taking everybody by surprise causing both Giles and Faith to look at her in awe. “Just tryin’ a little spicy talk,” Tara shrugged innocently as Faith shot an impressed wink at the blonde.

“Ok they have both been spending way too much time together, she’s even starting to speak like Faith,” Xander exclaimed.

“Hey, I can’t help how charismatic I am,” Faith told him with a shit-eating grin as Tara became more embarrassed by the new attention she had brought from one comment.

“She was looking for someone named Warren,” Anya told Giles as she ignored her boyfriend and Faith.

The Scoobies began to discuss this Warren and what his connection was as Faith turned her attention away and focussed on her girlfriend who had gone back into her shell. Faith scooted her chair closer and dipped her face towards Tara’s so she could speak more quietly.

“Hey, you ok?” Faith’s raspy voice whispered bringing Tara back to her senses and turned to look at Faith.

“Yeah just a little embarrassed,” Tara whispered back as she looked back around the table to see everybody’s conversation carrying on.

“Don’t be…it was kinda sexy ya know?” Faith replied wiggling her eyebrows playfully making light of the situation.

“Faith, stop, not in front of everyone,” Tara whispered back slightly amused.

“They ain’t listening to us, besides I’m only telling the truth,” Faith told her as she thought half the things Xander and Anya came out with that everybody listened to was more gag-worthy than what she had to say.

“Well we should be listening, not you trying to seduce me…keep that for when we’re alone,” Tara replied in much lower and playful tone with a quirked eyebrow before turning her attention back to the gang. Faith raised an eyebrow and bit her lip as she watched on, she loved when Tara played hard to get especially in a bossy manner. It turned the slayer on and if she had the chance she would grab the witches hand and drag her home but knowing she wouldn’t get away with it, the slayer just turned her attention back to the meeting and tried to ignore her inner feelings just as she caught the end of Giles teasing Xander which the slayer mentally kicked herself for missing.

“Hey! I think I found him. A Warren Mears. He went to Sunnydale High with us for a semester, and then he went to the tech college over in Dutton. I've got a local address where his folks still live,” Willow exclaimed grabbing everyone's attention as she wrote down the address.

“He’s probably home for spring break,” Tara pointed out.

“Well, I’ll go talk to him,” Buffy said with finality as she took the piece of paper from Willow.

“No no no no no, wait, we don't know what you're walking into,” Giles rushed before Buffy could leave the shop.

“Yeah totally B, I should at least come with,” Faith offered as she stood up from her chair.

“Faith’s right, and we don’t know what his motive was for building this thing, you won’t know what you’re walking into,” Giles warned with concern.

“Um, don’t you think shes’s just a…,” Tara trailed off too embarrassed to say the words, especially after her comment earlier.

“Yeah…she’s just sort of a…,” Willow chimed in trying to back Tara up but unwilling to say the word as well.

“She’s a sexbot!” Xander exclaims to Giles, saying what everyone else was too embarrassed to say. “I mean what guy doesn’t dream of that?”

“Dudes got a point, back home I met a few guys with like doll fetishes, I mean if those things could’ve spoken back to them…,” Faith trailed letting them all just ponder on what she had just said.

“See that’s what I’m talking about…Beautiful girl with ... no other thought but to please you ... willing to do anything…,” Xander says wistfully as he drifts off into his imagination. Buffy, Willow, Tara and Anya all looked at Xander with unimpressed expressions on their faces causing him to laugh nervously.

“I would say if Oz were here, he’d get it but I’ll just settle for Faith because she knows,” Xander says looking to Faith for back up, but instead she just chuckled.

“Hey don’t look at me, I said I knew about em’ never said I would want one,” Faith said raising her hands in defence.

“Why would anyone do that if they could have a real live person?” The ex-demon asked curiously.

“Maybe he couldn't. Find a real person?” Willow offered as she looked back up from her computer.

 “Oh, come on. The guy's just a big wedge of sleaze, don't make excuses for him,” Buffy said with a disgusted look on her face, in disbelief this was even a conversation.

“I'm not, I'm just saying, people, get lonely, and maybe having someone around, even someone you made up ... maybe it's easier,” Willow replied making sure not to look in Tara’s direction, which the blonde quickly noticed. This made Buffy pensive and go quiet.

“But it's so weird. I mean, everyone wants a nice normal person to share life with(Tara said looking towards Willow acknowledging what the Redhead had just said and understanding she was still hurt), but this guy, if he couldn't find that, I guess it's ... kinda sad,” Tara shrugs as she tried to sympathise with this stranger.

Still silent, Buffy rose from her chair and turned to Faith.

“Don’t worry about coming with, I don’t think there’s any real danger but if there is I’ll call,” Buffy told Faith calmly.

“You sure? I don’t mind…,” Faith offered again, not wanting to just sit by idly.

“Yeah, of course, you can just take the next patrol…have the night off,” Buffy told her earnestly.

“Ok, if you’re sure,” Faith just shrugged knowing there was no changing Buffy’s mind.

“I am, now if you’ll excuse me I need to go and make a call,” And with that Buffy left and headed to the training room.

After Buffy left them all Giles and Anya rose from the table and returned to work, Willow continued to look at her computer whilst Tara got up from the table and joined Faith where she stood next to the table.

“Looks like I’ve got the day off, wanna hang out?” Faith asked suggestively causing the colour to rise in Tara’s cheeks.

“As much as I would really love that…I can’t,” Tara told her girlfriend begrudgingly.

“Oh,” Faith replied trying not to look disappointed.

“I’ve just got this exam I need to study for…but maybe you could come to mine tonight and I’ll make it up to you?” Tara asked now taking her turn to be suggestively and it worked on Faith immediately.

“What time should I be at yours?”

“After 9 ok?”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Faith purred as she leant in and gave a soft kiss on Tara’s cheek, only lingering for a second to smell the other woman's perfume before slipping past the witch and heading for the exit.

“Where are you going?” Tara asked not expecting Faith to leave so quickly.

“Got some errands to run, don’t wanna be late for later,” And with one more cheeky smile and wink, Faith left a bemused Tara in the magic box.

***

Later that evening Glory is stood by an answering machine with her arms crossed looking very annoyed as she listened to a message that had been left by Buffy for Ben.

“Hi, it's Buffy. Um, I hope this is your machine, there, there wasn't a message. Anyway, um, about coffee. I, um ... I just ... I don't think this is the best time for me to be ... drinking...coffee. Um, I'm sorry. And, um, bye,”

The machine cut off with Glory looking at it in disbelief as she processes what had just been said.

“What the hell?!” Glory questioned out loud not realising Jynx was stood right behind her.

“If I may, your inconceivableness, it sounds to these humble ears like our Ben tried to make a date with the Slayer,” The demon stated the obvious to his leader.

“A date with the Slayer? No. No. (shakes her head firmly) No, no, no. He is planning something, he's working against me,” Glory reaffirmed out loud, not sure of who she was trying to convince. Jynx just shrugged in response not knowing what to say.

“She turned us down?” Glory asked, now with a pout. It didn’t matter what form she was in, being turned down by the slayer stung. Jynx just continued to watch on which annoyed Glory more. “What do you want you scab?”

“I apologise your unholiness but the other one is here to see you,” Jynx told her bowing his head in respect and gesturing towards the other room.

Glory’s face lit up, quickly forgetting about the message that had been left and brushed past the demon and headed straight for the other room. She stormed through the doorway to see a very relaxed Faith sat on the sofa with her feet on the coffee table and helping herself to a plate of grapes, with three other demons who looked just like Jynx stood behind her on guard. Faith looked up to see Glory enter the room with Jynx following close behind, she placed the plate down beside her and an evil grin spread across the slayer’s face.

“So Boss, you wanted to see me?” Faith greeted a smug-looking Glory.

Chapter Text

Tara had spent all day in the university library studying until her brain couldn’t take any more information in. So when she realised how late it was and that the library was getting ready to close the witch didn’t give it a second thought to gather up all of her belongings and head home. Tara rushed back knowing that Faith would be coming round soon, which just filled her insides with excited energy, a feeling that was a regular occurrence when it came to seeing the slayer. Even when they had gone through there time of not seeing each other the witch continued to have nervous energy, it was something that she had experienced since the first time that they met and Tara loved the feeling.

Although in recent days that feeling had been mixed with something else, concern. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something didn’t feel right like something was being hidden from her. Everything was going great since she and Faith got back together. Still, there seemed to be disjointed energy in the air that was putting the witch on alert but with no idea of what it was there didn’t seem to be any reason to bring it up, cause argument without reason or proof just wasn’t needed. Faith already got upset over Willow the night before. That was just her raising her concerns over her fellow witch if she started another conversation without anything to go by, who knows how the slayer would react. Tara knew that Faith wasn’t usually the kind of person to get so angry when they spoke, but lately, the slayer just seemed to be so on edge, and it was making Tara question so many things.

She tried to rationalise it by thinking that with all the stress that Faith had been under when Buffy was unable to help. Now suddenly having to share those duties again mixed with the therapy sessions she was now going to was having an effect that just needed to go through the motions. Pushing those worries down, Tara tried to focus on the evening she was about to share with Faith instead.

As she made it back to her dorm room Tara noticed that the time was 8 o'clock, she still had an hour until the slayer would get there which gave her plenty of time to shower and tidy up so they could relax once she arrived. She wanted this evening to go so much better than the night before, no arguments or sleeping in separate rooms, only the two of them alone and enjoying the time together.

So as soon as she entered the room, she set about tidying up the room that she hadn’t slept in for a couple of days and then gathered up her wash things and went and showered. Making a quick job of it, Tara swiftly returned to the room with time still left to kill. So taking the opportunity Tara thought she would try and be a bit romantic and began to light candles and spread them around the room, then she turned all of the lights off except for a small bedside lamp. Hence, it made the room just dark enough to get the candles' effect, but bright enough that she could still see. It's not like she was planning a special night; she was still dressed in sweats to keep things that little bit casual.

Once she had done all that Tara looked at the clock to see that she still had a few minutes before Faith was due, so she whipped a Wiccan book off her bookcase and made herself comfortable on the bed. It had been a while since Tara had practised magic and didn’t want to get rusty so thought it would be good to read up on some spells to pass the time. It didn’t take long for the young witch to get lost in her book; magic was her passion and every time she used it she could feel the connection that she had once felt with her mother, it was comforting. It was sad that Tara hadn’t done any in a while, she had been so wrapped up with college assignments and spending time with Faith that she had managed to let that part of her slowly slip away. Tara didn’t like it at all, especially when they had to deal with Glory and Dawn being the key. She should be more prepared if she or Willow are needed to perform a spell, so this extra time of reading reminded Tara that she need to prioritise this more often.

A little while had passed, and Tara looked up from her book to wipe her eyes that began to strain under the flickering candlelight, she looked around the room to the clock. She had been reading for over an hour and hadn’t even realised it and more so that Faith still hadn’t arrived, Tara knew the slayer had a bad habit of being a few minutes late but never this long. The only time she had was intentional on their first date so Tara couldn’t help but worry. Her first thought was to be pissed, but then with everything going on, the witch couldn’t help but think perhaps something terrible had happened.

Putting the book down, Tara jumped up from the bed and turned the light on; the romantic mood had passed. So grabbing her telephone Tara called Faith’s apartment, perhaps the slayer had a nap and forgot to set the alarm or maybe just forgot about their plans. After letting the phone ring a few times and then go to voicemail, Tara gave up taking the impression that no one was home. Taking a couple of breaths to keep calm and try not to overreact, Tara then decided to call Giles and see if he knew where Faith was, perhaps they decided to do some training and time got away from them. After trying to get through to Giles at home to no avail, Tara managed to get through to him at the magic box. The watcher hadn’t seen Faith since earlier that day, and he could hear the worry in the witches voice as to which he instinctively tried his best to put Tara’s mind at ease by reassuring her that she had only been an hour late and there could be many reasons not to worry. So the witch thanked him for his help and then called Buffy to which she got Joyce on the phone instead who told her that Faith had stopped by in the late afternoon for a chat but then left saying she had plans. The phone did not help her with her anxiety that Faith hadn’t forgotten their plans but was nowhere to be found. Joyce also tried to calm her nerves suggesting that Faith may be with Buffy, but she wasn’t sure where her daughter was either. Tara thanked her too before putting the phone down and sitting back down on her bed. Many horrible thoughts were swirling around the witches head, but she needed to take the advice given and try to relax, Faith might walk through that door any minute and then they would have something to laugh at. She just needed to be patient; it was still too early to be jumping to any conclusions.

***

“One last thing before you go, good job. I honestly thought I wouldn’t see you again unless I was killing you, but you just keep that info coming, and soon as that key’s mine the sooner you’ll run this town,” Glory told Faith with a mischievous smile.

“Glad to be of service, I can’t wait to see B’s face when I’m finally in charge(Faith gave a soft chuckle)…oh yeah and one more thing…keep your goons away from me. If I get caught then I won’t be able to find any key for you,” Faith warned as she slowly headed for the exit.

Glory looked Faith up and down inquisitively, she wasn’t used to somebody giving her orders, but something about Faith’s demeanour stopped Glory from laughing the request off. Even Glory wasn’t stupid enough to turn away help; she was no closer to finding the key and having someone on the inside of Buffy’s gang could get her closer to her goal.

“Ok…I won’t send them to you again…but if you don’t come up with something juicy soon then me sending my minions for you will be the least of your worries,” Glory smirked and then waved her hand ending their conversation and walked away leaving Faith to make her exit finally.

***

Glory sure liked to talk for an evil god, mostly about herself but mostly about Buffy and the Key. Faith had been stuck at Glory’s place for hours, a lot longer than she had expected just listening to her obsession, at least when she worked with the mayor he got straight to point, and there was no hanging around longer than was needed. The evening had dragged so much that Faith had forgotten entirely about meeting Tara, she rushed out of Glorys building flashing a look at the clock on the way out. It was 1 am, and Faith had been there for over 5 hours. It was too late to go to the campus, and Tara would be pissed, all she could do was head home and just think of something to say in the morning and beg for forgiveness.

Faith raced through the streets of Sunnydale to her apartment just wanting to get back home and hoping not to come across any unwanted surprises on the way that could slow her down and drag this night out any longer than it had been. Making quick work of using her slayer speed Faith made it back home in no time. Still, as she reached the outside of her apartment, building her gaze travelling up at a glace to notice a dim light coming from one of her windows. Faith furrowed her brows in thought as she tried to remember if she had left any lights on before she went out, so much had happened that day that she couldn’t remember. Still, she didn’t think she had but tried to ignore the initial suspicion anyway. Faith wasn’t concerned, anyone stupid enough to break in would have to deal with her.

Faith made her way up to her apartment no longer moving quickly and was now proceeding with caution instead, just in case. She walked with soft steps as she exited the stairwell and made her way down the low lit corridor to her front door. Listening out Faith couldn’t hear anything, the whole building was silent and still, and she wasn’t picking up any bad vibes. Putting it down to just feeling on edge after she met with Glory, Faith relaxed her body, pulled out her door key and softly unlocked the door.

She pushed the door open casually, not expecting to come face to face with a rather upset looking Tara who had rushed over to the door once she heard the keys in the lock. Before Faith could even open her mouth, a worried Tara launched herself at the slayer and wrapped her arms around her neck tightly as if afraid to let her go.

“I was so worried when I hadn’t heard from you, I called everyone, and no one had seen you!” Tara exclaimed through a muffled voice where her face was hidden in the crook of Faith’s neck.

“Hey, hey calm down, I’m ok. See I’m right here,” Faith assured Tara as she gently pushed the blonde from her body so they could look at each other appropriately.

“W...What happened? How come you’re only just getting home now? Were you attacked?” Tara questioned very quickly, her mind racing and just wanting to get answers.

“Uh…yeah. There was a vamp nest, and I guess I just lost track of time,” Faith lied with the first thing that came to mind.

“A nest? You dealt with it alone?” Tara asked as her eyes roamed all over Faith checking for injuries and invisible answers.

“Well it all happened so fast an’ I didn’t want to bother B when she’s dealing with that robot chick,” Faith shrugged just wanting to escape the questioning as she walked away from a confused Tara and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

“So, what happened? You don’t even have a scratch on you,” An astonished Tara asked as she joined Faith in the kitchen who’s body language seemed different, but the witch couldn’t put her finger on why.

“Guess I got lucky…I uh, noticed a couple of shifty vamps and followed them back to their nest…,” Faith told Tara, doing her best to hold back any nerves to make the story as convincing as she could.

“All evening? I spoke to Joyce she said she saw this afternoon, how many vampires were there? Where was the nest?” Tara challenge, still not understanding the events presented to her.

“Like 10…in some warehouse near the docks,” Faith nervously took a sip of water at her quick thought.

“10? And you got away from that without a scratch?”

“What can I say, I must be lucky,” Faith shrugged and almost ran away as she took herself over to the sofa and sat down.

“That’s more than lucky Faith,” Tara gave a breathy laugh of surprise as she followed Faith.

“Well I didn’t take them all on at once, I ain’t stupid. I watched ‘em for a while to make sure more didn’t arrive, and then I went after ‘em when they least expected. Took a couple out on the down-low and then the rest…guess I lost track of time,” Faith explained, secretly praying that Tara believed her.

Tara just looked at Faith carefully and silently, she couldn’t tell what it was, but it just didn’t seem to add up, and she seemed to be in another situation where she couldn’t question it without any proof or evidence. She wasn’t there, and the trusting side of her should take her girlfriend for her word, but it just seemed to be too hard to swallow. Doing something that she hadn’t done in a long time, Tara took a subtle breath in through her nose and focused on Faith, specifically her aura. Tara used to read this to see if Faith was changing, to understand how the slayer felt when she wasn’t willing to speak. That same fractured like that she once saw appeared, still as fractured as ever and that bright, hopeful light she had seen before was shining brighter than it had ever done, but something new had appeared, and it frightened the witch. A new light appeared, and it was trying to cover the goodness that was sparkling through like it was trying to degrade Faith’s soul, an inner light that was fighting for control.

