TITLE: Afterthoughts - Faith, Hope And Trick
AUTHOR: Goddess Isa
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com
SUMMARY: Buffy feels Angel's return to Earth, Scott does the diddy with someone else
SPOILER: Faith, Hope And Trick
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just email me & lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =)
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P
RATING: TV-MA
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, Joss Whedon does. If he ever decides to give them to me, that would be nice. =) How's It Gonna Be belongs to Third Eye Blind who are currently my fave band & need to release a new album pronto. =)
NOTE: The place where Scott and ______ do it is the same place Buffy and Faith patrol through in All Men Are Beast where Faith asks B if she ever caught any kids doing the diddy there.



As Buffy walked out of the mansion, she felt the ground beneath her shake. She didn't look back, because if she had looked back she would've gone back in. It was just her initial instinct not to leave. Nevertheless, she wrote it off as an earthquake and walked back towards her own house.


*****


Angel didn't get up. He didn't have the strength. He looked all around and saw the mansion he'd lived in years ago. He didn't remember much of anything except that one minute he and Buffy were kissing, and the next, she was gone and he was in Hell.

He tried to sleep, tried to wake up, tried to get back to a place where he would know where he was and why he was there. Then it hit him. He was home, in Sunnydale, with Buffy.

And he was desperately hungry for blood.


*****


"Faith's just full of show off, isn't she?" Xander asked. He, Cordelia, Willow and Oz were huddled in a corner of The Bronze sharing a large basket of onion rings. The girls had been talking about some new lipstick that was perfect for Buffy and Oz had been trying to decide whether or not he liked the band playing with Xander had stopped paying attention to his group and started paying attention to Faith.

She was dancing in the middle of the club, with three or four different guys, he couldn't be sure. She'd put her hair up, a look he'd not seen on her before. She wore it well.

Cordelia slapped him to get his attention. 

"I wasn't looking!" he yelled.

"Pay attention when I talk to you!" she rolled her eyes. "Do I look better in the Crimson Tide or the Pacific Pink?"

He thought for a minute. He wasn't sure if she meant shoes or earrings. "Um, the Crimson?"

"Thank you," she turned back to Willow and he turned back to Faith. She was dancing with just one guy now. The song was slow - a Third Eye Blind cover according to Oz - and with every note she was getting closer and closer to the guy.

"God, I wanna be that guy," Xander muttered by no one heard him. Oz was busy putting the tinyest onion ring on Willow's ring finger and Cordelia had gone to the bathroom.


//I'm only pretty sure

That I can't take anymore

Before you take a swing

I wonder

What are we fighting for?\\


Xander's jaw was on the ground. Faith had become thisclose to the guy, and it had become apparent just who the guy was.

Scott Hope.

The guy Buffy was currently crushing on.

Who was supposed to be crushing on Buffy.


//When I say out loud

I wanna get out of this

I wonder

Is there anything

I'm gonna miss?\\


Faith and The Rat were kissing now. Xander got grossed out and had to look away. When he looked back, they were gone. 


//I wonder how's it gonna be

When you don't know me?

How's it gonna be

When you're sure I'm not there?\\


"Great, just great." Xander slammed his empty Coke glass on the table.

 Oz looked up. "What's wrong?"

He pointed. Oz looked.

"Yeah, those kids dancing is some scary stuff." he looked at Xander oddly. Well, more oddly than usual.

"No, I meant....there was.....she was.....they were...."

"I get the sinking feeling you're trying to tell me something."

"Faith was dancing with that snake."

"What snake?"

"Scott."

"Buffy's Scott?"

"Buffy's Scott."


//How's it gonna be?

When there's no one there to talk to

Between you and me

'Cause I don't care

How's it gonna be?\\


*****


Faith led Scott outside to this little desolate area. He hadn't been paying any attention to where they were going, but he was quite sure he tripped on a headstone when following her. She had him in a trance, almost. It was like whatever she said, he would do.

She pulled him onto the ground and started to yank his clothes off.

"What are we doing?" he asked, dumfounded.

"We're gonna screw," she replied before locking his lips in a deep, lip biting kiss.


*****


//Well we used to laugh

There's a shouting match

Sharp as a thumbnail scratch

A silence I can't ignore\\


"Should I tell her?" Xander asked. They'd scarfed all the onion rings and were waiting on two more when the girls returned from the bathroom. Cordelia had been gone so long that Willow had gone after her.

"Tell who what?" Cordy asked as she sat down. "Ugh, would you look at all the grease in that basket?"

The waitress brought the other two orders just as she made that comment. Oz shrugged and dug in. Xander followed.

"I 'aw 'Cott with Faith." Xander said with his mouth full.

"Eeew, gross! Xander!" Cordelia backed away from him. "Say it, don't spray it. Do you have any idea how much this sweater cost?"

"You saw Scott with Faith?" Willow asked, her eyes wide.

"Yeah. And they were kissing." Oz said.

"Where are they?" Willow scanned the dance floor.

"I think they left."


*****


"I don't think I can do this," Scott said when Faith was in the process of giving him a blow job.

"Why not?" she looked up and grinned.

He shrugged. "I don't think it's supposed to be this easy."

Faith bit at him and relaxed. "Never mind.


//Like the hammocks and doorways

We spent time in

Seems empty

Don't see lightning like last fall

And it was always

About to hit me\\


*****


"All right, so the pact is, we're not telling Buffy?" Cordy asked.

"No, we gotta tell her," Willow said.

"Oh, no we don't."

"If we don't tell Buffy--"

"Tell Buffy what?" she asked as she walked up. Willow noted she was wearing dark lipstick. Her date lipstick. She was wearing it in case she saw Scott.

"Tell you that we missed you," Willow said quickly. "We were just leaving though."

"There's still a whole basket of onion rings here," she sat in the empty chair next to Oz and ate one.

"Cordy ruined our pig out by commenting on the fat," Xander explained as he stuffed two in his mouth.


//I wanna get myself back in again

The soft dive of oblivion

Oblivion\\


"So, Buffy, where's Scott tonight?" Cordelia asked.

Three Slayerettes kicked her under the table.

"Ow!"

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Mosquitoes," Oz filled in, slapping his arm. "They're feisty tonight."

"Buffy, what about Scott?" Cordy shot the others death looks.

"He said he had to stay home tonight and study for a chem test." she shrugged. "Can't win 'em all."

Willow and Cordelia exchanged a look. That was for damn sure.


*****


"So, that was great," Scott said as he put his clothes back on. "Wasn't it?" he looked around. "Faith?"

She was long gone.