The day is finally over. I spent a lot of it on the couch, talking with Willow and Tara, enjoying talking to them without the pressure of all the emotional baggage of the last two months. Anya got roped into the Playstation hysteria and the four of them played some zombie-killing game for hours. We ate a ton of snacks and did end up playing miniature golf and then getting ice cream afterwards. I haven't seen Dawn so happy in a long, long time. The Summers girls don't seem to be able to resist Faith's charms, I guess. Tara and Willow withdraw upstairs for some 'alone time,' leaving us alone with Dawn.

"Dawn"

"Just a minute."

"Squirt, we have something important to tell you." Something in Faith's tone gets to Dawn. She sits up and looks at us, cautiously, and not without a little bit of suspicion.

"Dawn, um, Faith and I, well, we're... we're dating." Her eyes narrow, looking between us both.

Finally, she says. "You mean, like Willow and Tara." I nod. Faith is watching her carefully. Some silent communication passes between the two of them as Dawn gives her an appraising look, like Faith's that morning. "Ok." She rolls back on her stomach, and then rolls back so she can look at Faith. "If you hurt my sister..."

Faith has the most open, gentle look on her face I've ever seen. "I wouldn't dream of it" she answers, seriously.

"Well, ok, then." Dawn turns back to her game.

Faith and I share a smile, then I let out a sigh and rotate my neck to release the tension. Faith's hands are there in an instant, sliding her hands up my spine to my neck, deep rubbing the muscles between my shoulders.

"Better" I collapse back and snuggle into her arms, wrapping myself in her warmth and spicy scent.

"Mmmmm, yeah. Perfect." She kisses the top of my head and just sits there and holds me. Faith is a cuddler. Who knew"That went better than I thought it would."

"The whole day went much better than I expected."

I laugh. "Yeah, well, everyone sees what a good influence you are on me."

"Good influence" Her voice holds a note of disbelief.

"Yeah. First time for everything, F."

"Very first time. Although I don't think they would agree if they had seen you drinking tequila shots with me." I inhale sharply, thinking about her lips on my wrist. "That was most un-lady-like, and un-Buffy-like, behavior."

"Didn't we cover all the ways I'm NOT a lady last night"

"All? No. A few, maybe, but not all."

A few minutes later, Dawn exclaims"Yuck. I can hear you kissing."

"Sorry, squirt."

"And don't call me squirt."

I sit up, reluctantly, and sit facing Faith on the couch. "So, we should talk." She has that innocent look again, like she has no idea what I'm talking about. "About finances." She tries to keep the innocent look for another minute, but I have my version of Willow's 'Resolve face' and it's irresistible.

Something tells me this is not going to be an enjoyable conversation. And her first words bear me out. "The mayor... adopted me. Made me his heir." I can tell she's resisting the urge to get up and pace. "I was... sitting around my jail cell, about six months in, when this suit comes to see me. Tells me about the will, explains that before, I wasn't eligible because I was under that warrant, but now that I'm serving my time, I'm..." she shrugs. "Anyway, it shouldn't haven't been anything because nobody knew the Mayor was dead. It was assumed that he perished in the high school fire, but since no body was found, he should have been on the missing person's list for years, maybe decades. But apparently, he thought of that. There was a, something, in his will, that if he's missing for two years, that he's to be declared legally dead."

She runs her hands through her hair in agitation. "So... he had a bunch of long-term investments, stocks and things. Being a hundred years old, I guess you get in on the ground floor of a lot of companies. So one of the things I've been doing while I've been in Sunnydale has been meeting with his lawyers and financial advisors to get this whole thing straightened out."

"It cleared probate a couple of weeks ago. Most of it was re-invested, long-term stuff." Faith looks up and catches my eyes, looking at me seriously, and somewhat nervously. "The first thing I did was set up two trusts. One for you. And one for Dawn. Dawn's kicks in when she starts college, enough to pay for school, with enough incentive built in for her to finish school." She hurries through this next part. "Your's is available immediately, whenever you need. Both are renewable and interest-generating, so unless you pull the whole chunk of cash out, it'll be there."

"Faith? What? Why? You didn't have to..." I ask just a few of the questions that are bouncing around my head. At least this explains the investment books.

"I know I didn't have to. I wanted to. I never had anyone to take care of before."

"Wait, you said, two weeks ago? But we, you and I... that was before..."

"The trusts have nothing to do with that. I was going to tell you the other day, but we ran out of time. I dropped you off here on my way over to pick up the final paperwork from the lawyer that afternoon."

"Wow." I'm awe-struck. "I can't believe... you're amazing." The mood is definitely deep here on the couch. "So... I guess this means you can take me someplace cool, like Paris, for our anniversary next year."

Faith stiffens. Oh, great, Summers. Way to put your foot in your mouth. I put my hand on her wrist and lean in to catch her eye. "Faith? I'm sorry, bad joke, I didn't mean to come off like I'm after your money or something."

The look on her face is one of absolute terror and complete happiness, all rolled up in one. Her eyes search out mine. "You said a year."

"Yeah. Yeah, I did. You think you can handle that" I ask, teasing, but her response is completely serious.

"I don't know. I... this thing with us has already lasted at least four times as long as most of my other, um, relationships. And that's not counting from the Bronze the other night."

She's sitting very still, eyes unfocused, elbows on her knees, clutching her hands together, lost somewhere in the past. I'm struck again by the changes in her, quiet reflection where before she would just laugh off the serious stuff with a joke, sarcasm, or hostile indifference. I touch her arm, gently. "Tell me."

Dawn has stopped playing her game; she catches my eye and nods toward upstairs. I don't know how much she's heard, but she's smart. And more tactful that I ever remember her. She slips up the stairs quietly and I'm not even sure Faith heard her, caught up in the past as she is.

