Chapter 2
Buffy Summers, the girl who had faced unimaginable horrors ever since she was sixteen, was this close to completely losing it. What-the-hell? After trying to get words out for several seconds, she finally collected herself enough to splutter,
"She's, she's, she's... There's me and there's you, but... it's not us!" She quickly turned to look at the small brunette nearby, who had already leant forward to stare at the adults in the doorway. "They aren't us, are they?"
"They can't be, B," The brunette kid turned to give her a classical 'duh' look. "We're us. They're probably some fucking demonic carbon copies or something."
"But we disappeared!" Buffy was completely lost as she opened her mouth and closed it. "And they're here. Oh my god. Where's my mom? Faith, what if they did something!" She paused, as Willow's laugh passed over her. "And – and it's you. I mean it's not you, but in a way it is, and Willow's laughing? Where did the 'Faith equals grrr' go?"
The blonde stared at her companion, who could only shrug in response. It's not like Faith had any idea what the hell was going on either. As a matter of fact, ever since the metal thing threw her here, nothing had quite made sense anymore.
Having gotten no response, Buffy kept going, still not able to grasp anything.
"Look! They're all smiling at each other, like nothing's wrong! And I'm practically naked! Not me me, but the fake me - not that I'm very dressed either but the replacement me is almost naked on purpose and I don't..."
Faith threw her head back, then remembering where she was, she pulled her head quickly away from Willow's chest and spoke,
"Stop the ramblin', B. You'll make Red jealous with your uber ramblin' skills and all."
Willow started to move, but the kids were obvious to that, still arguing.
"Well, you can't say this is normal?" Buffy asked, tone full of incredulity, "There are us, who are not really us, prancing around, pretending that they were us. And nobody seems to notice and you're, you're..." the small kid looked up at the adult version of Faith, "You're not very dressed either, are you? The fake you. I mean... Actually I don't know what I mean? How can I..."
"B, shut the hell up," The brunette groaned, "You're makin' my ears hurt."
Buffy took a calming breath.
"Okay, calm. I'm calm. I'm the damn centrepiece of calmness!"
"Yelling kinda goes against being calm, ya know?" Faith rolled her eyes at her, warily glancing at their adult selves, who didn't seem to dislike each other nearly as much as she and B did. Weirdest thing was that nobody actually seemed to dislike the adult version of Faith. Giles actually hugged her and Willow grinned and made a joke about her attire. "This is like a friggin' Twilight zone or something."
Maybe if she closed her eyes and pinched herself, she'd wake up.
"There's really a lot going on here that I do not get. Like... the nakedness! What's with the nakedness?"Evidentially, being quiet for more ten seconds was way too much for Buffy.
"You're not cruising past that any time soon, are you?" The small brunette sighed, dumping her dreaming theory for now. She glanced up at the Fake-Slayers, taking in her own image in boy shorts and a tank top and the blonde in a similar outfit and added, "Neither of them is actually naked, you know."
"But..." small Buffy wildly gestured at the two adults, her T-shirt riding over her thighs as she did so. She quickly blushed scarlet and tugged at her shirt.
"You have some serious exhibitionist tendencies in you, don't ya?" Faith's eyebrow arched as she bit back the smirk that wanted to escape. "Always knew you were kinda kinky, B."
"I'm not... I didn't, I... Shut up," Buffy squeezed her hands into teeny fists and looked away, her cheeks heating up even more than they had earlier.
The adults at the same time were busy discussing what to do with the two kids. Suddenly, Willow realized that holding up both of them was starting to get tiring so she simply handed the more restless one to Buffy.
Faith to her credit let the exchange happen. However, once it had, she realized many things. First, she was now in the hands of a possibly demonic and likely evil Buffy Summers. Secondly, she was held against the chest of said Buffy Summers. Thirdly, this Buffy Summers only wore a tank top. Period.
Epically weird did not even begin to cover this.
And as the fake-Slayer kept talking to Giles and shifting her own weight, the midget-sized Faith in her hands kept brushing against things she definitely didn't need to be brushing. Especially not as a friggin' toddler. She squared her jaw and kept herself stiff, hands on the blonde's shoulders.
"I'll fucking pinch her if she moves again."
