A/N: Sideways won at the Spark and Burn Awards Round 5 for Runner Up Best Alternate Reality and Reader's Choice Best Alternate Reality. Thank you so much!

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Chapter 81 - Dreams

That afternoon, they’d had sex, sex, and more sex.

Right now, they were practically having sex on the dance floor.

The Bronze was dark and the music was loud. It was late, but the crowd was still large and wild. In the thick of it, Buffy was moving against Spike, her back to his front as his hands dug into her hips and pulled her closer. She was grinding her butt into him in time with the beat, wriggling against the hardness there.

His coat mostly hid what they were doing, but no one would have noticed. Half the people in the mob were lost in their own pursuits.

Buffy pressed back into Spike again, shimmying up and down. One of his hands crept under her halter-top. The other was groping her thigh and beginning to slip up her skirt. Buffy reached behind her, threading a hand between them and grabbing him through his jeans. Spike’s body jerked, and Buffy smiled to herself.

And then time seemed to stop.

There was a flicker of a face in the crowd, a girl weaving through the dancers. Almost in slow motion, she paused and turned, meeting Buffy’s gaze with a knowing smile.

Faith.

Buffy broke away from Spike without looking behind her. He might have said something, but the music was too loud.

She followed Faith, pushing past people in an effort to keep up with the other girl, who seemed to always be one too many steps away. Black leather and brown hair were all that she could see. Every now and then someone cut into her line of sight, but the back of Faith’s head always reappeared.

But when Buffy reached the edge of the crowd, Faith simply wasn’t there. And she suddenly had an eerie sense that she’d done this before.

In a wash of déjà vu, Buffy realized why the Bronze had felt familiar on nearly the first day she’d set foot in it. It had been the very first dream she’d had of Faith. Faith had danced in the loud darkness here and then killed someone outside.

The alley.

Buffy pushed open the side door and went out. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

Except Faith. She was just standing there.

“I’m not asleep,” Buffy said. “I’m not asleep.”

Behind her, the door slammed open, clanging against the bricks.

“Are you trying to be a bloody tease, cause—” Spike broke off when he saw the look on her face. “What? What is it?”

Buffy stood silently, still staring at the apparition. It was an apparition, right?

“Buffy? You just walked off,” he continued, slightly irritated. “There wasn’t a vamp or anything.”

“Faith.”

“Not followin’ you.”

Buffy turned to look at him. “Don’t you see her?”

Spike was trying to adjust his pants. “No.”

Faith wasn’t doing anything. She didn’t even have a look on her face.

“Maybe I am dreaming. Maybe this is a dream,” Buffy said. “Ow! Hey!”

Spike had pinched her. “All awake here.”

“She’s standing right there. I swear she is.”

“I believe—”

“Don’t tell me you believe I think I see her.”

“I believe you see her,” Spike said. “Maybe only you can see her. Some sort of Slayer thing.”

Faith tilted her head. “It’s going to start soon.” Then she simply wasn’t there.

Buffy stared at the spot. “Did you hear that?” she asked Spike.

“No.”

She shook her head. “This has got to stop.”

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If Buffy could have arranged the schedule of her dreams, she would have. As it was, she knew Faith was going to show up. But this time, she wanted her to show up.

Faith didn’t disappoint.

Buffy found herself standing in her bedroom at the house, despite having gone to sleep at Spike’s. Faith was here, slouched in a corner chair.

Buffy crossed her arms. “As old as this is getting, me seeing you when I’m awake? Not funny.”

“Had to do something splashy.”

“Why?”

“Why not? Last joyride and all.”

“What’s going to start soon?” Buffy asked.

“He’s about to start. It’s all coming down to the line, B.”

“I don’t need cryptic warnings from someone who already screwed up, thank you very much. Or who screwed him.”

Faith jumped up. “Where do you get off being so high and mighty? Yeah, I did a vamp. So did you. And what do you know about anything?” she demanded.

“No one made you be evil. That was your decision.”

“Sure,” she scoffed. “Says the little rich girl. Had the perfect life, didn’t you?”

Buffy’s brows raised. “Excuse me? You think my life is perfect?”

Faith snorted. “Plenty of money. Everything handed to you. Loving mother—”

“Father who almost got me sold off accidentally?”

She shrugged. “Okay, you got me there.”

“Besides, being the Slayer sort of sucks the perfect out of life.”

“Oh, yeah.” Faith raised a skeptical eyebrow. She smirked. “Right.”

“Well, it’s not my idea of perfect.”

“You got fed Slaying with a silver spoon, just like everything else. Look at you—instant friends, hot Watcher—”

“Ew.” Buffy shook her head and uncrossed her arms. “Besides, I had the same Watcher at first that you did.”

“Yeah…” She paused, seeming to study Buffy.

Buffy glanced out the darkened window and then looked back. “What?” she finally asked.

“You also had your very own pet vampire. Ready to watch your back when he couldn’t watch your front, ready to follow your every command.”

“It wasn’t exactly like that.”

“Oh? What was it like, then? He taught you everything he knows. Gave you the ultimate advantage.”

“You said he was playing a game to kill me. Beware vamps, blah, blah, blah.”

“Well, mine killed me!” Her voice cracked. “Why should you get the good one?!”

Buffy was stunned into silence for a moment. “Are—are you jealous?”

Faith turned her back to Buffy, looking out the window. “You’ve got a gorgeous guy who couldn’t be more in love with you if he tried. Who wouldn’t want that?” She laughed. “And hey, vamp. Not always a bad thing in our line of work.”

“You think I’ve had things easy?” Buffy continued. “That’s why you’ve been messing with me about Spike?”

“Hey,” Faith snapped, whipping around. “I helped you out last time.”

