Summary: Buffy and Faith fight once more, but this time, for each other and
with each other (as in side by side) to stop a great evil. They get help
from a source that they don't expect and manage to find love. This will be
a Buffy/Faith story, so if it weirds you out, I suggest you turn back
before it's too late.
Feedback: Always Welcome. And thanks much to those who have reviewed. It
totally motivates me to bust my ass on these chapters
A.N. I know the that a lot of the last chapter kinda got away from the
general plot of the story, and a lot of this chapter will focus on Kennedy
and Faith and that's because I have a few ideas where this connection (just
a friendship) that's growing between them will come in handy. The big
showdown probably won't be in this installment, it will most likely all be
written in the next chapter, although it might be the chapter after next.
The thing I like most about writing these stories is writing the
relationships. The big bad is really more for entertainment value and as
you can tell the main focus of the story is really the five girls. So
enjoy this chapter and please leave feedback even if it's to tell me you
don't like something, as long as it's constructive not blasting me with
meanness.
CHAPTER 5
A nurse at the hospital was nice enough to roll a cot into the room Kennedy
was staying in. Willow offered it to Dawn quickly, who gratefully accepted
it and curled up and fell asleep within minutes. Willow remained awake and
stayed seated next to the bed holding Kennedy's hand. Around midnight the
young potential began to stir. Her eyelids fluttered slightly and Willow
gripped her hand and stood close as the girl woke up. Kennedy awoke fully
and looked around wildly until her gaze fell on Willow. The brunette
calmed noticeably, but still seemed on edge. Willow brought her free hand
to Kennedy's face and brushed a few errant strands of hair away. Kennedy
cleared her throat a few times and licked her lips.
"Can I have some water?" She managed to croak out lightly.
Willow nodded and poured a cup of water from the container sitting near the
sink. She helped the younger girl sit up slightly and held the cup to her
lips.
"Just little sips, you don't want to get sick."
Kennedy took a few small sips of water just to wet her throat and eased
herself back on the bed.
"What happened?"
"You don't remember anything?"
Kennedy shook her head and furrowed her brows in thought trying to remember
anything. Willow took her hand again, hoping desperately that the fear in
her eyes and her tear-stained cheeks wouldn't give her away.
"We were dancing and suddenly I started to feel dizzy and I remember Faith
helping me out of the Bronze, but after that, I'm drawing a blank."
"You were drugged Kenny."
Kennedy's gaze shot up to meet Willow's and the brunette searched her eyes
intently.
"No...oh my God...those guys." Kennedy's eyes fell to the bed.
"What guys?"
"These two guys offered to buy us a drink and they did and then we blew
them off. They seemed kinda pissed, but they were staring at us all night
like they were waiting for something."
"Do you remember what they looked like?"
"Yeah kinda."
"You're probably going to have to talk to the police tomorrow Ken."
Kennedy again searched the redhead's eyes and finally noticed something
off.
"What's up Red...there's something you're not telling me."
Willow sat silently for a moment before lifting Kennedy's hand to her mouth
and kissing her fingers gently.
"The doctors found Ruhipnol in your system and they said you were raped...by
two different guys."
Kennedy sat in stunned silence and Willow felt her chin quiver once again.
She did her best to push her emotions aside to be strong for the younger
girl.
"H-how did I g-get here?" Kennedy's eyes welled up slightly but she
blinked the tears away.
"Buffy found you outside the Bronze in an alley, she was worried because
you guys had been gone so long, so we came to find you."
Kennedy just nodded silently as Willow kissed her hand again.
propped up on the sill, chin in hand. The moonlight spilled through the
open window and the warm spring air rushed in. She sat deeply inhaling the
cleansing breeze of rain soaked air. The sound was almost hypnotizing as
she sat thinking about the events bestowed upon them tonight. Kennedy was
in the hospital; both she and Faith had been drugged. Willow had called to
tell her that Dawn was asleep on a cot in Kenny's room. She didn't want to
leaved Faith alone, so she sat at her window seat and allowed the serenity
of the rain pouring down to engulf her in a trance-like state. A light
knock at the door suddenly jarred her out of her thoughts. She turned as
Dylan edged the door open and peeked her head inside.
"Buffy?"
Buffy smiled a sweet smile at the girl and waved her in. Buffy's face fell
as she noticed light tear stains on her cheeks. She opened her arms to the
girl who rushed over and buried her face in Buffy's neck. Buffy pulled
Dylan down so she was sitting in her lap and slowly rubbed light circles on
her back with one hand as the other ran through the wavy, blonde locks,
calming her. Buffy suddenly felt a swell of maternity rise within her.
"It's okay Dylan, she's going to be fine."
