Jessie Sammler, Vampire Slayer
Chapter 37
Author: j_rock873
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Dawn gets some advice from Faith and takes the first step to possibly changing the state of her relationship with her best friend. Jessie defends herself and Dawn again from the insults from yet another slayer.
Disclaimer: I own nothing from either show.
Reviews: I would like them. Constructive criticism is ok.
Author's notes: I came up with names for a few other slayers. There is a small reference to the movie Bring It On with Eliza Dushku near the end of the chapter.
After Jessie's parents and Willow had left, Faith had gotten the urge to borrow Jessie's motorcycle and hoped Dawn would take advantage of the situation.
"Hey, J, can I ask you for a favor?"
"Depends on what it is."
"Can B and I borrow your bike? I want to see how it feels at a faster speed."
"Sure, that is if Dawn doesn't want to go for another ride again first?"
"No, it's ok. They can go first. I kind of have a few things I need to do…I mean want to do first."
"Ok, where did you two put the keys?" Jessie asked Faith.
"I'm not sure, maybe you and Buffy could check the bedrooms while I search out here."
"Ok, sure," Jessie agreed as the blondes each went to their rooms.
As soon as the doors closed, Faith turned to talk to Dawn.
"So is one of those things that you want to do is to make a move on J?" Faith asked as she used her fingers to make quotation marks to emphasize the words "want to do".
"Sort of, yeah. Can you give me some advice?"
"Well, you could just ask her out, or if you want to get a little more daring, you could try my motto."
"Which one, don't you have a couple of them?"
"You could go with the 'want…take...have' one."
"Want…take…have?"
"Yeah, want," Faith said as she looked seductively at Dawn. "Take," Faith continued as she pulled Dawn as close as possible. "Have," Faith finished as she leaned in to kiss Dawn.
Dawn noticed that as Faith was doing this that one of the brunette's hands was moving toward her butt. When their lips were just under an inch apart and she could almost feel Faith's hand on her butt, Dawn gasped softly.
At the sound of the gasp, Faith stepped back and chuckled, "Understand now?"
"H-How could you do something like that with Buffy in the next room?"
"Relax," Faith declared as she stepped back even more, "I wasn't actually going to kiss you or grab your butt. I was just giving you a hands on, or I should say an almost hands on demonstration. I love Buffy, you know that. Besides, been there, done that. Or did you forget already?"
"No, I…," Dawn began to say but was interrupted by her sister.
"They weren't there, Faith. Are you ok, Dawnie?" Buffy questioned as she looked away from Faith, who seemed to still be hunting for the keys.
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Dawn inquired a little nervously.
"You looked a little out of it for a few seconds," Buffy told her as Dawn's question distracted her enough for Faith to quickly remove them from her coat and act like she found them under the couch.
"Here they are," Faith announced as she shook them lightly in front of her before walking toward Dawn and Jessie's bedroom door, "I found them, J."
"Where were they?" Jessie quizzed as she reached the doorway.
"They were under the couch. They must have fallen out of my coat pocket."
"OK, bring my bike back in one piece. I want to go out on another ride with Dawn after she's finished doing what she wanted to do. Whatever that is."
Faith held back a slight smirk as Jessie was apparently having a 'blonde moment'.
"Let's go, B."
Faith smirked at Dawn as she heard the girl make a gulping sound.
"Have fun," Dawn encouraged her sister and Faith.
"We will," Buffy assured her as she grabbed the helmets from inside a nearby closet.
After waving good bye to the older slayers, Jessie turned to Dawn.
"So what was it that you needed to…I mean wanted to do?" Jessie asserted with a sweet smile.
"I…I…," Dawn stuttered as she saw Jessie's smile growing each second, "You know, don't you?"
"Know what?" Jessie chuckled.
"What I wanted to do."
"I think I do, but why don't you say it anyway?"
"Ok," Dawn paused for a few seconds before continuing, "J-J, I was kind of wanting to ask you something."
"Yeah?"
"I know you just broke up with her last night, but would you be interested on going on a date with me sometime? I know it's probably too soon to ask, but I thought I better ask before one of the other members of your fan club decides to make the first move."
"My fan club?"
"Yeah, you do know that the three of you have each developed a fan club at this place, right?"
"Yeah, we know. You're not the only one who isn't that subtle, whether it's simple idol worship or a full blown crush."
"So do you…want to?" Dawn muttered as she felt her palms start to sweat.
"Um," Jessie replied as she tried to think of the best way to answer the question truthfully.
Dawn took that as a rejection and felt she needed to get away from her best friend as she felt her heart breaking.