At that moment, the witch realised the slayer was lying, and she couldn’t tell how or why but something wasn’t right. It almost broke her heart after everything they had been through together in the last year, she thought they were past all the drama, but obviously, Faith’s inner demons were something that this rogue slayer was still having problems with. Tara knew she couldn’t just outright say that she suspected something was wrong, she needed to find that out for herself if she wanted the truth and just hold hope that she was wrong and she was reading everything wrong.

“That’s awful Faith, really. I’m just glad you’re ok, and back here with me, I’m sorry I ambushed you here,” Tara feigned, worried that she had been quiet for so long.

“Don’t sweat it, I’d probably be worried if I was you, I just feel bad that I made you worry,” Faith told her honestly, the guilt of lying already beginning to get to her as she watched the worry on Tara’s face. “We should go to bed; I’m beat,”

Faith stood up from the sofa and stretched her arms out to prove her tiredness and slowly headed for the bedroom, leaving Tara on the sofa with a confused look on her face.

“You usually shower after a big fight…,” Tara whispered to herself in the darkness as she noticed the change of routine that would be insignificant to others, but to Tara, it was another red flag.

***

The next day Tara had awoken early and headed out before Faith, she knew the slayer was planning to see Giles at some point, so she faked having to go to the campus library and left by herself. She didn’t want to lie, but she needed to investigate on her own without upsetting her girlfriend. Tara believed in innocent before proven guilty, so Tara decided to look for the nest and prove herself wrong before having an honest talk with Faith. She couldn’t get Faith’s aura out of her mind, and the bad vibes she was feeling in general and sitting around guessing until it was too late wasn’t a logical solution.

She made her way across Sunnydale to the docks and already thinking about where she could look, possibly somewhere that seems to have signs that a fight had occurred there. There were many warehouses in Sunnydale, mostly abandoned ones that had just been left to rot and was a perfect place for demons and vampires to reside in. It was no secret, and she knew Buffy had found herself patrolling in that area multiple times over the years for many various reasons, even when she had to chase Faith down after she tried to escape town following the deputy mayor's killing.

Tara slowly walked the docks, unsure of where or what to look for, perhaps the signs of struggle or an abandoned nest? Everything at the docks seemed to blend together; it all just looked the same. Tara was only one person, and it could take all day to check every warehouse by herself, she knew she would need some help. At that moment, multiple spellbooks appeared in Tara’s mind like a library index, and she riffled through the imaginary pages looking for a particular spell. She knew she had read about a specific spell that could help you find what you were looking for, similar to a demonic energy location spell but more about finding the remnants of demonic energy.

It didn’t take long for the witch to remember what the spell was, she knew she wasn’t the most powerful witch, but she did know she held a lot of knowledge on the subject and knowledge was powerful. Following the ritual instructions, Tara bent down, took a handful of dirt off the floor and stood back up. Taking a quick look to make sure there was no one around to see what she was doing, the witch closed her eyes and began to mutter an incantation under her breath. Focussing her mind on what she needed to find, she blew the dirt into the wind, letting the magic fill the air around her. Within seconds the air turned cold, and her vision became hazy. Lines of different colours in all directions appeared some were faded, dull colours and others were so bright they were almost blinding. These lines represented the echos of demonic activity in the area.

There were quite a few lines for Tara to differentiate between them all, she knew the docks were popular, but there were so many lines that crossed over each other some of them were blurring into one. Tara squinted her eyes and did her best to focus on the brightest light heading in the direction of nearby warehouse and remembering Faith’s story of finding them in a warehouse the witch figured that one was her best bet. Being careful to keep an eye on her surroundings, Tara walked to the warehouse along the outside of the bright red light that was weaving in multiple areas, following the path of whichever creature had created it. It took her to an old abandoned warehouse just on the side of the dock, next to the loading bay.

Tara made her round the building as the spell began to fade away, leaving her to find an entrance by herself. She searched along the building side until she came upon a rusted doorway that had been bolted shut with a large chain through the handle. Tara tried pulling on the door to see if the chain would shift but to no avail. Looking around in annoyance, the witch noticed a couple of cracked, dirty windows just to the side of her. She swiftly moved over to them and wiped a hand across one of the windows, wiping off enough dirt that she was able to try and peer through. So reaching up on tiptoes, the witch furrowed her eyes to try and look through the window. There wasn’t any sign of a fight, struggle, or break-in from her first observation, the place was untouched but lived in. She did her best to look around, and just in the corner, she could see a couple of figures moving in the darkened space. Tara couldn’t hear anything, but she could see the figures moving slightly closer in her direction. There were about five vampires altogether from what she could see, and they were pretty slow-moving. They all seemed to be dressed in old ragged clothes and looked very underfed, very non-threatening. They also looked like they had been there for a long time, so there was no way they had just moved in so quickly.

Tara stepped away from the window as she registered what she had just seen, thinking of reasons why she could find evidence of a nest being destroyed. Maybe she had followed the wrong line? Or those were vamps had already cleared up the mess from the fight? Or Faith had just been lying about where she had been. Tara didn’t want to think that, but nothing added up, and she had been at the docks for a couple of hours, and she hadn’t found anything that proved otherwise. She knew she needed to pick her next actions carefully; she still didn’t have any other proof that something else was happening that reaffirmed her gut feeling. Maybe if Tara spoke to Giles, he would be able to advise her or have some insight. Going to Faith’s watcher behind her back wasn’t the best idea at the risk of upsetting her girlfriend, but she needed to get these feelings off her chest.

So before she could change her mind, Tara headed out of the dock and headed for Giles apartment, hoping he hadn’t left to meet Faith at the magic box. She walked as fast as she could through Sunnydale without having to run; she didn’t want to draw attention to herself; it’s not like this was an emergency. The witch wasn’t too far away from Giles’s apartment and was making good time when suddenly a sharp pain flashed across Tara’s chest, stopping her in her tracks. Her breathing became staggered, and a feeling of heartbreak littered her insides. Tears started to stream down the witches face, and she couldn’t understand why and then an image flashed in her mind. Faith. The slayer was in deep distress and Tara could feel it, she had this kind of connection with the slayer before, but now whatever she was experiencing was overwhelming. The thought of seeing Giles disappeared from her mind, and now all she wanted to do was to find Faith.

Now Tara was running, she turned around and was running through the streets of Sunnydale. She didn’t know where she was going but instead focussing on the emotions in her body. The further Tara ran, the stronger the feelings became, it was like they were pulling her to the source. Tara didn’t know if she could keep going, though, the sense of an impending panic attack was enough to slow anybody down. She was so distracted by how her body felt and worrying about Faith that she didn’t realise where she arrived. Tara stopped to catch her breath to see that she had finally, arrived on Revello Drive, right outside of Buffy’s house. The witch was especially confused since she had stopped all of the chest pain and heartache had disappeared, which told Tara she was where she needed to be. She looked around, and the street was empty, but Buffy’s house's front door was wide open.

Tara looked at the door curiously, it was after 12, and it didn’t seem like anyone was home. Having already come so far, Tara decided to investigate and see what had brought her all that way. As she approached the door, her palms were sweating, and her pulse was racing. Swallowing down the nervous lump that appeared in her throat, Tara reached the open door and knocked on it lightly.

“Hello…Buffy? Mrs Summers? Anyone home?” Tara called out nervously, feeling a shiver pass through her as she passed over the boundary of the front door.

“They went to get Dawn…,” A quiet voice came from the dining room.

Tara recognised the voice and walked entirely into the house and headed for the dining room, coming face to face with solum looking Faith who was slumped down on the floor against one of the walls. Tara could feel all the bad vibes radiating off of the slayer and ran straight over to join Faith on the floor.

“Faith, honey? What’s wrong? Who went to get dawn?” Tara asked with concern.

Faith turned her head slowly to look up at Tara; her eyes were bloodshot and glazed over with no emotion.

“Buffy and Giles,” Faith just stated emotionless. Her stare was going straight through the witch.

“Sweetie, I don’t understand…has something happened?” Tara questioned more.

“We thought Glory was here…we didn’t even get a chance to train. Now she has to tell Dawn,” Faith said, still not making any sense.

“Tell Dawn what, I don’t understand baby,” Tara asked, now taking Faith’s hand in hers trying to bring the slayer out of whatever hypnotic state she seemed to be in.

“Joyce is dead,” Faith said as fresh tears appeared in the broken slayer’s eyes.

Chapter Text

The vampire was thrown across the dark and cold Cemetary and crashed straight into an unsuspecting headstone, shattering underneath them. This angered the demon, who climbed up off the ground and began to brush the debris off of his body when an unsuspecting Faith’s foot landed in his face throwing him back to the ground.

“When a girl throws a guy down, you’d think he’d be polite enough to stay down,” Faith quipped as she stood at the vampire’s feet, holding a stake in her hand.

The vampire looked at Faith this distaste and growled at the cocky slayer. The same slayer that had dark bags under her eyes and looked like she hadn’t slept in some days. Faith pulled a tighter grip on the stake as she tilted her head, almost analysing the vampire and planning her attack. Quickly though, the vampire spun on his side and took out Faith’s legs causing her to drop to the ground with a thud and gave the vampire the escape he desired.

Faith’s rolled her eyes at this action, took a deep breath through her nose, placed the palm of her hands up by her head as she kicked up off the floor and back on to her feet and broke out in a run after the escaped vampire. Faith pushed hard as she weaved through the headstones of the deserted cemetery; her third night of hunting hadn’t gone the way she had expected. All her other kills had been simple and easy, most had been clean kills, but this vampire just refused to go down so quickly. This angered Faith; since Joyce’s death, Faith had taken over the slayer duties quite willingly and had gone on the hunt. She wasn’t patrolling; she was looking for a vengeance that she couldn’t fulfil. No one could be blamed for her surrogate mother's death, so instead, she took out her anger on any evil being that she came across, which became a long three days seeing as Sunnydale was full of evil creatures.

Faith grew closer to the edge of the cemetery, having managed to catch up on the vampire. There was no way she would let him get away, the anger raged through her body, and she needed to feel that release. The same release she had been trying to experience since Joyce’s death, she had hoped that she would’ve experienced it before the funeral that had happened earlier that day. However, unfortunately, the slayer still felt like a bomb that was waiting to go off.

Once the casket had been lowered into the ground, Faith had left; she couldn’t bear to be around anyone, not even Tara. Faith had lost many people in the past, but this loss was different; Mrs Summers meant something to her, and as she turned her life around, it affected her more than it would’ve in the past. The slayer didn’t know how to process the grief without using her fists; it was that or runaway like she usually would’ve done. So she hunted, all day and night on her own, only finding out about the funeral when she returned home for a change of clothes and found Tara had left a note telling her about it.

Faith had contemplated not going to the funeral, but she knew that she would probably regret that decision in the future. So dressed in black, she walked hand in hand with her love to that hole in the ground that was waiting to be filled by everyone’s tears. Faith didn’t cry, though, and she just stared ahead without even blinking; her eyes burned from the lack of sleep and the words spoken through the minister travelled through her without even paying attention. She didn’t acknowledge anyone around her; it was like the world disappeared, and all the slayer could do was stare ahead at the casket. Imagining a scared and upset Joyce trapped inside it, and there was nothing to do to help her escape. For the first time in a long time, she felt powerless; no amount of strength could help her fix things.

Buffy stood with her arm around a crying Dawn carrying a stone face as they stood in front of everybody. Faith caught a glimpse of this and couldn’t help but compare her and Buffy’s lack of reaction to everything. Perhaps it was a slayer trait that nobody else could experience, or maybe they both had a lot more in common than they thought. A slayer's role was to be strong and protect others from evil, and perhaps neither herself nor Buffy knew how to switch that off like they were doomed to react to life’s events on the inside. The only difference between them was how they dealt with that hidden emotion; Faith resorted to using her fists, whereas Buffy repressed the reality around her, numbing herself into a hidden depression. A part of Faith wanted to reach out and show the two sisters that she cared and supported them, but that’s where her weakness shone through; she couldn’t even react to the comforting arm that Tara had hooked through the crook of Faith’s elbow.

The funeral seemed to go on for hours through the minister's muffled words that Faith still hadn’t acknowledged. And as the sun started to turn, readying itself to set the guests one by one began to leave. Each person went to Buffy to pay their respects and say their goodbyes, not pushing to find out what Buffy planned to do next. Faith knew there was no point talking to Buffy; no one was going to get through to her, not until she fully accepted the reality of what was happening and honestly, Faith was feeling the same way. Soon there was only the Scoobie’s left at the funeral, and this was when Faith knew it was her time to go; her body began to feel that ache to run, to escape the trauma, and Faith embraced it. The sadness was killing her, and looking at every Scooby gang member just reminded her why she hurt so much. So without any emotion, a dissociated Faith turned to look at a concerned Tara with distant eyes. She could see her girlfriend’s mouth moving but couldn’t hear a word being said; instead, she leant forward and left a soft kiss on the witches cheek, causing Tara to stop speaking. Whatever was said didn’t matter anymore as Tara silently understood the message coming from Faith, the message that she wasn’t ready to talk. Pulling away, Faith let Tara’s arm fall away as the rogue slayer turned on her heel and left the group and the funeral behind and returned to her hunt.

Bringing her back to the present, Faith had the vampire she was tracking corned in between a wall and a tattered old crypt. The vampire bared its fangs as though warning the slayer off, but Faith ignored the pitiful attempt at exerting dominance. She was ready to end the fight that had been dragged out longer than she had wanted it too. Knowing he was backed into a corner, the vampire lunged forward at Faith, ready to fight, but Faith was prepared. Ducking down as the vampire continued to leap over her, Faith pulled her stake out and thrust it upwards, plunging the piece of wood into the vampire’s chest mid-air. The vampire exploded into a cloud of dust above Faith, who was still crouched down on the floor, dipping her head down to avoid the dust covering her face. A slow clapping noise came from behind Faith, making the slayer slowly lift her head, acknowledging the sound. Faith rose from the ground with a face of annoyance and turned around to see an annoyed-looking Glory sat above a headstone with her legs crossed, giving a slow and sarcastic clap.

“Good job, slayer, you taught him who’s boss,” Glory retorted with fake enthusiasm. Faith rolled her eye’s.

“What do you want, Glory?” Faith drawled, not in the mood to see the God.

“Is that any way to speak to your friend?” Glory replied sarcastically.

“We’re not friends,” Faith snapped back as she wiped excess dirt off her legs.

“You’re right. We’re not friends, but we did have a deal, and so far, you’ve been awol for days…care to explain?” Glory told the slayer with a face of thunder.

“ The slayer’s mom died a few days ago; things have been difficult,” Faith stated, ignoring the lump that was slowly forming in her throat.

“Well, good for her, it’s about time someone managed to get out of this crappy world…but I don’t see how this is my problem,” Glory said in her strangely perky annoyed demeanour.

The god jumped up from the headstone and slowly walked towards Faith, looking the slayer up and down curiously. Faith’s hand turned to fists instantly as the lack of empathy in Glory’s words, doing her best to control her anger and ignoring the urge to not lung at the airheaded higher being.

“Buffy is grieving; she’s not talking; nobody is. How am I meant to find the key when everyone is sad? I figured I’d keep a low profile for a couple of days and then use their grief to get some information? Take some responsibility off her hands and gain more trust,” Faith growled through gritted teeth, trying to be as believable as possible.

Glory looked at Faith for a moment suspiciously, walking back and forth in front of the slayer. After a moment, Glory stopped and faced Faith with crossed arms.

“I don’t see the point of mortal grief, but I accept what you say…I’ll give you two more days. Two days to manipulate the slayer, but after that, I’m taking over. I refuse to wait around whilst I slowly run out of time!” Glory snapped.

The God shoots forward so fast that Faith doesn't even see it when Glory’s hand is suddenly clasped around her neck and lifting her off the ground. The oxygen started to deplete from Faith’s body as she struggled against the hand, holding her up. She could feel her face become red, and her eyes water as she looked down at the psychotic Glory.

“Don’t make me send my minion’s to follow you sugar, I don’t like waiting, and I really don’t care for human problems. You need to bring me something juicy, or I’ll just snap your neck and do things my way…got it?!” Glory threatened.

Faith’s nodded her head in agreement as she strained through the pain of the God’s grip, willing herself not to pass out. Glory rolled her eye’s at the slayer and released her grip, letting Faith drop to a crumpled heap on the floor. Glory just stood over the slayer who struggled to get her breath back but did her best to look up at the other woman, doing her best not to show weakness.

“And another thing, I got some intel of my own today. The key is in human form. Now you don’t need to find it; you just need to find out who it is,” Glory told a shocked Faith.

The God looked Faith up and down one last time and gave a condescending nasally laugh before turning away from the slayer and leaving the cemetery. Faith climbed up from the floor as she rubbed her throat and coughed away any lack of oxygen. Faith couldn’t believe what she had just heard, the key was a person, and now she knew she was screwed. It turns out she was probably closer to the truth than she knew, and knowing that Buffy had information on the key, it wouldn’t be long before Faith could no longer avoid the truth.

***

The next evening Tara let herself into Faith’s apartment, throwing her keys down on a side table as she shut the door behind her. Making her way into the kitchen, Tara dropped her bag down on the side, and then her body followed as she dropped her head onto her arms in exhaustion. This had been the same routine since Joyce’s death, Tara would arrive at Faith’s every evening and waited for the slayer to come home, but she wouldn’t. She spent every day and night out patrolling and avoiding the truth of what was happening. The witch was more surprised when the slayer had gone with her to the funeral, even though the slayer’s mind was absent the whole time. Tara tried to talk to her, but there was no one to talk to; Faith’s mind wasn’t in the present; she was too busy grieving to pay attention. Tara understood, though, after her mother died, her mind was a labyrinth of tricks that made her do and act in ways that she never could’ve expected. All she could do was go to Faith’s every night and hope the slayer was go home and be the supportive girlfriend that she could be. She knew things were slightly strained with Faith secretive behaviour but now wasn’t the time for her to focus on that; Faith needed to know that there would be someone there for her when she was finally ready to go home; Tara vowed to be that person for her.

