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fanfiction section thinking that I came up with these characters?
Sorry guys! Took super long updating, kinda had some . . . stuff going on. Please forgive me! ^_^; This chapter the longest one yet, I hope that helps make up for it!
~*~*~*~*~*~
The two slayers were awoken only a few hours later by the sound of the phone ringing. With a loud groan Faith rolled out of Buffy's arms and grabbed the receiver.
"What?!" Faith demanded, more than a little annoyed.
There was a pause before a startled male voice answered. "Um. . . Buffy?"
"No. We were sleeping."
"We?"
"Yeah, I was sleeping, she was sleeping. We were asleep."
"Um. . . can I . . . talk to her?"
Faith just barely managed to resist the urge to yell that he couldn't and slam down the receiver. "Fine." She said instead, handing the phone to the other girl.
Buffy took the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello?" she said sleepily.
"Hey, Buffy! It's Riley."
"Oh hi Riley."
Faith looked up in surprise. She hadn't really thought who she was yelling at, she was just angry. She hoped Buffy wasn't mad at her for it.
"You said, you wanted to talk to me about something today?" He said a little too eagerly.
"Um yeah." Moving the phone from her ear Buffy turned to Faith. "Um, could you leave for a minute?" she asked, trying not to make it sound like she wanted to get rid of the other slayer.
Faith felt a stab of pain in her heart. She had offended Buffy. This was not good. "Um. . . yeah sure. No prob B."
"Thanks." Buffy said, an apologetic tone in her voice.
Buffy watched the younger slayer move out of the room. She could tell Faith had taken her asking her to leave the wrong way. She tried not to think about it and focused her thoughts on the impending conversation with her boyfriend.
"Riley? You still there?"
"Yeah, I'm still here."
Unable to think of anything else to say Buffy simply replied "Good."
After a long pause Riley ventured "You wanted to talk about something?"
"Yep." Said Buffy collecting her thoughts. She didn't want to make this too hard on Riley. "It's kinda about us."
Riley, being his overconfident self, was sure his girlfriend had good news for him. "What sort of thing about us?"
Buffy could think of no easy way to say what she had to say, so she just said it. "Riley. . . I really don't think this relationship is the right thing for me right now." She said as gently as she could.
After a moment Riley responded. ". . . What?" He said in a voice that made it obvious that he thought he had misunderstood.
"I don't think we should see each other anymore."
". . .What?"
"I think we should break up." Buffy replied, barely keeping the annoyance out of her voice.
"You mean you need space?"
A little of the annoyance slipped in now. "No, I mean we're over."
"For how long?"
More annoyance. "Forever Riley. This is it. The End. No more."
"Never?"
"Never." Buffy confirmed. "I'm sorry Riley but. . . you just aren't what I want right now."
Riley sat in shocked silence on the other end. This was definitely not what he had expected. His thought wandered for a while before his ex- girlfriend's voice brought him back to reality.
"Riley?"
"Yeah?"
"I have to go now."
"Oh. . . Ok."
"Bye."
"Um. . . Bye."
Buffy hung up the phone, feeling a mixture of relief, pity for Riley, and fear of the step she had just taken. She had chosen Faith. Even if she had never been in love with Riley she had felt very close to him. It was obvious that he had strong feelings for her as well. But Buffy chose Faith.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Faith sat in the hall, a few feet from Buffy's door. While she had been sitting there her feelings of rejection had almost overwhelmed her. To get her emotions back under control she had sunk back into herself, throwing up her usual protective walls; Confidence was the first wall, soon followed by a lack of care for others. She put up her walls one by one, carefully building an emotional barrier for herself. As she did this she stood up, her posture showing the world that there was nothing they could do that could bring her down now.
That was how Buffy found her when she same out into the hall. It surprized her a little. She couldn't quite tell why, but the Faith that stood before her now seemed much more like the Faith she had known in high school than the one she had been spending time with for the past few days. Buffy hadn't realized it until this point but there was a distinct difference between the two. Something about the Faith she had been getting closer to was slightly altered. . . she was more. . . less. . . something. Buffy was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of Faith's voice.
"So, what did Beefcake have to say?" She asked as though the answer didn't concern her at all.
"Um. . . nothing important." Buffy lied; wondering what is was about Faith that seemed so different. Pulling herself out of her thoughts before they could get anywhere she gestured to the door to her room. "We should probably get back to sleep, it's still five hours till sunrise."
"Five hours is good. It means the night is still young! We could go out dancing, have a few drinks, maybe-" Faith had been about to say 'pickup a couple studs' but even with her emotional barriers at full strength she could not bring herself to suggest it. "dust a few vamps." She finished.
Something was wrong, Buffy was sure of it now. "I don't think so Faith I'm still pretty tired." Why would Faith have been any different the past few days than she had been in high school? What was the difference? The answer came to Buffy all at once. She had been more open. Which meant that something had made Faith close up again. She had made Faith close up again. What was it she had done. . ?
"Ok then, B. I guess I'll be going all by myself then." Faith noted casually. "Have fun with your sleep."
Of course! Buffy had noticed before that Faith had seemed slightly rejected when Buffy had asked her to leave the room. Faith had been more open and in effect more vulnerable. That little bit of rejection must have stung. Well, if that was the problem then Buffy would just have to show her that she was wanted here. "No. . . don't go."
"Why not, B? The night is calling me."
"I want you to stay."
"And why's that?"
"I don't want to sleep without you."
That made a few walls begin to weaken.
When Faith didn't respond Buffy felt a need to explain. "It must be a teddy bear complex or something, I just. . . want you with me. . . Ok?"
Walls started crumbling from an earthquake-like shock (a good one mind you). Buffy wanted to be in the same bed as her. Buffy wanted to be in bed with her. Buffy wanted Faith in her bed. There was just no bad way to look at this. After a moment Faith managed a small "Ok."
Buffy smiled. She could tell that Faith was starting to open up again. That was good, Buffy had been afraid she had lost a part of the other slayer before she even knew she had it. She reached out and pulled Faith's hand into her own. After giving it a small squeeze of reassurance she turned and led Faith back to the bed. She then reluctantly released the captive hand and moved around to one side of the bed before slipping under the covers. Faith moved to the other side and copied Buffy's movements, laying so that her back was to Buffy. She felt kind of weird lying in bed with the girl she loved; knowing that said girl wanted Faith to be there. The comment had caught Faith off guard. She knew that Buffy hadn't intended the comment to sound quite so sexual, but it did none the less. Of course what surprised Faith much more was what Buffy did next.
The older slayer moved up behind Faith, sliding her arms around the brunet's waist and pulling the girl tight against her body. She rested her head so close to Faith's that her nose touched the back of Faith's head, and Faith could feel Buffy's breath on her neck. On impulse Buffy gave the girl in her arms a squeeze and whispered "Thanks for staying." in a slightly husky voice.
Wow.
