Disclaimer – Don't own anything you might recognize, all belongs to its respective owners.
Gonna Get It
"Okay, this is it. You can park here," Faith instructed a very tired and very grumpy Dean Winchester.
He rolled his eyes and twisted the steering wheel in the direction she was pointing in, silently thanking God that they had finally arrived.
They'd been traveling for a good seventeen hours, and the only time Faith had allowed them to stop was to take a whiz. That was it. Seriously. She'd made him pack up his stuff at four in the freakin morning, and then it was up to him to drive the whole damn way. No stops for food, nothing. At least she and Sam had been able to nap the trip away. And why did he agree? Cause she scared the crap outta him. And she was hot in bed.
He pulled into a large car park and parked up, turning to his sleeping brother, who had somehow managed to sprawl his ridiculously long body across the back seat of the car.
Dean frowned, and thumped his brothers leg. Why the hell should he get to sleep? "Wake up, sleeping beauty!" he called with a smirk as Sam sprung up into a seated position, a dazed look on his face, a little like a deer caught in headlights.
"What is it? What's going on?" Sam asked, his head darting around as he looked for trouble.
"Get your ass up, lazy, we're here," Dean snapped as he tried to hide his grin.
"Someone's grumpy," Sam mumbled, rubbing his leg.
"Someone's been driving continuously for seventeen hours."
Sam was saved from retorting by an impatient Faith, snapping, "You two girls gonna stop bickering, or am I gonna have to drag your asses outta the damn car?"
Sam and Dean looked at each other apprehensively. A week ago, when they'd first met the brunette slayer, she'd made the same kind of threat. They'd looked at each other and burst into amused and disbelieving laughter. The laughter had stopped abruptly when she had literally thrown them across the room.
The three of them climbed out of the car, each stretching out their muscles in pleasured delight, happy to finally be working out their aching muscles. Dean looked up at the large bock of apartments and whistled in appreciation. "Damn!" he exclaimed with a grin. "This place is awesome."
"Pretty sweet, right?" Faith replied, happy to be home.
Despite her desire to travel and her dislike for being strapped down to one place, she did love her home. Or maybe she just loved what it represented, or the people in it. Whatever. She wasn't one for deep and meaningful thoughts. She was just glad to be there, was all. And she was proud of it. She'd come a long way from living in and out of crappy motel rooms. Now they were restricted to travel only.
"How many floors are there?" Sam asked.
"Sixteen."
"What number are you?"
"Nine. Hey, there's an outdoor pool here and everything, ain't that wicked?" she bragged.
"You gonna be okay with that Dean?" Sam asked, his voice purposely condescending as he teased his brother. "I mean, nine floors is a long way up."
"Shut up, dude! I'm not afraid of heights!"
"Could have fooled me. Last time you were off the ground I remember you screaming. Like a girl."
"Like Hell I did! And the plane was about to crash!"
Faith rolled her eyes at the brothers' bickering and ran around to the trunk. She was practically bouncing up and down in excitement as they collected their bags from car, and she ran ahead of them as they made their way towards the entrance, despite the fact that she had her incredibly heavy bag of weapons over one shoulder, and her clothes bag over the other. Sam remembered the night before when he had tried to lift her weapon bag to put it in the trunk, and had almost put his back out in the process. He shook his head, making a mental note once again to reread up on the notes his father had written on slayers.
"Where's the elevator?" Dean asked, looking around the ground floor as they entered the lobby.
"There isn't one," Faith smirked, opening the door that led to the stairwell and gesturing for him to walk onwards with a sweep of her hand.
"You kidding? Sixteen floors and there's no elevator? This place sucks."
Faith laughed. "You're such an ass when you're tired."
The three of them made their way up the nine flights of stairs, Dean grumbling the whole way while Sam tried his hardest not to laugh at his older brothers' bad mood.
"Thank freakin God," Dean huffed as they finally reached Faith's floor. And then, "What the Hell is that?"
"What's what?" Faith asked distractedly, searching her pockets for her keys.
And then she heard it. Some kind of weird music was coming from behind her front door. It sounded old, and definitely not something she or Buffy would ever have playing. "Andrew," she mumbled in conclusion, rolling her eyes.
She finally found her key and fished it out of her pocket, unlocking the door swiftly and making her way inside, closely followed by Dean and Sam. They followed her down a short hallway and then into a larger room, where the three of them stopped in their tracks.
They were clearly in what was used at the living room. It was nice – cream carpets and walls, and a large window that took up one side of the room – but the chairs and the settee and the tables had all been pushed back against the walls. In the center of the room, a short, blonde man was frustratedly trying to instruct an equally short, blonde woman on how to waltz.
"Take two steps back," he demanded. "No...that's not back, that's left...That's right. Okay, now we're gonna spin around...what are you doing? You're the slayer! Aren't you supposed to be all graceful?"
The blonde rolled her eyes playfully. "Yes, Andrew. I'm the slayer. Emphasis on the slay. I slay things. I don't dance with them." It was then that she looked over and noticed the three newcomers stood in the doorway. She smiled brightly, completely unembarrassed at the situation and allowed Andrew to spin her again, this time successfully. "Hey!" she greeted. "We'll just be a minute. Just as soon as grumpy here is happy with my ability to spin gracefully."
