Title: The Mayor

Author's Name: SavageLove

Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Pairings: Buffy/Faith

Ratings: PG-17

Warnings: This story contains a love between two women. If that bothers you, then find something else to read. This story also contains graphic language and sex, so if you are not 21y/o or older, please find something else to read.

Disclaimers: I do not own the characters, nor do I own anything other than the story I wrote. I am not making a profit off of this.

Feedback Email Address: ImNDeepThoughts2@aol.com

Chapter 9: The Mayor

Notes: Songs in this chapter are: ‘Baby Mine,’ by Disney; ‘God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You,’ by *NSYNC.

~~~~~

Dawn slowly awoke to crying baby. Groaning, she rolled over and looked at her alarm clock. It was eight o’clock. “Might as well get up,” Dawn muttered. Dawn got up and got dressed. She walked into the baby’s room and smiled at the scene she had walked into. Faith was sitting in the rocking chair, slowly rocking back and forward, as she breast-fed the baby. Faith was looking down at the baby and the baby had a small hand on Faith’s breast, like she was holding on in fear of being dropped. Dawn doubted that Faith would ever let that happen to the baby. Faith was very protective of the little one to the point of being a worrywart mother hen.

“Hey,” Dawn said, softly so she didn’t frighten Faith or the baby.

Faith looked up and smiled. “Hey Crack of Dawn.”

“I’m going to go and get some donuts, want some?” Dawn asked, leaning against the doorjamb.

“Yes, please. You got money?” Faith asked, a little amused at Dawn. Dawn didn’t know how much she was like her sister. Faith often caught Buffy or Dawn standing in the doorway of a room watching her with the baby, both with similar expressions on their faces, yet different. Buffy almost always had a loving smile, while Dawn had a loving and an amused one.

“Yeah, and I’ll be back in twenty minutes,” Dawn said.

“Okay,” Faith said, as Dawn walked out of the room.

Faith smiled and looked down at the baby. The baby was looking at Faith with wide eyes. She waved a small fist. Faith gently took the little hand in hers and kissed it.

“You know, I could get used to a sight like that,” a voice said from the doorway.

Faith looked up and saw Buffy in the doorway, dressed in her security guard uniform. “Oh? And what would that be?” Faith asked, as she watched Buffy put a camera on a dresser.

“My beautiful girlfriend breast feeding our daughter,” Buffy said, smiling. “Good thing I got it on film.”

Faith rolled her eyes. “You’re a picture taking monster, you know that?” Faith stated.

“I want for her to have what my mom have me,” Buffy said, softly.

“And what would that be?” Faith asked, confused and curious.

“Hold on, I’ll show you,” Buffy said and left the room before Faith could utter another word.

Faith, confused, waited for Buffy to come back. Buffy walked into the room carrying three two inch three ringed binders. Buffy set them onto the dresser besides the camera and baby monitor.

“What are those for?” Faith asked.

“Photo albums with pictures of Dawn and me growing up. Look through them and you’ll see why I am a ‘picture taking monster’,” Buffy said. Buffy walked up to Faith and the baby. She placed a tender kiss on the baby’s forehead before kissing Faith on the lips. “I gotta go to work. I’ll be back later tonight. Bye Faith, baby Joyce.” Buffy kissed their daughter on the forehead once more before straightening up.

“See ya later B,” Faith said to Buffy’s retreating back.

“Later,” Buffy called back.

Faith laid her head back against the rocking chair and started to sing softly to the baby.

*

Baby mine don’t you cry
Baby mine dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine
Little one when you play
Don’t you mind what they say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine, never a tear
Baby of mine
From your head to your toes
You’re so sweet, goodness knows
You are so precious to me, cute as can be
Baby of mine

Baby mine don’t you cry
Baby mine dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine
Baby mine don’t you cry
Little one when you play
Don’t you mind what they say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine, never a tear
Baby of mine
From your head to your toes
You’re so sweet, goodness knows
You are so precious to me, cute as can be
Baby of mine
Yeah… Baby mine…

*

Faith looked down at the baby and saw that she had fallen asleep. Faith smiled as she pulled her nipple free of the baby’s mouth. She pulled her bra back down and re-buttoned her shirt. She held the baby to her shoulder after placing a burping cloth there and gently patted the baby’s back, trying to coax a burp from the baby. After the baby gave her a burp, she stood up and went over to the changing table. She gently laid the baby on the table. She got out pajamas with footies and a clean dipper. She undressed the baby out of her used pajama. She took off the soiled dipper and threw it into the dipper bin. She put on the clean dipper and clean outfit onto the baby. Faith picked up the sleeping baby, walked over to the crib and laid her down. The baby put her left thumb into her mouth and curled her index finger around her nose. Faith smiled and got the camera and took a picture of the cute scene. Faith gently stroked the baby’s head before getting the three photo albums and baby monitor. She went down stairs just as Dawn was walking through the front door.

“Hey, baby asleep?” Dawn asked, closing the front door.

“Yeah,” Faith replied. Faith grinned. “Donuts and coffee?”

“Yep… HEY! What are you doing with those?” Dawn demanded quietly.

Faith walked into the living room followed by Dawn. Faith set the photo albums on the coffee table as Dawn placed the bag of donuts and coffee onto the table.

“B wanted me to take a look at them. She said she wanted for our daughter what your guys’ mother gave to you. I called her a ‘picture-taking monster’ and she said that the albums would explain why she was like that,” Faith explained.

“Oh,” Dawn said, little grumpy now. Dawn hated some of the pictures of her in the family photo album. Her mom often took pictures when you didn’t know it or lest expected it. She didn’t even understand why her mother took the pictures that she had…well… she really didn’t take them. The Monks put them there but they were thorough. Dawn shook her head, no, her mother did take those pictures, Monks or not.

They moved the coffee table to the side and set a few pillows on the floor. They ate their breakfast on the floor talking about different things. Faith talked about how it felt to have a baby in her arms and what it was like to be in love, something she never thought would happen. Dawn talked about her summer vacation and how much she dreaded going back to soon in a month. After they ate their breakfast, they got the photo albums and started to look through them. The first photo album had pictures of Buffy from birth to age seven. It had many pictures of different things that were special in someway. The second photo album had pictures of Buffy from age eight to age fourteen and picture of Dawn from birth to age seven. Then the third book was of Buffy from age fifteen to age twenty-one and of Dawn from age eight to age thirteen. About half way through the third photo album, Faith paused, shocked. There were pictures of her and not just with Buffy; there were some of just her. But what amazed her, the most, was the fact that while she had pictures of just her in the photo album, there was none of just Willow or Xander. The only pictures of Willow and/or Xander were only with Buffy.

“Your mom took pictures of me,” Faith said, her voice filled with awe and confusion. ‘Why would Mrs. Summers take pictures of her?’ Faith asked herself.

“Yeah, mom always talked about you. She even hired a private detective to try and find you,” Dawn said.

“She did?” Faith asked, shocked.

“Yeah. Even after you tried to kill her, she wanted you back here. She thought that she could help you, saved you,” Dawn said.

“Your mom tried to make me apart of her family. She treated me like a daughter. I always thought that she was a cool mom, always there for Buffy. I wished a lot of the times that she was my mom,” Faith said.

“Yeah, she was a cool mom,” Dawn agreed. Dawn thought for a moment. “You know, she always encouraged Buffy to hang out with you. Or, at least that’s what she said to me. She thought that Buffy would be good for you.”

Faith growled a little but stopped and looked at Dawn with Wide eyes when she said, “And she had thought that you would be good for Buffy.”

“Why would she think that?” Faith asked, taken aback.

“Well, Buffy was almost always uptight. She made it so that the world was on her shoulders; she’s never been really good in the fun department after she found out that she was the slayer. You, you knew that slaying was important but you still lived life,” Dawn explained. “Mom always had hopped that you would show Buffy that there is more to life than saving the world. That there was a reason for saving the world.”

“Wow,” Faith said.

“And it looks like you did do that,” Dawn said, smiling. It was true. Faith has shown Buffy a reason to live a life out side of slaying.

Faith nodded as she looked at the pictures. There were fourteen pictures of her. Two pictures were of her and Buffy in their dresses about to go to their winter formal. Six of her and Buffy doing different things: training, watching t.v, playing monopoly, having an ice cream war, asleep on Buffy’s bed, and Buffy teaching her to slow dance. There was one of her and Buffy’s mom talking in the kitchen. Then there were five pictures of just her: her meditating, reading a book, asleep on the couch, laughing and watching the sunset.

“I don’t remember her taking these pictures,” Faith said.

Dawn smirked. “Mom is sneaky like that. There are some pictures that I just want to burn,” Dawn said.

Faith laughed. “Yeah, well, I guess I can understand what B wants now,” Faith said, and put the three photo albums to the side. “I never had that. No made photo albums out of pictures of me. So, I guess B being a picture taking monster isn’t so bad.”

Dawn laughed. “Want to watch-”

A cry came over the baby monitor. Faith hopped up and ran up stairs without a word to Dawn. Dawn smiled, the baby already had Faith wrapped around her little pinkie finger. Dawn laid a thick blanket on the floor. She lay down next to it and waited for Faith to bring the baby down stairs. Faith walked into the living room and kneeled next to the blanket. She placed the baby on it and lay next to the blanket, across from Dawn. Dawn placed a hand on the baby’s tummy and tickled her sides, drawing a giggle from the baby girl. Dawn leaned forward and rained little kisses all over the baby’s face.

“So cute,” Dawn cooed to the baby. “Faith? What’s it like to be a mother?”

“Well, as a mother of two weeks, so far it’s great,” Faith said. “Holding something so small and needy, someone who needs me so much, it feels amazing. It’s weird. I want to protect her from everything in life, keep her safe. At the smallest cry from her lips, I run to her.”

“Does it bother you that she isn’t of you?” Dawn asked.

“You mean, born from me or B?” Faith asked. Dawn nodded. “No. Just because someone gave birth to you, doesn’t make him or her your parents. It’s being there for the child through his or her life, protecting them from harm and loving them. I mean my biological mom wasn’t really my mom. She beat me. I’ve never really had a mom, I only had a dad, but he died when I was young so, I don’t really remember him that much.”

Faith sighed. “Just because B or me didn’t give birth to her doesn’t make her any less ours. She’s my daughter of my heart,” Faith said, slowly.

“But, you’ve only had her for two weeks,” Dawn pointed out.

“Does it really matter? I mean I’m sure your mom loved B instantly when she was born. I may not have been there when she was born, but I still love her,” Faith said.

Dawn nodded.

“Does Mrs. Summers finding out that you aren’t her daughter, that she never gave birth to you, that in fact, you are some kind of key make her love you any less?” Faith asked.

Dawn looked startled. She thought a moment. “No, she loved me the same. It was a little weird for a while, but then everything went back to being the same. Even though she found out I wasn’t her daughter and all of her memories had been changed, she said that it didn’t matter and I was still her daughter,” Dawn said.

“If you couldn’t have children and you adopted a child, would you love them less because they weren’t of you?” Faith asked.

“No, I guess I wouldn’t,” Dawn said. Dawn paused for a moment. “Okay, I guess I understand.”

“Good,” Faith said.

“So, are you and Buffy still going to go patrolling tonight?” Dawn asked.

Faith sighed. “That’s the plan,” Faith said.

“You don’t want to go, do you?” Dawn asked.

“No, not really. I don’t want to leave her here alone,” Faith said.

Dawn glared at Faith. “She won’t be alone. I’ll be here!” Dawn snapped.

Faith smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. But you know what I mean. B is right though. We have to keep up our duties as Slayers,” Faith said.

Dawn had a shit eat grin on her face. Faith looked at her startled at the look on Dawn’s face. “What?” Faith asked.

“You are turning into a mother hen, you know that?” Dawn teased.

Faith’s mouth dropped open as Dawn’s words sunk in. Faith, the badass… well…former badass, was in fact turning into a mother hen. She was…had become domesticated, something she swore she would never do because she never that she could do it. She had a permanent girlfriend, a daughter and friends. She cared about people and they cared about her too. In the back of her mind, she knew this but when confronted with it she did the only thing that was natural for her…panic. Dawn saw this immediately and reached out and took Faith’s hand in hers.

“Faith?” Dawn asked and then said more forcible, “Faith? You listen to me! You listen to me right now.”

Faith looked at Dawn. She tried to pull back but the smaller girl wouldn’t let her, holding her still with surprising strength. “What?” Faith squeaked. SQUEAKED!? Faith never squeaked and yet she just did it.

“Faith, don’t pull away. Don’t panic. Everything is okay, you are okay,” Dawn said.

“OKAY? Okay! Everything is not okay! I’m turning into a domesticated mother hen! I’m going soft! What the hell is happening to me?” Faith snapped, her panic coming full circle.

Before Dawn could answer, a sharp cry came. Both Dawn and Faith started, and looked down and saw that it was the baby crying. Faith, acting on instinct like she had for the past two weeks, picked up the baby and held her close, making an ‘shh-ing’ sound to comfort the baby.

“Shh… My little one, it’s okay. Mommy’s here, it’s okay,” Faith said, not thinking about what she was saying. Faith rocked and shh-ed the baby until she fell asleep.

Faith looked at Dawn. “What’s happening to me?” she asked softly, scared.

Dawn looked at the dark haired girl with sympathy. “Faith, maybe this is who you are. Did you ever think about settling down and having a family before?” Dawn asked.

