The glass cracks as it's forced down against the bar with a little more force then is probably necessary to put a drink down. But the one holding it isn't really in the type of mood to care. They gasp and take a deep breath afterwards before looking up at the bartender.

"Gimme another..."

They hold out the partially broken glass to the bartender and he pours her another straight whisky. As soon as he's done, she brings the glass to her lips and starts gulping it down as quickly as she can. It isn't long before she finishes it and she puts the drink down on the table a little softer this time.

"Could I get another please?"

The bartender eyes her suspiciously for a second.

"That's four already in a row. You've only been here a couple minutes."

"Just one more, I promise. Then I'll start taking it slower."

He eyes her for another moment before tipping the bottle of whisky towards her glass. She holds it out for him and pours her a fifth drink. When the glass is full enough, she brings it to her lips again and gulps it down the way she's done the other four.

"Thanks... could I get something a little less alcohol-y?"

"Sure, I'll be right back."

The bartender walks away from the young woman and starts serving a customer or two on his way to get her another drink. In the meantime, she puts her elbows up on the bar and runs her hands through her hair, stopping mid way and just taking deep breaths to feel better about herself. That feeling is eventually interrupted by someone else sitting next to her.

"Let me guess... he broke your heart."

She looks over at the person sitting next to her, never taking her fingers out of her hair and goes back to staring at the top of the bar.

"I've been there. It really sucks doesn't it?"

She doesn't say anything to her sudden new companion.

"Don't worry, you'll get over him. It'll be okay."

She scoffs.

"What do you know?"

"I know it's not the end of the world."

That makes her roll her eyes and sigh with relief as the bartender comes back over and pours her a beer. She lifts the beer and toasts the bartender for his help before he walks away.

"Yeah, I've been to the end of the world. It's nothing like this."

She takes a sip of her beer and enjoys the added warm feeling in her as her blood gets a little more alcoholic.

"This is worse."

"Hey come on, it can't be that bad. It's not like you were soul mates or something."

She takes another sip before responding.

"She might as well have been."

There's a small pause in the conversation.

"She? Really?"

The young woman turns her head slightly and takes another sip of her beer.

"Yeah, and?"

Her companion shrugs.

"Nothing... I just, didn't figure. But hey, it doesn't change anything. I mean just because she's a girl doesn't mean you were destined to be together. It wasn't written in the stars."

She laughs a little.

"No, it was written on paper."

Another little pause.

"Sorry?"

"It wasn't written in the stars. It was written in a prophecy. A hundred years before either of us was born, a bunch of guys got together and saw the future. Me and her, epic romance of dramatic proportions, might as well have been Shakespeare writing the damn thing. Death, destruction, sex, love, pain and angst, we had it all. The total package right there in front of us."

"Sounds like happy times..."

"They were..."

She takes a full drink of her beer and sets it down on the bar in front of her, staring at the glass idly for a moment. Eventually she turns back to her new friend.

"I mean, okay not all the time. We had it pretty rough a lot of the time. Things were... there were a lot of problems for a long time, but... in between them, we... we really had something. Something special, something really beautiful..."

She goes back to staring at the glass and the liquid inside.

"It was... beautiful..."

They're both silent for a moment together.

"You must've really loved her."

She chuckles once.

"I really did. Still do... although most of the time it kinda feels like love just isn't a word powerful enough to express the way we feel about each other. For all the good it does me."

After a moment, she takes a long gulp of the beer in her hand.

"And the funny thing is, when it all first started, I wasn't even interested in women. I had no real interest in her at all. When it was all happening, I hadn't even given her much more than a passing thought in a long time. But then she had to go and escape."

'Where the hell am I, and why the hell am I so out of breath?

I'm running, but what am I running from?

I-I can't remember, why can't I remember?

Running seems to be working for me so I'll keep doing it.

I wish I knew what I was running from.

I hear a noise in the distance, it's a train.

Good I can get out of this fucking town. Wait a second I don't even know where it is I'm running from so how do I know I want out? Might as well, it's not like I have any family in this town.

