Faith took in a really deep breath and set her hand on the door. Just behind that door was Buffy. She could hear her crying, she could smell her tears. She would never admit this out loud, but it hurt her to see Buffy so down and destroyed.
Maybe she shouldn't have spoken her mind inside the house, but she had felt the need to point out to Buffy that it could be dangerous to go out like that, for the potentials, for her.
Finally, she worked up the courage to open the door. Her heart broke at the sight. Buffy was lying on a strangers' bed in the fetal position facing the wall. Her petite body shook with her sobs, and little whimpers made themselves heard.
She was never one for comforting, she had never been comforted, and so she knew not how to do so. But her body told her to hold the blonde, and her heart backed up that idea.
"B?" Her own voice surprised her, she sounded very husky. She shook her head and entered the bedroom, closing the door and locking it behind her. Not that it would do much good to lock the door, she'd seen vampires run into houses without so much as a second thought. Sunny Dale was theirs now. "Jesus B, any vamp could just come in here and kill you in your sleep." Buffy's shoulder's shrugged tensely. "I'm sorry about that crap back there, I shouldn't have said anything. I just… I just didn't want you to get hurt." She admitted, a little quietly, shy. Still Buffy said nothing. "B, would you just… I'm sorry."
Now Faith felt awkward, standing there in the dark, boring a hole in the floor and wriggling her hands in obvious discomfort. She was beginning to rethink coming in here, maybe she should just leave, obviously Buffy wasn't all that cheery about having her in there. "I guess I should go." She said, turning around and making her way to the door.
"I'm sorry too."
Faith looked over her shoulder, Buffy was still facing away from her, but there was no doubt she had spoken. Over to her left there was a couch, she glanced at it momentarily, but decided to stand beside the bed instead.
"Sorry about what B? The last time I checked, you didn't kill anybody."
"It was an accident. I knew that then, I was just, I don't know, scared. But I should have listened to you then." Buffy's voice was hoarse and she sounded as if it hurt to speak. "And I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you now." she sniffled, "you don't deserve it, off all people, you're the last one that deserves being treated like shit. I'm sorry."
Faith couldn't bring herself to answer. After all these years, she was finally hearing was she had longed for. She dreamt of this day, when Buffy would admit her mistakes. She had thought it would be great to laugh and throw it in her face, much the way she had thrown her apology in her face.
Instead she found herself trying hard to fight of tears in the corners of her eyes. "It's okay."
"No, it's not. How can you say that?"
"Because I want it to be okay." Faith sighed, this is not what she had in mind. "I guess I should be leaving then."
"Faith?" Buffy called her, craning her neck to look over her shoulder.
"Hmm?"
"Stay?" Buffy asked, sounding tired, depressed, but a little hopeful.
Faith looked at the couch, not exactly the best place to sleep after having a slayer sized whopping handed out to her. "Sure, me and the couch, we're old pals."
"Not on the couch," Buffy offered a watery chuckle, a small smile in her eyes, "I meant, with me." She scooted over on the bed.
Faith had a heart attack at that moment, did her eyes and ears deceive her, or did Buffy really just ask her to sleep in the same bed with her? "Ummm…."
Buffy's face fell, "Too weird to sleep with the girl that stabbed you huh?"
"No! No." Faith chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. "Scoot over partner." She slipped into the bed, laying beside Buffy, her hands resting on her stomach. She was stiff as a board, lying there next to the blonde. She had to keep reminding herself that this was a comfort thing, not a touch Buffy thing.
Eventually she managed to calm herself down enough to rest her left hand behind her neck. 'This isn't so bad.'
"Faith?"
"Hmm?" Faith tried not gasp as she felt Buffy's face bury into the side of her neck, and her arm go around her stomach and pull her close. Out of pure instinct, she wrapped her own arm around Buffy in a hug and pulled her closer.
"Is this okay?" Buffy asked, nuzzling the brunette's neck. Faith smelled like cinnamon, spicy and sweet. She always thought the brunette had a distinct scent to her that made her presence known. She felt Faith's chest rise and fall beneath her, and she could help resting her head on her chest in order to listen to her heart. The beating was strong and steady, she now had her own nickname for Faith, Lion Heart. She smiled at herself.
"It's more than okay." She heard Faith's breathy whisper.
----------------------------------
"What do we do now Buffy?"
