A Different Path.

Title: A Different Path
Author: buffyfaith19
Summary: Buffy/Faith -This story takes place after Bad Girls. It's my take on how things could have turned out differently for Buffy and Faith had that one conversation at Faith's hotel room gone the way it should have before Joss took Faith in a very bad direction.
Feedback: Always welcome and greatly appreciated.
buffyfaith19@yahoo.com
Rating:PG-13 leading up to NC17.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns the characters and no copyright infringement is intended. This is for fun and enjoyment only.

Part One.

"Hey Faith. Open up. It's me, I need to talk to you." Faith stood up against the worn out wooden counter as she listened to Buffy calling out for her. She didn't want to talk to Buffy, she wanted to pack up and leave Sunnydale and never look back. She felt it was the only answer. But, the knocks on the door continued and she knew Buffy wasn't going to leave.

"Go away B. I'm not in the talking mood." Faith replied, hoping to deter Buffy from bothering her.

"Faith, I'm not leaving until I talk to you, so the sooner you let me in the faster you will be through with me." Buffy said, as she peered through the curtains into Faith's dingy motel room.

Faith paced a bit more and kept wondering why she cared what Buffy thought or said. Why could she never say no to her. Why did she have the urge to let her in and tell her she was sorry. She hated not how these feelings made her so confused and she tried to put them in the back of her mind, but they were too powerful, to real, to ever really hide from.

"Fine, you have 5 minutes B, so make the most of it." Faith yelled, as she opened up the door and then threw herself up onto her bed and waited for Buffy to enter the room.

Buffy walked in slowly, closed the door behind her, made eye contact with Faith and then said, "Glad to see you let your brain win one of these battles Faith."

”Whatever B. I'm here. Start the speech." Faith said in her usual sarcastic tone.

"You don't make things easy do you Faith? I came here to try and talk to you. Try and help you through some of the feelings you might be having after the accident last night. Can't you just try and drop the tough girl with an attitude act for just a few minutes?" Buffy asked, as she walked slowly around the tiny hotel room.

"Hey, this ain't no act B. It's who I am. I am over last night. What happened, happened. Now I am moving on."

"Yeah right Faith. Like killing a man is part of your everyday life. Don't lie to me Faith. You aren't very good at it to begin with. I saw how you were last night after we saw it was a human that we killed. You were scared, sad, remorseful. Now you pretend those feelings weren't real? Why? How is that helping anything?" Buffy asked as she tried to keep eye contact with Faith.

"Listen B. You don't know anything about me or my feelings. He was a low life criminal and I don't see it as a big loss to Sunnydale. I can live with that."

"Can you? Can you really? Then why are you so intent on leaving?" Buffy moved closer to Faith, trying to read her eyes as she spoke.

"That's simple B. Jail. I don't feel like spending my life behind bars for killing some guy who got in the way of our slaying. Do you?" Faith snapped sharply, knowing Buffy had no answer to that question.

"I don't have all the answers. Never claimed to. All's I am asking you to do is just come with me to see Giles and hear what he has to say. He's a watcher, he probably has the best idea of anyone as to what we should do now."

"That's how you handle everything isn't it B? Go running to old Giles." Faith said, mocking Buffy's constant need for her friends.

"I call it letting my friends help me. You should try it sometime." Buffy shot back.

"I have. It didn't work. Now I have me. That's all I need. I do things my way, when I want to and I survive." Faith slid off the bed and walked over to fridge, trying not to let Buffy see that even she didn't believe she what she was saying.

"Right. And your way has gotten you so far hasn't it?"

"Yeah B, maybe I have made some mistakes and don't do everything the Buffy way, but I don't need a bunch of freaky misfit friends to make me warm and fuzzy all over. I like being alone and I don't need you or Giles or anyone to tell me otherwise." Faith again turned away from Buffy and went back over to the bed. She sat there wondering why she always said things that she didn't mean. Why is she trying so hard to push Buffy away. Why is it so hard to let someone help her.

