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. No copyright infringement intended!
Dedication: To the Buffyverse-characters and the people behind them (actors and writers)
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE --- ISSUES
Willow had been right. Faith had exaggerated just a liiiiittle bit.
It hadn't been around six a.m. when they had fallen asleep after their latest sexy-session. No, it had only been shortly after midnight. Which was still more than enough for them both. Tired but very happy, they had slept the morning away. At eleven a.m., they had eventually gotten up, and much to Willow's surprise, Faith had been willing to get to work right away.
Briefly stopping for a little brain fodder-y brunch, she had then sat down with one of her books – the choice being between chemistry and history, the two volumes Willow had worked on the day before – and had spent hours studying, letting nothing interrupt her.
Maybe it was because of the book she had grabbed – history, for her being more interesting and easier to comprehend than chemistry. But Willow's post-its probably had a lot to do with it as well – the history simply contained more of them!
The redhead herself – pleased with seeing Faith so eager, much more eager than she had expected, as she had to admit – had left her girlfriend alone in her room, where this one had chosen to study. She had used this quiet Saturday afternoon to first finish some of her next week's homework and then spend a little time with two more of Faith's books.
Well into the evening, they had decided to conclude this today's study- and post-it-marathon with a copious dinner. Willow knew about the brunette's problems with sitting still for a longer period of time, let alone concentrating for several hours straight, so it had really surprised her that Faith had kept it up this long.
They had taken their time eating their well-deserved dinner together, afterwards Willow loading the dish washer and clearing the mild mess in the kitchen, while Faith took care of the living room – here and there a few things were lying around. Empty chips bags, a few dirty glasses, clothes.
Being done with her chores, the ringing telephone had then hindered her from going into the kitchen and seeing, if she could still help Will with anything. Usually she didn't answer the phone, being as, apart from the Scoobies, nobody knew that she lived here.
However, since she had recognized the caller ID, it had been okay for her to pick up the phone. Since it had been was only…
"Reddie, that was B on the phone. I'm gonna go patrolling with her, okay?" she now quickly stuck her head through the kitchen door, making sure Willow understood her, before making her way to her room, intending on changing out of her sweat pants and shirt and into her 'slaying gear' – which most of the times consisted of tank top or sweater and leather pants. Buffy still wondered how the hell she could run in something as tight, with hardly any give; she just kept replying that it's all a question of practice.
But thinking of B and especially patrolling with B suddenly reminded her something.
"What? Wait, Faith…" Apparently Willow remembered it too. Having followed Faith quickly, she now was in the doorway, watching the brunette slipping out of her clothes. "She told us yesterday she was gonna go with Angel".
After having heard that and having been told by Xander that he also had plans for tonight already – which had made his girls a little suspicious, since he refused to tell them where he was going – Willow had already planned out a quiet, twosome-y and couch patato-y evening for her and Faith - following a long day of studying.
After all, all work and no play ...
That seemed to Buffy's motto as well. And thus she had wooed Angel into going out with her. Little patrol and a movie. A hopefully G-rated movie this time, as Willow had joked, earning a blushing look from Buffy and a naughty smirk from Faith.
Anyway, it should have been the perfect slayer date for Buffy and Angel.
But now… they weren't going?
"Yeah, I know," Faith finally replied, mumbling the words into the shirt she was just pulling over her head and off her body.
Ignoring the little striptease her sexy slayer was spoiling her with here – all Faith was wearing now was her underwear, Willow pressed, "What did she say?" As far as she was concerned, this apparent sudden change of plans wasn't common. Something was up.
Faith glanced sideways from where she was pulling a pair of, yes, leather pants out of her closet. From her girlfriend's look, she knew that her explanation should for one thing be as detailed as possible – which wouldn't be easy, since the talk itself had only been about a minute long – and for another should also include, how the little blonde had sounded, pretty please…
"Well, not much," she finally started. "She just said that Angel cancelled their date, though back on Wednesday he had agreed to go with her and stuff. She sounded pretty upset, not sad or anything, but confused. Like she thinks that something's happened". She buttoned her pants and quickly pulled on a sweater. "And she said she'd be here in a few, so I'd better get ready".
With that, she went over to her dresser to pick out her weapons for the night. And left Willow to her thoughts. Thoughts that soon took on nightmarish dimensions; not concerning an impending apocalypse… which would be a valuable reason for cancelling a date… but concerning an impending break-up. Though that might be a little far-fetched, she hoped. But relationship troubles of any kind were unwelcome.
She had to know what was going on with her best friend, had to know what had happened and how and if she could help. And right now the most convenient way to find out...
"I'm coming with," she said with such certainty and conviction it was startling.
