Title:
Author: Kaylee's Teddy
Rating: PG-13, for character death, f/f relationships and general angst
Summery: Post-Chosen, set directly after the bus drives into the sunset. No connection to season eight. Buffy and Faith survived the final battle. Now what? Slightly angsty Fuffy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy, Faith or anything else BTVS related. Joss said let there be scripts and they were good, they were very, very, good.
Robin Wood was dead. Faith wasn't surprised that he hadn't made it, that he'd gone to sleep an hour and a half into the ride and never woken up.
They didn't find out for another two hours, once they'd found themselves a decent sized town and rolled into the hospital parking lot. Faith was surprised that she cried, was even more surprised when it was Buffy who came to comfort her, closing Robins eyes before turning to envelope her in a tight embrace. Faith now sobbing, hysterical, burying her face against Buffy's dirty, bloody shoulder and seriously wondering if the world hadn't ended after all, because really this was something she was sure would only happen after the apocalypse.
Faith wrapping her fists in Buffy's jacket trying to stifle her tears against her shoulder, hoping to shock herself into composure with the scent of battle and death still clinging to Buffy's clothing. But it was no good, and the only thing that remained clear was the sound of Buffy's voice, exhausted but soothing, whispering softly somewhere above her. The words hardly mattered and Faith was only vaguely aware of them anyway, in the same way she was only vaguely aware of Xander and Kennedy standing just inside the doorway, or of the rest of the Scooby's and mini's clustered just outside, or of Robin's body sitting stiffly in the seat above them, as if watching over the entire scene. What was clear was Buffy, Buffy talking to her, stroking her hair, completely and utterly sincere. And it must be the end of the world.
Buffy stays with her until they are inside, seating her gently in one of the waiting room chairs before multiple voices whisk her off into the swirl of girls and injuries. "Just stay here ok.." Buffy implores and waits until Faith gives a slight nod before she pushes herself out of her seat and strides off. Nurses spin around the waiting room checking vitals, accessing severe injuries, assuring the more stable that they will be seen shortly. Faith catches parts of whispered conversations, so young…severe internal injuries…bite marks…. But no one asks any direct questions, the reports have just started to come in…an earthquake, a failed military experiment, a dramatic groundwater collapse, this is where the bus full of girls has come from and no one wants an explanation. Faith watches Willow being led to an open room Exhaustion, she hears a resident whisper, Kennedy follows closely behind, a nurse trailing in her wake stammering something about family only but Kennedy marches through and no one dares to challenge her, Faith doubts that Kennedy will leave Willows side tonight. It doesn't take long before one of the nurses notices the blood collecting at Buffy's thigh and rushes her off to the back, barking something about reopened wounds and immediate stitches. Faith wants to follow, doesn't want Buffy to go alone, but Dawn is there in a moment, her arm around Buffy's waist, convincing her to do as she's told, leading her away and Faith sinks back into her chair again.
She needs to get out of here.
It's not hard to sneak off, with this much activity everyone is sufficiently occupied not to notice as Faith simply slides out the front door. As she goes Faith glances at three potentials that have managed to doze off; surrounded by the noise and activity.
. Each is curled into an uncomfortable waiting room chair, pulled close together as if each needed the proximity of the other. Faith envies them.
Faith passes Giles as she's walking towards the street, leaning in the darkness just beyond a lamppost, back turned to her, talking into his cell phone. She catches snippets of the conversation as she passes him, trauma ward…death toll…LA... She wonders who he's calling. Angel? The council? His mysterious long distance girlfriend? Faith doesn't care too much who's on the other end, she's just glad that the contact proves there's still some kind of outside world.
Faith wants to be drunk; she wants to be really drunk. That goal in mind Faith sidles into the nearest liquor store glad that she's made it before closing, surprised that it's still that early, her sense of time is really off. She buy's a cheap bottle of something hard, trying not to notice as the handful of customers gawk at her appearance. Faith holds out the money to the cashier, noticing a long blood smear spread out along the right arm of her jacket, Faith pulls her arm back and wonders briefly if the blood belongs to Buffy or Robin and doesn't blame the skinny guy working the register for locking the door behind her as she leaves.
