Genesis

Genesis
EMAIL: wilba73@hotmail.com
RATING: NC-17
PAIRING: Buffy/Faith
DISCLAIMER: These characters are the property of Joss Whedon.
FEEDBACK: Yes, Pleaseee.
DISTRIBUTION: Sure. Just tell me where.
SPOILERS: Season Seven of BTVS, post Chosen. But all up for grabs


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All the scoobies stood at the edge of the crater formerly known as Sunnydale, or as it was better known to them The Hellmouth.

They had spent the best part of seven years of their lives fighting the good fight and now it seemed over, that was until Giles informed them that there was another hellmouth in Cleveland. A silence had fallen between them, all lost in their own thoughts at what they had witnessed.

Xander stood saying a last goodbye to Anya, the woman who he truly loved but for some reason could not give her what she deserved. He knew that there was nothing he could have done to save her and he also knew that she died the way she would have wanted, young and human. She had been his rock for so long and he had thrown it away with his own insecurities, he did not want them to end up like his parents and could not convince himself they would have had a happy ending. He said a silent prayer to whoever was there, thanking them for bringing her into his life and for showing him happiness and love where he thought there could be none.

Willow stood with a single tear running down her cheek, she was reliving her life in Sunnydale, the friendship she has had with Xander since they were in Kindergarten and rem remembered Oz and wondered where he was now. She remembered her time with Tara, the time they were together was the happiest of her life, and then it was all to end so suddenly. ‘I will always remember you’ she said to herself hoping that Tara, wherever she was could hear her.

Dawn looked at the crater and thought of her mother, she closed her eyes and played the memories of the happy times and she reflected on the bad. She remembered the day Buffy came to school to tell her that her mother had died, but not from any form of demon, but by a human condition, it made her feel somewhat relieved that her mother did not have to suffer at the hands of some demon or vampire, but she could not help but wish that the doctors could have done more.

Faith stood behind the rest with her head bowed as she remembered this town, it was to be her salvation from the life she had lived, but instead it had turned into the most terrifying time. She had spent many years in prison reliving the things she had done, not only to the people who stood in front of her, but the people who were no longer with them. She remembered Joyce and was saddened that she would never be able to apologise to the women who had supported her and believed in her even at her most vicious time. She remembered the Mayor and that thought bro a s a small smile to her face, even though she knew he was evil and that she was happy that he did not succeed in his plans at the ascension, he had shown her in a very short time that there are people who care, ‘it’s a pity you were on the wrong side boss’ she said to herself.

Giles stood quietly watching the others, he had seen a great change in all of his ‘chen’ en’ as he thought of them. He looked at Xander and remembered how much of a bumbling idiot he had been when he had first met him, and now stood in front of him was the man he felt proud of, he had seen so much and he was no longer afraid of what the future or the world had to throw at him. He turned slowly to look at Willow and he could see in her now the potential of a powerful witch, but one who could now control the dark side. His eyes finally came to rest on the most precious of his children, the one who he had seen as a daughter for so long, she had battled longer than any other Slayer and once again had proven beyond all shadow of doubt that she was truly a wonderful woman. She had proven how strong she really was, in leadership, in friendship and within her family, she had truly been the rock for them all, even when she was drowning herself.

“So Buffy, what are we going to do now?” Willow said trying to break the silence.

Buffy turned to look at her best friend “Well first we need to check on all the girls make sure their up for travelling, then we should head for LA and tell Angel and the LA crew that they can stand down.” With a chorus of “ok’s” and “yep’s” the gang slowly started to move back to the School Bus.

“Faith, can I talk to you for a sec?” Buffy called to the dark slayer. Faith turned slowly not knowing what was coming her heart was in her mouth as she replied “Sure B, what’s the what?”

“I just want to know what you’re planning?” Buffy said looking into her counterpart’s eyes.

“What do you mean Buffy? I’m not planning anything, I came to help that’s all” Faith said, upset that Buffy would think she was planning to hurt them again. Buffy was a little taken aback by Faith’s reaction, then she realised how it must have sounded to her.

“No, no, no that’s not what I meant, I mean are you planning to come with us now, or do you have plans of your own”.

Faith looked dumbfounded that Buffy was asking her to join them, well not actually asking but hinting at it. “I hadn’t thought about it B, I suppose if you don’t mind I’d like to come along for the ride if it’s ok with everyone, I’m not really sure that they would want me though after everything I put them through, and you know me not good with the persecution and stuff and well….” “Slow down Faith when did you become such a good talker,” Buffy said slightly laughing at the way Faith was babbling.

