Chapter One
This was supposed to be a routine job. Giles had promised her a local contact, a simple pickup and a harmless artifact. But Buffy's life had never been simple or easy. And it was even less so when she added her girlfriend and fellow Slayer Faith Lehane into the mix.
So of course, here she was, sprinting beside her girlfriend to reach five vampires who were about to spring a trap on another younger slayer in her care.
"Yeah, routine my ass," Buffy muttered to herself.
XXXXX
It had started with a 'phone call from Giles.
In all their history together, when it came to the big important stuff, Buffy Summers had never been able to say no to Rupert Giles. Even after the Spike related betrayal in the last days of Sunnydale and Buffy and Giles had had to work through some things, he was still Giles.
He was such a huge part of her life and she loved the man like a father. Ironic really, since her actual father had all but abandoned her and Dawn during their mother's illness and subsequent death. But not Giles. No, he had been her rock. More than anyone else, he had been there for her in those lonely, desperate, grief filled weeks after Joyce's funeral. Even Angel had only been able to offer fleeting comfort. All of which meant that it hadn't been that hard for them to deal with their issues in the days after Sunnydale's fall and now their father/daughter bond was stronger than ever.
Once she got off the call with Giles, after saying yes to his request, she headed on up to the communal living room she shared with Angel and Faith. There was another, larger communal space on the ground floor where any Slayers staying at the hotel would congregate and use in their downtime and where she would hang with Willow and Xander whenever they stayed. But they needed this smaller, more intimate, more private space. Being the 'Queen of the Slayers' was pressure enough without an oasis that was away from the crowds.
She pushed the door open to find Angel sitting in his favourite chair with a book. Coming up behind him she wrapped her arms around his chest and kissed the side of his face. He slipped the ten dollar bill that he habitually used as a bookmark into the pages and folded the book closed. "You'll be going away for a while?"
"Hmm, only for a week." She hummed the reply into his ear, then nuzzled into his neck. "You know you can say no to Giles, right?" She pulled up straight and moved in front of him. "Of course I know. It's just… it's Giles. You know?" He smiled and pulled her onto his lap, trying to ignore the superpowered Slayer pout that made him weak at the knees. "It's just some mystical doo-hickey. Simple pick up, one slayer job," she continued, laying her head on his chest. "He has a whole cadre of vampire Slayers with him in London. Why doesn't he send one of them?" She shivered under the attention of his hands and snuggled closer into him. "He only has the younger ones, and it's just while they match them to a watcher and send them home. And until he recruits more watchers…"
"Buffy, we have an international network of people. Your ex-boyfriend…"
"I thought you were okay with Riley working with us?" His replying laugh was strained. "I'll never be completely okay with him being part of your life… but he's a good fighter I suppose. And has some important links we wouldn't otherwise have. And he's a steady influence over some of our other more … unpredictable allies." She had pursed her lips then and leaned back. "Good. But just… stop calling him 'my ex-boyfriend' in that tone of voice. You got the girl; you don't need to carry such a big chip on your shoulder about it."
"Fine. Back to the topic at hand. Why'd it have to be you?"
"It's a one Slayer job. But… an adult Slayer. There'll be a local contact who knows the area. Maybe he thought it would be a nice change." He was quiet then, watching as her fingers ran up and down his arm. "Take Faith with you. I'd come but…"
"Air travel for you takes some planning. Yeah I know. It sucks." She sighed and brought her hand up to his chest, her tactile communication conveying her frustration at not being able to travel with him more. Then she had set her mouth in a determined line. "Okay, no worries, I'll take Faith. It will be nice to be away, just me and her." He gave her a light kiss on her temple. "The two of you could do with a nice break away together. Wales is pretty nice. Though obviously I only saw it at night… and it was two hundred years ago." She chuckled. "I'm sure it's still nice. We'll take some pictures for you. I know how you have a thing for convents…" A rumble sounded from his chest. "Angelus had a thing for convents."
"You don't have to be so salty about it," she teased. His only reply was to pull her into a deep kiss, his huge hands running up her back as she shifted into a more comfortable position. He moved to kiss her gently on the throat and then added a nip to the scar he had given her years ago. The first night they had got back together they had both discovered the super-sensitivity of the area around the scar; any contact from his lips or tongue would rev her from a zero to a ten in moments and anything close to replicating the full bite and draining of that pre graduation night was almost enough to bring her to orgasm right there and then. He never asked her whether Faith made use of the discovery, whether the brunette woman's lips ever traversed the bumps and ridges his teeth had left. There were some things that were unwritten rules in their strange triune dance and any discussion of what Buffy did in bed with the other was absolutely out of the question. For Buffy that was a red line she had laid out for them all almost from the start.
He soothed the scar again with his lips and the blonde in his lap arched into him, a pleased gasp escaping her lips. "Angel," she practically purred. His smile against her skin at her reaction to his touch was momentary as she then reached her hand to his chest once more and swirled her finger around his nipple. Of all the people he had been with, and before he had had his soul returned he had been with a lot of people, only she had discovered this sensitivity. It was their thing. And he loved her for it. One in a long list of things. "God, I love you Buffy." She kissed him in reply, a firm and passionate melding of mouths in every sense. Tongues and lips and teeth and a full-bodied embrace. Ending the kiss for her own shallow breaths, she lifted her small hand against his cheek. "Will you miss me when I'm gone?" He grinned. "You know I will." Still straddling him, she canted her hips forward, a calculated movement to elicit the one physical reaction she now wanted. "Show me how you'll miss me," she husked into his ear, taking the lobe between her lips and teeth and biting a little, just enough for him to growl in reply. He stood then in one sinuous movement of strength, lifting her bodily with him, her legs wrapping instinctively around his waist. Every one of his senses registered her heat and arousal at his casual display of strength and it added to his own fire. In just three strides he was at the door and crossing the hallway to his room, his Slayer still wrapped around him like a koala. She giggled into his ear. "Almost broke one of the cardinal rules there lover."
