Title:Purple Rain (The Story Formerly Known As "That Night")
Author:lilyme
Summary:Set in BtVS Season 3. Can changing one pivotal event be the beginning of something entirely unexpected? Or will things still turn out the same?
Pairing:A slayer and a Witch (OR – two people much more similar than expected)
Rating: PG-13 to R
Disclaimer:I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". They were created by Joss Whedon and belong to him, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the WB Network. Thank you all for these characters! "Chinese Burn" belongs to Curve, not me. No infringement intended.
Schedule:"What's that supposed to mean?" you might ask. It means, I'm planning to update this on a weekly basis. Unless I don't find the time because of…what do you call this again…oh, right, "life"! ;) Or…well, unless no one reviews it, of course. In that case, I'm gonna hold by breath and wait till it happens. I think that's what they call 'blackmailing', huh? Well, sorry, guys, but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind :P :P :P
Author's Note: If you wanna know how this title happened…well, you could look up the meanings of 'purple' and 'rain'…or think of associations…'purple' is…purple and 'rain' is wet…ah, heck, it's Prince's fault! Quoting one of my betas: "And Special Thanks to Prince for being so undecided he inspired the title". But the looking up meanings and associations still works, I guess ;)
Thanks to: My lovely beta Wil-Lehane.
Dedication:To the Buffyverse-characters and the people behind them (actors and writers). This story wouldn't have happened, if you hadn't inspired me this much

Another Thanks to all those who reviewed. Makes me really happy! I seriously thought no one would read it anyway ;) And yeah, "That Night" was Eliza's very first movie (just like "Impure Thoughts" was Aly's first), but there's a different reason behind the name change. We'll get there.

Okay, let's continue the Fillow-lovin', shall we :P

CHAPTER TWO --- SHE'LL MAKE US REMEMBER

The test had been written. It was definitely not her best test result ever, but Willow hoped that it was still good enough to earn her a C…at least. She was already planning to put in some extra work to keep her grade curve on the regular Willow-level.

The little wicca still couldn't believe that Faith could affect her this much. When it came to academic work, there was normally nothing that could distract her. Even when her relationship with Oz started, she had still been able to think clearly.

Her and Faith weren'teven in a relationship and Willow had a feeling that it was little likely to happen. But deep, deep inside her, there was something that wanted to give this a try and see where it would lead.

Little did she know that the opportunity to test out things would present itself much earlier than expected.

She and Xander had decided to go to the Bronze. Just a little relaxing time on Friday night. Willow hadn't even thought about the possibility that a certain dark-haired girl might be there as well.

Faith and Buffy were on the dance floor, gyrating to the techno sound of Curve's "Chinese Burn". Three boys came over and danced around them. The slayers ignored the guys and just felt the beat of the song. They didn't notice the Slayerettes either.

Surprisingly, Willow and Xander were able to find an empty table near the dance floor, always keeping their eyes on the slayers, mostly on Faith.

Angel walked under the stairs to the edge of the dance floor and stopped to watch. A look of concern was on his face; he obviously hadn't come here for no reason.

Buffy was lost in the moment, so it took her a moment to notice Angel standing at the side. When he saw her notice him, he made a move to go. Buffy squeezed out from the crowd to go to him.

Faith didn't miss a beat and started to paw at the boys, who were eager to keep her entertained.

♫ She burns friends like a piece of wood

And she's jealous of me because she never could

Hold herself up without a spine

And she'll look me up when she's doing fine

Half a dozen guys and a couple of girls were getting closer to Faith, so many that Willow and Xander almost couldn't make the relatively short girl out amongst them anymore.

Faith drew one of the guys closer, feeling him up.

♫ She'll break a promise as a matter of course

Because she thinks it's fun to have no remorse

She gets what she wants and walks away

And she doesn't give a fuck what you might say

After a few moments, she let him go and moved on to the girl beside him. She pulled her closer, almost close enough to kiss. But she'd never let it happen, she was just playing.

