Chapter Four: Wonderwall
"Mmm," Buffy moans softly as she begins to slowly wake up. It takes her a moment to realize what, or more precisely whom was providing her with such a comfortable body pillow. She opens her eyes only mildly surprised by what she sees lying underneath her. "Well, this has the potential to be highly awkward."
"How's that B?" Faith mumbles into Buffy's golden hair, "worried it might get around… That you slept with a hot, nubile, young thing like myself?"
Buffy squirms around a little in order to prop her head up so she could look Faith in the eyes, "I was going to say thank you."
"Like my way, way better," Faith grumbles under her breath.
Buffy either doesn't hear the comment or simply decides to ignore it as she continues her statement. "Instead I'm thinking shut up Faith suits this moment so much better." She sees the younger girl about to open her mouth and quickly puts her index finger over her lips. "Quiet," she commands sternly. "If you had let me finish what I was saying before opening your big mouth you would have found out I meant if someone, my mom for example, had walked in on us lying all snuggled up together. One of us only partially dressed while the other is naked."
"She'd be freaked?"
Buffy smirks, "well. She'd probably think me being gay is better then me dating a vampire, but yeah. We're talking majorly wigged, not wigged enough to kick me out or anything. Still," she takes a deep breath before she leans forward and placing a light kiss on Faith's satin lips. "Thank you," she whispers softly as she backs away.
Faith blinks several times trying to clear her head. The kiss was soft, light, nothing sexual at all, yet everything had stopped the moment Buffy's silken lips had touched hers. "What for?" She manages to ask despite the fog still filling her head.
"For being there when I needed someone. For letting me cry on your shoulder, head," she finishes with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Just for being yourself. For not pushing or asking why."
Faith swallows nervously a second before she says, "I got one. A question that is."
Buffy's expression becomes serious. "I have several for you as well," she replies while she sits up on the bed. She glances at Faith's worried facial expression, "what? You didn't think I came home, skipping out on my last hour of school because I knew there was this hot, nubile, young girl in my bed all naked. Just waiting for me to sleep with her… Did you?"
Faith's cheeks color slightly, "um, you might want to put your top back on." She suggest while ducking her head so as not to look directly at Buffy. Scrunching back against the headboard she pulls one of the blankets up so she could cover herself.
Buffy watches in amazement that this girl who had nearly seduced her was now turning an interesting shade of pink at the moment. "Go ahead Faith. Ask away," she says patiently trying to put the girl at ease while she ties her top back up.
"Well," she says slowly not taking her eyes off Buffy's face until the older girl had gotten her top tied back on. It was a struggle, but somehow she managed to keep her eyes locked with Buffy's. "It's only one question really," she continues haltingly. She could hardly believe that she was sitting here in bed with, until a few moments ago, a partially clad Buffy and she was the one stammering like some naïve fifteen year old school girl who had never done anything other then some light groping in a dark closet. "I was just wondering why you didn't… Wanna, you know. With me?"
It was Buffy that was doing this to her. Making her feel this way. Feel things she had never felt before. Things she had never thought she could possibly feel. It was infuriating and frustrating. She was always the one in control, in charge. She was always the one to take the lead. Only now there was somebody in front of her. Someone who had taken the control away from.
"Why I didn't sleep with you?" Buffy asks, succinctly finishing the question Faith had been unable to. All the while looking the younger girl straight in her soft brown eyes.
Faith could feel her skin heating up even more. Even with the blankets covering her she felt as if she was standing in front of Buffy with absolutely nothing on. For the first time since she had run away from home nearly three years earlier she felt small, vulnerable, dirty. Like she wasn't, nor could she ever be good enough for the blonde sitting in front of her. As she sat next to Buffy she thought she could scrub herself raw from now till the end of time and never come clean.
She nods her head slightly while trying to avoid looking at Buffy's intense, burning green eyes. "Look at me Faith," Buffy commands softly forcing the younger girl to look directly into Buffy's eyes. A feeling that she could simply drown the liquid pools nearly overwhelms Faith. "I didn't sleep with you because I'm not in love with you Faith, just like you're not in love with me. Sex is suppose to be the ultimate way for two people to express their love for each other. It shouldn't be used as a way to show gratitude for something… Unless you happen to be in love with the person then, yeah okay I guess you could show your gratitude. But that's really getting off track here."
Faith suddenly wonder if she had been misreading Buffy. If what she was saying was true then that probably meant nothing had happened between her and Scott Hope the night before when they had disappeared for a short while. For some reason that thought made Faith want to jump for joy. The elation she felt was nearly the exact opposite of how she had been feeling just a few short minutes ago. As low as she had been then she was now equally high.