Faith is sitting at the back of the bus. It's familiar, the way she used to pick the last subway car back in Boston. Slouching down so she'll be invisible, safe from wandering bands of teenage boys, or now… exhausted mini slayers. Some things never change. Faith sits alone, alone while the mini's rally beside their fallen comrades and Giles tries to plan their next move and Andrew plays round after round of hearts with Xander, as if letting him win for three hours straight could make up for his loss and Buffy…
"Faith?" Buffy's voice sounds weakly from the doorway of the bus. Faith freezes mid-thought unsure if she's heard correctly.
Faith? Buffy asks again. Apparently Buffy comes looking for her.
Faith considers staying silent, of hiding there in the back of the bus until Buffy leaves, of sneaking off before the others have been discharged, of running, running, running…but it's too late for that now. Faith takes a swig from the bottle in her hand and clears her throat experimentally. "I'm here" Faith manages to croak out, she takes another deeper pull from the bottle and tries again. "I'm here" Faith says more strongly this time "I'm in the back B" Faith can hear the hesitation as Buffy climbs slowly into the bus, she can just make out the shadow of Buffy's body as she makes her way carefully up the center aisle. She's barely three rows away before Faith can see her clearly, she looks better now, she's wearing different clothes, hospital freebies most likely, simple but clean and the disturbing blood stain along her center is gone now. Faith's glad for that at least.
Faith shifts a little to make room for Buffy in the seat next to her and is only a little surprised when Buffy sits down without comment; it's not the strangest thing to happen today. Faith hands Buffy the bottle of scotch she's been nursing for the past two hours. "Shouldn't you be resting?" Faith asks as Buffy takes a preliminary swig. "They wanted me to stay but I convinced them to have me discharged." Buffy takes another swallow and hands the bottle back to Faith "I never did like hospitals." Buffy finishes Faith smiles into the darkness and nods slightly, she gets that.
"Giles was looking for you." Buffy says and Faith is glad to have a more standard conversation topic. "Yeah?" Faith asks "What about?" she finishes the question by taking another swig, cradling the bottle in her hands. "He got a hotel, finally convinced a few of the girls to go to bed, he thought you might need a rest." Faith nods "Probably should but I don't think I'd sleep anyway." Faith doesn't want to say how touched she is that someone actually thought about her.
"How is everybody?" Faith asks covering her discomfort with another long swallow. Buffy sighs a little, "It's not bad really, a few serious injuries, Rona, Megan, Willow…" Buffy trails off. Faith looks out the busses square window giving Buffy a moment to find her voice. "It will be a couple of days." She finishes. Faith nods and Buffy gestures for the bottle again swallowing back a generous amount and taking a few deep breaths before turning to speak to Faith directly, "Giles, wants to keep everyone moving on to LA. He's talking about sending a group of five or so ahead in the morning." Faith nods, glad they have some course of action. "Do you have any ideas about who?" Faith asks. Buffy nods thoughtfully, "I'd like to keep Xander moving, although he's not so fond of Angel so maybe not and Andrew has essentially refused to leave his side so, he'd have to go too…" Faith grins a little, it was clear that Andrew was determined to remain, as close to Xander as possible and despite the whining to the contrary, it was equally clear that Xander preferred to have him around. Guess he got used to something small and annoying following after him, Faith thinks and then shakes it off. Anya is dead and the dead deserve some respect.
"Giles of course," Buffy continues as Faith focuses back on the conversation at hand,
"And one of the less injured girls…Vi maybe, she came through all right or Sara, she seems strong enough." Buffy muses. "That's four B." Faith replies taking the bottle of scotch back as it dangles precariously close to falling from Buffy's fingers. Buffy is startled by the action and she glances around nervously, "Yes," Buffy says composing herself, "…umm Faith…I'd…I'd like you to go as well. I mean…I'd like you to lead. You and Angel have a history, " a slight grimace there but Buffy moves through it "…and you have the most experience. I was hoping you'd be in front for this one." Buffy keeps her eyes fixed on a spot just outside the window. "Wouldn't you rather go yourself?" Faith asks cautiously. Buffy turns sharply and gives Faith a withering look, Faith feels a surge of anger flare through her chest but it burns out quickly and then she's tired, so tired of all of this. "I'm not, you know, messing with you or anything." Faith says firmly "it's just my leadership skills tend to end with somebody in a coma…" Buffy chuckles slightly and Faith stops, unexpectedly hurt by the response, she makes a move to get up, is in fact already crawling over Buffy to get into the aisle when Buffy reaches up and lays a hand on her arm, "I'm sorry… Please don't go." Buffy pleads. Faith hesitates, distracted by the heat from Buffy's hand and wanting to run, run but instead she slides back down into her seat. Faith's not sure why, maybe it's because she's never really heard Buffy apologize before, at least not to her.
