Chapter 33
For the rest of the day, Dawn seemed to go out of her way to annoy Buffy to no end. Even when she wasn't actually there with her, deliberately doing so, thoughts of her and the sneaky, irritating things she had done to her that morning- and what seemed like every other morning of her life for the past fourteen years- would pop up randomly into Buffy's mind, no matter what she might be doing. Even sitting in class, walking down the halls, at least once every half hour her mind would drift back to Dawn, and she would tense, annoyed all over again.
Lately, it just seemed that her younger sister simply could not leave her alone. Dawn was fourteen years old, a teenager, in the ninth grade, for heaven's sake. Buffy hadn't been much older than her when she was called as the Slayer. But Dawn was a typical youngest child, and lately she seemed to reveling in it even more than usual. Buffy didn't know if it was her age, some stage she was going through, or a rather weird, roundabout way of showing admiration, as her mother insisted the times Buffy had complained. She'd made pointed comments that indicated as much about Buffy being older/hotter/allowed to do more/stronger, more times than Buffy cared to remember or count. As Buffy had pointed back out to her with exasperation, all that came with cost- being the Slayer. Well, one of the Slayers.
That was another possible reason for Dawn's recent increase in bratty behavior towards her, of course. When Faith had first came to stay with them, she had been wary and suspicious of her, directing her obnoxiousness toward Faith while being protective in her words and actions towards Buffy. Though it had frustrated Buffy, part of her sort of appreciated that her little sister would actually attempt to stand up for her- even if it had been utterly unnecessary with Faith and her heavy guilty conscience being returned to her. Once Dawn had finally resumed her trust with her, however, she had swung back around fully circle to following Faith like a persistent, admiring little puppy eager for her attention. And with Buffy… she apparently felt it was not fully safe and appropriate to go right back to trying to antagonize rather than protect her.
Of course, there was the jealousy where Faith was concerned too. Even though Buffy knew Dawn liked Faith, she also knew that she was envious that Buffy not only had a girlfriend, but a live-in girlfriend, a girlfriend their mom approved of and allowed Buffy to disappear off with whenever they wanted… even if it was presumably to just go slaying. It wasn't that Dawn wanted Faith- it was more that she wanted to be like Faith, to have someone like Faith, Buffy knew. But knowing didn't make it any less annoying.
Of course, it also wasn't that Dawn wanted a GIRL like Faith. As far as Buffy knew, her sister was as straight as a yardstick- straighter. She doubted Dawn even knew what lesbian sex involved… or so she liked to think, anyway.
No, it was just that at fourteen, Dawn had yet to even have boys her age or any age- flirt with her or notice her, let alone ask her out. So watching her older sister 'slinking around,' as she'd once muttered, with her girlfriend, obviously happy and in love, brought out the green-eyed monster. Which brought out the blue-eyed Dawn monster.
Buffy could understand all that… but that didn't mean she had patience for it.
No one else seemed as bothered by it as she was. Willow and Xander almost thought of Dawn as their own little sister and shrugged her off as easily as if she were. Giles and Anya both viewed her as a child and treated her as such, to her annoyance. Tara never seemed to be annoyed by anyone- she and Dawn actually got along very well, and she could succeed in bring out Dawn's sweet side with her gentle manner. Joyce saw Dawn as her little girl, her baby, and didn't take Buffy's grievances seriously. Even Faith rarely seemed as annoyed with Dawn as Buffy could get. She seemed to find her amusing, and to Buffy's severe exasperation, she often even encouraged her behavior, slyly goading her into baiting Buffy.
Buffy loved her sister… but sometimes, as much as she loved her life, she couldn't help but be a little jealous of her too. It would be nice to have no responsibilities, or obligations, no worries about the future. It would be nice to just be taken care of, to not have to care if you didn't want to about anyone else's feelings of safety. It would be nice to have a future that was wide open, where you could become anything you wanted…
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
For the rest of the day, it still seemed that Buffy could not escape Dawn, and her frustration only intensified. She had less than an hour alone with Faith before Dawn came home from school off her bus, full of chatter and cheer that made Buffy want to grit her teeth. And from then on, there Dawn was, constantly wanting to be with them… to be with HER.
She was there while Buffy and Faith were sparring, piping up with questions and comments that broke Buffy's, if not Faith's, concentration, much to Faith's delighted smirking. She was there when Xander came over briefly, and of course, she insisted on tagging along when he drove them to help Giles fix up the building he had leased with the intention of turning into a magic shop.
