Okay, a few individual shout-outs and then onto the story. Admit it, you’re not reading this anyway, are you?

Kelly, for making me post in the first place and giving me the opportunity to meet some wonderful people, herself included, of course. 47 days!

Frass, well all I can say to you is: “Yeah”. Thank you so much for your friendship, for always making me laugh, and for writing my stories better than I do.

ABC, I don’t have the words to properly thank you for your encouragement, kindness, and friendship. You are a gem.

Sal, thank you for always taking the time to read and correct…even though you’re always wrong. I’m just kidding, Mine editor is brilliant, as a beta and as a friend. Thank you! xxx

And last but not least, this story is for Gina. She harassed me to write this fic, so good or bad, it’s all on her.

Sure I could have stood firm, but when the Mighty Oral says: “Jump”, I say: “Would you like fries with that?” because she’s Gina, and I have to keep her happy. It’s List Rule #1. At least that’s what she told me.

So to the woman I’ve come to adore, I say thank you and I hope the story was worth getting stuck with me on a personal level. Welch’s grape jelly, baby.

-Bobbi Manuel

Whirlwind

Chapter One

Faith sat quietly, supposedly engrossed in “Metal Gear Solid” on her PSP, but in reality she’d lost any interest she’d had in the game. Snake was still crouched hidden in the shadows behind some boxes where he’d been for the last few minutes, and as the guards drew closer and closer to him, Faith was thinking only of where she was headed and about the woman who would be waiting there for her when she arrived.

It wouldn’t go well, she knew that, not even with Giles running interference for her. It didn’t take a lot to make that prediction, it never went well when they were together. It hadn’t been that long ago they’d almost killed each other, and nothing had changed since then. They hadn’t been in contact, they hadn’t talked it over, it had all just sat there festering like it always did. Every goddamn time.

“Faith?”

“…”

“Excuse me, Faith?”

She pulled her thoughts back to the man sitting across from her, the only other passenger on the Council’s private jet.

“Yeah, G-man?”

“I believe some sort of calamity has befallen your man there.”

She glanced down and heard the commotion, complete with alarms and gunshots.

“Yeah, fucker’s dead again.”

She shut off the system and stuffed it into her bag, leaning back and closing her eyes, the very picture of relaxation.

Giles wasn’t fooled, not in the slightest. He’d come to know her fairly well since they’d been working together, and he knew that she had feelings for Buffy that certainly needed resolving. He also knew the same could be said for his Slayer.

And Buffy was his Slayer, despite the enormous rift that had torn open between them. He hated the look of hurt and distrust that was always present in her eyes whenever she had any dealings with him, but he understood it. Still, he had believed that Spike’s elimination had been a necessary evil, and he’d been determined to keep Buffy from having to do something that went very much against her nature.

The closest she had ever come to crossing that line on his watch had been when she’d stabbed the young woman sitting nervously across from him, but even then Buffy had been unable to make herself take that final step. She’d been unable to deliver the fatal blow, yet still she blamed herself as if she had. But Giles knew better…and so did Faith.

Because even though the fight had ended with a knife being slammed into Faith’s body, that wasn’t what caused the most damage, not even close. The doctors confirmed that the stab wound had missed everything vital, and while they’d marveled at that bit of luck, Rupert Giles had not. He knew it had nothing to do with luck and everything to do with who Buffy was, and he wasn’t the slightest bit surprised when Faith’s Slayer healing took care of that injury in a matter of days.

No, it was Faith herself who had done the most damage, and she’d done it deliberately and with as much malice, hurt, and anger as she could muster. Not that it really mattered who was at fault. Buffy had shouldered the blame all too willingly, and nothing had ever been the same again, not for any of them. The world became an even more dangerous place, the stakes grew ever higher, and his Slayer began struggling from that moment on.

He’d watched her suffer and he’d done everything that was in his power to do, yet none of it made a difference in the end. Still he’d struggled on, stumbling around like a man in the dark, making mistake after mistake as he crashed into nearly everything in his attempt to offer aid. Despite his efforts or maybe because of them, a rift began opening that all too quickly became impossible for them to bridge, and no matter what he...

“G-man, you okay?”

He smiled trying to reassure her, but he knew she wasn’t fooled. She leaned forward in her seat, her hand on his knee, her normally masked expression etched with concern and understanding. He knew she knew he was nervous to return as well, and somehow that made everything just a little bit better.

“Hey, she’s tiny, Giles. Bet together we can take her.”

He smiled again, this time genuinely:

“I’m not quite sure of that, but I do know I’ve no wish to find out.”

She sat back with a grin that revealed her respect and admiration for the Slayer who had come before her:

“Me neither. B’s one tough bitch.”

“I’d very much have to agree with that assessment.”

“Course ya would. So, what’s the ETA?”

“I’d say perhaps twenty minutes before we touch down. Xander said he’d meet us, so that should put us at the castle in approximately two hours, perhaps less if all conditions are optimal.”

Her eyes were closed again, but her body language showed she was nowhere near peaceful.

“Great, be glad to get out of this rust bucket. Never was big on flyin’, ya know?

“I must say, I’ve gotten quite used to it. Perhaps your nerves are the result of a fundamental lack of understanding as to the actual physics of flying. I’d be happy to…”

One eye opened:

“I swear I’ll jump if I gotta.”

He laughed:

“Yes, I do believe you would.”

“Damn straight, I would. Plus it’d get me outta a whole lotta shit.”

“Ah, but then that would be the coward’s way out.”

She stretched and grabbed the folder on the seat next to her:

“Yeah, guess that’s not mine anymore. This the info I gotta know?”

“Yes, but I thought you were saving that for the car ride?”

“Might as well get it outta the way, then if Cyclops doesn’t hate my guts, maybe he can catch me up on all the good stuff.”

Giles began organizing papers in his briefcase:

“I’m almost certain Xander will be his usual affable self; I don’t think you need worry about that.”

“Trust me, Giles, I gotta worry about it all. Xand’s a good guy, but when ya hurt B, well, got yourself a whole new ballgame.”

“Yes, he’s been a good friend to her over the years.”

She pulled out some papers and scanned them with a practiced eye.

“Probably what I like best about him. So what’s all this extra shit?”

“What? Oh yes, that’s how it was faxed to us. I’m afraid there wasn’t time to…”

“No big, just kinda threw me. Usually these reports are just skin and bones.”

Giles glanced up as he struggled with the contents of his briefcase:

“Yes, well you’ve made it quite clear you’re not at all interested in anything that doesn’t pertain directly to…”

She tossed everything over to him except for two neatly typed pages:

“All I need’s the facts on whichever fuck-up I’m tryin’ to haul into line. Everybody’s got a story, but ain’t gonna be on a page. Can figure what I need, and one way or another they cough up the rest.”

He finally had everything in order and placed the newest folder on top:

“You’ll get no quarrel from me when it comes to your methods. You’re doing an exemplarily job, surpassing the already high expectations I had before we embarked upon this endeavor.”

“Thanks, G-Man, means a lot…So this says the fuckers can trans…transmo...?”

“’Transmogrification’ is the ability to transform one’s shape into something else.”

Faith rolled her eyes:

“So shape shifters. Can’t you just say that ‘stead of goin’ all fancy?”

“I’ll remind you that I did not write that.”

“Yeah, but you wanted to. Point is, I thought that was just Hollywood crap?”

He smiled affectionately and held up the file she’d just tossed over to him:

“And if you’d read the entire report, you would have learned that just as Dracula did, these vampires have somehow managed to acquire the necessary skills to...”

“Why read it? Just gotta ask you.”

She finished in a few minutes and handed him the rest of the report:

“Jesus, so was everybody asleep at the switch? They just let some fancy pants vamps waltz off with the Scythe?”

“It’s all a bit vague, but…”

“Was B even there?”

“Yes, but I gather she was already in bed.”

“Well damn, ‘less the world was shakin’ for her, I don’t get it. And how’d they get in?”

Before he could answer, the pilot interrupted:

“Mr. Giles, Ms. Lehane, we’ll be landing soon. Would you both buckle up for your safety? Thank you.”

They moved to comply, Faith swearing as her seatbelt balked when she yanked on it a bit too hard.

”Fucking piece of shit! How come these bust up all the time?”

“Perhaps because you pull on them with Slayer strength when all that is required…”

“’Scuse me, Jeeves, this a Slayer plane or not? Can’t help you’re a big pussy with no muscles. Oughta upgrade this hunk a junk.”

“Faith, for the last time, I am not equipping this plane with a Jacuzzi nor will it be sporting an Xbox and a large screen television any time soon.”

She looked at him, struggling to keep the grin off her face:

“Then ya better start buying these babies by the truckload. Your call, Watcher.”

“Must you be so childish about this?”

“No, just wanna be.”

“I see.”

They didn’t speak as the plane touched down, not until the pilot opened the cockpit door and headed over to them:

“It’s now safe to exit through the cabin door.”

Faith was already up and stretching, her breasts sticking out even further than they usually did:

“Gee, thanks for the explanation. Was plannin’ to squeeze my ass out through the john.”

“Uh…Yes, of course. My apologies, Ms. Lehane.”

“Christ, Timmy, wanna calm down a little? Was just being a smart ass, yeah?”

He looked confused and quickly turned to Giles:

“Will that be all, Mr. Giles?”

“Yes, Timothy. Ms. Lehane and I will no longer need your services. We’ll contact you when we’re ready to depart, but as I said before, I would imagine it will be at least a week or two before you hear from us. Enjoy your family reunion.”

“Thank you, Mister Giles. I haven’t seen my aunt in nearly four years and the entire family’s going to be arriving there tomorrow.”

Giles patted him on the shoulder as he reached for his belongings:

“Have a splendid time, you well deserve the holiday.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Hey, Timmy?”

He was already heading back to the cockpit, but spun around to face her:

“Yes, Ms. Lehane?”

She blew him a kiss and gave him a sexy smile:

“Give my best to the fam!”

He turned bright red, and struggled not to stammer:

“Um…yes…I shall…even though…I mean, I’m quite sure…I don’t believe any of them actually know you.”

“What? You mean you never mentioned the hot chick you’re gonna marry?”

“’Marry’?! Ms. Lehane…I…”

Giles had gathered everything, and he quickly stepped in before it got any worse:

“She’s joking, Timothy. Please give my regards to your lovely parents. Faith, if you will.”

She followed Giles off the plane, blowing another kiss and licking her lips sensually as she passed by the young pilot. He blushed again and Faith laughed, ignoring the last three steps to leap to the tarmac.

“Faith, really. Must you torment him every time you see him?”

“Already told ya: don’t gotta, just wanna.”

Giles smiled as he began hoisting their already unloaded luggage:

“Well, one day the poor boy is going to explode.”

She grabbed the heaviest bag with a grin:

“Figure he’ll be exploding in just a few. Don’t call it a ‘cockpit’ for nothin’.”

He rolled his eyes in disgust, but when her back was turned he allowed himself an amused smile. She really was amazingly funny, and he very much enjoyed her lively, often bawdy sense of humor.

She tended way too often to lapse into a brooding silence, and although she never let it affect her performance on the job, he hated to see her suffering as she so obviously did. She was a complex individual, one he had become quite fond of in their time together, and he couldn’t have been prouder of her progress.

He hated bringing her back into contact with Buffy after their last confrontation. The two Slayers had not spoken to each other since that awful meeting some time ago, Giles himself had only spoken briefly to Buffy twice, and he knew that Faith was not at all looking forward to seeing her again. Unfortunately they all had no other recourse.

As was so often the case, individual conflicts had to be set aside no matter how difficult that might be to manage. They desperately needed anyone they could get onboard, the situation was way too serious to allow personal issues to stand in the way. Besides, Faith wasn’t just “anyone”.

She was a seasoned fighter, brave, smart, and incredibly skilled in combat. She was the best they had when it came to long range weapons, and she was the second best Slayer in the world when it came to everything else. There was no way to leave her out of the upcoming battle: she was needed.

Buffy herself had called and requested her, so Giles knew matters must be extremely dire. He’d been asked to vouch for Faith’s sanity and when he had done so, Buffy had merely told him they needed to get to the castle as soon as possible. There was nothing else offered and he didn’t kid himself, he knew her feelings about both of them had not changed.

“There he is.”

Faith pointed out the blue car happily, but then her footsteps slowed until she was actually walking behind Giles. He hoped that Xander would be happy to see them, especially Faith. He knew how much she liked him, and he also knew that it would do nothing but help immeasurably if she still had a friend somewhere in the mix.

He extended his hand, uncertain of his own welcome:

“Hello, Xander. You’re looking well.”

Xander ignored Giles’ outstretched hand and pulled him into a tight hug:

“Hi, Giles, it’s great to have you home!”

Giles couldn’t help but smile back, and he hadn’t missed the heavy emphasis on the word “home”.

“It’s wonderful to be back.”

Faith had no choice now so she stepped out from behind Giles, her face defiant as she tried to keep her fear from showing.

“Xander.”

He looked behind himself in confusion:

“’Xander’? ‘Xander’? Who is this mysterious fellow you refer to?”

Her eyes met his as he boomed out:

“That, beautiful lady, is not my name for I am…”

She stood grinning at him as he gestured, then gestured again:

“Faith, that’s your cue.”

“Oh yeah, sorry. “

“Let’s try it again: ‘Nay, that be not my name, for I am …’”

Faith flung her arms out wide and bowed as she announced him to the nearly empty tarmac:

“Cyclops the Terrible. Let mere mortals tremble!”

“That’s much better, Slay Gal!”

He swept her up into an almost painfully tight hug and twirled her around:

“Thank God you’re back and looking just as sexy and scary as ever. Mmm…you still smell good too.”

“Wanna put me down ‘fore I hurl?”

“Definitely.”

When she was back safely on the ground, he grabbed her bags as a gentleman should and staggered over to the trunk. He refused her attempt to take the heavy one off his hands.

“I’ve got it, little lady. So, did you guys have a good trip?”

Giles smiled as he watched Xander nearly killing himself trying to handle Faith’s bags:

“Yes, it was quite pleasant.”

“Yeah, had ‘Metal Gear’ goin’ on the PSP, so ya know.”

He placed most of the bags in the trunk, saving the heavy one for last as he talked excitedly:

“Oh man, is that a great game…”

He nearly flipped over backwards as he wrapped the heavy bag in a bear hug and tried to quickly toss it into the trunk. Faith reached out and steadied him, then took the bag from him and sat it behind the other bags.

“…or what? Only Andrew will play with me and he freaks if he gets spotted, so you have to put up with that.”

He started the engine as Faith took the backseat and Giles slid into the passenger seat.

“So Cyclops, when’d ya come out?”

Xander was concentrating on backing up, his mind only half following along:

“’Come out’?”

“Yeah, as a gay guy.”

The car swerved, then came to an abrupt stop as he looked at her.

“I…What?! Why are you…”

“Said Andrew plays with you and freaks if you guys get spotted, so I just thought…”

“Hardee, har, har.”

He pulled out of the small jetport and Faith leaned back in her seat, her dimples deep grooves on either side of her mouth.

“Damn, gotta laugh like a tough guy pirate now? What do they call that, Giles?”

“I believe it’s called ‘overcompensation’.”

“Yeah, that’s it. Don’t gotta do that, Xand, we’re all friends here. Ya wanna bang Andy, who are we to judge?”

Xander glanced at her in the rearview mirror:

“Fine, have your fun, Faith. But somewhere down the line when you least expect it, your ass is mine.”

“Damn, me and Andy? You’re one horny bastard, for sure.”

Giles could not muffle his laughter, not that he tried all that hard to. Xander’s grin lit up his whole face, making his eye twinkle as he looked at her again, then smacked Giles on the arm:

“Man, I’ve missed you guys. Welcome home.”

*************************

The reunion went better than any of them had a right to expect. Faith stayed quiet and Buffy didn’t speak to her, not directly anyway. It had been decided weeks ago that in order to have the best chance of getting the Slayer Scythe back safely, they were going to have to play a waiting game while Willow figured out exactly where the vampires were and what specific magicks they were using.

It hadn’t been easy breaking through all of the spells hiding their location, but Willow also had the Coven on the job and there were no spells on Earth that could hold out against that kind of firepower forever, or as it was shaping up, even one month.

“So, the plan is to be ready to go when the time comes. Will, what time frame are we looking at?”

“I’d say two or three days at the most. My spell on the Scythe should last at least another week after that, so that gives us plenty of time before they can even think of using it.”

Buffy nodded, throwing Willow a quick glance, and Faith wondered what had been going on with them. Even though things seemed fine, it was like they were being careful around each other, which was weirder than weird.

“Okay then, we’ve all got our assignments. I want everyone well-rested and staying put is the best way to ensure that. Remember, no one leaves the castle for any reason, is that perfectly clear?”

There was a chorus of “yeses’ and Buffy smiled:

“We will get back what was stolen from us and we’ll kick plenty of vamp butt doing it. Those of you on the nightshift stay alert and stay safe. Everybody else, see you in the morning.”

They scrambled out, leaving only the Scoobies and some pretty Asian Slayer that Faith didn’t recognize. Not that that was strange, she didn’t really know many of the Slayers.

“Will, the protective barrier is still in place?”

“Yep, I check it every few hours and I’ve been rotating certain…Let’s just say that it won’t be coming down until I take it down.”

Buffy smiled, and Willow tentatively returned it.

“It’s good to have the ‘Willow Rosenberg Seal of Approval’. Xander, what about…”

“All squared away, Buffster. Still patrolling ‘round the clock, four Slayers in five groups as well as a full staff in the monitoring room. They know to report whatever they see, even if it’s just a moth.”

“Then I’d say that’s it for tonight. Giles?”

He looked almost startled:

“Yes, Buffy?”

“Did you have anything you wanted to add?”

“N…No, it seems as if you’ve everything well in hand.”

Faith could see Buffy struggling to hold in some less than polite comment:

“…Yeah, I guess I do.”

He smiled and she looked away before she was forced to return it, but at least she hadn’t ignored or attacked him.

“Excuse me, Buffy?”

Buffy’s shoulders tensed as she turned to look at the other Slayer, and Faith wondered if Buffy had a problem with everybody these days.

“I’m sorry, Satsu. Did you…”

“I was…I just wanted to go over the list with you.”

“The list, sure. Is everyone else finished?”

Everyone nodded and got to their feet, Faith right along with them, until Buffy spoke up:

“Faith, would you mind waiting for a few minutes?”

“For what?”

The tone instantly set Buffy’s hackles on edge.

“How about because I asked you to?”

“Nah, doesn’t quite work for me.”

Giles turned to face her:

“Faith, remember what we talked about?”

“Oh yeah, gotta suck up to Her Highness. Gotcha.”

The look he gave her was understanding and disapproving all at once, she’d seen it plenty of times since they’d started working together. With a small sigh, she gave in:

“Okay, fine. Yeah, B, I’ll hang.”

“Thank you. Satsu?”

Faith wondered if she was imagining things, but she was sure she was reading a look of disappointment on Satsu’s face. Faith guessed maybe she’d wanted Buffy’s undivided attention, and was upset that she was now only going to be able to give the info and go.

Faith envied her when all was said and done. She would have offered to trade places with her if she’d thought that had even a shot at working, but she knew better. Instead she walked over to the window and stared off into the night, not even remotely paying attention to the conversation taking place behind her. It didn’t concern her, so no way was she going to waste her time listening in.

After a few minutes had passed, Faith turned to Buffy:

“Look Blondie, I got other things to do than stand here while you and your latest groupie give each other a happy.”

Satsu blushed, but Buffy just glanced up at Faith:

“We’re finished. It all seems fine, Satsu, but I’m just not sure about Alicia. I’m willing to go with her if you say…”

“She’s more than ready, Buffy. I’m positive of that.”

“Then she’s good to go. See you tomorrow.”

Satsu’s smile was almost blinding and Faith knew right then that the poor little Slayer girl had the hots for Buffy. She filed the info away, it would definitely come in handy if she needed to back Buffy off somewhere down the line.

Satsu left, closing the door behind her, and Buffy continued staring down at some papers in front of her.

“Okay B, I’m all done with the pissing contest. Not here for a job interview, so either talk or I’m outta here.”

Buffy shuffled some of the papers and then looked up:

“I’m not trying to make you wait, Faith. I just wanted to make sure…”

“Got nothin’ to do with me, do it on your own fuckin’ time.”

Buffy’s eyes, none too friendly before, now appeared to be made of ice:

“Same old ‘Faith’, huh?”

“Sure. Same old ‘Buffy’ too.”

They tried to stare each other down for minute, then Buffy’s shoulders slumped as she let out a sigh:

“Do we really have to do this now?”

“When did ya wanna do it, B? I’ll make sure to clear my calendar.”

Buffy got to her feet so quickly her chair slid back, nearly tipping over:

“Can you give me a break? We need to talk, sensibly, like actual grownups.”

Faith relented and planted herself in the seat next to Buffy’s:

“Okay. Shoot.”

Buffy dragged her chair back to the table and sat down:

“About what happened…”

“Ya mean when you jumped to conclusions again and tried to kill me?”

“That went both ways as I recall, Faith.”

Faith snorted disgustedly:

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t just let ya beat the shit outta me. My bad.”

“Well, trying to drown me wasn’t exactly…”

Now it was Faith’s turn to stand:

“I wasn’t tryin’ to drown you, I was tryin’ to save your dumb ass! Ya blew my cover so I had to get another one going as fast as I could.”

“By trying to kill me?”

“No, by making it look good while I got you outta there. That Roden guy was all charged up and getting ready to slam some serious magic your way. What the fuck did you want me to do, just stand there and watch you get incinerated?”

Buffy hesitated:

“…I didn’t see him, so it just seemed like you were helping her.”

“I had to think fast, B. Figured I could pull off being the crazy, evil Slayer, had no fucking clue you were gonna buy it.”

Buffy rolled her eyes:

“Well what did you expect? As far as I could tell, you were in bed with the enemy. What was I supposed to do?”

As much as she tried to prevent it, Faith could hear the hurt in her voice as she answered:

“You were supposed to trust me.”

Buffy eyes shifted to the tabletop and Faith sat back down heavily in her chair. Neither of them spoke for several moments, but then Buffy cleared her throat:

“I’m sorry, Faith. Old habits, you know?”

“Yeah. Guess it just doesn’t matter what I do, does it, B? You can’t ever let it go, won’t ever let me off the hook. Can spend the rest of my life fighting the good fight and to you, I’m always gonna be the murderous slut I used to be.”

Buffy looked at her then, her hand twitching as if she wanted to reach out, but then she changed her mind and pulled both of her hands back into her lap.

“That isn’t what I think of you, Faith.”

“Yeah okay, whatever.”

“It’s not. I remember the final battle in Sunnydale, how you came back to help.”

Faith’s eyes held Buffy’s in an intense gaze:

“Do ya? ‘Cause gotta say, B, doesn’t seem like you do, not ever.”

Buffy sighed again, rubbing the palm of her hand over her face:

“I do, Faith. It’s just…It’s just that it’s so easy to think the worst about you.”

Faith stood, clearly angry:

“Got the same problem myself. That it, ‘cause I’m beat?”

Buffy said nothing and Faith headed for the door. She never got it open all the way before Buffy slammed it shut.

“Wait, please!”

“What’s left, B? Think ya hit all the usual spots.”

“It isn’t you, Faith, it’s me, okay? I’m just…Look, I’m glad you’re here. We…I need you for this fight. These guys are tough and…”

“Just point me in the right direction and I’ll do my part.”

Faith’s head was bent down and Buffy lowered her own, trying to catch Faith’s eye:

“Hey?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry for doubting you last time. You’re right, I should have known better. It’s just that I’m…well, I’m an idiot.”

Faith didn’t smile, but her dimples deepened:

“No argument here. Okay, I’m sorry too, alright? Maybe we oughta try and give each other a break once in a while.”

“I’d like that, a lot.”

“Same here. We square now?”

Buffy smiled:

“Yeah, we’re square. Can you find your room from here?”

“I’ll figure it out. Night, B.”

“Goodnight, Faith.”

Faith walked out into the hall, feeling better than she had in a long time.

Maybe they could be friends again, for once. Maybe all of the tension and misunderstanding from before was just something that happened for whatever reason and now that’d they talked about it, maybe it wouldn’t keep happening all the time. That sort of made some sense and Faith was going to go with it.

When she reached her room, one glimpse of the inviting bed let her know she was nowhere near getting some sleep. She knew she couldn’t patrol; first she’d have to slip past the ten thousand guards and then when Buffy got the news, she’d beat the hell out of her while Giles helped. Faith could be stupid, but she wasn’t dumb, and she didn’t want to do anything to ruin the tenuous new peace accord she had going with Buffy.

All that left for her was working out, so she quickly changed clothes and headed off in what she thought was the general direction of the nearest training room. She was glad it was late and that this section of the castle was on guard duty. It meant she’d have the place all to herself.

She made a few wrong turns, but then she found it, and much to her displeasure she also found Satsu pummeling the hell out of the bag. Faith watched her for a couple of minutes from the doorway and had to admit she was impressed. The young Slayer’s form and speed were top notch, and she packed a lot of power in every punch. She also kept her concentration, completely ignoring Faith as she continued on with her workout.

With a final powerful swing, she turned to Faith:

“Jet lag?”

“Somethin’ like that. You?”

“Too many thoughts. I’m Satsu, by the way.”

She extended her hand and Faith shook it:

“So I heard. I’m Faith, but then guessin’ you already know that.”

“You have kinda been the talk around here for the last few days.”

Faith stretched out a little:

“Yeah, usually am.”

Satsu began toying nervously with the magically enhanced chain that held the bag firmly to the ceiling. She started to speak twice, then changed her mind and remained silent. Faith didn’t look at her, but she could feel her eyes boring a hole through her.

“Somethin’ eatin’ at ya?”

“…No, not really. I…uh…I suppose Buffy explained things to you?”

“Yeah, laid it out best she could.”

Faith decided she wasn’t going to wrap her hands; she just needed to get some emotion out, just like always whenever she was around Buffy. She started to ask Satsu if she was done with the bag, but when she saw the intense expression on the other girl’s face, she hesitated.

She was more than a little confused, and just as she started to ask her what the deal was, Satsu began talking again:

“Well, I guess she figured it’d be better if you heard it from her.”

Alarm bells, incredulous alarm bells began ringing, and Faith decided she must be going nuts again.

“What would be better if I heard it from her?”

Satsu turned red, then white, her eyes reflecting her fear as she realized her mistake.

“Uh…you know, the plan.”

Faith stepped closer, grabbing onto Satsu’s arm and turning her until they were facing each other:

“Look, not in the mood for games, just wanna hit somethin’. You or the bag, either works for me.”

She jerked free from Faith’s grasp:

“There’s nothing else to tell. Buffy said she wanted to keep you in the loop so that there wouldn’t be any confusion when we go after the…”

Faith’s eyes darkened:

”Look, Shitsu, knock off the bull. What ‘woulda been better’ if I’d heard it from her?”

Satsu edged away, unwrapping the tape from her hands as she walked over to her gear.

“I already told you. I don’t know what your problem is, but I do know I’m getting sick of your attitude.”

Faith laughed, but she was clearly not amused:

“You’ve never seen my attitude, but you’re workin’ your way closer every second.”

Satsu tossed the tape she’d peeled off her hands into the trash can across the room:

“Then I guess we’re at an impasse. I’ll leave you alone to work out your issues. Goodnight.”

Her progress was stopped again, but this time the hand gripping her arm felt like a vise.

“Listen close, kid. I know you don’t know me, that’s all that’s keepin’ this friendly right now. I asked you a question, more than once, and to be honest? I’m all done playin’ around.”

Satsu tried to pull loose and did, but it was a great deal harder to manage the second time around.

“Okay Faith, now it’s your turn to listen. I’m not a ‘kid’, I’m a Slayer, the best one there is after Buffy. You wanna make this physical? That’s up to you. I told you I don’t know anything, and I’ve got nothing else to say.”

“Gonna tell me if it takes spilling your blood all over this fucking room.”

Satsu was the best Slayer Buffy had, she had no doubt whatsoever about her own abilities, but there was something about Faith’s eyes that had her fighting to keep her nerves under control.

“Sorry, I can’t say I’m all that intimidated. Maybe you should go find someone else to bully.”

Faith looked her up and down:

“You fucked her, didn’t you?”

Said with a quiet fury Satsu had never heard before from anyone, and the intensity of it made her answer honestly:

“…We made love, yes.”

The bag exploded, its guts spilling out and onto the floor as Faith struck it dead center with a powerful left hook. All too quickly, her attention was back on the Slayer in front of her.

“So, you and the magic fairy princess did the deed.”

“That’s not exactly how I’d put it. Faith, I’m just not comfortable with…”

“So how’d it happen exactly? Get her drunk or was she just so sad and lonely you had to eat her out?”

Satsu had been moving for the door, but that comment stopped her in her tracks:

“Hold on, I get you’re upset, but I don’t appreciate…”

“Oh, c’mon, Dykesu, let’s hear the juicy details. Did she go down on you? Make you scream her name? How many times did you get her to come?”

Satsu found herself walking back to stand face to face with Faith:

“I’d advise you to shut your mouth. You don’t know anything about…”

Faith grinned, her eyes sparkling darkly as she somehow moved even closer:

“Always was curious Slutsu, how many fingers does it take to fill that sacred cunt? I’m guessing three, maybe four. Or did you have to fist her after all the vamp dick she’s…”

Satsu’s punch knocked Faith backwards over the balance beam.

“Don’t talk about Buffy like that again.”

Faith flipped to her feet, an unpleasant smirk on her face.

“Hey c’mon, I get it. You fell, lots of people do. B likes to fuck’em, play with’em, then move on to the next poor sap she can find to be her lapdog. Don’t take it personal when she makes ya feel like a dirty slut.”

Satsu began moving toward her again, but managed to stop herself before she’d gone too far:

“I heard you used to be insane…Either you’ve had a relapse or you don’t know her at all. Buffy is…”

“Oh please, kid, I know Buffy. Maybe not like you do though. I mean, I never got a chance to feel that sweet juicy tongue shoved so far up my pussy I was seein’…”

Satsu swung again, but this time Faith was waiting. She used Satsu’s momentum against her, tossing her hard into the vaulting horse. There was no time to untangle herself before Faith picked her up and threw her across the room where she smashed with bone breaking force into the wall.

She was dazed, but made herself rise to her feet as Faith stalked over to her:

“Better stay down, Skanksu, ‘fore I make sure you can’t get up.”

Satsu struck out with her foot, catching Faith hard in the ribs. She let out a pain filled breath and sank to her knees in apparent agony, and Satsu moved closer:

“I don’t want to do this, but if you keep...”

Satsu was lifted off the ground by the most powerful blow she’d ever felt. She never even saw it, but it sent her flying right past everything. She crashed into the door leading to the hallway, hitting it hard enough to almost tear it completely off its hinges.

It barely even slowed her down, and she only stopped moving when she crossed the hall and slammed into the wall on the far side. She was completely out of it, even though she was conscious. She sat there confused as to how she’d gotten where she was, and she had no awareness of the danger she was in…at least not until she looked up to see Faith coming her way with a terrifying smile on her face.

That cleared things up rather quickly. As she was yanked roughly to her feet, she dug deep and swung out with everything she had. The punch to Faith’s cheek knocked her off and back for a second, but it didn’t really slow her down. She merely grunted with the pain and kept moving forward.

Satsu’s next few blows hit hard, especially the one that hit right where the painful kick had landed moments before. Several other shots connected solidly, but Faith didn’t seem to notice or care. She just kept coming.

She grabbed Satsu and drove a punch into her solar plexus. The air shot out of her, and Faith quickly followed with blow after blow. Satsu started to fall, but Faith kept her standing, her hands grasping the neck of her shirt, pulling their faces as close as possible while still allowing them to focus.

The now black eyes burning into hers were among the scariest sights Satsu had ever seen. It felt like she was looking into the eyes of death, and although she refused to show it, she was afraid in a way she’d never been before.

But Satsu wasn’t a coward, she had never been one and she never would be, and she made herself hold that gaze for all she was worth. She could barely even stand on her own and she felt like she was going to pass out, but she would not cower before anyone.

Faith stood there staring, wanting with everything in her to release the rage she could feel coursing through every part of her being. It was a familiar feeling, a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long, long time, but it was one she recognized instantly.

She wanted to hurt everything in her path. She wanted to destroy everything she could get her hands on, starting with this woman she held in her hands...this fellow Slayer…this brave young girl whose only crime was that she had somehow managed to get where Faith would have gladly given her own life to go.

Satsu saw it the second it happened. The hands remained just as hard and unyielding, but somehow the eyes grew lighter. Everything seemed just the same, but it wasn’t…it was all different somehow.

All she could see now was an ocean of pain in the warm, rich brown eyes, and she found herself having to look away. It was too intimate, too personal to witness, especially this close up.

“Jesus.”

The word said so softly and with such sorrow and shame.

The hands shook now as they held onto her, almost as if they were holding on tight so that Faith herself wouldn’t collapse to the floor. Her eyes closed and when they opened again, they were focused on Satsu.

Faith cleared her throat to speak, to try and offer an apology that would matter, but before she could, she was gone. She was hoisted into the air and flung backwards, crashing hard into the training room door, tearing it completely from its hinges.

She slid along on top of it and when it finally came to a stop, Faith sat up. She remained down until two strong hands pulled her to her feet, spun her around, and punched her back out into the hallway. She landed painfully at Satsu’s feet.

Buffy’s voice was furious as Faith stood up:

“What in the hell are you doing?”

“Sparring with your personal little Shitsu. Why?”

“’Why’?! Are you out of your mind?”

Faith seemed so hard and removed, Satsu couldn’t believe what she was looking at.

There was nothing on display that even remotely resembled what she’d just seen in Faith’s eyes. There was no pain, no sorrow, no remorse, no fear. All that was on display for Buffy to see was a cutting and dismissive arrogance, a cocky shield that had every real emotion hidden so far out of sight, Satsu began to question her own sanity.

“Could be a relapse.”

Buffy spun around, her eyes examining Satsu for any serious damage:

“Are you all right?”

“…Yeah, I’m okay.”

Buffy could see that she was barely hanging on, so she gently wrapped her arm around her to prevent Satsu from collapsing to the floor. When she was sure she had her safely secured, Buffy turned her attention back to Faith:

“I have no idea what you think you’re doing, but this isn’t how it works around here. You can’t just go around beating up Slayers and…”

Faith laughed contemptuously:

“My mistake. Woulda fucked her, but kinda tired of your sloppy seconds.”

The silence filled the hallway as Faith turned and walked away, taking the last word with her.

CHAPTER TWO

It took Faith forever to find her room and when she finally did, she felt nothing but relief. She knew Buffy wouldn’t be dropping in, not when her new honey was a bloody and bruised mess like she was, so that made her borrowed room a place where she could hide, at least until morning. Then she was going to talk to Giles about taking off because there was no way she could stay, not after that train wreck.

She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off her boots, thinking about how she’d almost lost control of herself all because somebody else had gotten there first…again. It made her think back to when she’d eagerly tried to stake Angel just because he’d returned from the dead and had a lock on Buffy’s heart.

