Fic: Another Chance: Hers (1/1)

[inell@xxxxxxx]

Title: Hers
Author: Inell
Email: Inell@xxxxxxx
Disclaimer: Joss owns them all
Distribution: My site, Kiss or Kill, 
http://members.fortunecity.com/kissorkill Anyone that has permission, take. 
Otherwise, just ask.
Rating: R
Pairing: Willow/Faith and Willow/Buffy
Follows Decision in Another Chance Series


HERS (1/1)


Faith studied the man in front of her, resisting the urge to lean forward and 
hit that smug smile off the handsome face of Lindsey MacDonald. Instead, she 
just smiled back, hoping he would not see the disgust in her eyes. She heard 
Lilah laugh and cringed, covering it by looking at the floor. She had left 
Sunnydale just three days before, headed to L.A. to get lost. Lost? That was 
a joke. She hadn't been in town twenty-four hours before they had found her. 
Wolfram and Hart. They had approached her tentatively at first, just saying 
that they had a proposition for her. She had ignored them, claiming she 
didn't know what they were talking about. But, they had persisted and so now 
here she sat. Listening to these two morons offer her money to kill Angel. It 
was rather amusing in a completely unamusing way that she had run away from 
her past in Sunnydale only to end up in the same town as Fang. Now, these 
lawyers wanted to pay her to kill him.

While she might have jumped at that chance a year ago, probably paying them 
for the chance, that was then, this was now. She had wanted him dead a year 
ago. Now, she didn't care. The way she saw it, he was like her in a lot of 
ways. They were both survivors. So, she smiled and accepted these fools 
offer, seriously considering it for only a few moments. When she thought of 
killing him, she saw green eyes and a shy smile instead. Then, she felt 
guilty for even thinking about killing someone that Willow considered a 
friend. Groaning, she ran a hand through her hair, looking up to see both 
lawyers watching her almost like people would study a wild animal at the zoo. 
Smiling, she moved quickly, grabbing a can of soda from in front of Lilah. 
She almost laughed when the woman jumped at her movement, shooting the bitch 
an innocent smile as she popped the top of the soda and took a sip. Sitting 
back, she gave them her best bored look and asked, "Are we done yet?"

"Yes, I believe that takes care of everything," Lindsey said, straightening 
his paperwork to conceal his amusement at Lilah's unease around the brunette 
slayer.

"Well, I'd say it's been fun, but I hate liars," Faith said, leaving the 
office and not looking back. She walked into the sunlight, blinking at the 
sudden brightness. She hadn't realized just how dark they had kept that 
office. She stopped at the corner, pausing a moment and taking a deep breath. 
She calmed her nerves, having a sneaky feeling that she was being followed. 
She glanced behind her, seeing people walking but not seeing anyone watching 
her. Shrugging, she started off towards the one place she might feel safe.

Two hours later, she stood outside the door to Angel Investigations, feeling 
something very similar to fear for the first time since she was eight. She 
turned, her back to the door as she squinted at the sky. Was she making the 
right decision? Should she really be on the fastest bus out of town instead 
of getting ready to face yet another enemy? Thinking of running made her 
remember Willow and the last time she had run away. That had been different 
though. She hadn't had any reason to stay in Sunnydale. But, did she really 
have a reason to stay in LA either? She had never liked Angel. It wasn't just 
because he was a vampire, though that was probably part of it. She just 
hadn't trusted him. He'd reminded her too much of herself. Rather ironic that 
she had turned out to be the one no one should have trusted. She turned back 
towards his door, opening it before she lost her nerve and ran again.

"Fang, love what you've done with the place."

Angel froze, closing his eyes briefly at the familiar voice from the past. 
Looking up, he said, "Faith."

She frowned, "You look surprised to see me."

"Shouldn't I be?" he asked, having thought he had kept his face emotionless.

"I'd have thought B would have called you," Faith said, shrugging. "Guess 
she's too busy doing the farm boy to call."

"Did you need something?" he asked, his voice strained.

"What?" she asked, frowning as she found her thoughts wondering what exactly 
had happened after they had switched bodies back. Did Buffy run right into 
Riley's bed? And if so, what was Willow going through? Knowing it was really 
Faith she had made love with and not Buffy as she had thought. She knew 
Willow would be disappointed. That night had been wonderful, and she had 
relived it every night since. But it hadn't been her. It had been Buffy.

