Chapter 18: Old Wounds
KNOLLWOOD CEMETERY – CLEVELAND HEIGHTS 11:00 PM
BUFFY’S POV
That bastard just picked me up and threw me in a fucking tree! Jumping down to the ground I run to Faith and Emma. The M’Fashnik demon has Emma in one gnarled hand while fighting Faith with the other. Faith is thrown to the ground but scissor kicks out, knocking him off balance. I get to them just in time to yank Emma away before she goes down with him. “Go to the car now,” I toss her my spare keys.
“But I can hel-”
“GO!”
Faith throws a stake in his stomach which stuns him for a moment. Then she lands a couple of punches to his sides and backhands him across the face. He stumbles backward and she advances ready to go for the stake and push it further into his gut. She leaps and kicks the stake in but he holds onto her leg and they both fall to the ground.
They jump up and she starts to wail on him continually punching his face over and over. He narrows his eyes at her then spins, his foot connects with her jaw and blood flies from her mouth in an almost Hollywood-like stream. She’s wiping her chin when I get to them, “What took you so long B?” she spits the blood from her mouth, “I was having all this fun without you.” She jumps; kicking him in the face then turns to me and winks.
Now both Faith and I are fighting him. It’s a constant barrage of blows, we don’t let up for a minute. Finally we get in a winning combination: she kicks his chest as I punch his face. Mercifully he goes down. Faith is bouncing on her toes waiting for his next move. When he doesn’t move at all she cautiously treads nearer.
“Faith don’t!” Emma shouts out, I thought I told her to get to the car…
She looks over to Emma as he shoots up grabbing her arm and wrenching it out of the socket as he head butts her throwing her backwards.
“AHHHHH” she screams as she falls to the ground.
Running full force I kick him in the chest and he’s flat on his back. He gets up but is far enough away from Faith that Emma can go to her.
He dodges me, spins then brings his fist squarely into my cheek. I hear something crack then feel what I know is blood start to leak from the corner of my eye. As I’m turning back towards him his fist slams down on my back, bringing me to my knees.
Tilting his head over to Faith he sneers, “Looks like you are about to lose another one Slayer, what is that going to make now, 5?” He laughs heartily as we circle each other. “She’s very cute this one, kinda looks like Jessie with those long dark locks doesn’t she? I was too quick with her, but this one, I think I’ll take my time with.” He leers at her appraisingly.
There is NO way that is going to happen, “You know I’m going to kill you,” I seethe at him. Out of the corner of my good eye I see Emma pulling Faith’s dislocated arm out so it goes back into place.
“Oh, I know you think you are. The PtB said there are two paths: yours and mine. Since you can’t seem to keep your lovers alive I figure all I have to do is kill another and I’d say you’re done, maybe forever. Then the girl goes to her real family and I get my reward.”
Faith comes running up to us from the side and slams her foot into his kneecap, “I don’t die too easy asshole so your little plan ain’t gonna work.”
As he is falling down I grab his head in my hands. Looking at him for a moment, “This is for Jessie you mother fucker,” then using all my strength I twist his head clean off and throw it to the ground. I stare at his decapitated body as my blood mixes with my tears.
Faith engulfs me in her arms, “Are you ok?”
I nod into her neck, “I’ll be fine. We need to get Emma out of here.”
We both look over to her and find she is pinning two vamps to a wall telepathically while staking them physically. We turn back to each other.
“Why didn’t we do that?” Faith asks me.
“Because we’re morons.” I answer as we make our way towards her.
“Naaa, just would have taken the fun out of it.”
I put my arm around her waist, “Been a long time since we slayed together baby.”
“Yeah,” she pulls me close and kisses my forehead, “I think it’s safe to alert the media, we’re still hot chicks with superpowers.”
“Right,” I nod, “who need some serious medical attention. I think that cock sucker broke my cheek bone.”
Faith turns to me a little shocked, “B – you gonna kiss me with that mouth?”
Stopping, I exhale then slowly bring my eyes up to her, “He murdered her in front of me then joked about it. There aren’t enough curses known to any language…” my voice cracks and I try to reign in my anger and pain, “a quick death was a gift and I only did it because we need to keep Emma safe.”
She brushes the hair from my face as she clenches her jaw. “I understand, we’ll talk about it when we get home, ok?”
I bury my head in her chest as tears start to fall, “Ok.”
“Guys, guys,” Emma runs to us, “Are you ok? Are you both ok? I can’t believe you ripped his head off – that was so cool! And did you see me dust those two vamps??!?!”
