Tempus Fugit S7 by leavethesky

Part 1: Introductions

Willow looked up from her laptop and scanned the room with unfocused eyes. For the past hour she had worked on the same email, but still sat staring at two short words and a blinking cursor on a field of white.

Dear Giles,

Slowly her eyes focused on her surroundings and she felt a deep frown crease her forehead. It was a familiar room, the guest room in the Summer's house, but it had been altered. All of the furniture, everything that had been theirs - hers and Tara's - was gone. Erased. Removed to the basement where no one could stumble on it accidentally and injure themselves. She knew why they had done it. For her. And probably for themselves as well, but now that the familiar four-poster bed, paintings and rugs had been replaced by cheap catalog furniture the room just felt sterile as if someone had scoured it with antiseptic to remove a deadly infection.

Her fingers moved in a blur over the keyboard finally coming to rest on the cool laminate surface of the desk.

Dear Giles,

Xander is too friendly, too accommodating and full of self-help book inspired advice. Buffy can't look at me. Dawn doesn't even see me and when she does her eyes are full of blame and anger. And everything in this terrible town reminds me of her.

How was your day?

The cursor slowly backed over the words on the screen as the redhead released a long sigh. It wasn't fair to unload on Giles. He had done so much for her over the past months, had been the only one to truly accept and forgive her. To ask her to forgive him. Because, as he explained it she had needed a Watcher, a mentor desperately, but he had been so focused on his Slayer that he let her growing power go un-schooled. Willow's case had been an eye-opener for the Council. They had even begun a new Watcher program with the redhead as test case. Witchy Watchers was the term she used in private with Giles to make him smile. The old Willow could make everyone smile and she had begun to practice on him hoping to find pieces of that old Willow again.

Old Willow. She cycled through the words that would describe her old self: Hacker. Best Friend. Nerd. Sidekick. Junior Scientist.

So much for me being the scientist, she thought ruefully. Now it's Willow Rosenburg, guinea pig.

Another long sigh and her eyes fell on the hard, ugly lines of a cheap Ikea knockoff bookshelf. Tara would never have allowed such a monstrosity near the Summers house. She permitted herself a small smile at the memory of the gentle look of disapproval Tara would only occasionally allow herself to express.

Tara.

But she isn't here. She'll never be here again...

It terrified her sometimes. All of the great novels about love lost and grief spoke of the haunting afterward. Seeing their ghost everywhere. But she was back in Sunnydale, back in the same room where she and Tara had shared so much -- love, lust and pain, everything - but there was nothing now. The connection was gone. Wasn't their love supposed to last forever even after death?

But it hadn't. It had died in this room with a bullet and a god and that was the terrible thing, the thing that couldn't be discussed or shared with anyone because it meant she had failed. The dark magic she had unleashed had somehow managed to sever her tie to the only thing that had ever really mattered in her life. The only light.

Tara.

How many times can I fail you?

For the thousandth time since her arrival she considered rushing down to the basement and dragging up every piece of furniture until the room was bursting with it. At least then she would have something of Tara around her. Objects that had been touched by Tara's hands, pieces of the past that possibly even smelled like her still. But she knew this exorcism was not just for her, it was for Dawn too. The teenager still couldn't discuss the blonde without crying. Twice Willow had stumbled on the girl speaking quietly to a framed photo of Tara that hung in the hall.

Dawn had always confided in Tara and now there was no one. And the black hole that Tara's death had torn into the fabric of their lives continued to pull at them all with its terrible gravity. Weighing them down. They were all trying to escape its pull, to regain what they had lost with jokes and everyday acts, but there was no way to reverse the process that brought them here. No way to turn that black hole back into the bright star it had once been. Entropy. First law of the universe. Every system tends toward disorder. Chaos. But this system had found a terrible order that was artificial and suffocating. Unnatural.