Tara was tired after the events of the last couple of days. After being abandoned at the funeral, the witch went back to Willow’s dorm to spend some time with Willow and the youngest Summers before returning to Faith’s apartment. She was glad to have gone there after the funeral, especially when Dawn started the subject of resurrection spells. Tara was glad to be there to deter the young girl from the dangerous idea, but unbeknownst to her after she left, Dawn had gotten hold of a history of witchcraft book and gone about gathering the ingredients for a resurrection spell. When Tara had gone back that afternoon to see how Willow and Dawn were doing, she found that Dawn was gone, and so was the book; she made it a priority to call Buffy. She called the slayer and told her what might be happening; then the situation was taken out of her hands. Something inside her made her suspect that Willow had something to do with Dawn finding the book but again, she had no proof to be making any accusations. Tara had always known how powerful Willow was, and sometimes it seemed like a drug to the Redhead, which always made Tara nervous. Everyone knows that an addict loves company, even if that meant pointing someone in the right direction of using a particular spell. So it just became another thing for Tara to keep an eye on, along with keeping an eye on her girlfriend, it was like there was a conspiracy going on, and everyone had forgotten to clue Tara in on it.

All Tara knew was that she was exhausted; so much seemed to be happening lately, and it just seemed like it was slowly getting worse. She looked up at the clock to see it was a little after six, and there didn’t seem to be any sign that Faith had come home since the funeral. Knowing there was nothing she could do, for the first time, Tara thought of herself and did her best to not think about where the rogue slayer was, knowing the other woman just need time and space for herself.

So after taking a long hot, relaxing shower, the witched got into some clean pyjama’s and made her way back into the kitchen to make some food. Deciding to relax, Tara put the stereo on, letting the sound of chilled music fill the air around her. Her hips swayed to the music as she prepared her food, allowing the time to past casually. As she got lost in the music and plated her food, Tara heard the unmistakable sound of the front door click. Looking up from her task, she saw Faith trudge into the flat with a vacant stare and walk straight to the sofa and dropped herself down onto it.

Tara followed Faith and brought herself in front of the slayer with her face filled with concern again. She looked down at the tired woman only to see bruising that had now formed a place on the slayer’s neck. Seeing the injury, a worried Tara sat down next to Faith, taking one of her hands in her own.

“Oh my god, Sweetie, are you ok?” Tara exclaimed as she looked over Faith for any other injuries. Faith slowly turned her head to face Tara’s.

“Uh yeah, some vamp gave me a run for my money, figured I’d come back and rest for a bit before heading back out there,” Faith told the witch vacantly.

“Are you crazy? No, you’re not going back out there!” Tara told Faith.

“I’ll be fine,” Faith shook her head in disagreement.

“I don’t care, you’ve been out day and night, I can’t remember the last time you slept, and now you’re sloppy enough to get hurt,” This elicited a reaction from the slayer whose facial features turned annoyed.

“So what, you’d rather have me stay here with you and act like nothing’s happened? I’m not you; I can’t just dance along to music and pretend I’m ok,” The slayer snapped, her voice huskier than usual, showing her exhaustion.

“I’m not asking you to do any of that! But sometimes you can carry on with life even if you’re not ok, rather than fighting your way into an early grave!” Tara bit back.

Faith jumped up from the sofa in annoyance, with Tara following behind, not about to let Faith storm off in anger.

“So what do you have me do?!” Faith asked angrily.

“I just want to see some emotion; I want to help you get through this before the grief overwhelms you,” Tara said, lowering her tone, not wanting an argument to escalate.

“You want emotion? Fine!” Faith snapped before throwing herself at Tara.

Faith grabbed Tara’s shoulders before the witch could react and crashed their lips together. The kiss wasn’t like it usually was; it was filled with anger and sadness and wasn’t reciprocated by the witch. Tara pulled her head away, disconnecting their lips. Tara lifted a hand to face the slayer sending an invisible force out that shot the slayer across the room. Faith crashed into the wall opposite and fell to the floor on to her knees. Faith looked up at Tara with glossy eyes; the witch couldn’t tell whether she had angered the slayer more.

“I show you emotion, and that’s what I get?!” Faith cried out angrily.

“Forcing yourself on me isn’t showing emotion, and you know that!” Tara shouted back; she could feel sparks of magic pulsate in her hands as adrenaline elevates.

Faith climbed back off the floor and stood up to face the witch as her breathing increased. She stared into Tara’s eyes, not even blinking.

“Faith, Joyce is dead,” Tara stated.

“Shut up!” Faith screamed as her hands balled into fists.

“She’s dead, Faith, and she’s not coming back,” Tara repeated. She refused to argue, and the truth was the only thing she could think to say.

“Stop it,” Faith said through gritted teeth.

The slayer grabbed the coffee table in the middle of the two women and threw it against the wall smashing the solid wood into pieces. Tara flinched at the action but could see the effect it was having on the broken slayer. Tara took a small step forward.

“Joyce wouldn’t want this; she would want you to grieve without putting yourself in danger, don’t let her death be in vain,” Tara calmly said as she moved even closer to Faith.

Faith stood in front of Tara shaking, everything was building up in the slayer, and it was too much to handle. The slayer didn’t want to break, but she was so tired and weak that even looking at Tara didn’t help. The witch stood there calmly, not even reacting, it was too much for Faith to handle, and on the next breath she took, a lone tear fell from one of her eyes.

Tara walked forward a reached a hand out and placed it on the shaken slayer’s face, and this seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. The flood gates open, and the tears poured from Faith’s eyes. Instinctively Tara pulled Faith in for a hug, but this wasn’t what the slayer wanted. Faith tried to wriggle away from the embrace, but the witch held a firm grip. The slayer had done everything she could to escape what she was feeling, but now she was trapped, and the exhaustion had taken over. The tears they poured and the slayer cried out in pain as the witch shushed her with calming tones. Faith was finally giving in to the pain of her loss.

Chapter Text

Chapter 39

When Faith found herself hidden outside Spike’s crypt in the middle of the night with a ski mask over her face and surrounded by four scabby demons in monk’s clothing, the slayer knew things had taken a strange turn. Faith had never worked well with others, especially when they were Glory’s cronies, but after her failure to get any new information regarding the key, the god had decided to take the reigns, and for some unknown reason, her minions had convinced Glory that Spike was the key. The same Spike who was a 148-year-old vampire who had previously killed two slayers and was currently living with a government chip in his head. Faith had tried to dissuade the god but was firmly ignored. It seemed like Glory enjoyed using the silent treatment when she was pissed with someone who worked for her; this wasn’t an issue for Faith; for one, she hadn’t been killed, and for two, the less she had to speak to airheaded god, the better.

Faith didn’t particularly want to risk the scoobies finding out what she was up to by kidnapping spike. She also had no other choice, and with Buffy being away on a self-seeking slayer journey in the desert with Giles, this was the perfect opportunity to not be caught. Even if Spike wasn’t the key, he might have contacts who could find something out which would make Glory happy and, in turn, get her off Faith’s back. After the fuss Faith made about Buffy not telling her about the key, it wasn’t like she could outright ask who it was now, so instead, she needed Spike to help out. It hadn’t been easy sneaking away from Tara and the rest of the scoobies; with Buffy away, they all needed to pick up the slack of patrolling and looking after Dawn. Luckily being the slayer, Faith took charge of the patrol; as long as she didn’t stay out too long, then nobody would be the wiser to what she was really up to.

As Faith and the group of demons prepared to attack, a rustle came from their side in the brush. Faith’s eyes widened, thinking Spike was on his way back home, not realising he had gone out. So, not wanting to get caught, Faith grabbed the arm of the goon next to her and pulled him down. Noticing Faith’s movements, the rest of the minions followed, and the group hid behind a large tomb. They crouched down as the sound of rustling leaves grew closer. Faith lifted her head just high enough so she couldn’t be spotted but enough that she could see the crypt. A figure stepped through the darkness, and Faith could see more clearly as it grew closer. It wasn’t Spike but Xander arriving at the crypt. He didn’t look happy when he reached the door and stormed in.

“What the hell is he doing here? He should be back at his apartment with Dawn!” Faith thought to herself in a panic.

“Come, we must go now!” Jynx said impatiently before Faith grabbed him again to stop him from leaving.

“I think they’re talking. We need to wait until Spike’s alone. We don’t need any witnesses; otherwise, the slayer might come looking,” Faith warned, not wanting to risk being seen by Xander.

“We can’t risk Glorificus having to wait any longer. We must enter now!” Jynx yanked his arm from an annoyed Faith’s grip. “None of us answer to you, slayer!”

And with that, Glory’s minions all jumped up at once and scuttled over to Spike’s crypt, leaving an unwilling Faith to follow. The slayer took her time walking into the crypt as the sound of loud voices travelled out and surrounded her. It wasn’t long before the sound of a fight broke out and became the best opportunity for Faith to make her appearance. Making sure her mask was secure and not going to come off as Faith charged into the crypt. Counting her blessings, Faith entered the crypt to see both Xander and Spike’s backs to her. One of the minions struck a struggling Xander in the back of his head and then kicked him in the chin, knocking him unconscious. Faith knew she should be getting involved, but with the way the ambush was going, it seemed to be under control. Spike wasn’t giving in easily, refusing to let the group of minions overpower him. The slayer found it quite entertaining to watch the vampire being beaten on; he was always too cocky for his own good, and with the way he stalked Buffy all the time, it looked like karma was being a bitch. That was until Spike began to fight back, and he was winning. One by one, the demons were being thrown aside like garbage, and it would only be seconds until the vampire noticed Faith was there. Unfortunately for Spike, the demons weren’t deterred and were quick to recover to their feet. Two of the minions grabbed both of Spike’s arms to hold him in place whilst the vampire head-butted another demon that was coming straight at him.

“Tie his hands! Glory wants him restrained!” Jynx ordered the demons that were holding Spike into place.

“Let me go!” Spike called out as he struggled to break free.

“Careful with him. She will want the key intact!” Jynx ordered as the minions tied Spike’s hands behind his back.

“Key? Who’s the key? I’m not the-wait I know that smell…-“ It was then that Faith charged over and punched Spike in the face, knocking him unconscious.

“That’s how it’s done, boys. Now you can get him to Glory without a fuss,” Faith said cockily as she turned to leave the crypt, hiding the panic in her voice that Spike had sensed that she was there.

***

Tara was still half asleep; sleeping on the floor wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world. The blinding light that suddenly erupted in the darkened living room was enough to bring Tara from her slumber as she opened her eyes to see a shaken Xander standing over her and a frantic Anya running over to him. Although at the sound of Xander’s concerned tone, Tara woke up to the thought that something terrible had happened to Faith. The witch looked straight to the clock on the wall, it was 4 am, and still, her slayer hadn’t returned from patrol. Tara couldn’t help but think the worse, especially with Glory still searching for the key and the way the god had beaten the hell out of Faith in the past. It was all so worrying, but she couldn’t show her fears, especially if technically nothing had happened yet, even if Xander looked worried.

“Guys…demony kinds of guys. Buffy,” Xander just about forced out before turning in Buffy and Willow’s direction once they both entered the room.

“Yes, that’s me,” The Buffybot responded instantly.

Tara looked at Buffy in surprise, not realising the slayer had entered the apartment. Still half asleep and reeling from the information that Buffy hadn’t gone away with Giles so she could secretly stay and sleep with Spike, Tara decided to remain silent and listen to what Xander had to say.

“The guys that work for Glory, you said they’re kind of like hobbits with leprosy? (Xander addressed the oblivious Buffybot.) Well, this was a whole flock of hobbits, and they just grabbed Spike. I think they’re taking him to Glory,” Xander said expectantly, waiting for the slayer he knew to jump into action or at least give a reaction.

“But he, he knows about Dawn,” Willow feigned as Xander nodded in agreement.

“We have to get him back!” Buffybot said worriedly as her priorities for Spike kicked in as the rest of the scoobies looked at her with concern.

“So, how do we get him?” Xander asked the Buffybot.

“I fight with weapons,” The Buffybot stated as everyone looked at her, waiting for an answer.

“Yeah. I got nothin’. Let’s hit your place; we’ll stock up,” Xander suggested, knowing he wasn’t going to be able to get Buffy to say anything else.

“Uh, I’ll stay here with Dawn. You guys should see if you can find Spike, and if Faith returns, I’ll tell her to go and meet you,” Tara offered, constantly feeling protective of the teenager.

“Are you sure? I can stay if you want?” Willow offered

“No, thank you. You guys should go; they might need your magic to help find Spike,” Tara replied with a small smile as she encouraged the group to leave.

Taking Tara’s first answer, the group turned and left the apartment, leaving the witch alone in the silent darkness.

Seconds went by, and Tara stayed in the position she was sitting in, not moving a muscle. Faith still hadn’t returned after hours of patrolling, continuing her new routine of staying out at all hours. Her mind was worried for everyone. She was worrying for Buffy’s sanity after the revelation that she was having sexual relations with Spike and the rest of the group, who would have to face off against a god to save a vampire. It was all so much, and Tara was beginning to wonder if anything would get easier for them. Making sure that Dawn stayed as safe as possible was hard enough, but with all the other curves in the road, this was all starting to become more and more complicated.

As though Tara’s worries had called out into the night, the click of the front door echoed in that moment and in walked a casual-looking Faith. The slayer headed straight for the fridge, not noticing that Tara was sitting up and watching her. Seeing the slayer continue her routine after being on patrol, Tara climbed up from the floor and padded over to Faith in the kitchen.

“Faith, honey?” Tara said softly.

Faith jumped at the sound of Tara’s voice. The slayer shut the fridge and turned around to face the witch.

“Hey, Babe, what are you doing up so late?” Faith asked, genuinely surprised to see her girlfriend awake.

“Faith, where have you been?” Tara questioned with concern.

“I was on patrol, and with Buffy being gone, I figured I’d do a few laps of town just in case. Why are you being all wiggy?” Faith lied through her teeth.

“You’ve just missed the others, they’ve all gone to Buffy, and the others have gone to her house. Xander was attacked, and Spike was kidnapped by Glory’s goons,” Tara explained as quickly as she could.

“Hold up. Buffy’s back, and Spike was kidnapped?” Faith repeated back what Tara had said in confusion.

“It’s all a long story, and the others will explain when you get there, but Glory will use Spike to find out about the key. So you need to go and help rescue him,” Tara stated, not giving Faith time to think.

“Uh, yeah, ok. This is all loco, but I’ll take your word for it,” Feeling lucky Tara hadn’t questioned her whereabouts more and now concerned that Buffy was back so early, Faith quickly kissed her girlfriend’s cheek and ran out the door without uttering another word to Tara.

***

A little while later, Faith burst through the Summer’s front door; Xander, Anya and Willow were all gathered in the lounge as a very happy-looking Buffy bounced in Faith’s direction in a perky pink top and skirt set. Faith stopped in the doorway as Buffy stopped to look at her fellow slayer.

“Faith. You’re here!” The buffy bot quirked her head as she spoke in her robotic tone.

“Yeah, B, so are you…,” Faith replied in confusion.

“You used to be evil,” The Buffy bot smiled matter-of-factly.

“B, did you get heat exhaustion in the desert or something?” Faith asked in annoyance.

“I have to get changed now. We’re going to save Spike,” The Buffy bot nodded, turned on her heel, and ran up the stairs.

Faith watched on for a moment, baffled by the interaction with the bot that she thought was Buffy. Hoping to get more sense from the others, Faith headed into the living room to meet the others.

“So, anyone wants to tell me what’s going on? And why is Buffy talking like she’s smoked a huge dooby?” Faith asked rudely as she butted in on the question.

“The long and short of it? Spike’s been kidnapped by Glory, and Buffy thinks we’re going to rescue him because they’ve been boinking,” Anya told a surprised Faith bluntly.

“Jeez, I didn’t think B had it in her. She really does have a thing for vamps, and broken men, don’t she?” Faith joked.

“It’s not funny, Faith. There’s something seriously wrong here,” Willow chastised the slayer.

“What’s wrong here?” Came the voice of Buffy behind them all.

“Tha-that was quick,” Willow stuttered as she realised Buffy had wandered in on their conversation as she observed Buffy’s supposed change of clothes.

“Didn’t seem like it to me. Death is my gift,” Buffy scoffed as she reflected on her time in the desert.

“Buffy, we need to talk,” Xander said cautiously as he ignored Buffy’s previous comment.

“What’s wrong? Is Dawn ok?” An alarmed Buffy asked as she looked between them all.

“Dawns, fine,” A confused Willow replied as she tried to keep Buffy calm.

“Buffy, we care about you, and we’re worried about you. The way you’re acting, the things you’re doing-,” Xander began, picking his words carefully.

“Dude, you’re screwing a vampire…again. Are you the bad slayer now? Am I the good slayer?” Faith said bluntly, not one to beat around the bush.

“Faith, what the hell are you talking about?” Buffy asked angrily, not understanding what was happening.

“We’re just kind of thrown by you boinking Spike,” Anya shrugged as Buffy’s mouth dropped in shock.

“The ... who whating how with huh?” That was all Buffy could get out of her mouth.

“Ok, that’s denial. That’s usually followed by anger,” Anya told them all.

“I am not having sex with Spike!” Buffy said in anger.

“Anger,” Anya pointed out.

“I’m just shocked. If anyone was likely to get down with a vamp, I was so sure it would’ve been me,” Faith stated, with everyone looking dismayed at her unhelpful comment except for Anya, who nodded in understanding.