Obviously she still had some issues…like being a mental case as well as a big time fool on top of it. She knew there was no chance for her with Buffy, there never had been and there never would be. All she was doing now was tossing aside years of hard work and she couldn’t afford to. It was the kind of stuff she had to hang onto…for her sake and everybody else’s.

At least she had a plan now. She was going to stay safely tucked away in her room by herself and calm down. That was the absolute smartest thing to do and she was already on her way to doing it. She was just going to sit quietly and…The door flew open, bouncing off the wall so hard, it slammed itself shut.

“What the hell did that mean?”

Faith stood up:

“Get the fuck out of my room.”

“Answer me.”

“Means just what I said. You’re all high and mighty, lecturing me on how to behave while you’re busy playing favorites and fucking the troops.”

Buffy flushed, from anger or embarrassment, Faith had no way to tell for sure.

“You don’t know anything about me, about the situation here.”

“No, just know you’re scratchin’ your itch with somebody you’re supposed to be guiding and teaching. What is she, sixteen? Where I come from we call scum like you kiddy diddlers.”

Buffy slapped her hard enough to stagger her.

“What I do is none of your business.”

“Yeah, heard that before from the other side, but I think when you’re bangin’ a kid, it’s everybody’s…”

Buffy slapped her again, and this time Faith lost her balance and sat down awkwardly on the bed. Buffy’s eyes looked like she was out on patrol:

“Satsu is twenty-one, you goddamn bitch.”

Faith stood up, refusing to rub her cheek and jaw even though they hurt like hell. Buffy’s handprint was clearly visible from the last slap.

“Wow, good for you, B. She’s legal, alive, so what’s the deal? She some kinda demon between the sheets? Gotta be somethin’ special to get you to open up that precious…”

“Shut up!”

Buffy stood still except for her hands which kept clenching and unclenching.

“Who are you to judge me and my sex life? You’ve had way more partners than either of us can count, and don’t tell me it’s the gay thing because no way have you not had your share of girls.”

Faith stood and walked over to the dresser, trying her best to get back in control of her emotions. She felt like crying, but no way would she allow that, especially not in front of Buffy, and for sure not when it was over this.

No one spoke, and then Buffy decided someone had to:

“We just talked things over less than an hour ago and we agreed to try and cut each other some slack. Why are you attacking me about this? Does it bother you that much to see me happy for a change?”

Faith was facing the dresser and hanging onto it tightly to prevent herself from turning around. The cracking noise could be heard right after Buffy claimed to be happy.

“Faith, do you hate me that much?”

“Just get the fuck out of here. Go back to your lover and…”

The softness that had been creeping its way into Buffy’s voice was gone, just like that:

“Goddamn it, you always pull this crap! You’re the one who refuses to let us be friends, the one who won’t let go of the past. You’re all, ‘Let’s let bygones be bygones, B’, then you start beating the hell out of…”

“That’s right, Buffy, that’s exactly how it is. Now why don’t you go comfort Bitchsu in your extra special ‘Buffy’ way and get the fuck outta here?”

“So this is it, Faith? This is all there’s ever going to be between us? Because I don’t get it; why would you want it like this? Why can’t you just…”

The dresser broke apart as Faith turned to face her:

“Get the fuck out of here and leave me alone!”

“No! We’re going to have this out, once and for all.”

“Why? ‘Cause you say so? Well fuck off, I don’t take orders from you, not for a long time.”

Buffy laughed her eyes revealing her pain and confusion:

“What a crock, you’ve never taken orders in your life.”

“Bullshit, I been takin’ plenty of orders! I...”

“Right, from my Watcher as you two bond while ‘saving’ girls just like you.”

“Well somebody’s gotta, you sure as shit can’t…or won’t.”

Buffy shook her head disbelievingly:

“So what, Faith, a few months of doing what you’re told and suddenly you’re all reliable? ’Tell you what, you do the homework and I’ll copy yours’.”

Faith’s head snapped up as she glared at Buffy in a fury:

“Life’s gone on since Sunnydale, Buffy. Maybe you oughta try letting it go for a change.”

“Really? Well what should I do, Faith? Run away like you did?”

Faith looked surprised:

“What the fuck are you talking about now?”

“You’re the one who left. Not me, you. I stayed and you just took off without a word to anyone.”

“Fuckin’ liar! I told Giles.”

“And what about me? I thought we were trying to build something together, but you just left without bothering to say a thing to me.”

Faith hurled the piece of broken dresser she still held in her hand right past Buffy’s head. It exploded into splinters as it smashed against the stone wall.

“I asked you, Buffy, and you made it way clear you weren’t interested. So tell ya what: you fucking haul the guilt for that one.”

“Me? Do you have a concussion?”

She stepped closer to Faith, practically shaking with rage:

“I stayed, Faith. I’m here right now. I’m the one who built something new while you just took off because what? You couldn’t stand to have any responsibility?”

“I’m not fucking talking about staying to...Christ, just get out of here. Go back to her, got my blessing, alright? I’m pulling out tomorrow and then it’ll be back to how you want it.”

Buffy flushed again, her voice coming out in a pained fury:

“Don’t you dare tell me how I want it, you’ve never had the first clue about what I want…God, Faith, how can you talk about leaving again? You’re here because you’re needed, doesn’t that mean anything at all to you?”

“I’m not explaining shit to you, Buffy. You don’t wanna listen anyways, you never have.”

“So you’re the selfish bitch and somehow that’s my fault? Poor you, always so misunderstood. Let me get the violin.”

Faith could feel her temper boiling over, could feel herself ready to yell out everything, and that was the last thing she could afford to do.

“Fuck this and fuck you.”

She headed for the door, but Buffy slid into her path.

“You’re not leaving until we finish this.”

“Get out of my way.”

“Make me.”

They stood toe to toe and it was Faith who broke first. She let out a frustrated scream and went back to her spot by the newly demolished dresser.

They went through another tension packed silence, and finally after a heavy sigh, Buffy’s voice came out all soft and at a loss. The intimacy of it sent a shiver through Faith that she did her best to suppress.

“Faith, why does it feel like we’re talking about different things?”

“What, I gotta figure out your fucked up mind now? Don’t think so.”

Buffy was staring and it didn’t take long before it began making Faith nervous, so nervous she found herself pacing in a tight, narrow area that was getting smaller because whether she meant to or not, Buffy kept edging closer.

“I know I have to be missing something here, just tell me what it is.”

“Look, I’m not one of your Scooby pals, okay? Not interested in making everything nice and easy for you.”

“Could you stop trying to make me mad and just talk to me for a change?”

Faith stopped pacing and faced Buffy, eye to eye:

“Why are you even in here? Aren’t you supposed to be eating Asian tonight?”

Buffy saw red and closed the small distance between them.

“Shut up, Faith.”

“Or what? Gonna beat the shit outta me? Gonna shove a knife in my gut, then act all surprised you had that in you? C’mon B, give us a kiss.”

The sound of Buffy’s shocked gasp seemed loud to Faith, and she could easily read the hurt that crashed across her face. She knew full well that horrible night was Buffy’s weak spot, and although she felt bad for striking at it so viciously, Faith needed this to be over with. If it had to end with Buffy beating her to death, whatever. Just as long as she stopped talking and left.

“I don’t know why you want to hurt me, Faith, but I’m not going to hit you. If this is the relationship you want us to have, fine. I’m sorry that me looking for a little happiness, a little comfort makes you so angry.”

Faith turned around as the tears began welling in her eyes, and Buffy shook her head as she walked slowly to the door. She stopped with her hand clutching the doorknob and then turned back once more to look at Faith:

“I know it’s complicated between us, but I always thought one day we’d be able to have something more than this. Clearly you don’t want that, you want us to keep doing the same thing over and over again, well I can’t. I don’t want to do this with you anymore.”

“No, you wanna do anybody else.”

Uttered through clenched teeth so quietly, Buffy wasn’t sure what she’d heard.

“What?”

“Just go, Buffy.”

Her hand let go of the door knob as she walked back over to Faith:

“What did you just say?”

“I asked you to get the hell outta here.”

Buffy moved closer:

“Coward.”

Faith couldn’t keep it in anymore, not the tears and not the words:

“You’ll fuck anyone, won’t ya, B, just as long as it’s not me.”

“…What?”

“Vamps with and without souls, wooden soldiers, guys that anybody can see are scumbags from a mile off. Now you’ll even fuck another woman. I got the message loud and clear, okay? Just leave me the fuck alone, I’ve had enough.”

The look on Buffy’s face was one of disbelief:

“What are you talking about?”

Faith angrily swiped at the tears rolling down her face:

“What the fuck do you think I’m talking about? How much fucking plainer can I make it?”

“Faith, I don’t…you like boys. How could you…”

“Yeah, well you like boys too, but here ya are doin’ a girl. Shit happens, Buffy.”

Buffy was clearly stunned, and the look of shock on her face only made Faith angrier:

“Gonna stand there now and pretend there was never anything between us?”

“Yes…I mean, no…I just didn’t think…”

“What about when I asked you? I said it as point blank as I could, asked if maybe one day you’d feel somethin’ for me and you said, ‘No’.”

“What? When? You never once…”

Faith’s tears had stopped, but now they began brimming in her eyes again:

“Before I left! I asked you if you thought we could ever unmix the signals and you just laughed and said, ‘No’.”

Buffy suddenly seemed to compose herself:

“Well yes, of course I knew there was an attraction, but I wasn’t going to be just another notch on your…whatever people like you make notches on. I don’t just do casual…”

“Shut up! You are so fucking full of it, when don’t you do casual? Soldier boy’s the longest you ever went and all you were doing was screwing him.”

“I loved Riley!”

Faith’s laugh was filled with scorn:

“Yeah, right. Tell me, Buffy; are you ever honest with yourself? Maybe all alone at night when it’s quiet, ever look somethin’ in the eye and call it what it is?”

Buffy moved closer, her face furious again:

“God, just how insane are you? You’re going to lecture me about honesty? You must be kidding.”

“Oh yeah, Princess, this is a fucking laugh riot. Fact is, you’ve never done it with anybody you loved, not more than once. Never. Fucked Spike blind, but you didn’t care about him. Soulboy, well we all know that tragic tale. What about the little prick you had in college? That was…”

“You’re such a hypocrite! I‘ve heard all your stories, ‘Get some, get gone’. You’re the ‘Queen of The One Night Stand’ and you’re nothing but proud of it, so where do you get off…”

Faith leaned forward, almost screaming in her face:

“But I never pretended to be anything else, did I, Buffy? I didn’t waltz around like I was better than everybody, like I wasn’t a first rate slut. But you, oh man you were always so above it all. Little Miss Pure, but even your lame-ass decoy was fucking a goddamn demon ten seconds after she got off the plane in Rome. She had to be convincing and you’re such a whore what else could she…”

Buffy’s slap this time was a punch and it sent Faith tripping over the remains of the broken dresser and stumbling back into the wall where she crashed to the floor.

“I’m done with this, with you…do you hear me? I’m through! If we ever had a chance, you blew it, so you live with that. There’s a reason you always fuck things up, it’s because that’s exactly what you are: a fuck-up. You wanna blame me for it anyway? Do it, I don’t care anymore. Go to hell, Faith.”

And with that Buffy headed for the door. Her hand reached out, but before she could make her escape, she found herself being grabbed by the wrist and spun around:

“You’re not leavin’ ‘til we settle this, your words.”

“It is settled. Now take your goddamn hand off me.”

Faith’s eyes were nearly black. Her grip on Buffy’s wrist was painfully tight and her words were escaping from her in a snarl:

“You don’t get to just walk outta here after dumping all this shit on me. You’re in it up to your neck too, so stop trying to pretend it’s all mine.”

“Let go of me before I…”

“Make me.”

Buffy’s free hand came up, but Faith caught it, slamming it hard against the wall as she shoved her backward.

Their faces were just inches apart, muscles straining as furious black eyes stared intently into enraged green eyes.

It was Faith who spoke first, her voice sounding out loud and clear:

“You fucking bitch.”

She kissed Buffy, who instantly struggled and tried to turn her head. Faith merely pushed harder and followed, refusing to let those lips go anywhere without hers on top of them. She tightened her grip when Buffy tried to pull loose, and then Faith roughly thrust her tongue into Buffy’s mouth.

Buffy’s eyes flew open and she renewed her efforts to pull free, but Faith held on. Her tongue probed and explored, stroking and gliding as it tasted every inch of Buffy’s mouth. Her body pressed tightly against Buffy’s, pinning her to the wall and preventing any chance of escape.

Buffy fought to keep her tongue still, but Faith insistently teased, lifting, then twirling her own around it. Before she understood how, Buffy’s tongue was mingling with Faith’s, dancing in tandem and giving back every bit as good as it got.

Faith moaned and sucked that tongue into her own mouth, and Buffy felt something beginning to build in her. She strained to break free again; she didn’t want whatever was happening to happen. She didn’t want the knowledge that was pounding against her defenses to come to her, but it didn’t seem to matter. It was seeping through anyway and she couldn’t stop it.

She lost her train of thought as Faith bit down hard enough to hurt, and when she let out a pained cry, Faith took advantage of her distraction. She spun Buffy towards the wall and pulled both of her hands behind her back. Faith held them there tightly with one of her own, smashing her body against Buffy’s, her mouth at her ear:

“This is it, B, me and you. Nobody and nothing’s standing between us, there’s no more reason to pretend.”

She laid tiny kisses along Buffy’s neck, making her shiver even as she squirmed to free herself. Faith ignored her struggles to break loose, nipping lightly, then harder on Buffy’s ear lobe and making her moan out loud.

“Can’t keep waiting while you fuck everybody else in the world. I’m yours, B. I’ve always been yours, just been waiting for you to get that.”

“Faith…”

She slid her free hand in between Buffy and the wall and began torturing her nipples. She was rubbing and rolling and squeezing way too hard for anyone else to enjoy, but for the woman under her control, it was just right.

Buffy’s head fell back on Faith’s shoulder, her breath escaping from her in loud bursts of air. Her eyes were closed tight as the physical and verbal onslaught continued:

“Tell me your pussy’s not dripping right now. Tell me you’re not turned on, that your heart’s not pounding like it never has before.”

There were no words as Faith undid Buffy’s pants and slid her hand into the wetness:

“You can’t deny this, B. You’re begging for me.”

The sound of Buffy’s strangled groan had Faith quickly spinning her around and marching her roughly over to the bed. Buffy lurched forward as her pants fell around her thighs, so Faith let go of her hands and lifted her up into her arms.

She kissed Buffy hard, nearly devouring her mouth, and when they parted, Buffy’s fist hit Faith on the side of her face making her head snap back. She laughed and slammed Buffy down hard onto the mattress, staying on top of her all the way. After a brief fight, she was able to restrain Buffy’s hands above her head with one of her own.

Faith unbuttoned her own jeans and with her free hand she awkwardly pushing them down to just past her ass.

“Let go of me.”

“So, that the plan? Gonna try and make out that I’m raping you? I’m not raping you, you gutless bitch, and we both know it. I’m taking what’s mine and so are you.”

She smirked as she let go of Buffy’s hands, her point more than made when Buffy stayed just where she was. After giving her a few seconds, Faith ripped Buffy’s pants and underwear in half, yanking them out from under her and tossing them aside. She pulled off her shoes and socks, hurling them away without giving a damn where they ended up.

As she slid down the bed she managed to kick her pants to the floor, and then she was poised right at Buffy’s center. When she looked at her, Buffy was raised up on her elbows, looking down with eyes that were still disbelieving, yet full of lust and desire. Their gazes met, neither looking away or moving…and then Faith was on her.

On her, in her, Faith was everywhere and Buffy could not escape her. Faith was taking her…powerfully, roughly, passionately and completely, and Buffy was already coming.

She yelled, her whole body seeming to join in, but Faith never even slowed. She licked and thrust and sucked and bit, giving Buffy everything the moment was. It was all there, everything that Faith felt and she couldn’t stop herself, not for anything. She was where she’d always belonged, and Faith wasn’t leaving, not until she’d had her fill.

Buffy’s cries didn’t lessen, they somehow did the impossible and increased in volume. Never had she felt so possessed, so out of control, so wild and so alive. Her hands reached down and tangled in Faith’s hair, urging her on, and Faith responded by moving faster and with even more force.

Buffy’s lost track of everything: where she was, how long it’d been. The only thing she knew for sure was that for the first time in her life she was “Buffy”, the Slayer and the woman, and it felt like nothing she’d ever known.

Her lower body lifted and she almost threw Faith off as she practically exploded into the most intense orgasm of her life. She screamed out incoherently, words had no meaning except for the one that emerged loud and clear from out of the garbled cries:

“Faith…”

It went on and on forever, maybe for the rest of her life, and although Faith slowed, she did not stop. She skillfully extended it out until Buffy had nothing left to give, until all of the jolts and quakes and shudders had stopped. She was done, totally spent, and then Faith was moving again.

She kissed her way back up Buffy’s body, tasting that taste mingled with the sweat that coated the golden body she couldn’t get enough of. She traveled slowly, sliding Buffy’s shirt and bra up roughly, then stopping for a few minutes to learn just how hard Buffy’s nipples could get and just how much she could take before she began pleading and begging.

Faith took her time, her lips and teeth and tongue caressing and biting, delivering pain and pleasure over and over again until it was all so mixed up, Buffy no longer knew what she was begging for.

When she had been reduced to a quivering, babbling mess, Faith’s laughter rang out as she once again went on her way. She followed along a leisurely route, but when she at last drew even, she gently pushed the wet hair back from Buffy’s face and kissed her tenderly:

“You fucking bitch.”

Then the kiss changed, becoming harsh and wild as Faith again took what she wanted.

She tore Buffy’s shirt from her body and tried to get rid of her own. With a frustrated growl, Faith broke the kiss to rip off her shirt, tossing it to the side where it was quickly joined by Buffy’s bra. She then recaptured Buffy’s lips, biting down hard when their breasts touched. Buffy yelped, but Faith’s tongue was already delicately turning her pain into a sigh of pleasure.

Faith entangled their legs and Buffy moaned as their skin slid smoothly together. Faith made a few adjustments and sat up, pulling Buffy with her as she began gliding along slickly, rubbing their centers together with an intensity that soon spiraled out of control.

Buffy felt it again so quickly, it seemed to her as if she were bursting into flames. Her arms wound around Faith, she moved as close as she could get, and her lips sought out Faith’s for some devastating kisses of her own.

Buffy came as they kissed, her body clenching tightly, her strong embrace making Faith groan loudly from the exquisite pain of Buffy nearly crushing her. But Faith didn’t pull away, she moved closer, pushing Buffy back to the mattress and pressing her firmly to the bed. She sped up her thrusting, her mouth kissing violently along Buffy’s neck and shoulder.

The force with which she was moving, coupled with the pace she’d set, had Buffy breathless and wrapping her legs around Faith’s waist in self defense. That change in angle had them both moaning, and it wasn’t long before Faith began grunting as she drove on even faster. Her kisses never stopped, her thrusts never eased, and then finally with a loud, hoarse cry, she was coming and taking Buffy right with her.

Faith bit down hard on Buffy’s neck, right where Angel’s mark was, and her whisper although faint, was crystal clear to Buffy:

“Mine.”

She collapsed, her full weight sprawled on Buffy, her breath relentlessly blowing out of her to land along the side of Buffy’s face.

No one said anything, neither of them moved. Buffy was trying her best to recover, wondering where her Slayer strength was as she tried to do something, anything, but couldn’t quite summon up the energy. Her legs were still tightly clasped around Faith’s waist and she couldn’t seem to get them to let go.

It was Faith who finally unhooked them, reaching around behind her back and quickly tugging Buffy’s legs apart. Buffy whimpered at the sensation, and somehow that simple noise was their undoing. Faith lifted herself up and violently flipped Buffy over onto her stomach.

She lay back down, her length covering Buffy’s completely. Her wet center began moving slowly back and forth over Buffy’s ass while her rock hard nipples grazed tantalizing across her back. Her hands trailed lightly up and down Buffy’s arms, but when Buffy tried to roll over, Faith’s hands quickly turned hard and trapped her to the bed.

Faith’s voice was a low growl that was spoken directly into Buffy’s ear, sending shivers down her spine with every word:

“This how it felt with Satsu?”

Her lips kissed Buffy’s jaw.

“Even Angel couldn’t make you feel like this.”

Buffy tried to lift her hands again and this time Faith responded by biting the back of Buffy’s neck and tightening her grip until it hurt.

“You don’t move ‘til I say so.”

“Faith…”

Her body pressed Buffy even further into the mattress, and Buffy’s hips began trying desperately to shift as she was more turned on than she could ever begin to understand.

“Nobody can make you feel like I do and you know it.”

Her movements became faster, the pressure pushing Buffy even further into the mattress, and with a sharp, short yell, Faith came again.

It took her a minute, but then Faith’s mouth moved down to caress along Buffy’s shoulder. She took her time, barely there as she used her lips and tongue until she had Buffy trembling almost constantly.

“You wanna pretend for the rest of your life?”

The delicate kiss just beneath Buffy’s shoulder blade had Buffy crying out and squirming.

“Go ahead, but right now…”

Faith’s hands reached underneath to roughly fondle Buffy’s breasts, her body still keeping her pinned.

“…you’re gonna face it.”

Faith got up to sit on her knees, pulling Buffy back tight against her as she did. Buffy tried to turn towards her, but Faith kept her right where she was. One hand continued teasing and tormenting her breasts while the other slowly tortured its way down into the wetness that seemed to be pouring from Buffy.

“Oh God…Faith, I…I can’t.”

Faith’s whisper replied instantly:

“Yeah, you can…I’m gonna make ya.”

She showed no mercy, driving into Buffy hard and fast, and Buffy could do nothing but go with her. Faith kept at it, then pushed Buffy until she was down on her hands and knees with Faith leaning on her from behind.

She rubbed herself along Buffy’s back and ass, never once letting up on the pounding thrusts as two fingers became three. It wasn’t long before Buffy began coming again, and Faith pulled out and slid under her from behind, slamming Buffy down to greet her waiting tongue.

Her scream echoed around the room and Faith held on tight as she was once again just as close to Buffy as she could get. She offered nothing but a brutal ecstasy, there was nothing else for Buffy except Faith’s knowing mouth, a mouth that was giving her the most intense experience of her entire life.

Buffy’s whole body was moving in sync with Faith, following her every move, existing only for Faith to do with her whatever she pleased. Buffy Anne Summers was experiencing the fuck of her life, and she was completely lost in the moment. She came again, and this time made all the others look like they’d been mere warm-ups for the main event.

Her body went ramrod stiff, her mouth opened as she screamed, but no sound came out. Her thighs tightened around Faith’s head and her hands grabbed onto Faith’s hair like she was determined to tear it free. She began rocking faster on her knees, her movements speeding up as she pressed down even harder, her orgasm exploding through every atom in her body.

Faith could barely breathe, but she didn’t care. She pushed herself in even further, wanting to feel every spasm, every tremor, every inch of the woman she was so totally possessing. Her tongue thrust in and stayed as hard and deep as she could make it go. Her fingers dug into Buffy’s hips and pulled her down as close as she could get her, then held her in place with an iron grip.

Buffy’s orgasm went on forever and when it was finally over, she collapsed down onto the bed with Faith still holding on tight. She didn’t want to, but Faith made herself ease up. She loosened her hold and edged out, gasping for air as she finally drew all the way clear. She saw that Buffy was face down on the bed, out cold, and where Faith came from that was considered a good fucking, well done. It also meant she had to stop.

Her hands were shaking as she ran them delicately over the golden body she’d just ravished. For years she’d dreamed of doing just what she had done, and it was hard for her to believe it had actually happened. But it had, and all of the bruises and bite marks, all of the smells and tastes, all of the sounds Buffy had made as Faith took her, well, they offered up all the proof anybody needed.

She stood, her body still tingling as she looked down at Buffy, still ready to possess her again, still ready to claim what she wanted with everything she had. She pulled the blanket and sheet back on one side of the bed, then lifted Buffy gently and placed her on her back. She covered her up, then walked around and got in on the other side. She snuggled in, hooking her leg over Buffy’s and laying her arm just under Buffy’s breasts.

She let her hand skim lightly along the beautiful skin underneath her fingers and she rested her head on Buffy’s shoulder. She placed feathery kisses everywhere she could reach, inhaling a delicious fragrance that was all Buffy, and she knew she was just as close to heaven as someone like her was ever likely to get.

She smiled, her body so relaxed that her eyelids were already trying to close, even though she didn’t want them to. She nuzzled in closer, so close she could hear the steady heartbeat, feel the faint breath on her head as Buffy slept the sleep of the blissfully satisfied.

Faith gave no thought to the future, she didn’t think about the consequences of what she had done. All she could think about was how for the first time in her life, she felt at peace. Her heart and soul were filled with nothing but happiness, and it felt so damn wonderful, she was amazed that she’d somehow managed to survive for so long without it.

Faith Lehane was finally alive and it was beautiful.

“You fucking bitch…You fucking perfect little bitch.”

CHAPTER THREE

Buffy awoke with a satisfied smile on her face. She was warm and snug in bed, not an easy feat to achieve in a castle. She stretched carefully because she was sore in all the right places and because she didn’t want to jostle Faith awake. Their first time waking up together should be special, memorable even, and Buffy had some specific ideas on how to make that happen.

She couldn’t stop smiling, but as she carefully rolled over to greet Faith, she saw that the other side of the big bed was empty. Her smile wavered, but it didn’t disappear completely, beaming right back to her in full shine when she saw how the indentation in the mattress was right next to her and the obviously unused pillow was way over on the other side of the bed. Just to confirm her theory, she pressed her nose to the mattress and received a warm, delicious blast of Faith that set her senses on fire. Yep, Faith had pulled an all-nighter and slept just as close to her as she could get.

Buffy was hoping she’d just gone to get them breakfast, but she wasn’t that naïve. The odds were that Faith was freaking a little bit in the morning light, but Buffy wasn’t worried. She knew when she spoke to her, she could put those fears to rest.

Hell, the way she felt right now, Buffy could cure cancer and the common cold, get the Scythe back safe and sound all by herself, and still have plenty of time left over to have sex with Faith. She was always going to have plenty of time to have sex with Faith, in fact when she got back to her room, she was going to write it in her daily planner, in pen. Twice a day, forever…just as soon as she found the planner.

She knew she should get up and get dressed, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to snuggle with Faith, then tease her until neither of them could take it anymore. Then she wanted to go down on her and stay there forever.

She couldn’t wait to do it, and when she did, she was going to make sure that Faith knew it was her first time. Partly because if she didn’t do a good job, she wanted Faith to know that she’d get better, but mostly because she wanted to emphasize to Faith that her first time was going to be with her.

God, she was so happy. She’d had sex with Faith, something she’d been fantasizing about since the moment all those years ago when she’d first heard:

“Thanks, B. Couldn’t have done it without you.”

All this time Buffy had felt a connection she understood had nothing to do with their Slayer bond and everything to do with them being Buffy and Faith. Still she had continued to resist, dancing the stupid dance they’d started together years ago, a dance whose steps were designed to do nothing but keep them apart. Finally last night, that stupidity had ended.

Faith had become tired of the game, tired of the fear, tired of denying what she felt. She had boldly dragged the truth into the light and now neither of them would ever be able to ignore it again. The old dance was over and now it was time for a new one to begin, and Buffy was more than ready.

With one last deep inhalation, she threw back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She stretched and winced again, noticing the fingerprint marks still bruised into the skin around her hips, and with that smile still on her face, she began looking for her clothes. She spotted them easily, or at least bits of them. They were torn to pieces and the sight made her body start throbbing again as she remembered how they got that way.

Faith had not been gentle, she had not been patient, and Buffy had loved every minute of their coupling. She had never allowed anyone to take control of her like that, but then when Faith had, Buffy realized she wanted it. It turned her on, the passion and forcefulness had been more than sexy, and the fact that it was Faith who had lost all reason and patience…well, Buffy had dreamed of a moment like that between them.

There was no going back, it was all out in the open now. Maybe Faith could have claimed it was just her anger and their attraction, but she’d crossed the line last night by staying. She had slept as closely to Buffy as she could get, she had snuggled in softly and spent the rest of the night curled up with the woman she loved, and that was not something Buffy was going to let go of.

Maybe Faith would still try to spin it some other way, Buffy hoped not because she didn’t want to waste any more time, but if she did try that’s all it would be, just spin. The secret was out: Faith loved Buffy and every single one of her actions last night had proven that, and Buffy wasn’t going to let her backtrack. Last night Faith had been the aggressor, but Buffy knew it was now her turn. If she wanted this, if she wanted Faith, she was going to have to take her.

She went to the bathroom and when she came out, she had to laugh. The room looked like it had been the scene of an epic battle, and when she thought about it, that was exactly what it had been. The dresser was nothing but a pile of wood, the frame around the door was cracked, and the bed looked like it was slanting slightly to the left. Okay, so that’s what it looked like when two Slayers finally had sex after waiting way too many years to go at it. Buffy decided it looked good.

Faith’s bag was still right where it had been, so Buffy pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She slid them on quickly, wondering if she could make it back to her room without getting spotted. Although not many people would notice she was wearing Faith’s clothes, she didn’t feel like bringing everyone into her newest relationship before she and Faith had had a chance to talk about it. Been there, done that.

Despite the fact that Faith was bigger and fuller than Buffy, she wore her clothes much tighter and as a result they fit better than they had a right to. Buffy glanced at herself in the mirror for a final check and was pleased to see she looked completely normal, except for the huge smile that apparently owned her face for the foreseeable future.

She also looked like just what she was: a woman who last night had had her world shaken and today was very much liking where everything had landed. It was also fairly evident that she’d just had the best sex of her life and was looking forward to doing it again, and the fact that her shirt sported an adorable little red devil complete with a pitchfork seemed to seal the deal.

She opened the door slowly, peeked her head out, then made a break for it. Her room was sort of on the other side of the castle, the idea being that she and Faith should stay as far apart as possible. That had obviously been a waste of time, and Buffy grinned happily and scooted as fast as she could past the rooms where anyone could pop out at any time.

It was still early and the Slayers on Faith’s corridor had all been on guard duty the entire night. It seemed highly unlikely any of them would be awake after having just gone to bed, but Buffy always expected the unexpected. Her “private” night with Satsu stood as the perfect example, and so she went quickly and quietly, praying under her breath as she hurried on her way.

Soon all she had left to navigate was “Scooby Row” and her room was at the end past Giles, Xander, Andrew, and Willow. She avoided the squeaky spot with a practiced, well-timed leap, and then she was safely in her own room. She locked the door with a sigh of relief and began undressing.

She hesitated before removing Faith’s shirt, holding it to her face as she breathed in the most mouth-watering scent she’d ever smelled. The only way she could make herself take it off was to focus on the fact that she was very soon going to be getting a whiff of the real thing, complete with kisses and inappropriate touching that was so appropriate it could give lessons.

Her shower was quick and she was dressed in her own clothes and out the door in a matter of minutes. She wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination a morning person, but she was ready and raring to go today. She hadn’t felt so good, hadn’t slept so well in years, and that smile was still on her face, probably permanently affixed.

Her first stop was the infirmary. She entered quietly just in case, but Satsu was already awake. She smiled when she saw Buffy:

“Hi.”

“Hi. How are you feeling?”

Satsu looked irritated:

“Fine. I told you last night I didn’t need to come here.”

“And I told you that you did.”

“Well I’m getting out in about two hours, and I can’t wait to get some sleep in my own bed.”

Buffy sat down on the edge of the mattress:

“Satsu, about last night…”

“There’s no need to explain. Trust me, I figured it out the second I screwed up.”

“What exactly happened?”

“I wasn’t thinking straight, there’s a joke. Anyway, I felt kind of awkward and I asked her if you’d told her.”

“Oh.”

Satsu laughed, holding her jaw as she did.

“Yeah, ‘oh’. I tried to bluff my way out of it and claim I was talking about the plan, but she didn’t buy it for a second. It didn’t take her long to put two and two together.”

“She’s always read people fast. Why did you think I’d told her?”

“Because she’s ‘Not So You’d Notice’, isn’t she?”

Buffy looked her in the eye:

“…Yes, she is.”

Satsu sighed and leaned back on her pillows, her head turned away to stare out the window.

“She’s hot, I’ll give her that. And also scary and tough as hell.”

“I’d say that’s a pretty good sum-up.”

Satsu’s eyes returned to Buffy’s:

“You look so happy…happier than I’ve ever seen you.”

“Satsu, I’m sorry. I never…”

Her hand found Buffy’s, bringing it up to her lips for a soft kiss:

“Hey, don’t ever apologize to me for being happy. That’s what I want for you, always. I wish it was me who could give that to you, but it’s not and we both know it.”

“Sometimes I wish it was too. Faith is…well, Faith is…”

“She’s one complicated woman.”

“Again with the perfect sum-up that perfectly sums it up. How’d you get so smart?”

“That’s what happens when you get your brains scrambled by a jealous Slayer.”

Buffy laughed:

“So you did have a concussion? See, I told you!”

“Gee, don’t get so excited. I know it’s the first time you’ve ever been right, but…”

Buffy slapped her lightly on the shoulder:

“Funny. So um…”

“We’re friends, Buffy, and we’ll be friends forever. I love you, but I’ll deal. They say your first love’s special, and you’re definitely that, but I always knew we were never going to be forever. Of course I was hoping we’d have more than just one night together, but I don’t regret it. I never will.”

“I hope you don’t think I was just using…”

“Stop right there. We went over this weeks ago, and nothing’s changed, at least not for me. Like I said, if anyone did any using, it was me. I’m the one who seduced you, even after you...”

Buffy’s shook her head in wonder:

“You are so going to make some woman deliriously happy one day.”

Satsu got a mischievous look on her face:

“It’s not too late, I might be willing to take you back if you play your cards right.”

Buffy laughed:

“You deserve someone much better than me.”

“I doubt that woman exists, but then what do I know? I have a concussion.”

There were tears in Buffy’s eyes as she looked at the woman who loved her with no hesitation, no doubt, no fear, and for a second she wondered what it would be like…

But then a pair of dark eyes came to her mind and Buffy knew the most basic truth about love: No one got a choice, you loved who you loved.

“Thank you, Satsu, for understanding and making this so easy. And thank you for your friendship. It means so much to me, I don’t ever want to lose it.”

“You won’t. As for making this easy, what else am I supposed to do? I knew it was a long shot from the start, you made it perfectly clear there wasn’t a future for us, but I was hoping maybe someday I could change your mind.”

She kissed Buffy’s hand again:

“I’m a grown-up, Buffy, and I wanted you. I’m not sorry, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat…but you’re not mine, and I’m not going to try to hang on to you when it’s not my place.”

Buffy had no words for the kindness that was being offered to her, so she pulled Satsu to her, hugging her and kissing her lightly on the cheek.

There were tears shining in Buffy’s eyes again as she stood to go:

“Get some rest, you’re off the clock until you feel ready.”