Now how the fuck would I know that?

The train slowly gets faster as I run along side it and search for a car to hop on. Hmm, medical syringes? No, I don't think so, eww garbage... too stinky. Hey, pillow factory supplies, sounds promising. I can survive that long until I get to LA. When did I decide on LA? Oh well at least it's away from her.'

"I didn't even want her around. She's always had a habit of making my life harder and that didn't really change that much with her coming back into it."

"Then what made you guys finally hook up if you weren't friendly with each other?"

She takes a drink from her beer and notices that it's half empty. The bartender walks by and she flags him down.

"Could I get another one of these in a minute?"

He looks at her half empty beer for a moment before responding.

"Sure..."

"Thanks..."

Once she's sure more alcohol is coming, she turns back to her new friend.

"Honestly? It all started with a dream."

'I'm standing in front of her. I think I'm squaring off with her. What's going on?

I throw three easy punches and she dodges them with ease. Before I have time to react she ducks down and my legs are kicked out from under me. In seconds I'm flat on my back and she crawls on top of me. She grabs my hands and pins them above my head.

I love it when she takes control like this.

She leans into me so close I can feel her breath on my face. The warmth of her breath makes me squirm. Suddenly, she notices something and turns her head slightly.

"Is that where it happened?"

I feel her hot breath shift and glide over my neck. It makes me shiver.

"Where, what happened?"

What is she talking about?

"Is this where I bit you?"

Before I can do anything I feel her tongue against my neck and she licks my neck. I squirm under the feeling of her tongue.'

Her new friend smiles at her sympathetically.

"I would've thought you were gonna say it all started with a kiss."

She shakes her head, no.

"No that came later."

'I snap back to reality just long enough to have her take me off my feet with a leg sweep.

Ow! Okay this really is getting a little too real for my reality. She climbs on top of me and part of me is hoping that this will end up like my dream... but the other part of me is panicking from fear.

I squirm as she sits her whole weight on my hips, pinning me down.

"What are you... doing?"

She smiles down at me.

"Taking what I want, isn't that what I do?"

What does she mean?

She leans in slightly. All I can get out is...

"What?"

I start to breath deeper and so does she.

"When you were talking you said I used to have a saying. Want, take, have... well I want you..."

I try and move her off me but she grabs my arms and pins them above my head.

Again I feel like déjà vu has got the better of me as my whole body tingles with heat.

"And right now it looks like I, HAVE you..."

I try to get my hands free but she's got too hard a grip on them. She leans in and whispers to me.

"I guess there's only one thing left to do eh?"

I feel her breath on me and I stop thinking.

"We, we shouldn't..."

"Yes... we should..."

She kisses me and it's everything I thought it would be... everything I dreamed it would be. I start to kiss her back and my whole body gets into it. Her lips are warm and inviting and incredibly soft. She lets go of my wrists and I don't push her away. I run my hands through her hair and pull her closer. I feel like a surge of energy goes through me and into her and I know this is right.

She breaks the kiss between us and looks down at me.'

"And it's not like it ended there."

'We pretty much crash through her bedroom door, groping and pawing at each other as we do. I kick the door closed.

"God you're incredible..."

I start to kiss down her neck sucking on it gently. I take her right breast in my hand, massaging it, sending her reeling.

"Kiss me..."

I work my way back up her neck, along her chin and kiss her lips passionate like. We move toward the bed, me grabbing at her pants, her tugging at my shirt trying to pull it off me. Her pants come undone as we hit the foot of the bed and she falls on top of it. She looks up at me standing over her, the incredible eyes of the woman I love staring into my soul as I pull my shirt over my head and throw it across the room. She looks up at my exposed flesh. Her voice fills with desire as she sits up wrapping her arms around my waist and kisses my stomach.'

"We were... we were really good together, you know?"

She puts her head back as she brings the beer up to her lips again and drinks down the rest of it quickly.

"I mean, even with all the pain and the pain and misery and everything that we put each other through... we were good together."

