Remembrance: 5
by Selene
Buffy sat belly up to the bar looking a little uneasy. You could tell that she really didn’t get out much and wasn’t at ease in the whole bar scene. Faith watched her nervously twirl the umbrella in her drink and saw her look around the bar quickly not making eye contact with anyone. Her body language screamed stay away. A couple of guys in there weren’t getting the message and started over to her swaggering over confidently. Buffy looked up startled at the two guys in front of her. Now that The Immortal had let it be know that he had ‘tired’ of her she was getting hit on by any guy with a pulse. Faith saw the look turn to outrage and hurried over there before Buffy could get them thrown out.

Faith came around Buffy’s side and put her arm around her possessively. “Can’t I take a piss before you are off cheating on me?” Faith said with a menacing look at Buffy. She zeroed in on the two idiots in front of her. “Listen guys she’s mine. So back off. She’s not interested.” The two guys looked at each other kinda smirked and walked off. God only knew what was going on in their minds.

“Thanks, Faith... I think...” Buffy’s eyebrows shot up.

“Well I took a gamble there... usually they take off embarrassed but there is always the chance that they will stick around hoping to see some action.” Faith grinned. “Especially when it’s two gorgeous looking slayers like us. Wanna give ‘em a show?” Faith joked.

Buffy just rolled here eyes. Sometime she was just too much. It was impossible not to laugh.

There were a couple of tables scattered about and since it was still early they were mostly empty. The two eldest Slayers grabbed their drinks and sat down in a more secluded area. They had fallen into a routine where just the two of them went out for a drink on Friday nights. It was comfortable now and most of their issues were worked out. Faith understood how she was feeling and just let her be. She never pushed or asked how she was feeling but, would really listen if Buffy had something to say. It wasn’t about judgement or weighing every action it was more about being there and accepting.

For Buffy these nights were special. She had let go of her anger towards Faith. It was hard to stay mad at someone when you realized that you made terrible mistakes along the way too. They had come through all of their problems with a new commitment to a healthy relationship. One where they weren’t constantly competing against each other for everyone else’s approval. They didn’t get jealous of one another and tried to help each other out.

Faith had been there through many hard times. Causing more than a few of them. But ever since she had found Katrina’s lifeless body... and thought that she had been the cause of her death Buffy had a deeper sense of just how much hurt, guilt and helpless anger that Faith had gone through. Faith had turned on Buffy in displaced rage. While, Buffy had found an outlet for that rage in Spike. She hurt Spike like she had been hurting. She ended up taking her rage out on him. And funneled her guilt into every punch. Each blow only making it that much worse. Making her want to tear everything in her path to pieces. Broken and bleeding he still managed to forgive her for what she had done to him. How could Buffy not do the same for Faith. Knowing how it felt inside and how she had reacted like Faith did to her. It was a never ending circle. The rage pushing her to hurt and hurt bringing on the guilt till she had been miserable. There were many reasons that she had to respect Faith but being able to pull herself up out of that was amazing. When she had turned herself in to the authorities it been a turning point for their relationship. At the time, Buffy hadn’t been able to forgive yet but it had been a step in the right direction.

Buffy was proud of Faith for the way she had grown into a caring compassionate woman. Faith tried to reach out now and wasn’t completely shut off from the people around her. She was more defensive than most but that was just her. All of the SIT were in awe of her and really looked up to her for training and Faith responded to their need by blossoming into a nurturing caring woman. Well caring in her unorthodox way, of course.

Faith really never had expected Buffy to forgive her for the things that she had done to her and her friends. She had held on to the hope that maybe someday she would be allowed to tell her just how sorry she was for her actions. Everything had just went out of control. Every choice she had made had just made it worse. She was grateful for Buffy’s friendship. She cared for her like a sister and in many ways they had a friendly competitive relationship like they truly were sisters. She knew the loneliness and responsibility that being a Slayer had put on Buffy. She had felt those things too but, like so many of her choices she had taken the easy way out. Held herself responsible for nothing. Those days were over. She wanted to be proud of herself and took the time to care about others. She tried to treat people better and realized that not everyone was on the take. This last year had been about fixing the pieces within herself that had been broken. She had learned to trust again thanks to Buffy. Actually Xander had been a big help too. He had helped her realize that not all of the relationships in her past had been completely destructive. He was sweet. He made her feel like she was young again. And had all of her choices ahead of her.

Wood on the other hand, had gotten so possessive of her that finally Buffy had asked Giles to send him off to Cleveland just to give her some room. He was always suspecting things that weren’t there and she had finally been forced to call it off between them. She had such high hopes for him when they had started off... She hadn’t counted on his jealous streak that was a mile wide. And for once she had been behaving. Wanting a real relationship based in trust. When she figured out that he wasn’t ever going to trust her in that way it had been time to call it quits. It had been ugly. Why was she wasting time thinking about him when they could be having fun? She turned to Buffy who had been scoping out the dance floor.

“Let’s dance.”

Five hours later an exhausted Buffy quietly shut the door behind her. Her feet were killing her. How was she supposed to dance in five inch heels all night long. She reached down and undid one of the straps letting it fall noiselessly to the ground. Then the other one joined the pile. She smiled remembering how they had pretty much cleared the dance floor by the end of the night. A throng of people surrounding them. Mostly men. She went to put her purse down on the entry way table and noticed five messages on the answering machine. She put one well manicured finger on the button and pressed play...

A/N: I am a tease. Please review.

This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=7751