“Yeah, okay,” Buffy admitted. Really, Faith had been mildly helpful several other times. She had only been openly antagonistic a time or two. The most notable being the night that Spike had said he loved her.

“Is that…what you wanted?” Buffy asked. “I mean with Angelus.”

Faith laughed again. “I knew what that was. Just a fling with a bad bad boy. I knew how it would end. Though I was kinda expecting to kill him.”

Buffy was silent again. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” she said, sounding defeated. “Not like it matters now.”

“So is this one of those things where you can’t rest until he’s dead?”

“Nah.” She suddenly looked around the room like she was worried about the time. Then Faith grabbed her hand. “C’mon, I wanna show you something.”

Buffy moved back. “What? No.” But she couldn’t shake Faith off.

Faith stepped forward and through the wall of the bedroom, pulling Buffy behind her. The other side of the wall could be no place but the mansion.

Angelus was lounging in the corner.

Buffy momentarily panicked. This is a dream—this is just a dream. I’m not really here. He’s not really there.

Faith was next to her. Faith was also across the room, chained to a pillar. There was a man similarly tied who was facing her. He was wearing what was probably once a very nice white shirt, though now it had a number of slash marks in it. Angelus was leisurely polishing a sword.

This was a dream, a shadow of something that had happened. But Buffy still half-expected Angelus to address her.

Buffy looked back at the pillars. Faith looked tired and beaten up. The man didn’t.

“Is that the Mayor?”

“Yeah,” the Faith next to her said. She sighed, suddenly looking reflective. “Fuck, I messed up my life.” She didn’t sound regretful; she just said it.

Then she stepped closer to the man, looking at him almost fondly. Then she was gone, disappeared as if she hadn’t been there at all.

Angelus looked up.

“Today’s the day,” he announced.

Darla had appeared in the doorway. “Did Dru have a vision?”

“Nope. I’m just feeling lucky.” He stood, swinging the sword around in his hand, and he approached the Mayor. “And he smells different. I think his little magic trick has worn off.” He smiled. “What to do you say, Faith? Ready to watch him go?”

Angelus ran the blade down the front of the man’s shirt and then pulled back. “Everybody ready?” He paused for effect.

Buffy was frozen, unnoticed by any of the players in this little show. Then she saw tied-up Faith lifting her head and staring at her.

Faith turned her head to Buffy as Angelus pushed the sword forward, the curtain of her hair blocking the view of the dying man. “I watched the first time,” she confided. “I felt I owed him that, you know? To see someone he cared about as he died. Yeah, he was evil, but he liked me for me. I was bad, but he didn’t care. Hell, he needed that. But it was more than that. He was the only one who ever gave a shit. Like the dad I never had. Pathetic, huh?”

Buffy looked back as Angelus pulled the sword from the Mayor’s lifeless body. He looked appreciatively at the blood-coated blade. Then he shoved it in again, leaving the sword sticking out of his ribs.

Angelus turned toward Faith. “Enjoy the view.”

Faith looked back at Buffy. “Stake the bastard good for me, huh, B?” She gave a lifeless smile. “Hey, I’ll let you go now.”

Faith’s head lowered again. Angelus smiled as he almost gently tilted her chin up. “One down,” he said, forcing her to look at the Mayor. He ran his eyes over her. “One…a very long way to go.”

Then he left with Darla. Faith’s head dropped to look at the floor.

“Faith?” Buffy asked. “Faith?”

After a moment, Faith raised her head to look at the Mayor again. “Sorry, boss,” she whispered.

Buffy stepped into her line of sight. “Faith. Faith!”

But there wasn’t even a flicker across her face. Wherever Faith had gone, she couldn’t see or hear her anymore. And this really was just a dream.

Faith’s head suddenly snapped up, unseeing eyes filled with tears. “I’ll fucking kill you for this!” she screamed. “Angelus! I’m gonna tear you apart piece by piece! You’ll be dust, nothing but dust! I’ll kill you!”

Even the threats sounded already defeated. Like she knew there was no way she could avenge the murder before her eyes. But she continued to scream, even as her voice grew weaker and her body sagged against the chains.

Buffy surprised herself when she woke up crying.

She was back in the bedroom, safe in the dark. Her sniffling woke up Spike.

“Love? What’s wrong?”

She took a shaky breath. “Just a dream.”

He reached out, touching her shoulder. She stayed flat on her back, staring at the ceiling.

“Faith’s gone,” she said.

“How?”

“I don’t know. She’s gone, though.”

“Well. That’s good, yeah?” he asked. “For you and her.”

“Yeah. But…it was just sad. I saw her all tied up…and how sad she was, and it was just…sad.”

“Did you figure out anything?”

“Sort of.” Buffy sighed. “She was really clear on one point.”

“Which was?”

“Stake Angelus good.”

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Drusilla flitted into the mansion the second he cut the engine to the car. Angelus strolled in after her. He stopped in front of the first vampire he saw sprawling in the main room.

“You. Go get my stuff out of the car.”

“Uh, yes sir.” He edged away nervously, obviously shaken by Angelus’ sudden appearance.

Another vampire approached him. One of the smarter minions, he remembered.

“So what have they been up to?” he asked.

“Nothing out of the ordinary, sir. She mostly patrols. They’ve, uh, gotten several of us.”

“Mm,” Angelus said, not terribly interested. “Well, I think it’s time to get one of them.”

“They don’t really separate that much.”

He shrugged. “Both of them, then.”

“Do you want us to go after them?”

“No.” He paused, considering. “I want them to come to me. It’s time to get their attention.”

“How should we—?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Angelus smiled. “I think it requires…a more personal touch.”