The Evidence by members.tripod.com/~buffyfaith

 

Written by the Slayer Subtext Seeker & scribe, DeadStillPretty We were introduced to Buffy's future love, Faith, in the episode entitled "Faith Hope and Trick.” Faith's suggestive stories in this episode about her colorful slaying past are really meant to get Buffy's attention. She came to Sunnydale to supposedly escape Mr. Taquitos, but really it was to meet and woo Buffy. And what better way to a girl's heart than through her friends and mom? Did you notice how much Faith tries to impress Joyce at dinner in this episode, showing herself off as worthy of dating her daughter? And Joyce expresses tacit approval to Buffy when she tells her daughter, “I like this girl, Buffy.” Faith’s stealing of Buffy's food at this dinner table scene is really her attempt to have something of Buffy's for herself. Food is an important symbol throughout this episode for the powerful attraction between Buffy and Faith. You may recall Faith’s assertion that after a good slaying she gets “hungry” and “horny”; this statement makes explicit the link between food and, uh, slayer love. This is further underscored by the following exchange between

 

Buffy and Faith after they have killed Taquitos:

Buffy: “You hungry?”
Faith: “Starved.”

Faith is really “starved” for attention and affection from Buffy, her one true love.

Faith has already tried to make her moves. She tries to turn Buffy off to men in “Beauty and the Beasts” by telling her, "All men are beasts." In "Homecoming" Faith tries to ask Buffy to be her date to the Homecoming dance, but she makes it innocuous at the last minute (throwing in the lines about “find[ing] a couple studs” to use and discard), as she fears she is making her move too soon after Scott dumped her. She realizes her timing is off, but who knows what could have come into fruition had Buffy made it to the dance? We could very well have seen Buffy dance to Cibo Matto’s “Sugar Water” for her fellow slayer...
In addition, in “Revelations” the real reason Faith is initially so reluctant to go with Mrs. Post is out of her growing love for her fellow chosen one. And what is the REAL reason Faith went off to slay Angel? J-E-A-L-O-U-S-Y! The fierceness of the awesome fight between Buffy and Faith in "Revelations" is fueled by sexual tension: the bruise on Buffy's face is a symbol of the intensity of Faith's feelings for Buffy. Furthermore, at the very end of the episode, when Buffy goes to check on Faith, she asks her to “trust” her and affirms that she is “on her side.” This is really code for Buffy letting Faith know that the most important “revelation” that occurred in this episode is her blossoming self-knowledge that she and Faith belong together. Faith, hurt and dismayed by the return of Angel, her main competitor, retreats into a defensive shell of shame at this crucial moment. However, when Faith calls out to Buffy at the very end of this scene in "Revelations" she wants desperately to begin to articulate these feelings for Buffy but alas she is unable to do so for fear of rejection and scorn.

Buffy and Faith are destined to be together. As one of our members noted, it’s “poetic”: two slayers, fighting vampires, saving the world, allied in love. Joss and Co. will try to throw in various plots to distract from the Truth: don’t be fooled! Buffy and Faith in ’99! It’s all about Slayer Pride!
More evidence written and detected by Margaux Le Gaye :

Let's face it, much as they love each other, Buffy and Angel are going to be torn apart by The Evil One. (Not ~mere~, the other Evil One, Joss!) How else can the new series leave the door open for some romantic tension between it's hunky hero, Angel, and the guest vixen of the week? Yeah, we can believe that his heart will always belong to Buffy (after a sojourn in Hell of subjectively, several hundred years, since he not only came back but didn't hold her sending him there in the first place against her, it's a pretty safe bet that he's hers for the long haul). But there's more to the dear boy than just his heart. (Get your minds out of the gutter. I'm speaking, of course, of his soul) Yeah, she's his soul-mate, yadda yadda, but his soul needs to keep striving toward salvation, so why not have him touched by the souls of a few others, purely as a matter of inspiration and healing. Uh huh.

Meanwhile, Buffy is in similar case. Heart belongs to Angel and he's her soul-mate, but a girl's gotta move on, right? I mean, if there's no hope of happiness, of solace, why not just let the next vamp who comes along beat her to the stake, and leave the slaying to Faith? No regrets, no worries, no more final exams…just another Slayer killed in the line of sacred duty.

Looking around for a suitable Angel substitute, we realize quickly that there just aren't many people in the running. Sure, there are other hunky guys, but if they aren't in on the Slaying thing, there are too many secrets in the relationship to let it thrive. And if they are in on the Slaying thing then, like Oz and Xander, they are constantly at risk from the nasties Buffy has to fight off.

What she really needs, of course, is someone who can hold their own with her. Someone who can stake vamps, decapitate demons, wrastle alligators buck naked and whatever else is required in the situation. Obviously, Faith is the only other person in the whole world who can really be Buffy's equal. The ancient Greeks held that true love could only exist between equals, that in order for love to thrive there had to be mutual respect, and a similarity in background and accomplishments. Well, Buffy and Faith are the only two living Slayers. You can't get more equal, more similar, more simpatico than that!

The real truth is, that in addition to everything posted below, Faith has one stunning advantage that neither Xander nor even Angel can claim: she's not a guy. I mean, even Angel had to have the clue card read to him out loud by Willow "Your gonna live forever, you don't have time for a cup of coffee?" And that was afterBuffy had read him another clue card: "You've been dating for over 200 years, you don't know what it means when a girl says 'maybe I'll show?'"

Lets face it. Love them as we may, guys just don't get it. With Faith, Buffy would never have to worry about getting a Black & Decker Sanding Machine when she really had her eye on that jewel-hilted fencing foil from Toledo and the box of Godiva Truffels. And then again, there is the argument that, well, there are some, um, intimate things, that one woman just knows will er, work, so to speak, with a another woman, in a way that a man, who hasn't experienced it quite the same way, can really, ah, appreciate, in, ahem, connection with, uh…connections?. (Trying to be oblique here: we are still a family board. But this is the part of the post during which your mind is supposed to be in the gutter.)

The thing is, Faith is a very damaged child. As Margot pointed out, Faith has only been in superficial relationships. She is desperate for love. And as we know, Buffy loves completely, and absolutely, with her whole heart and soul. Buffy would never settle for a mere physical relationship. She would give Faith her ALL! many times, if I have anything to say about it So, I think that F/B is really the way to go, here. But, to reassure Arctic Lurker, that's only 'cause Joss won't let her have Angel. So she'll have to find another one true love....

And, think what becoming lovers will do for coordinating their slaying efforts; when you know your partner's every move and can anticipate their every action like second nature because you are so into them, so tightly, emotionally, spiritually, and physically bound together. Think how much married and other long-term couples can communicate with a word, a look, a gesture. Think how often committed partners know each other's reactions to a given situation before the situation even arises.

Then again, there is the very spiritual nature of the projected marital bond between them. Possibly, this is the way Joss will resolve the issue of their being only one Slayer. As we all know, in certain religious traditions, marriage makes of the partners two halves of one soul, or at least unites the two souls into one being. We can leave aside the annoying legalities that prohibit same-sex marriage in our benighted country; they could legally tie the knot in the Netherlands, I believe. Buffy's first marriage was spiritual and symbolic rather than legal, anyway. She is certainly free to enter into another spiritual marriage, her first having been ended by death when Angel lost his soul and effectively 'died.' And Faith has never been married, so she's free to enter into said bond, as well. So, Buffy and Faith marry, become one, and once again there is only One Slayer in All the World.
Besides, they are just both so darned cute…

Margaux Le Gaye
Margot Le Faye's non-evil, utterly decadent, slightly sacrilegious non-existent twin