Faith thought for a moment. “Yes, when I was younger I wanted a family of my own and give them everything and all the love I never had with mine. Well, with my mom at least. My dad did love me,” Faith said.

“Your watcher was killed in a horrible way right? She was the only one who took you after your dad died and made you feel loved?” Dawn asked.

“Yes, but she was only using me. I was just her slayer. She never really cared about me,” Faith said.

“True, but at the time, you didn’t know that. You felt loved and safe. Until you figured out that she didn’t care about you. The one person you came to care about after your dad died, was killed, murdered and left for you to find. With everything that happened in your life, it scarred you. Your life, for the most part, has been one traumatic event after another. To protect yourself from hurt, you made yourself into a badass. It’s not necessarily who you are, it’s just something you made for yourself to take away the pain you have suffered,” Dawn said.

“What do you mean?” Faith asked, curious.

“Well, sometimes when someone experiences a bad event in their life that they can’t handle, they create another identity who can handle the pain and make everything easier for them,” Dawn said.

“Like a split personality?” Faith inquired.

“No, a split personality is someone who has another identity that was always there and they were most likely born with. No, your more like someone who pushes everything down and convinces himself or herself that they are this way and have always been like that. I’ve seen you with Buffy, Faith. You are madly in love with her. I’ve seen you with Joyce, you love her like a mother,” Dawn stated. “You want people to love or like you, even if you won’t admit it. You had always done your best so that everyone was impressed with you and wanted to hang with you. Also, if you really were a badass like you had said you were back then, then why would you fill remorse for what you did? For that matter, why didn’t you kill Buffy? You always had the chance to but you never followed through with it.”

Faith said nothing as she listened to Dawn.

“I may or may not be right about this but maybe who you really are, a caring loving person. Most likely, you have always been a caring loving person, but past experiences messed it up for you. However, you will always have some badass to you because you have been like that for so long that it would have an affect on you,” Dawn said.

“How have you come up with all this?” Faith asked.

Dawn smiled. “T.V.” Dawn stated.

Faith laughed slightly.

“I… I don’t…” Faith stuttered. She took a deep breath and calmed herself. “I guess everything is finally sinking in. In the back of my mind I knew what was happening but I just couldn’t admit it. I knew that things were changing and I sorta admitted it but I thought that I would still be tough and stuff. I guess I kinda freaked when I was confronted with it.”

Dawn nodded. “It was bound to happen. You’re letting people in and showing who you really are,” Dawn said.

Faith felt the panic well up again, wanting to run and get as far as she could from Sunnydale. She looked down at the sleeping baby. She couldn’t do that. Not just because she didn’t want to dump the baby on the floor, hurting her but also because leaving would hurt the baby and Buffy more than anything. And it would hurt her, she realized.

“How am I going to do this? I’m not good enough for them,” Faith said.

“Yes, you are. Faith, you need to have faith in yourself. No pun intended. You can do this,” Dawn said.

Faith nodded and then smirked. “How did you get so smart?” Faith asked.

“Giles! He was teaching me to be a watcher assistant or something. I could only ignore him so much. So a lot of the things he taught me seemed to have stuck,” Dawn pouted.

Faith laughed quietly. “Well, looks like you put it to good use. Thanks,” Faith said.

“Hey, no thanks necessary. What are bestfriends for?” Dawn asked.

Faith nodded.

“So, are you guys just going to patrol?” Dawn asked.

“No, we’re heading for the Bronze for a while then hit the cemeteries and then come home,” Faith said.

“Okay. So, you’ll be home around one?” Dawn asked.

“Something like that. So, you think you’re up to babysitting tonight?” Faith asked.

Dawn looked at the baby girl. “How hard could it be?” Dawn asked and Faith just smiled.

***

“You think they’re gonna be okay?” Faith asked Buffy as she pulled out a chair for her girlfriend.

“Yes, I do. Faith, we can make this work,” Buffy said as she sat down on the chair Faith had pulled out for her.

Faith sat down next to Buffy and started to drum her fingers on the tabletop. Buffy looked at Willow and Xander and the three of them smiled and shrugged.

“Want to dance?” Buffy asked, getting up and holding out her hand. Faith smiled and took Buffy’s hand and they headed for the dance floor. Buffy dragged Faith to the middle of the dance floor. The beat was hard and fast. Faith lost herself to the music quickly, as Buffy watched, amazed. With her eyes closed, Faith reached out for Buffy and pulled her close. Faith spun Buffy around so that Buffy’s back was to her front. Faith wrapped her arms around Buffy’s waist, Buffy laid a hand on the hands around her waist and put the other hand on the back of Faith’s neck. Faith rested her head on Buffy’s shoulder as they moved as one. Faith kissed along Buffy’s shoulder, up her neck and to her ear. She licked Buffy’s ear and sucked it into her mouth. Buffy moaned. Faith released her ear.

“Mi amor,” Faith whispered.

“My love,” Buffy responded.

A slow song started and Faith grabbed Buffy’s hand, spun her away and then back into her arms so they were face to face. Faith wrapped her arms around Buffy’s waist and Buffy wrapped her arms around Faith’s neck and they touched their foreheads together. They moved to the slow song as if they had all the time in the world.

“How do you do that?” Faith asked in awe.

“Do what?” Buffy asked in return.

“Distract me until I stop worrying,” Faith said.

“You weren’t… aren’t the only one worrying. I am too, but I trust Dawn… mostly,” Buffy said.

“I trust Dawn completely. She’s my bestfriend,” Faith admitted.

Buffy laughed slightly. “I didn’t see that one coming but I guess I understand. You and Dawn are a lot alike,” Buffy said.

“Thanks, I think,” Faith said.

Buffy laughed.

“I almost ran earlier,” Faith said, as a fast song started. ‘Now why in the hell did I say that?’ Faith asked herself, silently.

Buffy felt a chill go up her spin at those words. She looked at Faith and took off running.

“Oh, shit!” Faith said.

She ran after Buffy, stopping at the table to tell Xander and Willow that she and Buffy were going patrolling and that they would be back at the house later. She then ran as fast as she could after Buffy. She saw Buffy running down the main street to a cemetery. Faith sped up and easily caught up to Buffy.

“B… BUFFY! Wait up. Let me explain!” Faith said, grabbing Buffy’s arm. Buffy spun around and started throwing punches. Faith blocked them, grabbed Buffy’s hands and pulled her close. She wrestled Buffy to the ground and sat on the older slayer. “Buffy, stop. You’re going to hurt yourself!”

“What does it matter? You’re going to leave!” Buffy cried.

“Oh, no… Shh… I’m NOT going to leave. I ALMOST left. As in, I was going to but I didn’t. Dawn talked me down,” Faith said.

Buffy stopped struggling. “Why would you want to leave?” Buffy asked, crying.

Faith felt an ache in her heart at seeing Buffy cry because of her. “I freaked out. Dawn teased me about being a mother hen. I realized that I was letting you guys in, caring about you and being cared about by you guys. I knew it in the back of my mind, but I guess when confronted with it I freaked out,” Faith said. Faith wiped the tears away from Buffy’s cheeks. “Well, Dawn calmed me down, but it was you and Joyce who made me stay. I love you more than anyone I have ever loved. And I haven’t loved that many people. You are my everything, Buffy. Holding Joyce in my arms is amazing. I could never leave you two.”

“I love you so much,” Buffy said.

“I love you two, mi amor,” Faith said, leaning down and placing a kiss on the blonde’s lips.

Faith stood up and helped Buffy top her feet. “Come on, let’s go and patrol. The sooner we get done, the sooner we get home to our family,” Faith said.

***

 (D)

Faith looked around. She was in the apartment that the Mayor had given her. It was the same as the last time she was here. ‘What in the hell am I doing here?’ Faith thought.

“Hello Faith,” a voice said from behind Faith.

Faith felt a chill go up and down her spin. Faith spun around and there sat the Mayor on her… no… the bed.

“You’re dead!” Faith stated.

“Yes, by body and ninety percent of my soul is dead,” the Mayor agreed. “Except for the ten percent that resides in your mind.”

“What?” Faith asked, scared.

“Ah yes, you don’t remember, do you?” The Mayor asked, teasingly. “You see I forced you to do everything. You came to my office to turn yourself in, to confess your crime. I put a spell on you, forcing you to do my bidding and in so doing, a little piece of me was transferred into you.”

“No.”

“Oh yes. I’m just getting warmed up though. All of your foster homes? I paid them to not adopt you or keep you. Your watcher’s death by vampire that you couldn’t stop but would blame yourself for no matter what? I hired the vampire to kill her and chase you here to Sunnydale.”

“No.”

“And here’s the clincher. I killed your father. Well, me in another form. I paid him to get you and then to hand you over to me but that bastard didn’t. He wanted to keep you and raise you. So, I took care of him,” the Mayor laughed.

Faith screamed.

***

 “NO!” Faith screamed out, sitting up in bed, still asleep, trapped in her nightmare.

Buffy woke with a start. She turned on the bedside lamp and turned to Faith who was still fighting to get out of her dream.

“Faith? Faith!” Buffy said, shaking her a little. “Wake up, honey, it’s just a nightmare.”

Faith woke with a start and swung her fist at Buffy out of reflex. Buffy easily caught the hand and pulled the younger woman into her arms. Faith realized it was Buffy, collapsed into the welcoming arms and started to sob uncontrollably. Buffy got behind Faith and held her closely.

“No… no, please, no!” Faith cried out.

“Shh… It’s okay I have you. You’re okay. Everything is okay, honey. It was just a nightmare,” Buffy said, kissing Faith along her shoulder and neck.

“No…it can’t be true,” Faith said, still a little hysterical.

“Faith, what is it? What’s wrong?” Buffy asked.

Faith shook her head, turned around a little, flung her arms around Buffy’s neck and buried her face into the safety that Buffy’s shoulder and neck provided. Buffy wrapped her arms around Faith and rocked her gently as Faith cried. Buffy looked towards the baby monitor and realized that the baby was crying and that Dawn was trying to calm her.

“Honey, tell me what’s wrong. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s happened,” Buffy said, as the door opened to their room. Buffy quickly pulled the covers over their naked bodies as Dawn walked in carrying the baby.

“She was crying,” Dawn said, holding a still whimpering baby.

“Put her in the bassinet and bring it to me,” Buffy said.

Dawn did as asked and then left.

“Faith, now, what happened?” Buffy asked, as she put the Bassinet in the middle of the bed, next to her and Faith.

“I had a dream. A nightmare. In it, I was in the apartment the Mayor had given me. He was there. He told me her paid all my foster homes to give me up, that he paid for the vampire to kill my watcher and that he himself killed my father,” Faith said.

“Oh-“

“He also said that he put a spell on me, making me do his bidding weather I wanted to or not,” Faith rushed on. “He also said that there was a little piece of his soul in me.”

Faith looked at Buffy. “Am I going crazy? Why would I dream something like that?” Faith asked.

“You think it’s a dream? That it’s not real?” Buffy asked. Buffy knew that a few dreams that they slayer had weren’t dreams but visions. She doubted that Faith would dream up something like this. Even her subconscious doesn’t like to remember her past, so it had to be something else.

“I don’t know,” Faith said, frightened and perplexed.

Buffy thought for a moment. “From what we saw of the Mayor, it is possible for him to have put a spell on you. In the morning, we’ll have Willow see if there was at any time a spell put onto you,” Buffy said.

“You don’t think I’m making this up to try and not be responsible for what I did?” Faith asked, amazed. She figured that would be Buffy’s first reaction.

“No, I don’t. It is possible for the Mayor to have done it. We’ll find out if it’s true,” Buffy said, softly. “You have already paid for what you did, Faith. You went to prison for five years. Not only that, but you have rehabilitated yourself. Why after all this time would you make something up like this? It doesn’t make sense when everyone and especially me, have forgiven you.”

“But why would this happen now?” Faith asked, her worry evident.

“I don’t know. Stranger things have happened. Not all dreams are just dreams, I have learned that lesson first hand with the First Slayer. Especially with us, dreams are not always just dreams. So, well check this out to see if it is true and see what happens,” Buffy said.

“And if it is? What if there is a piece of the mayor in me?” Faith asked, horrified at the thought.

“Then we will deal with it,” Buffy said.

Faith snuggled closer to Buffy as they lay down, Buffy spooning Faith from behind. Faith put a hand inside the bassinet and on the baby’s tummy.

“If it is true, then that means he killed my daddy,” Faith whimpered, becoming a scared little girl.

“Sleep, we’ll figure this out,” Buffy said, softly.

“Sing to me,” Faith pleaded.

Buffy knew that she was a terrible singer, but she knew that her terrified and hysterical girlfriend needed it.

“What do you want me to sing?” Buffy asked.

“Sing ‘God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You’. My dad used to sing that to me,” Faith said, barely above a whisper.

“Okay,” Buffy said and started to sing:

*

Can this be true? Tell me, can this be real?
How can I put into words what I feel?
My life was complete I thought I was whole
Why do I feel like I'm losing control?
I never thought that love could feel like this
Then you changed my world with just one kiss
How can it be that right here with me
There's an angel? It's a miracle

Your love is like a river, peaceful and deep
Your soul is like a secret that I never could keep
When I look into your eyes, I know that it's true
God must have spent a little more time on you

In all of creation, all things great and small
You are the one that surpasses them all
More precious than any diamond or pearl
They broke the mold when you came in this world
And I'm trying hard to figure out...just how I ever did without
The warmth of your smile, the heart of a child
That's deep inside it leaves me purified

Your love is like a river, peaceful and deep
Your soul is like a secret that I never could keep
When I look into your eyes, I know that it's true
God must have spent a little more time on you