'"God..."

"It's all right baby."

My hand moves under her thong and she gasps with ecstasy.

I didn't want it to be this way, I wanted it to be different.

My fingers press against her warm, wet lips and she moans.'

She pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut as the bartender replaces her empty glass with a full one.

"REALLY good together..."

The beer is quickly picked up again and she takes a drink.

"And then it all had to go to hell."

'Oh god I'm gonna lose her.

Her breathing gets even shorter and her hands start to slip from my face.

"I love you..."

"Don't leave me... please."

She falls limp on the floor.

"Baby?"

She doesn't move.

"Oh god, baby?"

I put my hands on her shoulders and shake her lightly.

"Baby?"

I shake her harder.

"Don't leave me baby!"'

"Or, you know, other places..."

'She punches me in the face, knocking me down.

"BECAUSE I WAS HAPPY!"'

She quickly gulps down half of her new beer in thirty seconds.

"I'm guessing you were never able to work things out."

"You'd think so, but no matter what happened between us, no matter what kind of crap we put each other through, we always somehow managed to find a way back to each other. When most reasonable people would've given up already, we managed to push through the pain and find our way back to each other. Not that it matters now. That's all over with."

"What makes this time any different? If you've been to hell and back like you said, it seems like there's probably a good chance that you'll make it through this and be together again."

She chuckles once before bringing her hand to her chest and reaching under her shirt to pull out a chain around her neck. On the end of it is a small gold ring with a diamond embedded into it. She pulls it out far enough to hold the ring between her fingers and stare at the diamond in it.

"It's different... she's just got engaged."

"And she didn't like your counter offer?"

She lets the ring drop and it hangs off her chain again.

"I never made one."

Her companion gives her a confused look at the statement.

"Why not? If you're as destined for each other as you claim, shouldn't she drop everything for you in a heartbeat like before?"

"Not this time."

Her companion doesn't say anything right away.

"Why not?"

"Because then I'd be ruining her chance at actually being happy. And more than anything I want her to be happy."

"She can't be happy with you?"

"I used to think so... but after all the attempts we made to be happy together over the years, even after the worst of it..."

'"I love you Mom..."

"I love you too..."

And then I push her off the tower...'

"We kinda gave up trying."

"And that's when she met her new fiancée?"

She takes a deep breath and a drink of her beer.

"Pretty much..."

"I take it you're not much of a fan of the newlywed to be's other half?"

She looks over at her companion.

"Actually, she's great."

'They lean into each other and all I can really do is watch from behind the door as they kiss with a passion that I've only ever seen her kiss me with before. The sudden urge to rip open the door overwhelms me and I rush out onto the porch to confront them. They pull apart as they notice me.

"Hey, what are you..."

My fist hits the one she was kissing's face and that sends her tumbling down off the porch onto the front lawn.'

"I can't say that we got off to the best start really. But I got over it. She's actually a good person once you get to know her. Not that we're best friends or anything, but she doesn't have any ulterior motives and she actually loves her a lot."

"I guess they wouldn't be getting married if they didn't care about each other a lot."

"Nope..."

She takes a long deep breath before drinking almost the rest of the beer in her glass.

"God I need another drink."

The young woman attempts to flag down the bartender as quickly as possible.

"Then what's with the ring?"

She looks at her companion for a moment before glancing down at the ring around her neck and then going back to flagging down the bartender.

"This was someone else's."

'I slowly open the box. For some reason it feels like the most fragile thing in the world and I might break it if it opens too quickly. Inside is a small gold ring with an embedded diamond in the centre... an engagement ring. I stare at it.

"She said that our daughter asked her to get it for us back when we were fighting over the fact that I wouldn't tell you the truth about her. She figured that since we were fighting about her, even though she didn't know why, if she could show us that the only thing she wants is for us to be happy, we might stop fighting and work things out. After she found out the truth, she took our daughter to a jewellery store and helped her pick one out."'

"Who's?"

