Chapter Seven: Being Mature
(Thanks so much for the reviews everyone. Keep 'em coming.)
Faith was sitting on her bed. She couldn't really sleep, she was too worked up, too worried. Faith chuckled to herself. Worried, for the first time in a long time, she was worried about someone other than herself. She knew Robin was going to be okay. The bleeding seemed worse than it really was, the doctors had said. So, she tried to relax. It would've been nicer if Buffy was with her though. Faith surprised the hell out of herself when she asked Buffy to room with her, even more shocking Buffy said yes. But Buffy wasn't there, she left with Angel. Faith rolled her eyes. That girl, clingy wasn't strong enough a word. She just lost someone important to her, and now she was off with Angel, her old someone important.
Buffy burst through the door, heaving angrily. The whole room shook as she slammed the heavy door. Faith raised her eyebrows, " Whoa, B. What's up?"
Buffy paced around the room."Augh!" she yelled. "Damnit!"
"What?" Faith asked. She had never seen Buffy so upset.
"Angel!" She exclaimed. "He doesn't understand anything. I told him that night I killed Caleb that I have feelings for Spike. And that Spike sacrificed himself for us, and he's pouting 'cause he didn't get to do it. "
Faith frowned. "Angel? I don't think he'd be that upset about it."
"Well, you don't know Angel," Buffy said flatly.
"Hey," Faith said standing up in front of Buffy. "I do know Angel. And he loves you. Why? Hell if I know."
Buffy stared at Faith. "You're such a bitch."
"No," Faith said. "You're the bitch here, Buffy. Angel knows about sacrifice, probably a lot more than any of us do. You can't blame him for being a little bitter. You're being so damn selfish that..."
"Oh I'm the selfish one?" Buffy asked.
"Yes," Faith said flatly. "You are."
Buffy put her hands on her hips. "How's that?"
Faith threw up her arms. "Uh, maybe because you've been thinking of nothing but yourself since we left Sunnydale? Have you even asked Xander how he feels after losing that chick, Anya? Or talked to Willow about what she did for us? Asked Dawn how she's doing? And Giles? Even me, even though I don't expect it, you could ask how I've been."
Buffy's eyes welled up. Faith was right. She let the other girl go on. "And instead of being so self-centered, you could try to understand what Angel's going through too. Shit, B, you know how it feels, to be the only one. That's what Angel is. He puts up with a lot. He's not a slayer. He wasn't destined to fight his kind, he's a vampire too. And just because you screwed another vamp, and lost him too, it's not Angel's fault." Faith finished. She braced herself for an attack, but Buffy just broke down.
She sat at the foot of Faith's bed. She shook violently, shuddering as she cried. "You're right." She sobbed. "God, what's wrong with me?"
Faith sat next to the blubbering slayer. "That just it. Nothing is wrong with you. Not everything is about you, B. Jeez, you're so lucky. You've had three gorgeous, sexy, caring guys who were totally in love you, you have friends, you're the slayer, you beat the First. That's why I get so jealous of you, man. You have everything that I've ever wanted, and you still get all plagued when someone doesn't love you for three seconds."
"We beat it."
"What?"
Buffy looked up at Faith. Her eyes were all red and puffy, her nose was runny. 'What does Angel see in you?' Faith wondered half-jokingly. "We did it. You, me, Xander, Willow, Dawn, Andrew, Giles, the girls, Anya, Spike... We beat it," Buffy said.
Faith grinned, "Yeah, we did."
Buffy smiled back. She closed her eyes and sighed. Now, she had to figure out how to fix her fight with Angel.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Xander?"
"What?" Xander grumbled. He had just barely begun to fall asleep. He was thinking of Anya, and he wanted her face to be the last thing Xander saw before he fell asleep. Not Andrew's whiny voice.
"Are you awake?"
Xander sighed. "I am now."
"Oh. Just go back to sleep then," Andrew said.
Xander rolled his eye. "No, no, I'm up now. What do you want?"
"Well, I was just thinking..."
"Did it hurt?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
Andrew shook his head. "I was just thinking. You guys brought back Buffy when she died right?"
"Which time?"
"The last time. Willow did that spell and Buffy came back. We could do that to bring back Anya."
Xander was now fully awake. He sat up in the bed and gaped at Andrew. "You're kidding me, right? We brought back Buffy because she's the slayer. We needed her."
"Don't you need Anya?" Andrew asked plainly. Xander didn't know what to say. Of course he needed Anya. There was no question about that. He needed her like he needed his other eye. Everything was clearer with her in his life. But bringing her back, was just... not an option.
"No, well, yes. I need Anya. But we can't bring her back. We can't. When we brought Buffy back, there was consequences. Bad demon-y things came back with her. Plus, we don't know if Anya would come back as Anya, it's a wild card," Xander wasn't sure if he was trying to convince Andrew or himself."
"Oh, okay. Good night," Andrew said flipping over in his bed and falling right to sleep. Xander, on the other hand, was now wide awake. Stupid Andrew and his stupid ideas. They couldn't bring her back. They could, but they can't. Andrew sighed. He really wasn't asleep. Darn, he thought he had a good idea there. He'd just have to find some other way to bring Anya back, so that Xander would be happy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning, Fred woke up in the library. Wesley and an older man were reading from a large book. Last night after Angel had stormed in asking if they had found anything, she found something. Then Wes and her spent the entire night trying to verify this new find. She yawned. Wes looked up to see her awake.
"Fred, this is Rupert Giles, Buffy's watcher, well ex watcher," he said. The older man smiled kindly at the brown haired girl.
"It's my pleasure," he said in a British accent. "Wesley tells me that you're, a- a scientist."
"Well," she blushed. "I was studying to be. Before I got stuck in Pylea for five years."
"Pylea?" The man's eyebrows went up to his hair line. "You were in Pylea for five years?"
"Yeah," she laughed. "I ran away from my masters and then Angel and his team got me out. Now, I'm back to being a science nerd."
"Impressive."
"Fred, Mr. Giles and I have been researching that new prophecy you found. I'm afraid that it already could very well be in effect," Wesley said.
"Are you sure?" Fred asked. The two men nodded. "Then what's going to happen next?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I think Faith's right."
"What?!" Buffy exclaimed. She'd been talking to Willow about her fight with Angel and Faith's opinion. She asked Willow what she thought of it, not thinking Willow would side with Faith. "Did you hear yourself? You just said that you thought Faith was right."
Willow nodded. "I know. As much as I'd hate to agree with her, she has a point. I would've said the exact same thing myself, only nicer and with better vocabulary."
Buffy exhaled. Willow was right. And she had known Faith was right, she just wanted to deny it until she talked to Willow. "I know," she conceded. " I wanted.. I dunno what I wanted but..."
"Buffy?" Willow knew exactly what her best friend was trying to say, or not to say. She felt the same way once.
"I don't..." Buffy started to cry. "I don't want to give him up yet. Not just yet."
"I know sweetie," Willow stroked her blond hair. "I know."
