CHAPTER FIVE: HELIX
Faith made her way to The Helix slowly that night, trying to stretch her muscles out with the brisk walk. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't limber up and a pervading feeling of lethargy seemed to hang over her entire body.
She avoided cutting through the two graveyards that were on her way to the club, deciding that a close encounter of the vampire kind would be best avoided tonight. Usually she would have enjoyed the extra workout before dancing at The Helix. It annoyed her immensely that she had to skip her usual session.
She turned the corner of the well-lit street, her Watcher's words echoing in her mind. Joanna had instructed her as she left to stay in brightly lit areas as she wasn't well, sounding more like a guidance counsellor than a Watcher. Faith kind of liked her concern though…it was weird, having someone almost care about you. The Slayers Handbook told Faith that she could only be acting out of Watcherly duty but she felt some semblance of affection for the woman that fed and housed her.
Faith nodded to the bouncer as she entered the club. He knew her face. He'd seen her arrive every night without fail, and he'd seen her leave too, towing some starry-eyed boy or leather clad girl by the hand. The bouncer knew enough of Faith's appetites to feel sorry for the regular procession of hearts that were broken in her bed.
Faith shrugged off her leather jacket and found a table to dump it under. She walked to the bar and pounded a note down on the counter.
"Vodka shot, straight up," Faith yelled above the music to the female bartender. She couldn't help checking her out as her back was turned, but straightened her face when the girl returned with the drink.
Throwing back the shot, Faith scanned the dance floor before plunging in. She was determined to have a good time and she wondered if the blonde girl – Buffy – was here tonight as promised. She was fascinated with the connection that seemed to be building between them as it was unlike anything she had felt before. It was more than carnal, more than the deep-down tingles she'd felt with all the others. There was an un-sated ache there that Faith longed to actualise, but for the first time she was unsure how to do so.
She picked a boy to steal from a girl, in her usual manner. After five minutes of bump and grind and growing bored, she turned on the girl and led her out to the middle of the dance floor, sliding her hands around her hips. The girl giggled nervously and Faith rolled her eyes when she wasn't looking. Another insipid debutante.
She barely had time to turn away from the nervous teenager before some-one grabbed her arm possessively, almost painfully. Who-ever it happened to be was lucky she had less strength than usual, or they'd be losing several teeth very soon. She whipped around to face them, gunning for a fight.
She vaguely recognised his face but she'd be damned if she could remember his name. Considering the most interaction she had with people other than Joanna was of a more carnal and horizontal nature, she figured he was one of the long line of lonely hearts. And strangely enough, he didn't look happy.
"Faith, honey, good to see you!"
Faith stared blankly at the random guy who somehow knew her name. Not only that but he was calling her a condiment. Now the trick was to figure out who he was and where he fit into the last couple of months of one night stands. She was fairly certain he was from at least the last two weeks but there was no way to be sure.
She stared for a moment and then decided that harassing the blushing teen would be more fun than playing the name game. She turned her back on him and grabbed the short redhead's hand, drawing her close to her body and resuming her sway to the beat.
Faith felt her body jolted back and pushed to the side as one strong shoulder shoved between the breathing-only distance that she'd established with the redhead. She mouthed the words "what-the-fuck?" and saw that Mr Random had stepped menacingly in front of her.
"Can I help you?" Faith asked, barely covering the growing annoyance in her voice.
"Dance with me, Faith." She looked up at him, suddenly aware for the first time of how tall he was. He stood at least a foot taller than her, his shoulders broad and muscular, the picture perfect jock that Faith had always despised. Unfortunately, Mr Jock was far better looking than most of the other jocks, and Faith had given in, having nothing better to do.
She was acutely conscious that if her dwindling strength continued to fade she would have little to no chance to defend herself against him. Deciding that dancing with him seemed to be the lesser of two evils, she allowed him to take hold of her hips and pull her against him.
Two songs later, and Faith was feeling trapped. She had to admit that it was an extremely unpleasant experience. She pulled away from him, only to have him grab her by the wrist.