Faith struggled to control her breathing. Her heart was thumping so loudly that there was no doubt in her mind that Buffy would hear it, what she wondered was if she would wake everyone else in the house. Every inch of her body was telling her to turn around kiss the other girl. The steady throb between her legs spoke the loudest. It took every ounce of willpower she had to control her sexual urges, telling herself over and over that acting on said urges would probably mean that she would make Buffy pull away in disgust. Faith couldn't handle that. Before simply knowing that Buffy didn't want her in the room while she talked to her boyfriend had hit Faith hard. Now her walls were down again and she knew she wouldn't be able to handle that sort of rejection. Faith ordered her body to be happy with Buffy's embrace. It was one of the more pleasant experiences Faith had ever had, even if it did leave her wanting more. This is all you get! She told her body, be thankful and don't blow this! But Faith's pleas fell on deaf ears. Sexual hormones continued to attempt to overpower Faith's common sense. God, she hoped Buffy wouldn't notice!
Buffy could indeed hear and feel the other slayer's heartbeat. She smiled a little. She hoped it meant what she thought it did. But even if it did, this was not the time to act on her feelings. Now was the time to sleep. "Night Faith." Buffy whispered, snuggling close to the girl. Unwittingly she synchronized her breathing to Faith's fast and steady heartbeat; inhaling or exhaling every three beats.
It would be an hour before Buffy got to sleep. Another hour before Faith did. But neither girl said anything the entire time. They just enjoyed the presence of the other, trying not to make the moment more than it really was.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy, having slept better and longer than her dark hared counterpart, was the first to wake the next morning. She wasn't at all surprized to find that they had shifted in the night without waking either of them.
She now lay with her head on Faith's shoulder and her arms around Faith's waist. She could feel one of Faith's arms wrapped around her back, while the other hand rested on Buffy's own arm.
Buffy smiled and looked up at Faith's sleeping face. She looked. . . well, sexy as usual of course but also. . . vulnerable. The girl before her was not longer the self-reliant slayer that Buffy had once known. She was open, for better or for worse, to what the world had to give her. And, though it was well hidden, Buffy could tell that she was scared. She had lived her life in a veritable fortress for who knows how long, isolating herself from those who would hurt her as well as those who would help her. Now she had traded that safety in for life and, though Buffy hadn't realized it yet, love.
The thought of Faith being hurt by this knew and less armored life greatly saddened Buffy. She knew that the pain would make Faith sink back into her self-made solitary confinement. Buffy hated the thought. Looking up at the girl she made a decision. She would protect her. Not just in the sense of making sure she didn't get herself killed, but also emotionally. She would watch what she said, make sure she didn't say anything that might make Faith feel like she was being pushed away. She would also have to talk to the other scoobys, make sure they kept their little grudges about Faith to themselves. Dawn and her mother would need a talk too. No one was going to hurt this girl. Not on Buffy's watch. She would keep her Faith safe from the world, allow her to grow into whatever she wanted to become. What ever she was going to be, Buffy knew she would love it.
Scanning the younger girl's sleeping face she felt a surge of warmth and love, knowing that she was going to keep her safe from harm. Overcome by her love for the brunet Buffy leaned forward, intent on sealing her vow to protect the girl with a kiss, but when her lips were only a fraction of an inch away from their destination Buffy stopped. She still couldn't be sure Faith felt them same, she reasoned. Sure, her reaction to being pulled into Buffy's arms the night before had suggested some sort of attraction, but Buffy couldn't be sure. There was also the near kiss she had almost given Buffy after they had escaped Adam, but post-slay lust had to be taken into account there. Besides, even if Faith did return her feelings, it wouldn't be fair to her for their first kiss to take place while she wasn't even awake. Buffy sighed softly and reluctantly pulled away from Faith's lips before she was further tempted. Still feeling the need to somehow finalize her vow she brought her face down again, this time placing her lips on the other girl's forehead.
Then she moved her head back to it's resting place on Faith's shoulder, snuggling into the girl as she did so. She must have stayed that way for a good 45 minutes, simply enjoying the closeness and reveling in thoughts of her new mission of protection, before Faith began to stir.
As she woke up Faith was a little surprized to find another body so close to her own, anyone who was ever so close to her at night was gone by the time she went to sleep. She never knew that waking up with someone could be so pleasant. Faith looked down at the smaller girl, realizing that who she was waking up with was a big part of why it was so enjoyable.
Buffy, having noticed Faith's slight movements as she awoke, turned her head up in order to look at her crush's face. Of course, she had expected that face to be more than an inch away. Both girls gasped sharply before becoming breathless all together. Once again Buffy found herself trying to convince herself not to kiss Faith.
Faith was doing the same. Reminding herself that she had no right to kiss Buffy. She decided to remove the temptation. Laying her head back on a pillow and looking at the ceiling she tried to think of something to say. Luckily, the situation it self provided her with something. "Morning." She said, trying to sound calm.
Buffy smiled. "Morning, Faith." She was relieved that Faith had moved away. (Though also rather disappointed) She didn't want to do anything stupid and yet if she had pulled away Faith might have seen it as rejection.
They sat in silence for a while, neither able to think of anything to say. Finally Buffy spoke. "Wanna go get some breakfast?"
Faith leapt on the excuse to get out of bed, not that she didn't enjoy it, it's just that she wasn't sure that she could keep her hormones in check much longer. "That sounds great." She said slowly sliding out of Buffy's arms. Buffy let her go, but reluctantly.
"Ok then." She said, trying not to sound disappointed at the lack of contact.
After a moment of thought Faith changed her mind. "I think I'm going to take a shower first. I'll see you down there Ok?" She had gotten very aroused the night before and had the wetness between her legs to prove it. Luckily her clothing seemed to have kept the smell from escaping for the time being, but that was VERY lucky. She needed to get clean very soon.
"Ok." Buffy responded, smiling at the girl.
Faith returned the smile and quickly gathered up all the things she would need for the shower and slipped out of the room.
Buffy watched her go before getting out of bed herself and getting dressed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Downstairs Buffy found Joyce Summers drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper.
"Hey Mom." Buffy realized that this would be the first opportunity she would have to talk to anyone about going easy on Faith. So instead of making her usual trip to the fridge she sat down next to her mother. Before she had to think of how to start the conversation Joyce noticed the difference in behavior.
"Hi Honey." she said turning to her daughter and putting down the paper. Noticing the serious look on Buffy's face she asked "Is something wrong?"
"Not really I just, kinda wanted to have a talk."
"You know it's not often that a child tells their parent that they need to have a talk; this must be important."
Buffy blushed a little, she hoped her mother wouldn't notice. "It's about Faith."
"Did. . . she do something?"
"No, no, she's been fine it's just. . ." Buff tried to think of the right words to describe her fellow slayer's state to her mother. "I think she's kind of changed since before. She's more. . . more vulnerable now." When Joyce didn't respond Buffy continued. "I think that she can really fight for the good guys again, but. . . it's gonna be hard." Buffy tried to explain.
"You're defending Faith?" Joyce asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Buffy said defensively, "what's wrong with that?"
"Well, nothing." Joyce said thoughtfully "It's just that last year any conversation we had about Faith you were usually not so happy with her and I was the one defending her." She explained "What made you change your mind about her?"
Buffy blushed again. "I don't know," she lied. "I just. . . I know that she wants to change and I want her to be able to."