It sounded almost as a promise.
"Right, that'd end well," Buffy, still in Willow's arms, snorted. "You'd probably end up sprawled on the floor, unconscious, since I as sure as hell wouldn't keep holding a kid that pinches my..." she paused, "You know what."
Faith turned to give her a look.
"You have to be kidding me? You're so damn stuck on being Miss Goody-Two-Shoes you can't even say the word boob? Jesus Fucking Christ, B!"
"Oh, shut up," Buffy burrowed her face into Willow's left shoulder, slightly annoyed. "Just because I don't say it, doesn't mean I can't say it. I just have enough class not to say stuff like that to a five-year-old."
"Oh, classic B," Faith spoke up. "When something get's difficult then you just turn your back. Why the fuck am I even surprised?"
That made Buffy twist back towards her.
"I turn my back? Yeah, well maybe I do it because I'm half expecting you to stab it! I'm just making stuff easier for you, you know!"
Immediately, the blonde regretted it. So much about their idea of trying to act half-decent to each other. Then again, with her and Faith, that was asking a little much, wasn't it?
"You're confusin' us, B. You're the one who likes to stab people!" Faith's tone was as hurtful as Buffy's had been. "Remember?" she tugged up the top she was wearing and a tiny scar could be seen on the small child's tender flesh. "With my dagger and all. That added some style to it, don't ya think?"
"Don't, don't make me the one to blame," Buffy shook her head, "I didn't... You, you made me... You shot Angel and I..." "Yes, the holy Angel, huh? You almost fuckin' kill me for him and when I wake up, you're not even with the stud anymore. That's true love, B. Really. You changed him for a big Beefstick on the first chance you got, didn't ya?"
"You don't know what you're talking about, Faith," the blonde's expression changed from defensive to angry, her tone heated now.
"So, you're not with that soldier dude, huh?" The other Slayer just kept going. "I just got everything mixed up in my little useless brain. Is that fuckin' it?" "Worthless scum, who everybody hates. Yeah, you know what, B? I got that memo a long time ago."
"No, but," Buffy paused. "You know what, I don't have to excuse myself in front of you. You're..."
"That stick out –Faith, I am not the one with issues here! You tried to kill me. You tried to kill my friends and you went after my mother earlier today! You think I have issues? Maybe you and the Mayor were a good match after all, given that you both are, or in his case were, completely insane!"
Faith clenched her jaw, but didn't respond otherwise.
"He probably had it all coming, don't you think. Maybe he deserved to be blown up."A small hand grasped the material of the shirt the fake-Buffy was wearing. The woman didn't even notice, involved in a discussion with the people around her. "He was worthless." "SHUT UP! JUST FUCKING SHUT UP!"
"He was a bastard, Faith. Face it, he was probably using you."Faith squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to react, like Buffy obviously was expecting her to.
"But..." "No, don't. Just stop the fucking preaching for once in your life. You never understood did you? I didn't think he cared. I never expected him to. With all the shit I had been through, you really thought I was that naive?"
"But why?" Buffy spoke slowly. It was official now. She really couldn't follow anything anymore.
Faith was quiet though and Buffy had a feeling it would remain so, until they were back to full-size and could kick each other to interact in the way they were used to. Not really wanting that to be the case, she tried to get the brunette to talk to her. Quietly, she went for it,
"Faith..."
The younger of the two remained silent. Then, after inhaling slowly, she glanced at the blonde.
"Because he actually liked having me around, ya know. He might've used me, kept me on his side so he wouldn't have two Slayers against him, but he took care of me. He gave me a cool apartment. You gave me chains and the floor of a mansion. Not much to think about. Chains never were my kinda deal."
"That was Wes's and his stupid non-functional peanut sized brain's doing," The quiet words came after a moment of silence. "You never really cared about the Mayor?"
Faith snorted.
"Whose brain seems to be peanut-sized now?"
Buffy shifted a little in Willow's hand, staring down at the red carpet.
"I've never really gotten you. We might be the same in a way, but I never - I just don't understand."
"Don't fret on it, B." Faith's face went back to being expressionless. "Nobody does."
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"I am officially crept out by those two."