"Yeah Buffy, what do we do?" Dawn asked her elder sister, peering into the Sunny Dale sized crater that lay before them. Her home, her school, her friends, everything she ever knew, real or fake, was gone. Was she supposed to feel upset or even slightly distraught? She sure as hell didn't. All she could think was that the hell mouth was gone, her sister was no the slayer anymore, they could live a plain, normal, boring life now! Of course she didn't relay all this to her sister, she was looking a little worse for wear now that the dust had settled around them.
"I don't know." The blonde slayer whispered, in truth, she was very overwhelmed with all of this, she was expecting to close the hell mouth, go home, and sleep for a thousand years, but instead she was now one amongst the many homeless survivors standing on a desert road with open roads ahead of them. It was good, it was bad, it was scary. "First of all we need to get all the injured to a hospital, get them checked out. Then we need to find a place to stay in for a while, two three days, to heal and rest."
"One thing is certain, we need to disappear from here, the government will be all over this place in a few hours." Kennedy joined Giles, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Buffy, and Faith at the foot of the hell mouth crater. "Something this big won't go unnoticed, it's not everyday a town implodes."
All of the original scoobies nodded their heads in agreement, everyone except Faith. The brunette was still staring into the crater with half lidded eyes.
Kennedy noticed the glazed over look in the brunette's usually vibrant eyes, no one else seemed to though, and although she kind of hated Faith for being so pushy when she was leader, for all of two days that was so, she was concerned. Maybe no one else saw it in the heat of the battle, but she saw her get ambushed by at least eight uber vamps down in the school basement. She came up looking alright, but now she livid, tinged a pale, grayish color.
The no longer potential slayer moved towards her, ready to say something, but Faith glanced up, looking ready to stop her, no matter what it took. It was if she could read her mind or something, she shook her head, ever so subtly, and Kennedy backed away, deciding to do something about her later.
So it was back to figuring out what to do.
"We need to leave." Giles announced, "Robin does not look well at all. And there other girls in serious conditions."
"Where do you suggest we go?" Willow asked, finally seeming to have gotten over the fact that her home was no more. "Any place with a good hospital is pretty far away. Plus," the wicca shrugs, "a bus full of injured, bleeding girls and three battered men, kind of circus grade attention."
"Not to mention the fugitive." Xander adds as an after thought, glancing slyly at Faith.
Faith lowers her head with a tiny, almost inaudible sigh, digging shaky hands into her pockets. She knew someone would eventually mention her, she was just hopping it wasn't when she was feeling like keeling over and dying.
Xander's mention of Faith seemed to stop everyone, one by one they turned to look at her, and the brunette did her best to hide her blush. Or was she just flushed?
Buffy had almost forgotten about Faith, the brunette had made herself scarce after the fall, she was probably trying to find the right moment to sneak away while no one was looking, it would be so like her to do that. She approached Faith cautiously. During the whole deal with The First, she had no choice but to associate with her, and she had let her guard down at the time, surely Faith couldn't do anything worse to her than The First had, so she let her guard down. But now, now there was no First, no reason to play nice with the woman who had ruined her life.
"Faith?" The brunette continued to stare down at her feet, showing no signs that she knew Buffy was even speaking to her. "Faith?" She asked a little more forcefully.
"What?" Faith finally looked at her. Buffy heard herself inhaling sharply, she did not look good. But her eyes were cold and distant, the blonde slayer made the assumption that she was just being a hardass like always.
"What?" Buffy snapped, "I'm talking to you, the least you can do is pay attention."
"For what? I don't care what the hell you do, I don't care what the hell you do with me, a'ight?"
Buffy's eyes hardened, yeah right, like Faith would ever change, it wasn't in her to something like that. Faith was a cold hearted, mindless, numb bitch who couldn't care less.
"No, you wouldn't care, would you?"
"What the fuck do you want Buffy?"
"So how did you manage to convince Angel you changed? Did you come out with the crocodile tears and the sad daddy issues bullshit? Cause I have to tell you, Angel's a sucker for a good sob story." So she was pushing her, it wasn't like she wouldn't push back, after all, it was Faith.
"It was easy, maybe I'll teach you how to have a heart sometime." Faith bit back, she knew she shouldn't, knew she was taking the bait, and she knew she was in no position to fight the other slayer. But that's how it is, when someone she's cared for for so long hits at her, she can't help but to lash out.
"You have a heart?! Please, the only feelings you have are in your fucking-" Buffy's head snapped back with the force of the blow. She staggered back, but she caught Faith's shirt before falling, and she dragged the brunette down with her.
Buffy was pissed off, frustrated, and hurting. She rolled herself over Faith, not caring that she didn't even bother to move, and reeled back her fist as far as it would go, then releasing it upon the brunette slayer's face.