Faith settles herself back into her seat. The constant tension between them is starting to grate on Faiths nerves and she stares out the window looking for any kind of distraction. Buffy stares out the opposite window playing absently with a hole in the vinyl seating between them, Faith shifts uncomfortably, wishing she'd take her hand away, needing a little more distance. They are so quiet that she can swear she can hear Buffy's heartbeat. She can see Xander walking out of the hospital doors, Andrew trailing at his side, presumably headed to the hotel and bed. She can hear Andrew talking but can't make out what he's saying, just a constant hum of words. Faith watches them carefully Xander striding straight ahead, while Andrew babbles along by his side. Faith catches a few words, something about secondary mutations in the x-men and finds herself smiling in spite of herself…the whole thing is just too ridiculous. Faith turns a little and notices that Buffy is watching and Faith nods her head in the direction of the retreating pair, "I mean if you're just trying to pack me off with Andrew…" Buffy laughs out loud and Faith is so startled that she starts laughing right along with her, after all , it makes about as much sense as anything else.
The laughter fades and Buffy picks up the conversation again, " As much as I'll miss hearing about the end of the romulan, klingon alliance," Buffy giggles a little and Faith relaxes into the sound. "I'd really prefer if you'd go along, you've worked with Angels team before and you seem to have recovered better from the…." Buffy doesn't finish that sentence takes a different tack instead, "Besides Giles thinks I should stay and heal a while. Apparently really large blades aren't great for your internal organs." Buffy smiles a little as she pulls the bottle back from Faith, their fingers brushing slightly as she does so.
Faith let's her eyes fall into her lap instantly regretting the words as the slip off her drunken tounge, "I remember." She whispers and Buffy falls silent. Faith wishes she didn't always say the wrong thing, wishes they didn't always end up here, here at the edge of pain and regret. Faith just wants to make it better and she blames the alcohol when she finds herself leaning over to touch the bandage peeking from underneath the worn edge of Buffy's t-shirt. Buffy flinches slightly but she hides it well. "Is it bad?" Faith asks as Buffy pretends that the contact isn't making her nervous. "It's ok, needed stitches, it will probably scar." Buffy answers continuing to watch as Faith draws her fingers along the edge of Buffy's shirt. Faith nods her head sagely and gives in to the temptation to lay her hand against Buffy's abdomen. "Now we'll match." Faith says looking up to meet Buffy's eyes. Buffy stares back and Faith has never known that anything could hurt this much. Very slowly as if she's scared Faith will pull away Buffy brings her hand across to rest on top of Faiths and they just sit there, fingers intertwined, listening to each other breathe. Faith thinks Buffy leans first but she can't be sure, the kiss is soft and sweet and tastes like hope and ashes, something both frightening and achingly familiar. A car alarm goes off somewhere a little to close and Buffy startles and pulls away. The moment broken Buffy stands up rather abruptly, " I should go, Dawn was trying to get Kennedy to eat something…" Faith stands quickly, " Yeah, I should go too." Faith feels around in the darkness for the cap to the now mostly empty bottle of scotch, gives up and abandons the bottle as she scrambles after Buffy.
"Faith" Buffy say's quietly stopping just outside the bus her face still bathed in shadows
"Yeah?" Faith asks looking down towards Buffy's face. Buffy is moving closer now, climbing back up the stairs so that she's just below Faith, standing in the doorway. "Faith I…. I needed to tell you..." she's nervous now, staring down at her borrowed shoes, twisting the thigh of the give away pants between her fingers. Faith sways a little and grabs the side of the bus for support. Buffy falters and Faiths heart breaks for her. "I think I need to say it before I get used to the fact that the world isn't ending" Buffy seems to make some kind of decision with that sentence and it's shocking how quickly the transformation takes place, a blink and she's there; solid and determined, looking directly up into Faith's eyes Buffy quickly closes the few steps between them and leans up to lay the lightest of kisses against Faiths lips. "I love you too." Buffy whispers.
For the second time that day Faith finds herself sobbing in Buffy's arms, curled in Buffy's lap on the cold metal floor of the bus. Only this time the words are crystal clear and Faith doesn't know what to say just holds on tightly as Buffy tells her how much she loves her, strokes her hair and lays soft kisses along her cheeks and jaw line. It must be the end of the world, because Faith has never felt this good.