God must have spent a little more time on you
You
On you
A little more time on you

*

Buffy finished the song and looked down at a sleeping Faith. Buffy kissed the top of Faith head. She pulled the covers over them after making sure that the baby was okay.

‘Damn you, you son of a bitch! Why now? Why did you have to pop up now?’ Buffy thought. ‘I won’t lose her, not after I finally got her. We’ll beat you!’

Buffy snuggled closer to Faith and drifted off into a disturbed sleep.

***

Faith squirmed under Willow’s unblinking gaze. She didn’t like the fact that Willow was reading her mind and soul. Now the redhead was going to know everything about her. Willow was blushing so deeply, Faith that that she was going to pass out. “So? You find out anything yet?” Faith blurted out.

“Yeah, it wasn’t a dream. There is a little piece of the Mayor’s soul in you and it is trying to communicate with you,” Willow said, finally blinking.

Faith flung herself back onto the couch, pissed. “So that’s what the bastard meant!” Faith spat.

“Meant what?”

“The Mayor said that if his plan didn’t work and he died that he had a back up plan to bring himself back to life but he needed me to do it,” Faith fumed.

“What did he say about his plan? Did he tell you anything about it?” Willow asked.

“Uh, he said that he would need like my force and he called the spell ‘Corpus Delicti’. Why?” Faith said.

Willow closed her eyes and shuddered. “’Corpus Delicti’ means corpse. However it is a spell. A body possessing spell,” Willow said. “Is this the first time he has come to you in a dream?”

“Ye…. No, I dreamt of him the first night in prison,” Faith said.

“How many have you had since you returned to Sunnydale?” Willow asked.

“Well, actually I’ve had a few about him but I just thought it was me reliving the events of what had happened in my dreams,” Faith said. “About twenty or so.”

“Well, I would say that in a few months time he’d have completely possessed you. Until then, there will be little bouts when he possesses you for a little while. He hasn’t gotten enough strength yet to completely possess you,” Willow said.

“Oh God! What is Buffy going to say?” Faith cried.

“She’ll say, ‘Is there a way to stop this?’” a voice said from the doorway.

Willow and Faith turned to the doorway and saw that Buffy was standing there holding the baby. Faith realized that Buffy had been there the whole time and had heard everything. Faith got up with tears in her eyes and held out her arms. Buffy moved the baby up higher on her shoulder and walked into her girlfriend’s arms. Faith wrapped her family in her arms and held them closely to her, as if they could anchor her to happiness. Faith kissed their daughter’s head and then slowly kissed Buffy’s lips. Faith broke the kiss and rested her forehead on Buffy’s.

“I’m not sure if there is a way,” Willow said.

“Then find away. Call Giles and get his help too,” Buffy said, not moving from faith’s arms.

“I’ll get right on it,” Willow said, getting up and walking from the room.

“Don’t worry honey, we’ll beat this-“ Buffy started.

“B, stop. I think that I should leave for a little while until we beat this thing,” Faith said, sadly.

“NO,” Buffy said, vehemently, but quietly so as not to alarm the baby.

“This could be dangerous! You heard what Willow said! What if he takes over and hurts you?” Faith said. Then added before Buffy could say that she could take care of herself, “What if he hurts Joyce? Or Dawn? Or Willow and Xander?” Faith felt Buffy stiffen as those three statements made her realize the danger. “See, it would be best if u stayed away for a little while.”

Buffy pulled out of Faith’s arms and laid the sleeping baby in the playpen that was next to the couch. She turned o Faith and looked at her as though she was studying her. It was almost as if Buffy could sense that Faith was in her stay or run mode. Suddenly Buffy tackled a startled Faith to the floor, sitting on her stomach and holding her hands above her head, pinning her to the floor. Faith’s eyes were wide and her mouth was opening and closing in astonishment. Buffy tackling her was the last thing she had expected her to do, hell, she didn’t even think that Buffy would do that.

“If you ever and I mean ever leave me and Joyce because you’re afraid that you might hurt us then you are an idiot, because you leaving would hurt us more than anything. If you leave I will never forgive you for doing that to me and our daughter!” Buffy raged out. Faith gulped at the ferocity at which Buffy said that. “Faith, you can’t run every time life throws a curve at you. We’re a family and family sticks together, as corny as that sounds it’s true. We handle our problems and things like that together. I love you, and it hurts me to know that you don’t trust me to help you.”

“Oh, mi amor, I do trust you, it’s me that I don’t trust,” Faith said, softly.

“Please, please don’t leave me,” Buffy pleaded, crying softly.

“I won’t leave, baby,” Faith said, reaching up after Buffy released her hands, to wipe the tears falling from Buffy’s eyes. “Don’t cry baby, I won’t leave you, or Joyce.”

Faith pulled Buffy down on top of her fully and slowly rubbed her hands up and down Buffy’s back. After a while, Buffy pulled away and lifted up on her arms and looked down at Faith.

“Now, as I was saying before, don’t worry honey, we’ll figure it out,” Buffy said, trying to easy the tension that had fallen over the two of them.

Faith laughed a little because Buffy wanted her to. After a few minutes, Faith asked, “What now?”

“Live life and hope Willow will find something soon,” Buffy said.

“I don’t know if I can do that,” Faith admitted.

Buffy nodded. “Maybe you can’t, but we can,” Buffy said, dropping a kiss on Faith’s forehead.

Faith thought about what Dawn had said, about Mrs. Summers thinking that Buffy would be good for her and her for Buffy. Dawn had also said that it was working. Before, if this had happened, it would have been Buffy unable to think about anything and her saying to live life. Now it was the other way around. It was her that was unable to think about anything else and Buffy wanting to live life.

“Yeah, we can,” Faith agreed smiling. Faith cocked an eyebrow when she realized that Buffy was still on top of her and that they were on the floor. “You gonna get off of me any time soon?”

“Why? Why Would I do that?” Buffy asked, huskily, leaning closer to Faith.

Faith swallowed. Faith opened her mouth to reply but was caught off guard when Buffy swooped down and kissed her. They kissed for a few minutes. Buffy broke this kiss and they both were panting.

Faith gulped in air. “Good point,” Faith finally said, leaning up as Buffy leaned down. Just as they were about to kiss again, Dawn walked into the room.

“Don’t you two ever stop?” Dawn teased.

“Shut up Dawnie,” the two women said, unhappy with the interruption.

“So? How are to two?” Dawn asked, as Buffy and Faith got off of the floor and stood up.

“Talked to Willow, did ya?” Faith asked. Faith then added, “She told you to check up on us, didn’t she?”

“Did not!”

“Did to!”

“Did not!”

“Did to!”

“Did-“

“Children! Behave,” Buffy said, amused.

They shot Buffy a dirty look.

“Dawn, I stick my tongue out at your general direction,” Faith said and then did as she had said.

“Back at ya, butthead,” Dawn shot back.

Buffy laughed. “It’s amazing how there are two more kids under the roof than I had thought. You two and baby Joyce,” Buffy commented.

“Hey! I resemble that!” Faith and Dawn said.

Buffy rolled her eyes. Buffy’s eyes brightened when she remembered something. “Guess what,” Buffy said, happily.

“What?” Faith asked, putting an arm around Buffy’s waist and pulling the blonde girl to her side.

“I have Sunday off next weekend, so I thought that we could have a pool party,” Buffy said excitedly.

“What about Joyce? How could we have a party? Someone has to watch her,” Faith pointed out.

“Put the playpen out on the deck, that way you can watch her and not have to go into the house every five minutes to check on her,” Dawn said.

“What brought on you wanting a pool party?” Faith asked.

“Nothing!” Buffy said, looking guilty.

Faith narrowed her eyes. “What are you up to B?” Faith asked.

“I’m telling you, I’m not up to anything!” Buffy said, flushing with guilt.

“B!” Faith growled.

“It’s nothing! Honest!” Buffy said. Buffy gave her best puppy-dog eyes and biggest pout.

“Okay, whatever you say,” Faith said, letting Buffy get away with what ever she was going to do.

Buffy looked at her watch. “Oh, hell. I got to go to work. I’ll be back later tonight,” Buffy said, kissing Faith on the lips and Dawn on the forehead. She then turned around and left before either Faith or Dawn could say something.

“That is so annoying when she does that! Leaves so she doesn’t have to tell me what’s up. Leaving without letting me get a word in,” Faith muttered.

Dawn snickered.

Faith turned to Dawn. “Do you know what she is up to?” Faith asked Dawn.

“Nope. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you,” Dawn teased.

Faith growled.

“Come on, let’s go help Willow research,” Dawn said.

“Okay, sure,” Faith said and followed Dawn to Willow and Xander’s room in the basement.

Faith and Dawn walked down the stairs to the basement to help research. It was Monday and Buffy was the only one who had work. The school that Willow worked at had two weeks off for some repairs and Xander didn’t have any work because his boss ordered him to take a three-week paid vacation.

“So, give me a book and I’ll help ya out,” Faith said, putting the baby monitor down on Willow’s desk.

Dawn and Faith sat down on Willow’s bed, waiting for Willow do tell them what to do. Willow looked at them, smiling and held up a book.

“No need. I have the book I need and the counter spell,” Willow said.

“That was a little fast and way to easy,” Dawn commented.

“Huh? Oh, that. The coven in England helped me out. I called over there and told them what was happening down here. I learned about the ‘Corpus Delicti’ from them. They have the book, which tells how to counteract the spell. The sent it over here and wished us luck,” Willow said. “But, finding the things we need will be a whole lot harder.”

“Always a catch,” Xander complained.

“I see. Maybe having a pool party next Sunday isn’t a good idea,” Faith mused.

“What pool party?” Xander asked.

“B has next Sunday off and wants to have a pool party,” Faith said.

“Well, I think that it is a good idea. It’ll give you something to look forward to. Ya know, and keep your mind off of the Mayor thing,” Xander said, always thinking pool party a good idea. “Besides, maybe we’ll beat this before-“

Faith cut Xander off with her laughing. “You fool. You were always the fool weren’t you? Donut boy,” Faith sneered, her voice going lower and darker. “You got lucky the first time, but this time you won’t defeat me!”

“The Mayor,” Willow stated.

So tell me, how did you get my Faith to change? Hmm…? Did you put a spell on her bitch?” The Mayor asked, through Faith.

“If you care so much about Faith then why possesses her?” Willow spay as Xander dragged Dawn up stairs.

The Mayor laughed. “It’ll only be until I can get my own body back,” he said.

Faith screamed out and fell forward. Willow quickly caught her. Willow lifted her up and took her to Xander’s bed. Willow gently laid Faith down and checked her vital signs as Xander cam running down the stairs.

“What happened?” Xander demanded.

“Faith regained control, screamed and then past out,” Willow said.

“Good. Um… Wills? How frequently will he take over her?” Xander asked.

“It’ll be more frequent and for longer period of times as time passes,” Willow said.

“Then we better get to work,” Xander said.

Chapter 10: The Mayor Vs. Family: Part 1- Faith & Buffy

(D)

“Faith, you killed a man!” Buffy yelled, as Faith dried her hands off from washing the blood off of her hands.

“And you don’t get it B, I don’t care,” Faith said, hotly.

Buffy stormed out of Faith’s apartment. Once Faith heard the door slam shut, she leaned against the wall and slide down it to sit down. Faith tilted her head back until it rested against the wall. Tears filled her eyes and fell.

“What have I done?” Faith asked herself. She laid her face in her hands as she cried. The truth was that she did care. She killed a man. She felt sick to her stomach. She was scared and didn’t know what to do. So, she automatically went to her ‘bitchy I don’t give a damn attitude’ whenever she was scared. She was worse than scared. There was no word for what she was.

The worse thing was, she had hopped that Buffy would be there for her! And she wasn’t. All she did was blame Faith for what happened and didn’t really offer any help. It had been an accident. Faith had felt that there was another vampire and had thought that the man was a vampire. She hadn’t known he was human until it was too late. The look in the man’s eyes would stay with Faith for the rest of her life. The horror, the pain, the terror, all of these crossed the man’s eyes as his eyes lost the light as he died.

Faith wiped her tears, got up and headed into the bedroom. She started to pack her things. She knew, instinctively that Buffy would tell everyone what had happened and that they would all react like Buffy had. They would hate her and try to turn her into the cops.

After packing up all of her belongings, she took off for the bus station.

Faith found herself standing in front of the mayor’s office instead of standing at the bus station. She had been going to the bus station but some how she had ended up here. She knocked on the door.

The mayor opened it and smiled. “I knew you would be coming. Come in,” the mayor said.

Faith walked into the office and sat down in front of the desk.

“So, Faith is it?” the mayor asked, as he sat back down.

“Yes,” Faith replied.

“You killed my deputy?” the mayor asked.

“Yes, it was an accident,” Faith said.

“Oh, I know. I set it up for you to kill him. I set everything up and now you are here and you will be under my power,” the mayor said, staring Faith in the eyes. The mayor mumbled something under his breath. His eyes glowed black while Faiths, at first glowed white, started to change to black. “You will do what I say. You will be my minion.”

“I will do what you say. I will be your minion,” Faith repeated.

“Good, now Faith, you mustn’t worry. I’ll take care of Allen’s death. I’ll take care of you,” the mayor said.

Faith blinked and grinned. She didn’t know what happened but some how her pain was gone.

***

 (D)

Faith found herself getting dragged out of the dream she had been having. She had been dreaming about the past, yet again and the Mayor and reached in and dragged her away from her dram so that they could talk. They were once again in the apartment that the Mayor had gotten Faith, which greatly annoyed Faith. She had known what had happened. The Mayor had taken over her body for a few minutes. She had heard everything that had happened, it was like she had been watching it from somewhere else. It made her angry that the Mayor belittled Willow and what she was making of her life.

