True Faith

A/N: Whee!

*

Buffy folded her map of Greater Vancouver and checked the nearest street sign. She was, maybe-sort-of, a little lost. Just a bit. Not that she really had a destination in mind, and she could always take a cab back to her hotel, but that didn't alter the fact that right now she had no clue where she was. She stuck out her bottom lip and sighed, blowing a wisp of hair off her forehead. For all that she'd argued that she needed to get away, this vacation wasn't really turning out the way she'd hoped. Having a credit card that drew on the Watcher Council's hidden funds was nice, but it wasn't as satisfying without someone else to go shopping with.

After months of having her house filled to the brim with strangers, Buffy thought that going somewhere by herself--with no one to be responsible for, no one to lead or guide or bitch at--was all she really wanted. Anya probably could have told her it would end this way. She'd wished to be alone, and now she was lonely.

Go figure.

Buffy shoved the map back into her shoulder bag. Her stomach rumbled. Across the street there was a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant, the Standard Diner. Good enough. She jogged over, dodging the trickle of traffic, and pushed open the door. She headed for the counter, glancing around at the few customers, and--

Faith.

Faith was lounging in a booth, facing her, a strange look on her face--a small smile that was nervous and happy and yearning all at once. Buffy felt her breath stop. What the hell was Faith doing here? She was supposed to be in Cleveland--well, not supposed to be, because there was no way that Faith was supposed to be playing Little Miss Domestic Suburbia with Robin Wood--but the fact remained that Faith had been in Cleveland and now she was in Vancouver and how had she known Buffy was here? Buffy shook her head to stop her internal babble and stalked over to Faith's table, sliding into the seat across from her.

"Do you not understand the concept of vacation?" Buffy asked. It came out sharper than she had meant it, and she winced. Since Willow had brought Faith back from L.A., it had been like this--Buffy wanted Faith around, she liked her, she--well, she wanted them to be friends, to get back to the way things had been (were supposed to be) all those years ago. Instead she snapped and turned into some sort of uberbitch. What was her problem?

"Well, not that I've had one recently, but I think I got the general idea--time off from work, sometimes involving travel, see the sights, relax?" Faith's amused drawl was the same as ever, smoky-rough, sexy.

"One week, that's all I asked," Buffy said, resigned now. She should be annoyed at this invasion of her privacy, but instead she felt a grin that she couldn't suppress spreading across her face. "No locator spells, no Scoobies. Not even you."

"Not even me?" Faith pouted. "Thought we were friends."

"Yeah..." Buffy shrugged. "I thought you'd be setting up shop on the new Hellmouth. Although I gotta wonder what good it'll do. It's like that game with the gophers you bop on the head with the mallet. You turn one city into a crater, the next thing you know the First is popping up somewhere else. At least we have the other Slayers now. Did you find many on your little road trip?"

Faith blinked and shifted in her seat uneasily. "Sure. They've got it covered."

Buffy gave a snort of laughter. "You're looking real certain, there, Faith. What, did you just leave it all up to Robin?"

"Figured he could handle it." Faith picked at the tablecloth. She certainly seemed different--nervous, unsure. Something. Buffy stared at her, trying to see what had changed. She'd dyed her hair, but other than that, it was the same old slut-bomb Faith. It looked like not even her attempt at domestic bliss could subdue her wild streak, and seeing that made Buffy obscurely happy.

"Fine, no more shop talk," she said. "So why are you really here? Are you so hard up you'd follow me to Canada?"

Faith blushed.

Buffy's eyebrows lifted in an incredulous stare. Faith had blushed. Faith had blushed. A tiny bit of teasing--far tamer than anything Faith had ever tossed her way over the years--and she reacted like Buffy had come straight out and propositioned her.

"Oh, my God, that is why you're here!" Buffy said, her eyes widening, excitement fluttering in her stomach.

Faith looked up quickly, panic in her eyes. "Nah, that's not--it's, um, Slayer stuff, actually."

Buffy narrowed her eyes. "Uh-huh."

"For real, B--" Faith stuttered over the nickname, and looked at her sideways, hesitating. When she spoke, it sounded like a speech that she'd rehearsed. "I had a Slayer dream. I called Willow, and she thought it was prophetic, so she sent me here."

"I see. And what was it about?" Buffy asked. This was wrong. Faith was not acting like herself, and she was a lousy liar. Buffy concentrated on her Slayer senses, trying to feel out Faith. It wasn't something she was particularly skilled at, even though Giles had tried to train her to understand what her 'spidey sense' was telling her. This time, she couldn't feel a thing--it was like Faith wasn't even there.

"I dreamed that you were attacked in a cemetery and you died," Faith said. That came out more easily, and Buffy found herself believing that much, at least. There was a hint of desperation, or fear, hidden behind Faith's words, that made them convincing.

Buffy sighed, suddenly tired. "And did you ever stop to think that maybe it's about time? Who ever heard of a twenty-two year old Slayer?" She tried to laugh. "I mean, it is getting a little ridiculous how many times I've come back from the dead."

"Fuck that, Buffy."

Buffy looked up, surprised. Faith's eyes shone with tears. What was going on with her?

"It is not your time to go. I am here to save you, and I am going to do that if I have to kill every vampire in this city myself. You need my help and I'm going to give it to you."

Buffy didn't know what to say. Faith had changed so much. For those few weeks when they'd fought side by side against the First, she hadn't seen it--she'd been too willing to believe that Faith could never truly grow up. After Faith left with Robin, Buffy knew she'd been wrong. There had been signs, and she'd ignored them because she was too busy being the general or dealing with Spike. And then it was too late to say anything, or do anything.

She missed Faith.

She missed the flirting and the dancing and the mixed signals and the tactless honesty Faith was so willing to give her. And now--what was this? A second chance? Or were they at third and fourth chances by now?

"Faith...I'm sorry. I didn't mean I was going to go out and get myself bit." Buffy spread her hands out on the table, hoping that Faith would make the first move and hold them. She needed Faith's warmth, the slayer-tingles that were so a part of their physical relationship, from the first time she'd handed Faith a stake in the alley outside the Bronze until Faith had bandaged the puncture wounds in her stomach as they both stared into the hole that had been Sunnydale.

"Maybe it would be better if you went home," Faith said, watching her carefully. "Or, at least, don't go out tonight."

Don't go getting yourself skewered again any time soon, for me, huhn?

"I'm still a Slayer," Buffy said.

"Yeah, well, you don't have to be a Slayer alone," Faith countered.

"I guess that's kind of the point, now, isn't it?" Buffy nodded to herself. "So, you feel like being a Slayer with me today? I got Council credit cards."

Faith smiled--a real smile, showing dimples, not just her usual smug grin--and stood up. "I know how you get all tingly when you get to splurge," she said.

"I'm on vacation," Buffy defended herself, following Faith out of the diner. "And if you're here, so are you. Today--" She paused, raised an eyebrow at Faith. "Today is about us. We can do anything we want. Deal?"

Nervousness flashed across Faith's face for a second, but just as quickly it was replaced by the more familiar lustful leer. "It's a deal...B."


*


To be continued, probably today.