I think it's perfectly ok to refer to canon...god knows I do.

This is sort of rewriting season 6, though--changing the premise of Buffy's resurrection--but I'm stealing lines from s6 episodes that dealt with it. Oh well, never said I wasn't a badfic hack.

It never occurred to me to wonder...I was like Faith."Want Take.Have." Is that so wrong?(Or like the Criminal on the Simpsons, "Yoink!") Maybe I should go be painfully self-conscious now and reflect on the error of my ways....I'm learning from the best.

I don't find it jarring to use canon elements in AUs -- there's quite a tradition of "change just one thing" in SF AUs that would support many essential-to-character traits and actions occurring regardless.

Is actually stealing a line okay?

Is actually stealing a line okay?

Absolutely fine, I'd say -- part of the point of fic, whether it's AU or not, is weaving in canon elements with your own story to make something new of them. I spin things off from bits of dialog all the time, and I don't see any reason not to do it just because it's an AU.

It occurs to me that I am in fact totally ignorant of the canonical rules regarding fic, since up until recently all mine were essentially original characters, moving through an AU of someone else's landscape. But I can't - from this seat of newbiehood - see any reason why, if it enhances the story, the writer shouldn't go with existing dialogue.

Cindy, I am really enjoying this, and I don't see a problem with using actual lines from the show in an AU story. Actually, I like it because in AU stories one element has changed which effects other elements of the story, but it does not change everything.

Yeah, cool, huh? Although sometimes,it changes more than you expect. Although it was fun to take that whole "Kick his ass," thing and move it...I find I give Xander's lines to Bayliss pretty frequently, actually.

As the queen of "yank as much from canon as you can get away with while still making sense", if the dialogue fits, use it.

I adored the part with the consecrated ground.

Hi all. I haven't been on the board much and I blame all the wonderful Buffista writers for enticing me to attempt this with their fun and intelligent creations. I had no idea it would turn into this kind of an obsession.

Following is a primarily unbeta'd and unfinished story I've been working on. I'm re-posting the beginning since a few changes were made and also so that everything ties together.

Dream A Little Dream

Part One

It didn't feel like a dream - it felt real. The tension, the excitement, the surprise. Dream or not, Buffy was convinced that this had something to do with magic. Living in Sunnydale will do that to you.

Buffy's first instinct was to ask Willow about any recent spells she had performed. Not that she suspected Willow. Well, not after accusing her the night before last. Either way, Willow had promised Buffy that she had been extremely careful lately with her spells. Spell actually. Willow confessed to using a locator spell to find a rare book the previous week. Nothing more.

Which failed to help Buffy figure out exactly what was happening.

It was three o'clock in the morning and she'd just woken, drenched in perspiration, from a vivid dream that had started quite innocently. The same dream that she'd experienced every night this week.

In the dream, Buffy and Faith entered an older crypt that was vaguely recognizable as the Hanover crypt, inhabited by a gang of vampires last year, although she couldn't be positive.
After a complete inspection of the small room, Buffy said to Faith, "All clear. Looks like nothing has been disturbed in here for awhile."

"Especially the dust, B. Damn."

"The Hanovers have been dead for about a millennium. You expect the cleaning lady to still be on retainer?"

Faith walked over to Buffy and mock punched her in the arm with a coy smile. "I'm just saying, it's not like The Watcher's Council is gonna kick in a couple measly bucks to help their two star slayers out with medical bills if we start wheezing when our lungs are filled with crap due to our chosen profession."

"Uh-huh."

"What's up with you? No remark about inhaling? Sucking in the dead?" Faith asked as she stepped closer to Buffy and placed her right palm on Buffy's forehead. "You don't feel feverish."

With the touch of Faith's hand, Buffy felt a flash of electricity vibrate through her body and she backed up a step away from Faith towards the rear wall of the crypt. "I'm...fine, Faith."

Faith's brow was furrowed; she was obviously offended."Fine, huh? Good to know," she said as she turned away from Buffy and started toward the entrance of the crypt.

Instinctively, Buffy reached out and caught Faith's hand, turning her back around so that they were once again face to face. Averting her eyes, Buffy told her, "I'm sorry. I'm a little... wigged tonight."

When Faith didn't respond, Buffy slowly raised her eyes and met Faith's stare, realizing just how close they were standing to each other. She could feel Faith's breath on her face. Warm with a hint of mint. Apparently, when she pulled Faith back to her, she had used more force than she thought.

A feeling of unease and excitement filled Buffy as her breath caught in her throat from the realization that she was still holding Faith's hand in her own.

She also realized that she didn't want to let go.

Faith leaned closer to Buffy, backing her against the wall, and whispered into Buffy's ear, "I might have expected this from Willow. You know? She gives off a vibe."

Buffy didn't move away.

Faith paused a moment, without moving either, and continued. "Thought about it once or twice even...but you?"

Buffy felt her breathing become more rapid. Shallow and quick. The thought of Faith's lips so close to her ear and the feel of Faith's warm breath on her neck wasn't the slightest bit odd. In fact, it felt exhilirating.

Faith's free hand brushed against Buffy's cheek, pausing at her chin and turning Buffy's face just slightly towards her own. "If you want me to stop, B, tell me now."

Buffy still didn't move, couldn't move. She felt as if every nerve in her body were tingling.
Faith moved a couple of inches closer to Buffy and slowly, placed her lips against Buffy's. Tentatively at first, in case Buffy were testing her, and then she ever so slightly applied more pressure.

Buffy tightened her hold on Faith's hand and moaned gently as her other hand reached around Faith's waist, placed it on her back and pulled Faith up against her own body.. The shockwaves going through her were almost too much to stand as she pictured the way the two of them looked at that moment. Picturing it as if she were watching the interaction outside of herself.

When Faith parted Buffy's lips with her tongue, and Buffy could feel Faith's tongue gently glide across her upper and then lower teeth, then touch her own tongue, Buffy felt a hunger pass through her. A hunger that desired everything that was happening and so much more. A hunger that was building with every second of contact. A hunger that....

and that was when she woke.

Every night for a week. The same dream.

Over two hundred miles away the pulse monitors in the basement of a large hospital were fluctuating erratically while a young girl's still form gave little indication of the turmoil she was experiencing.

Part Two

"Dennis, this is not my idea of fun," Cordelia said. "Now, give me my other Prada shoe or I claim laryngitis for a month," she warned, as her irritation with her roommate escalated. She'd been spending a ton of time at the office and hadn't had much time for him but she was thirty minutes late getting to the office and she still had to pick up coffee. She looked under her bed, did an extensive search