Here we go…
"The Dawning of Faith"
Chapter 18
"No, I think it's something a lot more powerful than that," Willow said.
"How was the morning workout, Dawn?" Willow greeted her Tuesday afternoon.
"Normal, no rocket girl today. What's on tap here?"
"Wanna make things float?"
"Neat!" exclaimed Dawn. She was in a much better mood leaving than she had been on arriving.
Wednesday afternoon found Dawn entering the gym to see Faith standing casually beside a pile of oddly-sized chunks of wood. She was smiling broadly, and Dawn's heart leapt at the sight. She couldn't help it; a happy-looking Faith was her very favorite thing in the world to look at.
"Are we going to hunt termites or make kindling?" Dawn asked.
"We're gonna chuck wood," Faith told her, "at least I am. This will be fun, and it will serve two purposes, work on your hand/eye coordination, and help erase whatever leftover impulses to protect the edge might be there from my screw-up on Monday. Goggles, headgear, and pads. We can't mess up that pretty face before the show, now, can we?"
Dawn couldn't help this either, it set her skin to tingling to hear Faith call her pretty. I'll take what I can get," she thought as she donned the protective gear.
"Okay," said Faith, "here's the deal. Every one of these things you split in two is a point for you. Every one you don't is a point for me, unless it's a wild pitch. If it hits you, you lose a point. Loser buys tonight at the club. Any questions?"
"Are you going to hold anything back from me?"
"Just till we get warmed up. Then I'm gonna bring the heat. You ready for it?"
"Give me everything you've got," Dawn said emphatically.
"Get set Hank," Faith advised, "this is the big leagues!" …
"Pinnngggg!" The sound of another bisected hunk of wood echoed throughout the gym.
"That's it," Faith said, "last one. Let me check my scorecard here…"
Dawn was grinning as she stripped off her protective gear; she knew perfectly well who had won the game.
"It was close," Faith announced, "but you squeaked by. Good job!"
"How close?" Dawn insisted. Faith grinned.
"125 to 46," Faith admitted.
"Hah! I own your ass!" cried Dawn.
"Yeah, you do," Faith said simply. "Rona and Candace have gym duty and they're gonna hate both of us. I need to get cleaned up, big night tonight," she walked slowly towards the exit, and turned back just before she got there. "You were wonderful Dawnie," she said, "I gave you everything I had, and you took it all."
Dawn stood staring after her, her mind frantically trying to make sense of the whirlwind of emotions that raged through her heart.
"Are you sure that my sort of music will be well-received here? I mean to say, the clientele is rather young, I presume?" Giles asked for the third time as Dawn drove him to the club that evening, along with Willow, Faith, and Buffy.
"Giles," said Willow patiently, "is music the universal language or not?"
"Well of course it is, but-"
"And do you believe in music?" she pressed.
"Well of course I do, but I fail to see how an old Mac Davis song is relevant to the situation!"
"Who?" chorused Buffy, Dawn, Faith, and Willow.
"I'm doomed," muttered Giles as he cradled his face in his hands, "thank God the rest of the girls won't be there."
Female grins lit the interior of the car upon hearing Giles' plaint.
Buffy took Willow by the arm and held her back while everyone else went inside.
"Why didn't Kennedy come with us, Will?" she asked baldly.
"We're done," Willow shrugged.
"Sorry," Buffy said as she hugged her oldest friend.
"I'm okay with it, really. I feel like a bitch for thinking it, but I'm relieved. She's gorgeous, and she's good in bed, but she's a brat."
"And she's not Tara," added Buffy.
"Not even close."
"You've still got me," Buffy promised her. Willow looked deeply into Buffy's eyes, and Buffy felt distinctly odd.
"And that's the only reason I'm still alive," Willow said softly. "Let's go inside."
"Oh. My. God." Buffy thought, as she struggled to breathe.
"Well, I must admit that the ambience is quite pleasant here, but still –"
"Giles?" said Buffy.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
"Oh, yes. Quite right, stage nerves, I still get them after all these years, I suppose."
"Relax, G!" advised Faith, "me and Buff and the Incredible Dawnie like your stuff, these clowns will eat it up. Trust me." Dawn felt a bubble rising within her, and ruthlessly stamped on it.
