Portal

"So where do the interns stay?"

"They stay at this old monastery. It's right in the center of the vineyard, so it's easy for them to drag their asses out of bed and get to work."

'Monastery? Cool, consecrated ground. One less thing for me to worry about I suppose.'

Joe closed the faded and yellowing blinds and dead-bolted the door, pausing to softly stroke the dusty fur of her now sleeping dog. Her liquor hardened hands ran across the smooth veneer of the bar as she picked up a bottle of 1971 Chaval Blanc and two glasses as her sharp heels clacked on the wooden floor.

"Drink?" she offered.

"Erm, sure why not...been a long day," Buffy sighed back and flopped down onto the sturdy wooden chair as her new friend put the drinking accoutrements on the table.

"This is a really nice year. I think you'll like it."

"Thanks," Buffy said politely as the wine of a robust nature splashed into the glasses.

"No problem, just let it breathe for a bit," said Joe as she sat opposite her and opened a small tin and pulled out a joint and lit it breathing deeply. "So where you from?"

"Sunnydale...I'm not really sure how I got here. Ha-ha, at least I'm not in a galaxy far, far away," she jibed.

"What?"

"Oh yeah, it's not out yet," she tried to cover up her faux pas. 'How do I know that it wasn't out until '77.....damn that Andrew!'

"How come all the vineyards are out that way?" she asked attempting to segue into a different conversation.

"Poor soil or something," Joe shrugged.

The heavenly aroma of fresh grass filled the air accompanied by the soft crackle of the burning joint making the bar smell like a real woman's paradise.

"Is that pot? What is it with everyone here?"

"It makes you feel..."

"Nauseous?"

"Very funny, I only smoke three or four joints a week, Buffy. At the end of a hard day most people relax with a glass of wine or a beer or something. I''m around drink all the time so this," she waved the crisping doob about, "is my release. Surely you got some way to get all that shit out Buffy?"

"So...cough...what did you...cough......say to Joyce?" the blonde exaggerated her splutters and tried to veer away from any conversation that would involve the words 'demons', 'slaying' or 'multiple evisceration'.

"What is it with you and Joyce? Do you have a thing for her or something?"

"Ewww, dear God a world of no! No. It's just she really does remind me of my Mom. She died a few years ago."

"Sorry."

"It's ok...I just miss her...a lot. But what did you say to her?"

"I just told her to stay away from Danny. He's fucking witchcraft."

"You mean like a warlock, all spells and talismans and such," the blonde perked up.

"No, I mean he's the kind of guy to get her wasted and fuck her and never call her again."

"Sounds like your talking from experience."

Joe's silence was all the answer Buffy needed.

"After Dad died, I was so lost and lonely. Danny just took advantage of that and then...."

"So why do you still let him in here?"

"To show that he didn't win. You know that whole thing about keeping your friends close and your enemies even closer? If he's here I can keep an eye on him. Besides Bo and 'Stavo would kick his ass if he tried anything."

"Your Dad died?" Buffy asked swerving the conversation back to a point she could relate to. Common ground for them.

"Not easy losing a parent is it? Especially when that's all you have. After Korea, Dad was a changed man. He hated guns and violence so much when he came home. I got involved with his politics and we both ended up going on anti-war protests and shit like that."

"Over Korea?"

"No, Vietnam, jeez Buffy try to keep up."

"Sorry."

"We were at this protest, it ended up being called 'The Battle In East Seattle," Joe said with a slight grimace.

"Never heard of it."

"It was about the time those students got shot so it got buried in the news, it was a peaceful protest but some assholes had infiltrated the group and started all this trouble so it would give the cops a reason to kick off....tear gas and nightsticks......I can still remember it all, the chaos, the fear, the pain," Joe said as she leant forward and pulled her hair back to show Buffy the long savage scar behind her ear.

"Anyway, during the riot, Dad died of a heart attack. They say it was some shrapnel lodged in his heart from Korea and...", she broke off temporarily as her eyes misted over. "Anyway I've been running this place since then. After he died, I ran his bar the way he always did, a haven of freedom, non-violence...acceptance."

"Acceptance?"

"I'm bi," Joe bluntly said through the sweet smoke flowing from her cherry lips.

"Oh."

"Does that bother you, Buffy?"

"No, my best friend is gay."

"Then kudos to her."

"Don't you have any other family?"

