A.N: I have no idea how long it's been since I've updated both my stories. But I'm still alive — these stories are still alive, and they will be written till the very end.
Having a rough knowledge of Season 4's first episode will help explain some of the dialogue in this chapter. The eagle-eyed of you will even notice the title for this chapter is a play on the episode's name.
I hope you all had a great Christmas and have a Happy New Year.
Enjoy.
Fresh Meat
Buffy's eyelids fluttered open as slithers of the morning sun shone harshly through the gaps in her blinds. Blinking her eyes into focus she was eventually greeted by the flirtatious smirk of her bed's other occupant.
"Sleeping beauty awakens..." Faith teased a barely conscious Buffy. Her eyes squinted and blinked in confusion as she tried to remember why Faith was in her bed. "And I didn't even have to kiss ya."
"Urrrh furh wurh murhnn." Buffy grumbled face-first into her pillow.
"Or should that be beast?" Faith wondered with mock disgust, narrowly dodging the arm that was swung lazily in the direction of her face.
Faith stretched languorously across the bed, her back arching as she straightened her arms above her head, interlacing her fingers and cracking her joints audibly.
"Whyyy?" Buffy groaned as she stuffed the pillow around her head.
"You break bones for a living! Don't be such a girl." Faith continued popping each of her knuckles one by one, her grin growing with the intensity of her friend's glare.
"It's unnecessary." Buffy whined in agitation as she clung to her soft and silent companion, willing it to supply the comforting numbness of sleep that she had departed from only moments ago. "I let you share this bed under the pretence you'd hold back on your habits until you were finally out of it."
"Where's the fun in that?"
Buffy sighed exasperatedly, retreating to the sanctuary of her makeshift pillow helmet, mumbling something along the lines of 'too early for this crap' into her mattress.
"Definitely not a mornin' person then?" Faith cocked an eyebrow upward as she lay on her side, resting her chin atop her closed fist, surveying the grouchy blonde stoically.
"Not when you've been elbowed repeatedly in the ribs for hours on end."
"I like to spread." Faith lightly shrugged with a nonchalant expression.
"Like that's news..." Buffy muttered snidely. Faith's offended expression was priceless.
"Just so you know, the next time we both have horrifying nightmares, you're sleeping alone." Faith retorted sullenly. The limber girl sprung out of bed and stretched her arms above her head once again, rising onto her tiptoes as she grunted from the exertion.
"Why are you starin' at my ass, Summers?" She asked abruptly, causing Buffy's reflection to turn a bright shade of crimson in the vanity mirror hanging in front of Faith. Faith turned her head sideways to glimpse Buffy trying to look everywhere else but at her half-naked form and a deep, throaty laugh escaped the younger slayer.
"What?" Buffy asked with confusion, apparently trying to play naive. She blinked several times in rapid succession, giving the impression she'd developed a facial twitch.
"You were starin'." Faith stated matter-of-factly, her smile growing ever smugger.
"Aha. I was not." Buffy tried to appear bored and indifferent to Faith's accusation.
"Then why so red?" Faith instantly challenged with one raised eyebrow.
"It's nothing...I...I have morning...fe...fever." Buffy rambled violently. She currently looked mortified at the words that had just left her mouth.
Faith burst into uncontrollable laughter at Buffy's feeble excuse.
"Hope it's not contagious, Buff. Big day today." Faith teased the moody blonde as she leaned against the bedstead. Her smile became more genuine and was accompanied by a look—one rarely seen on the unflappable serial-flirter—Buffy could only decipher as embarrassment. "The way I see it, you were payin' me a compliment." Faith shrugged as she coyly ran her fingers around the pattern on the bed's framework. "So...thanks."
After a moment of stony silence in which Buffy averted her gaze the entire time she finally mumbled, "You're welcome."
Faith snorted at the awkward behaviour of her prudish friend.
"You want something to drink, Casanova?"