Then right on top of that she wonders if Buffy was in love with Scott and that was why they had disappeared. Suddenly she feels herself crashing down from the emotional high she had just been on. She plummets ever further then she had been. Absently she wonders what is going on with herself. "Then it's not because I'm ugly, or… Or I wasn't any good?"
Buffy stares at the young girl stunned into silence for a split second. "God no… Faith. Ugly? How can you even think that about yourself? You are like one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen… Strong, confident." She takes another deep breath, "and as far as not being any good… That couldn't be further from the truth either. You were doing things to me, making me feel things I haven't felt since my night with Angel. Things I didn't think I would ever feel again."
Faith looks back even more confused now then she had been a few minutes ago, "why stop it then? If you were enjoying it. Why not enjoy it? Just let it happen."
She thinks for a minute trying to find some way to say what she needed to say that wouldn't hurt the young brunette. Finally she decides to simply tell her the truth. "I like you Faith," she answers softly. "I like you lot for somebody I just meant. You got this annoying habit of pissing me off. You're quirky, funny, plus you stop me from taking myself too seriously… Which I tend to do way to often… But I'm not in love with you."
"Oh," Faith breathes out softly as a frown creases her features. "It's still Angel isn't it?" She asks suddenly as she seems to get a brief insight into Buffy's mind. "You're just using Scot," she continues softly hardly aware that she had spoken out loud.
Buffy's eyes flash angrily for a second before she drops her head. "Yeah. Kind of," she admits softly. "I mean we kissed earlier today, but it almost felt like I was kissing my brother. You know if I had a brother to compare it to."
Faith shrugs, "maybe you should just screw 'em and lose 'em. You know get it over and done with, out of your system… Then you could move on."
"Just when I think I got you figured out," Buffy mutters with a slight shake of her head. She hops up off the bed she saunters to her closet. "If I got anything you want to borrow just let me know."
"Thought you had a question for me?" Faith asks as she slide out from under the blankets and off of Buffy's bed.
"I do," Buffy answers opening her closet door. "I'd just rather hold this part of our conversation fully clothed."
Buffy comes bounding down the stairs in possibly her best mood in well over half a year, maybe even longer. Faith had told her everything that had happened to her watcher, almost everything. She hadn't given her a lot of details, just the bare facts of what the monster Kakistos had forced her to witness. As he demonstrated on her watcher what he was planning to do to her. Faith had told her how helpless she had been, how scared she was throughout the entire ordeal. Buffy thought terrified would have better described the raw emotion Faith was describing.
Faith had told her how she had gotten lucky when Kakistos had became overconfident. He had wanted the thrill of beating Faith in single combat. He had ordered his minions not to interfere in the fight with the promise of a painful death for anybody who did. She had managed to carve out his eye and then make a break for freedom while the other vampires stood around watching. That was the only reason she had gotten away, by the time Kakistos told them to get her the young girl was already long gone.
Buffy could sense the younger girl was still holding something back. Something that made Faith uniquely Faith. She thought it had something to do with the scars on her back but she wasn't sure. The only thing Buffy felt she could do was be there for the younger girl and hopefully someday she would trust her enough to confide in her. For now though she wasn't going to push.
Right now she was just going to be happy that Faith was staying. Her first reaction after hearing Buffy's question was to simply pack up and leave as fast as possible. She claimed she could be out of Sunnydale before anybody knew she had ever been there. It had taken her awhile but Buffy had finally convinced Faith that her best option for a longer life was to kill Kakistos and her best chance to accomplish that feat was in Sunnydale with Buffy, Giles, and the rest of her friends. She couldn't remember the last time she had talked so hard or so fast trying to convince somebody of something. She wasn't even sure what it was she had said that had finally convinced Faith to stay, but she had and that was all that mattered to her.
Now all she had to was convince her mother that it would be in everybody's best interest for Faith to stay here. Maybe a legal guardianship or even adoption. She thought it would be nice to have Faith as her sister even if it was only on a piece of paper.
As she reaches the bottom of the stairs she wrinkles her extremely sensitive slayer nose. The smell of lemon scented pine sol was emanating quite strongly from the kitchen. There was also the odor of baking cookies; oatmeal, chocolate chip, peanut butter, raisin. A disturbing suspicion was forming in the back of her mind as she nears the kitchen.
"Hey mom," she calls out after silently entering the kitchen. Joyce jumps as the sound of her daughter's voice intrudes on her thoughts. She wasn't sure what she was doing only that it seemed to need doing at the moment. "What ya' doing?" Buffy asks pleasantly a light smirk playing across lips.
"Hi honey," Joyce greets Buffy just a little too cheerfully. "The place was such a mess… It just needed a good tidying up… And then I just had this urge to bake up some cookies," she remarks unable to stop herself as she gestures towards the half dozen platters filled with golden brown cookies.
