II.

"You should get Giles to take a look at that gash," Buffy tells Faith as they stroll through the library doors after another successful patrol.

Well, at least successful in the way that they stakes three vampires, killed a nasty looking demon, and Buffy was able to keep her jaw off the floor when Faith bent over in those too-tight-to-actually-be-legal leather pants to retrieve her stake off the ground. Buffy could have sworn she even wiggled her ass for effect.

But Buffy didn't react. Nope, not her.

So all in all; pretty successful.

Well, except for that demon taking a chunk out of Faith's arm, though Faith seems mildly unfazed. "It'll heal," she tells her.

She's so stubborn sometimes.

All the time, actually.

"Ah, girls," Giles says, looking up from his stack of books. "How did patrol—good lord, Faith, what happened to your arm?"

"Some scaly lookin' fucker," Faith responds, flopping down on one of the chairs. She shrugs. "He's dead."

"Well you should cleanse the wound and we can see if you need stitches," Giles tells her.

Faith makes a face. She doesn't like needles. It's one of the things Buffy finds adorable about her.

Buffy knows that's a weird thing to find adorable about a person, but when you see Faith not react to bloody carcasses and then flinch from a tiny needle, it's kind of cute.

"I'm good."

Giles gives her a disapproving look, but doesn't push since he knows he won't win. He never lets Buffy get away with anything, and she finds that a little unfair.

Not that she particularly wants to go without cleaning her wounds, but regardless. It's the principal of the thing.

"I trust everything went well then? Anything of interest I should be aware of?" Giles asks, though this time he's asking Buffy.

"Demon's showed, we slayed, story: end of," Buffy tells him. She wants to get back home and lie down with Mr. Gordo and watch a movie.

Well, that's what she told Faith she was doing after patrol anyway. In reality, after patrol she goes home, stuffs her face with whatever she can find and then masturbates until she can find some release.

But she doesn't tell Faith that. Faith would make some crude comment, try to lend a helping hand, or make fun of her for the rest of her young life.

And she really only likes one of those scenarios, even if she won't ever admit it out loud.

Buffy's gaze is caught by Faith, whose starting to squirm a little in her seat like she's uncomfortable. She's pulling at her clothes a little, not much, but enough for Buffy to notice she's antsy about… something.

"Ah, I see," Giles says, sounding disappointed.

"Faith?" Buffy asks, watching the younger slayer. "Are you okay?"

"It's fuckin' hot in here," Faith says, pulling off her leather jacket and throwing it to the floor.

It's not hot in there. At all, actually.

"Can ya turn the fuckin' air up, G? Seriously, a bitch could die from heat stroke," Faith complains and Buffy's eyes go wide as she notices how flushed Faith's become. She's starting to sweat. A lot.

"The air is quite fine in here, Faith, I don't see how—" But then Giles stops as he takes a look at Faith who looks damn near in pain and frantic to get her clothes off to find some release from the heat. "Buffy, get all the icepacks in the freezer in my office – now!"

Buffy's up and out of her seat quickly, running into Giles' office. She opens the freezer, which Giles keeps just for icepacks for their injuries, and takes out all four before running back into the library. Faith is starting to pant, looking like she's going to pass out.

"Fuck, what the fuck is going on?!" she yells.

"Faith, take off your leathers! Buffy, put the ice packs on her and describe this demon to me!" Giles yells, rummaging through his books.

Have Faith take off her… what now?

"Buffy!"

"Sorry, I… uh…" Buffy stutters, watching Faith peel off her leather pants which were no doubt containing the heat to her body. "Scaly… green… had a horn in the middle of his chest and—" she starts putting one icepack on the back of Faith's neck and the other on her forehead, but is interrupted when she looks down and…

Oh my god, Faith doesn't wear underwear.

"You should have told me this right away!" Giles yells, leafing through his books like a mad man.

Faith's panting, kicking her pants off across the room and she grabs the other two icepacks, holding them to her body. "Fuck, make this fuckin' shit stop!" she screams.

"Faith calm down," Buffy tells her, realizing there's panic in her voice now. Her arm just barely touched Faith's back and she's burning up. She slides the icepack that's on her neck down to the middle of her back and Faith shivers.

"Moon root, acai berries, ginger… alright," Giles says, muttering to himself as he starts grabbing things out of his cabinets and throwing them onto the counter. While he prepares whatever he's doing, Buffy focuses on Faith, who's starting to thrash, trying to get away from all the heat inside of her.

"It's too hot, it's too fucking hot!" she screams. Buffy has to hold her down to keep her still, but Faith's hands are tearing at her tank top, trying to get it off of her. Buffy helps, trying to think of everything but how naked Faith is becoming in the middle of the library.

More important things; like Faith not dying for instance.

"Calm down… come on, calm down…" Buffy tries, but Faith starts swearing and trying to get away from her.

Giles runs over to Faith, a syringe in his hand. Thankfully Faith is too out of it to notice the big, long, scary looking needle, but she does cry out when he plunges it into her arm, "MOTHER FUCKER!"

Giles pushes the liquid into Faith's bloodstream and within moments Buffy could see the effects start to work. Faith has stopped thrashing and her breathing is starting to return to normal as he body temperature drops. Buffy continues to hold her, ice packs still to her body, just in case.

"Alfreknoc demon," Giles explains, out of breath from his own panic. "It takes about an hour until their venom from their claws make their way through their victim's system."

Oh.

Maybe her and Faith should study more.

Giles clears his throat then, a little awkwardly and stands up. "I'll leave you to… er, attend to your clothing," he tells Faith before scurrying out of the room.

Her clothing.

Her clothing?

Oh god, her lack of clothing! She's touching Faith while she's naked!

….

Now she's staring at Faith while she's naked!

…She has the sexiest body…

BAD THOUGHTS!

Her breasts are so perfect, and that little patch of hair that leads to—

Okay, stopping now!

Buffy averts her eyes quickly and lets go of Faith, dropping the icepacks to the ground as she flushes the deepest red she thinks she's ever had in her life as she steps away from her. Oh god, Faith totally knows she was staring at her. She was practically having eye-sex with her! … Or something.

Can you have sex with your eyes? You must be able to; she just practically did, after all!

Oh god, she's totally going to hell.

Faith chuckles, noticing Buffy's reaction. She's feelings better, that's for sure. She's returned to her normal color and not her scary almost-give-Buffy-a-heart-attack red color she was sporting not five minutes ago.

"Ya like what you see?" she teases with a smirk as she picks up her clothes from off the ground.

Yes. Oh my god, yes. Buffy wants to lick every inch of her body until Faith's screaming underneath her in ecstasy.

Shit, she shouldn't have just given herself that visual.

"No," she lies, scoffing a bit as she folds her arms over her chest. "God, leave it to you to almost die and instead of being thankful you're alive you start talking about sex."

Faith smirks as she pulls on her clothes, which Buffy tries like hell not to watch and stare at the wall instead. "Sex is the reason I'm thankful for bein' alive, B," Faith tells her, amused. "Keep up."

Sex with Faith would probably be a good reason to be thankful she was alive, Buffy muses. But because she's a liar and a pussy; she doesn't say anything, and instead rolls her eyes and walks away like she isn't about to go home and masturbate with more realistic visuals tonight.

TBC…