Smash Into You
Rating: M (Not in the early chapters but it will come later on)
Pairing: Willow and Faith. As much as I am a Willow and Tara girl if I have to accept the fact Tara is forever gone then I really like this pairing as a season 7 or post season 7 pairing. Was never much impressed with Willow and Kennedy, Joss should have well gone down the Willow and Faith joint redemption route!
Disclaimer: If Buffy was mine then Tara would never have died and Faith would have been in every episode! Amber and Eliza are good eye candy!
Summary: Nearly a year after the defeat of the first Willow organises Faith's early release from prison and asks her to join the gang in Cleveland. Ignores the comics and presumes that Faith would have actually gone back to prison to complete her sentence.
Chapter 14
Faith was glad no one had tried to force first aid upon her, she'd much rather patch herself up. Plus she wanted a shower first even if the soap was going to sting like hell when it went in the wound. At least the wound would be clean though.
It really did sting like hell, even the stripping off of clothes had stung but the feeling of hot water and shower gel hitting the stab wound was excruciating. Then she had to try and dry the thigh with a hand towel which wasn't so comfortable either.
Once all that was done she strapped up the leg with two bandages, one on top of the other, to prevent further bleeding. She tossed on a pair of the shorts and vest tops she slept in and dried her hair. She now looked presentable again rather than resembling some sort of mud demon even if she didn't feel too presentable.
She hobbled back up the stairs to the lounge to see what the others were doing and found most of them there researching still. It was only about half ten so they were all still up; the only notable absences were Willow and Buffy. Buffy had probably gone for a shower too after patrol but she had no idea why Willow wasn't there.
The three lads were sat around the table whereas Chloe and Dawn were sat on the sofas but they all had their heads in books. Faiths hobbled over to the sideboard were she had left the book she had been researching through all day. She was only about half way through and she was sure if any book was going to contain the creatures then it would be that one.
"Where's Willow?" she asked Dawn who was sat nearest the book.
"Gone for a shower" Buffy's sister replied, "you covered her in dirt before!"
Faith hadn't realised at the time but she had been completely leant against the red head so obviously dirt would transfer. She only hoped she hadn't wrecked Willow's jeans as well as her own. Faith grabbed her book and took a couple more from the research pile Giles had created by the table.
"That's a lot of late night reading?" Giles pointed out without actually taking his nose out of the book he was reading. He must have eyes in the back of his head Faith thought.
"It's for Willow as well" Faith explained. She didn't care what it looked like, she just wanted to settle down in Willow's room or her own with the red head and keep looking through the book. There was only so long she could sit with the others in one day and she felt sore and miserable.
If anyone did think it odd or suspicious that Faith was taking books to Willow's bedroom they did not bother commenting. She could have sworn she'd seen a slight glance from Xander before he'd settled back down to his book again but nobody else flinched. She headed off towards Willow's room, books in hand, and entered after knocking and getting no response. Willow was obviously still in the shower so Faith settled down on the red heads bed on her front so she could read. She positioned herself so she was facing the footboard end of the bed rather than the headboard and she was directly in front of the shower door. She hadn't really done this on purpose, it was just the nearest side of the bed to the door and at least Willow would realise she was there the second she exited the bathroom.
Willow had took a long shower, not because she was particularly dirty but because she needed to clear her head of all the thought's sloshing round it. She was concerned because of Faith's injury and because of the danger they were obviously facing but that was nothing unusual on the hellmouth. Her thought's seemed to contain less of the danger and more of the Faith than was healthy though.
Thought's of the slayer choosing to lean her weight against her where replaced by memories of physical contact with Faith. Then that was replaced with the memory of Faith running her hand against the wall shield that was centre metres away from her chest. There were other places her mind could wander now...it would be so easily to imagine Faith's hand actually making contact with her and pressing against her. She shook these thoughts away and turned the shower off. This was not good, she shouldn't be thinking of Faith like this.
She stepped out the shower and wrapped the towel around herself as she hadn't bothered bringing her pyjama's into the bathroom. She swung the bathroom door open and nearly leapt out of her skin...there was a person on her bed!