“No one is judging you. It’s understandable. Spike is strong and mysterious and sort of compact but well-muscled…,”

“I am not having sex with Spike! But I’m starting to think that you might be,” Buffy interrupted firmly.

“Buffy, I saw you. Anya too. (Anya nodded) We saw you and Spike...with the straddling…,” Xander grimaced as he tried to gesture what he saw.

“Spike’s mine. Who’s straddling Spike?” The Buffybot responded as she entered the room and stood next to the real Buffy.

“Dude, you’ve got a double like Xander had!” Faith cried, clicking her fingers like she had the answer.

“No, she’s a robot. She acts just like that girlfriend-bot that Warren guy made. You guys couldn’t tell me apart from a robot?” Buffy pointed out in annoyance.

“Hey, don’t look at me. I’ve only just walked in on this myself,” Faith held her hands up in defence. “We’re all thinking the same thing, right? That she was sex bot…-“

“Yikes. Imagine the things-,” Willow started.

“No! No, no imagining. Any of you!” Buffy snapped in disgust.

“Already got the visual,” Xander raised his hand with a sickened look.

“People. Friends of mine. You’re forgetting the most important thing. Glory has Spike, and she’s going to harm him,” The Buffybot interrupted, still only thinking about her Spike.

“Glory has Spike?” Buffy questioned, still unimpressed by her friend’s assumptions of the Buffybot.

“We were gonna bring that up,” Xander laughed nervously as she could see the annoyance overcoming Buffy.

“We were grabbing weapons,” Anya pointed out helpfully.

“Grab ’em. We’re going now. I have to kill him,” Buffy said with finality.

“How? Do we even know where he was taken?” Faith asked, doing her best not to seem nervous, as she noticed Willow looking at her suspiciously

“I have an idea of where to start,” Buffy replied after pondering for a second.

“Show us the way, B,” Faith said as her mind raced on how she would deter the gang.

***

Soon after leaving the Summer’s house, Faith and the other scoobies gathered near Glory’s apartment building. After a few minutes of pointless talking about the Buffybot and her programming, they all decided to split up and search the area. Faith opted to go off on her own to sneak away to Glory’s and see how things were going with Spike before the others could crash the party. Faith didn’t even want to kidnap the vampire in the first place; everything always had to be complicated. Now she had two jobs, help the scoobies get Spike back and also stop them from finding him, so Glory has more time with him. From Buffy’s reaction, Faith could tell that Spike knew more about the key than she did. Without a plan and limited time, Faith could only wing the situation. She headed straight for Glory’s building as Buffy and Xander went into the building next door. She probably had a few minutes before they caught up with her.

Faith charged through the communal entrance only to see a gang of Glory’s goons charging down the stairs. On the opposite side, the elevator binged open as a badly beaten Spike fell through the ceiling, crashing to the floor in a heap. For a split second, Faith didn’t know what to do; she looked between the vampire and the demons, not knowing what move to make. If she helped the demons, it would blow her cover, but if she helped Spike, she would’ve betrayed Glory, and no doubt she would end up being killed. Before she could even move, the demon leading his group stopped mid-way on the stairs and pointed straight at Faith.

“Stay back! The vampire is ours!” Jynx shouted at Faith.

Faith looked to the weakened Spike, who looked back at Faith in desperate need of help with a look which almost looked like disappointment. Faith knew what her instincts were screaming at her to do; instead, she looked at the ground, allowing the demons to go after Spike. The demons continued to run down the stairs, with Spike struggling to get off the floor, ready for another fight, but just then, Buffy and Xander tore through the door behind Faith, with Xander shooting a crossbow at the nearest demon. Faith spun her head round in shock to face Buffy.

“Good timing; I thought I was gonna have to have all the fun myself taking these goons down,” Faith smirked, hoping Buffy hadn’t noticed that she had just been standing there the whole time.

“Don’t count on it,” Buffy smiled back as she grabbed one of the minions and flipped him onto his back.

As much as Faith wouldn’t have admitted it out loud, she loved her newfound relationship with Buffy, even if she constantly lied to her face. They were able to communicate so much better in the more recent months. Faith hated that she was betraying Buffy, but she knew she had to do what she thought was right. So to keep up the pretence, Faith joined the fight with Buffy and started taking down the demons attacking them. Soon, Giles and the Buffybot followed into the building.

“Buffy, we’re here!” Giles called out over the scuffle.

“Spike! Spike’s in there!” The Buffybot exclaimed as she pointed to the beaten and bloodied vampire in the elevator, immediately running over to him.

Everyone was in an all-out fight, with Faith and Buffy back to back, working in sync to fight the demons off. Whereas Xander and Giles struggled, with Xander being thrown around and Giles pinned to the ground, with his own crossbow being held to his throat.

“Buffy!!” Giles called out desperately.

The real Buffy and the Buffybot whirled around simultaneously in Giles’ direction to see the watcher struggling to break free. The Buffybot threw her weapon aside and leapt from the elevator, grabbing the demon threatening Giles. The demon hits the Buffybot with the crossbow, throwing her against the elevator control panel. The real Buffy kicks the demon away and helps Giles off the floor as the Buffybot slowly slips to the ground as flashes of blue electricity spark off her body.

Jynx and Murk saw their fallen comrades and ran for the stairs as Faith watched on, nodding to Jynx, who looked back nervously. Buffy joins Faith at her side, looking at the destruction around them as Giles climbs from the ground and Xander helps Spike in the elevator.

“Looks like the robot’s out of commission,” Faith nodded in the direction of the Buffybot.

“Thank god,” Buffy drawled. “Now we just have to deal with him and find out what he told Glory, or we could all be in danger,”

***

Later, Buffy, Faith, Tara, Willow, Anya and Dawn were all at the magic shop, where Willow was looking over the non-functional Buffybot whilst Giles and Xander took Spike back to his crypt. Faith knew that she needed to be with Glory so she could explain her actions but couldn’t risk the suspicion of not being with the scoobies. Especially as Tara seemed to be getting more and more suspicious every day.

“Is it weird?” Tara asked Buffy as she looked at the Buffybot led on the table in front of Willow.

“Oh yeah. At least it’s not a very good copy. (Buffy walked over, sat in the chair next to the bot, and led her head on the table.) I mean…look at it,” Everyone looked at Buffy, seeing what the slayer clearly wasn’t seeing.

“Hey, B, You ever heard of denial?” Faith laughed as Tara nudged her girlfriend to be quiet. Buffy just rolled her eyes at her sister slayer.

The chime from the shop door rang out as Xander and Giles entered, rejoining the group around the table. Both Faith and Buffy step forward to speak to the men.

“So what did you do with Spike? And please tell me the story has a dusty ending?” Buffy asked eagerly.

“We dumped him back in his crypt,” Xander told them.

“Tried to find out if he’d... told her anything, but he was too badly beaten to make much sense,” Giles said, dishearted.

“Well, even if he told her, he’d just lie to us about it anyway, right?” Anya replied bluntly.

“Maybe I should go speak to him?” Faith cut in as she cracked her knuckles, signalling that violence would be involved.

“I don’t think more violence will help, honey,” Tara added as she walked over and placed a hand on Faith’s shoulder.

“She’s right, but we also need to know what he told her so we can plan our next step. Glory could be on her way here right now!” Buffy explained impatiently.

“Why would she…?” Faith said quietly, realising that one of them must be the key, but Buffy kept her word by not saying who in front of her sister slayer.

“But, uh, not to worry, you know, I’m sure we’ll all be perfectly safe,” Giles reassured them, looking at a worried-looking Dawn particularly.

“We’re safe, right. And, uh, Spike built a robot Buffy to play checkers with,” Everyone turned and looked at a sheepish Tara, who Dawn directed the comment at.

“I…it sounded convincing when I thought it,” Tara shrugged innocently.

“You know B, I’ve got an idea of how we could find out what he said…but I don’t think you’re going to like it,” Faith wiggled her eyebrows at a dubious Buffy.

“And what idea would that be?” Buffy asked suspiciously.

“How good are you’re acting skills?” Faith smirked at a reluctant Buffy.

***

“I’m glad Spike didn’t tell Glory anything,” Tara told Faith as the two women walked hand in hand as the slayer walked her girlfriend back to her dorm room.

Faith had convinced Buffy to dress up and act like the Buffybot, thinking Spike would be more inclined to open up to an unbiased party than one of the scoobies. It was a risk on Faith’s part, but she also needed to know what Spike had said or seen. So whilst Buffy went to Spike’s crypt, Faith stayed at the magic box with Tara and watched over Dawn and the other scoobies until Buffy returned soon after the sun had set. It was a relief that Spike knew nothing and hadn’t said anything to Glory, but they all still needed to stay on high alert where Glory was concerned. Faith had even offered to walk Willow back to her dorm, but the witch decided to do more research at the magic box with Giles. Everyone was a little taken aback by Faith’s offer, but even Faith knew no one was safe at the moment, regardless of whether she got on with the Redhead or not.

“Yeah, me too. Who knows what hell could’ve been unleashed if he had,” Faith replied as she thought to Glory and how angry the god must be at that moment.

“And I can’t believe Willow kept that Buffybot. It really was creepy,” Tara shivered at the thought of the vampire essentially having his own sex slave.

“Just be glad that she’s not going to get it up and running and going again. That’s the last thing we need right now,” Faith shook her head as she laughed at the thought of two Buffys running around permanently.”Are you sure you don’t want me to stay over tonight?”

“No, I’ll be fine. I have to be up early for class, so you may as well get some rest at your place. You’ve been going out patrol lately; please promise me you won’t go out tonight and stay in?” Tara almost pleaded, hating Faith being out at all hours all the time with all her suspicious behaviour.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go straight home,” Faith said, giving Tara’s hand an extra squeeze as they arrived outside Tara’s dorm building. “I know I’ve been out a lot lately, but once this whole Glory thing is over, things can go back to normal,”

“You mean that?” Tara asked with concern spread across her face.

“I really do,” The husky slayer smirked as she placed a kiss on Tara’s lips.

“Are you still coming with me to the culture fair at the weekend?” Tara asked with her half smile, loving any physical contact from Faith.

“I wouldn’t miss it. I might not get any of it, but I’ll be there,”

“And that’s all I ask,” The two women had a more heated kiss this time as they tried to delay their separation as they lingered outside.

“Ok, I really need to get in now,” Tara feigned, pulling back from Faith reluctantly.

“Call me when you’re done with class?” Faith asked rhetorically.

“Of course,” Tara smirked again and jumped forward and kissed Faith one more time before spinning on her heel and running into the building to avoid being distracted again.

Faith watched as Tara disappeared from sight with a smile that never left her face, not moving from her spot to make sure the witch got inside ok.

“Naaaaw, aren’t you both just adorable,” The smile dropped from Faith’s face as she heard Glory behind her.

Slowly turning around, Glory stood behind Faith with her arms crossed, looking at the slayer with daggers.

“Glory,” Faith stated as she swallowed a lump from her throat.

“You owe me a vampire, seeing as you helped save him,” Glory glared at Faith, stepping forward slowly, so she was closer to the slayer.

“I didn’t try to save him. Buffy walked in as I was letting you goons get him. I would’ve blown my cover otherwise,” Faith tried to explain, but the god didn’t seem to be listening.

“I don’t think you’re taking this as seriously as I hoped. I’m getting really bored with your excuses. I need my key and you’re not doing anything to help me!” Glory snapped. Then shooting forward, Glory grabbed Faith by the throat and lifted her off the ground. “Do you know how much that upsets me?”

“…I…(Gagging noise)…sorry,” Faith just about forced out as Glory’s grip tightened, making breathing more difficult.

“You have one more chance, or I’m going to suck your brain! When I need you, you’ll come running…got it?!” Glory growled in her upset valley girl tone.

All Faith could only do was nod her head in agreement as her vision began to blur with the lack of oxygen.

“Good,” Glory then threw Faith, launching the slayer straight into a nearby tree.

Faith felt her back smash against the rough wood of the tree before falling to the floor on her knees, instantly rubbing her neck and coughing for oxygen. A shadow loomed over Faith as Glory stood over the slayer. Faith looked up, revealing her bruised neck, refusing to look weak.

“I’m glad we could clear this up. And I meant it before, you and your little girlfriend are adorable. You should make the most of it whilst you can,” Glory smiled through fierce eyes.

Glory turned away, leaving a breathless Faith on the floor in the darkness of the Sunnydale campus. Making her position clear to the slayer and leaving fear at the pit of the bottom of the slayer’s stomach.

Chapter Text

Tara’s mind couldn’t help but spiral as she walked the busy hallways of Sunnydale university. Since Faith dropped Tara back at her dorm the other night, the slayer had been avoiding her until they finally saw each other last night and Tara saw the bruising all around Faith’s neck. All she received from the slayer was lies about what happened, and it was becoming exhausting for the witch to put up with. Tara never wanted to give up on Faith, always believing she could be a better person, but for the last few weeks, that had been changing, and it was something Tara didn’t want to admit to herself. She truly loved Faith with all her heart; that could never be disputed but was it enough to keep them together?

Tara was so lost in her thoughts and worries that she couldn’t help but bump into a solid body, almost knocking her straight to the ground.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” Tara apologised without even looking up.

“Tara?” Came a voice that the witch instantly recognised. Tara looked up to see a concerned Buffy looking right at her.

“Oh, Buffy, I’m sorry. I was in a world of m…my own,” Tara stuttered. “Are you ok?” Tara asked, noticing the sad expression on the slayer’s face.

“Uh, yeah. I’ve just dropped out of my last class for the semester. With everything going on with Dawn and Glory, I just can’t keep up and focus,” Buffy told the witch solemnly as they started walking together.

“I get that, but hopefully, by next semester, you should be able to start classes again,” Tara said optimistically.

“Yeah, hopefully, I just have this worry in the pit of my stomach that this whole thing with Glory is going to end in a not-so-great way,” Buffy feigned as her slayer senses tingled.

“You can’t think like that. We will get through this; we always do,” Tara said, hating to see Buffy be so down.

“Oh, I don’t know anymore; I’m just doing my best to get through daily, let alone see how this will end. I’m just glad that I’ve got Faith to help me out. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if it was just one slayer going up against Glory,” Buffy sighed as they made their way out into the bright sunlight of the university courtyard.

“Hmm,” Was all Tara could respond as she got lost in thought at the mention of Faith’s name.

“Tara? Has something happened with Faith? What is it?” Buffy asked, noticing Tara’s lack of response.”

“No…well, maybe. I’m not sure, really,” Tara stumbled over her words as Buffy led them over to a free bench to sit down on.

“You can talk to me, you know,” Buffy said, doing her best to be a friend to the witch.

“For a while now, Faith hasn’t been acting like herself. She stays out at all hours; she’s more exhausted than ever. She’s become secretive and has a habit of avoiding me. Like she had been the last couple of days when I finally went to her apartment to find her, her throat was covered in bruising and trying to brush it off as a vampire fight. I’m worried that she’s returning to her old ways,” Tara admitted, finally letting her worries off her chest.

“So why are you only just telling me this now?” Taken aback, Buffy questioned.

“I guess with everything going on with Glory; there was never a good time. I guess I wanted to make sure my concerns were valid rather than jump to any conclusions,” Tara shrugged, finding it challenging to look Buffy in the eye, feeling like she had just got in trouble.

“Did you want me to talk to her?” Buffy proposed.

“No, you’ve got too much on your plate. You don’t need to add Faith to that,”

“It may as well be a buffet at this point. If something is happening with Faith, we need to get to the root of it now before it gets out of control. Maybe everything’s just getting to her, and she doesn’t know how to cope with the stress?” Buffy suggested, not wanting to jump to any conclusions.

“Maybe. I’ll talk to her again and see if she’ll open up some more. I just worry that I’ll push her away,”

“There is that risk Tara, but I’ve been through before and ignored all the signs before she ended up murdering an innocent. Luckily this time round, she has you. I can see that she cares about your opinion and what you think and that that can make more of a difference than you think,” Buffy answered honestly as she thought back to when she first met Faith, and she was already so broken, but Buffy was too wrapped up in her own problems to see that fact.

“You really think so? I have got one more thought on what to do before I corner her. I just hope it’s not too extreme,” Tara replied as she formulated a new plan in her head.

“I’m sure whatever you do has her best interests at heart. Any idea you’ve had has only helped all of us in the past, myself included. Go with your gut, and if you need any help, then I’m here if you need me,” Buffy told Tara supportively, knowing all Tara had ever done was help the scoobies since Willow brought her into their inner circle.

“Thank you. I appreciate that,” Tara replied shyly, still finding it difficult to deal with other people’s kindness.

Buffy looked up at the clock in the courtyard in shock, realising how long they had been talking.

“I’m really sorry, but I’ve got to go. I’ve got a meeting with Dawn’s principal, and I can’t be late,” Buffy hurried as she jumped up and put her bag back on.

“Oh no, you should go. Sorry I held you up,” Tara apologised, rising up as well.

“You didn’t hold up anything. Will I see you at the magic box later?” Tara nodded in acknowledgement. “Ok, good, I’ll see you then,”

Buffy rushed across the courtyard, leaving Tara by the bench with so many more thoughts in her head than she had that morning.

***

“We got this part right, that’s for sure. Lot of sucky things in this dimension -- bubble baths? Not one of ’em. (Glory blows some bubbles off of her hand) Know what I mean?” Glory said from the comfort of her bath.

Glory was surrounded by two of her minions, knelt beside her at the bath holding grapes and a drink on a tray, whilst Faith stood in the doorway, watching on in annoyance. Faith had been summoned that morning by Jynx turning up at her door again, and after the beating she had received a couple of nights before from Glory, Faith was in no position to complain. At least in her head, she could go wild with her distaste for this situation, having much better things to do than watch Glory have a bubble bath. Faith knew she had no new information for her boss.

“I am in thunderous agreement, oh glittering, glistening Glorificus,” Jynx replied as he sucked up to his goddess.

