The End of the World as We Know It

By: Felidae Silvestris

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Buffy-related. Joss Whedon is God ...

So there's me and B, right. End of the world ... again, except that this time, it's for real. All the Champions the world over are gathered at our home base, a.k.a., Slayer Central.

So anyway, there's me and B, sitting on the kitchen counter night before the big fight, in which we either all die or some survive. We've both had a few too many beers and we're talking. Just talking, like it's the most normal thing in the world.

"You know, I never thought we'd have to do this again," B says, leaning over and resting her elbows on her knees.

"Do what? Save the world?" I ask.

"No, get drunk so we could talk normally. We're always fighting, did you notice? In Sunnydale we fought, in Cleveland, in London ... and we were fighting earlier ... we always have to be drunk to talk normally."

I nod, studying my bottle of Jack. "Yeah, a feel ya."

"It's weird, because I don't wanna fight. I never want to fight with you."

"We're always keeping up appearances, B. Everyone else expects us to fight, so we do."

"Well I'm sick of it." B throws her beer bottle to the floor, where it breaks with a crash. No, break isn't right. More like disintegrated. "I'm sick and tired of fighting with you. Too much energy going into fighting you should be going elsewhere." She gets down off the counter, glass crunching under her boots, and turns to face me.

I nod. "Ya know, I never want to fight with you, either, B."

B tilts her head to one side, a grin forming on her face. "So we're five by five on that front?"

"Oh yeah." I can't help but grin at her stealing my saying.

"Good." She leans forward and next thing I know, we're kissing, hot and heavy. I'd tell you what went on between the start and end of the kiss, but I couldn't even tell where my hands were, let alone what was going through my mind. But anyway, B pulls back, still grinning. "I've always wanted to do that."

"Fuck, B." Is all that manages to come out of my mouth, along with gasping pants. And, again, next thing I know we're kissing again, pretty much all over each other.

And then the door opens, Andrew walks in, and the scene shatters. He sputters and hurriedly leaves, muttering something about Xena and Gabrielle ... but I'm not thinking about him. I'm thinking about the blonde who's still standing between my legs. She's not moving, just standing there, looking a little shell-shocked.

"B. You in there?" I wave my hand in front of her face.

She snaps out of it and looks at me. "We're not gonna die tomorrow, are we, Faith?"

"No, B. We're not. I promise." I wrap my arms around her in a hug. "We're gonna fight side by side and watch each other's backs."

She snuggles against me, sighing, accepting my lies. We both know we're gonna be among some of the first to die come tomorrow. "I love you."

"Love you, too, B. Always."