“I’m ready now! I can definitely…”

“Satsu, you got banged up pretty good last night and you just told me you can’t wait to get into your own bed. We need you rested and at full strength when we go after them, so…”

She looked embarrassed, her gaze falling from Buffy’s eyes to the blanket covering her:

“Buffy, she completely kicked my ass. I wasn’t even a challenge for her.”

“And that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Faith’s like me and she’s way more experienced than you are. Toss in that she was out of control mad, well trust me, I couldn’t quite handle her either.”

That smile gave her away, and Satsu made a disgusted noise:

“Okay lady, way too much information.”

Buffy came back from her reverie with a start:

“Huh?”

“I might be highly evolved when it comes to break-ups, Buffy, but I don’t want to know about…you know.”

“Oh, right! Sorry.”

“Apology accepted. So I’m guessing you’re off now to find her?”

“Yep, although God knows where she is.”

Satsu’s grin would have been bigger, but her jaw didn’t want to cooperate.

“Maybe He does, but I know where she was.”

“She was here?”

“And looking really sorry. She came to apologize and tell me she was leaving soon, that she wouldn’t be in our way anymore.”

“She said what?!”

“I told her she was an idiot, that you‘d never loved me and we’d only had a one night stand. I told her it was over for good weeks ago, but she wasn’t quite listening. Between you and me, she’s got a lot of areas she needs to work on.”

Buffy was only half paying attention as she tried to think:

“Yes, she does. God, she’s such an idiot!”

“I think I just said that.”

“Yes, you did. Satsu, I need to go find her before she does something stupid…stupider. Can I do anything for you before I go?”

“Just keep that smile on your face. I’ve always thought you were so beautiful, but God, I had no idea.”

Buffy blushed and again felt a pang of loss. The woman in front of her was a wonder, so composed and dignified, and so very loving. Buffy knew she was a fool to just walk away from her, but she also knew where she belonged and there was no way she could ever feel sad about that.

She loved Faith, with all her faults and craziness, and as far as Buffy could see, they were made for each other. It wasn’t going to be easy, it wasn’t going to be simple, but Buffy knew it was going to be hers and Faith’s…and that was going to be more than enough.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, and that’s sort of an order too.”

Satsu saluted:

“Yes, ma’am. Good luck.”

“Thanks. I’m probably going to need it.”

Then she was out the door and Satsu let the tears fall:

“Goodbye, Buffy……Damn.”

*******************

Faith had walked as far as she could from the castle, right up to the edge of where Willow’s spell ended. There was no getting in or out, but at least Faith felt freer than she did inside of the building. She needed all the space and air she could get because she was pretty sure she was fighting off a panic attack.

She could not believe what she’d done. She’d lost it completely, almost killing someone, then letting it all out on Buffy. Something had snapped and she just couldn’t stop herself, and now in the clear light of day, she had no fucking idea what she was going to do.

Last night she had been all done with the game they’d played since they’d met, and she had been determined to make Buffy admit that she too felt the feeling that had always crackled between them. She’d been in a fury and she’d forced Buffy to accept the truth, never giving her a choice as she’d angrily taken just what she’d always wanted to take.

She raised a shaking hand to brush her hair back from her face…what the fuck had she done? She knew the sex had been phenomenal and there was no problem there. There was no way Buffy would even dare act like it hadn’t been the best ever, like she hadn’t had a great time.

Faith knew she’d fucked her every which way, and although Buffy could be a bitch, no way would she try to pull something that low. She’d given Buffy her chance to leave and Buffy hadn’t even pretended to take it. No, the sex wasn’t the problem and it wasn’t going to be.

The problem was what had happened afterwards. Afterwards had shoved everything right out into the open and for the life of her, Faith couldn’t see any way she could shove it right the fuck back where it came from.

How she felt about Buffy, how she’d always felt about Buffy was now on full display, along with everything she’d ever wanted. All of the pain, all the longing, all of the love, all of the everything she was…Buffy knew it all now.

“Fuck!”

Faith’s scream echoed loudly around the field she was in and with a last kick, she spun around and began walking again. She was fucked, so fucked. Buffy was going to tear her a new one, probably while she had her tongue down Satsu’s throat.

She had to get out and she had to get out now, but Giles had been absolutely no help at all. He didn’t understand and she couldn’t offer him any explanation other than she and Buffy had had a fight.

“Faith, I’m truly sorry that you and Buffy are still at odds, but you’re needed here. This is not a small matter that must be attended to, it’s believed these vampires are trying to control the Slayer line in some fashion. I must insist that you stay.”

“Haven’t you been fucking listening?! I can’t stay here! I need to go!”

“Please, calm down. Perhaps if we met and I mediated between the two of you, surely the problem could be…”

“Only thing that’s gonna resolve the problem’s if I get the fuck outta Dodge. There’s a million other Slayers here, why do I need to…”

Giles removed his glasses as he studied her:

“Because Willow and the Coven believe that channeling the pure Slayer essence between you and Buffy…”

“Jesus, is that all you people can ever come up with? Me and B always have to be joined? Well fuck Willow, fuck the Coven, and fuck you! I’m leavin’!”

She’d slammed out of his door in a near panic, shoving Xander back into his room as he came out into the hall to see what all the commotion was about.

She tore out of the castle at a run and didn’t stop until she’d gone as far as she could. She kicked and punched at the invisible wall, but it was no big surprise when nothing happened. She was trapped, all of her feelings out in the open and heading back to her old ways with a twist: she was in love and she’d made it clear as glass.

The same question kept repeating in her head: Why the hell had she spent the night with Buffy in the same bed? She knew better, way, way better, and yet she’d spent the whole night snuggled up like a little bitch pussy who couldn’t sleep alone because she was afraid of the dark.

She couldn’t have announced her real feelings better if she’d hired a brass band and thrown herself a big gay parade, all complete with a shirt that said:

“I Love Buffy Summers Bunches and Bunches”.

Buffy knew her and she knew what it meant, how big a deal it was that Faith had stayed the entire night. There’d been no “get some, get gone”, not this time. No, this time Faith had hung around like a lovesick dipshit, just laying her heart out to be stomped on whenever and however Buffy chose to stomp on it. She’d fucked up and she’d fucked up royally.

There was nothing to do now except try and avoid Buffy as much as she possibly could. Hopefully Buffy would just let it go, or maybe she’d let it go and still want to fuck on the side. Right. Buffy was a lot of things but she wasn’t a cheater and Faith didn’t want to make her one, at least not any more than she maybe already had last night.

She sat down under a tree facing the castle and pulled her last cigarette out of her jacket pocket. She lit it up with the intensity of a junkie holding onto a crack pipe, and she took a huge drag hoping it would settle her nerves. It didn’t, and she suspected even if she started mainlining heroin it wasn’t going to work. Nothing was going to work but a complete rewind…well, not “complete”

She would never give back her night with Buffy, not for anything. She’d been dreaming of it for years, dreaming of making Buffy scream for her, of seeing her face when she came, of being the one that gave her every ounce of pleasure she could stand. It had been heaven, and Faith wouldn’t ever apologize for it or give it back, no matter what.

It was peaceful where she was. The sun had warmed things up considerably and she could hear the soft trickle of water running along the riverbed. She still wouldn’t say she was relaxed, not with her nerves jangling around inside of her like they were. But she was calming down, at least enough to plan out a plan.

She was going to stay outside for most of the day and then she was going to sneak back into the castle and hide in her room. Maybe by morning Willow would have it all figured out and they could just go and get the goddamn Scythe back. Just kick some ass, snag Buffy’s favorite toy, and then Giles and Faith could go back to roaming all over the world doing their good deeds.

That sounded great, just right. She liked her job and she liked working with Giles. They were doing all the right things for all the right reasons and they kept busy, something Faith knew she was going to need now more than ever.

Because she could still feel that soft skin, could still hear the sexy little moans, could still taste the sheer perfection of…

“Fucking perfect little bitch.

CHAPTER FOUR

Buffy was having nowhere near the kind of day she’d planned on having; it wasn’t going even remotely like she’d imagined it would. She hadn’t seen so much as a glimpse of Faith and apparently no one else had either, at least not since just before sunrise when she’d apologized to Satsu.

At first it didn’t seem to be that big of a problem because although the castle was impressively huge, there were only so many places Faith could be. The trouble became crystal clear though when she wasn’t in any of them. There wasn’t even a trail of beaten bodies or a few drops of blood to offer Buffy any clue as to where she had gone.

To make matters worse, the word had quickly gotten out that Buffy was up bright and early and was totally accessible, seemingly doing nothing except wandering around in an aimless fashion. That had everyone and their Slayer coming out of the woodwork to approach her about some important problem that just absolutely had to be solved right now, and since she obviously wasn’t doing anything significant…Yep, the word was out and Buffy was Slayer-nip.

After a thorough and incredibly slow search, Buffy finally realized that Faith had gone outside. That of course made complete sense when she thought about it. Faith would need the space and she would need to lessen the chance of running into Buffy as she shored up her defenses. It also made the task of finding her that much harder because the grounds were a spacious and sprawling number of acres that Buffy never could remember.

Anyway, the point was she could search from now until the next apocalypse and she’d still have a hard time finding Faith, especially if Faith didn’t want to be found. That reality left her with just two options: she could leave Faith alone and hope she showed up some time before hell froze over or she could simply ask for help. The second one wasn’t exactly a bad option except for the fact that Buffy really didn’t want to bring anyone else into it just yet.

She was torn. Faith really wanted space and Buffy knew that maybe she should let her have it. Of course the problem with that was that space plus Faith always equaled bad things, and in this case, Buffy wanted to talk to her before she went off and began brooding over something that was so totally not brood-worthy. Because although a broody Faith was incredibly sexy, she could also be incredibly hard to deal with.

That brought things right back to square one: Buffy was going to need help and she knew exactly who could provide it. She knew who saw all of the castle’s comings and goings, but she had to wonder just how annoying and irritating it was going to be to get that information.

She let out big sigh, sneaked out a side door and took off at a Slayer fueled run. It didn’t take her long to reach her destination: the big clump of trees that were grouped by the lake.

“Dawnie, are you here?”

The answer was almost immediate:

“Hey, Buffy! Are you Xanderless?”

“Yep, just me all by my lonesome.”

Dawn appeared from behind a tree, topless and still trying to dry off.

“Hi. I didn’t want to flash the girls at him. He’d probably never recover.”

Buffy stared in amazement:

“Holy crap! Dawnie, those are…those are…”

“They’re boobs, Buffy. You’ve got’em too.”

Buffy resisted the urge to look beneath her own shirt:

“Not like those. God, I think your nipple’s bigger than my whole breast!”

“And that’s new how?”

“Wow, those are…big.”

Dawn slipped on her bra and then her shirt:

“Yes, and thanks so much for making me feel even more freakish just in case being twenty-five feet tall doesn’t do the trick.”

Buffy blinked a few times and finally managed to snap out of her trance:

“Sorry. Listen, I need your help.”

Dawn looked at her and rolled her eyes:

“So you thought you’d start off by insulting me? Obviously my nipple’s bigger than your brain too, and again I say: ‘And that’s new how’? “

“I wasn’t…Could you please sit down? It’s hurting my neck to look up so high.”

Dawn grabbed her brush from a branch near the top of the tree and sat down with her legs crossed:

“So what do you want?”

“I need you to do me a favor without asking any questions.”

“Okay. Can I ask what the favor is?”

Buffy was absentmindedly playing with the shoelace of Dawn’s giant shoe:

“I need to find Faith.”

“Why?”

“Dawnie, you agreed to no questions.”

“Sure, but that was before I knew Faith was involved.”

Buffy dropped the shoelace and straightened up to her full height:

“I just need to find her, okay?”

“Maybe, but if it’s to beat her up or yell at her, no.”

“It’s not to do either of those things. We’re getting along this time and I just…”

“Then why did she take off so early and head for…”

Buffy instantly craned her neck upwards:

“You saw her? Do you know where she is?”

“Maybe.”

“Dawn!”

Dawn stood and untangled a huge rubber band from a broken tree limb and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She wrapped the band around her hair three times and then pulled it snug before she looked down at Buffy:

“I don’t have to tell you anything and I’m not going to until you tell me why you want to see her. She was already all upset, so what did you do to her this time?”

“’This time’? I didn’t do...Pick me up, I can’t keep talking to you when you’re way up there.”

“What’s the magic word?”

Buffy looked like she was going to explode:

“Dawn Summers, you are not going to be this size forever and if you keep being a little smart ass, I swear you are going to be very sorry.”

“Fine, be a spoilsport. Come here.”

She held out her hand and Buffy climbed on and sat down. Dawn carefully brought her up to eye level as Buffy reclined securely on her palm, clutching an oversized thumb.

“Thank you. I didn’t ‘do’ anything to her and I am not being evasive. I just don’t want to spill my private stuff all over the castle again.”

“But I’m your sister, you’re supposed to share the…Oh my God! Buffy, did you and Faith sleep together?!”

Dawn’s voice echoed loudly and Buffy winced at the noise.

“Shhh!!!”

“Right, right. Sorry. But did you?”

“Yes…although there was very little sleeping involved.”

“Cool! And ewwww…gross. Not the sex, just that it was you. That is just icky.”

“Gee, I wonder why I don’t share with you more often?”

Dawn’s ignored her, her face flushed with excitement:

“Boy, when you come out, you really come out! But at least this time it’s Faith, which makes total sense. I mean, I like Satsu and everything, but no, that made no sense. But Faith? Well you guys have had the hots for each other since I was a kid and…”

“Dawnie, could you please…”

“Okay, so just how bad are you at this lesbian stuff because Faith sure looked really…”

Buffy stood up shakily, Dawn’s hand not the steadiest of surfaces:

“Stop right there! I will not discuss my se…personal life with my baby sister. There are boundaries and I don’t care how old you are, we are not crossing them.”

“That’s fine with me, I already need a drastic brain bleach from all of the disgusting visuals you’ve subjected me to over the years. But wow, you must really not know what you’re doing if Faith’s face was any…”

“Dawn, will you please just tell me where she went?”

Dawn lowered her to the ground a little too fast, making Buffy list from side to side before she could right herself:

“She said she needed to be alone, so I told her about that pond where we ate lunch that one time. I’m pretty sure she headed there. She mumbled something about staying put until she could motor for good.”

“That’s great, Dawnie! Don’t tell anybody where we are, okay? I need to talk to her.”

“Right, but I’m not twelve anymore, Buffy. I know you’re going to have…‘personal life’ with her. Just try to do it a little better this time.”

Buffy slapped her on the shin:

“You are such a little brat.”

“I learned everything I know from my older sister.”

Buffy laughed and kissed her on the leg of her jeans, stretching to reach knee high:

“Thanks, Dawnie!”

And then she was off and running, leaving Dawn to stare after her:

“Buffy and Faith…It’s about time.”

**********************

Faith was irritated and bored and wishing she was someplace else. The great outdoors was not quite what it was cracked up to be and she’d already had more than her fill. Yeah, the sun was nice, the birds sang pretty, and the squirrels did whatever squirrels did, but all too soon it was hot as hell, the birds wouldn’t shut up and the squirrels obviously needed some Ritalin because they couldn’t stop arguing over a fucking stick or a nut or a berry or what the hell ever it was they were screeching and screaming about.

She sat in the shade, her back resting against a tree trunk as she pulled up the tiny little rocks that were embedded just under the grass, blindly tossing them into the pond with her mind whirling. Even though her jacket was off, she was still sweating and she kept wishing she was just about any place else.

She ought to be out pounding the pavement somewhere looking for some punk kid who thought being a Slayer meant doing just whatever the fuck she wanted to do. Faith wished she was pulling some young girl back from the brink and getting her to see there was another way to live her life than to fire herself up, then blaze on wildly until she burned out way too soon.

That’s what she was good at: getting them to listen. She did whatever it took to make them hear her, and she never ever let go of them, no matter what went down. She’d explained that to Giles up front, and he’d promised not to interfere, and so far he’d kept that promise.

But she wasn’t making herself useful here. No, instead she tying herself up in knots over Buffy and communing with nature. Oh yeah, talk about a fucking fish out of water. She knew people went out into the country to clear their minds and calm their troubled souls, but it wasn’t doing a thing for her, except making her crazier.

All she was doing was hiding, hiding and getting angrier and more scared by the minute. She’d lost control of herself last night in the worst possible way and she’d put it all out there, the very thing she’d always worked so hard to keep under wraps. For years she’d kept her secret, but last night she’d snapped and now Buffy knew it all. Faith had a bull’s-eye on her, a weak spot showing exactly where she could be hurt, where she could be destroyed, and she’d stupidly pinned it on herself.

She’d known better than to come back, and she yanked up a slightly larger stone and viciously flung it into the water. It skipped four times, but she didn’t notice. She’d caught movement out of the corner of her eye and when she turned her head to look at the cause full on, she almost did a double take because she could not believe the sight that greeted her.

Walking across the field, her sunshine yellow hair blowing perfectly in the breeze was the Golden Girl herself, looking for all the world as if she belonged there in the middle of nowhere. Faith was unable to look away, her breath catching in her throat as Buffy turned her face up to the sun and smiled her patented half smile that had always driven Faith’s desire sky-high.

She kept walked steadily and it wasn’t long before she was gracefully seating herself next to Faith.

“Hey.”

Faith couldn’t look at her. Buffy’s presence made no sense whatsoever to her and even though she’d spent hours figuring out every possible scenario, this calm greeting was nowhere near any of them.

“Boy, I’d forgotten how pretty it is out here. I hardly ever just sit and look anymore, you know?”

And then there was silence, except for the birds and squirrels because as far as Faith could tell, nothing on Earth could shut those annoying little fuckers up. She felt nervous and uncertain, like she was sitting on a bomb that was just moments from going off if she moved even the slightest bit.

“I missed you this morning.”

Said so calmly, but with such longing Faith was forced to turn her head to face her. When she did, she was surprised to find that Buffy was right there waiting. Their lips met and Buffy’s fingers laced through the hair at the back of Faith’s neck, holding her lightly in place.

The kiss lasted forever because Buffy acted like she had all the time in the world. It was soft, the softest kiss Faith had ever experienced, and it was so delicate she found herself totally entranced. Buffy’s tongue gently explored every inch of her mouth and when she finally pulled back, she breathed out a little puff of air into Faith’s mouth, that sexy half smile back on her face.

“I know you’re out here thinking, but I wanted to give you something good to consider. Because that kiss? That’s really how it is, Faith. Just like that.”

She stood casually, brushing off her jeans as she rose.

“There’s a meeting in the conference room at seven. See you there.”

And then she was heading back the way she’d come, all warm and yellow and pure, like some sort of beautiful thing that had just graced Faith with its presence for no understandable reason, and then had chosen to return to whatever magical place it had come from.

Faith watched her until she was out of sight, but Buffy never looked back. She didn’t need to, she knew she’d made her point.

**********************

The meeting had been going on for seemingly forever and Buffy had heard very little of it. Right now they were in the midst of listening to lengthy and vigorous assurances from Willow that it shouldn’t be much longer before they could actually go after the Scythe…and blah, blah, blah, vitally important information, and so on and so on. Whatever.

Buffy had sat as patiently as she could through every topic, but none of the words uttered made the slightest bit of sense to her. Her attention was fully focused on the dark and angry woman who was hunkered down alone in the corner of the room that was the very furthest from Buffy’s location. It was a seating arrangement that Buffy knew was not an accident.

She’d tried repeatedly during the seemingly indeterminable meeting to catch Faith’s attention, but that had proven to be a total impossibility. Faith would look nowhere near and she kept her eyes affixed to the floor the entire time. There was nothing Buffy could do except wait for the meeting to wrap, well nothing except stare at Faith and watch Giles constantly flick his worried gaze over his bright and shiny new Slayer.

Finally Buffy couldn’t stand the wait anymore and decided to go with her best “boss” voice:

“Okay, so is that it?”

She received some strange looks since she’d apparently cut Willow off mid-sentence, but with an apologetic smile and a quick rise to her feet, Buffy had everybody moving to the door in just moments.

There were some murmurs of confusion due to the abrupt ending of the meeting, but everyone began heading out anyway, happy things had been cut short and they were now free to pursue their various plans for the evening.

“Faith, could I talk to you for a minute?”

Faith never hesitated or broke stride, and she was out the door as if Buffy had never spoken.

There was no way that Buffy could or would allow that, and she headed after Faith only to find Giles standing in her way:

“Buffy, may I have a word?”

Her first thought was: “No, you may not”, but she knew that was unfair and she made herself stop.

“What is it, Giles?”

“I’m concerned about whatever it is that’s going on between you and Faith.”

”Well, join the club.”

“And that cryptic answer means?”

Buffy’s eyes swept past him, her gaze revealing that Faith had vanished from sight.

“It means that we’re having a problem and I want to go get it straightened out.”

“Might I enquire as to the nature of this problem?”

“Sure, you can ask all you want, but I doubt I’ll be answering.”

He didn’t look pleased and his glasses were now in his hand:

“By all means, Buffy, be as flip as you like, but I’m concerned about Faith and I…”

“Just Faith, Giles? No concern for me anymore, huh?”

“Of course I’m concerned for you as well. My God, how can you even ask me that?”

Buffy laughed with more than just a touch of hurt:

“Yeah, silly me. Look, I don’t have time for this right now. I need to talk to Faith.”

“Be that as it may, I am not at all comfortable with what’s going on between the two of you. While I understand…”

“Giles, I’m not doing anything to her, okay? We’re working on stuff, and right now she’s building up a huge wall because she thinks she has to. She doesn’t, and I want to go prove that to her. So if you don’t mind?”

He didn’t step aside and Buffy could feel her anger growing.

“Perhaps you aren’t aware, but Faith is doing exceptionally well. Please don’t put all her progress in jeopardy just because…”

“Faith’s a big girl, Giles. So am I, and I don’t appreciate your words of caution. Obviously you think I mean her harm, so thanks for the big vote of confidence...again.”

She shoved her way past him with a little more force than could be considered necessary and strode off down the hall, leaving him to watch intently after her.

“…Bollocks.”

He knew he’d just set them back a bit further and he hadn’t exactly done Faith any favors either. Buffy had misconstrued what he’d been getting at and he’d expressed his concerns in a fumbling manner that had allowed her to.

“Brilliant, Rupert. Just bloody brilliant.”

*********************

It took Buffy twenty minutes to find Faith. She was out on one of the turrets chatting with the Slayers who were there on guard duty. When Buffy appeared, the five Slayers on watch leapt to their feet, trying their best to look like they were totally watch-worthy.

“It’s been quiet all night, ma’am.”

Although they’d only been on duty for thirty minutes, Buffy chose to let the somewhat misleading report slide:

“That’s news of the good. Wow, look at all the stars!”

The younger Slayers looked around, muttering their agreement under their breath somewhat nervously as Buffy then turned her attention elsewhere:

“Faith, I was wondering if we could go somewhere and talk.”

“Nah, fine where I am.”

“So you want to talk right here?”

“Not plannin’ to talk anywhere, so see ya.”

Buffy wanted to punch her, but she smiled her friendliest smile as she turned toward the other Slayers:

“Could you guys take five…better yet, make that ten or fifteen.”

They didn’t exactly hesitate, but they looked confused as they exited single file with numerous backward glances. Once they’d cleared the threshold, Buffy shut the door behind them and turned back to the most beautiful woman in the world.

Faith was looking out into the night, or maybe she was just trying to figure out a way to scale down the castle wall. As it was, all she presented to Buffy was a sliver of her unfriendly profile, one that showed no signs of speaking first, and so Buffy plowed ahead:

“So, nice weather we’re having.”

Faith didn’t smile, not even the hint of a dimple flashed across her face.

“O…kay, note to self: Humor so not the way to go.”

Faith sighed, but there didn’t seem to be any thawing. She turned just slightly, and the smidgen of her profile that had been on display was now replaced by a ramrod stiff back.

“Faith, we need to talk.”

“Just told ya we don’t.”

“So you figured what exactly? That you’d just fuck my brains out and then we’d go back to how things were without even mentioning it?”

Faith looked somewhat startled to hear Buffy using the word “fuck”, but she still wasn’t giving an inch:

“Don’t know. Hadn’t given it much thought.”

Buffy edged closer:

“Yes you have. That’s all you’ve thought about all day, and now you’re freaking out.”

“Wow. Still think it all revolves around you, huh, Princess?”

“I’ve been thinking about it all day too…”

Buffy moved close enough to lay her hand on Faith’s back, and the contact made Faith flinch and move away.

“…and the truth is I can’t think about anything else. I don’t want to either.”

Buffy touched her again, and although she jumped once more, this time Faith didn’t move away.

“Last night was…well last night was incredible, Faith.”

“…Yeah.”

“You’re the best lover I’ve ever had.”

Whispered sexily into Faith’s ear and sending a noticeable shiver through her.

“Wanna do it again?”

“…D…Don’t usually do repeats.”

Buffy’s arms wrapped around her waist from behind:

“You don’t usually spend the night either.”

Faith instantly tried to pull loose, but Buffy tightened her grip:

“Hmm, now see? This looks very much like a freak-out to me.”

“Let go.”

Buffy’s lips nibbled along Faith’s ear, then downward to her neck:

“Make me.”

Faith’s response was a soft groan that seemed to be dragged out of her.

“…Let…go…B.”

“It’s still the same answer, F…Make me.”

“Look…”

Buffy nuzzled in even closer:

“I don’t wanna look. I wanna smell and touch and taste…”

Her tongue swept out after that last word, swiping seductively along Faith’s neck until it returned to her ear. Buffy’s groin pushed hard into Faith’s ass as she swayed slowly, her hands beginning to reach those ultra sensitive places.

Faith moaned and her head flung back onto Buffy’s shoulder. Her eyes closed tightly as she felt the sensations only Buffy could cause so easily.

“Obviously that’s what you want too, so I say we head to my room and you let me show you just what I can do.”

“…Not smart…”

“You know, Faith, we’ve never been smart with each other, not until last night. That’s all thanks to you, and tonight I wanna return the favor.”

“I…B, I don’t know…”

“Well, I know, F. I know exactly what you need and that’s me between your…”

“Ma’am…Oh, excuse me!”

Buffy let go of Faith as she turned to face the intruder. She struggled to keep the irritation off her face, but she wasn’t sure she was entirely successful:

“Yes, Susan?”

“Ms. Summers, I was wondering if it would be possible for me to have tomorrow night off? Keira said she’d cover for me and…”

“It’s fine with me, but that decision is really up to Mr. Harris.”

Susan’s smile lit up the night:

“He said it was okay with him if it was okay with you.”

Buffy wrapped her arm around Susan’s shoulders and steered her towards the door:

“Well, if your dad says it’s okay, so do I.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Enjoy your night off.”

Buffy practically shoved her through the doorway, then firmly closed the door.

“Now where were we?”

Faith was back to staring out at the dark landscape, and any softness Buffy had managed to earn had all but disappeared.

“We were no place. “

Buffy walked over to stand next to her:

“That’s not exactly how I remember it. As I recall, we were…”

“Yeah, well that’s the thing. I don’t live in ‘Buffy World’ and I don’t play by ‘Buffy Rules’. Got my own thoughts and memories.”

“Okay, well the good news is that I’m more than happy to live in ‘Faith World’, so why don’t we go to my room? You can share your thoughts and…”

Faith turned to look at her then:

“Right, we’ll go to your room and what? Just talk? How fucking stupid do you think I am?”

“I didn’t say we’d just talk, but if that’s all you want to do, that’s all we’ll do. Slayer’s honor. If you don’t want to have sex, which would be way over on the stupid side, I won’t force the issue.”

“Like you could.”

Buffy chuckled:

“All I’m saying is that we clearly need to get some things straightened out, so fine. Although after we do, if you want to ravish each other, well I sure won’t be saying ‘no’.”

Faith ran her hand through her hair, then blew out a huge breath:

“Alright, we’ll talk. But I’m not gonna go on and on about shit. You say what you want, I’ll say what I want, and that’s it.”

“Fine with me.”

Buffy opened the door and called in the other Slayers:

“Guys, you can come back in now.”

They quickly returned to their posts, still with the confused and somewhat nervous glances as they tried to figure out what was going on.

“Okay then, we’ll leave you to it. Faith?”

She held open the door and gestured with a flourish for the other girl to proceed.

Faith stomped past her, her anger and fear fairly oozing from her. Buffy smiled cheerily at the squad of guard Slayers:

“You guys are doing great, and you definitely passed the pop inspection… the sneak inspection…the surprise inspection guard thingy…Goodnight!”

She quickly shut the door behind her and hurried to catch up with Faith who was now out of sight. Buffy hustled around the corner, only to slam into the object of her desire who was now standing still.

“Whoa! Wanna fuckin’ slow it down?”

”Sorry, I didn’t think you’d be waiting for me.”

“Wasn’t exactly. Just a little clueless how to get to your room from here.”

Buffy smiled, trying her best to lighten the increasingly gloomy mood:

“Then allow me to lead.”

“Yeah, like you’d let it go some other way.”

Buffy’s anger flared:

“Fine, Faith. You wanna lead? Go right ahead.”

Buffy stood there with her arms folded across her chest as they stared at each other for nearly a minute. Finally Faith looked down at the floor somewhat sheepishly:

“Can’t.”

“So then can I get us there without the snide comments?”

“Yeah, go.”

It took about five minutes before they arrived, and the tension mounted the entire time. When they got there, Buffy said some word in Latin and opened the door. When they were both inside, she closed the door and said the same word as she threw the deadbolt.

“So what’s with the spell, B?”

“Just a gift from my favorite witch, which I sometimes forget to use. But with a place this big, well, let’s just say I don’t want any nasty surprises waiting for me when I get home at night.”

“Why bother with the regular lock then?”

Buffy smiled as she kicked off her shoes:

“It can’t hurt, can it?”

“No, guess not. So what, I can’t get outta here now without your say so?”

“It just works with demons and vamps. You can leave whenever you like.”

Faith didn’t say anything, but she seemed to relax somewhat as she began wandering around.

“Sweet place.”

“Yeah, it’s nice. Do you want something to eat or drink?”

“A beer would be good.”

“Coming right up.”

Buffy disappeared around the corner, then came back a minute later carrying two beers. She took a swig of hers as she handed Faith the other bottle.

“So you’re a beer drinker now?”

Buffy laughed:

“Well, I wouldn’t call myself a “drinker” per se. But every now and then I indulge myself a little.”

“Wow, when you pulled the stick out, you went all the way.”

“I guess I did. So, do you want the guided tour?”

Faith drained nearly half her bottle in one go before she responded:

“Sure.”

“It’s not huge, but it’s home and I like it. Besides, it beats having just a single.”

There was the living room, a kitchen which apparently didn’t get much use, and a spacious bedroom with a bathroom attached. The bathroom was incredible, complete with a huge Jacuzzi tub and every bottle of everything ever made for every girly-girl on the planet.

The place was nice and the bed was…well, the bed was the bed and Faith was better off ignoring just how comfortable, welcoming, and fuck-ready it looked. The headboard alone had her thinking about all sorts of crazy positions, like Buffy on her knees and…

“Do you like?”

Faith jolted back to reality and just managed to stop herself from spilling the remnants of her beer:

“Yeah, it’s cool, ‘specially that tub.”

Buffy’s smile held more than a slight tinge of mischief:

“I made Giles get it. I claimed it was a work requirement, but the truth is I’ve just always wanted one. Plus I have a separate shower for when I need to clean up fast.”

“Hey, no argument here. Should get what ya want, not like you don’t deserve it.”

“So do you.”

They stood uneasily, both looking everywhere but at the bed and each other.

“Faith?”

“Yeah?”

“If we’re going to just talk, maybe we’d better go back into the living room.”

“Yeah, probably. Could use another beer anyway.”

“Okay, you go sit down, I’ll be right back.”

They parted ways as Buffy made her way into the kitchen, calling back over her shoulder:

“I’m starving, you?”

”Could eat somethin’.”

“Okay, make yourself at home while I make us some sandwiches.”

Faith began prowling around the room as she listened to the sounds of Buffy doing her version of cooking, and she couldn’t stop the grin from appearing on her face. She knew Buffy was wide-open with the sandwich making and she’d bet money The Slayer was making a huge ass mess.

She shook her head and began looking around, seeing just what crap Buffy’d accumulated over the last year or so. There wasn’t all that much, just some weird knickknacks from other countries, probably brought back to her by Willow and Xander, some pictures of the gang, and some other tattered photos of Anya, Tara and Joyce. There was also a picture of Angel and Spike together looking all pissed off with each other, and the sight made her laugh out loud.

“What’s so funny?”

Buffy was carrying a large tray of sandwiches, chips, two beers and a can of Coke.

“Just lookin’ at the Dynamic Duo here. Look like two old lovers.”

Buffy smiled as she put the tray down on the coffee table, sliding some magazines off to the side as she did:

“Ahh, the mystery that was Angel and Spike.”

A couple magazines fell to the floor and Buffy bent to pick them up:

“I asked him once, you know.”

“Who, Spike?”

“Yep. He said vampires weren’t hung up on gender.”

“That it?”

Buffy sat down on the couch:

“That’s it.”

Faith walked over and sat on the other end feeling weirdly at ease, which instantly unnerved her:

“Fuck, how could ya not ask him for more info?”

Buffy smiled as her face turned a cute shade of pink:

“Um…He kind of made me forget what I was talking about.”

Faith laughed against her will:

“Gotcha. So the fucker did have skills.”

“Uh…that would be a ‘yes’. Lots of them.”

“Thought maybe he did, but never know if somebody’s just all talk, least not ‘til you test drive’em.”

“Mmm...I just recently found that out.”

Now it was Faith’s turn to blush. She snatched up a sandwich and after a beat, Buffy followed suit. They ate voraciously, leaving not so much as a crumb behind, and when they’d polished off the last of the drinks, an uncomfortable silence descended.

“So…”

Spoken at exactly the same time.

“Go ahead, B.”

“No, you go ahead.”

“Was just gonna say I’m not sure what we gotta talk about.”

“Yes you are. You know we have all kinds of things…”

Faith put her boots up on the edge of the coffee table and folded her arms across her chest:

“That’s just your take on it. Mine’s way different.”

Buffy turned to face her fully:

“And what about what happened last night?”

“What about it? We fucked, not sure there’s any big…”

“Don’t do that.”

”Do what?”

Buffy slid over closer to her:

“Don’t act like it didn’t mean anything.”

“Not sayin’ that. Hell B, been wantin’ a taste of you since I met ya, so yeah, pretty big thing last night. But beyond that? Not sure what you were expecting.”

“Well I sure wasn’t expecting you to spend the night.”

Faith was on her feet then and strolling over to Buffy’s DVD collection:

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. Guess it was the jetlag.”

“No it wasn’t. You stayed because you wanted to.”

“Hey cool, got the first two “Alien” movies. Bet Cyclops insisted on ya havin’em.”

Buffy got up and walked over to her:

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but it isn’t working.”

Faith stayed bent over, running her finger along the spines of the DVDs.

“What isn’t?”

