Chapter 3 - Halloween
The night is clear and calm, the chosen two are enjoying their first patrol together. It's still early in the evening and they haven't seen a single vamp so far. Faith has been trying to get any info on Buffy's past love life and not having much luck. "Never with Xander?" She asks a bit shocked.
"He's a friend." She replies the disgust clear on her face.
"What are friends for?" Faith says, more then suggestively. Buffy ignores the comment, knowing she'll be including it in some inappropriate scenario later. Before she could reply, Angel stepping out from the shadows interrupts them. Faith gets in her fight stance, ready to attack and Buffy jumps in front of the younger girl to stop her. Faith angrily looks at the blonde and says, "He's a vampire!".
"He has a soul." Buffy states a-matter-of-factly. "He helps us out." Faith relaxed but kept the stern look on her face.
"Buffy, who is this?" Angel asks with jealousy clear in his voice.
"Faith. She's a slayer."
"She was called when the Master killed you." Unsure if it was a question or not Buffy simply nodded. Faith didn't like the way Angel was looking at her friend, like they were marking the vampire territory. Realizing how extremely jealous she was, Faith suggested they leave and call patrolling a bust for the night. Buffy agreed that they probably wouldn't find any vamps and they left Angel in the cemetery.
"So what's the deal with you and Fang Boy?" Faith asked when she was sure he was not around to hear.
"No deal. There was almost something...but vampire and slayer...I dunno." Buffy said unsure of what she was really trying to say. "What about you? What's your relationship past like?" She questions trying to change the subject from her.
"Not much to tell. I'm strictly "get some, get gone". Relationships are not for me." Faith said knowing deep down it wasn't true.
The scoobies, including Faith, were walking the halls together when they spotted Snyder harassing a follow student and Willow says "Snyder must be in charge of the volunteer safety program for Halloween this year."
"Note his interesting take on the volunteer concept." Xander joked.
Faith looked confused and asked, "What's his deal?"
Xander was the first reply. "Oh, a bunch of little kids need people to take them trick-or-treating. Sign up and get your own pack of sugar-hyped little runts for the night."
"Yicks. I'll stick to vampires." Buffy states, voicing Faith's opinion as well. Snyder grabs Buffy as they are passing and begins to direct some harassment at her.
"Ms. Summers. Just the juvenile delinquent I've been looking for." He says smugly. "Halloween must be a big night for you. Tossing eggs, keying cars, bobbing for apples, one pathetic cry for help after another. Well not this year missy." He finishes by offering her a pen and the sign up sheet.
Trying to get out of the situation Buffy says "Gosh, I'd love to sign up but I recently developed carpal tunnel syndrome and can tragically no longer hold a flashlight." Faith is very amused by this display and giggles until Synder hands the pen and clipboard to Buffy one more time.
"The program starts at 4. The children have to be back by 6." Snyder says and Buffy reluctantly signs the paper. The rest of the Scoobs are still holding back grins when Snyder hand pens to the three of them behind Buffy.
Later that day they are all at the costume shop picking up everything they needed for the night. Faith and Buffy run into Willow and ask what she's going as. Willow hauls out a ghost costume with "boo" written on the front and she answers "A time honored classic." They aren't very impressed and it shows in their expressions. They collectively try to tell Willow she should be wilder. But the redhead is more interested in how Buffy and Faith seem to be one person when they're together. Xander walks up breaking her thoughts. Buffy asks him what he got and he pulls out a toy gun from the shopping bag he's holding and he defensively states he has army fatigues at home. "Call me a two dollar costume king baby." He says receiving grins from Willow and Faith but Buffy was starring at something across the store. She begins to walk towards the item she was starring at, a beautiful 18th century gown. They gang all follow her to the other side of the shop and Buffy voicing some apology on being so detracted. "I'm sorry, it's just..."
"It's amazing." Willow says finishing her thoughts. Faith couldn't take her eyes off the dress, mush like the rest of the group. All she could think about was how unbelievably beautiful Buffy would be in that dress.
"Too bulky. I like my women in leather." Xander says looking at Faith, who just grins and winks at him.
"Please let me." The storeowner says walking from the backroom over to the dress. He removes it from the hanger and holds the dress in front of Buffy so she can she what it would look like on. "My, meet the hidden princess. I think we've found a match, don't you?"
Willow came over to help Buffy with homework later that night. She had been about an hour with a very silent Buffy. "Will, I need to ask you about something." Buffy announces out of the blue. About time! Willow thought.
"Sure Buff. What is it?" Willow asks concerned.
"I think I'm crushing on someone. And I don't think this person could feel the same for me."
"How could this guy not feel the same Buffy. You're an amazing person. You have everything to offer." Willow says in a comforting voice. "Do I know him?" She asks more mischievously.
"Actually, yes. Will, promise not to freak?" Willow nods and her curiousness continues to grow. "It's Faith." Buffy says bringing automatic shock to the hacker's face. "I don't think I'm gay, but there's something about Faith. Since I first saw her at the Bronze... I think about her all the time, and when I'm with her, there's no one else...And oh my God, when we slay together, Will it's unbelievable. But she made it clear she's not into dating... Say something Will." She says to the shock stricken' redhead.
"This is a lot to take at once Buffy. Wow..." She pauses for a second and Buffy become very worried. "What kind of friend would I be if I freaked about this? We've been through so much Buffy, you're not getting rid of me that easy. I think Faith's great. She'd be an idiot to turn you down." Willow says with a grin. Buffy immediately pulls her into a hug.
"Thank you Willow."
