Fics like don't hide away (there's something to be said for pushing through)

Buffy realizes pretty quickly that when you come back from the missing-slash-presumed-dead, no matter how many questions people ask, there are some things they don't want to hear about. Cordelia, strangely, serves as a source of comfort: their feet move in perfect time until the brunette girl turns abruptly to face her. "You fucked up," Cordy says, matter of fact. She's not being kind, but she's not being cruel, either. She's just being Cordelia, which is strangely reassuring. "I don't know what you were going through, and to be honest, I don't think I want to, because it was probably really dark and scary and horrifying. But you shouldn't have left. The answer is never leaving." ~ A season 3 AU in which Buffy comes back from L.A. to strained relationships, Faith accidentally becomes the Scoobies' therapist, and everything goes a little better when characters can learn how to have healthy, open communication. (Or: Dead Man's Party did not do justice to the amount of emotional aftermath from the season 2 finale/season 3 pilot, so I stretched those arguments and rebuilding trust out across most of season 3. And now Buffy's friends with Gunn. There, see? Better already.)

Fics like don't hide away (there's something to be said for pushing through)

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