Two Days Ago
"Hello?" Faith waited a few seconds. "Hello?" She double checked the name on her phone. "B? You there?" She heard a couple breaths across the line and started to get worried. "Buffy? Are you ok? Is something wrong?"
"WHAT'S YOUR LAST NAME?" Buffy suddenly shouted into the phone.
"What?" Faith reacted, moving her phone a couple inches from her ear.
"What's your last name? I can't sleep with someone and not know their last name."
Faith quickly recognized the slightly slurred, slightly aggressive speech of the intoxicated and nodded to herself. "Uh, Lehane, B. My last name is Lehane."
"La Hane?" Buffy tried it out.
"Yeah, L-E-H-A-N-E. Lehane."
"Hmm, that's not what I expected. I don't know what I expected, but that wasn't it."
"Well, it was my asshole father's name, so it don't mean that much to me. Don't know, sounded like any other Irish name back in Boston."
"You're Irish? You don't have red hair," Buffy sounded, getting louder with each word.
Faith was taking everything in stride. Buffy was obviously drowning some stress tonight; Faith didn't mind spending some time calming the blonde girl's nerves.
"Actually, I've been learning more about my background living over here. Turns out red hair is mostly Scottish. Irish is more dark brown and black."
"I like your hair."
"Ha-ha, well, uh, thanks, B."
"No, really. I was always jealous of you, and you seriously look better every time I see you. Especially your hair."
"Thanks, B, but you know you're not really lacking in the looks department, right?"
"Pssshhh!" Faith was certain Buffy had just showered her phone screen.
"Buffy, you're hot and you know it."
"Yeah, but I was never as hot as you. You're dirty hot, like you know how to do things hot."
"Ok, how much have you had to drink tonight, B?
"What? I dunno what you're talking about."
"It's ok, I get it. You're nervous and stressed. This is big stuff here. I mean, not as big as some other shit we've been through, but it's still major. I get relaxing with a drink or two."
"I'm sorry, Faith. I shouldn't have called."
"Hey, it's fine. I mean it. Look, let's just talk, ok? What are up to?"
"Um, drinking wine."
"Besides that."
"Not much. Cleaned my apartment today, went shopping. Tried to distract myself but no one was around. Willow and Giles are trying to contact D'Hoffryn. Xander is out on a date. Spike is trying to organize the neighborhood vampires. He says it's so we can live here more safely, but I think he gets off on being some kind of moral leader."
Faith chuckled, "And you wouldn't know anything about that."
"Hey, I do not get off on - "
"So what does get you off then?" Faith asked.
Buffy wanted to snap a quick retort, but the wine in her system had degraded the part of her that usually played contrarian to Faith's tendency toward innuendo. The brunette's voice had dropped in register, which Buffy thought may have helped.
Faith winced at the silence, she had gone too far. "Sorry, it was just a joke."
Buffy found her voice and countered, "You wanna know what turns me on Faith, what gets me off?"
It was Faith's turn to be surprised.
She had explored her own sexuality over the years, tried a number of things. Some experiences were back in the day, when sex was a means to rebel, and some new things had happened more recently, as she tested the realm of healthy human interaction. Sex was actually something she usually got right, even back in more tumultuous years. She had long ago figured she would end up with a girl at least once, but never imagined it would be Buffy Summers.
Buffy had a pretty face and a body for days, not to mention slayer stamina and confidence. But Faith had always actively tried not to think about Buffy's sexuality. Between showing up in the middle of Angel drama to bad decisions with the college beefcake to the complications surrounding Spike at the almost end of the world, Buffy's romantic entanglements never seemed to mean good things for Faith. Thinking about Buffy having sex used to just make Faith angry.
But hearing Buffy play along, knowing the blonde's energy was focused on her, gave Faith the chills. She was suddenly excited. Sure, this was promising to be the most awkward morning after ever, but if it had to be this way, Faith figured she could do worse.