“Why would you let them do that to you?” the Mayor asked. He really didn’t understand what had happened to her. He couldn’t understand why she was no longer under his control. He knew that the bigger part of him had failed and was killed. After that, he had lost complete control of Faith. Even when she had been in the coma, he had control over her dreams, her thoughts. But, when she woke up, his control was gone. He got pushed to the back of her mind. He had felt so weak but gradually he had gotten stronger, feeding off of her emotions and now he was strong enough to do the re-birth thing.

The Mayor sitting on a desk near the bed that Faith was sitting on.

“Do what?” Faith asked, pretending to be confused. She really didn’t want to talk to the Mayor. She was pissed that he was doing this to her. She was finally happy and he came back, literally almost beyond the grave, to ruin her life.

“Turn you into a goody goody whipped lap dog,” the Mayor said in disapproval. “Faith, my Faith, why would you let them do this to you? Don’t you know that they are just using you? Did that little bitch of a witch put a spell on you?”

Faith felt her temperature boil at that remark. She had not turned into a goody goody whipped lap dog. She did turn good again but that didn’t mean they were using her.

“What do you care?” Faith spat out.

“Well, I care because you are my granddaughter,” the Mayor said, softly.

Faith gasped and paled. “What the hell do you mean by that?” Faith demanded, though, she didn’t really want to know.

“I am your mother’s father,” the Mayor said, smiling as if that would be great news. “Why else do you think I went through so much trouble to get you here, to make it so that you needed me?”

Faith backed away from the Mayor, shaking her head. “No, it can’t be true. You’re lying. Why would you want me? My dad said that you never wanted anything to do with me,” Faith said. She didn’t want this to be true because if it was then that would mean that not only was there Mayor soul in her but then there was some of his blood in her too.

“At first yes, it was true,” the Mayor said, frowning. “I didn’t want anything to do with you because you marred my daughter. Made her…unclean. I never wanted her to marry that bastard, I wanted her to have an abortion. But she did so, claiming love. So I wrote her out of my will. Once I found out that things for you turned bad I looked into your life. What I saw touched my heart. I wanted you, to raise you and give you what you deserve.”

“I don’t believe you,” Faith said. “You’re a liar and a manipulator.”

Faith rushed forward and started a fight with the Mayor. Faith swung out and hit the Mayor square in the jaw, sending him flying back into a wall. He hit the wall and slid down it and sat there for a moment stunned. This was not his Faith.

“Faith! What the hell?” the Mayor asked, shocked. Why would his Faith attack him? After all that he had done for her, she would do something like this. No, it had to be those damn people they did something to her. “I’m not lying to you. You are of me.”

“No, no!” Faith said, again.

“Faith! What has happened to you? You were so much stronger than this before. You loved me and I loved you. I treated you like a daughter,” the Mayor said. “How could you let that little slut touch you?”

“She is not a slut. She is the best thing that ever happened to me,” Faith growled out.

“No, my dear Faith, she isn’t. Can’t you see what they have done to you? They have done what they had tried to do before. To turn you into them, a goody two shoes! This isn’t you and you know it,” the Mayor said, getting up off of the floor. “And I’ll prove it. I’ll show you who you are.”

The Mayor clapped his hands and a hole appeared beneath Faith. Faith screamed as she fell through the hole. Faith fell and fell. She finally hit the floor, on her back. She rolled over onto her stomach and tried to lift herself up. She groaned as she felt pain course through her body. She shook it off and stood up. She looked around and paled.

“Oh shit,” Faith whispered.

Faith watched younger-self walking down the alley to a nightclub. As the young Faith was about to go into the club, a man grabbed her and pulled her away from the club. The man pushed the young Faith up against the wall. The younger Faith smirked.

“If you wanted it, all you had to do was ask,” younger Faith asked.

Faith cringed at her younger self’s bluntness. ‘Jeez, I was such a slut,’ Faith thought as she watched her younger self screw the guy in the alley. Faith shook her head. ‘What the hell was the Mayor trying to prove?’ She asked herself. She already knew all of her past, why bring it up? There was no point in showing her events that she had lived through. What the hell was he trying to prove?

This dream faded out and Faith found herself watching herself doing drugs and fucking anything with two legs. This dream faded out and Faith found herself getting beaten for not paying a guy for the drugs she got and then watching the guy rape her. This dream faded out and Faith found herself in an operation room watching herself get an abortion after that guy in the alley got her pregnant. This one faded and Faith watched herself sell her body to get money to go to Sunnydale.

***

 (D)

Faith found herself standing in front of the Mayor again. Faith crossed herself to show that she had been unaffected.

“So? Do you understand now?” the Mayor asked, unaware that Faith didn’t fall for this ploy. ‘How could she not? It was so obvious what she was. How could she not see that she would always be that same person?’ the Mayor thought to himself.

“I understand that you are a complete idiot,” Faith mocked. Faith already knew all of that and it didn’t prove his point, it proved hers. That she could change and make herself be better. She had over some everything in her past and made herself better and stopped using her past as an excuse. She finally owned up to her mistakes and have paid for them, now all that was left was to live her life right.

The Mayor looked taken aback. “Did you not see who and what you are?” the Mayor asked, almost confused.

Faith laughed. This part of the Mayor was not that smart. Or was it that he is but doesn’t understand why Faith isn’t falling for it. Faith shook it off.

“I know who and what I am. I am Faith Dominique Winters. I am someone’s girlfriend, someone’s mother, and someone’s friend. I am a slayer, destined to slay the evil of the world to protect the innocents. I am who I want to be and who I chose to be. No one will tell me who or what to be. Not, B, not Dawn, not Xander, Willow nor Giles, neither my mother nor my father. And certainly not you,” Faith declared.

The Mayor shook his head, saddened and confused. “What have they done to you? You must be confused; you do not know what or who you are. You are just Faith, you have no middle or last name. You are a killer and you hurt the innocent, not protect them!” the Mayor said.

“FUCK THIS!” Faith screamed out.

***

“Dammit Willow, you should have called me! I would have come home!” Buffy fumed. She had come home a few moments ago to find out that the Mayor had taken over Faith’s body for a few minutes and that Faith had past out after regaining control. She was now in full panic mode, her girlfriend, her lover, was hurt and there was nothing she could do to help her. Buffy hated feeling useless.

“You need to work, Buffy. We have…had everything under control. Faith didn’t hurt anyone and she is fine. She is just sleeping,” Willow said, trying to reason with the blonde girl. Buffy in full panic mode was not good.

“Just sleeping!” Buffy said, huffily. “It seems more like she is unconscious.”

“No, she’s not. Taking back control over her body will take a lot out of her. She needed to sleep to regain control over her body,” Willow reassured the needlessly worried girl.

“She’ll be okay?” Buffy asked worried.

“She’ll be fine,” Willow assured her. “Don’t worry.”

‘How could she tell me to not worry? This is Faith, my girlfriend, my lover, and the mother of my daughter! Of course I’m going to worry and overreact,’ Buffy thought to herself. Aloud she said, impatiently, “How long until we can cast this damn spell to rid the Mayor from Faith’s body?”

“I don’t know. It’ll take a while to get the things that we need. And most of it will be very hard to get,” Willow said.

“Do everything you can to get it as soon as possible,” Buffy said.

“I’ll try,” Willow said.

“Why is this happening now of all times? Just as our lives are coming together finally?” Buffy asked.

No one answered. Suddenly Faith screamed out, “FUCK THIS!” Everyone jumped up at this and watched as Faith sat up in the bed, panting. Buffy went to Faith and pulled the dark haired girl into her arms.

“Well damn! Now that is fucking disturbing!” Faith growled out.

“Faith! Language,” Buffy scolded, half serious, half relieved.

Faith looked at Buffy and then at Xander, Willow and Dawn. Faith blushed a little and looked embarrassed. “Sorry,” Faith said.

“Another dream with the Mayor?” Dawn asked, although she already knew the answer.

Faith growled and her eyes went black with anger. “He’s my grandfather. My mother’s father, apparently,” Faith said, pissed.

Everyone gasped at that.

“Could my past just suck anymore,” Faith complained. Faith did a double take when she realized that Buffy was holding her. “Willow! You didn’t need to call Buffy!”

“I didn’t. She got off of work about a little while ago,” Willow said.

“But she should have called me,” Buffy said, worry in her voice.

“Aww… B, I’m okay,” Faith said, wrapping her arms around Buffy. “How long have I been out?”

“Well, it’s past ten o’clock now, so for almost the whole day,” Xander offered.

“Almost the whole day!” Faith exclaimed. “Jeez.”

“Why the hell did this have to happen now?” Buffy asked, again.

“Because of redemption,” Faith said, sighing, understanding what was happening a little now.

“What?” Buffy asked.

Faith got up and held her hand out to Buffy. Buffy looked into Faith’s eyes and realized that Faith wanted to talk in private. Buffy took Faith’s hand and stood up. Xander, Willow and Dawn said noting as they made their way out of the basement and into their room. They knew that the couple needed to talk. Buffy and Faith stopped in the living room to get the baby. Buffy bent down and picked up the baby and held the little one close as she followed Faith up stairs and into their room. Buffy laid the baby in the bassinet and placed it onto their bed. Faith took her pants off and slipped into the bed and watched as Buffy got undressed and up on Faith’s boxers and tank top. Buffy got into the bed, between Faith’s legs. Faith wrapped her arms around Buffy’s waist and pulled the small girl to her. Faith felt herself calming down now that Buffy was in her arms and that their daughter was close by.

After a while, Buffy asked, “What did you mean by ‘because of redemption’?”

“The Mayor could have taken over my body at any time while I was in jail and I would never have known about it. But he didn’t. He waited until I was remaking my life, becoming happy to come out. It’s redemption, a savage redemption at that. In fact, he could have come out at any point after he died but he didn’t,” Faith said and then pointed to her head. “He didn’t put a piece of him there just in case. He’s always been there. He did it that first night. When I went to turn myself in.”

Buffy’s brow furrowed as she turned around. She put her legs around Faith’s waist and sat between her legs. “Huh?”

“That night, after I killed Allen, and you yelled at me, I had planned to go to the bus station to run, but something stopped me. I just didn’t want to run anymore. So, I went to his office-“

“Yeah I know. We all saw you walk out of his office,” Buffy said.

But Faith already knew that. She had sensed the other slayer as she had walked out of the Mayor’s office.

“Yeah, B, I know, I had sensed you. Anyway, I went to his office to turn myself in. He knew it was me that killed Allen. He told me that he had set it up so that I would kill him. He put a spell on me,” Faith said. Faith had decided not to mention the other dreams that she had had.

“Faith, I know this already. Remember, you told me that he had told you in your dream,” Buffy reminded her.

“I know. I told you what he told me. I’m telling you what I remember. Because I now remember it,” Faith said. “That spell he first cast on me was the ‘Corpus Delicti’ spell. The other one was just a nonsense spell to make it seem like he was doing it at the time. That’s how he’s been able to control me, there was a piece of him inside of my head the whole time.”

“But then why did you turn yourself in? Wouldn’t he have stopped you? Then what about us, wouldn’t he have stopped that too?” Buffy asked.

Faith thought for a moment. “He died,” Faith said after a few minutes.

“Yes, we know-“

“No, no, no, I mean that he was no longer here to control me. Yes, he has a part of him in me but he needed to tell that piece what to tell me. So, once he died that small piece was pushed down because it wasn’t strong enough to work on it’s own,” Faith said.

“Then why is it resurfacing now?” Buffy asked, a little awed by Faith’s knowledge.

“I don’t know. He could be getting stronger somehow,” Faith said. “But how could he be getting stronger?”

“Love,” Buffy mused aloud.

“Say what?” Faith asked, confused.

“They say that love is the strongest emotion, even stronger than hate or anger. So, because you love me and I love you back, he’s feeding off of the emotion and using it to get stronger. He’s slowly been regaining strength,” Buffy said. “Faith, why did you turn yourself in, in LA?”

“Oh, uh huh?” Faith asked, confused at the change of topic.

“Why did you turn yourself in, please tell me,” Buffy said.

Faith looked everywhere but at Buffy. “I did it for you, B, always for you,” Faith admitted.

“That’s what I thought,” Buffy said. Faith looked at Buffy, confused. “He started to get stronger once you got into prison. But once you got here and everything started to happen…” Buffy trailed off.

“He got to the point where he could come out little by little,” Faith finished.

“Yeah,” Buffy agreed.

“This is just great,” Faith said, sarcastically. Faith put her face in her hands. “This just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it does, but is only a theory, we might be wrong. But whatever the cause or whatever, we will beat this,” Buffy said, wrapping her arms around Faith. Suddenly Faith started to laugh. Buffy pulled back and tensed. She sensed that it wasn’t really Faith in control anymore, that it was the Mayor. But she made as if nothing happened. “Why are you laughing? Wanna share the joke?”

“I don’t know. Isn’t it weird that we are talking about this, utterly calmly and as if this is the norm? I mean most people would panic if something like this happened,” Faith said.

“You find that funny?” Buffy said in doubt, playing along.

“No, I find this funny,” Faith said, picking Buffy up and throwing her across the room. “Stupid slut, always so gullible!”

“Mayor,” Buffy growled, as she got up from the floor.

“Yep, slayer slut,” the Mayor said. He turned to the bassinet and grinned. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? A little baby?”

