Smash Into You
Rating: M (Not in the early chapters but it will come later on)
Pairing: Willow and Faith. As much as I am a Willow and Tara girl if I have to accept the fact Tara is forever gone then I really like this pairing as a season 7 or post season 7 pairing. Was never much impressed with Willow and Kennedy, Joss should have well gone down the Willow and Faith joint redemption route!
Disclaimer: If Buffy was mine then Tara would never have died and Faith would have been in every episode! Amber and Eliza are good eye candy!
Summary: Nearly a year after the defeat of the first Willow organises Faith's early release from prison and asks her to join the gang in Cleveland. Ignores the comics and presumes that Faith would have actually gone back to prison to complete her sentence.
Chapter 7
Faith had showered quickly and changed into a pair of her new jeans and vest top before finding Willow in the living room. She was sat at the table in the corner on her laptop, totally engrossed in whatever she was doing. The sight of Willow's head buried in a computer screen was not a new one to Faith and it was comforting to see the girl doing something so normal.
"It's nice to see that some things don't change" Faith commented, causing Willow to jump slightly. The red head turned in her chair so that she was now facing Faith rather than the computer.
"Oh I'm still the computer geek" Willow blushed slightly before turning back to the computer and closing it.
"Somebody has to be" Faith remarked, "I actually know how to use one a bit now...we had classes in the big house."
"I bet they didn't teach you how to hack into anything" Willow grinned as she made her way over to Faith, "I suppose that would have been a bit counterproductive."
"It's healthy to have illegal hobbies" Faith replied, "I was always big on underage drinking!"
"Well today we shall keep ourselves on the right side of the law" Willow was smirking again, "We'll try a walk and some healthy retail therapy."
They had walked East first towards the local shopping district and had bought some more clothes for Faith. Willow had even indulged this time and had bought a new pair of jeans and some comfy canvas shoes. They had then stopped in a coffee shop for some mocha's and chocolate cheesecake before stopping of and Giles' shop to say hello.
Giles and Andrew had both been pleasant and Giles had even explained a little about the shop to Faith. The books in the front of the shop where ones Giles would sell to anyone in the general public but there was a selection of more 'advanced' books in the back. Faith had taken advanced to mean that the books contained information and spells that where specialist or sinister in nature. Giles had also pulled Faith aside subtly and told her to just keep her patience with Xander because he would come round eventually. Faith had been put at ease a little bit more by the visit to the shop because she now knew that Giles was okay with her return too and seemed willing to give her a chance.
They had looped around to the west on the way back to the hotel so Faith could see where the nearest graveyard was and some of the other common vampire haunts. The hellmouth was located under this district of Cleveland and most of the action was limited to this area, although Willow said that it did spread occasionally. It still seemed like a large area for the gang to cover though and Faith now understood why Buffy had been out so late the night before on patrol.
During the shopping trip Willow had filled Faith in on what happened in the first couple of months in Cleveland, how they had got the hotel and reformed the council. She also talked about how much they had all struggled to get over the loss of Sunnydale and friends and loved ones such as Spike and Anya. According to Willow, Xander had been an emotional wreck because of the loss of Anya and his blindness in one eye. It had taken him a few months to really calm himself down and get a part time job and move on with life. Willow had explained about him walking out on Anya at the altar a couple of years ago, she thought that it may have added to his guilt because he had been such a coward. Faith did feel sorry for him, for the fact he never truly got to make up for his monumental fuck up. It reminded her how lucky she was to be in Cleveland now, with the chance to show she was the good slayer too.
On the walk around the graveyard the conversation had turned to events that had occurred in these locations, like vampire and demon attacks. It was all interesting information to know but it seemed clear to Faith that it was pretty much like Sunnydale, there was obviously little variation from one hellmouth to the other. They had actually walked around this area for well over an hour and had basically done an early evening patrol. Faith wondered if Willow had done so on purpose or if it was just force of habit.
They where nearly back at the hotel when they saw Buffy approaching them from across the road, she did not look surprised to see them out and about.
"I've been sent to bring you back to the house" Buffy explained, "Chloe has cooked a huge dinner so we can all sit down together and do some team bonding!"
Wonderful, thought Faith, team bonding was likely to mean team arguing between her and Xander. The irritating thing was that she actually didn't want to fight with him but she knew he would be determined to have his say about her.
"Is it that late?" Willow piped up, "I didn't realise we'd been walking around that long."