Faith laughs and I feel it rumble through her chest. I look up at Emma and her face immediately falls.
“Buffy, oh my God, you need to go to the hospital.” Her voice is very soft.
I swipe at my eyes, “No, it’s ok, we’re going to call the house and make sure Willow is up to do some healing spells. How do you feel about driving home?”
Emma’s eyes get huge, “Really? You mean it?”
Laughing, I nod, “Faith and I are kinda beat up and it’s pretty much a straight shot on the Freeway, so what do you think? You game?”
She just nods then runs to the car.
“You make a great mom, B,” Faith whispers in my ear.
“Yeah, that is when I’m not putting her life in danger.” I pull her towards the car, “Come on, I don’t know about you but I can go for a nice glass of wine.”
“How about glasses?”
“Done.”
BACK AT THE HOUSE - BASEMENT – TRIAGE ROOM – 12:30 AM
WILLOW’S POV
“Yeah, it’s broken.” I just finished cleaning the blood from Buffy’s face, “I’m going to have to re-align it now, before your Slayer healing fuses it back incorrectly.”
“Great, can I get a nose job too, Doc?” she quips.
“No way Red, I like B’s nose.” Faith is sitting in the chair across from the examination table.
Not particularly in the mood for their banter I snap at her, “Watch it Faith, you’re next on my table, and I don’t find anything remotely amusing here.”
They exchange glances and both lower their eyes.
“Look,” I sigh, “aren’t you two a little old for this kind of thing? I thought this was going to be a little newbie vampire staking for Emma.”
Faith looks at Buffy then drops her head, playing with the new hole in her jeans.
Buffy’s eyes hardened. “We didn’t know he was going to be there Wills. Besides, this was personal; I wouldn’t have let anyone else do it.”
“Personal? What the hell are you talking about?” I am totally confused.
Buffy lowers her eyes again and sighs.
Faith speaks up for her, “It wasn’t vamps Red, it was the demon that killed Jessie, the one that kidnapped Emma. B killed it tonight.”
“Holy crap! How did it know where to find you?” Holy Crap, Holy Crap, Holy Crap.
Buffy shakes her head then winces, probably wasn’t a good idea. “Don’t know, the PtB told me ‘important events will take place this evening’ I thought they meant Emma going out on her first patrol. I - I didn’t realize.” She bows her head again.
“You didn’t tell me they said that,” Faith creases her brow. “What else did they say?”
Buffy closes her eyes tightly, “Can we just talk about it later?”
“Of course,” I squeeze her shoulder, “we don’t have to deal with this now, it’s been a long night as it is, right? We can talk when you’re ready.” An uncomfortable silence descends on the three of us. Shit, can’t we ever just catch one stinking break? Does it have to be always with the doom and gloom, all the God damn time? “Ok, hold still Buff, this is gonna hurt.”
She gasps for breath as I shift her cheek bone and murmur an incantation. When I look up Faith is giving me a very strange look, almost like she’s looking through me, freaky. I finish bandaging the cut on Buffy’s eye then they switch places.
Faith seems almost shy as I tend to her, bizarre for her I know. I have a look at her shoulder and see Emma did a fine job popping it back into place. “This will probably be sore for a day or two.”
“Ok,” she says softly.
She only needs a couple of stitches where the demon’s apparently steel toe boot connected with her jaw.
When I’m done we all go upstairs where Emma is retelling the adventure to Dawn, Andrew and Ken.
Dawn runs over to Buffy as soon as we come up, “Oh my God, are you ok?” She pulls her into a hug then looks over at Faith who still seems a bit spacey.
“You bet - hugs and puppies.” Buffy slowly breaks away from Dawn, “Look guys we’re really beat, no pun intended. We’re just gonna go to bed, we’ll talk in the morning, ok?”
“Ok,” Dawn says in a small voice.
Buffy stops and puts her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Hey, I’m fine, really.” Now Buff brings her into a heartfelt hug. “I just need to decompress, you know?”
Dawn puts on a knowing smile, “Yeah, I was just worried.”
Buffy nods then after making a pit stop at the kitchen for a bottle of wine and glasses, they go upstairs.
The rest of us go back into the living room.
Andrew comes up and puts his hands on Dawn’s shoulders, “She’ll be fine, babe, Faith will take care of her.”
Dawn leans back into him, “I know, it’s just that sometimes I wonder where her breaking point is, I mean really, how much can she take.”
“As much as she needs too,” Ken says rather solemnly, “She’s been doing this for a long time Dawn, your sister’s a very strong woman she can handle it.”