“You stay away from her,” Buffy growled out. Two taking over Faith’s body in one day, not good. This means it will happen faster than Willow had predicted.

“Make me,” the Mayor sneered. He reached for the baby, but a blue force field thing popped up and around the baby. Both, the Mayor and Buffy, were surprised by this blue force field that surrounded the baby. “What the hell is that?”

“I don’t know but you can’t touch my baby now,” Buffy said. She ran towards the Mayor, keeping in mind that it was Faith’s body. Buffy hit Faith in the jaw and her body dropped like a sack of potatoes. Buffy picked Faith up and put her on the bed. “You always did have a jaw of glass.”

Dawn came into the room. “Hey, what’s going on? Willow sent me to see what was happening,” Dawn said.

“The Mayor took over Faith’s body. Dawn, take the baby into your room and then go back to the basement and get my box of restraints and bring it here. I’m afraid I’m going to have to restrain Faith until we…” Buffy trailed off.

“I understand,” Dawn said. She walked over to the bed and saw the blue force field. She said nothing as she reached for the baby and the force field went away. She picked up the baby and took her into her room. She then went and got the box Buffy wanted, quickly explaining what had happened to Willow and Xander, and brought it to her.

“Willow said for you to get some sleep because you have work tomorrow. She and Xander are going to bed, they’ll be up early tomorrow trying to get the stuff they need,” Dawn said.

Buffy nodded.

“Stay with the baby, please Dawn,” Buffy asked.

“Okay Buffy,” Dawn said, as she left the room and closed the door.

Buffy laid Faith on the bed so that she was in the middle of it. She quickly undressed Faith and put some pajamas on her. Then Buffy turned to the box and opened it. She searched through it for a few moments before finding what she wanted. She took out a bedpan; Faith was not getting released for nothing. She set it next to the bed on the floor. She took out four pairs of handcuffs. Buffy set them on the bed next to Faith. Buffy then turned back to the box and took out four handkerchiefs. She tied them around Faith’s wrists and ankles. Buffy then put the cuffs on Faith’s wrists and ankles and cuffed her to the four corners of the bed. The handcuffs were made of the strongest steel, so Faith wouldn’t be able to break free of them. Luckily, their bed frame was made of steel, so she knew Faith…the Mayor wouldn’t be able to break the bed to get free. Buffy then got out some rope wrapped in soft cloth. She tired the rope around Faith’s middle and tied it to either side of the bed. Buffy stood back and looked at her work. She knew that Faith would be pissed when she woke to find herself restrained but it was the only way, without having Faith leave. Buffy shook her head. This was going to be long and hard.

Buffy got onto the bed and pulled the blanket over the two of them. She laid her head on one of Faith’s breasts; put a protective arm around her waist and a leg over Faith’s legs. Buffy nestled into the comfort of Faith and slowly fell asleep. Tomorrow after all, was going to be a long day.

***

 “BUFFY! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” Faith screamed out. She had awoken to go to the bathroom and found herself handcuffed to the bed with Buffy snuggled to her side. She knew that the Mayor had taken over her body again, but chaining her was a little extreme.

Buffy woke with a jolt at her girlfriend screaming. Buffy stretched out. Buffy propped herself up on her elbows and looked, sleepily, into angry brown eyes. Buffy sighed. She looked at the clock and saw that it was only six o’clock.

“The Mayor took over your body and tried to hurt Joyce,” Buffy said, gently.

Faith felt her anger at being restrained drain away when she realized that their daughter might have been hurt. So that part hadn’t been a dream, it had really happened…“Oh no,” Faith said, closing her eyes.

“So, I decided that it would be best to restrain you until we fix this. I can’t be here in the day time because I have work, so you’ll just have to live with this for a little while,” Buffy said.

“Is Joyce okay?” Faith asked, worried for their daughter.

“Yes, when the Mayor reached for her, a blue force field surrounded her and kept her safe from the Mayor,” Buffy said.

“Thank God,” Faith said. Suddenly Faith looked uncomfortable. “Umm… B? I have to… you know…”

“Go to the bathroom,” Buffy finished.

Faith nodded. Buffy got up and held up the bedpan. Faith’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “Hell no B. Out of the question. I am not gonna piss or shit in the damn thing!” Faith said, angrily, her face going a deep red. There was no way in hell she was going to do her business in a bedpan like an old woman.

“You have no choice. You can’t be let loose for any reason. I’m sorry. The Mayor took over you twice in one day. Which means his possessing you will happen faster than Willow had first thought,” Buffy said.

Faith closed her eyes again. This was going to be so embarrassing. She nodded.

“Okay,” Faith said.

Buffy nodded and pushed Faith’s pants and underwear down. Buffy positioned the bedpan under Faith and waited for her to go to the bathroom. After Faith finished and Buffy took the bedpan to the bathroom and did away with the contents, Buffy came back and pulled Faith’s pants and underwear back up.

“See, that wasn’t so bad,” Buffy said. Faith shot Buffy a glare as the blonde girl got back onto the bed and snuggled close to her.

“This may be necessary, but I will get you back for the bedpan,” Faith warned. Faith paused. “Don’t you think that this is over kill? I mean, can’t I be released for the bathroom at least?”

“No. I won’t be here if the Mayor takes over your body again,” Buffy said.

“Buffy, the Mayor-“ Faith started but Buffy cut her off.

“The Mayor isn’t strong but your body is. Since he is in your body, he has your strength. Willow, Xander and Dawn wouldn’t be able to fight you with out killing you. And that just isn’t an option. I’m sorry love, I know you hate being restrained and I know that you will feel caged in but there is not other way,” Buffy said. Buffy propped herself up and looked Faith in the eyes.

Faith sighed. “Alright,” Faith said.

“Good,” Buffy said and kissed Faith gently.

“Still extreme,” Faith muttered. Buffy tilled her head and laughed. Buffy shook her head and looked at Faith. Buffy suddenly smiled impishly. ‘Uh oh,’ Faith thought as Buffy wigged on get on top of her.

“B, what…?” Faith asked.

“You do realize that you are completely helpless?” Buffy asked her, as she unbuttoned Faith’s shirt. “So, if I were to say…do this.” Buffy leaned down and captured one of Faith’s nipples in her mouth and suckled a little, but not hard enough to draw milk. Faith let out a moan at the contact. Buffy released the nipple and looked at Faith, grinning. “Then, you wouldn’t be able to stop me.”

“B, uh… you’re right. I am completely helpless, so what would happen if we’re attacked or something?” Faith asked.

Buffy thought. “Willow could handle it and so could Dawn. Dawn can hold her own,” Buffy said, re-buttoning Faith’s shirt. Buffy got off of Faith and out of the bed. “I’m going to go take a shower and get ready for work, then I’ll make you some breakfast.”

“Okay B,” Faith said.

Buffy grabbed her working clothes and headed for the shower. As soon as the bedroom door closed behind Buffy, Faith lay back, closed her eyes and started to think. She knows that there is more to the Mayor being in her. Faith opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. ‘Wait, if I heard everything going on hen the Mayor possessed my body, doesn’t that mean he can too?’ Faith asked herself. ‘He can hear us speaking but he can’t hear me think. If he could then he would have said something by now. Which means I can’t hear him think either. Maybe if he can hear me speak, he can talk back to me.’

“Mayor? I know you can hear me and hear everything anyone else says,” Faith said, aloud, hoping that he would talk back to her, confirming her theory. She allowed him use of her mouth, hoping he could talk to her like that.

“Yes Faith, I can hear everything,” the Mayor said through her mouth.

“Then you know that we are on our way to defeating you,” Faith rubbed in.

The Mayor laughed. “I doubt it young one. It is I who will defeat you all,” the Mayor said.

“They beat you before when you were supposed to be indestructible, but they did defeat you and we will defeat you now,” Faith said tauntingly.

“Yes, but they did it without you and you will only mess it up,” the Mayor said. “Face it Faith, they were right before, you are nothing. Second best. All you ever do is fuck up.”

“SHUT UP!” Faith shouted out.

“What?” Buffy asked, confused.

Faith turned her head to see Buffy standing in the doorway in her security guard uniform with a breakfast tray in her hands. Faith’s heart swelled at the sight. She loved Buffy so much. She wanted to be more than just girlfriends, she wanted to belong to Buffy and she wanted Buffy to belong to her. She wanted to marry Buffy. Shook her head to clear her thoughts and looked at Buffy again. Faith smiled and shook her head, again. Buffy closed the door with her foot, walked over to the bed, placed the tray on the nightstand and sat on the bed next to Faith. Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, cocked a brow and said nothing as she waited for Faith to explain her sudden outburst.

I was arguing with the Mayor,” Faith said.

“You were what?” Buffy asked.

“I figured out that he could hear everything we say because when he had possessed me I could hear what was being said. So, I figured that maybe we could communicate. I just wanted to see if I was right and I was,” Faith said.

“You were talking to him?” Buffy said, angrily.

Faith winced. “It’s not like that B! I swear. I had a theory and I wanted to see if I was right. Do you know what this means?” Faith asked.

“What?” Buffy asked, still mad at Faith for talking to the Mayor.

“That means, he can hear everything we say, which means if he knows about the spell then he could find a way to stop it,” Faith pointed out. “And it’s not like I would be planning anything with him.”

Buffy started at the last part and softened. “I didn’t think you were love. I was just shocked that you were talking to him,” Buffy reassured. Faith nodded. Buffy leaned forward and pressed her lips against Faith’s. “I really… it’s just…why were you talking to him?”

“Just to see if I was right. Sorry,” Faith mumbled.

“Hungry?” Buffy asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah,” Faith said.

Buffy reached out to the tray and picked up the bowl. In the bowl were sliced oranges and strawberries. Buffy took a strawberry and held it to Faith’s mouth. Faith opened her mouth, she closed her mouth over the strawberries and Buffy’ fingers. She suckled lightly before taking the strawberry from Buffy and eating it.

Buffy groaned. “Faith, please don’t do that,” Buffy said, her voice going husky.

“Do what?” Faith asked, trying to look innocent.

“You know what!” Buffy said, glaring at Faith. Faith merely cocked an eyebrow in question. Buffy groaned again. “Being sexy!”

Faith waggled her eyebrows. “You know you like it,” Faith purred. Buffy smiled, knowing that she did like it but shoved three orange slices into Faith’s mouth. “Butthead.” Faith smiled and just ate the food that had been shoved in her mouth.

***

Five hours after the mall had opened, Buffy found herself still bored. Usually she was only bored when the mall had just opened and no one really showed up until an hour or so after the mall opened. Usually kids stopped her for a chat or just to say hi. But none approached her today, might be because she was scowling. So her mind began to wander… to Faith thoughts. Faith who still had some baby fat on her face, that when asleep, was more pronounced and made her look her true age. Faith with her deep chocolate brown eyes that would go black with desire when they made love. Faith with her full beautiful lips that… Buffy’s mind snapped back to reality when something in a window caught her eye. It was a two-ring engagement set. The set was called ‘Two Women Love’. Buffy smiled and walked into the store. Buffy walked up to Kitten, the clerk who was working the afternoon shift.

“Buffy, is there a problem?” Kitten asked. The last time Buffy had come in, it had been to save her from two guys robbing the place. One guy had had a gun to her head.

“No, no problem at all like what you are thinking,” Buffy assured. “I was actually wondering about the two-ring engagement set in the window called ‘Two Women Love’,” Buffy said.

Kitten smiled. She knew all about Faith…well the Faith as a regular human. Buffy sort of glossed over some of the stuff about her and Faith’s real lives.

“I see,” Kitten said, as she took out the engagement set that Buffy had requested.

Buffy examined the set. They were both beautiful rings. One was almost soft, feminine like and the other was almost like it’s opposite, hard and tough like.

“How much?” Buffy asked, putting the rings back down as the store manager walked out of the back room.

“Two grand,” Kitten said. She knew that Buffy couldn’t afford that.

“Uh, could I make payments?” Buffy asked.

“Absolutely not. Either you have the money or you don’t. we don’t take payments here,” the manager snapped as two women, the store owners, walked out of the back.

Buffy sighed. She knew that it was true. “Whatever,” Buffy said and started for the door.

“Excuse me, Ms. Summers?” the taller of the two women said.

Buffy turned to face the voice. “Yes?” Buffy asked.

“I am Sloane Palin,” the tall woman said. She gestured to the smaller woman. “This is my wife, Sandra Palin. We’re the owners of the store.”

“Oh, hell,” Buffy said.

“You are the security guard who stopped the robbery and saved Kitten a few weeks ago, right?” Sandra asked.

Buffy nodded, hoping that they would allow the payment method.

“Well, I am very sorry but you can’t buy the engagement set using a payment method,” Sloane said, and Buffy’s face fell.

“Because we’re giving it to you as your wedding gift from us,” Sandra finished.

Buffy’s and the store manager’s jaws dropped at hearing that statement.

“No, I can’t-” Buffy started.

“Nonsense,” Sandra said, gently but firmly. “Take it. Didn’t you know, because you stopped the robbery and saved a life, you get have one thing from here free? Mall rule. Every security guard may be putting his or her life in danger. You did and you get a reward for doing it.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Buffy said.

“Well you have to take it! I hate being indebted to someone,” Sloane growled.

Sandra and Kitten laughed, while Buffy smiled.

Buffy held up her hands. “Okay, okay, you talked me into it,” Buffy said. “I just feel guilty about this.”

“Don’t,” Sloane and Sandra said firmly.

Buffy smiled. “Thank you,” Buffy said, taking the rings in their little boxes.

Chapter 11: The Mayor Vs. The Family- Part 2 Willow

Notes: This chapter is focused on Willow and what she does to help out Faith and Buffy. This chapter and the chapter before and after this one are happening in and around the same time. The song in this chapter is ‘Not A Day Goes By’ by Lonestar.