"Well, yeah, B. If I'm gonna make your bell ring, I ought'a know how to get the job done right."
"Well…" Buffy suddenly snapped back to a more sober reality and didn't know how to finish the sentence.
"It's cool, B. We'll figure it out, I've got faith in us."
"And pretty soon, I'll have a little Faith in me," Buffy let slip.
Faith waited a half second before losing it and dissolving into belly laughs. She had long ago braced herself for anything that could come out of Buffy's mouth as a matter of self preservation, but her efforts were usually reserved for insults and slander. Buffy listened for a few seconds, momentarily pondering whether she had ever heard Faith laugh out loud like this. And then she joined in. It took a full minute before either woman was fit to return to the conversation.
"Sorry, Faith. Actually, I'm not. Maybe we just need to lighten this situation up. Just take it for what it is and not think so much."
"Now you're taking a page from the Book of Faith Lehane."
"We'll be fine."
"We will."
"We'll just do it and get whatever it is we're supposed to get. And after we'll just…be…fine."
"We will be fine, Buff. And look, there are probably some things we could do to make the day after a little easier. You know, from the girl who's probably had a couple more one night stands than you."
"What do you mean? What kinds of things?"
"Well, uh, rules maybe. Like things we're ok doing and things that are off-limits. This way there are no slip ups or, like, doing something in the heat of the moment just cause you think you should. Or cause the double H's are too strong."
Buffy giggled, "Yeah, ok. We can do that. How about . . . rule one, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, I say we both come to this with clean bills of health. I know, at least, I've been with someone since the last time I dragged myself into a doctor."
"Nah, B. That's a good one, no prob. Alright, rule two. If at any point during the deed, one of us ain't feeling it, we stop. We commit to staying in as long as the benefits of getting this thing outweigh any crap we're feeling. Either of us can tap out at any point, no questions asked, no guilty consciences."
Buffy knew that one was for her. She took a risk, "Rule three, when I see your scar, I'm going to need a minute because I don't know how I'm going to react to seeing your scar."
"Heh, no worries there. Slayer healing, it's actually barely visible anymore. Might not even be able to find it."
"I'll be able to find it."
A short pause and a breath.
"Ok, ok. I can give you whatever time you need."
"Anything else? I like this whole I go then you go, makes me feel less needy."
"Ha-ha, how bout this? If I rock your world, we go for round two and I get bragging rights over Angel."
"Faith! You can't -"
"Joking, Blondie. Well, not about the -"
"Nope! Don't finish that sentence."
"Ok, well I don't think I have anything else right now, but we got a couple more days til I'm in Cali."
"Ok, yeah. And we can talk more when you're here. There's time for us ease into this once you get to California."
"Sounds good, Blondie. See you soon."
"Night, Faith."
"Night, B."
Present Day
Quick reunion hugs had been given, much to Faith's surprise. Willow, again, along with Xander, Giles, and Andrew had come and wrapped at least an arm around the brunette, welcoming her back to California. It was the hardest to see Giles again, Faith thought, so soon after he had decided to come back to the states. More so there was a profound sense of loss as she tousled 'Little G's" hair and longed for the closest thing to a parent she ever had.
Faith finished the receiving line at Buffy's apartment, thankful Spike was out for now. She wasn't sure if she was ready to face him yet. She was not, however, feeling all that stellar standing before the former head of the vengeance demons, D'Hoffryn. The old demon had a powerful presence. And a particular smell.
D'Hoffryn studied Faith looking her over as if forming a judgement as to her universal worth. "You are the other slayer. In fact, the original slayer lines runs through you still."
"Uh, yeah." She winced at her language choice.
"You have power."
"Yeah, the usual. Vampire tingles, super hearing that makes libraries seem like rock shows, hero complex."
"No, you misunderstand, child. Not powers. Power. The magic in this world may be new and unformed, but that only means that rules are pliable, boundaries movable. Power has not been made less or more, it is only in flux. The old ones retain much still. As does the slayer line. And I see most of it within you. It is intriguing. It will continue, however, to ebb and flow until a new matrix settles."
