Complement

XXXIII - Heal Me
(Part D)

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"So has Rais made any further appearances since the last time?" Lilith leaned back aga the the wall of the training room making herself a little more comfortable. The five of them, Lilith, Clotho, Mars and the Slayers had just finished going through a new set of routines.

"Nope, haven't seen hide or hair of him since... When was that baby, January?" Buffy looked at Faith who just nodded. "I think he got tired of trading barbs with Faith. Has anyone gotten any further in figuring out how to get rid of him once and for all or finding out about this Dead Scroll he likes to spout off about?"

"No, all we know is that the Dead Scroll is evil's equivalent of the Living Scroll. Though, Crow told us there is no mention in the Living Scroll of Rais or anyone connected with him. We're still working on a spell to bring him back into this dimension that will also separate him from the demon he bound himself to all those centuries ago. It would be much easier if we could find the original spell that he used, 'cause we really don't know exactly what he is bound to. For once the Tapestry is of no help." Clotho shrugged not sure what else to say.

Clotho had been watching the two Slayers closely since they had sat down on the floor. They were leaning against each other but somehow they were miles apart. The day after Lily's impromptu BBQ, Buffy had gone back into her nervous, hyperactive babble mode again, which had been getting increasingly worse as the days passed. As for Faith, she still smiled, joined in and though it wasn't blaringly apparent there was something hollow, fake about it as if she were doing it by rote, doing it because it was expected of her. Clotho could see that as each day passed little by little Faith was withdrawing from them. She had witnessed this up close and personal a long time ago when Lilith had done it. She had wanted to do something then, just like now and just like then, she once again was at a loss as to what to do. She felt helpless and she hated feeling that way. She turned to look at Lilith when she felt her mate squeeze her hand reading her thoughts.

"So Faith, you still want to go riding with us?" Lilith asked.

"Yeah Gran, sounds good. You coming with us Buffy?" Faith asked already knowing that Buffy would say no.

"No. I've got some other stuff, you know things, maybe a swim, or a shower, just stuff I want to do baby. You go ahead withou..." Buffy rambled, thinking to herself that she was such an idiot.

"Whatever, Buffy." Faith mumbled out in an unemotional voice, a resigned look crossing her face. None of them missed the flat, detached words or the almost sad, rejected look on Faith's face, with the exception of Buffy, who was too caught up in her own insecurities and fears.

Faith's stomach twisted into tighter knots, they were suffocating her. She swallowed down the lump in her throat as she tried to capture Buffy's darting eyes with her own. Buffy not making direct eye contact with her lately seemed to be par for the course, just like her incessant babbling. Just like Buffy sneaking away to spend quite a bit of time alone with Lily. Just like Buffy avoiding being alone with her again at all costs.

For the most part, Faith had been spending all her time and energy on brooding and trying to keep the voices of her fears, insecurities and the possessive anger that she was feeling, which was steadily growing stronger, at bay. She had spent the last three days trying to figure out what it was that she was doing, had already done wrong. How once again she had managed to fuck things up. Her head pounded almost nonstop from the conflict raging inside of her – she didn't understand how on one hand she knew with absolute certainty that Buffy was in love with her and on the other hand had the suspicions she did about Buffy and Lily with almost the same certainty.

It was becoming increasingly easier to fall back into her old habits of not talking, not reaching out, isolating herself and placing the blame on her own shoulders. This alone terrified the shit out of her. She didn't want to fall back into habits that had done nothing but make her life even worse, even darker. The way she had been, had made it that much easier for her to walk down that dark path. But even knowing this, she still felt herself becoming increasingly introverted and remote. It was almost like she was watching all of it from outside of herself and was helpless to stop or change any of it, just like when she was kid. For the first time in a year, the weight on her shoulders felt far too heavy to carry and the burden she carried wasn't one she thought she could share with anyone, not even with Buffy.

