Smash Into You

Rating: M (Not in the early chapters but it will come later on)

Pairing: Willow and Faith. As much as I am a Willow and Tara girl if I have to accept the fact Tara is forever gone then I really like this pairing as a season 7 or post season 7 pairing. Was never much impressed with Willow and Kennedy, Joss should have well gone down the Willow and Faith joint redemption route!

Disclaimer: If Buffy was mine then Tara would never have died and Faith would have been in every episode! Amber and Eliza are good eye candy!

Summary: Nearly a year after the defeat of the first Willow organises Faith's early release from prison and asks her to join the gang in Cleveland. Ignores the comics and presumes that Faith would have actually gone back to prison to complete her sentence.


Chapter 3

The shopping spree had been brief as Faith didn't mind just buying all the clothes from the one shop, Nordstrom Rack. She bought a few pairs of dark blue jeans, a leather jackets, loads of different colours vest tops, some underwear and a couple or pairs of short pyjamas. Then she and Willow bought some make up from a cosmetics store which was also at the Howard Hughes Promenade.

Even though it had been brief Faith had actually had good fun, probably because she felt elated to be free. She had to confess it was nice though to actually be socialising with someone, even if it was someone you previously thought had hated you. Maybe Willow still hated her, although that now seemed unlikely considering red had orchestrated her release.

Willow had also been very chatty during the shopping, cheerfully discussing trivial things about clothing and items of lingerie. There had been an amusing conversation about the fact Willow didn't wear thongs because they looked uncomfortable and the red head couldn't get her head round why Faith would want to own any. Faith had not dared ask what lingerie Willow wore although she expected it was mostly of the large comfortable variety. Willow and sexy underwear just didn't seem to go together in Faith's mind.

The short drive to LAX, the LA airport, was spent in silence as Faith sat in the back of the hire car taking tags of clothing and packing them into her duffel bag. It was nice to actually own some clothes again after having to wear those horrible uniforms in prison. She was still fairly short on garments considering she was now a free girl, the duffel bag still wasn't full by any stretch of the imagination.

When they reached the airport they had to walk from the car hire building which happened to be a hike from terminal four. Faith chucked her duffel bag over her shoulder and refused to let Willow wheel her own small suitcase. She had slayer strength after all, it seemed logical for her to carry the bags, especially as Willow looked pretty tired. The red head had briefly protested before giving up and letting Faith do as she pleased.

By the time they reached the terminal their flight was being called so they had to go straight through to the waiting lounge. This left them with only an hour wait before boarding so Willow went and sat in Starbucks with the bags whilst Faith went for a walk around the various duty free stores. She wasn't remotely interested in the shops but it gave her time to consider what Willow had told her in the Starbucks at the Promenade.

Willow's motivation behind trying to get her freed alluded Faith but there obviously was one and Willow hadn't seemed ready to talk about it. That was fine for now but it would be nice to understand at some point. It seemed like a huge turnaround from the girl who had once been delighted by the idea of Faith being shipped of and tortured by the Watcher's Council. Not that Faith could blame the girl; she had once held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her after all. Then there was all that joining the Mayor and trying to rule the world stuff which couldn't have warmed her to Willow at all.

That was all in the past though and Faith had been trying to move on and become a better person, to believe in herself and care about herself a bit more. Now she had another opportunity to seek redemption for her actions from the people she had hurt the most. She had to grasp the opportunity with both hands and if Willow was willing to support her than she would make damn sure Willow's faith in her didn't go to waste.

That past though did leave her a little worried about her impending arrival in Cleveland. She knew others would not be so welcoming and the idea of being Watcher funded still wigged her out, even if it had been reformed and was ran differently. Her experiences with Watcher's had not been warming, the only decent and sensible one she had met was Giles. At least he was now in a position of authority, which calmed her nerves a little. The other thing that made her nervous was the idea of living with the likes of Xander and Buffy, even if she did have plenty of space to avoid them. It was something she was going to have to get over though if she was going to make Cleveland work.

She had returned to the Starbuck's to find Willow when the Cleveland flight number started being called and the found the red head sat with three empty cups of coffee. She should have been twitching she was that caffeinated but instead she just looked drained. There was definitely something odd going on with Willow but Faith wasn't sure how interested she should be in whatever it was. She couldn't help be curious about how it somehow linked to her release though; she was definitely going to have to broach the subject at some point.

Once they were boarded, lectured by very plastic looking flight attendants and finally in the air and on the move; Faith was left sitting in between Willow and the window and wondering what on earth they were going to talk about. They were surrounded by people so slaying and demons were out the question, what else did the two have to chat about on a four and a half hour flight?

"Want to listen to some music with me?"

