Part 3

A month after her arrival, Faith had planed her routine carefully; she would go out at night patrol then find a bar to stay out till late, have occasional sex, come home when everybody was already asleep, sleep all morning, go to the council in the afternoon, perform the duties Giles would assign to her and leave for patrol again. She had decided that that was the best way to make time pass faster; she didn't want any kind of attachment, she just wanted to complete her probation time without trouble and regain her freedom so she could disappear into the world again. This arrangement was working pretty fine for her and Giles but was starting to bug a certain blonde witch

"That can't be healthy, Giles" Tara sighed watching Faith close the front door

"I'm sorry, what?" he said putting his newspaper down

"Her lifestyle…it can't be healthy" she shook her head

"Who, Faith?" he asked furrowing his brows

"Yes…" she stood up and started pacing the room "she barely eats, she stays out late every night and when she is around we never hear her voice"

"Well…that's Faith" he shrugged simply "she's always been like that"

"And you never tried to understand why she's like that?" she asked crossing her arms in front of her chest

"Uh…no" he shrugged nonchalantly "works for me"

"Well it doesn't work for me" she unfolded her arms and narrowed her eyes

"And what are you going to do?" he asked suspiciously "try to talk some sense into her?"

"Maybe" she nodded and his eyes widened "I have to try" she shrugged and he shook his head knowing better than to try and convince her not to.

Later that night Faith arrived quietly like she always did; she had no intention to wake up anybody so she practically tiptoed to her room and closed the door silently. She started to removed her top when she heard a soft knock at her door; she frowned

"Who's it?" she asked curiously

"Uh…it's me…Tara" she heard the blonde and raised a suspicious eyebrow at the door "can I come in?"

"Whatever" she shrugged and saw the door open and the witch walk in carrying a tray

"Hi…I brought you some snack" Tara smiled softly

"Why?" she asked not getting the blonde's motivation

"Well…I know Buffy always comes starving after patrol" Tara explained putting the try down on the nightstand "so I imagined you would do to"

"I mean why you care?" she crossed her arms adopting a defensive posture

"Uh…we live in the same house, Faith" the witch was determined to break at least a little part of the wall around the brunette "I couldn't not notice how bad you eat…you'll end up getting sick"

"I can take care of myself" Faith answered stubbornly

"I don't doubt that" she nodded "but like I said we live together, we're like a small family…and family always take care of each other"

"Family?" the slayer asked cynically "and you are what, mama bear?" Tara sighed and rubbed her face trying not to lose her patience

"I don't know you Faith…I mean, I've heard stories about you" she waved a hand at the brunette "but honestly, I don't think you're half as bad as you've been painted all those years"

"You're right…you don't know me" she shook her head self depreciatingly "I've done pretty bad things"

"I know…but I believe that people change" Tara replied softly "and I might be wrong but…I don't see the same mean woman I met some years ago" she smiled and walked to the door "have a good night, Faith" she left the room pretty sure that she had touched the brunette and even if she had just scratched the surface it was a beginning

The next morning Giles and Tara were having breakfast in the kitchen with Ariel playing happily with her toys and laughing

"I can't believe how fast she's growing" Giles said watching the little baby

"Tell me about it" Tara said turning her head to look at her daughter "it seems like yesterday that she was this…tiny little thing that I was afraid to break" she and Giles smiled at the memories

"And she's getting pretty smart too" the watcher said proudly "did you see…" he was interrupted by the sight of a fresh looking slayer entering the kitchen

"Morning" she greeted and sat next to him

"Morning, Faith" Tara smiled happily

"Uh…are you alright?" Giles asked curiously

"Yeah, why?" she raised an eyebrow at him

"Well, you're never up this early…" he stated "I just thought it was a little…uncommon" he started to fidget under Tara's disapproving stare "that's all"

"Yeah, I decided to see the world from a sunny morning perspective" she shrugged

"Cloudy…but anyway, want some breakfast?" Tara offered

"Okay" she nodded

"Uh…we have bagels, toast, eggs and cereal" the blonde informed "if you want I can make some pancakes"

"Nah…don't bother" she waved a dismissively hand "I'll have a bagel"

"Tea?" Giles offered

"Coffee"

"Of course…here" he poured her a cup

"Thanks" she sipped it and smiled to the little blonde concentrating hard on her toy "so what are the plans for today?"