Anya had already accepted a job offering from Giles in the little rundown shop so eagerly that Buffy could practically see the dollar signs floating in her eyes. Though Giles had also offered a position to Faith, emphasizing to her strongly about the training room he was planning on putting
in that she could use during lulls in business, Faith had been more hesitant to reply a definite answer. Buffy wasn't sure if it was the job itself, or rather the thought of being with Giles and Anya all day that gave her pause. As for Giles, she suspected he wanted desperately to be with someone else other than just Anya all day, rather than actually thinking Faith might be a terrific salesperson.
Leaving the Magic Box, as Giles had named the place, it was no better. Somehow having managed to seat herself between Faith and Buffy in the backseat of Xander's car while he drove them home, while Anya glowered at her from the front seat, Dawn had chattered on about nothing, hogging the entire conversation. Buffy had sat there, saying nothing, her resentment growing as Dawn tried in her awkward Dawn way to flirt with Xander- meaning, addressing all her comments to him and laughing at everything he said- and casually, whether deliberately or not, leaning into Faith in a way that made Buffy grit her teeth all over again. It wasn't enough that Dawn was THERE- she had to talk the ENTIRE time, while practically snuggling up to HER girlfriend, no less?! And she got away with it because she was the 'cute little sister'?!
The day's final straw had come later that evening; Buffy and Faith had come back from slaying about twenty-five minutes ago. After some post-slaying heavy-duty kissing and gropage that had started with a playful cemetery chase and tackling and gone from there, they had worked off some of their adrenaline on each other before going home to eat a late-night-post-slaying snack as well. Finishing, they had headed for the living room, beginning to wind down before heading for bed.
They had been sitting on the living room couch for perhaps three minutes, leaning against each other easily, comfortably. Buffy's head was nestled against Faith's shoulder, and Faith had an arm around her as she was gently playing with strands of her hair, in a tender, slow way that never failed to put them both to sleep.
And then Dawn had popped up beside them in Hello Kitty pajamas- BUFFY's Hello Kitty pajamas- and the scared the bejesus out of Buffy, not to mention majorly pissed her off.
"You were gone a long time. Were you really slaying all that time? When are you gonna take me with you?"
Buffy sat up abruptly at that, jerking out from under Faith's arm. She could already feel her every muscle tensing, already was restraining herself from grabbing Dawn up and shaking her. As it was, she couldn't control her mouth, however.
"DAWN! Will you STOP sneaking up on me like that, putting yourself where you are NOT wanted!? And those are MY pajamas, how many times do I have to tell you to stop taking my stuff without asking!? You're not even supposed to be up right now!" she exploded.
"Why?" Dawn smirked, unruffled. "You want to start up with the naked sex acts again since Mom's in bed?"
Faith grinned at that, slipping a casual, attempting-to-be-calming arm around Buffy again and rubbing her shoulder, even as she slyly spoke words she knew would only further infuriate her.
"Nah, Dawnie, we save those for the bedroom…"
"FAITH!" Buffy hissed, turning her glare to her girlfriend, who grinned back at her with mock innocence, and then zeroed back in on Dawn, who looked equally horrified and delighted by Faith's comment. "And Dawn! Go to bed!"
"I want you to take me slaying with you sometime," Dawn persisted stubbornly, putting a hand on her hip and attempting a Faith-like attitude and glare. With her lanky body and too-big Hello Kitty pajamas, not to mention utter lack of charisma and sexual oozing, she didn't quite succeed.
Faith stifled a snort of laughter; Buffy wasn't quite so amused.
"Dawn! I am NOT taking you slaying- I will NEVER take you slaying! If you didn't get yourself killed, you'd get someone ELSE killed- and if you didn't, by some complete miracle, you'd get them bodily injured for life. And if not that- then MOM would kill me when she found out you went! No matter what, bodily harm all around. Now leave us alone!" she said fiercely, moving her hands about for emphasis.
Dawn glowered. "That's not fair, Buffy! You take Willow and Xander and even Tara and Anya! I'm not that much younger than you- Faith's not that much older than me, she's only-"
"Faith's a Slayer, Dawn, and I want her there. Now GO TO BED!" Buffy hissed, gritting her teeth so hard she could feel them grinding together.
"Well, fine!" Dawn shot back, scowling. "See if I care, Buffy! Go get naked again- but I've still got a library card, so, so you just remember that, and maybe you'll be nicer to me if you don't' want me using it!"