♫ She'll burn us bad

She'll flaunt her fame

She'll make us remember, remember her name

She'll make us remember, remember her name

Willow couldn't get her eyes off Faith, was completely drawn to her. And the fact that Faith seemed to enjoy this dancing with the other girl, was a matter of particular interest to her.

♫ If she sits still like she knows she could

She could win this game and be the queen for good

Save herself up for the cream of the crop

Then she'll look us up when she's ready to stop

Done with the girl, Faith moved to the next person. Out of the corner of her eye, she could make out the silhouettes of two very familiar persons sitting at a table about twenty feet away and smirked. The guy she was dancing up to thought that this show of emotions was meant for him, and the brunette didn't even try to convince him otherwise.

Openly watching Faith feeling up the guy and getting felt up in return, Willow suddenly remembered where she was, and most importantly – with whom. Guiltily she glanced in Xander's direction, checking if he had caught her staring at Faith. But her best friend was too busy staring himself.

Willow looked around; they were not the only ones. The attention of almost the entire club seemed to be focused onto one spot. For a second the redhead wondered if there is a love spell, no...lust spell involved. But she figured that it was simply the hotness that is Faith.

♫ Burn her name

Crush her fame

Burn her name

Crush her fame

Burn her name

We're all to blame

As the song came to an end, Faith left her admirers standing on the dance floor and walked over to Willow and Xander's table. Still all eyes were on her; the slayer could have almost anyone in this club if she wanted to and she knew it.

She retrieved a stool from another table and sat down opposite of the Scoobies'. "Hey, guys," she greeted casually.

Willow only nodded, momentarily at a loss of words; Xander couldn't to seem stop his eye from twitching. Several seconds passed without a verbal reply from them – they simply stared at the slayer.

"What?" Faith scrunched her eyebrows, but smirked at the same time. "Do I have something on my face?"

"N-no, no, we were just...," Willow started, not exactly knowing what they were just...

"I see…," the slayer replied slowly, turning towards Xander with a questioning look. He was not looking into her eyes; his eyes were dropped downwards, staring right at her...

"Hey! I thought you grew out of ogling-me-phase," Faith snapped her fingers to get his attention. The outfit the slayer was wearing, gave Willow – without even looking at Xander –

an idea what the young man was looking at right now. And she couldn't help risking a glance herself.

Xander stammered something incoherent and fled into the crowd.

Being pulled out of her ogling with Xander's sudden departure, Willow uttered, "What's up with him?" For one thing, she wanted to know…for another…

Faith smiled, "Not sure," knowing exactly what might me on the young man's mind at the moment.

Seconds ticked away without one word between the two of them.

Willow looked around, suddenly a little uncomfortable around the slayer that she admittedly had a crush on. She did anything she could to avoid staring at her openly. Faith didn't seem to notice this. She had snatched the little red and black paper umbrella from the table and had started to play with it.

"Where is Buffy?" Willow finally asked.

"Don't know. But my...what would Buffy say," Faith seemed to be seriously trying to remember, "my 'spidey sense' is tingling. So I guess there's either a vampire here or...her...vampire. Angel," she concluded with a slight frown.

Willow had to smile a little at Faith's befuddled expression. If she even knows, how she looks when she does that…? Snapping out of it, she remembered their current conversation. "Might be important," she replied, unsure if she wanted the slayer to stay or to leave.

Faith shrugged, "I'm okay here for now. Got good company," she grinned at Willow who smiled in return.

Willow picked up the umbrella Faith had abandoned mere seconds ago. They both seemed to have a habit of always having to play with something. "You know…I never said 'Thank you'," Willow brought forth after a bit.

Apparently completely out of the blue, since Faith didn't seem to comprehend what the redhead was addressing here. She looked at Willow confused.

"The library," the redhead explained, "You saving my life."

"Oh…nah. Don't sweat it, Red," she shrugged it off

Willow leaned forward, more insistent, "No, really..."

The slayer was fidgeting around, a little uncomfortable. She wasn't used to this. "Red, what are you doing? You trying to make me blush?" she asked, trying to not do just that.