"Yes." Buffy replied, unaccustomed to Faith offering her beverages in her own home, but humiliated enough to conceit to anything at the present time.
"Cool. I'll be back in a bit." Faith smirked slyly and suggestively added, "Feel free to watch me walk away."
Buffy huffed in indignation and threw her pillow towards Faith's retreating form; missing her target widely. She slammed herself down on the mattress, enveloping her face into the sheets to smother the blush that refused to leave her cheeks.
Even though the majority of Buffy's belongings were packed it still took most of the morning to find and pack what remained. Buffy had gone through several stages of deciding what she needed and what could be left behind. Faith had found herself contemplating suicide for nearly an hour when Buffy finally declared she was done. What resulted was a series of boxes, labelled in marker pen according to their contents, alongside a few suitcases of clothing and other essentials.
"I hope that's everything." Faith brushed her hands off on her jeans, her arms folding across her chest. "For someone so small you sure have a lot of crap."
"Shut up, Faith."
The brunette stuck her tongue out in response forcing Buffy to crack a smile. "But you're sure that's everything right? Cus I'm not dealin' with a crisis on the car ride there and bein' told to go back—"
"No, don't fret. I've triple checked and then some. 'I'm raring to go' girl."
"Sure? There's nothing else you need to take with you? My ass perhaps?" Faith suggested casually.
"I thought we'd moved on from that?" Buffy exclaimed, desperation in her tone.
"Look, I get it." Faith said as the urge to push her luck became all consuming. "The A man's been gone for months and I'm pretty sure you haven't had any since the first time he went all...grr argh—"
"Continuing that sentence will end badly for you." Buffy glared through serious eyes.
"—so it's only natural you've got more hormones than you know what do with, and me, being the closest, most attractive person in your life right now—
Faith let out a yelp as Buffy kicked her hard in the shin.
"Jeez, I'm just sayin' if you need help gettin' off I'm all hands on deck..."
Buffy threatened to kick out again and Faith hopped back a step, grinning like the devil at the sour expression on the other girl's face.
"My deck doesn't need...your hands..." Buffy lifted a heavy suitcase full of far too many clothes off of her bed and paused. "Maybe you should try elsewhere. I'm sure there's plenty of fish out there for you to handcuff to a bed."
Faith scoffed at the remark and hefted a box at random under one arm, moving toward the doorway.
"Like you can deny it!" Buffy shot Faith's back an incredulous look as she followed. "You're relentless! You have the libido of a cracked out rabbit."
"How is that a bad thing?" Faith looked sincerely confused by Buffy's statement as they descended the stairs.
"It's bad when it's a different guy every night."
"B, I'm good, but I'm not that good. And I haven't brought a single hook up back here since I moved in."
"Yeah...that's why you only come home every other night..."
"True..." Faith cocked her head, smiling fondly at evenings past that Buffy could only guess the details of, uttering a sound of disgust.
"Don't be jealoussss." Faith's top lip turned up as her tone took on a husky nature. She prodded a scowling Buffy in the side with her box as they paused in the hallway at the front of the house. "I did offer to get you in on the action, B." Faith wiggled her eyebrows receiving an eye roll from the other slayer, but missed the inner turmoil as Buffy fought the urge to smile.
'Sides...why'd you care 'bout how many guys are comin' 'n' goin' in my sack?" Faith's gaze became suddenly piercing and Buffy felt a cold shiver run down her spine.
Her mouth opened and closed like a gormless fish as she fidgeted with the suitcase in her hand. "I...don't. I don't!" She repeated herself in retaliation to the steady rise of Faith's right eyebrow. "You started it with the whole...ass-staring-no-Angel-sex-thing!" Buffy blurted out in an uncomfortable rush.
"Uh...huh." Whatever Faith wanted to say—clear from the restrained grin pressed on her lips and the way she gave Buffy a quick once over—she held her tongue and gave Buffy that inexplicable, knowing look she'd always hated.