"You like it when it feels like someone is going to break one of those rules," he teased. "Bend Angel. Not break."
"I'll bend something, that's for sure." So saying he lowered her to the bed and stood to admire her in all her flushed glory. "Promises, promises. Now let's make this a decent goodbye." He pulled off his shirt with one hand, the other resting on her knee unable to stop touching her. "More like a 'see you soon' my love."
XXXXX
The flight from LA to Cardiff was uneventful. Buffy snoozed for most of the eighteen hours, her head resting on Faith's shoulder. For Faith's part she slept less, but at each waking was met by either green eyes and a smile or the unconscious movement of Buffy's hand against hers, clutching tight or gently massaging the soft flesh between thumb and forefinger.
The bleary-eyed pair leaned on one another as they watched for their bags on the carousel once they had landed on the other side of the Atlantic. Of course, they had to declare the weapons they carried. Thank goodness Giles had sorted out all the proper paperwork for any Slayers travelling internationally with vital equipment. Sadly, it didn't extend to the Slayer scythe, which they had left in Kennedy's capable hands back in LA. A weapon of such magnitude was better left away from as many prying eyes as possible. One of the plus sides to vampire slaying was that the raw material for a stake was available almost anywhere. But neither of the two senior Slayers was ever happy travelling completely unarmed, hence a case of hunting knives.
It was once they had satisfied the customs officer and passed through to the departure lounge that things started to get interesting.
"What's she doing here?" Faith almost growled as she caught sight of a pretty Japanese girl waiting with a smile on her face. Buffy gave her a playful dig in the arm. "Don't be so grumpy. She's obviously our contact."
"Hmm, yeah, she's super local." Buffy ignored the sarcasm and carried on walking towards the elevator where the other girl now waited. "Satsu!" The blonde shouted and then waved at the younger Slayer.
Satsu had been one of the first Slayers that Willow and the coven had discovered after the fall of Sunnydale. She quickly proved to be popular among the other slayers; a competent warrior with good instincts and with a quick wit and a generous spirit. She also had a family with important connections in Japan; one of the reasons why she had survived the First's assassins. Where her family's wealth and power had protected her then, it also provided important resources for the organisation that Buffy had headed up along with the core scoobies and now Faith. Luckily for them, Satsu's father was very familiar with the supernatural world and was more than willing to host an Asian headquarters in one of his larger houses on Hokkaido.
All of this quickly made Satsu a vital part of the Slayer organisation and she had proven invaluable in a number of key missions in the first year after Sunnydale's fall.
She also had a huge crush on Buffy. What chagrined Faith however was the fact that the young Japanese woman was not content to pine quietly, but instead rather openly flirted with her girlfriend. And not in a 'we're all equals in other relationships and practically family and this is fun' kind of way, but rather in an 'I want to be your girlfriend' kind of way. At least that's how Faith saw almost every interaction. And so, rather predicably, the dark Slayer decidedly did not like Satsu.
By the time Faith had caught up with Buffy, the blonde slayer had received a welcome hug from their Japanese counterpart. All the dark slayer received from Satsu was a reluctant 'hey' and a smile. Which was more than fine by Faith; the thought of Satsu actually touching her made the brunette feel sick. She knew it was petty. She didn't much care for maturity right in this moment though. So, smiling back at the younger slayer, she slipped her hand through Buffy's, her other clutching her medium sized suitcase. "You're a long way from home Satsu. What are you doing here in Wales?"
"Meeting the two of you of course." The smile she flashed at both of the senior slayers seemed sincere, but Faith could see a strain in her eyes. Yeah, I can see you don't like me much either sweetheart. Guess we're stuck with each other. Ignoring the tension from her girlfriend, Buffy laughed at Satsu's half joke. Slightly blushing, the younger woman tipped her head coquettishly. "I was in the neighbourhood." Faith mouthed, "The neighbourhood?!" at Buffy, the older Slayer glaring back in warning at the brunette. "I suppose what Faith is getting at is, if you were here and it's a one Slayer job like Giles told me…See what I'm getting at?"
"Ah… well, I was up at the Inverness house with Xander and Vi, dropping off a couple of newbies from my neck of the woods. Then dropped in to see Giles on my way home. You were already on the 'plane and I know this area from some of my father's business dealings, so I offered. I thought it would be a nice thing to do." She shot that last sentence like a barb at Faith and gave a smug smile to punctuate it. "Plus, I speak the language."
"Yeah, English is a pretty tough language for us Americans to get a handle on," Faith shot back. "Well, judging by what Giles says, that's not too far off the mark. But no, I meant Welsh." Faith couldn't help but be impressed and she conceded as much to the other woman. Satsu accepted the comment with a nod and tipped her head towards the doorway. "Let's go, the longer we yap in here, the more expensive the car park is gonna be."
"Lead the way, I'm dying to get to our room." Buffy pulled her bag in tight and followed their unexpected host into the darkness of the walkway to the car park. And into a darkness beyond that was much more dangerous.
