Adjustment – Part XIV
"So yeah, can you believe he actually said that? And to his mother! God, he's incredible dumb sometimes…" one of the guys Kennedy was with prattled. Under normal circumstances she might've felt nervous being in a dark alley with three guys she didn't know, but without breaking a sweat she knew she could have all of them begging for their mothers, so she walked with them confidently. The alley seemed to lead to a dark warehouse and she finally asked,
"So this is where you guys live?"
"No, it's a good place to smoke and drink though… the cops don't pay it much mind."
"That's cool," she answered. "Umm…" she said suddenly feeling very unsure of herself as her legs began to go painfully numb and she was unsure of how much longer they would hold her. "Guys, I don't feel so great," she admitted as she stopped walking feeling the world start to spin around her faster then she could ever imagine.
"Really? That's cool," the third one said with a laugh. "God, you're hot, you can drink most people I know under the table, *and* you have great timing!" She glanced over at him unable to focus on his face any longer as her vision began to blur from the quick speed everything was spinning in. Her legs finally gave and she fell to her knees then over onto her side feeling pain shooting through her arms and torso now. They all laughed as she fell and writhed in pain on the concrete at their feet.
"Man, and all this time I thought I got the last, available, nice guy," Faith commented sarcastically walking over to them. They all jumped slightly from surprise but settled immediately seeing only a girl standing there.
"You wanna join?" One of them asked obnoxiously.
"What exactly did you have planned?" Faith asked as though it was blatantly obvious to her. She was having trouble holding herself together since the scene hit way too close to home for her, but she fought back her subconscious unmercifully. "What the fuck was in her drink?"
"Liquor," the same one answered cracking a grin as he said it.
"Kennedy, you alright?" she asked walking closer to her.
"Yo!" One of them warned stepping in front of her.
"Don't even," Faith said as she effortlessly shoved him ten feet off to the side. "Kennedy, can you stand up?" she asked never taking her eyes off of them as they began to circle around them. She knew Xander was approaching them as she heard his footsteps on the pavement.
"I can't even see… Faith?" Kennedy said pleadingly. She was scared.
"It's okay, we're here." Her words echoed in her own head as she remembered wishing someone had been able to say that to her. To be able to hear that when she had been in this stitch would've changed a lot for her. "Xander!" she called and he answered,
"Yeah." The three guys quickly resituated themselves around them so they could all see Xander as well.
"Get her out of here," she said picking her up off of the ground.
"Faith? Xander? I can't see… I can't feel my body, and…"
"It's okay," Xander comforted taking her from Faith. "Let's go."
"No. Get her out of here; I'll meet you at home."
"Faith, let's go."
"I'll meet you at home," she repeated strongly. "Get her the fuck out of here!" Regretting it before he even did it he turned back down the alley with Kennedy in his arms and headed back towards the main road.
"So I guess you really did want to join us…"
"I'd like nothing better than to teach each of you a lesson."
"Are we talking technique or style here?"
"Usually I don't waste my time on scum like you guys, too busy with the- well, less scummy things… but I think I might just make an exception," she added cracking her knuckles as she looked each of them over.
"You going to beat us up, honey?"
"Yeah, and I'll be a lot better at it then some drugged up chick. Now tell me, what the fuck was in her drink?"
"Just a little concoction my friend made up for me," one of them said smiling to his two friends. "Hey, here he is now…" he said looking off to the darkness cast by the warehouse. Faith glanced over and saw a large person immerge from the shadows with something not quite human about him.
"She's standing," he said his voice almost with it's own echo. "It didn't work?"
"Oh it did, but then she showed up and made things… complicated."
"Why does life always insist on complicating matters?"
"I'm a complex person," Faith answered.
"Pain is the route of all complexities."
"You don't know the half of it."
"Well, I plan on knowing what's deep inside of you by the end of tonight," he answered as he walked towards her.
"You think so, huh?"
"The night is young, and so are you. I plan on taking advantage of that."
"I'm not that young, buddy."
"I told my boys to bring me back something nice. You're quite nice, but not as young as I had hoped for."
"You into the cradle thing?" she asked with disgust in her tone.
"Virgin's have the sweetest screams. But, I'll make you feel like a virgin the way I'll rip you apart…"
"I don't think any concoction of yours is going to be able to make me-" she was cut off as the three guys simultaneously charged her. She easily dodged one of them, pushed the other, and after flipped over the third sent a swift kick to his temple sending him straight down to the asphalt. "Sleep tight."
"Stop," the tall man ordered, "I want to make her scream. I want to demean and degrade her till she cries for her life, and then I want to break her, spirit and body as I-"
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Faith cut him off finally hearing enough.
"Even when she begs me to stop."
"You're a disgusting fuck, you know that? I'm going to have fun kicking your ass."
"Try it, please… I like the taste of sweat and blood mixed together." With that Faith walked up to him and sent a punch straight for his face, which to her complete shock he avoided without a blink. He smiled at her surprised expression and licked his lips. She sent a series of kicks and punches at him again, only making contact a few times. He laughed at her attempts,
"I'm going to have so much fun hurting you. You're going to wish you let me have my way with your little friend instead of you… at least she might heal – you, I can tell by the anger in your eyes, that you still never have."
"It's not something you get over – that why I'm going to have so much fun killing you," she said repeating his own words with a twist.
"Right," he agreed as he sent a fierce punch straight at her face, which she dodged but then felt a sharp pain as his other fist contacted with her stomach. She threw in a few sharp jabs and some good punches to his face before he hit her again. Her hits, even when they did make contact didn't seem to matter, or affect him in the least. It was like fighting The Beast, who was made of pure rock!
"What the hell are you?" she asked as she continued sending as many attacks at him as possible. He grabbed her shoulder and her thigh picking her up off the ground and slammed her back down onto the pavement and immediately sent his fist straight down towards her. She rolled away from his punch and he answered,
"Made almost entirely out of steal… a permanent, lusting erection to match."
"You're a disgusting piece of shit, you know that?"
"And you're the girl I'm going to have my way with," he answered as he sent a punch to her stomach sending her flying backwards.
---
"Keep talking to me, Kennedy. Are you okay?"
"I can't see… where's Faith? What's going on?"
"Don't worry, everything okay now… it's going to be fine."
"Where's Faith?"
"She's still back in the alley."
"No! Where is she? We can't leave her there! Why did you leave her?"
---
"Tired yet?"
"Just getting warmed up," she spat as he threw her into the wall.
"I'm not much for the preheat," he said hovering above her as she held her stomach in pain on the ground beneath him.
"Ever think that's why you can't get a girl?"
"Oh, I get plenty of them… I'm just not into the traditional method." She sent a kick up at his head sending him back a few feet giving her enough time to jump to her feet. She could feel the internal damage, all her old scars beginning to tear at the seams and begin to reopen. He hit her again as he got closer sending her straight back down to the ground, an agonizing cry escaping her lips. "Ooo, that's what I like," he mocked, "a girl who'll moan for me. Now… you look ready to get down to business…" he reached down and grabbed her by her arms pulling her up to him.
She spat blood into his face struggling to free herself from his grasp. He slapped her hard across her face practically sending her back to the ground despite his holding her. She felt a helplessness overwhelm her entire body – not a feeling she was unlearned to, but one she certainly despised. She focused on breathing to regain as much strength and composure as possible as he held her painfully tight in his grasps, his hands wrapped around her biceps tearing the muscles by the constriction. He tilted his head and brought his face next to hers inhaling deeply with his nose by her neck.
This wasn't good, and she knew that – hell, there wasn't really any way of denying it at this point… 'First rule of being a slayer, DON'T DIE!' It wasn't the dying part she was worried about… She tried to struggle free of his grasp but this guy was strong! She finally got enough space between them to bend her knees (he was holding her above the ground by her arms) and get her feet against his chest and push as hard as she could. She sent him back a few feet where she sent another kick to his head. It was painful for her to keep fighting – as she moved her legs to kick him she could feel her insides crumbling at the agony, so she decided she had to cut her loses and take a run for it. She took a final look at his face and ran for the alley. The two guys ran after her, Steal Man wasn't exactly fast. They had armed themselves with baseball bats and as she grabbed one and threw him backwards the other contacted her back with a full swing of the bat. She turned quickly towards him and grabbed the bat but restricted herself to only throwing it at him… hard.