"You are so frustrating Faith. I am trying to be your friend here. Is that really so bad? God, I don't know why I bother." Buffy turned away for a moment, but just as quickly turned and got back in Faith's face, " Yes I do know why. I like you. Plain and simple. We have fun together. You help me remember that there is more to life than slaying. And I needed that a lot lately. I just wish you would take a chance and trust that I might be able to help you to."

"Why is that B? Am I your latest charity case? The screwup slayer that you have to fix. The slayer you have to mold into your perfect image? Well, that ain't going to happen." Faith said, not even sure what she was saying, but knowing she hated the thought of Buffy feeling sorry for her more than anything else.

"Hello? Is anyone home up there?" Buffy said, as she tapped Faith's forehead softly. "Faith, do you ever listen to what I say? Ever? I just opened up to you about how I liked you and wanted to be your friend and you somehow find a negative in that."

Faith paused before she answered that, knowing full well that Buffy was right, but still couldn't find any words to say to her. Only anger and resentment filled her thoughts and she didn't know how to get rid of those feelings.

"Well, are you going to listen to what I am saying for a change?" Buffy asked again as she walked around to where Faith was standing.

"Okay B. I am all ears."

Buffy smiled at this opportunity and hoped she could make a dent in Faith's stubborn ways. She sat down on the bed, grabbed faith by the hand and sat her down beside her, then grabbed her chin and lifted it up so that there eyes met.

"Thank you." Buffy said with a sigh of relief, "Now I want you to look at me when I say this, so you know it is the truth. Okay here goes. Last night we made a mistake. WE. Do you see that? I said WE, because I believe we are in this together. It was a split second reaction after we had fought a swarm of vamps, it could have been me just as easily as you. Now, if you just come with me to see Giles and hear what he has to say, then I won't try and stop you from leaving. I will say one last thing though. I hope you don't leave. I have gotten used to having you around. I wish you could see that. I am your friend if you want me to be."

Faith's throat had a lump in it, yet she still tried not to show any emotion, but it was so hard. She wasn't used to feeling happy, or cared about, and this actually got to her, "Fine B. I will meet with Giles. But, I'm not promising anything," she stood up and tried to regain her composure.

"That's all I really wanted Faith. Just a chance for us to talk to Giles and see what the options are." Buffy took Faith by the hand to make sure she didn't back out at the last minute.

"Then were 5 by 5 B. Let's go before I change my mind." Faith said as she grabbed her leather jacket and opened the door for Buffy.


Buffy lead the way to her car and the drove back to the library and tell Giles what happened last night.

As they were walking up the long sidewalk to the school, Buffy pulled Faith aside, "Okay, I just want to do one thing when we get in there. Tell the truth. If we tell the whole story just as it happened, I don't see any problems."

"Chill B. I said I would listen, so I will." Faith answered back, her short fuse showing once more.

"Just checking. Here goes then." Buffy said, as she continued the walk to the school's front doors and then made her way through the halls and finally entered the library and saw the whole gang there, including the ever annoying Wesley scurrying about behind the book shelves.

"Buffy, we have a bit of a crisis brewing with the mayor and I think we better start formulating a plan to put an end to it." Giles yelled out before Buffy or Faith had a chance to sit down.

Buffy looked over at Faith and then walked over at Giles, "We need to talk to you."

"Giles was rifling through some old books not really listening to anything, "Okay Buffy, after we have the meeting" he then stood at the front of the table and held out a book to everyone, " Now, here's the information we have come up with so far. And we can thank Willow's brilliant computer hacking for this to." Giles made a gesture towards a shy, but smiling Willow.

He then continued, "We have learned that they Mayor is getting a very important package delivered tonight at the docks and whatever it is, it's vital to the Mayor's plan. He has taken some extreme measures to protect this, so we need Buffy and Faith to do some patrols, while Willow, Oz and Xander do some more computer detective work and I will take Wesley and see if we can figure out just what the mayor might be bringing back to Sunnydale."

"That's great Giles, Faith and I will be sure to head over to the docks later on, but we have to talk to you now. It's very important." Buffy gave Giles one of those looks that told him this was important.

