Title: One Most Likely To...
Author: skargasm
Fandom: BtVS
Rating: R
Pairing(s): Faith/Robin Wood
Beta(s): Unbeta'd but proofread
Prompt(s): tamingthemuse prompt #238 : butterfly
Disclaimer: Not mine, but Joss's
Summary: No one could believe how much she had changed...
A/N: Not sure what I think of this but it was in my head and wouldn't leave me alone so hopefully it's out and dealt with.

None of you could believe just how much she had changed. After the battle with the First, with everything that had gone on finding new homes for people, sorting out finances, rebuilding the Watcher's Council – everyone was so busy. Every now and then, it would come up in conversation – casually – how well things were going in Cleveland. Out of everyone – apart from Xander who didn't count because he was travelling around Africa – they seem to get settled in the quickest. Cleveland became the most settled place to send the new slayers, despite the fact that it was the most active Hellmouth since the one in Sunnydale was buried. And the main reason for this haven of normality; the cause of this bizarre stability?

Faith and Robin. Robin and Faith. They were meant to be a fling, a last chance to simply feel before the big fight. But somehow they became more than that. And it was obvious to everyone. Robin didn't try to fight it or hide from it. In fact, he revelled in it. He loved the normality of his day job as the assistant principal in a fancy high school in Cleveland whilst playing back-up to Faith and the slayers every other night and weekends. Add to that the way he looked at Faith whenever she came into a room or walked past him or simply caught his eye. No one was surprised by how Robin took to things.

Faith, on the other hand. Well, she took everyone by surprise. She sounded the same – if anyone asked, she was five-by-five. She still dressed the same – skin-tight denim or leather trousers; inappropriately short, tight, provocative shirts. Ruby red lipstick, smoky eyes and long tousled brunette hair. Put her in a room with Buffy and the sparks still flew the same. Faith still insisted on calling her B; still made jokes about the loves of Buffy's life both being vampires; was still able to wind up Willow faster than anyone whilst also making her laugh at the same time; was still who Dawn wanted to be when she grew up, much to Buffy's chagrin, horror and terror.

But put her in a room with Robin Wood and Faith transformed. She didn't simper, preen, bat her eyelashes – all things that other, easier girls might do to show their interest in someone. She didn't try to make things self-destruct by cheating or pushing him away, or perhaps any of the other things people expected someone with Faith's damaged background to do when she and Robin had been living with each other for the last 18 months with no hint of an end in sight. But strangely, she didn't flirt in a semi-menacing fashion, make overly sexual advances towards him in company or look at him like he was the last jelly filled donut and it was her first minute off a diet either.

Sitting around talking about it – recovering from the shock of the invitations that arrived in the post that morning – the only way anyone could explain it was that when Robin was around, Faith relaxed. The mask dropped, the sarcasm disappeared and everything about her just softened. Oh, she could still flay the skin off your back with her words. But you were no longer really waiting for her to follow it up with actions and leave you bleeding on the floor. Or if she did, you figured that at least now she'd bandage you up afterwards. Perhaps she wasn't the first Slayer who lived long enough to fall in love and get married, but it sure looked like she might be the first one to actually get that happily ever after. And then the conversation turned to where the hell you could buy a wedding present for a girl who made her own weapons in her spare time and everyone realised that maybe Faith hadn't changed quite that much. Maybe.

fin