"You are not the only one," Buffy agreed with the other Slayer, looking down at the brunette in her arms. "Will, I guess you were right. They really can communicate with each other."
"It seems that they indeed understand each other perfectly," Giles agreed, "And by the sound of it they aren't talking about something meaningless either."
"They've been like this the whole day," Willow added, not sure how she felt about that. "But I still can't figure out why they're dressed like that and how did they end up on that street alone. Nobody lives on those streets anymore."
"Anybody thought about the fact that they could be some demonic spawns, speaking demonic language and concocting evil demonic plans?" Faith spoke, eyeing the kids carefully.
"I think we would've gotten some vibey feelings if they were," Buffy reasoned, not noticing how the brunette in her arms tensed. "Besides this one is just too adorable to be evil. She's just so... cuddly!"
"They are adorable, aren't they?" Willow smiled affectionately.
"Okay, before you two go all mushy here," Faith interrupted, smirking. "Shouldn't we decide what to do with those two runts?"
"Don't call them runts," Buffy slapped her arm gently. "Willow said they understand us."
"Well, then they should also understand that they are in fact little runts," laughing slightly, Faith stepped away from the hand that tried to smack her again. "So we take care of the spawns..." she grinned widely at Willow and Buffy, who both gave her an exasperated look, "What? Didn't say runts, did I? Anyways, we make sure they're fed in the morning and then drop them off at G-man's apartment by noon, right?"
Suddenly there was a loud scream and Buffy, alongside with Willow jumped a little. Giles and Faith quickly turned to stare at the tiny brunette, who was already prattling away in a language they couldn't understand, looking... angry for the lack of better words.
"Uh. Right," Giles nodded slowly, tearing his gaze away from the kid, knowing there wasn't anything they could do without research. "Tomorrow, at my house. That indeed is the plan we shall function by."
"A simple yes would've been good enough, ya know," Faith cheekily grinned at the man, before throwing a wary look at her fellow Slayer and the kid she was holding.
The ex-librarian affectionately smiled, before addressing the redhead.
"I believe we should be going now," he looked at Willow, who nodded.
"Right, here, Faithy, take her," Willow placed the blonde child, who had been quiet and sad looking for a while, into the younger Slayer's arms, despite the reluctance both the kid and the adult showed.
"Stop calling me Faithy!" The woman yelled after the redhead, who turned around and grinned.
"I will if you stop calling me Red," she bargained.
"Never, Red," Faith smirked at her, glancing down at the blonde in her arms. Taken aback by the wide green eyes peering back at her, she missed the way Willow shrugged her shoulders on her way out. She still heard her bid goodbye though,
"Guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Buffy. Faithy."
Then she left the house with Giles.
"Sometimes, I really hate her," Faith glanced at the blonde next to her, who merely smirked at her.
"No, you don't," the older Slayer spoke matter-of-factly, gently shifting the weight of the brunette in her arms. "Where do we even put them? Mom's room?"
"I think she made up the guest room, before she left for her business trip," Faith replied, surprised when the tiny blonde in her arms yawned and laid her head on her shoulder. "There should be enough room for them, considering how tiny they are an' all."
Buffy considered her words, before nodding.
"Sounds good. Come on."
Faith followed the blonde, glancing down at the quiet kid in her arms. It didn't matter how adorable she tried to be. Something had to be up here. Five years old and having very long and seemingly emotional conversations with each other in a language nobody understood? Until they figured out what their deal was, the Slayer wasn't going to let her guard down. Unless she was distracted that was.
Her gaze now on the blonde climbing the stairs, she figured she might as well wait till they actually do something evil, before she went all kickass Slayer on their miniature asses.
"Oh no. Not stairs! They'll friggin' jump at me and attack! No. NO. ARGH!"
Even though the air between them was rather cold because of the earlier conversation, Mini-Buffy couldn't help but smile softly at her fellow Slayer's antics. She herself, being smart and all, carefully shifted, and placed her head safely to the crook of the fake-Faith's neck.
Weird.
She even smelled like the real deal.
XxXxXxXxXx
About ten minutes later the two tiny slayers found themselves together in the guestroom, sharing a bed. Both dressed in way too large T-shirts slash nightgowns. Faith, who was residing at the foot of the bed, suddenly sat up and stared across it.