Willow mind swirled around that one word – 'Red'. Willow didn't even remember when Faith started calling her that. It sounded almost affectionate to her and unlikeBuffy, who hated it when Faith called her 'B', she had no problems with her nickname. In fact, she was beginning to love it more and more…not surprisingly, considering her recent realization.

She was so caught up in that last thought that she didn't notice the next words slipping out of her mouth before they did. "I think you'd look cute..."

Her eyes went wide when she noticed the surprised look on her counterpart's face. Her mouth opened and closed, without further sounds coming out.

Faith grinned, guessing what Willow was trying to say, "Yes, you did say that out loud."

It was Willow's turn to blush instead as she tried to back-paddle. "No, I...I didn't mean...I mean, I…"

"Oh, no no no," Faith stopped her, "you're not gonna take that back now, are you? It'd break my heart, you know." In a dramatic gesture, Faith put her hand over her heart and pouted.

Willow just nodded, baffled by her own forwardness.

Faith noticed the sudden quietness and got the feeling that her last comment might just have been a little over the top. The redhead was probably not the type to swing that way, anyway. Thinking of a way to help Willow out of her predicament, she started, "Hey, want something to drink? On me? Coke? Beer? Water?"

The redhead was grateful for the change of topic. "Yeah, coke, thanks..." Thinking back, she added, "Wait, 'beer'? A-Aren't you underage?" Willow didn't really know. She had never bothered to find out, but she figured that Faith might me about her age.

As she slowly slid down her stool, with the typical sensual movements that were so natural to her, the Dark Slayer answered, "Well,do I look underage?" and winked. She headed over to the barbefore Willow had a chance to reply.

The little wicca couldn't help but notice the faint wiggle of the other girl's butt and wondered if this one was doing it on purpose…only to abandon this thought seconds later. Why would Faith want to do that right now? Certainly not to impress her, right?

Even if she found the slayer 'cute', as she had just involuntarily admitted, Faith didn't see anything like that in her vice versa – Willow was very certain about that.

But that didn't keep the redhead from admiring the slayer from afar. She watched her chatting with the barkeep, noticed that this was probably not the first time that those two had met.

When Faith returned a few minutes later, she noted the way the wicca was looking at her and smirked inwardly; maybe should rethink her position of Willow not swinging that way.

"There you go," she said, as put she the coke in front of Willow and sat down with her beer.

"Thanks," Willow replied and peeked into Faith's cup. "So how did you do it? The beer?"

"You really wanna know?" Willow nodded in response. "Met the barkeep a couple of months ago. Told him I might let him cop a feel if he's nice enough to me. And ever since he's given me everything I wanted," she gave the redhead a dimpled grin.

A hint of sudden jealousy was in Willow's voice"And did you...? Or will you let him..., you know…I mean…," she blushed, unable to say it.

Faith smirked. "No to the first question. Second question…hmm, I don't know, I guess, probably...maybe...not...". She seemed more than indecisive. "Hell, I never know what or who I'll do next, you know?"

"Huh," Willow replied absentmindedly, trying not to think about the topic of Faith actually doing... "Impulsive."

Faith shrugged in agreement and sipped her beer. "But, let's not talk about me and my future sexcapades," she focused her attention on Willow, "How's you and Oz?" Interested in Will's relationship now? When did that happen…

Oh….Without knowing it, Faith had found Willow's sore point. And that was not only because of Will's crush. Oz hadn't been the most attentive boyfriend lately; he had been more involved in his band activities than he was in his relationship with her. Probably also a result of her little indiscretion with Xander.

"Good, I guess," she replied, little convincing. "…A-Actually, I don't even know if there is a 'me and Oz'." Oh, we're generous with the confessions today, aren't we…!

"Why? What happened?" Faith asked instantly.

"Well, nothing…," the redhead replied, not knowing if she should or wanted to tell Faith about this.