She held her stomach in pain as she ran, the taste of blood a constant in her mouth no matter how many times she swallowed. The alley quickly bringing her closer to the main road and further away from whatever the hell that guy was. She constantly tried to silence her inner self who was screaming at her for not finishing the guy off… what the hell was going on with her that she was running away? She had learned to think a little bit harder when she fought and she had been holding back that piece of her that she knew she couldn't control. That fraction of her conscious that loved to take over everything, and which made her truly her when it was able to be controlled, but that ability had been ambiguous lately… well, for quite some time. Spending eight months in a coma and a hell of a lot longer that that in prison had kept that piece of her on a short leash since she left.
The main road, good. Wait, no definitely bad! She glanced at her reflection in the windshield of a car and saw she was practically covered in blood. The amount of blood probably matched that of the pain and there were some pretty deep gashes on her face and arms – she didn't even want to look at her stomach, which was starting to bleed through her shirt. As if she hadn't concluded the main street was bad yet, a cop car with its lights on drove down the street immediately sending her back to the dark alley.
---
"Giles!" Xander screamed as he carried Kennedy into the house. Giles quickly immerged from his office and even more quickly after Xander when he saw Kennedy lying limply in his arms.
"What the hell happened?" he asked as he followed Xander to the living room where he put her down softly on the couch.
"Faith… where's Faith?" Kennedy continued to ask. She was beyond panic and she decided to focus it on Faith rather than the fact that she couldn't feel most of her body and definitely couldn't use any of it.
"Kennedy, can you see me yet?" Xander asked just ignoring her pleas for Faith since all he wanted right now was to be able to answer her questions as to where she was.
"Where's Faith!?" she asked demandingly.
"I don't fucking know!" he screamed angrily. He turned away from her angry at himself for losing his shit and he took a deep breath calming himself down. Everyone else in the house had heard the noisy entrance and were quickly accumulating in the room. Xander turned back to Kennedy and asked again,
"Can you see?" She shook her head softly and barely an inch in each direction. "She'll be back soon, okay?"
"What's going on?" Buffy asked demandingly as she entered the room. Xander purposely turned to Giles to answer the question seeming as how he had asked it first.
"We were keeping an eye on her and Faith saw this guy slip something in her drink, damn, she caught that from the other side of the club!" he added still amazed that she had even seen that since they were literally at the other end of the club with two hundred people between them and Kennedy. "We headed right over but she drank it and was gone by the time we got over there."
"Baby, are you okay?" Willow asked crouching down next to Kennedy. Kennedy enjoyed pity and being completely helpless about as much as Faith did.
"We found them down an alley, there were three guys and Kennedy fell down in this state and you could tell it was exactly as they had planned and Faith stepped up and told me to just get Kennedy out of there… I wanted to wait for her but she told me to just leave."
"So you left Faith with three guys who fall in the category of 'Men Faith Despise' and you thought she wasn't going to add another twenty five years to her prison sentence?" Buffy asked as though it was obvious that she was planning to kill those guys.
"I'm going to go back," Xander said ignoring Buffy and still talking directly to Giles.
"What's the point of that?" Buffy asked interceding again, "Faith doesn't exactly sit around after she does shit like that…"
"You have no idea whether she did that or not!"
"I know Faith and a bunch of guys that tried to… well, I'm sure Faith isn't going to differentiate between them and the ones that probably did it to her. Only difference now is she's a slayer… and a murderer."
"She was holding it together," Xander stated firmly not letting himself think that way.
"She'll come home," Giles stated, "she probably just scared them and when she's through she'll be back. We need your help here more anyhow…"
---
"Owwh," she whined quietly to herself as she held her stomach tightly leaning against the wall. There was a broken window on one of the side buildings of the alley way where she gazed at her reflection. She winced as she tried to wipe the blood from her face onto her hands without touching any of the painful cuts. His punches had been like being hit in the face by a metal baseball bat, not to mention how the actual wooden ones felt… the gashes still stung. She had to quickly look blankly at the floor after she caught sight of her hands covered in blood – it was an image she couldn't handle anymore. Her hands had too many times held the blood of so many people, but she breathed deeply trying to calm herself convincing her conscious, which was sure she had done something wrong, that it was her own blood.
"Xander…" she heard herself whimper pining for him to be near. She forced herself to look back into the reflection and get as much blood off of her face as possible. She did so and wiped as much of the blood from her hands onto her shirt, which thankfully was of near the same color. She pulled her jacket practically closed then pulled the sleeves down over her hands and with her head down, her hair hopefully concealing most of the wounds she walked back onto the main street and walked as quickly as she could with the agonizing pain overwhelming her body while still remaining as inconspicuous as possible.
She skillfully walked close enough to crowds of people near her age but far enough and quiet enough to not attract the attention of them.
---
"What are you doing?" Andrew asked quickly as Giles returned to the room with a needle.
"We need a blood sample," he answered shortly.
"We need to figure out what was in the drink that made her like this," Willow explained seeing that he wasn't trying to be annoying, he was really anxious about Kennedy's well being. Xander finally couldn't take watching Buffy pace nervously around the house so he walked out into the hallway in front of her path.
"Can't you have a little trust that Faith's doing the right thing out there?"
"I hope you're right," she answered, "I would hate myself for sitting here while she took innocent lives…"
"You know what, those assholes aren't innocent! Just because it's Faith, all of a sudden she's the bad guy. Why don't you open your eyes to the big picture that Faith saved Kennedy from something she personally has to live with? Those guys were going to rape her and Faith caught it from a mile away! And you know, they all deserve whatever they get."
"They're people – it's not our job to decided justice, especially not Faith!"
"But it's okay for you to try and kill her and put her in a coma – it's okay for you to decide her justice? That's interesting… you really do think you're that much better than her. But I guess I can't really expect you to understand her feelings on the subject, I mean after Spike tried to rape you, all of a sudden he's the only person you can trust. And you say Faith's got a warped view on the world…"
---
She was losing a lot of blood and she knew it as she felt faint and weak, each stride harder to take than the one preceding it. Her body was starting to shake, noticeably she was sure. She saw a payphone only another block down but the same cop car was heading up the street again, this time much slower still with it's lights on. She felt her pace subconsciously quicken, *stop it, Faith! Slow… slow… left leg… right leg… don't look up… look straight ahead… slower… right leg… left leg… right leg…* She felt like racing as fast as she could towards the payphone but she barely contained herself.
---
Xander stared at Buffy with the strong look of disgust for a long moment only to be broken by the loud ringing of the telephone. He practically ran to pick it up, no, he definitely ran to pick it up!
"Hello?" he asked in a pant.
"Xander…" he heard her say shakily.
"Faith? What's wrong?"
"I need you," she said in a tone that proved she was on the brink of hysterical tears. Her tone was shaky and unsure,
"Where are you?" he asked quickly. "It's okay…" he comforted as he heard her raspy breath.
"Ac… across… from… from the… bank," she answered with painful gasps between words.
"Just sit tight, okay?"
"Okay," she answered, her tone telling him she was definitely crying now. She couldn't handle this right now, especially not alone. He threw the phone down on the counter and grabbed the truck's keys running for the garage. Buffy had followed him to the phone and now watched him run out of the house, heard the truck start and then screech out of the garage.
---
She glanced around uncomfortable with the close proximity to the cop car but in too much pain to distance herself. She was shaking uncontrollably and she couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face. She clenched her jaw in an unheard protest angry at herself for not holding it together.
*'I don't feel so great…'
'No problem, I'll give you a ride home…'
'No, that's okay.'