Willow looked once again at her laptop. Maybe it wasn't a black hole for her anymore. It hadn't really been since that day on the hillside when she had tried to take away everyone's pain for good. Since then the place in her heart where Tara had been felt more like a blank. A white space. Like the agonizing white of the blank email.

Dear Giles,

White is the color of mourning in the East.

Realizing that the email was not going to get done, she shut the laptop with one shaky hand and looked at the clean lines of the box springs and mattress they called a bed. She was so tired. Exhausted. But she knew what that bed meant -- dreams and nightmares. She could handle the nightmares, the endless visions of blood and power that always began with that one line, "Willow? your shirt." She was a Scooby after all, used to waking up shaking with fear.

It was the dream that tore at her soul and left her sobbing in desperation. The same dream. It always began in impressionistic gasps, the fractured sensations of waking. Waking in Tara's arms. It started with the warmth of her body against Willow's, the perfect Tara-shaped landscape of flesh fitted against her own, an arm thrown across her chest. The weight of Tara's arm was warmth and home. The temperature of love. And then it became a world of Tara smell. The blonde witch's personal chemistry mingled with jasmine and sandalwood and something else. Something uniquely Tara that spoke directly to the deepest place in Willow's mind. The primitive brain that searched for the simple things - food, sex, shelter, comfort. The things that mattered.

And then sound. The gentle flutter of her love's breath through red hair, breezing over sensitive ears. A sleepy sigh falling on her own lips like a kiss. Because she was that close in the dream. Her breath mingling with Tara's, the air of the room passing through one body and into the other. It was always at this point that her dreaming self began to run through the possibilities: stay still, open her eyes and watch Tara sleep? Or wake her with slow easy kisses, fingers and open mouths. Her hands would begin to roam, moving lightly over soft skin eliciting another breathy sigh. Feeling the flush and braille of her lover's arousal as her fingers made their slow and steady progress. This was the story of their love written in skin and breath, sighs and wet and Willow wanted to read it all, but there would be no open eyes. That was the dream and the dark and the end. No vision, no sight. She would never see her love again. Not even in sleep.

Willow took a deep breath to cleanse her mind before laying her head down wearily on the cool plastic surface of her desk to rest. Not to sleep.

*****

Buffy tilted her head back to look up at the stars, rubbing the well-worn wood of her favorite stake between her palms. It was a slow night. Her Slayer senses picked up no supernatural activity, just the endless burrowing of earthworms beneath her, the gentle movement of the breeze around her.

But this was the place. She knew it from the vivid dreams that had haunted her nights since Willow's return.

Willow.

The thought of the redhead made her grimace, her forehead becoming deeply lined. She hadn't had these morbid thoughts since Willow's departure to England. but since her return the Slayer had found her thoughts drifting back to that dark empty place she had fallen into after her resurrection. Because they had brought her back to make things the same, but nothing had been. Nothing. Especially not her friendship. The powerful magic her best friend summoned to bring her back had damaged their relationship irrevocably, had increased the distance between them to a space so much larger than the line between life and death. And there was no magic that could span that gap.

She felt her jaw clenching in anger at all she had lost. Angel. Riley. Tara. Her mother. Even Faith. But the loss she couldn't seem to get over was Willow because she had been there for the Slayer through everything. And then she wasn't. And worse, the redhead was there in the house haunting her. A ghost she couldn't touch or see clearly. A reminder of everything she had lost and could never retrieve. Because that wasn't her Willow. The demon with the dark hair and eyes had swept her Willow away and no matter how much therapy she had received in England, Buffy could see her still in the familiar green eyes. And a small part of her blamed Tara, but the larger part blamed herself. She was the Slayer. It was her job to protect her family from evil.

The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand at the memory of that other Willow. The demon of grief and anger. The only enemy Buffy had faced and failed to defeat.