"Never mind, it's cool. I understand. I guess I'm not the type of girl you're attracted to enough to take out on a date. Maybe I was imagining the staring, and you're more interested in Faith or one of your other followers. Someone you think is cuter than me."
"D, wait," Jessie insisted as she grabbed Dawn by the shoulders when the brunette began to shake, "I didn't answer quickly because I was just trying to say I'm not ready to date anyone yet. I'm not sure how long that will be. It might be a month. It could be longer. When I'm sure, you'll be the first to know."
"R-Really?"
"Yes, how could you think that I felt that way about you? You are beautiful. Both Jamie and Katie called you a hottie. You weren't imagining it. I was staring at you. I'll let you in on a secret. I got a little jealous when Willow kissed you at the club awhile back."
"I know."
"You know? Who told you?"
"Faith, Buffy, and Willow explained it to me. That's why Willow kissed me. Faith saw you getting jealous when it was just a dance. She dared Willow to do that or something else."
"Oh, what was the something else?"
"She dared Willow to grab my butt for a few seconds. She thought it would get a better response. Would she have been right?"
"I guess we'll never know."
"Can I ask you something else?" Dawn wondered.
"Yes."
"Since you know that I love you, then why did you hold my hand when we left Grace's loft that day, and why did you put your hand on my shoulder when you whispered to me while we walking around London with your parents? Don't you know what stuff like that does to me?"
"I had an idea, but I honestly thought you could handle it. I'll try to be more careful from now on."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. So are we good now?"
"Yes."
"I bet Faith was thinking I was having a 'blonde moment' earlier, huh?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw her holding back a smirk before she and Buffy left. I was just having a little fun with her."
"Ok."
"Do you want to go to the gym or walk around the campus?"
"Why?"
"So we can see if the news of my vicious slay has been told to everyone."
"Alright."
As they made their way around the campus, they got varied reactions. It ranged from scared/worried to unconcerned. They noticed some of the fan club shoot dirty looks to Dawn at the sight of how close they were walking to each other. Jessie whispered to Dawn and waited for her friend's response. When she got the response she was hoping for, she gently grabbed Dawn's left hand and began to lead her to the gym. A few minutes later, they passed by Giles, who had just left the library for who knows what time it was.
"Hi, Giles," Jessie greeted him with a smile.
"Uh, hello, Jessie. How are you feeling today?"
"I'm doing better, thanks. I guess everyone knows by now, huh?"
"Yes, it was well known by 11:00 AM. You know if you want to talk, my office is open."
"Thank you, we're on our way to the gym. Would you like to join us?"
"Actually, I was on my way there. I was going to let them know who was going patrolling tonight. Do you feel up to going out with them tonight?"
"Of course, it's the reason I came here, right? After all, some will be leaving soon."
"True."
The gym
When the trio entered the gym, the noise that had been going on came to a complete stop. Jessie scanned the area and noticed she was getting the same response as before. Dawn whispered into Jessie's ear, and the blonde realized that the picture that had been taken last night was printed out and posted on the wall near the water fountain. Then one of the girls made her way over to Jessie and Dawn. When Jessie and Dawn saw the slightly pained expression on the other girl's face, they gently broke the grip they had on each other's hands.
"Hi, J-Jessie, are you g-going to be ok? I was worried about you after I heard the news and saw that picture," the same girl asked.
Jessie couldn't help smiling at the girl, who was just as obvious as Dawn about her infatuation with the blonde.
"I'm going to be fine, Jennifer. Thanks for caring. You don't need to be scared of me."
"Good," she replied as she gave Jessie a hug before going back to training.
Jessie walked over to the same punching bag Faith and Buffy had used earlier and practiced a few punch/kick combinations. About half an hour later, she was interrupted again by the same girl.
"J-Jessie."
"Yeah?"
"Uh, would you like to uh, help me train?"
"Uh…alright," Jessie answered as she held back a smile at the nervousness of the younger girl in front of her, "Hand to hand combat or with weapons?"
"Uh, weapons," Jennifer responded as she walked into one of the storage rooms and returned with two swords.
Dawn smirked as the girl carefully handed Jessie one of the swords before taking a defensive stance. A few of the girls decided to stop their training to watch Jessie and Jennifer's swordfight.
"On guard," Jessie said teasingly to put the other girl at ease.
As the fight continued, more girls stopped to watch them. Soon they had the attention of the entire room. Most of the girls cheered on their leader as Jessie skillfully moved around the younger girl. Jennifer began to get more daring in the hopes of impressing Jessie. Jessie clearly knew this and began to smile before taking a moment to spot Dawn, who was almost beaming at her. They battled for a few more minutes before Jennifer tried a tricky move to knock the sword out of Jessie's hand but ended up getting her own sword knocked away before landing on her back. Jessie took a step forward, pointed her sword about three inches away from Jennifer's neck. As the younger girl peered up in fear and gasped, Jessie chuckled, pulled the sword away, and stretched out her left arm to help the girl back to her feet. Jennifer sighed in relief as she grabbed Jessie's hand and was quickly pulled to her feet.