'It's really no problem,' he said grabbing her arm strongly.*
She quickly snapped out of it having to glance over at her arm to make sure he wasn't actually holding it. She remembered everything so vividly she could swear she had felt someone grabbing her arm. She forced herself to just focus of breathing as she stared at the payphone. She felt a tingle go through her face and her nose and she quickly raised her hand to her nose wiping the blood that was now trickling down through it. She leaned heavily against the payphone – without it she wouldn't have been able to remain standing, which was still a questionable feat. Her throat began to constrict and burn causing her to cough – she could taste the blood being forced into her mouth and it made her sick.
*Go ahead, Faith, throw up blood, way stealthy,* she mocked herself. She forced it back down her throat but could feel it hit her stomach like a piece of lead. Everything began to spin and she couldn't stay standing anymore. She slid down to the ground, her back still up against the payphone. *Xander, hurry up… I need you* she thought sadly as she rocked softly back and forth trying to keep herself conscious.
---
Xander drove madly down the road towards the bank and what should have been a fifteen minute drive was turned into a seven minute one. It was definitely the longest seven minutes of his life… he couldn't help but remember Faith's comment so long ago when she was in Buffy's body and said to Anya the seven minute thing. *Bad!* he chided, thinking about Anya and Faith when she was being psycho was not healthy as he was racing towards her to save her.
He slammed the truck down to the speed limit as he saw the cop car approaching from the other direction. A flash of panic surged through his body thinking that they had Faith but as they passed he thought the car was empty, but his only comfort was then being able to see Faith across the street from the bank. The comfort level only raised for a millisecond as he realized she was probably sitting because she couldn't stand. He pulled a quick U-turn and stopped on the corner with the payphone. He jumped out of the truck and ran over to her.
"Faith?" he asked nervously. He looked down to her face and saw the blood and then saw her shirt and hands peering out from the sleeves of her jacket.
"It's mine."
"That shouldn't fucking make me feel better!" he said, angry at himself for letting Buffy have any affect on his judgment.
"It's okay," she answered her voice painful. "Just take me home," she said holding her arm up for him to help her up. He met her arm and helped raise her to her feet but she almost immediately had her legs buckle under her and she almost fell back to the floor. He grabbed her quickly, "Ouch!" she cried as he grabbed her waist to hold her up.
"Sorry," he answered trying to find a better way to hold her up. Her breathing was labored and it seemed like everything hurt. Despite her trying to show that she could make it to the truck he finally bent down and put one arm behind her knees while supporting her back with the other he picked her up. She was surprisingly light making the motion feel almost effortless. But that wasn't the most surprising thing – it was the fact that she melted against him and her face fit perfectly against his chest with her lips right up against his neck. Those five feet he walked to the car made him feel like the most important thing in her life. He knew she loved him without her saying a word.
He opened the back door to the truck and carefully placed her onto the back seat. She whimpered a couple of times as pressure was put on different wounds and he couldn't believe she was being so honest about the pain she was in.
---
"Something's wrong," Buffy announced walking into the living room. "Faith just called and Xander went to go get her… he seemed in a really big hurry."
"What'd they say?" Andrew asked anxiously.
"Not much… Xander just seemed kind of shaken."
---
"Everything hurts," she answered him painfully. "Is Kennedy okay?"
"Are you okay?" he asked sharply still standing in the backseat door. She glanced down at her blood soaked shirt and gave a weak shrug.
"Let's just get home." He nodded and was about to close the door but he stopped and ran his hand softly across her cheek trying to offer her any comfort he could. She gave a faint smile, practically only using her eyes since that was the only thing that didn't hurt too much…
---
"Faith…" Kennedy said with tears forming in her unseeing eyes. "What happened? She saved me and now…"
"She's probably fine," Willow comforted.
"Unfortunately for you," she spat. "I'm sure you're giddy with excitement as to what shape she's in."
"Sweetie, don't say that, it's no where near true."
"Don't call me that." Willow stood, hurt by her coldness and walked out to the kitchen. With that the door to the garage opened and everyone turned quickly but it was Wood. He was confused by everyone being gathered around – it was two a.m. Before he closed the door to the garage he heard the truck speeding through the garage. Xander parked it quickly and yelled to Wood,
"Give me a hand!" He immediately turned and jogged over to the backseat door with Xander and saw Faith lying there practically in a pool of blood. "Okay, careful…" Xander instructed quietly as they got her barely conscious body out of the backseat of the truck. Once she was out she was put into Xander's arms again, where she fell completely in place, as he carried her hurriedly back into the house. Robin held the door open for him then rushed towards her bedroom with him, everyone who had been awaiting their arrival except Kennedy followed towards her room.
"What happened?" Buffy asked being the first one behind Xander.
"Don't worry," he snapped, "it's all her blood." Buffy fell back from the front of the line and waited by the small staircase before Faith's wing. Xander continued to carry her into her room and carefully laid her down on the bed, which Wood had already pulled the blankets off of and placed towels down on top of the sheet.
"It won't keep it all off," he said as he laid them down, "but it'll help." Xander nodded as he carefully put her down on the bed and it hurt him to see her gasp in pain as he did so, no matter how tenderly he did it.
"Faith," Giles said clearly standing next to the bed, "what-" he stopped while she coughed but when she didn't stop he just continued louder, "what hurts you the most?" Then they all eyed each other as they saw her hand covered in blood as she moved it away from her mouth after coughing. She gasped to get a good breath but barely did before she started coughing again. Xander quickly moved to her as he saw her trying to sit up to stop coughing. He held her back and raised her slowly but she quickly jerked to a stop grabbing at her stomach painfully.
"Move her to her side," Wood suggested moving forward to help Xander. They slowly helped her roll to her side each of them forcing themselves not to jump when she gasped in pain. They settled her down as soon as they could,
"Is that okay?" Xander asked crouching down to her level next to the bed. She nodded softly and as soon as her next coughing fit ceased she asked,
"Is Kennedy okay?"
"Don't worry about her, worry about yourself," Giles stated firmly.
"Is she fucking okay!?" she screamed only allowing herself to be subsided by the pain once she was done forcing the four painfully long words from her clenched throat.
"Faith!" Giles scolded strongly.
"Fine," she said forcing herself to sit up, "I'll go see the dead girl myself," she spat angrily as she stood up. Pain screamed through her body but as with many other things screaming within her she ignored it as she rose to her feet.
"Lie back down," Xander yelled.
"Faith, who you just bloody listen to me!?" Giles screamed angrily.
"Faith, don't!" Wood said firmly.
"Faith, she's okay," Andrew stated through everyone else's yells and reprimands. His voice was truly the lowest and the softest but it was the voice Faith heard amongst all of them.
"Really?"
"I swear." She listened to him and with accepting that her knees buckled under her and she quickly tried to grab for the bed but she ended up sitting up against it. Wood and Xander quickly were at her side but she waved them off,
"Don't fucking touch me!" she screamed angrily at both of them. She clenched her jaw tightly as she did her stomach with one of her hands, pulling herself up to a standing position with the other and then quickly dropping down onto the bed. Both Wood and Xander immediately backed off as she had ordered but stood ready to catch her. "What's her deal?" she asked directing her question entirely in Andrew's direction.
He stood there proudly but fidgeted as he often did when he finally got to be in the spotlight.
"Willow, and Giles, they did a test and it turns out to be mystical…"
"You need to lie down and rest," Giles ordered.
"And what's the cure?" she asked completely ignoring him.
"It'll wear off," Giles answered. Faith looked to Andrew for the answer and he nodded in agreement with Giles. Only then did she accept it as true.
"So she's okay."
"She's fine. In much better shape than you anyway," Giles answered. She nodded then finally lowered herself back onto the bed finally succumbing to her exhaustion and pain. He hadn't wanted to be so strict with her, he should've withheld the urge even still, knowing that she wouldn't respond to it but seeing her in the state she was in made him just think of getting her to lie down. Now it was undeniable that Kennedy and Faith both truly cared for one another, but he couldn't exactly place it as though it were a sibling relationship.
---
Everyone except Giles and Xander returned back to the living room to where Kennedy was still lying quietly.
"Faith says 'hi'," Andrew proudly announced sitting in a chair right next to the couch Kennedy was on.
