Author's Note: I'm sorry to say that there won't be any updates for a little while; I'm going to be in Europe for 2 weeks. Hope you can contain yourselves till then!
"Do you have any good news for me?" She looked at her black nails, which were always immaculate no matter how many times she inspected them, her attention quickly fading as it usually did when she spoke with the insipient creatures she was forced to be in contact with. They reminded her of bugs, and practically looked the part.
"Nothing much." The lowly demon garnered a piercing look and quickly added, "Ma'am," with a grunt.
"Nothing at all?" She offered a brief inattentive glimpse in his direction and returned her focus to her nails. "My last peon was done away with quite swiftly, would you like to join him?" Her tone held absolutely no interest whatsoever, coming across as extremely bored, yet fear was still practically rolling from the cowering demon in palpable waves.
"N-no, no, I will find you information. I'll do all that I can."
"And here I was under the impression that you already were." When the demon said nothing and did not move, she cut her eyes at him in warning. "Go."
He sprung into movement immediately, startled and terrified of what she might do if he did not move fast enough.
"Do you have any idea what you're dealing with here?" Slight panic crept into his voice.
"It's an Eggo, Xander. Chill."
"It has to be just right! Not too crispy, but not floppy either. There is an applied science."
Dawn rolled her eyes, walking over to the dishware cabinet. "Okay scientist, you do it."
"Don't mind if I do."
"Hey, have either of you seen Buffy?" Willow asked, walking up behind them.
"Don't believe that I have. Actually, I haven't seen much of her at all lately," Xander said, keeping his eye on the toaster after sparing a glance at his friend.
"Me neither," Dawn said distractedly, searching for her favorite cereal bowl in the cupboard.
Buffy was experiencing a profound lack of words. Something had shorted inside her and for some reason she felt that whatever she was seeing at this moment in time was being caused by said shortage, and she was in fact alone in her room and would snap back to her senses at any given instant.
Unfortunately, this did not happen. The only change that occurred was the grin on the other woman's face growing slightly larger. She seemed closer than she had been seconds before.
"You know I think you're needed back down here on earth some time soon." She saw Faith's ample lips move as her rich voice reached Buffy's ears, a sound forgotten until now. Her mind seemed to spark to life in a way it had not done in a long time.
"What?" Buffy was aware of her own voice saying, still not completely coherent or comprehending.
"Buffy." The sound of her whole name coming out of the mouth of this particular person, combined with the sudden change in the tone of her voice, brought Buffy fully out of her daze. She could see Faith recognizing that she had her attention, and thusly relaxing and masking her expression once again before speaking in a more familiar manner. "So what's new? Saved the world lately?"
"What are you doing here, Faith?" Her inflection was less than welcoming.
"What, can't a girl get some love? I never seem to get a warm welcome anywhere I go." The sentence held more emotion than she had intended. She compensated. "Just thought I'd drop by, see how my favorite Slayer was doing. Nice digs, by the way. Looks like you made the house bigger."
"Bigger and better. Xander did most of it. It was too small with the amount of Slayers we were getting. You might remember that." Her tone was bitter, but only in a way that would show if one already knew it was meant to be. It changed to curiosity. "How did you know we would still be here?"
"Oh, trust me, there are ghouls and goblins all over that know where you are. They just don't come knockin' at the door." Faith looked down at the floor for a moment, then back up. "How about a tour?"
"You already seem to have made yourself at home." Buffy raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
She smiled in a way only she could. "Hey, the room looked like the nicest so I figured it must be yours. Where else would I wanna lounge? I was just waiting, I didn't go through your panty drawer or anything." Her eyes lit up.
Buffy closed her eyes for a moment, in what could have been impatience or disbelief, opening them to fix the girl opposite her with a steely glare. "What do you want?"
Faith chose the only thought Buffy would be able to handle hearing. "Heard talk there's evil abrewin', figured I'd come by and help." Not exactly the truth. But that was Faith.
"I have plenty of capable Slayers."
