CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SUBSTITUTING
Faith had continued in her moping depression for four and a half days before deciding to go back to The Helix. Joanna had been trying to get Faith to talk about what had happened, but Faith had kept everything bottled inside, not wanting to share her feeling with anyone. She missed Buffy with an aching intensity that she didn't quite understand. She wasn't sure how she could miss someone she'd known for only a few days.
Faith entered the club, waving away the bouncer's question of her whereabouts for the last few days. She was dressed to kill, both literally and figuratively, but there was a certain lack of enthusiasm surrounding the Slayer. She scanned the crowd, recognising several random faces of people she had bedded over the years.
She promised herself that if she saw Mr Random Jock Guy from the other night that she would kick his ass for trying to intimidate her.
Faith's attention was captured by a flash of golden blonde hair and for a moment, Faith thought that perhaps Buffy had come back. She sighed when she saw a tall blonde girl in place of what she'd hoped to be the object of her affections.
Someone tapped her shoulder, holding their hand out in a silent request for her to dance. She turned and saw a tall brunette boy with a hopeful expression on his face. She hesitated a moment before giving him her hand and letting him drag her onto the dance floor.
He held her close, and Faith couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in the intimate embrace. She shook her head, as though to clear the strange discomfort she felt. She'd never been awkward in a situation like this before. In fact, boys had held her closer and she'd never wanted to put distance between herself and them.
She ignored the feelings and forced herself to dance, closing her eyes and moving rhythmically. The boy grabbed her roughly, pulling her closer, but she pulled away, keeping room between them, not wanting to be overly close to him. He looked confused at the room between them, unable to understand why the brunette girl who typically left barely any breathing room between herself and her dance partners was backing away from him.
He tried pulling her closer once more, and when he was again denied, he stepped away from her completely, knowing that he wasn't going to get what he wanted from her. Faith sighed in relief and danced alone, surprised when she realised she wasn't scouting for potential partners, but just enjoying the solitude.
She felt someone brush against her and looked up to find a beautiful redhead dancing close to her. The girl smiled at Faith and moved closer, her hand touching the Slayer's hip. Faith flinched a little but forced herself to relax, trying to push away the memories of dancing with Buffy. She couldn't help but compare the two girls, thinking that Buffy had been a better dancer who had anticipated every one of Faith's moves and had countered it. But, Faith had to admit that the redhead was a fairly good dancer.
"Kinda crowded here tonight, huh?" the redhead said, leaning closer to say loudly in Faith's ear.
Faith moved backward a little, the girl's voice slightly too loud with her Slayer hearing. She gave the girl a look, wondering why she had said that when the Helix was crowded every night.
"Uh huh." Whoever heard of talking while dancing anyway?
"D'you wanna get a drink or something?"
Faith shook her head. "Just wanna dance."
The redhead frowned a little. "You sure?"
"Yeah I'm good."
The redhead shrugged and continued dancing with the brunette. She'd seen Faith at the club before and had thought that interacting with her would be slightly easier.
Three songs later, the redhead moved in closer to Faith and the brunette girl allowed it to happen.
"You wanna get outta here?"
Faith hesitated a moment before nodding her consent. She shifted easily into her old persona of a seductress and wrapped an arm around the girls waist. The walked out the front door, Faith smirking at the bouncer who grinned and shook his head. Faith was back.
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The redhead, who Faith had learnt was named Jamie, slipped out of the bed and began dressing. She slipped into her skirt and shirt, and leant over the bed, kissing Faith deeply. The brunette girl responded instinctively, but with no real feeling behind it.
"Can I see you again?" Jamie asked.
Faith nodded and began pulling her own clothes on. As soon as she was changed, she grabbed a pen from the hotel desk and wrote down her cell phone number. Jamie took the number and pocketed it. The girls left the room, ignoring the strange stares they received from the two young men manning the reception desk.
