Stranger In My House
by Shyfox
I Will Remember You
[reviews]
Chapter Nine: I will remember you
Written by Kirayoshi
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I'm so tired,
But I can't sleep
I'm standing on the edge of something
Much too deep.
Funny how we feel so much
We cannot say a word,
Though we're all screaming inside,
We can't be heard.
But I will remember you,
Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by,
Weep not for the memories.
--Sarah McLachlan
"I Will Remember You"
Two weeks ago;
Faith had to smile. It was all too beautiful.
The Slayer, her rival, her enemy, fallen. So intent was B on saving her beloved, she didn't even know that her attacker was still conscious until the knife had cut a deep gash in B's back. The bright red blood spilled out freely, and Faith knew with an insane satisfaction that B's death was certain. The screaming crescendo coming out of Red's mouth was just the icing on the cake. Oh, she was going to enjoy slicing up Red, carving the fetus out of her womb, drop-kicking it off the ledge. Ding Dong, the Witch is dead! Or as good as.
"Looks like I killed you this time, B!"
But the Slayer wasn't down, not yet. Faith knew that she couldn't count this as a victory until she was certain that Buffy Summers was truly dead. Staggering, reeling from the blood loss and resulting vertigo, B gave one last longing look at her lover, wishing that she could touch her one last time, then turned on her heel, lunging at Faith in a linebacker's tackle. She grabbed Faith by the neck, and with her last erg of strength, rammed them both toward the edge of the roof. Her last words rang through Faith's head like the iron toll of Death's heavy bell; "I may be dying," she hissed with her last conscious breath, "but I'm taking you with me!"
Before she knew it, Faith had been pushed off the ledge. But the exertion was too much for the wounded Slayer. She lost her grip on Faith's neck, and was blacking out as the sidewalk rushed to meet her. Faith, however, was still alert. She had to act fast.
Maneuvering her body in freefall was tricky, but she managed to twist herself, to keep her arms bent and ahead of her, her legs loose and ready to move. As her body impacted with the pavement, she was able to survive, shoulder-rolling across the sidewalk.
She managed to break her right arm, and dislocate her right shoulder. Her body had been roughed up by the landing, and was effectively covered by one enormous reddening spot, which would quickly turn into a livid bruise, but she was alive. She had to be, she was in too much pain not to be. But she still laughed; she had beaten her. The Slayer was dead. There was no way she could have survived that fall. Goodbye, B!
She heard a scuffle from the rooftop; Giles and the others had reached Willow and untied her, and Willow rushed to the ledge, wailing for Buffy. Soon, Giles and Xander were standing over Buffy's body, Giles had checked for a pulse, and shortly after that, Buffy's body was hoisted on a gurney into a waiting ambulance, and rushed to the hospital.
Her friends were so intent on Buffy, that they didn't notice Faith hiding in the shadows. Faith nursed every bruise, every cut, every broken bone she suffered. That bitch Buffy might not be so dead after all. She could survive. Faith knew that she had to bide her time, wait for her injuries to heal.
With a demon's strength, she twisted her upper chest and back, forcibly knocking her dislocated shoulder back into its socket. The action magnified her pain but Faith didn't notice. Just another painful experience to blame on B. Yes, Faith knew, if Buffy somehow survived her sidewalk diving exhibition, Faith was going to have to do something about it.
* * * * * *
Today;
"Well, well, well," the dark-haired woman looked at the gathered family in the nursery as she cradled the police special in her hand, her finger idly resting on the trigger. "I must be losing my touch. Normally, when I kill someone, they tend to stay dead. But you, B, you're still here, still not dead. What are we gonna do about that?"
"I warn you, Faith," Giles' voice was soft, but laced with acid, and backed by a steely resolve. "If you do not leave this place now, I will insure that you regret staying."
"Oh, big words, G," Faith laughed at the former Watcher. "But hey, I'm holding the gun, you're not. Do the figuring."
"What do you want from us?" Buffy asked the strange woman. Her fragmented memories prevented her from recognizing her, but the mad look in her eyes, and the ever-present gun, clued her in that she was the bad guy in this scenario.
"What do I want?" Faith mused. "Oh, I dunno, a candy-apple red Beemer, Matt Damon as my personal sex slave, and the four of you dead. Well," she pulled back the trigger and aimed her piece at Willow's head, "one out of three ain't bad!"