"Is she okay?" Kennedy asked fairly calmly.
"She's beat up pretty bad…" Robin admitted. "She felt much better knowing you were okay though."
---
"You should get cleaned up," Giles stated firmly. "We can discus everything later."
"Just waiting for you to get out," she answered just as curtly. Without another word he decided it was certainly the best thing for him to just leave – she never was in a good mood after coming home looking worse than her opponent. He walked into the hallway and met Buffy at the stairs,
"How is she?"
"She'll be alright, I think. She's got some serious internal injuries, but she's healed from those before…"
"Is she in her friendly, post-ass kicked moods too?" she asked sarcastically.
"Oh, and in a big way," Giles answered.
---
Xander could tell from looking at her that she was still in an incredible amount of pain but emotionally she was calming down and feeling safer than she had when she had called him trembling enough to be heard. She was getting her head back so she was getting more mobile and productive despite the fact that her body probably didn't feel all that much better yet. He approached her as she stood slowly and started to take off her leather jacket. He immediately motioned to help her and she quickly (causing a pained look to spread across her face) moved away from his offering hands.
"Let me give you a hand…"
"I don't need your help."
"Listen, you let me carry you in past everyone else and you're not going to let me help you in private? I can see you not wanting anyone to know, but…"
"If I had any other option before, I would've used it," she spat angrily as she pulled her jacket half off trying to not show how much it hurt to do so but not having the grit to finish taking it off without a short pause.
"Fine." His tone was angry yet indifferent but he saw her struggle and stepped back up to her and helped pull her arm through the sleeve without pulling her arm more than it absolutely had to. She began to protest but he cut her off and added, "I know you don't need me. Use me; there are a few things I'm good for, huh Faith?" His words practically smacked her into reality – he wasn't like anyone else she had been with. Yes, she had never let anyone help her when she was hurt before, or ever for that matter, but she had never had someone like Xander in her life either. His words hurt, not like a baseball bat hurt – his words went deeper even when they lacked the maliciousness.
He tossed her jacket onto a vacant chair and he glanced at her shoulders and back and chest that were exposed by her tube top that she wore. Nothing but anger boiled in his body as he stared at the scrapes, bleeding gashes, and agitated bruises. He clenched his jaw and crouched down so he was able to unlace her boots.
She stood looking down at him as he undid her boots robotically not even giving her the comfort of his expressions or body language. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and in her throat but she held them back firmly standing there cold and without expression.
He finished unlacing both of her boots and without a word or even looking up into her face he stood and turned towards her duffle bag that was sitting on top of her empty chest of drawers. She watched him, unable to do anything else but hold back her tears that were straining to escape. He was angry, she would be a blonde if she couldn't see that and she couldn't blame him for it either, it's not as though she wasn't completely aware of the urge to give into your own anger and frustrations when things weren't going well. She understood his reaction, but she just wasn't used to dealing with it.
"Aren't you going to shower?" he asked indifferently standing right in front of her now. He looked at her as though he didn't care what happened to her but he couldn't even begin to believe it as it rotted away at his insides and stabbed him brutally on the inside.
"Yeah," she answered softly but in a very similar tone to his as she pushed each boot off with the other foot. She stood two inches shorter than before as she rid herself of the shoes and she was sure he enjoyed having even more height on her – it helped in his tough, indifferent attitude. He was looking down at her but she couldn't catch his eyes – it was as though he was looking through her rather than at her and she finally gave up trying and took the clothes he had gotten her from his hands and walked slowly towards the bathroom. Pain still shot through her body with each step only lessening between them, never disappearing.
---
"That spell wore off quicker than I thought it would," Wendy commented as Kennedy sat up on the couch getting herself coordinated.
"So you feel completely normal?" Willow asked.
"Now I just feel drunk," she admitted with a light-spirited laugh.
"Faith let you drink?" Giles asked.
"It wouldn't be the first time," Buffy muttered. Giles remembered how he had thought Buffy had been too strict that first night when Faith had taken all of the Potentials to the Bronze so he immediately curbed himself in reprimanding Kennedy and Faith for her drinking.
"Can I go see Faith?"
"I think you should give her a while," Giles recommended.
"Why?"
"Since you don't know Faith that well, let me just tell you – she's not the friendliest person after she gets her ass kicked… she's not good at dealing with it." Kennedy could've almost dealt with what Buffy said if she had left out her obnoxious preface.
"When can I see her?" Kennedy asked demandingly directing it at everyone else in the room except Buffy.
"Tomorrow would probably be best," Giles answered, even though it was already past four o'clock in the morning.
"I want to see her!"
"Kennedy-" Buffy began to protest,
"See who?" Faith asked as she walked (more like limped) into the living room.
"You're okay!"
"Yeah, I'm five by five."
"You lie," she joked.
"Often if not always," Faith joked back. She was still in pretty bad shape but just as Kennedy had needed to see her, she needed to see Kennedy to ease her nerves and know for herself that she was really okay. Not that anything in her life had ever made it so she needed to see something for herself to believe it…
Kennedy felt like jumping up and hugging her like she imagined she would do for a big sister but she kept herself from doing so knowing Faith just wasn't like that, and either was she really. She had hoped the levity would remain but Faith spoke again, this time not nearly as lightheartedly.
"Kennedy… next time three guys ask you to go with them into a dark alley by yourself, can you use your fucking head a little bit?" Kennedy knew she was angry but she accepted the reprimand, no matter how strong because it was clear the only reason she was doing so was because she cared.
"I… I just didn't think…" Just because she accepted the scolding didn't mean she wasn't uncomfortable under Faith's strong gaze,
"Do you even realize what they were going to do to you?" she asked and it was more than obvious to everyone in the room that it hit way, way, way too close to home for Faith to just laugh it off. Faith wasn't one to give a lecture or a pep-talk, but things like this were not something she could joke about. And instead of dragging it out or making her answer she turned away from the doorway where she had been standing and headed back for her room, feeling exhausted from the short walk.
---
"You okay?" Robin asked Kennedy following her into the kitchen away from everyone else in the living room.
"Yeah," she answered seeming to still be deep in thought. Faith had made it so there was no way she could not think about what could have happened to her tonight, but that wasn't the only thing bothering her. Actually, there was probably a million things flying through her head right now, but she couldn't stop thinking about both what *had* happened to Faith and why she had been so stupid, especially when she kind of knew before this that Faith had something like that happen to her.
---
Faith walked gingerly down the five stairs into her wing and Xander was just walking out of her bedroom to check on her since she had gone directly from the bathroom after her shower into the living room. He felt embarrassed that she caught him checking on her and he turned quickly back into the room ignoring her once more. He walked over to the far window and stared out of it with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. His head was swimming and he could barely differentiate between his fears and reality of what could've happened so he tried to just quiet it all.
Everything he tried hadn't worked thus far but everything not only quieted but was soothed and calmed as he felt her arms hug his stomach from behind him and rest her head against his back like she needed nothing else in the world. He took his first real breath since her phone call and dropped his hands down to her arms around his waist and placed his on top of hers.
She sniffled softly and he knew it was a way of her admitting she was upset. She lifted her head off of his back and squeezed his waist motioning for him to turn around to face her, which he did. He stood there his arms dangling loosely at his sides looking to her to do something as part of his final protest to her coldness. She took his shirt gently in her hand and held it close to her as she raised her lips to his and kissed him softer than he imagined ever possible while still being so passionate. Her lips parted slowly from his and she lowered down never allowing her eyes to leave his face.
He looked down into her eyes for a long time before raising his hand up to her face and cupping it gingerly. "I can't lose you," he stated his voice cracking between each word. She began unbuttoning his shirt as she raised her lips up to his again parting from them only to tell him with them just far enough to get the words out,
"I love you," and then press them right back on to his. She was his only warmth as his shirt dropped to the floor behind him and he devoured it pressing up against her.
Both of them needed each other more than their next breath and that was understood as he lowered her onto the bed and they melted their fears and emotions as they did their energy as they made love in a silent admittance of both of their absolute and equal need for one another.