“I wasn’t talking to you!” Glory snapped. “I was talking to her…” Glory turned her head to look in Faith’s direction.

“Can’t say I’m a fan of baths. I don’t relax too easy,” Faith forced a fake smile.

“Faithy, you’re missing out. You’ve got to get over this dark and broody thing you’ve got going on here; learn how to kick back and chill now and then,” Glory swayed her hand through the water as she spoke so casually. Which just gave Faith the chills, which was pretty much anytime the psychotic Glory talked to her.

“I’m good, thanks. So what do you need that dragged me out of bed so early,” Faith rolled.

“I think an incompetent little cretin like you should show me some respect. I got you here to see if you’ve found anything new about my key yet? Loofah!” Glory snapped as Jynx handed Glory a loofah, and she started scrubbing her legs.

“Not in the 3 days since you throttled me. Buffy’s been too on edge since you took the vamp,” Faith explained.

“Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Spin me a new tale. I thought you’d say that. So I’m going to take charge for a change,”

“What does that mean?”

“That means when I need you, you’ll come running. Me and my minions are going to take over, and perhaps they can do a better job than you. You just make sure Blondie stays out of our way, you hear me?!” Glory ordered.

“…You got it, boss…,” A furious Faith said through gritted teeth, hating being on the sidelines.

“Good. Now pass me that towel and get out of my sight,” Glory ordered as she stood in the tub brazenly.

Faith huffed, grabbed the towel that one of the minions was holding nervously, and almost threw it at the naked god, then proceeded to storm out of the apartment after having wasted her time.

***

Tara slammed her fist against the crypt door three times before letting herself in any way. The witch had planned to be polite and wait for the door to be answered, but then she remembered that it was daytime and vampires were very unpredictable with their sleep routine. Tara had come to the last place she had ever thought she would come for help; she knew she couldn’t speak to Faith without evidence of her concerns, so seeking Spike for assistance was her last option.

Taking slow, cautious steps into the silent crypt, Tara looked around only to be met with an empty space. There was no sign that anyone had been there; the witch wasn’t sure whether she should be concerned or not, especially since it hadn’t been long since Spike had been kidnapped.

“Hello? Spike?” Tara called out into the darkness, patiently waiting for a response.

A few seconds go by before a scrapping noise echoes around the crypt, causing Tara to jump at the noise. The lid of the tomb situated at the back of the crypt slowly scrapped open by itself, making just enough space for Spike’s head to pop up through. The vampire, who still carried the evidence of his torture with his swollen eyelids and bruised face, saw Tara and breathed a sigh of relief. He then jumped out of the tomb and shut the lid before sitting on top.

“So, what brings you here, pet? Don’t often see you around these parts,” Spike drawled as he looked Tara up and down, causing her to feel uneasy.

“Uh, well, I actually came here with a business proposition…I mean, if you’re up to it,” Tara replied nervously; having never had a private conversation with Spike before, this was new territory for them both. The most contact they had ever had was when he punched her in the nose, trying to disprove her family’s demon curse.

“That depends, love. What’s the job, and what does it pay?” Spike questioned as he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his jean pocket and lit one of them up.

“Well, I’ve got a hundred dollars, and I need you t..t…to follow someone for me,” Tara told Spike sheepishly.

“Now, I would ask who, but I think I already know who you’d want me to spy on,” Spike drawled as he took a drag of his cigarette.

“Is it that obvious?” Tara asked nervously.

“Well, I didn’t expect it to be red,” Spike jumped up from the tomb, went over to the fridge, and pulled out a mug filled with blood.

“Yes, I need you to follow Faith, if you wouldn’t mind?” Tara asked, stepping forward a little closer.

“No,” Spike replied simply, taking a gulp of his blood.

“Thank you, I can pay you half now…,” Tara started.

“No, I won’t follow your slayer,” Spike corrected Tara before she could finish her sentence.

“Oh…um. Can I ask why?” Tara asked, not wanting to seem pushy.

“Because I don’t need to follow her to tell you that your girlfriend has fallen back to old habits,” Spike finished drinking his blood and then headed back to the spot on top of the tomb and crossed his legs.

“What do you mean?” Tara questioned as her whole body began to tingle as her fears began to come to life.

“Look at my face. (Spike pointed to his injuries) She’s the reason this happened. You see, when Glory’s hobbit men crashed in here, just before I was taken, there was this familiar scent, but I couldn’t put my finger on it before being knocked out. The whole time I was tied up in Glory’s apartment, I couldn’t put my finger on it and then when I escaped, the answer landed in my lap. Faith walked through the front door, and I smelt her instantly, and she was ready to hand me straight over to those demons. She helped them take me in the first place. Faith is working for Glory, just like she had worked for the mayor. The only difference this time is she’s hiding it a lot better than before,” Spike finished his long-winded explanation, leaving Tara open-mouthed and blown away by the revelation that eerily made so much sense.

“And you’re positive she was going to hand you back?” Tara asked, wanting to make sure the vampire wasn’t confused.

“Yeah. Now I thought she had more fire in her, but she was following orders,” Spike stated as Tara tried to hold back tears. “She walked in, and one of the goons told her not to move and that I was theirs to take. Instead of reacting, she just stood then until Buffy and Xander entered,”

“Why didn’t you tell Buffy this?” Tara choked out.

“Haven’t had a chance. The last time I saw her, I had the living snot kicked out of me, but I’m telling you now,” Spike pulled another cigarette out and proceeded to smoke it, not bothered by the information he had just given Tara.

Whereas Tara felt like her whole world was being ripped apart. All the late nights and unexpected injuries were all making sense now. All the times that Faith would disappear for hours on end with a weak reason as to why. Tara had hoped Buffy was right, and the stress of responsibility was getting to Faith, but this was much worse. It felt like everything was collapsing around her.

“I…uh…I have to go. Thank you for the information,” Tara said through tears before tearing out of the crypt, not wanting Spike to see her cry.

“So…does that mean I don’t get any money now?!” Spike called out to Tara, oblivious to how the witch was feeling.

***

Faith trawled through the hallways of Sunnydale University dormitories as she made her way to her girlfriend’s dorm room. The slayer was not in the mood to go to any fair; after her run-in with Glory that morning, her mood had dipped, and all she wanted was to go home and relax with a beer. And if she were the old Faith, then she probably would’ve blown off her plans, but now it wasn’t only herself that she had to think about; there was Tara too. Forcing herself to put on a happier face so she could get through the rest of the day unscathed. Knowing that she would be in Tara’s room soon enough and get to kiss her girlfriend’s sweet lips would help make up for every annoyance from that day. Tara was the only person Faith had ever known that could cause her to smile without trying hard, and so that’s what Faith focussed on to keep her on track with the day. Right up until she reached Tara’s door. Not one who needed to knock any more, Faith opened the door and let herself in, instantly regretting it once she saw the look on her girlfriend’s face, who was sitting opposite her on the bed.

“Hey T, what’s up? You ready to go?” Faith asked, hoping Tara was just lost in thought.

“Not really,” Tara replied, barely able to look at Faith.

“Um…ok?” “Are you alright?” that was all Faith could reply, unaware of what was happening.

“Not really. We need to talk,” Tara stated, having been carrying her thoughts all day. Trying to figure out how to deal with this situation that had been presented to her.

“You’re kinda sketching me out, T; what’s going on?” Faith replied, placing herself down on a chair at Tara’s desk.

“So a lot’s been happening lately with you and your behaviour. The late nights, the mysterious injuries, the constant patrols, and the lies. I don’t know what you’re lying about, but I can see it in your eyes. And then today, I had a conversation with Spike, and suddenly it all made sense,” Faith continued to stare at Tara, not reacting as her heart began to race.

“Look, I know things have been stressful, what with Mrs Summers and picking up the slack, but…-,” Faith started.

“Don’t. I know Mrs Summers dying was really hard on you, but this is different. When did you start working with Glory?” Tara flat-out asked, not wanting to skate around the issue.

“What?” Faith replied as her heart beat even faster. How had she been found out when she had been so careful?

“When Spike was taken the other night, he could smell you as it happened. And then again, when you made no effort to try and save him until Buffy appeared,” Tara managed as she held back tears that threatened to fall. “Makes sense why you were back so late, telling me you were doing extra laps of Sunnydale whilst knowing Xander and Anya were out patrolling too,”

“Look, I dunno what to tell ya, but that’s bullshit. I can’t believe you listened to a single word that came out of Spike’s mouth,” Faith shrugged, trying to throw Tara off.

“Spike may be many things, but he has no reason to lie about this. He just had to spend hours being tortured by Glory, and he didn’t come to me with this information; I went to him. If he wanted to stir the pot, he would’ve come to me days ago,” Tara argued, not allowing Faith to gaslight her. After everything they had been through together, Tara wasn’t ready to let anything go.

Faith leant back in the chair, looking up at the ceiling, dragging her fingers through her hair as she realised she had been cornered. It wasn’t meant to go down like this; no one was meant to find out what was happening. Faith had it all planned out, but with Tara’s accusations, there’s no way of getting around it or stopping Buffy from finding out. It looked like it was time to come clean, whether Faith liked it or not.

“It all started just before we first saw that Warren dude’s robot at the party. I agreed to work with Glory,” Faith explained as she looked away from Tara’s hurt and shocked expression.

Flashback – A few weeks ago

After Buffy left the magic box with Dawn, Faith decided to hang behind with Giles and Xander. The slayer had so much to think about lately, especially after her dream the other night and Joyce’s comment and then dealing with the aftermath of the council’s visit. It was time to take action, and she needed to speak to her watcher. Faith was sat with her feet up on the table as Xander read his comic book, patiently waiting for Anya to arrive for work, as Giles pottered behind the counter doing whatever it was that he did. Faith looked at Xander and could see he was engrossed in the new superhero story that would keep him busy for a while, so Faith got up from where she sat and walked over to the counter.

“Hey, G. Can we talk…in private?” Faith asked, making Giles jump at first.

“Of course. Is everything ok?” Giles asked with concern.

“I dunno,” Faith replied, leaving and walking into the back room, expecting Giles to follow automatically.

Faith walked over to the small leather sofa on the other side of the room and sat down, with Giles walking over and sitting down next to her silently. The idea of opening up was still a new concept for Faith, something she would’ve happily avoided in the past, but redemption meant doing things you weren’t comfortable with.

“So, how can I help you, Faith? You seem conflicted,” Giles observed his slayer.

“You could say that. I’m not sure how I’m meant to say this without you thinking I’ve lost the plot, but I think I’m going to take Glory up on her offer of working with her,” Faith braced herself for her watcher’s reaction as she strained her face in anticipation.

“Have I banged my head and woken up in 1999?” Giles replied in confusion.

“With the number of times you get knocked out, there’s a high chance,” Faith joked, but Giles’s expression showed he wasn’t impressed.

“Be serious, Faith. You can’t drop something like that on me and expect me not to react,” Giles snapped.

“Ok, I know it sounds bad, but it’s not in the way you think,” Faith said as she prepared to explain herself. “This isn’t like what happened with the mayor. I want to go undercover and find out what Glory plans to do with this key. If I can gain her trust, then maybe she will bring me on what’s going on, and we can gain the upper hand,”

“Faith, what you’re proposing is very dangerous. What if Glory was to find out what you were up to?” Giles said with concern.

“Probably kill me, but that’s no different to what will happen if she gets hold of this key thing. She’s already beat the snot out of me, so I know what could happen, but I feel like I need to do this. I still feel like I haven’t made up for what I did in the past, and by using my talents, I could maybe change that,” Faith said sincerely as she did her best to sell the idea to Giles.

“And what about Buffy? Do you know how much this will affect her?”

“Buffy doesn’t need to know. If only you and me know, then things are less likely to get complicated,”

“Have you ever thought about how this is going to work? You’re going to have to lie to every, and that means Tara as well,”

“Yes. That’s all I’ve been thinking about, but lying is the only thing to keep everyone safe. That’s why I came to you, G. I want to trust you with this, so you can keep me grounded, and I can come to you with all the intel as it happens,”

“And when were you thinking of putting this all into practice?”

“Today,”

“Today? That seems quite impulsive,”

“If I don’t do it now, then I never will…Kendra came to me in a dream,”

“Your predecessor?” Giles quirked an eyebrow.

“She told me I was meant for greatness but had taken the wrong path, and now I’m at risk of retaking the wrong path. She also said, “Glory doesn’t come to those who wait”. Tara also said those words in my dream and then in a conversation with Joyce before I came here, she said the same thing. It’s like the universe is pushing me to do this,” Faith began to tap her foot nervously as she watched the clocks ticking in Giles’s mind.

“This is the first time I’ve heard of you having a prophetic Slayer dream, and you coming to me with this rather than make a flip decision speaks volumes. I also believe that even if I disagree, you’ll still go ahead with your plan, and so I will help you, but if I believe you to be in too much danger, then we pull the plug,” Giles stood up from where he was sat and began to pace.

“So it’s decided. I will go to Glory after I leave here,” Faith gulped.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Giles and Faith’s heads shot toward the door to see a very angry-looking Willow standing there.

“Willow, how long have you been there?” Giles questioned.

“Only a second, but I heard enough outside that door. You’re going to let her play you with this act of going undercover?” Willow snapped at Giles as she stared daggers at Faith.

“Now calm down, Willow. I don’t believe this to be an act, and you shouldn’t either, regardless of your feelings towards Faith,” Giles told the Redhead as he tried to calm her down.

“So you’re just ok with her lying to everyone?” Willow asked Giles, who couldn’t respond. “And you? You’ve just started something with Tara, and now you’re willing to go behind her back?”

“Will, I haven’t made this decision lightly. I don’t know anything about this key, but I can see how highly strung B is about it all, and if I can do something to try and help, then that’s what I’m willing to do. And whether you agree with it or not, I need you to not tell anyone about this. Please,” Faith almost begged as she stood up from the sofa and walked closer to Willow.

The witch looked visibly uncomfortable, not used to being spoken to by Faith with such respect and authenticity. She was conflicted about what to think or say but didn’t keep the slayer and watcher waiting long.

“How long are you planning to do this?” Willow asked calmly.

“Not too long, I hope. Just until I can find out what Glory’s end goal is in this or if she has any weaknesses,” Faith replied honestly.

“Fine. I won’t tell anyone, but I also want no part of this,” Willow stated.

“Fair enough. (Faith walked past Willow and over to the door) So let’s leave it at that then; I heard the bell on the entrance go, so we should probably head out there, or Xander will come looking as well,” Faith said, bringing the secret conversation to a close.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Giles replied as he walked up next to Willow.

“Slayer hearing,” Faith stated, which elicited a nod from Giles.

Faith turned and walked through the doorway, only to stop abruptly when she caught sight of Tara on the other side of the room at the stairs looking right back at her. Everything that had just happened disappeared from Faith’s mind as she stared at the beauty that was Tara. Her insides turned to jelly, holding back the urge to grab her girlfriend by the hand and run back to her apartment. It felt like no one was in the room with them, making Faith feel instantly calm. Faith could feel someone come up behind her as she stared at her girlfriend.

“Faith, we won’t talk anymore, but once you’ve been to Glory, come and find me straight away so we can strategise,” Giles whispered as Faith managed to tear her eyes away to look at him as Willow squeezed past them both. “Now, go and act natural; we don’t need any of the others to be suspicious,”

***

Present Day – Tara’s Dorm room

Tara sat on the edge of her bed, her mouth gaping open as she listened to Faith finish her story. For a moment, everything went to tunnel vision for the witch as she processed what she had just heard. Faith was going behind everyone’s back, pretending to be the woman the slayer used to be, and Tara was none the wiser. The witch felt so betrayed; she had so much trust for the slayer after everything they had been through together. Now finding out how much more danger they were in was terrifying. Trying to stop Glory from finding out Dawn was hard enough, but with what Faith was risking and Giles letting her, they were all in so much more danger if Glory found out Faith was playing her.

“I can’t believe this,” Tara finally spoke in disbelief. “How could you do this? How could you lie to me?”

“I did this for all of us. For you, for Buffy. We know nothing about Glory, and if I can figure out what she’s planning to do with this key, then we might have a chance of stopping her before it gets to that,” Faith said, trying to calm down Tara.

“And what have you found out?” Tara questioned as she leant forward, desperate to find the benefit of Faith’s lies.

“I know she needs the key to go home,” Faith replied instantly, happy to have an answer to give.

“Ok…Where’s her home?” Tara questioned more.

“I dunno,” Faith shook her head.

“…Do you at least know how she will use the key?” Tara questioned more.

Faith looked down silently, unable to answer the questions sent in her direction. She wished she had more information from all the betrayal, but even Faith knew it was a slow game, and she would have to be patient about the information she would find out.

“Ok, so that’s all you know?” Tara asked after waiting in silence, trying to keep herself as calm as possible.

“Yeah, but this kind of thing takes time…-“

“And what if Dawn doesn’t have time?!” Tara snapped, interrupting Faith.

“…Dawn? What does this have to do with her?” Faith looked at the witch with confusion, refusing to see what was right in front of her.

“…Uh…,” Tara couldn’t speak, knowing she had betrayed Faith by revealing the identity of the key.

“No, no, no, no, no. The kid’s the key? I can’t be knowing this…shit!” Faith jumped from her chair and began to pace with her hands pulling at her hair. “How could you tell me?”

“Oh no! Don’t you turn this around on me! You’re the one who’s been lying to everyone, do not start freaking out because of my slip of the tongue!” Tara snapped back as she stood up, keeping herself and Faith on the same level.

“Look, I am so sorry that I lied, but I can’t know who the key is. This is really bad!” Faith replied in a panicked tone.

“Yeah, and I would like a girlfriend who’s honest with me and not constantly causing conflict for us. You know I can’t be around you right now. Sort your crap out and then come talk to me,” Tara snapped, refusing to be the one to calm the situation once again.