“Look Faith I know that I can’t speak for everyone on that bus, but I can tell you that I forgive you for everything you did years ago, if I’m being honest with you I forgave you a long time ago. I can’t say I understand all the reasons why you did what you did, but I can understand how hard it is to say no to the temptation the dark side offers. There are times when I look back and realise that you don’t deserve all the blame for what happened, we should have been there for you instead of just treating you like a tool that we could use and throw out when we didn’t need it anymore, for that I am truly sorry”, Buffy looked at the ground at this point as she did not want to look into Faith’s eyes at this revelation.

“Buffy look at me” with the use of her full name Buffy could only do as she was told, “Thank you, for forgiving me. But don’t think that if you had done anything different, things would have changed, I was going through a rough time and no matter what anyone did I saw it as some kind of threat, someone using me abusing me, so don’t ever blame yourself for what I did.”

Buffy looked at Faith with compassion, she had not seen this side of the dark slayer before, and was wondering where it had come from.

“Well are you coming with us or not” Buffy said, poking Faith slightly on the shoulder with a huge grin on her face.

“Only if you promise me that we can start over, no more of the past, no more blame, lets get to know each other properly this time, girl to girl not slayer to slayer”, Faith reached down and took Buffy’s hand in her own. “what d’you say Buff, it’s up to you”

Buffy let out a breath she didn’t realise she had been holding, “Faith we will have to talk about the past at some time, but yeah I think we can get to know each other as girls not slayers, anyway there are too many slayers to get to know now” they both burst into laughter at this point, until Faith pulled Buffy into a fierce hug “Thank you” she whispered into Buffy’s ear. Buffy was a little taken back by the hug but quickly responded, they held each other tightly for a few moments until they broke apart both smiling at each other, and slowly they returned to the bus.

As they stepped onto the bus there was a sense of organisation. Those who were only slightly injured were all looking after those who had sustained more serious injuries. Buffy walked up to Willow who was putting a bandage around one of the girls’ arm.

“Hey Will”

“Oh Hey Buff” Willow replied looking at the blond

“So what’s the situation, is everyone ok to travel?” Buffy asked, hoping the answer would be yes.

“Well” Willow started “we’ve assessed nearly everyone and although some need hospital treatment, there’s no immediate danger to anyone, so yeah we can go” she smiled at Buffy knowing that the slayer would be happy that they weren’t going to lose anyone else.

Buffy returned the smile then walked to Giles “Giles can you drive this thing, only I don’t think Wood’s up to it”

“Yes, yes of course Buffy, when do you want to leave?” Giles asked with concern. Buffy smiled at him knowing that he was worried about the girls on the bus. “As soon as we have everyone a little more comfortable, I think” she replied.

“Ok then Buffy just let me know when I’m needed” he smiled “Oh Buffy, are you ok, do you want me to look at the stab wound?” he asked pointing to the now dried blood on her shirt. “No it’s ok, it’s already healing” She touched the spot gently with her hand and unconsciously looked at Faith ‘a matching pair’ she thought sadly to herself.

Faith had gone to check on Wood “Hey Robin, how you doin’” she asked as brightly as she could.
“I’ve been better.” he said with a small smile.

“Listen, I’m going up back with Buffy, we need to sort out what’s going to happen next.” She told him hoping he wouldn’t mind.

“No of course, she needs your help, in any case I don’t think I could stay awake long enough to help anyone at the moment” he replied moaning slightly.

“K, if you need anything just holler” she said and slowly stood and walked towards the back of the bus, to where the blond had settled herself.

As she approached the blond she could see she that she was crying, she went to turn away when she felt a hand on her arm, “No need to go” a small voice said from behind her, she turned her head to see Buffy smiling sadly at her.

“Ok, I just thought you’d want to be alone” she replied honestly. “I’m Ok” Buffy assured her “I want you to sit here with us, we have a lot of planning to do and you are part of the Senior Scoobies so you should be here” Buffy said smiling.

Faith beamed at being included in the Senior Scoobies, she knew she had a long way to go before she would be known as Slayer on the right terms. Buffy moved to sit and patted the empty seat next to her, Faith without thinking jumped straight into it like a kid who’d never been on a bus before, Buffy laughed at her and then turned her attention back to the happenings on the bus.

As they were sitting quietly at the back of the bus Willow approached them. “That’s everyone Buffster, I think maybe we should start heading to LA, It’s a long drive and we need to get there soon”.

“Ok Will, and thanks.” Buffy replied while starting to stand to go ind ind Giles, “Giles, it’s time, we need to start moving, is everyone back on the bus” Xander spoke from the front of the bus “I’ll go check, I’ll be back” he said while jumping the few steps to the ground.