Even in the dark, Buffy could notice her pained expression. So she too sat up, leaning against the headboard. Faith's eyes narrowed. Then she solemnly spoke,
"Once I'm taller than a feet, I'm going to friggin kill them twice just for this."
Buffy, having expected a way more serious topic, relaxed and gave the brunette an amused look.
"It wasn't all that bad."
Once the fake-them stopped trying to undress them that is and let them handle it like the tiny people with constitutional rights which they were. "They took away our clothes. All of them,"
Buffy, just a tad bit disappointed that the conversation seemed to be over – and without any conclusion to what happened downstairs, settled back as well. Maybe it was better if they didn't talk about it. All that seemed to do was start Buffy vs. Faith round...* insert an excessively large number here.*
Yet, she couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling she had. After a few minutes of tense silence, she decided to get the heavy and emotional stuff dealt with in one go. It'd be more practical that way, right?
Quietly, she propped herself up on her elbow and glanced at the small form of a girl at the end of the bed.
"Faith, about earlier," she murmured, sure that the brunette can hear her anyways. "I'm sorry, you know. I had no right to say that stuff and... just to make sure you know, I don't really hate you." Patiently, she waited for a response. It didn't come. She continued anyways, "I never have. Don't think I even could."
The silence stretched. Faith may have had fallen asleep even before she begun talking. Buffy sighed softly and turned her gaze onto the wall, only now noticing how drastically the room had changed during the hours they were gone. It took her about a second to get over it.
After everything that had happened, nothing could surprise her anymore. Especially not a room changing colours and furniture without her knowing about it.
"You should."
For a split-second, Buffy thought that it meant she should be surprised by the room, but then the real meaning of the words finally registered. She slowly turned her head. Faith was still laying on her back, her hands now resting behind her head as she stared straight at the ceiling. A moment later, the brunette quietly added to her previous statement.
"Would be easier for both of us."
Buffy's response was automatic, no hesitation present.
"No it wouldn't." Now the hesitation presented itself. "Unless you really hated me."
Thanks to her propped up position it was easy to see Faith roll her tongue over her front teeth as she seemingly contemplated her response. It didn't take long.
"Have no reason to."
The words sounded honest and Buffy didn't find herself doubting them. Unable to look at the other girl anymore for some odd reason, she let her eyes land on the edge of the blanket. Silence reigned over the room once more.
"What happened?" She could feel Faith's eyes on her, but this time she was the one avoiding all eye contact altogether. "We used to get along. All those patrols we went on together, nights on the Bronze... The Chosen Two? What happened?"
"Cliff notes? I went psycho," Faith's tone was almost matter-of-factly, her gaze locked on the blonde Slayer. "Took the easy way out of a crappy sitch like I'm used to. Then did some pretty fucked up stuff and got myself stabbed."
Buffy, still refusing to look up, bit her lip. She remembered that night on the roof. The fight, the adrenaline. Every punch she threw, every kick she had to endure. The expression on Faith's face when the knife slid in. The warmth of blood. She hated the memory, hated it. Yet, she never forgot. Probably never would.
"I'm sorry." "I'm not,"
"Not your fault," Faith was still looking at her, the blonde could feel it even without looking back at the other girl. "Don't start to pity me now or something retarded like that, 'kay?"
Slowly, Faith smiled. It had been a long while since Buffy had been subjected to the dimples she was seeing now. It felt nice.
"Kinda does, doesn't it," the brunette agreed. "But I bet you've been thinkin' about this for a while, eh, B?"
"About what?" the blonde peered at her curiously. "Ya know, me and you, in a bed, all hot and bothered,"
For a moment Buffy could only blink at the brunette, completely taken back by the innuendo. Then she sniggered, unable not to. The small glimpse of the old Faith – Faith before everything went all bad – was great. In a way.
"Do you have a one-tracked mind or what?" "Well..."
Both of the Mini Slayers hurriedly lay back on the bed, attempting to appear asleep. The door creaked open. Somebody approached the bed. Perhaps the demons were now ready to have a later night snack.