Willow had obviously remembered how much Faith had enjoyed going out and dancing and listening to music. Even when she'd returned to help defeat the first she had been into her music and had taken the slayerette's to the Bronze to blow off some steam. Buffy had gone crazy when she found out but they where all getting crazy with each other just being confined to the house, how was Faith supposed to know they would be attacked.

"Only if you have something decent" Faith responded with a huge smirk on her face. She was almost challenging Willow; she couldn't imagine that any CD's Willow had with her would qualify as decent music. It was a challenge Willow couldn't resist and she began to rifle through her large shoulder bag, firstly producing her walkman and then a copied CD in a blue sleeve.

"You don't trust my taste in music?" Willow seemed confident that she could prove her wrong.

Faith was silent and tried ignoring the question in case Willow did produce something half decent. Willow wasn't letting it go though and the red head gave her a playful prod in the arm with her forefinger. Faith smirked but still remained silent so Willow prodded her again.

"I didn't say a word!" Faith finally said with mock defensiveness in her voice.

"You didn't have too!" Willow pouted to give her words more effect but it was clear she wasn't really offended. Faith was kind of pleased that they could actually banter like this; Willow had changed a lot over the last few years and was no longer the geeky goofball of old.

Willow put the CD into the walkman and pressed play, turning the volume up before it had even started and thrusting the right earphone at Faith for her to use. Faith stuffed the earphone in her ear and the beginning of 'Whiskey in the Jar' by Thin Lizzy started playing causing Faith to give Willow an approving grin.

"Good choice red" Faith commented "rock music is the best thing to travel to."

"See you did think I'd only have rubbish!" Willow couldn't resist a slight dig at Faith for doubting her taste.

The next song was 'Hotel California' by The Eagles and Faith instantly got excited, turning the volume up even higher. It turned out to be a classic rock album which had artist like Deep Purple, Bowie, The Stones, Blue Oyster Cult and Alice Cooper on. Faith loved all this kind of stuff, closely followed by some good electro/dance/rock stuff that you could really dance to in clubs.

This was how the first half of the journey was spent, listening and to that CD and then another rock one from the same collection and sort of dancing to them. Well, as much dancing as you could do sitting down, it was more shoulder swaying than anything else. It was however quite a good bonding experience and had probably made them much more comfortable around each other than trying to converse would have.

After about two hours though Willow had obviously started to drop off and had fell asleep, something Faith could never do on planes because the seats were that upright. Faith had just played the second CD again for a bit but then Willow's head had lulled from the back of the seat and came to rest on Faith's right shoulder. This was new territory for Faith but she couldn't see how she could move Willow without waking her, so she turned the music of and patiently waited for Willow to wake up. The red head finally obliged about twenty minutes away from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport when the captain announced they were about to start landing.


Willow woke with a start when an announcement was made over the loud speaker. It was something about approaching Cleveland and fastening belts but Willow's attention was more drawn to the fact that she had been asleep on Faith's shoulder for god knows how long.

"Jesus Faith I'm sorry" she apologised instantly as she tried to fumble with her belt. Faith had clipped hers across instantly but Willow was having more of a problem finding one side of it.

"Here" Faith reached down between them and rescued the belt for her, actually fastening it for Willow in the process.

"Thanks" Willow was again surprised by how pleasant Faith was being. Not only had she been very polite for Faith but she had also carried Willow's bag and opened doors for her. Now she had even tolerated Willow sleeping and probably slobbering on her, something that must have been torture for the no contact slayer.

"No problem red" Faith replied "feeling any better after your sleep?"

"A little" Willow admitted. It was only a couple of hours and she was still tired but not to the point where she couldn't keep her eyes open like before.

She had noticed that Faith had called her 'red' which had always been the slayers name for her but it was said in a much more friendly was than Faith had used to use it. Once upon a time it had almost seemed like a way of mocking her rather than an affectionate nickname or anything.

The brunette slayer shifted uncomfortably in her seat and began chewing, like she had imaginary gum in her mouth. Willow must have given Faith a strange look or something because the slayer looked a little embarrassed.

"I hate landing more than the take off" Faith explained "It makes my ears pop"

"I'm lucky, my ears never mind" Willow conversed, thinking how it sounded odd hearing a slayer complain about something so normal and trivial. It really wasn't something that bothered Willow but maybe she had a natural ability to travel of her stupid jet set parents.

Well, they were not stupid as in thick; they were stupid as in annoying. They were in fact very intelligent, which they thought gave them ample excuse to work hard and travel all the time. This meant that from the age of sixteen Willow had lived alone a lot in the family home in Sunnydale which may have been fun if there was never a risk that they would just reappear at any moment. Unfortunately they fluttered in as much as they flittered out and when they were in they were miserable and boring tyrants. They were anti men and anti friends and very pro study which had always seemed okay before Buffy and her slaying had come along and liberated Willow from her very boring existence.

