Buffy's Point of View

Now that Faith made Dawn scream loud enough to deafen me, I have to look at the kitchen catastrophe that I have to clean up. Ick. Uh-oh. Mom's got lecture face.

"Buffy, I'd like to talk to you about Faith." Oh, here it comes. I knew that her little moment of laughter earlier was just a fluke. This is going to be a huge lecture about-

"I think that you two are perfect for each other," Mom stepped around the island and leaned against it, facing me. Huh?

"What?" I asked. Ok, maybe it wasn't a fluke. It'll be best not to get my hopes up, however.

"I said so before and I meant it. I think that the two of you are good for each other. Well, I think that you're good for Faith. Honey, I love both of you, and if you truly love one another, I'm glad that you've found that. But I want you to be…how do I put this..."

FLUKE ALERT! I knew it!

"I want you to be careful with Faith. She's been hurt a lot in her life. I want you to be sure that this is absolutely what you want before you get into it, because if it isn't, and you find that out too late, it could devastate her. Both of you would never be the same. I think that it would actually kill a part of her. She really loves you, Buffy. It's very obvious, and it has been for some time. But if you don't feel absolutely the same, then you need to break it off now before it causes any more damage. I think that she would be devastated now as it is," Mom continued.

"Wait, Mom-"

"No, Buffy. Let me finish. I loved your father, I did, but we weren't meant to be together forever. Thankfully he brought me two wonderful girls that I wouldn't trade anything for, but he wasn't the right one as far as forever love goes. I don't want you to make the mistake that I did, even though I love you and Dawn so much and I would do it all over the exact same way if it was the only way to keep the two of you. But you should take a step back and be absolutely sure because otherwise you could be in for a lot of pain in the future – you and Faith. I love you both, but you should also know that I may not always agree with your decisions as I support you. I will always be here for both of you however, apocalypse or not."

Wow. That wasn't what I had been expecting. I walked over and gave my mom a hug.

"Thanks, Mama. I love you." I let her go and sat on the sink across from her. "I love you, and I love Faith. Mom, I love her so much that it hurts. I want her to be here, and stay here, and I just…I'm afraid something will happen to her…that I won't be able to protect her. But I don't want to be all over-protective of her because I know it'll drive her insane. And I'm worried. Mom, I had to kill Angel once…I don't…I love her so much – so much more than Angel. And it's happening so fast, but I just hate being away from her, even now. It hurts when I can't feel our slayer connection. But right now I can feel it just like she's-"

"Uh, hey. I just, um, I forgot my…" Faith stood in the doorway and gestured to her jacket that was sitting on the chair.

"Here," I finished. Had she heard all of that? "Oh…"

"Hey, B, just…don't…it's all good. I'll just…I'll be back…gonna go, now. So…later."

"Wait, Faith!" Mom grabbed my arm, and Faith was already out the door. What have I done? I probably scared her off! I mean, she knows I love her, but…not…Ah!

"Shh, Buffy."

"What? No! Mom, what if she heard everything?"

"Oh, I have no doubt that she did."

"WHAT?!?"

"Buffy, I heard her come back in. She heard everything that we said. And don't you look at me like that! She needed to hear it. Now it's going to take her a little bit of time, but she knows that we're both sincere," she said simply. "She needed to hear it," she repeated and sighed.

I don't even know what to think anymore. I think I really screwed something up here.