"Put that thing down, Faith," Joyce stepped forward, pleading with the disturbed young woman. "You can't harm her, she's pregnant--UHNGH!" Faith pistol-whipped Joyce, sending her flying backward. Giles immediately rushed to her side, while Faith glared at them.
"Oh, poor pitiful Red!" she screamed. "So she's knocked up! Let's get this straight people, I don't care--" As she raved, a flash of memory came unbidden to Buffy's mind;
//"You don't get it, Faith," Buffy shouted at her fellow slayer. "You just killed someone."
"No, you don't get it," Faith answered calmly, coldly. "I don't care."//
"I don't care if she's pregnant!" the madwoman continued, waving her gun in the air toward her captors. "She's your family, B. You're all her family, that's why I want you dead! Don't you get it? I was the Slayer, the Chosen One! For the first time in my life, I was able to get away from that drunken shit of a father, and be something. But no, sorry, Faith, there's already a Slayer out there, we don't need you!" Her rage grew as she spoke, and centered on Buffy. "You took away everything that meant a damn to me! So now, I'm taking away everything that means a damn to you!"
Buffy looked at her opponent, and summoned whatever bravery she had to face her. "Look, Faith," she stammered, recalling the name from what Giles had called her, "you want to be this Slayer person, go for it, the job's yours. Just don't hurt these people, they haven't done anything to you."
Faith looked at Buffy as though she had sprouted a horn on her head. Her eyes widened with comprehension, and she spoke softly to Buffy. "You don't remember me. Your little cordless bungee jump wiped out your memories." She slapped Buffy hard across the face with her gun, shouting, "It's not fair! You don't know these people!" She slapped her again and again, raving madly. Each slap, each sting of pain, released endorphins into Buffy's brain, and adrenaline into her system, slowly dissolving the blocks to her memory. "You don't know that you've been shagging the redhead--"
//"I wish I remembered last night. I bet it was great." Willow said, shyly, a little embarrassed at her boldness.
"It was better than great." Buffy confirmed, staring into Willow's bright green eyes. A germ of an idea started in the back of her mind, causing Buffy to smile a little. "You know, I can't make you remember last night. But there's nothing that says I can't try to recreate it for you." Buffy smiled.
Willow's smile transformed slowly from embarrassed to passionate. "Do you want to?"
Buffy looked Willow's body up and down, recalling it all from memory. "Oh yeah, I definitely want to."//
"--That she got herself preggers, and you're playing the little mommy--" she slapped her again.
//"Giles, look...we obviously didn't plan for this to happen." Willow said, indicating her and Buffy's positions on the couch. "But it is something of a miracle wouldn't you say? I mean, how often does something like this happen?" Willow asked, her unoccupied hand resting gently on her stomach. "Buffy and I are going to have a baby, Giles. I can't think of anything more wonderful. Can you?"//
"--That you married the bitch--" Slap.
//Buffy took her cue from the minister, then turned to Xander, elbowing him in the gut as he was staring off into space. He grinned at her in apology, then handed over the sparkling golden ring, managing not to drop it in the process. Buffy glared at him, scoldingly, then turned back to her bride, the gold ring in her hand. She took Willow's left hand in hers, and trying not to tremble as she did so, slipped the ring onto her ring finger while reciting these words. "This ring I give to you, is token and pledge of my constant faith and devotion." She watched as it sparkled beside the shining diamond engagement ring, and felt an unaccountable joy rising inside of her.
Willow couldn't stop smiling as she turned and took Buffy's ring from Cordelia, who passed it to her with a grin. Taking Buffy's left hand in hers, she placed the ring on her finger and repeated the words Buffy had spoken seconds before. "This ring I give to you, is token and pledge of my constant faith and devotion."//
--That G's getting it on with your mom!" She slapped her again.
//"Something the matter, Buffy?" Willow asked.
"Nothing, really, Wills," Buffy said, as she started to loosen her tie, and unbutton her collar. "Just seeing Mom dance with Giles like that."
"And this is bugging you why?"