Joyce smiled. "I think I understand." She said gently "I'll be nice, I promise." Her smile broadened a little. Joyce had always wanted Buffy to get closer to Faith. At first it had been because she like the idea of Buffy having help with all her slaying, and then because Faith seemed to be so in need of a friend. She was glad her daughter finally saw Faith as Joyce always had, as a person.
"Cool." Buffy said, glad her mother didn't push the topic any further. She still had to talk to everyone else though. . . "Hey, Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Could you ask Dawn to be nice to Faith too? I still have to talk to everyone else and I'm not going to see Dawn before her and Faith go out on their little outing after school."
"Sure, Honey."
"Thanks Mom, you're the best."
"Best what?"
Buffy jumped in surprise at the sound of her crush's voice. She spun around to see the other slayer standing casually in the doorway, her hair still wet from the shower.
"Hi Faith." She managed to say after a moment or two. Then, realizing that Faith had asked a question, she added "Uh. nothing. Best nothing."
Faith could hear the awkwardness in Buffy's voice. She tried to ignore it. "Best nothing huh? Is that a hard title to earn Joyce?"
Joyce smiled. "Oh no not really, I'm still not sure what I did to deserve it."
"Heaven only knows, Mom." Buffy replied, trying to be normal.
"So, B, when are we gonna see if we can do the super-super power thing again?" Faith said, still very aware of Buffy's uneasiness.
"Um, I don't know." Buffy said honestly. "I'll call Will, see what time she wants to do it." With that Buffy walked out of the kitchen and up to her room, deciding that would be the best place to make the call.
Faith watched her go. She was sure of it now; Buffy and Joyce had been talking about her.
~*~*~*~*~*~
It was decided that the test would be held in the evening; it seemed the clearest in everyone's schedules, but it was still before they had to worry about vamps. Not long after finishing her call with Will Buffy had to go to class. About half an hour later Joyce left for the gallery. That left Faith alone for a while. About four hours. On the bright side this meant that Buffy trusted her to be alone in her house. On the down side, it gave Faith lots of Time to think many angsty thoughts about all sorts of things, but mainly what Buffy and Joyce had said about her. She went through the same list of things many times, but each time each of the possibilities got a little worse.
Then, finally, it was time for Dawn to be out of school. That would give Faith's mind something to do other than worry. Faith rushed out the door before realizing that she had no idea where Dawn's school was. With a sigh she went back into the house and flopped down on the couch, wishing she didn't have to wait for Dawn to get home. It was funny how she could have spent so many of the recent years of her life in solitude, and yet now the same solitude was driving her crazy.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Faith head snapped up as the front door opened. Finally! She thought, practically running to greet the youngest Summers. "Hey kid! What's up?" she asked energetically.
Dawn blinked several times before answering. "Did you have excessive amounts of caffeine or something?"
Faith realized that her greeting had come across almost as hyper, which was definitely NOT the way she normally acted. Turning the energy down a few levels she responded "No, but we will. I'm thinking first stop Espresso Pump. Sound good?"
"Huh? Oh right, the thing with the going out and stuff. I was all exited but. . . school zaps brains. My last class made me forget a little." Dawn replied, a bit surprized by Faith's enthusiasm. Her mom must have been right, Faith really was different.
"So, coffee?"
"Uh, yeah sure. Just let me dump my backpack in my room and we're off!"
~*~*~*~*~*~
Fifteen minutes later the two girls sat at a small table at the local coffee place. Faith found herself retelling many of the stories she had told when she first met the scooby gang. But she was also telling more recent stories. Stories about even the simplest of patrols with Buffy. Faith enjoyed the memories, but Dawn was the one who had wanted to hear them. To the slayer's surprise Dawn seemed to have no idea what a usual night in Buffyville was like.
"So, three vamps?" Dawn asked.
"Yep."
"By herself?"
"Well. I was there and all, but I was kinda busy. Plus, they were all young. I think the whole lot of them had only been turned maybe a week before."
"Wow. I always kinda pictured fights as being one on one. I never knew Buffy could take three!"
Faith smiled. An image of Buffy fighting appeared in her mind. Punch, punch, duck, kick, stake. She was just so. . . Faith pulled herself out of the little Buffy-fest going on in her mind, reminding herself that she was not alone. Looking across the table at her crush's little sister, she searched for something not Buffy to say. Took a second, but she found it. "You sure you don't want something a little stronger than hot chocolate?" she asked, taking a sip of her mocha.
"I'm sure. I've got a super early test tomorrow and I do not need to be up all night."
"Ok," Faith shrugged, "Your loss."
"So, where were we?"
"Um. . . " Faith trailed off, feeling like picking the conversation up somewhere other than where they were. She was beginning to think that if they kept on talking about Buffy she would end up saying something that would make her feelings all too obvious.
"Hey, is that Willow?" She asked, looking over Faith's shoulder.
Faith, happy for the distraction, turned to look. "Yeah, that's Will."
"Who's that with her?" Dawn asked noticing the blond walking next to the redheaded hacker.
"Don' know." Faith said, taking a look at the other girl. She seemed pretty happy, but timid at the same time. She kept on looking at Willow and smiling, then eventually looking away. Faith could tell right away that the two girls were something special to each other.
"Willow!" Dawn yelled, waving to the young witch.
Willow looked up in surprise, then looked quickly back at the blond. For just a second Faith thought Willow might make some kind of attempt to hide the other girl, but then she smiled took hold of the blonde's hand and leading her over to Faith and Dawn's table.
"Hi Dawnie! Um, hi Faith." Willow said, the second name coming off a bit less happily than the first.
"Hey Willow, who's your friend?" Dawn asked.
Willow cast a quick glance back at the other girl (who was kind of staring at the floor and hiding behind Willow at the same time) before introducing her. "This is Tara. I met her in my wiccan group. She and I have been casting together. She did the slayer locating spell with me." She said, obviously wanting the other girl to be accepted and liked.
Dawn hopped out of her seat to welcome the girl. "Hi Tara, I'm Dawn." She said offering her hand in greeting.
Tara accepted the hand a little cautiously. "Hi."
"Oh, and this is Faith." Dawn said gesturing to the brunette slayer.
Faith waved to the blonde. Tara shyly returned the wave before looking back at the ground.
Willow seemed a little bit lost as to what to say next. "Well, uh. . . We were just going to pick up some supplies at the Magic Box so um. . . I guess we'll just. . . go."
"Ok, see you later then." Dawn replied.
Willow smiled and turned back to Tara. Another smile and the two wiccans left the unexpected meeting to return to their plans.
Faith watched them go. As Dawn slipped back up into her seat Faith asked "What happened to Oz?"
"Huh?"
"Oz. Where'd he go?"
". . . What brought this up?"
"Well, Willow doesn't really seem like the type to start driving a new model when the old one was still around." Faith explained.
"Again with the huh."
"I just mean that if she's with someone else than Oz must be out of the picture."
"With? Who would she be with?"
Faith shook her head. Dawn was more sheltered than she thought. "That blonde girl, Tara. Didn't you notice?"
"No. . . You're saying Willow and that girl are. . . girlfriends?" Dawn asked in confusion.