~~~~~

Willow was working at her laptop while Xander was looking at some books that Willow kept in the house just in case and Dawn was playing with the baby. Xander had gotten walkie-talkies so that Faith could talk to them and they could talk to her. They had been working for a little over an hour or so, since Buffy left for work. Willow looked at Dawn and smiled, chuckling softly. Dawn was making funny faces at the baby, causing the baby to laugh…or gurgle. It was kind of hard to tell the difference between a laugh, a gurgle, or gas with a newborn baby.

“So? How’s it going?” Faith asked. She was going out of her mind with boredom. She was tied to the bed so she couldn’t play video games or do something else. She wasn’t even allowed to hold her daughter, in case the Mayor appeared and tried to hurt the little one again. Dawn had to come up and hold the baby to her breast so that the baby could eat an hour ago, just after Buffy had left for work.

“Good. We can get five of the eight things we need at the Magic Box, or if not there then the coven can send it to me. But there are three things that will be very hard to get,” Willow replied. Willow knew that this was tough for Faith, so was trying to give the girl a break. “But you know I won’t be able to tell you anymore, since the Mayor will hear. So, I’m going to turn of the walkie-talkie for a bit, k?”

“Sure,” Faith said.

“What are they?” Dawn asked, after Willow turned the walkie-talkie.

“The three items are: ‘Redman’s Cross’, ‘Stifler’s Dagger’ and ‘Eye of Odin’,” Willow responded.

“How hard could it be to get them?” Dawn asked.

“Very hard. The ‘Eye of Odin’ is going to be auctioned in six days. ‘Redman’s Cross’ and ‘Stifler’s Dagger’ are owned by a Helena Kyle, the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle,” Willow said.

“Great,” Dawn muttered.

“You’ll figure something out, Wills,” Xander assured her.

“Too bad we can’t steal them,” Dawn said. Xander and Willow glared at her. “What? We’d give it back after we used it.”

There was an audible pause.

“Why not borrow the stuff? Say that they need to be used in a ritual for some kind of group of people who are not up to speed with the rest of the world?” Xander suggested.

“No, that wouldn’t work. People are too pigheaded for anything like that. And I can’t use magic to just bring them to us. We’ll have to find another way,” Willow said. Willow typed for a few minutes and printed something out. She took the sheet out of the printer and handed it to Xander. “Go to the Magic Box and get these for me please.”

Xander looked like a deer caught in headlights. Willow smiled sadly. “I know Xander. It’s either go to the Magic Box or take care of the baby while dawn goes,” Willow said softly.

Xander nodded and took the print out and looked it over. He tapped the paper and said, “It’s a good thing we own the shop, this stuff would have cost a lot otherwise.”

“Just go, please,” Willow said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“Aye-aye Ma’am,” Xander saluted. Xander grabbed his keys and took off.

“I’m going to go and take the baby to the park for a little while,” Dawn said.

“Umm… Dawnie? They baby is too little to-“ Willow started but was cut off by Dawn.

“I know she’s too young to play. I’m just going there to think. You have to do research so you can’t watch her, Faith is tied to a bed and she can’t watch her and Xander is a guy with the ew baby stuff thing so he can’t watch her. I just need to go somewhere for a little while to think. We’ll be back in a little while,” Dawn said, picking the baby up and leaving.

Willow sighed, turning the walkie-talkie back on. She knew that something was troubling Dawn but now wasn’t the time to worry about it. She needed to work on the Mayor problem. Willow turned back to her laptop and got onto the Internet. She was going to dig a little into Helena Kyle’s life and see if there was anything that she could use to have the young woman let them use the cross and dagger. She needed something that would help her help Faith. Willow dug around for a little while. The girl had a hard life. She never knew her father; her mother was murdered before her very eyes when she was sixteen. She has also done some small crimes but that stopped after three months. She was left in the charge of Barbara Gordon who had been shot in the back by The Joker and lost the use of her legs.

Willow did a double take. ‘Barbara Gordon, isn’t that the name of Astor-Oracle? My Internet friend?’ Willow asked herself. Willow’s laptop made a sound, letting her know that someone IM-ed her. Willow looked at who IM-ed her and smiled. ‘Speak of the devil.’

Willow accepted the IM.

~~Hey Willow, how are you~~ Astor-Oracle asked.

~~Hey…uh…~~ Willow said.

~~Barbara~~ Astor-Oracle supplied.

~~Hey, Barbara, sorry I forgot your name. I have a lot on my mind at the moment~~ Willow said.

~~That’s okay. What is the matter? Maybe I could help you~~ Astor-Oracle said.

~~It’s a long and complicated story and you might not believe me~~ Willow said.

~~Does it have anything to do with you checking into Helena Kyle’s background~~ Astor-Oracle asked.

Willow’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped open in shock. She sat there for a moment or two before she replied.

~~Umm… I… uh… How did you know~~ Willow asked, decided that lying would not be a good idea.

~~I have my ways. Now, tell me, why the hell were you checking into her background~~ Astor-Oracle said.

~~Do you believe in magic~~ Willow asked.

~~What the hell does that have to do with you checking into Helena’s background~~ Astor-Oracle demanded.

~~Just answer it please~~ Willow said.

~~I believe that there is more than what there seems to be~~ Astor-Oracle said.

~~Well I’m a witch. I need to do a spell to stop someone from being possessed, but I need the ‘Eye of Odin’, ‘Redman’s Cross’ and ‘Stifler’s Dagger’. Helena Kyle has ‘Redman’s Cross’ and ‘Stifler’s Dagger’ and the ‘Eye of Odin’ is going to be auctioned off~~ Willow said.

~~Wow, wow, wow, hold on one damn minute. You want me to believe that you are a witch and need these three things to cast a spell~~ Astor-Oracle demanded.

~~Yes~~ Willow simply said.

~~Then prove it~~ Astor-Oracle said.

~~How the hell can I prove it? I would need to go where you are and show you something, but I can’t afford a bus trip to L.A, let alone an airplane ticket~~ Willow said.

~~I’ll send a plane to you. You come here and tell me what the hell is going on and if you convince me, I might help you~~ Astor-Oracle said.

Willow didn’t type anything.

~~Well, what will it be~~ Astor-Oracle asked.

~~I don’t know~~ Willow said.

~~Look, come here to New Gotham and tell me what is happening and I’ll try to help you if I can. I guess I’m a little protective of my girls~~ Astor-Oracle said.

Willow thought for a moment. This was a chance to get what they needed.

~~I’ll do it. All I have to do is convince Buffy to let me go~~ Willow said.

~~Buffy~~ Astor-Oracle asked.

~~The girl who’s being possessed girlfriend~~ Willow said.

Astor-Oracle said nothing for a moment and then, ~~I’m sending the plane over to Sunnydale Airport. It’ll be there in three hours. Be there and it’ll fly back here immediately~~ Astor-Oracle said.

~~Okay, I guess I’m going to have to call Buffy at work and tell her what’s up~~ Willow said.

~~Pack for a least a week. I don’t know how long this will take~~ Astor-Oracle said.

~~All right~~ Willow replied.

~~Bye~~ Astor-Oracle said.

~~Bye~~ Willow answered back.

Willow got out of the Internet and shut down her computer. She put her face in her hands and groaned.

“Willow? Is everything okay?” a worried Faith asked. Willow hadn’t said anything to her for the past ten minutes and the silence was killing her. She had heard the walkie-talkie being turned back on, but Willow hadn’t said anything.

“Yes and no,” Willow said.

“Come up here and talk to me, please,” Faith said.

“All right. I’ll be up there in a few minutes,” Willow said, and went over to her bed and took out here suit case from underneath the bed. She set in onto the bed and opened it. She got out seven shirts, two pairs of pants, three pairs of shirts, two skirts, seven pairs of underwear, three bras, a pair of tennis shoes, seven pairs of socks, two pairs of pantyhose, one pair of stockings, a pair of high heels, a pair of boots, and a jacket. Then she got her brush, comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, face cleaners, blow dryer, deodorant, and a few other things. Then she closed it and set it to the side. Now you would wonder why she needed skirts, high heels, stockings, and pantyhose, but hey you never know. She then got out her backpack and set it onto the bed. She put some spell books, her laptop and a few other things inside of it and zipped it up. Willow, then, sat on the bed and rested for a moment. Willow got up and walked up the stairs to the basement that led into the kitchen. She got a quick glass of water and drained it. Willow then went up stairs and into Buffy and Faith’s room. Willow closed the door behind her, got a chair and placed it next to the bed. Willow sat down and studied Faith. Faith looked like a caged animal. She was restless and was constantly moving around. Willow sighed. If the girl kept moving around, she was going to hurt herself, but Willow decided to say nothing. Faith needed to move around or else she would go crazy.

“So? How’s it going?” Faith asked.

“I’m going to New Gotham for at least a week to get the three things that we need. A plane will be arriving for me in about three hours,” Willow said, heavily.

Faith looked startled. “What?” Faith asked, confused.

“Long story. I have to call Buffy and tell her what’s going on, then wait for Xander to get back and tell him what’s going on so he can stay here with you,” Willow said.

“You can’t get one a private plane and go to another city to some people we don’t know! Are you crazy! You can’t do that. What if they try to hurt you? At least take Buffy with you,” Faith said.