"Anyway, we better start taking everything off—I mean out. "Buffy's eyes went wide as they betrayed her shock and embarrassment. "To the car. Outside. Not here." Buffy's shocked monotone left her shifting awkwardly back and forth on the spot before choosing to take the large cardboard box out of Faith's grasp. She marched out of the front door, leaving Faith with no option but to journey back upstairs to find something else to carry. Unfortunately for Buffy, it hadn't been enough of a distraction to hide the deep blush that had stained her cheeks.
It took fewer trips to and from the car than Faith had expected. Slayer strength had its advantages but she thought the speedy silence in which Buffy had operated since their conversation in the house had something to do with it.
Joyce had spent the day occupying herself with jobs around the house and had scarcely been seen. When the two girls walked into the kitchen they found her scrubbing a plate that was already gleaming immaculately.
"Hello, girls. Ready to go?" She asked warmly as she turned to greet the pair.
"Check, check and double check." Buffy clapped her hands together, lacing her fingers together as she leaned on the island.
"Good. So I suppose you'll be heading off soon?" Faith thought she heard the woman's voice waver. She attempted to gain some space between herself and the two Summers. Looking at her feet, Faith noticed the kitchen floor tiles were so clean she could practically see her own reflection staring back up at her.
"Uh huh. Or I could just skip the first few weeks. I'm sure they're not important." Buffy shrugged.
"Really?" Joyce barely held back the excitement conveyed in that one word.
"Joke." Buffy smiled lamely. Her eyes darted around the room unsure of what to say next.
"Oh."
"Mom? Are you okay? You seem...antsy."
"I...just." Joyce sighed and tears threatened to fall when she said, "I can't believe you're already off to college."
"Mommm, stop." Buffy pleaded gently with a warm smile on her face. "It's not like I'm moving state! You'd all die horrible supernatural deaths if I did that."
Joyce paused in her emotional outpouring to give her daughter a strange look. Buffy turned, hoping to receive encouraging words from Faith. But a similar look resided on the other slayer's face and shrugged, indicating this one was all on her.
"What I mean is...I'll be around." Buffy tried again slowly. "I'll visit every weekend. Then probably every other weekend. Eventually it'll be once a year." Buffy jested, hugging her mother tightly as Joyce chuckled at her daughter's humour.
"I know, sweetie. It's just...just..." Joyce sniffed and attempted to compose herself.
"You've still got me Ms.S." Faith winked, giving Joyce a genuine smile void of her usual cocky swagger. "And until any other generous, domestic goddesses charge rent as low as you do, I'll be here for many years to come." Her well-mannered joke served to make Joyce chuckle again and brighten slightly in her mood.
"Funny." Buffy deadpanned, eyeballing Faith shrewdly.
"I must get it from you." Faith suggested sarcastically. "Anyway, blondie, we should head if you wanna meet Red on time."
"Okay." Buffy sighed heavily, feeling a wave of sadness she hadn't noticed before. "I think if we stay here any longer there'll be a clichéd teary goodbye with hugs all round." Buffy quipped with a sideways glance at Faith.
"Hey, don't sucker me into this! This is your Dawson's Creek moment." Faith backed away in mock horror at the thought of being forced to participate in such an emotional family scene. "You can cry yourselves a big, fat river. I'll stay in the boat with the other cool kids."
Once Buffy had bid her mother goodbye for the hundredth time and promised she'd visit regularly—to the point she wondered how much time she'd actually spend on campus grounds at this rate—she packed the remaining boxes in Faith's rented and dented muscle car. At least Faith had told her it was rented. The dents and scratches on the aged vehicle were the only undeniable qualities about the car. That and the fact the CD player had been jammed by its previous owner and would only play the Greatest Ballads of Phil Collins; much to Faith's dismay.