"Faith?" Angel asked, a slight hint of concern in his voice as he watched her 
face and saw the emotions flickering in her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm supposed to kill you," she answered truthfully, pulling her thoughts 
away from Sunnydale and concentrating on the present.

"It's getting late and I'm not in the mood to play your games," he said 
sharply, seeing no threat from her.

"Touchy touchy," she said, looking him over. "Looking good Fang. But, you 
know, there's this nifty thing called color."

"Faith," his tone was warning.

"I woke up last week. Came here to get lost. Instead got found by some law 
firm that wants your lovely head on a platter. Imagine that," she said 
sarcastically.

"Wolfram and Hart," he said, running a hand through his hair and cursing. 
"Damn."

"Yep. Seems someone's been a bad vampy," she said, moving to sit on the edge 
of the desk. She looked at him, the amusement leaving as she said seriously, 
"They mean business, Fang. You'd better watch your back."

"Why are you telling me all this?" he asked, leaning back in the chair and 
studying her.

She shrugged, "I dunno. Don't want them to win, maybe. Maybe I don't want you 
dead. Maybe this is my good deed for the millennium. Who knows why I do 
anything anymore."

He heard the soft sigh in her voice, raising his eyebrow as she again 
appeared to drift off into memories. "You said you woke up last week? Did you 
cause any problems for Buffy?"

She snickered, "Angel, baby, you should know me well enough not to ask that."

"Did you at least leave Sunnydale in one piece?" he asked, studying her 
intently.

"Don't look at me like that," she said suddenly, picking up his paperweight 
and tossing it back and forth between two hands.

"Like what?" he asked.

"Like I'm some soul you can save," she said, giving him a narrow eyed gaze 
before turning her attention back to the tossing paperweight.

He snorted, "As you said, I know you Faith. There is no soul there to save."

"Thanks," she said sharply, not letting his words affect her. She couldn't 
care less what anyone thought. Anyone except Willow, that was. Thinking of 
the redhead caught her off guard as she found herself sighing.

"Well, since you're here, why don't you come downstairs, have a drink, fill 
me in on your plans and why you came to warn me instead of finishing what you 
started last May," Angel suggested.

"I'm not gonna kill ya, Fang," she said, putting the paperweight back on the 
desk and staring at it for a full minute before looking at him. "I'll come 
downstairs just cause you seem lonely. Wouldn't want to leave you all alone 
with the brooding."

"Thank you for the concern," he said, his lips twitching.

"Yeah, whatever," she said, snorting as she followed him towards the elevator.

Three hours and a bottle of wine later, Faith set her glass down and looked 
at a surprised Angel. "So you see why I had to leave."

Angel just looked at her, not able to speak. He had no idea what to say to 
the drunken slayer. For the first time in his active memory, he was honestly 
speechless.

"Whas the matter, Fang? No stoic words of wisdom?" she asked, staring at him. 
"Can't you make it better?"

"You really changed bodies with Buffy?" he asked, wondering if this was an 
alcohol induced story.

"Yep," she said, seeing his disbelief. "She has a small birthmark on the left 
cheek of her ass."

"Fuck," he hissed, shaking his head slightly. "Wait, you could have known 
that."

"Trust me when I say that I never checked out B's package," Faith said, 
disgusted at the very idea she had found that bony bitch attractive. "My 
taste ran to redheads."

"Willow," Angel sighed. "You really seduced her and then just left Buffy to 
deal with it all? You claim you care about Willow, but I don't see that in 
your actions. I see a selfish girl that decided that it didn't matter who got 
hurt as long as she got what she wanted."

"Fuck you," she said, looking at the floor and frown. "You don't get it. You 
can't tell me that if the opportunity arose and you could fuck B again 
without that damn curse you wouldn't."

"I," he started to argue that his feelings for Buffy were gone, which was the 
truth, but he flashed back to Thanksgiving and couldn't deny her words. "I 
wouldn't just leave her afterwards."