Dawn shakes her head, “I know but that demon fucked both of them up, badly, and from the looks of both them, more than just physically. I, I just worry.”
“It’s all my fault,” Emma bows her head.
Ken raises her eyebrows, “Have you lost you mind? How do you see this is your fault?”
“Well, the demon was after me so it’s my fault. Then Buffy made me leave so I didn’t help them, I could have helped them, I could have used the magic -”
This is where I cut in, “Emma, they were trying to protect you. You know your magic is still unfocused and imprecise so it’s incredibly unreliable. It could have actually done more harm than good. And it probably wouldn’t have worked – the demon was a minion of the Goddess, she would have shielded him from your power. So please, don’t take any blame, especially here where there is none.”
“But I distracted Faith then she and Buffy got hurt.”
Emma’s eyes are still downcast. “Yes they were both beaten up pretty good, but I fixed what I could and they’re ok now. By tomorrow morning their Slayer healing will have them good as new. As for the heavy duty emotional issues, well they’ll work it out together. And if either of them needs our help or an ear or a shoulder, they know we’re here for them, it’s what family does.”
BUFFY’S ROOM – 1:15 AM
FAITH’S POV
B is laying against my good shoulder her arm and leg draped over me. I’m leaning on the headboard, sipping my wine. “How decadent it is to be in bed, sipping wine with a beautiful woman. It seems unfathomable I was in a hell dimension 2 months ago.”
“Breaking out the SAT words Faithy?” B looks up at me.
“Never took the SAT, the Stockton Women’s Correctional Facility classes got me my GED, that’s enough schooling for me. The rest was all reading. You read a lot when you’re alone. So I read plenty, kinda like how Emma’s got that killer vocabulary.”
“Sorry,” she traces her hand up and down my side, “There was no one in all that time? In all those places?”
“B, I’m not a nun, of course there were people.”
“You know what I mean, a relationship.”
I nod, “Once.”
“Tell me?” She snuggles into me.
“Well...”
“Come on, you know everything about my sordid love life, not to mention that you basically hooked me up with the last person I was with, I’m still not over the weirdness of that by the way.”
I sigh, “I would hardly call your love life sordid.” I pull her into me, “And I just did what I thought was the right thing to do.”
“Tell me?”
I sigh knowing she wants me to share it, knowing it might help her share her pain with me. I begin, “Isabella was part of that Coven in Mexico, their healer and Iliana’s daughter. We met when I came back from Venezuela after cleaning up the vampire nest that killed Riley and Sam. I had a few scrapes and she patched me up. So after every assignment if I was hurt, I’d go to her and she’d take care of it, well, me.”
B leans up and refills our glasses, “Sorry I didn’t mean to make you stop.”
“It’s ok,” I take another sip then continue, “So after your school started to take care of business here and you and Jessie got together, I started making those trips to other dimensions. It got to where I would always come back to Mexico even if I wasn’t hurt and stay with her. It’s not like anything ever happened, or anything was ever said. I just went there, I guess cause I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“You could have come here,” she says softly.
“No I couldn’t have. I was still messed up and you and Jessie were happy.” I take a breath, “We both had a job to do B, and our feelings about each other were too raw. We would have distracted each other and people would have died.”
“Don’t we each still have a job to do?”
“We’re older now; I think we know how to handle the balance a little bit better than when we did in our twenties.”
“Yeah, I guess…”
“So anyway,” I give her a little squeeze, “So one time when I came back things got serious. I was 27 and it was the first time I was with someone for more than a week.”
B turns to me, “How long were you guys together?”
I look down, “Two years.”
She settles back into me, “That’s impressive,” she pauses, “What’s she like?”
I look up to the ceiling and think for a moment, “Very…soothing, like the embodiment of calm,” I laugh, “talk about polar opposites huh? But she helped me work out a lot of stuff.”
“How? Magic? Meditation?” B drains her glass then sets it on the night table.
Shaking my head, “Nothing as sexy as that, we just talked a lot; about Finch, the Mayor, Angel,” I take a huge breath, “you.”
She turns to me, “No way you talked to her about me,” she’s incredulous.
“Way. But she understood, better than I did at the time that no matter what, a piece of me would always belong to you.”
B’s very quiet then she nods, “Jessie knew it too. We never discussed anything like you did, I mean I told her about you and stuff, but I know she put the rest of it together on her own.” She runs her hand over mine, “So what happened with Isabella?”
