CHAPTER SIXTEEN: AFTERMATH
Several songs later, the Slayers made their way back to the Scooby table hand-in-hand. Buffy was nervous as anything, wondering what sort of a response the Scoobies would give to her sudden announcement of being with Faith in a more than friendly way.
Willow shifted uncomfortably, not entirely certain how to take this new revelation. She'd never really thought about her reaction to Buffy being in a relationship with anyone other than Angel, and to see her now with the dark-haired beauty was making Willow more than a little uncomfortable. She knew, however, that she would lose Buffy's friendship if she didn't show herself to be completely and utterly supportive of the entire situation.
Where Willow was unsure of how to react, Xander had only one thought running through his mind. It was as though a dream come true. He'd had several twisted fantasies involving Buffy, Willow and Cordelia, but he'd never thought that any of the girls would be interested in doing anything of the sort. Obviously he'd been wrong. Besides, anyone who wasn't the dark and brooding vampire was alright in Xander's books.
Oz, as always, was cool with it, as long as it made the Slayer happy.
Cordelia could only think of how much damage this was going to do to her already fragile reputation. Not only was she hanging out with a group of outcasts, but now one of them was openly gay.
Buffy and Faith sat down, Faith flopping heavily onto the couch as Buffy sat down a little more cautiously. Faith was tempted to yank Buffy into her lap, but she knew how much the Scoobies approval meant to the blonde Slayer. She wasn't about to go too far before Buffy's friends had expressed their opinions. Faith could only hope that Buffy's friends opinions wouldn't hold too much sway over what would then happen between them.
"So, uh…it's good music tonight, huh?" Willow said inanely.
"Can we come here with you two more often?" Xander asked, a grin on his face.
Buffy blushed fiercely while Faith just laughed. Cordelia hit him again. She could see Xander's fascination with the two girls was going to get very old very fast.
"You know as nice as it is to see you smiling instead of being the winner of Miss Mopefest '99, I gotta say, if you do that at school, I won't be associating with you ever again," Cordelia announced.
Buffy just rolled her eyes. "However shall I survive?"
It was Oz who finally asked the simple question that all of the Scoobies had been dancing around. "So, you're together?"
Buffy and Faith exchanged a look before turning back to the werewolf and nodding in unison. "Yeah, we are," Buffy replied.
"If you two ever feel the burning desire to record anything, I can lend you a camera," Xander volunteered. "Free of charge and everything."
He was ignored by everyone, and Buffy turned her attention to her other –silent- best friend. Buffy could tell that Willow was having some problems with what had just happened. The blonde Slayer turned to her new girlfriend…she gave a mental jump of excitement at the thought…and squeezed Faith's hand. She stood up and gently tapped Willow's shoulder.
The redhead was brought out of her thoughts and looked up in surprise. She saw Buffy looking down at her, silently asking for Willow to have a conversation with her away from the Scoobies. Willow swallowed nervously and stood up, following Buffy as she led them outside into the cool night air.
The two girls found a quieter area and leant against the side of the building. Buffy couldn't believe that she was actually fidgeting nervously.
"So, uh…"
"So…you and Faith?" Willow asked. "I mean…wow…that's really…uh…that's really…well, strange is the word that comes to mind. Oh, not a bad strange. It's a good strange. But still strange you know."
"I know," Buffy said quietly. "It's all pretty strange to me too."
"Are you…are you two…"
"Oh, no! God, no Willow," Buffy exclaimed. "I've known her for a month. Technically only for a few days. We haven't slept together."
Willow went bright red and shook her head emphatically. "No! I wasn't asking…I didn't mean. That wasn't what I was trying to say. At all. Ew…mental pictures. Not that being gay is bad. Cos it's not. There's nothing wrong with it, cos it's a really nice thing sometimes. But not for me. I mean, probably not for me. Not that I've thought about it, cos I haven't, I mean, not really. Not since that whole vampire skanky evil me came out, but even then I wasn't thinking…I mean…"
"Breathe Will," Buffy said.
Willow stopped and inhaled deeply. She calmed herself down and tried to swallow her embarrassment.