Faith sighs. "Nothing much to tell. Especially if I leave out all the parts where I'm a loser, loser-magnet, or slut." The self-hatred in her voice is difficult to take. I want to cut her off, assure her that it's not true, but she needs to see this for herself. "I wasn't much, before I became a Slayer. Mom was an alcoholic. I never knew my father. I don't even know if mom knew who he was. She would bring home guys, not really johns cuz they wouldn't pay her, just bring a bottle. She's just use them, sex and alcohol fix." Her hand runs up through her hair as she lowers her head, grabbing her hair so tight that I think she's going to rip it out at the roots. "You know, like me. Even in prison, I... got what I needed from the guards. That way."

She's silent for so long, I reach out my other hand and touch her shoulder. "Faith..."

She jerks her shoulder out from under my hand. "There's more. You might as well know now. Full disclosure, informed consent, all that." Another long pause, and then suddenly she rubs her scalp vigorously, with both hands. "Some of the guys... after mom passed out... found my room." There's deep disgust and recrimination in her voice, directed at herself, but no self-pity. "The last was right about the time I starting feeling my slayer strength. He came in... tried... and I hit him. He... flew across the room. I jumped on him and... went crazy. He was laying there in my room, making this wheezing sound as he breathed, while I packed and then ran out of the apartment."

She swallows, hard. "I ran, right into the hands of my watcher, there in the hallway. She was observing me. She took me, with her, to her house, and I never saw my mom again. Miss Beasley, my watcher, told me the guy survived, but I... don't know that for sure." Another long pause stretches. "She was good to me, Mz. Beaz, was. Took care of me, gave me a home, made sure I had food to eat, took me to movies, trained me to use my power. Then, she..." Faith's head falls into her hands, finally, her back shaking with silent sobs.

I wrap myself around her, holding her while she cries, smoothing her hair. After a long time, the shaking stops. I loosen my grip and she sits up. "That's what I was running from when I ran here. The mayor... reminded me of Mz. Beaz, in his evil way. I went to him and he... took care of me, took me in. After I failed to be a slayer, like Mz. Beaz tried to show me how to be, I had nothin' else." She's shivering, as if the memories chill her to her very soul. "Did Angel ever tell you about that night, in the alley, after I tortured Wesley? I... begged him to kill me. At that point, that was all I wanted out of life, a quick death." She's silent again, for a long time.

"Faith." She's still quiet, but I can tell she's listening. I squeeze her in my embrace, hard. "I'm sorry. Can you... ever forgive me"

She comes back to the present at my words. "Huh, B, what? Forgive you"

"I was... lousy to you... when you first came here. I left you in that motel, alone, didn't hang with you, except for work, and blamed you for something that was both of our responsibilities."

"B, no, it's..."

"No." I cut her off. "I wasn't a good friend to you. For whatever my messed up reasons at the time, I... I'm sorry." I take a long, deep breath, still holding on tightly. "And I almost drove you off again when you were trying to face all this, in LA. I was so angry..."

"Because I made you a victim."

"Maybe... That moment, in the church, right after we changed back to our own bodies, I... wanted, right then... I felt, after living through what those council guys did, thinking I was you... that maybe I understood, a little, and I wanted... to try to work things out. You ran out of that church, and I hesitated, just long enough... I couldn't find you, after. Then I found out, the thing with Riley, and it felt like I had gotten used, that my sympathy was all a part of your game. Again." This time, it was my time to pause. "That doesn't excuse how I acted like a self-righteous bitch when I was down there. I... just thought you should know."

Another long silence and then Faith sits up, shaking me off so she can stretch her back and shoulders. "So that's my fucked-up life, B. Fun bedtime story material." She's looking off in the distance again, her face set and voice hard. "This... you and me thing... now that you know... we shouldn't..." She moving like she's trying to slip off the couch, away from what I am going to say.

"Are you kidding me" My voice is loud and breaks across the softness of hers. "At the risk of repeating myself. You. Are. Amazing." Now she's looking at me, finally, but her look tells me she thinks I should be institutionalized. Not exactly a comforting look. "Faith. God, I knew you went through stuff. I didn't know it was as... difficult as it really was. And through all that, you were strong, you turned your whole life around, and were even selfless enough to come back here and... pull me back from the brink." My eyes are trained on hers. "I would be dead if it wasn't for you." I can tell she wants to deny that, but my eyes convey the truth of my statement.

"You've had a difficult past, and we've had a rocky past, but all that is past. You can't run me off with that, not with the way I feel about you."

"I gotta try harder, huh" Her joke is half-hearted, and not without the remnant of pain in her voice, but she sounds almost like herself.

"Much, much harder."

"There is some stuff I haven't told you about prison..." she says, with a mock hopeful tone in her voice.

I slide around so I'm straddling her legs, my arms around her neck. "Later." I nibble on her ear, feeling her fingers tighten on my hips. "I just found out that this incredibly hot, sexy slayer I have a crush on is rich as well and I need to make sure I have her thoroughly hooked before she sees me with weird bed hair or something."

"She's already seen that and thinks it's adorable."

I slide off her lap and stand on shaky legs. "Come on, let's go to bed." She takes my hand and as I pull her up beside me"But, we have to be much quieter than last night. And I sure hope my bed can handle our, um, aggressive tendencies."

Faith laughs softly as she follows me up the stairs.

FIN

Yup, that's it folks, for this story. I kinda lost steam on it. I do have some other things in the works, another B/F story set in the third and forth season that has a better plot than just two girls fall in love. Plus I'll be continuing on the Tempting Fate story as well. Thanks, everyone, for your kind reviews and encouragement. Be seein' ya. -z