"So I see," Buffy replies dryly. Her mothers mild ramble confirming her worst fears. "Were you planning on having Xander over anytime soon?"
Joyce frowns slightly as the timer goes off on the oven, "maybe I did go a little overboard." She says opening the oven door and pulling another tray full of cookies out. "Doing anyone," Buffy's eyes go wide as she stares at her mother's back. "I mean doing anything interesting tonight?"
Buffy shrugs at Joyce's back highly annoyed at her mother's assumption. "Well you know, Faith and me were gonna go by the library, let everyone know how things stand now." She smiles as her mother's entire body seems to stiffen slightly, "that reminds me. Would it be okay if Faith moved in here on like a permanent basis? Really wouldn't be that big of a deal. We could share the same bed and everything." The cookie tray falls from suddenly nerveless fingers, "you okay mom?" Buffy asks her voice dripping with false concern.
"Faith is," Joyce begins but stops. She takes a deep breath as she turns to face Buffy. "Faith is going to staying in Sunnydale then?"
Buffy lets her expression fall slightly, "it was… Giles was told earlier that Faith's watcher had passed away. I, I rushed home… I didn't think Faith should be left alone when she." She stops suddenly as she hears Faith coming down the stairs.
She smiles as she hops up rushing to greet Faith. She reaches her just as Faith hits the spot in the hall that can be clearly seen from the kitchen. "Hey B," the taller girl greets the tiny blonde.
"Hi honey," Buffy's sweltering voice replies as she grabs hold of the waistband of her tight black leather pants. Like normal they ride low on Faith's hips. Pulling the younger girl to her she firmly presses their bodies together. "Play along," Buffy whispers so softly only Faith and herself would have been able to hear the words more then a few inches away.
Faith's surprise last only an instant after Buffy's soft, delicate, cherry flavor lips descend upon hers. Instinct takes over as she responds whole heartedly to Buffy's hungry mouth. Her arms come up draping themselves leisurely over Buffy's shoulders. She opens her mouth slightly her tongue darting out savoring the feel, the taste, the very texture of Buffy's lips.
She mildly surprised as she feels Buffy's lips part allowing her access to the tiny blonde's mouth. She groans loudly as Buffy's small hands slide inside her denim jacket. Her sharp nails racking along the sensitive flesh of Faith's short ribs. Faith tangles her fingers into Buffy's golden blonde hair. Her right hand slides down Buffy's back coming to rest on her left buttocks, her strong fingers gently kneading the firm, well muscled flesh.
Joyce's eyes nearly bulge out of her skull as she watches the passionate display put on by the two girls. Her mouth hangs open as she stares in disbelieve at the scene in front of her. Buffy's gay, the thought burns through her mind with the speed and suddenness of heat lightening flashing out of a crystal clear night. Buffy's being gay in my kitchen. My kitchen that I just cleaned. I'm gonna have to clean my kitchen again. The thoughts frantically race through her mind, tumbling over each, one coming almost on top of the previous one. She snaps her jaw shut nearly biting into her tongue.
Shaking her head Joyce realizes she's slightly relieved by one simple thought, at least it's not Angel. She clears her throat loudly causing the two girls to jump apart startled by Joyce's presence. They forgot about me, the shocked thought pops into her head. They completely forgot I was standing right here.
Faith smiles contently as she shrugs at Joyce unapologetically. Buffy buries her head into Faith's shoulder. Joyce can just barely make out the deep crimson color rising in her daughter's cheek. Buffy's hands still rest inside Faith's jacket, while Faith's right hand continues to rub small circles along the small of Buffy's back.
"Would um… I mean… Do you girls, would you like me to fix you some dinner?" Joyce sputters as her brain desperately tries to begin working again.
Faith smirks, "it's cool Mrs. S. I think me and B will be able to scrounge up something to eat on our own," she replies self assuredly. She leans forward lightly kissing Buffy on the top of her head, "isn't that right B?"
"Um-hmm," Buffy mumbles into Faith's shoulder.
"Well," Faith sighs, "we're gonna go now. Do things, lots of… Different things," she continues with in her most sultry voice as she turns Buffy towards the door. "You have a good night Mrs. S. Well be back. Late," she calls out over her shoulder.
Joyce stares down the corridor where the two girls had just disappeared from. She had been so stunned by what she had just seen that she hadn't been able to do react at all. Her mind had simple frozen with what she was witnessing. Her daughter and her lover, she supposed she was going to have to get use to the term, had just informed her they were going to have sex. This was definitely something she was going to be putting a stop to one way or another.
Giles steps out of his office, his glasses held absently in his left hand while his thumb and forefinger of his right hand rub the bridge of his nose. He was applying nearly enough pressure to break the small bone. He truly hated dealing with Joyce. Even under normal circumstances the woman was very nearly as obstinate as her daughter. She simply lacked any of Buffy's more charming qualities.
