Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and do not make profits from this fanfiction.

Chapter 1

Faith stretched her arms out wide, taking a deep breath of what she felt calming: cemetery air, fresh with recent vamp-dust. Deciding it was no cigarette, she let her arms drop and took a pack from her denim jacket's pocket, humming a tune. It was 'H and H' time – the better part of her evening.

"Faith, there you are!" Willow pops out of thin air and Faith flinches with a curse, almost dropping her lighter. She rolls her eyes as she lights up the cigarette. She had become more used to the witch's teleportation moments over the last year (the one instant with a club bathroom they both pretended never happened withstanding).

"What's up Red? World ending, or is there too many pink drapes again that B needs to hit me to vent?"

"Ha," Willow nervously lets out a laugh, "something like that. Buffy and Angel are getting married tomorrow a-and the whole castle is on alert and I need a break, so I offered to be the one to come and get you because-"

"Slow down," Faith smirks and takes a long drag, a soft side of her finding the witch's babble adorable. Or was that the hard side? "Angel lose sight of his tux or something? B having cold feet?"

Faith had agreed to be one of Angel's 'best ladies' alongside Cordelia for the wedding of the millennia, Gunn and Lorne as his 'best men.' Angel's own crew was short Fred and Wesley since they got attacked by Wolfram and Hart five years ago, and even Spike left two years ago with a stake in his heart while saving the world in the process of his death. Again. The long-suffering soul-cursed Angelus's sanshu prophecy finally fulfilled itself the previous year and now as a human, with him and Buffy both single, the old lovers instantly reconnected and were to be married.

"I thought Cordelia was taking care of all this crap," Faith exhaled her smoke away from Willow, her hand found an itch on her nose and briefly scratched it before taking another inhale. Willow looked like she needed a massage, her eyes bagging but alert from extra caffeine. Maybe she should offer? See if they could have a quickie in the mausoleum fifteen feet away?

How desperate to screw am I, exactly? Faith shakes the image from her mind and decided chain-smoking is in order.

"Yes, well, as a previous divine being she has great organizational skills..." Willow giggled, "she is the one looking for you actually, something about your dresses getting ruined by some doof, so she wants you to pick another with her."

"Can't she just pick one herself?" Faith waved half-heartedly, "she knows I don't give a shit since we'll look hot either way."

Willow shrugged, still not very close to Faith after all these years and not entirely sure if the other woman was actually angry or annoyed. "Well... um... she and Xander were talking and I think... I think they're dating again and she seemed distracted with him. She wanted your measurements again I guess, not so much the input."

Faith shrugged, "What's with everyone being so horny with their nerves this week? Everything'll work out fine...so... you got a date tomorrow?"

"No," Willow watched as a vampire sulks the behind the tombstones nearby, jumping at Faith from behind with a growl of hunger. The dark-haired slayer casually swings her fist around and knocks him out with a punch as Willow watches her, waiting for him to get up. It was a nostalgic sight. Love was in the air for everyone at the castle except for her, it felt kind of lonely. Even Giles was sexing up some British politician.

"Weren't you dating that Russian slayer?" Faith twirls her stake and dodges the vampire's next move of three continuous kicks, grinning at his growing frustration.

"That was months ago," Willow pouts, "and she was boring. I never dated a boring person before until her... you have a date?"

Faith dusts the vamp and rolls her eyes, "no way, Red. I haven't had a date since... man I don't even think I've ever had one... well, there was a few but I never took it serious... Not my thing." She noticed that a pendant which didn't disappear with the vamp was left on the ground. She picked it up and showed it to Willow who curiously took it and stared intently before handing it back with a shrug. Faith pocketed the pendant to take it back and check on it, gesturing her head for Willow to follow her out of the cemetery.

As Willow walked with her, they found a companionable silence that was rare these days, before continuing the conversation. "Buffy and Xander thought I would be the first to get married when we were younger, but Buffy's getting married tomorrow and Xander was engaged to Anya before... funny how it happened. Even I thought I'd be the first to get married."

"Are you, like, sad or something?" Faith raises an eyebrow at Willow, amused. Not only was Willow randomly opening up to her, but Faith herself was interested in listening.

Willow gave her a small glare, "hey! You probably don't care about stuff like that Miss-I'm-too-cool-to-love, but I feel like I'm missing out or something. My old life plan had me with a kid by now! I was even thinking of taking Kennedy up on her offer."

"No offense Willow but Kennedy wants you mostly because you're a bit of a legend. I overheard some of the newbie's gossiping about how no one can get you to love them."

"I'm gossiped about?" Willow's eyes widened, "My love life is gossiped about?"

"Woah, chill," Faith realises she lost her cigarette from the vamp's attack and thought about lighting another but decided not to, fidgeting with the carton in her back pocket. "If it makes you feel better almost all us oldies are gossiped about. I mean, apparently I killed my entire family and had a hot affair with B. What do ya expect, they're teen girls who look up to us and have crazy imagination."

Willow nodded with a hoot of laughter, "hey, we're not old! I'm only twenty-seven! And you and Buffy? That sounds like one of Andrew's crazed imaginations."

"Looks like we're back," Faith laughs too, noticing they had walked back up to the Scotland Castle on the North side, right where the outdoor wedding was set up for tomorrow like old friends. Maybe she was being so nice because of her horniness?

"Don't misunderstand, I'm really happy for Buffy," Willow sighs quietly, her hand reaching out to touch a chair decorated in light pink for the wedding.

"Yeah," Faith muttered softly, her eyes taking in the simple, elegant embellishment. The area had a protection spell on it so nothing could damage the furnishings. She had never been to a wedding before, only seen the video the Mayor kept of his own holy-matrimony while he told her about the people in it, and that video was in black and white. Willow glances up and watches Faith walk closer to the altar. "Why do people get married?"

"Huh?" Willow walked up to her and looked at her face, seeing a serious thoughtful expression on it which caught her off-guard.

"I mean," Faith backtracked, a little embarrassed since Willow was so close to her and she had let her mask down and spoke her thoughts. "You know... How can someone depend on a person so much? I just don't get it, I guess."

Willow took in what Faith was saying and was about to comment until a crackle caught their attention. They were on alert, looking around, only to see a large blue energy portal open up right above them, and were unable to stop themselves from being taken in by it.