Author: gotlemons

Paring: Willow/Faith

Disclaimer: I do not and never will own any portion be it ever so

small of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the Series. I make no

money from this just a bit of satisfaction.

Rating: PG/Language for now

Synopsis: Willow travels to L.A. to help restore Angel's so and

encounters Faith.

SAVING FAITH
She wasn't sure what she would find as she pulled into the Hyperion's

parking lot. The young girl, Fred, who had called had been too

frantic to give many details. All Willow knew was that somehow

Angelus was on the loose again and terrorizing an already beleaguered

Los Angeles. From what she could see around her as she parked

switching off the ignition, the Los Angeles crew must truly be at

their wit's end. There was no daylight to speak of and people seemed

to be running wild in the streets. Well, what humans were left

anyway. Grabbing her crucifix and stake, she slid out of the seat

and made her way to the front doors of the hotel.

She closed her eyes briefly, hoping with all that was in her that she

could do what would need to be done. She so wanted to make up for

all the pain she had caused in the past few months by being there for

Angel and his team. Willow pulled open the large oak door and

entered what once was a very opulent lobby. Now it seemed more like

the living area in a frat house. She could see take out boxes strewn

haphazardly, covering tables, floors, you name it, it seemed to be

covered by something.

As she went down the stairs to enter the main room, her eyes fixed on

a sleeping figure on the circular velvet couch in the middle of the

room. The dark haired woman seemed childlike lying with her thin

arms wrapped tightly around her knees. The sheath of brown, wavy

hair obscured her face. Willow really didn't want to disturb the

slumbering girl, but knew she had to get acclimated as quickly as

possible if she were going to be of any use to Angel and get back to

Sunnydale to aid in the fight against the First.

Willow crept slowly toward the young woman, bending down as she

reached the edge of the couch. She set her tools of protection on

the floor beside her as she gently shook the woman on her shoulder.

She took her hand from the girl's shoulder as the figure began to

stir.
As Faith felt a light pressure on her arm, she lashed out

instinctively to gain control of her foe. Faith had been through way

too many hard times and dangerous situations to just roll over and

find out who had the nerve to wake her up. Her hand grasped at the

forearm of the person and she wrenched the offender downward as she

rolled positioning herself in an offensive stance.

A muffled, "Umpphh," was all that came out of the woman's mouth as

Faith's free hand twisted into her hair just above her forehead. The

woman's neck snapped backward with a jolt as Faith brought her eyes

down to meet green eyes all too familiar to her.

"Jesus fuckin' Christ, Red, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Faith was fuming, she couldn't believe someone who had been fighting

demons for years would just walk up into an unknown situation, let

alone one of the venerated Scooby Gang, like little miss Mary

Sunshine. "You'd think B would have taught you better than that by

now, huh?"

Faith relinquished her hold on Willow and stepped back from the

obviously overwhelmed witch. Willow began to smooth her hair through

her hand while shaking out the pain from her forearm. She really

hadn't expected to encounter Faith first thing upon arriving. She

knew the slayer was out of prison and helping the L.A. gang, but she

had hoped for a bit of time alone with Wesley or one of the others

before spending anytime with Faith.

"Hi, Faith. I thought you might be Fred. From what I have heard she

seems a little on the meek side to be too menacing. So I thought it

would be safe to wake her up," she replied sheepishly. " I guess I

shouldn't assume anything."

Willow was brought back once again to her first impression of the

sleeping figure. "Faith, how much weight have you lost?"

"Don't know they don't really have scales in prison or real food for

that matter. I've read that B and I have a faster metabolism than

average people. Something to do with having our slayer strength and

needing to have more calories to compensate," Faith replied with a

blank expression. "And we also have to have more food to boost our

immune systems so we heal faster."

"You read that, where?"

Willow almost had to pick herself up off the floor she was so taken

aback by the woman in front of her. This was not the same Faith that

she had known in high school. She let herself for the first time

really look at the slayer. Gone were the painted on leather pants

and nipple bearing t-shirts. Faith had replaced them with a pair of

well-worn jeans with a bit of give in them. She had on a t-shirt,

but one that left a bit to the imagination. Of course, she was still

showing off her tattoo, but Willow noticed that her outer appearance

was not the only thing that had changed.

In high school each time Willow had been around Faith the young

slayer seemed to be coiled tight like a spring. Willow always

believed that the girl had so many conflicting emotions going on at

once in her head that she didn't know whether to be your best friend

or beat the shit out of you. She had found herself intimidated by

both prospects.