"Yeah, no doubt." Faith said, taking another sip of mocha.
"How can you tell?"
Faith thought about it for a second. "Well, it's just body language really. You just have to know what to look for."
Dawn thought about that for a little while. Just when Faith was about to break the silence Dawn finally spoke. "Can you teach me?"
Faith paused for a moment. "Teach you what?"
"How to understand that kind of body language." Dawn clarified. "What kind of stuff to look for."
Faith hesitated again, but then smiled. "Sure kid, I'll teach you. Class is in session starting right now."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy let out a sigh of relief as the professor finally dismissed the class. Two hours and fifteen minutes of history. There should be a law against that. Plus she was pretty sure the professor hated her. It wasn't her fault that there were some demons that had affected the course of history and it certainly wasn't her fault that she knew how to recognize the signs.
As Buffy allowed her mind to move past the internal rant it quickly latched on to another topic: Faith. Yay! She couldn't wait to be back with her again. With that thought she quickened her pace, wanting to get home as quickly as possible.
Just as she was getting off campus she felt a hand grab her shoulder. Instinctively she spun around and kicked, catching whatever had grabbed her in the side.
With a small grunt of pain it fell to the ground. "God Buffy. . ." it managed after a moment "What. . . was that. . . for?"
"Riley?" She asked, surprised to see her ex. Then, realizing that she had hit him, and hard, when he was already injured she started to feel all guilty and worried. "Oh, geeze, are you ok? I mean, you know, not in need of hospitalization?" She asked frantically, dropping onto her knees to take a better look at him.
Wincing he pulled his hands away from the side, reveling blood beginning to seep into his clothing in large amounts.
'Oh shit, I've killed him!' Buffy thought to herself before gently peeling back the shirt to examine the damage. It didn't look like he had taken too much damage from the kick itself, but the impact had reopened his old stab wound. He needed to get this looked at and stitched up, soon.
After deciding on a best course of action she reached down and pulled his arms over her shoulders like backpack straps. Standing up she turned and headed back towards campus.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Back at the Espresso Pump Faith was buying Dawn a third hot chocolate. This one was a celebratory treat. Dawn had mastered everything Faith had taught her with relative ease. Given it had only been a basic course, but Dawn picked up on it much faster than Faith would have expected.
"You know what this means?" The younger girl asked before taking a sip of the hot liquid.
"That you soak up information like a sponge?" Faith suggested.
"No, it means that guy at school who's been bothering me? He might actually like me."
"Is he cute?"
"No!" Dawn replied, but then thought about it. "Well, sort of. I guess I just never thought about him that way."
"Well, feel free to think about him anyway you want. And have fun with it. If he really likes you then you should give him a shot. If he does anything at all out of line I'll just hit him really really hard."
"Really?"
"What?" Faith asked in confusion.
"Would you really hit him?"
"Yeah, of course kid. Why wouldn't I?"
"Well Buffy's always saying that she can't hurt someone just because their mean."
Faith nodded in understanding. "Sounds like something she would say. But here's the thing: she won't hurt anything that isn't demonic."
Dawn considered this for a moment. "What about you? You aren't a demon and she hurt you."
Faith's smile quickly turned into a look of sadness. "I deserved that. Betraying everyone like I did. . . she had every right to kill me. She nearly did too."
Dawn's voice was very apologetic now. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have. . ."
"It's Ok." Faith assured her. "I'm lucky to have this kind of a second chance. I still don't know why she's giving it to me."
"She probably thinks you deserve it."
Faith shook her head. "What could she possibly have seen in me? I was evil."
"I don't know what it is she saw, but I think she was right."
"How's that?"
"Well, you haven't hurt anyone." Reconsidering she added, "At least not since you held me and Mom hostage."
"It hasn't been very long. How can she know I won't kill you all in your sleep?"
"Would you do that?"
"Well. . . no but. . . she doesn't know that."
"Maybe she doesn't know it. . . but I think she believes it." Dawn paused for a moment to think about it. "I think she believes in you."
Faith started to contradict Dawn but then stopped. Why else would Buffy give her this opportunity? She must really believe that Faith could be good. Something about that gave Faith a kind of inner power. If Buffy thought she could do this then maybe she really could.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Forest heard a knock at the door of Lowle house and got up to answer it. Before he could ask what was going on Buffy pushed past him, not waiting for an invitation.
"He needs medical attention, like now." She said quickly.
Forest blinked, but then shut the door and followed Buffy. "What happened?"
Buffy didn't answer for a moment. "He snuck up on me."
"You did this?" He said with an accusing tone, still following the small slayer.
"Not on purpose! He surprised me; I just. . . reacted. I didn't know where else to bring him." She said, reaching the mirror behind which she knew the elevator leading to the initiative was located. She turned to face Forest. "Don't make me regret this."
For a moment they glared at each other before Forest answered. "We won't hurt him. Make sure you can say the same."
"Or what? You'll put a chip in my head?"
Another staring contest. This time Buffy broke the silence. "Look, just take him. We don't have time to argue right now."
"Fine." Forest said, taking one of Riley's arms and putting it over his shoulders while supporting his friend's weight by wrapping his own arm around his waist.
Buffy shot Forest one last glare before walking quickly away. She couldn't wait to get out of this stupid fraternity.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Honey, I'm home!" Faith called as she and Dawn stepped through the door of the Summers home.
Buffy smiled at the sound of Faith's voice and went to greet them. "Hey you two, where have you been?"
"We got coffee." Dawn offered.
"Coffee?" Buffy asked, wondering why her usually caffeine free sister wasn't bouncing off the walls from the potent dose.
"Yeah. Well, I got a mocha; little sis here got hot chocolate." Faith clarified.
Buffy nodded and turned to her sister. "Dawn, is your homework done yet?"
Dawn's smiled evaporated. "No." she said with and exaggerated sigh and trudged up the stairs to her room.
Buffy smiled a little and turned to Faith. After a moment of getting caught up in Faith's beauty she remembered what it was she had meant to say. "Only an hour or so until sunset, we should go meet Wills and everyone."
"'K. Lets get out a here."
The two of them slipped out the door and began to walk down the street. Buffy glanced over at Faith and smiled, allowing all the memories of today to come back to her. The fact that stood out to her, above all others, was that she was now boyfriendless. She could now pursue anyone she wanted to without breaking any rules. With another glance at Faith she slid her hand into the brunette's, intertwining their fingers.
Faith almost yanked the hand away she was so unused to the affectionate gesture. The she realized it was Buffy who was holding he hand and relaxed. . . sort of. She didn't want to pull away, but Buffy's actions were really confusing her right now. What did the girl mean to say by holding her hand like this. Walking, hand-in-hand like this. . . it was very intimate. More intimate than friendship. But then, friendship was something she still wasn't sure Buffy was willing to give her. But this clarified it, right? She must want to be closer than they were. And Faith supposed a step up from where they were, where ever that was, was probably friendship. Faith looked over at her. . . friend. . . and smiled. She was going to enjoy this.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Wow. Look at that. . . that is a long chapter. Sorry I took so long updating folks, I'll try to get the next chapter up before I have to go back to school.