She felt as if she had painted herself into a corner that she could never get out of. There was no way that she could ever leave Buffy, no way she would let her go, no way in hell that she would ever share her and she didn't know if she could ever forgive Buffy if she had, or did cheat on her. With a weary sigh, she jumped up to her feet and without even so much as a goodbye she tore off after Lilith and Clotho, who had already left. She completely missed Buffy's bewildered, hurt look at her actions as she ran out of the training barn without a word, a touch or a smile goodbye.

Mars didn't miss it though, and when Buffy turned to look at him it took all of his willpower not to hit her upside her head and knock some sense into her. He stood up, intending to walk away without a word himself, after only a few steps he stopped and turned around to look at her.

"Maybe if you stop acting like a goddamn babbling, brainless, stereotypical, blonde twit, you might get a clue!" He growled then stormed out of the training room leaving Buffy all alone.
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"So are you two enjoying your stay here?" Clotho asked Faith quietly as they rode along one of the many trails around the lake.

"Yeah." Faith grunted and then went right back to her internal battle.

"Faith?" Clotho waited for Faith to look at her before she continued, "Can um... well can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, can't promise I'll answer it though." Faith shrugged her shoulders but there was a little bit of her trademark lopsided-cocky grin playing around the corners of her mouth.

"Fair enough. Well, I mean it's pretty obvious that you have a thing for giving people nicknames. It's your way of showing affection or that you like them. I thought Spike was going to strut like a peacock when you finally gave him a nickname that day when we got the antido... oh shit..." Clotho trailed off and bit her lip. The last thing she wanted to do was bring up bad memories. Her mouth had gotten ahead of her brain; she could have slapped herself for her stupidity.

"It's okay Kiddo," Faith smirked both at Clotho's mortified look and the memory of Spike's surprised, embarrassed, happy look the day she had dubbed him Soul-boy Junior. "Ask your question. You've got me curious now."

"Sorry I didn't mean to bring any..."

"It's okay really," Faith said again, waving away Clotho's apology.

"Ask already Clo!" Lilith interjected her own two-cents, her own curiosity piqued.

"All right! As I was saying, you've given everyone nicknames. Some people a few different ones. But with everyone you mostly use them when you're teasing them otherwise you use their names." Clotho was starting to think that Buffy's nonstop babbling was contagious, so were Faith and Lilith for that matter. "Um everyone except Buffy that is. You almost always, exclusively call her 'B' and I've noticed that no one but you calls her that too. As a matter of fact I don't think I've ever heard you call her Buffy, until today that is."

"Clo is there a question in there somewhere?" Lilith finally asked in exasperation.

"I was starting to wonder that too, Gran." Faith chuckled and both Immortals smiled at her.

"I guess my question is why do you call Buffy, B?" Clotho looked expectantly at Faith. Her motive for asking the question wasn't just simple curiosity, but more of a way to get Faith to remember the Soul connection between Buffy and herself. To remember why it was that she had given Buffy a nickname barely seconds after they had met. Make her realize, why it was, that everyone understood, respected that the affectionate nickname she had for her soul-mate was exclusively for her use only. Hoping to get Faith to remember what she had always known and to expose those voices from her past for what they were and send them back to where they belonged. Clotho already knew the answer to her question. She had seen it in the Tapestry of Life long ago when they had first brought the Dark Slayer to them in her dreams.

Faith settled into the soothing rhythm of Obsidian's slow gait. Her eyes slid closed and without thought she found the thread that connected her to her mate. It shone brighter then the others that connected them.

It was beautiful, ethereal, luminous, special, just like her mate and...
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Stunned by Mars' parting shot at her, Buffy didn't move from her spot on the floor for a few minutes after he left. What the hell had she done? Why the hell had he said that to her? Why the hell had Faith left without so much as a look?

She got up to her feet and chased after Mars, by the time she had made it out of the training barn he was nowhere in sight. She ran over to his cottage and banged on the door but got no answer. She knew she had been babbling a lot lately thanks to her nerves, but was she really that bad? If Mars haen ien irked enough by her recent behavior to say something to her then she was sure the other Immortals had noticed her behavior too. And if the Immortals noticed and were irritated, god only knew how Faith felt.