"Where are you going Faithy?" he asked, his lips brushing against her ear, sending shivers of disgust down her spine.
She tried to think of an excuse that would guarantee that he would leave her alone.
"Bathroom."
He nodded and Faith made her escape quickly. She ducked into the girls bathroom, thankful that the line wasn't horrendously long. She stood in front of the mirror, staring at herself, almost as though she were seeing herself for the first time. She wondered whether Joanna had been right about her having the night off.
She splashed water onto her face, careful not smudge her mascara. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and scanned the crowd, trying to make sure she had a clear path to the door to make her escape. Not even the thought of seeing Buffy could keep her at the club, and she wanted nothing more than to be in relative safety.
She'd almost made it to the door, when someone grabbed her by the waist.
"You weren't thinking of leaving were ya?"
Faith groaned inwardly. She turned to face him, her anger welling up inside her. She was sick of playing the game with him, and she wasn't going to continue.
"Listen…" she searched for a name, before giving up "guy. Stay the fuck away from me."
She tried to wrench away from his grasp, but he held onto her tightly.
"You don't even remember my name, do you?" he asked angrily.
"Not in the strictest sense, no."
If humans could growl the way vampires did, Faith was fairly certain that Mr Random Jock Guy would have been doing so.
"You're a fuckin tease you know that?"
Faith just smirked and tried to pull away once more. "What's your point?"
She was on dangerous ground and she knew it, especially without her strength, but he was pissing her off, and anger very rarely made her rational. He stepped towards her and Faith was again sharply reminded of the height and weight difference between them. She told herself not to panic, mentally noting that girls without strength were harassed everyday and often nothing came from it. She was, of course, trying to deny the rape statistics in this area of Boston, not wanting to even think of the possibility of that happening.
"You really don't wanna do this," Faith warned.
He smirked and moved closer to her, their noses touching as he towered over her.
"You sure about that?"
She was beginning to panic now. She bucked against him, trying to get his hands away from her. "Get off me!"
The people around them barely noticed her yells above the music coming from the speakers. He began pulling her towards the exit, Faith using what was left of her strength to try and stay inside the club. Just before they could reach the door, someone stopped them. Faith saw the face of her rescuer and wondered how someone smaller than herself was going to keep the six-foot tall football player from taking her into the alley behind Helix.
"Hey, you mind if I steal your girlfriend for a dance?" Buffy asked sweetly.
The jock hesitated, glaring at Buffy, who looked even weaker than Faith. The only problem was, he'd been counting on no one noticing him dragging Faith out of the club. With a disgusted snort, he threw his hands into the air and stalked out of the club into the cooling night air.
Faith breathed a sigh of relief, closing her eyes as she realised she'd just had an extremely close call. She'd always known that her one-night stands were going to come back one day and bite her on the ass. She felt Buffy gently take her hand, almost surprised by the warmth radiating form the blonde girl. It was then that she realised that it wasn't Buffy's temperature that was abnormal, it was her own. Her hands were freezing cold and shaking badly.
Without a word, Buffy led her to a corner and sat her down at an empty table, waiting for Faith to regain her composure.
"You okay?" Buffy finally asked.
Faith nodded and finally looked at her rescuer. She didn't know whether to feel relieved or highly embarrassed. She settled for feeling both and sat up straighter in her chair, trying to regain her pride.
"Five by five," she replied, her voice steady even though Faith was feeling more shaken than she'd ever felt in the last five years.
"I'll interpret that as good," Buffy replied.
She could tell that Faith was shaken by the experience, knew without a doubt that Faith was not used to having to deal with others that were stronger than her. Buffy could remember only too well the helplessness that had come with the Cruciamentum. Buffy wanted to tell Faith exactly what was going on, but she knew that it wasn't something that she could do.