"DAWN!" Buffy practically screamed, no longer caring if she woke her mother or not, but Dawn had already turned, running upstairs. Buffy growled, her fists knotting in her lap- and the fact that Faith was chuckling only made her more pissed off.
"Heh, the kid's gettin' good at the threats," Faith smirked, and Buffy turned on her almost violently, glaring at her now instead.
"That was NOT funny, Faith!" she said heatedly. "She is such a little BRAT!"
"Hey, yeah, I know," Faith said quickly, holding up her hands in surrender and sombering quickly. She could tell from the look on Buffy's face that she was not in the mood for any further jabbing. "Let's just go to bed, B, okay?"
She put her arms around Buffy again, stroking her shoulder as she kissed her cheek, then ear, biting gently. Slowly, softly she worked her way down the unscarred part of Buffy's neck and sucked slightly at her pulse point. Buffy could feel her body loosening, grudgingly at first, then more easily, her heart rate slowing as she began to relax at Faith's tender attentions, sighing softly with the beginning of contentment.
Not so very long ago, Faith wouldn't have known how to respond to someone being so gentle and loving towards her… and now here she was, initiating it herself, without being hesitant or self-conscious in the slightest. Thinking about how far she had come, how much she had changed, Buffy's heart moved, and she softened even further.
When Faith kissed her lips, Buffy kissed her back, putting a hand to her dark head as she let Faith slip her tongue between her lips. After a minute or two of slow, still gentle kissing, they pulled back slightly, and Buffy sighed, letting her head rest on Faith's chest.
"Yeah… let's go to bed…" she mumbled. "And push my dresser in front of the door…"
Hearing Faith chuckle, she let her pull her to her feet, and they descended the steps with their arms still around each other.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Buffy awakened with a gasp, jerking, her sister's face firmly fixed in her mind. She was sweating, her lips parted, and her breath was loud, raspy, her heart pounding even as her chest filled with an icy dread…
She had accidentally kicked Faith as she thrashed, awakening from the throes of her nightmare, but Faith had not seemed to notice. She too had bolted up in bed, untangling herself from Buffy in a panic as she stared, eyes wide, loud breaths in rhythm with the blonde Slayer's. And Buffy swore she had heard her, barely audibly, speak her sister's name…
"F-Faith?" Buffy stammered, touching her shoulder,trying to shake herself out of her foggy, frightened mindset. Faith looked over at her blearily, seeming to have trouble seeing her for a minute, and she frowned, as if she couldn't quite remember who Buffy was. "Faith… are you okay?"
Faith blinked again, then exhaled slowly. When she ran a hand through her hair, Buffy saw that it was shaking slightly.
"Yeah… yeah, just a bad dream, B… I'm alright." She met Buffy's eyes only briefly, howeve,r and in them Buffy saw her own barely controlled lingering anxiety reflecting back at her.
"Me too," Buffy whispered, swallowing, and she slipped her arms around Faith again, as much to reassure and comfort herself as Faith. Faith accepted her embrace with some gratitude, leaning against her and closing her eyes for a few seconds. Buffy could feel her muscles, still tensed, and realized that she herself was shaking as well.
Buffy tried to remember what it was about her dream that had so shaken her, for sometimes such vivid nightmares that invoked such a strong response in her were prophetic. But all she could remember was Dawn… it had had something to do with Dawn. She and Faith sometimes shared dreams, however, and that seemed to be the case this time… maybe Faith remembered.
She swallowed again, feeling the knots in her stomach pull tighter as she pushed herself to ask Faith. Somehow she knew that Faith too would not remember… for whatever she had dreamed, if it really meant something, it could be nothing good.
"Faith?" she began falteringly, putting her head against the other girls' and almost whispering in her ear. "Do you… do you remember your dream, what you saw?"
Faith hesitated for a moment, her brow furrowing; when she replied, her answer was very slow in coming. "No… nothin'…"
"Me either," Buffy said in relief, and her words were almost a sigh. And yet the feelings of dread filling her torso only increased. What did this mean… they had never before shared a nightmare, only not to be able to remember it upon awakening.
But they DID remember something, they remembered Dawn… it had something to do with Dawn…
"Let's go back to sleep," Buffy said jerkily, and kissing the side of Faith's head gently, almost as if in apology for her tone, she eased her back down, turning to face her and snuggling close once more. Faith allowed her to willingly enough, but as she put her arms back around her, her muscles were still tensed.
Dawn… what could they possibly have dreamed about Dawn to fill them with such foreboding…