Over the last few days, she had noticed that Faith had been a little remote. In her own anxiety and fear, she hadn't pressed Faith about it, or for that matter even asked her about it. She had just let it slide. This was supposed to be a special time for them, she had made plans and all she was doing was fucking up. She really needed to talk to someone about this, especially after what happened with both Mars and Faith.

Her first thought was to run to Faith and talk with her but she was reluctant to do that. Afraid that she would finally succumb to the pressure from her own insecurities, fears, from the last few weeks and just blurt everything out. And that was the last thing she wanted to do.

She couldn't leave and go talk to Willow, since Faith would notice that she was gone. Nor could she talk to Clotho and Lilith since they were with Faith. The only other person she felt comfortable talking about stuff like this was Lily. But she was hesitant to bother her, she had been taking up a good amount of the Green Mother's time lately. She didn't want to impose anymore then she already had been. That and there was a part of her that knew this was a discussion she should be having with Faith and not with someone else. She slowly made her way over to Lily's cottage, the past few weeks playing through her mind, her mental kicks to her own ass hastening her steps.

She found Lily behind her cottage, tending to her garden.

"Hi," Buffy waved awkwardly.

"Hey Buffy. What are you doing here? Did we forget something?" Lily asked standing up and wiping the dirt on her hands on her jeans.

"No. No... Ah do you have a few minutes?" Buffy hesitated to ask.

"Sure. Come and sit down. Would you like something cold to drink?"

"No... ah thanks." Buffy sat down stiffly, gnawing at her bottom lip. She started nervously picking at her jeans.

Lily sat down opposite Buffy; she had been expecting her. She already had a visit from Mars and she had been getting a virtual mental play by play from Clotho on what was happening with Faith. She decided to let Buffy tell her what happened then she was going to lead Buffy back to thee mee memory that Clotho was leading Faith to.

"So what's up?" Lily smiled at Buffy.

"We were training at Mars'..." Buffy began then told Lilith everything that had happened. When she finished her tale, she looked up at Lily, who looked back at her with compassionate eyes. "Have I really been that bad lately?" she questioned softly.

"In a word," Lily started then paused, "Yes."

"I've made a mess of things haven't I?" Buffy groaned she knew Lily was right.

"Yes and no," Lily replied softly with a slight shrug.

"Don't you people ever give a straight answer?" Buffy snarled, then instantly regretted it and gave Lily an apologetic smile.

Lily laughed softly at the question; she couldn't even begin to tell Buffy how many times she had asked one of the other Immortals the same question herself. No one seemed to realize that most of the rules the Immortals had that applied to their dealings with the other dimensions inhabitants, also applied to them dealing with each other. "Yes and no," Lily smirked then outright laughed at the surprised look on Buffy's face.

"Figures," Buffy chuckled for a second before her face turned sad, nervous and fearful again. "I don't... I just can't seem to stop myself from acting this way. I'm nervous, what if... What if she..." Buffy trailed off, afraid even to say aloud her biggest fear.

"You don't really believe that will happen, do you Buffy?" Lily asked, already knowing what Buffy's fears and concerns were. She had spent quite a bit of time with the Light Slayer over the last few weeks. She knew all of Buffy's plans and she knew where the nerves, the fears and insecurities were coming from. They were normal for the most part, but given the history between the two Slayers and their individual pasts, she also understood how all of it had been blown out of proportion and quickly spun out of control for both of them.

"I guess a part of me does. I don't know what to believe." Buffy whispered a little ashamed of her own doubts, her own fears.

She dropped her head into her hands, covering her face, her shoulders slumping. She was making a mess out of things, she knew it but it was almost as if she couldn't stop herself. It was almost as if she were testing Faith's love for her in a way, in a very odd, fucked-up way. At the same time, it was almost as if she doubted herself as well. Some part of her knew it was wrong, knew the truth, but after all that had happened in both their lives she couldn't help but think that the other shoe was going to drop. It always seemed to when things were good, when she was happy, when they were happy and in some subconscious way, it was as if she was trying to make it happen, just so she, they, didn't have to keep waiting for it. So that they could get past it and breathe again, at least for a little while, until the next shoe dropped. Because as far as she could remember, since she had been called that was exactly what had happened each time her life had taken a turn towards happiness, towards the good.