Xander returned after a few moments, “No one out there” he called from the front. “Alright then” said Giles “ That’s my cue”

Giles moved towards the drivers seat as Buffy made her way more to the middle of the bus, she stood there for a few moments then cleared her head, “Hey, can I get everyone’s attention for a minute” everyone on the bus fell silent “Ok, thanks” she started “we have to start moving so everyone make yourselves as comfortable as you can, we are going to LA to a very good friend, we’ll probably stay there for a while, until everyone is healed. When the time comes, we’ll sort out what’s happening next, but until then, just concentrate on getting better.” She looked around at the faces that were looking at her expectantly. Then Kennedy called from where she was sitting next to Willow “I don’t know about the rest, but I’m sorry for ever doubting you Buffy, and I want to thank you for saving our asses today, and to the rest of you for fighting when you didn’t have to.” Buffy turned to Kennedy with tears in her eyes “no need to thank me, you all helped today and I hope that you will all become not only great slayers, but the great women that I’m sure you are”.
Then Xander called from his position next to Andrew “Well I say OH YEAH!! For the good guys” there was a slight pause then everyone on the bus shouted “OH YEAH”.

Giles started the bus as Buffy made her way back to her seat. It was going to be a long night.

They had been travelling for about an hour,ryonryone talking quietly to one another, allowing those who needed it the peace to sleep. At the back however it was a different story, Willow and Kennedy had snuggled closely together and were just revelling it the feel of each other, Buffy and Faith had leaned into one another for comfort and were sat staring into nothingness, Xander and Dawn sat in front of them, Xander had his arm protectively placed around Dawn and he was absentmindedly stroking her hair as she slept. Andrew was sat opposite them, with his knees curled up, he had quite a pained look on his face as he remembered Anya stepping in to save him but then losing sight of her as the battle went on.

Finally the once shy red head brought them out of their reverie. “So when we get to LA what are we going to do, we need to find a place to stay and stuff.” she said looking over at the Slayers. “Well like I said Will, we’ll have to talk to Angel, perhaps he has somewhere we could stay, I mean we haven’t got the money for any swanky hotels have we” Buffy replied.

“Why don’t you call him? Let him know we’re coming that way we wont have to wait to get these kids into bed” Faith stated waving her arm around at the others on the bus.

“Yeah I think I will, we’ll have to make a stop somewhere I’ll call him from there” she smiled at the thought of speaking to Angel again, she had thought the last time she would have seen him was when he had given her the Talisman and the information he had brought. The picture of him walking away from her was still fresh in her mind, but she knew she had already let go of him.

“Hey Buff, what about the Council” Xander asked from his seat “I mean they’re no more, what happens to the money they had?” he finished turning around in his seat to face her. At this question they all seemed to straighten and become a little less down.

“He has a point” Faith said from the side “I mean they had to have money somewhere right, so what happens now, they worked in secret so where’s the money” she said while a thousand different scenarios played through her mind about off-shore accounts.

“I can probably locate it” Willow stated, “I mean not with a spell but with the computer, you know old hacker on the bus” she said sounding much like the old Willow she was back in college.

Buffy turned quickly to her best friend “I’m all for itybe ybe it will give us enough to let these girls live for a while before we really have to start worrying” she said smiling. “Well as soon as I’ve caught up on a little bed action I’ll get on it” with this comment Xander’s head flew around to look at her, while Kennedy blushed a wonderful shade of crimson, Faith’s mouth was hanging open and all Buffy could do was blink and say “Huh!” At this reaction the red head quickly stated “I meant sleep you guys, I mean don’t you ever think of anything else”. After a slight pause everyone shouted “Hell NO” in unison, which made them all burst into fits of laughter.

After about five hours a few stops and a change of driver they finally pulled up to the hotel Angel had told them about. Xander pulled the bus into the car park and stopped the engine. He turned to face behind him to see Buffy already walking forward, he watched her as she became more confident with every step. He smiled at her as she walked past anf thf the bus. He held his hand up to the others on the bus knowing that Angel would be there to greet them and that Buffy would want a few minutes alone with him.

As she stepped from the bus, the familiar figure dressed in black slowly walked tds hds her, she felt her heart race as she began to run extending her arms to him. They caught each other and held each other for a long time not wanting the moment to end. Finally Buffy pulled back “Thank you Angel, I don’t know how I can repay you for everything” Angel held her face in his hands as he spoke “Buffy you know I will do anything for you, I’m so happy you’re alive, and here and well you know….” He trailed off. The petite blond looked at him “I have to get the girls settled in, do you mind helping” she slowly stepped back allowing their arms to fall, but they still held onto each others hands. Angel looked at their hands and then back to Buffy and he slowly let go, he smiled and walked towards the bus.