"Now there's a face that simply screams apocalypse if I've ever seen one," Xander jokes upon seeing Giles distraught face. Rupert looks at the young man with eyes hard enough to drive nails. Xander gulps suddenly nervous, "there isn't one is there? An apocalypse?" He asks hopefully.
Giles shakes his head slightly, "no. It's not the apocalypse," he answers replacing his glasses. The group of teens collectively breath out a sigh of relief. "It might be something far more cataclysmic," he informs them dryly.
Almost on cue before any of the teens present can react the library doors burst open. The group jumps from their chairs almost like one entity before they realize it's only Buffy storming through the doors. After a catching sight of the look of rage in Buffy's eyes they all decide it might be safer to stay standing just in case they need to run quickly somewhere that was far away from her. Faith is only a fraction of a step behind the tiny blonde looking nearly as angry as the older slayer.
"I don't know what you're acting like such a bitch for, you're the one that said play along. I was only following your lead." Buffy rounds on Faith so quickly the younger girl had to stop instantly to avoid running into her. Not for the first time she was glad Buffy was kind of her friend. The thought of having to fight the older slayer was not a very appealing thought. In fact it was a down right frightening one.
The glare in Buffy's eyes is nearly enough to make Faith take a step back. "Following my lead?" She breathes out in disbelieve, "and since when did I lead you to stick your tongue down my throat?"
"You never had to open your mouth," Faith points out becoming highly annoyed by trying to follow Buffy's irrational thought process.
"Ahem," Giles sounds out clearing his throat. For the first time since entering the library both girls become aware of people other then themselves in the large room. Buffy turns a deep shade of red as she spins around to face her friends. She couldn't believe her and Faith had been arguing like that in front of them.
At the same time Faith merely crosses her arms over her chest. She stares defiantly, almost angrily at everyone in the room. Her eyes immediately lock on Xander's glazed over happily smiling face. Without even thinking about it she grabs the first thing that comes to hand, and whips it with unerring accuracy at Xander's head. The binder of the soft cover book hits squarely between his eyes.
"Oww!" Xander exclaims rubbing his forehead. He glares at Faith forgetting for a moment that she could quite literally rip him apart with her bare hands. "And might I add. Hey, what the hell was that for?!"
Faith's glowering stare at Xander was directed inward. She hadn't even known what she had grabbed when she threw. She was probably lucky they had been in a library. Then again considering the library she was in she had just gotten extremely lucky. "Keep me outta your head X," she warns him. "You wouldn't like me there," she adds under her breath.
Giles clear his throat again, slightly louder as he attempts to get everybody's attention. "If we could possibly table this discussion to a future date, perhaps we could focus our attention on matters that are a bit more critical to our present situation."
"Um," Buffy breathes out. "Before we get started on our critical situation there's something I need to tell you guys. About why I left," she stops as she looks down at the floor.
Faith had heard the full story earlier that day. She didn't understand Buffy's feelings on the matter. Buffy had done what she had to in order to save the world. Only doing so had caused her to lose a small piece of herself. Idly wondering at just how intense the blonde's feelings for Angel were. She can feel jealousy shoot through but she doesn't know if its directed at Buffy, at Angel, what they felt for each other, or because nobody had ever cared that much for her. Or if it was because she had never felt that way about anyone. Forcing the emotion back down she places her left hand the her shoulder giving the blonde gentle, reassuring squeeze.
Buffy glances over her shoulder giving her fellow slayer a grateful smile before turning her attention back to the rest of the gang. "Anyway Angelus pulled the sword. We fought, it took awhile, but I was just about to send him to hell when something… I don't know what, but something went through him. He was Angel again. He had no idea what was going on. What he had done," she remarks closing her eyes to keep the tears she feels threatening from spilling out.
Giving her head a slight shake Buffy opens her eyes. She locks her gaze with Giles eyes, "I did what I had to. Sword through the heart. Sending Angel to hell sealing Acathla behind him."
Willow jumps up rushing to Buffy before the words sink in to anybody else's brain. "I'm so sorry," she whispers softly from a few inches away afraid to hug her best friend. Now though she could understand why Buffy had been so distant since returning from Los Angeles.
"It's not your fault Will," Buffy responds with what feels like the first real smile she's been able to flash at any of her friends since she returned.
Xander scowls slightly, "Angel, Angelus," he mumbles. "Their both vamps. They both got what they deserved," he states coldly.
Cordiela smacks him in the back of his head, "you really are an insensitive jerk." Her scathing voice causes him to cringe internally.
"What?" He mutters rubbing the back of his head.