(reviews make me write faster!)
Sorry guys! Took super long updating, kinda had some . . . stuff going on. Please forgive me! ^_^; This chapter the longest one yet, I hope that helps make up for it!
~*~*~*~*~*~
The two slayers were awoken only a few hours later by the sound of the phone ringing. With a loud groan Faith rolled out of Buffy's arms and grabbed the receiver.
"What?!" Faith demanded, more than a little annoyed.
There was a pause before a startled male voice answered. "Um. . . Buffy?"
"No. We were sleeping."
"We?"
"Yeah, I was sleeping, she was sleeping. We were asleep."
"Um. . . can I . . . talk to her?"
Faith just barely managed to resist the urge to yell that he couldn't and slam down the receiver. "Fine." She said instead, handing the phone to the other girl.
Buffy took the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello?" she said sleepily.
"Hey, Buffy! It's Riley."
"Oh hi Riley."
Faith looked up in surprise. She hadn't really thought who she was yelling at, she was just angry. She hoped Buffy wasn't mad at her for it.
"You said, you wanted to talk to me about something today?" He said a little too eagerly.
"Um yeah." Moving the phone from her ear Buffy turned to Faith. "Um, could you leave for a minute?" she asked, trying not to make it sound like she wanted to get rid of the other slayer.
Faith felt a stab of pain in her heart. She had offended Buffy. This was not good. "Um. . . yeah sure. No prob B."
"Thanks." Buffy said, an apologetic tone in her voice.
Buffy watched the younger slayer move out of the room. She could tell Faith had taken her asking her to leave the wrong way. She tried not to think about it and focused her thoughts on the impending conversation with her boyfriend.
"Riley? You still there?"
"Yeah, I'm still here."
Unable to think of anything else to say Buffy simply replied "Good."
After a long pause Riley ventured "You wanted to talk about something?"
"Yep." Said Buffy collecting her thoughts. She didn't want to make this too hard on Riley. "It's kinda about us."
Riley, being his overconfident self, was sure his girlfriend had good news for him. "What sort of thing about us?"
Buffy could think of no easy way to say what she had to say, so she just said it. "Riley. . . I really don't think this relationship is the right thing for me right now." She said as gently as she could.
After a moment Riley responded. ". . . What?" He said in a voice that made it obvious that he thought he had misunderstood.
"I don't think we should see each other anymore."
". . .What?"
"I think we should break up." Buffy replied, barely keeping the annoyance out of her voice.
"You mean you need space?"
A little of the annoyance slipped in now. "No, I mean we're over."
"For how long?"
More annoyance. "Forever Riley. This is it. The End. No more."
"Never?"
"Never." Buffy confirmed. "I'm sorry Riley but. . . you just aren't what I want right now."
Riley sat in shocked silence on the other end. This was definitely not what he had expected. His thought wandered for a while before his ex- girlfriend's voice brought him back to reality.
"Riley?"
"Yeah?"
"I have to go now."
"Oh. . . Ok."
"Bye."
"Um. . . Bye."
Buffy hung up the phone, feeling a mixture of relief, pity for Riley, and fear of the step she had just taken. She had chosen Faith. Even if she had never been in love with Riley she had felt very close to him. It was obvious that he had strong feelings for her as well. But Buffy chose Faith.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Faith sat in the hall, a few feet from Buffy's door. While she had been sitting there her feelings of rejection had almost overwhelmed her. To get her emotions back under control she had sunk back into herself, throwing up her usual protective walls; Confidence was the first wall, soon followed by a lack of care for others. She put up her walls one by one, carefully building an emotional barrier for herself. As she did this she stood up, her posture showing the world that there was nothing they could do that could bring her down now.
That was how Buffy found her when she same out into the hall. It surprized her a little. She couldn't quite tell why, but the Faith that stood before her now seemed much more like the Faith she had known in high school than the one she had been spending time with for the past few days. Buffy hadn't realized it until this point but there was a distinct difference between the two. Something about the Faith she had been getting closer to was slightly altered. . . she was more. . . less. . . something. Buffy was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of Faith's voice.
"So, what did Beefcake have to say?" She asked as though the answer didn't concern her at all.
"Um. . . nothing important." Buffy lied; wondering what is was about Faith that seemed so different. Pulling herself out of her thoughts before they could get anywhere she gestured to the door to her room. "We should probably get back to sleep, it's still five hours till sunrise."
"Five hours is good. It means the night is still young! We could go out dancing, have a few drinks, maybe-" Faith had been about to say 'pickup a couple studs' but even with her emotional barriers at full strength she could not bring herself to suggest it. "dust a few vamps." She finished.
Something was wrong, Buffy was sure of it now. "I don't think so Faith I'm still pretty tired." Why would Faith have been any different the past few days than she had been in high school? What was the difference? The answer came to Buffy all at once. She had been more open. Which meant that something had made Faith close up again. She had made Faith close up again. What was it she had done. . ?
"Ok then, B. I guess I'll be going all by myself then." Faith noted casually. "Have fun with your sleep."
Of course! Buffy had noticed before that Faith had seemed slightly rejected when Buffy had asked her to leave the room. Faith had been more open and in effect more vulnerable. That little bit of rejection must have stung. Well, if that was the problem then Buffy would just have to show her that she was wanted here. "No. . . don't go."
"Why not, B? The night is calling me."
"I want you to stay."
"And why's that?"
"I don't want to sleep without you."
That made a few walls begin to weaken.
When Faith didn't respond Buffy felt a need to explain. "It must be a teddy bear complex or something, I just. . . want you with me. . . Ok?"
Walls started crumbling from an earthquake-like shock (a good one mind you). Buffy wanted to be in the same bed as her. Buffy wanted to be in bed with her. Buffy wanted Faith in her bed. There was just no bad way to look at this. After a moment Faith managed a small "Ok."
Buffy smiled. She could tell that Faith was starting to open up again. That was good, Buffy had been afraid she had lost a part of the other slayer before she even knew she had it. She reached out and pulled Faith's hand into her own. After giving it a small squeeze of reassurance she turned and led Faith back to the bed. She then reluctantly released the captive hand and moved around to one side of the bed before slipping under the covers. Faith moved to the other side and copied Buffy's movements, laying so that her back was to Buffy. She felt kind of weird lying in bed with the girl she loved; knowing that said girl wanted Faith to be there. The comment had caught Faith off guard. She knew that Buffy hadn't intended the comment to sound quite so sexual, but it did none the less. Of course what surprised Faith much more was what Buffy did next.
The older slayer moved up behind Faith, sliding her arms around the brunet's waist and pulling the girl tight against her body. She rested her head so close to Faith's that her nose touched the back of Faith's head, and Faith could feel Buffy's breath on her neck. On impulse Buffy gave the girl in her arms a squeeze and whispered "Thanks for staying." in a slightly husky voice.
Wow.