"I dunno, honey," Buffy admitted. "Hey, I'm happy for them, I really am. But I'm just having flashbacks of that whole
'Band candy' incident."//
--And you don't even know it?" A vicious uppercut knocked Buffy off of her feet, and sent her sprawling ungracefully to the floor. Willow tried to rush to her wife's side, only to be grabbed by Faith. The insane Slayer yanked her by the arm, throwing her to the floor. "You miserable little bitch!" Faith spat at Buffy. "You don't get it, do you? You don't get out of this one, you don't get to beat the big bad now. Because I'm the big bad, and I'm gonna do what all the demons of the Hellmouth couldn't do before. I'm gonna slay the Slayer!" She looked around her, at her intended victims. Giles stood next to Joyce, his teeth clenched with hatred, Willow tried to rise on shaky legs, and Buffy crouched beside the redhead, her eyes unreadable.
"But first," Faith continued, "I want to see you suffer. I want you to see your family die, one by one." She twirled the gun around her finger, gleefully taking in their terror. "Now then, who goes first? Eenie--" she pointed the gun at Willow. "Meenie---" At Giles. "Miney--" As she pointed the gun at Joyce, Willow saw her opening. She lunged at the extended gun arm, desperately trying to wrest the gun from the madwoman. But Faith was too strong for her, and threw her aside as though she were an annoyance.
"Thanks for making my mind up for me, Red," she snarled at the pregnant woman, who sat terrified before Faith's gaze. Devoid of compassion, remorse or sanity, she stared at Willow, but the frightened young woman had no idea what Faith saw. "You just lost your breathing privileges, sister. Ya hear me, B?" she shouted to Buffy. "First you watch your wife die, then your mom, then your Watcher. Then," she smiled as she touched the barrel of her gun to Willow's forehead, "I get to watch you die."
The fear in Willow's eyes made Buffy ache with need to protect her, the silent plea within her facial expressions filled her with an all-consuming drive to undo this madwoman's plans. Willow, believing that she was about to die, turned her frightened gaze to her wife, and whispered, "I love you, Buffy."
// "I think it's worth doing," Willow said to Buffy, as she declared her plans for the future. "And I don't think that you do it just because you have to. It's a good fight, Buffy and I want in."
Those words of affirmation from Willow Rosenberg, the jewel of her life, filled Buffy with a warmth and tenderness she had never known before, even when she was with Angel. All she could do was say the words she had longed to say for two years, and never had the courage to say before now;
"I kinda love you."//
"You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?" Faith asked Willow as she began to pull the trigger.
"Leave--" a guttural growl issued from the blonde's throat.
"My--" Buffy's hand grabbed Faith's wrist, loosening her grip on the gun, which dropped to the floor.
"Wife--" She twisted Faith's arm behind her back roughly, causing pain to lance through Faith's shoulder.
"ALONE!" She rammed Faith against the wall, dislodging one of her teeth in the process.
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From the journal of Buffy Summers;
Looking back, I probably should thank Faith for breaking in.
The sight of her jamming her gun into Willow's forehead, the look of pleading on Willow's face, her whispered statement of "I love you". Somehow that jump-started something in me. A thousand images, a thousand sensations, emotions, touches, tastes, visions, all assaulted me at once. The literal 'life flashing in front of my eyes' moment, as cliché as it sounds, that's what happened to me. The tumblers clicked into sequence, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place.
Willow Rosenberg-Summers. My wife. The woman I loved. The woman whose brains Faith was about to splatter against the nursery wall, OUR nursery wall. That's when I knew who and what I was. Buffy Rosenberg-Summers. Willow's lover and wife, parent to her baby. And, of more immediate concern considering what Faith was going to do, the Slayer.
Yep, I should thank her. But considering that she was planning to kill me and my family, I didn't feel too guilty about the bitch-slapping I gave her.
It was like some slow-motion film, the way I slammed into Faith, disarming her, hitting her repeatedly. My mistake two weeks ago was when I gave her an opening. Not this time. I kept the advantage and never gave her a chance to get back at me. I remained on the offensive and never let up. Once I had tenderized most of her major muscle groups, and probably broken a few choice bones, I twisted her arm behind her, hard, knocking her to the floor, where I could pin her back with my knee.
While I was in this position, I shouted to Mom and Giles; "Mom, call the police, tell them we have a break-in. Giles, in the bottom of my foot-locker, where I keep my spare stakes and holy water, there's a pair of those enchanted manacles we had made to restrain Oz when we couldn't get him to the book cage during the full moon. Could you bring them here?"
