Title: Campfire Tales

Series: Of Slayers and Knights

Fandoms: BtVS and LOTR (more book in this case)

Disclaimer: I do not own BtVS and LOTR.

When: pre FOTR, after season 3 of BtVS

Characters: Buffy, Boromir

Summary: Letting go of the past is never easy. Boromir and Buffy talk.

A/N: Not really long and with no particular plot. Sorry it's been so long, but the inspiration wasn't really there. Any suggestions would be most welcome :)

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"What?" Boromir snapped a little testily. The blonde slayer had been staring at him for a while, an expression of nausea all over her face.

"You're…uh…actually going to skin it?" the silence that followed her question was only broken by the crackling of the campfire. Boromir stared at Buffy like she had lost her mind.

"No, Buffy, I thought it would make a wonderful addition to the stuffed vulture my father has in his study. We could even make a nice little scene, nature at its best, no?"

"Boromir, what are you…? Ah, no, I get it. Let's make fun of Buffy and her reluctance to face the innards of a poor animal." She mock pouted.

"You face orcs, goblins, trolls…you even wanted to face that imaginary dragon and yet you are sickened by my attempts to provide us a meal?"

"But it's a bunny!" He was still staring at her sitting form beside him, his jaw starting to drop. "And, and bunnies are cute and harmless, so not meant to be hunted down like rats, even though they are rodents and oh good God I sound just like Willow…"

"Who is Willow?" he absentmindedly asked as he went through the process of preparing dinner, concentrating on the one thing he had been able to catch from her ramble. Buffy suddenly looked like she wanted to be far, far away. Boromir looked up at her lack of response, frowning when he saw her nervous tension. Faced with his steady gaze, Buffy looked away, wringing her hands ever so slightly.

"She is…was a friend." She did not want to talk about this, or face it. No matter how many years had passed, it still stung. Boromir's face closed off and he turned his attention back to preparing the rabbit.

"Ah. I see," was the short, terse reply. Buffy fidgeted.

"See? N-no, nothing to be seen here. Nope. Nuh-"

"Buffy, whatever else you may think of me, do not take me for an idiot. This Willow you speak of is clearly that part of your life which you so avoid and do not wish to talk about. It has been years, Dagnir." Buffy winced slightly at the use of her elvish title. He looked up at her again, his stare hard. "I have not broached the subject, respecting your wishes, but it is high time that you, as you so aptly put it many times, get over it."

"Well, uh, you've never even asked!" was the defensive response. He raised an eyebrow.

"I meant after the whole speak or I'll shoot-an-arrow-through-you-for-trespassing thing…"

"Yes well, after the initial introductions were over, we were a little preoccupied with getting away with our lives for me to inquire further. After things had settled, how was I to ask about something which made you positively twitchy even when it was merely implied?"

She looked down at her feet, biting her lip. Buffy didn't get it herself, so how could she explain that it just hurt to think about it to him? Yes, it had been years as he'd said, but that was also part of the problem. Why hadn't they come for her yet? Intellectually she knew there could be a million different factors preventing them; it was even possible they didn't know that she was gone yet (she knew firsthand that time did not run at the same pace in different dimensions), but she felt slightly betrayed…and abandoned. It was not horrible here, but it was not home.

"Buffy," the gentle tone of his voice made her look up again. "I may not be the best person to talk about such things, but I do count you among my friends. Do not push me away, as your continued silence is doing, when I only wish to help."

He was right. She wasn't being fair to him. He had let her into his life, gave her a place in this strange world, had been there for her when she had no one else. Was it really too much of him to want to know about her past? Boromir wasn't the most patient of men, he probably would have blown a fuse a long while ago had it been anybody else, but he had never pushed her to reveal what she hadn't wanted to.

She looked up into his steady gaze. It was reassuring. He had been there for her, by her side, ever since their rather dramatic introduction at Gondor's borders. He was a loyal, steadfast friend, the best she could hope for. Taking a deep breath, she made a decision.

"What do you want to know?"

She was almost insulted at his look of surprise. What, he didn't think that she could do the mature thing and let things go? Her annoyance flickered out when she noticed the pleased gleam in his eyes and the small smile tugging at his lips. He had honestly just wanted to know more about her. Buffy felt touched and not a little sheepish for avoiding the subject for so long.

A teasing gleam entered Boromir's eyes.

"Perhaps you should begin at the beginning? I never did appreciate Faramir's half assed attempts at telling a story backwards."

She narrowed her eyes at his impish grin. They both knew full well that Faramir was an excellent storyteller. It seemed to run in the family; even Denethor could spin a good tale when he had a mind to. Two could play this game.

"Well, in a time long ago and in a land far away-"

Buffy grinned at his grimace. Even in this world, such a beginning was considered tasteless and overused. Never mind that most of their stories really did begin long ago.

"If you are going to continue telling the story in that manner, I'd rather you stopped now," Boromir said, spitting the skinned rabbit over the fire. They shared a grin, Buffy raising her hands placatingly.

"Okay, okay, you got me."

Taking another deep breath, she started talking, beginning with her arrival in Sunnydale. As she talked, she felt a tension she hadn't realized was there drain away. The more she told, the less it hurt to recall those events that had changed her life. Buffy left little out of her tale. It felt good to share it, especially with such a surprisingly good listener as Boromir. It felt like she could finally…let go.

This world still didn't feel like home, but, she realized with a pleasant tingle, it could.

Fin