All the therapy in the world isn't going to make Willow right, she thought bitterly. That was the worst part, that she would never really be able to understand what had happened. Why Willow had gone all black magic. But then she hadn't really felt close to Willow in a long time. Long before the resurrection. And some of it was Tara and that made her feel guilty. Because it had been different than Oz. Even when Willow was deeply involved with the guitarist she had always made time for Buffy, but as soon as Tara entered the picture Buffy had felt like an outsider.

Not like you tried really hard, she chastised herself. She knew she hadn't made time for her best friend, but there were good reasons. Riley reasons and then resurrection reasons and finally? Tara. It was hard to admit, but she had begun to prize her friendship with the blonde. She found herself sneaking around to meet Tara for coffee in secret and not to talk about Willow or to help Willow. To help herself. Because Willow looked for solutions when you talked to her about problems. And sometimes she wasn't looking for a solution. But she found that she could tell Tara her secrets and problems and Tara would just let them be. She would take in Buffy's nightmares with that deep blue gaze and give comfort not answers. She felt the tears well up in her eyes at the thought of the sweet blonde.

Tara I'm so sorry?

A hard blow to the back of her head sent the Slayer to her knees. As she tried to regain her balance, the sounds of a loud scuffle became audible behind her.

****

Part II

"Dawn!"

Willow's head shot up from desk at the sound of Buffy's voice echoing through the house. She looked wildly around the room trying to find the reason for obvious alarm in the Slayer's voice, but the room was black. It took her a few moments to realize where she was, the strange objects of the familiar room disorienting her already sleep-fuzzed brain.

"Buffy?" she finally managed to croak out weakly and then headed toward the door.

"Dawn!" the Slayer's angry voice now boomed through the house. Even her voice was a weapon, smashing through the house, against walls and eardrums.

Willow tripped over the laptop cord and quickly regained her balance before moving out into the darkened hall. The Slayer's voice was becoming more and more panicked as she searched the house for her sister.

"Buffy are you okay?" She mumbled as she picked her way down the hall trying to locate the light switch in the dark. The sound of Buffy's feet on the stairs drew her attention to the other end of the hall where the moonlight was streaming in as if to light her way.

She finally reached the top of the stairs relieved to find Buffy staring up at her with no visible wounds, at least nothing she could see in the dim light streaming through the window. There was a moment just before the Slayer looked up when Willow thought everything had finally returned to the way it had been. Before. There was a problem, a danger and they were moving together to find each other and make it right. Which meant that all of her careful attempts to remain cheery, her bright-colored clothing and talk about computers. Everything she had done to make them see that she was the old Willow who could be depended on and trusted was finally paying off. She knew it would be a slow process, but maybe this could be the beginning?

"Wil?" It sounded so normal, that small vulnerable word in the darkness, but it had been months since Buffy had uttered the familiar nickname. Or was it years?

And then their eyes met and the Slayer staggered back as if she had been struck.

"Where is she?" Her tone was accusing. Angry.

"I?I don't know. I just?." Willow stammered in shock trying desperately to understand the sudden shift in mood. Her still sluggish brain struggled with the scene before her. Did something happen on patrol? Something that looked like it might be her fault? Did she do something in her sleep? Maybe had a nightmare and cast a spell by accident? She studied her friend's features for a clue, but there was nothing. Her clothing was not torn, there were no bruises or blood, just Buffy looking stylish and slightly mussed after a Patrol as always. Even in the darkened hallway, her friend's slick sense of style and personal grooming was obvious. Even in the dark?. It took only a nanosecond for the answer to work its way through the redhead's powerful psyche - the darkened stairway, the eerie light from the moon that made the Slayer's golden hair look dark and her bright eyes look shadowed and almost black.

Evil Willow. Magic-abusing Willow.

She stared down at her best friend, her hero since she was fifteen, and knew with a sickening wave of nausea that Buffy was staring up at her enemy - Dark Magic Willow.

I failed you again Tara?

