This week our topic is Time. Have fun

BtVS – All encompassing - Faith

1. Christmastime

Faith stares at the Christmas tree with wide-eyed wonder. It's so tall she has to crane her neck to see the white and gold angel perched on the top. She inhales the pure pine scent and smiles. It's a once a year aroma to be relished and stored away.

It's all done up in silvers and golds. Much classier than last year's tacky fluorescents. All the pretty presents under the tree complete the scene.

All too soon it's time to leave the store's display and go home to her mother, passed out drunk, and their empty apartment. Merry Christmas, Faith.

It's been a long time since she's had any use for the holidays and their trappings. Who has time for gaudy tinsel and fake snow when you're trying to find a place to bed down, someone to share a few sweaty moments with or dodging demons trying to eviscerate you?

That's why Faith refuses Buffy's fake invitation to her home for Christmas. Watching someone else's perfect holiday will only bring home just how hollow and empty her life is.

Yet when she finds herself at their door and Joyce ushers her into her home, the smell of pine comforts her.


Little girls, little girls, everywhere I turn I see them… The lyrics from Annie spring to mind, starring herself as a modern day Miss Hannigan. But she's a kinder, gentler Miss Hannigan, right? Watching over a hoard of newbie slayers preparing for their first Christmas together.

"Where should we string the tinsel, Faith?" "Should we use candles or bulbs, Faith?" "Sit with us, Faith, and help us string popcorn for the garlands… please?"

What she hears is "See me, love me, want me, please!" and she smiles. Mama Faith… and she wouldn't change any of the steps along the way.

BtVS/AtS – All encompassing – Spike/Buffy

2. Moments In Time

Quickly now, catch the stake and slam it home. Not a huge challenge if her stake-ee has to call out for help. And sheesh, what kind of name is 'Spike' anyway? Ah well, no time to ponder. Buffy raises her arm and brings it down for the killing blow. Poof

And then she hears it. Applause… from the guy in the Bronze. Damn, he must be Spike. "Who are you?"

"You'll find out on Saturday."

"What happens on Saturday?"

"I kill you."

Well, time will tell, won't it? Cocky vampire. Come Saturday, she'll be brushing his ashes from her hands.

With her eyes closed, she knows he's there. She can't make him leave. He won't let her give up. "…it's something they took. We can get it back," he insists.

Buffy asks him to stay in her bed. In her arms. Unwilling to be alone anymore. She curls up into a little ball at his side, enfolded in his strong embrace. The only person left in the world who believes in her.

She will go back. The middle of an apocalypse is no time to play prima donna. In a few hours. After Spike helps her glue it back together.

Buffy hears about the battle in Los Angeles from the Immortal. Her heart breaks when he tells her about the deaths of not one but two of her vampire lovers. He dumps her, no longer needing to distract her.

From her bedroom window she sees the cherry glow of a lit cigarette by the shade tree across the street from her apartment and she wonders; hopes. Taking a leap of faith, she flies down the stairs as fast as she can and is caught in Spike's embrace.

To everything there is a season… this time, she's not letting him go.

BtVS – All encompassing – Joyce

3. Mother-Daughter Time

Most girls her age are thinking about boys and clothes. They've packed away their dolls and toys and set their sights on the future. Graduation, marriage, and children. Fourteen year old Joyce is no exception in her hopes for the future, but she refuses to part with her favorite doll; a blonde-haired, green-eyed cherub she calls Buffy.

The doll was a gift from her mother for her fifth birthday and the passage of time only deepens Joyce's fantasies of a daughter to love and protect. Her Buffy.

She presses a kiss to the doll's forehead and settles down to sleep.

The hospital ceiling passes before her eyes one tile at a time as Joyce is wheeled down the corridor for brain surgery. Just a few more feet and she can drop the calm façade she's holding onto.

This time she's not so sure she'll make it. Her only regret is losing out on time with her daughters. Everyone thinks that Buffy's so strong, but Joyce knows her baby still needs her. And Dawnie… no matter how she came into their lives, needs her more.

A final wave of her fingers and the closing doors block the girls from her view.

For a spirit supposed to be calm and ethereal, Joyce is frantic. Watching over her daughters she's filled with a deep sense of foreboding. Buffy's latest paramour is not what he seems. The energy radiating from the man cuddling her eldest is sinister and dark as he smiles, and he brings out a fierce protectiveness in Joyce.

What can she do to protect her baby? She'll turn to the one man that's come through time after time. Stretching out her senses, she locates the slight energy reading of her favorite vampire. He's in trouble. Please… let her be in time.