"I know, just seeing her in that place and watching her get stitched up...do
you think they did anything else to her?"
Buffy furrowed her brow and thought for a moment.
"I...I don't know, I wonder if we should have taken her to the hospital. Is
Giles still here?"
The young girl just nodded into Buffy's shoulder. Buffy patted Dylan's leg
in a sign for her to stand up. As they stood, Buffy wrapped an arm around
her shoulders and leaned in and kissed the top of her head.
"Let's go talk to Giles, he'll know what to do."
After talking to Giles, Buffy returned to Faith and gently scooped her up.
She carried the girl downstairs and out the door that Dylan closed behind
them. She pulled Faith into the backseat of Giles' car with her as Dylan
hopped in the front. They took off towards Sunnydale Memorial as Buffy
called Xander to tell him what was going on; he agreed to meet them there.
She hung up the phone and turned her attention back to Faith who had light
beads of sweat tracing her forehead. Buffy kissed the girl lightly just as
they pulled up to the hospital.Xander arrived at the hospital just as they were getting Faith settled into
her room. He found Buffy, Giles and Dylan in the waiting room and they
told him the doctors had to run some tests so they had been ushered out of
the room. Buffy was pacing back and forth wringing her hands together,
muttering obscenities under her breath. Dylan sat close to tears thinking
about her mom having to go through all this. Xander sat down next to the
girl and patted her knee lightly.
"Ya wanna go grab something to eat Dylan?"
"Sure...unless Mo-, sorry Buffy, you want me to stay?"
Buffy smiled at the girl and shook her head.
"No, you guys go ahead, I'm gonna go check on Kenny and see how Willow and
Dawn are holding up."
"Giles, do you want to come along?" Xander asked the watcher.
"I could use a cup of coffee myself."
Dylan and Xander rose and as they passed Buffy, the older blonde reached
for her daughter's hand and pulled her into a hug. She lightly kissed the
side of her head and they both headed off in separate directions. Buffy
turned back in time to see Xander wrap an arm around the young girl's
shoulders and watched as she smiled up at him in thanks. She smiled at the
sight and turned back to search for her friends and sister.
Buffy found Kennedy's room and pushed the door open quietly. She smiled to
herself as she saw Dawn curled up in a ball on a cot and Kennedy sleeping
soundly with one hand enclosed in both of Willow's. Willow turned at the
sound of the door and saw Buffy taking in the scene before her.
"Hey Will, how is she?" Buffy whispered.
Willow released Kennedy's hand and stood, stretching a bit. She motioned
for her friend to follow her out of the room.
"Buffy, what are you doing here, what about Faith?"
"We decided to bring Faith here, just in case something happened to her
that we don't know about."
"Oh...Kennedy is okay, I told her what happened. She told me she remembers
two guys at the Bronze who bought the two of them drinks and the doctor
said she found traces of Ruhipnol in her blood. Chances are Faith has it
in her system as well."
"I can't even process all this right now...if someone hurt her, I will kill
them. After everything she went through when she was younger...if I find out
somebody did something to her, I'll make Angelus look like the damn tooth
fairy."
"Well, I've been doing some thinking since I've been here and I have two
theories." Willow met Buffy's eyes and the blonde nodded for her to
continue. Willow looked around at the people nearby and began to lead
Buffy down the hall until they were outside. They sat down on a bench
nearby and Buffy, surprisingly to Willow, pulled out a pack of cigarettes
and lit one.
"Since when do you smoke?"
"Since now, well actually last night, these are Faith's, it actually helps
me chill. So what are you theories?"
"Well, the way I see it, this happened for one of two reasons. One, these
two stupid bastards saw Faith and Kenny at the bronze and decided to drug
them and have their way with them. But that doesn't really wash because
they left Kenny in the alley and took Faith...what happened with her
anyways?"
"She was in a crypt in the cemetery like you said. We went down these
steps in the crypt and there was this whole underground lair thing and she
was down there. We saw Maltag leaving this room that Faith was in with
this doctor guy. She had tubes and stuff hooked up to her, Dylan knocked
the doc out and we grabbed her and ran. He had given her an injection of
something to knock her out. But, finish your theory."
"Well, either those guys drugged them, attacked them and left them, or
drugged them, attacked them and took Faith underground and they work for
Maltag. Or, come to think of it, it could have been somebody else
completely who was supposed to deliver Faith to Maltag. Those guys just
made it a bit easier for them. So the other question is what did they want
with Faith?"
"It's most likely slayer related, he probably wanted to kill her to weaken
our side for the fight."
"Well, that doesn't make sense Buffy, why would they have a doctor looking
after her?"
"Hmm, maybe he wanted to turn her?"