“We can’t leave things like this T,” Faith’s husky tone did its best not to raise.

“Yes, we can. If you need me, I’ll be at the fair,” And with that, Tara stormed out of her dorm room, leaving a distressed Faith behind for once.

Chapter Text

“So she didn’t take it well, then?” Giles asked rhetorically, stating the obvious.

“Are you trying to be funny, G?” Faith rolled her eyes as she sat on the counter of the magic box, speaking to her watcher.

“And how else do you propose I be? We both knew it would come out sooner or later, and let’s face it, it was never going to be a good reaction when it did,” Giles replied as he casually drank from his mug of tea behind the counter.

“So what do I do?” Faith questioned as her leg began to shake uncomfortably.

“You do what most couples do in this situation. You have some space from each other until you’ve calmed down, and then you have a conversation,” Giles rationalised, which irritated Faith.

“I don’t think it’s as simple as that. It’s not like we argued about whose turn it was to do the dishes. How do I speak to her about Glory? I told her my reasons, and she’s still pissed,”

“And you’re only going by her first reaction. Faith, why don’t you try putting yourself in her shoes and think about how you would react? Just give it some time, Tara’s not one to act on impulse, so I believe your secret is safe for now,” Giles said, settling Faith’s fears as he placed his mug down and walked towards the back door.

“Yeah, I guess it could be pretty frustrating,” Faith resigned.

“I know self-reflection is a challenge for you, but Faith, I promise you, things have a way of..-“

Mid-sentence, Giles opened the back door to reveal one of Glory’s minions standing behind the door. As the demon fell forward in a flash, not expecting the door to open as he listened in, Giles hit the demon in the head with the door and then let it fall to the floor.

“…sorting themselves out,” Giles finished his sentence casually as Faith watched on in shock, and Anya ran around from the front of the shop at the sound of the commotion.

***

Elsewhere at the culture fair, a saddened Tara sat alone on a bench, watching the mass of people walking around her without a care in the world. The witch wasn’t even sure why she was at the fair, it’s not like she could get any privacy there, but it was the only place her mind could think of going after her argument with Faith. She wasn’t even angry anymore; that feeling had dissipated and was replaced with hurt. Hurt, she couldn’t be trusted enough to know what her girlfriend had been up to for the last month or so.

Tara understood why Faith had gone to work for Glory and kept it such a secret, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t upset. Her relationship with Faith had so many ups and downs since they met. Seeing as they had only just got together recently and admitted their love for each other, she didn’t understand why Faith would choose this point when they were at their happiest to run towards danger.

There were too many thoughts; Tara felt like her brain was going to implode; all she wanted was to feel Faith’s strong arms wrapped around her and let her know everything was going to be okay. Tara knew if she were in the same position, she would probably do the same if it meant helping all her friends. As Tara thought about it, she had lied to everyone for months about her family and past, which was just as much a betrayal. How was she to judge? If anything, her lie was for much more selfish reasons than Faith’s.

As she thought about the different factors of her argument with Faith, Tara felt a hand slip into her own that she had placed on the bench by her side. A smile appeared on Tara’s face as she felt a warm, soft hand envelop hers, thinking only Faith could greet her with actions rather than words. Unfortunately, when Tara turned to find her love, instead, she was welcomed by the face of Glory.

“Is this seat taken?” Glory asked with a cocky smile as Tara gasped at the sight of the God who had a tight grip on her.

***

Meanwhile, back at the magic box, Giles grabbed the demon off the floor by his ear, dragged him over to a chair, and threw him onto it. Faith and Anya watched on in shock as Giles took charge of the situation, with Faith in disbelief that she hadn’t even noticed Glory’s lacky with her own slayer senses. Faith couldn’t understand why Glory would send a demon to watch them when she knew Faith would be there; it didn’t make any sense.

“Wow,” Anya exclaimed, still surprised by what she had just witnessed.

“Now, what do we have here?” Giles said knowingly.

“Oh, he’s one of those things that work for Glory!” Anya pointed out.

“Yes. How helpful,” Giles replied as he continued to look at the demon as he wiped his hands with a handkerchief from his pocket.

“I do indeed work for the God. Let me go if you do not wish to incur her anger,” The demon Snooked warned Giles.

“Well, she’s not here. What a marvellous opportunity for you and me to talk,” Giles uttered calmly, acting as if it was only himself and the demon in the room.

“I will not betray Glorificus. I will never talk, no matter what heinous torture-”

“Actually, you’re talking quite a lot, just not about the right things. Tell us why you’re here,” Giles stated, ignoring the demon’s warnings.

“No words shall pass my lips that will bring peril to Glorificus,” Snook stated, acting strong as he kept slyly looking in Faith’s direction, silently looking for help.

“Girls, get the twine that’s on the counter. Let’s tie him up,” Giles pointed to the counter, never taking his eyes away from Snook.

A compliant Anya and Faith turned around to find what Giles was pointing to; a cracking noise came behind them, and then Snook began to sob. Quickly the two women spun around to see what could’ve happened.

“No, no! I’ll tell you! Anything! Please! Whatever you want! Just, I’ll, anything!” Snook begged as Giles continued to look on without emotion.

“What happened?” Anya exclaimed.

“He changed his mind,” Giles stated.

“I’m... I’m supposed to watch. We’re watching the slayer’s people ... while Glory fetches the key,” A breathy Snook replied slowly as everyone’s eyes widened in shock.

“Glory figured out who the key is?” Faith’s heart began to race, especially since she had just found out who the key was herself.

“Oh god!” Giles took his glasses off in shock.

“You kept her from us. Glory will find the witch, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us,” Snook said, this time only addressing a drained-looking Faith.

Anya looked at Faith suspiciously, wondering why the demon had addressed the slayer in such a way. “He’s not talking about Willow, is he?”

“She’s the new one among you. It wasn’t hard to figure out. The glorious one will have found her by now,” Snook told them smugly.

As scared as the rogue slayer was, all she could feel was an immense feeling of anger filling up inside of her. All the feeling in Faith’s body disappeared at the revelation that Glory believed Tara to be the key. Out of all the things Faith thought would backfire from going undercover, she didn’t know it would be Tara’s life being in danger. Faith couldn’t hide the shock from her face as the colour drained away, proving that Tara was the slayer’s one true weakness.

“Call Buffy. I need to find her,” Faith stated emotionless. “I’m going to the fair to find Tara,”

“Wait, I’ll go with you!” Giles called to Faith as she turned to leave.

“You won’t keep up with me, old man,” Faith shouted back without turning as she tore out of the shop in a flash.

***

“Oh, this is nice. Just hangin’ out, just us girls. You like that sort of thing, don’t you?” Glory purred at the terrified Tara as she squeezed the witch’s hand slowly.

“Aaah,” Tara whined as the sound of bones cranking in Tara’s hand could be subtly heard.

“Don’t...make a sound,” Glory warned, stifling Tara’s moans instantly.

As Tara whimpered and gasped quietly, she kept her eyes glued on Glory, never taking her eyes off the God. What on earth did this evil being want with her? Tara’s hand was on fire from the pain seeping from it. Everything had happened so quickly that Tara wondered if it was an hallucination. The witch couldn’t believe this was happening in such a public area. Did Faith know this would be happening? Tara had to believe that the slayer wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her; just because Faith had lied didn’t mean she would put her life in danger. Tara quickly shifted her eyes between Glory and the people living life around them without a care in the world, secretly hoping someone noticed Tara’s need for help.

“Nah. They won’t help you. I’d kill them. You know that. There’s no one here that can stop me,” Glory said, replying arrogantly to Tara’s thoughts.

Tara was doing her absolute best to hide her emotions, to stop the God from picking up on any look that could point out what the witch was hiding. Tara had never felt so terrified before, she was in close courters with Glory, and there was nothing she could do about it. Many spells ran through her mind, but her neck would be snapped before she could even utter a word. Tara was trapped; as she thought about all the possible things she could do to get away, Glory was still busy talking to herself about all the people around them that she would be able to stop. She was so arrogant that she didn’t even care to wonder if Tara was listening or not.

“So why did she lie to me? Can you answer that? Why didn’t your girlfriend tell me about you? She wanted you all to herself, didn’t she?!” Glory snapped, waiting for a frightened and confused Tara to respond.

“I…I…don’t understand,” Was all Tara could muster, not wanting to anger the God.

“The slayer. Why didn’t she tell me who you really are?” Glory questioned, with Tara confused by what she was being asked.

Tara stayed silent as she felt Glory’s tight grip latched to her hand.

“I get it…you’re precious to her. You’re lovers, and that’s a beautiful thing. But you know what’s more beautiful than that? A key,” Glory smiled psychotically as she brought their clenched hands to her mouth to lick some of Taras's blood.

 As Tara’s blood touched Glory’s tongue, the God’s face turned to disgust, and she spat the blood away, wiping away any remnants.

“You lying, little tramp! You're not the key. You're nothing! Just another worthless human being!” Glory screamed at Tara.

“I didn’t-“ Tara tried to say.

“I hate being lied to. It makes me feel so betrayed. Hey! (turning back to Tara) You wanna make it all better?... If you tell me who the key really is ... I'll let you go,” Glory said, trying to convince Tara to give her the information she needed.

Tara stayed silent, too petrified to do anything as she witnessed how unhinged Glory was. Then Tara felt it again; a sharp agonising pain shot through Tara as Glory squeezed harder on her hand, making the bones crack even more.

“Think about it. You think your hand hurts? Imagine what you'd feel with my fingers wiggling in your brain. It doesn't kill you. What it does ... is make you feel like you're in a noisy little dark room … naked and ashamed ... and there are things in the dark that need to hurt you because you're bad ... little pinching things that go in your ears ... (Tara began to cry at the fear of impending realisation of what would happen to her) and crawl on the inside of your skull. And you know ... that if the noise and the crawling would stop ... that you could remember how to get out. But you never, ever will,”

Glory squeezed Tara’s hand once again, causing the witch to cry out in agony, unable to keep her whimpering stifled. Tara was doing her best to push any knowledge she had to the back of her mind as the situation worsened.

“Who ... is ... the key?” Glory asks one last time.

With Glory's last question, everything good in Tara's life appeared in her mind. The scoobies, Dawn, Faith. Tara knew it didn’t matter how much pain she was in or what fate was waiting for her; the witch knew she needed to be strong. She knew that Faith hadn’t betrayed her to Glory, nor who the real key was, and there was a real chance she would never see her friends or the love of her life again, but she knew what she needed to do. This was one sacrifice that she didn’t need to question, so taking one deep breath to try and ignore the pain and push away the tears, Tara turned to look at Glory with a look of determination, with her head held high, ready to take what was coming.

“Fine. Let's get crazy,” Glory smiled menacingly as she stroked the side of Tara's face with the back of her hand as Tara did her best not to flinch.

***

Faith raced through the fair, pushing anyone who stood in her way as she searched the area for Tara. The slayer couldn’t believe she had been so naïve to think that Glory wouldn’t go after Tara just because they were dating; everyone in Glory’s eyes was a suspect. Faith hadn’t felt so much panic in her body before, even when she had killed the mayor’s assistant. Tara meant everything to her; if she lost Tara, she wasn’t sure what else she had to live for. Would it make her lose control and head back down a dark path? She needed to save the woman she loved, especially after the argument they had just had; too many truths were revealed, and things couldn’t be left the way they had been.

So using all of her slayer stamina, Faith concentrated on moving as fast as she could to find Tara. Faith’s eyes were darting in all directions, siphoning through the crowds as she looked for anyone who matched Tara’s description. In the distance, Faith could see the image of Glory and Tara sitting next to each other in the distance. Faith began to scream Tara’s name without even thinking, unsure what she would achieve by doing it, but she did it anyway. It seemed like the crowd around her was getting thicker, hindering Faith’s eye line.

As Faith slowly grew closer, she could just about make out the image of Glory pressing her fingers into Tara’s head, with them both screaming out at the action. Faith screamed out in agony at the sight, pushing her legs to move faster as she physically moved more civilians out of her way. Maybe if she could get there in time, she might be able to stop it. Unfortunately for Faith, she was stopped in her tracks as a giant Chinese dragon, carried by fare goers, danced all around her. Faith spun on the spot, looking for an escape from the never-ending red circle surrounding her. Tears streamed down Faith's face as time slipped away from her control, a mixture of anger and upset at the situation. And then everything seemed to stop like Faith was in a separate pocket of time as she came face to face with Glory, within the dancing dragon.

“So, you didn’t lie to me. I’m happy about that. You managed to save yourself from another day of not dying,” Glory told Faith in her condescending tone.

“What did you do to her?! I swear if you’ve-“Faith began to threaten, ignoring everything Glory had just said.

“Ah ah ah, don’t start threatening me, girlie….your little girlfriend, isn’t dead, and I could’ve done much worse to her,” Glory said as she placed a finger to Faith's lips to quieten her. “Now appreciate what I’ve done, and I’ll see you at my place tonight once you’ve calmed down.

With a blink of an eye, Glory was gone, and Faith was left shaking with anger as the tears continued to stream down her face. Seconds later, the dragon disappeared, and the area around her was empty. Straight ahead of her was Tara, sitting on the bench alone, looking all around her in a daze. Faith wiped her face and rushed to Tara, sitting down on the bench next to her.

“T, are you ok?” Faith searched Tara’s, making sure her girlfriend was ok.

“It's dirty. It's all dirty. And all over me!” Tara cried out, beginning to brush invisible dirt off her body in a fit, in her own world.

“Shit! I’m sorry, this is all my fault,” Faith pulled Tara into her, being sure not to hurt Tara’s injured hand. “I’ll fix this, I promise,”

Faith’s heart continued to break as she held her girlfriend close and the thought of revenge swept through her mind. A feeling she hadn't felt for a very long time reared its head.

Chapter Text

Faith sat silently on the hospital bed with a dazed Tara wrapped in her arms as Xander, Anya, Willow, and Giles surrounded her, still reeling from what had happened to their friend. Since getting to the hospital, Faith spoke only when she called Giles to tell him they were there, but other than that, she couldn’t bring herself to utter a word. All Faith wanted to do was keep Tara close to her, even making it difficult for the doctors to run their tests when the slayer refused to move away. The guilt that was coursing through Faith’s body was indescribable; her need to protect Tara was overwhelming, and all she could do was keep the memory of Glory, forcing her fingertips into Tara’s head on a loop in her mind. Faith was cradling the shell of the person that filled her once empty heart with love, and letting go would mean admitting that Tara was gone for good.

Xander and Anya were looking on awkwardly whilst Giles was examining Tara’s X-rays of her broken hand, and Willow was glossy-eyed as she watched Faith and Tara. Not even with a sign of jealousy, Willow felt sympathy for the rogue slayer for the first time, not wanting to see anyone go through the kind of pain she was. Willow couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to be in Faith’s position and lose Tara in such a traumatic way. Willow even stepped in and spoke to the doctor, pretending to be Tara’s sister so they could talk about her medical issues and be given permission to take Tara home after her night of observations in the hospital. The act surprised Giles, Xander and Anya, knowing the witch’s feelings toward Faith. They never realised it would have to take such a heart-wrenching moment for the two women to co-exist without resentment or jealousy surrounding them. More importantly, Tara brought out the empathy in Willow; she may have lost a potential love, but it didn’t mean she had ever stopped caring, and she knew that Tara would want Faith to be taken care of.

It wasn’t long before Buffy came hurtling through the door, stopping dead, when she saw the sight of Faith holding Tara on the hospital bed, causing her heart to break instantly. Buffy took a moment to take in the sight before slowly stepping over to the bed, nervously wondering whether she should show her slayer sister some kind of affection, not knowing how to navigate the situation.

“Faith?” Was all Buffy could muster, trying to get the zoned-out slayer’s attention.

“She’s been like that since we arrived,” Giles answered as he stepped away from the X-rays and back to the group.

“They kill mice,” Tara spoke up with a smile in her nonsensical way.

“Tara,” Buffy stepped over and sympathetically pushed back some of the witch’s hair.

“Don’t touch her,” Faith growled as she looked up at Buffy with bloodshot eyes.

“Faith, I know you’re in pain, but I'm not here to hurt Tara. All of us are concerned for her…and for you,” Buffy told Faith calmly.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s my fault this happened to her, and I refuse to let anyone else near her. I’ll take down this whole hospital if I have to,” Faith spat, not even blinking as a shocked Buffy listened.

“Faith, this isn’t your fault. How could you possibly know this was going to happen?” Buffy argued.

“If I wasn’t living two lives, then I might have been able to protect her,” Faith growled as stray tears fell from her eyes.

“I know being a slayer can be stressful, but I wouldn’t say-“ Buffy started.

“No, not being a slayer,” Faith snapped, interrupting Buffy.

“Faith…,” Willow warned, seeing what direction Faith’s admission was going.

“Don’t Faith me. She may as well know; it’s all gone to shit,” Faith snapped at a worried-looking Willow.

“Willow’s right. Is that such a good idea?” Giles agreed as he stepped forward, with a clueless Xander, Anya and Buffy watching their conversation.

“Let’s face it, nothing I did worked, and if Tara got attacked, who’s next?” Faith challenged her watcher, but he had nothing to respond with.

“Ok, I need to know what you’re all talking about because I’m starting to get the feeling you’ve all been keeping something from me!” Buffy snapped, fed up with the back and forth that was happening.

Faith kisses Tara’s forehead softly, then detaches herself carefully from Tara and the bed, standing to face Buffy.

“I’ve been going behind everyone’s back and working with Glory to find out what her plan with the key is going to be,” As soon as the last word came out of Faith’s mouth, Buffy’s hand suddenly struck her face, knocking her back a couple of steps.

“How dare you go behind my back! And how could you both keep this from me?” Buffy looked to Giles and Willow for an answer. “How could you think this was a good idea?”

“Because something needed to be done. You can go ahead and beat me up if you want, but I'm not going to apologise for this!” Faith spat back as a red mark slowly appeared on her cheek where Buffy had struck her.

