CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: RESOLUTIONS
Faith ran all the way from the school to the Summers' home, rushing inside and up the stairs to the room that she shared with Buffy. She pulled her duffel bag out from under the bed and began filling it with the clothes that were strewn across the floor as well as from the bottom two drawers of Buffy's dresser. Tears stung at her eyes, making Faith even angrier, both at Buffy and at herself. She knew that she'd had a reason for not letting people too close to her, and her theory obviously hadn't been unfounded.
She zipped the bag up and took another look around the room, hesitating when her eyes came to rest on the framed picture of herself and Buffy that had been taken only two weeks ago. The Scoobies had organised a picnic, which at first Faith had thought was extremely lame, but had agreed to go to, mainly so that she could spend more time with Buffy. She'd ended up having the time of her life. Laughter hadn't been a factor for Faith when she'd been growing up, but since coming to Sunnydale, she'd smiled and laughed and loved.
She hesitated another moment before undoing the zip of her bag and stuffing the photo on top of her belongings. Before she had the chance to close her bag once more, a soft voice startled her out of her thoughts.
"Faith?"
Faith turned to see Joyce Summer's worried face, the older woman lingering in the doorway.
"Mrs S."
"What are you doing?" Joyce asked.
Faith turned back to her bag and pulled the zipper closed. She hadn't been counting on Joyce being at the house.
"Packin'," she replied casually.
"Yes, I can see that," Joyce replied, stepping further into the room. "Can I ask why?"
"Yeah, why don't you ask Buffy that," Faith said.
Joyce looked at the young woman, surprised by the tears she could see welling in Faith's eyes. In all the time that Joyce had known Faith, she'd never once seen the brunette Slayer cry.
"Did she ask you to leave?" Joyce asked, trying to get a clear idea of what exactly had happened between the two girls, who only that morning had woken Joyce up with their antics.
"Nope."
"Does she know you're leaving?"
"Nope."
"What happened between you two Faith?" Joyce asked, laying a motherly hand on Faith's shoulder.
Faith stiffened for a moment. Her own mother had never touched her, unless it was out of anger. Joanna never touched her unless it was during a training session, and her Watcher needed to show her a new move. No person besides Buffy had ever touched her without there being an ulterior motive, and to have Joyce touching her now was exceedingly strange for the young Slayer.
"She lied to me," Faith answered quietly.
Joyce slowly took the bag from Faith's hands and placed it on the floor. She gently manoeuvred them so that they were sitting on Buffy's bed, side-by-side. She took hold of one of Faith's hands and squeezed it gently.
"Faith…I know that you're hurting," Joyce began softly. "And I understand that you're upset, but…is it worth throwing your entire relationship away over this?"
"I trusted her," Faith pushed.
Joyce nodded and brought her free hand up to run it gently through Faith's dark hair. She gently cupped Faith's cheek and positioned herself so that she could look directly into Faith's eyes.
"She loves you Faith," Joyce assured the girl. "I've never seen her like this with anyone else, so I know for a fact that she loves you. And if I know my daughter, she probably lied to you to protect you. Am I right?"
Faith sighed and thought about the question before nodding slowly.
"Yeah."
"It still hurts though," Joyce said.
"I hate that it hurts like this," Faith whispered, nearing her breaking point. "It's never hurt this bad before. It's never hurt at all before this."
Joyce couldn't help the smile that came to her face, even amongst Faith's pain.
"You've never been in love before, have you Faith?"
"No," she admitted quietly.
"Well, if there's something that I've learnt over the years, it's that love takes work. It's hard, and it's painful, and it's everyday. But it's worth it in the end," Joyce said quietly. She'd explained this to Buffy once when her daughter had still been infatuated with Angel, and she knew that Buffy had drawn strength from it. She could only hope that Faith would react in a similar way.
Faith sighed and wiped at her eyes. Joyce couldn't help herself. She pulled Faith closer and wrapped her arms around the young woman that her daughter loved so much. The darker Slayer felt more tears leaking from her eyes as she was wrapped in the warmth and protection that was offered to her by her girlfriend's mother.
It took nearly five minutes for Faith to regain her composure, her breathing going back to normal as Joyce rubbed comforting circles on her back.
"I don't want to lose her," Faith whispered, still clinging to Joyce tightly.
Joyce smiled and drew back to look Faith in the eye. "So don't go."
Faith nodded slowly, and couldn't help but smile at the simple logic of it all. She pulled Joyce back in for another tight hug.
"Thanks Mrs S," she whispered quietly. "You're a helluva mom, you know that?"
"Only the best for my two Slayer daughters," Joyce replied.
Faith buried her face in Joyce's shoulder, letting herself revel in the feeling of having someone who had opened up her home to Faith and had allowed her to be in a real and loving relationship with their daughter. Joyce had had no reason at all to let Faith stay, especially when the truth about her relationship with Buffy had come out, but Joyce had continued welcoming Faith into her home. And now Faith was being told that she was considered family.
"Go find her, okay," Joyce whispered.
Faith nodded and fully pulled away from Joyce, once again wiping the tears from her face. Joyce just watched in amusement, shaking her head with laughter as Faith ran from the room in search of Buffy.
Faith barely made it down the stairs before the door opened abruptly, Buffy entering. The two Slayers froze for a moment, both of them losing their momentum at the unexpected meeting.
"B," Faith whispered.
"Faith."
Faith jumped the final four stairs and landed just in front of Buffy, the two of them staring at each other for seemingly endless moments. As always it was Buffy who broke the silence.
"Faith, I am really, really, really sorry," she began, just knowing that her rambling apology was going to rival one of Willow's babble-fests. "I never meant to hurt you, and I know that I did hurt you, which makes me feel really, really crappy, and I never wanted for this to happen. And I know that you probably aren't going to forgive me, cos I broke your trust, and I know that we're going to have to rebuild that trust, and I am willing to do absolutely anything to get that trust back, and-"
Faith stopped her suddenly, pressing a single finger to Buffy's lips. The blonde stopped, desperately hoping that she hadn't completely ruined her relationship with Faith because of a lie that she'd basically forgotten about.
"B…" Faith started, "you're a bitch."
Buffy felt her heart sink.
"But I still love you," Faith continued, a smile appearing on her face.
Buffy sighed with relief, a weight lifting from her shoulders. Faith moved forward, but stopped abruptly when she heard footsteps on the stairs. Both girls looked up, turning slightly red at almost being caught by Joyce.
Buffy's mother just smirked at the girls and removed her coat from the hook next to the front door.
"Make sure you two behave yourselves," Joyce said, trying her hardest not to burst into a fit of laughter as she closed the door behind her.
Buffy watched her mother go, and then slowly turned back to face Faith. She anxiously tugged at the hem of her black singlet top, wondering where they would go from this point.
"I know…I know I did the wrong thing. But I really just…" Buffy coughed and blushed.
"You really just what, B?" Faith teased. She knew perfectly well what the blonde girl wanted to say.
"I really just wanna kiss you right now," Buffy said nervously. She knew she didn't deserve Faith's affection but she ached for it anyway.
Faith stepped forward and lightly grabbed Buffy's hand. She linked her fingers with Buffy's and looked into her eyes.
"So kiss me already."
END
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So, that's it from us. We are thinking of writing a sequel, but due to jobs and uni and going home for the holidays it may not be written for a while.
Many thanks to everyone for your encouraging feedback!
Sarah & Kattie.