"You know you're gonna miss me more than you think." Buffy stated out of nowhere as they travelled down the street at speeds she was sure were highly illegal. Faith seemed perfectly at ease with their nail-biting velocity causing Buffy to double-check she was wearing her seatbelt.
"Is that right?" Faith humoured her friend as she pulled out into a stream of moving traffic.
"I give it a couple of days before you're on the phone begging to know every detail of my new, exciting life." Buffy asserted confidently as she enjoyed the channel of air rushing past her open window.
"Huh. Funny. Cus that sounds nothing like me." Faith feigned shock and surprise. "I'll be too busy helpin' your Mom turn your room into a gym to remember you even left."
"Two days." Buffy repeated with a self-assured grin. "Tops. Maybe one if there's nothing good on TV." Faith laughed off Buffy's arrogant premonition and fixed the mischievous blonde with a patronising smile.
"I think I can last a week without the infamous Buffy Summers."
"So what's ya roomie like?" Faith asked, trying to keep her voice level as she fingered through the table menus beside her, "You know they'd never hold a candle to me, right?"
Buffy snorted through the receiver.
"You leave clothes everywhere. You hoard food in your room. I once found a half-eaten burrito inside your—!"
"I was gonna finish it!
"It was furry!"
"So I'm not perfect." Faith surrendered in a sulky manner.
"Far from." Buffy teased. "But yeah, she's nice. No complaints really..."
"B. C'mon, it's me you're talkin' to here."
"She has a Celine Dion poster and snores like a drowning pig." Buffy blurted out without hesitation.
"That sucks." Faith snickered, as she etched pointless doodles on a nearby napkin. "At least tell me there's some noteworthy man-candy lyin' around campus?"
"Man-candy?"
"The name's self serving, B. A guy ya just wanna pop straight in your mouth and su—"
"Charming." Buffy hastily cut in, not needing to hear the rest of Faith's explanation. Faith smirked against the phone. "And no. Not as such. Well, there was Eddie."
"Eddie?"
"Eddie and his safety blanket." Buffy added unhelpfully.
"Sounds like a keeper." Faith remarked without a shred of interest.
"It's Of Human Bondage."
"Eddie's into the kink? Now I'm listenin'..."
"It's a book, Faith." Buffy affirmed her wryly.
"That like S&M for dummies?" Faith appeared appalled at the concept.
"No...it's not...never mind."
A portly, middle-aged man with short dark hair exited the kitchen carrying three meals on a tray. When he spotted Faith lounging beside the payphone he paused to give her a look demonstrating how much he disapproved.
"Your break ended seven minutes ago, Lehane."
"Keep ya panties on, Chuck. I don't see anyone starvin' to death." She shot back, agitated by his interruption. Chuck scowled back at her but walked away without another word.
"What was that?" Buffy asked with slight concern.
"Nothin' important." Faith replied drearily.
"Oh. Oh! There was a guy!"
"Really?" Faith queried, amused by Buffy's burst of excitement.
"Yeah...I bludgeoned him in the library and things got progressively worse from there." Buffy explained, still sounding moderately happy about her encounter.
Faith let out a loud unrestrained laugh, receiving various looks from customers and a murderous glance from her manager.
"What's his sitch?" She continued, unconcerned.
"Tall. Handsome. A gentleman. All the qualities a girl wants—"
"Speak for ya' self..." Faith pinched the receiver to the side of her head with her shoulder as she steadily admired her fingernails.
"—but sadly I came across as a height-challenged, socially-retarded freshman. Did I mention he was tall?"
"I hear it's not the size but what you do with it." Faith informed huskily, "I've had mixed experiences myself..."
Buffy snickered and Faith was fairly sure she'd exceeded in turning the bashful girl red again considering the silence that followed. The gap in conversation dragged on to the point that she realised Buffy was hesitating on something else she wanted to say. Despite patience being Faith's least adhered virtue, she waited; knowing Buffy would eventually spill.