"So yeah, can you believe he actually said that? And to his mother! God, he's incredible dumb sometimes…" one of the guys Kennedy was with prattled. Under normal circumstances she might've felt nervous being in a dark alley with three guys she didn't know, but without breaking a sweat she knew she could have all of them begging for their mothers, so she walked with them confidently. The alley seemed to lead to a dark warehouse and she finally asked,
"So this is where you guys live?"
"No, it's a good place to smoke and drink though… the cops don't pay it much mind."
"That's cool," she answered. "Umm…" she said suddenly feeling very unsure of herself as her legs began to go painfully numb and she was unsure of how much longer they would hold her. "Guys, I don't feel so great," she admitted as she stopped walking feeling the world start to spin around her faster then she could ever imagine.
"Really? That's cool," the third one said with a laugh. "God, you're hot, you can drink most people I know under the table, *and* you have great timing!" She glanced over at him unable to focus on his face any longer as her vision began to blur from the quick speed everything was spinning in. Her legs finally gave and she fell to her knees then over onto her side feeling pain shooting through her arms and torso now. They all laughed as she fell and writhed in pain on the concrete at their feet.
"Man, and all this time I thought I got the last, available, nice guy," Faith commented sarcastically walking over to them. They all jumped slightly from surprise but settled immediately seeing only a girl standing there.
"You wanna join?" One of them asked obnoxiously.
"What exactly did you have planned?" Faith asked as though it was blatantly obvious to her. She was having trouble holding herself together since the scene hit way too close to home for her, but she fought back her subconscious unmercifully. "What the fuck was in her drink?"
"Liquor," the same one answered cracking a grin as he said it.
"Kennedy, you alright?" she asked walking closer to her.
"Yo!" One of them warned stepping in front of her.
"Don't even," Faith said as she effortlessly shoved him ten feet off to the side. "Kennedy, can you stand up?" she asked never taking her eyes off of them as they began to circle around them. She knew Xander was approaching them as she heard his footsteps on the pavement.
"I can't even see… Faith?" Kennedy said pleadingly. She was scared.
"It's okay, we're here." Her words echoed in her own head as she remembered wishing someone had been able to say that to her. To be able to hear that when she had been in this stitch would've changed a lot for her. "Xander!" she called and he answered,
"Yeah." The three guys quickly resituated themselves around them so they could all see Xander as well.
"Get her out of here," she said picking her up off of the ground.
"Faith? Xander? I can't see… I can't feel my body, and…"
"It's okay," Xander comforted taking her from Faith. "Let's go."
"No. Get her out of here; I'll meet you at home."
"Faith, let's go."
"I'll meet you at home," she repeated strongly. "Get her the fuck out of here!" Regretting it before he even did it he turned back down the alley with Kennedy in his arms and headed back towards the main road.
"So I guess you really did want to join us…"
"I'd like nothing better than to teach each of you a lesson."
"Are we talking technique or style here?"
"Usually I don't waste my time on scum like you guys, too busy with the- well, less scummy things… but I think I might just make an exception," she added cracking her knuckles as she looked each of them over.
"You going to beat us up, honey?"
"Yeah, and I'll be a lot better at it then some drugged up chick. Now tell me, what the fuck was in her drink?"
"Just a little concoction my friend made up for me," one of them said smiling to his two friends. "Hey, here he is now…" he said looking off to the darkness cast by the warehouse. Faith glanced over and saw a large person immerge from the shadows with something not quite human about him.
"She's standing," he said his voice almost with it's own echo. "It didn't work?"
"Oh it did, but then she showed up and made things… complicated."
"Why does life always insist on complicating matters?"
"I'm a complex person," Faith answered.
"Pain is the route of all complexities."
"You don't know the half of it."
"Well, I plan on knowing what's deep inside of you by the end of tonight," he answered as he walked towards her.
"You think so, huh?"
"The night is young, and so are you. I plan on taking advantage of that."
"I'm not that young, buddy."
"I told my boys to bring me back something nice. You're quite nice, but not as young as I had hoped for."
"You into the cradle thing?" she asked with disgust in her tone.
"Virgin's have the sweetest screams. But, I'll make you feel like a virgin the way I'll rip you apart…"
"I don't think any concoction of yours is going to be able to make me-" she was cut off as the three guys simultaneously charged her. She easily dodged one of them, pushed the other, and after flipped over the third sent a swift kick to his temple sending him straight down to the asphalt. "Sleep tight."
"Stop," the tall man ordered, "I want to make her scream. I want to demean and degrade her till she cries for her life, and then I want to break her, spirit and body as I-"
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Faith cut him off finally hearing enough.
"Even when she begs me to stop."
"You're a disgusting fuck, you know that? I'm going to have fun kicking your ass."
"Try it, please… I like the taste of sweat and blood mixed together." With that Faith walked up to him and sent a punch straight for his face, which to her complete shock he avoided without a blink. He smiled at her surprised expression and licked his lips. She sent a series of kicks and punches at him again, only making contact a few times. He laughed at her attempts,
"I'm going to have so much fun hurting you. You're going to wish you let me have my way with your little friend instead of you… at least she might heal – you, I can tell by the anger in your eyes, that you still never have."
"It's not something you get over – that why I'm going to have so much fun killing you," she said repeating his own words with a twist.
"Right," he agreed as he sent a fierce punch straight at her face, which she dodged but then felt a sharp pain as his other fist contacted with her stomach. She threw in a few sharp jabs and some good punches to his face before he hit her again. Her hits, even when they did make contact didn't seem to matter, or affect him in the least. It was like fighting The Beast, who was made of pure rock!
"What the hell are you?" she asked as she continued sending as many attacks at him as possible. He grabbed her shoulder and her thigh picking her up off the ground and slammed her back down onto the pavement and immediately sent his fist straight down towards her. She rolled away from his punch and he answered,
"Made almost entirely out of steal… a permanent, lusting erection to match."
"You're a disgusting piece of shit, you know that?"
"And you're the girl I'm going to have my way with," he answered as he sent a punch to her stomach sending her flying backwards.
---
"Keep talking to me, Kennedy. Are you okay?"
"I can't see… where's Faith? What's going on?"
"Don't worry, everything okay now… it's going to be fine."
"Where's Faith?"
"She's still back in the alley."
"No! Where is she? We can't leave her there! Why did you leave her?"
---
"Tired yet?"
"Just getting warmed up," she spat as he threw her into the wall.
"I'm not much for the preheat," he said hovering above her as she held her stomach in pain on the ground beneath him.
"Ever think that's why you can't get a girl?"
"Oh, I get plenty of them… I'm just not into the traditional method." She sent a kick up at his head sending him back a few feet giving her enough time to jump to her feet. She could feel the internal damage, all her old scars beginning to tear at the seams and begin to reopen. He hit her again as he got closer sending her straight back down to the ground, an agonizing cry escaping her lips. "Ooo, that's what I like," he mocked, "a girl who'll moan for me. Now… you look ready to get down to business…" he reached down and grabbed her by her arms pulling her up to him.
She spat blood into his face struggling to free herself from his grasp. He slapped her hard across her face practically sending her back to the ground despite his holding her. She felt a helplessness overwhelm her entire body – not a feeling she was unlearned to, but one she certainly despised. She focused on breathing to regain as much strength and composure as possible as he held her painfully tight in his grasps, his hands wrapped around her biceps tearing the muscles by the constriction. He tilted his head and brought his face next to hers inhaling deeply with his nose by her neck.
This wasn't good, and she knew that – hell, there wasn't really any way of denying it at this point… 'First rule of being a slayer, DON'T DIE!' It wasn't the dying part she was worried about… She tried to struggle free of his grasp but this guy was strong! She finally got enough space between them to bend her knees (he was holding her above the ground by her arms) and get her feet against his chest and push as hard as she could. She sent him back a few feet where she sent another kick to his head. It was painful for her to keep fighting – as she moved her legs to kick him she could feel her insides crumbling at the agony, so she decided she had to cut her loses and take a run for it. She took a final look at his face and ran for the alley. The two guys ran after her, Steal Man wasn't exactly fast. They had armed themselves with baseball bats and as she grabbed one and threw him backwards the other contacted her back with a full swing of the bat. She turned quickly towards him and grabbed the bat but restricted herself to only throwing it at him… hard.