Faith struggled to control her breathing. Her heart was thumping so loudly that there was no doubt in her mind that Buffy would hear it, what she wondered was if she would wake everyone else in the house. Every inch of her body was telling her to turn around kiss the other girl. The steady throb between her legs spoke the loudest. It took every ounce of willpower she had to control her sexual urges, telling herself over and over that acting on said urges would probably mean that she would make Buffy pull away in disgust. Faith couldn't handle that. Before simply knowing that Buffy didn't want her in the room while she talked to her boyfriend had hit Faith hard. Now her walls were down again and she knew she wouldn't be able to handle that sort of rejection. Faith ordered her body to be happy with Buffy's embrace. It was one of the more pleasant experiences Faith had ever had, even if it did leave her wanting more. This is all you get! She told her body, be thankful and don't blow this! But Faith's pleas fell on deaf ears. Sexual hormones continued to attempt to overpower Faith's common sense. God, she hoped Buffy wouldn't notice!
Buffy could indeed hear and feel the other slayer's heartbeat. She smiled a little. She hoped it meant what she thought it did. But even if it did, this was not the time to act on her feelings. Now was the time to sleep. "Night Faith." Buffy whispered, snuggling close to the girl. Unwittingly she synchronized her breathing to Faith's fast and steady heartbeat; inhaling or exhaling every three beats.
It would be an hour before Buffy got to sleep. Another hour before Faith did. But neither girl said anything the entire time. They just enjoyed the presence of the other, trying not to make the moment more than it really was.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy, having slept better and longer than her dark hared counterpart, was the first to wake the next morning. She wasn't at all surprized to find that they had shifted in the night without waking either of them.
She now lay with her head on Faith's shoulder and her arms around Faith's waist. She could feel one of Faith's arms wrapped around her back, while the other hand rested on Buffy's own arm.
Buffy smiled and looked up at Faith's sleeping face. She looked. . . well, sexy as usual of course but also. . . vulnerable. The girl before her was not longer the self-reliant slayer that Buffy had once known. She was open, for better or for worse, to what the world had to give her. And, though it was well hidden, Buffy could tell that she was scared. She had lived her life in a veritable fortress for who knows how long, isolating herself from those who would hurt her as well as those who would help her. Now she had traded that safety in for life and, though Buffy hadn't realized it yet, love.
The thought of Faith being hurt by this knew and less armored life greatly saddened Buffy. She knew that the pain would make Faith sink back into her self-made solitary confinement. Buffy hated the thought. Looking up at the girl she made a decision. She would protect her. Not just in the sense of making sure she didn't get herself killed, but also emotionally. She would watch what she said, make sure she didn't say anything that might make Faith feel like she was being pushed away. She would also have to talk to the other scoobys, make sure they kept their little grudges about Faith to themselves. Dawn and her mother would need a talk too. No one was going to hurt this girl. Not on Buffy's watch. She would keep her Faith safe from the world, allow her to grow into whatever she wanted to become. What ever she was going to be, Buffy knew she would love it.
Scanning the younger girl's sleeping face she felt a surge of warmth and love, knowing that she was going to keep her safe from harm. Overcome by her love for the brunet Buffy leaned forward, intent on sealing her vow to protect the girl with a kiss, but when her lips were only a fraction of an inch away from their destination Buffy stopped. She still couldn't be sure Faith felt them same, she reasoned. Sure, her reaction to being pulled into Buffy's arms the night before had suggested some sort of attraction, but Buffy couldn't be sure. There was also the near kiss she had almost given Buffy after they had escaped Adam, but post-slay lust had to be taken into account there. Besides, even if Faith did return her feelings, it wouldn't be fair to her for their first kiss to take place while she wasn't even awake. Buffy sighed softly and reluctantly pulled away from Faith's lips before she was further tempted. Still feeling the need to somehow finalize her vow she brought her face down again, this time placing her lips on the other girl's forehead.
Then she moved her head back to it's resting place on Faith's shoulder, snuggling into the girl as she did so. She must have stayed that way for a good 45 minutes, simply enjoying the closeness and reveling in thoughts of her new mission of protection, before Faith began to stir.
As she woke up Faith was a little surprized to find another body so close to her own, anyone who was ever so close to her at night was gone by the time she went to sleep. She never knew that waking up with someone could be so pleasant. Faith looked down at the smaller girl, realizing that who she was waking up with was a big part of why it was so enjoyable.
Buffy, having noticed Faith's slight movements as she awoke, turned her head up in order to look at her crush's face. Of course, she had expected that face to be more than an inch away. Both girls gasped sharply before becoming breathless all together. Once again Buffy found herself trying to convince herself not to kiss Faith.
Faith was doing the same. Reminding herself that she had no right to kiss Buffy. She decided to remove the temptation. Laying her head back on a pillow and looking at the ceiling she tried to think of something to say. Luckily, the situation it self provided her with something. "Morning." She said, trying to sound calm.
Buffy smiled. "Morning, Faith." She was relieved that Faith had moved away. (Though also rather disappointed) She didn't want to do anything stupid and yet if she had pulled away Faith might have seen it as rejection.
They sat in silence for a while, neither able to think of anything to say. Finally Buffy spoke. "Wanna go get some breakfast?"
Faith leapt on the excuse to get out of bed, not that she didn't enjoy it, it's just that she wasn't sure that she could keep her hormones in check much longer. "That sounds great." She said slowly sliding out of Buffy's arms. Buffy let her go, but reluctantly.
"Ok then." She said, trying not to sound disappointed at the lack of contact.
After a moment of thought Faith changed her mind. "I think I'm going to take a shower first. I'll see you down there Ok?" She had gotten very aroused the night before and had the wetness between her legs to prove it. Luckily her clothing seemed to have kept the smell from escaping for the time being, but that was VERY lucky. She needed to get clean very soon.
"Ok." Buffy responded, smiling at the girl.
Faith returned the smile and quickly gathered up all the things she would need for the shower and slipped out of the room.
Buffy watched her go before getting out of bed herself and getting dressed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Downstairs Buffy found Joyce Summers drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper.
"Hey Mom." Buffy realized that this would be the first opportunity she would have to talk to anyone about going easy on Faith. So instead of making her usual trip to the fridge she sat down next to her mother. Before she had to think of how to start the conversation Joyce noticed the difference in behavior.
"Hi Honey." she said turning to her daughter and putting down the paper. Noticing the serious look on Buffy's face she asked "Is something wrong?"
"Not really I just, kinda wanted to have a talk."
"You know it's not often that a child tells their parent that they need to have a talk; this must be important."
Buffy blushed a little, she hoped her mother wouldn't notice. "It's about Faith."
"Did. . . she do something?"
"No, no, she's been fine it's just. . ." Buff tried to think of the right words to describe her fellow slayer's state to her mother. "I think she's kind of changed since before. She's more. . . more vulnerable now." When Joyce didn't respond Buffy continued. "I think that she can really fight for the good guys again, but. . . it's gonna be hard." Buffy tried to explain.
"You're defending Faith?" Joyce asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Buffy said defensively, "what's wrong with that?"
"Well, nothing." Joyce said thoughtfully "It's just that last year any conversation we had about Faith you were usually not so happy with her and I was the one defending her." She explained "What made you change your mind about her?"
Buffy blushed again. "I don't know," she lied. "I just. . . I know that she wants to change and I want her to be able to."