And startle it did Faith. Whipping her head around, body following a lot slower, she nearly dropped the stake she had just retrieved from the dresser and was about to tuck away in her waistband.
She stared intently at Willow, trying to figure out, if this one was serious. And Willow was. She knew that face… that infamous resolve face.
"Will… come on…," Faith pleaded. This couldn't be happening. Hadn't she – merely to days ago - sworn to Buffy that it would be a damn long time till she took Willow or Xander or, dammit, any other civilian on patrol again? Afraid of any more sharp fangs in innocent necks dramas? And now the redhead seriously asked... no, from the look on her face... demanded to come along?
Not that she couldn't understand her, couldn't understand Willow's concern about her best friend's relationship with the vampire. But... goddammit... did she have to come on patrol to find out what was going on?!
"You... You can call her later, okay? Ask her what's up...? Or I'll bring her here afterwards," she said with a hopeful look in her eyes.
Willow knew where Faith was coming from. Saw her fear. She was about to agree to Faith's proposal about bringing Buffy here, but... thinking about it... the blonde wasn't the only reason reason she wanted to go on patrol. She also wanted to prove that she could take care of herself and actually of a vamp or two, if she was alert.
Last week had been an exception. A bad one. Usually things like this didn't happen to them. Usually even a little distraction didn't stop them from being effective in their slayage.
Tonight's patrol would very probably involve talking – one reason she wanted to go - and of course this could be considered a risk. But she'd also have two slayers by her side, in case things really went down; thus she felt on the safe side, it was a good opportunity to show Faith that there was hardly anything to worry about. "Let me come. Please... It won't be like last week, Faith," she put on a small smile.
Faith remembered that Buffy had pointed out Will's stubbornness to her.
But was this really stubbornness? The resolve face had made room for puppy dog eyes- that kind of look no one could resist, especially on Willow's face. She had an idea what was going on in Red's head, yet... this was just too soon. Right...?
She struggled with herself. She knew she'd regret a 'yes', if things went wrong again, and this time probably no one would take her side; they'd all attack her. But a 'no' would only lead to a this time indeed stubborn 'why?' on Will's part, with resolve face and puppy dog eyes combining their power. The ultimate weapon.
And as the doorbell rang, announcing Buffy's arrival, Faith finally caved. "Fine. Come," she muttered, which earned her a quick hug and a peck on the cheek by Willow, before this one went to her room, presumably to change her clothes quickly.
"But if a vamp comes and bites your ass, don't blame me," she tried to joke. Walking through the hall to let Buffy in, her mind kept repeating, I'll just do that myself.
Needless to say, Buffy was surprised when she saw Willow accompanying them five minutes later. Not because the redhead had gotten her will – she had been certain this would happen eventually. But because it happened so soon after the accident.
Looking at Faith's rather unhappy expression, she knew the decision hadn't been an easy one. Willow looked less unhappy, more determined and empathetic, apparently already imagining all sorts of things that had kiboshed her date with Angel.
Truth be told, there wasn't much Buffy could tell them both on their way to the cemetery. Visiting him earlier to check if they were still on for the date – normally she called people to ask about things like that, but him being a century-old vampire living in a crypt without electricity made that a little complicated – she had immediately noticed that something was off. The vampire had seemed pensive; it had been his usual broodiness, however, something had been bothering him, something he hadn't been willing to share with her.
He had finally confessed that maybe a date wouldn't be the best idea tonight, not engaging in Buffy's questions about the reason for the cancellation and his general behavior. He couldn't possibly tell her that Joyce had caused him to act this way.
Unsuspecting about what her mom had told her boyfriend, Buffy had departed, missing the soft 'I'm sorry' the vampire had whispered her way...
Willow and Faith listened carefully to the blonde's story, followed with fruitless attempts at guessing what might have happened. Buffy put an end to this at some point, knowing that all this wouldn't lead them anywhere, but thankful that her friends tried to make her feel a little better.
Concluding with things would hopefully look better in a day or two, Buffy decided they should now really concentrate on the thing she had called Faith – and Willow – for. Patrolling – without accidents.
And this time it worked. Nothing happened. Not in a bad way, anyway. It was a slow night; they had probably killed all the newbie-vamps in the nights before. And the more experienced ones were too clever to hide out in cemeteries…
One single vampire dared to show up, but he didn't even stand a minimal chance against the three girls. Being as alert as Willow had promised, they handled the situation with ease, Buffy actually being the one staking him in the end, assisted by Faith, who delivered a nasty blow to his head and Willow, who threw her the stake she had dropped earlier in the fight.
With no more vampires or other demonic creatures lurking about, they decided to call it a night. However, Willow was reminded of a suggestion Faith had made earlier and wasn't willing to simply let Buffy make her way home. Though the situation with Angel didn't seem as bad as initially feared, a little more distraction wouldn't harm the blonde.