She held her stomach in pain as she ran, the taste of blood a constant in her mouth no matter how many times she swallowed. The alley quickly bringing her closer to the main road and further away from whatever the hell that guy was. She constantly tried to silence her inner self who was screaming at her for not finishing the guy off… what the hell was going on with her that she was running away? She had learned to think a little bit harder when she fought and she had been holding back that piece of her that she knew she couldn't control. That fraction of her conscious that loved to take over everything, and which made her truly her when it was able to be controlled, but that ability had been ambiguous lately… well, for quite some time. Spending eight months in a coma and a hell of a lot longer that that in prison had kept that piece of her on a short leash since she left.
The main road, good. Wait, no definitely bad! She glanced at her reflection in the windshield of a car and saw she was practically covered in blood. The amount of blood probably matched that of the pain and there were some pretty deep gashes on her face and arms – she didn't even want to look at her stomach, which was starting to bleed through her shirt. As if she hadn't concluded the main street was bad yet, a cop car with its lights on drove down the street immediately sending her back to the dark alley.
---
"Giles!" Xander screamed as he carried Kennedy into the house. Giles quickly immerged from his office and even more quickly after Xander when he saw Kennedy lying limply in his arms.
"What the hell happened?" he asked as he followed Xander to the living room where he put her down softly on the couch.
"Faith… where's Faith?" Kennedy continued to ask. She was beyond panic and she decided to focus it on Faith rather than the fact that she couldn't feel most of her body and definitely couldn't use any of it.
"Kennedy, can you see me yet?" Xander asked just ignoring her pleas for Faith since all he wanted right now was to be able to answer her questions as to where she was.
"Where's Faith!?" she asked demandingly.
"I don't fucking know!" he screamed angrily. He turned away from her angry at himself for losing his shit and he took a deep breath calming himself down. Everyone else in the house had heard the noisy entrance and were quickly accumulating in the room. Xander turned back to Kennedy and asked again,
"Can you see?" She shook her head softly and barely an inch in each direction. "She'll be back soon, okay?"
"What's going on?" Buffy asked demandingly as she entered the room. Xander purposely turned to Giles to answer the question seeming as how he had asked it first.
"We were keeping an eye on her and Faith saw this guy slip something in her drink, damn, she caught that from the other side of the club!" he added still amazed that she had even seen that since they were literally at the other end of the club with two hundred people between them and Kennedy. "We headed right over but she drank it and was gone by the time we got over there."
"Baby, are you okay?" Willow asked crouching down next to Kennedy. Kennedy enjoyed pity and being completely helpless about as much as Faith did.
"We found them down an alley, there were three guys and Kennedy fell down in this state and you could tell it was exactly as they had planned and Faith stepped up and told me to just get Kennedy out of there… I wanted to wait for her but she told me to just leave."
"So you left Faith with three guys who fall in the category of 'Men Faith Despise' and you thought she wasn't going to add another twenty five years to her prison sentence?" Buffy asked as though it was obvious that she was planning to kill those guys.
"I'm going to go back," Xander said ignoring Buffy and still talking directly to Giles.
"What's the point of that?" Buffy asked interceding again, "Faith doesn't exactly sit around after she does shit like that…"
"You have no idea whether she did that or not!"
"I know Faith and a bunch of guys that tried to… well, I'm sure Faith isn't going to differentiate between them and the ones that probably did it to her. Only difference now is she's a slayer… and a murderer."
"She was holding it together," Xander stated firmly not letting himself think that way.
"She'll come home," Giles stated, "she probably just scared them and when she's through she'll be back. We need your help here more anyhow…"
---
"Owwh," she whined quietly to herself as she held her stomach tightly leaning against the wall. There was a broken window on one of the side buildings of the alley way where she gazed at her reflection. She winced as she tried to wipe the blood from her face onto her hands without touching any of the painful cuts. His punches had been like being hit in the face by a metal baseball bat, not to mention how the actual wooden ones felt… the gashes still stung. She had to quickly look blankly at the floor after she caught sight of her hands covered in blood – it was an image she couldn't handle anymore. Her hands had too many times held the blood of so many people, but she breathed deeply trying to calm herself convincing her conscious, which was sure she had done something wrong, that it was her own blood.
"Xander…" she heard herself whimper pining for him to be near. She forced herself to look back into the reflection and get as much blood off of her face as possible. She did so and wiped as much of the blood from her hands onto her shirt, which thankfully was of near the same color. She pulled her jacket practically closed then pulled the sleeves down over her hands and with her head down, her hair hopefully concealing most of the wounds she walked back onto the main street and walked as quickly as she could with the agonizing pain overwhelming her body while still remaining as inconspicuous as possible.
She skillfully walked close enough to crowds of people near her age but far enough and quiet enough to not attract the attention of them.
---
"What are you doing?" Andrew asked quickly as Giles returned to the room with a needle.
"We need a blood sample," he answered shortly.
"We need to figure out what was in the drink that made her like this," Willow explained seeing that he wasn't trying to be annoying, he was really anxious about Kennedy's well being. Xander finally couldn't take watching Buffy pace nervously around the house so he walked out into the hallway in front of her path.
"Can't you have a little trust that Faith's doing the right thing out there?"
"I hope you're right," she answered, "I would hate myself for sitting here while she took innocent lives…"
"You know what, those assholes aren't innocent! Just because it's Faith, all of a sudden she's the bad guy. Why don't you open your eyes to the big picture that Faith saved Kennedy from something she personally has to live with? Those guys were going to rape her and Faith caught it from a mile away! And you know, they all deserve whatever they get."
"They're people – it's not our job to decided justice, especially not Faith!"
"But it's okay for you to try and kill her and put her in a coma – it's okay for you to decide her justice? That's interesting… you really do think you're that much better than her. But I guess I can't really expect you to understand her feelings on the subject, I mean after Spike tried to rape you, all of a sudden he's the only person you can trust. And you say Faith's got a warped view on the world…"
---
She was losing a lot of blood and she knew it as she felt faint and weak, each stride harder to take than the one preceding it. Her body was starting to shake, noticeably she was sure. She saw a payphone only another block down but the same cop car was heading up the street again, this time much slower still with it's lights on. She felt her pace subconsciously quicken, *stop it, Faith! Slow… slow… left leg… right leg… don't look up… look straight ahead… slower… right leg… left leg… right leg…* She felt like racing as fast as she could towards the payphone but she barely contained herself.
---
Xander stared at Buffy with the strong look of disgust for a long moment only to be broken by the loud ringing of the telephone. He practically ran to pick it up, no, he definitely ran to pick it up!
"Hello?" he asked in a pant.
"Xander…" he heard her say shakily.
"Faith? What's wrong?"
"I need you," she said in a tone that proved she was on the brink of hysterical tears. Her tone was shaky and unsure,
"Where are you?" he asked quickly. "It's okay…" he comforted as he heard her raspy breath.
"Ac… across… from… from the… bank," she answered with painful gasps between words.
"Just sit tight, okay?"
"Okay," she answered, her tone telling him she was definitely crying now. She couldn't handle this right now, especially not alone. He threw the phone down on the counter and grabbed the truck's keys running for the garage. Buffy had followed him to the phone and now watched him run out of the house, heard the truck start and then screech out of the garage.
---
She glanced around uncomfortable with the close proximity to the cop car but in too much pain to distance herself. She was shaking uncontrollably and she couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face. She clenched her jaw in an unheard protest angry at herself for not holding it together.
*'I don't feel so great…'
'No problem, I'll give you a ride home…'
'No, that's okay.'