“And things were being done!” Buffy growled in response.

“Not fast enough, B. We can’t wait for the answers to slowly come to us. Glory came to me for my help, and I saw an opportunity that we couldn’t let go,” Faith snapped, never taking her eyes off the raging Buffy.

“You still could have told me!”

“No, we couldn’t. The less you knew, the better. You needed to be clueless so you could keep Dawn safe. I just wanted to finally do something good, something that could make a real difference whilst taking the pressure off you,” Faith told Buffy.

“Oh, and telling Giles and Willow makes it such a top-secret mission? That’s basically half of this group! Great thinking there, Faith!” Buffy growled as rage flowed through her body, feeling so betrayed by her sister Slayer once again.

“Don’t talk to me like that. I did this for you!” Faith screamed as she stepped closer, getting in Buffy’s face.

“Monkey banana’s” Tara cried out behind the two women, suddenly breaking the tension.

Buffy and Faith’s faces whipped toward Tara, who was erratically rolling her head, reacting to the loud shouting surrounding her.

Silence filled the room with the sound of Tara’s voice shouting out. Tentatively, Faith turned away from Buffy and walked over to her love. Reaching out, she cupped one of Tara’s cheeks to calm her. Tara did her best to resist Faith’s touch, but she quickly calmed, falling into Faith’s hand and staring up at her with such innocence. It took everything inside of Faith to hold back the tears that were fighting their way out.

“Look at her B, the Tara I know is gone. She’s gone because Glory thought she was the key, and I couldn’t protect her from that,” Faith gave Tara a small smile before letting go of her face and turning back to the group. “So I guess I need to go show Glory how wrong she was,”

A darkness glazed over Faith’s eyes, a darkness that none of the Scooby Gang had seen in a long time. A look so menacing that caused Buffy to shudder slightly, readying her body for anything that might follow next. Storming forward, Faith disregarded everyone around her and aimed for the door before Buffy jumped in front of her with raised arms to slow the angered slayer down.

“Wow, Faith, just calm down; we don’t need to be doing anything drastic now,” Buffy warned as Faith abruptly stopped and stared down at Buffy.

“I’m not. I’m going to end this right now,” Faith stated.

“More like ending your life,” Xander blurted out from behind them, saying what everyone was thinking.

Faith’s head shot around, serving a look to Xander that caused him to gulp instantly.

“He’s got a point, Faith; taking on Glory like this is just going to get you killed, and that’s not going to help the situation,” Buffy agreed.

“So what is it you expect me to do?!” Faith growled, doing her best to control the anger that raged inside of her.

“I’ve got an idea…but I don’t think anyone will like it,” Willow added meekly as everyone turned to look in her direction.

***

Glory couldn’t help but stare into every mirror that she passed. So pleased with the work that she had done at the fair, Glory stopped at the mirror that happened to be placed right by her front door. Knowing she had her minions strategically placed mirrors around her apartment, it wasn’t a surprise to come across her reflections; it was welcomed. So proud of herself, Glory saw her reflections as a prize after all the pain she had caused. That witch's brain had given her such a buzz; her insides tingled with the power as it flowed through her veins. Even if Tara wasn’t the key, it was still a bonus for Glory to feast on. Now she had the pain and misery coming from Buffy and her gaggle of friends to enjoy as well.

Finally pulling herself away from the mirror, Glory moved through the apartment, ignoring the minions standing by waiting to praise her. She headed for her favourite couch, which she loved to lounge on, as her minions continued to praise her with all the compliments in the world. What Glory wasn’t expecting to see was a very smug Faith sitting on said couch with her feet up on the coffee table in front of her.

“Faithy…Isn’t it such a treat to see you,” Glory cooed as she plastered a fake smile across her face, knowing what she had done to the slayer’s girlfriend.

“How’s it going, boss?” Faith strained to say, holding back the anger building up inside her throat.

“I’m surprised at how prompt you are, figured you’d want some alone time with the witch,” Glory drawled as she casually moved across the apartment so she was on the other side of the room,  positioned directly opposite Faith.

Faith shifted slightly where she sat, never breaking eye contact as she continued with her charade, refusing to let Glory get to her.

“Why would I do that when you did me a favour?” Faith replied, causing Glory to quirk her eyebrow with intrigue, having expected the slayer to come at her.

“A favour?” Glory tilted her head as her eyes inspected Faith. “How so?”

“The only reason I got with the witch was so I could get out of that damn basement and have Buffy think I had changed, but I couldn’t figure out how to ditch her without looking suspicious, and now I don’t need to worry,” Faith shrugged as the words she spoke sliced the back of her throat. Holding back the tears that the lie built up inside of her.

“Is that so? From what I saw at the fair, you seemed hella upset, Faithy,” Glory questioned, carefully watching Faith’s expression to her comment.

“Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to ditch her, not hurt her, but once I calmed down, I saw the positives. Buffy felt so bad for me that she’s giving me all the space I need to figure out who the key is, and the witch won’t be up my ass anymore, and hey, she technically didn’t die…anyway, you got any beer up in this place?” Faith relaxed back onto the sofa as she watched Glory analyse her movements.

“So you’re telling me... “ Glory was cut off from her sentence as the apartment began to rumble and shake like an earthquake had just erupted. The god looked around in confusion, unfazed by the slight destruction surrounding her, as a concerned Faith jumped up from the sofa, unsure what to do.

“Did anyone order an apocalypse?!” Glory quipped, looking to Faith and her minions for an answer.

The apartment door suddenly flew open, and a dark-eyed Willow floated in, aiming straight for Glory. Faith’s eyes widened at the sight of Willow, having never seen the witch behave like this before. She knew they had a plan, but something seemed very off.

“Kali, Hera, Kronos, Thonic. Air like nectar, Thick as onyx. Cassiel by your second star…,” Willow chants as her darkened eyes become more prominent in the room.

“Hey, aren’t you the ex? Faithy, she’s trying to show you up,” Glory chuckled at the human approaching her.

“Hold my victim as in tar,” Willow finished her chant as an invisible wall appeared around Glory, stopping the surprised God in her tracks. “I owe you pain!”

Electricity flew out from Willow's fingertips, striking the God and making Glory cry out in pain. A sound neither Glory herself nor Faith expected to hear. Willow’s magic had managed to cause pain to Glory.

Faith ran from the sofa towards Willow. The slayer needed to keep the appearance that she was protecting Glory but also had to get Willow out of there before she got hurt.

“Hey, Red, neat trick, but it’s time for you to go!” Faith cried out as a floating Willow spun in Faith’s direction, making the slayer stumble at the sight of Willow.

With her darkened eyes, all emotion had been drained away from her face, and Willow was almost unrecognisable. Faith knew something was wrong. Willow was only meant to throw out a few harmless spells to make a scene, but this was extreme, and the redhead was going the right way to getting herself killed. So, picking the moment Glory was unable to move, Faith lunged forward, reaching her arm out to grab Willow. Before she could get close enough, Willow shot a look in the slayer’s direction, and an invisible force hit Faith across the chest, hurtling her into the wall behind the sofa. The wall cracked behind Faith, shattering the foundation before she dropped to the floor in one swift movement. This wasn’t Faith's first experience of being struck against a wall by a witch, but this was a bit more violent than she had expected. This wasn’t Willow putting a show on for Glory; she was intentionally inflicting pain. Before Faith could jump up from the ground, lightning bolts passed through Faith. Sharp pain enveloped her insides, stiffening her whole body as electricity continued to pass through her. Pushing through the pain, Faith looked up to see Willow standing over her, carrying so much rage that was showing through her face. There was only so much Faith could take, knowing that this would potentially kill her and with everything that had happened since waking from her coma, it would be for nothing.

Suddenly, it stopped. The only thing that lingered was the smell of smoke from Faith’s pores, where her insides began to cook. Faith pushed up to the ground, stopping on her knees using the little bit of strength she had left. She looked up just in time to see knives flying in Glory’s direction, which bounced off her like she was batting away flies. Her hearing was muffled after all the electricity, but she didn’t need to hear what was being said when suddenly a table was thrown at Willow, knocking the redhead straight to the ground. Glory stormed across the room, straight past Faith, grabbed Willow by the arm, dragged her across the room and then pinned her up against a wall. Faith locked eyes with a terrified Willow; her black eyes had disappeared, and Glory was getting ready to stab the witch. Faith used all her strength to climb up to her feet and face the two women, readying herself to jump in and save the redhead who had just tried to kill her.

“Know what they used to do to witches, lover? (Glory raised the dagger in her hand) Crucify 'em,".

And with all the best timing in the world, Buffy stormed into the apartment, instantly grabbing Glory’s arm before she hurt Willow.

“They used to bow down to gods,” Buffy quipped as Glory smiled at the sight of the slayer before Buffy kicked her in the stomach and threw the God back. “Things change,”

Buffy cartwheeled across the room and proceeded to kick and punch the God as quickly as possible, not giving the God the chance to hit back. It doesn’t take long for Glory to find her footing before pinning Buffy’s arm behind her back and then flipping her over the sofa. The slayer jumped back up from the floor, seeing a dishevelled Faith looking over at them.

“Faith? What are you doing here?” Buffy pretended like she didn’t know what was going on.

“Faithy? I think it’s time she knew the truth about us…she’s with me,” Glory gloated as she saw the fake sadness spread across Buffy’s face.

“You’ve got to be kidding? Not again…not after the mayor. How could you do this? To me?! To Tara?!” Buffy cried at Faith as Glory watched on with glee, loving every moment of watching a pained Buffy.

“Sorry, B. Glory’s going to take me to the top, and you’re all just holding me back,” Faith replied, keeping her stance straight and holding back the tears as she and Buffy carried on with their little plan from the hospital.

Willow said she would act like the scorned ex, coming to get revenge against Glory. Then Buffy would arrive to save her and then “discover” Faith’s lie. It was the only way to make Glory believe what was happening so that Faith could find out Glory’s plan once and for all.

“You make me sick! After Everything we’ve done for you!” Buffy growled through gritted teeth as her eyes filled with tears waiting to drop.

“Oh boohoo, get over it, slayer. The best woman won, and soon I’ll have the key, and you’ll have nothing, and you’ll be begging me to kill you,” Glory spat whilst still carrying a gleeful look on her face as she lapped up the torture that Buffy was supposedly feeling.

“You can have her, but there’s no chance you’ll ever get the key. You can rot!” With that, Buffy kicked the sofa in front of her, pinning Glory against the wall and giving her time to run over and help Willow off the floor.

Enraged, Glory grabbed the sofa and flipped it to the side, with Faith just barely ducking in time to avoid the flying object. Glory stormed across the room towards Buffy and Willow, who were trying to make their escape.

“Thicken!” Willow cried as an invisible wall appeared around the God, stopping her in her tracks.

“What are you staring at? Go after them!” Glory screamed as she slammed her fists against the invisible barrier.

Having only just gotten some of her energy back, Faith just nodded at Glory and raced after Buffy and Willow, still hearing the threats from Glory trail in the distance.

Faith had no clue what she was meant to do next; none of them had planned this far out. All they wanted to do was dissuade Glory from thinking Faith wasn’t on her side, but now it looked like she would have to hunt everyone in the Scooby gang. The rogue slayer needed to think fast; if she were being sent after them, then it wouldn’t be long before Glory’s minions would be right behind her. She just needed to give Buffy and Willow enough time to leave the building without looking like she was helping them. It wasn’t long before Faith caught up with Buffy and Willow at the bottom of the stairs as Buffy struggled to hold up an injured Willow, who was limping alongside her.

“Buffy!” Both Buffy and Willow stopped in their tracks and turned around to face Faith. “Don’t worry, it’s just me!” Faith hissed as she grew closer, and the two women showed signs of relief.

“Is Glory coming?” Willow winced as she readjusted her hold on Buffy.

“No, she sent me, but I doubt it’ll be long before her trolls come looking for us,” Faith warned.

“Now what?” Buffy asked.

“We need to put on another show. I can’t make it easy for you to get away, and I don’t want you to hold back,” Faith stated as Buffy furrowed her brows.

“Faith…I dunno…,” Buffy shook her head in hesitation.

“We have to. You need to send Glory a message,” Faith said surely as they both suddenly turned to hear noises coming from the top of the stairs.

“Faith, we don’t need to…-” Buffy was cut off by Faith’s fist in her face, knocking both herself and Willow backwards.

“Fine, have it your way,” Buffy grumbled as she let go of Willow and did a spinning kick on Faith, knocking her fellow slayer down to the ground.

Buffy fell into her usual stance while waiting for Faith to drag herself off the floor.

“You’ve been waiting a while to do that, haven’t ya?” Faith joked as she wiped a bit of blood from her lips as she climbed off the floor, carrying that usual cocky smirk she had when in a fight, the same smirk that would always piss Buffy off before her redemption.

“Faith, this is your last chance; we don’t have to do this!” Buffy warned as her ears pricked at the sound of footsteps coming from the top of the stairs, being sure to raise her voice so she could be heard.

“Oh, don’t be like that B; you know you love to dance,” Faith kissed the air at Buffy and instantly leapt at her sister slayer, sending them both down to the ground.

They both struggled together, fighting for dominance as they rolled around, punching each other, putting on the best show they possibly could. As the footsteps down the stairs began to speed up and create more noise, Buffy quickly threw Faith to the side and ran over to Willow, who had fallen back to the floor.

“Will, you need to get out of here before those trolls get down here. The guys should be waiting outside!” Buffy ordered the weakened witch.

“But Buffy, what about you?” Willow feigned, not wanting Buffy to struggle alone.

“I’ll be fine and much happier if I don’t have to protect you!” Buffy snapped as she grabbed Willow’s arm and pulled her friend up from the ground. “Now go!!”

As if she could hear a change in the wind, Buffy spun around, catching Faith’s fist as it came straight at her face.

“Come on, Faith, I know you can do better than this. You can’t go easy on me either,” Both slayers nodded at each other in understanding as three of Glory’s minions appeared behind them at the bottom of the stairs.

Faith grabbed Buffy’s shoulders and headbutted the blonde, causing her to stumble back. Taking advantage of the moment of unease, Faith jumped forward and landed a fist straight across Buffy’s face. The two women continued to dance but were both so equally matched. The time spent training together over the year showed their abilities, but they couldn’t keep the fight going for too long, just long enough to make a point and give Willow a chance to get away.

“Do you need our help, Faith?!” One of the minions called out at the bottom of the stairs.

“No, go and guard Glory whilst I hold off this bitch,” Faith cried before receiving another hit from Buffy.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that; we have been told to help!” The minion called back.

“Fine,” Faith mumbled to herself. Faith grabbed one of Buffy’s arms and pulled it tight behind her back just so she could get close enough. “I need you to knock me out and then take out those trolls. Let's make this memorable,”

Acknowledging what Faith told her, Buffy threw her head back to hit Faith and spun around with a flying kick, which Faith quickly dodged. Buffy came at Faith in a way she hadn’t seen before. It was like she was using every ounce of anger in her and throwing every punch and kick that she could, so much so that Faith was finding it more and more difficult to rebuff them.

“What the hell, B?!” Faith snapped as she looked at the look in Buffy’s eyes. She recognised that look, a look she always used to carry. It was a look that she had been holding onto too much pain for too long, the weight of the world slamming her down, and now it was ready to come out, directed straight at Faith and no one else.

Buffy began to pound on Faith, punch after punch, slowing her down. Faith’s face began to go numb as blood gradually covered her face, not even bothering to defend herself anymore. She just gave in as Buffy finally stopped punching. Thinking it was over, Faith stumbled back weakly, hoping to regain some energy, but that didn’t matter. Buffy leapt in the air and slammed the flat of her foot against Faith’s chest. The brunette could feel her ribs crack with the impact that practically lifted her off the ground and launched her at the bottom of the stairs. The minions quickly scattered as Faith’s body flew straight at them, moving just in time as Faith went head-first into the banister. As soon as her head struck the hard wooden planks, everything went black, and Faith’s body crumbled straight down to the ground.

Buffy stood in shock for a split second, not sure of what came over her as she looked at the lifeless Faith or what she could see through the blood and bruising. She did everything in her power not to run over and check that Faith was okay, knowing that would be the last thing that Faith wanted. For now, she needed to stick to getting out of there and returning to Dawn, knowing full well there was a very angry God upstairs trying to break past Willow’s spell if she hadn’t already. As soon as Faith hit the ground, all of Glory’s minions came straight at Buffy, doing their best to try to stop the slayer. The effort was futile, though; Buffy managed to put all three of them down without even taking her eyes off Faith. The minions lay all around her as Buffy continued to look at Faith, wanting ton just to rush over and check on her, but instead, she settled for making sure she could see her fellow slayers' chest rise with a breath, just to make sure she only seemed lifeless.

This wasn’t how Buffy planned her day to go. It never was planned with heartache, but there she was, losing two friends in one day. Two friends who had so much love for one another but now were so far away from each other, and Buffy just knew it was all about to get so much harder. Everything was starting to crumble away so much quicker, and Buffy could feel her control slipping away; she could feel it before violently attacking Faith; it had been brewing for a while. So, taking one last look, Buffy turned away, forcing her body to leave, fighting every urge she had and focusing on going to protect Dawn and her friends. Reminding herself that she and Faith were doing their duty, putting everyone else before their own wants.

Buffy just hoped that this would all work out in the end rather than all be for nothing.

Chapter Text

“Come on, firecracker. It’s time for you to get up.” Mayor Wilkins's voice echoed into the darkness.

Faith lay back, refusing to open her eyes at the sound of the mayor’s voice. One part of it was stubbornness, and the other part was confusion.

The last thing Faith remembered was fighting Buffy before everything went black, and judging by the sound of the mayor’s voice, she made the instant assumption that she wasn’t conscious. Something Faith wasn’t surprised by anymore; it seemed to be an annual thing, and the only hope she had was that she wasn’t in another coma. Begrudgingly, she slowly opened her eyes to look at her surroundings. She found herself back in her apartment, led on the couch, with the mayor standing on the other side of the room looking over her.