“This whole casual, uncaring…”

Faith straightened up and looked her right in the eye with a cocky smirk:

“Look Blondie, know I shook your world last night, but c’mon. You know me well enough to know I’m not lookin’ for anything more than a good screw. You gave that in spades last night, but I’m not…”

Buffy grabbed her head and jerked her into a passionate kiss. Faith refused to kiss back at first, but the soft feel of Buffy’s tongue tickling her lips soon had Faith opening wide.

It lasted for some time and it was Buffy who pulled away, not Faith.

“Hey tough girl, talk to me.”

“You want me to talk? Then listen close: I got carried away last night ‘cause you pissed me off and I was tired of waitin’ in a long line for my very own special piece of ‘Buffy’ ass. You give it up to everybody else, figured it was my turn. Beyond that…”

Buffy laughed and laced her fingers with Faith’s, pulling her over to the couch.

“Can we sit back down now?”

“Uh, yeah…Did you hear what I just said?”

“I did. Now I get a turn to talk too, right?”

“Well, yeah, that was the deal, but uh…did you hear what I just said?”

Buffy brought the back of Faith’s hand up to her lips and kissed it gently. Faith actually blushed again, then looked pissed at her own reaction. Buffy smiled and let go of her.

“All right, last night was…well, last night was amazing and made it impossible for either of us to go back to how we were. It feels like I’m finally living for the first time in my life, like I was just waiting for you to do that for years. Now that you have, I know what’s mine and I don’t want anything, anyone else. I just want you, Faith.”

“Sure, I’m good if you wanna keep fucking while I’m here.”

“Yes I do want to keep ‘fucking’ while you’re here, and I also want us to make love. Because that’s what this is, Faith. We’re in love with each other.”

Faith laughed loudly, but Buffy could see the fear in her eyes.

“Oh man, Twinkie, you are such a typical girl. Know ya don’t know your way around, but shit. Here in the real freakin’ world it’s not all gentle with flowers. I don’t love anyone, never have, never will. What I love is making you do what I want and then fucking you ‘til you can’t take it anymore.”

Buffy never moved or said a word and Faith’s expression merely hardened:

“Don’t get me wrong, wouldn’t say no to seein’ what kinda skills you got when it comes to eating pussy, but love? Sorry B, you better go crawlin’ back to cute little Slutsu. You got the wrong chick here.”

“No I don’t, you made that more than clear last night. I understand why you’re scared, I’m scared too in a way, but…”

Faith stood with a snort:

“Scared? Of you? Man, you’re bein’ all kindsa stupid.”

“Faith, I heard everything you said last night, I felt everything you did. I can’t go back to how we were, I don’t want to. You opened my eyes and you can’t ask me to close them again.”

“Not gonna ask you for anything.”

Buffy got to her feet as well, facing Faith without any masks or barriers, and the biggest surprise of all was that Buffy felt no fear and no doubt:

“I love you. I have forever and I know it now. Last night was…last night was everything to me and I know it was everything to you too.”

Faith didn’t move, her face was a blank, but her eyes, those expressive brown eyes told Buffy the whole story.

“You didn’t make a mistake, Faith, you didn’t leave yourself wide-open. I won’t hurt you, God, I’ve done way too much of that already. All I’ve got for you now is love and I want to be with you. I want us side by side just like we always should have been.”

There was still no movement from Faith, she looked like she’d been carved out of granite…except for her eyes that were blazing with emotion as they filled with tears.

“You were so brave last night, Faith, just hang on. I’ll take it from here, I’ll prove it to you, whatever you need me to do. Just don’t run from this. Please, don’t run from me.”

Buffy edged closer, approaching slowly as if Faith were a cornered animal:

“All the wasted time, Faith, all of the stupid wasted time. You were right, this is what’s always been between us, just simmering along while we did our best to deny it. Well I won’t deny it anymore, I don’t care what you do. I love you.”

Faith suddenly seemed to wake up, her face coming to life with an expression Buffy didn’t much care for:

“No. Last night was about me getting a piece of ass. You’re hot B, one of the hottest chicks I’ve ever seen. Toss in that ‘high and mighty’ attitude…well always wanted to see if I could make ya bend. Rough sex, makin’ ya take it even though it made you feel like a whore, dancing just this side of legal, man, what a fuckin’ turn-on. ‘Little Miss Straight as They Come’ getting fucked whether she wanted it or not by the lowlife slutty Slayer. Who wouldn’t get off on that? I know I did.”

“…I should slap you for saying that.”

“Go ahead. Not like you were ever big on hearing the truth.”

Faith finally met Buffy’s eyes and she could easily read the compassion staring back at her. Neither of them moved or broke the silence until Buffy spoke up:

“There’s not an ounce of truth in anything you just said, except hopefully the part about me being hot. God, how can you talk that way about yourself? You’re nothing like that, last night was nothing like that.”

“Yeah? Seem to recall it being pretty down and dirty.”

“And hot and loving and revealing and consensual. And for your info, I’ve never been ‘Little Miss Straight as They Come’, at least not when it comes to you.”

Faith’s grin was unpleasant as she looked Buffy up and down:

“Not when it comes to your precious little Cuntsu either. Never did tell me, B, what was it like with her? First time and all, musta been a real eye-opener for ya. How many times did she make ya come? Figurin’ you for a pillow queen with her too, but who knows? C’mon, gimme the details, B. What’s it like to fuck a kid who looks up to ya?”

Buffy just stood there, her face resigned:

“So you have to do this, Faith? Really? We can’t just sit down and deal with things? You have to try and hurt me before you make yourself leave?”

Faith ran her hands through her hair and then folded her arms casually across her chest, more relaxed now that she found herself on familiar ground. Acting like an asshole, nailing Buffy to the wall, hurting herself, making them both hate her…Yep, it was just like home.

“What’s the problem? You’re the one fuckin’ everything that moves. So tell me, B, how many other bitches ya got lined up? Plannin’ to fuck your way through the whole group of…”

Her voice was silenced just like that as Buffy casually began getting undressed. First her shirt, then her bra, leaving her top half bare, well except for the sexiest smile Faith had ever seen.

Buffy unbuttoned her jeans next and shimmied her way out of them, then slowly lowered her panties and stepped forward as they pooled on the carpet. She sauntered up to Faith, her hazel eyes turning a deep green as she approached.

She shoved Faith’s arms down to her sides and wrapped her own around Faith’s neck. She pressed their bodies together as tightly as she could and delivered a quick, yet passionate kiss to Faith’s mouth…which was conveniently hanging open in disbelief. As the kiss ended, Buffy’s hand slid down until she reached Faith’s ass. She promptly gave it a forceful squeeze, then used it to pull her even closer:

“Come here.”

She swept Faith up into her arms, kissing her firmly as she carried her over to the bed. Buffy tossed her down, then quickly straddled her, allowing Faith to get an eyeful.

“So here’s what I’m thinking: I’m thinking I’d better lead for awhile. You’re obviously going to be spending your time trying to fuck things up, and that’s definitely not the best use of our time, is it?”

Faith found she couldn’t respond. Not when Buffy began kissing her again, not when Buffy began undressing her, and definitely not when Buffy began moving against her.

She struggled to speak, finally managing to gasp out a desperate fact:

“You promised no sex.”

The low laugh Buffy breathed out into her ear almost had Faith coming right on the spot.

“Yeah, I kinda lied.”

“B…Not a good idea.”

“No it isn’t, it’s a great one. And Faith?”

“Y…Yeah?”

“You didn’t make a mistake.”

Chapter Five

Bam! Bam Bam! Bam! Bam Bam BAM!!!

The bag wasn’t singing, the bag was crying out for help, shouting to the rooftops for an assist, but there was no one around except Faith, and she wasn’t handing out any mercy at the moment. She was dealing with her issues in a healthy manner, a manner that suited herself and those around her best, and one that she had learned over many a hard fought night.

She was past working up a good sweat, a cleansing lather, a dripping exhaustion. She had passed all of those quite some time ago and was now doing her best to reach a Slayer tired, the kind of tired that wouldn’t even let her think, let alone feel. She wanted the escape that came with that kind of weariness - at least she thought she did, but as the time plodded along she began to wonder if it wasn’t just a habit, a knee-jerk reaction that didn’t come anywhere close to her real wants and desires.

Because every time she hit the bag with her fists she remembered where her hands had been. How they’d been held down with just a verbal request, a softly whispered “please” that had held her still as if she were in the world’s strongest vise.

She remembered when her hands had been set free, where they had gone, what they had done, what they’d been allowed to touch. Her workout slowed, then stopped as the images took her over. The moans, the sighs, the intense feelings that no one else had ever come close to making her feel and that were still burning inside every part of her even though they’d last been experienced hours ago.

Every time her foot smashed into the bag, she remembered her legs wrapped around a slim waist, her ankles locked together as she lost all rational thought, unable to resist begging for it never to end. She’d tried to hold it in, but she couldn’t, not when she was where she’d always wanted to be, not when she could happily die and never regret a thing.

She’d ended up blurting out almost everything and then later when the heat of passion had cooled, she’d still whispered it, babbling on like she routinely pleaded for love all the time. It was embarrassing and it made her feel vulnerable, but the answer she received was immediate and only served to pull her in closer.

First there had been the blinding smile, then the bone shaking kiss, and then the words of love whispered with a confidence and naturalness that had Faith believing in them despite everything inside of her screaming out that only a fool would ever trust in those words.

But there was nothing else she could do, Buffy was with her, giving Faith everything she was and holding nothing back, and Faith felt herself swirling and spinning as she fell deeper and deeper into the passion that belonged only to them. Buffy had been right, the secret was out, and there was no fooling either of them that it was any other way: they were in love.

Faith stood lost in thought in front of the bag that still swayed slowly, the faint clinking of the chain doing nothing to anchor her to the moment.

“I love you, Faith, more than I ever knew it was possible to love anyone. You are so beautiful…and you taste…Mmmm…God, you taste so good…”

Faith could do nothing except lie there, her body seeming to ignite wherever Buffy’s lips and tongue and hands touched. She kissed her way down Faith’s body so slowly it was agonizing, tantalizing, it was every other “izing” ever known to man or woman or any combination thereof, and Faith reached out for her, eager to return the pleasure and take back some of the control she was so easily surrendering.

“Please, Faith…let me do this.”

Faith laid her arms down, unable to deny such a simple request. Buffy smiled and began leisurely exploring every inch of Faith in great detail. She made a purring noise as she went, and that sound alone had Faith out of her mind in mere seconds. It didn’t stop until Buffy reached her destination, looking up at Faith with a sexy innocence that made Faith moan and squirm at just the sight of it.

“I’ve never done this before, Faith, you’re my first. I might not be great at it this time, but I am going to be wildly enthusiastic. I’ve been dying to do it since I woke up this morning, so you might wanna settle in. I’m going to be here quite awhile.”

Faith couldn’t help but smile as well as get about fifty times wetter.

“I’m settled, B.”

“Good. All comments and suggestions are welcome.”

And that was the start of everything.

There was one tentative little swipe, and then Buffy was a part of her. Faith came time after time, and although Buffy would slow and sometimes even stop, her head stayed where it was, resting contentedly until it was time to start again. Faith couldn’t have offered any tips if her life had depended on it.

A few times she’d managed to rise up, staring down in rapturous disbelief at the blond head between her legs. It wasn’t just “some” blond head like it had always been before; no, this time there was no need for any pretense. The blond head delivering such ecstasy to her was the one all the others had been mere stand-ins for, the one Faith had been dreaming of for years.

It went on forever before Buffy finally eased her way back up Faith’s quivering body, examining everything in great detail again as she did.

“God, Faith, you’re beautiful. So beautiful it’s hard to believe even though I’m seeing it…up close and personal.”

Faith had a reply spring quickly to mind. It was clever and it was funny, it was the best thing anyone had ever said in any conversation ever, but before she could answer, Buffy’s tongue delicately rolled around her nipple. Still Faith tried to speak, but then Buffy’s mouth closed all warm and wet as her tongue kept doing its thing and before she could say a word, Faith was coming again.

There was something so different about Buffy and the way she touched Faith. She was rough and aggressive for sure when she needed to be, but there was always an underlying softness, a gentleness that Faith had never known with anyone else. It was girly and it was loving, and Faith couldn’t get enough of it.

Buffy treated her as if she was something precious, something to be worshipped and treasured and even though that was a totally unfamiliar situation for Faith, she found that with Buffy she had no problem just going with it. Faith wanted to stay right where she was and bask forever, and somehow that already seemed like a reasonable request and one that was easily attainable.

They had made love well into the night and Faith had ended up falling blissfully asleep, although truth be told it was a lot closer to passing out than drifting off. But it didn’t matter, not really. Her body felt boneless, her heart felt full and satisfied, and the warmth of Buffy’s love covered her with a heat that made her past drowsy. A thought flitted its way briefly across her mind, a thought that she needed to get up and go, but it left almost the moment it arrived.

‘Get up and go’? Was she out of her fucking mind? She was never leaving, not ever. She was going to stay in the thoroughly rumpled bed with the thoroughly amazing woman, and she was going to be the most thoroughly happy idiot the world had ever seen.

She passed out lying on her stomach, her leg and arm hanging slightly off the bed as Buffy snuggled up to her, her own arm and leg sprawled across Faith, her head resting on her back. Her lips rained kisses along Faith skin, and she laughed low and sexy again when she found the extra sensitive spot in the small of Faith’s back.

“Mmm…that’s gonna come in handy somewhere down the line.”

She made Faith jump again as she ran her finger lightly along the spot:

“B……”

“Shhh, go to sleep now, baby. There’s plenty of time.”

And with that Faith was gone, out like a light, sleeping like a log, three sheets to the wind on hot sex and love.

It was the best sleep she’d ever had, and when she awoke three hours later, it was to find them both in the same position. She tried to move slowly, the last thing she wanted was to wake Buffy, but when she rolled over her partner protested immediately, complete with a pouting bottom lip and a Slayer strength that held Faith right where she was.

“No, you can’t leave. I’m all warm and happy.”

“Not leavin’. Just wanna hold you is all.”

Buffy’s eyes closed, her pout gone as a slow smile eased its way onto her face.

“Oh, you can do that.”

She nestled into Faith’s arms, laying her head just above her breast.

“You feel good.”

“You too, B. Now shhh, go back to sleep.”

“No leaving?”

“I got issues, Buffy, but I’m not stupid. Not gonna go anywhere, promise.”

Buffy laughed, already falling back asleep:

“I love you.”

Faith was spared from having to respond because Buffy was already asleep. Besides, what would she have said?

“I know.”

“Ditto.”

“Me too.”

“Yeah.”

She knew she was going to have to get better at it, but for now she buried her face in the golden hair that smelled like flowers and let her arms tighten around the best thing in the whole wide world. She could feel every inch of her skin, every spot where Buffy was touching her and it felt great. The leg flung over her, the arm wrapped around her, the hand entwined in her hair, it should have all felt confining, yet instead it just felt safe.

“Okay, so what’s going to happen here?”

The unexpected voice startled Faith and she reflexively struck the bag as she turned her attention to the intruder.

“Oh…hi.”

“Hi.”

Satsu walked all the way into the room, closing the door behind her:

“So is this okay or am I going to get the shit beaten out of me again?”

“Depends. You the one who ate the last of the pizza? Girls on watch last night were pretty pissed.”

“It wasn’t me, I stayed in my room all night.”

“Guess you’re safe then.”

Faith turned back to the bag, doing her best to look calm even though she felt nervous and uncomfortable. Satsu jumped up to sit on the horse, seemingly composed as she watched Faith work.

Several minutes passed before Satsu interrupted:

“Wow, you’re almost as good as Buffy.”

“Yeah, and it’s that ‘almost’ usually almost gets me killed.”

Faith began unwrapping her hands:

“Room’s yours. Ain’t doin’ shit for me anyways.”

Faith opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water. She drained most of it, then tipped it in a quasi-salute to Satsu as she turned to go.

“Faith, could I talk to you?”

The sigh was audible, but Faith stopped:

“Ya gotta?”

“Yes.”

Faith turned to face her:

“Want another apology? Probably owe ya, so…”

“No, the first one did the trick, but um…I need to say some stuff.”

“To me?”

“Yeah.”

Faith grabbed a metal folding chair, dragged it over in front of Satsu and sat down. She again presented the perfect picture of “calm”, but inside everything was churning.

Satsu seemed to be gathering her thoughts, her head down as she stared at the floor. Faith took the time to really look at her and she could see she was hot and cute and sweet, but there was also an underlying strength to her, a maturity and sense of self Faith only wished she herself possessed.

“I love Buffy.”

The declaration seemed to boom out in the silence of the room and Faith tried her best not to react in any way. She knew she wasn’t successful as she felt herself flinch, but she covered up the jerky motion by raising the bottle to her lips. It was a pretty smooth move, but she doubted Satsu was fooled in the slightest.

“I’ve never loved anyone like I love her, I probably never will. She’s Buffy, you know?”

“…Yeah, I know.”

“I figured you would. And here’s the thing: she made it clear right up front that she didn’t love me and never would.”

“She musta felt somethin’. She slept with ya.”

Satsu’s laugh sounded more sad than anything:

“Only because I went after her. I caught her on a lonely night and she still tried to push me away. She told me it was just a one time thing, that it could never be anything more than that.”

Faith didn’t want to hear the details, but as she considered standing up and leaving, she told herself to stay put and listen.

“It was beautiful, everything I’d imagined and more, but I knew a big part of her wasn’t with me and I knew right then she was never going to love me. I didn’t care, I still don’t. I’d be with Buffy on whatever terms she decided on, there’s no way I’d ever turn her away.”

Satsu stared off, her gaze directed towards the window, but Faith knew she wasn’t seeing a thing. She turned back after a couple of minutes and picked up the thread:

“So my big plan was to keep making love to her until I finally won her over. Until then, I’d just be grateful for whatever she gave me and I’d keep hoping that one day she’d learn to feel for me just a bit of what I feel for her. That would have been enough for me, Faith, anything from her would be enough, you know?”

The bottle in Faith’s hand cracked, dripping water over her fingers and onto the floor. She threw it in the direction of the trashcan but missed. The thud was loud and they both watched the bottle rolling around in an irregular pattern on the floor, spilling its contents as it went.

“Why the big share here?”

“Because I want her to be happy. I want that more than anything.”

Faith could see she meant it, could see the love and concern that was driving Satsu to face her again.

“Okay, I get it. Not tryin’ to be a bitch, but what’s your point?”

“I’ve known Buffy for a while now. We’ve become good friends and she’s talked to me about all kinds of things.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, Buffy never said one word about you. Think about that, Faith…not one word, not ever.”

She could tell that meant something to Satsu, but as far as Faith could see it was just the same old, same old. Buffy probably never even thought about her once in the…

“I knew who you were of course, and I thought it was weird she had nothing at all to say about you. So I asked the Slayers who were with you guys in Sunnydale and they told me the story of what went on between you and Buffy. How you fought the whole time, but when the big showdown came, you guys seemed to rely on each other. I just figured it was Slayer stuff.”

“Was. Me and B got about as ugly a history you can get, so who knows what it’s all…”

“Don’t lie, I know what it’s about. All she sees is you, just like all I see is her. Buffy loves you.”

Faith kept her face neutral when everything inside of her wanted to leap to her feet with a huge grin and shoot rainbows, butterflies and fairies out her ass.

“Do you love her?”

“Look Satsu, that’s kinda personal and…”

“When you came to the infirmary, you said I could take a couple of shots if I wanted to. Okay then, this is how I’m taking them.”

Faith stood up and walked back over to the bag.

“Rather you just punched me in the face, but…”

She lightly tapped the bag, then laughed ruefully.

“…I guess this is what I get for bein’ a crazy bitch.”

“Looks like. So, Faith, do you love her?”

“…Yeah, I do. I always have.”

Satsu looked relieved and happy and sad all at once.

“Okay then, from here on out it’s mostly your business.”

“Mostly?”

“Well, you do what you’re gonna, but I swear to every god and higher power there is: if you hurt her, I’ll kill you. I know I can’t take you in a fair fight, so I’ll wait for my chance and when it comes, I’ll slit your throat from behind.”

Faith couldn’t help but smile and Satsu misunderstood:

“Don’t fucking test me. My grandfather was a ninja and he taught me everything he knew. I’ll stand still in the shadows and when my chance comes, you’ll be gasping for air and dead before you know it.”

“Not doubting you, Satsu. Just likin’ the fuck outta ya.”

Satsu hopped down from her seat on the horse:

“You’re kind of okay too. Do you think maybe we could spar a little? I feel kind of tight from my down time, and I wouldn’t mind a few pointers from you.”

Faith’s smile became a grin, just like that:

“Yeah, sparring sounds good.”

Satsu took off her jacket as Faith stood looking her up and down:

“So we’re goin’ how much less than full steam?”

Satsu stretched and winced:

“Well, I am still feeling the ‘beat down’ you gave me.”

“Okay, no more trips to the doc, gotcha.”

Satsu laughed:

“Not for me anyway.”

Faith’s laughter echoed off the walls:

“Whoa! Got us a live one here.”

“Yep. And definitely ready to kick your ass.”

“Hey, Satsu?”

“Yeah?”

“Your grandfather was a ninja? For real?”

“Nah, we’re from Michigan. He was a snowplow driver. I just thought it’d scare you.”

Faith grinned as she crouched slightly, her hands held at the ready:

“Mission accomplished.”

*************************

Buffy sat in the conference room looking over some last minute revisions in the watch schedule. She had a perfectly good office of her own in which she was supposed to do things like look over the last minute revisions in the watch schedule, but she never used it, much preferring the spacious and sunny conference room. The giant picture windows overlooked the prettiest part of the castle’s grounds and no matter what she was doing, Buffy could always relax when she got a look at the stunning view, complete with babbling brook.

She was leaning back in her chair with her feet resting comfortably on the table, and there was a huge smile on her face as she took in the lush scenery. She didn’t think she’d managed to stop smiling since the morning after her first night with Faith, and she doubted she was going to be stopping any time soon. Even doing the boring work her position required wasn’t nearly as bad as it normally was, or she suspected it wouldn’t be if she ever decided to do it.

The last couple of days had been like a dream and she could not believe the difference a handful of hours had made…well, that and the resolution of a denial that had lasted years. And also the hottest sex anyone had ever had, she couldn’t forget that…she absolutely could not forget that. As if.

A potential apocalypse was brewing, her Scythe was gone, and yet Buffy felt light and free. Love was a good thing, the best, and being in love with Faith was even better than the best. It was the best of the best, the absolute zenith of the best. If the best had a limit, this best would be…

Her love struck mental ramblings were interrupted by Willow’s abrupt and totally unexpected entrance:

“Buffy!”

If she hadn’t been a Slayer, Buffy would have been on her butt. As it was, she had to leap awkwardly from her falling chair to avoid tumbling to the floor with it.

“Willow, no teleporting inside!”

“Buffy, I’ve got it! The location of the Scythe!”

“What?!”

Buffy gestured at the table and Willow quickly spread out a map:

“The good news is that they’re not far. Kind of a combination of my limiting spell and that whole ‘hide in plain sight’ philosophy. They’re less than twenty miles from here.”

“That’s great news! So where are they?”

“I don’t know that yet, not exactly, but I will soon. They have a powerful cloaking spell going, but now that we have a more centralized location, the Coven and I are joining forces to break through it. We’ll know by tonight.”

“Can’t we find out any faster?”

Willow looked up from the map:

“We could, but if we don’t do this carefully, they’re going to know that we know. If we just go a little slower, we can prevent them from realizing we’ve broken through.”

“Well, I’m all for keeping the element of surprise. We need to call a meeting, say at five?””

“Perfect, that’ll give me time to tie up loose ends and set-up for tonight’s spell breaking party.”

“Is that what you kids are calling it these days?”

“Just us really cool ones.”

Buffy laughed as she delivered a big hug:

“Good work, Will. And fast too.”

“Yep, I’m pretty big with the proud. I wasn’t sure I could do it this quick, but turns out I had some extra incentive since getting dropped through the ceiling isn’t high on my list of ‘Things Called Fun’.”

Buffy picked up her chair and sat back down:

“I wasn’t too crazy about it either. Getting outted like that was not exactly all ‘After School Specialish’.”

“Maybe not, but certain aspects of it were kinda fun. I mean, the panicked look on your face alone…”

Buffy’s left eyebrow raised as her eyes narrowed:

“Yep, these guys are due for some serious Slayer/Wicca butt kicking.”

“That’s better. Nice save.”

Willow grinned as she sat down next to her and began reading and skimming over the sheaf of papers she held. Buffy went back to staring out the window at the green rambling grounds, her smile firmly back in place. A few minutes of comfortable silence went by and then Willow’s curiosity took over:

“Okay, spill it.”

“What?”

“Please Buffy, you’re sitting there grinning like a nut and you’ve been downright giddy every time I’ve seen you over the last two days. What’s going on and don’t tell me ‘nothing’.”

Buffy turned to face her:

“Let’s just say it’s been a good couple of days…scratch that, a great couple of days.”

Willow was clearly shocked:

“With Satsu? But I thought that was over weeks ago. Did you guys…”

“No! That’s definitely over. The kind of over that was over before it even started, you know?”

Willow was puzzled, her mind working furiously:

“That’s what I thought. Okay then, what is it?”

“It’s…Faith and I finally settled things.”

The disappointment was impossible for Willow to hide:

“Hey, good for you guys, Buff. I guess good for all of us really, since whenever the two of you fight everybody’s in danger. It must have felt great to…”

“We slept together.”

Willow began sorting her notes into piles as she only half listened:

“Uh-huh. That must have been a doozy of a talk if you guys just crashed after. It’s cool though that you felt comfortable enough to…”

“Will, the other kind of ‘slept together’.”

The papers fluttered around the table, some even escaping to the floor:

“What?! Like in a sex way?! You and Faith sexed?”

Buffy laughed:

“Is that what the cool kids are calling it these days?”

“You had sex with Faith?”

“Yes, we’ve sexed numerous times and will sex many more, as many as I can work in.”

Her smile was bigger as she leaned back and Willow leaned forward, her all-important notes totally forgotten:

“Okay, you need to stop with the coy and give me the details! Exactly how did this happen?”

“Well, first she beat up Satsu and…”

“Why?”

“Because she found out that we’d slept together and she got jealous.”

The stunned look on Willow’s face made Buffy wish she had a camera.

“And this knowledge made her kill Satsu?”

“Will, there was no actual murder. She picked a fight, it got out of control, but then she stopped. When I showed up, she insulted me and went to her room. I took Satsu to the infirmary then tracked Faith down.”

“Gee, a girl leaves for a few hours to gather some supplies and it’s all: ‘Oh, boy’!”

“’Oh, boy’ is right. So we had this horrible fight and then it just happened.”

Willow was shaking her head as if that would help her understand what was being said to her:

“You jumped Faith?”

“Uh…no. She got all…all forceful with me and…then she just sort of took me. I fought her at first, it was Faith, you know? But it wasn’t long before she made me admit that I wanted her.”

“Oh, boy…I need to sit down for a sec.”

“You are down, Will.”

“Oh, yeah. That happens a lot, doesn’t it?”

They sat in silence until Willow began giggling:

“Wow, Buffy, when you go gay, you really go gay!”

Buffy was nothing but smiles:

“I know, I’m like a wild woman! But the thing with Satsu was…well, I don’t know what that was. Like I said she’s wonderful, but I just don’t feel that way about her.”

“And I’m assuming that’s not the case with the ‘Original Bad Girl’ herself? Because based on the whole sexual tension thing since you guys met, coupled with your newfound willingness to be all bi-curious…”

“No more with the ‘bi-curious’ here, Will. I am completely a one-woman woman now, and that is final. No going back, no experimenting, no nothing but Faith, 24/7.”

“Okay, that’s great, but let me play ‘Devil’s Advocate’ for a minute.”

Buffy leaned back in her chair, her feet again resting on the tabletop:

“’Devil’ away…or should that be ‘advocate’ away?”

Willow’s expression was nothing but serious:

“Doesn’t matter. Buffy, this is Faith we’re talking about. What makes you think, I mean, she’s all “get some, get gone’, and I know she’s been getting and coming back, but…”

“I know who she is, Will.”

“Okay, and don’t take this the wrong way, but what makes you think that Faith’s…Buffy, you’d be a great catch for anyone, for sure. You’re sexy, pretty, funny, smart, brave, a wildly exciting woman, and anyone would be happy to be intimate with you.”

Willow flushed red, but she kept going:

“Except not me though, but just because we’re friends. I mean, I only thought about you like that one time in high school when you wore that white dress with the red…”

“Will…”

“Oh no, wait. There was that other time on that picnic and Xander was making you laugh and the sun was shining on your hair and you were using that new conditioner they don’t even make anymore…”

“Willow!”

She jumped in her seat and blushed an even deeper red.

“Sorry, I know I’m babbling with the impure ‘best friends’ thoughts. But you are pretty hot and I’d have to be dead not to notice.”

“I get it, okay. Although I don’t like the sound of ‘pretty’ hot. How come I’m not just ‘hot’? What’s keeping me in just the ‘pretty’ hot category? Is it my nose or is it because…Scratch that, what are you trying to say about Faith?”

“All I’m saying is that I’m worried you’re getting all gung ho about this really fast, and Faith isn’t exactly the poster girl for monogamy, no matter how great the sex is.”

Buffy’s smile said it all:

“Okay, yes, in one way it’s like a whirlwind, but in another…Will, this has been coming for years now. We’ve been dancing around how we feel about each other since we met and I guess we both finally got tired of it, you know?”

“I get that, Buffy, really I do. It’s just tough to wrap my head around Faith in a relationship. She’s so…so ‘Faith’.”

Buffy’s smile never even faltered:

“Yes she is, and she keeps coming back. She’s still a little nervous and uncomfortable, but she’s getting better with it. She’s in love with me, Will, and she’s edging closer to admitting it with actual words.”

“……So, you and Faith.”

“Yep, me and Faith.”

“Zoinks.”

“’Zoinks says it all, I think.”

The look on Willow’s face told Buffy what was coming next:

“Alright Buff, so as your best friend tell me…”

Willow leaned forward, then looked both ways before finishing her question in a near whisper:

“…what’s it like with her?”

Buffy just grinned, her whole face lighting up.

“No. No way, Buffy, can you do that! Details are required, at least general ones.”

“Alright, okay. Well, you know all of those times she shot her mouth off?”

“Uh-huh?”

“She was selling herself short…way, way, way short. Really short, like midget short.”

“Oh, Goddess. Is that even possible?”

Buffy’s face scrunched up as she tried to think of just the right words to convey what a fantastic lover Faith was.

“It’s insanely wonderful. She just seems to know what I need, what I want. And no matter what she does, there’s this…She’s so loving, Will. Underneath it all I can feel it. She loves me, more than anyone ever has, and I can feel it every time she touches me.”

Willow stood up and gave Buffy a hug, kissing her on the cheek as she pulled back with a mischievous grin:

“Sex good, then?”

“Sex great, then.”

“Then it’s full speed ahead on the ‘Faith’ train.”

“Double Slayer full speed ahead.”

Willow laughed, amused even more than she could say:

“I’d better spread the word that everybody needs to batten down the hatches.”

“I’d say you’re exaggerating, but after that first night her room looked like we’d taken out a nest of Kevlar demons.”

Willow responded in song:

“Buffy’s in l-ove…Buffy’s in l-ove…”

“Yes, I am. I’m in love so much I don’t know how I kept it in all these years.”

Willow rolled her eyes:

“Uh, Buff? You kinda didn’t. You guys have been like two little kids who keep hitting each other because you’ve got a crush. Of course the downside’s that you both hit a heckuva a lot harder than regular kids.”

“Yeah, we haven’t exactly been careful with each other, have we?”

“No, but then I’ll bet that’s part of the appeal. You challenge each other, and if you could just control it a little bit it could be a good thing.”

Buffy was nodding in agreement, her face looking nothing but determined:

“Well, we’re going to have to figure it out because we’re doing this relationship. I want her, she wants me, it’s way past time to see where that can take us.”

Willow gathered up her papers:

“No argument here. You’re wildly happy, and I’m always all for that. She’s one lucky girl, our Faith is.”

“Thanks, Will. I know we’re just getting back to where we should be and…”

“Hey, that’s behind us now. Besides, keeping hot lesbian true love sex from me? That’s never going to be the way to make things better. Vicarious smoochies are definitely needed until I get some of my own again.”

“No word from Ken yet?”

Willow pushed her chair under the table and headed for the door, talking as she went:

“She’s coming back for the fight, but I think it’s over between us.”

“Are you sure, Willow?”

“No, but almost. At least on my end.”

“Hey wait, don’t go. Let’s talk about it.”

“I can’t right now, I’m expecting a call from Marion and I’ve got a million things to get ready for tonight.”

Buffy did not look happy with her answer:

“Hello, best friends here again. We’re patching things up, and if I’m not mistaken, talking about relationships is a big part of…”

“I know, I know. Later, I promise. The first chance I get I’ll…”

Her attention was caught by someone down the hall:

“Or maybe the first chance you get.”

“What’s that mean?”

The raspy, sexy voice Buffy heard next cleared things up immediately:

“Hey, Red.”

“Hi, Faith. You’re sure looking chipper.”

“Yeah, been a weird coupla days. I anywhere near the conference room?”

“So near, you’re on fire.”

Buffy could hear the tension in Faith’s voice as she tried to answer casually:

“Glad to hear it. Andy’s fucked up directions were kinda leadin’ me up my own ass. So, just B in there?”

“Yep. She supposed to be working, but she’s really just staring out the window with a dreamy smile on her face.”

Buffy almost laughed out loud at Willow’s blatant assist. In another situation she might have been irritated, but not in this one. In this one she was all, “Go, Will!”

“Yeah? She say what she was ‘dreamin’ about?”

“Why,no. Is there something going on?”

Faith’s amusement was obvious in every word:

“Ya know, Willow, much as I’d like to keep standin’ here playing with you…”

‘You’d rather play with Buffy?”

Buffy could not believe Willow Rosenberg had just said that, and said it so sexily. Apparently Faith couldn’t believe it either, and her laughter rang out, followed closely by an admiring:

“Fuck me.”

Willow moved away from the door and began heading down the hall:

“Oh, I’ve thought about it, but Buffy’s my best friend, you know? So, no.”

“You’re a real piece a work, Red.”

“That’s what all the girls say. Bye, Buffy!”

And then Willow was gone, leaving Buffy looking expectantly at the doorway. It took a while, but then Faith came walking in, shaking her head.

“That girl’s…”

“‘A piece a work’ if I heard right.”

Faith smiled:

“Ya heard right. So guess you spilled the beans to her.”

“Yep, just about as fast as I could spill them. Is that okay?”

Faith headed over to look out the picture window:

“Sure, she’s your best friend. Tough to keep a secret from everyone.”

Buffy answered immediately, not wanting there to be any misunderstanding:

“We’re not a secret, Faith. Everyone’s going to know just as soon as you’re okay with telling them.”

“Me?”

“Yes, if it’d been up to me, I’d have announced it the morning after.”

Faith turned and walked over to sit across the table from Buffy:

“Moving kinda fast, don’t ya think?”

“No, I think five plus years is more than slow enough. Besides, I don’t care. I’m in love with you and I’m not wasting any more time.”