"Well that's what we're here for, right?" Faith said, trying to shrink back into the crowd.
"We have the chance to acquire a tool to...align the matrix. The details of which, have much to do with the power which creates them. It is not unimportant."
"Well, double negatives aside, I think I got it. Slayer power, still good. Which is good, cause that's all I'm about these days. Paying it back, balancing it out." She didn't know too much about D'Hoffryn; Angel had attempted a primer before she left England, but she had honestly tuned him out five minutes into an hour long lesson. She did, however, feel instinctively that she did not want to be on his bad side.
This statement, given under what looked to be moderate distress, did not go unnoticed by Buffy. All about the good deeds, indeed.
"You will choose how these rules are rewritten. In who you are, in what you will." He reached a hand out to her upper chest.
"Hey! No freebies! Well, except for Buffy, I guess."
The group, which had been listening to the somewhat tense exchange, breathed a soft laugh.
"Slayer, I do not possess genitalia you could even understand. I feel turmoil in you. Old wounds, scars. Rage, jealousy, fear. There is a darkness still, however tempered," D'Hoffryn considered her carefully.
Buffy barely caught a twitch in Faith's eyes, but with that she half expected to brunette to drop to her knees in submission and penance.
D'Hoffryn continued, "You would make a fine replacement for my Halfrek - "
"Ok," Buffy interjected, thinking quickly, "We were told there was more information on the tablets, on how to do this all."
The tension in the room broke like a summer thunderstorm. D'Hoffryn took a bothered breath, clasped his hands ceremoniously and smiled. "Ah yes, I was hoping you'd work this out on your own, but seeing as how the witch and the tiny watcher - "
"Hey!"
" - have been calling non-stop, I concluded you have not."
Willow jumped in, "We know some of it. We figure the two original slayers need to come together, as one. The passages all refer to sex, so we figure sexual energy will give us something, maybe open a conduit of some kind. You mentioned the rules, although we're not quite sure how all this connects to that. And what kind of a timeline we're on! Do we only have one shot at this?"
"And that is why I am here tonight. Although I assumed the witch and tiny watcher - "
"Hey!" Giles defended in an unintended whine.
" - were smarter. The light and the dark."
Willow nodded, "Yeah, Buffy and Faith."
"Oh, how I wish my Anyanka were still here. You mortals are so dense."
"Hey!" It didn't sound any better the third time. It did not help that Giles' formerly stern face reenacted by a 12-year old only looked like a pout.
"The world slayer automatically gets us both of us, you're both the slayer. Together. The light and dark gives the when. And the remainder points to a restoration of the balance in this universe. The balance is what we currently lack. Honestly, this lot."
"The moon!" Willow exclaimed, shaking her head, "Full moon and new moon."
Andrew chimed in, "That does make sense. Plus, Buffy's so totally a bottle blonde."
As Buffy scowled at the least likely member of the gang, Xander pulled his phone out and within a few touches of a button informed the group, "And the full moon's...tonight." He smiled in spite of the information; he loved when technology evened the intellectual playing field.
Buffy suddenly snapped back into the conversation. "Wait, what? Tonight?"
D'Hoffryn considered her, seemingly less enthralled by what he saw than when he looked at Faith. "Yes. That is why I wasted the energy to visit." He looked back to Faith, eyes drawn like a magnet. "I have a great stake in how these rules are rewritten. All the Old Ones do. I trust this group in your intentions, but not now, it seems, in your execution. I will be back."
And he was gone.
"What the bloody hell?"
"Language!" It was instinct, Willow reasoned to herself as she winced at her automatic reaction to bad language from a child. "Sorry."
"Faith, are you ok?"
"Yeah, sure. I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Dude's intense, but seems fine. I mean, he gave us this info, he's lettin' us do the rule book thing. And you guys said he's been pulling for the good guys since the whole Twilight thing, right?"
