Chosen Two in Sunnyhell

Buffy looked up and down the dark alley, but she couldn't see the vampire. She'd chased him from the cemetery, and he'd headed for the alley alongside Willie the Snitch's bar.

Why is it every time I chase a vampire lately he gets away? She thought to herself. They seem to know exactly how to disappear. Buffy sighed and walked back to the main street. As she glanced down the street towards the Bronze, she noticed Willow and Xander walking down the road towards her.

"Hey guys," Buffy called to them, pocketing her stake and adjusting her coat. "I was just..."

"Yeah we saw you run across the road," Willow cut her off. "Figured there was some vampy action going on, thought we'd offer backup." She smiled, and opened her bag to show Buffy a cache of weapons. Buffy looked at Willow and Xander, and smiled.

"Yeah, like right behind you, Buff, only further back" joked Xander. Willow elbowed him in the ribs. "Ouch. So...are we Bronzing or what?" He grinned at Buffy and Willow. "You know, perhaps we could even drag Spike along. I'm sure he'd love that!" Xander had an evil grin on his face. Willow almost looked horrified, while Buffy was wondering if Xander had received a head trauma recently. Xander laughed at the looks of his friends. "Yeah, joke guys."

"Okay guys let's go party," Buffy said, walking off down the road, with Willow beside her.

***

The Scooby gang entered the Bronze, and scoured the room before spotting a table near the stage. Sitting down, they began to discuss what they'd been up to, the latest evils in town, who's dating whom and last night's TV lineup. "So, Wills, how's all the magick going? Still practicing with Tara?" Buffy asked Willow.

"Yeah, after the moving the Coke machine incident, we found that we worked well with each other. We've been practicing some really neat new spells." Willow enjoyed working with the blond witch, and loved talking about her new friend and what they got up to. "Buffy, how's the thing with Riley, super commando, going?"

Buffy smiled, "Yeah, he was really embarrassed about letting you guys find out. But we talked, and I explained about you guys, so he didn't feel so bad."

"Oh, so you explained about your Slayerettes, the 'Scooby Gang', eh?" Xander quipped. "Soo...will he be joining us on our next big hunt? Or is he too busy in his secret Batcave with his fellow officers planning to save us mere mortals from another...hostile? Yeah...so?" Buffy blushed somewhat before answering that, looking down at the glass in her hand.

"I don't know, he seems...he can't really tell me much about his operation...he can't let civilians know about their secrets."

"Oh." Stated Xander flatly.

"So..." Willow started. As she looked at Buffy, she noticed a certain blond witch standing over near the bar. "Oh! Tara!" She yelled over the noise in the club. Tara turned and saw the Scooby Gang sitting at the table. A huge grin spread over her face as she made her way to the table.

"Hey Willow, how are you?" She asked in her soft voice. Willow smiled.

"Oh, hey, good. You?" Buffy smiled at Willow's rambling. "Oh. Hey guys this is Tara, my Wiccan friend." Tara smiled at everyone. "This is Buffy and Xander," said Willow, gesturing around the table.

"Hi everyone, and I'm great, Willow." Tara sat down next to Willow, placing her drink on the table. As she did, she bumped the table, knocking drinks everywhere. Willow received a lap full of Coke.

"Ah!" she cried as the cold Coke soaked her skirt. "Aww, damn it!" She jumped up, trying to wipe away Coke. "I'll, um, be back in a second." She turned and ran off to the bathroom, with Tara right behind her. Buffy looked at Xander, laughing.

"Okay, that was kinda odd...ooh I like this song. Blink 182 rocks!" She grabbed Xander's hand, dragging him to the dance floor.

"Argh! I hate this song! 'Dammit' just isn't my song, Buff..." Buffy grabbed him and placed a hand over his mouth.

"Just shut up and dance, Xander." She danced away, vaguely aware of Xander's eyes following her body. "Xander?" He shook his head, bringing himself back to the real world. He knew that Buffy was off limits, and that he couldn't have her, but he couldn't help looking, wondering 'what if?' Buffy knew this, and felt bad for him, but there was nothing she could do. She wondered why Xander kept torturing himself like that.

"Buffy..." she returned to the real world to find Xander and Riley in front of her.

"Riley! Uh...hi. How's things?"

"Good Buffy...um...you?"

"Yeah, yeah...couldn't be better. Stopped the apocalypse, saved the world, you know, the usual Slayer stuff." As she said this, a slight smile crossed Xander's face.

"Um, I hate to interrupt this very exciting conversation, but I'll just leave you guys to it..." and with that, Xander wondered over to the bar to get a drink. Riley turned to Buffy, who was studying Xander's disappearing back with a rising fear. Now she was with Riley. Alone with Riley. As she watched Xander retreat, she noticed a vampire at the bar chatting up a girl. She watched the vamp intently for several seconds, before Riley lay a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Buffy...are you okay? You seem kind of, well, distracted, this evening."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm um..." He knows you're the Slayer now, girl, just tell him! "There's a...vampire...over at the bar..."