Thus Willow decided to invite her over for a couple of hours. Unseen by her girlfriend and her fellow slayer, Faith shook her head with an almost amused smile. If she hadn't had a slim idea what Will's second reason for coming along on patrol had been, she would now have been a little pissed.
Well, maybe 'pissed' was too strong a word. But she would have been angry with her. Solely coming along to talk relationship with her best friend, when they could have done that equally as well in the safety of their home, as she had suggested...
Definitely not a good move.
But since she knew what also had been going on in Will's mind when she had convinced her to take her along with, she felt... better. This patrol hadn't been enough to put her at ease entirely. Too inexperienced and 'easy' that one vampire had been.
It would take time and several patrols till taking Willow with her would be 'routine' for the brunette slayer again, but the witch's begging and talking her into this had been a step in the right direction.
Feeling more relaxed about this now, however, she was ready for a little down time with Will and B. They ended up in front of the TV, with popcorn and crackers. A little comfort food, even though Buffy didn't really need it.
Their movie of choice was one of those girly comedies Faith couldn't care about less. And maybe, really...just maybe... this was the reason Buffy, halfway through the movie, had to nudge her redheaded best friend, who was sitting next to her on one of the couches, to point out to her that Faith had fallen asleep.
The brunette had curled on the other couch and was now snoring peacefully. Neither of them knew when exactly Faith's mind and body had decided to tune out; however, now that they had noticed it, the slayer was almost impossible to ignore.
She was hardly loud enough to drown out the movie; but the snores, from time to time disrupted by indistinguishable murmur, were pretty amusing.
For Willow they were heart-warming as well. This habit of Faith's was familiar to her. Thus she simply replied with a "She does that a lot" and barely managed to keep that loving smile on her face under control, when Buffy asked her about this after the movie was over, wondering if she or the chick-flick had bored Faith this much.
Getting up to finally make her way home - her mom was probably worrying about her long absence - she offered in all seriousness to carry her fellow slayer to bed. Willow declined, telling her that Faith would be fine.
Honestly... come morning, her girlfriend would probably kill her for letting her sleep on the couch again. On the other hand, she would be embarrassed, if she found out that Buffy had carried her to bed.
Picking up a blanket, she covered Faith with it, before kneeling down and combing her fingers through the dark hair, careful not to wake the girl.
She was glad things tonight had worked out as planned. She knew she had put Faith through some pain earlier, especially since all this one wanted was to protect her. But now they were okay, hopefully. The calm expression on Faith's face seemed proof that she wasn't plagued by any angst-ridden dreams.
Giving her a kiss on the temple, she went to her room. Feeling at least a little bit guilty about not taking Faith with her to the more comfortable bed.
A massage the next morning had made Faith's mild back pain and also Willow's guilt go away. Waking up on the couch, Faith had had an idea of how things had played out last night. She had remembered having missed the end of that movie and that the last thing she'd seen before falling asleep had been a redhead and a blonde on the couch across the way.
She hadn't been embarrassed by Buffy witnessing one of her infamous tuning-out-in-front-of-the-TV-sessions; at least less embarrassed than she would have been, if Willow had accepted Buffy's offer.
The most part of the day, Faith had spent in her own room with her books, letting Willow do her thing. It was already well into the evening, when Faith's mind decided it had enough of studying history and made her get up from her bed and wander around the Rosenberg home. Checking by the kitchen to see, if there were any munchies left in the fridge and finding nothing really interesting in there, only milk, sandwich toast, a couple of eggs and cold cuts, so really nothing that seemed appropriate as a small snack after the dinner they had consumed two hours before, she went into the living room to pick up the TV Guide. Whose content excited her even less than the fridge's.
And thus she made her way to the one thing in the house that could always arouse her interesting, no matter what. She had planned on going there eventually anyway. Finding the room with the girly furnishing and the many stuffed animals and posters, she saw that one thing... that cute, freckled and red haired thing lying on its bed, face down, nose in a book.
Willow had been doing that for some hours now, having told Faith about a physics test she had to write tomorrow. The redhead knew what the test would be about and knew pretty much anything about the topic by heart – down to the smallest details. But she simply felt better knowing she wasn't attending a test without any preparation – necessary or not.
For a few moments, Faith simply wandered around the room, standing at the window, looking out into the night, pretending she was willing to let Willow study.
But she wasn't. Veeery innocently her hands worked on closing the curtains, gaining them some more privacy. Willow didn't really need to study, she knew that, and she herself was...
Kneeling down next to Will's bed, head cradled in her folded arms... "Booooored...," as she informed her girlfriend. And she knew what would definitely help with that boredom.
