Faith has never been the kind of person to sit in one spot for too long.

When she was little her mother dubbed her ‘Firecracker’ because she’d always had so much energy and could never be contained. It was endearing at first, but she can’t count how many times she got the belt for the same thing as time went by.

As she grew older Faith realized that sitting still led to self-reflection, and that wasn’t something she’d ever enjoyed. It always made her realize how much she didn’t like herself, and that was one thing she couldn’t escape no matter where she lived or what side she was on.

But these days – living in Cleveland with more than thirty junior slayers following her around – being still was something that she learned to cherish. So long as the world continued to move, she was okay with some time spent being still.

Laying in the grass with her hand shielding her eyes from the sun, she watches the clouds slowly roll by, trying to make shapes out of them as they pass. She’s pretty sure that she saw one that looked like a Borag demon just a short while ago, but she just shakes her head and forgets about it.

She’s not supposed to be thinking about ‘work’ during her quiet time.

It’s not long before she hears soft steps in the grass. The soft hum in her body lets her know that it’s Buffy, so she doesn’t think to sit up or quickly hide the fact that she was watching the clouds roll by.

Buffy sits down without an invitation, lying in the grass beside Faith. They’re silent for several long minutes, basking in the fact that they can be alone, together.

“Unicorn at six o’clock,” Buffy finally says.

Faith quickly turns her head and looks to where Buffy is looking and sure enough, a giant unicorn-shaped cloud is passing by.

“You cheat, that wasn’t there a second ago.”

“You’re right. I laid down and I used my cloud-forming ability to make a giant unicorn. Now that you’re onto my evil plan I may have to kill you.”

“As if you could. You’d be totally bored without me.”

“True. I’ll just have to think of other nefarious ways to mess with you.”

They share a brief laugh and go back to looking at the sky, silence surrounding them again. Buffy reaches out and laces her fingers through Faith’s, casually holding her hand on the cool afternoon grass.

Faith can’t help but muse on how much things have changed. Her life is going well. She has a home, and friends, and a place in the world. Most importantly, she doesn’t dislike herself anymore. She looks at herself and instead she sees hope.

Buffy squeezes her hand gently and Faith smiles.