Story 9: Mistaken Attribution
The lights were off, the night air cool and fairly quiet, but though it was late, neither woman lying in bed was able to sleep. Buffy pressed her body into Faith's back, curling up with her in a spoon style, her forehead resting between Faith's shoulder blades; one hand was under Faith's shirt, gently splayed across the swell of her abdomen. Faith was nine months pregnant now, a fact very obvious in her heavily protruding stomach and her awkward swaying walk. It had been some time since she had been able to swagger in her usual confident way. As far along as she was now, Faith was almost always uncomfortable, regardless of what she was doing and the positioning of her body.
Especially when it came to sleep. Faith, who had once slept so heavily, even through nightmares, that it was almost impossible for Buffy to awaken her, now slept lightly and fitfully, waking up often with nightmares, discomfort, or a need to use the restroom. She could only sleep on her side, with her stomach in the way as it was, and was, depending on her mood, either upset or pissed off sometimes that her stomach made it so she could no longer put her arms around Buffy in bed.
That of course also depended on whether she wanted to be touched at all. Some days Faith bristled if anyone so much as touched her arm, needing her own very defined space, but other times she was physically needy, wanting Buffy to hold her and kiss her, to assure and prove to her that she still loved and wanted her- though of course she never said as much. Buffy had adapted to being able to read her moods better throughout the pregnancy- it was necessary for them to keep from killing each other.
Right now Faith was restless and uncomfortable, as usual. Though Buffy knew how tired she was, she hadn't been able to sleep at all. The brunette kept shifting her positioning, unable to get comfortable, and was keeping Buffy awake too because of it. A resentful, selfish part of her wanted to take her arms from around Faith and get up, to go sleep on the couch, but she wouldn't do that. Faith had to go to sleep eventually…right?
Buffy moved her leg partly in between Faith's so that she was resting even more closely against her back, Faith's warmth against hers. She slowly rubbed the other woman's stomach, hoping to settle the baby, and maybe Faith by extension.
Suddenly, however, her leg in between Faith's grew damp with some warm fluid…a fluid that was quickly spreading, wetting the rest of the bed and sheets around them. As Buffy's mind froze, momentarily utterly blank with her shock, she felt Faith's body go rigid, heard her horrified voice utter, "Oh shit…"
At those words, and in response to Faith's freezing, a horrible suspicion leapt into Buffy's mind. Warm wet fluid on their legs…and she knew very well how often Faith had to use the bathroom lately.
Fighting an intense and very tempting urge to scream, to jump and jerk away from her, Buffy was very aware of her crawling skin, panicky disgust rushing through her. She wanted to yell, to shout out hysterically that Faith had peed on her…but with a Herculean effort of self control, she forced herself not to. She knew how horrified and humiliated Faith must be, as well as how close her tears were to surface lately. She knew that Faith felt huge and ugly and disgusting…so acting disgusted by her now, even if it WAS totally disgusting, was not a good idea.
Buffy extracted her leg from Faith's as calmly as she was able as Faith sat up rapidly, her eyes wide, stunned, her face visibly pale even in the dark. She tried to sound soothing, not grossed out, as she squeezed Faith's hand briefly, throwing back the sheets and covers…sheets and covers that she could not help but register were steadily damper.
"Faith, it's okay, we'll just change the sheets. I know you didn't mean to, it's okay. You're just pregnant, that's all…it was an accident," Buffy said gently, knowing she sounded like she was talking to a toddler, but figuring that was what Faith needed. "The baby must be roundhouse kicking you again. She's gonna be a great Slayer when she grows up…here, get up so I can change the sheets, and you can go get cleaned up-"
"Buffy- what the hell are you talking about?!" Faith exclaimed, looking at her as if she were quite obviously not sane. "We aren't gonna waste time changing the sheets, my water just freakin' broke! You need to take me to the hospital, NOW!"
Buffy blinked, almost recoiling; as she stared at Faith, trying to process this change in ideas, Faith stared back, her own eyes widening in realization and total disbelief…along with no small amount of amusement.
"B…did you think I wet the bed or something? Are you serious?"
"Uh…what? Of course not…no?" Buffy said quickly, the words more question than answer. "Your water broke…are you sure?"
"Yeah, B, I'm very damn sure, I know what peeing feels like, and this ain't it," Faith griped, and then burst out laughing. "You're such a dumb blonde, B…thanks for making me laugh. Now go call Giles, call someone, get me to the hospital NOW!"
Buffy hurried to grab the phone on her desk, punching in a number hurriedly. As she raised the phone to her ear, it hit her…their baby was coming. By this time tomorrow, it would be here…by this time tomorrow she and Faith would be mothers.