As Angel stepped onto the bus there was a tense feeling, all of the girls were looking at him strangely, they had all felt a weird tingle as someone entered the bus. Faith realised quickly what was going on, and made her way towards Angel as fast as she could, when she got to the front she hugged him quickly “Hey how you doin’ Dead-boy” to this the girls nearest drew in sharp breaths. She turned to them “It’s ok girls he’s on our side” she said with a smile “Oh, by the way, that tingling sensation,” she said while pointing at the back of her neck “get used to it, that’s you’re first line of defence against Vampires”. They all looked at her confused “It’s one of the powers the Slayer possesses to enable her to hunt and kill the Vampires.” She explained. At that many of the new slayers looked quite happy that their Vamp-dar had gone off.

When they had entered the hotel there were twenty-six of them, they had to share between 14 rooms, this meant that both Giles and Wood got their own rooms which they were more than happy about.

The others paired up, of course Willow and Kennedy were already making their way to their room, Xander had offered that he and Andrew shared as he could see that Andrew was still blaming himself for Anya’s death, and he wanted to make sure that he would accept that he could have done nothing.

That left Dawn, Buffy and Faith, Dawn quickly pointed out that she did not want to share a room with her sister or there would nitenitely be a war if not the end of the world. So Dawn went to share with Vi while Buffy and Faith were left to a room together. Faith was a little apprehensive at first, not expecting to be sharing a room with the person that was once her biggest enemy. But as soon as they had entered the room and picked which bed they were going to sleep in she became a little more relaxed.

Buffy had offered Faith the use of the shower first, but when she refused saying that Buffy had to clean her wound Buffy had agreed and was now stood with her hands against the wall with the hot water pouring down her aching body. She had not realised how bad she felt until the water started to hit all the sore parts. She stood for a while, but remembered that h woh would need a shower just as much and quickly finished up and stepped out of the shower. She dried herself then put on one of the bathrobes that were hanging on the back of the door. She revelled in the feel, of the softness against her skin, it was as if she was feeling it for the first time.

Buffy returned to the room with her hair in a towel, she announced to the dark slayer that sas fas finished and watched as Faith walked passed her and into the bathroom.

She sat down slowly on her bed and looked around the room, ‘well it’s not so bad’ she thought to herself, then she noticed there was a bag set on the floor. She was curious as none of them had anything with them when they arrived, so she walked cautiously over to the bag and slowly bent to open it. Faith hadn’t closed the bathroom door tight and could see the blond slayers reaction to the bag, with a huge grin on her face she quietly went to the door, flung it open and shouted “BANG” at this Buffy flew back across the room and stared open mouthed at Faith who was bent over laughing hysterically. Buffy scowled at Faith “That was NOT funny” she said matter of factly “Oh, B, you shoulda seen your face” Faith replied holding her side. “Well, how would you have reacted miss funny” Faith calmed her breathing and held up her hands in surrender “Sorry B, it was just to easy to give up, there’s nothing funny with the bag, one of the hotel staff dropped it off when they knew who was staying where, there’s just some clothes and stuff for you. I’ve already sorted mine, and I must say that who-ever packed them sure knew their stuff” as she walked to the closet opening it to reveal all dark colours and a little leather.

Buffy moved to open the bag again, this time with a little more success, she brought out some of the clothes, and was happy to see a range of lightly coloured tops with a few pairs of pants, including leather.

Faith saw the leather pants and immediately frowned, “Since when are you into leather?” she asked mock horror in her voice.

“Big sister grew up,” Buffy answered with a sly grin.

Faith smiled back and headed back towards the bathroom.

Once they were both settled and ready for bed Buffy turned to Faith “So what’s the plan for tomorrow?”

“Not sure, I think we’ll have to call some sort of meeting, but we’ll let everyone sleep as long as they need, there’s no hurry at the moment and I think everyone could do with some alone time” Faith replied not taking her eyes from the ceiling.

Buffy looked at Faith and wondered when did she become so grown up. She really felt that Faith was tryio ino include herself in this and was beginning to look forward to having her sister slayer by her side through this.

“Not a bad idea, I think we’ll go with that, anyway I need sleep so goodnight Faith and thanks” Faith looked over at Buffy t fot for” she asked. “For coming back, you didn’t have to.” Buffy said looking straight into the dark slayers eyes.

Faith smiled at Buffy “Goodnight B.”

“Good night Faith” Buffy said not realising how much she had missed the nickname.