Title: Half of my soul and all of my heart
Author: ladydewinter
Email: ladydewinter@gmx.net
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: W/K first, but I don't really like them...so W/T eventually :-) And this is becoming B/S as well, it seems.
Setting: The story takes place roughly after The Killer in Me, so spoilers up to then.
Disclaimer: Willow, Tara, Kennedy, Anya et. al belong to Joss Whedon and ME and - hey you know whom they belong to. The story however is mine. Oh, the title is taken from a book called "Magic's Promise" by Mercedes Lackey. And there may be quotes from the show included in this story - I haven't really marked them, but if it sounds familiar - I mean it as an hommage, I don't wanna violate any copyright, really. Please don't sue me!
Feedback: Thanks again for the positive feedback. It's what keeps me going, and it makes me happy :0)
Distribution: If you want it, you can have it, just let me know where it ends up.
Summary: Back to our own Sunnydale again :-)
***
Right after Anya had found the body, Xander called Buffy and the Potentials. They were now all standing in the classroom, watching as Buffy was looking for anything that could help them identify the Slayer. The Potentials were whispering to each other, only Kennedy was silent. Anya had sat down on a table, Dawn beside her. Andrew and Xander were standing next to them. Only Spike was helping Buffy.
"I think I found something," he said finally. While Buffy had looked through the dead girls jacket, he had searched her pants. Now he was holding up a driver's licence. "Julie Shaw. Born on April 19 1982. Anyone ever seen her? Was she at you school?" Spike glanced quickly at Dawn, who shook her head. Buffy took a look at the driver's licence. "Here it says she's from Seattle. We'll give that to Willow, maybe she can find out more." Xander noticed that when she mentioned Willow's name, her face took on an odd expression, but he didn't want to say anything in front of the SITs. He had a bad feeling, though.
"Okay, everybody...we have to do something with the body." Buffy said.
"Why don't we just call the police and let them deal with it?" Vy asked. "That way, her family will at least know -"
"But what about the driver's licence?" Kennedy disagreed with her.
"We could make a copy, I mean, we're at a school, and Buffy works here - that should be possible."
"Still-"
"No, Vy's right. I'll go and make a copy, you can already leave the building. Wait for me outside. Xander, could you call the police?" He nodded. Buffy went to her office, then returned to the third Slayer's - Julie's - body and put the license into her jacket. Then she joined the others and they started to walk home. On their way they heard the sound of police cars. When they were almost back at the Summer's house, Buffy stopped them. "Everybody, wait a second. I have to tell you something. We - someone paid us - or rather Willow - an unexpected visit tonight. You might have heard of her already. It's the only other Slayer left now - her name is Faith."
"What?" Xander was shocked. "Faith? What does she want?"
"I don't know yet. But it seems something has happened to Willow while was there - from what Faith told me, the First tried to use her to kill Faith or something."
"Sure...and so Faith attacked her in self defense, as always." He sounded angry.
"Xander, stop it. We don't know what has happened, and as soon Willow is alright again, she can tell us her side of the story. But I don't think it will be much different. I just wanted to let you know we have another guest right now." With that, Buffy turned, walked up to the door and opened it. "Faith?" She called. "We're back."
Faith, who had been sitting next to Willow on the couch, got up. She had no idea what to do now, what to say. She motioned to Connor to stay where he was - she was sure her sudden appearance was enough to confuse Buffy. She made a few tentative steps in direction of the door.
By then, the other Slayer had already entered the house. When she saw Faith, she felt all kinds of feelings stir up inside her - anger, fear, anxiety, relief - love. She almost hated herself for it. But she had always loved her like one loved a sister - a sister who had done very bad things, of course, but a sister. She had no idea what to say to her, so she decided to take the challenge step by step.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey B. Did you find what you were looking for?"
"What? Oh, yes, we did. It was the third Slayer."
Faith was confused. A third Slayer? "How's that possible?" At that moment, the others came through the door. "Is it her?" She asked, pointing at Kennedy.