It felt right to have her fist crashing on Faith, felt good to be the one handing out the beating and the hurting this time around. God, it felt fucking great! Like ecstasy.
"Hey, Buffy, get off of her!" Kennedy rushed up behind the blonde, wrapping her arms around her waist and dragging her off harshly, throwing her aside. "Would you two get a grip?! Haven't you fought long enough? This is fucking ridiculous! Just let it go." She glared at Buffy, who was pouting on the ground, not meeting her eyes.
"I already did." Faith rasped, using the bus' bumper to help her stand. "I stopped caring a long time ago Special K. Good luck." She turned on her heel and started off of the road into the desert.
"Faith? Where the hell are you going? You can't walk, you're hurt." Kennedy tried to go after her, but Willow's hand on her elbow stopped her.
"She's not worth it baby." Willow knew Kennedy always liked Faith, the two girls had a lot of common ground between them, they could have been best friends.
"But Willow-"
"Just let it go." Buffy whispered from the ground, glaring after the brunette slowing fading out of sight. "You hear that Faith?! You better leave while you can, the council and the police will be coming after you soon enough!" Buffy hated herself then, she sounded like a sore bitch, she was bitter, but she really couldn't put her finger on the why.
Faith had a way of making her crazy.
And Faith had a way of making her miss her the second she was gone. She could feel her sister slayer fading through their connection, in a few minutes it would be as Faith was dead to her…. Maybe that was good.
But she didn't want that.
***^^****^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^^*
"Buffy Summers this, Buffy Summers that. Buffy! Buffy ! Buffy! Ugh!" Faith grunted in disgust, plating her arms on the back of a bench and vaulting over it. She looked back over her shoulders and put forth another burst of speed into her sprint. "This is all her fucking fault!" She screamed into the frosty night air, ignoring the strange looks being shot her way she raced from bridge to bridge, leaping canals and boats and anything or anyone that got in the way between her and her freedom.
The brunette slayer came across anther bend and decided to try her luck on the streets before resorting to jumping into the canal and swimming her ass out of there.
"You're gonna have to be faster than that if you want to keep up boys!" She laughed, using the ledge of the railing to launch off of. The stunt sent her sailing through the air in a running man position, 'Wicked!' Faith thought, tucking her knees and head in in order to roll away upon impact.
Of course when her mastermind plan was being thought out, all of two seconds it took her, she wasn't planning on the guns.
A rain of bullets befell her as she impacted with the ground. The noise and bright lights, both from the brightly decorated city and the guns being shot, threw her off balance. Her ankle wavered, shooting pain like electricity running up and down the entire length of her leg.
Her luck was gone to hell now, she had no choice but to keep to the canals and boats, she wouldn't get far, but it would keep a few meters in front of her pursuers.
"You think you can get away again?! The third time is a charm, don't you know?" Someone behind her shouted in a heavy accent, his laughter followed by another spray of silver caps falling around her.
'Since when do they have watcher in Venice?' "But you have to catch me first buddy boy." She panted, her leg was hurting something fierce, her lungs felt like she'd drenched them in gas and set fire to them. Sure, being a slayer made evading captivity more efficient, but there were only so many miles a girl could run before seeing triple from lack of oxygen.
"Mr. Travers has some very interesting plans for you, bitch." Another round of bullets, "I can't wait to see the watcher's council put you down like the dog you are."
"That's not what your girlfriend thought last night. Cute dog by the way, I always wanted a St. Bernard. Get out of the way!" She howled at two women in the middle of her path, they didn't seem to understand her, they didn't even look her way. "Ladies, excuse the fuck out of me!" Still nothing.
Faith growled deeply in her throat, she was already on the bridge, the council men were on her ass, those bitched weren't moving. Oh well, she was going to have to barrel into them like a football player and knock them out of the way.
A cold smile crossed her lips, and steadied herself for the impact. She was less then ten feet from smashing into them.
Finally one of the women turned and looked at her, her expression unreadable. Faith narrowed her eyes at the green eyed woman, something about the way she continued to stare threw her off.
"Now!" She heard the men from behind her shout.
"Oh, fuck!" Faith's eyes widened as she spotted the woman's hands, which had been concealed, withdrawing a gun from underneath her shirt.
The slayer was trapped on the bridge, this was it, this was a dead end, either way she went, she was getting pumped full of lead, and if she let them capture her, there was no way she could fight them off any more, she was ready to collapse. Maybe if she played dead?
