A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed, it's highly appreciated. So far almost everyone has asked for a B/F pairing but I haven't decided yet. There will be 23 chapters ahead, so I have a lot of time to pick, haha. But the intent will be there.
Keep up the reviews, the more reviews, the faster I'll update.
Thanks again to the reviewers! So much. And to salty-goodness-lover(love the name..), I'm not sure if I'll be getting Faith a cure. We'll just have to see. :)
Disclaimer: I still don't own these character's.
Been Given 24 Hours
First Hour
Buffy just sat there, eyes wide with shock and disbelief. She sat up, moving her hand away from Faith's forehead. "What makes you think that..?" The small girl questioned softly, swallowing hard.
"I just know, B." Faith replied with something of a smile playing of her lips. "Who woulda thought I'd go down like this."
The blonde stood up abruptly, no longer facing the girl, causing Faith's smile to fade and her eyebrow to quirk up. "Faith..how can you say that?" She turned, now facing her once more, green eyes filled with fear. "You can't die.."
Something about the way Buffy was looking at her made Faith shift uncomfortably. Her eyes drifted away from the older Slayer's gaze, looking anywhere but her.
"We've been through so much." Buffy sat down again, beside her. And Faith's gaze finally met her's again.
The dark Slayer smiled weakly. "For sure."
"I meant in the past year."
"Huh?"
Buffy grinned, unlocking their eyes and looking down at her hands. "We share an apartment. We fight, we makeup, we fight more. We'll hate each other for a day and you'll do something all un-Faith like and make me forgive you again. I don't know..it's just..I can't let go of you yet..I don't know if I ever---"
She looked over at Faith who had, once again, passed out. Something about the sight of the brunette out cold on that couch made Buffy want to smile, but at the same time she was choking back tears. She knew Faith was right. She knew that Faith was dying, and there was nothing she could do about it.
But all of this seemed to bring back memories that Buffy held so dear to her.
—Flashback—
Buffy had just burst open the apartment door, thanking goodness for Slayer strength. Faith had been scooped up in her arms, a typical night, dragging this drunken girl home. The blonde sluggishly walked over to the couch where she roughly plopped Faith down. The girl was out cold, and Buffy slipped off her coat, and sat on the ground next to the couch.
The brunette's eyes fluttered open. Her head ached. "Shit.."
"Booze hound."
Faith sat up, smirking at the sight of her blonde friend below her. "What are you doing? Watching me sleep?"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's it." She played along sarcastically. "No, Faith.. You're like this every night."
"I drink, so what?"
"You drink too much, that's what."
Faith's smirk faded, replaced with the look Buffy despised so much. The you-can't-tell-me-what-to-do look. "Why don't you drink? I see you eyeing the beer, the Vodka shots. Live a little, B."
"No, Faith. I'm the one who has to drag you home every night, and be at your side all the time. What am I? Your mom? You're like a freaking little kid." The girl sighed, irritated. "You need to grow up, Faith. I can't do this anymore."
The dark haired girl got up angrily, but sloppily, still woozy from the booze. She walked over to the door. "You wanna leave?" She opened the door, gesturing for Buffy to walk out. "Then get out."
"That's not what I said.."
"Get out!"
Silence.
"Is that what you want Faith?"
More silence. But this one was soon interupted by the sound of the door slamming shut.
"I thought that's what you wanted, B. Yanno, so you wouldn't have to babysit me anymore." Faith sneered, leaning against the door.
Buffy gathered her thoughts, taking in a deep breathe and meeting Faith's gaze. Her brunette counterpart was frowning, awaiting a response. "That's not it."
"Then what the hell do you want from me?"
"Stop drinking?" She swallowed. "Please? At least for week. Just prove to me that you can."
"You think I can't?"
"We'll see."
Faith sauntered over to her friend, placing her hand out. "You got yourself a deal girlfriend."
And they shook on it.
The following day, Faith had an awful hangover, and remained in bed most of the day. Buffy wanted so badly to tease her, but the sight of her friend lazily dragging herself to the toilet to puke, made her hold her tongue. Serves her right.. The blonde thought, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
But Faith stayed true to their agreement, and hadn't had one drink since. It surprised Buffy, and she knew that Faith probably was only doing it to prove her wrong. But she hoped that she was doing it, because she knew it would make Buffy happy. Wishful thinking, probably.
Sometimes though, people prove us wrong.
A week had now passed, and Faith still hadn't returned to her old ways. And one night, after a hefty night of slaying, Buffy was greeted to the heavy smell of dinner when she entered the apartment. Her jaw dropped when she saw Faith sitting there, with food set for two.
"Bout time." The girl said quietly, setting her fork down and standing up.
"What is all this?"
Faith paused. "Dinner..what's it look like?"
Buffy just giggled, eagerly taking of her jacket and sitting at the seat set for her. There was chicken on the plate, that looked–to her surprise–well cooked. There was also a small salad, with just lettuce and mushrooms, the way Buffy liked it. And to top it off some fries, which didn't look as presentable but the girls loved fries.
"Faith this is.." Buffy looked up at her, smiling gently. "This is so thoughtful."
"What can I say?" She said flashing the blonde a typical smirk.
"Did you make all this yourself?"
"You bet."
And with that, Buffy's grin grew wider as she cut a piece of her chicken, carefully examining it, then eating it. She clapped her hands in glee. "Faith! This is so good! Since when did you go all Emeril on me?"
"When you're a kid in Boston with a drunk-ass mom, you kinda learn how to fend for yourself." She looked up at Buffy, some kind of twinkle in her eye. "That usually included mac and cheese, but soon I was a pro."
The blonde chuckled. "I can't even see you boiling water."
Faith grinned, a full grin that reached her eyes, and even revealed her dimples. "Well I can. And hey, at least I can drive."
Buffy stuck out her tongue in a very child-like manner. "No you can't, you just have that Harley."
"I have something though. Besides you love it."
"No, psh. I hate motorcycles. Your's just isn't loud and has the comfy seats."
"You just like me in that helmet."
The blonde roared with laughter. "Oh yeah and your huge cop sunglasses, what a stud!"
And they went on debating the whole night, laughing all the while. It was one of Buffy's most dear memories of them.
Though she was snapped out of her trip down memory lane when Angel entered the room, a strange device in his hand.
"Buffy, I found something that could be related to Faith's condition." He held out his hand, revealing an old looking clock, or something of that sorts, crusted and broken at certain spots. It had symbols and one hand, that was moving very slowly. "Giles has more detailed volumes, he's looking into it too."
For a while the slayer just sat in silence, her eyes fixed on Faith. "Angel..She woke up again, and she said that..she thinks she's..dying." Buffy swallowed.
"Dying?"
A nod.
"Well.. She can't know that for sure. None of us do." He reassured, taking a few steps closer to the girl.
And suddenly, the old time clock starting rumbling in Angel's hands, causing him to drop it abruptly. The two watched as it shook, and one of symbols disappeared, seemingly evaporated to dust. And it went back to normal. Buffy blinked.
"..Er, what just happened?"
Then the phone rang.
"I'll get it." Angel said quickly, going over to the phone. "Hello? Giles, yes. Right. Yeah. It does..oh. Alright. I'll get back to you."
"So what's the sitch? This an apolcolpty thing or---"
"There's a countdown."
"A what what?"
"That clock." He gestured to the object on the ground. "It's counting down, those symbols represent numbers going up to 24."
"24 what?"
"Hours." The vampire paused, looking down and slipping his hands into his pockets. "24 hours until..Faith dies."
A/N: Dun dunnn cliffhanger. Haha now you have to read the next 23 chapters. :D Hope you enjoy, please review!