"Very well." Giles responded as he walked towards his study, "Come into my office and tell me what's going on.

Faith looked at Buffy, still unsure if this was going to work out or not, but Buffy grabbed her by the jacket and led her into Giles's office.

"I suppose I should just get right down to the facts." Buffy explained, as she sat down on the edge of Giles's desk and continued, "Last night Faith and I had an accident of sorts. We were ambushed by a swarm of vamp's and out of the fray popped one of the mayor's henchman and before we knew what was happening, he met the same fate as the other vamp's. It was totally an accident though."

"I see." Giles mumbled while barely raising an eyebrow at what Buffy just told him, "Well, I'm glad you to me about this. Keeping this a secret could have proved very harmful to all of us. At any rate, the council must be notified of this, but if all was as you said, I don't see any disciplinary actions being needed. You must remember that you two are on the front lines of a life and death struggle every night, so as hard and as sad as this accident was, it was not the first and won't be the last. Just continue to be careful, do your jobs and we will hope this unfortunate occurrence doesn't happen again."

"That's it? It's over? We are free to go?" Faith blurted out with the surprise and disbelief obvious in her voice.

"Yes, as of now you can get back to your patrols. You will be questioned about this at a later date, but if you are telling the truth, this will soon be behind you both."

"Woah B. Who knew the truth would ever turn out like this. I say let's get back to slayin and head down to the docks to see what they mayor has cooked up for us." Faith said, as her enthusiasm was never more evident.

"I couldn't agree more Faith." Buffy smiled, as she felt a huge sense of relief knowing that for at least one moment, Faith was willing to take Buffy at her word.

Buffy said bye to her friends and then took off with Faith to the docks.

Part Two.

The night was still very warm and it was still daylight, so that meant the vamps wouldn't be around for a few more hours.

Buffy parked the car and the two girls took the long walk down to the docks and began searching out the mayor's yacht. They knew the name of it, but not where it might be located. They methodically moved up and down the long wooden
walkway, looking at each of the boats, ships and other ocean faring vessels, but there no sign of the aptly titled, The
Ascension, anywhere around. They did notice more than a few empty slots during there search and figured the mayor's
just hadn't arrived as of yet.

Buffy then leaned up against the railing to the ramp and said, "Well, looks like were in for a bit of a wait. So, what do
you want to do kill some time?"

Faith moved over to Buffy, leaned right up against the ramp as well, then leaned over and said, "I don't know B, I'm
pretty much up for anything though."

"Well, what do you say we head over to the Bronze for a couple of hours, hang out, dance and generally just have some fun before we have to deal with the mayor's yacht?” Buffy asked, as she fidgeted with the zipper on her jacket.

"I don't know B. Your little friends aren't exactly my idea of fun." Faith replied, as she and Buffy began walking slowly
up the walkway towards the car.

"That's because you don't know them and they don't know you. They can be a lot of fun if you give them a chance. It's
just an idea though. Do you have anything better we could do?" Buffy questioned, as she turned to look at Faith.

"Oh, I know lot's of things we could do B, but for now how about you and I gettin down and dirty?" Faith questioned,
her smile widening as she looked at Buffy.

"Say again?" Buffy said, wondering just what Faith had meant by that.

"Let's do some sparring while we wait?"

"Oh.....that. Sure, I'm up for that."

"Great. Let's go over there and get to it." Faith said, as she moved over to a small clearing surrounded by many large oak trees, leaves trickling to the ground gently as Faith motioned for Buffy to hurry up. Buffy wondered why she was even agreeing to this, knowing full well that they may be fighting for real anytime soon. She couldn't help but be caught up in Faith's enthusiasm and quickly walked over to where she was standing and said, "Okay, we need to set a few ground rules here."

"You must be joking B? How am I supposed to learn from the perfect slayer unless we go all out?"

"Look, I'm not perfect at anything Faith. Certainly not slaying. I am good. Very good even, but I've seen you in action and you are just as good, you just aren't very smart sometimes. You don't think. That just makes our job harder." Buffy said, as she walked in a slow circle around Faith as she spoke.