“Damn, got that stubborn look you always get when ya mean business.”

Buffy smiled at her:

“That’s because I do mean business. So I’m guessing you wanted to talk to me?”

“Nope, just takin’ a tour of the castle and was dying to see the conference room again.”

“Funny. Want a drink?”

“Sure, whatcha got?”

Buffy went over and opened the refrigerator. She leaned down slightly as she peered inside:

“Let’s see…We’ve got Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, water, root beer, and hands on my breasts.”

Faith began kissing her neck as her hands worked their magic:

“Mmm…you feel good, B. All soft and firm, and these are hard.”

The last word was punctuated by a quick squeeze of Buffy’s erect nipples.

“Yes, well getting fondled by you seems to make me…”

“It makes you wet and it makes you mine.”

“Yes.”

“Wish I’d shut the door when I came in.”

“And I wish we were in my private office.”

With a last kiss and a bite that was sure to leave a mark, no matter how briefly on a Slayer, Faith reluctantly stepped back and sat back down.

“Root beer works for me.”

Buffy took a second to compose herself, then reached in for a can of root beer and a Diet Coke. She handed Faith her drink, then pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. She held the unopened soda against her forehead:

“I seem to be a little hot and bothered.”

Faith took a big sip before answering:

“Just a ‘little’? Need to change that soon as possible.”

“I’m looking forward to that. So what did you want to talk to me about?”

Faith took another sip, then another:

“Figured we oughta talk about us, ya know, ‘stead of talking to everybody else.”

That sounds good.”

Buffy popped open her can, only to have it fizz out onto the table and her shirt front. Faith just stared at her:

“Okay, ya did that on purpose.”

“I did not! You saw I never shook it!”

“Look, all I know is your tits are on display and there’s no way I can think about anything else.”

“I’ll cover up. Here, give me your top.”

“Funny, B.”

Buffy walked over to the closet and rummaged around:

“Aha!”

She emerged triumphantly with an old towel that looked worn but not dirty.

“Am I a problem solver or what?”

“Yeah, that’ll do the trick. Or could just screw the talk and head back to your room.”

“Normally I’d be all for that, but I think we should talk.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“…”

“…”

“Faith?”

“Yeah?”

“I thought you were going to start.”

Faith smiled just enough to display her dimples:

“Thought I was gonna too.”

Buffy reached out to hold her hand:

“You don’t have to be nervous, it’s just me.”

“Yeah, well that’s sorta the trouble.”

Then the silence was back, but Buffy didn’t push. She just sat there, her fingers entwined with Faith’s as they waited.

“Just gonna say it and let the shit fall where it falls.”

“Okay.”

“I want this, B, more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. No way did I expect what happened to happen, but as hard as it is to wrap my head around it, I want it so bad.”

“I know, Faith. I want it just as much as you do.”

Faith untangled their hands and started to stand, then made herself stay seated:

“Maybe. I doubt it, but maybe ya do. Doesn’t really matter, as long as you want it enough.”

“Enough?”

“Enough to put up with me. B, I’m gonna try really hard, but I’m freaking. I’ve never been in a relationship, never been in…never felt this way about anybody else. I’ve spent so long hiding how I feel about you, denying it, I just don’t know what to do, ya know?”

Faith stood up then and began pacing:

“That’s why I kept saying all of that shit to you, which I’m sorry for.”

“It’s okay, Faith, I understand.”

The speed of her pacing picked up:

“No, it’s not okay. I wanna do this right, like normal people do, but the thing is I don’t think I can. I’ve spent my life not putting myself out there about anything, ‘specially not somethin’ this big, and I just keep thinking how you deserve somebody normal who can handle stuff better.”

“Faith…”

“And that’s not me, it’s not ever gonna be me, and the worst thing is that the biggest part of me doesn’t give a shit that I’m being a selfish bitch. All it wants is you, so much that I can’t walk away like I know I oughta. I’ve been dreaming ‘bout this for years, B, and I can’t just turn my back on it. I know I should, I know I’m scum for…”

Buffy pulled her down onto her lap as she stomped by, kissing her near panic into silence.

“You listen to me, Faith Lehane: I don’t want normal. I’ve had normal and I don’t like it. What I want is you, in all your selfish glory. Stop worrying about the ‘right’ way to do this, there is no right way. There’s just ‘our’ way, and that’s going to be just perfect for us. I know this is new for you, that’s okay, there’s a lot that’s new for me too. All that means is that there’s plenty of newness to go around, so we’ll figure it out together. It’s going to be fine, Faith, I promise.”

They said nothing for a few minutes, each content to stay right where they were. Faith finally lifted her head and began trying to stand up:

“Guess I oughta get off your lap. Somebody could come in any second.”

Buffy’s arms tightened:

“Let them.”

Faith laughed softly, but she still kept moving:

“Can’t be all wimpy in front of everybody, B. Bad enough I keep doin’ it with you.”

Buffy kissed the top of her head and let her go:

“I guess it’s lucky for you that I’m crazy about the wimpy side and the tough girl side too.”

Faith stood looking down at her:

“Thinkin’ you’re just plain crazy, but whatever. Kinda stuck with you.”

“Yes, you are.”

Buffy stood, tossing the towel onto the table:

“And I propose we talk some more in my room.”

“Could be a good idea.”

“We’ve only got a couple of hours though. Will’s got a lead on the Scythe and we’re meeting at 5:00.”

“Bet we can express ourselves a lot in two hours.”

“Plus we can always ‘talk’ again after the meeting…you know, if some things get left unsaid.”

Faith’s grin was pure sex:

“Can guarantee ya I got lots to say.”

“Really? Then we’d better get started right away.”

“Lead the way, Slayer.”

Buffy’s answering smile made promises of its own:

My pleasure.”

“It’s gonna be.”

They set off at a brisk walk that quickly became a jog, then a run as they raced down the various halls to Buffy’s suite. When they finally made it inside with the door securely locked behind them, they had an hour and fifty-six minutes to talk things over.

Chapter Six

Buffy hadn’t really expected anything else, but of course she’d been hoping. As ridiculous as it seemed and although she should have known way better by now, Buffy Summers was an optimist. Depressed at times, openly cynical at others, she was nonetheless an eternal optimist through and through.

There was nothing to be done about it, there was no way for her to shake free from its grasp, although she’d given it her best shot several times over the years. Buffy had long ago resigned herself to the truth that there was no getting clear of it, there was no chance of leaving it behind in the dust and the blood and the pain and the death.

She was the Slayer, there was no doubt about that, yet she was also “Buffy” and Buffy was never going to give in, not totally. She was too strong, she had too much belief in herself to ever truly let go of the things that somehow made her uniquely her. She’d managed to hang onto those things, she’d fought tooth and nail to keep them and she always would, right until the end.

Buffy Summers was one stubborn little bitch, and that’s why even though she was outnumbered and just seconds away from her own death…again…she was calmly planning a way to turn things around. She was concerned that her arms were being held tightly behind her back and that her own Scythe was fast approaching her just about neck high, but she wasn’t panicking. She wasn’t anywhere near dead and she didn’t intend on getting there any time soon.

She flipped herself backwards in a somersault, breaking the tight grip the two vampires pinning her arms had on her, dislocating her left shoulder as she went. She landed facing them, and despite the expected pain, she didn’t waste a second of time.

Her good arm rammed a stake through one vampire’s back to pierce his heart, and as the other vampire began to turn, Buffy leapt and kicked him through the swirling dust of his partner and smack dab into the one charging with the Scythe. They both went down in a tangle, giving Buffy time to scan her surroundings.

“Rona!”

Rona dusted her vamp and spun at the sound of Buffy’s voice. She saw at a glance what the problem was and hurried to her side. Without a word exchanged between them, Buffy braced herself as Rona yanked her shoulder back into place. The pain blinded Buffy for a moment, but it rapidly improved until the adrenaline of the fight took it all away.

“Thanks.”

With a nod Rona was gone, inserting herself into yet another skirmish and leaving Buffy smiling as she turned back to her own personal battle:

“You’ve got my Scythe.”

His response could only be called “arrogant” brought about by the fact that he seemed to be holding all the best cards, as well as having quickly gained five new associates to back him up.

“Come and get it, Slayer. I am skilled with all weapons, especially ones as ancient as this, and our elders have surrounded it with…”

“4…3…2…1…”

The Scythe began glowing and the vampire’s sneer disappeared into a howl of anguish as he flung the weapon away like the hot potato it now was…for him.

Buffy casually strolled over and lifted it from where it had landed. His hand was burned, hideously disfigured from the looks of it, and the other vampires looked confused, their stares bouncing from their buddy’s charred appendage to the Scythe resting coolly in Buffy’s firm, yet easy grasp.

She saw their confusion and decided to clear it up:

“So the thing is, this is the Slayer Scythe. It’s ‘for her alone to wield’, that means me, although it doesn’t look like you guys let that slow you down too much.”

He was clutching his hand, his face vamped out despite his shock:

“But…I’ve held it many times. Why didn’t it…”

“You mean how come it didn’t whammy you before now? Probably because that saying’s just some weird mumbo-jumbo that doesn’t really mean anything. But I’ve got other, better weapons on my side.”

She gestured to Willow who was floating in mid-air several yards away, assisting where she could while she kept the vampires transmogrification abilities at bay.

“She’s a lot better than some musty old saying that doesn’t live up to its own hype, you know?”

Buffy hefted the Scythe and it was clear it belonged in her hands. Two of the vampires turned and ran and Buffy let them go. She knew someone else would take care of…Kennedy was already there, cutting off their escape.

“They were cowards, Slayer, but we will not run.”

“Not very far, you won’t.”

************************

“So what did ya think it was gonna be? I’m not some little puppet you can just pull the strings on when…”

“Did I say that, Faith? No, I merely asked you if you could try to be a little more careful and not be so willing to get yourself killed!”

Faith slammed her glass down onto the table and the broken shards went flying everywhere.

“So I shoulda let Satsu get sliced in half? You know same as me she was dead ‘til I stepped in. Think I wanna watch some kid get killed even if she got to the goods first?”

Buffy stood up, her face scared and furious:

“And do you think I want to watch you get killed?! He missed severing your head by inches…just a few damn inches.”

“Well sorry, Slayer,but that’s pretty much always what it comes down to in our line of work.”

“Don’t you lecture me, I know what it comes down to! But it doesn’t always have to be like that, and this time there were other ways to…”

Faith got to her feet quickly, her bad arm pulling awkwardly. She grimaced and a groan escaped as her wound tore open again. She swore loudly and yanked off her sling, tossing it to the floor.

“Faith, be careful. The doctor said…”

“Ya know what? Fuck this. Not gonna sit here while you run your mouth in some big nitpick ‘bout what I did. There was a sitch and I handled it the way I wanted to. We won, we made it out alive, so shut the hell up!”

Faith stormed out of the room, blood spreading across her bandage as she went. The door slammed with enough force to rattle the frame, and Buffy felt like throwing her own glass against the wall.

“Damn it!”

She turned to walk over to the bed, wishing now that she’d approached the topic with a little more calm. Because suddenly the bed? It was looking huge and cold…and lonely.

There wasn’t going to be any victory sex, no victory snuggling, no victory taking care of her woman, no victory anything because she’d pissed Faith off…but damn it, Buffy knew she hadn’t been wrong. Faith had thrown herself into a dangerous and deadly situation without hesitating, even though there had been other, safer ways to handle it.

It was just luck that right as the vampire had begun the swing to separate Faith’s hard head from her stubborn ass, he’d slipped slightly, causing the blow to become much more of a glancing one instead of a killing one. Due to that good fortune, instead of cutting Faith’s head off, the blade had sunk with sickening ease into her neck and shoulder, an ease that had Buffy screaming out in a panic:

“No!”

She had nearly taken flight, leaping over three vampires, punching and kicking and staking as she moved quickly to reach Faith’s side. But before she could get there, Satsu had staggered to her feet, her normally warm eyes turned to ice and framed by the blood pouring down either side of her face.

She didn’t waste time talking, her axe a blur as she stood tall between Faith, who was pushing down hard with blood spurting alarmingly high between her fingers, and the vampires that were anxious to finish the job. Satsu didn’t spare Faith so much as a glance, and despite the fact that her foes numbered six, she never moved back an inch.

The vampires were snarling with frustration, unable to get past one tiny girl to the delicious Slayer blood they could smell for the taking. Buffy noticed Satsu perfectly executing a maneuver they’d gone over in training just the week before, and she wanted to praise her for her flawless technique, but it was hardly the time or the place.

She slammed into the pack, knocking three of the vampires into one another, and giving Satsu the opportunity to decapitate two of them before they knew what was happening. Buffy quickly staked two more, and the survivors were doing their best to put some room between themselves and the two deadly Slayers, but neither girl gave the slightest bit of ground.

They each pushed forward, keeping the two remaining demons pinned right where they were, and the vampires were dead in mere moments.

“Faith!”

Buffy slid on her knees to her, her face contorted with fear. Faith spoke calmly through her gritted teeth, but her voice was already faded, like she was drifting away:

“Paper cut, B.”

“Shh…you’re okay. Let me see…It’s okay, you’re okay.”

Buffy used both of her hands to apply pressure as she yelled:

“Willow!!!”

Buffy’s voice rang out above the battle and in just seconds she was there, her…

“Oh, Goddess!”

…sending a frisson of fear through Buffy.

Satsu was still guarding them against the occasional straggler, but the last of the ongoing battles were drifting further away from their location.

“Will?”

“It’s okay, Buffy, ease off. Come on, let me see.”

“I can’t, Will. She’s bleeding…”

“And I’m going to take care of that. Just move your hands and let me see.”

Buffy nodded, looking like a small child as she slowly removed her hands and watched Willow examining Faith.

Willow’s eyes closed and it didn’t take her long to see exactly what the problem was:

“All right, Faith, this is going to hurt.”

“Figures...”

Willow’s hair was already turning white:

“Buffy, hold her down tight, keep her as still as possible. I’ve already used so much energy I won’t have a lot of control, and it’s going to get pretty painful.”

Buffy tightened her grip, but it wasn’t long before she almost couldn’t hold her. At first Faith was just uncomfortable, but then she began sweating and screaming, her body rigid as she struggled to escape.

Buffy straddled her, using her knees and every ounce of her Slayer strength to keep Faith pinned.

“Will?”

“Just one more…second…there!”

Faith jerked violently, then passed out and Buffy slowly let go as she examined the wound carefully:

“That scary, spurty bleeding has stopped and the regular bleeding has slowed way down.”

Buffy turned to her best friend, her look a mixture of relief and gratitude:

“Is…”

“She’ll be fine. Her carotid artery was nicked, but I fixed it. I didn’t have enough left to close the cut all the way, so we need to keep her still for awhile and let that last blast of energy help her…”

Willow stood, then staggered weakly. Buffy caught her and steadied her as she eased her down to sit on the ground.

“Stay right there.”

“But Buffy, I should get back to…”

Buffy’s voice was decisive and brooked no argument:

“Your part in this is done. Satsu, are you good to stay here and…”

Satsu wiped the blood from her forehead and smiled, her eyes determined:

“Nobody’s getting near them.”

“Good. I’ll be back when this is finished.”

And then The Slayer returned to the battle, helping with the clean-up, turning the tide conclusively in the one remaining fight that still seemed to be up for grabs.

When it was finally over, there was nothing remaining except vamp dust, debris and the smell of Slayer blood and sweat. A cheer went up, congratulations and the war whoops of victory filled the air. Buffy grinned as she made her way back to where Faith, Willow, and Satsu waited.

Faith was awake and sitting up, her irritation plain to see:

“B, wanna tell Sabrina and her dykeservant I’m good to go?”

Buffy’s relief was obvious:

“So you’re feeling better?”

“Feelin’ fine. ‘Sides, she’s the one with blood still runnin’ down her face.”

Satsu looked embarrassed as she held a ripped off piece of her own shirt to her head. She leaned towards Faith with a scowl:

“I told you to shut up, Faith. I’m fine, Buffy, so…”

“Sit down.”

“But Buffy…”

“Now!”

Satsu plopped down disgustedly, muttering under her breath, but loud enough to be heard:

“Great, so you’re a baby and I have to get dragged into it? You suck, Faith.”

Willow began to get to her feet, but Buffy’s firm hand on her shoulder kept her sitting.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

“I feel okay, I’m just going to see who I can patch up a little.”

“Sorry, no. You’re already weak and no one’s that seriously injured.”

“But Buffy, I…”

“Stay right there, all three of you!”

Three sets of eyes looked pissed, but no one moved under Buffy’s glare. When she was satisfied, she called Xander:

“Xander, are you there?”

Buffy’s com crackled loudly, then Xander’s voice came in crystal clear:

“I copy. Good job, guys! We slaughtered them and grabbed back the Scythe! Mission accomplished with no casualties for the good guys!”

Buffy couldn’t help but grin at the sound of his excitement until he finished his assessment with:

“I’d say we couldn’t have done it any better.”

“Well, most of us.”

She met Faith’s eyes as she said that last part, but Faith’s gaze immediately shifted away.

“Xander, we’re going to need an airlift for five, maybe six girls. We need to get them back to the infirmary, so can you…”

“Choppers are already in the air. ETA…when they get there.”

Buffy laughed:

“Thanks for the precise estimate, Xander.”

“My pleasure, Buffster. Hey hold on, Giles wants to talk to you.”

Buffy tensed slightly, but made herself relax as much as she could:

“Yes, ah…Buffy?”

“Right here, Giles.”

“It was quite something, we could see various aspects of the fight as it progressed.”

“Yep, all we need now is ‘Smell-O-Vision’ and it’ll be just like you’re there.”

“A feature perhaps best not added. I wanted to tell you that I was immensely impressed with your leadership and skill during the battle. I’m extremely proud of the way you handled everything. Simply brilliant.”

Buffy felt the warmth flowing through her and she felt the tears pooling in her eyes. It was a ridiculous reaction, she knew that, but it was how she felt and she went with it:

“Thanks…I…Thank you, Giles.”

“You’re quite welcome, the high praise is most deserved. We saw Faith go down…is she all right?”

Buffy glanced at the woman in question:

“She’s fine, thanks to Willow’s magic medicine.”

He cleared his throat, the worry easy to discern as he spoke:

“Yes, it was a bit on the scary side from here. Satsu was in serious trouble, I’m sure she knows she owes her life to Faith?”

“Yes, she does.”

“Well, it was quite a heart stopping moment to be sure, and Faith was somewhat…”

Buffy knew exactly what Giles was trying to tell her:

“I’m on it, Giles. I saw it happen.”

His voice, although still worried, sounded relieved that they were on the same page.

“I shall speak to her about it tomorrow, but for now I merely offer my congratulations and admiration for a campaign splendidly planned and executed.”

“Thanks. I guess we’ll see you then.”

“Yes, you will. Giles, over and out.”

And then all was quiet from headquarters.

Buffy firmly told her group of three to stay seated, then went to organize the other girls who would be catching a ride on the soon to arrive helicopters.

“Buffy!”

Buffy glanced up at her sister, then back at Rona:

“Rona, can you and Vi make sure that…”

“Got it, Boss!”

Satisfied that the evacuation plans were in good hands, Buffy turned back to Dawn.

“Nice work, Dawnie. Hey, you’re bleeding! Are you…”

“They’re just scratches and tiny punctures. They feel like mosquito bites…except they don’t itch.”

“Still, maybe you should get them looked at in case…”

Dawn rolled her eyes:

“Will you stop with the worry? I’m fine. A little gross from ripping vamp heads off and knocking down walls, but I feel great. I’m going to get going now, I’ve got a hot date with a pond.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea, Will’s way too weak to teleport you.”

“Duh, Buffy. Hence my suggestion.”

Now it was Buffy’s turn to roll her eyes:

“Do you always have to be such a little smartass?”

But Dawn was already walking away, uttering her parting shot as she went:

“Yeah, my older sister’s my role model.”

Buffy smiled as she watched her go, a young woman now, yet still very much Buffy’s baby sister. She supposed it would always be that way; they would always be in the roles they were born into, even when they were senior citizens. She could live with that; at least it meant she’d always be the “boss” of Dawn.

That thought made her smile as she headed back to her three patients, but her good humor evaporated instantly when she was greeted by the sight of Faith lighting up a cigarette. That anger quickly shifted to her best friend when she spotted her slowly edging away from the group:

“Willow Rosenberg!”

Willow’s head turned and when she saw Buffy, she sat and ran at the same time, making her look like she was cringing away from a fireball being aimed her way.

“What did I just say to you?!”

“I know, but Buffy…”

“Fuck B, wanna lighten up? Not like we need…”

Buffy whirled, snatching the lit cigarette from Faith’s mouth and pinning her in her gaze, a gaze that had had many a vampire backing up just minutes before.

“Shut up, Faith.”

Faith opened her mouth to argue, but when her eyes met Buffy’s, she immediately decided discretion was the better part of valor. Satsu had a smirk on her face as she looked from Faith to Buffy, only to have it wiped off almost instantly.

“What the hell are you grinning at? You almost got yourself killed, so if I were you, I’d keep it low-key until you get your head stitched up and your brain unscrambled. Now all of you stay seated and be quiet!”

She glared at each of them individually to make sure her point got through loud and clear, then called to Kennedy as the sound of the approaching choppers increased.

“Can you handle the drive home? I want to get these three on one of the choppers and I think I’d better ride along if I want any of them actually making it to Dr. Anderson.”

Kennedy grinned over at the row of subdued fighters and wiped at the dried blood caked in the corner of her mouth:

“No problem, Buffy. We’re about ready to load up. Do you need any help with them?”

“No, I think I’ve made it clear just what the rules are. How many do we have with serious injuries?”

“Nine, counting Faith and Satsu, and none life-threatening.”

The helicopters were landing, and thankfully Xander had sent the large ones.

“Okay, let’s get them in and we’ll be on our way.”

The loading took less than ten minutes, organized experience making every transfer a smoothly efficient one.

The medical treatment began before they’d even lifted off the ground. Pain injections, minor clean-ups, even some stitching took place. Satsu was given a proper compress to hold against her head and Faith’s neck and shoulder were wrapped tightly by a serious young medic.

“You need a lot more than I’ve got the time to give you to close that up for good. We’ll have to wait until we get back to home base, so keep as still as possible. The bleeding is slow, but we don’t want to take a chance on it getting started again.”

“What’s this ‘we’ shit? All I give a fuck about is that you stop jabbin’ around in there. Christ, where’d ya get your degree: K-fuckin’-Mart?”

He looked completely nonplussed:

“I’m sorry, ma’am, I tried to be as gentle as I could be. Maybe another…”

Buffy interrupted:

“She’s fine and you didn’t hurt her. Don’t worry about it.”

He nodded as he headed to the front of the chopper to assist with the Slayer who had several broken ribs.

“What’d ya say that for? You don’t know…”

Buffy turned in her seat to face Faith:

“He didn’t hurt you, you were just taking out your…”

“Oh great, this the ‘analyze the psycho’ part of the mission?”

“I don’t know, Faith, do you want it to be?”

There wasn’t a sound from Faith, and Buffy shook her head:

“Then just shut up until we get back home.”

Faith leaned forward, wincing as her shoulder strap cut into her wound right through the wrap:

“What’s up your ass, Princess?”

“Don’t ask questions you know the answers to. I don’t want to get into this here, but I will if you keep pushing me.”

Faith glared at her, resisting the urge to rub her injury, then finally sat back.

“Fine, have it your way. Not like that’s anything new.”

Buffy didn’t rise to the bait, but instead turned her head to stare out the window and wonder how she was going to resist slamming Faith’s head into the side of the helicopter if she didn’t stay quiet.

***********************

Dr. Anderson made a pained face as she finished unwrapping the temporary bandage and got a look at Faith’s wound.

“This is very deep, you’re lucky to…”

“Yeah, yeah, I was there, I know.”

“Willow, you did a lovely job with the…”

Faith was already squirming:

“Chitchat’s a blast, but ya wanna sew me up and let me get the fuck outta here?”

The doctor reached for some supplies, tsking under her breath:

“I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple. This is a serious cut and whilst Willow’s field work is exemplary, stitches are…”

Faith sighed, irritated with all of the talking without any action:

“Great, whatever. Just fucking hurry it up.”

Dr. Anderson looked at Buffy who was standing nearby, leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest.

“And Buffy, what about you? Is that blood on your shirt…”

Buffy smiled for the first time since she’d arrived at the infirmary and shook her head:

“It’s not mine. I’ve just got some minor bumps and bruises….”

Satsu half sat up from her bed:

“And a shoulder that’s still hurting her whenever she…”

When Buffy’s eyes met hers, Satsu decided to lie back down and go radio silent. Willow, though, seemed oblivious to the danger and she was already up, standing next to Buffy and excitedly talking things over with Dr. Anderson:

“The spell I used could last her until her Slayer healing kicks in, as long as she’s careful. The pain though, that’s gonna be the big bad pretty soon. Hey, maybe I should try another…”

Willow was jerked back roughly, her arm firmly grasped in an angry Slayer’s hand:

“Willow Rosenberg, I swear, if you don’t stay down…”

Willow smiled her best smile as she eased back onto her bed:

“Okay, Buff, don’t get mad. Look, I’m down and I’m staying down.”

Buffy didn’t have time to respond properly before she heard Faith inhale in pain as the doctor began stitching the gash all the way closed.

“I think this will take three, maybe four days to heal fully. No training or patrolling until I give you the medical ‘all clear’. Tonight you need to be extremely careful. Keep your arm as still as possible and when you go to bed, sleep with it propped up on a pillow.”

It took several stitches until Dr. Anderson was satisfied and when she was done, she wrapped everything securely and taped down the ends to keep them from unraveling.

“Faith, if it begins bleeding again or if the pain becomes more than manageable, please return and let me or one of the other doctors have a look. Also, no showers for a few days. We need to keep it dry, so a bath is fine, just be careful not to get it wet. Let someone else wash your back for awhile.”

An assistant brought Dr. Anderson a sling and she quickly had Faith’s arm immobilized.

“I want you to wear this for the next couple of days, and make sure to stop by the pharmacy on your way out. They’ll have your pain medication ready for you.”

“Don’t need it.”

“Yes, you do. Willow’s spell is beginning to wear off and...”

“Not takin’ anything, so save it.”

Dr Anderson wanted to push the issue, but she could tell she wasn’t going to get anywhere.

“That’s up to you, of course, but I strongly recommend that you take the pills. Do you have any questions?”

Faith scooted forward with a slight grimace:

“Nope. Thanks for the fix and go.”

She stood and Buffy saw how shaky she was, even though she quickly covered it:

“I’m outta here, bitches.”

Buffy watched her go, marveling at the sheer bravado on display before she returned her attention to Dr. Anderson:

“Karen, can you make sure Satsu spends the night? She got hit in the head…”

“I don’t need to spend the night!”

Buffy never even looked her way:

“…pretty hard and I’d feel better if she was kept under observation.”

Dr. Anderson smiled:

“We’re already preparing a bed for her. Satsu, you’ve barely recovered from your last concussion, so it’s only prudent...”

Satsu looked like she was going to leap to her feet, but then thought better of it when she noticed she was the recipient of the scary “Angry Buffy” look, complete with raised eyebrow. She settled instead for arguing from her nearly prone position:

“I don’t have a concussion and I don’t need…”

Dr. Anderson was already shining a light in her eyes:

“Sorry, I’m afraid you’ve been overruled.”

Buffy patted Satsu’s arm consolingly as she made her way to the door:

“And Willow needs to rest, so no letting her assist you in any way.”

Dr. Anderson was tsking again as she gently peeled off Satsu’s bloody compress.

“Ow!”

“Based on the initial reports, no one’s injuries are life threatening, so that shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, the closest we had to a serious casualty was Miss Lehane, a situation Willow handled brilliantly.”

Buffy’s face hardened again:

“Yeah, I know just how close Miss Lehane came. Willow, no magic allowed.”

Willow knew that look and nodded reassuringly and vigorously:

“No need to worry about me, I’m snug as a slug in a rug.”

She gave Buffy her most innocent smile, and Buffy stared at her for a beat before turning back to Dr. Anderson:

“Okay, I want to be notified if Willow does any…”

“Buffy, come on!”

“…magic of any kind.”

“You know how boring it is in here if I’m not helping!”

“You can talk to Satsu.”

Dr. Anderson was busy preparing to treat her next patient:

“I’ll alert the staff.”

“Thank you.”

Willow slumped back dejectedly.

“Bug.”

Willow looked at Satsu, clearly puzzled:

“’Bug’, what?”

Before Satsu could answer, she yelped as Dr. Anderson administered a numbing shot.

“Ow! Would you take it easy? It’s ‘bug’, Willow.”

“Okay, so I’m bug as a slug in a rug. Wait, that doesn’t make any sense...Is that right?”

Buffy made her way out into the hallway, but she could still hear them clearly:

“No, the ‘slug’s’…OW! Is it supposed to hurt this much?”

Dr. Anderson’s voice was still calm, but it was starting to fray around the edges:

“Somewhat. It should be tolerable though, now would you please hold still? For stitches in this area, I really should shave your hair, but I’m trying to…”

The last thing Buffy heard before she headed up the stairs was Willow’s laughter and Satsu’s angry reply:

“Shave my hair?! Over your dead body!”

It made Buffy smile, but that feeling didn’t last long as she headed off to find Faith.

**************************

She was in Buffy’s suite sitting at the kitchen table, and everything about her was radiating anger and hostility. There was an open bottle of whiskey in front of her and about a fourth of it was already gone when Buffy walked in.

“Got any for me?”

“Suit yourself.”

Buffy got another glass from the cupboard and sat down across from her.

“Here.”

She placed a bottle of pills down in front of Faith:

“I picked up your painkillers.”

“Said I don’t want’em.”

“Faith, don’t do this.”

Faith poured them both a drink, then sat the bottle down with a little more force than was required.

“Don’t what, drink? What’s the difference ‘tween booze and pills?”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I don’t want to fight.”

“Yeah? I supposed to be a mind reader now?”

Buffy took a small sip of her drink:

“Oh I see, the best defense is a good offense.”

“No clue what the fuck you’re goin’ on about, but…”

Buffy slammed her glass down:

“No. You do not get to do this, Faith. I’m the one who’s mad, I’m the one who has a right to be mad. Don’t you dare try to turn this around.”

“What do ya want? Me to apologize? Say I did the wrong thing? Not gonna happen. Can’t help it if you need all your lovers to die ‘fore you cut’em loose.”

Buffy couldn’t believe what had just come out of Faith’s mouth:

“Are you out of your goddamn mind? Do you hear yourself?”

Faith said nothing as she downed the contents of her glass and then refilled it, all the while refusing to look at Buffy.

“You can pull all of the crap you want to, Faith, it won’t change anything. I saw what you did and…”

“What I did was my job, nothin’ more, nothin’ less.”

“I’m not faulting what you did, I’m concerned about how you did it.”

“Well Buffy, you’re always ‘concerned’ about somethin’. Wouldn’t be right if you didn’t have your nuts in some kinda uproar, ‘specially where I’m ‘concerned’.”

Buffy stared at her and eventually Faith looked up. The silence continued until Buffy spoke quietly:

“You are being such a bitch.”

“Oughta be used to it by now.”

“Well, I’m not and I’m not appreciating it either. We’re going to talk about what you did, so stop wasting our time and…”

Faith laughed:

“Man, you sure think you’re the boss of everything, don’t ya?”

“Based on what I saw out there, maybe I should be.”

“You wanna talk so fuckin’ bad? Talk.”

Buffy didn’t want the fight to escalate, but she was mad and she was scared, and nothing Faith was saying or doing was helping to diffuse the situation in the slightest.

“Faith, you almost got yourself killed and I’m not happy about it. You scared me and now you’re acting like…”

“I’m acting like I act. This is me, so not sure where you have any kinda beef. “

“I have a huge beef when the woman I love just throws herself into harm’s way when there are other, better ways to handle the situation.”

“Says you.”

“No, ‘says’ everyone who saw it.”

Faith poured herself another drink and knocked it back in one swallow:

“Yeah, well what the fuck ever. There was a sitch, I reacted how I react, and that’s it.”

“Are you seriously going to sit there and tell me you didn’t see any other way to…”

“No, I’m seriously going to sit here and tell you to butt the hell out of how I do my job. It’s none of your business.”

Buffy was all done with trying to keep the fight under control. She was mad and her voice came out loud and furious:

“So I don’t have the right to ask the woman I love not to get herself needlessly killed?”

“Listen Twinkie, you got your way of doin’ shit, I got mine. You can’t handle that, it’s your problem.”

“No, it’s our problem, especially when you get yourself killed. What were you doing jumping in like that?”

The look on Faith’s face was all the warning Buffy needed:

“Savin’ your special girl’s ass. Ya know, probably shoulda spent more time trainin’ her than fucking her.”

“Is this you working on being more normal, Faith? You just say the first thing that pops into your head without a giving a damn how it makes me feel? Wow, you really are giving this relationship a hundred percent.”

Faith had the decency to flush, but as her face darkened, so did her mood:

“Hey, you can’t handle the facts, don’t come cryin’…”

“Shut up! You want the facts? Well here they are: you fucked up, almost fatally. Is that plain enough for you? You almost died today because you didn’t give a damn about yourself. You just charged in and put yourself at risk when you could have gotten the same results if you’d…”

“Oh I get it, this is about how I don’t do things the ‘Buffy’ way.”

“No, you stupid idiot! This is because I thought you were dead! You’re just lucky you’re…”

“So what did ya think it was gonna be? I’m not some little puppet you can just pull the strings on when…”

And now she was alone, upset, worried, confused, and scared.

She took a shower to wash away the grime and blood, then fired up the Jacuzzi tub. She went into the kitchen where she ate a non-fat yogurt, then poured herself a glass of white wine. She gulped down half of it, then topped it off before carrying it back into the bathroom.

She slid gingerly into the warm water. Everywhere ached and her shoulder was killing her. It was all discolored and tender, but she knew it would be just fine by tomorrow, unlike her rib which she was pretty sure was only cracked, but hurt like hell every time she turned the wrong way.

Buffy stayed in the tub for almost an hour, her body appreciating the down time and pampering. Her mind raced the entire time as she went over the fight word by word, worrying about Faith, yet at the same time wanting to kill her.

There was a knock on the door and she decided to ignore it. The only person she wanted to see was Faith, and she knew that wouldn’t be happening any time soon. Whoever it was could go bother Giles or Xander, they could even go bother Rona or Kennedy or Vi. Buffy didn’t much care who they chose, just as long as it wasn’t her. She was off duty.

Evidently, trying someone else didn’t occur to the idiot banging on her door at regular intervals. They just kept knocking steadily, and finally Buffy gave up and climbed out of the tub. As she slid her robe on and squeezed the excess water from her hair, she made herself a silent promise that she wasn’t going to punch whoever it was right in the face.

It wasn’t their fault that she was in love with Faith and it wasn’t their fault that Faith was a big bitch who couldn’t handle anything emotional, personal, or serious without spouting off the meanest things she could think of all in an attempt to avoid the real topic at hand because she was too afraid to face it.