"Maybe, we'll just have to wait and talk to both of them in the morning.
We'll figure this out."
"Yeah, you're right...come on, let's get back in there...you don't know how
tempted I am to get Spike up here and snag a scent off them. He could hunt
them down and I could kill them."
"I'm not so sure I would disagree with you on that one. Maybe not the
killing part, but I wouldn't mind getting my hands on them."
"We could always have Xander go get him."
The two girls locked gazes and truly thought about what they were saying.
Both knew emotion was fogging their brains and they knew if they did, in
fact, get their hands on the two who did this, it had the potential to turn
deadly.
"We could always get him to just find the guys, we can just help the police
investigation along." Willow said finally.
"The police will only work if these guys are actually human, what if
they're demons in human form?"
"The doctor told me that they found semen from two men on Kenny."
Willow's gaze fell to the floor.
"Oh."
Buffy pulled her best friend into a hug and they both struggled not to cry.
She stood and held a hand out to the redhead and they made their way back
inside. Outside Kenny's room, Buffy gave Willow a hug as she went inside
the room as the blonde headed off to find the rest of the group. Buffy
noticed Dylan and Xander giggling as they each devoured a bag of chips and
Giles watched amusedly while sipping his coffee.
"Hey Xand, can I talk to you?"
Xander gave another smile to the younger blonde and walked over to Buffy.
The two talked briefly before Xander headed out of the hospital. Buffy
approached the remaining two and sat next to her daughter, throwing her arm
around the girl's shoulders.
"Hey Giles, you don't have to stay, I know its late. We'll be fine."
"Right yes, I trust you'll call me in the morning and let me know how
things are?"
"After tonight I figured we can all relax tomorrow and spend Saturday going
over the final game plan before the big showdown."
"Yes, I agree, rest would be good for everyone involved."
Buffy stood and walked Giles to the exit and hugged him briefly as he left
sending a small wave at Dylan. Buffy walked back to the younger girl and
held out her hand. Dylan took her hand and they headed off to find Faith.
"Come on shortie, let's go find your momma."
"I'm not short." Dylan pouted slightly.
Buffy sent her a hip check and smiled.
"Hey its about time I had somebody shorter than me to pick on."
They managed to get a cot for Dylan set up in Faith's room the young girl
fell asleep quickly. Some time later, Buffy turned as she heard the door
open and saw Spike walk in. The two locked gazes and nodded slightly. No
words were needed. Spike leaned over the slumbering slayer and inhaled
deeply. The tight muscles in his jaw clenched and it looked to Buffy like
they were threatening to pop out of his cheek. He stood upright and sent
another nod at Buffy before exiting the room. Xander walked in the room as
Spike was leaving and she sent him a smile thanking him. He spent the
night alternating between the two rooms.
The next morning, the not-too-
baffled-with the accelerated healing power-doctors discharged both girls
after they each talked to the police. They did find traces of the date-
rape drug in Faith's system; they also found a very potent dose of
morphine. Buffy felt unbelievably relieved to find out that the two men
had not raped Faith. They couldn't do much about the descriptions they
gave to the police...two regular looking guys, no tattoos, no piercings,
nothing really. The slayer and the potential woke way too early and began
insisting that they be released. Finally the doctors complied at around 6
that morning. When they left, Buffy, Faith, Dawn and Dylan piled in the
jeep, and Xander, Willow and Kennedy piled in Xander's car. When they got
home Faith insisted that she was fine and kissed Buffy and ordered her to
go to bed. Kennedy was found doing the same to Willow. Xander retreated
to his 'apartment' in the basement and instantly fell asleep. Both Dawn
and Dylan stayed up, having slept a fair amount in the hospital. The two
youngest girls plopped down on the couch to watch cartoons as Faith made
her way outside for a smoke. It was still fairly early in the morning and
a light mist played its way through the backyard as Faith sat on the steps.
She pulled her pack out of her jacket and noticed more than a few
cigarettes were gone.
Damn, B musta picked up my habit. She thought to herself. Faith pulled
one out and held it between her teeth as she searched for her lighter. She
turned as she heard the door shut behind her and watched as Kennedy took
the seat next to her. Faith held out the pack to the younger brunette and
watched as a bloodied-knuckled hand plucked a smoke from the pack. Kennedy
held out a light for Faith, who dipped her head slightly to catch the
flame.
Faith inhaled deeply and blew the smoke out her pursed lips.
"How ya feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a garbage truck, damn some slayer healing would be nice
right now."
"Sorry kid, I've gotta call the score even for now...I may have the healing,
but you just got dumped in the alley, that bastard demon in the cave really
had his way with me."
"Yeah, well the two pricks who drugged us apparently had their way with
me."