"Fuck Lehane, come on, think." She urged herself, looking around in all directions, maybe someone would call the police. But it was dark, she was surprised the council's people could see her in the inky blackness.
"I told you you wouldn't get away, Faith. Give it up, make my job easier, my momma wants me home for her famous spaghetti sauce, I would hate to miss it. You have already lost."
Wasn't that the truth? She was fucked and she knew it, they knew it. The council men reminded her of hyenas circling their prey, with an evil gleam in their eyes and their mocking laughter sending chills down her back. Her body was chock full of adrenaline, her mind was racing.
The thing about being a slayer, being still was not something she did well. She finally sighed, relaxing her body, and she caught the leaders' eyes. He smiled crookedly at her, lowering his aim to her heart.
"See, you're smart. You know, I will get paid if you're dead or alive, but I wouldn't mind having a go at taming the beast."
"Don't sell me short, you haven't captured me yet."
"Oh? Haven't I?"
"No, you haven't." Faith smirked at him. It was like the Quick and The Dead, both of them just waiting for that little clock to run out of time, waiting for the move. 'Now or never, girl, lets see what you got.'
"Fire!"
Faith turned on her heel, planting her hand on the ledge of the bridge, and hoisted her lower body over the obstacle. To her everything seemed to go by in slow motion. The sound of the bullets flying around her like she was in Vietnam, the sharp tearing she felt in her side, the steady throbbing of her left leg, her racing heart, and the torturously slow fall into the dark blotchy water below. The slayer could only hope that the water was deep enough not to kill her when she landed.
And to think all this was happening because she couldn't keep her mouth shut.
The council men ran to the side of the bridge, peering over the edge. A loud splash resounded through their ears and they commenced firing at the water in hopes of still capturing the rogue slayer.
"Stop!" The woman with the green eyes and dark blonde hair shook her head in disappointment. "You fucking imbeciles, you let her get away from us, we had her!"
"She was right in front of you, Marcela, you could have caught her." The man who had shoot the slayer back away after he spoke, the last thing he needed was to piss off his boss.
"Did I ask you to speak to me Toni?" She asked in a cold voice that made Toni wonder if a kiss from the beautiful woman would freeze his lungs.
"No ma'am, forgive me. I will get the men ready and send the-"
"No. You've done enough, I will handle this myself. As the Americans say," She smiled at her reflection in the water, "if you want something done right, do it yourself. You are free to go Toni, I wouldn't want you to miss dinner with your mamma."
-------------------------
'If life was like water, everything would be a steady flow… too bad.'
A tall brunette, seated on the edge of one of Venice's many bridges, thought to herself. The icy night wind blew her long bangs around her face, partly hiding her view of the ever so slightly freezing river.
Freezing temperature for Venice was a sight hardly ever seen, it was rare, but then again, she had only been in Venice for three years, she couldn't be sure. The night was calm and cool and it drove her to her current position. It was the perfect excuse to get out of her dorm without making a commotion with her roommate.
Her roommate, Theresa, was highly suspicious of her now a day, and really, she couldn't blame her. How was she supposed to explain to her that she could lift four ton trucks without breaking a sweat and run a mile in three minutes, maybe less? Hell, she couldn't believe it herself at first, but she was having time to think about it, it had only been four weeks since whatever changed her had happened.
"You're looking very lonely out here, Ali."
That voice grated on her nerves and made her want to cry at the same time. "What are you doing here?" She asked, no venom in her voice, to her surprise.
"Hey, we can still be friends right? No need to lose everything that's important."
"Tracey, get on with it." She just can't see the glass half full, it's been half empty the entire time. She doesn't possess her ex girlfriend's gull, she can't just sit next to her and pretend that everything is okay. "Why did you wait so long to tell me?" She asks, kicking her feet around, hating the fact that Tracey's hand is now settled on her back. She still has a soft touch, but her hands are freezing.
"Ali-"
"No. The least you can do is give me a straight answer." She demands, the hurt in her voice painfully obvious.
Tracey sighs sadly, hopping up on the ledge and sitting beside her. "Three months."
"Three months?" Ali wants to slap her, maybe push her into the canal and drown her and then drown herself. "That would be-"
"A year after the engagement." Tracey answers for her, hating the dull look in Ali's usually sparkling cerulean eyes.
"I see… and you couldn't have told me? I had to find out the way I did? Getting pregnant with some random guy wasn't bad enough?"
"He wasn't random, I've known him since grade school. And it was an accident Ali, where's your compassion?"