"I feel out of place. Like...I don't fit." The vulnerability in her voice caused Faith to soften in spite of her usual intolerance for other people's sob stories. "It's like I'm in the wrong jigsaw puzzle and the more I try to force myself into place the more I don't."
"It's been two days, Buffy." Faith reassured the anxious blonde, pressing her back fully against the wall. "This is college. Not the apocalypse."
"I know. Being normal girl is nice...I'm just out of practice." Buffy confessed with a tired sigh. "It would also help a bunch if Will wasn't so damn smart and settled and...happy."
"You could do us both a favour 'n' just admit life sucks without me." Faith stated sardonically in a breathy tone.
"But then I'd lose my last shred of dignity." Faith could clearly imagine the rehearsed pout behind Buffy's sarcasm.
"Faith." Chuck the night manager glared daggers at her across the restaurant floor. She made a contemptuous sound in the back of her throat.
"I better go before I lose this crappy career choice. Or put Chuck's head through a table."
"I thought we'd talked about that." Buffy chastised as she playfully reprimanded Faith like a disappointed parent.
"Sorry, Mom." Faith simpered down the phone, receiving a giggle from the other slayer. "Catch ya later, sorority Sue. Take it easy, yeah?"
"Will do. And thanks. Play nice."
Faith hung the receiver back on the payphone. She took a moment to compose herself, draining as much of her irritation as possible out through each steady breath.
"Faith!"
She restrained the strong urge to head butt her slave-driving superior and opened her eyes.
"Comin', boss!" She gushed with sarcastic enthusiasm, flashing the default fake smile she'd become accustomed to.
Taking her notepad out of her chest pocket, Faith made her way to a waiting table and put all her effort into not snapping the pencil clenched in her fist.
The rest of Faith's shift passed with little event and the cheque handed to her at the end of a long, tiring night only added insult to injury. It left her wondering why she bothered showing up in the first place. This job sucked. The money sucked. There were better ways to spend her time and more enjoyable ways to earn a living. The thought drew a sultry smile across her face.
She would quit. She would march out to Chuck and tell him to stick this stupid waitress gig up his—
But then she remembered why she started this to begin with. It was a distraction and it was honest. Two things she desperately needed in her life right now.
This was the daily ritual Faith went through every time she finished a shift; she always came to the same conclusion.
Faith stepped out into a relatively cool night and welcomed the long overdue drop in temperature. She walked along the boulevard, passing the multitude of commercial stores and restaurants that littered the avenue, most of which were now closed for the night. A sharp breeze rattled down the dark street and Faith shivered.
"Maybe this heat wave's finally over." Faith muttered to herself, trying to hug some warmth back into her arms.
She paid no attention to the last straggling shoppers of the evening, steering herself home. The prospect of hitting a bar or the Bronze drifted through her mind briefly as she walked automatically along her memorized commute. It would give her something other to do than watch crappy late night television before heading to bed. Maybe she'd even find a guy to waste half an hour with in some seedy back alley or bathroom stall.
The motion passed.
A slayless month had left Faith's libido waning—despite what Buffy might think. The truth was she exerted most of her frustration out through teasing her fellow slayer; so it was no small wonder to see why the reserved blonde assumed Faith was on typical form.
But sex had always been a nice distraction from living in her head. Another distraction. Another escape. She'd been hovering on an indiscriminate street corner wondering if finding a decent bar would be such a bad idea after all; when it happened.
All her senses went into overdrive.
Her heartbeat quickened, her breath hitched and a wave of goose bumps travelled across her bare skin. It took Faith a moment to realise she wasn't having a stroke. She scanned the immediate area with a jolt of anticipation, fists forming at her sides in preparation. Before she could chase down the cause of the tingle running down her spine it found her instead. Faith had only a second to process the vampire sprinting full pelt towards her. They collided with an disconcerting crunch, sending both parties falling heavily to the ground.