I look up at her then down again, “Vampire.” I take a rather large drink of my wine. “Irony, huh? A Vampire Slayer’s girlfriend gets killed by a vampire. I was in another dimension so I didn’t find out until three weeks later. Iliana took it very hard, Isabella was her only daughter, and she had just found out about her cancer. So I asked the PtB if I could stay with her for a little while, they said it was ok so I stayed for a couple of months.”
“Jesus Christ.” she cups my face in her hand and lightly kisses my cheek. “We can’t seem do the relationship thing, huh? It’s just like that demon said.”
“No, B, don’t believe that little fuck. He just talked all that trash to rattle you. We’re in a high casualty business, and although so many have been lost I feel we are incredibly lucky to still have so many alive: Dawn, Willow, Ken, Giles, Andrew, shit, especially me and you. All of us have faced tremendous odds and yet are still here to do the best we can with what we got.”
“Now you sound like Willow.”
“Red is an exceptionally intelligent woman.”
She leans back against my chest, “Do you think now that we’re together the PtB will leave us alone?” She asks hopefully.
“That would be more than I could ever ask for, but no, I doubt it.”
We’re quiet for a little while both lost in our thoughts. I pull her closer to me again, “You alright with what happened tonight?”
She exhales, “I always thought it would make me feel better, you know, killing him, the whole revenge thing. And to be honest it did, for about a minute. But it didn’t change anything, well, except that he’s dead now too. It’s like…” She stops.
“What B?” I coax as I put my glass on the night table so I can carefully wrap both arms around her.
She swallows. I can tell she’s crying. “It’s like I can let her go now but part of doesn’t want to and the other part of me already has. Oh God, I shouldn’t be talking about this with you, I should be talking to Will.”
“Shhh,” I nuzzle my face in her hair. “I think I know how you feel. You’ve been holding onto the pain of losing her for so long that letting go of it makes you feel guilty.”
She sits up and faces me searching my eyes, “Exactly.”
We hold each other’s gaze for a moment. “I’m not asking you to let her go, Buffy.” I reach out my hand and rub my thumb against her cheek.
“I know,” she pushes into my hand, “thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being so incredibly understanding and strong and open and honest. God, are you real?”
“Very real,” I lean in and capture her lips with mine. It’s a soft kiss, not heated; the Gods know neither of us could handle that right now; too many emotions running around both our heads, too many old wounds reopened tonight. “Let’s get some sleep.”
Buffy reaches over and shuts the light. She pulls the covers over us then wraps me in a full body Slayer hug. “I love you so very much,” she whispers.
I return her embrace with fervor, “I love you too.”
4:00 AM
NO ONE’S POV
The wind blows through her hair as she rides the cable car up the mountain. Looking out, she sees the ocean is calm as the sun starts to set. Once at the top she gets out and starts walking around. There are little creatures hopping about. They kinda look like mutant rabbits but she knows they’re not. She thinks for a minute, Dassies, that’s what they’re called, they’re cute.
Breathing in deeply she is awed by the beauty of her surroundings: being above the clouds, the view of the city below and the ocean that stretches out beyond it reflecting the setting sun.
Turning to walk back to the cable car she stops when she sees her leaning against the railing looking out onto the water, shoulders set, raven hair being taken by the wind. The corners of her mouth turn up into a grin as she feels her heart flutter. ‘Will I ever stop feeling like this when I see her?’ She asks herself as she strides toward her other half.
“Hey you,” the blonde speaks as she leans her head against her lover’s back, wrapping her arms around her waist.
“Hey Buffy,” her captive replies turning in her arms, “Where are we?”
“Table Mountain, South Africa, it’s gorgeous here isn’t it?” Buffy takes in the view once more, then turns back looking into those warm brown eyes.
The brunette nods as she holds her stare, “Absolutely,” a smirk forming at her lips.
She laughs as she feels her cheeks color, “Faith, what are you doing in my dream?”
“Don’t know, just found myself here.”
“Think it’s the PtB?”
Faith tilts her head to the side, “Slayer dream, Emma’s from South Africa, no such thing as coincidence, hmmm, I’d say probably.” She places a kiss on Buffy’s forehead.
Neither of them notices the woman begin to approach them let alone when she raises an eyebrow as Faith kisses Buffy’s head, “You know I always had a feeling about you two.”
Buffy’s eyes widen, immediately recognizing the voice. She turns, “Mom?”
Chapter 19: Saying Goodbye
SLAYER DREAM – TIME DOES NOT EXIST HERE
BUFFY’S POV
“Oh my God, MOM,” I run to her and nearly knock her over as I swoop her up in huge hug. I can’t believe it; she’s real, like really real. But this is just a dream, yeah, it’s not real.