Buffy ignores Xander's comment on Angel. She had gotten quite good at ignoring Xander when it came to Angel. "Besides," she continues to Willow. "I was cryptically warned that it might happen."
"I am extremely sorry you were forced to," Giles begins but stops. He takes his glasses off, "with Acathla opening you must of course realize it was the only course of action available to you."
"I know," Buffy answers. "I'll even be okay," she shrugs, "eventually," she adds after a few seconds. "I just wanted to get that out of the way. Now on to something important for us to deal with," she tells them as she brings Faith around her so she can stand front and center before everyone.
Faith looks at the group nervously. It felt as if she was standing in front of a firing squad with the way her emotions were jumping around on her. Despite the fact that she loved being center of attention when she was at a party or hanging out with the few friends she every had she hated having everybody's focus solely on her. She felt like she did when she had been in school and she had to read her reports out loud in front of a class full of kids. Her hands would sweat, her stomach would do flips, and her mouth would become drier then a desert. Looking at the floor she says one word, "Kakistos."
Everyone watches fascinated as Giles face pales considerably. Before anybody can ask him any questions he disappears into his office. When he reemerges a few moments later he's flipping through the pages of a well worn book. "It's Greek," he announces to the gathered teenagers. "Kakistos. It means worst of the worst. It's the name of a vampire… Ah ha!" He exclaims excitedly as he finds what he was looking for in his book.
He hands the book to Oz who takes a quick look before passing it on to Xander and Cordiela. "It's the name of a vampire so old that his hands and feet have turned cloven," he states as Willow takes the book from Cordiela during the end of his announcement. She stares at the picture a moment she brings the book over to Buffy. She memorizes the picture with a quick look before turning the book over to Faith.
The younger girl barely looks at the picture before she closes the book. She's visibly shaken by the picture as she takes a deep, ragged breath trying to find her center. "That's him," she exhales softly. "That's the bastard that killed my watcher," she snarls as she feels herself physically shake with the rage she's kept pent up for so long.
Even through her denim jacket she can feel Buffy's tiny hand on the small of her back. It's light touch, but it calms her almost immediately. Raising her head she glances at the assembled group. Buffy had told her this was going to be the hardest part, maybe harder then anything she had ever done before. "I'm sorry," she says the words sounding as if someone was pulling them out through her teeth. "About lying to you's, putting your lives in danger… I just… I'm sorry," she finishes clamping her mouth shut. She felt as if she had said way too much as it was. It was bad enough Buffy had somehow managed to get under her skin. She wasn't about to let anybody else in there.
"The council has agreed with my recommendation. You'll be assigned to Sunnydale while we get this Kakistos business settled. They'll be assigning you another watcher. In the interim I am to act in that capacity," Giles informs Buffy and Faith from the confines of his office.
"Why do I need another watcher?" Faith questions clearly agitated. She was already feeling like she was being tossed aside again. "Why can't you be my watcher?"
"I am already Buffy's watcher," Giles answers. "It would hardly be fair to myself as well as Buffy or yourself for me to divide my attention between the two you."
Faith scowls at his reply, "what if I don't want a new watcher? What if I wanna go my own way?" Giles glare wipes out her scowl.
"Faith," Buffy says from her side.
"What it's not like the council cares about us," Faith demands rising from her chair. "Their gonna sit on their asses back in jolly old England. Not even gonna lift a finger while I'm over here fighting for my life," she vents as she paces the small office.
Buffy quickly stands grabbing hold of Faith's shoulders she brings Faith's mad rant to an abrupt halt. "Faith," Buffy almost shouts at the younger girl. "You're not alone. You are not going to be alone. Do you understand me?" Buffy snarls at her. "When Kakistos gets here then he's gonna find both of us more then ready for him."
"I don't," Faith starts but stops hastily. She looks everywhere but at Buffy as she tries to keep herself from breaking down again. "You didn't see what he did to her. What he was going… They held me there… Forced me," she pulls herself out of Buffy's grip. "I'd never been so scared in my life. I still don't know if I escaped or they allowed me to get away… Give me that sense of hope only to snatch it away. I made him pay for that," she growls out fiercely.
She turns back around so that she's facing them. Her face is twisted into a mask of rage, "I took his eye," she tells them proudly. The next instant her face falls, "then I ran like a scared little girl. I'm a slayer. I'm suppose to make them afraid. I'm not suppose to be the one who's scared."
"Who told you that?" Buffy prods her voice a filled with a rage she just barely masks.
Faith points at Giles, "they did. Them and that stupid hand book. "A slayer shall meet her fate bravely. Accepting whatever destiny has in store for her"." She quotes in a pour British accent, "or some load of horse crap."