Buffy opened the door fully prepared to punch somebody right in the face.

“B.”

She was surprised, beyond surprised and she had to struggle to speak clearly:

“Fa…Faith.”

“Can I come in?”

Buffy stepped back:

“Of course you can. Why were you knocking?”

“Figured you might not want me here after the shit I said.”

“Well, I am mad, but I didn’t want you to leave in the first place, so I’m glad you’re back.”

Faith looked around nervously, before settling her gaze on Buffy:

“Okay look, I guess maybe I did fuck up. But I didn’t do it on purpose, no matter what you or Giles thinks. I wasn’t trying to get myself killed and it wasn’t about me not givin’ a shit about myself. I saw Satsu was in trouble and I wanted to help her.”

“I get that, Faith, and what you did was incredibly brave. You saved her life, there’s no doubt about that, but there were safer ways to go about it.”

“Yeah, guess maybe there were.”

She was silent and Buffy stood there looking at her expectantly.

“B…”

“F…”

“I know we gotta talk about it, and I will. But for tonight, could we maybe just let it go? Can I just be here?”

It took a moment, but then with a sigh Buffy offered her hand and when Faith took it, she entwined their fingers together.

“Does your shoulder hurt?”

“Yeah, like a bitch. Had to get it sewed back up.”

“I noticed the new sling. Your pills are in the kitchen, want me to get them?”

“I don’t like drugs, B. If I gotta, I’ll take’em, but I’d rather not.”

“Okay, but they’re there if you change your mind.”

They stood quietly, letting their fingers glide and play.

“B, I’m sorry about the crap I was sayin’ before.”

“I know.”

“I’m gonna try and stop doin’ that.”

“That’d be good.”

“Yeah.”

Faith moved closer, her breath tickling along Buffy’s neck:

“So uh, what ya wearing under the robe?”

“Not a thing.”

“Mmm…”

Faith’s good hand opened Buffy’s robe, and her fingers trailed lightly along her skin.

“Want me to help you out a little, Slayer?”

Buffy’s response came out shakily:

“Maybe…I mean, maybe we shouldn’t…you know, with your shoulder.”

“What’s this?”

Her fingertips grazed so softly over Buffy’s bruised rib, Buffy could barely feel it.

“And this…”

Faith’s lips whispered over all of the various cuts and bruises, her mouth pausing to kiss all around Buffy’s breast while her tongue flicked out.

Buffy’s hands clenched as she struggled not to grab onto Faith:

“Faith…We should probably…”

Faith’s teeth latched on gently, her tongue and lips happy to go along for the ride. Her arm encircled Buffy’s waist and easily pulled her closer. She was making it hard to even think, let alone speak, but Buffy kept trying:

“Your neck…”

“It’ll be fine as long as I stop havin’ tantrums.”

Her mouth slid up Buffy’s quivering body, stopping when she reached her discolored shoulder.

“Ouch. Want me to kiss it and make it all better?”

“Faith…I…I’m…”

Faith’s lips delicately traced all around her bruise as she began walking Buffy backwards into the bedroom:

“You smell so good, B. Clean, like the ocean.”

“My shampoo’s…my shampoo is…something.”

Faith sat her down on the edge of the bed, then carefully eased Buffy back until she was laying down.

“This is gonna be kinda tricky.”

Buffy was struggling not to just reach down and haul Faith up to her:

“We shouldn’t…You’re hurt and…”

“…and so are you. Odds are one of us is always gonna be banged up. Might as well get used to it.”

Faith laid tiny kisses on Buffy’s thighs, slowly pushing her legs apart as she made her way to her destination.

“Hey, B?”

“Y…Yes?”

It took awhile, but when Faith finally lifted her head, the grin on her face said it all:

“Think I can hear the ocean.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Willow, Xander, and Giles sat next to Faith as they watched Buffy putting the newer Slayers through their paces. The bleachers, built by Xander, weren’t the most comfortable seating in the world, but they were serviceable, at least for the short term. The fact that the four of them had popcorn and cokes made it seem as if they were at a sporting event.

Faith had a huge bowl and was grudgingly sharing it with Giles. He was eating somewhat sporadically, yet each time his hand wandered into her bowl, her gaze narrowed dangerously as she sized him up. He was oblivious, his eyes never leaving the small blonde woman who was riding this group of difficult girls especially hard.

“No, stop! If you tried that move on a vampire, you’d already be drained and tossed in the bushes.”

A few of the girls were muttering under their breath, just like they had been for the entire time they’d been there. They had escalated their comments in the last fifteen minutes, clearly tired of the strenuous workout and tired of listening to Buffy as they wondered out loud who had put her in charge and why.

“You three, come on. Let’s go.”

They looked up, somewhat startled but not exactly afraid. Three to one? They could take her easy; they were Slayers too.

“You guys seem to have all the answers. You want me to be quiet? Think I’ve got nothing to teach you? Prove it.”

Willow and Xander winced from their spot on the bleachers; they knew that tone very well. Giles sat up straighter, popcorn entirely forgotten as he smiled slightly and gave his full attention to his charge. Faith leaned back on the bench seat behind her and tossed some kernels into her mouth. Her grin was downright wicked; she knew what was coming and as far as she was concerned, the little bitches were asking for it.

They didn’t bother to inquire about the rules, didn’t bother with the concept of fair play. They rushed Buffy en masse, determined to show the master how she’d been surpassed by the student…all three of them. Buffy’s eyes flickered and Faith knew she was ticked that the newbies had no problem playing dirty.

There was a flurry of activity, and then new girls were flying all over the place. Faith crammed more popcorn into her mouth; not an easy feat since she was laughing her ass off. Willow was peeking through the fingers splayed across her face, Xander was still wincing in sympathy, and Giles was fairly beaming as he looked on with pride as Buffy unleashed her skills.

One girl slammed up against the far wall, the blast of air that shot out of her at impact and the pained groaning that started up almost instantly were easy to hear. The second girl tackled a large metal trash can, hitting it at an angle that made it look like she was making love to it. She embraced it, her arms and legs wrapped tightly around it as they both fell to the floor.

The third girl, the ringmaster, found herself held in Buffy’s iron-like grasp. Buffy was behind her, holding one of the girl’s arms bent up painfully behind her back, her other arm wrapped around her student’s waist, effectively pinning her free arm helplessly to her side.

She pulled up just slightly, causing her prisoner to gasp and fling her head back to rest on Buffy’s shoulder. Buffy’s mouth went to the girl’s ear, her lips almost caressing as they murmured along:

“Well hotshot, your friends are out of it and your neck…”

Buffy’s mouth slid down to her throat and nipped at it, causing the girl to jump and Faith to put her bowl down carelessly and lean forward, her eyes darkening at the sight.

“…is mine for the taking. You’re dead.”

She flung her captive forward and away from her. The girl staggered and stumbled as she tried to catch her balance, but Buffy had shoved her with just enough force to make that impossible. She pin wheeled her arms and tried to right herself, but she finally lost her tenuous grip on “upright” and slid face first into the legs of the students still standing paired off in the front row.

The other two girls were up after finally managing to break their intimate associations with the wall and trash can, and they were gimpily making their way back to the group.

“This isn’t a game. This isn’t playtime. You’re Slayers, and you’re going to be fighting for your lives every night. There will always be a better fighter than you, someone stronger, smarter, more skilled. If you don’t want to listen to what I’m teaching you, if you want to make smart ass comments instead and play around like you’re in high school, have at it. I’ll make sure your headstone’s a pretty one. Class dismissed.”

They exited in near silence, no one even daring to so much as clear their throat.

Buffy stood staring after them until the last girl was out of sight, then wiped her face with a towel as she headed over to the gang in the bleachers. Xander immediately thrust out his bowl of popcorn:

“Here, take it. Just don’t hurt me!”

She smiled and rolled her eyes:

“Shut up, Xander. I had to get their attention somehow.”

She took a handful of his popcorn as Willow spoke up:

“And attention was grabbed, boy, was it ever grabbed.”

“Too much?”

Willow offered up her drink to her grateful friend.

“Nope, I’d say exactly the right amount of attention was asked for and given.”

“I’d very much concur, Buffy. Those three were behaving quite abysmally the entire session…Bloody well time you took them in hand.”

Buffy smiled at him as she gave Willow back her nearly empty can.

“You think they’d know better, but I guess that’s why they’ve been classified as troublemakers.”

She turned deliberately to Faith:

“Okay, so what’s with the silence?”

“Nothing. Just wonderin’ if you’re gonna give’em a lap dance tomorrow.”

Buffy smiled and took the four steps necessary to put her right against Faith’s legs:

“Nope, lap dances are never given this early in the training process. Maybe next week if the group advances far enough.”

Faith tried not to smile, but Buffy saw the flash of a dimple.

“Besides, I only lap dance for one person now.”

She straddled Faith, sitting down casually and wrapping her arms around her neck and losing her hands in the thick, dark hair.

As Faith pulled her closer, Xander’s bowl banged between the bleacher seats and clattered to the floor, sending all eyes his way.

“S…Sorry. Gotta go check on…go do…be elsewhere.”

And then he was clambering down the steps and in just moments he was out of sight. Giles issued a long suffering sigh:

“I shall have to inform Roger that a clean-up is necessary. He never takes these things in good spirit, in fact he believes it wouldn’t be remiss to institute a ‘no eating policy’ in all of the training rooms.”

“Guy’s obviously got a few screws loose, G-man.”

“Quite. Well, I shall take my leave now as I’ve a stack of paperwork that needs to be dealt with before next week. I’m not at all certain how that’s to be accomplished, but there’s the challenge. Goodbye, all.”

Faith was getting happier. Her face was resting in between Buffy’s breasts and as each person left, her hands felt free to drift lower.

Willow cleared her throat as she stood:

“Okay, I guess I should go too before I witness something I probably don’t need to see. Besides, I’ve got a ton of books to read, a bunch of spells to study, and a nap or two in my immediate future.”

“That’s great, Red. Don’t let us keep.”

Willow smiled as she stacked the two remaining bowls inside one another, then placed the soda cans precariously inside the top one.

“Men, you know? Leave it to the women to tidy up.”

She shook her head good naturedly and headed down the stairs carrying the remnants of their mini-feast carefully. Despite or maybe because of her efforts, she suddenly lost control before she’d managed three steps. Popcorn and soda rained down, slipping through the gaps in the steps to land near Xander’s debris.

No one spoke as Willow looked down at the mess, then back up at the Slayers:

“Wow, Roger’s really gonna be mad. See ya!”

And then she was gone, the door rushing open as she exited, then slowly springing itself closed.

“So, where were we?”

“Think you promised me a lap dance.”

Buffy laughed:

“Somehow that’s not quite how I remember it.”

Faith shifted and slid Buffy back slightly:

“No prob, let’s make a new memory.”

Buffy kissed her, moving sensuously and relishing the groan that Faith blew softly into her mouth. She kept rocking as Faith’s tongue came over to visit, and now it was Buffy’s turn to moan.

Faith was the best kisser ever, and Buffy could have stayed where she was for a week…a week.

“Faith…”

“Just keep movin’, B…Just like that.”

“Faith…”

“Shh…”

Faith’s mouth sought out Buffy’s again, but this time Buffy evaded her:

“Faith…”

“Stop jawin’ and just let me…”

Faith!”

“What?!”

“What was Giles talking about?”

Buffy wasn’t expecting an actual answer, at least not until Faith stiffened under her.

“Faith?”

She tried to recover…

“No clue.”

…but it was too late.

Buffy pulled back to look at her more fully, but Faith was already struggling to stand up. Buffy bore down, refusing to let her leave.

“Whoa, what’s going on?”

“Nothin’, just shouldn’t be gettin’ it on here. We should…”

She tried to move again, but Buffy had the angle and Faith couldn’t quite manage it.

“Faith, we’re not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”

There was only silence from Faith, silence and a refusal to look at Buffy, which wasn’t easy given their intimate position. At any other time, Buffy might have admired her determination, but at the moment all it was doing was pissing her off…and scaring her.

“Are you going to answer me?”

“…”

Buffy could feel the tension running through Faith, and now she was worried.

There hadn’t been any problems over the last two months, not since the night they’d gotten the Scythe back. That big discussion hadn’t taken place until the following afternoon, but Faith had proven herself to be a woman of her word.

She’d been the one to broach the topic and she’d been totally forthcoming as she’d answered every question Buffy had for her, as well as volunteering some revealing information about herself. Her honesty and willingness to do what Buffy knew was hard for her to do…well, Buffy had found herself falling deeper and deeper into love with every word Faith uttered.

Since then, everything had run smoothly between them. Faith had moved into Buffy’s room eagerly and officially, all with a sardonic laugh:

“Well, fuck me, nobody saw this one comin’.”

They fit together perfectly, complementing each other like they were made to. It quickly became clear to both of them that they could do it; they could actually pull it off and be a couple, and Buffy had never been happier. She knew for damn sure Faith never had been either.

It was all perfect, like a little miracle, a reprieve, a final chance to make things right, and for once they hadn’t blown it. They’d grabbed on tight and Buffy was happy; deliriously, gloriously, wildly happy. The pieces of her life had all fallen into place, and Buffy Summers was living large and loving it.

Or she had been until now, because now things were apparently somehow taking a turn for the worse. Faith still wasn’t answering and she was still avoiding all eye contact, and Buffy was getting mad…and scared.

She tangled her hand in Faith’s hair and pulled on it hard, jerking Faith’s head back uncomfortably and making her face her.

“OW!”

“Oh, so you can talk. Great!”

“B…”

Buffy applied more pressure, making Faith grimace:

“What is going on?”

“Plannin’ to torture it outta me?”

“Maybe, if I have to. Now talk.”

“…Giles is leaving next week.”

Buffy’s hand loosened:

“What?”

“He’s leavin’.”

She swung her leg off of Faith and stood.

“For where? How long?”

“Buncha places. No idea time wise.”

Buffy was stunned, but then her faraway gaze cleared and she looked at Faith:

“How long have you known about this?”

“A while.”

“Well how the hell could you not tell me? How the hell could he not tell me?!”

“I asked him not to ‘til I told ya first.”

The words made no sense to Buffy, but that didn’t matter at the moment:

“Wow, he really slipped up. That’s not like him at all.”

“He didn’t fuck up, B, I told him I already told you.”

But Buffy still wasn’t listening:

“God, here we just patched things up and he goes right back to keeping secrets! He wonders if I can ever trust him again and then he just keeps right on…”

“B!”

Buffy looked at her angrily:

“What?! Oh, don’t tell me you’re going to defend him keeping me out of the loop again? I don’t get it, why doesn’t he tell me anything? It’s not like I’m some…”

Faith got to her feet:

“I’m goin’ with him.”

Buffy just stood there for a minute, the time ticking by slowly as Faith waited for the explosion.

“Something must be wrong with my hearing. I thought you just said you’re going with him.”

“B, let me explain.”

Buffy walked down the bleacher stairs, then turned around when she reached the floor:

“Oh by all means, Faith, you go ahead and explain if now’s a good time for you. I wouldn’t want to rush you though, so if you just want to wait until your stupid ass is going out the door…”

Faith walked down to stand next to her, but when she reached out for her, Buffy stepped back.

“B, I knew you were gonna get upset, okay? I been puttin’ it off ‘cause I didn’t wanna have it be a big deal and…”

“Good idea, Faith! And you’re so right, it’s not a big deal at all that you’ve been keeping secrets and lying to me. It’s not even a big deal that you’re leaving me to run off with Giles. I mean, you’ve done it before, I think we all know how it goes. You two have a good time.”

She turned to leave but Faith grabbed her by the arm:

“B, c’mon, let me explain. I know it’s not the best thing ever, but…”

“Take your goddamn hand off me.”

Faith did, the look in Buffy’s eye wasn’t to be ignored.

“B, I get you’re mad, okay? But would you just…”

“How long have you known?”

“…A while.”

“How long, Faith?”

Faith felt like she was digging her own grave:

“Just short of a month.”

The look on Buffy’s face made Faith feel awful. There was betrayal, anger, and hurt all swirling past, and Faith reached out for her again:

“B, please just let me…”

This time Buffy stood her ground, slapping Faith’s hand away from her.

“I don’t want to hear it. Go ahead and go. You and Giles more than have my blessing.”

“Buffy…”

“You can go to hell, for all I care.”

And with that she was gone, the door slamming into the wall, then shutting slowly as Faith stared after her.

“That’s just fucking great.”

*********************

The next two days were not exactly a picnic for anyone, but Faith was more than certain she was being seen as the ant. Everyone was mad at her: Giles because she’d outright lied to him, Willow because Buffy was upset, and Satsu…well, Faith kept checking behind herself because who the hell knew what was actually a throat cutting offense.

Buffy wouldn’t speak to her, making living and working with her a difficult and suddenly uncomfortable proposition. What had been a surprisingly easy existence for Faith was now an excruciating one, dragging out one painful minute at a time until she thought she was going to explode from the tension.

They’d patrolled separately the past two nights, but tonight they were out together. There was some new demon on the scene, or rather some old demon that wasn’t even supposed to exist anymore. It apparently hadn’t received the memo on its own extinction and had decided that now was as good a time as any to reappear.

It had come out of a hundred year hibernation and had quickly started chawing its way through the people of the surrounding area. It had already severely injured four other Slayers, nearly killing three of them, and Buffy had quickly gathered her very best for a hunting party.

Giles had suggested they keep the groups small: something to do with kings and guys named “Robert” and “Bruce”…or maybe just because of the way the demon supposedly regenerated by using the energy of the living beings around it. Buffy had stop listening as soon as she’d heard the words “quite interesting” and “in 1296” and had assigned Kennedy, Rona, and Vi to one group and Faith, Willow and herself to the other.

As much as Buffy didn’t want to spend the night with Faith, they worked together seamlessly, as did Rona and Vi. Willow and Kennedy had to be separated, and there was no way Buffy was saddling herself with the irritant that was Kennedy…and definitely not the irritant that was Faith and Kennedy together.

The job of the other group was strictly recon, and Xander had explained their mission in great detail. They didn’t have a “regeneration stopper”, so their orders were to find the demon, then call Buffy and wait for back-up to arrive before they engaged the enemy. Buffy put it even more directly:

“Kennedy, I will personally kick your butt if you don’t follow the plan. Rona, Vi, the same goes for you if she doesn’t.”

The patrol had been uncomfortable to say the least, and Faith couldn’t remember the last time anyone had spoken to her. They’d been wandering all over the place for more than three hours now, this was their fourth trip through the cemetery after their third trip to the woods, and Faith was bored out of her skull.

Although Buffy and Willow were occasionally chatting with each other, it wasn’t with the easy camaraderie they normally shared. It was clear as the time dragged on that Faith’s presence had them on edge, maybe even more on edge than the possibility of finding the demon. She tried not to say anything, but finally Faith couldn’t keep it in anymore:

“Jesus Christ, can we maybe set this shit to the side for now?”

Willow made a strange moaning noise under her breath and Faith saw why when Buffy turned to look at her, practically breathing fire:

“Sure. We’ll just set it aside, Faith, let’s say for five more days? Then you’ll be gone and we can keep setting it aside forever. Does that work for you?”

“Look, I’m not the one who won’t talk! You’re the one who’s got her ass on her shoulders and won’t listen to…”

“You listen to this, you crazy bitch: you are not going to treat me this way. Maybe you don’t get it, obviously you’re stupid enough not to, but you’re all done getting to use me.”

Faith couldn’t have been more confused if Buffy had been speaking in another language…hell, Buffy was speaking in another language.

“What the fuck are you talking about? I’m not using you! I’m trying to figure out how to…”

Buffy advanced and before she could stop herself, Faith took two quick steps back:

“Yeah, you’d better back up. You fucked me, that’s exactly what you did. You knew you were never staying, but you lied to me and said you wanted me, this relationship. Anything to get into my pants, right Faith?”

Faith was finally getting it, finally understood why Buffy was so furious and hurt.

“You’ve shown me exactly what I mean to you by making huge decisions without even talking to me. You’ve got some secret scheme going with Giles again because why? Because ‘Delicate’ Buffy can’t handle the truth? And since when did you become Giles’ ‘go to Slayer’? How did I suddenly become not worthy of his trust?”

“B…”

“Well, guess what? Tender, gullible Buffy is all through. I’m not doing this anymore. You two want to go God knows where for God knows how long, go. Just don’t expect me to be waiting for either of you when you come back.”

“Would you let me get a word in edgewise? I’m not using…”

“You had plenty of time to talk, almost one solid month, and you chose not to say a thing. When were you going to tell me, Faith? When you had your bag all packed and were heading out the door?”

“Um, guys?”

“No, don’t interrupt, Will, let her answer. When were you going to tell me?”

Faith looked rattled:

“I don’t fuckin’ know, okay? I didn’t have a plan!”

“Yes you did: keep fucking naive Buffy, then turn it into a whole ‘get some, get gone’ thing.”

“You really think that and I’m s‘posed to be the stupid one?!”

“Hey, guys?”

Buffy totally ignored Willow as she began advancing on Faith in a fury:

“Oh no, I’m the stupid one for sure. See, I fell in love with you and I thought you felt the same way about me. I was imagining us building a life together, I was dreaming of a future with a woman who doesn’t even exist. That’s just how stupid I am, so thanks for clearing everything up.”

Faith saw the tears in Buffy’s eyes, but when she reached out to comfort her, Buffy shoved her back, knocking her to the ground.

“I don’t want you touching me. You’ll be gone in five days, then we can pretend none of this ever happened.”

“Buffy!”

She turned with her temper reaching the boiling point:

“What, Willow?!”

She saw what. The demon was standing there about ten feet away, its head cocked as if it couldn’t understand what it was seeing.

Buffy’s question came out in a whispered yell:

“And this wasn’t worth mentioning to us before?!”

“I did mention, but you were too busy yelling at Faith!”

“Faith, are you up?”

Buffy didn’t want to risk taking her eyes off the demon, but Faith lightly touched her back as she slowly moved past.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Will?”

“I can keep it from regenerating: its life and parts. That’s it.”

Buffy nodded:

“That helps big time. Faith?”

“Got it. Front and back, side to side, or turns?”

“Turns, to start.”

Willow’s soft chanting was a reassuring sound; at least they’d only need to kill the demon once. The other Slayers who’d faced this thing hadn’t been so lucky, and it was easy to see why they hadn’t come out on top.

This was a different kind of monster, not quite ancient, but clearly something that was not run of the mill either. It was primal, a killing machine that looked to be built for nothing else. It was easily over six feet tall, solid and strong, its hide thick and its teeth sharp and numerous. Throw in the long, jagged claws and the unnerving intelligence easily spotted in its eyes, well this demon was a nearly perfect predator.

The demon was also a nearly perfect predator who no longer looked confused. He sensed the imminent danger, his instincts telling him he was now facing worthy adversaries, and his gaze began flicking rapidly between Buffy and Faith.

It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to keep track of both Slayers as Faith continued her steady progress off to the side, and the demon was reacting with displeasure. It began growling, its stance no longer puzzled and inquisitive, but aggressive and intimidating.

“Okay, why don’t we do this the easy way? You stand there, and we’ll kill you. See how easy that is?”

It was possible that the demon did see how easy it was, perhaps that was why it decided to attack at just that moment. Regardless of the reason, it was on the move with a speed that surprised Buffy. She was able to shift to the side, but the demon still connected with his claws as he blew past.

Her cry of pain was soft, but it made both Willow and Faith flinch when they heard it, as did the sight of the blood that began trickling almost immediately down her left arm. Buffy didn’t let it throw her though, swinging her battle axe at him as he went by.

His cry was much louder than hers, and his injury, complete with spurting blood, looked to be much more severe. He spun impossibly fast to face her, the anger apparent on his way less than human features.

“Gee, guess you’re one of those ‘dish it out’ kinda guys.”

He was on the move again, but this time Buffy was ready. She held her ground and fended off the attack, striking out with perfect timing as she sliced off one of the demon’s arms. He backed away, then stood with a smug confidence as he waited for his limb to regenerate. It wasn’t long before he began realizing that something was different.

He glared at Buffy as a pair of long spikes began protruding from the two arms he had left. Even before they’d fully extended, he was on the move again, his whole being focused on killing the irritant in front of him. That was when Faith decided to tag herself in.

She came barreling in from the side, both feet smacking right into the stump, knocking him off balance and sending him down to one knee with the pain. She immediately went in for the killing blow, but he blocked her knife thrust with his arm and delivered a powerful punch of his own.

Faith felt the spike sliding along her jaw as she went sailing back, crashing violently into the side of a granite tomb. She hit her head hard enough to have her seeing stars, and if she’d have been with it enough, she would have been looking for the cartoon birdies. As it was, she struggled to stay conscious and get back into the fight.

Buffy approached then, her axe aimed at his neck, but he kicked out fiercely. Her weapon went spinning off as she crashed loudly into the nearby bushes, her momentum slowing only when she banged painfully up against a headstone.

The demon had had enough. His head swiveled to see Willow not five paces away, and he went straight for her with death in his eyes. She kept chanting, unable to stop without compromising the non-regenerating spell. There was no way they could win without it and Willow took several steps back to evade her impending demise.

Her back to a tree, she kept reciting the necessary words as she waited to be killed…or for the Slayer to save her as she’d done countless times over the years. As a spike thrust towards Willow, two strong hands grabbed onto it, snapping it in half.

The demon howled with the pain, but kept his focus on Willow. He tried to impale her with his last remaining spike, but Buffy thrust herself between him and his intended target at the last second, taking the impact with her already injured arm.

The pain was intense, but Buffy punched him in the face with her good arm. He staggered back a couple of paces, the skewer pulling free as he went, but he recovered quickly and came at her again.

She didn’t have the time to reach down to recover her axe, so she kicked it at the demon. He seemed to smile as it sailed harmlessly past and he prepared to ram the spike right through her brain. Buffy leaned back against Willow and then his head was bouncing on the grass, his body standing in place for an instant before it too dropped to the ground.

Faith stood there looking a little worse for wear, but there was also a cocky grin on her face and it greatly lessened the impact of the blood dripping from her chin:

“Nice kick, B.”

“The catch wasn’t bad either.”

Willow stepped out from behind Buffy, said a few words, and then they all watched as the remains disintegrated and dispersed into the breeze.

“Okay, dead demon is staying dead demon permanently. Good job, guys!”

“You kicked all kindsa ass too, Red.”

“In a spelly kinda way, I am not to be trifled with. Buffy, is your arm…”

“It’s okay, just excruciatingly painful. Any healing help coming our way?”

Willow smiled apologetically and gently patted her shoulder as she looked at Faith’s cut:

“Can’t, sorry. The regenerating spell’s too close to the healing one, so I don’t want the essences crossing and maybe going all wacky on us.”

Faith was already tearing the bottom of her shirt into strips:

“Gimme your arm, B.”

Faith worked silently and efficiently, and Buffy stared at her closely.

“How’s your head?”

“It’s alright. Hold still.”

Buffy reached out and lightly brushed along her face:

“You’re bleeding.”

“Looks worse. Fucker just swiped me.”

“Let me see.”

Faith stood unmoving and let Buffy have a good look.

“The bleeding’s stopping. It still looks like it hurts though.”

“Yeah, but I can deal.”

Buffy’s hand lingered and Faith leaned into what was quickly becoming a caress. Buffy stepped closer, her body taking her exactly where it wanted to be, but then she regained control of herself and turned to Willow.

“B…”

Buffy ignored her completely:

“Ready to go, Will?”

Willow had her back to them as she appeared to be trying to blend into the background.

“Will?”

“Red!”

“Huh? Oh, are you guys ready to…”

“Yeah, I’m more than ready, but B here wants to keep this shit goin’.”

Buffy glared at her:

“You get what you earn, F.”

“Whatever, Blondie. Have fun keepin’ score.”

She stomped off ahead of them, clearly pissed. Willow started to speak, but one look at Buffy’s expression had her swallowing her words.

“Fuck you, Faith.”

The reply came quickly from the darkness:

“Wish you would, B.”

No one said another word all the way home.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The sunshine streaming in through the conference room windows wasn’t having its usual effect on the small woman sitting at the huge table; in fact she wasn’t even noticing it. She was staring off into space, a large stack of papers in front of her demanding her attention, but Buffy wasn’t remotely in the mood to let herself be dictated to by anyone or anything.

She was still a little sore from the night before and her arm was still zinging her fairly regularly, but her physical aches and pains weren’t the source of her discomfort, at least not her major discomfort. That was all coming from her head and her heart, and she could feel the tears trying to build inside her again. She struggled mightily to push them away, but a few trickled down her face despite her efforts.

Faith was leaving her in just four days and Buffy couldn’t remember ever feeling pain like this before. The most obvious comparison was when Angel had left, but this was way worse. Maybe it was because she was older and the stakes were higher now, but she also knew that she loved Faith more than she’d ever loved Angel. Angel had always been a fantasy, but Faith was real life, the real life Buffy wanted.

This pain was deeper, everything that she was hurt, and it brought up all of the other times she’d been deserted by someone she loved. Her father, Angel, Riley, her mother, Giles, Spike, and now Faith…again.

Buffy had spent a lifetime trying to figure out why it always happened and she had managed to convince herself it was all due to some very strange and extenuating circumstances, and nothing else. Her father was a bad father, Angel was cursed, Riley was the wrong man, her mother was unlucky, Giles was mistaken, Spike had a destiny to fulfill, and Faith…well, Faith had been different.

She had always stood out from the pack and she still did, that was what made nothing about the current situation right or even remotely fair. And although Buffy was more than old enough to know that life was hardly ever fair, she was tired of always having it proven to her with the people she loved.

Faith’s newest betrayal felt like exactly what it was: a new kind of betrayal, the biggest one ever, and Buffy saw her bright and shiny future receding into the distance, taunting her and enjoying her suffering as it left her standing in the dust. Her life, the joy and peace she had finally found, was being stripped away from her as if none of it had ever existed, and Buffy didn’t understand why.

How was it possible that Faith had merely used her? She just couldn’t wrap her mind around that idea because nothing had felt that way. Not one moment stood out as false to her, and yet the evidence was staring her right in the face and pushing her to the conclusion that it had all been a charade, a chance to…Well, a chance to what exactly?

Get in her pants? Make her admit to feelings that were better left unsaid? Force her to her knees pleading just so that Faith could tell her “no”? Maybe Buffy could have believed those reasons years ago, but she couldn’t believe them now. Not after what they’d shared, not when she thought of the passion in those dark eyes, and not when she let herself feel those hands on her body.

Buffy was a woman who knew what love felt like, she’d been lucky enough to feel it more than once, and she had never felt a love as intense as the one Faith had branded her with. She had burned it into Buffy’s skin with every touch, every look, every word; Faith had burned it in with everything she had.

No matter how Buffy looked at it, the whole situation was wrong. Faith had known for a month that she was leaving…a month…and she had chosen to remain silent. She had busied herself with making Buffy fall deeper and deeper in love with her, had whispered the sweetest words Buffy had ever heard, and the dirtiest ones too, and had offered everything Buffy had ever wanted, only to pull it away after dangling it so close.

Months ago Buffy might have believed the conclusion that the evidence was trying to lead her to, but she knew better now. Faith was not that cruel; she wouldn’t do that to anyone, least of all to Buffy. That wasn’t who Faith was anymore, she’d proven that time after time since she’d been back, and despite everything pushing Buffy in the other direction, she had her heels dug in and was refusing to let herself go there.

She had known from the start that letting herself get involved with Faith was going to be a challenging proposition. Only a fool would think it could be otherwise, and Buffy had never been a fool. But this was past what she’d expected, and it pushed all the wrong buttons in her and hurt her where she was the most vulnerable.

No matter how hard she tried, all Buffy could see was that she was being left……again. Everyone left her sooner or later, there was obviously something about her that caused the people she loved to run from her. She gave them her love, she gave them herself, and sooner or later they all got their fill and ran for the hills.

She had thought Faith was different, that it was true love, the kind that would last forever because it had already lasted through all of the heartache they’d caused each other over the years. But no, the joke was on Buffy because here was Faith running just like everyone else always did, and Buffy couldn’t stand it.

Toss in the fact that Giles was leaving again as well and…

“Ah, Buffy. There you are.”

She never even glanced up, her face not sad or angry, just blank as if she were empty inside. He continued:

“Might I have a word?”

“Have several, just not with me.”

She gathered up her papers as she prepared to leave, but Giles’ voice stopped her:

“Surely I mean more to you than that.”

She stopped, finally meeting his eyes:

“What do you want, Giles? I already gave you my blessing, so just go. Best of luck.”

“What I want is to talk this situation through with you.”

She tossed the papers down furiously, not even noticing that several fell to the floor.

“So then, talk. Hey, why don’t you give me the speech you gave me a couple of months ago, you know the one where you apologize for cutting me out of your life? Tell me again how you want us to be closer, how important it is for you to regain my trust.”

“I understand your anger, Buffy, but I’m afraid you’re not looking at the big picture.”

“Maybe I’m not. Maybe I’m only seeing the picture where my Watcher is leaving me and taking the woman I love with him, just so they can go play their special little game again…all without any explanation or warning to me, of course. I’m not sure I can stand to look at the big picture, this one already hurts way too much.”

His glasses were off as he sat down heavily in the chair across from her.

“Buffy, I am truly sorry. I’d planned to speak to you about this when I first decided to…”

“So then why didn’t you? You had to know something like this was going to happen. What is it, Giles? Do you just not care or is it just none of my business again?”

“Faith asked me not to say anything until she’d spoken to you first, and despite my misgivings, I decided to honor her request. She managed to charm and wheedle my compliance for far too long, and I’m afraid we’re now all paying the price for that error in judgment.”

She sighed and bent down to pick up the papers that had fallen to the floor, then busied herself for a minute shuffling them all back into a neat pile.

“Here’s what I don’t understand: why does it have to be like this between us now? Just tell me, Giles, what have I done to make you think you have to hide everything from me?”

He responded instantly:

“Nothing, Buffy, you’ve done absolutely nothing. There’ve just been a confluence of events of late that have conspired to create the impression that I don’t trust you. But I do trust you, implicitly.”

She snorted derisively:

“Right, silly me. Giles, you haven’t trusted me since Spike, and I don’t get it. I wasn’t wrong about him and my judgment wasn’t impaired like you thought it was back then.”

“Buffy, we’ve discussed this at length.”

“Well, evidently it wasn’t lengthy enough, and while we’re at it, maybe we should have some lengthy talk about how you sent Faith on some covert murder mission…”

He slammed his fist down on the table:

“How many bloody times do you want me to explain that? I did not send her on a ‘murder mission’. My God, Buffy, how could you even think that of me?”

“I guess the same way you can think I’m not worthy of being let in on your plans whenever they’re ‘sensitive’. Wasn’t that the word you used?”

His hand rubbed over his face in frustration:

“You know very well I was trying to help Faith. I presented the mission to her in the way that would best allow her to accept. She was drifting, Buffy, becoming convinced that she was still the same young girl she used to be. I could not just sit idly by and allow that to happen. I knew she would never outright murder Lady Genevieve and she needed to know that too, once and for all.”