"Well, glad you know me so well B. Hey, I'm still standing, so I can't be that bad." Faith shot back, as she began to mimic Buffy's movements and was walking in a slow circle, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

"Again, not listening Faith. I said you were as good as me. Amazing how you translate everything so that is comes out as an attack on you."

"Sorry wise one, my mistake. I will rephrase, 'I'm not smart and don't think,' I believe were the words you used. Is that better?" She replied, sarcasm clearly evident in her tone.

"Much. Although you still missed the point I was making, again. Which was if you weren't so reckless, you just might become a better slayer, which I can see is a very big goal of yours."

"I can see you have had your head buried in too many psych books there B. All's I want to do is slay vamp's and make it to the next day. Nothing more, nothing less."

"I don't buy that at all." Buffy said sharply, her soft green eyes piercing Faith's, as she took a step closer to the dark haired slayer.

"Well, you do know everything B, so whatever you say."

"Oh, so now we get some more typical Faith. Bail, bail, bail when she doesn't want to deal with things."

Faith lunged at Buffy, with a quick right, but Buffy sidestepped it and slipped out of harms way.

"Ooohhh, struck yet another nerve did I?"

"Your good at running B, I'll give you that. Look, I am good at what I do and you know it. Maybe your jealous because I have fun doing it and you don't."

"Nope, that isn't it and you know it. Why do you get up each day Faith? Really, is it the slaying? What? Tell me?"

There was silence in the air as Faith began walking away from Buffy and moved over to a large tree and leaned up against it and took a deep breath and said, "For years I didn't know why I got up each day, wondering what the point was and why I kept doing it. Then this slayer thing came along it was exactly what I needed. A release of all my anger and emotions and for the most part it worked."

Buffy made her way over to where Faith was and leaned up against the same tree and said,"And what about the times it didn't work? When it didn't help with the pain you had been through?"

"Look B, I just deal with things in a different way than you. I'd find anything not to think about my life, my family, my lack of friends. I would find someone, anyone, to keep my company for a night and then I would be fine again for awhile. Nobody complained."

"But, that didn't work either did it?"

"No, but for a moment it could at least dull the pain and stop me from thinking too much. I won't cry over my bad childhood B. Besides, I'm a slayer now and things have been slightly better since I moved to Sunnydale."

"I can tell just be watching you talk about all this that you have a lot of bad memories from your childhood and maybe you have found a way to deal with them, but avoidance isn't always the answer."

"It is for me."

"Would it be so hard to maybe talk to me about some of this? I am a good listener you know."

"Why? You want me to get all mushy on you, so I can be more like you? No thanks. I like to keep the past in the past." Faith snapped, once again moving away from Buffy and looking downward as she found the next tree to lean against.

Buffy just followed her and stood beside her once more, "The why is because that's what friends do. They share things. They help each other through the bad times. Telling me what happened won't change the past and I can't fix it either, but I can almost guarantee that you will feel better if you let it out."

"I don't want to B. Okay? Can't you just drop it?"

"Fine. For now I will let this slide. At the risk of sounding cliche, I want you to know I am here for you and anytime you want to talk or just hang out, don't hesitate to ask."

Faith turned away from Buffy again, composed herself and then turned back, "To be honest B, I don't know how to do this. I don't like needing anyone. I tried that a couple times, it backfired big time on me. Maybe one day when were kicking back after a long night of slaying, I'll take you up on your offer.."

"I hope you do. I mean that. Anyway, it's getting dark now, so why don't we just sit up here and wait for our ship to come in?" Buffy said with a grin and then moved over to a ledge that overlooked the whole harbor and sat down and waited for Faith to follow.

"Sure, sounds like a plan.," Faith agreed, as she slowly strolled up to where Buffy was and sat down beside her and then said, "Hey B, why are you doing all this? Helping me and all? I don't get it."

Buffy turned towards Buffy, catching a rare glimpse of Faith's vulnerable side and again felt the need to do something with this.

