Disclaimer: You betcha. Joss owns 'em, I just write about em

Author's note: Just to be clear, from my perspective. There are no bad guys( except those clearly marked as such) here and no good guys here. So no booing when either Buffy or Faith comes onscreen. Just two young women dealing with a(some) highly charged emotional issue(s). However, you can throw tomatoes at the author  =)

Summer of faith

Chapter 16

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Buffy wakes up, sniffing.

Bacon? Is that Bacony goodness? 

But it's Thursday. We don't do that on Thursday. Mom never fixes this stuff except on weekends. What's going on?

Buffy throws on a robe, and heads downstairs to investigate.

She heads into the kitchen, and stops in disbelief. Faith is dressed, and running around cooking breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, bacon (yum). Toast, juice, the whole breakfasty thing. Buffy stands there, with her mouth open. She doesn't know what to make of it.

"Mornin, B.. Go sit. I will bring you some breakfast." Faith smiles. She has a bruise on her chin and cheek, and her lip is a little swollen

Oh, god, look at her. I really hit her last night. Damn.

"Faith, I…" Buffy begins

" Go sit , B. We'll talk out there. I'm almost done here, anyway"

Buffy exits the kitchen, and sits. She feels about 1" tall at the moment. After what she did last night, Faith is making her breakfast. Making her AND her mom breakfast. Well, Buffy, aren't you just so proud of yourself now? Buffy tries, but she can't quite reach her foot to her butt to kick herself. She sits, and Faith comes in the room.

Faith sets down eggs, bacon, and pancakes etc. for everyone to reach. She then finds a chair, and sits across from Buffy.

Buffy kinda goes pink, and stares at her plate.

"Gee, B. I can't see what is so interesting about your empty plate. Why not put something on it and eat?" Faith grins, and winces a little. " Ya know, B? You got a hell of a right there"

"Faith? Why are you being so nice to me when I was such a bitch to you last night?" Buffy asks in a low voice.

"Because, little B, I didn't come back here to fight with you." Faith says, serving herself. " Hey, girlfriend, this is self serve, ya know? I'm not puttin' it on your dish. And if you don't eat, I'm gonna be totally pissed." Buffy puts some food on her plate, and then stares at it.

" Oh, for god's sake, Buffy. We had a fight. Deal with it. Ya know, that happens with people who love each other. Get over it, and eat something"

Buffy looks up, hopefully. " You don't hate me?"

Faith looks at her like she is crazy " Hate you? No, Stupid, I love you"

Buffy looks around, a little concerned. " Shhh… Faith, keep it down. My mom…"

Faith says casually " Your mom already knows, Buffy"

Buffy, shocked " WHAT????"

Faith chuckles " Buffy, you really GOTTA learn that people aren't as totally clueless as you think"

" Thank you, Faith. I appreciate that" Joyce Summers walks in the room. " My, did you do this?"

" Yes , ma'am, Mrs. S, wanted to make something for my favorite women" Faith grins, and winces

Buffy is sitting stunned. She is so totally not believing what she is hearing. And moreover, she wonders what Twilight Zone episode she wandered into?

"Faith… you're hurt! How did this happen?" Joyce comes over and looks at Faith's face.

Faith covers, " Well, some vamp and I had a disagreement as to where my jaw and his fist should be. Don't worry, you should see him…wait, you can't. He's dust."

Joyce looks at Faith, looks at her daughter, noting she is finding her eggs especially interesting, looks at Faith again, and says "Ok, Faith. Remember that little chat we had about cluelessness?"

Faith gets a rueful look on her face. Why can't I ever lie to these women? " Ok, Buffy and I had a little … disagreement last night"

Buffy finally wakes from her stupor

"Wait a minute. Mom, you know? About us?" Joyce just rolls her eyes

"Yeah…you're mom caught me climbing your tree last month"

"Tree? Last month? Here?" Buffy feels her brain is on a merry-go-round. Someone call Rod Serling, I want out of this episode.

Faith blushes, and starts finding her plate fascinating, " I used to climb the tree out front so I could look in on you while you were sleeping" Faith admits, in a low voice. " Your mom busted me one evening"

Watching me sleep? That's so sweet…wait a minute…

"Hey, how…why didn't anyone clue me in? That you were here a month ago?"

"Because, my dear delightful and slightly dense girls, neither of you were ready at that time to be clued in. Took dear old dumb mom to get the ball rolling" Joyce answered. " Now, I'm hungry, the food looks good. I'm going to grab a plate, and head for the kitchen so you two can talk."