"Giles said you where showing Faith around" Buffy replied, "see anything interesting?"
"Nothing that goes bump in the night" Faith chipped in, "some nice headstones though."
"It's a bit more upmarket that Sunnydale" agreed Buffy, "Vamp's aren't though."
Willow had enjoyed the afternoon with Faith and was again startled about how easy Faith was to converse with when you actually gave her a chance. Faith actually seemed willing to talk about anything, whether it was bad fashion, Giles' shop, cakes, the loss of Anya and Spike or demon killing.
Whilst walking back from the graveyard to the hotel Willow was in full babble mode about a really evil demon they had dealt with that only ate children's livers. It had been a really hard demon to defeat because it was rock solid and carried a sword like weapon made of stone.
Buffy's arrival had halted the conversation about crazy child eating demons and brought Willow back to the reality of facing the others again. Not that Buffy seemed to be too much of a problem, in fact after recovering from the shock of Faith's arrival last night she now seemed fairly at ease with Faith.
Once Buffy had confirmed that the two had been on an uneventful walk they all headed back to the hotel and to Chloe's cooking. They had literally walked into the dining room, placed their bags on the floor, sat down and had their food served. Chloe was certainly a domestic god send; it would have been total chaos around feeding time everyday if she wasn't there.
Faith and Willow where sat next to each other at one end, with Dawn and Buffy facing them. Chloe had positioned Xander opposite Giles at the other end of the table, obviously mindful of how Xander had reacted to Faith that morning.
There was only about thirty seconds of silence before Xander couldn't resist opening his gob though. Willow had been surprised that he lasted that long considering how he'd been earlier on but she'd hoped, wrongly apparently, that he had already got it out of his system.
"I hear you've been shopping Faith" he stated, "you've decided you're staying then I presume?"
The room was silent, nobody seemed to be eating, all eyes were on Faith and how she would react to Xander.
"Willow took me to get some clothes" she said pleasantly, "and then she took me to the graveyard."
"The perfect date" Xander's voice was dripping with sarcasm and Willow cringed, knowing that any second this was going to blow up big time.
"Xander" Giles suddenly spoke up, his tone was gentle but there was a warning in his voice. Obviously Giles was concerned about either Faith or Willow losing their temper with Xander.
"Oh great, let's all pretend we're okay with this" Xander continued, "happy happy!"
"I'm happy" Dawn cut in, "no pretending here."
Dawn's approach actually seemed to silence Xander but not calm him; instead he picked up his plate and fork and stormed out the dining room. No one followed him; he really did need time to cool off on his own. It left the room in a stained silence though whilst everyone finished their beef lasagne.
Chloe had made gateaux for desert and whilst she was plating it up Dawn took the initiative to get everyone speaking again.
"What did you think of Giles' shop Faith?" she asked cheerfully, "It's his and Andrews pride and joy!"
"I'm no expert on book shops" Faith laughed, "It may be the first one I've been in by choice!"
"Well than it must be special then" Dawn replied, "or Willow is just very persuasive!"
There were a few chuckles around the table and Willow couldn't help but laugh too. Dawn really was maturing quickly now and she always seemed so good at conversing with people. It reminded Willow of what a good job they had all done in bringing her up after Joyce's death.
"I didn't do a thing" Willow joined in with the conversation, "did I Faith?"
"There was that thing about turning me into a frog" Faith quipped, giving Willow a cheeky smile. Willow elbowed her playfully and most of the table laughed at Faith's joke.
"Only good looking princes get turned into frogs silly" Willow corrected her, using her best juvenile voice.
"Of course" Faith agreed, "so what do good looking slayers get turned into then?"
"Vampire bait" Dawn cut in, causing everyone to laugh this time, even Giles.
"That's tonight's fun" Faith replied, "well sort of...me and B are going vampire baiting tonight!"
It was at this point that Chloe began passing bowls of Gateaux around the table. The cake came and went really quickly because it was really good cake! Willow was sure Faith had inhaled hers it disappeared out of the bowl that fast.
"I'm going to chuck my stuff in my room" Faith spoke up, "then I'm ready when you are B."
"I'll be about ten minutes" Buffy replied, still only half way through her piece of cake. Faith gave Willow's foot a playful kick as she stood up and gathered up her bags, practically skipping out the room.
"She's cheery" it was a funny thing for someone like Dawn to say as she was the queen of cheery.
