Title: Miracle at the Magic Box
Author: Jinni (druscilla@cox.net)
Rated: PG13
Pairing: W/Faith
Disclaimer: All things AtS/BtVS belong to Joss Whedon and/or whomever else is currently claiming responsibility for them. Song lyrics are "All You Wanted" by Michelle Branch.
Distribution: WLF, NHA, BMP, WLS, Aislin. Anyone else who already has my permission to do some archiving. All others – please ask first.
Author’s Note: Holiday Quickie #3, Pairing #6 at the Quickie Challenge, found at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WitchsLoveFanfic/files/quick.html   --- come join in the fun! Let's see how many off the wall pairings and threesomes we can get done from now until this time next year! Suggestions for further pairings welcome!

~*~
I wanted to be like you
I wanted everything
So I tried to be like you
And I got swept away

~*~

"She’s coming here?"

Willow looked up at Buffy, a frown of annoyance crossing her face before she could stop it. Why did her friends have to question every single little tiny thing that she did? Including who she invited over for Christmas?

"Yes, Buff. She’s my friend and she’s coming to visit for the holidays."

"Friend, Wills?" Now it was apparently going to be Xander’s turn to chime in. He looked disgusted with her. Just what she needed two days before Christmas. Bitterness over losing Anya certainly hadn’t done him any good, as far as she could tell. "Did you forget that little thing where she tried to kill us all?"

The witch arched an eyebrow at Xander, favoring him with one of her ‘do you realize how dumb you just sounded’ looks.

"No, I didn’t forget." She replied, quietly angry. "But everyone deserves a second change. We’ve talked. She’s changed. A lot. She wants to make up for all the bad stuff she did."

"People don’t change that much, Willow. You don’t go from being a murderer to not being a murderer –" Buffy stopped, snapping her mouth shut with a very audible pop that seemed to echo hauntingly in a room that had gone silent. Her blue eyes widened and Willow could almost hear her kicking herself for saying something like that out loud. "Wills –"

"No!" Willow snapped, jumping up from the couch. "Thanks for sharing how you feel, Buffy. It’s nice to finally hear it to my face instead of behind my back. I guess I know where I stand with you. Or did you forget that I, too, am a murderer?"

In a flurry of motion Willow was gone, slamming the door to the Summers’ house behind her. The cold air hit her skin like the stab of a knife, cold and sharp, but she was beyond feeling. She couldn’t do it anymore. Listen to their hypocrisy and smile like it didn’t hurt. Laugh at the past like it wasn’t a knife in her back. She had tried to be like them and move on. But that was the ultimate hypocrisy of them all –

Because she didn’t deserve to move on.

~*~

I didn't know that it was so cold
And you needed someone
to show you the way
So I took your hand and we figured out
That when the tide comes
I'd take you away

~*~

She found her feet taking her into the heart of Sunnydale, the stores that were closed in preparation for the holidays. The few that were open twinkled with a holiday cheer that she just didn’t feel. Her friends were cruel and hypocritical. They thought that people could never change, which wasn’t fair to all those people who spent their lives trying to make themselves better.

Like herself.

Like Faith.

Faith.

The one that had started this fight without even meaning to. Willow knew that she should have known that inviting the brunette Slayer over for the holidays would cause nothing but trouble. But Faith was her friend, through thick and thin in their sins they had found something to bond on and form a friendship that Willow was sure would last through just about anything. Unlike what she had with Buffy and Xander which, at that moment, looked like it might crumble into a million pieces with the slightest push.

Things hadn’t been the same since she fell off the wagon of the good and into the race car straight to Hell. She had tried to atone, tried to make amends by being ultra good Willow again, denying that part of her nature that was still inherently dark. It was useless, though. They wanted to classify her as ‘one of them’ and coddle her, keep her from doing anything and then whisper behind her back when they thought she couldn’t hear.

But she could hear them.

And she knew their lies.

She stopped in front of the Magic Box, looking up at the faded sign as though she had never once thought her erring feet would lead her here, of all places. The sign was flipped to "Closed", but Willow had a key and she let herself in, escaping the chill wind that had picked up outside. The store was flooded with light at a touch of the switch. She glanced about, her eyes wandering almost immediately to the signs of her destruction that were still readily visible. A scorch here, a path of burnt floor there. Paint that didn’t quite match the original color being used to cover up the burn marks on the walls. Just being in the store was a penance for her, reminding her of the horrible sins she had committed.