"I probably got half a dozen illegitimate siblings running round somewhere in the slums of Korea," Joe flashed a smirk infested with a slight hurt. "Anyway this is a place where anyone can come no matter what, the only thing I won't tolerate is intolerance. That's why I salute someone who still has that spirit.... like Joyce, still having that fire and bravery to fight for her causes before she gets all jaded and shit. Y'see I used to be a hardcore socialist, but now I'm just a mediocre liberal."

"She is kinda ...cool. And she should have an equal, a man.... like Hank," said Buffy as she took a long swig of wine that danced across her taste buds.

"Who's Hank?"

"He's...some guy, it's good solid dependable name right? I bet they'd make a great couple and they'd have amazing and pretty daughters and live a long and happy life, if he could keep it in his pants, that is. Maybe if she kept her strong independent spirit she wouldn't be so crushed by his cheating."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" the brunette asked suddenly wondering about the effects of passive marijuana intake.

"Erm, I mean hypothetically."

"Ok, no more for you, Buffy", Joe half joked as she reached for the glass that rested between the blonde's obviously irritated hands.

"No, no...I'm good," she said as the slayer took another mouthful of wine.

"What makes you such a good matchmaker anyway? Have you set up a lot of your friends?"

"Well no, actually."

"And your own love life?"

"Urgh, disaster doesn't even begin to cover it...but I'm still right about Hank and Joyce. I can see them making a great couple," she enthused a little too strongly.

"If you say so, but love...desire...you can't control that shit," Joe said as she hid her disappointment behind the rim of her glass.

'Wonder what she means by that?' Buffy thought as her mind slid into an alcohol warmed shell of confidence.

"I still think they'd be good together."

"If you say so, Buffy."

"Do...do..you think you could call me 'B'?

"Why?"

"A friend of mine used to call me that and...she...you remind me of her."

"She must be one hell of a girl then," Joe grinned.

"She is, well she can be...but sometimes."

"Not all roses and rainbows?"

"Sometimes she drives me mad when I think of all the shit she pulled back in....er, the day. But now I can see how much she's changed and I just want to...dammit, I just want us to start over. A clean slate, that's what I want. To start off on the right foot and stay that way."

"Sounds like you miss her."

"Yeah, I do," Buffy said but mainly to herself with her tongue now free due to the alcohol coursing through her. It had made her realize just how much wanted, no needed Faith to be a part of her life.

"Sometimes when it was just me and her patro...I mean partying, she would let her guard down and just be...her. No pretensions, no bullshit...just me and her...it was nice...really nice."

"Tell me about her," Joe encouraged as she refilled Buffy's glass again.

They talked long into the night with the slayer mainly using her brunette benefactor as a sounding board for all the thoughts and feelings that she needed to get out of her system. She omitted the violent aspect of her life, but to Buffy it just felt so good to be able to confide in someone like that. A neutral third party. With access to lots of alcohol.

Looking at the Faith-esque appearance of her friend she felt so at ease being to talk to her. Almost pretending it was actually Faith she was chatting to and made a mental note to herself that when she did get home that she would have the same talk with her slaying sister-in-arms. Or at least attempt to.

* * *

* * *

* *

As the early morning sun warmed her skin, Buffy found herself swathed in a beautiful dream about Faith. They were lying in a large four poster bed together somewhere in the Alps and tickling each other as they wrapped themselves tighter in the red silk sheets. She ran her fingers through the soft hair of her former enemy as the Bostonian's tongue snaked into her ear.

"Faith, stop it," she half moaned/half giggled in protest.

"Er, B."

"Mmmm,", she said as the smooth tongue lapped at her ring-less lobes.

"Buffy!"

The blonde's eyes shot open at the yell of her name. She looked up to see Joe desperately trying to control her laughter but it was to no avail as the slayer's eyes moved down to see her hands clutching at Archie's fur with a long trail of slobber connecting his mouth to Buffy's ear.

"Ewww, ewww, ewwwww!" she shrieked as her hands wiped frantically at her face as Joe's rich deep laughter rebounded off the walls.

"You ok there, Buffy? Or should I leave you two alone for a bit?"

"Not funny....Joe," she paused to make sure she used the real name when she desperately wanted to call her friend Faith. To call Faith her friend.

"Yeah...it was actually."

Buffy pushed Archie away who just wagged his tail enthusiastically as the blonde crawled from the cot in the back room surprised at the ease with which she slept ,but now the hangover was kicking in with a vengeful fury.