"Where?" Riley instantaneously switched to commando mode, scanning the room for hostiles. Buffy smiled at the switch of personality.

"It's okay, Riley, I got it covered. Ooh, they're leaving. Wanna see some action?" She took Riley's hand, leading him towards the exit. The other hand slipped under her coat and grasped the stake in her pocket. As she followed the vampire and the girl out, she realized Riley mightn't be ready for this, that he probably can't accept the fact that she's the Slayer, if he even knew what it was yet. Just look it up. Slayer, comma, the. She half smiled at the fact that the big bad commando didn't even know what the Slayer was. Then Riley pulled her back around the corner of the street, jolting her back to reality.

"You sure you don't need back up? I can call..."

"It's okay, Riley. I've done this before. A lot. I can handle one little vampire. Trust me. Watch me." And with that she withdrew the stake from her pocket and rounded the corner. Riley stood and watched as Buffy strolled over to the couple leaning on the brick wall.

"Hey, didn't your parents tell you necking in public is wrong, buddy?" Buffy wisecracked to distract the vamp. It worked, a little too well. He turned and pounced at Buffy, who was caught off guard by the surprise move. She fell back to the ground with a shriek, fending the vamp off with the cross around her neck, until he broke the chain and managed to pin her arms to the ground. She kicked and wriggled, but he had her trapped.

"Mmm, Slayer. I always wanted to taste one of those..."

"Taste this, jerk!" the voice came from behind the vampire as he turned into dust. Buffy pried her eyes open to look into the eyes of her savior...

***

Willow and Tara eventually emerged from the bathroom to find Xander sitting alone at the table.

"Guys! How pleased I am to see you! I was beginning to think you got lost and perhaps I should go and find you...in the bathroom." Xander smiled. Willow playfully slapped his arm.

"Xander!" She giggled. "Hey...where did Buffy go?"

"Oh, off to fight some major evil with Captain Riley. But it's the weirdest thing, just before, I saw this girl who looked remarkably similar to..."

***

..."Faith?" Buffy stood up and looked at the girl in front of her. "Faith, is that really you?"

"One and only, B. In the flesh." She smiled at Buffy. "So, you usually use the helpless victim approach on vamps, now, cos I don't think you're on a real winner there."

"No, I...when did you get out of your coma?" Faith grinned.

"The other day, B. You know me, can't keep a girl down, unless of course I'm..."

"Uh, yeah I get the point." Interrupted Buffy. "Anyway, I want you to meet a friend of mine, Riley." She gestured down to Riley standing at the corner. "Riley, this is Faith. She's also a Slayer, I think. Still. Unless the Council have other plans." Riley walked over to the Slayers, mouth agape, wondering what was going on. Faith looked him up and down, wolf whistling.

"Jeez, B, ya can still pick 'em." She said with a grin. Buffy turned all serious and touched Faith's shoulder.

"Why are you here? I mean, why did you save me?"

"Well, Captain America over here wasn't much help, so I thought I'd better leave one living Slayer in Sunnydale, cos a dead one isn't any good to the cause."

"You're leaving?" Buffy asked, worried.

"Yeah. I well and truly screwed everything up here, I mean you and your friends all hate me, you tried to kill me for God's sake! The police are after me, and damn it if I'm going to prison."

"Hey, I don't hate you, well...much anyway. I was just playing the game by your rules. If you want, we can...forgive and forget..." Faith looked at Buffy.

"Oh, come on B. I tried to kill you, and Angel. I'm evil! You really wanna be friends with a psychopath?" Buffy smiled gently, almost chuckling.

"Yep. I'm as much at fault here, remember?" Faith stared at Buffy.

"I don't need your games, B. I really don't. You don't mean this...couldn't mean this...see ya round." As Faith turned to leave, Buffy grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.

"Stay. Please. We were good together. A good team. We had something, and I'd like to get that back. It was...well...fun. And I know slaying isn't supposed to be fun, but it was and I'd really like it if you stayed and we were ..."

"B. Okay, quit the babblefest, I'll stay if you want."

"Really?" Buffy sounded like a little kid, all hopeful.

"Yeah, B, really. Just don't expect no miracles. And as for your friends, well..."

"Great! Let's go patrol! And don't worry about the gang, I'll handle them" She turned to Riley. "I'll see you tomorrow okay, this is really important."

"Um, yeah okay...Bye...nice meeting you, Faith." With that he walked back into the Bronze.

"Let's motor, B!"

END PART 1

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