"No, that's a Potential. The third Slayer's dead." Buffy realized she was going to have to do a lot of explaining. Then she saw - "Willow! Will she be alright?"
Faith was confused, but decided to wait with her questions a little longer. "Uhm, I guess so. Connor hit her with one of the books to knock her out, but as soon as she wakes up, she'll be alright, I'm sure."
"Connor? Who's that?" Buffy turned around, and for the first time, she noticed Connor. Somehow she immediately knew who he was - it was the way he looked at her, his eyes - she felt it. "How-"
"I'm Angel's -" Connor started, but Buffy interrupted him.
"I know," she said softly. "How's that possible - who's your mother?"
Before he could say anything, Faith spoke up. She knew that this was going to be hard for Buffy, and although she herself certainly wasn't known for being tactful - well, Connor wouldn't make things any better. And she felt that she could at least try. "B ? I think we need to talk. A lot. Do you wanna wait until she wakes up or-?"
"No, I guess we should do it now." Buffy didn't take her eyes off Connor. The others were now all standing in the living room, watching either Willow or Faith or Connor. The Potentials seemed particularly impressed with Angel's son, and they were all giggly. "Dawn, Xander - look after Willow, right? Tell me as soon as she wakes up." With that she turned to Faith and the two Slayers left the room.
***
Buffy and Faith went downstairs to the basement - Buffy somehow wasn't ready to let Faith into her room again. The other Slayer could understand that completely. Buffy sat down on Spike's makeshift bed.
"Who lives down here?" Faith asked.
"Spike."
"Spike? You mean William the Bloody? What's he doing here? Is he helping you now he got his chip?"
"You know about the chip?" Buffy was surprised.
"Yeah, he told me when - that is, he - I - when I was in your-"
"Oh."
Faith didn't really know what to say, so she decided to wait for Buffy to continue the conversation. She still didn't know what Buffy felt now that she had seen her again. There were so many things to talk about. And yet - she wasn't even sure if she deserved to know what had been going on in B's life.
"Spike - he's got a soul now," the other Slayer interrupted her thoughts.
"What? How- was he cursed as well?"
"No, he went to a demon somewhere in Africa to get it."
"Why would he do that?"
"Because he's got a cr- because he loves me." Buffy looked at the floor. It still sounded odd - admitting that Spike actually felt something for her. But now - she began to get the feeling that it sounded odd not because it was Spike who was in love - but because he was in love with her. She couldn't believe anyone would want to fall in love with her, especially as he had seen both her boyfriends and how she had driven them both away - come to think about it, Spike was the one who had been around the longest.
"Spike's - you want me to believe that Spike's actually in love with you? How did that happen?" Faith seemed amused.
"You can't believe someone would fall in love with me?" Buffy asked before she could stop herself. Why did I have to say that?
"No! You know that's just - well, you know you're being stupid. But Spike? I mean - I guess he was in love with you before he got that soul?"
"Yeah. I don't know how it happened. He suddenly claimed that he was in love with me and I was totally disgusted."
"Why? I mean, he's sexy, isn't he?"
"Oh yes." Buffy smiled dreamily. "He certainly is. And when I came back from - when Willow brought me back from the dead, he was the only one who could make me feel something."
"What do you mean, feel? You can't - you wanna tell me you slept with him?"
"There wasn't much sleeping." Buffy blushed. Faith started to laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"Everything. You know, after Wesley got me out of prison, he told me about Connor. And I was like - Angel having a son - it can't get much weirder. Then I learned about the Angel - Connor - Cordy triangle and I thought ok, that's it. And now you are saying you had sex with Spike. I just - it's hilarious. Like in one of these soaps. I guess I fit in nicely, though - the good gal turned bad turned good again returns from jail." Faith smiled, but she seemed kind of sad. Buffy however had other things to think about.
"What's the Angel - Connor - Cordy triangle?" she wanted to know.