"Jesus Buffy, you look rough as a badger's asshole," said Joe as she sipped from her San Diego Chargers mug which was full of rich beany goodness.

"Thanks, you got any headache pills. I think my brain has melted and is in serious danger of running out of my ears."

"What's the magic word?"

"Tylenol," the brunette groaned flatly as she rubbed at her still tired eyes.

"Good enough."

After handing the blonde girl a few pills and a glass of water, Joe decided that the best way to shake off the lingering cobwebs from her ailing associate was physical labor. Though the hour was still early, in the world of the bar owner there was still never enough time in the day to get everything ready for the evenings onslaught of wino's and wastrels.

"C'mon B, you gotta help me move these boxes 'cos we got a delivery coming in first thing and we gotta get these shifted," Joe asserted despite the whine of her sleepy comrade.

"Can't I get some coffee first?" she pouted which only caused Joe to chuckle as she set her mug down on the ground.

"Boxes first, then coffee."

"Ok," Buffy forced out round a wide yawn before slipping on her jeans and top and with her feet firmly set on autopilot she trudged outside and winced at the morning sun.

"Grab these will you B?" said Joe as she lifted a large brown box that clinked with the bottles of wine shifting around uneasily inside them.

"Jeez, why do you have so much?"

"All in the name of ecology, B."

Joe's eyes widened as Buffy shrugged before effortlessly picking up several boxes of wine and started to carry them into the bar.

"Wow, how d'you do that? Were you dropped into a cauldron of magic potion as a baby or something?"

Buffy blushed a little at her mistake but she had grown so comfortable in the presence of the brunette that she forgot she wasn't Faith.

"I...er..I work out. I'm like Rambo with boobs," she joked.

"Who?"

"Oh yeah, that hasn't been made yet either. Never mind."

* * *

* * *

* * *

An hour later with all the boxes moved and emptied and the fresh delivery also put away, Buffy felt like a whole new woman as the blood thundered through her as her physical efforts that didn't so much as drain her slayer powers but still acted as a stimuli to be reckoned with. Of course, the paracetamol helped.

"I'm going into town. I got some errands I have to run. Wanna come with?" Joe offered as she picked up her keys and ushered Archie to come to her.

"Actually I thought I'd go and see Joyce," Buffy replied as she added a little of Joe's lipstick to her narrow lips and smiled at the not-too-shabby appearance that greeted her in the mirror.

"Cool, I have to go past their vineyard anyway. Hop in, Archie...up", she ordered as she held open the door for her four-legged friend.

"Jeez, what's with the stone age transport? Did you get it from the Slag Brothers?" Buffy mocked as she stepped into the camper van complete with the de riguer CND decal on the mud flaps.

"Very funny. This is top of the range y'know...with a brand new eight track with genuine mono sound," the curvaceous woman bragged as she started up the purring engine.

"Can't wait for mp3s," Buffy murmured.

"Are they like MC5, 'cos I haven't heard of them?" Joe quizzed.

"Oh you will...in time. Erm, can't I sit in the front?"

"Sorry B, but Archie called shotgun. You should've been quicker," she smirked as her fingers tousled the hair on her beloved pet.

As they pulled away, Joe flicked on her tape player and sang along to 'Jim Dandy' despite the incredulous look being thrown her way by the slayer.

"What? You don't like Black Oak Arkansas?"

"No, it's fine," she placated but in her head it was so weird so see the woman she knew as the dark slayer being so free and open like this. It was nice. She really felt like she could talk to this woman about anything as she radiated a quiet confidence.

Drawing up at dusty intersection, Buffy hopped out and stretched her cramping limbs relieved to be out of the van as Joe drove in much the same maniacal manner as her dimpled doppelganger. Maybe all of Faith's look-a-likes were crazy drivers.

"Ok, B, just go up that road. It's only about ten minutes walk to the monastery. I won't be back for a few hours. You going to be ok?" Joe yelled out the window trying to drown out the sounds of 'Fox On The Run' by Sweet that would no doubt be circling within the slayer's head for hours.

"Yeah I'll be fine, the walk back will do me good," Buffy grinned back as the camper van drove off with the brunette singing along at the top of her raspy voice.

The petite girl wandered along the dry path kicking at the odd stone and dandelion that she came across as she once more lost herself in her thoughts aided by the peace and quiet that accompanied the sun's softer rays.