"No! No Buffy it's not?I'm not?" she scrambled for the light switch finally finding it to illuminate the hallway in the harsh light of a seventy watt bulb. "I was writing an email to Giles and I just put my head down for a second." Buffy stood staring up at her, blinking her eyes against the hard light. "I mean, I must have fallen asleep and what time is it?"

Several moments passed as the Slayer stared up at her in silence. Finally her mouth opened a bit and her features softened slightly with relief and Willow let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Eleven o'clock and Dawn's not here." All hope the redhead had died with the taut sound of her friend's voice. Former friend she reminded herself. And hopefully future friend. Again. Maybe.

"Did you check the fridge? Maybe she left a note?" she offered in a small voice. A deep crease formed between the Slayer's eyebrows in response. "You know, cause that's the rule in the Summers house -" Willow stammered hastily.

"No I didn't check the fridge because there is no note because Dawn knows she's supposed to stay here tonight," Willow watched her friend's back as the blonde Slayer retreated angrily down the stairs toward the kitchen. "Because I told her to in my most Mom-like voice!" The redhead summoned every bit of strength she possessed to follow her down the stairs. At least she's talking. Buffy talking is good. Talking to me is even better. This was the most Buffy had spoken to her since her return. She followed her carefully, trying to remain silent so her friend would have more room to speak. "?she knows how dangerous everything is right now and she knew she shouldn't?"

There was a pause as Buffy ripped down a note that was taped to the refrigerator.

"Damnit!"

Willow winced as the note was slammed violently against the kitchen counter.

"What part of no does she not understand?"

"Well, probably the part spelled N-O. You know, it has a whole other definition when you're sixteen. I mean, I know that was like forty years ago, but I still remember you not doing well with the whole n-o thing either. Maybe it's a Summer's girl thing?" Willow kept her voice soft and upbeat hoping that she wouldn't alarm her friend or worse, enrage her. "But, um, danger?there's danger?"

Buffy's eyes fell on her as the question squeaked out of her mouth and Willow froze in terror. The blonde's eyes narrowed as she studied the redhead's features, her eyes focusing somewhere behind her. And Willow could feel then, could sense it with some other part of herself. It wasn't Buffy behind those eyes. It was the Slayer, studying her with all of her senses, both physical and supernatural. Assessing the threat.

Willow swallowed past the lump in her throat, wondering again what the Slayer saw when she looked at her. Why she never met her eyes. Did she see the dark magic there? Because it would always be there. She knew that now. It was a part of her, a part she could control. A part she never wanted to see again. The coven had explained that to her. There was no difference between dark and light magic, it was how you used it. And she had used it badly, but there was no way to reverse that. There was only the way forward if her friends would allow her that. Just that one small thing.

The only problem with forward was that it lead farther and farther from Tara. That was a conflict she hadn't been able to resolve yet. Maybe she would find a way to go forward without leaving everything behind. Maybe sideways? Or on a diagonal?

Buffy shook her head and met Willow's eyes for the first time. "Yeah, danger. Of the Big Bad variety." The Slayer's forehead furrowed and she looked at the floor.

"Um, okay?" Willow fumbled unsure of what to say. There was a Big Bad and no one had told her about it. Of course, she had sensed something, had discussed it Giles, but the fact that the rest of the Scoobies hadn't thought to confide in her?did they think she was involved in some way? "So, is it demon, hell-god or?oh my God! Is Dawn dating a frat boy?"

Buffy almost laughed at Willow's attempt at humor, "Don't even joke about Dawn dating frat boys?or Dawn dating. Remember how that turned out the last time?" And then her friend's smile quickly faded into deep sadness. "It's?things and some vision that Cordelia had," Buffy's eyes rolled up into her head as she mentioned the former cheerleader's supernatural powers. Well, at least some things never changed. They would always be able to bond over Cordelia-bashing.

Willow took a deep breath worried suddenly about the contents of this vision. "So, what did the former Queen of Mean see?"