"What does your Slayer Connection tell you? What does your Soul-Thread tell you?" Lily waited patiently for Buffy to lift her head and look at her. She gave her a smile of encouragement when Buffy finally did.

"That I'm being stupid. That I should know better. That it's me Faith wants to be with, forever. That she loves me." She didn't break her eye lock with Lily as she spoke and the love she felt for the Dark Slayer was in every word she spoke, in the depths of her eyes, in the soft smile that appeared when she said her very soul's name.

"And you know this because of your Slayer bond or your Soul bond?"

"What? They're the same thing." Buffy gave Lily a puzzled look.

She knew she and Faith were connected, they always had been. They could sense each other from the get go. It had expanded since they became lovers, in so many ways, that Buffy couldn't count or name them, but it had always been there. Some of the changes in their bond she was aware of and some she wasn't, it was innate, natural now, but neither she or Faith ever took it for granted. They both immediately felt it when the other consciously blocked it and when they sent emotions, images, feelings to the other.

"Actually, they are now, but at first they weren't. But you know that, deep down inside you both know that." Lily told her quietly, perhaps Atropos hadn't explained to either Slayer clearly enough that the connection the Slayer's shared was in and of itself very unique. "You can if you concentrate, if you follow your Soul-Thread see that they weren't at first." Buffy's face grew even more puzzled and Lily decided that now was the time to send her down the same memory lane as Faith. "Buffy, when was the first time you felt the Soul-Thread Bond with Faith?"

"Right after the first time we made love at the Mansion in front of the fireplace." Buffy answered quickly, with certainty as she turned a pretty shade of pink.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am!" Buffy snapped. But was that true? Was that really the first time she felt that connection? Something tickled the edges of her consciousness as she thought about their Slayer connection and Soul connection being separate. Then she remembered their first night at the cottage, how she had followed that single thread, the one that Atropos had told them was different, was their Soul-Thread. The connection between them that could never be severed, not even in death. Her eyes grew wide in surprise, then slowly slid closed as she searched for and found the thread that shone brighter than the others that connected them.

It was beautiful, ethereal, luminous, special, just like her mate and...
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Faith let their Soul-Thread carry her back to the past, she whispered, "I felt her before I ever saw her, before..."

"... I even knew she was a she, I felt her..." Buffy whispered as she let their Soul-Thread carry her back to the past.

In their mind's eye both Slayers saw and remembered the very first time they had felt the connection, the recognition of one soul for its mate that lived inside of another. Remembered the first time they had felt the other who would come to be a part of themselves in ways neither Slayer could ever have begun to imagine.
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She was in the Bronze dancing with a reject seventies Disco Dan vamp who thought he was all that. She was using her Bad Girl looks and charms hoping to lure him outside where she could stake him. They had just begun dancing to their second song, when what she thought at the time was her Slayer senses go off on high. But it was different then the tingly cramps she got when a vamp or some other big bad was around. There was nothing threatening about it, in fact, it felt good, very , as, as if every part of her was being called by something and in a weird, sort of unreal way it felt familiar.

She covertly glanced around the Bronze, moving to the music and turning so she could look at everyone. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary and though she wasn't conscious of it, her eyes drifted back time and again to one corner, to one person. Her mind might not have known what it was seeking but her soul did. By the end of the third song, she was beginning to think that maybe she had too much beer and was imagining things. She smiled and nodded yes to the Disco Vamp when he suggested they go outside for some fresh air.