Faith grinned. "I stumbled across my share. I'm sure you do a fine job of training them. But you know no one can compare to me." Joking cockiness. But underneath, Faith was bubbling with hidden anxiety. She hadn't known what to expect – though the harsher the reaction from Buffy, the more she was giving away without even realizing it.
"I can," Buffy shot back, not breaking eye contact.
Faith cocked her head. "That's what makes it so special." Her voice was a combination of sarcasm, wit and sexuality. As usual. Ignoring the comment and the expression in Faith's dark eyes, Buffy gave her a hard look.
"I think we're fine here, Faith. You can go off and disappear again. Really, it's fine." Her voice and face were tight, giving away emotion and yet not at the same time.
Something flickered in Faith's eyes and was gone. She spread her arms wide, choosing not to say what she truly wanted to and ignoring Buffy's digs at her that were far more personal than just Faith's absence. "Look, let's say I've had my fill of the globetrotting for now. I wanna help. I hear Buffy needs help, I come." She smiled sardonically and gave an exaggerated bow.
Buffy couldn't help but snort shortly with bitter amusement. "Yeah, that's what you're known for. Helping me."
"Look…" Faith's tone had switched dramatically, holding Buffy's attention. "I can tell you're not jumping for joy at the sight of me, but – I'm here. And I wanna help. Even if you don't want me to." That was enough for Faith, and the familiar side of her came back out. "And come on, you'd never turn me away, would you? I'm too pretty." Another smile and cock of the head.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Pretty annoying." There was a pause that Buffy suspected was much more uncomfortable for her than for her counterpart. "You're not going to leave, are you?"
Faith shook her head. "Nope."
Buffy experienced an inner struggle for a very pregnant period of time during which Faith stood, waiting, looking around the room and kicking at the carpet with her feet. She tried to read the look on Buffy's face but gave up when it proved futile. The usual cocky mask she had carefully been keeping slipped momentarily as she thought about the situation – as she really looked at the woman before her, who she had not seen in almost three years. Buffy had a much older, even more mature look to her eyes, and her face, no longer the face of a young girl. She was still absolutely beautiful. The impact of this alone almost caused Faith's breath to catch. She was amazed she had kept it together this long. She knew she was asking for something Buffy may have figured she didn't have much right to ask for – for her own personal rasons. She was fully prepared to be rejected; she had had plenty of practice with it anyway. If Buffy refused to let her stay, she would find some other way to convince her, or hang around unseen. There was no way she was leaving, not now. No force on Earth could make her, not even the small but incredibly strong blonde in front of her.
Buffy tried to give Faith her steeliest, most heated gaze, not blinking. "You fuck up once and you're out of my house."
Faith nodded, picking up her bag. "So," she said flippantly, following Buffy out of the room, "Did you miss me?"
"There is a possibility you may have received mistaken or wrong information, Willow. While it may not be the case, I don't think we can rule that completely out, seeing as how we haven't found anything that could give reason for Buffy's life to be in danger." Giles looked at the young witch from his position at the table.
"I really don't think so, Giles. This psychic was a pretty seriously magical guy, I mean, I could feel it when I got near him. It was like… It was almost like when I went all addict-y with the magicks back in Sunnydale. He was the real deal." She paused, the expression on her face showing that there was something she was holding back. "Maybe… Maybe he was trying to warn me of something else, maybe – there's something else involved here that we're not seeing. I think – "
"Look what I found." Buffy walked purposefully into the room, cutting Willow's dialogue short. She was followed momentarily by Faith, who at first glance appeared extremely awkward, nervous and thusly far out of character for a second in time before quickly changing faces as she caught sight of the others in the room looking at her.
Willow, for her part, had been rendered speechless, stunned almost past the point one would think she should be. Her face held an unreadable expression. Giles, surprised as well, still managed to rise from his chair and walk toward Faith, something of a smile on his face.
"Faith."
"Hey, Giles. How's it goin'?" She half smiled, half grinned – the older man was glad to note that it reached her eyes. She had never held any dislike toward him.
"What are you doing here?" His tone was kind; curious.