"I think she enjoyed stalking around the graveyard" Willow explained, "home from home!"
"She does seem glad to be here" Giles spoke up again, "I hope it works out...I think it will."
Buffy left Willow and Giles discussing Faith at the dinner table and went to find the aforementioned brunette slayer. She was already back in the living room and was sat quietly on the sofa Buffy had found her and Willow on that morning.
"I thought Xander may be in here" Faith admitted, "but he must have gone upstairs."
"I think it would be best to leave him brooding for a bit" Buffy admitted, "I think it's a good idea for you to talk to him eventually though."
"You may have to tell me when the times right" Faith admitted, "I'm not very well practised in this kind of stuff."
"I'm useless too" Buffy had never been good at diplomacy, "Dawn is the expert at calming things down!"
"I noticed" Faith agreed "regular little peacekeeper you got there!"
Buffy smiled at Faith, it was easy to get into your stride and talk to Faith when she was in a good mood. She remembered it well, when Faith had arrived in graduation year, they had actually worked quiet well together for a while. They had a natural rhythm they fell into which still seemed to exist the previous year against the first when they fought together.
They had set of to patrol together tonight so it would be a long one, but Faith's arrival now meant that in future the two slayers could split the patrolling. It would mean that one could go East and the other West, cutting down the hours they had to spend out on patrol. The district was a hell of a big area for one person to cover on their own, even if they where a super fit slayer.
They had gone down towards the street where Buffy had discovered the nest the night before first. Buffy had checked it out again over lunch time and there was no sign of any more vampire activity then, it didn't hurt to check again though.
Then they had gone down some of the dark alleyways and streets around a couple of slightly dingy clubs that usually had high vampire activity. They found two lurking around the back of one of the clubs, waiting for some helpless drunk to come out to pee in the alley or a couple looking for privacy. It had taken seconds to dust them both, especially as Faith approached them first whilst Buffy remained in the shadows, they had no idea Faith was a slayer until it was too late for them.
They had then followed the main road round through the now fairly deserted street of shops by Giles' place and took a look down the alleyways there. There was no sign of any vampire activity around this area at all. There had been no conversation during the patrol so far but it had not been uncomfortable. Now however Faith seemed to be very uncomfortable and the brunette slayer stopped and looked down an alleyway they had just cleared for about the fourth time.
"This is gonna sound weird but I feel like we are being watched" Faith spoke up, "like something is stalking us."
Buffy stepped back to Faith and looked down the alleyway again, not seeing anything suspicious. She had felt a little on edge earlier on but that feeling had passed and Buffy wasn't sure what to make of Faith's comment.
"There was nothing down there" Buffy reminded her, "maybe your senses are just on red alert because you haven't done this for a while."
"Yeah maybe" Faith didn't seem convinced but she began to walk again, effectively ending the conversation.
They had then looped round to the graveyard and spent at least two hours patrolling between the headstones and the tombs. There was more action to be had there and they came across several vampires, including one newcomer who was fresh out of the grave. There was also a couple of run of the mill ugly demons who seemed to be trying to dig up a fresh grave for a corpse sized snack.
Faith seemed to have another 'creeped' out moment during their stint in the graveyard. She had stopped and took several looks at some trees at the edge of the site. This time she didn't talk to Buffy about it though and just moved on in silence.
They had been gone for about five hours by the time they returned to the hotel and it was nearly midnight. The hotel was in darkness and everything was silent so they both made their way carefully to their rooms. After a quick shower and change Buffy headed into the kitchen to grab a snack after her excursions and was not surprised to find that Faith was already there. The brunette was wearing blue shorts and a vest top which typically showed of plenty more of Faith than was necessary. There was still cake left over so Faith had tucked into a piece of that whilst Buffy took a pack of crisps and a glass of water. She was about to leave Faith too it and go to bed when Willow appeared in the room wearing purple and lilac stripy pyjama's and a white dressing gown.
"You're up late" Buffy stated, wondering why Willow wasn't asleep yet like everyone else.
"Couldn't you sleep again" Faith asked softly as Willow approached her, it was only just allowed enough for Buffy to hear. Willow shook her head at the brunette slayer as she passed her on route to the fridge.
Buffy suddenly felt uncomfortable being there, it seemed like Faith had a better idea what was going on with Willow then she did and although she didn't like it, there seemed like there was little she could do about it.
"I'm off to bed" she muttered irritably, not waiting for an answer before leaving the two of them to it.