"No need, Mrs. S, me n B are gonna take a little trip to the back porch to have a talk. You sit and enjoy. Nice to know someone likes my cooking" Faith gives Buffy a look." Aren't we, B?"

Miss clueless gets a clue and nods." Ya. We'll be on the porch, mom"  Buffy says. They both get up to go.

" Oh, and girls? No fighting in the backyard. Ok?" Joyce chuckles

" Mom!" Buffy is mortified, but Faith just chuckles.

Buffy wonders when her mom got so smart? Damn, makes things a whole lot more complicated.

The girls sit on the porch, and are quiet for awhile. Then Faith starts the ball rolling.

"Ok, B, before you think I'm some kinda saint here, I want you to know I'm still somewhat pissed at you about last night. Granted, I said some pretty nasty things too, but I didn't go all nuclear on you. You started that. Now, would you like to explain to me why you got so mad?"

" Well, Faith. You lied to me. You dumped me here. I think I'm never going to see you again. Then, you come back , merry as you please, through Giles, no less. And then you put me on the hot seat last night . Geeze, I gotta talk about this with Giles too. Damn. So, you just managed to get all my buttons pushed, and I just totally lost it last night. I'm sorry, I said some pretty hurtful stuff. But it was how I felt, ya get it?"

" Ok, I get it. But remember, little B, you lied to me first. You shut me out of something that was important to both of us. To our relationship. And that really hurt big. Like you couldn't trust me to not go weird. And I admit, I did go weird, but not for the reason you thought. But because it felt like YOU didn't care for ME! And I was stupid in love with you. I thought I was gonna lose you. I didn't know what the hell to do. But I knew this. I needed YOU to realize that I was an important part of your life. And that so wasn't happening. So I did a really stupid thing. I brought you home and left you, hoping you would read my letter and understand what I was doin' But I was too stupid to see I was on the wrong course. Took your mom to straighten me out. I didn't want to lose you to some dead boy. I wanted you! I need to fight for you. And that is why I came back. And no, I just couldn't come up to the front door and ask" Can Buffy come out and play?" 'Cause Dammit, B. You're MY girl, not some fang boy's girl. He had his chance, and HE blew it big time. My turn now! I'm not letting you go without a big fight, do you get it?"

Buffy is secretly pleased, but one thing bothers her, and she isn't letting Faith off the hook about it. " Look, Faith. I'm not your and Angel's ping-pong ball, to be tossed around to whoever wins the serve. I'm my own 'girl' and  * I * choose who I'm with. Not you, not Angel. Clear?"

"Fine, B. But CHOOSE. Not fair, so not fair to let us twist in the wind while you decide eeny, meeny, miney, moe. Oh, and a tip? Choose the one WITH a heartbeat"

Buffy arches a brow. "And that would be?" gives Faith a sidelong glance, and giggles

Faith gives her a slap on the arm and growls at her.

Buffy gets a little shy. " Is this the part where we kiss and make up?"  She looks at her feet

Faith grins " Uh, yeah…but carefully, ok? My mouth feels like hamburger"

"Aw, poor baby" Buffy giggles, and gives her a tiny little kiss on the lips.

"Oh, and Buffy? That's all you get, kisses, until you tell Fang to take a hike. No other Faithy goodness for you, otherwise"

" His name is Angel. Do you have to call him Fang?"

"Fine. Dead boy then. Whatever. But no kidding, and no repeats of the café thing, either!"

Buffy nods, but she has her " We'll see about that" look.

"Ok, give me another kiss then" Faith says

Buffy does, and at that moment hears

"Well, about time you two" Joyce says. " I'm off to work. One of you cleans up the kitchen before you leave. And don't forget Buffy…school day?"

Faith Blushes.

Buffy blushes "Aw GEEZE Mom! 'K, fine. Bye"

Joyce leaves.

"'K, B. you get ready for school, I get you there on the bike. Then I'll come back and do the dishes, and see if I can find some job around so I can make a little money. Don't want to sponge off of you and your mom. I like your mom."

"Yeah, for a mom, she's not half bad"

" Now scoot" Faith says. She watches Buffy go in

Hey, said I wouldn't touch. No rule about looking, she chuckles to herself.

She follows Buffy in , and closes the door.

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TBC.

Norwalker  deftly dodges tomatoes as the audience screams " Sell out!" and " Hey, where did that come from ? !"

Thanks for reading, anyway  =)