"Yeah, but he's still a demon. And I didn't like the way he was looking at you. Plus, he was Anya's old boss!"
"Really?"
"Oh yeah, I forget you weren't around for certain things."
"Uh, B. I wasn't around for most things. I mean, heard some stuff from Big A, but I was gone for a lot of seasons. Lots of springs, ya know, when you lovebirds were busy with vampires and robots and witches and demons. God, that makes drummers seem like a good choice."
Buffy froze, suddenly unable to read someone she honestly thought she knew better. And then she understood that she actually could. She did know the girl standing in front of her.
"Well, remind me to tell you about the time Xander thought Sunnydale would look better as Rydell High."
"Huh?"
"Nevermind."
"So, can we trust this guy? At least for now, maybe until we know he's up to something? Seems scary not to risk it, the magical world is coming apart at the seams."
"I still don't completely trust him, but yeah, I guess we don't have much of a choice. I mean, we do, but what if we're wrong? I don't want to - "
"Guys!"
The slayers both turned, suddenly aware that Giles, Willow, Xander and Andrew were staring at them.
"Hey, Rizzoli and Isles!" Andrew chimed in, so happy that the group had called him back from vacation early for this 'very obviously gay' mission. "Did you get that?"
"Get what, geek Tim Gunn?"
Andrew crossed his arms and tightened his facial expression. "That you and Buffy have to make like Thelma and Louise tonight or we don't get the second ghostwriter hint in the 'Magic For Dummies' book."
"Wait, I thought we had to boink, not drive off a cliff together?"
"I mean be super secretly gay for each other even though it is never directly referenced."
Andrew still didn't know whether to trust Faith but a) he figured with his past he couldn't judge anyone else and b) he desperately wanted to believe in a love story for Buffy. She deserved it, he thought.
"Calm down, Andrew. Despite what D'Hof said, we're not all that dense. We got it." She turned to Buffy, "We got it?"
Buffy's eyes couldn't quite settle on Faith, or anything really for that matter. "Yeah, we're good, we're fine, we've got this. Me and Faith. Faith and I, I mean. I never know which is right. I probably should have tried harder back in high school. But I was busy kissing vampires and killing demons and crawling out classroom windows during chemistry tests."
Buffy stopped when she realized everyone was staring at her, worried expressions not well hidden. Why was nothing in her life private? Losing her virginity, her only child status, her mom, and even her life all happened on stage in front of this group.
Willow watched as Buffy started to panic, the rambling the first indication. Even now, she felt responsible any time one of the Scoobies rambled. She had passed on her awkwardness over the years, it seemed, to her. But, more importantly, Willow watched Faith square herself in front of Buffy and gently grab her upper arms. She was softly talking to Buffy, low enough that it was not audible above the shuffling of the nervous crowd. Not without slayer hearing, at least. Faith seemed to be punctuating her sentences with a quick rubbing motion on her arms. Buffy seemed to calm into the brunette's touch until she slowly began nodding her head and then turned to walk down her hallway, out of sight.
Faith turned back to the group, feeling the stress weighing them down, "Ok, well unless anyone here knows how to alter lunar cycles, I think it's time I gotta kick you all out."
"Well, I did once read - "
"No, Willow." There were several voices.
"Just kidding, guys."
"Actually, Will, could you stay just a second."
"Sure," she replied, as the rest of the boys nodded, gave small waves and moved out the door. Giles couldn't seem to make eye contact as he awkwardly tripped through the threshold.
Buffy came back to the living room, arms full of weapons, to see Faith and Willow talking, smiling. Willow hugged Faith and walked over to Buffy.
"Have fun, Buff. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. But definitely do all the things I would!"
Buffy laughed, thankful for Willow's brevity in that moment. "Thanks, Will. I'll try."
Willow left and Buffy shut the door behind her. She turned slowly back around to her slayer sister. "You meant what you said?"
"You know it, girlfriend. Let's go patrol and slay some shit!"
