Chapter 11: Bizarre Love Triangle

Kennedy pulls her damp hair back into a ponytail, and wipes the sweat from her eyes and face with a towel. She shakes herself loose, and continues working the heavy bag. She doesn't have to pull her punches here, doesn't have to keep control. She lets fly with everything she's got. Maintains her posture and her form, but looses the full extent of her slayer power. Her mind is racing. Her muscles are aching. She's been at it for hours. Usually by now she's calmed down. Usually by now she's tired.

But she's more edgy than she can remember. She's confused and scared and something else she can't quite pinpoint.

She's still hammering away when Faith walks in.

"Hey Junior? You still here?"

"What of it?" Kennedy says between breaths.

Faith takes off her jacket throws it on the mats. She sits down and starts stretching. "Nothin'. Just saying. You been here since after dinner."

"Just sweating out some stress."

"I thought that was my job?" Faith smiles.

Kennedy turns, about to lay into the girl. Until she sees the look she's getting. She drops beside Faith on the mats.

"You're not freaked out? I mean she's coming back tomorrow." Kennedy wraps herself up in Faith's arms. "You know…"

"I know. If Willow wants you back, you'll go." Faith pulls some strands of matted hair away from Kennedy's face. "But that's tomorrow." And she leans down and kisses Kennedy on the lips.

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Buffy climbs out of the taxi, giving the man her last few euros. She turns to face the gloomy castle, and with a deep breath, walks up and through the front door. This won't be so hard…

Now if only she can avoid seeing anyone until she can talk to Dawn. She goes to the stairwell. Nobody uses the stairs. She'll be alone. She starts climbing. Only four floors. Dawn is the only person she can face right now. Better to sneak in, talk to her. Wait until later to deal with…

Faith. She can feel her. It makes the hairs on her neck stand up, and goose bumps come up on her skin. Makes her have to sit down. It's just so strong… Maybe if I know where she is, I can make sure not to run into her…

And she reaches out. Just a little. Opens up a teensy bit. Ok, where is she…

Buffy is standing in the training room. She looks around.

Faith is lying on the mats. With Kennedy.

They're wrestling?

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Kennedy pushes Faith down, holding her arms up over her head. She kisses Faith hard. Traps the girl's hands with one of her own. Trails wet lips down to her neck. Feels Faith shift underneath, letting Kennedy fit her body in between long legs. This is Kennedy's favorite part. When Faith lets her take control. When she trusts her that much. Because it doesn't last long. Faith always ends up on top.

She stops to caress Faith's face before running her hand gently down. She tugs down on the hem of the girl's top before raising it up over her head.

"Mmm, yummy." Kennedy winks at Faith before leaning in to take the hardening nipples into her mouth, one by one.

Faith's chuckle becomes a soft groan, and she struggles weakly to free her hands. She wraps one leg around Kennedy, squeezing her with it.

Slipping her hand quickly under the drawstring of Faith's sweats, Kennedy runs her hand over the soft trimmed hairs, feeling the shivers caused by her light touch.

"Do you ever wear underwear?" Kennedy suppresses a laugh.

"You complaining?" Faith manages to say it between short breaths.

Kennedy just smiles. She pushes gently, further parting Faith's thighs. And moves in on her target. Two fingers swirl across damp curls, pushing through them to find warmth and wetness. More shivers.

Kennedy needs both hands now, so she lets go of her grip on Faith's wrists. Immediately one freed hand is tangled in her hair, tugging in the way Kennedy likes. The other slips down to the mats. For leverage.

Kennedy flicks her tongue against Faith's nipple, brushing the other with one hand. She transfers her weight, holding Faith's body down.

"No way. You are staying right where you are. I have a plan for you. A plan that requires you to be flat on your back." She slinks carefully down the side of Faith's body, pulling down the girl's sweat pants and tossing them aside.

She trails kisses from the breast to the belly. Kisses Faith's hip, her thigh. Little groans escaping from both of them.

She raises one arm back up to her breasts, knowing that Faith needs to hold on to some part of her. She smiles up at the girl, partly reassuring, partly cocky. And then she brings her head down. Gently exploring. Touching. Tasting. Tonguing.

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Okay. So not wrestling. So very not wrestling. I need to go. … Look at me going.