"Sorry," she apologised quietly. "What I was trying to ask, and badly apparently, was if you love her."
Buffy didn't even hesitate in her answer. "Yeah Will, I do."
"What about Angel?" Willow asked. "Does Faith know about him?"
"Not in the strictest sense of her having an actual clue about him at all," Buffy replied guiltily. "We kinda never got around to talking about our significant exes."
"But you will tell her, right?" Willow asked.
Buffy nodded. "I guess I'll kinda have to. Angel was a big part of my life, and…I guess he still is, what with him still being in Sunnydale and all, but…he and I can never be together. And before you think I'm all reboundy with Faith, I'm really not. I can't explain it, but it just…it makes sense."
Willow suddenly paled and looked at Buffy with frantic eyes. "What about your mom?"
Buffy grimaced a little. "Well, I figured after the whole 'by the way, I'm a Slayer' thing, she'll probably be pretty cool with just about anything."
"You hope," Willow added.
Buffy nodded. It was her turn to pale, and Willow noticed the look of pure panic on her face. "What?"
"We left Faith alone with Xand and Cordy."
"And Oz," Willow said.
Buffy just gave her a significant look. "He's not the one I'm worried about."
------------------------
Xander had been unable to take his eyes off the new Slayer. He couldn't get the image of Buffy and Faith kissing out of his head, and he wasn't sure if he wanted that mental picture gone.
"So, how long have you and Buff been doin' the horizontal mambo?" Xander asked.
Faith was beginning to wonder why Buffy was friends with this boy. She turned to look at Oz.
"You're a werewolf, right?" she asked.
Oz just nodded.
"So, if I sicked you on Xander during a full-moon it wouldn't technically be like I killed him, right?" Faith asked rhetorically.
Xander looked affronted by the suggestion. Cordelia just smiled, liking the suggestion more and more. Faith saw the smile on the Prom Queen's face and looked at her.
"So, C, you and X are dating?"
"I'm not sure why, but yes," Cordelia replied. "And just for the record, the whole calling us by our initials thing is gonna get old pretty fast."
"Well if you guys didn't have such weird-ass names, I'd call you by 'em," Faith replied.
"She's got a point," Oz said quietly.
"See, Fuzzy's got no problems with it," Faith said.
Oz thought about the nickname for a moment before deciding to not take offence to it. He couldn't really deny the logic behind the moniker.
"You're gonna love meeting Angel then," Xander said. "He's got a whole well of nicknames just begging to be used."
"A guy called Angel?" Faith asked incredulously. "Sheesh, that's a little gay isn't it?"
"Says the gay girl," Oz quipped.
Faith grinned and couldn't help but laugh. She knew she and Oz were going to get on very well in the future.
"Besides, Angel's not gay," Cordelia said.
"His ex-girlfriend though…" Xander trailed off as Cordelia hit him. "What?! That guy turned her, and not in the vampirey sirey kinda way."
Faith was giving Xander blank looks and Cordelia knew that Buffy had neglected to tell her new…girlfriend…weird much…about Angel.
"So, Faith…been the Slayer long?" Cordelia asked, tactfully changing the topic.
"Bout eight months," Faith replied. Her eyes wandered to the door as she felt a familiar tingling sensation in her stomach. She smiled as she saw Buffy walk through the door, Willow in tow. She couldn't have been more glad for the rescue at that point. Buffy's friends seemed nice enough, but left alone with them, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to play nice for much longer.
Buffy and Faith took seats beside their significant others, Buffy taking Faith's hand in hers. The Scoobies took a moment to adjust to this sudden change before deciding that they didn't really care whom Buffy was with.
Faith smiled, enjoying the feeling of having her hand held. Not even with her longest relationship of three weeks had she ever had her hand held by someone. It was a nice feeling, and she could only hope that she didn't do anything to completely screw it all up.
-----
Mega thanks for feedback!
SNEAK PREVIEW:
Buffy didn't have a chance to really process what had just happened, and before she could regroup, Faith threw herself at Angel, punching and kicking viciously, disregarding the other vampires and whaling on the vamp who had knocked Buffy to the ground.
S&K.