There were a few moments of silence as the two stood facing each other. Willow knew that Buffy was weighing the situation in her mind. Whether to trust her or not. With a loud sigh, the Slayer finally pulled a small wooden box from her pocket and set it on the formica counter next to them.

"This. And some other things that I didn't believe, but?" the Slayer shrugged.

"They came true," Willow finished for her and the blonde nodded slightly. "Like?"

"Well, they were all so ridiculous. Like, would you believe it if someone told you Faith would save my life?" Buffy asked pacing the room, the strong muscles in her jaw working visibly under the skin.

"No." Willow's knees felt weak. Faith. Well, that was certainly the last thing she could imagine. The Dark Slayer had simply dropped off their radar since her last appearance. Her betrayal had seemed so insignificant when they were facing a hell-God and Buffy's death. Not to mention Dark Magic Willow. But there it was, the old anger that Faith's name inevitably roused in the redhead. And jealousy, Willow admitted to herself guiltily. It was always jealousy. She could feel it burrowing its way down toward the dark places where the magic waited. Waiting to punish Faith for the past. But she was different now. Everything was different now.

"But she did?save your life?" Willow asked carefully and paused to pull two bottles of water from the refrigerator handing one to her best friend.

Buffy looked surprised by the response, but accepted the water with a genuine if slight smile. "Thanks." The Slayer stopped to take a drink and Willow jumped up to sit on the counter. "Yeah, I was ambushed by about six vamps," she recounted without emotion as if trying to distance herself from the events. "Somebody or some body hit me from behind and when I came to, Faith was there. She staked two of them and gave me enough time to recover?" she trailed off suddenly and looked out the window at the dark sky.

"You know, I swore the next time I saw her?" Buffy failed to finish her sentence again and Willow followed her friend's thoughts to their obvious conclusion. Because Buffy had sworn to kill Faith for what she had done to her lover and to herself. But she hadn't and Willow had. Willow had taken her own murderous revenge and it had cost them all dearly.

"So that's what Cordy saw?" Willow tried to steer their conversation back to the events at hand because as much as they needed to have that discussion she knew she wasn't ready to have it yet. Not with Buffy.

"Yeah, that and the box," she motioned to the wooden box on the counter and then shivered. "Which totally gives me the wiggins, by the way."

Willow felt her forehead tighten into deep lines. The Slayer's 'wiggins' were never to be taken lightly. "What about the box?" she asked past the sudden tightness in her throat.

"Oh, you know, your run of the mill end of the world stuff," Buffy answered in her stock, impending-apocalypse flippant voice.

"Except in this version you and I use it to set off the end of the world. Or some big mega-merging of dimensions, blah, blah, blah."

Willow's face grew pale and she felt for the cold counter to steady herself. "Oh, great." She squeaked. "So, I'm thinking we get it out of here, like, now."

Buffy grimaced, "That's funny, that's what Faith said too. That we should let her have it -" she rolled her eyes again. "like I would trust her with some end-of-the-world thingie." Buffy took another long slow drink from her water bottle. "Besides, I'm thinking that this is one for Scooby research. Cordy wasn't all that clear on the details? actually she wasn't really clear on anything besides Faith, so I'm thinking we should see what we can dig up."

The world was spinning around Willow. She felt faint. Two weeks back in Sunnydale and she was working on another apocalypse that might be set off by her own actions. Again.

End of the world. End of the world. End of the world. Why is it always the end of the world? Couldn't it be the end of cheese or something?

"Wil? You okay with this?" Buffy asked gently, looking intently into Willow's eyes. The redhead took a deep breath and nodded emphatically.

"What do you need me to do?"

