Title: Not that Different

Summary: Two completely different people fall in love, but she feels
that the differences are far too great. Is she right?

Crossover with WWE. No spoilers due to being more than slight AU.
Faith never went bad. And who knows with WWE.

Song fic

Rating: PG for mentions of kissing.

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, the song, Not that
Different, isn't mine. If they were, I wouldn't be broke and sharing
my room with my grandmother's cats.




She said we're much too different; we're from two separate worlds
And he admitted she was partly right
But in his heart's defense he told her what they had in common
What strong enough to bond them for life
He said look behind your own soul and the person that you'll see
Just might remind you of me


He wished he could talk her out of it, but he'd known her for
too long. The look in Buffy's eyes told him that something far
deeper was at work, something he couldn't understand.

The Buffy he'd gotten reacquainted with wasn't the little girl
whose pigtails he'd once pulled. She wasn't the same girl he'd
shared his first kiss with, the summer he was thirteen. He'd known
that and accepted it, but now she was turning away from him. And he
didn't know why and neither did her Uncle Vince. In desperation,
he'd even gone to Stephanie but she had just sighed. "I don't know
what my little cousin's thinking anymore. Seven years ago, I could
have told you. Seven years ago, she wasn't this aggressive and
thought that wrestling was barbaric. Now, she loves the sport, the
danger, and the thrill. I wish I could help you but I can't. Let
her go. If it's meant to be, she'll find her way home."

Now, he had to admit that most people would have thought her
show of kindness strange, but that was the Steph that he and Jeff
had always known. And because he did trust Steph so much, Matt Hardy
was letting his soul mate go.


I laugh, I love, I hope, I try
I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry
And I know you do the same things too
So we're really not that different, me and you


She loved him, probably even more than she'd ever thought she
loved Angel. But even though she loved him, she had to let him go.
It's safer this way, she told herself. Even though you're not the
active Slayer anymore, with Faith on the Mouth, the baddies still
come. That's why you're leaving the WWE, remember?

As she walked away, feeling worse than after the Harvest, and
her death, she could have sworn she heard a whispered, "I love you,
Buffy Summers. And despite whatever it is that you think makes you
so different, you are the same as me, except purer. So much more
pure, blonde angel."


She could hardly argue with his pure and simple logic
But logic never could convince a heart
She had always dreamed of loving someone more exotic
And he just didn't seem to fit the part
So she searched for greener pastures but never could forget
What he whispered when she left


Six years. Six years spent traveling the entire globe wiping
out demon and vampire populations, and she still couldn't forget the
man she loved. She'd talked to Steph and Shane a couple of times
over the years, but they didn't understand her leaving any more than
Matt.

She really couldn't forget him, or the way he'd looked when she
told him she had to leave. That he didn't understand her, couldn't
understand her. And she'd never forgotten his long-ago words.
They'd always stuck with her. He'd called her a blonde angel. Why
didn't he understand that she was nobody's angel?

She still called the States to talk to Faith and Xander, and
Xander was a…fan…of wrestling. Well, technically, he was obsessed,
but what was the difference? Xander could always be counted on to
tell her the truth of what was going on in Sunnydale and on the WWE
and Faith understood her.

Faith had been the only person back in Sunnydale she'd ever told
that the storyline that had been used when she started wrestling had
been the truth. And that while she was traveling with the WWE and
her aunt, uncle, and two cousins, she'd fallen back in love with her
childhood crush.

Faith also understood the need to protect people from the things
that went bump in the night. Faith had, after all, been the one
that had always tried to protect Xander. But, as she had finally
told Buffy, she'd had to trust that he would be fine on his own.
Faith had trusted him, Xander had been fine, and now they were
getting married.

The Slayer Buffy Summers, the former WWE wrestler, Beth McMahon,
gritted her teeth against the thought of running away, and headed
into the Hyperion Hotel. The maid of honor did have to be present
at the wedding.


I laugh, I love, I hope, I try
I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry
And I know you do the same things too
So we're really not that different, me and you


Stephanie McMahon looked hard at Matt Hardy, contemplating how
to tell him of the invitation she'd just gotten. "Matt, how would
you like to accompany me to a wedding?"

"Excuse me?" he asked, not being able to form a more complete
sentence.