"I thought I explained this to you before at your hotel. I like you. I know we don't always agree on everything, but I have felt revived, you might say, since you came to town and I owe you a lot for showing me how to have fun again. I missed that. I think we make a great team and I think there is a lot of good in you that you seem intent on hiding from everyone. Is that enough to start with?" Buffy asked rhetorically.

"Oh, there's more?" Faith's face lit up with a rare smile that truly showed how pretty she really was .

"Don't push it Faith." Buffy added, as she playfully leaned forward and tapped Faith on the shoulder. To which Faith quickly grabbed her hand and Buffy was pulled forward off balance and fell into Faith's chest. Faith smiled at the situation and felt her heart start pounding and then finally leaned down and grabbed her under her arms and helped her to her feet. Buffy was now face to face with Faith and there eyes met and then only silence.

Faith was at a loss for words, seemingly hypnotized by Buffy's soulful green eyes. She didn't know why being so close to Buffy rendered her so incoherent, so helpless, but it wasn't the first time this had happened to her around Buffy Summers.

When Buffy stared back into Faith's expressive brown eyes, she saw something she rarely got to see with Faith, her defenses down completely, she had a rare glimpse of the innocence and awkwardness that she kept hidden so very well.

At that moment, she was reassured that fighting for Faith was exactly what she wanted to do. Buffy regained her balance carefully, all the while enjoying the looseness of the moment and the feeling of Faiths arms around her still.

"That was interesting.," Buffy laughed, as she took a tiny step backwards, "You do have a few tricks up your sleeve don't you?&qu

Faith was trying to think of something to say when the very loud horn of an equally large yacht made it's presence felt at the far end of the docks.

Part Three

"This could be it Faith. Let's get down for a closer look." Buffy said softly then grabbed Faith by the arm and led her down the hill to the docks and then slowly made there way to the end of the dock and waited for the yacht to come to a halt.

It took about 10 minutes for the massive yacht to pull in and get tied down securely. They waited patiently for someone or something to come out of the yacht, but after it was tied down, the one vamp just headed back inside.

"Look," Faith said as she pointed to the back side of the yacht, "It's The Ascension all right. OK B, are you ready to kick some vampire butt?"

"Hang on a minute. We don't know how many are even down below. I think we would be better off having them come up and find us though. At least we would have the advantage that way."

Faith didn't argue this time, "Whatever, I am just really anxious to get some slayin in tonight."

"Well, let's just see what happens if we make a little noise. Grab a couple of those big rocks there and let's knock on the door and see who comes out."

Both girls grabbed a number of very large rocks from the gravel like garden that surrounds the walkway up and down the docks, and began walking methodically down the long dark wooden walkway and soon found themselves in front of The Ascension. Buffy took one look at Faith, smiled and said, "Are you ready?"

"I was born ready. Time to wake up the dead."

"OK, on the count of three, let's be the welcome wagon." Buffy said, as she began the countdown, "One......Two.....Three." With that both girls unloaded a barrage of kicks onto the door of the cabin and within minutes, one vamp after another came up to check on what was making the noise.

Buffy and Faith took turns dispatching the vamps and with little effort and then they waited for any more stragglers to show up, but after about five minutes they decided that they would have to go down and check to be sure there were no more around.

Faith was the first to take the small steps down to the main cabin area and she looked around and it seemed to be empty and Buffy followed right behind her and they both began to look around the large and luxurious yacht.

They cautiously searched the entire main floor and then headed down a long corridor and found another door. Faith instinctively opened the door and she was greeted with the site of what could only be described as a giant sized figure standing no more than 10 feet away from her.

She grabbed her wooden stake and was poised to attack when the giant creature spoke, "That will not work on me. I am no vampire. I am here to deliver a package to the mayor. I have no business with you. Leave now." Said the huge figure, who stood 7 feet tall and was well over 300 pounds.

"Well, now you do. Show us the package or die. You pick." Faith ordered, still keeping her distance from the creature.