Oh great, Faith thought. "Er...the Angel - don't you wanna know something about Connor, where he came from, et cetera?" she tried to change the topic; at least a bit.
"Sure," Buffy said slowly. "Tell me."
"Well, it seems that Angel and Darla slept together and she sorta got pregnant -"
"Darla? I thought she was-"
"Yeah, but she was resurrected. Don't ask me how. Then she was pregnant, their child appeared to be human and was going to be delivered with a soul - but she couldn't actually give birth because she was kinda dead or undead, so she dusted herself. Then the little baby boy got kidnaped by one of his daddy's enemies, he took him into this helldimension were time goes by a lot faster than here, it seems, for when he returned, he was eighteen or something. Though I'm not sure if he doesn't just say so because of -" Faith managed to stop herself before bringing up the Cordy thing again.
Buffy hadn't forgotten about that, though. "Because of what? And what about the triangle?"
Faith sighed. "Alright, but don't kill the messenger. Connor kinda fell in love with Cordy, and she slept with him although Cordelia - it seems she is or was at least in love with Angel...and Angel was pretty mad when he found out that they had slept together, because he is in love with..." she trailed off, not wanting to actually say the words.
"Cordelia?" Buffy sounded shocked. "Angel's in love with -? No, you must be kidding me."
"I'm not. Sorry. I hope you're not too... upset?"
"Upset? No, I don't think I am. I'm just - suprised, that's all. I mean - that's a lot to take in." Buffy felt very upset, though - she just couldn't admit it to Faith. Angel and Cordelia? That was just - ridiculous. She knew she was being silly - she had been together with Riley much earlier after her breakup with Angel; and Angel probably hadn't slept with Cordelia. Or maybe he had - and that he hadn't lost his soul meant that - stop it! She told herself. What was she thinking about? This was stupid. Angel and she hadn't been together for - more than three years now. And it was over. So - no biggie. Still, Cordy? She pushed all the thoughts about them together away. "Sorry. What did you just say?" she asked Faith.
"Nothing important," the other Slayer replied. "I just said it was understandable. I mean, I was totally shocked, and it's not as if I have the past with Angel that you have."
"Yeah, you're right. But - let's just forget it. Tell me again - what happened to Willow exactly?"
"Red? That's what I wanted to ask you about. It was weird - I mean, after she recovered from the surprise... cause seeing me, you know? We were just - just talking."
"About what?"
"About - I explained the thing with Connor, and then - back when we - or rather I - when I switched - when I was you? I met Red and her girlfriend, the blonde one? I just - I wanted to show her I had changed, you know? I wanted her to see I remembered stuff. And so I asked her how she was, if she was her girlfriend now, cause, I don't know if they're together now, but - I'm sorry B but she seemed to be even more in love with Willow than you and Angel were. What's with the strange look?" Faith started to really wonder. What had happened? What was wrong with that gal?
"You asked her about Tara?" Buffy began to understand.
"Tara! Yes, that's her name, I forgot. I have this thing with names."
"Faith... Tara is - she's dead."
"What? What do you mean? How- Oh my god. Great. I'm - I just messed things up, as always. I'm sorry, B, I didn't mean to-"
"I know. It's - Tara was shot last May. And Willow - she took it kinda - badly. She went all black magic and stuff - tried to bring on the end of the world..."
"Red? You're kidding." Faith couldn't believe it. Willow - evil?
"I'm not. She killed Tara's murderer and then - things somehow got outta control. Xander could stop her though. And now - well, she's using again but it's pretty dangerous. Once, the First got-"
"The First!" Faith interrupted her. "She was talking about it - she told me to knock her out. I couldn't do it, though - Connor did it."
"It seems as if the First tried to gain control over her again." Buffy sighed. "Let's just hope she'll be alright when she wakes up."
"What's with the First? Wasn't it that thing that pretended to be Giles's ex once?"
"Yeah, but it's a bit more complicated. Let me give you an update..."