Joyce smiled. "I think I understand." She said gently "I'll be nice, I promise." Her smile broadened a little. Joyce had always wanted Buffy to get closer to Faith. At first it had been because she like the idea of Buffy having help with all her slaying, and then because Faith seemed to be so in need of a friend. She was glad her daughter finally saw Faith as Joyce always had, as a person.
"Cool." Buffy said, glad her mother didn't push the topic any further. She still had to talk to everyone else though. . . "Hey, Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Could you ask Dawn to be nice to Faith too? I still have to talk to everyone else and I'm not going to see Dawn before her and Faith go out on their little outing after school."
"Sure, Honey."
"Thanks Mom, you're the best."
"Best what?"
Buffy jumped in surprise at the sound of her crush's voice. She spun around to see the other slayer standing casually in the doorway, her hair still wet from the shower.
"Hi Faith." She managed to say after a moment or two. Then, realizing that Faith had asked a question, she added "Uh. nothing. Best nothing."
Faith could hear the awkwardness in Buffy's voice. She tried to ignore it. "Best nothing huh? Is that a hard title to earn Joyce?"
Joyce smiled. "Oh no not really, I'm still not sure what I did to deserve it."
"Heaven only knows, Mom." Buffy replied, trying to be normal.
"So, B, when are we gonna see if we can do the super-super power thing again?" Faith said, still very aware of Buffy's uneasiness.
"Um, I don't know." Buffy said honestly. "I'll call Will, see what time she wants to do it." With that Buffy walked out of the kitchen and up to her room, deciding that would be the best place to make the call.
Faith watched her go. She was sure of it now; Buffy and Joyce had been talking about her.
~*~*~*~*~*~
It was decided that the test would be held in the evening; it seemed the clearest in everyone's schedules, but it was still before they had to worry about vamps. Not long after finishing her call with Will Buffy had to go to class. About half an hour later Joyce left for the gallery. That left Faith alone for a while. About four hours. On the bright side this meant that Buffy trusted her to be alone in her house. On the down side, it gave Faith lots of Time to think many angsty thoughts about all sorts of things, but mainly what Buffy and Joyce had said about her. She went through the same list of things many times, but each time each of the possibilities got a little worse.
Then, finally, it was time for Dawn to be out of school. That would give Faith's mind something to do other than worry. Faith rushed out the door before realizing that she had no idea where Dawn's school was. With a sigh she went back into the house and flopped down on the couch, wishing she didn't have to wait for Dawn to get home. It was funny how she could have spent so many of the recent years of her life in solitude, and yet now the same solitude was driving her crazy.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Faith head snapped up as the front door opened. Finally! She thought, practically running to greet the youngest Summers. "Hey kid! What's up?" she asked energetically.
Dawn blinked several times before answering. "Did you have excessive amounts of caffeine or something?"
Faith realized that her greeting had come across almost as hyper, which was definitely NOT the way she normally acted. Turning the energy down a few levels she responded "No, but we will. I'm thinking first stop Espresso Pump. Sound good?"
"Huh? Oh right, the thing with the going out and stuff. I was all exited but. . . school zaps brains. My last class made me forget a little." Dawn replied, a bit surprized by Faith's enthusiasm. Her mom must have been right, Faith really was different.
"So, coffee?"
"Uh, yeah sure. Just let me dump my backpack in my room and we're off!"
~*~*~*~*~*~
Fifteen minutes later the two girls sat at a small table at the local coffee place. Faith found herself retelling many of the stories she had told when she first met the scooby gang. But she was also telling more recent stories. Stories about even the simplest of patrols with Buffy. Faith enjoyed the memories, but Dawn was the one who had wanted to hear them. To the slayer's surprise Dawn seemed to have no idea what a usual night in Buffyville was like.
"So, three vamps?" Dawn asked.
"Yep."
"By herself?"
"Well. I was there and all, but I was kinda busy. Plus, they were all young. I think the whole lot of them had only been turned maybe a week before."
"Wow. I always kinda pictured fights as being one on one. I never knew Buffy could take three!"
Faith smiled. An image of Buffy fighting appeared in her mind. Punch, punch, duck, kick, stake. She was just so. . . Faith pulled herself out of the little Buffy-fest going on in her mind, reminding herself that she was not alone. Looking across the table at her crush's little sister, she searched for something not Buffy to say. Took a second, but she found it. "You sure you don't want something a little stronger than hot chocolate?" she asked, taking a sip of her mocha.
"I'm sure. I've got a super early test tomorrow and I do not need to be up all night."
"Ok," Faith shrugged, "Your loss."
"So, where were we?"
"Um. . . " Faith trailed off, feeling like picking the conversation up somewhere other than where they were. She was beginning to think that if they kept on talking about Buffy she would end up saying something that would make her feelings all too obvious.
"Hey, is that Willow?" She asked, looking over Faith's shoulder.
Faith, happy for the distraction, turned to look. "Yeah, that's Will."
"Who's that with her?" Dawn asked noticing the blond walking next to the redheaded hacker.
"Don' know." Faith said, taking a look at the other girl. She seemed pretty happy, but timid at the same time. She kept on looking at Willow and smiling, then eventually looking away. Faith could tell right away that the two girls were something special to each other.
"Willow!" Dawn yelled, waving to the young witch.
Willow looked up in surprise, then looked quickly back at the blond. For just a second Faith thought Willow might make some kind of attempt to hide the other girl, but then she smiled took hold of the blonde's hand and leading her over to Faith and Dawn's table.
"Hi Dawnie! Um, hi Faith." Willow said, the second name coming off a bit less happily than the first.
"Hey Willow, who's your friend?" Dawn asked.
Willow cast a quick glance back at the other girl (who was kind of staring at the floor and hiding behind Willow at the same time) before introducing her. "This is Tara. I met her in my wiccan group. She and I have been casting together. She did the slayer locating spell with me." She said, obviously wanting the other girl to be accepted and liked.
Dawn hopped out of her seat to welcome the girl. "Hi Tara, I'm Dawn." She said offering her hand in greeting.
Tara accepted the hand a little cautiously. "Hi."
"Oh, and this is Faith." Dawn said gesturing to the brunette slayer.
Faith waved to the blonde. Tara shyly returned the wave before looking back at the ground.
Willow seemed a little bit lost as to what to say next. "Well, uh. . . We were just going to pick up some supplies at the Magic Box so um. . . I guess we'll just. . . go."
"Ok, see you later then." Dawn replied.
Willow smiled and turned back to Tara. Another smile and the two wiccans left the unexpected meeting to return to their plans.
Faith watched them go. As Dawn slipped back up into her seat Faith asked "What happened to Oz?"
"Huh?"
"Oz. Where'd he go?"
". . . What brought this up?"
"Well, Willow doesn't really seem like the type to start driving a new model when the old one was still around." Faith explained.
"Again with the huh."
"I just mean that if she's with someone else than Oz must be out of the picture."
"With? Who would she be with?"
Faith shook her head. Dawn was more sheltered than she thought. "That blonde girl, Tara. Didn't you notice?"
"No. . . You're saying Willow and that girl are. . . girlfriends?" Dawn asked in confusion.