"You don't get it, do you Fang? Red's not mine. She was never mine. She's 
always been hers," she spat out the last word as she looked up and glared at 
him. "I was in her body, Angel. I felt what she had felt, saw what she had 
seen. She loved you, but it was never anything like what she felt for Willow."

"I know," he said softly, seeing the widening of her eyes at his words. 
"Faith, I'm not an idiot. I could smell the soft hints of her arousal even 
when she didn't realize she was aroused. And she did love me, probably loves 
me even now in her own way, but she and I don't work. We can't be together 
and it wouldn't be fair of me to try to keep hold of something that isn't 
mine."

"I know," Faith said, sighing as she took a sip directly from the bottle. 
"You'd probably run away if you knew a big confrontation was coming and that 
you'd lose, wouldn't you?"

"It isn't the same," Angel said. "If Buffy does have feelings for Willow that 
extend beyond the physical, well, that is something she needs to deal with. 
You are what concerns me at the moment. How could you experience the obvious 
pleasure you had with Willow and then just leave without resolving anything?"

"What's the use in resolving anything?" she asked. "She wanted Buffy. She 
made love to Buffy. It was never me. It was always her."

"You were too scared to let Willow make that choice," he said. "Why? Was it 
because you knew she'd choose Buffy or because you thought she just might 
choose you?"

"I'm not what she needs," Faith said. "Hell, her little blonde witchy friend 
would even be better than me."

"Where did your self esteem go," he wondered softly, watching her retreat 
into her memories again.

"What?" she asked, looking at him and focusing on his face. She saw the 
obvious concern in his eyes and frowned, not used to anyone really caring. 
She yawned, putting the bottle on the table and snorting, "Damn, I'm drunk. 
Forget anything I said, Fang. I didn't know what I was saying."

"I think for the first time since I've met you, you actually finally spoke 
the truth," he said quietly.

"Truth, smuth," she said, looking at him again. She smiled slightly, "It 
hurts, you know? To want someone that bad, to finally get them just to lose 
them the next morning."

"I know," he whispered, flinching slightly.

"Yeah, you do, don't ya?" she said, sighing. "You're over her, aren't you? 
You say her name and don't get all broody and mushy."

"I'll always care for Buffy, but it's the past. We've both moved on. Time 
heals," he said.

She laughed weakly, "Does it? That's good to know. It should only take me 
what? Two, three years tops?"

"More like fifty," he said, smiling.

"Damn, I must be drunk. I could have sworn you just smiled," she said, 
laughing again.

"Faith," he warned again, seeing her yawn for the tenth time in the past half 
hour. He had deliberately gotten her drunk, wanting to test her to see if 
this was yet another game. Faith had shocked him though with her story of 
unrequited love for Willow of all people. Thinking back, he could see the 
small signs. While he hadn't wanted the vivid pictures of Buffy wanting 
Willow, he couldn't deny that he had not seen that before. Again, small 
things that had made him wonder but that he had chosen not to explore. Now, 
he had been forced into exploring them. He had no idea if Buffy cared about 
Willow as anything other than a friend, and it wasn't really any of his 
business. But, he could see clearly that Faith did care about the quiet 
redhead and he felt sorry for her, knowing exactly what she was feeling. 
Stirring from his thoughts, he saw her close her eyes briefly. Smiling he 
said, "Come here."

Faith looked at him and chewed on her bottom lip, not sure if she trusted 
him. Sure, she had spilled out the entire sordid story of her lust for Willow 
and everything that had happened in Sunnydale plus the entire meeting with 
Lilah and Lindsey, but she didn't know if she trusted him. Finally, she 
decided fuck it. She moved onto the couch and settled between his legs, 
laying her head on his large chest. She felt the softness of his black 
sweater against her cheek and snuggled closer. "Color, Fang. It's a nice 
thing."

Angel smiled slightly, running his hand over her head as he brushed her hair 
slowly. "We'll see."

She laughed softly, "Yeah, I've heard that before." She was quiet for a few 
minutes, listening to her own heartbeat and not hearing his. She closed her 
eyes, saying what was on her mind, "I wonder what Willow is doing right now."

"Why don't you call her and ask?"

Faith shook her head as she felt sleep start to claim her. She mumbled, 
"Nah...she's not mine. Was never mine. Always Buffy. Willow's hers."