“Can’t do that. There needs to be a slayer on the Hellmouth. You can’t go slaying because the Mayor might try something. Xander can’t go because someone needs to watch you while Buffy is out. And Dawn couldn’t watch you because she will be looking after the baby. I have to do this. If I go, we might be able to stop the Mayor,” Willow said.

“Okay,” Faith said, knowing she lost. “Where are Joyce and Dawn?”

“Dawn took Joyce to the park,” Willow said, trying to stifle a yawn. “I tried to point out that a baby wouldn’t be able to enjoy it because she is too young.”

“Not true,” Faith said.

“What?” Willow asked.

“Joyce night not be able to play but she can watch other’s play. That is how a young mind develops, by watching others and listening to them,” Faith said.

“Oh, okay,” Willow said, absently.

“Willow, how is it that you ended up going to New Gotham?” Faith asked.

“Oh, well, when I was looking into Helena Kyle’s life, I sorta got caught doing it. Remember I told you about Astor-Oracle? Well, her real name is Barbara Gordon and Helena was once her ward. So questioned me about why I was doing what I was doing. So I told her some of it. She told me that she’s sending a plane to come and get me. I’ll go there and explain everything to her. Then if I convince her, she might help me,” Willow said.

“You’re going to go through all of this so that she might help you?” Faith asked. “Why?”

“To help you. We have to do this and do this soon,” Willow said.

Faith narrowed her eyes. “Why is it of utmost importance?” Faith demanded.

“I’ve found something very disturbing. The Mayor said ‘once he gets his body back’. What he doesn’t know is that he’ll get it through you. Once he possesses your body completely, your body will start to morph into his. He thinks that he’ll cast a spell to get his body back and he’ll go back into it. But that is not so. Your body will become his. It’ll look like his but he’ll get all of your strength and other slayer powers,” Willow said. Then added without thinking, “So, this will kill you. Your soul will be torn from your body and sent to a hell dimension where it will be tormented for all of time and then some. Or at least that’s what the translation said.”

Faith’s mouth dropped open in horror. Faith paled and past out.

“Oh shit. Faith?” Willow said, getting up and leaning over the unconscious slayer. ‘I probably shouldn’t have told her all of that! Way to go Willow, just scare the poor girl!’ Willow thought to herself. Willow shook Faith a little and slapped her a couple of times. Willow slowly brought Faith back to consciousness. Faith just lay there staring at the ceiling. Willow took that as a bad sign but couldn’t get Faith to talk to her. Willow finally gave up as she heard Xander come into the house and went to go and explain everything to him and then call Buffy. This was going to be a long, long day.

***

Willow sat in the airport waiting for the plane to land. It was due to land any moment and she was getting slightly impatient. She really wanted to meet Barbara but wished it didn’t have to be like this. Not when Barbara was so mad at her. Willow shook her head and started to berate herself. She didn’t deserve to be happy. Not after all of the terrible things she had done. She had done far worse than Faith. True Faith had killed a man, but that had been an accident. True Faith had tried to kill her and her friends but it hadn’t really been her, she was forced to do those things. Someone was making her do those things against her will and she didn’t even know it. Unlike Willow, who tortured a man to death, tried to kill her friends and tried to destroy the world. Everything she did and been her own choice, it didn’t matter that she had watched her love die, that was no excuse.

Willow sighed as tears came and fell. Willow softly sang a song that mean more to her than anyone would ever know, not caring that anyone could hear her.

****

Got a picture of you I carry in my heart
Close my eyes to see it when the world gets dark
Got a memory of you I carry in my soul
I wrap it close around me when the nights get cold
If you asked me how I'm doin' I'd say just fine
But the truth is baby, if you could read my mind

Not a day goes by that I don't think of you
After all this time you're still with me it's true
Somehow you remain locked so deep inside
Baby, baby, oh baby, not a day goes by

I still wait for the phone in the middle of the night
Thinkin' you might call me if your dreams don't turn out right
And it still amazes me that I lie here in the dark
Wishin' you were next to me, your head against my heart
If you asked me how I'm doing I'd say just fine
But the truth is baby, if you could read my mind

Not a day goes by that I don't think of you
After all this time you're still with me it's true
Somehow you remain locked so deep inside
Baby, baby, oh baby, not a day goes by
Minutes turn to hours, and the hours to days
Seems it's been forever that I've felt this way
Not a day goes by that I don't think of you
After all this time you're still with me it's true
Somehow you remain locked so deep inside
Baby, baby, oh baby, not a day goes by

****

Willow finished the song as the private plane arrived and a young man came to stand in front of her. Willow didn’t notice the young man until he spoke.

“Miss Rosenberg?” the young man asked.

Willow looked up. “Yes?” Willow asked.

“Your plane has arrived,” the young man said.

“Oh, thank you,” Willow said, following the young man to the plane.

***

Willow sighed as she looked out the window of the small private plane that was taking her to New Gotham. Willow had argued with Xander but finally convinced him that this was the only way. Then she had fought and convinced Buffy that this was the only way she could think of to get the three remaining things she needed for the spell. Willow was beyond tired. The others didn’t know that she had been up all night translating the spell. She had just gotten in bed when Buffy came down to get them up so that they could get to work. So Willow had pretended to translate the spell for an hour before they all started to work. Then Barbara Gordon confronted her, then she had to tell Faith what had happened, then she had an argument with Xander and a fight with Buffy. It was now about five o’clock and she hadn’t slept in almost thirty-three hours. Now she was most likely going to have to explain everything to Barbara and that might take all night and she was going to have to do, most likely, a lot of spells to convince her and that always took a lot out of her. But Willow was willing to allow her to do it because she deserved it.

“We will be landing shortly Miss Rosenberg,” the copilot said.

“Okay,” Willow said. Willow quickly put on some make-up to hide the bags under her eyes.  Willow leaned back against the seat. This was not how she wanted to meet Barbara. She does want to meet her but not like this, not when Barbara was going to in all likelihood be pissed at her. She had imagined meeting Barbara somewhere like in Hawaii or Pairs, talk to her, have dinners, go to clubs to dance and maybe… ‘NO! Bad, bad Willow. You shouldn’t be thinking like that. You don’t deserve anyone,’ Willow scolded herself.

The plane landed and the copilot helped her out of the plane and led her to a car, a Bentley. The man opened the front door and motioned for her to get in. Willow got in and saw that there was an elderly man sitting in the drivers seat. He was in a nice black suit and looked like he was a butler or something. The door closed and the elderly man drove off.

“Hello Miss Rosenberg. I am Alfred Pennyworth, the butler to Miss Helena Kyle,” the elderly man said, not looking at her.

“Hi,” Willow said softly, while trying to stifle a yawn.

Alfred looked at her and gasped. “Dear lord, child, when was the last time you slept?” the elderly man asked, kindly.

“Not since two days ago. I’ve been up for almost thirty-three hours,” Willow replied.

Alfred was aghast at that statement. He shook his head. He knew what was waiting for her once they reached the clock tower. Barbara would rip into her and question her all night until she was satisfied with the answer. The poor girl looked like something worse than what the dog dragged in… on a bad day! The young girl said nothing as he drove. Alfred pulled into the parking lot of the clock tower after a half an hour. Alfred and Willow got out and Alfred led Willow to the elevator to take them to the apartments. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Willow and Alfred walked out of the elevator.

“Alfred, is that you?” a voice called out.

‘A very pretty musical voice,’ Willow thought.

“Yes, Miss Barbara,” Alfred called out.

“We’re in the living room,” Barbara said.

Alfred led Willow up some ramps and into the living room. Three women were sitting on a couch. The brunette and the blonde looked pissed but the redhead looked utterly calm. The redhead motioned for Willow to sit on a chair, which Willow promptly did.

“Miss Barbara, I must insist that you let the poor woman sleep before you grill her,” Alfred said, before anyone could say anything. He knew the girl was ready to pass out.

“No, Mr. Pennyworth. It’s okay. She can grill me as long as she wants,” Willow said, softly.

Barbara looked at Willow, slightly surprised. This was the first person who was willingly letting Barbara grill her and for as long as she wants. Usually they would do anything to avoid it for as long as possible.

Alfred turned to Willow. “Until you pass out from lack of sleep? I think not. You need rest,” Alfred said, gently but firmly.

“No, what I need is the get the stuff for the fucking spell so I can get the Mayor out of Faith’s body so she doesn’t die,” Willow snapped. Instantly Willow was contrite. Willow sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose with two fingers. “I’m sorry. I had no right to snap at you.”

Alfred nodded and sighed. ‘Women are complicated creatures,’ he thought to himself.

“What do you mean die?” the blonde haired girl asked.

“Why don’t you just start at the beginning and tell us everything and then we will question you,” the redhead said, as Alfred went back to the car to get Willow’s luggage.

Willow nodded as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I live with five other people. Xander, my bestfriend, Buffy, Buffy’s sister Dawn, Buffy’s girlfriend Faith, and Buffy and Faith’s daughter Joyce. Faith got out of prison some months ago. She and Buffy finally admitted their love for each other and got together. And they adopted an infant girl. Anyway, Faith started to have these dreams. But they weren’t really dreams,” Willow started. “The Mayor had put a spell on Faith a few years ago and controlled her, making her do things against her will. In doing so, he had to place a small piece of his soul into her. Well, once we defeated him, that piece lost its power and was unable to do anything. Slowly over the five years Faith was in prison, that piece has been gaining strength. Now it is strong enough to take control over Faith for a few short periods of time. However, over time, it will be for longer and longer until she’ll be completely possessed. What the Mayor doesn’t know is that in doing so, he’ll change her body so it’ll look like his and he’ll expel her soul, sending it to a hell dimension where it will be tormented for all of eternity.”

“So, I found a spell that will allow me to remove the piece of the Mayor and send it to hell, but I need the ‘Eye of Odin’, ‘Redman’s Cross’ and ‘Stifler’s Dagger’ to make the spell work,” Willow finished.

“Why were you going through my background?” the brunette asked.

Willow turned to the brunette. “I was going to find something I could use to get you to let us borrow the two things you had that we needed. We couldn’t steal it and it was the only thing I could think of at the time,” Willow said, sheepishly.

“You said you were a witch. Prove it,” the redhead said before Helena could say anything.

Willow sighed. Willow looked at the redhead and realized that it was Barbara. ‘Damn, she’s hot,’ Willow thought. ‘No! No, no, no, no, bad, bad, Willow. No thoughts like that,’ Willow berated herself.

“Miss Gordon, you are paralyzed from the waist down are you not?” Willow asked, softly, knowing Barbara did not like to talk about her…condition. Willow also knew that she was back at square one with Barbara, having done something that the redhead might not forgive her for.

“Yes,” Barbara answered, a little confused by the seemingly change of subject, but didn’t let it show.

“I can heal you. But, it will only be for seven days. Then you will go back to as you are now,” Willow said.

“Why only seven days? Why not just heal her forever?” the blonde asked.

Willow sighed. “Magic is not to be used for everything. Even if I could heal her all the way and forever, I wouldn’t. I learned my lesson the hard way. I could have healed her forever once but now I can’t, I can only do it for a little while,” Willow said.

“Why not?” the blonde asked.

“Well, the last time I used that much power I turned evil and tried to destroy the world,” Willow said, dryly. “But that is another long and complicated story. So, what do you say?”

“Okay,” Barbara said with out hesitation.

Willow got up and kneeled in front of Barbara. Willow put a hand on Barbara’s stomach and the other on Barbara’s lower back. “I need everyone to be quiet while I’m doing this,” Willow said.

“Why?” again the blonde. ‘This must be Dinah. She is a lot like Dawn, always asking questions,’ Willow thought, absently.

“Because if I’m interrupted, it could kill me,” Willow said.

“Oh.” Dinah said.

Willow took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She started to say a spell in Latin and when she opened her eyes, they were completely white. Pain crossed Willow’s features; doing this spell was taking more out of her than she thought it would have. When she finished the spell she sat back and looked at Barbara.

“Wow, that was nifty,” Willow said and then past out.

Barbara shot forward and caught Willow before she hit the floor and slowly lowered her to the floor so that the younger redhead didn’t hurt herself. Barbara then put an arm under Willow’s legs and then with the other, around Willow’s back. Barbara lifted her up and stood up and quickly ran to the med bay, not noticing that she was running, which mean she had the use of her legs. Helena, Dinah and Alfred followed Barbara into the med bay. Barbara laid Willow onto a bed and started to scan her.

Barbara sighed a breath of relief; the girl was just sleeping. “She’s okay. She’s just sleeping,” Barbara said.

“Uh, Barbara? You’re walking,” Helena pointed out gently.

Barbara looked at her and then looked down to see that she was standing up. “Oh.”

“Um, I guess she is a witch,” Helena said.

“I would say so. It worked. Dinah, you go to bed, you have school tomorrow. Helena go and get the two pieces she needs and put them in the volt. We’ll give them to her as soon as I check out her background and the others,” Barbara said.