She turns away. Looks at the wall. Concentrates on getting away. Tries to ignore the truly fantastic groaning coming from behind her. Forget about the massive blushing, the embarrassment, the heat creeping up. And the other things her body is doing, completely without her permission.

Like turning back toward the groaning…

Buffy doesn't want to look. But she's transfixed. Part of her knows that she's really in the stairwell, probably sitting against the wall with a weird look on her face. But the other part is here. Trapped here with Kennedy and a very naked, writhing Faith.

She tries again to close the connection. Get away. She closes her eyes.

Stupid transparent eyelids…

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Faith grasps Kennedy's hand tightly. She's close. She's trying to squirm away, to pull back. But she's also trying to get closer. Her back is arching. Her hips buck and sway. Her whole body is tingling, and none of her parts seem to know what they're trying to accomplish. Oh God.

"Oh God!" Faith never goes to the god place. "I'm…" And the rest is cut short by a wave of warmth and shuddering release.

Kennedy crawls up to lie beside the shaking, quivering heap that was once Faith. She pulls the girl into an embrace, letting Faith clutch to her tightly. She places a little peck on Faith's forehead. She sees a little frown appear on the girl's previously serene face.

"Dumb question, but what's going on in there? Whatcha thinking about?" Kennedy trails a finger across Faith's cheek.

Faith lifts her head

"Buffy?"

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Did she see me? Oh my God… she saw me. Or sensed me…

Buffy sits on the floor of the stairwell, gasping. She has to calm down. Stop panicking. Catch her breath.

She slides up the wall. Standing now. She really has to get out of here.

Buffy slowly climbs the stairs, trying to push down the images that keep flashing in front of her eyes. Scrunch it down. Put it away. Save it for the inevitable therapy.

Buffy shakes her head, hoping that these loose thoughts will just fall out. But they stick. She climbs the stairs, and with every step her mind flips though another image.

Faith's lips releasing a soft moan.

Faith's back arched, a sheen of sweat making her skin glisten.

Faith curled up against Kennedy.

What's with that anyway? What ever happened to 'get some, get gone'? That was 'get some, get cuddles'.

Buffy pouts without even realizing it.

And with Kennedy? Is Kennedy cheating on Willow? I'll kill her. And the way they were… that wasn't their first time together. Oh no! Are they in love?

Buffy feels a jolt. Like sinking, but from the inside. The word 'crestfallen' now holds a more concrete meaning.

So that's who she's been… I didn't think to ask. I didn't want to know... It's none of my business. I don't care.

Buffy's internal ramblings are cut short by a wave of nausea and dread. She has to sit. The images in her head are taking over…

Faith catching her breath as a tongue grazes her nipple. Flashes of soft skin and moaning, and the smell of sex. Darkness and leather and pain. Short breaths, groans of pleasure and fear. Blood and want. The consuming twisted need in her. To have this girl.

She can still hear it. She can always hear it.

"Buffy... No… I can't."

"Buffy? Please!"

Her pain is immediate and overwhelming. Her body is crying, but there are no tears left. She shakes and covers her face with her hands. Silent sobs wrack her body. She lets herself feel it. The guilt, the shame, the god awful sickening knowledge of what she's done; who she's done it to. The truth of it.

It takes a long time. Feeling everything. Sitting there in the stairwell alone, grieving. Eventually she calms herself. Shuts the door on the horror. Because if she doesn't, if she can't… she'll never move again.

And there are bigger things… Scarier things.

She's definitely not ready for this. Especially now.

She reaches the landing for the fourth floor. Peeks down the hallway. Deserted. Walks quietly to the door.

But it's Dawn. After everything, it's only fair to see her right away. She takes a breath, and knocks.

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Dawn stumbles out of bed. Stupid people knocking on the stupid door at three o'clock in the stupid morning. She runs a hand through her long dark hair, shaking out the tangles of a restless sleep. Yawning, she opens the door to her room.

Buffy.

Her hand flies out and slaps Buffy hard on the cheek. Then her arms reach out and grab her in a tight hug.