Now, the air around Faith no longer crackled with energy. She had

become subdued; she almost seemed at peace if not with the world, at

least with herself. Her hair was a bit longer now and as Willow

looked eye to eye with Faith, she saw none of the coldness that she

had experienced at knifepoint. Willow now saw a gentleness and

timidity that had never been associated with this self-proclaimed bad

girl before.

Faith made no move to look away from Willow's gaze. She knew Willow

was finding it hard to believe that Faith might actually know a thing

or two about slayer history. She figured the witch didn't think she

even knew how to read. And she didn't blame the girl, she never

really opened up to Willow back in Sunnydale. And she really didn't

plan on it now, but she was going to be kind to her, even if they

weren't destined to be best friends.

"You'd be surprised how long 24 hours really is when you are locked

up, Red."

She saw the look of guilt on the witch's face. "I didn't say that to

be mean to you. It's just that when you have nothing but time ahead

of you, you realize how much time gets wasted when you don't use it.

Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah, it does. It makes more sense than you know," Willow stated.

Her mind drifted back to all too familiar thoughts of Tara. She had

abused their relationship, lost precious time with her girl, and then

lost her girl completely. What she wouldn't give to have that time

back.

Faith noted Willow's serious expression and decided that she wanted

to tell her more about what had happened in prison. Just as Willow

had noticed the changes in Faith, Faith was now making her own

observations. Willow was no longer the plucky, happy go lucky

sidekick to the slayer. She seemed drawn and saddened. None of the

L.A. gang had kept up with the Scoobies since Buffy's return from the

dead. She pondered what could have happened to the witch that would

bring her to such a low point.

Motioning for Willow to sit on the velvet couch, Faith took a seat

and began telling a bit of her story. "I decided that if I was going

to redeem myself to anyone, it would have to be myself first. I mean

if I don't love me how can I expect to really care about anyone else."

Willow shook her head urging Faith to continue. "So, I wrote down all

of the things I didn't like about myself, I kept them very detailed.

Then I grouped them in categories."

Willow raised her eyebrows and said, "Did you use different colored

pens, y'know, so you could denote priority levels?" The witch's face

seemed to glow as she asked Faith this question.

"Well, no, but I wish I had, it's a good idea. It would have made

the diagram so much easier. Anyway, so I came up with like three

huge things I didn't like or was disappointed in myself for and began

working on them."

"How do you work on those things when you're in prison? I mean it

isn't like you can go out and get a self-help book." This long

dormant side of the slayer had officially intrigued Willow. She

always knew Faith had intelligence. Sometimes too much for her own

good, or theirs, when she had some evil plan in the works. Now Faith

seemed more on Willow's level, perhaps even a bit geeky. Willow

chuckled at her last thought and knew the old Faith would have kicked

her ass for it, but she wondered if the new Faith would be all that

offended.

"Nah, we couldn't really go out and get stuff, but the prison library

had a good stock of self-improvement stuff. But that wasn't what I

needed." Faith stated this with authority and a slight grin. "When I

was around you guys, the thing I missed most was school. I know, I

know, Red, never thought you would hear the bad ass say that, huh?"

A cherubic grin spread across Willow's face. "Well, now we never knew

you were a closet genius, but I am not surprised. I knew you didn't

just have cobwebs and thoughts of sex in there, " Willow said

pointing to Faith's forehead.

"Well, Red, no cobwebs, but there were lots of sex thoughts, lots and

lots. So I guess you could say I have come out of the closet. I am

here, I am smart, get used to it!" Faith giggled as she saw the

color rise to the redhead's cheeks. "Hey, Red, I didn't mean to

embarrass you. You know you being gay and all. I am sure that you

and Blondie are totally happy. And I want you to know that if we

actually become friends, I am willing to march in the Pride parade

with you. I can hold up a sign, `I'm proud of my gay witches!"

Faith looked over at Willow realizing that she had become even more

serious than before.

"Hey Red, did I say something wrong?"

Willow wasn't sure if she was still breathing. Faith had no clue

about the past year. How could she even begin to explain that she

had briefly become Buffy's nemesis? Even more importantly, would she

be able to talk about Tara without breaking down. She really had had

only sporadic conversations with the Scoobies about it. And even

though Kennedy had pressed to be let in, Willow just had not been

ready to share her memories of Tara yet. But somehow, sitting here,

in this worn out hotel with a woman who had wanted her dead a few

times, she knew she could let the tale of her love flow into the

rafters of the room. She trusted Faith innately. And knew this was

going to be a long night.