"And I appreciate your regard," Giles told her, "but I dare to hope that you are the least bit biased on the subject."
"Giles?" said Buffy.
"Yes?"
"Lame is lame. We all love you, but if you sucked, we'd tell you."
"Word up," Willow chimed in.
"Hey guys!" greeted Chastity, "great to see you again!" She set a Singapore Sling in front of each of them.
"We didn't order these," protested Giles.
"These are from those two guys over there," explained Chastity. "They said to tell you that if anybody doesn't like these to just let me know and I'll get you something else."
"We met them the last time we were here," Faith told them, "right, Dawn?"
"Yeah, they're cool. Last time was their 3rd year anniversary, they're a great couple, and really nice," Dawn promised.
"Oh, how very well-mannered of them," Giles said as he tasted his drink. "Quite good actually, shall we have them join us?"
"Yeah, you'll like these guys," Faith said as she waved them over.
"They're wonderful dancers too," Dawn volunteered.
"How do you suppose they feel about ballads?" Giles asked.
"Finish your drink, Rupert," Willow commanded.
"Hi girls!" Ted greeted them, "I see you brought some pretty with you!"
"He was looking at you, Giles," Willow whispered to him.
Giles had a bit of a coughing fit.
"Sorry, went down the wrong hole," Giles explained.
"We hate it when that happens," Bill agreed.
"PPFffffttttt!"
"Sorry Giles," Buffy said as she mopped Singapore Sling off of his jacket.
"Giles, Buffy, Willow," said Faith as she pointed to each of them, "meet Bill and Ted," she finished as she indicated the owners of those sobriquets.
"You're kidding, right?" asked Buffy.
"What I said," Dawn confirmed.
"We have got to change our names," Ted mumbled.
"We can just lie about them," Bill countered. "Anyway, how is the hottest les couple in town this evening?"
Dawn flushed crimson, and Willow sheeted white. Giles was reviewing lyrics and missed it, and Buffy turned to stare at Willow.
"Oh," stammered Dawn, "n-no. You see, we were just-" she abruptly ceased speaking when Faith gently took her hand, and then captured Dawn's eyes with her own.
"Right out in the open, okay?" Faith asked her softly, in a voice thick with emotion. Dawn nodded numbly, afraid to believe.
"Buff?" Faith said. Willow's face bloomed with hope, and Giles abruptly focused on the now.
"Huh? What?" Buffy said as she tore her eyes away from her oldest friend.
"You remember the morning after that night we spent holding each other's hair?"
"Sure. The night's a bit fuzzy, but the morning is painfully bright in memory, why?"
"Then you remember that I told you that my heart belonged to somebody, right?"
Dawn felt a bubble rising inside of her once more, but she could not summon the strength to pop it. Her whole world was teetering on a precipice, but all that she felt was a rising joy.
"Sure. I've been prying ever since, not that you can take a hint, pssh," Buffy answered.
"It's Dawn. My heart belongs to Dawn, if she'll have it."
"It's me?" Dawn breathed.
"It's you," said Faith, as she placed Dawn's trembling hand over her heart. "This is yours. Keep it, break it, I won't hide from it anymore. Yours."
The bubble burst, and Dawn flung her arms around Faith and wept great, wracking, sobs on her shoulder.
"Dawn! My Dawn? My baby sister? You? Dawnie, you're in love with FAITH! "
A silence fell on the group.
"Huh," said Buffy blandly. She picked up her drink and drained it, finished Giles', and then polished off Willow's.
"Yo! Hot stuff!" she yelled. Several heads turned, but Buffy pointed to Chastity and beckoned her to the table. "Reload these and bring us some goodies, this just turned into a party!" she cried, as she beamed at Faith and Dawn.
Faith released the breath that she had been holding, and stroked Dawn's hair.
"I'm sorry I took so long, baby," she whispered, "I was scared, just scared, never in doubt."
"So you're okay with this, Buffy?" asked Willow hesitantly.
"Hell, look at Dawnie," Buffy replied, "I didn't know that much happy existed. I mean, I have to admit that if I could have picked anybody in the world for my sister to fall in love with…it might well have been Faith…" she said in wonder.
