DISCLAIMER: All belongs to Joss Whedon, except Selena and her folks ….

NOTES: Thanx to Keepthe Faith for your kind reviewsand all you others who r&r, it keeps me writing.

This is just a small interlude before it´s ooff to L.A

The quote is from the song " Kissing You" by Des´re

Truths

The right can stand a thousand trials

The strong will never fall

But watching stars without you my soul cries

Buffy shook her head, feeling as though she was waking from a deep slumber.

Carefully opening her eyes the slayer found herself in her living- room again. She stood backed up against the wall, hearing the banshee sing a beautiful but sad love-song.

Romeo& Juliet …..Buffy remembered watching the movie with Dawn a few times,  when her little sister had become obsessed with Baz Luhrmann in the Moulin Rouge aftermath.

Even though Siobhan was still outside on the porch her voice was as clear and resonant as though she was standing next to Buffy.

Selena stood in the middle of the room, staring out of the window, her face still devoid of any movement.

Buffy swallowed hard. Remembering how her face had looked like with tears running down her porcelain skin.

The fairy had shared something intimate with her and Buffy wasn´t quite sure how she felt about that yet. It could just be another trick, another way to manipulate …..but somehow she did not think so.

As to how the fairy had just sent her back into her very own painful- memories – limbo, Buffy didn´t even  want to know!

" Why me?" she finally asked.

" You ……you are powerful, you can command every monster or so Spike has told me! You can probably raise an army of them and ….."

Selena turned around to look her in the eye.

" I cannot do that."

" What, but the banshee said you…."

" Do I have the power to bend an army of monsters to my will and let them march against my cousin? Yes……I could do that, but I will not."

" Why?"

" Because it would be wrong."

Buffy stared at the fairy in utter confusion. She could feel the anger rise inside of her.

" Oh …so that would be wrong, but blackmailing me into helping you isn´t? I thought there is nothing you would not do…"

Selena still stared at her, unmoving like a statue.

" You don´t understand…."

" Indeed I don´t!"

 Selena sighed, tugging a strand of bronze coloured hair behind her ears. For the first time Buffy got a glimpse at the pointed tops of the fairy´s  ears.

" I cannot use them because they are …monsters, they are evil!"

" And?"

" There are rules….a code of conduct, Buffy ….rules that even I can not change! I claim to be on the right side in this conflict with my cousin. I only want to fight her because she won´t return my guard to me, so I have to go and free him …..it is my right to do so if she is in the wrong."

Buffy felt her brows knit together in surprise.

They had codes of conduct for this kind of thing? 

But finally she thought she understood.

" So let me get this straight…..what you are trying to tell me is that in order to be on the safe side on this little rescue mission of yours, you cannot  use …..evil creatures? So that later you can prove that you did nothing wrong?"

" Yes."

" But it is okay to blackmail me into helping you?"

" There are no rules about that." Selena told her.

Buffy could have sworn that she sounded almost smug.

" But that means that ….." Buffy looked out of the window in front of which Spike was still pacing up and down.

" Vampires and banshees are definitely not in the cuddly puppy category, they would be considered as evil too….."

Selena lifted one of her perfectly arched eyebrows at her, her face still unreadable.

" Yes…..but not this vampire, not this banshee…."

Buffy nodded. She could also feel a faint blush creeping up her neck towards her cheeks. The damn fairy had read her mind……she still felt the desire to cringe, remembering what Selena had said about Spike.

Buffy bit her lip.

" Why me ?" she asked again, quieter this time.

Selena returned her gaze steadily.

" You are the slayer …..you are a force of good."

For a moment there was silence as Buffy thought about all the things she had done that could not really be considered as " good"……

After she had come back from the dead, from heaven, she had hurt people……hurt her friends, her sister, herself ……Spike…

He was the person she had hurt the most in all that time even though right then and there he had been the one least deserving of her resentment. She had hurt him physically and emotionally and yet she had always relied on him to be there…….accepting, forgiving, giving her a piece of his mind when she needed it.

" And …."

Buffy snapped out of her reverie to see the mask fall. The indifference was gone. Selena´s features flooded with emotion and Buffy could feel them spill over, breaking over her like a wave. The feeling made her skin tingle with warmth.

" I want you to understand why I do this, blackmailing you as you say! I want you to understand this Buffy. Cay is immortal, not like your vampire but truly immortal! Whatever my cousin will do to him, whatever ways her twisted mind will find to hurt him and hurt him she will…..it will not kill him! Do you understand that? He cannot die……..he can never die! His torment will be eternal!"