"Are you ok?" Jessie asked her.
"Sure," Jennifer answered as she began to smile at the girl she idolized.
"Questions…Comments?" Jessie challenged. When she got nothing but silence, she stated, "Giles and I are now going to go over the list of slayers patrolling tonight, who they're grouped with, and where they will be headed."
"I have some comments and a question for you," a redheaded girl near the back affirmed with obvious sarcasm, "I don't see why people are making such a big deal about you. I don't care that Buffy and Faith made you third in command here. What makes you special? Not much from what I can see. I could take you any time, with or without weapons. I'm so much more attractive than you too. The only reason you get with girls is because no boy would want you. You were a charity case to Katie. If I was gay, I could definitely do better than her," the girl finished as she nodded to Dawn.
Most of the girls became silent when Katie's name was brought up in fear of how Jessie would react and were just as shocked as the redhead had the nerve to put down Dawn in front of the blonde. They all knew the girls were best friends.
"You honestly think that?" Jessie smirked before she handed her sword over to Jennifer.
"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't think it, blondie," the redhead sneered.
"Ok, prove it, Ashley," Jessie dared as the redhead reminded her of Kennedy before smiling at Dawn.
It was loud and clear that Dawn was thinking the same thing.
"Bring it," Ashley scoffed, "If I win, you have to admit to everyone here that I'm just as good as you if not better."
"Fine," Jessie declared confidently, "but there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. I'm going to show you that you just crossed it."
"And when you lose?" Dawn added as she glared at Ashley.
"When and if I lose, I'll admit I'm wrong, but I'm not worried."
Dawn happily watched Jessie defend her again. The girl was good, but Jessie still dominated most of the match. When Ashley landed on her back with a thud, Jessie stepped forward and smirked down at the girl victoriously.
"Are you done?"
"Not yet," the redhead hissed as she got up and tried a roundhouse kick.
Jessie caught the girl by the ankle and used a foot to trip up the other leg, making Ashley land on her back again.
"Now?" Jessie determined as she surprisingly helped the girl to her feet.
"Fine, you're better, but don't think that'll last forever."
"Maybe, maybe not. At least you know why I was put in charge for now."
Suddenly, they heard clapping, and all of them whipped around to find Buffy and Faith displaying mixed emotions. Faith was laughing while Buffy was definitely holding back a growl as she glared at Ashley.
"Hi, B, how long have you two been standing there?" Jessie asked in the hope of getting Buffy to calm down.
When Buffy didn't respond, Faith answered for her.
"Around the time you helped your fan off the floor," Faith confessed as she started to glare at the redhead.
The girls standing or sitting between Ashley and Buffy basically jumped aside as Buffy started to march up to Ashley.
"No need to do anything you'll regret, B."
"Trust me, I won't regret it."
"Yes, you will," Jessie commented as she stepped in front of Buffy, "She's learned her lesson, right, Ashley?"
"Yeah," Ashley mumbled.
"Ok, but you better watch your mouth next time," Buffy warned her.
"So did you enjoy the ride?" Jessie interrogated with a smile.
"Yeah, nothing like the freedom of the open road with a hot blonde holding on to you for dear life," Faith chuckled as Buffy blushed, "Can B and I have a few words alone with Dawn?"
"Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of J," Dawn assured them as she remembered that she was holding Jessie's hand and immediately let go.
"Are you sure?" Buffy wondered.
"Yeah, let's go," Dawn remarked as the four girls gathered outside.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Dawn questioned her sister.
"Uh, Faith and I were curious on how things went between you two after we left?"
"Things?" Jessie smirked.
"Yeah, you know what I mean," Faith implied as she winked at Dawn.
"We didn't do anything like that," Dawn blurted out as she began to blush.
"So then you did nothing with the advice I gave you?"
"What advice did you give her?" Buffy wondered.
"Three words, B, want…take…have."
"You didn't," Buffy grilled her as she appeared stunned.
"Yeah, I did."
"Want…take…have?" Jessie babbled.
Faith searched to see they were still alone before making another move.
"Yeah, want," Faith started as she stared seductively into Buffy's eyes, "take," she continued as she pulled Buffy up against her, "have."
Buffy and Dawn blushed briefly before Faith leaned in, kissed Buffy, and gently grabbed Buffy's butt.
