Title: Inconceivable
Author: Jeanny
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Season 6 through Tabula Rasa.
Feedback: Please. jeannygrrl@hotmail.com
Distribution: I don't mind, just credit me and let me know where it's going.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Co. own all these characters, but I like to play with them. As long as I'm not making money and nobody gets hurt, no harm done, right? And all Princess Bride references are purely intentional.
Summary: Buffy shares her concerns about Willow with an unexpected caller.
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"Damn," the tinny voice on the phone said, and Buffy had to smile at the grudging admiration in Faith's voice.
"I know," she agreed. "Willow's gotten really powerful." A little too powerful. It was unsaid, but her caller picked up on it just the same.
"You're afraid of her, B. Of what she might do."
"No!" Buffy protested. Absently she picked up the lollipop Dawn had left on the counter and unwrapped it. "I'm not afraid of Willow. I could never..." Buffy trailed off, putting the Chupa Chup in her mouth and making a face at the too-sweetness of it. She heard Faith sigh softly.
"Sure. You know better than me, anyway," the imprisoned Slayer said flatly. "I'm just saying, if my best friend was a powerful witch who can bring people back from the dead and wipe out their memories, instead of a barrel-chested two-time loser who likes to be called Princess Buttercup...thinking my life might be pretty different right about now."
"Faith..."
"Look, B, I gotta go. They limit the phone time here, you know."
"Sure...but...Faith?"
"Yeah, B."
"Why'd you call me? I mean, it was okay, that you did, but..."
"Actually? I was gonna just kind of breathe heavy and hang up."
The Chupa Chup fell out of Buffy's mouth.
"Crap," Buffy muttered, almost dropping the phone in her haste to pick up the sticky sweet.
"Buffy? You still there?"
"Uh-huh," Buffy said as she stood holding the now linty Chupa, trying to decide what to do with it. She grabbed the wrapper off the table.
"Anyway, B, when you answered, I just...I couldn't help thinking about how it used to be. You know, when we were the Chosen Two, slaying, partying, hanging out in school..."
"You weren't in school," Buffy corrected as she replaced the paper cover over the half-eaten lollipop.
"I wasn't in class," Faith amended, "but neither were you, most of the time."
Satisfied with her handiwork, Buffy put the candy back on the counter.
"Well...don't ever tell Dawn that, okay?"
"Right," Faith snorted, and Buffy could almost hear her smirk. When Faith spoke again, though, her tone was unusually thoughtful, almost wistful. "Funny, you know? I get this urge to walk down memory lane..."
"And mine was temporarily closed just a day ago," Buffy finished. "Some coincidence-what was that?" A sudden commotion on Faith's end of the line made Buffy press her ear closer to the phone. She could hear Faith conversing with someone else, and the Slayer didn't sound happy.
"I'm almost finished!"
"Faith?" Buffy asked tentatively. Faith came back on the line, her voice full of annoyance.
"Sorry, B, time's up. We'll have to finish this some other time." Right before the line went dead, Buffy heard the other Slayer's voice full of resignation say, "Okay, okay...because I know something you do not. I...am not left-handed." Buffy heard a faint delighted but disturbingly deep giggle before it was replaced by the dial tone.
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