"Three hundred and fifty five thousand dollars and forty bottles of vodka down the drain. Thanks." Ali doesn't mean to be bitter, but what else is she supposed to be? "There's compassionate, and there's stupid. Take your pick cause they're both the same to me. One just sounds nicer."
Tracey is at a loss for words, she's never seen Ali act like this. It hurts to think that it was her fault. "I'm sorry Ali."
"Yeah? Me too." The brunette bows her head, deciding to ignore Tracey.
Tracey knows she won't get anything more out of Ali. Throwing her legs over the edge, she hops back up, brushing off her jeans. "I came to check on you, our friends are worried, and I also came to invite you to the baby shower, I want you to be there." She leans down and kisses her cheek, "I really am I sorry." She whispers before leaving the bridge.
Ali turns and watches her go, feeling like someone is wrenching a hot iron in her heart. "I'm sorry too." Tracey doesn't hear her. "Figures." The brunette snorts, returning her attention to the steadily freezing water.
She wonders, if she fell and she cried for help, would Tracey run back and save her, would anyone care if she died tonight? She wasn't sure she would care if she died, maybe it would be for the best.
No, she didn't want to die because she got dumped, eventually she would move on. She wanted to die because before Tracey was her fiance, she was her best friend, the one person she could count on for everything, rain or shine, hot or cold, Tracey was there for her. She lost too much when Tracey betrayed her like that.
Why did she feel she couldn't tell her? Eventually her stomach would have started bulging, or she would have complained during sex, or something. Morning sickness, wanting strange things, the mood swings, she would have found out, why couldn't she tell her? She would have welcomed the baby with open arms, would have taken care of it and Tracey.
She went about it all wrong, instead she took her engagement ring off and set it on the table, broke up with her and said they couldn't be together anymore.
It would have been less painful if she had just shot her in the back of the head.
"Fire!"
Ali jumped back, startled, and hide behind the bridge, gunshots were being fired carelessly, she would have been swiss cheese if she hadn't moved in time. What the hell was going on? Crawling on her hands and knees, she made off of the bridge and she scooted behind the levy, glancing at the water beside her. She was pretty sure she heard a splash.
"Great, just great." She mumbled heatedly, pissed off to a point of no return. In her three years of living in Italy, not once had she come across the mafia or mobsters or anything of the sort. It was just her luck that she would now, when her life was going to hell. "Oh fuck!" She squeaked as she caught sight of a body floating in the canal. So it was the mafia. Her first instinct was to get the hell out of there, she didn't need any more problems than she already had.
As she was turning to leave however, she heard the floating body groan in pain and a feint whimper. It was a woman, that much was clear, and she was really really hurt, and fuck, she was still alive!
"I'm going to regret this." She told herself, taking a running dive and plunging into the water. When she hit, the breath was stolen from her lungs, it was so damn cold! Her heart started pounding in her ribcage, it felt she was being hit with a sledge hammer from the inside. Huge lungfulls of air were sucked into her body as she resurfaced, right beside the drifting woman.
"H-h-hey! Ma'am a-are you alright?" She shivered, draping her arms over the woman's shoulder and chest, back stroking to the side of the canal. The cold was getting to her, and the woman's dead weight in her arms was exhausting her already. "Damn it why do they make these things so huge?"
"F-for the boats to pass through." The woman in her arms replied. Okay, scratch that, she was no woman, barely one, like her.
"H-hey, a-are you okay?" She asked, clasping onto the edge of the canal, wincing as her side stretched out.
"Five by five."
"Okay? What's that?"
"It's all good."
"Oh." Ali smiled, amused. "Well listen five by five, we're gonna have to travel with the canals until we reach a spot where we can climb out. Think you can hack it?" She hoped she could, she didn't think she could, the water was taking its toll on her, she was shivering like a cold Chihuahua in December.
"You're a slayer?"
"A what?"
Faith was barely hanging on to sweet consciousness, she found it difficult to just pass out in a freezing canal in a foreign country, it wasn't her style. Come to think of it, neither was being saved by some brat, but she couldn't complain at the moment, she was saving her life.
"What's your name?" She asked instead, assessing herself in her mind. 'One broken rib, one broken pinky, and one nasty hole in my side, not bad Lehane. Oooooh, ouch, and one very sprained ankle.'
"Ali. Yours?"
Could she trust her? Didn't she just get almost wasted because she trusted the wrong person, again? "I'm Faith." What the hell, if she was going to kill her, it couldn't be that bad.