“No sweetie, it’s real,” my Mom says as she pulls away from me looking over my shoulder inclining her head, “Faith.”
She touches her hand to her head in a mock salute, “Mrs. S, it’s good to see you.”
Mom tilts her head and narrows her eyes, “You’re taking good care of my daughter?”
Faith’s smile reaches up to her eyes, “Yes Ma’am, doing my very best.”
Suddenly there’s a short dark haired woman standing behind Faith, she puts a hand on her shoulder, “So this is your Slayer mi amore?”
Faith’s eyes lock on mine, as if pulling some kind of strength from me, then drift to Mom’s, “Why?”
Mom nods, “The Goddess sent us because She wanted you two to feel at ease. We need to tell you about Her, and, well, neither of us had the chance to say goodbye. She felt you two deserved it.”
As Mom speaks all I can really concentrate on is the hand on Faith’s shoulder. No one needs to speak her name; I know who she is from the second Faith’s eyes held mine. Isabella’s hand slides from Faith’s shoulder to the back of her neck in such a slow, intimate, sensual manner, I blush. Standing stock still, Faith looks to the sky then closes her eyes and swallows. Then they face each other for a long moment before finally embracing.
I’m not really sure how I feel about this. Watching them now, it’s weird, it’s not that I’m jealous, well much; I think I’m more curious about this woman who helped Faith conquer her inner demons.
Mom breaks me out of my reverie, “It’s not polite to stare Buffy. Why don’t we give them a minute? There’s nothing to worry about. Now tell me about what Dawn’s up to.”
Nodding, I tell her about Dawn and what we’ve all been doing as we sit on one of the benches. It’s so strange, being able to see her again, talking about Dawn and the gang; it seems so natural, so normal, like she never left.
A dassie comes up to her and she reaches down to pet it.
“Don’t Mom, they bite.” I caution her.
She waves her hand at me, “Oh don’t be ridiculous, I’m dead, it won’t bite me.” And sure enough, it doesn’t. She stokes its fur for a minute then it jumps onto her lap. “It won’t bite you either. Go ahead, give it a whirl.”
I give the little creature a leery glance then shake my head, “Naaa, I’m good.”
“Suit yourself,” she sighs and looks around, “it’s absolutely beautiful here.”
“Yeah it is.” I can’t believe I’m sitting here talking to my mother.
“How do you know they bite?”
Looking at her then the dassie, I shrug, “I used to come here a lot on vacation.” I start to get a little dreamy, “It was always just so…” I quickly stop myself then exhale, “It was a long time ago,” shaking the thoughts from my head.
Mom gauges me for a moment then gives me her patented Joyce Summers pursed lips stare. Our eyes meet and she decides to take a different track, “So, you and Faith, huh?”
I laugh nervously then nod, “Yeah, me and Faith.” I draw nonsense figures in the dirt with my boot then look up at her, “Are you ok with that Mom?”
“Oh honey, it doesn’t matter what I’m ok with.” She tilts her head, “Are you happy?”
“Very much so,” I say softly.
“Then so am I. I stopped trying to figure out your love life after I found out about you and Angel.” She wrinkles her nose and we both laugh for a moment, then she puts her hand on mine, “It kinda makes a lot of sense if you think about it.” She smiles at me, “And you know I always liked her. Well, just not when she was trying to hurt you or me for that matter.”
“She’s changed a lot.”
“I’ve noticed. There’s a peacefulness about her now instead of a constant whirlwind. She seems to have been through a lot.”
I scoff and shake my head, “You have NO idea.”
“You two seem right together.”
“Yeah? I think so too.”
Mom gins, “And, well it’s a big plus she’s not a vampire, oh or a demon!”
“MOM!” But I can’t help but to laugh.
Then I feel a weight behind me and I know it’s Faith. She leans into my back, both hands now resting on my shoulders then kisses the top of my head, “Sorry, it was just a bit of a shock.”
Looking up into her eyes, I nod, “I know.” I grab one of her hands and swing her around to sit on the bench across from us. “Where’s Isabella?”
“I’m here.”
This absolutely stunning petite woman sits beside Faith. She’s older than us, not a whole lot, just enough to make a difference. Her hair is black as coal, almost almond shaped eyes which, looking into them now, are warm dark pools. With skin a light shade of cocoa that seems like it would be so incredibly soft to touch; her once striking Mayan features appear to have softened with age, making her only more beautiful. She looks at me and I’m immediately captivated by the intensity of her gaze. The hell with the whole healing Wicca thing, Faith didn’t tell me she’s fucking hot!