"'Nothing'," Faith stated confused and it was not really a question. "And that bothers yo---." As she watched Willow squirming around in her seat, looking uncomfortable, the proverbial light bulb went off in her brain. "Ah…Not the best sex life, huh?"

Willow looked flustered. Faith leaned forth, whispered. "Come on, Will, you're not gonna tell me you two never...not even once...?"

Willow shook her head and played with her half-empty cup. And it was true, except for Christmas, where she made an attempt to show Oz that he was the only one for her, there hadn't been any further attempts concerning this subject ever since. Neither from her side nor from Oz's side.

"But you want to?" Faith prodded more.

"I don't know…," Willow whispered, looking at the surprisingly insightful slayer for the first time in a long while. Some part of her wanted to; some other part wanted to, but not necessarily with Oz. "Yeah, I think so. He says that he wants to wait…"

"Wait for what?" Faith chimed in, not really understanding the werewolf's behavior, "For the next person to come along and snatch his cute girl away?" she scoffed.

Willow looked at her with big eyes. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her, right?

"Hey, you said it to me, I'm just givin' it back," Faith added, confirming that Willow had heard correctly. "Now we're even."

The redhead gave her a shy smile and Faith returned it, less shy, and not even really thinking about it.

Since Faith seemed to have some expertise in that area, Willow dared to ask, "Have you ever been in a relationship?"

Faith shrugged. "Relationships is not my specialty, really. I mostly lay 'em and walk away...When I hop into the sack with someone three times or more, then I think that's a relationship for me."

She thought back at those 'relationships'. There hadn't that many. There was Ronny, her first. Her first 'relationship', at least. The other first wasn't really something she liked to think about. Things with Ronny hadn't worked, since their personalities were simply too different. Tom…not really much to say about him; they both knew that there wasn't much more going on between them than sex. Steve, dumped after two weeks, after she had found out that he had been repeatedly 'borrowing' money from her. Manda. She had been very fond of her, maybe because the girl didn't just see her as a sex-object. And maybe that was the problem, since after about one month, Manda decided that she liked the boys more after all and dumped Faith on the spot. Kenny…fruitless from the beginning; nowadays she didn't even know, what she had seen in him in the first place.

Since then, there hadn't really been much going on, 'relationship'-wise, and Faith wasn't too unhappy about that. "So, yeah, there weren't that many. And I'm not the touchy-feely type, anyway."

Willow had watched Faith thinking and felt that there was probably more than the slayer had just let her in on. "I don't know….You should try it again for a change. Maybe you'll even like it." She couldn't keep the hopeful look from her face, when she made that suggestion.

Faith mulled the redhead's words over. Try again? With the right person, maybe, though those are rarely easy to find, and she didn't yet another disappointment. That's why, for now, she was pretty happy with her policy of casual sack-hops. That way, she didn't hurt anyone…in most cases…and kept others from hurting her.

When she looked up, she caught Willow's look and frowned, almost unnoticeably though. There was a meaning behind it, right? Faith was not even sure that she wanted to know. Maybe the redhead was just lost in other – not-her-involving – thoughts.

Suddenly she noticed Buffy standing near the exit, waving excitedly, obviously trying to get her attention. Angel was nowhere in sight and Faith was glad about that. She didn't like him that much, though he seemed to be an okay kind of…vampire. Maybe it was just that – the slayer-dating-vampire that was freaking her out.

"Looks like I gotta go. Maybe we'll continue this some time," Faith said, getting up.

"Oh…okay," Willow looked almost disappointed.

Faith rounded the table and handed Willow her beer. "Give this to Xan, when he gets back. I think he needs to relax a little," she smirked.

"I'll do that," the redhead followed suit with her own Willow-like grin. She had no idea why Xander behaved like this, but maybe a beer wasn't the worst idea ever.

As she walked past her, Faith made a move to nudge the smiling and obviously 'cute' girl's cheek with the knuckle of her finger, but deliberately missed it with a few millimeters. "Bye."

"Bye," Willow replied, looking after her and feeling the lingering touch that hadn't even been there.

---

to be continued...