A second glance told her it was Faith and the slayer obviously new she had made her jump because she was clearly smirking from behind the book she was reading.
"You terrified me!"
Faith put the book down in front of her and elevated herself on her elbows a bit more so she was looking up at Willow. Willow suddenly remembered that she was very scantily clad as the towel she had wrapped around her started just above her breasts and ended about half way down her thigh.
"Terribly sorry!" Faith replied in a fairly good mock English accent.
"No you're not!" Willow smirked.
"No I'm not!" Faith agreed, smirking back at her.
Willow tried to walk gracefully past the bed and to the set of drawers where her nightwear was located. She could tell Faith's eyes were following her and she felt a little self conscious as not only was she half naked but she was also still wet. When she reached the drawers she realised that she'd have to crouch down to reach the drawer she needed. That was definitely a no go because the towel was so short that it would climb far too high up her leg and probably even higher than that.
"Need a hand?" Faith seemed to have sensed her dilemma. The slayer was already on her feet and moving towards Willow and the drawers. At least Willow presumed Faith was coming to help get her pyjamas and wasn't coming to do something far more outrageous like towel dry her. That was probably wishful thinking on Willow's behalf.
"Which drawer?" Faith asked once she was stood next to her.
"Bottom one."
Willow watched as Faith knelt down and opened the drawer. The slayer obviously wasn't going to hand her the first thing she saw because Faith began searching through her clothing. She finally stopped searching and stood up, closing the drawer with her food and handed Willow a pair of shorts and the matching T-shirt that went with them. Trust Faith to hand her something that showed off skin rather than Willow's usual long pyjamas.
"You've got nice legs so show them!" Faith's smirk was kind of flirtatious and very cute. Willow gasped involuntarily and her mind seemed to go blank so she couldn't formulate a response. Faith thought she had nice legs!
She wandered back into the bathroom to change in a daze leaving Faith sniggering behind her. This 'friendship' between them was going somewhere odd. They were currently just friends who flirt but they were at a great risk of being fuck buddies or something bizarre like that. The idea was sort of scary because Willow didn't like meaningless sex but then it was no fun being frigid...and she was doing that naughty thinking thing again that she really needed to stop!
She got dressed quickly and entered the bedroom to find Faith back on the bed and reading again. She noticed the two books that were sat on her side of the bed and grinned.
"Wow Faith you brought me more fun research!" Willow couldn't help but be sarcastic.
"I knew you'd love it" Faith winked, "I know I am!"
Willow clambered onto the bed and glanced over Faith's shoulder at her book. No wonder the slayer had only got half way through it, the old dusty thing just consisted of pages of text. Willow was glad she hadn't picked that one up.
She settled back onto the bed so that she was lying on her back with her head on the pillow and her knees up so she could lean her book on them. Faith was still on her front and they were now laying top and tail. They stayed like that in silence for about twenty minutes as they both slowly flicked through the books.
The silence was broken by a knock on the door and Buffy entered wearing stripped pink pyjamas. She looked a little cautious as she entered, like she was worried she may have been interrupting something.
Buffy had gone back to the lounge for a bit after her shower to see how the research was going. The answer was fairly simple...it wasn't going very well. Nobody seemed to be finding any answers in there and it was starting to get late so Giles told everyone to call it a night.
"Somebody should really tell Faith and Willow to stop and rest too" Dawn stated as they were all putting their books down.
"Faith and Willow?" Buffy had noticed the two were absent but hadn't really given it much thought, Faith was injured after all.
"They're researching in Willow's room" Dawn explained. Buffy couldn't decide if Dawn was just being naive or if the two genuinely were researching. A look at Xander told her that he was wondering the same thing.
"I'll tell them on my way to bed" Buffy decided she'd rather walk in on something rather than have Dawn do so.
She made her was to the bedrooms and knocked on Willow's door, not bothering to wait for an answer before entering. It wasn't that she wanted to walk in on them at it but at least she'd know what was going on. They certainly were not at it though, they were both on the bed but they were facing different ways and were definitely researching.