"You told her to do that?" Jessie chuckled as Faith broke her hold on the other blonde.
"Yeah, did she?"
"Faith," Buffy pleaded in the hope that Faith would stop right there.
"N-No, but I did ask her out," Dawn mumbled. I hope they don't make fun of me.
"Way to go, D. What did you say, J?" Please say J said "Yes".
"Umm," Jessie mumbled this time. Think carefully now.
"Umm?" Faith repeated. Uh oh.
"She said no," Dawn responded as she observed Faith and Buffy casually.
"What? Why?" Buffy interrupted. Please let it be for the reason I think it is.
"Yeah, why?" Faith griped.
"Because I haven't been broken up with the first girl I loved for that long. I'm not ready to date again so soon. When I am, I told her I would let her know," Jessie explained.
"Uh, ok," Buffy conceded as she began to back off on the questioning.
"But there's still hope for her?" Faith kept talking with more concern. Come on, there's got to be hope.
"Yes. Hey, B, do you think you could teach me that menacing glare?"
"Sure, but another time."
"Ok, cool," Jessie giggled before smiling at Dawn and walking back into the gym.
Buffy watched Dawn trail behind Jessie before she stepped in front of her girlfriend.
"What?"
"You're really rooting for them aren't you?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"It's like you're Dawn's personal cheerleader. All you need is the pom poms and the uniform."
"Yeah, right, can you even picture me like that?" I can picture her like that. Me not so much.
"No, not really," Buffy chuckled. Of course I can. I already have a few times.
"Yeah, that's more your style anyway."
Faith and Buffy then returned to in the gym. When they joined the others, the Scoobies let the rest know everything they needed to know. Many hours later, the ones assigned to patrolling headed out.
Later that night
After patrolling for a couple of hours, with only various amounts of action, they called it a night. A few decided to head to the club with Buffy and Faith while the rest went home with Jessie. As they went in two different directions, Faith pulled Jessie aside and whispered into the blonde's ear.
"So, are you going to see if Dawn will help with the double h's?"
"What are you talking about? I didn't stake any vampires. No urges need to be cured."
"Your group saw some. I heard that girl Jennifer say that she got lucky and staked one, Ashley complained that hers got away, and I see how you can't seem to stand still for even a minute. You only get that way after you stake one."
"OK, so I got one."
"Don't wear Dawn out too much," Faith chuckled before catching up with Buffy and the rest heading to the club.
Buffy had seen Faith and Jessie talking but was too wrapped up in her own conversation with a few other slayers to hear what was said between them.
"So, uh, what were you and Jessie talking about?"
"Just about how she and a few of the girls in her group did tonight."
"I didn't get a chance to talk to her, so how did they do?"
"J and Jennifer each got one, but that redhead, Ashley, complained about how hers got away."
"Looks like she isn't as good as she thought. Uh, Jessie got one? Does that mean…"
"Uh huh, don't worry. I told her not to wear Dawn out too much."
"What? How could you tell her that?" Buffy almost snapped as she headed after the other blonde.
"Hold up, B. What are you going to do, stop her?"
"Well, yeah."
"Let them have some fun."
"But…"
"No buts. D's going to lose her virginity sooner or later. Wouldn't you prefer it be with someone she loves?"
"Yeah, but not until that person loves her just as much. I don't know if Jessie will be that person. I know that they got married in your dream, but it was probably only a dream. She's not ready."
"You don't know that. Come on, let's quit talking about D and have some fun."
"Ok," Buffy complied as they and the rest of the slayers headed to the club.
A little bit later, the girls' apartment
Jessie tried to make her way quietly into the apartment and noticed Dawn spying down from the balcony. Jessie had a rough idea of what Dawn was looking at but got closer to make sure. Dawn heard her coming and tried to act like she hadn't. When Jessie was close enough, she quickly turned around and surprised her.
"Hi, J. How did it go tonight?" Dawn chuckled as Jessie jumped back.
"Dang, D, don't do that to me."
"Why, you were going to do that to me, weren't you?"
"No, I just wanted to see what you were looking at."
"Well, come here and find out."
Jessie stood beside Dawn, scanned below in the other girl's direction, and saw her motorcycle.
"I guess that means you want me to take you on a ride tomorrow?"
"Yeah, so you know what it feels like to have a girl holding on to you for dear life."
"Ok, tomorrow it is then."
"Cool, I guess you didn't want to hang out with the others?"
"Not really," Jessie answered as she tried not to stare at Dawn.
"Ok, well, I guess I'll get ready for bed, and we can just hang around here and watch movies until we're tired enough to actually go to sleep."
"Cool," Jessie announced as she shuffled after her.