“There she is. I was starting to think you weren’t ever going to open your eyes,” the mayor chuckled as he took a step forward, keeping his hands in his pockets like he always did.

“What do you want?” Faith growled as she sat up on the couch.

“Well, that’s not very nice. Aren’t you happy to see me?” The mayor chuckled.

“You weren’t exactly the psychopath that I was expecting to wake up to,” Faith replied as she brushed her locks out of the way of her face.

“You’re still the same, I see, that classic Faith whit,” The mayor chuckled as Faith rolled her eyes and stood up from where she had been led.

“Yeah, sure. Can you move on now, please, so I can go on to my next unexplainable dream?” Faith retorted, not wanting to entertain a conversation with her former boss.

“Oh, Faith, you know that’s not how it works. Besides, who said this is a dream?” The mayor chuckled.

“Considering you’re a whole lot of dead, I’m pretty sure I’m unconscious,” Faith replied as she rose off the bed.

“Yep, you’re definitely unconscious. Still, that doesn’t mean we’re in a dream,” the mayor laughed as a frown grew across Faith’s face. “Oh, come on sport, don’t look at me like that, the powers that be work in mysterious ways but always with a purpose.”

Doing her best to ignore the mayor, Faith stormed over to the front door. The mayor started laughing behind her as she pulled the door open and stormed through and instantly, she found herself back in the apartment, entering through the bathroom door to the open living room. Faith blew a breathy sigh through her nose, realising what was happening, knowing there was no point in charging her way through the front door again. She was trapped in that apartment, and it wasn’t going to be her decision when she was going to leave.
Accepting her fate, Faith trudged over to the sofa and drops down on it with her arms crossed, staring straight ahead of her. The mayor still watching, stepped forward and sat down next to Faith.

“What do you want?” Faith asked in a mono tone, still refusing to look at the mayor.

“Oh, this isn’t about me,” The mayor replied calmly.

“And let me guess, I’m supposed to figure it out?” Faith rolled her eyes, not in the mood to be figuring out hidden meanings when she needed to be awake and helping her friends and Tara.

“Nope. I also never said this was about you,”

“If this isn’t about me, then why are you here?” Faith replied, turning to look at the mayor or was still watching her with his usual grin.

“I’m just here to point you in the right direction,” The mayor stood up from the sofa and stood opposite Faith. “You see Faith, when you woke up from your coma, your life took a completely different direction than what was intended. The powers that be aren’t sure what happened but they also knew they had to step in to make sure the balance between good and evil wasn’t tipped too far in either direction. There is pivotal point in destiny that is happening right now, and they need to keep you unconscious for a little while whilst that point unfolds,”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Faith shook her head and got up from the sofa. She walks over to the kitchen and opens the fridge. Thankfully in her dream, her fridge was fully stocked with beer. It might be fake but she definitely needed it in that moment. Twisting the lid off, Faith knocked the bottle back, taking a few gulps.

“Faith. The body swap with Buffy was meant to work. For some reason though that future changed and instead your path changed to redemption, tipping the scales for the good side,” The mayor explained as he continued to watch Faith knock back the bottle of beer before grabbing a second one.

“Ain’t that a good thing?” Faith asked with slight attitude as she took another swig of her beer.

“No, it isn’t. There are rules that need to be followed, and there’s points in destiny that need to happen. You defying destiny could potentially tip the scales which would really tick off evil and in a way that no one is prepared for,” The mayor warned, his whole demeanour becoming more serious.

“And why do you care about all of this? Isn’t it you that wanted to destroy all of Sunnydale?”

“Faith, just because I look and talk like Richard Wilkins doesn’t mean I am him. This is a form taken on that you recognise. I’m a neutral party in all of this, I was going to appear as your first watcher but we didn’t want to trigger you in anyway,” The mayor explained.

“So why you?” Faith asked, breezing past the mention of her first watcher, mentally agreeing at any old memories of her could bring up some bad emotions for Faith and it definitely wasn’t the time to open that can of worms.

“Just easy, no reason behind it,” The mayor shrugged.

“Ok, so you’re here, destiny changed but it’s not about me. Then what is all of this about, why aren’t I allowed to just wake up?” Faith questioned as she leant on the counter in front of her, finally giving into the unavoidable situation.

“Buffy.” The mayor stated.

“Buffy? Is she ok? Did something happen after fight?” Faith pushed herself up from the counter slightly panicked.

“Buffy’s fine. She’s alive! (The mayor waved his arms forward, quickly trying to calm the rogue slayer) But she doesn’t need your help. A lot of events unfolded after your fight with Buffy. So much so that Buffy has gone into a catatonic state. Willow is working a spell up as we speak, ready to dream walk into Buffy’s mind…”

“…And you want me to go instead?” Faith inquired.

“No, not exactly. We need you to stay out of the way,” The mayor relented.

“Out of the way?” Faith questioned dubiously as she abandons the beer she was drinking and walks around the counter so she was in closer proximity to the mayor.

“For the events that need to follow, it needs to be Willow that brings her out of this,”

“Then why am I here?!” Faith screamed in frustration, not understanding anything that was happening. “Why can’t I wake up, it’s not like I have the power to dream walk or do that magic stuff!”

“No, but since you somehow changed your own fate, you also have the potential to change Buffy’s fate,” The mayor responded more forcibly this time, growing tired of Faith’s questions.

“Screw fate! It’s not my fault destiny changed. I’ve never had any control over what’s happened to me, so what makes you think I have any control over Buffy’s destiny?!” Faith snarled as her voice grew raspier the angrier she became.

“Faith, you’ve always had a choice. You definitely had some bad luck but you’ve always had a choice. You chose to run away when your watcher died. You chose to behave badly. You chose to work for a man that wanted to destroy all of Sunnydale…but you also chose to change your ways,” The mayor replied calmly to the disgruntled slayer.

“I didn’t choose nothin’ ” Faith shrugged, not wanting to listen to the truth.

“You did, life took a slight turn for you and then you met someone, someone you decided you wanted to be better for. That’s only a choice that you could’ve made. Tara didn’t make you do anything. Fate changed for you and you took advantage of it. Like I said, the powers that be don’t know how the opportunity arose but it did and luckily it didn’t mess with destiny too much. But throughout time there are fixed points that need to happen or there could be catastrophic repercussions. And in this moment, there’s things Buffy needs to go through, so she can make a decision that can save the entire world. If you help Buffy, you could do something that might change that decision and no one knows what could happen,”

“Buffy has escaped her fate so many times...,”

“…That doesn’t matter, those moments had multiple paths that could be followed. But the fact you manged to change your destiny so dramatically, there’s no telling what might happen,”

“What was supposed to happen?”

“You were meant to body swap with Buffy, and then you would make your way to LA. You would kill and torture before finally handing yourself into the authorities. It was then that you started to seek redemption. You weren’t meant to be here to help Buffy go against Glory,”

Faith stares at the mayor with tears in her eyes unable to form words. There wasn’t anything she could say. Learning that her life just ended by willing putting herself in jail was a lot to take in. The idea of even hurting another person by choice never crossed Faith’s mind anymore. The pain she felt inside wasn’t so overwhelming anymore, not enough that she needed to take it out on everyone around her. For years she believed life was out to get her and there was so much evidence to prove it but to think she had somehow managed to defy her own destiny and turn it all around blew Faith’s mind. And then it hit her, what if destiny was supposed to change? What if the powers that be got it all wrong? Could they be wrong?

“Ok but what if Buffy’s fate isn’t a fixed point?” Faith suddenly blurts out making the mayor jump at her sudden reaction.

“Excuse me?”

“Ok, stay with me. If what happened to me was so major, enough to screw with the powers that be’s heads, then maybe me changing my fate was supposed to happen? Has anyone thought about that? It wouldn’t be the first time that the powers that be threw a tantrum when they didn’t get their way, so why should I believe you or them?” Faith argued.

The mayors face changed. A darkness spread across his face, hitting his limit of how much of Faith he could tolerate.

“What is it with you slayers? You always have to fight everything. You can never accept anything that’s been said to you!” The mayor snapped causing Faith to squint suspiciously at the mayor.

“Calm down Dick. You seem stressed,” Faith retorted wanting to re-press whatever button she had hit that caused the mayor to turn.

“Stressed?! How about majorly ticked off little lady! What are you not getting through that dense head? I can’t let you leave,” The mayor growled through clenched teeth, amusing Faith to no ends.

“Can’t or won’t?” Faith threw back with a smirk.

“Won’t. You’re never leaving. You’re not going to help Buffy and you’re definitely not going to see your little girlfriend ever again!” The mayor slammed as he stormed over to Faith. He got so close that their faces were almost touching.

“I’m starting to get the feeling that you don’t actually work for the powers that be,” Faith whispered as the mayor eyes dilated filling his eyes with black.

“That’s the smartest thing I’ve heard you say so far!” The mayor flung his head forward, crashing into Faith, sending the slayer straight to the ground.

A sharp pain shot through the slayer’s face as she slowly lifted herself off the ground. It amazed the brunette how pain was still a thing in a dream, she had just the crap beaten out of her by Buffy, she definitely didn’t want another one in her unconscious body. So, never one to hold back, Faith reacted in the best way that she could. She flipped her body up from the floor and swung a fist, upper cupping the mayor right in his jaw, thrusting him across the room and straight in the fictional wall.

“I might not be the smartest but I know when I’m getting taking for a ride. So, who do you work for really?” Faith probed as she wiped away blood from the corner of her mouth as the mayor slowly pushed himself up from floor.

“Downstairs. We’ve been on your case for months. Watching, helping you…well tempting you back to us. You’re tipping the balance in the wrong direction and when you were with us you were unstoppable,” The mayor jeered as he inched towards Faith.

“So, you lied before about me beating destiny?” Faith pushed out her chest and lifted her chin, worried about what answers she would receive.

“Nope, you did that and that’s why we want you back. You somehow diverted your destiny in such a way that the moment it happened, it was felt through all primordial beings. The powers that be don’t get involved with fate. Just because they read the future doesn’t mean they control it or get involved, they only subtly help it go along,” Seeing his opportunity as Faith got lost in his answer, the mayor swung his fist again straight at Faith. This time Faith was ready, her mind was elsewhere but her instincts weren’t.

Ducking down in a quick movement, the slayer kicked her leg out, striking him right in the side of his kneecap. The mayor cried out in pain, grabbing the side of his leg immediately, but was swiftly kicked in the back, knocking him forward into a stumble.

“So what you’re saying is I can get out of here. I just need to go through you,” Faith replied as she watched him struggle to stay up right.

Not waiting for a response, Faith threw herself forward, grabbing the mayor by the shoulders and swinging him back down to the floor with a force. Then jumping on top of him, Faith proceeded to repeatedly punch his face, putting more and more force into every hit. So much so that after a few punches, Faith started losing feeling in her hands. The mayor figure beneath her began to laugh through the punches. Blood flew out of his mouth as the laughter increased. As the laughter increased, the hits became more forceful. The face that was the mayor was disappearing leaving only a bloodied and swollen face but the laughter continued. Growing tired, Faith stopped finally, leaning back but not moving from her position of being sat on the mayor and watched the bloodied body continue to laugh through wheezing and bubbling.

“Why are you laughing?” Faith growled as she looked over the mess that led in front of her.

“You’re so stubborn that you’ll be the reason the world ends,” The mayor choked out with a bloody chuckle.

“Maybe but at least I know I’ll be playing for the right side when it does,”

Throwing one last punch, Faith fist forced its way through the mayors face, ending the fight once and for all, taking the laughter out of the air and leaving her in silence, not even moving her fist from where it had landed.

Faith daren’t move, weakened emotionally and mentally, she stayed as still as possible, calming the anger that was boiling inside of her. The room around her started to slowly fade away, at first she thought she was passing out but then realised her surroundings were just moving. The body beneath her fist turned in a mulch and spread away her, releasing her fist like it had been glued down. All cuts and bruises acquired from the fight disappeared, there was no sign of blood and instead Faith found herself sat in the magic box. No one was around, the place was empty except for a very silent Buffy mid-way through putting a book back on a shelf and a very confused Willow talking to what looked like a second Buffy as they both looked at the Buffy at the bookcase. Faith furrowed her eyebrows, confused as to why she couldn’t hear anything that was being said and why Willow was stood with two Buffy figures. It was like she was encased in a sound proof bubble, even the urge to move her legs had disappeared. Her position on the chair seemed very permanent, all she could do was watch the same scene repeat itself and watch Willow become more and more confused and irate with whatever was happening.

“You have no clue what’s going on right now do you?” A voice that Faith hadn’t heard in a very long time appeared to the side of her.

“Please don’t tell me I’m getting screwed with again?” Faith groaned as she slowly turned her head to come face to face with Joyce Summers.

“Not this time, you just got to put up with this boring lady,” Joyce chuckled.

“You were never boring Mrs S,” Faith smiled fondly as a smile appeared on her face. “I’ve missed you,” Faith said honestly, not even questioning if the Joyce in front of her was real or not.

“I’ve missed you too Faith, I’ve been watching over you. I’ve been watching over you all,” Joyce admitted in a calming tone.

“Not happy with what you saw I bet?” Faith replied thinking about the events that unfolded since Joyce’s death.

“Everyone grieves in different ways Faith, and you did what you thought was best for everyone. There’s no judgements from me,” Joyce placed a comforting hand on Faith’s arm.

“I lied to everyone,” Faith said with a hint of shame in her voice.

“For good reason,” Joyce argued.

“Buffy’s pissed at me,” Faith stated.

Joyce leant back and laughed. “When isn’t Buffy pissed? I love my daughter with all my heart but most days she has a different reason to mad, I guess that just comes with the territory of being the slayer. Take you for instance, you always have something to be grumpy about most days,” Faith playfully nudged at Joyce.

“So, are you here as some kind of guide or are you planning to kick my ass as well?” Faith gave a breathy chuckle at the thought of Joyce kicking her ass.

“Neither, I’m afraid. I’m just checking in until it’s time for you to go,” Joyce replied calmly as they both watched on at the scene in front of them.

“And when’s that?” Faith enquired.

“Soon. You need the rest for what’s to come. You’re no help to Buffy or Tara if you’re at your weakest,” Joyce replied in her usual motherly tone that Faith so affectionately missed.

“Can you tell me what’s coming?” Faith asked knowing she wouldn’t be told anything.

“Faith…,” Joyce said giving Faith a look “You know I can’t tell you anything,”

“Nothing?” Faith asked with a hopefully look in her eyes as she stared on at her surrogate mother.

“All I can offer is some motherly advice, how’s that?” Joyce offered.

“I’ll take it,” Faith shrugged as she looked back over to the Buffy at the bookshelf for a moment with a sense of sadness of what’s potentially to come before looking back to Joyce.

“Just keep doing what you’re doing and stop being so hard on yourself! You’ve spent enough time repenting for your sins and now you’re doing something to help your friends and the world. Be kinder to yourself and trust your decisions,” Joyce told Faith warmly as the slayer tried to hold back the tears that were welling in her eyes again.

Faith looked back to the scene of Willow and Buffy having whatever disagreement they were having, doing her best to try and understand what their lips were saying but still no luck.

“Are you sure there’s nothing…,” Faith cut her question short as she turned back to the where Joyce had been sat next to her but instead found an empty space. “Joyce?”

Faith’s heart dropped, sad that her time with Joyce was over, not even able to say goodbye for the last time. She was still confused and left with unanswered questions and now on guard wondering where this dream walk was going to take her next, especially as she turned back to the scene in front of her and could see Willow beginning to walk away from both Buffy's. Only she didn’t leave the shop, they all just disappeared in the blink of an eye. Faith was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of abandonment which was laughable when she was in a dream and was only ever speaking to one person in that moment but she still couldn’t ignore the feeling of fear in the pit of her stomach, there was so much unknown and no one to guide her, she had to figure it out by herself once again.

Waiting a moment for a door to appear or another face from her past to appear, Faith rose from her chair and began to look around the fake magic box, looking for any clue that would help her.

“Faith!” An echoed voice suddenly boomed overhead.

“Here we go,” Faith thought to herself as she rolled her eyes and looked around for where the voice came from.

An almighty scream bellowed across the room causing Faith to grab her ears at the sheer volume.
“Faith!!” The voice called out again

“I’m right here!” Faith screamed back confused and annoyed not knowing where the voice was coming from but the sound of the scream sounded so familiar to her, almost similar to a certain teenager.

“Da…,” Faith was cut off once again as the magic box began to rumble around the slayer.

The walls began to shake, books and objects fell from the shelves and smashed to the ground. Instinctively Faith ran under the stairs to shelter herself from what only seemed like some kind of earthquake. The screams of Faith’s name still continued to blast out across the destruction of the magic box overwhelming Faith’s mind.

“Stop!!” Faith shouted, unable to hear the terrified screams anymore.

Instantly everything stopped. The room stopped shaking, her name stopped being called. Whatever happened, listened to Faith.

The slayer looked out from under the stairs in confusing, waiting for the storm to follow the calm. There was no waiting though, the moment she stepped out from under the stair to inspect the damage, everything started to go black for Faith.

***

Moments passed and Faith eyes started to flicker open, waking up from the dream she had been trapped in.

“I hope this coma wasn’t too long, I really don’t need another time jump in my life,” Faith thought to herself as her conscious slowly came to the surface.

“Faith! Wake up!” Faith definitely recognised that angry voice, causing her eyes to shoot open instantly, and seeing a distressed Dawn crouched in front of her.

“Finally!” Dawn exclaimed as Faith slowly moved her stiffened body into a seated positioned.

“What’s happening?” Faith croaked, having not used her voice in a while and still trying to wake up.

“The world’s about to end…that’s what’s happening!”.