“Ok, this is a world of weird, but B, this is Isabella, Isabella this is Buffy.” Faith and Mom just watch as Isabella and I regard each other.
“Hey,” I wave. Yeah, that’s intelligent, what am I, 12?
She smiles warmly at me, “Hi Buffy, Faith told me so much about you, I feel I know you. I am so honored to finally meet such a great warrior of the light.” She reaches over to me and grasps my hand, squeezing once then letting go.
“Buffy, I don’t know how long this is going to last so we really have to talk.” Mom looks over to Isabella then continues, “The most important thing we have to tell you is the Goddess is not evil.”
Looking at her, “We kinda figured that out. The Coven in England went way overboard, that’s why the PtB brought us in.”
Mom tilts her head at me, “You guys figured that out? I mean by yourselves, without Rupert?”
Faith and I nod.
“I guess your Slayer headquarters is pretty good.” She pats my knee, “I’m so proud of you honey.”
“Oh my God, Mom, we’re in our thirties, we aren’t kids anymore.” It’s uncanny that I can still be irked by her babying me. I narrow my eyes when I see Faith’s smirk. “And what are you smirking about?”
She puts her hands up in mock defense, “Nothing B, nothing at all.”
“So,” Isabella continues, “you also know the child is the means to the passage between the worlds?”
I shake my head, “First of all her name is Emma and yes we know that, but we don’t know exactly what it means.”
“Buffy!” Mom admonishes me, “there is no reason to be rude.”
“No Joyce,” Isabella says then turns back to me, “My apologies, Buffy, I did not know her name. She who rules us only refers to her as ‘my child’.” She waits until I look up at her, seeing her words are true before she speaks again. “The Wicca among your group possesses great power born of Ereshkigal, together with you, Faith and Emma the gap between the Heavens and the Underworld will be bridged.”
Shaking my head again, “I still don’t get why this needs to happen. Why does She need passage between the worlds now after all this time? And why is the Coven trying desperately to stop it?”
Another voice sounds; it is strong, almost gilded with royalty, it possesses an omnipotence that leaves little doubt as to its owner, “Soon will be a time of unrest with the Gods of the Heavens. There is a great struggle for power brewing. We cannot allow this struggle to carry over to the world as you know it.” The Goddess walks over to us. She is tall, and incredibly ancient looking, but not old, sort of like she just walked out of a hieroglyphic. She rests her hand on my shoulder and I feel her power burn through me. “The PtB understood this threat and sent you to protect my Emma from the Coven who misinterpreted the signs.”
Ok, she is so NOT Glory, she is truly ethereal, divine and breathtakingly majestic and I kinda feel like I should be bowing or kneeling or something.
“I apologize for the behavior of my vizier,” she squeezes my shoulder sending out another powerful wave of tingles; “mercenary demons are so hard to control. He was never meant to harm anyone, only to bring Emma to me. You had killed one of his brothers, so he took it upon himself to extract his own revenge. I am truly sorry for his injuries to you and those you held dear.”
I can’t believe this. Jessie dying, the fight last night, it all shouldn’t have happened? But didn’t it have to happen? Or maybe that’s a part of when Faith said things always revert to their true course? Regardless, I’m speechless, I’m utterly speechless. But thankfully Faith’s not.
“We thank you for the apology. And just to be clear no harm will come to Emma?”
The Goddess turns her attention to Faith, “No, not from me. I am forever grateful the PtB chose two people who care about her so much to be her guardians. I know she is safe with you.” She smiles at Faith then to me. “You grow tired, we must leave you now.”
“Please,” Mom pleads, “just a little while longer?”
“As you wish, but not too much longer,” The Goddess retreats to stand at the ledge looking out over the city where she had lived and loved as a human all those years ago.
Mom stands and grabs Faith’s hand, “Talk to me for a sec?”
Faith looks at her, me, then back to her, “Sure Mrs. S.” She rises and follows my mom to another set of benches. This leaves me with Isabella, the gorgeous girlfriend.
“Come and walk with me for a moment.” I look up at her and nod. We make our way over to the cable car and look down the side of the mountain. “I am happy you found Faith. As I knew you would.”
“How did you know?” My voice cracks a bit as I try to stare out to the water.
She smiles at me sweetly, “I have the sight, or I should say I had the sight. I’ve always known.”
I turn to her, “You knew you would die?”
She nods slowly. Faith was so right, she is so soothing, “We all die Buffy, some just sooner than others. That is why each day should be treated as a gift, especially when you are in love.” She almost whispers the last part.