With a last look around and an unconscious look back at the table and the blonde in the corner, she left the dance floor.
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Something was different, she felt it the second she walked into the Bronze. The tingly cramps that told her a vamp or vamps were there started instantly, but there was something else underneath them. Something that felt incredibly good, felt right. Something akin to a siren's call, that beckoned, searched out and called to all of her, something that was somehow, surprisingly familiar. Her eyes searched out the source of this feeling, unconsciously her soul unerringly found their source, but all she found with her eyes were Willow and Oz making out, and Xander and Cordy dancing. Even so, she couldn't stop the earsplitting grin from forming on her face as she made her way over to the bar to get drinks.

She grabbed the drinks and pushed her way through the crowd over to their regular table and couch, the large grin still gracing her face. With the wonderful, exhilarating feeling still humming under her skin, she chatted with Willow and Oz, until Scott showed up. She fumbled through a conversation with him, her thoughts still centered on where these feelings were coming from, her eyes, her soul unconsciously returning time and again to the raven-haired beauty on the dance floor.

Scott finally left after she politely declined to dance with him. Then Willow started asking the tough questions and she was saved by Cordy of all people. Her eyes once more sought out the raven-haired woman on the dance floor thanks to Cordy's comments. She watched the wild beauty and the seventies reject and realized as they walked off the dance floor then outside that he was a vamp.

She followed them, the adrenaline, the rush, the power, the Slayer in her coming to the surface and pushing out the other, newer feelings.
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She felt the Slayer in her wakening, drowning out everything else. She loved Slaying with a passion, loved the rush of power through her veins, felt joy in the freedom of knowing she was doing something right, something good! She saw the blonde from the bar approaching, stake in hand and knew this was the Buffy her first watcher had told her so much about. She grabbed Disco Vamp by the neck, pushed him away, turned slightly and elbow jabbed him in his ugly game face. She twirled and jumped up onto the crate next to her. Disco Vamp struggled to regain his balance and barely took a step towards her before she jumped into the air. Loving the tightening of her thigh muscles, the feel of slicing through the air, the moment of no gravity. She executed a perfect spinning roundhouse, catching Disco Vamp in the face sending him flying, a large cat-that-ate-the-canary smile sensually lighting up her face.

"S'okay, I got it. You're, uh, Buffy, right?" She rasped out, taking in Buffy with a flick of her eyes. She was grabbed by her shoulders by Disco Vamp before Buffy had a chance to answer her. She slammed her head backwards, head butting him at the same time reaching up and grabbing his arm. "I'm Faith," she smiled at Buffy then pulled Disco Vamp by his arm, swinging him around and slamming him face first into the chain-linked fence.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say we've got a new Slayer in town."

Faith's smile turned into a cocky-lopsided grin at the punked-out dude's comment. Still smiling lopsidedly, she turned her attention back to Disco Vamp. She kneed him in the lower back, ducking as Disco Vamp spun around and tried to backhand her. She threw a hard punch to hut, ut, then one up at his face. She pulled out all the stops hoping to impress the infamous Buffy. She followed her punches up with a high sidekick to the side of Disco Vamp's face, then picking him up off his feet by his neck and tossed him down to the ground.

Buffy watched Faith a little bit awed by her. Awed by how elegantly she moved, the lean muscles that rippled, flexed as she kicked and punched the vamp. Admiring unconsciously the sensuous feline grace that seemed to be a part of Faith, a little surprised too, by the joy she could see in the raven-haired Slayer's face as she did what Faith would later tell her they were built for. While she stood there and watched Faith, she felt a familiar lowdown tickle start. And when she felt it, she pushed the feeling, the thoughts away that it was Faith herself that was causing the tickle and instead blamed it on the adrenaline rush that always came when she thought about or actually was out Slaying.

"Can I borrow that?" Faith asked, slightly flirtatiously pointing at the stake. She didn't wait for an answer from Buffy she just took the stake.

In the blink of an eye, Faith turned, ducked the punch Disco Vamp threw at her, grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him around and back into the fence, raised the stake and slammed it into Disco Vamp with an almost savage joy. Then she casually turned back towards Buffy, took a few steps and handed the stake back to a slightly openmouthed Buffy.

