Alone Time

Title Alone Time
Rating PG-13

"Hey B!" She glanced up as Faith bounced into the room.
"Hey." she answered quietly. The last thing she wanted right now was company but things had been so tense between them that she was loathe to ask Faith to leave her alone.
"What's up?" Faith's whole demeanor had changed at the tone in Buffy's voice. She was watching her with a worried expression on her face and Buffy tried to smile reassuringly.
"Oh it's nothing, I'm just a little... down I guess. What are you up to?"
Faith grinned at her, "Jeeves is taking us to the London Dungeons - kind of a field trip for some of the newbies. Wanna come?"
Buffy smiled, she could just imagine the kind of chaos that particular field trip would turn into.
"Thanks, but I think I'll just stick around here for a while. You have fun though, okay?"

Faith nodded and turned to leave, as she reached the door she paused and looked back. Buffy was gazing out of the window with such a wistful expression on her face that it tugged at Faith's heart. Something was on her mind, that much was clear, and given that Buffy had been the instigator of most of the ‘lessons' they'd been teaching the noobs this week, Faith was prepared to bet that whatever it was had something to do with the date.

She closed the door gently behind her, wondering what she could do to help. Since Sunnydale, things had gotten a little easier between them but she knew there would always be a barrier them - trying, and nearly succeeding, to kill each other in the past would do that to people. Still, she hated to see Buffy so down.

"Faith!" Giles called from downstairs. "If we don't leave soon we'll be queuing for hours!"
"Just coming!" She called back, checking she had her camera with her. The noobs reactions to the waxworks was going to be quite something to see, especially since every single one all but peed themselves every time she or Xander got to choose the film on video night.

Grinning at the prospect, she bounded down the stairs to see the entire group waiting impatiently by the front door.
"Is Buffy not coming?" Giles asked with a frown.
"Nah, she says to have fun though."
"Oh, well alright then." Giles opened the door, "Shall we?"
"Guys, I'll uh... catch up with you okay?" Xander said, not looking at them. Instead his gaze was fixed on the stairwell. As soon as the door had been opened the girls had rushed out as if they'd been cooped up for weeks instead of days. Giles nodded distractedly, trying to keep them under some semblance of control.

Xander headed up the broad staircase, he had a good idea of why Buffy was looking for some alone time right now, but maybe that wasn't the best plan.

He knocked lightly on the door and when there was no answer he pushed through and sighed as he saw her curled up on the couch gazing out of the window. Not saying anything, he walked across and sat on the other end of the couch, letting her know he was there but not pushing her.

Gradually she moved across and he put his arm over her shoulder and let her rest there. He could feel her tears begin to soak through his shirt as she cried quietly against him. He stroked her hair softly, still not saying anything. Finally her breathing grew steady but she didn't pull away, instead she stayed curled exactly where she was.

Before too long the door opened behind them and neither moved when Willow climbed onto the couch on the other side of Buffy and curled in as well. It wasn't exactly comfortable but none of them would have moved for all the tea in China.

Eventually there was a knock on the door, "Room for one more?" Dawn asked quietly. Willow nodded and held her hand out to the younger girl. The couch wasn't really designed for four people but somehow they all managed to find a space.

"She'd have been 45 today." Buffy said quietly.
"I know." Xander answered.
"She'd be so proud of you both, you know that don't you?" Willow asked.
"D'you really think so?" Dawn asked.
"She would." Buffy said.