“And I’m not even allowed to have a heads-up?”

“Are you trying to imply that you wouldn’t have interfered if you’d known?”

Buffy stood glaring at him, her turmoil plain to see as she sat back down:

“…I probably would’ve.”

“Yes, I believe you would have and that is why I couldn’t confide in you. Buffy, she needed to do it on her own. She needed to discover for herself that she is not evil, that she can resist its pull no matter the temptation, and that she has something positive to offer in this world.”

“Fine, okay. Even though I don’t like how you did it, I get it. But now? I’m in love with her, you know that, and I just don’t get how you can take her away…You’re using her gratitude and loyalty against her and it’s just not fair!”

“Buffy…”

Buffy leaned forward, tears filling her eyes as she looked at him:

“We have a chance here, Giles, a real chance. After all these years, everything we’ve done to each other, we finally have the chance to make things right. Please don’t take that away from us.”

He went to her then, his arms encircling her tightly. She resisted for only a moment before she collapsed into him and began sobbing:

“Please, Giles…”

“Shhh…it will be all right, I promise you, Buffy. It’ll be all right.”

When she had control of herself a few minutes later, he released her and reached into his pocket for his handkerchief. She wiped the tears from her face, blew her nose, and then grinned a little shakily at him:

“I’m guessing you’d rather I just keep this?”

“Yes, I think that’d be for the best.”

He returned to his seat and waited until she looked him in the eye:

“Buffy, I have no wish to take Faith away from you. It never entered my head that she would plan to come along when I first broached the subject. I tried to dissuade her, but she became quite adamant all too quickly.”

“Then why didn’t you tell her you didn’t expect her to go with you?”

“Because I know what this is all about. Faith doesn’t want to leave you, not really. She’s in love with you and has been for a long time, nearly from the start. The fact that you return her affections has been like a dream come true for her.”

“So she’s going to leave me?”

He smiled at her, his most reassuring and kind one, the one that told her he had confidence in her ability to get the job done.

“Buffy, I understand your anger towards both of us, but please, I ask that you put aside the immature way she’s handled things and think the situation through. Talk to her, listen to her, and then…well, then if necessary, bloody well kick her arse.”

“Giles…”

“She wants to explain things to you, let her. If you’re going to be angry with anyone, then I’m your man. I should know better, I’ve had many relationships in my life and I understand what it takes to keep them going. Faith does not have the first clue, but trust me, she wants to learn.”

Buffy had that frowny look on her face that said she was thinking, and thinking hard.

“Buffy, you’ve perhaps heard the expression: ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’?”

“I think so.”

“Well, this would be the pound. Faith is a difficult young woman to deal with at times, but she is well worth the effort. She’s in love with you, but she doesn’t have any experience when it comes to this kind of thing. It might not seem fair, but I believe it’s up to you to sort the situation out.”

They sat quietly for several minutes, Buffy lost in thought as she mentally reviewed what Giles had said. For his part, Giles leaned back and watched the sunlight lazing its way down onto the lawn.

“Giles?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Buffy, and I am sorry I’ve made such a hash of this. I just thought it best if she explained the situation to you herself, an event she assured me was most imminent nearly every time we spoke. She managed to string me along most impressively.”

“Faith does have a way about her.”

He stood and stretched, a fond smile on his face:

“I’d say that describes you quite nicely as well.”

Buffy gathered up her stack of papers and they headed out, each off to different destinations with their minds on the same thing.

“I don’t want you to go either, Giles.”

“I know, I’m not looking forward to it myself. But we need these girls rounded up and it’s my duty as a Watcher.”

“Yeah, but I like it better when my Watcher’s here.”

“And I very much prefer to be near my Slayer, but there’s really nothing to be done about it. Besides, I’m quite sure you’re more than capable of handling anything that comes up.”

“But…”

His arm wrapped around her shoulders and delivered a quick, but loving squeeze:

“Buffy, I’m only a phone call away and I shall be returning. However, if you feel the need to be under the direct supervision of a Watcher, Dawn has already volunteered to…”

“Over my dead body!”

“I’m afraid that threat doesn’t have quite the same impact when uttered by you.”

“Well this time I’ll make sure I can’t be brought back.”

He laughed as he opened the door and motioned for her to go ahead:

“Now, Buffy, Dawn is going to make a splendid Watcher. She’s brilliant with languages, fully understands a Slayer’s needs, and she is cool, calm, and collected under pressure. Her grasp of demon lore is…”

Buffy made a throat cutting gesture.

“Oh, all right! But I’d say you’ve at best a year to prepare yourself for the certain eventuality that your baby sister is going to…”

“You know what? I’ve changed my mind. Go away! Go far, far away!”

They headed out into the hallway laughing as they walked.

“Buffy, I must say your fickleness is most…”

“Hey, guys!”

“Ah, just the young woman we were talking about.”

Dawn looked flattered:

“You were talking about me?”

“Yeah, about how I’d rather be dead than…”

“…see you suffer again. So, how is normal size treating you?”

Dawn began walking backwards and talking exuberantly:

“Great! And it’s about time too! Will says I need to keep drinking the antidote for another week, then I’m in the clear.”

“That’s wonderful news, Dawn, and I must say it’s much nicer to have you inside the castle rather than outside roaming the grounds. That situation was by no means ideal, and it certainly didn’t afford us much time to visit.”

“I know! It was like I was a total outsider…Hahaha! ‘A total outsider’, get it you guys?”

Buffy’s impatience was barely contained:

“Yeah, it’s hysterical. Have you seen Faith anywhere?”

Dawn rolled her eyes:

“Oh, so now you want to talk to her.”

“Do not start with me, just…”

Dawn stopped walking, effectively blocking the way.

“I mean, I get it: Faith did something bad, but why do you always…”

“Do you know where she is or not?!”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Buffy tried to move around Giles to grab Dawn, but he anticipated her reaction and slid over just enough to get in her way.

“Dawn, perhaps we should allow your sister her privacy when it comes to her romantic life? She and Faith have a somewhat convoluted history and making a go of their relationship is difficult at best.”

“Yeah, but…”

“And if memory serves correctly, Buffy has been more than supportive when it comes to your romantic entanglements. I believe it’s time to extend her the same courtesy.”

Dawn was less than happy, but she nodded:

“Okay, she was heading to the pond. She said she wanted to be alone and think things over.”

Buffy was already scooting around Giles and she patted Dawn’s arm as she went past.

“Thanks, both of you.”

With a last smile she took the turn that would take her to the side door and outside.

“Boy, do I ever hope they patch things up. They’ve both been such a big pain in the butt these last few days.”

“I wholeheartedly concur, and Faith’s approach to this situation has only made things that much worse.”

“Well, yeah, duh. Nobody needs to do anything to trigger the bitch in Buffy, and Faith just normally does plenty of stupid things without creating more.”

“Yes, well let’s hope they right themselves with all due haste. In the meantime…”

He offered her his arm.

“… I’d like to speak with you about…”

Dawn had been smiling and giggling as she took his arm, but she stopped suddenly. Her voice rose in both pitch and volume:

“It was Willow! I told her not to touch it, but you know how she gets!”

He grimaced slightly:

“As I’ve yet to notice what you’re so apparently willing to throw Willow to the lions over, perhaps you’d allow me to discuss my original topic with you.”

“What? Oh, okay, so scratch all that. What did you want to talk about?”

“I’m going to ask you to increase your studies. Since you’ve decided against attending Berkeley, I feel we should discuss the very real possibility of your becoming a Watcher. Your knowledge and maturity, barring your interactions with your sister, have convinced me that you have exactly what it takes to make …”

The high-pitched squealing nearly blew out his eardrums.

“Really?! Do you think so?! Do you, Giles?!”

She hugged him while she was jumping up and down, nearly jostling his glasses from his face.

“Dawn, could we possibly…”

“Right, right. Maturity was one of the things.”

She let go of him and composed herself, her face nothing but serious.

“Why yes, Giles, I’d be delighted to discuss the matter with you.”

He stood looking at her, mentally counting and reaching four…

“Oh my God, I’m so excited!!!”

She was squealing and jumping again and Giles’ smile was enormous as she grabbed his arm and led the way into his office.

********************

Faith was sitting in the shade, her legs extended out in front of her, her back to a tree. She was drinking her last beer slowly, nursing it to make it last. She had no desire to head back yet, at least it was peaceful where she was…well, except for the birds and squirrels.

She’d tuned them out about an hour ago, her thoughts too many to entertain the image of plunking one of the noisy little fuckers right into silence by tossing a bottle upside its head. All she could think about was Buffy, the woman she was in love with, the woman she’d fucked everything up with for the fifty millionth time.

She really was a loser, somebody who should stay far away from other people. What the hell had she been thinking going after Buffy and then letting Buffy come after her? She knew better, she’d always known better, but like the selfish bitch she was, she’d just gone ahead and done it anyway.

It was crystal clear to her why Buffy was so angry. Besides the “scummy lying not telling her” part, Faith had hit Buffy’s sore spot: she was leaving her. Just like Buffy’s other lovers, Faith was hauling ass. She was getting some and getting gone because apparently that’s all Buffy was worth.

Faith swore and drained her beer. She wanted to fling the bottle into the water, but she couldn’t bring herself to ruin the beauty of the place. The pond hadn’t done a thing to her except give her some comfort and a place to hide out, and there was no way she was going to repay it by ruining it with her garbage. She had Buffy for that.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, willing the tears to stay away. She was tired of crying, tired of wanting to beat herself to a bloody pulp, and tired of going over things in her head without a solution anywhere in sight. She didn’t know how to fix things, didn’t have the first clue, and she knew without a doubt that she was going to be leaving with the situation just like it was.

Her eyes opened for reasons she at first couldn’t understand, but then just like that she saw what the draw was. It was happening again: Buffy Summers was strolling through the field with her sunshine yellow hair blowing perfectly in the breeze, looking for all the world like she belonged there in the middle of nowhere…except Buffy wasn’t strolling, Buffy was walking with purpose, her eyes staring at Faith every step of the way.

When she got there, Buffy sat down next to her, her legs crossed as she faced Faith. She said nothing, but after a minute of silent staring, she leaned in and kissed her. It wasn’t gentle, it was angry and passionate, and yet the love was there and Faith could feel it. Buffy finally pulled away, her eyes dark green as they reflected every emotion that was running its way through her.

“Okay, you talk, I listen. Then I talk, you listen. Then we figure this out together.”

Faith wasn’t sure what she should do. She was scared and relieved, but she was mostly confused because even though it was obvious that Buffy was hurt and angry, she was still sitting there and she was doing it pretty calmly too. Faith just kept staring and she knew she was taking way too long to get started, but she couldn’t seem to remember how to speak.

Buffy reached out and tangled their fingers together:

“I know this is hard, Faith. I can see you’re scared, me too, but we’re going to be okay because we’re going to deal with this together. I don’t know what the hell you were thinking, I don’t know why the hell you were thinking it, but I do know I want to understand. Tell me what’s going on, why it’s going on. I’ll listen, I promise.”

Faith squirmed around, but made herself stay seated. Buffy waited patiently, her fingers soothing as they rubbed along her hand, and finally Faith found her voice:

“First thing…B, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. That was way fucking wrong, no excuse. I know better than that, I was just bein’ a pussy and I’m sorry.”

“It really hurt me, Faith, for a lot of reasons.”

Faith squeezed Buffy’s hand:

“I know, but none of those reasons are true. I just didn’t wanna chance what we had goin’, ya know? I’ve never had anything that good before and I didn’t wanna lose it ‘fore I had to.”

“‘Before you had to’? Faith, you don’t have to lose anything, but it’s stuff like this that puts everything at risk.”

Faith didn’t respond and she looked so sad, Buffy began to panic:

“What is going on?”

“The deal’s this, B: we, Giles and me, we signed up to do somethin’ and I found out I’m good at it. Can actually do this thing without fuckin’ it up. For once in my life I got somethin’ I can be proud of.”

“You mean saving Slayers in trouble?”

“See, I get them, I know how they feel, why they’re on the run. I don’t wanna leave you, B, I don’t. But I don’t have anything else in my life that…”

Buffy tightened her grip and held their joined hands up between them:

“You have me, Faith. You’ve got my love and you have a home here.”

“Yeah, and how long’s that gonna last? I get to be your whore ‘til I fuck up for good, which is somethin’ we both know’s comin’ sooner than later.”

Buffy recoiled, letting go of Faith’s hand like she’d received an electric shock.

“How can you even say that to me?”

“I’m sorry, B. I know I talk different than you, but…”

“I love you, Faith, with everything that goes along with that. You aren’t my whore, you’re the woman I love, the person I want to make a life with.”

“I know. It isn’t you, B, it’s all on me. Look, I got a job to do, a job I love…”

“Wow, you can say those words, just not to me.”

Faith got to her feet and began pacing:

“B, I’m nobody special. All I got goin’ for me is bein’ a Slayer. Without that, I’m not worth shit.”

“That is so not true, Faith. And if you give me a little time, if you give yourself a little time, you’ll eventually see that.”

“No, it’d be you who’d see somethin’ and I don’t want you to. You’ve already seen just about every lousy thing in me, kinda hoping we can skip the shit that’s still under wraps.”

Buffy didn’t say anything, just sat there staring at the ground, her head shaking slowly from side to side. When she finally spoke, the anger was back in charge of her:

“So you’re not even going to try? You’re just going to leave and never look back?”

“I don’t want to, B, but it’s what’s best for you.”

“Oh I see, so this has nothing to do with you being the biggest emotional coward ever, right Faith?”

Faith flinched, the hurt clearly visible on her face as Buffy’s shot hit the mark. It took her a few moments to respond:

“Great, next you can kick me in the balls.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

Neither of them said anything, and Faith began pacing again. She kept glancing at Buffy, but after a few minutes had passed, she knew that Buffy wasn’t going to go first. Faith sighed and just said it:

“Buffy, I get how you’re lookin’ at it, but there’s no point in us hanging on to something that can’t ever work. You should be with somebody who can give you…”

Buffy stood and casually brushed off her pants:

“That’s a good point, Faith. Well okay then, if we’re all done I guess I’ll go find Satsu and see if she still wants me.”

Faith couldn’t stop her reaction. Her face turned red and she slammed her fist into the nearest tree:

“What the fuck are you bringing her into this for?”

“What’s it matter? You’re breaking up with me, so…”

“B, would you stop bein’ ridiculous?”

Buffy took a step closer, her face showing ever bit of the rage she felt:

“Me? I’m being ridiculous?! You’re dumping me for your job, telling me we can’t even try because that’s all you are, that’s all you have to offer. Fuck you, Faith. You need to go look up ‘ridiculous’ in the dictionary. I’m pretty sure you’re going to be the definition!”

“Okay, so maybe we don’t have to shut it down completely. I can make it so I swing by sometimes and…”

“And what? Fuck me, then go again? Wow Faith, what a nifty plan, then I’ll get to be the whore!”

Faith barely refrained from hitting the tree again:

“Goddamn it, Buffy! You’re not a whore or a pimp or a john or a trick, all right? I just…I can’t stay here and be second banana. Not when I got somethin’ I can do better than anybody, not when I know if I don’t go you’re gonna end up hating me again!”

There was silence then, even the birds and squirrels were quiet as the words hung painfully in the air.

“Faith…God, I am not going to hate you. If I was, now would be the time, trust me. Please, let’s just sit back down and talk about this calmly, okay?”

Buffy held out her hand again and after a slight delay, Faith took it and let herself be led back to her original spot under the tree.

“I get what you’re saying about being good at your job, I do, and I’m not trying to take that away from you. But you can’t just leave because you’re scared of what might happen between us.”

“What, you tryin’ to say you’re not worried that…”

“I’m not worried.”

Faith snorted cynically, but Buffy kept going:

“I’m not, Faith. I know we’re going to fight and argue, I know we’re going to make each other crazy, but I also know we’re going to make each other so happy. I want you, I want this, and I know it’s right. We belong together, I feel it. Don’t you?”

“…”

“Faith?”

“…Yeah, I do, but…”

“‘But’ nothing. We’ll make the job thing work if that’s what you need. I don’t want you gone, not even for a day, but if you have to go away for chunks of time, okay. But you are always coming back home because we’re a couple now and this is where you belong.”

“But B…”

“Faith?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you, don’t ask me to pretend I don’t feel that. I’m so tired of drifting through my life while I wait for you. Because that’s what I’ve been doing all along, just killing time, and other things, while I waited for you. Well you’re here now, and I’m not going to let you go…no matter what crap you try to pull.”

Faith stared at her, her look disbelieving and hopeful:

“Jesus B, you sure you wanna do a long distance thing?”

“Well, ‘want’ isn’t exactly the right word, but I’ll do it. I understand what you’re saying about being the best at what you do, and I get why you feel like the runner-up here. It’s stupid to think of it that way, but I get it.”

“So you’d be okay with that kinda set-up?”

“Yes, I’m okay with it…for now.”

Faith’s smile lit up her whole face, her dimples deeper than Buffy had ever seen them.

“Man…that’s…No way did I think…”

“Promise me you’ll talk to me from now on.”

“Absolutely, B. I’m sorry about keeping that shit a secret.”

“I know.

Faith looked nervous again, but she plowed on ahead anyway:

“B?”

“Yes?”

“Look, none of this was Giles’ fault. I kinda begged the guy and…”

“I know, we’ve already talked about everything. We’re okay.”

“Really? ‘Cause he loves you so much B, and I didn’t mean to fuck stuff up between you guys again.”

“You didn’t. Me and Giles are just fine.”

Faith’s giant smile was back in full force:

“Guess we just gotta work out the fine print then.”

Buffy edged closer to her:

“Uh-huh. Terms definitely have to be agreed upon…”

Her lips caressed Faith’s neck.

“…arrangements definitely have to be made...”

Buffy smiled as she felt the shudder roll its way through Faith.

“…then it’s…frequent flier miles, here we come.”

Her hand was wandering and when she grazed Faith’s breast and lingered there, Faith reached out and pulled her just as close as she could get her.

Her lips crashed into Buffy’s, causing them both to moan. Their tongues struggled for control, but neither one got it. Faith didn’t care, she spun Buffy, slamming her to the ground while she kept her own body on top of her.

Buffy laughed when her back hit the grass:

“Whoa, somebody’s all worked up.”

“Yeah, lemme show you how worked up, B.”

“But what about those details we have to iron out?”

Faith sat up and began unbuttoning Buffy’s blouse:

“Have my people call your people.”

Buffy’s hands began unbuckling Faith’s belt:

“We have no people.”

“Well, I sure need some. Might be able to stop me from bein’ such a fuck up all…”

Buffy grabbed onto Faith’s head and pulled her down into a kiss. She switched their positions quickly and efficiently, and Faith was on the ground before she could try to stop her.

“Shh…no more talking like that. You aren’t a ‘fuck up’, you just need a good woman to steer you in the right direction.”

“Sounds about right. Hey, you know any chicks who could…”

Buffy’s eyes narrowed:

“You know, I’m still kinda mad at you. You should probably be careful.”

“I’m not scared, B.”

“Hmm…let’s see if we can change that.”

Buffy stood and quickly stripped. Faith’s eyes were huge as she followed her every move, and when Buffy was naked, she straddled Faith.

“Uh…Uh, B…this is sorta a public place and uh…”

Buffy leaned in, her eyes challenging as she rubbed against her:

“Scared, baby?”

“No, just…uh…just pointin’ out that anybody could…uh…wander out here.”

“Tell you what…”

Buffy’s fingers quickly re-buckled Faith’s belt.

“…we’ll let you keep all of your clothes on. I’m sure I can find something else to do with my shy girl.”

“B…”

“Shh…somebody might hear us.”

Buffy tormented Faith for at least fifteen minutes. She caressed, rubbed, pulled, sucked, licked, and bit everything of Faith’s that she could. At least she did while Faith behaved.

And Faith did behave, for a surprisingly long time. Finally she couldn’t take it anymore and she reached for Buffy:

“Uh-uh. No touching, F.”

Buffy pulled Faith’s hands off of her, but in just seconds Faith was holding Buffy tightly by the waist and trying to flip her over and put herself on top. That was a definite no-no as far as Buffy was concerned.

She grabbed Faith’s wrists and forced her hands down onto the ground on either side of her head. Faith tried to break loose and Buffy’s grip tightened in response as she leaned in:

“Somebody doesn’t understand what we’re doing. Okay, let me explain: I’m getting to know my shy lover in a public place while I get a little payback as well. You’re not allowed to touch me.”

With her hands otherwise detained, Buffy increased her body’s movements, writhing sensuously along Faith’s supercharged one.

“Jesus, B!”

“Yes?”

“I can’t…I’m…”

“Shh…you’re just shy, sweetie. I’ll take care of you...eventually.”

Some language burst from Faith’s mouth, but the words were so garbled they sounded like nothing either of them had ever heard before.

Buffy wriggled in between Faith’s legs until their centers were touching, separated only by Faith’s jeans, and she began pressing down and rotating her hips in a circular rhythm. Faith felt like she was on fire and her own legs quickly wrapped around Buffy’s waist.

That was a mistake because Buffy immediately stopped all movement, her expression mocking:

“Oops, sorry, shy girl. That counts as touching.”

“B, c’mon! I can’t just lay here and…”

“And yet that’s exactly what you’re going to do if you want to…reach a certain place.”

Faith looked in Buffy’s eyes and had no doubt that she would stop if Faith didn’t play along. She could see the amusement and love shining in the green depths, but she could also see the anger still simmering there. She painfully unwrapped her legs and lowered them back to the ground.

“Good decision. Now where were we?”

Buffy began moving again and Faith shut her eyes trying to hang on, but when Buffy’s breath caressed her ear and the moans increased, Faith began pleading:

“Please, B. Please just let me touch you.”

“Mmm…but you are touching me.”

“Buffy…”

She let go of Faith’s hands, sat astride one of her knees and began rocking slowly. Faith bent her leg and Buffy sighed almost blissfully:

“Oh yeah, stay right there…but don’t move again.”

Faith had to use every bit of her willpower not to grab Buffy somewhere, anywhere, with her newly freed hands. When Buffy began moving faster and fondling her own breasts, Faith began groaning almost continuously, her eyes staring with more lust and longing than she’d known it was possible to feel.

When Buffy finally got there, she leaned forward and made the sexiest noise Faith had ever heard, the sound somewhere between a whimper and a growl and blown out right into Faith’s ear. That did it. She pulled Buffy’s head back by her hair and smashed their lips together, her own orgasm rocketing through her before she even knew it was there.

They stayed where they were, neither seeing the need to change position. Faith’s arms were wrapped around Buffy as she sprawled heavily on top of her and it was a while before they could speak.

“Fuck! B, that was…”

Buffy kissed her sweetly, then snuggled back in:

“I know that was kind of mean, but it turned out pretty good, right?”

“Uh…’pretty good’? That was fuckin’ hot as hell.”

“Aww, F...were you all hot and bothered because you had your clothes on?”

Faith was clearly amused:

“Yeah, but think it was more ‘cause of the naked, sexy blonde humpin’ me.

“That probably factored in. So, what do you say I get dressed…”

“Bad idea.”

Buffy laughed, but kept going.

“…and we head to our room to keep working out the details.”

Faith was already on her feet, her hand extended to Buffy. She hauled her up, then unexpectedly lifted her, plopping Buffy across her shoulder. Buffy’s head and arms were hanging down Faith’s back and her ass was draped enticingly over Faith’s breast.

“Great idea, B, but the gettin’ dressed part’s out.”

Buffy laughed again:

“Okay, funny girl, put me down so I can…”

Faith delivered a loud smack and a louder kiss to Buffy’s ass, then took off at a jog towards the castle.

“Faith!”

“Buffy!”

“Don’t you dare!”

Faith’s grin was huge:

“Too late, bitch, ‘cause I’m darin’. I’m darin’ all the way.”

Buffy grabbed Faith’s hair and tugged sharply:

“Faith Lehane, unless you want to arrive home without any hair, you’d better put me down right now. OW!”

“Might wanna let go of the hair, B. ‘Specially when I got all these sensitive parts right here, all easy access and shit.”

Buffy let go and began trying to charm her:

“Faith, baby, let’s be reasonable.”

“Good idea.”

“I’ll tell you what: you put me down, let me get my clothes and I’ll…”

“Got plenty in your room. Can come back later for the ones ya had on.”

Buffy started struggling, but Faith slapped her butt again, hard.

“Stop squirmin’, B. Christ, way you’re actin’, anybody’d think you were shy.”

“Faith, stop! I don’t have any clothes on!”

“Play with fire, sometimes your ass gets hauled home naked.”

By the time they’d arrived at the castle, Buffy had accepted her fate. Despite her embarrassment, she smiled and waved whenever they ran into anyone, although Dawn looked at them like they’d both gone crazy.

“Oh God, my eyes! My eyes! I should have gone to Berkeley!”

Giles poked his head out into the hallway to see what all the commotion was about:

“Heavens, what is going…Oh, good Lord!”

He immediately turned his head, apparently feeling it was of the utmost importance to study the wood around the office door.

“Hey, G-Man. Can’t really talk, gotta get B upstairs.”

“Oh yes, of course…um…Hello, Buffy.”

Buffy would have bet even her ass was blushing fire truck red.

“Hi, Giles.”

“So am I to assume you two have resolved your disagreement?”

“Could say that. Gonna head up and resolve it some more for a few hours, so make sure ya keep the world spinnin’ without us.”

“Yes, yes, we shall…of course. Come along, Dawn.”

“Hey Buffy, I never knew you had so much hair on your big butt.”

“What?!”

Buffy tried to swing around to look, but Faith’s grip remained iron tight.

“I do not! You are such a liar!”

“Monkey butt! Monkey butt! Hey everybody, Buffy’s got a butt like a monkey!!!”

Then she was gone, yanked backwards into Giles’ office with the door shut firmly behind her. Faith was laughing as she climbed the stairs.

“I am so going to kill you.”

“You’re gonna try, B, but I’m not gonna let ya. Got other plans.”

“Really, like what?”

They were at their room, and Faith said the secret phrase and opened the door. She carried Buffy in, kicked the door closed behind them, and then fumbled around for a few seconds as she blindly engaged the lock. When she’d managed to secure the door, she said the magic phrase again as she flipped Buffy down onto the bed and went right with her.

“Now where were we, Slayer?”

“I was getting ready to kill you.”

“Oh yeah, well scratch that idea.”

Faith kissed her and Buffy melted as their tongues met. When Faith pulled back, Buffy stopped her by lightly gripping Faith’s bottom lip between her teeth. She almost laughed, but when Buffy applied more pressure, she decided to play it safe…safer.

Her hand went to Buffy’s breast and began moving gently in just the way Buffy liked. She shifted her weight slightly and let her other hand travel slowly down Buffy’s stomach. Thirty seconds later and Buffy’s eyes closed as she murmured with pleasure, freeing Faith’s lip.

She began kissing along Buffy’s shoulder and neck, and when she reached her ear, she whispered:

“You’re so beautiful, Buffy…like nobody else. Your skin’s so soft, you smell so good, and you taste…God, B…the way you taste.”

Faith was inside her then and Buffy began moving, already lost in the passion that only Faith could make her feel.

“Let it go, B. Come on, let me see you.”

Buffy wrapped herself around Faith, cursing the clothes that were still between them. She wanted to stop and let Faith undress, but she couldn’t, not that it was really up to her anyway.

“You’re so wet and warm…so perfect…I love you, Buffy.”

Buffy didn’t exactly come. It wasn’t really an orgasm. It was a full blown whirlwind of emotion, a hurricane, a maelstrom, a raging, surging explosion of feeling, and Buffy in that one singular moment truly knew what heaven was.

It was way better than she remembered and it was where she’d never expected to find it. It was right where she was, with the feel of rough denim rubbing against her skin, hard fingers spurring her onward, and a soft, husky voice whispering love into her ear.

As the ecstasy overtook her, Buffy knew she wasn’t leaving this time, no matter who did what or when. Heaven was hers and she was keeping it, even if she had to kill everyone on the planet to…

When Buffy woke up almost an hour later, it was to find herself wrapped comfortably in Faith’s arms. She was sleeping and Buffy kissed her lightly on the jaw not wanting to wake her, but Faith stirred anyway.

“Made it back, did ya, B?”

“Just barely.”

“Well ya know how it is: I got the skills and I like to flaunt’em.”

Buffy’s hand twirled patterns around Faith’s breast before slowly trailing downward:

“I see you finally got rid of your clothes.”

“Yeah, just had to wait ‘til I knocked your ass out.”

Buffy laughed and rolled over on top of her:

“Well, what was I thinking? I like you much better this way.”

“Guess I had to straighten ya out.”

“Not sure that’s the right choice of words, F.”

Faith grunted and jerked slightly as Buffy’s fingers went somewhere decidedly “unstraight”.

“Definitely seeing your point…ya big dyke.”

“‘Dyke’?! I am not!”

“Well let’s see: got three of your fingers in your girl’s snatch…”

“They’re in your vagina or maybe in your pussy.”

“Right, B. Like a more girly name’s gonna change…Ahhh!”

Buffy smiled at her reaction:

“I prefer the term “lipstick lesbian.”

“Even know what that means?”

“Not exactly, but it sounds pretty.”

“Yeah, well I prefer rug munch…Oh fuck!”

Buffy kissed her, then pulled back a bit:

“You said you love me.”

“Yeah, I did, ‘cause I do.”

“I love you too.”

“Works out good that way.”

“Yes, it really does.”

Buffy kept her hand where it was as she slid down Faith’s body. She took her time, tasting every bit of Faith’s skin as she went.

“Where ya…where ya goin’, Slayer?”

“”You don’t know?”

“Just like to hear you say it.”

Buffy laughed as she lay poised to begin. She wiggled her fingers, and Faith groaned and lifted her hips.

“Fine. I’m going muff diving, rug munching, I’ll be eating at the downstairs café, okay?”

“More than okay. It’s the best thing ever.”

“Then shut up and let your delicate little lipstick lesbian do her thing.”

“Lips are sealed, B.”

“No F, they’re wide-open, just like I like’em.”

Faith smirked as she responded:

“Lick’em?”

“That too, shy girl.”

And then heaven was on the move again.

Chapter Nine

The danger was close, she knew that. All of her senses were telling her to be on guard and she was moving a lot slower than she normally did. It was irritating her, setting her on edge, but getting herself killed wouldn’t exactly help her relax either.

The air moved and she hit the ground as the blade sliced the empty space where just a moment before her head had been comfortably taking up residence. As she hit she rolled, and the sword clanged off the concrete, chasing after her. She kept moving with the gleaming steel following an instant behind her vulnerable body.

The cement wasn’t doing any favors to her shirt or her pants, but she couldn’t worry about that, not when dismemberment was only an inch behind her. There were sparks flying up from the pavement every time contact was made with the deadly metal, definitely not fun.

There was no time to spring to her feet, so she quickly reversed course and rolled toward her opponent. The blade actually sheared off part of her sleeve, but then she smashed into the sword wielder’s legs, hitting hard and knocking her opponent to the ground with the powerful impact.

She leapt to her feet just as the sword came at her, jumping over it, then descending into a cartwheel to avoid the blade as it came up vertically in a quick attempt to slice her in half. She landed on both feet and was on the defensive immediately as a knife was already sailing at her face.

Her hands came up and she caught it, flinging it back in nearly the same motion. The razor sharp blade ended its journey by tracing a bloody groove that caused a satisfying grunt of pain. Then the sword picked up pace and she’d had enough. She turned and ran.

The pursuit was immediate and relatively short as the escape route finished abruptly at a dead end.

“Nowhere to run now, bitch.”

She looked around and saw the truth of that statement, this was the end of the line.

The sword came at her in a death blow, but she stood bravely, facing her fate with a courage that few could muster… but then they weren’t the Slayer.

Buffy didn’t move until the last instant, then all was a blur of action. Her leg kicked out, knocking the sword twirling several feet into the air as her fist connected right on the previous knife wound. Her nemesis went down, but Buffy didn’t have a lot of time to celebrate. She felt the knife blade slicing open her pant leg even as her opponent fell, and she swore as she reverse somersaulted clear muttering:

“Any time.”

A dark figure was already landing near the fallen foe, casually reaching out and catching the sword as it spun its way back to Earth. Before the figure on the ground could move, she found the tip of her own weapon pressing just a little too hard on her jugular.

“Better stay down, kid. B’s pissed.”

“Well, wouldn’t you be? She sliced up my shirt AND my pants!”

“And whose fault is that?”

“It’s yours.”

Faith smiled:

“Yeah okay, sorry. But was sexy as hell watchin’ you flip and roll all over the place and not really fight back.”

“Well I hope it was worth it because you’re going to pay for it later.”

“Promise, B? ‘Cause I…”

“Hey, you two fags wanna get a room?”

The blade drew blood, and the girl on the ground winced:

“We already got one and we’d be in it bein’ all faggy ‘cept we had to come out here and round up your dumb ass.”

“So you’re not demons?”

“Well, B’s one in the sack, but…”

“Faith!”

“Point’s this, kid: we gotta talk.”

“I don’t ‘gotta’ do shit!”

Faith smiled:

“True, it’s still a free country.”

“Okay then, so I’ll just be going.”

“No, ya won’t. See, free country for me too, and I wanna talk.”

Her captive did some complicated move and kicked the blade away from her neck. She sprang to her feet and ran, her dark hair billowing wildly behind her.

“Wow, look at her go, B.”

“It is pretty impressive, what she did right there.”

“Yeah, punk’s got big potential.”

They watched her trying to make the jump up the wall to freedom, but despite the fact that she was tall and muscular, she kept ending up about three feet short no matter how hard she tried. There was no way out to either side as there were just two identical brick walls staring silently back at her, and behind her stood two women who said they weren’t demons, but had to be something different. She tried the jump again, scrabbling for purchase as she slid back down to the ground.

“Back in a sec, B.”

“Okay.”

They kissed and then Faith ran at the young Slayer. The girl turned and braced for the impact, but Faith leapt over her without even coming close to touching her. She landed lightly on top of the wall, looking down at the now awestruck girl:

“Listen up, Jessie…”

“How do you know my name?”

“Studied a file, but here’s what ya oughta focus on: I made the jump easy and you couldn’t, not even when ya thought your life was at stake.”

Jessie looked like she was panicking, and she turned toward what seemed to be her best avenue of escape.

“Can guarantee ya, you head at B and she’ll clean your clock ‘fore you even know what the hell’s happenin’.”

The look on Buffy’s face made it clear that wasn’t the way out.

“What are you freaks?”

Faith jumped and landed a few feet in front of her:

“We’re Slayers, just like you.”

“‘Slayers’?”

“Yeah, ‘cept we’re not roamin’ all over Miami nearly killing everybody we come across.”

Jessie sneered arrogantly:

“Whatever. Enjoy your little lame ass ‘Slayer’ gang. I’m living the good life all by myself, so no way am I joining your crappy crew.”

“That right?”

“Yeah, bitch, that’s right.”

Faith stood staring at her understandingly as Jessie glared defiantly back at her. A full minute passed before Faith began speaking:

“Got the night sweats yet?”