"Thanks, B. Couldn't a done it without ya'," she husked, then gave Buffy another cocky-lopsided grin and walked past her heading back towards the entrance to the Bronze.
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"First time I saw her outside I called her Buffy. Somehow, that didn't feel right, ya know? After I staked the vamp, I called her B and that felt right. I knew her, but I didn't. A part of me knew her, had always known her. And, well Buffy, she belonged to everyone else. But, somehow, I don't know how, I just knew that B, B belonged to me, just me. Not belonged, like I owned her, but that Buffy was who the world saw and interacted with and B, she was someone, still with all the Buffy parts, but someone different, sort of, but not... that she, that B was more things to just me... a... a... side that only I would ever get to know, to see. That with me... that she was... that we werre, re, just simply more together. And..." Faith hesitated; gnawing her lip in thought, there was something else there. "Did that make sense?"

"Yes, perfectly, but there's something else too, isn't there?" Lilith asked softly.

"Yeah. Outside too, I felt her before I saw her, but it was all mixed up with the Slayer feelings and later when we realized we could sense each other we just thought it was a Slayer thing. But it wasn't completely that, was it?" She looked at the two Immortals who just nodded no at her. "It was this Soul-Thread thing that Atropos told us about, wasn't it?" Faith paused then answered her own question, "That's what I felt in the club before I even saw her, before..."
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"...I even knew she was a Slayer. Before I even knew there was a Slayer connection, a connection I never felt with Kendra. It was our Soul-Thread that opened the door to the Slayer connection too, wasn't it? That's why I never sensed Kendra like that. Right?" Buffy asked; amazed by what she just realized. A little bit regretful that they hadn't realized it sooner, realized it years ago so they might never have gone down that first road. In her heart of hearts though she knew, it had been her that refused to see it, her that had been scared of what it was that she refused to admit, what it was that her soul knew and recognized in her Dark Slayer.

"Yes and no," Lily gave Buffy an impish grin.

"You've got to be kidding me with that answer," Buffy moaned, returning Lily's grin.

"In time, you would have shared a Slayer connection with Kendra had she not died. Just like warriors of old anticipated and knew how those they had fought with side-by-side for years would react, would fight. Only with you and Kendra, it would have been more of a... um... almost an ESP type thing when you were Slaying. The mystical energy that makes you both Slayers is connected and eventually, would have been able to, in a sense, almost talk to each other. With Faith though, there was already a connection between the two of you, between your souls, so it opened the doorway for your connection as Slayers instantly."

"So why then, if we're soul-mates, if we..."
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"...are connected that way, meant to be together; why did all that other fucked-up shit happen between us?" Faith growled angrily, her face sad.

They had arrived back at the stables; the Immortals dismounted and let their horses into the fenced-in pasture. They waited for Faith to dismount and do the same. They walked over to the small picnic table and beckoned Faith to join them.

"Well, are you going to answer me?" Snarling at the Immortals, she sat down opposite them.

Clotho looked at Lilith, she wasn't sure if she could explain this right. Given that she was one of the Fates it fell to her to explain, especially since there was the misconception that the Fates controlled the Life-Thread's destinies, their choices, which in fact, they didn't.

Lilith gave her mate a soft smile and gently clasped her hand with her own, "Explain it to her how you explained it to me, when I asked you the same question."

"Every Life-Thread within the Tapestry of Life has a soul-mate or another Life-Thread that completes them if you will. Though completes isn't the right word, it implies that you are less than whole on your own. Which you aren't. Rather you and your soul-mate are just simply more together. Do you understand?"

Faith smirked at Clotho, all her anger having left her. Being angry wouldn't help a damn thing and she realized belatedly that for some reason knowing that from the first second she had been in Buffy's presence they had recognized each other, squelched her anger. They had been connected, their souls had known each other, even if consciously they hadn't and it sent those damn voices scurrying back to wherever they had come from. She felt relaxed, at peace, secure again in her relationship with Buffy, in her place in Buffy's life and Buffy's in hers.