Getting no reaction from Willow, she moved her hand to the text book, letting it cover the page the redhead was reading just now. "Wi-ill...," she added grouchily. Maybe that would do the trick and stop Willow's unnecessary study session.
"Now, not with the whining," her girlfriend replied, moving Faith's hand away and feigning an irritated look, which turned into a small smile, glancing at the disgruntled expression on the slayer's face. "Let me study a bit, okay?"
"You have been studying a bit for the last few hours," Faith replied. Really, sometimes little studyholics could be quite annoying. There were definitely funner things they could do right now.
"True... and I wanna study some more. You should do that too". She was... partly serious about it. At least that way she had a chance to concentrate on her book. Of course she was okay with whatever Faith did now, as long as she didn't interrupt her.
Faith crawled on the bed, exasperated tone in her voice, "I did study for seven hours straight, considering my ADD I'd say that's actually worth a praise," lying on her side, she gave Willow on expecting look.
Weird how yesterday that hadn't been a problem, Willow grinned inwardly, "Okay, yes, it's really awesome that you worked this long," she said quickly, before turning her attention to her book again.
Not satisfied with this seemingly little heartfelt reply, Faith pouted distinctively. Plus, Willow simply continuing with her learning wasn't really what she wanted.
Of course the redhead noticed this – Faith's face lying only inches away from her book didn't make that extremely hard. Leaning down, she put a kiss on the edge of the pouty mouth. "Really... really awesome," she whispered in a gentle tone, kissing Faith yet again.
And this one reacted; turning her head to face Willow just a little more, she could see pride shimmering in the little wicca's eyes. Trading her pout for smile, she captured Red's red-soft lips. Gently at first, but soon getting more eager. And when Willow put her hand behind her head, she was already thinking she had finally reached her goal. Had gotten her girl's mind off that stupid book.
But then Willow broke their kiss, gave her one last loving look, before... once again eyeing the reading material right in front of her.
Faith frowned. Okay, the hand caressing the back of her neck was nice, very nice; still that didn't mean she was happy with what Willow was doing again.
Playing nice, she let Willow continue for a couple of minutes, before, "Will?" she tried again and earned a little inquiring grunt, which made her follow with an "I'm still... booooored".
She knew that part of her was being selfish. Two days ago already she had tried to hinder Willow from studying, only to then find out that the redhead had been working on her books. And now she was doing it again... Selfish, selfish... but it showed just how much she loved that little bookworm. But she simply loved her more when her nose was 'bookfree' and her eyes were focused on her.
Willow, however, "You sound like a five-year-old child," now sounded a little more exasperated, yet didn't let that exasperation creep into the fingers massaging Faith's scalp. "Why don't you go watch TV?"
"Don't wanna," the Red-proclaimed five-year-old replied, "There's not really anything on. Unless you're turned on by The Wonderful World of Disney, that is".
Willow raised her eyebrows, wondering what could be wrong with that. Well, apart from using 'turned on' and 'Disney' in one and the same sentence. Apparently Faith wasn't a Disney-fan. Maybe that was the reason Faith hadn't liked her The-Lady-and-The-Tramp-scenario earlier this week. A Peanuts-marathon was probably more to her liking. Possibly even without falling asleep during. "Well, how about my laptop? I've got some games on there, if you wanna play...," she finally suggested.
Faith turned her head to look at the computer on Will's desk. The redhead's proposal sounded potentially interesting. Normally she wasn't a gamer, which was also due to the lack of opportunity. Still living in early 1999, not everyone was in possession of their very own personal computer.
The brunette had certainly never owned one; her watcher used to have a computer, but she had hardly been allowed to use it. Not that there had been anything remotely interesting on it, just lots and lots of research material. Pretty similar to the 'dread machine' in Giles' office, which, of course, the good old Brit hardly used. And even the few students' computers in the library were nearly devoid of games.
Her eyes went back and forth between her sweet little Will and the sweet little laptoppy invention. Tough decision. But eventually, "Okay, cool, " she got up from the comfy position she had wriggled into and walked over to retrieve the laptop.
Quickly Willow gained her access to the properly password-protected device and showed her where to find the games in question. Of course now she expected Faith to be heading to her own room to gamble undisturbed. After all, that was one of the advantages of a laptop – you could carry it everywhere and do your work in the most absurd places. Plus, she'd have the chance to get some more re-reading done.
Little did she know that Faith's plans – for both of them - were entirely different.
To be continued...
A/N: This one would have been a very long chapter, so I decided to split it up into two, maybe three chapters (unnecessary information *lol*). Anyway, next week I'll have some days off, and I'm looking forward to get a lot more writing on this story done than on work days - unless something gets in the way :P