"Listen, who or whatever you are, the mayor will not be getting this package. That much I can say. Now, if you like, you can take it back to where you came and no harm will come to you." Buffy explained, as she looked over this imposing figure that looked more like he just sed oed out of a WWF match than some demon.


"I fear you are not fully aware of what you are dealing with, so I believe it is best if I show you just what you are dealing with. Follow me."

"Slow down big fella. You don't give the orders here. We do." Faith said as she grabbed hold of the giant arm and turned him up against the wall.

"As you can tell, we are quite capable of taking care of ourselves. We deal with evil things on a daily basis. But, we will have a look at this package and decide what to do next." Buffy said, as she motioned for Faith to let the creature go.

"Very well. You have been warned," uttered the creature menacingly, as he made his way through yet another dark corridor and into some type of large metal cell. "I will caution you not to look into the eyes of this demon. It is capable of turning a human into a killing machine if it has enough time to probe it's mind."

"Fine, we won't look into it's eyes. We still need to see what were dealing with." Buffy added.

The massive creature then pulled the curtain away from this immense steel cage and soon the demonic being was in full view. It appeared to be sleeping or cuddled up into a ball, but it was hideous. It seemed to be some kind of genetic experiment gone very wrong. It was part ape, part human, part reptile and part many other things they couldn't even begin to imagine.

"It looks harmless to me." Faith said, as she moved in to have a closer look.

Just then, the creature turned towards Faith, it's eyes glowing, it's fur seemingly coming to life, as it stood and made a few small steps in Faith's direction.

”DO NOT look into it's eyes." The creature yelled.

Buffy watched as Faith continued to look in the direction of the demon.

"Faith, turn away. Stop looking at it," Buffy shouted, but Faith didn't move. She then took matters into her own hand and ran towards Faith and grabbed her around the waist and took her to the ground.

"What the hell was that for B?" Faith asked, as she again was face to face with Buffy.

"Did you look into it's eyes? Did you?" Buffy questioned frantically.

Faith gave Buffy a puzzled yet highly annoyed look, "No, I'm not that stupid B. I was looking at the cage and the rest of the creature, trying to figure out what it was, originally that is."

"Oh. Well...it looked like you were staring right at it."

"I guess I should be happy you cared enough to flatten me like this." Faith grabbed Buffy's hand and climbed back to her feet.

"Yeah, you should be happy. But, don't let it go to your head." Buffy smiled, then moved back over to the giant creature and said, "Ok, we know what it looks like now and what it can do, but why can you not just take it back from wherever?"

"I come from the dream realm. I possess knowledge that many wish to obtain. I provide services to those who ask. I am not permitted to say no. The demon that I have brought for the mayor has been removed from the dream realm and can no longer return. It either must be destroyed or sent to another dimension."

"We can destroy it right now. Just say the word." Faith said, her eyes perking up instantly..

"Hang on a second Faith. I think we should let Giles in on what we have found and see what his magical books have to say about this demon first."

"You always take the long way around something so obvious."

"Faith, your just to eager. If were meant to get rid of this demon, then we will. Don't worry." Buffy explained calmly and then turned towards the creature again, "Look, if we have to communicate, it would be nice to know what to call you. Do you have a name?"

"I am Harkon. Master of the dream realm. I am of no consequence to you."

"Since your providing the mayor with demons and such, I would have to firmly disagree on that." Buffy said, letting the creature know she wasn't through with him just yet. "Now Faith, I am still debating how we should work this. Should be bring Giles here, or hope the demon will be secure and go to him?"

"I'll be happy to stand guard over our little friend if you want to take Hark...Har....whatever, tallguy here to see Giles."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine B. I don't plan on doing anything but checking out the stereo and watching some tv until you get back."

"All right then. We won't be long. Don't go staring at that Demon now ok?" Buffy smiled.

"Just go find out what Giles has to stay and I will do my best not to have a stare down with our new friend." Faith then walked Buffy and Harkon up the stairs and ushered them off the yacht and then watched them fade away as they headed to Buffy's car.