"Oh, thank GOD!" exclaimed Giles.
Dawn stopped crying and stared at him, as did everyone else.
"Giles?" said Willow hesitantly.
"Buffy, Willow, Dawn, how long have our lives been intertwined?" he asked calmly.
"Better than ten years now," Willow supplied readily.
"And Faith not so long as that, surely, and much to my regret. But in all of this long and intimate association, have I ever displayed the slightest sign of any sort of insight, sensitivity, wisdom, or indeed intelligence of any kind?"
"Sure," Buffy said in confusion, "loads of times."
"Yeah," agreed Willow, apparently equally at sea.
"Then why on earth do you all persist in treating me as if I were some sort of insensitive, unromantic, unobservant, unfeeling, asexual, homophobic GIT?"
"Huh?" chorused the women.
"Daily, I watch you struggle with your feelings, hurting right along with you. Not just you four, but certainly you four are first in my heart. Do you think that I can't see what is going on in your lives? Do you imagine me incapable of understanding what it is like to be young and in love? Did you ever once think to come to me for counsel on the most precious aspect of your lives? Am I no more to you than an encyclopedia and a checkbook? Don't you think that by now I can tell the difference between hormone-fueled lust and genuine love?"
"God, he's magnificent." Ted whispered to Bill.
"Thank you," said Giles, "I also have exceptional hearing."
"Giles, I'm sorry, I don't know what to say," Buffy said quietly.
"I know you don't, dear Buffy, and I should have spoken up sooner, but I was afraid. Afraid to appear as if I were prying, afraid to appear as a pathetic old man trying to live vicariously through a bunch of young women. Fear steals love from all of us."
Faith squeezed Dawn so fiercely that she gasped.
"Sorry, Dawnie," she said as she loosed her hold.
"Don't let go of me! Don't let go of me, ease up a little, but don't let go of me!"
"I never will," vowed Faith as she pressed her lips to Dawn's brow.
Bill and Ted were weeping openly, and Giles smiled at them.
"Good for you, lads," he told them, "good for you."
"And so I abandon fear," Giles announced, "it has stolen too much from me, and I have no more time to yield to it. I now say plainly that the only couples that I have seen in this last decade and more of my
estrogen-soaked existence that even remotely approach the beauty that was Willow and Tara, God rest her perfect soul; are Dawn and Faith – and Buffy and Willow. And I do wish that the two of you would simply get on with it."
"Here you go!" Chastity said brightly. "Another round of slings, and wings and mushrooms, hello? Guys?"
"It's okay Chas," Ted assured her, "we're witnessing the birth of two brand-new lesbian couples. Things are a little bit emo just now."
"Awww, that's sweet! Hey, check out the yumminess that just walked in!"
The Slayers had arrived.
Faith and Dawn relaxed their grip on each other enough to turn their faces towards Buffy and Willow, who were staring mutely at each other.
"What do you say, Will?" asked Buffy. "Feel like taking a chance on a Slayer retread?"
Willow responded by burying her hands in Buffy's hair and giving her a kiss that carried more than ten years of suppressed longing.
"Faith," Dawn asked, "will you kiss me?" She would.
"Fuck me," said a stunned Amanda, "would you look at that."
Willow and Buffy, and Faith and Dawn, were completely absorbed in making the most of their first real kisses, and Giles was taking a guitar from a case.
"Gosh, Kennedy, I'm sorry you had to see this, are you okay?" asked Candace.
"I'm fine. Willow has been Buffy's ever since Tara died; I just borrowed her for a while. But I could do with some consolation, if you're up for it." Candace took her hand.
"Okay," said Rona, "the bosses are making out, and old Giles looks like he's fixing to sing. Do we bail?"
"Hell no," said Kennedy, "we watch!"
"I beg your pardon gentlemen," said Giles to Bill and Ted, "but this simply had to be done. I couldn't stand it any longer."
"No, it's quite alright," Bill told him, "do you play?"
The kisses were broken in time for the women to hear this last exchange.
"A little," said Buffy, her eyes sparkling with joy, "he plays a little." Giles smiled at her, and nodded in acknowledgement of the compliment.