I look back out to the ocean.
She clears her throat then continues, “Faith told me about all the pain you endured over the years. You are a remarkably strong woman.”
“My pain is nothing compared to hers.” I shake me head, “I don’t know if I could have endured what she had.”
“The Gods give us only what they know we can handle. Well, sometimes they give us a little more to test our mettle. You have done very well and should be proud of that accomplishment. You and your friends have also brought the fight against evil to the 21st century. There’s no telling what more you can do with the tools and talent at your disposal.”
I can see why Faith fell in love with this woman. She is so comforting and, I don’t know, wise? She immediately puts you at ease and makes you feel welcome. This would be an incredibly uncomfortable situation under almost any circumstances, but for some bizarre reason, it’s not.
“Buffy, there is one other who would like to see you before we need to go.”
“One other?” Peering over her shoulder I can’t believe who I see standing there, a little shy, head tilted downward, that lopsided grin growing across her face. “Tara?”
In an instant she has engulfed me in her arms and I can’t believe how much I’ve missed her. “God, you are a sight for sore eyes!” I hug her tightly again. “Willow is going to be very jealous.”
Tara releases me, “How are you? How is she? Dawn?”
“Good,” I think for a moment looking at Isabella and remembering all she has said, “great actually!”
She looks deeply into me, reading me like she always used to, just to keep me honest. Finally satisfied, she nods, “Yes, I believe you are.”
Isabella looks at us, “It’s near time.”
Tara hugs me again. When we break apart she puts her hands on my shoulders, “It’s not your fault about Warren. I know you keep that guilt, but it was just my time. It was all meant to be: had I not died Willow would never have amassed her power, and the First would have defeated you. She would not have this bond to the Goddess and,” she stops short looking at Isabella, “all would be lost.”
I nod, finally knowing what she says to be true and how lucky I am to have seen her again. “I miss you.”
She smiles and I can’t believe I forgot how her smile can light up the day. She hugs me again, “I miss you too.”
Turning now to Isabella, I fumble with how to say goodbye. She steps very close to me, kisses both my cheeks then envelopes me in her arms. “Love her, love her like every day is your last.” She whispers in my ear as I feel her tears on my cheek.
Tightening my grip on her I promise, “I do and I will.”
Mom and Faith are walking over to us now. I hug Mom again, “I want more time.”
“Oh honey, no matter how much time you have you will always want more. It’s the human condition.” She strokes my hair. “We really need to go now, look how tired you’re getting.”
“I love you Mom,” I cry into her chest.
“I know, honey, I love you too. Give Dawn a big hug for me.” She breaks away from me and joins Tara.
“Me too!” Tara calls out. Then adding shyly, “and Willow.”
Faith and Isabella are talking quietly then realize all eyes are on them. They know it’s time to go. Isabella holds Faith’s head in her hands, gently tracing her cheek bones then gives her a chaste kiss on the mouth and a quick hug. Head down she goes to stand with the others.
The Goddess strides over to us, “I will find a way to contact you again soon.” Then she smiles, “Or maybe your Wicca will first. Until then be safe and take care of my child.”
As we say “We will,” they all disappear leaving us alone once more.
The sun has almost completely set. I move away from Faith placing my hands on the guardrail watching as the sun disappears into the ocean. She follows, surrounding me in her arms from behind. “This is the most amazing sunset I’ve ever seen.”
I lean back into her and sigh, “This was Jessie’s and my favorite getaway. We’d come here when things got crazy, you know to recharge. I guess I was dreaming of a happy place after last night was so, well, so.” I pause and rub the side of my head against her jaw, “And since I was here I thought it would be the best place to say goodbye to her.” Shaking my head I sigh, “I didn’t realize my subconscious was going to turn into a Slayer Dream party with Moms, Gods, friends and lovers...”
She bends her head down next to mine, leaning her chin on my shoulder, “I’m sorry. Do you want to be alone?”
I pull her arms tighter around me, “No, I want you with me.”
We stay until the ocean has swallowed up the sun. One by one the lamps that line the path to the cable car turn on, they must be on a timer or something. With the sunlight gone to darkness, the lights from the city below begin to shine steady and strong; sort of like us, I muse. Turning in her arms to face her, I feel how much there is between us, so much more than words then I realize I’m ready to let Jessie go. Reaching up to kiss her, I hold her face in my hands, “Let’s go home.”
BUFFY’S ROOM – 7:00AM
FAITH’S POV
We both sit up a little frantic. Then look at each other and realize it all happened.
B turns and buries herself into my chest, “That was fucking intense.” We slide back down into the pillows.