 " If I do this …..you will leave……you will leave me and my friends Spike alone?"

" When Cay is free……you have my word."

" Fine." Buffy conceded still feeling defeated.

" What about my sister, my friends ..I can´t just leave...."

" No harm shall come to them, they are under  my protection, no monster or demon would dare to go against my word.  I will leave Seno with them, if you wish. He will protect them should that be necessary, but it won´t. I give you my oath, slayer…."

Buffy nodded.

 The coldness was back, Selena had retreated behind her mask of indifference again. As she turned to grab her phone out of her jacket to call Dawn she felt the fairies touch on her shoulder. It was a light, almost unreal touch, like the wings of butterfly brushing her skin.

Buffy whirled around to find Selena standing right in front of her, close enough that she could feel her breath on her cheek.

Up close like that Buffy could only marvel at the dreamlike splendour of the fairies appearance. Especially since she knew that without the glamour Selena was about a hundred times more breathtaking. They were about the same height, so Buffy found herself gazing directly into Selena´s storm grey eyes.

" It is not just because you are the slayer , Buffy Summers." She finally said huskily.

Buffy  frowned.

" What do you mean ……?"

" There is another slayer, I believe. I could have chosen her, I didn´t. I choose you because you know….."

" Know what?"

Selena returned Buffy´s intent look, there was a tension that seemed too thick to even cut with a knife.

" What it´s like to love two very different men." The fairy answered tonelessly.

Buffy tried not to stare at the fairy open  mouthed. This was all by far to confusing and annoying. No matter where she turned …the fairy was already there adding to the confusion.

Buffy did not know what to say.

She opened her mouth, but she was at a loss for words…….

She felt another shiver running down her arms. It took her a moment to realize that this time it was not due to Selena´s presence. It had indeed become very cold in the room.

" What exactly is it you think you are doing?" the voice rang in the heavy silence like a shot.

Buffy turned around, already in a fighting stance.

The newcomer was leaning against the wall behind them, casually as though  he was waiting for a friend. His face was bemused and bared a  slightly impatient look at the same time. His handsome face was framed by white hair that hung straight down to his waist, his artic blue eyes trained on Selena. In contrast to his white hair his eyebrows and lashes were black as coal.

Buffy´s eyes wandered between him and Selena just as the door burst open and Selena´s bodyguards charged through the door with Spike and Siobhan on their heels.

They stopped dead in their tracks as soon as their eyes fell on the strange man.

Selena sighed impatiently.

" I was wondering when you were going to catch up with me Liath……"

She turned, sitting down on the armchair facing them all. Just sitting there she looked regal, aw-inspiring despite of her size.

The stranger bowed deep.

" It pleased her ladyship to let me catch up with her, I presume."

At Buffy´s questioning glance Spike moved to stand beside her. He shrugged his shoulders, looking anxious.

" Who is that?"

Spike gave her an odd look.

" Never seen that bloke before….does it really matter, seems to me we already got enough bloody trouble on our hands with the fairy I know!"

Selena seemed to ignore Spike´s comment, though Buffy was quiet sure that she had heard it.

" So have you come with orders from my father to drag me back to the summerlands….?"

The white haired man grinned at her as though all of this really amused him.

" No…"

Selena arched an eyebrow.

" You should have told me, your majesty!" he said reproachfully.

" I would have gone with you!"

"You are my father´s knight, Liath, you obey his orders…."

" Damn you, Selena , he is my friend!"  Liath yelled suddenly, staring at the princess.

" He is my best friend , you should have told me!"

" So you are not here on my father´s orders?"

" Your father doesn´t even know that I left the court….."

" This could land you in trouble…."

Liath grinned wickedly.

" It´s not a place I haven´t been before!"

Selena nodded slowly.

Buffy had followed the whole exchange with growing aggravation. She really had it with all these secrets.

" Alright…who is this?"

All looks turned to her, but this time Buffy did not feel intimidated. These fairies and there intrigues, they could all just go to hell. But then again, had she really expected the royal court of fairy to be any different from the human politics?

Liath raised his eyebrows, giving Buffy an interested look.

" Buffy Summers, the vampire slayer, may I introduce my  cousin Liath ab Sunt, Commander of the palace guard, Lord of snow and frost. I guess he will accompany us to Los Angeles."

" You think it wise to let him come along?" Siobhan asked carefully, bowing as low as she possibly could.

Selena´s lips curved into a devious smile.

" Now that I think about it, indeed…….." she exchanged a look with her grey-haired guard. He snickered and shook his head.

" The sun-kissed one hates the cold."