“Wh…What?”

“How ’bout the dreams where everything’s covered in blood?”

Jessie was shaken, that was easy enough to see even though she was doing her best to hide it. Her voice quivered slightly when she answered:

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Right.”

They were silent again, nearly twice as much time passing until Faith spoke:

“By the way, that kid you hit with your motorcycle? Two busted legs and a fractured skull, but they think he’s gonna recover…mostly. Be a long haul, but he’s only eight, he’s got time, yeah?”

Jessie suddenly looked vulnerable:

“I didn’t mean to…I was just trying to get away.”

“Sure, I understand. Little fucker got in your way, what else could ya do? So how much did ya score from that Mom and Pop joint? Lemme guess, forty-seven bucks?”

“…Fifty-one.”

“Oh yeah, way worth almost killin’ a kid over. That little bastard was gettin’ an ice cream with his dad, can ya believe it? What’d your dad give you when you were eight?”

“Shut up.”

Faith held her hands up innocently:

“Hey, no big. Lotsa kids get the snot knocked out of’em that age. ‘Sides, you got no kicks, what with you livin’ the good life now.”

“I know what you’re trying to do.”

“Yeah, Jessie? What’s that?”

“But you don’t have the first goddamn clue what it’s like. You’ve got it good.”

Faith glanced at Buffy as she smiled:

“Fuck, you don’t know the half of it. Course, ya don’t know the other half either.”

Jessie’s sneer made a return:

“Okay, what, you got smacked around too? Is that supposed to make us the same? Bitch, you can’t imagine my life, what I’ve had done to me and what I’ve done back.”

Faith laughed, long and loud enough for it to be insulting.

“Yeah, you’re a big bad ass, for sure. And you’re wrong, ‘cause I know you better than you do. Hell, even know when and where you took your last shit.”

“Great, so do you want to share something about yourself and put me at ease?”

Faith laughed again, but there was no amusement in it, only sympathy and sadness:

“Man, Jess, you’re so many years from bein’ at ease, but I’ll play along. I did get smacked around, got fucked too, startin’ at the age of eleven by one of my ‘uncles’. I’ve killed two men, one by accident and one ‘cause it felt so fuckin’ good. Shoved a knife into him over and over and the best part? How warm his blood was when it oozed all over my hand.”

Jessie was shocked, her eyes going wide at the information as well as the casual, open way it was being delivered.

“Eventually signed up for prison and got a bed and three squares a day for the first time in my life. Course was always somebody ridin’ me and no way can I ever explain how much I wanted to ram my hands in and rip their guts out just to watch’em die slow.”

Jessie took a step back, then another.

“Hey don’t worry, ya don’t get to that place right at the start. Gotta kill the first one first, but then tough girl, well then you’re gonna be off and runnin’.”

“You’re lying.”

“Hahaha! Right? Ask B, she was there for a lot of it. Hell, even tried to kill her a few times and had me a great time hurtin’ the people she loved.”

Jessie’s eyes cut to Buffy for a brief instant, only to see her nodding confirmation. She looked back to Faith, her face puzzled:

“But she’s your girl now?”

“Nuts, yeah? But B’s as high class as you can get, so don’t go thinkin’ that’s the norm. Ya never did answer me: dreamin’ about the blood yet? Or maybe you got the one with people cryin’ and lookin’ at you like you’re the monster.”

“…Even if I do, so fucking what?”

“So you’re an idiot, is what. You’re screwed up, but ya don’t gotta keep livin’ like this. You’re not showin’ anybody anything. You’re not cool, tough, or any other kick ass word you’re hopin’ for. All you’re doin’ is helping the assholes who fucked you up finish the job they started. You’re not living, you’re dying, and pretty soon you’re gonna start takin’ innocent people with ya.”

“‘Innocent people’? No such…”

“Yeah, I know…no such animal. Thought like that too, but I was stupid and so are you. Fuck Jessie, you’re one of’em, a total innocent ‘less you keep rollin’ down the track you’re on.”

It took another hour, complete with a full-out brawl, but Jessie finally agreed to head to Scotland to check out what she called:

“Your shit program.”

It was massive progress, like watching a miracle take place, but Buffy wasn’t surprised. She’d seen it happen several times before, although that didn’t make it any less amazing. In fact, now that Faith was only called in to take care of the hardest cases, Buffy sometimes found herself watching with her mouth hanging open.

Faith hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said she was the best at saving the Slayers who’d lost their way. She had a real knack for reaching the ones who were totally unreachable, and she did it better and faster than anyone else. She seemed to know exactly what to say and when to say it, and she absolutely refused to give up on them.

She would do or say whatever it took, and whenever Buffy accompanied her on these missions, she simply did what she was told and followed Faith’s lead. She really wasn’t all that much of a help, usually just standing around until Faith gave her the signal to call for the extraction team. Still Buffy loved being there, just watching while Faith did her thing. It made her proud, and it made the love and respect she felt for Faith increase like nothing else did.

She looked over to see Faith standing there watching the car pull away, ready with her wave when Jessie looked back. They always looked back, their faces suddenly years younger, their tough guy masks slipping or gone completely, their vulnerability and despair written all over them, unhidden as they began to feel the faintest touch of hope.

Jessie had a chance now, a real chance. Thank God they’d gotten to her before she’d killed someone…and killing someone was definitely coming, there was no doubt about that.

Faith herself knew firsthand that once you made yourself hard enough, fractured a few skulls, busted a few legs, made it all okay in your own mind, well pretty soon after that you were off and running with a full head of steam. You were on your way to hell, and if you got it going fast enough, there wasn’t any easy way back from…

“Faith?”

She jumped a little, but tried to cover it by leaning back into the arms that wrapped around her waist. She had to smile, she knew Buffy wasn’t fooled in the slightest.

They stood like that for a few moments until Buffy kissed her cheek and said:

“She’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, maybe. But damn, she’s gonna have to do a lotta work, B.”

“She’ll do it.”

“Not sure she will. Got them wicked skills and it’s way easier for her to…”

“She will because you’ll make her.”

Faith turned to face her:

“…Yeah, guess I will.”

“So then, that’s another success story for the good guys.”

“Maybe, but can’t count’em ‘fore they…”

“F?”

Faith knew that look, it was the one Buffy got whenever she meant business.

“Yeah, B?”

“I know you, and you’ll make sure she makes it.”

Faith smiled big, she couldn’t help it. She always turned to mush, all warm and gooey, whenever Buffy expressed her complete confidence in her. She did it a lot and she meant it, and every single time it happened, Faith felt like she was on top of the world.

“I love you, B.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, a little bit.”

Buffy’s hands cradled Faith’s face as she kissed her passionately.

“I’m kind of fond of you too.”

“Mmm…So, what are we gonna do with two full days in Miami and nobody breathin’ down our necks?”

“No idea. Do you have any?”

“Maybe. Better keep kissin’ me so I can be positive.”

Buffy’s lips were so close, her breath tickled along Faith’s lips:

“Just try and stop me.”

****************

Faith lay in bed, Buffy sleeping up against her. She was so happy as she sprawled there, holding the woman of her dreams and listening to the ocean. She could smell the salty air as the breeze carried it through the open balcony doors, and she breathed in deep and grinned. No matter what she did, no matter where she was, she could always smell Buffy.

It had taken sixteen days for Faith to change her mind. She was sitting with Giles in a diner two blocks from their motel after finishing their most recent assignment. They were starving and the diner looked okay, at least for the basics.

They quickly placed their order. Giles had more than adapted to “quaint American cuisine” in the time they’d been working together, and he no longer hemmed and hawed or generally drove the waitress crazy while he took forever to figure out what he wanted. Still, by the time he was finished ordering, Faith was already staring out the window, something she’d grown quite adept at over the last two weeks. Giles watched her for a while, then sighed loudly enough to rouse her from her reverie:

“What’s that for, G-man?”

“I was just wondering how much longer it’s going to take.”

“What’re ya talkin’ about?”

He smiled at her:

“I believe you know.”

She fiddled with the sugar packets, sorting them all into blue, pink, and white piles. When she had them all arranged, she scooped them up haphazardly and dumped them back into their beige container, shoving the whole thing off to the side against the wall.

“Yeah, well it’s a mess, ya know?”

“And yet, that doesn’t make it any less real.”

“Guess it doesn’t.”

He thanked the waitress as she brought their drinks, and neither of them spoke as he prepared his tea. He grimaced as he took his first sip, but then it was clear he was pleasantly surprised.

“This actually tastes quite good.”

“Coke’s not all watered down either, so it’s a win/win.”

He didn’t press, allowing the silence to grow between them until she was ready:

“Don’t want this anymore. I just wanna be with B.”

“Yes, well I can’t say this news has caught me at all off guard.”

“Me neither. Kinda embarrassing though, after the big stink I made.”

Giles nodded understandingly:

“Well as I recall, love is all one rather embarrassing, ‘big stink’.”

Faith drained her Coke and smiled at him:

“Probably right. What the fuck do I know about it?”

“Quite a bit, actually, and you’re learning more all the time.”

“You don’t gotta worry, Giles. Not gonna leave ya in the lurch.”

“Nor did I think for a moment that you would.”

She beamed at him then, his complete confidence in her making her feel proud and loved.

“So you’re not pissed?”

“Of course not! I’m delighted for both you and Buffy.”

“Well, it’s gonna take a while to get everything up and runnin’.”

“A sizable challenge, yes, but one I’m certain we’ll manage.”

And that was that. The plan got underway, and Giles was right. From the start it proved to be a sizable challenge, but it was also one they were able to manage together.

Faith already had her replacement in mind, and while Giles agreed with her wholeheartedly, that didn’t exactly mean the matter was settled. Neither looked forward to the argument they knew was coming, but there was no way to avoid it. They drew courage from each other and finally made the call.

To describe Buffy as delighted was a huge understatement, to say the least. That entire first call was “wasted” while they listened to her squeal with delight and ramble on making long range plans for their future. Before they managed to get into anything specific, Buffy told them she had to go. She was taking some of the newer girls out on patrol and she was already running late.

The pre-arranged follow-up call went much differently. Buffy was no longer just a giddy girlfriend, she was suddenly the head Slayer, the woman in charge of the whole organization, and she was not at all pleased with their request.

“No, there is no way.”

“Buffy, perhaps if you’d consider…”

“I did consider, Giles. You can have one, not both.”

“Gotta be both, B. We can’t…”

“No, and that’s final.”

Faith’s voice rose angrily:

“That’s ‘final’? Who the fuck made you the big…”

“No one ‘made’ me anything, I just am, and if I say…”

Giles quickly interrupted before their argument could escalate:

“Buffy, this job’s much too big to be entrusted to a solitary girl. There is no way she can adequately handle the pressure and responsibility that comes…”

“Faith did it alone.”

Faith’s laugh was nothing but cocky:

“Yeah, but it’s me, B. Ain’t gonna find another one of these no matter how hard ya look.”

Buffy’s eye rolling could practically be heard through the phone:

“Well, your huge ego aside…”

Again Giles interceded:

“She has a valid point, Buffy. Faith is uniquely suited to this sort of work, mentally and physically. It’s not at all realistic to think that another Slayer can just step in and do the job, certainly not one girl alone.”

Buffy continued to stand firm:

“So you want to take two of my Slayers? No, I can barely afford to lose one, let alone both of them.”

“Yeah B, but you’re gettin’ one back, and I’m better than both of’em put together.”

“Agreed, but I can’t use you in two places at once, can I?”

They were quiet until Giles attempted a different line of reasoning:

“Buffy, if you insist on allowing only one girl to join forces with me, it will take at least six months of intensive training before Faith can even consider returning to Scotland.”

Buffy laughed:

“Ooh, Giles is playing Watcher hardball.”

He answered her in his most English of tones:

“Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t quite follow that colloquialism.”

“Means you’re playin’ dirty, G-Man.”

“He knows exactly what it means, Faith.”

Giles confessed quickly:

“…Well yes, of course I do, but that doesn’t make it any less of a valid argument. If you won’t allow us to utilize both girls…”

Faith could feel Buffy beginning to relent:

“Jesus, B! Not like you enjoy havin’ Kennedy hangin’ around and ya better not enjoy Satsu either.”

Buffy’s voice responded with a teasing sexiness:

“Enjoy her in what way, F?”

Giles butted in before they went any further:

“Girls, I’ll thank you to remember that I’m on the line as well.”

Faith laughed:

“Hard to forget, otherwise we wouldn’t be wearin’ clothes by now.”

He ignored her and carried on with business:

“So then, we’re all in agreement? Kennedy and Satsu are to be sent here provided they’re amenable to the idea?”

Buffy decided to take pity on him, and she turned her focus back to Slayer issues, doing her best to ignore the vivid, nonstop images of a naked Faith that were now romping through her mind:

“All right, but I want Faith back here as soon as possible…”

“Aww, need me bad, don’t ya, baby?”

“…because I’m going to be two short and they’re my very best.”

Faith snorted with amusement:

“Damn, talk about ‘playin’ hardball’.”

“Well, we are trying to talk about business, Faith.”

“Fine B, but better not let Rona or Vi hear ya say they’re not your best. They’ll make your life a livin’ hell.”

“You mean more than they already do?”

They all laughed at that and the matter was settled. Buffy put the question to Kennedy and Satsu the following morning and neither girl hesitated for a second, agreeing almost before she’d finished asking them. Five days later and they were off to join Giles and Faith.

She got started on their training the day after they arrived, and although the chosen girls were totally gung ho about the assignment, they weren’t equally enthused when it came to working with each other.

“Why do I have to work with her? I don’t need a babysitter when I’m…”

“’Cause me and Giles say otherwise, Kennedy.”

“She does have a point, Faith. I don’t exactly need her to…”

“Look, bitches, want the job or not?”

They did. Travelling around the world, answering only to Giles, escaping from romances that had ended painfully for both of them…Kennedy and Satsu definitely wanted the job.

Buffy left the training up to Faith and Giles. After all, what did she know about it? It was their thing and she had her own job to do, so Buffy carried on, trying to be patient as she waited for Faith to return to her…even though patience wasn’t something she was very good at.

Four long and arduous months elapsed before Faith let them go out alone…with her riding along hidden in the shadows without their knowledge. She liked what she saw; Kennedy and Satsu played off each other perfectly and got the job done. They corralled the loose cannon of a Slayer, made her listen, and eventually they got through to her.

It was a job well done, one that made Faith nod approvingly as she stood silently in the darkness. Kennedy and Satsu were ready, Faith’s work here was done, and she could finally head back to where she belonged. Her smile was huge as she thought of the blonde woman waiting impatiently for her, and she laughed softly at the sound of the bickering between Giles’ two new girls that began the second after the car picked up the rogue Slayer.

“Damn, G-Man, got your work cut out for ya now.”

Faith faded back into the night, laughing all the way, and three days later she was home. She didn’t call, she wanted to surprise Buffy, but two long delays had her arriving nowhere near when she’d originally planned to.

She was forced to pause for far too long in order to accept all the “welcome homes” and “glad to have you backs” from the nightshift girls. All she wanted was Buffy, but she couldn’t be rude and being liked was still a novel feeling for her.

It turned out that Buffy had gone to bed early, and Faith headed cheerfully up the stairs to her. She said the magic phrase and opened the door…except the door was locked. She pulled out her key, swearing under her breath as she opened it and entered silently.

The suite was dark, but Faith moved through the rooms effortlessly. She couldn’t wait to surprise Buffy. It wasn’t often she got the advantage over the other Slayer, and she was going to make the most of the opportunity.

She crept stealthily towards the bed, listening to the relaxed and even breathing that told her Buffy was out cold. That fact made Faith grin, the wicked one that said she was so going to make Buffy pay.

The Head Slayer, the Big Shit, the Golden Girl, had gone soft and was clearly out of practice. Some would even call her sloppy, and Faith was going to enjoy every second of what was about to happen. She was not only going to savor the current moment, she was going to live it up for months to come because she’d finally caught Buffy with her panties down and…

Faith found herself sailing over the bed. She hit the wall opposite with enough force to knock the wind out of her, and she pulled down the drapes from the window along with the rod as her arm became entangled in the fabric. Before she could move, she was being straddled by the Slayer in her Eiffel Tower pajamas.

“Hey there, F. You weren’t by any chance, trying to sneak up on me, were you?”

“Me? Would I ever try somethin’ that stupid, B?”

“Oh no, of course you wouldn’t.”

“Okay, so…”

Buffy’s smile was easy to see with the moonlight now streaming in through the curtainless window:

“‘So’ what?”

“So am I gonna get a ‘Welcome Home’ kiss or not?”

“Hmm…I’m not sure you deserve one.”

“Aww, c’mon, B. Even though I was tryin’ to pull one, this is still a kick ass surprise.”

Buffy appeared to be thinking it over:

“I guess that’s true…Okay.”

She leaned down and delivered a kiss that quickly had them both on fire.

“How was that, F?”

“Was a great fuckin’ start, no pun intended.”

Buffy rose to her feet and offered her hand. Faith eagerly accepted, pulling Buffy closer as she regained her footing. She delivered a kiss of her own, and when they parted, they didn’t go far. Buffy smiled up at her happily, still wrapped loosely in Faith’s embrace:

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself, B.”

“So what are you doing here?”

“Damn, can’t I surprise my girl just ‘cause I wanna?”

Buffy laughed:

“Sure you can, but your girl’s the kind that asks questions and then demands real answers.”

“Shit, don’t I know it. Let’s get in bed first, I always explain better when you’re on top of me.”

Buffy was out of her pajamas and back into bed in seconds, but Faith had other ideas. She slowly removed her clothes, and by the time the striptease was finished, getting questions answered was the furthest thing from Buffy’s mind.

Faith looked perfect in the moonlight, a goddess of silver and black, light and shadow, and Buffy could barely control herself:

“Get in here.”

She held back the covers and Faith wasted no more time as she slid in to join her. They kissed again, their hands already roaming to become reacquainted with the bodies they’d been kept from for over four long months.

“Mmm…You feel so good, B.”

“So do you.”

“Gotta tell ya, this is way better than hangin’ with Giles.”

Buffy smacked her shoulder in complete disgust:

“Ewww!!! It’d better be!”

Faith wriggled nearer as they lay side by side. She flung a leg over Buffy’s hip and pulled her in tighter.

“You know what I mean. Hey, wanna do other stuff and talk later?”

“Maybe…It depends on what ‘other stuff’ you have in mind.”

Faith began moving slowly, her lips trailing a path along Buffy’s shoulder up to her neck until they rested lightly at her ear. One hand grabbed Buffy’s ass, yanking her closer while the other tickled its way between them, and her husky reply sent a shiver down Buffy’s spine:

“Oh, I don’t know…Was thinkin’ I’d maybe fuck your brains out.”

“Mmm, hmm…”

“Then thought I’d make ya come ‘til ya can’t take it anymore.”

“Mmm, hmm…”

Faith’s voice dropped even lower:

“Then figured I’d make ya come again.”

“Is that a promise, F?”

Faith kissed her and flipped Buffy onto her back, positioning herself between Buffy’s legs and thrusting up against her. As soon as Buffy moaned, Faith used her arms to lift herself, leaving only their centers touching.

“Damn right it’s a promise. ‘Cause right now, B? Right now all I wanna do is show ya how much I missed you.”

“Awww…you missed me?”

“Yeah, you fuckin’ brat. Like ya wouldn’t believe.”

“Then prove it.”

Faith responded to the challenge with a wicked smile:

“Ain’t gonna be a problem, but better hang onto somethin’.”

Buffy wrapped all of her limbs tightly around her:

“Good advice, F…Okay, I’m ready.”

“And you’re all mine.”

They made love for a long time, both unable to get enough of the other. They finally had to stop, even Slayers needed rest, but they knew it wouldn’t be long before they began again. For the moment they were content to stay where they were, for however long it lasted.

Faith was wrapped in Buffy’s arms, her head resting comfortably just above Buffy’s breast.

“Fuck B, could stay right here forever.”

“And I could let you.”

They were quiet then, Faith snuggling in as one of Buffy’s hands drifted upward to play with her hair. Faith’s lips laid a gentle kiss on Buffy’s breast as her hand traced out a slow pattern on her stomach.

“I love you, Buffy.”

And just like every other time she’d heard that, Buffy couldn’t help smiling as the warmth filled her.

“I love you too.”

“Yeah, know you do and man, that still fucks me up. I mean, how lucky am I?”

“I’d say you’re pretty damn lucky.”

They both laughed, cuddling closer until they fell asleep, then awakening to make love softly and slowly at some point in the night. It went on forever until they floated blissfully back to sleep, still holding each other tight.

When morning came it brought with it the sun blazing through the window without curtains, and it also brought Buffy’s realization that Faith’s head was between her legs driving her to an explosive ‘rise and shine, good morning, ma’am’.

Breakfast wasn’t even a thought until well past lunch time, neither able to get out of bed for real before then. When they did manage to escape, they scavenged around the kitchen, loading the table with whatever they could find: cold cereal, fruit, frozen waffles, toast, and at Faith’s insistence, chocolate cake.

As they sat down, Buffy poured Faith some coffee and then began preparing herself a cup of tea. As she was stirring in some sugar, Faith cleared her throat:

“Hey, B?”

“Uh-huh?”

“I don’t ever wanna be without you.”

“I know that.”

“I’m sorry I was such an asshole about figurin’ it out before.”

Buffy took a sip of her tea and smiled at her:

“You don’t owe me any apology. It’s a big step, and I’d even understand if you weren’t sure about…”

“Oh, I’m sure. Knew that about ten seconds after I left. Just took me a while to admit it.”

Buffy laughed and walked around the table to haul Faith up. She hugged her, lifting Faith right off her feet and twirling around joyfully. She only stopped spinning because she had to kiss Faith and it wasn’t that easy when they were moving.

“God, I love you so much, Faith.”

“Do ya? Kinda hard to tell.”

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?”

Buffy kissed her again, then began carrying her back into their bedroom:

“Whoa! B, what about breakfast?”

“I don’t need breakfast.”

Faith bounced into the air slightly as Buffy tossed her down onto the mattress:

“But B, they say it’s the most important meal of the…”

Buffy was already on top of her:

“I’ve got what I need right here.”

Faith grinned up at her:

“Yeah?”

“Oh, yeah. Let me prove it to you.”

“All yours, Slayer.”

“Yes, you are.”

**************

Buffy stirred and stretched, then buried her face back into Faith’s shoulder:

“Mmm…why’d you let me sleep so long?”

Hey, after the fuckin’ you just got, figured you needed your rest.”

Buffy laughed and wrapped a leg around her:

“My shy girl sure is cocky.”

“Yeah, I’m a complicated bitch.”

“Oh I don’t know, I seem to understand you perfectly.”

Faith pulled until Buffy was on top of her:

“Yeah, ya do. Big surprise is that I like it so much.”

“I like it too.”

Buffy snuggled in happily, but after a minute she lifted her head so that she could look Faith in the eye:

“Okay, what is it?”

“What?”

“Faith, don’t even bother trying to lie. I think I already know, but I’d like to hear you say it.”

“It’s nothin’, just tryin’ to figure which hot spot we oughta hit later.”

Buffy kept looking at her, her eyebrow arching:

“Am I really supposed to buy that?”

“Buy what? We’re in Miami, two whole free days to ourselves, what the hell else would I be thinkin’ about?”

Buffy sighed and shook her head sadly:

“I wish you’d learn to make it easy on yourself.”

“B, what the fuck are you…”

With a flurry of activity, Buffy flipped Faith over onto her stomach, her own body pressing down tightly against her. Her mouth was next to Faith’s ear:

“Last chance, baby.”

“This supposed to be some kinda punishment, ‘cause gotta tell ya…”

“F?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s on your mind?”

“Well, right now it’s how good it feels to have your pussy rubbin’ on my…”

Buffy nipped her ear a little harder than could be considered gentle, then sat up on Faith’s ass:

“Wrong answer.”

She slowly ran a finger from Faith’s shoulder down to the small of her back. When she got there, Faith jumped.

“B!”

“F?”

“Let’s not get all nutty here.”

“I’m not. In fact, I’m being all sane and calm.”

Her finger trailed a gentle circle around the same area, and Faith jumped again. Goose bumps appeared all over her back, and she tried to turn over. Buffy pulled her arms behind her and held them down on the bed. Faith struggled, but she couldn’t break free.

“B, c’mon now!”

Buffy laughed, a low sexy sound that had Faith turned on and nervous at the same time. She moaned like she was being tortured when she felt Buffy’s tongue lightly tracing its way around her weak spot.

“I believe I told you this was going to come in handy some time.”

Faith giggled out a girly squeak because whenever Buffy touched her there, she felt like she was going to explode from being so wound up…just that fast.

“B, let’s be reasonable.”

Featherlike kisses had her trembling and so ready to go, she could barely see straight.

“It’s up to you, F. Just fess up and I’ll stop. Keep playing games…”

Faith cried out when she felt Buffy’s teeth grazing along, followed closely by her tongue.

“…and so will I.”

“N…No way is this…God!...fair.”

Buffy’s voice was all sex, laced with amusement and just a hint of anger:

“You’re right, it isn’t fair at all. But then, neither’s lying to me. So I’ll ask you again: what were you thinking about?”

“B, we’re in Miami, baby. Let’s just...Shit!”

When Buffy finally sat back up, Faith was sweating and squirming to pull loose.

“Ooh look, F…feather pillows!”

“No! Jesus, okay…okay! I was thinking…was thinking about how I don’t wanna stay here.”

“Go on.”

“I wanna head home so I can be there for the new kid.”

Buffy leaned down and kissed her shoulder:

“I thought that was it.”

“I’m sorry, B. I know I’m bein’ selfish. Here we get a coupla days away and I’m all…”

“Shhh…You’re not being selfish. Your work’s important and you’re worried about her, I get that. I don’t mind going back at all.”

“You don’t?”

Buffy shook her head, even though Faith couldn’t see it:

“Nope, and we both know Jessie will probably tear up the whole castle if you’re not there. Besides, we’ll be together, so I don’t really care where we are. Who needs sunny, warm, tropical Miami when I can have dark, damp, cold Scotland with you?”

Faith turned her head just enough to give Buffy a glimpse of her dimple:

“You’re the best, B.”

“Yes I am, and that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

“No, was pretty fuckin’ easy when ya…B!”

Buffy blew lightly, then began nibbling along the small of Faith’s back.

“I wonder how long…it’s going to take…before you understand… that you can…always talk to me.”

Faith’s answer came out undecipherable as Buffy continued tormenting her, only this time she was also rubbing her body against Faith’s.

“B, please…”

Buffy didn’t respond or stop for several long seconds, not until Faith was moaning and pleading almost nonstop.

“…All right, fine. But next time I won’t go so easy on you.”

Buffy released her arms and slid off, finally allowing Faith to turn around. The second she could, she grabbed Buffy and pulled her close for a passionate kiss, rolling onto her back and placing Buffy on top of her.

They lay like that for a while, kissing and caressing until Buffy took pity on her and went at it in earnest. She made Faith come twice before she stopped, lying contentedly on top of her while she waited for her to recover.

When Faith was back and could breathe normally again, she smiled and tucked some loose blonde strands behind Buffy’s ear:

“I’m tryin’ to get this talking thing down.”

“And you’re doing a good job…most of the time.”

“Still keep thinkin’ the shit’s gonna hit the fan.”

Buffy smiled:

“It might, but if it does we’ll wipe it…clean it…hose it…we’ll deal with it, Faith. I love you, nothing’s ever going to change that. You’re stuck with me forever now, no matter what.”

“So you’re like shit on the bottom of my…”

Buffy’s eyes darkened:

“Finish that sentence and die.”

Faith leaned up and kissed the tip of her nose:

“You know what I mean.”

“And you’ll still die.”

“You’re such a girly girl.”

Buffy laid her head down on Faith’s chest:

“You love it.”

“I love you.”

Buffy sighed contentedly:

“So when did you want to go back?”

“Well, Ken and Ninja Girl should be here first thing in the morning with their Slayer, figure we can all get rollin’ then.”

“Okay. Why don’t you call the extraction team and let them know we’ll be hitching a ride?”

“Great idea, B.”

After a couple of minutes of absolutely no movement from Faith, Buffy laughed:

“But?”

“Gotta move to grab the phone, and I like it right here.”

Buffy’s hand began roaming lazily down Faith’s body:

“I see.”

“Not like they’re leavin’ ‘til the morning anyways. I’ll just call’em later.”

“Translation: I’ll have to call them tonight after you pass out.”

Faith’s hand went to Buffy’s neck, pulling her down and kissing her with everything she had. The look on Buffy’s face when they parted made Faith smirk cockily:

“Focus on the important point, B…Job’s gonna get done, call’s gonna get called.”

Buffy looked dazed:

“What?”

Faith laughed as she rolled them over:

“Just put your head on this pillow, Princess, I gotcha.”

Buffy objected instantly:

“I am so not a pillow queen!”

“That’s why I didn’t call ya one. Called ya a ‘pillow princess’.”

“Well I managed to crack your ingenious code and I know you were…”

Faith’s kiss shut off Buffy’s impending tirade and when she was quiet, Faith continued kissing her way down the golden body she loved. Buffy didn’t say a word, her brain short circuiting as Faith went on her way.

“Not a pillow queen at all B…just my queen. Now lay back and let me make ya happy, baby.”

“Okay.”

The voice was almost meek like it had never been for anyone else, and the sound of it made Faith smile.

“Goddamn it, B…you are so wicked hot when you’re horny.”

“Then I must be the hottest woman in the world, because I’m always horny when you’re around.”

Faith settled cozily between Buffy’s legs:

“Shh, wanna see if I can hear the ocean.”

“The ocean? How can you not hear it? It’s practically in our room with us and…Oh, God…That’s a different ocean…a better ocean.”

“The best, B.”

After they’d sated themselves with each other as well as an enormous room service feast, Buffy called the extraction team while Faith took their drinks out onto the balcony.

“We’re all set for tomorrow.”

Buffy delivered the report as she plopped down onto the lounger next to Faith’s.

They didn’t speak, sipping their drinks as they sat watching the ocean sway and flow under the beautiful glimmer of moonlight.

“Faith?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“Sure…For what?”

Buffy reached over and took her hand:

“For having the courage to come and get me.”

Faith smiled at her, but it was clear she didn’t know how to respond, so Buffy kept going:

“If it’d been up to me, we’d still be arguing and acting like idiots.”

“Who says we were acting?”

Buffy laughed and squeezed her hand.

“But really, Faith, what we have now is all because of you.”

“Nope.”

“‘Nope’?”

“B, was you who did it. Kept after me and wouldn’t let go. We’re here ‘cause you made sure we would be.”

“Yeah, but…”

Faith tugged harder until Buffy got the clue and joined her on her chair.

“I started it, for sure. I mean, just thinkin’ about you with another woman…God B, it just made me blow a gasket. Here I’d been wantin’gyou forever, but you were straight, so straight you were even with ‘Captain Boring As Fuck In And Outta Bed’.”

“Um…I just called him ‘Riley’.”

“Whatever. Then I find out you’re fuckin’ a woman, a woman who wasn’t me, and all I could think about was how I shoulda been yours years ago. I shoulda went for it and not been such a pussy.”

Buffy leaned up and kissed her cheek:

“Well you more than made up for the delay.”

“Damn right I did. Figured it was a one-time deal, so I made the most of it. Fact that you wanted me, that you loved me…B, if you hadn’t hung tough, I’d have done the stupidest thing anybody’s ever done.”

“But I did and you didn’t, and look where we are. I say it was a total team effort. Yea team! Go, us!”

Faith laughed and pulled Buffy closer.

“You are such a fuckin’ nut.”

“Hey, California cheerleader here. There’s not much else I can do.”

“B, there’s nothin’ you can’t do. Even tamed ya a bad ass from Boston, and trust me, a shitload’ve tried.”

“But they don’t know the secret, F.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

Buffy kissed her passionately and then reached around to lightly trace around the small of Faith’s back:

“They don’t know where this is.”

“Don’t start that shit again, B!”

“And they don’t know about this either…”

She kissed Faith’s chest, right over the spot where her heart was.

“…and it’s the key to everything.”

Faith’s eyes flooded with tears and she tried to cover:

“Christ, don’t go all girly and sappy on me, B.”

“Sorry, can’t help it. It’s how you make me feel.”

They kissed and Buffy felt the moisture falling onto her cheeks. When they parted, a couple of tears still slid their way down Faith’s face.

“Well fuck me, I been tamed and turned into a wimpy chick, and I’m cool with it. I love you so much, Buffy.”

Buffy sat up, taking Faith with her.

“What the…”

Faith never finished as Buffy hoisted her up into her arms. She headed back into the bedroom, an innocent look on her face:

“Just carrying out orders, my shy girl.”

“Orders?”

“You told me to ‘fuck you’, so I’m going to. I always do what I’m told.”

Faith couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so hard. Buffy stood looking at her, finally tossing her down onto the bed when it was clear she wasn’t going to be stopping any time soon.

“What’s so funny?”

“You…you…doing what…what you’re told to do. Hahahaha!!!”

Buffy stripped and then began working on getting Faith naked as well.

“Hey, I do what I’m told…most of the time…sometimes…I do, Faith!”

“Oh fuck, my gut hurts!”

“Well, a lot more’s going to hurt if you don’t stop laughing at me.”

But Faith couldn’t stop:

“Hey, let’s call Giles and tell him! Guy never gets enough laughs and…OW!”

“Stop laughing at me.”

“Okay, but shit, B… you gotta see how funny it is.”

Buffy had Faith’s top off:

“All right…I suppose it is kind of funny.”

“I ever tell ya my first Watcher loved you? Said you pissed the Council off on a daily basis. She thought you were awesome.”

“No, you never told me that…I do try to do what I’m told though.”

Faith wriggled out of her shorts and kicked them aside:

“Sure ya do, and once in a while ya even manage to pull it off.”

Buffy settled on top of her with a sigh that turned quickly into a moan:

“You have the softest skin.”

“Nah, you do. Plus you got all these little hairs…Man, your arms would look like a gorilla’s if they weren’t blon…OW!!!”

“You just have no idea how to talk to me, do you?”

“What?! All I said was…”

Buffy’s eyes narrowed:

“Do not call me a gorilla again.”

“I like it! It’s sexy and…Fine, be a big baby, B.”

“I should just cut you off. No more sex.”

“Ya’d never do that.”

“And how can you be so sure, F?”

“‘Cause you’re just as horny as me most of the time.”

She pulled Buffy’s head down into range and kissed the hell out of her.

“Huh?”

“See? So stop with the idle threats and lemme make ya a woman…”

“Mmm…Faith…”

“…a woman who’s got gorilla arms and a butt like a monkey!”

“Faith Lehane!”

Faith shifted fast, rolling them over and pinning Buffy’s hands to the mattress:

“Whaddya say we stop monkeying around and get to it?”

“I say when I get loose, you’re going to pay.”

“Not scared, B.”

“And why’s that?”

“‘Cause you love me, and in this case…”

Faith let go of Buffy’s hands as she moved in for a kiss:

“…it’s monkey see, monkey do, baby.”

THE END