"If you will all excuse me, I shall now prepare to render unto you yet more sentimental twaddle. Should any of you know how to slow dance, you might consider doing so," he bowed and left the table.
"That dude is totally non-heinous," breathed Ted.
"Non - non –non – heinous," corrected Bill.
"He sure is," agreed Faith.
"Do you think he'd be up for a three-way?" asked Bill hopefully.
"I'd have to say that it wouldn't surprise me all that much, he did my mother on the hood of a cop car. Twice." Buffy granted.
"Twice?" Dawn blurted.
"Water under the bridge, Dawnie, water under the bridge."
"The girls are here," Willow announced. Buffy called Chastity over to their table.
"What can I get you?" she asked brightly.
"You see that bunch of girls that just came in?" she asked.
"Well, duuhhh. Lots o' hotties!"
"Several of them are lesbians. Give them all a round on me. Take it easy with the check and I'll introduce you, deal?"
"I'd rather tie up with you and your redhead," she said brazenly. Buffy looked over at Willow, who shrugged.
"Not out of the question, but I'm new at this, so I'm gonna need a little time."
"I'm patient," Chastity promised. She went over to the Slayers and gave them the good news, all of them waved, and Buffy raised her hand in acknowledgement.
"Buffy," Dawn asked slowly, "are you turning into a slut?"
"Nah, I'm just trying to save a buck. I'm management, you know."
"Ohhh, that poor girl," said Willow.
"Orrrr, I might be turning into a slut," Buffy granted, "I'm gonna have to let Willow drive."
"You girls are awesome!" Bill said fervently.
"You have no idea," promised Dawn. "Giles is up," she said excitedly, "I wonder what he'll do first?"
"Boys," cooed Faith, "if there is an ounce of romance in your souls, you are about to die. Dawn, my firstest and only love?"
"Uh-huh," said a still-stunned Dawn.
"Would you dance with a Slayer on the night of her birth?"
"As long as I can hold you, I'm good," Dawn answered.
"That I can promise," Faith told her as she took her hand.
"I'm gonna cry again," Ted said, scrubbing his eyes.
"Yes you are," promised Willow, "Buffy, would you dance with a witch on the night of her resurrection?"
"Seems to me like I owe you a resurrection, I'd love to."
Buffy and Willow joined Faith and Dawn at the edge of the dance floor.
"Our new friends are really interesting, aren't they?" Bill asked.
Giles took his seat on the stool in front of the mike, and adjusted it to suit him.
"Good evening all," he began, "I should like to dedicate this song to four of the most extraordinary women that have ever graced this planet. I know they are, because I'm old and wise. You can tell by the accent."
"Geezer alert," whispered Rona.
"Shut up," commanded Kennedy.
"Really," Amanda added. Rona shut up.
Giles bent over his guitar for a long moment, and then the music blossomed…
When – she- looks at me,
I know the girl sees things, nobody else can see…
Dawn drifted into Faith's arms, and two creatures of singular grace moved onto the floor. Buffy and Willow simply held each other and watched.
All of the secret fears inside,
All of the craziness I hide -
She looks into my soul and reads me like nobody can -
And she doesn't judge my life -
She just takes me as I am!
Bill grabbed Ted's hand.
Come what may, she believes…
And that Faith is something I've never known, before…
Come what may, she loves me,
And that love has helped me open a door,
Making me love myself, a little more.
"Damn," muttered Rona.
When I turn away,
She knows those are the times - there's nothing left to say.
Nothing that anyone can do, and so she lets me live it through!
And when I'm in my darkest hours of uncertainty,
She just simply lets me be…
And goes right on loving me!
Come what may, she believes!
And that Faith is some-thing I've never known, before…
Come what may, she loves me and that love has helped me open a door,
Making me love myself; a little more…
Faith and Dawn glided around the floor, completely lost in each other.
"They are so beautiful together," Buffy sighed happily.
And when it seems my dreams have all slipped through my fingers…
When they just can't be found .
I turn around - and there they are -Shining in her eyes!
Come what may, she believes!
And that Faith is some-thing I've never known, before…
Come what may, she loves me and that love has helped me open a door…
Making me love myself - a little more.
"I love you, Dawn," Faith told her, "with all of my heart."
A/N: "Come What May" – Air Supply