And a miracle happened. Buffy actually smiled at the familiar words that still hung in the air between them. Willow had said them hundreds of times to her best friend, but this was the first time?since. And maybe, Willow thought as her heart raced, maybe this can be the first step forward? even if it does mean the end of the world, she thought with a wry smile and then felt the familiar set of resolve face spread over her features. End of the world schmend of the world! Who cares. Her world had ended in the upstairs bedroom four months ago. All she had left was in the kitchen with her now and she would do anything to get it back. To go forward from here. Willow nodded and smiled at the comforting sounds of Buffy running through the finer points of her "plan."

****

Okay, so things are almost back to normal, whatever normal is, Buffy thought as she walked briskly to the first house on her list. Dawn's newest friend, Rain. Dawn had gushed about her for the past week so it was a safe bet that her sister was here. And what kind of name is Rain anyway? Hi, I'm Storm Summers. Okay, like Buffy's such a normal name...

Buffy stopped on the sidewalk in front of a modest-looking, but well-kept home, not the mansion she was expecting after the endless Rain monologue: Rain drives a Mercedes. Rain went to Paris this summer. The younger Summers' mantra of the past weeks cycled in her head. Rain, Rain, Rain. Her inner rant was cut short by the unmistakable feeling of her 'spidey senses' going into overdrive.

"Great, my sister's a runaway and the place is crawling with vampires," she muttered and began a quick visual sweep of the neighborhood. Nothing.

She sucked in an enormous breath and steeled herself for the coming confrontation. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Rain, sorry to bother you at nine thirty, but there are vampires in your yard and my sister's a?"

Her voice caught in her throat as every hair on her body seemed to stand on end at once, but this was different than the normal vampire alert. Something powerful was nearby, something familiar. It felt as if the air was charged, like lightning was about to strike. She had only felt this way around?

"Faith!" she called angrily at the stand of her trees to her right. All of this Dawn drama had brought her to the end of what was becoming a very short rope. Her temper was about to flare white hot.

After a few long moments the Dark Slayer emerged, arms crossed clad in her usual black leather pants and boots. A tight black top under a dark leather jacket made the image complete. Great! Dark Slayer meet Twinkie Slayer dressed in her ready-to-meet-the-parents yuppie wear. Buffy sighed. Round two and she was already at a disadvantage.

"Took you long enough B, thought you were getting deaf in your old age." Faith smirked as she assessed Buffy's ensemble. "So how's the whole Meg Ryan look working out for you?"

The blonde Slayer took another long, deep cleansing breath and tried to suppress the rage that threatened to overwhelm her at the mere sight of the other Slayer.

"You know, I was so looking for an ass to kick tonight," she began, shedding the silk jacket as she took a step toward Faith, "might as well be yours." She took a swing and missed by a millimeter as the other Slayer ducked in surprise. "Besides, I owe you one," Buffy muttered as she circled her prey. "Or two, or three?"

"Whoa!" Faith's face had changed from her usual arrogant smirk to a look of desperate confusion. "Look, B," she held her hands up in front of her body, palms forward. "Believe it or not I didn't come here to fight."

Buffy continued to circle Faith, but the Dark Slayer still refused to engage her standing flat-footed with her hands up. Fight me you psycho! "Um, how about?not!" Buffy challenged.

"Didn't Angel tell you -"

"Oh, that's right, you two are buddies now. Guess you finally won that one," Buffy spat the words at the younger Slayer and swung catching her with a straight right. Faith's fell to her knees in Rain's perfectly manicured yard and the blonde Slayer quickly prepared herself for a counter-attack, but it didn't come. Faith stayed kneeling on the ground, her head ducked in submission.

"Don't exactly remember winning anything except a prison sentence," she heard the Dark Slayer mutter.

"So you're just here to help," Buffy growled, her words dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah. Angel told me that things were about to get ugly for you and that I had to do something about it. Cordy and her fucking visions or whatever."

"So what did he tell you?" she challenged.

"That you were in danger and something about that box?it's not cool," the dark slayer continued still looking straight ahead. Buffy remembered a Psych paper with sudden clarity. Something about prison inmates unable to look people in the eye after their release. That juxtaposed with a film about wolves and their complicated non-verbal language. Because we're all still animals and a direct stare is a direct threat in that other language that most of us have forgotten.