***
Author: ladydewinter
Email: ladydewinter@gmx.net
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: W/K first, but I don't really like them...so W/T eventually :-) And this is becoming B/S as well, it seems.
Setting: The story takes place roughly after The Killer in Me, so spoilers up to then.
Disclaimer: Willow, Tara, Kennedy, Anya et. al belong to Joss Whedon and ME and - hey you know whom they belong to. The story however is mine. Oh, the title is taken from a book called "Magic's Promise" by Mercedes Lackey. And there may be quotes from the show included in this story - I haven't really marked them, but if it sounds familiar - I mean it as an hommage, I don't wanna violate any copyright, really. Please don't sue me!
Feedback: Thanks again for the positive feedback. It's what keeps me going, and it makes me happy :0)
Distribution: If you want it, you can have it, just let me know where it ends up.
Summary: Back to our own Sunnydale again :-)
***
Right after Anya had found the body, Xander called Buffy and the Potentials. They were now all standing in the classroom, watching as Buffy was looking for anything that could help them identify the Slayer. The Potentials were whispering to each other, only Kennedy was silent. Anya had sat down on a table, Dawn beside her. Andrew and Xander were standing next to them. Only Spike was helping Buffy.
"I think I found something," he said finally. While Buffy had looked through the dead girls jacket, he had searched her pants. Now he was holding up a driver's licence. "Julie Shaw. Born on April 19 1982. Anyone ever seen her? Was she at you school?" Spike glanced quickly at Dawn, who shook her head. Buffy took a look at the driver's licence. "Here it says she's from Seattle. We'll give that to Willow, maybe she can find out more." Xander noticed that when she mentioned Willow's name, her face took on an odd expression, but he didn't want to say anything in front of the SITs. He had a bad feeling, though.
"Okay, everybody...we have to do something with the body." Buffy said.
"Why don't we just call the police and let them deal with it?" Vy asked. "That way, her family will at least know -"
"But what about the driver's licence?" Kennedy disagreed with her.
"We could make a copy, I mean, we're at a school, and Buffy works here - that should be possible."
"Still-"
"No, Vy's right. I'll go and make a copy, you can already leave the building. Wait for me outside. Xander, could you call the police?" He nodded. Buffy went to her office, then returned to the third Slayer's - Julie's - body and put the license into her jacket. Then she joined the others and they started to walk home. On their way they heard the sound of police cars. When they were almost back at the Summer's house, Buffy stopped them. "Everybody, wait a second. I have to tell you something. We - someone paid us - or rather Willow - an unexpected visit tonight. You might have heard of her already. It's the only other Slayer left now - her name is Faith."
"What?" Xander was shocked. "Faith? What does she want?"
"I don't know yet. But it seems something has happened to Willow while was there - from what Faith told me, the First tried to use her to kill Faith or something."
"Sure...and so Faith attacked her in self defense, as always." He sounded angry.
"Xander, stop it. We don't know what has happened, and as soon Willow is alright again, she can tell us her side of the story. But I don't think it will be much different. I just wanted to let you know we have another guest right now." With that, Buffy turned, walked up to the door and opened it. "Faith?" She called. "We're back."
Faith, who had been sitting next to Willow on the couch, got up. She had no idea what to do now, what to say. She motioned to Connor to stay where he was - she was sure her sudden appearance was enough to confuse Buffy. She made a few tentative steps in direction of the door.
By then, the other Slayer had already entered the house. When she saw Faith, she felt all kinds of feelings stir up inside her - anger, fear, anxiety, relief - love. She almost hated herself for it. But she had always loved her like one loved a sister - a sister who had done very bad things, of course, but a sister. She had no idea what to say to her, so she decided to take the challenge step by step.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey B. Did you find what you were looking for?"
"What? Oh, yes, we did. It was the third Slayer."
Faith was confused. A third Slayer? "How's that possible?" At that moment, the others came through the door. "Is it her?" She asked, pointing at Kennedy.