"You and I were invited to a wedding. I recall Buffy mentioning
the girl, Faith, once. Maybe Buffy requested we be there or
something, I don't know. I do know that I want to party and what
better excuse?"

Matt heaved a sigh. "I'm not going to be able to escape, am I?"

"No," she said with a grin, "so just suck it up and find that
tuxedo I know you own."

"I hate you, bitch."

"I know you do," she said sticking out her tongue. "I also know
I'm supposed to be hated because I'm such a bitch."


Was it time or was it truth
Maybe both led her back to his door
As her tears fell at his feet
She didn't say "I love you" what she said meant even more


She saw him and Steph in the audience just before she walked
down the aisle. She turned to face her sister Slayer and
muttered, "I'm going to kill you, Faith Morgan."

"I know you are, but remember, they are grown ups. They can take
care of themselves."

"I'll think about not gutting you," the blonde tossed over her
shoulder as she followed the flower girl out.

***********************************

The guy next to Steph, who she'd termed handsome, but rather
cold to the touch, suddenly gasped.

"Are you alright, sir?" she asked, peering around him to try to
see what could have prompted such a reaction from him. And she
froze at the sight of the maid of honor.

"I'm fine," Angel stammered. "It's just that I used to date the
maid of honor and Faith didn't mention Buffy would be here."

"You used to date Buffy?" Stephanie asked rather surprised. Her
cousin had never mentioned tall, dark, handsome, and incredibly cold.

"Yeah, you know her?"

"Matt over there used to date her until she told him that they
were too different to work out and that she was leaving. And I'm her
cousin."

Angel's jaw dropped. He looked over at the guy that was
currently sleeping next to Buffy's cousin. "Let's try this again.
I'm Angel, who are you?"

"I'm Stephanie McMahon. The sleeping hulk is Matthew Hardy.
Think we should pay attention to the couple saying `I do'?"

"Why?" Angel asked with a half-smile. "Buffy and Willow won't let
Faith and Xander mess up, and if they did and someone laughed, Buffy
would knock them out. Then again, if it was Spike, she'd stake him."

"What does meat have to do with anything?" Steph asked, looking
bewildered. "And maybe you could tell me why my cousin grew so fond
of violence."

As the bride and groom engaged in an impressive display of tongue
wrestling, the maid of honor was looking a bit panicked. Using
Slayer hearing, she'd heard every word of her cousin and ex-lover's
conversation. She knew that Angel hadn't realized that even though
she'd told her mother about the Call, she hadn't told the rest of
her family. And then the cramps struck both Buffy and the bride.

Angel saw the panicked _expression on Buffy's face fade to the
battle-ready look he'd seen there every time she'd felt a demon or
vamp. Faith and Xander had broken their kiss as well and Faith had
moved to stand next to her blonde counterpart.

Willow had seen the movement as well and, knowing that the
majority of the small wedding audience didn't know about the things
that went bump in the night, yelled out, "Take cover, hide and break
something wooden. If you have a cross or a Star of David hold it in
front of you. Any of you that know what's going on, come up here
and fight. Remember, we may destroy the ballroom, but Angel will
understand."

And with that, forty-five vamps rushed in and began targeting the
Slayers, because Buffy had killed their master and Sire the week
before in Rome.

Somewhere in the middle of the battle Steph and Matt found
themselves helping the people already fighting. As soon as the last
vamp turned to dust, the Scooby Gang and the Angel Investigations
team found themselves explaining to everyone.


I laugh, I love, I hope, I try
I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry
And I know you do the same things too
So we're really not that different, me and you


"I know I should have told you but I wanted to protect you,"
Buffy stammered.

"I don't need protecting," Matt told her gently. "Now that you
know that, will you come back? Even the fans miss you, and you're a
McMahon, of all people."

"I'll come back," she said. "I guess we aren't that different,
after all."

"Will you marry me, blonde angel?"

"You bet your ass I will."

And as they kissed, oblivious to the fact that the other wedding
guests were staring, and Faith shared a glance with her new husband.

"So," she yelled, breaking the blonde and the brunette's long
kiss, "my matchmaking worked?"

"Faith, do I have to invite you to the wedding?" Buffy asked.

"You know you want to," Faith said. "Besides, you'll get so much
more sex now that you have a steady man again."

"Faith!!!!!!" And with that, another chapter was opened in all
of their lives.