"Hey" Buffy greeted, "Giles is sending everyone to bed so you should lay of the reading and relax!"
"Good" Willow replied, instantly tossing the book on the floor.
"My eyes are starting to go completely gozzy!" the red head continued, sitting up against the head board. Faith on the other hand didn't seem to have heard her and continued to read the old and worn out looking book she was holding. She had a look on her face of deep concentration and Buffy was surprised to see how hard Faith was working.
"I take it no one has found anything?" Willow asked, bringing Buffy attention back to the red head rather than the brunette.
"No" Buffy admitted, "I don't think we will either in any of these books."
"Actually" Faith suddenly spoke up, "I think I've found them."
"What!" Willow exclaimed, scooting down the bed and virtually lying on top of Faith so she could see what Faith was reading. Buffy noted that Faith didn't even seem to react to Willow leaning over; Buffy would have expected her to be uncomfortable with such close proximity. There was a brief silence as Willow read over Faith's shoulder but then Willow scooted over Faith and jumped off the bed. Buffy watched in amazement as Willow sped past her out of the doorway and into the hallway.
"Giles" Willow yelled, "Giles we've found them!"
Instantly Buffy could hear movement from the lounge as the whole team poured into the ground floor corridor to see what was going on.
"We'll Faith found them" Willow admitted as Giles came into view.
Willow scurried back into the room and hopped back onto the bed, now sitting next to Faith who had sat up whilst Willow was shouting down the hall.
Everyone piled into the doorway in expectation and Faith looked a little shell shocked by the audience she'd now gained.
"Um...." she muttered, giving Willow a nervous look before handing the red head the book.
"It basically says that they are called sporcocerca or dirt diggers" Willow explained, "They burrow and make nest deep underground to provide accommodation for a master hunter that provides for them in return."
"They are small unics with pallid completions, rough skin and unparalleled speed allowing them to move stealthily around underground passageways and caverns" Faith added.
"Master hunter?" Giles was more interested in what Willow had said.
"It says that there are two main types that they have been known to serve" Willow explained, "but there is little information on either."
"One's some slime demon with a dodgy Latin name and one is a large and deadly demon called a rock demon that rarely rises above the surface. No one had ever faced one and come back alive so there is no proper description of it."
It was Faith that took up the story telling now as she had obviously decided Willow wasn't being quick enough in her explanation.
"The only way it has been dealt with before is to smoke it back lower underground but that wasn't in an open warehouse building" Faith continued.
"That's not much to go" Buffy stated, "Why is it so deadly?"
"No idea" Willow looked nervous, "maybe it's made of solid rock...let's just pray it's a slime monster we are dealing with!"
"Why would it be so close to the surface?" Chloe asked, "What does it want?"
"Probably to feed" Giles replied, "building collapse will draw in surveyors and construction workers for it to dine on...then it will return underground and hibernate probably."
"And no one has ever survived meeting one of them?" Chloe said nervously.
There was a long silence as everyone shifted around uncomfortably; it seemed that they would have to go into this upcoming battle fairly blind. That was not ideal but it was nothing new, Buffy had gone up against several foes that she knew little about, all very deadly.
"I think we need to go to bed and sleep on this" Giles spoke up, "we'll talk about it again in the morning."
"Agreed" Buffy could think of nothing else they could do right now, most of them were too worn down from researching all day and just needed rest.
Everyone piled out the room leaving Buffy stood in the doorway facing Willow and Faith who were still sat on the bed. Faith showed no sign of moving from Willow's room, she seemed perfectly settled there and the two were sat on the edge of the bed sharing worried looks with the other. It was time for Buffy to go and to leave them to their 'talking' if that's what they were actually doing.
"See you guys in the morning."
Both turned their attention to her and Willow forced a weak smile and waved. She looked downcast compared to how she had seemed earlier that day.
"Night B" Faith replied.
Buffy took her leave and shut Willow's bedroom door on the way out. Now she was actually thinking about going to bed she realised that she was actually quite tired. The last week had been mentally draining what with Faith's return and all the tension in the hotel. It was a chance to get a good night's rest for once and catch up on some sleep.