Faith jumped to her feet without hesitation. She'd wanted to do this for a month. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest as excitement and adrenaline rushed through her body. As she approached the crumpled, undead creature it recoiled behind its arms and let out a scream of fear.
"Please! No! I'll do anything, I'll do any—!" The vampire abruptly stopped his desperate pleading and blinked rapidly. He dropped his arms from his face and clutched his chest, exhaling air he didn't even need.
"Oh...thank god. It's just you." The relieved smile small drawn across his demonic visage made something deep inside the slayer's head snap.
"Just me?" Faith growled through clenched teeth as she bore down on the oblivious vampire. "JUST. ME?"
"You had me scared for a minute there." He continued, brushing dirt from his grey suit as he stood up. "I thought—"
His sentence was cut short by a vicious uppercut that sent him stumbling back into some nearby bushes.
"You think I'm second best?" Faith shouted in between the flurry of punches she rained down on the hapless demon. "Not good enough 'less it's Blondie staking your ass?"
"What? No! No it's not that! I just thought—"
She flung him over her head and smashed his helpless form through a bench. The wood splintered and the bench snapped in two. Faith grabbed one half of the broken frame and raised it menacingly, preparing to land the final blow.
"...I thought...you were one...of them..." The vampire winced through pained breaths.
Faith's brow knitted with confusion and she paused, her improvised weapon left hovering in the space above them as she pondered his odd remark. The vampire's eyes travelled from the splintery guillotine awaiting him to the confused look on the slayer's face several times.
"One of what?" She asked quietly.
"I...I dunno...I didn't take a picture!" The bloodsucker responded with a little more attitude than Faith wanted to hear. She raised her arms deliberately and the vampire flinched.
"It was a demon or something, okay! It chased me from the cemetery!" He explained in a panicked rush. "I've only just got out my coffin..." He added, as if hoping for some sympathy to his plight.
Faith regarded him suspiciously and tried to make sense of his fumbled words.
"So...can I go now?" The vampire asked hopefully, baring his fangs as he gave an uneasy smile.
She answered his stupid question with an obvious answer. His remains scattered across the well-kept grass and Faith let her makeshift stake drop to the ground.
She stared silently at the pile of ash. The vampire's words rested uncomfortably in her mind. What should have been a highlight to her night was now a worrying mystery. Faith had never heard of something actively hunting a vampire. That was strange. But it had been the terrified reaction of the demon that bothered her. The palpable relief when it noticed who she actually was. What could make a slayer look downright friendly to a ten minute old vamp? What was she being compared to?
Faith's head shot around suddenly at a strange sound on the periphery of her slayer hearing. It would have been unnoticeable if not for the otherwise silent night. She'd heard a voice—so subtle and so void of humanity that it had caused the tiny hairs on the back of Faith's neck to rise.
She glared in the direction of the sound and the darkness glared back. Her eyes widened as something glittered in the unknowable shadows.
She stood frozen to the spot. A feeling of unease rose in her stomach. Her head began to throb and she felt nausea seep through her body. Every instinct told her to run in the opposite direction. The glistening alien shape grew in the darkness, bending upward at each end. Faith nearly yelled out in shock.
A car passed by and its blinding headlights woke Faith from her stupor. Her gaze flickered back to the spot in the distance.
It was gone.
She shoved her hands into her pockets and puffed out her chest with a deep breath, ignoring the erratic beat of her heart resounding in her ears. She shrugged her fear away and cursed herself for losing her cool so quickly. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Faith turned slowly and continued her journey home.
But the scene replayed in her head continuously.
In the distance, between the pale light of street lamps and the shroud of darkness beyond, Faith had seen a small crescent of silvery-white. She shuddered at the image burned in her mind; it reminded her disturbingly of the recent night in the cemetery. She shook her head as her feet quickened their pace down the dark, empty street. The vision stayed with her all the way to 1630 Revello Drive, playing over and over in her head.
She had stared into the darkness and it had smiled back.