Buffy gapes at Giles, "suddenly I'm glad I never read the damn thing," she mumbles to herself. "Faith, Faith look at me," she says gently cupping the young girls chin. After a moment she allows Buffy to lift her chin up. The young slayer locks eyes with her older counterpart. She could feel her fears begin to melt away as gazes into Buffy's deep emerald green eyes. "Is that what you think? That I'm not afraid?"
Faith gives Buffy a slight shrug as she nods her head. "In case you didn't notice Faith there's a night light in my room because I'm afraid of the dark. I'm terrified to go patrolling by myself. I'm afraid of people defining me by my powers. I'm scared of what would happen if I ever lost my powers, all the people I wouldn't be able to save. Not being able to protect myself. I'm afraid all the time. More so then most girls my age because I know what's out there. We know what's out there."
Faith drops back down into one of the chairs in front of Giles desk. "What do you do? How do you make it," she shrugs as she looks around, "go away?"
Buffy sits down across from her turning the chair so that it faced Faith instead of Giles. Taking Faith's hands in her own she squeezes them lightly. For anybody but Faith, vampires, and other demons the pressure would be enough to crush bones. Faith looks slightly uncomfortable with the contact but it's Buffy holding her hands. Making her feel safe so she doesn't pull away. Buffy sigh heavily as she catches Faith's dark eyes, "I don't know Faith," she admits finally. "I don't know if there is a way to make it go away. I haven't found it anyway."
Faith lets out the breath she had been, "guess it was too much to hope for," she mumbles quietly.
Giles waits a few minutes until he's sure the crisis has been averted. He had disliked leaving it to Buffy in dealing with Faith, but like normal his slayer had come through. Somehow she had managed to calm the younger girl with nothing but a few well chosen words. "Have you given any thought as to where you shall be staying now that you'll be residing full time in Sunnydale?"
"B's already offered me a spot at her house," Faith responds with just the slight hint of a smirk curling the corner of her lips.
Buffy ignore Faith's rather subtle innuendo, "like I told you, mom's gonna want you in school if you stay with us." She reminds Faith of their earlier conversation with her own evil grin remembering the brunette's vehement protest.
Faith shrugs the comment off. She wasn't about to give Buffy the satisfaction of watching her go off again. Especially when somebody was around to watch the display. "Ain't no problem B. Don't quite know what grade I'll be in, but as long as it ain't juvy high. Don't much care."
Buffy looks slightly bemused by the fact that Faith was calmly excepting this consider what she had said earlier. She looks over at Giles, "see no prob. Faith will be staying with me. You might want to see if the council can do something about making mom her legal guardian."
Faith stares at Buffy. She's once again amazed by the tiny blonde capacity to give of herself, and of her mother without any concern. Once again she feels as if she's finally found a place she belongs. "Do you really think your mom would go for that? I mean there's a lot of stuff about me you don't know."
Buffy rolls her eyes at the younger slayer, "do you use drugs? Do you plan on starting anytime soon? Are you an insane homicidal robot? A five thousand year old Inca mummy princess? A giant praying mantis in disguise? Are you or do you plan on in the near future to suck the world into hell?"
"Where do you come up with this stuff?" Faith asks with a disbelieving smile, "and by the way. No, to all of the above."
"Good. You just past my test for rooming with Buffy Summers. Leave my mother to me," she tells Faith confidently.
"Speaking of your mother," Giles comments diplomatically.
"Let's not," Buffy replies still upset with her mother from the previous encounter.
"This is extremely serious Buffy," Giles responds matching her anger. "She rang me up a short time before your arrival. She was quite incensed. Demanding that I should do something about her daughter and her underage lover."
"I can't believe," Buffy begins indignantly. "How dare she!" She seethes feeling the heat rising in her face. This was something she had never wanted to discuss with Giles.
"Personally I couldn't care less if the two have decided to take what comfort the other is offering."
"Nothing happened G-man," Faith says breaking into his tirade.
"What?" Giles questions confused by the comment. "Joyce was positive the two of you had been intimate this afternoon."
"I was sleeping in B's room. I just happen to sleep in the buff," she smiles at her own joke. Giles' continued glare wipes her small smirk from her face, "anyway. I must've been having a nightmare or something 'cause the next thing I know B's shaking me awake and I break down, sobbing all over the place." She takes a deep breath before continuing her slightly altered version of what really happened. "So my sobbing got to Buffy. She started sobbing and pretty soon we were just sobbing everywhere and we fell asleep exhausted and then woke up later on and talked. Nothing more to it."
Giles looks at the two girls skeptically. He knows there's something their not telling him, "and where in this story did your shirt come off?" He inquires with a quirked eyebrow.
Buffy's face brightens noticeably, "what? My shirt got drenched from all the blubbering going on. 'Sides it's not like I have something she doesn't have," she defends lamely.
