Fragments

#3: Forgiveness

Faith exhaled another wisp of smoke. "Good kids, but now that they're Slayers? Goddamn. Makes me wanna throw 'em off this roof…" She stops short.

My eyes had moved to her face, and I watched her for a few seconds. I think I heard her mutter an apology, but I smiled at her.

"You're all big on the accepting responsibility now, so when are you gonna admit that you definitely threw *yourself* off that roof?" I laughed.

Her eyes- angry? Hurt?- snap back to mine. "Bitch," she smiles, nudging me with her foot.

We share a laugh; light, but enough to relieve us both from any possible tension that's been coiled between us for so long. Actually, if I'm honest.. now it just makes room for another kind of tension that's lingered in the air between Faith and I, but I'm not sure I'm ready to figure that out just yet.

We're both quiet for a few minutes, each of us leaning back to gaze at the horizon. 5 am, and the L.A. streets twinkle and bustle with activity. The sun should be coming up soon- my Slayer senses beginning to dull as the "night life" begins to dwindle. I see Faith shiver lightly, her muscles twitching as she stretches, and I know she can feel it too.

Her eyes meet mine, and I wonder if that's not the only emotion we're sharing right now.

I take a shaky breath as Faith turns her gaze to the sky. Suddenly, her hand smacks me lightly on the knee. "Make a wish, Blondie."

I shoot her a glance of inquiry, and she nods upwards. "Shooting star."

Looking up toward the sky, I know the star disappeared long moments ago. But I'm trying to avoid the burn in her eyes, so I search the stars for my wish.

"Don't gotta tell me, if you don't wanna. Me?" Faith inhales deeply, flicking her cigarette butt over the edge of the roof before pulling her knees tight to her chest. She doesn't continue; she just stares out at the city.

I'm half ready to ask, but after a few minutes, I don't have to.

"I'm just hopin' I'm strong enough to keep from losin' it again. I wanna spend the rest of my life, if I have to, making it up to you… and everybody else I've hurt," she adds. She still doesn't look at me.

Long minutes go by. I'm looking out at the city, above at the stars, to my right at the crazy, incredible woman next to me.

One of the newbie Slayers is here, informing me that Giles was looking for me. I move to follow her back down the stairs, but a voice stops me.

"Hey B?"

I turn to Faith, who's still seated on the ledge but now turned to me and poised to follow as well. I walk closer, stopping just a foot or two from her.

When she looks up at me, her eyes are soft. Not hard or guarded, not angry or frantic like I've been used to more often than not. Her skin is softer than I expect, too, as she lightly traces her fingers along my jaw, causing my muscles to tremble.

"I'm sorry."

Faith's not looking into my eyes anymore, instead watching her fingers cup my cheek, her thumb brush across my bottom lip.

My hands move to her jaw, tilting her head upwards as I step closer. There's not even one step, one shred of hesitance- in either her or me- when I press my lips against hers.

Her other hand flies to my hips, lightly gripping the waistband of my jeans as she lets out a quiet moan against my mouth. We taste each other, nothing but light flicks at each other's mouths, for a few moments before I pull away and brush her hair behind her ears.

My eyes are soft now too. "You don't need to spend the rest of your life making it up to me," I simply state. "I forgave you a long time ago." Her eyes are hesitant, but I continue.

"As for that wish? Never thought it'd come true in just a few minutes."

I leave a lingering kiss on her lips, and smile before turning to leave.