The irony of dying by being eaten by herself made Buffy clutch her fist under the blanket. She was ready to take that demon on, miniature or not. However, when the blanket around her was merely pulled more over her, her fists relaxed.
Everything was okay. The demon was just tucking her in.
She really had no words to express the weirdness that was today.
Faith was also tucked in, but the unknown figure did not leave – to the Mini Slayers eternal disappointment. Finally, unable to resist, Faith cracked open one eye very carefully to find out what the heck was going on.
It was Buffy. Well, the demon, who was pretending to be Buffy and well, Faith had to admit that she was doing a spectacular job at it. Even with the real Buffy in bed with her, the brunette still had to tell herself twice that this one was fake.
The demon glanced towards her and Faith froze, not sure if her eyes were open too much. Luckily for her, they didn't seem to be, as the look-a-like merely exhaled and wrapped her arms around her.
Then, she looked up and a small grin appeared on her lips just for a second.
The Slayers in the bed heard it too. Footsteps, again.
The door to the room slid open once more and fake-Faith stepped in. Still dressed in just a top and shorts, she too approached the bed. However, unlike the blonde, she didn't seem to care much about the tiny people in the bed.
Instead, she came to stand behind fake-Buffy, placing her arms around the shorter woman.
"Hey," she whispered.
"Hey," the blonde demon pretending to be a blonde Slayer softly replied, not even reacting to the overly familiar touch.
Faith, who had noticed them do the same earlier in the hallway, concluded that they were just rather touchy feely demons. Probably friends or something.
With contempt, the tiny brunette watched her own body shift behind fake-Buffy. The darker fake-Slayer sighed and placed her chin on Buffy's shoulder.
"Thought you were going to bed," the blonde spoke, placing her hands on the ones around her waist.
"I got lonely."
The real Faith in the bed bit back a groan, when Buffy's foot jerked under the blanket and hit her calf. Stupid Slayer strength. But she too had been caught off-guard. Then again, she might've been misreading things – something she seemed to be quite able at lately.
Carefully she glanced back at the couple. Her other eye opened as well, as she blinked a few times. The sight in front of her was too much to handle, coming out of the blue like this and practically smacking her in the face.
The last image she had ever expected to see was one of herself making moves on Buffy Summers. And yet, there it was. The fake-Faith was casually sliding her hands underneath the tiny tank top, while her lips ghosted over the skin on Buffy's neck.
Fake-Buffy, Faith reminded herself. Fake.
However the soft murmur of content the blonde releases doesn't seem fake.
Almost unwillingly, Faith closes her eyes. She feels like she shouldn't be watching this, being that the whole thing was fucking confusing already as it was.
But when the unmistakable sound of kissing reached her ears, she couldn't stop herself. In less than a second, the image of herself kissing Buffy Summers was clearly etched into her brain.
"There are kids in the house, Faith."
It was unbelievable just how much like Buffy's 'it's wrong tone' that sentence sounded like. Why would they even keep up the facade anymore, though?
"Whose fault is that?" the other woman whispered, tugging on the tiny cloth the blonde had on. "I can be quiet. Can you, B?"
There was a small moment of silence. The Slayers in the bed held their breath. The fake ones nearby stared directly at each other."Is that a challenge?" Buffy – fake one, Faith had to remind herself once more- murmured. Slowly, her own hands slid to the brunette's hips and she grinned. "Because I remember someone losing something like this just days ago."
"You got lucky, B.""The louder one makes breakfast," Buffy placed a lingering kiss on Faith's lips and then grabbed her hand. Together they left the room, but before the door closed with a click, the Slayers in the bed still heard the start of the next sentence.
"Then get out your spatula, B, 'cause I'm going to make you..."
For a while, silence reigned over the room. Neither of them had any idea what to say or do.
"For the record, I found that very disturbing," Faith finally spoke up after a minute or so. "And those, those weren't really us. Just some... demons."
"Right," a small voice responded. "Demons. Gotta remember that."
"Yeah."
"This day can't get any weirder."
"Oh god, Faith!"
"Never say that. Never."
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A/N – Okay, trying to actually start a storyline here. Let's see if it works. Anyways, thanks for your reviews. Can't even express how great you guys make me feel ^^ All appreciated and stuff. Thanks. Seriously. Love, me.