"I just can't believe they let you out. You're a murderer."

Faith's head snapped up to face her and Buffy felt a smug satisfaction. Finally. Maybe now they could fight. Maybe they could finish this once and for all. But all of the fight left her body when she saw the deep pain in Faith's eyes. And the blood. Her lip was torn and bloody from the blonde Slayer's punch and her arms hung limp at her sides.

"Neither can I," she said hoarsely and then cleared her throat. "Look, just give me the box, B. Let me do the right thing for once."

Buffy felt something break inside her at the sound of the other Slayer's voice. She hadn't even dared to hope for a moment like this. She had buried any idea of it so far down that it now surprised her how much hope she had. But it wasn't possible. This was another game. Faith was playing them all again. Angel. Cordy. Everyone.

"You! Do the right thing! How many chances am I supposed to give you?" Buffy found herself yelling at the top of her voice. And worse, she was now standing over the kneeling Slayer threatening her with her fists. She felt separated from herself, but the other Slayer had always done this to her. Brought out the demon in her. "You don't know how to do the right thing Faith. You never-"

"B, it's you and Red who start the apocalypse in Cordy's vision. Not me." she said it calmly. Her voice even and soft.

"Buffy?" It was Dawn's voice behind her. "What are you doing out here? Are you insane?"

Buffy swung in one quick movement to confront her sister. "What are you doing here Dawn? I told you -"

"Faith?" Dawn interrupted her sister and bounded down the stairs toward the Dark Slayer. Buffy paused for a moment, they know each other? Of course they know each other. The monks, she reminded herself. She realized with a start that she was staring at a very nervous, very pretty girl who was standing in the bright light on the porch.

"Um, hi, I'm Buffy. You must be Rain," she managed and the girl gave her a small nervous wave. Way to make an entrance Buffy, she chastised herself again. The sound of her sister's ecstatic squeals finally made her turn to the Dark Slayer who was now swinging her sister in a high arc.

When she finally touched ground again Dawn stood laughing and admiring the younger Slayer. "When did you get out?" Dawn glanced back at the porch nervously. "?of school?"

Faith smiled and rolled her eyes and Buffy could have sworn she saw tears. "I, um, graduated in June," she smiled and then regained a little of her characteristic bravado. "And you're looking hot Half Pint. When did you grow up?"

Dawn blushed and ducked her head and Buffy felt the monks' implanted memories wash over her filling in the gaps. Images of Dawn following the Dark Slayer around all moony-eyed. Her sister had idolized Faith from the moment she had set eyes on her. And Faith had always given the girl her undivided attention even sneaking Dawn out on a patrol with her when her sister was only eleven. "What? The girl needs to know how to defend herself," was the only defense Faith had offered at the time. And at some point Dawn's idolization had blossomed into a full-blown crush and Faith teased her lightly whenever she got the chance.

Buffy found herself smiling at the memories. Even if they aren't real, she thought sadly, they are accurate. Look at the two of them. It's disgusting. Faith did everything she could to hurt me and Dawn thinks she's the coolest thing since sliced cheese or whatever.

Once again, she felt the anger rising up in her throat. It wasn't fair. Dawn hated her and loved this evil?

"I'm as tall as you now so maybe I can finally borrow your leather pants?" Dawn flirted playfully.

"Sure if you don't mind that I wear them commando -" the Dark Slayer began with an amused smirk only to be cut off abruptly.

"Ew!" Dawn squealed and pushed the Dark Slayer's shoulder turning Faith directly into the light from the porch. Her sister's smile disappeared immediately. "Faith, what??" she whirled on Buffy in a rage, "What did you do to her?"