She shrugged almost too forcefully. "Heard some nasties might be comin' around, figured I'd come help."
His brow furrowed somewhat, only for a second, before smoothing over. "You did? How?"
"You know. Demon talk. Always pick somethin' up. Heard ol' B here might be in some sorta trouble, so I decided I'd swing by. That is if nobody minds." She caught sight of Willow, realizing she still hadn't spoken. "What's up, Willow? No hugs?"
Willow seemed to snap back to reality. "Uh, sorry, I was just… Hi, Faith. It's been a while." She smiled. "Where ya been?"
"Off fighting the forces of darkness in pretty much every country and continent you could think of. Europe's still my favorite, though. Spent most of my time there."
Willow's eyes had become uncharacteristically piercing as she nodded. "Yeah. It's beautiful."
Faith nodded, then asked, "So what have you guys been up to?"
"Oh, you know… Redoing the house, research, training Slayers, research… Did I mention research?"
Faith laughed a little. "Yeah, you did. So what happened with everyone else? Are they still here, or…?"
"Robin's heading his own place over on the East Coast, and we've got a few others set up with people we met along the way, mostly after you left." There was an uncomfortable silence that quickly and easily settled in around the room. "Um, most of the core group is still here. We go out looking for Slayers, I can usually track them down using magic, and we bring them here or to one of the other locations, teach them the basics, see where they wanna go with it. We give them a choice; if they don't want to accept the responsibility, we send them on their way, but I keep magical tabs on everyone so I'll know if any of them get in trouble or decide to use their powers for other things." The discomfort grew even more, if possible, and this time Faith seemed the most affected as the words sunk into her. She shifted her feet, a deep look in her eye.
"Yeah, I uh…I remember you guys were trying to start that up." She cleared her throat, and there was silence once more.
"So," Buffy spoke up, having been quiet for long enough, "I guess we should alert everyone else to Faith's presence."
Faith left the room beside Buffy with unease, Willow and Giles staring after her.
"All I'm saying is, you have to be careful. It's a very delicate situation." Syrup dripped its way down his chin.
"You, uh – you have a little – " Dawn reached up to his face with a napkin. "Yeah, I get it. Waffles are delicate."
"No, I don't think you quite understand yet – "
"Hey guys," Buffy said, a very noticeable fake happiness to her voice.
"Hey Buff," Xander greeted her through a mouthful of Eggo, on which he promptly choked once he caught sight of Faith walking in after her.
"Faith!" Dawn said, a genuine smile coming to her face. "It's so good to see you!" She got up, walking over and hugging the Slayer, who returned the gesture. In the six months Faith was still around after the destruction of Sunnydale and the Hellmouth, she and Dawn had grown somewhat closer; Dawn had given Faith a chance and was quickly and easily both impressed and in awe of the older woman. It was the first time someone had ever made Faith feel good, in every sense of the word, about herself.
"Hey, little D, what's up? Not so little anymore."
"You say that every time you see me."
"Cause it's true." She grinned.
"So where have you been? Why are you back?" Her face quickly turned to one of intense displeasure. "There isn't another apocalypse is there?"
"All over, Europe mostly, came to help, and no, no apocalypse. As far as I know. I heard some things along the grapevine made me decide my time would best be spent back here."
"Anything bad?"
"Nah, don't worry about it." Faith waved her hand. She wasn't going to let anyone else get sucked into anything that was her, Buffy's, and the other Slayers' responsibility.
"I hear leather's really cheap in Italy," Xander piped up, having swallowed his monster bite of waffle.
Faith smirked, raising her eyebrows. "I know." She walked over to him, hitting him affably on the back. "So what's been up, X-man?"
"I'm enjoying a nice life of Cyclops vision and Hellmouth-y goodness, along with carpentering." His tone was sarcastic as he smiled.
It was at that moment that Cordelia entered the room, catching sight of Faith and not breaking her confident stride until she reached the coffee machine, seeming neither perturbed nor surprised, but rather almost satisfied with something only she knew.
"Well it's about time she showed up."