'It's really no problem,' he said grabbing her arm strongly.*
She quickly snapped out of it having to glance over at her arm to make sure he wasn't actually holding it. She remembered everything so vividly she could swear she had felt someone grabbing her arm. She forced herself to just focus of breathing as she stared at the payphone. She felt a tingle go through her face and her nose and she quickly raised her hand to her nose wiping the blood that was now trickling down through it. She leaned heavily against the payphone – without it she wouldn't have been able to remain standing, which was still a questionable feat. Her throat began to constrict and burn causing her to cough – she could taste the blood being forced into her mouth and it made her sick.
*Go ahead, Faith, throw up blood, way stealthy,* she mocked herself. She forced it back down her throat but could feel it hit her stomach like a piece of lead. Everything began to spin and she couldn't stay standing anymore. She slid down to the ground, her back still up against the payphone. *Xander, hurry up… I need you* she thought sadly as she rocked softly back and forth trying to keep herself conscious.
---
Xander drove madly down the road towards the bank and what should have been a fifteen minute drive was turned into a seven minute one. It was definitely the longest seven minutes of his life… he couldn't help but remember Faith's comment so long ago when she was in Buffy's body and said to Anya the seven minute thing. *Bad!* he chided, thinking about Anya and Faith when she was being psycho was not healthy as he was racing towards her to save her.
He slammed the truck down to the speed limit as he saw the cop car approaching from the other direction. A flash of panic surged through his body thinking that they had Faith but as they passed he thought the car was empty, but his only comfort was then being able to see Faith across the street from the bank. The comfort level only raised for a millisecond as he realized she was probably sitting because she couldn't stand. He pulled a quick U-turn and stopped on the corner with the payphone. He jumped out of the truck and ran over to her.
"Faith?" he asked nervously. He looked down to her face and saw the blood and then saw her shirt and hands peering out from the sleeves of her jacket.
"It's mine."
"That shouldn't fucking make me feel better!" he said, angry at himself for letting Buffy have any affect on his judgment.
"It's okay," she answered her voice painful. "Just take me home," she said holding her arm up for him to help her up. He met her arm and helped raise her to her feet but she almost immediately had her legs buckle under her and she almost fell back to the floor. He grabbed her quickly, "Ouch!" she cried as he grabbed her waist to hold her up.
"Sorry," he answered trying to find a better way to hold her up. Her breathing was labored and it seemed like everything hurt. Despite her trying to show that she could make it to the truck he finally bent down and put one arm behind her knees while supporting her back with the other he picked her up. She was surprisingly light making the motion feel almost effortless. But that wasn't the most surprising thing – it was the fact that she melted against him and her face fit perfectly against his chest with her lips right up against his neck. Those five feet he walked to the car made him feel like the most important thing in her life. He knew she loved him without her saying a word.
He opened the back door to the truck and carefully placed her onto the back seat. She whimpered a couple of times as pressure was put on different wounds and he couldn't believe she was being so honest about the pain she was in.
---
"Something's wrong," Buffy announced walking into the living room. "Faith just called and Xander went to go get her… he seemed in a really big hurry."
"What'd they say?" Andrew asked anxiously.
"Not much… Xander just seemed kind of shaken."
---
"Everything hurts," she answered him painfully. "Is Kennedy okay?"
"Are you okay?" he asked sharply still standing in the backseat door. She glanced down at her blood soaked shirt and gave a weak shrug.
"Let's just get home." He nodded and was about to close the door but he stopped and ran his hand softly across her cheek trying to offer her any comfort he could. She gave a faint smile, practically only using her eyes since that was the only thing that didn't hurt too much…
---
"Faith…" Kennedy said with tears forming in her unseeing eyes. "What happened? She saved me and now…"
"She's probably fine," Willow comforted.
"Unfortunately for you," she spat. "I'm sure you're giddy with excitement as to what shape she's in."
"Sweetie, don't say that, it's no where near true."
"Don't call me that." Willow stood, hurt by her coldness and walked out to the kitchen. With that the door to the garage opened and everyone turned quickly but it was Wood. He was confused by everyone being gathered around – it was two a.m. Before he closed the door to the garage he heard the truck speeding through the garage. Xander parked it quickly and yelled to Wood,
"Give me a hand!" He immediately turned and jogged over to the backseat door with Xander and saw Faith lying there practically in a pool of blood. "Okay, careful…" Xander instructed quietly as they got her barely conscious body out of the backseat of the truck. Once she was out she was put into Xander's arms again, where she fell completely in place, as he carried her hurriedly back into the house. Robin held the door open for him then rushed towards her bedroom with him, everyone who had been awaiting their arrival except Kennedy followed towards her room.
"What happened?" Buffy asked being the first one behind Xander.
"Don't worry," he snapped, "it's all her blood." Buffy fell back from the front of the line and waited by the small staircase before Faith's wing. Xander continued to carry her into her room and carefully laid her down on the bed, which Wood had already pulled the blankets off of and placed towels down on top of the sheet.
"It won't keep it all off," he said as he laid them down, "but it'll help." Xander nodded as he carefully put her down on the bed and it hurt him to see her gasp in pain as he did so, no matter how tenderly he did it.
"Faith," Giles said clearly standing next to the bed, "what-" he stopped while she coughed but when she didn't stop he just continued louder, "what hurts you the most?" Then they all eyed each other as they saw her hand covered in blood as she moved it away from her mouth after coughing. She gasped to get a good breath but barely did before she started coughing again. Xander quickly moved to her as he saw her trying to sit up to stop coughing. He held her back and raised her slowly but she quickly jerked to a stop grabbing at her stomach painfully.
"Move her to her side," Wood suggested moving forward to help Xander. They slowly helped her roll to her side each of them forcing themselves not to jump when she gasped in pain. They settled her down as soon as they could,
"Is that okay?" Xander asked crouching down to her level next to the bed. She nodded softly and as soon as her next coughing fit ceased she asked,
"Is Kennedy okay?"
"Don't worry about her, worry about yourself," Giles stated firmly.
"Is she fucking okay!?" she screamed only allowing herself to be subsided by the pain once she was done forcing the four painfully long words from her clenched throat.
"Faith!" Giles scolded strongly.
"Fine," she said forcing herself to sit up, "I'll go see the dead girl myself," she spat angrily as she stood up. Pain screamed through her body but as with many other things screaming within her she ignored it as she rose to her feet.
"Lie back down," Xander yelled.
"Faith, who you just bloody listen to me!?" Giles screamed angrily.
"Faith, don't!" Wood said firmly.
"Faith, she's okay," Andrew stated through everyone else's yells and reprimands. His voice was truly the lowest and the softest but it was the voice Faith heard amongst all of them.
"Really?"
"I swear." She listened to him and with accepting that her knees buckled under her and she quickly tried to grab for the bed but she ended up sitting up against it. Wood and Xander quickly were at her side but she waved them off,
"Don't fucking touch me!" she screamed angrily at both of them. She clenched her jaw tightly as she did her stomach with one of her hands, pulling herself up to a standing position with the other and then quickly dropping down onto the bed. Both Wood and Xander immediately backed off as she had ordered but stood ready to catch her. "What's her deal?" she asked directing her question entirely in Andrew's direction.
He stood there proudly but fidgeted as he often did when he finally got to be in the spotlight.
"Willow, and Giles, they did a test and it turns out to be mystical…"
"You need to lie down and rest," Giles ordered.
"And what's the cure?" she asked completely ignoring him.
"It'll wear off," Giles answered. Faith looked to Andrew for the answer and he nodded in agreement with Giles. Only then did she accept it as true.
"So she's okay."
"She's fine. In much better shape than you anyway," Giles answered. She nodded then finally lowered herself back onto the bed finally succumbing to her exhaustion and pain. He hadn't wanted to be so strict with her, he should've withheld the urge even still, knowing that she wouldn't respond to it but seeing her in the state she was in made him just think of getting her to lie down. Now it was undeniable that Kennedy and Faith both truly cared for one another, but he couldn't exactly place it as though it were a sibling relationship.
---
Everyone except Giles and Xander returned back to the living room to where Kennedy was still lying quietly.
"Faith says 'hi'," Andrew proudly announced sitting in a chair right next to the couch Kennedy was on.
