Sapling, Willow/Faith, PG

[punch_kicker15]

Title: Sapling
Author: punch_kicker15
Rating: PG
Characters/Relationships: Willow/Faith
Summary: AU Season 3: Buffy doesn't come home after Acathla, and Faith's Watcher survived. Willow, Faith, and three Jewish holidays,
Word count: 1463
Notes: Written for femslash_minis, for aaronlisa, who wanted the pairing, kissing, a Sunnydale setting, and Faith not going completely evil, and didn't want character death or complete fluff. Sorry this is late!

On the night before Rosh Hashanah, a vampire pushed Oz away with a flick of his arm, and knocked Willow to the ground. For some reason, in what were likely the last seconds of her life, the only thought that came to mind was Guess I won’t make it to synagogue tomorrow.

Just as the vampire grabbed Willow by the shoulders, someone pulled him off and dusted him in one fluid move. Willow looked up and saw a slender girl in a dark leather jacket.

“Thanks,” Willow croaked out. “Um. Do I know you?”

The girl flashed a wicked grin. “I’m Faith. The Vampire Slayer.”

It was a good thing Willow was already on the ground, because that revelation might have made her faint if she’d been standing. Instead she settled for bursting into tears.

Oz ran over, knelt down beside her, and held her as she sobbed. “Buffy already died once, it’s not fair--,” and she couldn’t even finish her sentence. It was one of those rare moments when words had abandoned her.

Somewhere far away from Willow’s well of sadness, people were talking. Someone named introduced herself as Faith’s Watcher. Her name was Diane. Gradually the words started to sink in. Faith had been called by Kendra’s death--Diane and Giles had matched it to the minute. Buffy could still be out there, and Giles was leaving Sunnydale to search for her full time.

It was a lot to absorb, more losses on top of losing Jesse and Ms. Calendar. But at least she could hope these losses wouldn’t be permanent.

Willow took a deep, shuddery breath, pressed her tongue hard to the roof of her mouth, willing the tears to stop. Tomorrow her parents would drive her to Ventura for Rosh Hashanah services at Temple Beth Israel. Maybe hearing the shofar usher in the new year would help her embrace all the other newness: new school year, new Watcher, new Slayer.

***

On the third day of Sukkot, Faith came over to help Willow pick out a Homecoming dress.

From the kitchen window, Willow watched Faith approach the house from the alley behind it,  and vault over the fence into the back yard.

Willow joined her there. Faith glanced at the sukkah Willow had put up in the back yard. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s a sukkah.” Which--duh--was a dumb answer, because if Faith knew what a sukkah was, she’d have recognized it. “It’s, um. A Jewish thing. We build booths for the holiday.”

Faith tilted her head, looked at the sukkah and back at Willow again. “How come?”

Usually it’s a Jewish thing was a conversation stopper. Buffy and Xander and Oz weren’t rude (they were far more polite than the rest of Sunnydale High), but polite disinterest was still disinterest. Until that moment, Willow hadn’t realized how much she wanted someone to be curious about her religion. It made her feel kind of flustery, but in a good way.

She cleared her throat. “When Moses and his people wandered the desert for forty years, they had to live in temporary houses, because they’d have to move all the time. And now we build temporary houses to remember and honor that.”

Faith ran her hand over the palm frond roof. “You think they kept vamps out back then?”

Willow wondered if she’d ever hear a reading of Moses’ journey in quite the same way. Demons were eternal, right?

Faith was like that; she was always coming up with odd thoughts Willow would never have come up with on her own, despite spending so much time living in her own head.

***

Upstairs, Willow tried on eight dresses, and each time, Faith gave her the same unimpressed look, and said, “Nope. Next?”

The last one was a simple black sleeveless dress. It had looked elegant on the mannequin in the store, but whether it looked good on her was another matter. She walked out from behind the screen, and Faith just shook her head. Willow’s heart sank. This had been a dumb idea. Faith always looked hot because of her intrinsic Faith-ness. It wasn’t something someone like Willow could learn.

Faith dug around in her backpack, “Hey, I got one for you to try, might be more your speed.” She pulled out a bright red dress.

Willow went behind the changing screen and slipped the dress over her head. It was made of some stretchy material, and fit tighter than anything Willow had worn, maybe ever. She walked out from behind the screen to model the dress for Faith, who had an odd look on her face, so odd that Willow looked in the mirror to see what was wrong.

The dress clung to her body as tightly as body paint. Suddenly it all clicked for Willow. Faith had brought the dress over so that she could snap a Polaroid of Willow, and then pass it around to everyone at the high school so they could laugh at her. Willow turned back to hide behind the changing screen, but Faith grabbed her by the shoulders with strong hands and held her still.

“What’s the matter? You’re lookin’ good, Will.” There was still that strange, almost feral look in Faith’s eyes. Before Willow could figure out what that was about, Faith pulled her closer and kissed her hard.

Willow breathed in Faith’s perfume, jasmine and sandalwood, as she ran a hand down Faith’s spine. She hadn’t known that a kiss could be so wild, could make her heart pound and set the rest of her body on fire. Kissing Oz had been nice, but nothing like this.