Now, after the destruction of Sunnydale she rarely spoke to them apart from the occasional courtesy phone call. She didn't even know which part of the world they were currently in and found that unremarkably she did not care. They didn't seem to care much about what she was doing either, she wasn't in Yale or another huge university so she was no longer the prodigal child...she didn't matter.

Her attention was brought back to Faith when the plane finally touched down. The brunette slayer was rubbing her ear quite roughly and was obviously still very uncomfortable.

"Can you still hear?" Willow asked her sympathetically, wondering how badly the slayer's ears had popped.

"Yeah" Faith grumbled "it seems to have finished popping now"

There was a comfortable silence between the two of them whilst the plane came to a halt and everyone disembarked, taking the shuttle to the terminal so they could collect their luggage. Faith located the two bags quickly and seemed determined to carry them both again, something Willow would normally protest to if she had the energy to do so.

The walk out the terminal to the car park at the Hopkins International wasn't too long and they were at the car within ten minutes. Faith seemed fairly amused by her wheels, it was an old nineties, blue, Ford Taurus that had definitely seemed better days. Willow was glad the slayer didn't pass comment though because she was quite protective over her car, it was comfy and easy to drive and it was hers. She had never had a car before so this one was very precious to her, even if it was old and dated looking.

"How tired are you red?" Faith asked as they were packing the trunk "want me to drive? I don't fancy having an accident if you fall asleep at the wheel!"

"You'd be fine slayer" Willow pointed out "I'd probably be screwed"

Willow was glad that Faith had offered to drive because she was seriously starting to lag. God knows how many miles she had travelled within the last two days. Her eyes were stinging from lack of sleep and her legs, back and arms ached like crazy after she had slept sitting up on the plane. So she tossed Faith the keys to show that she approved of the idea and headed round to the passenger side of the blue beast.

She put the passenger seat down a bit so she was nearly horizontal and relaxed back, determined to get a few minutes rest whilst the directions where easy.

"Just head down the Outerbelt freeway and let me know when we are by Brooklyn" she explained to Faith. It got complicated then so she would have to sit up and direct her from that point in.

Faith seemed unfazed by driving in a strange city but then it may not have actually been that strange to Faith, it was by Boston after all and wasn't that were Faith had lived before she came to Sunnydale? Willow was sure she could remember that from graduation year but wasn't entirely sure. It wasn't massively important at this point in time though so she ignored it and dosed in the passenger seat for a bit. It hardly seemed like any time at all when Faith woke her and told her they skirting past Brooklyn now.

They had got quite far pretty damn quickly but when Willow sat up properly she realised why. Faith was seriously putting the hammer down and was ripping across the freeway at over 100 miles per hour. She was actually a really smooth driver though and Willow actually felt quite safe considering the speed they were travelling. She didn't even realise her old Ford could shift that fast without struggling, she was just as impressed with the car as she was with Faith's driving.

"I'd have definitely pinned you down as a speed freak"

Willow decided to make conversation with the slayer. She was slightly nervous when she looked across and realised Faith was fumbling at a cola bottle they had got on the plane with her free hand, trying to remove the lid.

"Misspent youth" Faith admitted before taking a swig from the bottle and fastening it again without slowing down.

"Yeah I could picture you getting your kicks from joy riding" Willow admitted, the idea just fitted somehow because Faith got such a kick from danger in general.

Willow stole another glance at Faith and realised the slayer looked slightly uncomfortable discussing her miscreants. The brunette had a thoughtful and slightly sad look on her face and was definitely avoiding making eye contact with Willow. The witch realised that Faith felt shame about being a teenage rebel and Willow wondered what had pushed Faith to be the way she was. Who was her family? What were they like? Had she even had a proper family? As curious as Willow was about Faith's past it was not the right time to ask Faith, if there ever was a right time. Instead she decided to change the subject to safer and more comfortable ground for the slayer.

"We need to turn onto Pearl road in a minute" Willow instructed "It's not far then"

Willow could tell that Faith was getting more and more nervous as they drove into the built up area and she wished she could think of something comforting to say. Everything that came to mind just sounded patronising though and she didn't want that.

After directing Faith through the streets of Seven Hills, the area of Cleveland that the Hellmouth was located under, they finally reached the hotel at about two in the morning. They pulled up to the building and all the lights where off so Willow tried to be as quiet as she could as she directed Faith into the small car park and got out the car. Faith followed suite and got her bag out the car, all the while looking round apprehensively.

"Home sweet home" Willow declared, trying to keep the mood light.