"Is she okay?" Kennedy asked fairly calmly.
"She's beat up pretty bad…" Robin admitted. "She felt much better knowing you were okay though."
---
"You should get cleaned up," Giles stated firmly. "We can discus everything later."
"Just waiting for you to get out," she answered just as curtly. Without another word he decided it was certainly the best thing for him to just leave – she never was in a good mood after coming home looking worse than her opponent. He walked into the hallway and met Buffy at the stairs,
"How is she?"
"She'll be alright, I think. She's got some serious internal injuries, but she's healed from those before…"
"Is she in her friendly, post-ass kicked moods too?" she asked sarcastically.
"Oh, and in a big way," Giles answered.
---
Xander could tell from looking at her that she was still in an incredible amount of pain but emotionally she was calming down and feeling safer than she had when she had called him trembling enough to be heard. She was getting her head back so she was getting more mobile and productive despite the fact that her body probably didn't feel all that much better yet. He approached her as she stood slowly and started to take off her leather jacket. He immediately motioned to help her and she quickly (causing a pained look to spread across her face) moved away from his offering hands.
"Let me give you a hand…"
"I don't need your help."
"Listen, you let me carry you in past everyone else and you're not going to let me help you in private? I can see you not wanting anyone to know, but…"
"If I had any other option before, I would've used it," she spat angrily as she pulled her jacket half off trying to not show how much it hurt to do so but not having the grit to finish taking it off without a short pause.
"Fine." His tone was angry yet indifferent but he saw her struggle and stepped back up to her and helped pull her arm through the sleeve without pulling her arm more than it absolutely had to. She began to protest but he cut her off and added, "I know you don't need me. Use me; there are a few things I'm good for, huh Faith?" His words practically smacked her into reality – he wasn't like anyone else she had been with. Yes, she had never let anyone help her when she was hurt before, or ever for that matter, but she had never had someone like Xander in her life either. His words hurt, not like a baseball bat hurt – his words went deeper even when they lacked the maliciousness.
He tossed her jacket onto a vacant chair and he glanced at her shoulders and back and chest that were exposed by her tube top that she wore. Nothing but anger boiled in his body as he stared at the scrapes, bleeding gashes, and agitated bruises. He clenched his jaw and crouched down so he was able to unlace her boots.
She stood looking down at him as he undid her boots robotically not even giving her the comfort of his expressions or body language. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and in her throat but she held them back firmly standing there cold and without expression.
He finished unlacing both of her boots and without a word or even looking up into her face he stood and turned towards her duffle bag that was sitting on top of her empty chest of drawers. She watched him, unable to do anything else but hold back her tears that were straining to escape. He was angry, she would be a blonde if she couldn't see that and she couldn't blame him for it either, it's not as though she wasn't completely aware of the urge to give into your own anger and frustrations when things weren't going well. She understood his reaction, but she just wasn't used to dealing with it.
"Aren't you going to shower?" he asked indifferently standing right in front of her now. He looked at her as though he didn't care what happened to her but he couldn't even begin to believe it as it rotted away at his insides and stabbed him brutally on the inside.
"Yeah," she answered softly but in a very similar tone to his as she pushed each boot off with the other foot. She stood two inches shorter than before as she rid herself of the shoes and she was sure he enjoyed having even more height on her – it helped in his tough, indifferent attitude. He was looking down at her but she couldn't catch his eyes – it was as though he was looking through her rather than at her and she finally gave up trying and took the clothes he had gotten her from his hands and walked slowly towards the bathroom. Pain still shot through her body with each step only lessening between them, never disappearing.
---
"That spell wore off quicker than I thought it would," Wendy commented as Kennedy sat up on the couch getting herself coordinated.
"So you feel completely normal?" Willow asked.
"Now I just feel drunk," she admitted with a light-spirited laugh.
"Faith let you drink?" Giles asked.
"It wouldn't be the first time," Buffy muttered. Giles remembered how he had thought Buffy had been too strict that first night when Faith had taken all of the Potentials to the Bronze so he immediately curbed himself in reprimanding Kennedy and Faith for her drinking.
"Can I go see Faith?"
"I think you should give her a while," Giles recommended.
"Why?"
"Since you don't know Faith that well, let me just tell you – she's not the friendliest person after she gets her ass kicked… she's not good at dealing with it." Kennedy could've almost dealt with what Buffy said if she had left out her obnoxious preface.
"When can I see her?" Kennedy asked demandingly directing it at everyone else in the room except Buffy.
"Tomorrow would probably be best," Giles answered, even though it was already past four o'clock in the morning.
"I want to see her!"
"Kennedy-" Buffy began to protest,
"See who?" Faith asked as she walked (more like limped) into the living room.
"You're okay!"
"Yeah, I'm five by five."
"You lie," she joked.
"Often if not always," Faith joked back. She was still in pretty bad shape but just as Kennedy had needed to see her, she needed to see Kennedy to ease her nerves and know for herself that she was really okay. Not that anything in her life had ever made it so she needed to see something for herself to believe it…
Kennedy felt like jumping up and hugging her like she imagined she would do for a big sister but she kept herself from doing so knowing Faith just wasn't like that, and either was she really. She had hoped the levity would remain but Faith spoke again, this time not nearly as lightheartedly.
"Kennedy… next time three guys ask you to go with them into a dark alley by yourself, can you use your fucking head a little bit?" Kennedy knew she was angry but she accepted the reprimand, no matter how strong because it was clear the only reason she was doing so was because she cared.
"I… I just didn't think…" Just because she accepted the scolding didn't mean she wasn't uncomfortable under Faith's strong gaze,
"Do you even realize what they were going to do to you?" she asked and it was more than obvious to everyone in the room that it hit way, way, way too close to home for Faith to just laugh it off. Faith wasn't one to give a lecture or a pep-talk, but things like this were not something she could joke about. And instead of dragging it out or making her answer she turned away from the doorway where she had been standing and headed back for her room, feeling exhausted from the short walk.
---
"You okay?" Robin asked Kennedy following her into the kitchen away from everyone else in the living room.
"Yeah," she answered seeming to still be deep in thought. Faith had made it so there was no way she could not think about what could have happened to her tonight, but that wasn't the only thing bothering her. Actually, there was probably a million things flying through her head right now, but she couldn't stop thinking about both what *had* happened to Faith and why she had been so stupid, especially when she kind of knew before this that Faith had something like that happen to her.
---
Faith walked gingerly down the five stairs into her wing and Xander was just walking out of her bedroom to check on her since she had gone directly from the bathroom after her shower into the living room. He felt embarrassed that she caught him checking on her and he turned quickly back into the room ignoring her once more. He walked over to the far window and stared out of it with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. His head was swimming and he could barely differentiate between his fears and reality of what could've happened so he tried to just quiet it all.
Everything he tried hadn't worked thus far but everything not only quieted but was soothed and calmed as he felt her arms hug his stomach from behind him and rest her head against his back like she needed nothing else in the world. He took his first real breath since her phone call and dropped his hands down to her arms around his waist and placed his on top of hers.
She sniffled softly and he knew it was a way of her admitting she was upset. She lifted her head off of his back and squeezed his waist motioning for him to turn around to face her, which he did. He stood there his arms dangling loosely at his sides looking to her to do something as part of his final protest to her coldness. She took his shirt gently in her hand and held it close to her as she raised her lips to his and kissed him softer than he imagined ever possible while still being so passionate. Her lips parted slowly from his and she lowered down never allowing her eyes to leave his face.
He looked down into her eyes for a long time before raising his hand up to her face and cupping it gingerly. "I can't lose you," he stated his voice cracking between each word. She began unbuttoning his shirt as she raised her lips up to his again parting from them only to tell him with them just far enough to get the words out,
"I love you," and then press them right back on to his. She was his only warmth as his shirt dropped to the floor behind him and he devoured it pressing up against her.
Both of them needed each other more than their next breath and that was understood as he lowered her onto the bed and they melted their fears and emotions as they did their energy as they made love in a silent admittance of both of their absolute and equal need for one another.