"No, that's a Potential. The third Slayer's dead." Buffy realized she was going to have to do a lot of explaining. Then she saw - "Willow! Will she be alright?"
Faith was confused, but decided to wait with her questions a little longer. "Uhm, I guess so. Connor hit her with one of the books to knock her out, but as soon as she wakes up, she'll be alright, I'm sure."
"Connor? Who's that?" Buffy turned around, and for the first time, she noticed Connor. Somehow she immediately knew who he was - it was the way he looked at her, his eyes - she felt it. "How-"
"I'm Angel's -" Connor started, but Buffy interrupted him.
"I know," she said softly. "How's that possible - who's your mother?"
Before he could say anything, Faith spoke up. She knew that this was going to be hard for Buffy, and although she herself certainly wasn't known for being tactful - well, Connor wouldn't make things any better. And she felt that she could at least try. "B ? I think we need to talk. A lot. Do you wanna wait until she wakes up or-?"
"No, I guess we should do it now." Buffy didn't take her eyes off Connor. The others were now all standing in the living room, watching either Willow or Faith or Connor. The Potentials seemed particularly impressed with Angel's son, and they were all giggly. "Dawn, Xander - look after Willow, right? Tell me as soon as she wakes up." With that she turned to Faith and the two Slayers left the room.
***
Buffy and Faith went downstairs to the basement - Buffy somehow wasn't ready to let Faith into her room again. The other Slayer could understand that completely. Buffy sat down on Spike's makeshift bed.
"Who lives down here?" Faith asked.
"Spike."
"Spike? You mean William the Bloody? What's he doing here? Is he helping you now he got his chip?"
"You know about the chip?" Buffy was surprised.
"Yeah, he told me when - that is, he - I - when I was in your-"
"Oh."
Faith didn't really know what to say, so she decided to wait for Buffy to continue the conversation. She still didn't know what Buffy felt now that she had seen her again. There were so many things to talk about. And yet - she wasn't even sure if she deserved to know what had been going on in B's life.
"Spike - he's got a soul now," the other Slayer interrupted her thoughts.
"What? How- was he cursed as well?"
"No, he went to a demon somewhere in Africa to get it."
"Why would he do that?"
"Because he's got a cr- because he loves me." Buffy looked at the floor. It still sounded odd - admitting that Spike actually felt something for her. But now - she began to get the feeling that it sounded odd not because it was Spike who was in love - but because he was in love with her. She couldn't believe anyone would want to fall in love with her, especially as he had seen both her boyfriends and how she had driven them both away - come to think about it, Spike was the one who had been around the longest.
"Spike's - you want me to believe that Spike's actually in love with you? How did that happen?" Faith seemed amused.
"You can't believe someone would fall in love with me?" Buffy asked before she could stop herself. Why did I have to say that?
"No! You know that's just - well, you know you're being stupid. But Spike? I mean - I guess he was in love with you before he got that soul?"
"Yeah. I don't know how it happened. He suddenly claimed that he was in love with me and I was totally disgusted."
"Why? I mean, he's sexy, isn't he?"
"Oh yes." Buffy smiled dreamily. "He certainly is. And when I came back from - when Willow brought me back from the dead, he was the only one who could make me feel something."
"What do you mean, feel? You can't - you wanna tell me you slept with him?"
"There wasn't much sleeping." Buffy blushed. Faith started to laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"Everything. You know, after Wesley got me out of prison, he told me about Connor. And I was like - Angel having a son - it can't get much weirder. Then I learned about the Angel - Connor - Cordy triangle and I thought ok, that's it. And now you are saying you had sex with Spike. I just - it's hilarious. Like in one of these soaps. I guess I fit in nicely, though - the good gal turned bad turned good again returns from jail." Faith smiled, but she seemed kind of sad. Buffy however had other things to think about.
"What's the Angel - Connor - Cordy triangle?" she wanted to know.
