Authors Note: Thanks to all the awesome people read the last chapter, and special thanks to those who took the time to review! Hopefully you'll all enjoy this installment.
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Buffy stood awkwardly in the brightly lit hallway outside Faith's apartment. It was on the floor above hers and Dawn's, along with the apartments of several of the newer slayer's they'd found and recruited. The blonde slayer usually found the nearness of Faiths apartment convenient, but right now she was wishing it had been more than an elevator ride away. She'd dropped by a million times before, but today was different. She was asking Faith out. Well out on a Slayer mission anyway. After years of denial it was a big step. Taking a deep breath she hesitantly raised her hand to knock on the door before pulling back again at the last moment. She exhaled slowly, eyes tracing over the door for what felt like the thousandth time in the last few minutes. The gold apartment numbers that we're nailed to the woodwork seemed to be gazing at her challengingly, which was pretty impressive for a four and a one. Buffy found herself glaring back at them defiantly as she raised her hand again. This time she would–
"It's unlocked if you ever wanna come in," a distracted voice floated out of the room.
Flushing red Buffy took a deep breath and pushed open door. She was met with a rush of warm and slightly stale air along with the sounds of music and gunfire and the scent of fast food. Faith was sprawled on the large leather sofa in the center of the room, surrounded by a sea of fast food wrappers. Her hands were wrapped tightly around a black Playstation controller and she was wearing a look of deep concentration.
"Hey," the Buffy greeted as she stepped into the room, self consciously smoothing down the fabric of her shirt as she stared nervously at the brunette.
"B," Faith grunted in response, her dark eyes not leaving the large plasma TV screen where she was currently steering her character through a maze of streets on a motorbike.
Clearing a small space on the farthest edge of the couch Buffy gingerly took a seat. "Whatcha playin?" She asked after an agonizingly long pause.
"Grand Theft Auto."
"Ah." Another silence fell between the pair and Buffy began to fidget nervously, picking at the corner of a crumpled napkin as she tried to get her courage back. It wasn't like she was asking Faith on a date. It was more like a romantic getaway. No! No, it was a slaying mission. A slayer mission where she was going to tell Faith she liked her.
"There a point to this visit?" Faith asked suddenly, dragging Buffy from her thoughts.
"Well there's this demon—"
"Okay, let me finish this mission and I'll be right with ya." Faith leant forward, frowning intently as her fingers danced over the controller, weaving the virtual motorbike closer to a truck which was swerving in and out of traffic.
"In Brazil," Buffy finished.
"Huh?" The brunette tore her eyes away from the screen for a moment and gave Buffy a confused look.
"There's a demon in Brazil that needs slaying."
"Got that B, but aren't there some slayers over there who can do the job? Kennedy's there with Willow right?"
"No… well yes, but it's a strong demon, Willow said—" Buffy's babble was cut short by a loud curse from Faith. Buffy looked up to see the motorbike the brunette had been steering was now in flames. There was a loud explosion and the words 'mission failed' flashed mockingly up on the screen. The sound of cracking plastic caught Buffy's attention and she looked back at Faith to see the controller she'd been holding was now in two separate, crushed pieces. The brunette fixed her with a death stare. "Sorry," Buffy mumbled.
Faith let out a slow sigh and tossed the remnants of the controller onto the table before leaning forward and turning off the console.
"I can replace that," Buffy offered guiltily.
"Its Andrews," Faith said with a dismissive shrug as she flopped back down on the sofa, retrieving half a hamburger from its wrapper and picking at it idly. "So Brazil huh?"
"Yeah," Buffy said enthusiastically, thankful things were back on track. "You interested?"
Faith paused, chewing thoughtfully on her hamburger. "Sure."
"Great!" Buffy beamed. That had been easy. "We haven't been slaying in ages… well w-we have, I mean we go out almost every night… but this is like a mission, a nice change of pace which is of the good. Even Europe can get boring after a while, a-and Brazil sounds nice, Willow loves it, she says there's lots to see apart from demons, its the perfect place to slay a-and…" the slayer gulped and trailed off, silently wondering when exactly she'd turned into Willow.
Faith cocked her eyebrow but didn't comment. "So Red's just going to wiggle her nose and zap us there and back right?"
Buffy nervously averted her gaze. "Something like that."
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"This is as far as I can take you." Kennedy said as he steered the small boat towards the edge of the river. The now not-so-junior slayer had been a great help in rounding up new slayers in Brazil, and without her offer of transport Buffy and Faith would have faced several grueling hours of walking on top of an already long trip.
That was what Buffy had been constantly trying to remind herself of since she and Faith had set out on the slow humid boat ride.
Kennedy was obviously jaded about being passed over for what seemed like a fairly routine slaying expedition, the true motives of which had not been explained to her by Willow on Buffy's pleading request. The less experienced slayer had been sullen and snappy since they had set off that morning. About an hour ago, a mixture of jetlag and a particularly snide comment about prison showers had caused Faith's patience to finally snap, and the resulting altercation had nearly sunk the small boat. Buffy had interfered before a misplaced punch could ram a hole through the deck, and the pair had retreated to opposite sides of the craft, Kennedy hunched against the outboard motor and Faith sitting on the bow, whittling a piece of wood into something that now resembled a thin pencil. The blonde slayer was perched in the middle, balancing on the splintered remains of the only other seat, fervently wishing that Willow could have been there to mediate.
"Thanks Kennedy," Buffy said gratefully as the nose of the boat nudged gently against the muddy edge of the river. Standing unsteadily she hefted her bag onto her shoulder and climbed gingerly out of the riverboat, trying not to trip on the maze of roots that protruded haphazardly from the ground.
"Yeah thanks Ken," Faith said coolly as she too climbed off the boat, then turned and propped her foot lightly on the bow. "You might wanna put some ice on that shiner when you get back," she commented, smirking in satisfaction at the pronounced swelling across the newer slayers jaw. Kennedy muttered something inaudibly and Faith's smirk turned into a smug grin. "Nice seein you too," she said, giving the bow of the boat a rough shove, sending it sailing backwards into the river and causing Kennedy to lurch in her seat, nearly pitching her over the side.
"You shouldn't have hit her that hard," Buffy commented as she knelt on the ground, beginning to root through one of the outer pockets of her bag.
Faith ignored her comment as she stretched lazy, letting out a slow whistle as she stared at the dense forest in front of her. The trees stretched up impossibly high, and the available space between their thick trunks seemed to be crammed full of smaller plants and brush, all jostling for space. There was no sign of a path. "Wow B I hope Red gave you good directions."
"Nope," Buffy said, smiling up at Faith who was now staring at her incredulously. Pulling a small wooden box out of the front pocket of her bag she set it down and pushed it open gingerly. A soft ball of bright white light floated free, zipping around in tight circles for a second before hovering towards the looming forest, stopping just in front of the trees and flickering gently. "Witchy GPS," the blonde said triumphantly. "Willow said it would take us directly to the demon."
Faith nodded, reaching to the side of her pack and pulling a thick machete out of its cover. "Lets motorvate then, the sooner we find this thing the sooner we can get the hell outta here" she said as she started toward the ball of light, sending her blade slicing through the flick undergrowth nearest to it. "You coming B?"
"Yeah," Buffy said weakly, taking one last glance at the retreating riverboat before shouldering her bag and following after the other slayer, silently wondering what she'd gotten herself into.
Tbc?
