Disclaimers: Joss owns all
BTVS characters, not me. All hail him, for he is great.
Title: Dido owns 'All I want'. I know, the title's a bit...hmmm.
Authors Comments: Put those
hiking boots on, it's all uphill from here.
When you hit rock bottom, the lowest point, from where you think all
hope is lost; the only place to go, is up.
Buffy's POV
Slayers Do Total Recall XIX - If
Only You Had Slept Alone, If Those Seeds Had Not Been
'Come on, let's get you off the floor. 'k?'
I go to help her, but she shrugs me off.
'Can do it myself.'
'I know you can, but you get to do less if
you let me help you. Conserving energy, you read about it in the papers all...
sorry, starting to go again.'
This time she lets me help her up, onto the
bed.
She looks major tired.
Wow, ok, stupid thing to think; she is
major tired.
She's had no sleep and then trashed the whole
room.
I look round and it's like a mini twister's
been in here.
Slayer strength I guess, makes for a messy
time when you turn it on your own stuff.
'I'm getting a flannel to clean the blood up.'
With that, I try and make my way to the bathroom
without crushing too much of her stuff.
Not really possible, especially coming
back when I step on a picture frame.
Damn it.
Well done, Buffy!
I pick it up, to check the damage, and through
the cracked glass I can see; it's us.
The same picture that she found in her bag
in Vegas.
Ok, saving time.
I manage to pull it out, and it's not too scratched
up.
There, I'll put it on the... um, on a space
with no smashed stuff.
Ok, harder to find than I thought.
No, here; all safe.
'Faith, give me your hands.'
'I can...'
'Yes I know you can, but I want to.
You let me do it for you, yeah?'
She doesn't even look at me as she holds her
hands out.
There, make them all clean and, well, nice-ish.
The bruises will be gone by tomorrow, same
with the cuts.
'I'm going to do your face. Lie still. Good.
See, you're all clean again.'
And as soon as it's out of my mouth, I know
I've said the wrong thing.
But she doesn't say anything, probably just
thinks it.
Damn it, Buffy, think; think!!
Stop your mouth from working on auto, for once.
I sit on the end of the bed, 'cause I'm
not sure; should I lie on it with her?
Or should I go?
And it's like she's psychic, which I'm hoping
isn't true, don't want to fry her 'on the edge' brain with my babble.
'Are you... can you lay here with me, B?'
'Course.'
So I crawl up the bed, carefully.
Don't want her spooking.
She's looks at me and her eyes are barely open.
At least she'll be asleep soon, not that it's
helping, the sleeping stuff, but she needs to rest.
Even if it's only for a few hours.
'Talk to me, while I fall asleep; helps. Yeah?'
'Close your eyes first, Faith. Cool.
Um, what do you want me to talk about?'
'Anything, just talk.'
'Ok, so... I'll tell you about my first driving
lessons! Didn't go well. No way good, bad in fact. Those cones were magnetic,
they kept moving towards the car! Well after a massacre in plastic, the teacher
tried to give me these tips. You know; keep focused on the road or you'll
end up killing someone! And I wanted to grab her, and say that I do that
every night, and it's only 'cause of us Slayers that she hasn't been all sucked
dry. Didn't though. Did my whole smiling sweetly and nodding thing. So, the
next time I'm behind the wheel, we were doing the emergency stop, but I was
wearing heels, and I got confused with the pedals. The emergency stop turned
into the emergency speed! I think I turned her hair grey. I'm happy walking.
Cars mean parking in small spaces with the danger of smashing into other
people's cars. Then they'd go all freaky mad at me, and...'
I stop and look at her and she's asleep.
So, insomniacs anonymous here I come, with
my patented Buffy babble!
Then I see a flash of light, under the bedroom
door.
Great, which useless one of them is it this
time?
The door pushes open and it's Elle.
Don't go reading my thoughts, if you can hear
this!
She doesn't say anything, so I think I'm safe.
She looks around at the room, at everything
smashed and broken and sighs.
Ok, she's doing the sad thing kind of well;
so, maybe she's not as bad as I thought.
Maybe.
Then with a snap of her fingers the rooms back
to how it was before, as in, everything!
All in one piece and tidy!
She gives me a wink and says something that
I know I'll always remember.
'I told you true love could even bring the
damned back from Hell, didn't I? It's all about having faith, and that's something
that you've got now; forever.'
With that, she smiles, closes the door, then
there's the flash and I know she's gone.
I look over at her, at my Faith, and I know
she's right.
Forever and always, that's us.