Oh great, Faith thought. "Er...the Angel - don't you wanna know something about Connor, where he came from, et cetera?" she tried to change the topic; at least a bit.
"Sure," Buffy said slowly. "Tell me."
"Well, it seems that Angel and Darla slept together and she sorta got pregnant -"
"Darla? I thought she was-"
"Yeah, but she was resurrected. Don't ask me how. Then she was pregnant, their child appeared to be human and was going to be delivered with a soul - but she couldn't actually give birth because she was kinda dead or undead, so she dusted herself. Then the little baby boy got kidnaped by one of his daddy's enemies, he took him into this helldimension were time goes by a lot faster than here, it seems, for when he returned, he was eighteen or something. Though I'm not sure if he doesn't just say so because of -" Faith managed to stop herself before bringing up the Cordy thing again.
Buffy hadn't forgotten about that, though. "Because of what? And what about the triangle?"
Faith sighed. "Alright, but don't kill the messenger. Connor kinda fell in love with Cordy, and she slept with him although Cordelia - it seems she is or was at least in love with Angel...and Angel was pretty mad when he found out that they had slept together, because he is in love with..." she trailed off, not wanting to actually say the words.
"Cordelia?" Buffy sounded shocked. "Angel's in love with -? No, you must be kidding me."
"I'm not. Sorry. I hope you're not too... upset?"
"Upset? No, I don't think I am. I'm just - suprised, that's all. I mean - that's a lot to take in." Buffy felt very upset, though - she just couldn't admit it to Faith. Angel and Cordelia? That was just - ridiculous. She knew she was being silly - she had been together with Riley much earlier after her breakup with Angel; and Angel probably hadn't slept with Cordelia. Or maybe he had - and that he hadn't lost his soul meant that - stop it! She told herself. What was she thinking about? This was stupid. Angel and she hadn't been together for - more than three years now. And it was over. So - no biggie. Still, Cordy? She pushed all the thoughts about them together away. "Sorry. What did you just say?" she asked Faith.
"Nothing important," the other Slayer replied. "I just said it was understandable. I mean, I was totally shocked, and it's not as if I have the past with Angel that you have."
"Yeah, you're right. But - let's just forget it. Tell me again - what happened to Willow exactly?"
"Red? That's what I wanted to ask you about. It was weird - I mean, after she recovered from the surprise... cause seeing me, you know? We were just - just talking."
"About what?"
"About - I explained the thing with Connor, and then - back when we - or rather I - when I switched - when I was you? I met Red and her girlfriend, the blonde one? I just - I wanted to show her I had changed, you know? I wanted her to see I remembered stuff. And so I asked her how she was, if she was her girlfriend now, cause, I don't know if they're together now, but - I'm sorry B but she seemed to be even more in love with Willow than you and Angel were. What's with the strange look?" Faith started to really wonder. What had happened? What was wrong with that gal?
"You asked her about Tara?" Buffy began to understand.
"Tara! Yes, that's her name, I forgot. I have this thing with names."
"Faith... Tara is - she's dead."
"What? What do you mean? How- Oh my god. Great. I'm - I just messed things up, as always. I'm sorry, B, I didn't mean to-"
"I know. It's - Tara was shot last May. And Willow - she took it kinda - badly. She went all black magic and stuff - tried to bring on the end of the world..."
"Red? You're kidding." Faith couldn't believe it. Willow - evil?
"I'm not. She killed Tara's murderer and then - things somehow got outta control. Xander could stop her though. And now - well, she's using again but it's pretty dangerous. Once, the First got-"
"The First!" Faith interrupted her. "She was talking about it - she told me to knock her out. I couldn't do it, though - Connor did it."
"It seems as if the First tried to gain control over her again." Buffy sighed. "Let's just hope she'll be alright when she wakes up."
"What's with the First? Wasn't it that thing that pretended to be Giles's ex once?"
"Yeah, but it's a bit more complicated. Let me give you an update..."
***