"Believe it or not I do. And it's not something you can really explain with wordt'st's just something you know, you feel."

"Right," Clotho smiled and squeezed Lilith's hand. "And you know that despite the mythology that surrounds us, The Fates, the Tapestry, we don't control your, well, fate, destinies, or your choices." Clotho paused then continued after Faith nodded at her, "Just because each Life-Thread, which, by the way, includes the Life-Threads that belong to Immortals, mortals, demons, all Life-Threads that exist within the Tapestry of Life... What I'm trying to say is, just because each Life-Thread has a soul-mate that doesn't mean that each soul-mate will..."
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"...find each other or even end up together. The Fates can't force it or make it happen. Of course, one of the paths a Life-Thread can take will lead them to their mate. But each choice a Life-Thread makes during the course of its road through the Tapestry can change that path. What happened between you and Faith was of your own making, of your own choices. Maybe you both were too young, not ready, in the right place at the wrong time. I don't know. All I know is, that sometimes things happen for a reason." Lily paused and stared intently at Buffy trying to gauge if she understood what she was saying.

"Go on." She understood what Lily was telling her and surprisingly enough she felt relaxed for the first time in weeks. Felt at peace, secure in her relationship, secure in the plans that she had made for them. Secure in her place in Faith's life and Faith in hers.

"What I do know, as I am sure you know, is that your soul, as well as Faith's, knew the instant you two were in the same room together that you belonged to each other, belonged together. It has been many eons since I've seen a bond as strong, as sure as the one you share with Faith. It is amazing in and of itself that you two have managed to rise above yousts sts and find each other. Amazing and inspiring, the depth of the love you share after all that has come to pass between you and that has happen to you both, alone and together. And know this...
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"...I can still count after all these eons the number of soul-mate's who after finding each other and the love they share who have ever walked away from that love, walked away from their mate. And I can count even fewer, who have ever, after finding that love, strayed to another's arms. That's not to say that yours and Buffy's relationship is going to be perfect. Who would want perfection anyway, how boring would that be? You two will fight, yell, scream and love with a passion that transcends time, space and even your own deaths. There might even be doubts, misinterpreted actions, suspicions. But I know this, I see it every time I am in the room with the two of you, that no one exists in the room for Buffy but you, just like no onistsists in the room for you but Buffy. Even Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, couldn't tempt Buffy from your side, not now, not even when you're old, tired and gray." Clotho leaned into her mate, hoping that Faith understood what she had said. Her words had come from the heart, from her own personal experience with what Faith and Buffy were going through.

"Listen to her Faith; understand and know what she is telling you. She speaks the truth, just like she spoke the truth to me many moons ago when I doubted our bond. Listen to your heart and soul, let it speak to you, look within yourself and find that moment when you knew that Buffy was your soul-mate, when you knew..."
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"...Faith was in love with you. Close your eyes and see it..." Lily encouraged softly.
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Buffy closed her eyes and listened to her heart, to her soul, her head falling gently down to her chest.

Faith closed her eyes and listened to her heart, to her soul, her head falling gently down to her chest.

Both Slayers' heads snapped up at the same moment, their eyes growing wide with surprise.

"The first time I loointointo Faith's eyes, I knew..."

"...that we were meant to be together. Knew that I was hopelessly head-over-heels in love with B..."

"...I just couldn't deal with it. Being in love with another woman, feeling that attraction. I thought Angel was my soul-mate. And, well, love at first sight, I just thought that it..."

"...was something that only happened in those gothic romance novels, not in real life, especially not in my life. But it was right there staring me in the face. Right there when I looked in B's eyes and I..."

"...knew it. Deep down inside I always knew that it was with Faith I was meant to be. It was why she had the ability to hurt me..."

"...as deeply as she could, even before we became lovers," they both finished together.

Both Slayers gazes turned inward, they could feel each other, could sense that they both had been led down the same path and right now all either of them wanted was to be with the other.
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Continued in Chapter XXXIII – Heal Me (Part E)