Sam heard Faith chuckle and he looked over in time to catch her shaking her head affectionately. He raised his eyebrows, surprised. Affection wasn't something he had witnessed in the fiery brunette before. And it wasn't something he could have imagined on her. He glanced over at Dean to see if he had noticed, but his older brothers gaze was transfixed on the blonde girl, his mouth slightly parted as he watched her, completely engrossed in her movements. Sam's eyebrows lifted a little higher as he wondered what the Hell that was about, before he made a conscious movement to drop them, realizing that he probably looked a little silly with them up in his hairline. He looked back at the dancing pair, and then back at Dean. His eyes still hadn't moved.
"And...drop!" Andrew instructed, bending her backwards as the music came to a close. He pulled her back up and let her go, turning to Faith and Sam and Dean and bowing.
"Nice moves, B," Faith said, her voice teasing as she moved more into the room to stand before her sister slayer.
Andrew tutted and heaved a sigh as he moved to turn off the stereo, grumbling, "I am so unappreciated," underneath his breath.
"Still rocking the blondie look?" Faith commented as the two girls came to face each other, nodding her head towards the lighter shade of blonde Buffy's hair had turned to since the weeks they had been apart.
Buffy folded her arms and looked at Faith. "Still painting on your clothes, F?"
The two girls glared at each other for a moment, before Faith lifted up a hand to grip Buffy's shoulder, the movement showing more than words ever could just how much their reunion had affected her. They broke out into luminous smiles and pulled each other into a warm hug. Andrew dramatically put a hand to his heart and heaved a happy sigh before wrapping his arms around the two of them and squeezing tight, twittering something about his girls being back together again.
Eventually, after long moments had passed, Faith pulled away and cleared her throat, embarrassed that the guys had seen her little emotional girly welcome. "This is Dean and Sam Winchester," she said to Buffy, gesturing for the brothers to come forward. "They're hunters. Helped me out with some ghost last week."
"A ghost? There's something we don't deal with everyday."
"Yeah," Faith replied, shrugging far too casually for Buffy to believe her unaffected. "The ghost of Bloody Mary. Bit of a bitch."
And then Buffy remembered. Bloody Mary, the ghost that avenged the dead. She knew that Faith had a whole bunch of things that she'd never talked about from her days as the Mayor's go to girl, and she wondered if Faith had nominated herself as bait for this ghost. She caught Faith's eyes, silently promising that they would talk later, before she turned to look the brothers over, her arms refolding and her expression turning serious. "Are you evil?" she asked in an even voice.
"What? No!" both men hastened to answer, taking an uneasy step back as they saw a menacing look forming in her eyes.
She took a step forward. "Because if you were evil I'd have to kill you. Slowly. Viciously. I have me a wicked set of knives and a whole barrel of super human strength. I could make your deaths very painful." Her voice was low and threatening and as she walked towards them, they backed up right into the wall.
"We're not evil!" Sam quickly assured her, a little frightened of the tiny blonde.
Buffy watched their expressions for a moment longer, before she and Faith and even Andrew burst into amused laughter. The brothers looked at each other in confusion.
"I'm sorry." Buffy giggled, all menacing airs dropped. "I know, I just couldn't help it. If you were evil then the alarms would have gone off the second you stepped foot in the door."
"Man, I wish you could have seen the looks on your faces," Faith said with a chuckle. "This is Buffy, by the way."
Sam heaved a sigh of relief, and Dean snorted. "You are one pair of scary chicks, you know that?" he grumbled.
"Buffy? As in, head of the slayer line Buffy?" Sam asked, his voice dripping with excitement as he faced her. His father hadn't written a whole lot about slayers, but he had written enough for Sam to know that this girl was legendary amongst hunters, though very few had gotten the chance to actually meet her.
"Surely am," she replied brightly. "Though Faith and I are kinda the only two chosen left, so were both head. The rest of the girls we kinda made."
"That's so awesome," Sam continued, sounding like an excited twelve year old, which caused his brother to raise his eyebrows to the roof. "And you have alarms that recognize evil?"
"Magical alarms. They set off a siren if any bad guys try to come into the building."
As Buffy and Sam talked magic, Dean tried hard not to stare at the blonde slayer. Truth was, he hadn't even needed an introduction. He'd been secretly studying her image ever since he'd accidentally caught sight of the little photo Faith kept in her wallet. He wasn't even sure why, but he'd been fascinated by it. And now here she was, in person. And he wished he could stop staring. He shifted uncomfortably, wishing that he could think of something interesting to say. Anything. Yet there he was, standing in silence while his brother yapped like a little girl. He hadn't felt like this much of a loser around a girl in...ever.
"So, what's with the danceathon?" Faith interrupted Buffy and Sam's conversation to ask.
Buffy rolled her eyes and grimaced. "Stupid slayer/watcher ball in March, remember?"
Faith pulled a face. "Oh, Hell no. No way am I going to no fancy dancing shindig."