Faith hadn't had time to find her own costume because Buffy had dragged her off to get coffee at the Espresso Pump. Not that she minded, she loved spending time with Buffy more then anything and she had finally gotten some personal info out of her. Faith was surprised that Buffy had also gotten her talking, she wasn't used to opening up but she felt like her secrets were safe with Buffy. With these thought on her mind she was forced to return to the costume shop again. Her thoughts of Buffy were distracting her from finding anything suitable until she spotted the perfect costume hidden in the back. Faith walked up to the rack holding the wardrobe of an eighteenth century nobleman. The slacks and shirt were white and the coat was a deep blue with a tail that hung down to her knees. It had beautiful gold buttons running up each side and it even came with a sword. When she tried it on, she couldn't believe how well it fit, like it was meant for her, like she was meant to be with Buffy.
Every scoobies was somewhat enjoying their time with the kids. Buffy loved being seen in the new gown, Xander was having fun treating the children like his own bootcamp, Willow loved the whole Halloween feel. Faith was disappointed that no one got to see her costume but was still having fun. That all changed when Ethan Rayne cast his spell on the town. In only a moment Sunnydale had become pure chaos.
Willow was wondering the streets trying to find her friends when she ran into Xander. He seems confused so Willow trys to get him to understand what has happened. But her friend doesn't even know her. The redhead releases what's happened to him, Xander thinks he's a soldier. He raises his gun at a vampire that is running toward them and willow stops him yelling "no, no guns! That's still a little kid in there! We just need to find Buffy." She sees Buffy wander by as the words fumble from her mouth. More vamps and demons start to attack the small group and Buffy faints from fear. "Buffy are you alright?" Willow asks when her friend wakes.
"What?" She says timidly still adjusting her eyes.
"Are you hurt?" the soldier answers quickly.
"Buffy are you hurt?" Willow repeats.
"Buffy?" the woman asks.
"She's not Buffy." Willow says to the soldier over her shoulder.
"Who's Buffy?" He asks casually.
"A demon! A demon" The young woman starts yelling and pointing at a car. Willow tries to tell her not to be afraid.
"Is this woman insane?" the soldier asks confused about the whole situation.
"She's from the past." Willow replies.
"And you're a ghost?" The soldier says still skeptical.
"Yes. Now lets get inside." She says hurriedly.
"Just want you to know that I'm taking a lot on faith here." the soldier states ready to accept what's going on.
"Faith!" Willow exclaims. "Come with me."
Willow brought them to Buffy's house where they met up with Angel. She tells him the situation and says to watch Buffy while she looked for Faith. The redhead first went to Faith's motel room but it was empty. She couldn't think of anywhere else Faith could go, except maybe Buffy's, which would be of the good. Willow walked around a corner at the end of Faith's street and almost smashed into a man. He was very apologetic but all Willow could think was that there was something very familiar about this guy. The strange man asked her if she had seen his fiancée, describing her to Willow. She suddenly froze when she realized this man had just described Buffy. "The costumes must have been a set!" she exclaimed. The man looked confused. "I know where she is. Come with me." She said bringing him back to Buffy's with the others.
When they walked through the door the gentleman immediately went to his egar fiancée. He pulls her into a passionate kiss and everyone looks at Willow with confusion. "Who's the new boy toy?" Cordiela asks.
"I think the dress Buffy bought was part of a set. This guy must have bought the other costume." Willow answers. There is a round of "oh" and the unknown gentleman speaks up.
"My name is Edward. I'd like you thank you all for saving my fiancé's life. And to perhaps request some privacy with my dear Elisabeth."
"You can go upstairs. I'm sure Buffy won't mind." Angel tells the couple.
"This too weird." Cordeila says with a huff.
The loving couple walked into Buffy's room and sat together on the bed. "I was so worried. I'd thought I'd lost you forever." Edward says to Elizabeth taking her hand in his and starring gently into her eyes.
"I'm so scared Edward." She replied with a single tear sliding down her cheek.
"I'm with you now Elizabeth. And I promise to never leave you again. I love you so much." He says leaning in and kissing her passionately again. "This night has made me see how fragile life can be, and I want to show you how much I love you before it's too late."
"I love you too." Elizabeth says kissing him and lying on the bed.
Downstairs everyone is getting restless. They couldn't get a hold of Giles and had no idea how to stop this. As the hours passed they one by one had fallen asleep in Buffy's living room. Willow was the first to wake up in the morning on someone's porch back in her original costume. She promptly runs back to the house to find everyone else starting to wake up too. They were all back to normal. They all got up and went home.
Buffy wakes up much later in her own bed. She rubs the sleep from her eyes before remembering everything that happened. An arm was still loosely slung over her waist and she turns around to look at her mysterious gentleman sharing her bed. "Faith! Oh my god!" She shouts jumping out of bed and waking her partner. Memories of last night flood back into Faith's mind and she shouts "B! Oh my god!". Buffy finally realizes that she's naked and grabs her robe from the closet as Faith tries to take cover under the blankets. "We had... oh God... and we were...y'know... oh god." Buffy started to babble.
"Was I that bad?" Faith asks jokingly insulted.
"No! You were great. I mean... oh god." She replies still very clearly freaked.
"B, it's ok. It wasn't really us. It was Edward and Elizabeth. Let's just get dressed and forget about it." The younger girl said suppressing a grin.
"Ok. You're right, it had nothing to do with us. But can we not tell anyone, please?" Buffy asks meekly.
"You got it, B. So I was great?" Faith says slyly causing Buffy to go wide-eyed and run to the bathroom to get dressed.