Title: Finding Faith

Chapter: 6 - Hornet's Nest

Author: Jo Soulliere

Content/Pairing: Buffy/Faith (Various others possibly)

Spoilers: Some conversation/scenes from the episode "Dirty Girls" Season 7

Author's Note: Okay, next chapter's up. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, I really appreciate it. :) I know a lot of the dialogue is probably familiar right now, but I'm mostly just redoing the last few episodes of season 7, so a lot of the stuff will be right from the show, there will be some things changed coming up though, and scenes that I'm just going to add... kinda like missing scenes if you will. I'm just writing things how I would have liked to have seen them in the show. :)

Now, On with the show:

Previously:

"Buffy," Giles tried one last time "We know nothing about this man. We cannot go into battle unprepared. We have to have more time." He said pleadingly.

Buffy faced the man who had become like a father to her over the years. "Giles, we don't have time. And you're not going into battle." Giles sighed, obviously unhappy with the way things were going. "I need you to stay behind with the others. Help the girls who still need a teacher." And with that, she and Faith headed towards the door marking the end of the debate.


Night had finally settled over Sunnydale. Buffy and Faith were following a Bringer through the woods, hoping that he would lead them to Caleb. Faith was watching the evil monk with fascination. "No eyes, but look at him go. He got SONAR or something?" Faith asked as she walked quietly beside Buffy.

"Or something, I guess. Pretty good when they attack." Buffy replied as she watch the Bringer.

Faith glanced at Buffy. "Do they just roam free around town?"

The blonde slayer shrugged slightly. "Well, normally, they show up out of nowhere, and then either stab or get stabbed, and then they run off. Looks like this guy wants to be found."

Faith's brow furrowed. "Lends weight to the whole "it's a trap" theory." She said.

"I'm through waiting around for people to attack us." Buffy said, a little more snappy than she had intended.

"Hey, I'm with you. Drop me in the hornet's nest, what the hell? You got a rough sitch here, trying to turn a bunch of little girls into an army..." Faith said, trying to avoid unwanted confrontation with the older girl.

Buffy looked at Faith. "They're potential slayers, just like we were."

Faith shrugged a little in response. "Right. Maybe they'll do as good as us."

"They're getting better." The senior slayer replied, not really sounding like she believed it herself.

"I'll work with 'em. Some of 'em seem real eager. Fashion disasters, yeah, but they're ready to fight."

Buffy stopped walking and turned to face Faith. "Why did you come back?"

"Willow said you needed me. Didn't give it a lot of thought. I thought you wanted me here... Do you - Are you starting to not want me here?" Faith asked looking at Buffy, pain showing in her dark eyes.

Buffy Sighed. She'd been trying so hard to get Faith to open up to her, and she didn't want to ruin everything she'd been working so hard for. "No, that's not what I meant. I'm...glad that you're here. It's good. I want you here, Faith." Buffy reached over taking Faith's hand, intertwining their fingers as she started walking again. "Thank you for coming."

Faith's expression lightened slightly. "No problem. You know me. All about the good deeds."

Buffy glanced down at the ground, then back up to meet Faith's gaze. "I'm sorry. I'm just stressing. I don't mean to sound like I don't want you here. Because, you know I do."

Faith squeezed Buffy's hand gently. "Yeah, I know."

"Faith?" Buffy said quietly as they continued walking.

"Hmm?" Came Faith's reply.

"Why haven't we told the other's about us yet?" The older girl looked at the brunette. "It's been a few days since we decided..."

Faith looked at Buffy and gave her a smile. Buffy wasn't sure if what she saw in the other girls eyes was uncertainty or sadness. "I don't know... I thought you might want to take your time and break it to them gently... some how."

"You're afraid they won't accept us, as a couple I mean...?"

Faith shrugged slightly. "Maybe a little."

"Are you afraid that I'll change my mind about you, - About us, if they give me a hard time about it?" the blonde asked.

Faith didn't meet Buffy's gaze. She couldn't bring herself to look at her. She didn't want to see the hurt that she knew might be in the older girls eyes, when she answered the question. "I don't know. Maybe... I mean, the thought has crossed my mind..." she trailed off.

"Faith-" Buffy started to say, but was cut short when Faith stopped walking and squeezed her hand more firmly.

"Buffy, what is this place?" She asked, taking in the enormous building that stood a few hundred feet away, watching the Bringer disappear inside.

"Look, there's more of them." Buffy said, indicating the other Bringers that were wandering around outside the building.

"I think we just found our hornet's nest." Faith said, as a feeling of dread crept up and settle itself deeply in her chest as she watch the scene before her.

Buffy looked at her for a moment before speaking. "Let's get the cavalry." she said turning, heading back the way from which they had come, dragging Faith along with her.

Xander was in the living room with Dawn and Andrew talking to the potentials and passing out weapons, preparing them for Buffy and Faith's return. "Now remember, we're looking for killing blows only, people." He said as he handed a spiked baseball bat to Rona. "So, chest and throat if it's a vampire. Stomach, chest and face if it's a Bringer."

"What if it's something else?" Rona inquired skeptically.

"Could happen. Something other-worldly. And here's a handy rule: don't go for the flashy tentacles just because they're waving 'em about trying to get attention. Go for the center - brains, heart, eyes. Everything's got eyes." Xander said using himself as the demonstration, pointing to each of the aforementioned parts.

"Except the Bringers." Dawn corrected him.

"Except the Bringers." Xander conceded.

"I don't want there to be tentacles. I'm not good with squishy." Said Molly, one of the other potentials, looking a little uneasy.