"Faith, as the two head slayers, you and Buffy must show a good example to all of the younger slayers. Which means attending social gathering and functions and mixing with the watchers," Andrew interrupted, sounding so like Giles that Faith and Buffy couldn't help but stare.
"Whatever, Shorty." Faith snorted, before turning back to Buffy. "So, Andrew's teaching you to dance? You are aware that it's only the beginning of October, right?"
Buffy shrugged. "Blame the short guy. Apparently I'm not graceful enough."
Dean, who had been admiring the slender curves of Buffy's body, had to mentally restrain himself from mentioning that he thought she was plenty graceful. He was way too tired to be getting his ass kicked.
"So, it's cool if Dean and Sam crash here, right?" Faith questioned. "If they're gonna be helping us out with the big nasty it's the least we can do."
"That's fine." Buffy smiled at the brothers. "You want a tour of the place?"
"That'd be great," Sam replied with a returned smile, picking up his bag from where he'd dropped it at his feet and following the blonde slayer as she pointed out the kitchen that adjoined to the living room and telling him to help himself whenever he wanted before leading him down another hallway.
"What do you think of my girl B?" Faith asked Dean, as they made to follow the other two.
Dean shrugged and grunted out a noncommittal response, shouldering his bag and ambling out of the room, leaving Faith to snort at his guyness and follow him.
"There's only one spare room," he heard Buffy telling Sam. "So-"
"No worries," Faith interrupted. "Grumpy's in my room." She gestured towards Dean.
Buffy smirked. "Thought so." She turned back to Sam. "You be okay in my sisters room?"
"She won't mind?"
"Dawn's at collage in England – or do they call it university over there? Either way, she's not gonna notice."
"England? That's a long way to go."
"I know, right?" Buffy said with a sad little sigh. "But we needed someone in England to check out some property and scope the area out cause we're thinking about expanding now that we're settled here, and she volunteered. I didn't wanna let her go at first but then she pointed out that she's not a kid anymore and there was actually nothing I could do to stop her. Still hard, though."
"I hear ya," Dean spoke up for the first time, sharing a knowing smile with Buffy as he glanced at Sam.
She smiled right back at him. "Still, I sent her over there with two of our most skilled slayers, and two of the toughest guys on our team. Robin and Gunn. They sure as Hell wont let anything happen to her. Robin sends Giles daily reports."
"Oh right, the watcher guy?"
"The one and only. Or, well, the one of many. But you get my picture."
"Hey, did you talk to Giles today?" Faith asked Buffy.
"Nuh uh. I was supposed to go see him this morning about something I found last night but I thought it'd be better to wait for you to get here."
"Cool."
As the others dropped their things off in their respective rooms, Buffy headed back towards the kitchen to find Andrew washing dishes in the sink.
"Andrew, we have a dishwasher," she pointed out.
"I like to wash the plates before I put them in the washer," he told her. "Germs are icky."
"Oh. So, what do you think of Faith's new friends?"
"Very manly. Sam has such soulful eyes," Andrew replied wistfully.
"Okay, drool boy. You think they're hungry?"
"Maybe. Ooh! I could cook!"
"You guys hungry?" Buffy yelled down the hallway.
"Not if you're cooking!" she heard Faith call back, but Dean exited the room swiftly, looking happier than Buffy had seen him since his arrival.
"Starved!" he told her with a grin.
"Faith didn't let you stop for food, did she?"
"Woman's a slave driver," he grumbled good naturdly as he joined both Buffy and Andrew in the kitchen.
Buffy moved over to the fridge, bending down to take a look at what they had. "What're you hungry for?" she asked, glancing back up, only to stop in her tracks as she noticed the look in his eyes.
He refrained from giving the obvious answer, you, pretty sure that she'd get pissed with him flirting with her while he was shacked up with her friend, instead opting for, "Whatever you got is fine."
"I make a mean lasagna," Andrew stated, sidling up to Dean and staring up at him adoringly.
Dean's eyes widened slightly at Andrew's closeness and he shifted away a little, clearly uncomfortable. "Uh...thanks?"
Buffy grinned as she watched them, refraining from giggling out loud as she stepped away from the fridge. "Okay, if that's all sorted I'm gonna go patrol."
"Now?" Dean asked, a little desperately. "You're leaving me?"
He somehow managed to refrain from adding with Andrew, but she knew what he was implying. They both glanced over towards the little blonde watcher, who was busy chopping vegetables while simultaneously watching Dean, a dreamy look on his face.
"You'll be fine," Buffy said in her most sincere voice, patting Dean on the shoulder comfortingly, before grabbing up her coat and heading towards the door.
"Wait!" he called. "Can't I come?"
Hiding her smile, she turned back to face him. "You're too exhausted, you might mess up. Besides, you and Andrew will have a blast. And if he gets too grabby, Faith's just a room away." And with that, she was out of the door, working hard to smother her laughter at the look in Dean's eyes until she had gotten outside.
"So," Andrew started chattily as Dean awkwardly sat himself down on a kitchen stool, deciding that payback was definitely in the future for the blonde slayer. "You like Star Wars?"
Oh yeah, she was so gonna get it.