Buffy in her rumpled khakis and sweatshirt, and Dawn in her caterpillar P.J.'s. Falling to their knees together in the hallway. There's no talking. After a good ten minutes, Dawn pulls back. Wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. She steps back, letting Buffy in to her room. She shuts the door.

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"What did you just say?"

Kennedy leans up on her elbow, staring hard at Faith. Her eyebrows knotted in disbelief. She attempts to look angry, hurt. But a trace of smirk just won't go away.

"Nah, Kenn. That was rock 'em sock 'em. Believe me I wasn't thinking ANYTHING…" Faith grabs her tank and tugs it on.

"Except maybe 'oh god, oh god'!" Kennedy can't resist another dig. "Or maybe it's 'oh Buffy' and…"

"Hey! Can we not go there?" Faith does her best impression of scary. Which doesn't work because she's still lying on the mats and trying to wriggle back into her sweats. "It's not like that. It was the slayer connection thing. I felt her here."

After a thoughtful moment, Kennedy's lips twist into a mocking grin. "Kinky." She lets out an evil laugh. She gets an irritated glare from Faith. "What?"

"You don't get it. It's not like before." Faith looks down uncomfortably. "She's here. Like, HERE here. I can feel it."

All traces of fun are gone from Kennedy's face now. She leans in to Faith, wrapping her up in her arms. What can she say to make it better?

"Oh."

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Willow stares out at the earth through her little window. Little clouds going by under the wings of the plane. Little outlines of land masses, with little waves stretching out over the tiny little ocean. She knows that on these little continents are littler people, with their little lives and their little loves and little victories. She wants to hug them all. Tell them it'll be alright. That she and her friends will protect and save their little world.

A hand on her shoulder forces her to turn away. Giles looks at her with such heartbreaking sympathy that she wants to cry. She's surprised to find that she already is.

Giles pulls her close. Perhaps if he can be strong for her, she won't have to suffer the sight of his tears. She weeps like a child against his chest, like the child he first met. Naive and sensitive, caring more for others than for herself. He's glad that these things are still within her. That they haven't been stolen away by the years of hard battle, by the immense power that she now controls.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking." The agreeable voice of the pilot comes over the speakers. "We'll be landing at Glasgow International in a few hours. The local time is 7:35AM, and the temperature is a cool but mild 16 degrees Celsius, or 61 degrees Fahrenheit…" He continues to babble pleasantly.

"It has to be wrong… It has to be… We can't just let it all go… It can't be the end…" Willow's sobbing is muffled by Giles' jacket.

Giles pulls her tighter. He has to say something. Even if he doesn't quite believe it himself.

"I'm quite sure… if there is a way for you all to confound the prophecy… that you will find it. Buffy's done it before… You're all terrible at following directions… None of you have ever listened to me at any rate… Problem with authority figures, I assume… So… erm…"

Willow sniffs, and wipes her eyes. She pulls out of the comfort of Giles' arms. She looks up at him. Needing him to be right. Choosing to believe that there's still hope.

"Yeah… We're a buncha rebels. And who believes anything in books these days? Not me, mister!" Willow braves a small, tight smile. "We've got spunk, a-and a bad-ass slayer army… And Faith, who's like the poster child for defiance…"

"And we've got Buffy." Giles smiles down at the girl. She's trying so hard.

Willow's smile breaks free, lighting up her face. "Buffy's back?"

Giles simply nods.

"I hope the apocalypse knows that it's gonna have to wait. I see many hours of uninterrupted best-friend time in the near future. Prophecy Shmophecy!"

"Indeed."

Willow turns her face to the window, looking out at the curve of the horizon as the earth meets sky. Such a wide open sky. And so blue. It's a big world out there. Anything is possible.

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Buffy looks down at a sleeping Dawn. Tucked neatly into the covers, her head resting comfortably on Buffy's lap. Like when she was little. Buffy softly smoothes her sister's dark hair, petting her, making sure she's real.

It hadn't been so bad. Dawn had spent the first hour yelling, the second crying, and the third catching up on everything they'd missed in each other's lives. By the fourth hour she was yawning and stretching out on the bed and everything was forgiven.

Buffy nestles down under the covers, gently moving Dawn's head from her lap to a nice comfy pillow. She pulls the covers up under her chin, and the soft rhythmic breathing beside her lulls her into a deep sleep.