They walked in silence until Faith reached her own street. She stopped and looked at Jamie, trying to conjure up feelings similar to those she'd felt with Buffy, but nothing came. She smiled weakly as Jamie kissed her cheek.
"See you at the club tomorrow, maybe?" Jamie asked.
Faith nodded, idly wondering if she would even bother showing up. Somehow she knew she would, just to try and replicate what she'd felt five days before. With a departing wave, Faith disappeared into the night.
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Three weeks later, Faith was still 'seeing' Jamie. She couldn't quite comprehend that even after three weeks, she had yet to feel even a tenth of what she'd felt from just hugging Buffy. She didn't love Jamie, she could only barely tolerate her sometimes. She knew basically nothing about the girl, and Jamie definitely had no idea of Faith's extra curricular activities.
She knew that Jamie felt basically the same towards her, but neither was willing to break it off, mainly because they did have fun together. They were compatible in bed and that was all that mattered to Jamie.
Joanna was surprised that Faith had been in a monogamous relationship, though she could basically understand what Faith was trying, and failing to do. She knew that Faith missed Buffy, and when she received a phone call from Buffy's Watcher, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, asking for their help on the hellmouth, she agreed to leave immediately.
Explaining to Faith that their help was required in California had been easy enough. Faith wasn't really attached to anyone or anything in Boston and had no real reason to stay there.
Joanna decided to forego telling Faith about Buffy being the other Slayer, instead explaining about a Slayer, who she referred to simply as Miss Summers needed help with an event called an Ascension, wherein a human wanted to transform themselves into a pure demon.
Faith had been curious about the other Slayer, not really understanding why there were two when it was only meant to be 'one girl in all the world'. Joanna explained about the other girl's momentary death that had activated the Calling of a second Slayer. Faith wasn't entirely sure how to take that piece of information, but she decided it wasn't an entirely bad thing. She was actually looking forward to meeting the other Slayer and comparing stories.
Faith had spent most of the flight staring at Buffy's phone number. She'd memorised and dialled the number more times than she could count, but not once had she ever spoken to the blonde girl. There had been so many nights that she'd stared blankly at her cell phone, wanting to dial and spend the next few hours just talking to the other girl, but she'd known that conversing with someone and never seeing them would only end up hurting them both.
"So, how close to LA is this small town hellmouthy thing?" Faith asked.
"It's two hours away," Joanna replied. "And the town is Sunnydale."
Faith nodded and Joanna thanked the Powers That Be that Buffy hadn't told Faith what town she'd been from. The Slayer wondered whether or not Joanna would approve of her taking time out after the Ascension to visit Buffy. Even if it took several hours on a bus, she'd be more than willing to just see Buffy again.
"Cool."
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The Scooby Gang sat around the table in the library, pouring over books that told them almost nothing about the upcoming Ascension. All they knew was that it would be on Graduation Day which was six weeks away. Wesley entered the room, looking entirely too smug, and the group turned to look at him, wondering what exactly he'd just done.
"Good news people," he began. "I've spoken with the Council-"
"Oh joy," Buffy said dryly.
Wesley glared at her and continued. "They suggested that we request for the second Slayer to join us here on the hellmouth until after the Ascension."
Buffy froze in her seat. Her heart rate picked up furiously. She'd been wanting to see, to talk to Faith for the last three weeks, and going without the other Slayer had been incredibly difficult. If Faith was coming to Sunnydale, that meant they'd finally be able to discover what was between them.
"When are they getting here?" Buffy asked.
"Tonight," Wesley replied.
Buffy grinned until Wesley looked at her inquisitively. She sobered and went back to her book, trying to keep from bouncing in her seat with excitement. Willow noticed the subtle change in her friend and wanted to ask what Buffy was so excited about, but with Wesley in the room, she didn't get the chance.
Buffy could only pretend to read for the rest of their research time, her mind running over the many different conversations that could occur between the two girls. She could only hope that Faith wouldn't hold it against her for not telling her the truth about being a Slayer.
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TBC…
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S&K.