She lets the ring drop around her neck again and picks up her drink, taking another drink before responding.

"No one's..."

She sets the drink down again.

"They aren't around anymore. It's not important."

"They're important enough to you to wear that ring around your neck for them."

"It's not mine to wear. At least, it wasn't supposed to be. But with her getting married and everything, she doesn't feel COMFORTABLE wearing it anymore... says I should wear it so as to keep the memory alive."

"Memory of who?"

She looks over at her companion for the confused look on her face.

"Our daughter..."

"Daughter? I thought you were both women..."

She goes back to looking at her drink and takes another sip.

"It's complicated."

'"So there's nothing wrong with me?"

After a few moments of hesitation, she comes over and puts her arms around our daughter and me.

"Of course not kid. You're just fine the way you are."

We just stand there together in silence, comfortable silence, just the three of us.'

"The point is, she's gone now and there's nothing either of us can do about it. This is all we have left of her, and she wants me to hold onto it and keep the memory alive. I guess because she figures that she'll be making better memories with the new wife and is trying to get rid of the old ones."

"Geez, that's cold..."

She shrugs and finishes off her drink then signals the bartender again for a new one.

"That's Faith... or at least, it can be, sometimes..."

Buffy watches the bartender come back over and pour her another drink and then picks it up, staring into the glass for a while.

"Sometimes she's loving and attentive and... incredible..."

Buffy takes a drink slowly and a little shaky.

"And sometimes she's the biggest bitch you'll ever meet."

'She drops the cup in her hands which spills on the floor and she all but charges me. I take a few back steps before she hits me with a right cross to the face and shoves me up against the nearest wall, her forearm holding me there by the throat.

"What the hell are you doing here Faith?"

I'm not sure why, but the look of pure hatred on her face makes me smile.

"It's nice to see you too B."

She grabs me by the shirt and pulls me off the wall just long enough to shove me as hard as she can against the wall again.

"What the HELL are you DOING here Faith?"

I kinda chuckle at her.

"Right now? I'm getting attacked by you, but everything isn't always about me you know B."'

"Like today. We were supposed to get together today. Today was important..."

Buffy takes another drink as her companion sits and listens.

"Every year... no matter where we are, what we're doing or who we're with. Today is the day we get together."

"Why? What's so special about today?"

Buffy squeezes the glass in her hand and it cracks almost to the point of breaking before she takes drink.

"Because today was our daughter's day. We always get together today."

"I thought you said your daughter was gone."

"She is. She's dead. Today was the day our daughter died..."

"And this Faith isn't here for the anniversary? Damn... maybe you could point her out on the street to me while I'm driving so that I can run her down for you."

Buffy laughs a little before taking a long drink of her beer and setting the glass down on the table forcefully.

"Right now? I'd do it myself if I knew where she was."

"You don't even know where she is? She didn't call and let you know?"

"She didn't have to. She showed up at my doorstep like always when we're not staying together. But instead of us being together like we always are around the anniversary, she tells me that she can't because she's getting married and wants to be faithful."

Buffy laughs a little as she takes another drink.

"When has that ever mattered to her before? With all the times we've been together in the last ten years since she died, it never happened before. We've both dated all sorts of people since it happened. But every year at this time we'd get together and remind each other what we really meant to each other."

Buffy takes another long drink and finishes half the beer in her hand.

"Who we were really meant to be with. Sometimes we'd get back together because of it. Sometimes we'd go back to whoever we were with at the time. Most of the time we'd at least break up with whoever we were dating. But ever since she met..."

Buffy's shoulder's slump a little bit and she stares down at the bar as she fights back the urge to cry.

"She's been different. She hasn't been the same since they got together. Something changed between us. And ever since I feel like..."

"What?"

"Sometimes I wish we'd never been together."

"Done..."

Buffy looks over at her companion and her eyes go wide as the random woman's face turns old and veiny like a vengeance demon and there's a flash of light around them, granting the wish.

The End

Author's Note: And that's the end of that. How do you feel about the ending?