The sadness in her heart doubled, then doubled again; and she was about to fall to the floor and cry when she heard something completely unexpected.

Knocking on the door.

"Red?"

Willow blinked, tilting her head to the side.

"Faith?" She muttered quietly. How had the other woman known where to find her? Not even Buffy and Xander should have known, she had only just arrived. The red head pulled open the door, offering Faith the best smile she could.

"They’re jerks. Both of them."

Willow blinked, confused.

"Eh?"

"Buffy and Xander. They said they were saying things and then you stormed off. Doesn’t take a genius to know they were saying ‘stupid’ things." Faith grumbled, walking into the shop when Willow opened the door the rest of the way. "I went looking for you. Saw the light on and put two and two together."

"A tough feat for you, I’m sure." Willow teased.

"Ha ha ha, Red." The Slayer smirked. "Now what were the Bitch and the Idiot saying?"

Willow shrugged.

"That people never change. That murderers will always be murderers." She meant to sound as though she didn’t care what they thought, like their words and attitude didn’t phase her. But her confession came out as a whisper instead, shattering her  self-illusion that she was calm and collected, if not a little furious, about the entire thing.

"Uh huh." Faith sneered, shaking her head. "They can’t forgive me, and they can’t forgive you. Funny how Bitchy can forgive anything Angel ever even thought of doing if it meant getting in his pants."

Willow chuckled lightly.

"She’s a hypocrite."  The red head finally shrugged. "And I’m tired of it. Sick to death of it."

"Why don’t you take Angel up on his offer and come to LA?"

"And have a whole office full of redemption seekers?" Willow smirked, prepared to offer her negative reply to the offer once again. But her mouth and subconscious had other ideas. "Actually, that may be good for me."

"And then we can hang."

"You’re just trying to get in my pants, Faith." Willow teased playfully, an old joke between friends.

But this time it didn’t end as it had every time before. This time things were different.

The brunette blushed red, a sight Willow had never before had the opportunity to see before.

"I was just joking. Calm down." She offered helpfully, rubbing the other woman on her arm in sympathy. "I know you don’t swing that way."

Faith only blushed more.

"Or – do you?" Willow raised an eyebrow. "You’re embarrassed and – oh goddess. You *want* to get in my pants?"

Her own joke thrown back at her, Willow found herself joining Faith in the blushing.

"Yeah. So. Well. " Faith was speechless, babbling single words that, even put together, made no sense.

~*~

If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted
was somebody who cares

~*~

Willow just stared in shock, unused to seeing the normally cool headed Slayer get so flustered, so worked up, over anything. Much less this. Wasn’t sex and attraction something Faith had always used to her advantage? And now here she was, standing before a woman that was once her enemy, blushing like a school girl caught with her first crush.

"Look – I should just go." Faith muttered, her face still red, eyes downcast.

"Why?"  It came out sharper than Willow had intended, filled with more emotion than she had planned. "Because you like me? I may have been out of the whole dating loop for a while, but I thought that meant that you should, you know, *want* to spend time with me. Unless I’m mixed up. Which is possible. I do get confused sometimes. Can’t always be the braniac of the group."

Faith couldn’t help but laugh, listening to Willow babble on and on. It was a pleasant noise, just listening to the other woman talk about everything, but really nothing.

"Red –"

" – And maybe, you know, if you stuck around I could figure out if I might feel the same way. I mean, it’s a possibility. Being around you does give me that warm fuzzy feeling in my tummy. We could be good for each other, too. You can help me stay on the non-Dark-magic bandwagon and I can help you with your saving people thing –"

"Red!"

Willow blinked, her mouth open in surprise. Faith was laughing. Oh good. At least she had done something right. Though – what was it?

"How about you come back to LA with me, instead? Since B and Moron are being pricks anyway. Come hang out for a few days, snoop around the office. See if maybe you could like staying there on a more permanent basis. This – whatever I feel for you – can wait for now."

The red head nodded, slowly.

"Ya know. I think that sounds like a very good plan."

In fact, a few days without Buffy and Xander being saccharine sweet to her sounded like heaven at that point. She smiled, taking the other woman’s arm in hers to lead them back into the streets of Sunnydale.

She was going to go away and fix herself. Maybe find some love where she didn’t expect it.

And, for the first time in forever, Willow felt hope.

~*~

If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here…


~*~The End~*~