"And the kitchen?"
Xander stares at the office door, "wonder what their talking about?" He mumbles not even aware he had spoken out loud. It had been a few minutes since everything had quieted down inside the small room.
"Slayer stuff," Oz replies as he turns another page in one of the books on the table concerning Kakistos. "Either that or slayer stuff."
Cordiela extends her arms fully as she pushes herself as far from the book she was busily pretending to read as possible. "What I want to know is why we're researching her demon? I mean he's a vamp, right? We all know what works really well against vampires. A little sunlight, a little holy water, and a sharp piece of wood through the heart. Viola, we got ourselves a big pile of dust."
Oz's frown is accompanied by a small shake of his head, "this guys got some history to him." He turns another page in the book, "what he did in Madrid circa fifteen-sixties was rather heart wrenching." He finishes with something close to a smirk.
"And what was with the comment about Faith sticking her tongue down Buffy's throat? Was that some kind of metaphysical euphemism for something else?"
"If you can't keep the image of the slayers playing tonsil hockey out of your head," Cordiela begins threatening coldly.
The door to Giles office crashes open. It's glass window shattering on impact. An enraged Faith storms through the library without spearing a glance at the three teens gathered at the table or Willow working at the computer. Her lips move rapidly as she mutters darkly under her breath. They hear a few words about Buffy, her relationship to a donkey, what she prefers to do with goats and other large barn yard animals.
Moving quickly Buffy's at the table grabbing her bag, leather coat, and Faith's denim jacket. "What?" Xander manages to choke out before Buffy cuts him off.
"Thanks guys. Love to talk, but I gotta go find her before she runs into something," she glances at the door to Giles office. "Breakable. People, compact vehicles. Small buildings," she finishes just before she rushes out the library doors.
Cordiela looks at Giles standing in the doorway to his office, "isn't that suppose to open the other way?" She asks the British librarian. Giles glances at the young cheerleader, it's a look that has been know to give vampires pause. It simply rolls off Cordelia's unflappable exterior. "Can we go now?" She questions Giles in her more then condescending voice. "I mean it's hardly fair that we get stuck here researching while the slayers are off doing who knows what."
"Would you stop!" Buffy shouts at Faith before she can ruin another door. Tracking the raven-hair slayer was relatively simple. All Buffy had to do was follow the doors that had been pushed open the wrong way.
Faith was like the proverbial bull in the china shop. She was head down full out charge type of girl with absolutely no use for subtlety, and even less concern about using any. If she knew what it was, which at this point Buffy highly doubted.
Faith whirls on Buffy, her face a thunderstorm of rage as she glares at the tiny blond trailing her. "Why the hell would I wanna do that!?" She screams at her fellow slayer.
If Buffy hadn't been so concerned with making things right with Faith she would probably have been laughing herself silly at the moment. She didn't think the younger girl was aware of the fact that by venting and yelling at Buffy she had done exactly what she had wanted her to do in the first place. "I'm," she begins only to be cut off by a still ranting Faith.
"I can't believe I set myself up like that! Can't believe that I thought you would be any different then anybody else! Thought that wow, here's someone not out to use me, abuse me, and lose me!" She shouts at Buffy from only a few feet away. "Well guess what Buffy Summers? You ain't no better then anybody else out there. You're screwing me over just like everybody else."
"I'm sorry!" Buffy yells at her. Amazingly Faith falls silent hearing two simple words. Buffy was more then willing to let Faith unleash her temper at her. She more then deserved it for the motives behind her actions earlier today. Only the normally reticent girl didn't seem like she was going to run down anytime soon.
"Hugh?" Faith breathes out a moment later. She wasn't sure what Buffy had said, but it almost sounded like the older girl had apologized to her. That had to be wrong though, Faith reasons, because people like Buffy don't apologize to people like me.
Buffy inhales deeply, she hated apologizing, hated admitting she was wrong. "I'm sorry," she repeats her previous statement. Dropping her eyes to the ground she says, "what I did. It was inconsiderate, insensitive, and thoughtless. It was wrong of me to use you like that and I'm sorry."
Faith tosses her hands into the air more confused now then a few minutes ago. It was despicable pattern she was noticing with this day. Every time she turned around Buffy was there winding her up like a top and letting her go spinning in whatever direction she would without even being aware of what she was doing. "Stop doing this to me!" She snarls as she spins away from Buffy. Nearly yanking the door off it's hinges as she rushes out into the night.
Buffy rolls her eyes as she snatches the door before it can swing shut. "At least she opened it right," she mumbles under her breath. She had no idea what Faith meant by her statement. "Doing what?" She calls out tossing the girl her jacket.
Faith turns again snatching her jacket out of the air, "this," she hisses waving her denim coat at Buffy.