Before Buffy could answer Faith intervened. "Hey, down, Half Pint. It was a v- ..." Faith glanced at Rain on the porch and managed a pathetic "?v-very big mugger." She wiped at the blood with her sleeve and smiled brightly at Dawn. "Besides, you think your sister could do this much damage? Look at her, she's so thin, she'd break if she hit me this hard."

Dawn's face turned slowly from rage to amused doubt. Buffy knew her sister didn't believe the story, but with a quick nervous glance at Rain still on the porch, Dawn had decided to let it go. For now.

Buffy decided to go on the offensive before her sister could recover. "Dawn, I told you to stay home tonight."

Dawn immediately went into righteous angry teenager mode. "I know but Rain wanted to do a whole Matrix fest and you weren't around?" Buffy put her hand up to stop the inevitable ten minute monologue. "Fine. But you're grounded for two weeks. And be home at ten tomorrow morning and ready to do dishes."

Dawn groaned, but accepted her punishment. She turned back to Faith." And don't leave without stopping by this time. Okay?"

Faith managed a pained smile as she exchanged a quick glance with Buffy. They both knew that the last time Faith had 'failed to say good-bye,' she had actually taken Joyce hostage in their home and switched bodies with Dawn's sister." How about Sunday, I'll come around and hang out if it's okay with your sister."

"Cool!" she turned to Buffy with her best pleading, puppy-dog face. "Can she Buffy? Please, please, please?" Buffy stared at her little sister and back at Faith narrowing her eyes slightly. Once again, she was the bad guy and Faith was the hero. Well, at least that way she could keep an eye on the rogue Slayer because she knew she couldn't deny Dawn another person that the teenager had lost. Just her luck that Faith had managed to come back. Not Tara.

"Alright! But dishes?"

Dawn began to dance in place with excitement and Buffy felt her own eyes roll in disgust.

"Yes! Ten o'clock. Dishes and maybe I'll even vacuum." Dawn ran squealing up the porch. "Oh my god Rain, I can't believe Faith is back!"

"And Dawn, stay here all night. And don't invite anyone in?" Buffy yelled after her.

"Yep," her sister responded absently.

"And no wishes!" she finished hotly.

The two teenagers turned to enter the house and she could hear Rain speaking in hushed tones, "so were they, like, together or something before? You know like Willow and Tara?"

Dawn's response was lost as the door closed leaving the two Slayers alone again in the dark. She knew Faith had heard Rain's question and waited for the inevitable barbs and innuendo. But there was nothing, just strained silence.

Well congratulations,"she began half-heartedly. "My sister still thinks you hung the sun."

"Um, it's the moon I think," Faith corrected gently. "Thanks? you know, for not?whatever."

Buffy found herself speechless for the fifth or sixth time that night. First an apology and now thanks. Well, almost thanks.

"Kind of had other things on my mind," she responded testily. "And the last thing Dawn needed after Mom died was to hear that her hero was an?" Buffy trailed off unable to find the nastiness the end of the statement required. Why did it always go this way with Faith? Why couldn't she control herself, her emotions around this girl?

"Evil bitch?" Faith offered, one eyebrow raising slightly.

"Yeah. That works," Buffy snapped back and then surprised herself by smiling briefly. And there was silence again.

"So, the box?"

"You're not getting it." Buffy stared down the younger Slayer daring her to challenge her, but Faith just shrugged and looked up at the moon.

"Then you're not getting rid of me," she said softly and returned her stare to the blonde. Their eyes locked for long moments until Faith finally smiled and looked away.

"Great,"the blonde muttered as she picked up her jacket and began the long walk home. A long walk that meant too much time to think about her actions tonight. She had been right to attack Faith hadn't she? No matter what the Dark Slayer said, she couldn't be trusted? and she was stalking her, which was so not cool. I was definitely in the right on that one?right?

Just walk. You have more important things to worry about tonight. Just walk and breathe and forget about her.

Buffy walked and didn't bother to look back. Faith would follow her like a shadow. Like regret. Some things never changed.

Continued...