The Slayer watched her mother sleeping on the couch for a moment before silently padding into the kitchen. Dawn had gone to bed an hour ago, thankfully, and Buffy really did not want to wake her mother up from the sleep she so obviously needed. Between her collapse and Riley's determination to nearly kill himself, Buffy could feel the tension in neck and shoulders sending bursts of pain through her head. All in all, this had not been one of her better days. For a while she aimlessly looked through the kitchen cupboards, not really knowing what she was searching for but certain she would when she saw it. Cereal . . . no . . . crackers . . . no . . . fruit . . . no . . . ah, chocolate spread.
The jar was unopened, probably because she had not been around lately to open it and Dawn refused to eat it. For a moment, Buffy felt as though she was ten again, trying to sneak something she should not have. She felt a little silly when she remembered that she was nearly twenty and nobody was going to tell her off for eating a little chocolate spread. She got a teaspoon out of a drawer and sat down at the breakfast bar to work on her illicit treat.
She had only managed to eat one spoonful, slowly licked off the spoon to prolong the flavour, when the telephone rang. Grumbling under her breath, Buffy stood and quickly picked up the receiver so her mother did not get woken up.
"Hello?" she said quietly, taking the telephone back to the breakfast bar so she was further away from the living room.
"B?"
It was that voice again. Somehow, deep down, she had know that the other Slayer would not give up even if it had been a couple of weeks since they spoke.
"Faith," she said flatly.
"The one and only."
"Why are you calling so late?"
"I called earlier but there was no answer. Guess you were out, doing whatever it is you do with your beefstick."
"Something like that."
"How are you?"
"Why do you care so much?" Buffy asked. The tension inside needed airing and, unfortunately, Faith had called at precisely the wrong time. "You've done your best to tear me apart, ruin my relationship with my friends and Riley and make me as unhappy as you can. So why do you now care about my feelings?"
"B, I-"
"Oh no, you're not doing that again. I might not have said what I wanted to the last times you called, but today I've had about enough of former evil people pissing me off and making everything go wrong."
"Jeez, B, I-"
"Would you mind shutting up so I can yell quietly at you?" Buffy asked, the rationality in her voice making the venom sound worse. "Mom's asleep out there and if I have to shout she'll wake up."
"Sorry, B. Take your best shot." There was no laugher in Faith's voice this time.
For a moment the blonde Slayer spluttered, unable to find the words that had been boiling up only seconds ago. But the moment lasted less than a breath and then she was off again.
"I have never hated anyone as much as I hated you. You tried to take over my life and turn me into something I never want to be. You hurt people that mean more to me than anything else in the world. Did you know Willow cried herself to sleep sometimes because of the things you said? And you don't even have the excuse of a demon living inside you. It was all you."
"I know."
"I'm not finished. I've had months to work this out and I haven't come anywhere near done yet. Before you arrived, Slaying was just something I was cursed to do and I thought I did a good job. But you changed that. I started to realise what being a Slayer really was. And then you killed someone and you didn't even care!
"Slaying felt...dirty. Like I was doing something wrong every time I dusted a vampire or killed a demon. You did that to me. And then you changed sides and hurt my friends. I could still have forgiven you for that, then.
"You don't know this, but when I found out you had woken up I was the one that was trying to persuade everyone that you might have changed. They were all telling me that the best thing we could to do was find and capture you, that leopards never change their stripes...or tiger change their...that people like you don't change and I wanted to believe that you had changed! But you hadn't and you did things that I'll never be able to forget." Buffy paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "I felt like a sewer had run inside me and spewed filth and dirt inside and I'd never be able to get rid of it. I hated you for that and nothing you can say will ever change that."
The end of Buffy's outburst was met with silence. Nothing seemed to move in the house and she could not even hear the sound of Faith breathing on the other end of the line. Maybe the other Slayer had gone away.
"B, I...there's...what..."
A loud buzzer in the prison cut off Faith's uncertain voice. Looking at the clock, Buffy realised that it must be lock-up time and the other Slayer's words confirmed it.
"I have to go. Guards get antsy when we ignore them."
There was a click as the telephone receiver was put down at the other end and then Buffy was listening to the annoying dial tone. It felt good to get all of that off her chest, so why did she feel guilty as well?
*finis*