"Bringing you your jacket?" She asks in disbelieve. Her confusion was as evident in her voice as it was in her features.
"Pretending you care about me!"
"I'm not pretending anything," Buffy responds quickly.
"Well stop it!" She shouts at Buffy, "it's confusing the hell outta me… I don't know."
"Yeah, well… You're confusing the hell out of me too!" Buffy yells back causing Faith to glance up at her looking more confused by the second. "I meant to talk to you on the way over here. I never expected my mom to call Giles, and I never saw Giles going all parental on us."
"Why didn't you?" She asks feeling her anger fade slightly.
"You kissed me," Buffy answers as if that explained everything.
Faith grabs her hair and has to fight down the urge to rip her dark locks out by the roots. Her eyes go wide as she turns in a tight circle. She wanted to nothing more right now then to howl at the moon unleashing all of her pent up frustration. "You kissed me," she finally snarls lower her eyes to stare at Buffy.
Buffy walks past Faith trying to put her thoughts in order. "All right," she finally replies turning back around to find Faith had started to follow her. "I started the kiss, but it was suppose to be a quick peck… Something chaste. Then you… God didn't you hear me when I said play along?"
"I don't play B," Faith informs her. "Not like that."
"So I notice," Buffy mumbles a slight flush rising in her cheeks. "Look I was doing something stupid. Trying to get back at my mother. I shouldn't have used you to do that, at least not without talking to you first."
"What do you have to get back at Mrs. S for. She seems like a great mom. Hell of a lot better then mine anyway," she mumbles the last part to low for anyone to hear.
Buffy shakes her head, "it was stupid. I'll deal with it on my own," she says feeling more self conscious about her plan and the situation with each passing second.
Faith hesitates for a moment unsure of her feelings, "B… I can't help ya' if you don't let me," she finally responds. She might not be sure about what she was feeling but she knew she trusted Buffy. There wasn't a single doubt in her mind that wasn't anything she wouldn't do in order to help the tiny blond.
Buffy only pauses for a moment before answering, "she saw us," she simply states.
Faith smirks at Buffy, "from what G said she could sketch a picture of us." She jokes in an attempt to lighten Buffy's mood.
Buffy's pointed look is enough to make Faith lose her small smile. "While we were sleeping all snuggled up cozy with each other."
"I don't snuggle," Faith informs Buffy.
Buffy simply arches an eyebrow at Faith causing her cheeks to color. "Anyway," Buffy continues, "she never bothered to ask me. She just assumed we had sex."
"And you're pissed off because she thinks you're a big old dyke now?" She asks not sure if she was more amused or angry at Buffy.
Buffy shakes her head, "Faith I liked kissing you. Liked it a lot and I could care less who knows that." She tells the brunette allowing her voice and her eyes to convey her sincerity. Faith swallows hard as Buffy's words make her feel like there is something in this world for her. At the same time she still feels unworthy to even breath the same air as the golden slayer. "It's because of you that I know I'm still not ready to move on. That I still have a lot to deal with concerning Angel."
"Then what?" Faith asks her softly.
Buffy sits down on the top step in front of the school. Faith follows suit and sits down next to her. "Even before I was called mom's never talked to me. Just assumed things, parenting through self help books. Afterwards things just got worse. I'm a delinquent, a troublemaker. If I studied harder, didn't stay out all night my grades would be better," Buffy vents softly. Taking a deep shuddering breath she looks over at Faith, "I know. It's probably nothing compared to how you grew up."
Faith shrugs and they both let the subject drop. "Didn't you ever try talking?"
"Once," Buffy replies looking of into the darkening sky without elaborating further.
The two girls sit next to each in silence for several minutes. Faith glances at Buffy out of the corner of her eye, "so you liked the kissing?" She questions the older girl semi nervously.
Buffy smiles back at Faith gently nudging the younger girl with her shoulder. "It was nice," she replies with a small smile.
"Only nice," Faith inquires as she nudges Buffy back as a smile plays across her lips as well.
________________________________________________________________________
Wonderwall - Oasis
Today is gonna be the day
That they're gonna throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realised what you gotta do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do about you now
Backbeat the word was on the street
That the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before
But you never really had a doubt
I don't believe that anybody feels
The way I do about you now
And all the roads we have to walk are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would
Like to say to you
but I don't know how
Because maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me ?
And after all
You're my wonderwall
Today was gonna be the day?
But they'll never throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realised what you're not to do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do
About you now
And all the roads that lead you there were winding
And all the lights that light the way are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
I don't know how
I said maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me ?
And after all
You're my wonderwall
I said maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me ?
And after all
You're my wonderwall
Said maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
You're gonna be the one that saves me
You're gonna be the one that saves me