Nearby Kennedy raised a huge sword, anxious to show off her skills. "I don't care if it's Godzilla. I want to get in this thing."

"Godzilla's mostly Tokyo-based, so he's probably a no-show." Andrew clarified from where he was standing.

"Besides, if Matthew Broderick can kill Godzilla, how tough is he?" Said Amanda, the newest potential to join the ranks.

"Xander..." Andrew said whining as he crossed his arms in front of him, looking as though someone had just insulted him personally.

Xander looked at them. "Matthew Broderick did not kill Godzilla. He killed a big, dumb lizard. That was not the real Godzilla." He stated trying to pacify the incurable geek.

Rona couldn't believe they were bantering back and forth about a fictional movie character. "You people are even crazier than her."

Xander looked over at the young girl. "Than who?" he asked.

"Buffy, man. I mean, taking us right into the bad guy's lair." She responded disapproval for the plan obvious in her words and actions.

"Well, that's where, generally speaking, you'd go to find the bad guy. And I don't think you came here to fight plaque." Xander said, trying to defend his long time friend.

Rona stood her ground, replying "No, I came here for protection."

"Well, you signed on to fight with -" Xander started to say, but Rona cut stopped him short.

"Look, I know, but..." she sighed deeply tiring of this conversation. "this plan is trouble. OK, Buffy doesn't care how many of us she puts in danger -" The young potential didn't understand what was so difficult for Buffy or Xander or anyone else to understand that she, as well as many of the others did not come here to fight, they came to Sunnydale to be protected, and kept out of danger, not thrown directly into it's path.

At this Xander looked at Rona, disbelieving that she really felt that Buffy didn't care about her well being or anyone else's. "Let me tell you something about Buffy. In fact, you should all listen to this."

"Uh, we kinda were." Kennedy threw in, with a slightly sarcastic tone in her voice.

"I've been through more battles with Buffy than you all can ever imagine. She's stopped everything that's ever come up against her." Xander started his speech. Everyone was busy listening to Xander, and didn't notice that Buffy and Faith had entered the house and were now standing in the doorway to the living room, holding hands, listening along with everyone else to what Xander was saying.

"She's laid down her life - literally - to protect the people around her. This girl has died two times, and she's still standing. You're scared? That's smart. You got questions? You should. But you doubt her motives, you think Buffy's all about the kill, then you take the little bus to battle." The senior scooby was saying. Faith glanced over at Buffy gently giving her hand a squeeze. She could see tears threatening to fall from her blonde counterparts eyes.

Xander continued, still unaware of Buffy and Faith's presence. "I've seen her heart, and this time - not literally. And I'm telling you, right now, she cares more about your lives than you will ever know. You gotta trust her. She's earned it." Xander finished up.

"Damn. I never knew you were that cool." Faith said as she playfully nudged Buffy with her elbow, trying to lighten the mood a little. Dawn and Andrew were standing nearby, both crying from the emotion of Xander's speech.

"Well, you always were a little slow." She said jokingly to Faith.

Faith gave her a grin. "I get that now."

Buffy turned back to everyone else. "Alright, lets saddle up. We found our place, we leave in half an hour."

Buffy was upstairs in her bedroom, going through her personal collection of weapons. Faith waited a few minutes and quietly followed her up the stairs, softly knocking on her bedroom door then opening it. "Mind if I come in?" she asked.

"Think I would mind more, if you didn't." Buffy replied, as she walked away from her closet and over to Faith, closing her bedroom door behind the dark slayer. She sighed deeply, and slid her arms around Faith, resting her head on the younger girls shoulder.

Faith slid her arms around Buffy protectively. "You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah. Just worried." She looked up into Faith's dark brown eyes. "I just hope I'm doing the right thing." She said. "They're all counting on me."

The dark slayer gave her a small smile. "You're a great leader, B. No matter what happens... You're the one they look up to. And whether they know it or not, they need you. You don't want any of them to die. If you didn't care, you wouldn't push them so hard." She lowered her head, gently capturing Buffy's lips with her own.

Buffy pulled away slightly. "Faith?" she said.

"Hm?"

"If we make it back..." She started to say, then stopped. She knew what she wanted to say, but was afraid to say it. She didn't know how the younger girl would respond. " If we make it back, will you stay with me?" she finally said as she looked away from Faith. "Here, in my room, I mean..."

"When we make it back." Faith said gently cupping Buffy's cheek, turning her face to look at her again. "I'll stay wherever you want me to stay." Buffy smiled at her, then leaned forward gently kissing Faith's lips. The younger slayer closed her eyes, leaning into Buffy, slowly she let the tip of her tongue slide across Buffy's lower lip.

The blonde slayer let out a soft moan as her own tongue reached out to meet Faith's. She couldn't believe how this dark haired woman could make her feel. Everything inside her wanted to be with Faith right then and there. Her skin tingled from the contact, and she knew that if she stayed there much longer, she may not be able to bring herself to leave. Buffy pulled away again breathing heavily as she rested her forehead against Faith's. "We should go, before I don't want to."

Faith gave a soft laugh. "Too late for me, I already don't want to." she replied.

"Me either really. But, we need too." She lifted her head and softly kissed Faith again. "Maybe we can finish this after we get back."

"That's reason enough for me to make it back." Faith said as Buffy took her hand and lead her out of the room and down the stairs to meet up with the others.

A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I really did try to post it sooner, but I was having difficulties for a few days getting anything to upload to the site. I'm really very sorry. And thanks again to everyone who's reviewed. Keep them coming. :) Jo