"Uh…we are going to head to the university" Giles informed "Tara has some classes to teach and I'm planning to do some research at the library…wanna come?"

"Books??" she made a scared face

"Yes…they won't bite you" he smirked at her

"Pity…it could be interesting" she sneered and bit her bagel "here…have some" she offered a piece of bread to Tara

"No, please…" she refused "I'm still trying to get rid of all the weight I gained during my pregnancy"

"You look fine to me" she said checking out the blonde's body

"I'm o-o-overweight" she blushed "the problem is that I hate gyms…I thought I could take some self-defense class but…I suck"

"You can't be that bad" Faith furrowed her brows amazed by the shade of red covering the blonde's face and neck

"Oh, I am…believe me!" she chuckled embarrassed and looked at Giles who was smiling at her

"I could help you" Faith offered surprising both Giles and Tara not to mention herself "you could work with me until you…uh…suck a little less"

"Really?"

"Yeah…we just need a place"

"You could use the coven's training room" Giles suggested "you just need to schedule it"

"Oh, okay" Tara nodded happily "can we start today?"

"Sure…5pm sounds good?" the slayer asked and blonde nodded eagerly "it's settled then"

Three hours of old dusty text books were enough for Faith want to chop her own head off, in fact she'd been hitting her head on the table for about three minutes before Giles sent her for a walk around the campus; the day was indeed cloudy, but it wasn't very cold, so she wandered on the open area watching the students come and go, suddenly she was attracted by the sound of a familiar voice

"Most of us are always trying to do what's right" Tara's voice had a melodic rhythm "We try to be the best person we can be" she looked through the glass window and saw the witch lecturing to a group of very interested students "we picture the ideal world as a world filled with harmony, love and peace" Tara's tone worked like a siren call luring and entrancing the brunette slayer; she leaned against a wall hypnotized by the blonde's sweet voice; she watched her, the way she moved her hands, how she tucked her glasses and specially she watched the sway of the witch's body moving like a sexy dance. She didn't know how long she stood there but she was startled by the sound of the bell dismissing the class; she looked inside and saw Tara waving at her, she waved back and rushed off embarrassed for having been caught.

Five o'clock sharp Faith entered the council's training room

"Hi there" she saw Tara standing near the window

"Hey…you made it" she greeted nervously

"I said I would, didn't I?" she dropped her backpack and looked at Tara, the witch was wearing navy blue sports bra over matching thigh length nylon shorts; Faith stood at the door her hazel eyes wandered up and down Tara's elegant form for a minute or two, the blonde began to shift nervously under the brunette intense stare

"Something wrong?" she asked self-consciously

"Oh, I'm sorry" she grinned "I was just analyzing your musculature"

"Is it that b-b-bad?" she blushed

"no…no of course not" the slayer shook her head "you have a great body…in fact" she stood back a step or two and crossed her arms across her chest and stared at Tara's body once again "I think your body will respond quickly to weight training" She placed her fingertips loosely on the tops of Tara's shoulders and slowly traced her thumbs over the muscles just above her breasts "you could develop nice muscles and…" she said as she ran the flat of her hand slowly down Tara's bare abdomen "you could have fantastic toned abs" a warm flush crawled up the blonde's cheeks as she felt the slayer's hand on her body; realizing that she was still touching the blonde, Faith yanked her hand and blushed "shall we start?"

They worked for over 50 minutes, the brunette slayer was careful not to push very hard, she didn't want the blonde to be overwhelmed with information. Tara agreed and bent over massaging her tired legs

"Let me help you" Faith offered grabbing a floor mat "lie down on your tummy" she instructed and Tara agreed tentatively; Faith grasped, pushed and stretched both of Tara's legs in order to loose the muscles, she then began to massage her thigh with strong hands. Tara closed her eyes in pleasure as Faith's hands kneaded her tired muscles deeply, she couldn't remember been so relaxed in a long time.