I gather her close, “It was an enormous gift, allowing us to say goodbye.”
She looks up at me, “Are you ok?” B gently touches my face, “That must have been awfully hard for you.”
I nod into her hand, “Yeah, she told me we would meet again, after she died, but I thought it was just mystical Wicca stuff.” Smiling I kiss her forehead, “She said she likes you.”
B laughs, “I like her too.”
“What did you guys talk about?”
Swallowing B softly says, “Life, you, us. How about you? What did you and my Mom talk about?”
“You and me.”
“Get out,” she looks at me, “really?”
“Yeah, she just wants you to be happy. She told me to take care of you.”
B holds my gaze, “Isabella made me promise the same thing.” She rests her head on my shoulder. “Love does transcend death; I guess that’s good to know for the future.”
I kiss her forehead, “Well no one is dying anytime soon if I can help it.”
Looking like she’s remembering something, she nods, “Yeah, I think we’ll be ok for a while.”
Raising my eyebrows at her, I look at her quizzically. She waves her hand as if dismissing her statement.
Too tired to think about it now I yawn, “I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. I feel like I just ran a marathon.”
She snuggles into me, “I think we expended too much energy staying there so long.” B tries to stifle her yawn into my shoulder. “Maybe a little nap?”
“You bet,” I mumble into her forehead already drifting off.
KITCHEN – 10:00 AM
DAWN’S POV
“Well, I think we should check on them again,” Emma announces.
“We just checked on them an hour ago. I’m amazed we didn’t wake them.” I turn to her, “This is how Slayer healing works Em, they can probably sleep for a few more hours. You’ll see when they get up.”
“I don’t know Dawn, I felt a strangeness this morning, it woke me out of a sound sleep. I can’t put a finger on it, but something weird was going on.”
“Did you talk to Will and Ken?” I ask, getting concerned.
Emma sighs, “No, they went out early. I haven’t seen them yet.” She sits her head in her hands.
“Come on; let’s check the tapes, maybe Andrew can find something.”
When we get to my office the hologram map is doing a serious color, flashing, disco ball thing. Andrew doesn’t even realize we’re in the room he’s so engrossed in his test tubes and computer.
“Babe, what are you doing?” I ask cautiously.
“Hmm?” He’s not paying attention.
“Babe!”
He snaps his head up, “Oh, hey guys.”
“What’s up with the map?” I ask again as Emma comes up next to me.
Oh, no, he’s got that I-can-barely-be-contained-excited look in his eyes, here we go, “Well, this morning the sensors recorded some kind of energy actually IN the house. So I’m loading up all the demon samples Faith got for me to do a little cross-referencing and demons are popping up everywhere!”
“See?”
“What?” He looks at Emma then his eyes widen, “Wait, you felt it?”
Emma nods.
Andrew stands, then immediately sits back at his computer and types rapidly for a second then looks up, “Ok, tell me exactly what it felt like.”
She bows her head and puts her hands in her jeans. “I can’t describe it. Just that it wasn’t good or bad, it just... didn’t belong here.”
He narrows his eyes at her, “I see...”
“What, what do you see?” I don’t see anything at all.
“The nothing of course, it’s a finding.” He begins to furiously start typing. Meanwhile Emma and I both have blank stares. Looking up he sees our confusion, “Ok, the fact that Emma couldn’t feel if it was good or evil shows it was very powerful, so we should not dismiss it. And her ‘knowing’ it didn’t belong here shows she’s in tune with it, so my conclusion is that it was the Goddess trying to make contact again.”
Emma and I raise our eyebrows, turn to each other, back to him and marvel at the thought process. I’m about to ask him how he learned to think that way when Faith beats me to the punch.
“Q you are fucking amazing and bang on target. How the hell do you do it?”
Andrew blushes, God he’s so cute when he’s praised.
“Are you two ok? I was worried.” Emma hangs on Faith’s arm.
Faith draws Emma into a hug, “We’re fine, we met your grandmother, among others.”
“What?” I can’t believe it, “You meet the Goddess?”
Buffy grabs me into a hug, “We saw Mom and Tara too, they each told me to give you a big hug so...”
“What??!!!” This is really too much to handle as I’m being squished in my sister’s arms.
Buffy smiles at me, “Really did, there was also Faith’s beautiful and charming old girlfriend, but I’ll tell you about her later.”
“Hey what’s going on?” Kennedy asks as her and Willow come in and join us.
Faith looks at Buffy, “Can’t we tell them over breakfast? I’m fucking starving.”