Buffy had resolved herself to keeping an eye on the other Slayer, and making sure she didn't die, but not in stopping the actual test. Whilst she didn't agree with the test, she knew that Faith and her Watcher would be in trouble with the Council if it didn't go as planned. All Buffy could do was make sure her nightmares didn't come true.
"You wanna go some place quieter?" Buffy offered.
Faith scowled at the girl, but Buffy chose not to take it personally.
"I came here to dance," Faith replied sharply. She stood and held her hand out and Buffy took it, knowing that trying to force Faith to leave the club would be the equivalent of an insult.
They stepped onto the dance floor, Faith's movements less sure than they'd been the night before. It took her nearly three songs before she'd shaken off the terror that had surrounded her after what had nearly happened. Buffy made sure not to watch Faith too closely, knowing that Faith was obviously trying to deal with this in her own way. Whilst Buffy had opened up to her friends about the fear surrounding the ordeal of the Cruciamentum, the blonde Slayer was fairly certain that Faith couldn't afford that same luxury.
Giles had explained to her several times that she was the only Slayer in history who had civilians working beside her, and Buffy knew without a doubt that Faith didn't have any close friends. Associates and fuck-buddies perhaps, but no real confidantes. Buffy wanted to change that, knowing that it was the ties to the world that gave Slayers their reason to fight.
Faith pushed all thoughts of the evil jock out of her head, concentrating on the music and the blonde that she was dancing with. She was somewhat surprised to feel herself relaxing in the presence of this girl whom she barely knew, but somehow it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Her confidence returned, and she moved closer to Buffy, noticing the way the blond girl gently rested one hand in the small of Faith's back. Such a simple, gentle gesture but one that was a world apart from the usual groping that she knew. Their slim forms weren't quite in time, as Faith was still a little off balance from her previous encounter. She noticed Buffy trying to compensate for Faith's mistakes, and Faith struggled to find the rhythm that usually came so naturally to her. She bit the inside of her cheek and concentrated on getting the sway of her body right. Suddenly it seemed of dire consequence to get everything right around this girl.
The music raced in the air between them and finally Faith felt her desire to dance return. She was conscious of the space between them, the way their knees, hands and arms constantly touched. Fires raced between them whenever their skin connected, all of Faith's thoughts rushing to that point, that one point where their bodies collided. She wondered if the blonde girl felt that too, that same knot in the stomach and inability to know anything in that moment other than the feeling of their knees, touching.
It was all of these little things Faith found herself noticing; the little things that distinguished this pure and tingling sensation from the carnal ache she felt with all the others. Buffy's hair, straight and unfettered by a band, swung behind her as she danced, smiling, occasionally closing her eyes, her hand still in the small of Faith's back. Her hair fell over her shoulder and brushed Faith's arm, and strangely, the dark haired slayer was aware of that too. She felt every movement from Buffy's body on her own – it seemed every stretch of muscle, every exhalation was significant.
Buffy too could feel the electricity flowing between them. She wouldn't have been able to define it, even if her life depended on it. All she knew was that she wanted to be closer to this girl. She wasn't used to dancing this close to girls before. The dancing she'd done with Willow had always been tame and no where near as sensual as this. Buffy was keenly reminded of the dance she'd done with Xander after her emotional breakdown at the beginning of the previous school year.
Buffy could literally feel Faith relaxing as the music continued to play. She'd felt Faith's hesitation, her awkwardness at first, but now it was as though nothing had happened between their previous evening's dance and now. They danced together in sync, their movements perfectly timed as though they'd had a chance to choreograph their dance before hand.
The blonde Slayer could feel the heat rising between them, unsure of what it meant, but knowing that it was significant. She was acutely aware of the other Slayer's every move, her skin becoming overly sensitised whenever Faith's fingers brushed against her. There was a knot of nervousness in her stomach that Buffy hadn't felt since her one night with Angel fourteen months ago. She couldn't explain her feelings or rationalise them. All she knew was that she wanted to continue their dance and see where it led them.
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Much thanks to ppl for reviewing!! Very encouraging!
S&K.