“No,” Alfred said. Helena, Dinah and Barbara turned to him in surprise. “I told you that she needed sleep before you questioned her let alone use her powers. Now she has past out and who knows how long it will be until she wakes up. You three were angry at her for digging into Miss Helena’s life and you wish to not only dig into her life but her friend’s as well? Hypocritical much?”

Alfred turned and walked away. Barbara sighed. Alfred was right. It would be hypocritical of her to do that. Barbara turned to Helena and Dinah but saw that they were no longer there. They had gone to go and do as she had asked. Barbara sighed again and started to do more scans on the younger redhead. Barbara stared at the brain scans. Willow’s scans and Dinah’s scans were almost the same but Willow’s were a little more powerful and a lot more controlled.

‘Interesting,’ Barbara thought.

Barbara walked over to where Willow was laying down, got a chair, sat down and studied the girl. She was rather beautiful. She had a full lush body, that of a voluptuous woman, but her face looked like that of someone so innocent and it made her even more beautiful. Barbara reached out and caressed Willow’s cheek. Barbara felt guilt well up inside of her for cause this poor girl to pass out from exhaustion. Willow had only been doing what she thought right to protect her family. Barbara herself had done it more than once herself, going into other people’s backgrounds to make sure that they were good enough for Helena or Dinah. She knew what Willow was like, fiercely protective. She knew this from the many on-line talks that they had had. Over the two years that they had talked, they had grown close. The more Barbara learned about the fiery little redhead, the more she wanted to meet her. But both of their lives had made it difficult to do that, so they had settled for on-line chats.

Barbara got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower. She quickly showered and got dressed into her pajamas. Using her legs after so long not using them made her a little clumsy. She was just about to go to bed when she heard whimpering. Barbara frowned and went into the med bay to check on Willow. Willow was thrashing about on the medical bed, whimpering in her sleep. Barbara went over to Willow and wrapped the younger woman in her arms.

“Shh… It’s okay. You’re just having a nightmare,” Barbara said, soothingly. Willow seemed to calm in her arms, so Barbara laid Willow back down and waited for a few minutes to make sure that the little redhead was asleep before going back to her own room to sleep.

***

Barbara walked into the med bay and noticed that Willow wasn’t on the medical bed. Barbara quickly went to the kitchen to ask Alfred if he knew where Willow was. But she found Willow herself. Alfred and Willow were side by side in the kitchen making breakfast. Barbara stood there shocked. Alfred almost never allowed Dinah, Barbara herself, and most certainly not Helena cook with him. Yet, here he was cooking with someone he barely knew.

Barbara cocked her head to the side and studied Willow. The girl was wearing red leather pants, a tight blue shirt and boots.

Well, it looks like you are better?” Barbara asked, as Helena and Dinah walked up beside her.

Willow gasped and turned around quickly, blushing a deep red. “Uh… I…I…” Willow stammered.

“Miss Willow has been helping me make breakfast. I saw that she was awake and quiet bored so I let her help me,” Alfred said, coolly. He was still mad at the three women for causing the younger woman pain. He had been talking to her for the past hour and found out that the spell she used not only would make her pass out even if she had been well rested but while it was working, it would cause her pain until it stopped. He wanted to tell the three stubborn women what Willow had told him but Willow had warned him before hand not to do that. “She is a most exceptional cook.”

Willow’s blush grew even deeper. “Well, no one else can really cook back home and go out every night is not a good idea. And Dawn and Buffy and Xander have very large appetites. If Buffy cooked she’s burn the house down. Xander can’t even find a fork. And Dawn is only a kid and should be doing that, so I get stuck with it,” Willow babbled.

“You babbled,” Helena said, smiling despite herself.

Willow’s blush grew so deep Barbara feared that she might pass out. “I sometimes do that when I’m nervous, embarrassed or afraid,” Willow said. Willow smiled softly, sadly. “Tara named me the Babble Queen.”

Barbara detected a hint of sadness in Willow’s voice when she said that. Barbara looked at Helena and Dinah and saw that they had heard it too. Barbara nodded her head and Helena, Dinah and she sat down at the table, Helena and Dinah on one side and Barbara on the other.

“So, is breakfast ready?” Barbara asked.

“Yes,” Alfred answered. “Please, take a seat, Miss Willow.”

“But-”

“No, sit down. You’ve done more than enough,” Alfred said.

Willow nodded and sat down next to Barbara. Willow looked everywhere but at the three women. Barbara looked at Helena and Dinah. Helena no matter what would be pissed for a long while and the invasion of her life. And Dinah would still be mad, as long as Helena would be because Dinah didn’t like people hurting her family.

“Whose Tara?” Helena bluntly asked.

Willow snapped her head to Helena. She couldn’t believe someone could be so blunt. No that’s not true, Faith is as, if not more blunt than Helena. “She was my girlfriend,” Willow said.

“Was? You mean she dumped you?” Helena sneered. Willow shook her head as pain filled her eyes. Her face going pale when she realized that she was going to tell them what had happened. Barbara narrowed her eyes at Helena for being so rude.

“No,” Willow said, swallowing a lump in her throat. “She was murdered. A guy named Warren had been trying to kill my bestfriend Buffy but had shot Tara also, right through the heart. She had been standing right in front of me, we were talking and….and.…and….” Willow burst into tears and covered her face with her hands.

“Miss Helena!” Alfred barked, upset that Helena had made the girl cry. Alfred set down their breakfasts and left the kitchen before he did something he would regret. Helena paled, going a few shades of white and looked at the pale Dinah. Barbara had gone a few shades red instead. She was supremely pissed now. Helena had no right to hurt the girl, not matter what she had done. Barbara glared at Helena as she took Willow into her arms. Willow fell into Barbara’s arms and cried on her shoulder. Willow had never really grieved Tara. Even though it had been like three or so years, she still didn’t have the chance to. Things just happened and her chance to grieve was pushed back to take care of other things. After a few minutes, Willow finally stopped crying and straightened up.

“I’m sorry,” Helena said. “How long ago…?”

“Three years ago,” Willow said, wiping her eyes. “I haven’t really grieved yet I guess. Things just happened one after another and I never got a chance to grieve. I just pushed my pain away and focused on everyone else,” Willow babbled.

Dinah opened her mouth to say something but Barbara stopped her by saying, “Hold on. Let’s eat, then Helena, you have to go to work. Dinah, you have to go to school. I’ll stay here and talk with Willow. Understood?” Everyone nodded. “Good.”

The four of them ate in silence. After Helena and Dinah finished their breakfast, they quickly left the clock tower. Willow and Barbara washed the dishes, since Alfred had left in a hurry. After that they headed to the living area and sat down on a couch, facing each other. There was still silence between the two, which, after a few moments, was broken by Willow.

“I’m sorry for hacking into Helena’s life,” Willow said, remorseful.

Barbara sighed. “No, I’m sorry. We all over reacted. I over reacted more than the rest. Recently, someone used Helena’s life against all of us. Helena’s therapist used her knowledge about Helena to hurt us and even kill my friend Wade. I jumped to…” Barbara trailed off.

“I see. But you were right. I was trying to find an edge to get Miss Kyle to let me borrow the items I needed for the spell,” Willow said, firmly. “Bad, bad Willow. How could you do that! Bad, bad Willow,” Willow berated herself, not knowing that she had said that aloud. Barbara smiled and laughed inside. She doubted that Willow knew that she had said that aloud. A lot of the time Willow would type something she thought and didn’t even know she had typed and sent it until she saw it on the screen.

“No, not bad, bad Willow,” Barbara said softly. Willow looked at Barbara in confusion and then blushed when she realized that she had said that aloud. “You did what you had to, to help your family. I’ve done it often enough. So, it is a little hypocritical of me, wouldn’t it?”

“I guess,” Willow said.

“I made it worse when I realized that it had been you to do it. That made Helena and Dinah more angry because the one person I came to trust did something to hurt me,” Barbara said. “Helena was mad because her life was being looked through and Dinah was mad because Helena was mad.”

“Oh,” Willow said.

“I’ll call Helena and have her bring the two items. Then I will call the auction house and buy the other thing that you need here,” Barbara said.

“You’re gonna help me?” Willow asked. Willow was surprised.

“Yes. I wish you would have asked, but I will still help you,” Barbara said.

“Thank you,” Willow said.

Barbara nodded. “So tell me. You said you went evil and tried to destroy the world. Why?” Barbara asked.

“Because Tara was killed in front of my eyes. I loved…love her so much. She was my everything. I had gotten into dark black magic. She left me because of it. We had just gotten back together. I stopped using magic; I did it for her and myself. But when I held her lifeless body in my arms, I just snapped,” Willow said, slowly. “My rage over came me. I was so mad. Someone had taken my Tara away from me and it wasn’t fair. She was so young, she had her whole life to look forward to even if it wasn’t with me.”

Willow took a breath and continued, “So, I healed Buffy at the hospital before she could die. Then I went after Warren. I killed him, in a tormenting kind of way. But that didn’t take the pain away. I wanted to end my pain, end the world’s pain. So I found a way to destroy it.” Willow sighed. “No one could get through me. No one was able to stop me but for one person. My childhood bestfriend, Xander, was the only one who stopped me, who got through to me. He got through to me somehow, I don’t know how he did, but he did. Xander saved the world that day…and me.”

“You said that you haven’t grieved yet. How come?” Barbara asked.

Willow sighed and opened her mouth to comment when she suddenly realized that she was telling a stranger about her life and her past love. Willow closed her mouth embarrassed but spoke anyway. She needed to get this out.

“Well, my life in Sunnydale is anything but normal. Sunnydale sits on top of the Hellmouth. Long story. But big bads kept popping up and then Anya, Xander’s wife, was killed so I had to help him with that. And so many things happened that everyone, including me, forgot to grieve about Tara,” willow said.

“But it’s been three years, right?” Barbara asked.

“Yes,” Willow admitted.

“That’s not a very healthy thing to do,” Barbara said.

Willow thought for a moment. “Actually I think I have grieved. I remember crying one night after a dream about Tara. Faith walked into my room, lifted me up and sat on my bed and held me in her lap. Xander and Dawn had gone camping for the weekend to help out the boy scouts and the girl scouts. Buffy was out on patrol and Faith was the only one home. I didn’t even think she could hear me,” Willow said, slowly. “She told me that it was alright and that I should just let it out.”

“You loved her very much, did you? Well, then you will always grieve her. You will always miss her and you will always cry at some point because of a memory. But you will move on and you might find someone else to love. It would never be the same, not like you had with her, but you will love again,” Barbara said.

“That’s what Faith said,” Willow said.

“Smart girl,” Barbara commented.

“Yeah, I guess she is,” Willow admitted. “Who would have thought that the sixteen year old leather wearing badass smartass slut would be so smart? She even graduated from college when she was sixteen. I guess I didn’t take the time to get to know her. I was being to busy being jealous.”

“You were young. It’s only natural for teens to act jealous when someone new comes into their lives,” Barbara said.

“I know that. But everyone always told me that I wasn’t like that. I never thought I was like that. I was supposed to be smarter than that,” Willow said.

“You shouldn’t believe everything everyone tells you,” Barbara said.

“I know that,” Willow snapped. Barbara blinked and Willow blushed. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Barbara said.

“So, you can walk, at least for a little while. What do you want to do?” Willow asked.

Barbara looked startled. She had forgotten that part, her being able to walk for seven days. You’d think that something like that would stick to her mind, but it hadn’t. “Oh, I guess I forgot about it,” Barbara said.

“Well you have seven, well, six now since yesterday counted to. You have six days, including today to do whatever you want,” Willow said. Willow tilted her head. “What do you want to do?”

Barbara grinned. “Go to the park, go to a club, and stuff with lots of walking or running or using legs,” Barbara said in a child-like voice.

Willow smiled and stood up. She held out her hand and asked, “Come on then, let’s get going.”

“Where are we going?” Barbara asked confused.

“Where ever you want,” Willow said.

***

Six days later.

Willow bent down and hugged Barbara. Barbara was back in her wheelchair after six great days with Willow. Willow was on her way back to Sunnydale with the Redman’s Cross, Stifler’s Dagger and Eye of Odin things that she came for, but she was leaving something behind. Someone special.

Barbara cupped Willow’s face and gently kissed the younger woman slowly. Willow placed her hands on Barbara’s and rubbed Barbara’s hands with her thumbs. Willow slowly broke this kiss and touched her forehead to Barbara’s and took in deep unsteady breaths.

“We’re ready to take off any time,” a man said from inside a small plane.

“Well, I gotta go,” Willow said.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Barbara said.

Willow kissed Barbara before straightened up. Willow quickly hugged Dinah and a surprised Helena. Willow picked up her carry on which contained the three items she came for. “Goodbye,” Willow said and then boarded the plane.

As the plane grew smaller in the horizon, Barbara said softly, “Goodbye for now my Willow.”