The Oz-thought was like a splash of cold water over Willow’s face. She pulled back. “Faith--I shouldn’t. We got carried away. I think it’s the dress. It’s a fluke.”

There was a second where a look of surprise crossed Faith’s face, only to be replaced with a sardonic smirk. “Right, a fluke. I get it. You’re a good girl.”

Faith stalked out, and Willow could swear that she heard some pain in Faith’s voice. But that would be ridiculous.

***

Six days before Tu BiShvat, Willow and Diane shouted the binding spell as a huge tentacled demon rose through the floor. Its screams reverberated through Willow’s chest, squeezing Willow’s heart and lungs. She kept the chant up until the magic ripped through them with a deafening roar, and wrapped itself around the demon, long enough for Faith to behead it with an ax. And then for the first time in hours, it was quiet.

Faith broke the silence with a shout of triumph, then started gathering up the discarded weapons, starting with her favorite knife. How on earth could she look so hot even when covered with demon guts? One of the many mysteries of Faith.

Willow leaned against the wall, not trusting her shaking legs to hold her up. They’d done it. They’d stopped the Sisterhood of the Jhe.

There was a flash of movement behind Faith, and then everything happened faster than conscious thought. Willow levitated a stake, plunging it into the vampire sneaking up behind Faith. And then Willow ran to Faith and kissed her until both of them were breathless.

When Willow’s thoughts finally caught up with the rest of her, this time they didn’t tell her to pull away. She ached for Oz, who was wolfed-out and locked up and oblivious to the heartbreak that was coming. He’d been good for her, calming and safe in a way that Faith never would be. And fluking (ok, cheating) wasn’t a particularly sensible way to start a new relationship. But life on the Hellmouth was so precarious--if it wasn’t the Apocalypse, it was ordinary vamps--and Willow couldn’t bear the thought of missing a chance of something, anything, with Faith.

Something cold and sticky slid down the back of Willow’s neck. Maybe she should have waited until Faith has cleaned off the demon guts before jumping in for Faith-kissage.

***

On Tu BiShvat, Willow and Faith planted a plum tree in Willow’s back yard.

As they covered the roots with dirt, Faith asked, “What’s this for? Magic ingredients?”

“It’s a Jewish thing.” Willow dumped one last shovelful of dirt over the roots. “It’s the New Year for the trees.”

Faith grinned. “So you give trees a day to party and get wasted. I dig your holidays.”

They stepped back to look at the spindly tree. “Do you think you’ll get plums from it?” Faith asked.

It was such an impossible question. Maybe they’d planted it soil that was too dry, or too wet. Maybe it wouldn’t get enough sunshine. Maybe a windstorm would knock it down. Maybe bugs or fungus would kill it before it ever bore fruit.

“I dunno,” Willow finally answered. “I hope so.”

Comments

[daria234.livejournal.com]

This is beautiful - funny and adorable and sweet and hot and also great characterizations - I really believe this could have happened like this, and I love Faith being curious about Willow's heritage, Willow liking that Faith thinks differently, the whole thing with the dress, all of it.

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! This was my first time writing Faith, so I'm really glad you liked her characterization and found this AU believable.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

This is really lovely. Not a Faith fan, as you know, but you did a terrific job with this!


Gabrielle

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm so glad you liked this.

[rbfvid.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love it, it's so gentle and natural. I don't think I've ever read S3 Willow/Faith that felt so natural.

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

Thanks! This is my first time writing Willow/Faith, and I'm glad this felt natural to you.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

This was really lovely. Well done. :)

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

This fic is absolutely super! I don;t think I've seen a Willow/Faith AU set in S3 that felt so natural and believable. And kudos for incorporating Willow's religion as an important part of the story!

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. The theme for this round was holidays, and I wasn't coming up with any good Christmas or Hannukah or New Year's ideas, so I was glad the prompt gave me the freedom to explore some different holiday traditions instead.

[lokifan]

Oh, I love this! So well-characterised and I love the sapling metaphor. Although omg now I'm so worried about why Buffy didn't come back!! Is she still in Hell??

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm so glad you liked this. It was my first time writing Faith and I'm glad you thought it was well-characterized.

Re: Buffy--the prompter wanted no character death, so she is most certainly alive. My thought when I was writing it was Buffy decided to go somewhere other than L.A., so she didn't run into Ken or go to hell and was still slowly working through her grief during the timeline of the story.

Love your icon, BTW! Faith looks so fierce.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

“It’s a sukkah.” Oh, I remember those from Pittsburgh. *nostalgic grin*

Usually it’s a Jewish thing was a conversation stopper. I have noticed that even an incomplete explanation will stop questions. Once people have a label to put on something, they tend to be good.

“I dunno,” Willow finally answered. “I hope so.” Oh, that was lovely. The growth of the tree a a metaphor for the growth of their relationship.

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was lovely. The growth of the tree a a metaphor for the growth of their relationship.

:D Thanks!

This was written for the Holidays round at femslash minis and I was getting absolutely no ideas for a Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year's story. Then I thought about working with more obscure Jewish holidays. I asked my husband about holidays he grew up with, and he suggested Tu BiShvat. Then the ending of the story practically wrote itself. I'm pleased with it and am glad it works for you too.