"Yeah, no doubt." Faith said, taking another sip of mocha.
"How can you tell?"
Faith thought about it for a second. "Well, it's just body language really. You just have to know what to look for."
Dawn thought about that for a little while. Just when Faith was about to break the silence Dawn finally spoke. "Can you teach me?"
Faith paused for a moment. "Teach you what?"
"How to understand that kind of body language." Dawn clarified. "What kind of stuff to look for."
Faith hesitated again, but then smiled. "Sure kid, I'll teach you. Class is in session starting right now."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy let out a sigh of relief as the professor finally dismissed the class. Two hours and fifteen minutes of history. There should be a law against that. Plus she was pretty sure the professor hated her. It wasn't her fault that there were some demons that had affected the course of history and it certainly wasn't her fault that she knew how to recognize the signs.
As Buffy allowed her mind to move past the internal rant it quickly latched on to another topic: Faith. Yay! She couldn't wait to be back with her again. With that thought she quickened her pace, wanting to get home as quickly as possible.
Just as she was getting off campus she felt a hand grab her shoulder. Instinctively she spun around and kicked, catching whatever had grabbed her in the side.
With a small grunt of pain it fell to the ground. "God Buffy. . ." it managed after a moment "What. . . was that. . . for?"
"Riley?" She asked, surprised to see her ex. Then, realizing that she had hit him, and hard, when he was already injured she started to feel all guilty and worried. "Oh, geeze, are you ok? I mean, you know, not in need of hospitalization?" She asked frantically, dropping onto her knees to take a better look at him.
Wincing he pulled his hands away from the side, reveling blood beginning to seep into his clothing in large amounts.
'Oh shit, I've killed him!' Buffy thought to herself before gently peeling back the shirt to examine the damage. It didn't look like he had taken too much damage from the kick itself, but the impact had reopened his old stab wound. He needed to get this looked at and stitched up, soon.
After deciding on a best course of action she reached down and pulled his arms over her shoulders like backpack straps. Standing up she turned and headed back towards campus.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Back at the Espresso Pump Faith was buying Dawn a third hot chocolate. This one was a celebratory treat. Dawn had mastered everything Faith had taught her with relative ease. Given it had only been a basic course, but Dawn picked up on it much faster than Faith would have expected.
"You know what this means?" The younger girl asked before taking a sip of the hot liquid.
"That you soak up information like a sponge?" Faith suggested.
"No, it means that guy at school who's been bothering me? He might actually like me."
"Is he cute?"
"No!" Dawn replied, but then thought about it. "Well, sort of. I guess I just never thought about him that way."
"Well, feel free to think about him anyway you want. And have fun with it. If he really likes you then you should give him a shot. If he does anything at all out of line I'll just hit him really really hard."
"Really?"
"What?" Faith asked in confusion.
"Would you really hit him?"
"Yeah, of course kid. Why wouldn't I?"
"Well Buffy's always saying that she can't hurt someone just because their mean."
Faith nodded in understanding. "Sounds like something she would say. But here's the thing: she won't hurt anything that isn't demonic."
Dawn considered this for a moment. "What about you? You aren't a demon and she hurt you."
Faith's smile quickly turned into a look of sadness. "I deserved that. Betraying everyone like I did. . . she had every right to kill me. She nearly did too."
Dawn's voice was very apologetic now. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have. . ."
"It's Ok." Faith assured her. "I'm lucky to have this kind of a second chance. I still don't know why she's giving it to me."
"She probably thinks you deserve it."
Faith shook her head. "What could she possibly have seen in me? I was evil."
"I don't know what it is she saw, but I think she was right."
"How's that?"
"Well, you haven't hurt anyone." Reconsidering she added, "At least not since you held me and Mom hostage."
"It hasn't been very long. How can she know I won't kill you all in your sleep?"
"Would you do that?"
"Well. . . no but. . . she doesn't know that."
"Maybe she doesn't know it. . . but I think she believes it." Dawn paused for a moment to think about it. "I think she believes in you."
Faith started to contradict Dawn but then stopped. Why else would Buffy give her this opportunity? She must really believe that Faith could be good. Something about that gave Faith a kind of inner power. If Buffy thought she could do this then maybe she really could.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Forest heard a knock at the door of Lowle house and got up to answer it. Before he could ask what was going on Buffy pushed past him, not waiting for an invitation.
"He needs medical attention, like now." She said quickly.
Forest blinked, but then shut the door and followed Buffy. "What happened?"
Buffy didn't answer for a moment. "He snuck up on me."
"You did this?" He said with an accusing tone, still following the small slayer.
"Not on purpose! He surprised me; I just. . . reacted. I didn't know where else to bring him." She said, reaching the mirror behind which she knew the elevator leading to the initiative was located. She turned to face Forest. "Don't make me regret this."
For a moment they glared at each other before Forest answered. "We won't hurt him. Make sure you can say the same."
"Or what? You'll put a chip in my head?"
Another staring contest. This time Buffy broke the silence. "Look, just take him. We don't have time to argue right now."
"Fine." Forest said, taking one of Riley's arms and putting it over his shoulders while supporting his friend's weight by wrapping his own arm around his waist.
Buffy shot Forest one last glare before walking quickly away. She couldn't wait to get out of this stupid fraternity.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Honey, I'm home!" Faith called as she and Dawn stepped through the door of the Summers home.
Buffy smiled at the sound of Faith's voice and went to greet them. "Hey you two, where have you been?"
"We got coffee." Dawn offered.
"Coffee?" Buffy asked, wondering why her usually caffeine free sister wasn't bouncing off the walls from the potent dose.
"Yeah. Well, I got a mocha; little sis here got hot chocolate." Faith clarified.
Buffy nodded and turned to her sister. "Dawn, is your homework done yet?"
Dawn's smiled evaporated. "No." she said with and exaggerated sigh and trudged up the stairs to her room.
Buffy smiled a little and turned to Faith. After a moment of getting caught up in Faith's beauty she remembered what it was she had meant to say. "Only an hour or so until sunset, we should go meet Wills and everyone."
"'K. Lets get out a here."
The two of them slipped out the door and began to walk down the street. Buffy glanced over at Faith and smiled, allowing all the memories of today to come back to her. The fact that stood out to her, above all others, was that she was now boyfriendless. She could now pursue anyone she wanted to without breaking any rules. With another glance at Faith she slid her hand into the brunette's, intertwining their fingers.
Faith almost yanked the hand away she was so unused to the affectionate gesture. The she realized it was Buffy who was holding he hand and relaxed. . . sort of. She didn't want to pull away, but Buffy's actions were really confusing her right now. What did the girl mean to say by holding her hand like this. Walking, hand-in-hand like this. . . it was very intimate. More intimate than friendship. But then, friendship was something she still wasn't sure Buffy was willing to give her. But this clarified it, right? She must want to be closer than they were. And Faith supposed a step up from where they were, where ever that was, was probably friendship. Faith looked over at her. . . friend. . . and smiled. She was going to enjoy this.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Wow. Look at that. . . that is a long chapter. Sorry I took so long updating folks, I'll try to get the next chapter up before I have to go back to school.
(reviews make me write faster!)