Giles and Mom left, and Willow just sat back away from Faith and me. Faith was swearing under her breath, her speech slurred by her swelling lip and broken teeth. I kept her pinned to the floor; I wasn't about to turn my back on her until she was sufficiently restrained. I glanced at Willow, and winced at the fear I saw in her eyes. I couldn't help but wonder, was she scared of Faith for what she put us all through, or scared of me, of what I had done to Faith. I wanted to say something to her, to assure her that yes, this was me, her Buffy, that I was one-hundred percent back. But at that moment, Giles came back in with the manacles.
I quickly slapped them on Faith's wrists, keeping her hands locked behind her back so she couldn't try anything funny on any of us. Ten minutes later, Sunnydale's finest showed up and carted Faith away. One of them commented that Faith was still wanted in connection to the murder of Deputy Mayor Allen Finch last year. He assured us that Faith was going away for a very long time. I felt a grim satisfaction at the thought as I watched a beaten Faith being carted away by the police.
After the door closed, I turned toward the others. It felt as though I could cut through the silence with a knife. I studied their faces, really seeing them for what seemed like the first time in so long. Just the thrill of recognizing them, of connecting their faces to names, to emotions, to memories, was like nothing I've ever known before. I exhaled loudly, feeling the strain drain from my shoulders. "So," I asked, hoping to lighten the tension for the others, "any calls while I was away?"
The spell was broken. Willow was the first to approach me. She stood before me, almost timidly, like she was one of the apes at the beginning of '2001; A Space Odyssey', about to touch the obelisk. She reached out tentatively with her right hand, and began to trace the curves of my cheek with her fingers. I leaned into her touch, that feather-light sensation that I had forgotten now renewed in my mind as though I had only felt it yesterday. I looked at her face, saw the unshed tears glistening in her beautiful green eyes. Her breathing was labored, almost in gasps, as she asked me, "Buffy? You back? Really back?"
"Yeah, Wills," I smiled at her, desperate to assure her, to see her smile back at me. I took her hand as she touched my face. "I'm back."
Her tears flowed freely now, and she rushed into my arms, nearly knocking me over. God, this was what I was missing for so long, her weight against mine, her arms around me, her lips on mine. It was like I was kissing her all over for the first time, rediscovering this wonder, this miracle that was her love for me. I was holding my wife in my arms again, and I silently vowed never to let her go.
I was vaguely aware of the others, as they came near me. I glanced around, and saw Mom beside me, and I reached my arm around her, including her in our hug. Even Giles, always the model of British reserve and general stuffiness, wrapped his arms around the three of us, as our group hug tightened further.
Finally, I had to break away, if only for breathing purposes. "Uh, guys," I announced, "oxygen, becoming an issue." They loosened their grip on me, and we just stood there for a while. After a few minutes, Giles suggested that I should go see Dr. Greene tomorrow, just to make sure there were no more unexpected side-effects. I tried to assure him I was fine, but Mom took his side and I finally had to agree to see the Doctor.
After a few more awkward seconds, Giles pointed to Mom and said, "Perhaps we should leave them alone for the rest of the evening." He and Mom sneaked away, leaving me with Willow. Willow held me again, her kisses more insistent, more urgent, while her hands started to roam across my body, bringing about more sensations that were both new and familiar at the same time. She then stopped, and grinned at me. She reached around to the back of her neck, and unclasped a silver chain she was wearing. She removed the chain and held it in her hand for me to see.
She had kept our wedding rings on the chain all this time. As she removed my ring from the chain, she took my hand in hers, and said, "I think this belongs to you, Buffy." She slipped the ring on my finger, and as I looked at it, I realized how naked my hand looked before that moment. I gently took the other two rings from the chain, and placed them reverently on her hand. "Here's hoping we never have to take them off again," I whispered to her, emotion nearly overtaking my voice. I replaced the chain around her neck, and left my hands behind her neck as I drew her in for another long slow kiss. As we held each other harder, I turned Willow's head to face me, and asked her, "So, Wills, when ya movin' back in?" Oh, that smile was priceless!
How many people are as lucky as I was? I got the chance to rediscover the greatest love I ever knew, twice in the same lifetime. I had the lost piece of my life in my arms again. I was whole again. I had Willow back and I was never going to lose her again.
Yours truly, (God I love writing this part!!!) Buffy Rosenberg-Summers!
Look in my eyes while you're near
Tell me what's happening here
See that I don't want to say goodbye
Our love is frozen in time
I'll be your champion and you will be mine
I will remember
I will remember you
--Amy Grant
"I Will Remember You"