Faith straightened at that comment. She sent a confused glance to the
potential signaling she had no idea what went down. Kennedy's features
saddened as she took another drag from her cigarette. She stared at a spot
in the grass and shuddered at Willow's confession rang in her ears.
They said you were raped...by two different guys. She closed her eyes and
her chin quivered slightly. Faith reached over and put a reassuring hand
on her forearm. The two brunettes locked gazes for a moment and the
realization hit Faith like a ton of bricks. The slayer's gaze hardened and
suddenly she had her game face on.
Oh shit, I've released Faith's inner psycho. Kennedy began to panic
slightly as she watched emotions dance over Faith's features. First it was
anger...then rage...then...empathy???...then back to rage. Faith suddenly stood
and flicked her cigarette into the grass. Kennedy noticed Faith's hands
curled up into fists so tight, her knuckles were turning white.
"Faith..." Kennedy's voice came out a mixture of question and uncertainty.
"Son of a...damn pricks...dammit...shit!" Faith turned on her heel and marched
back into the house. Kennedy threw her cigarette and ran after Faith. The
slayer, still dressed in her pajamas, stormed into the living room and
threw a weapons chest open and began digging inside. The two youngest
girls watched Faith, both girls' concern growing. Dylan and Kennedy tried
to reason with Faith, who would either ignore both of them or grunt in
response. Dawn slipped upstairs to Buffy's room and roused the fair slayer
from her sleep.
"Buffy, you better get downstairs, Faith is looking...a little too Faith-
like."
"Faith-like?"
Dawn gave her sister the look. Buffy realized the meaning immediately and
flew out of bed and to the top of the stairs just as Faith was about to
open the door. The dark slayer (looking pretty dark at the moment, by the
way, save for the baby blue pj's she was doting.) held a silver dagger in
her left hand.
"Faith!"
The brunette stopped short and sent a glance the fair slayer's way, before
turning back to the door.
"Faith wait! Don't do this!"
"Sorry B, payback's a bitch, and this is one bitch they'll be sorry they
messed with."
Faith made her move for the door again as Buffy flew down the steps.
Halfway down she stopped.
"Faith! They're human!"
Faith froze in her tracks. She stood motionless, still clutching the
dagger. The dark slayer turned her head slowly to look at Buffy, who was
now inching down the steps. Buffy knew they were toeing the line again.
She saw the look in Faith's eye and recognized it instantly. The look from
the dreams she was plagued with after Finch. She knew this was tricky
ground to be walking on, even after all this time.
"They may be human B, but they aren't innocents this time around."
"Faith, please, baby don't do this, don't go back...please."
The pleading in Buffy's voice wasn't lost on Faith, but she felt an
instinctual swell in the pit of her stomach that could rarely be ignored.
The hunt...the kill...evil dies...she kills the evil walking amongst them.
Buffy...can't lose Buffy...they deserve to have their hearts ripped out...dammit
Buffy...
Buffy finally made it to the bottom of the steps. She stood directly in
front of Faith and managed to grasp the other slayers gaze. She held
tight.
"I have to B."
"No, Faith, you don't."
"THEY RAPED KENNEDY!"
"I know! And they deserve to have their lungs ripped out and their
testicles removed painfully, but...we can't..." Buffy's eyes fell to the floor
for a moment before looking back to Faith, whose own gaze had softened
slightly. "You can't."
Faith stood, blinking, she dropped the dagger and clenched and un-clenched
her fists several times.
Buffy saw the tears in Faith's eyes and noticed her chin quiver slightly
through the anger etched on her features. She reached out and took Faith's
hand. Buffy was brought back to the vision of Faith's past and felt her
own anger swell. Tears began to form in Buffy's eyes as well.
"I know it hurts baby, but please don't leave me again." Buffy choked on a
small sob as her tears slipped down her cheeks. Faith finally buckled and
pulled Buffy into a hug as the two cried.
"Dammit B, I'm sorry."
"Shh, it's okay sweetie...it's okay. You stayed with me this time, it's
okay."
Dylan, Dawn and Kennedy, who saw the whole development, remained silent as
they left the room and headed for the kitchen. Willow stood at the top of
the steps; she had seen only the tail end of the fun. The two slayers
screaming at each other didn't take long to wake her; she just sat in bed
for a minute trying to figure out what had happened. Once she knew
everything was okay with Faith, she headed back to bed.
Dylan and Dawn sat on one side of the island in the kitchen each devouring
cereal as Kennedy sat silently sipping coffee. The two younger girls
exchanged a glance.
"Are you...okay Kennedy?" Dawn gave the potential a small, unsure smile.
"I'll be fine...I guess under the circumstances I should feel kinda lucky."
"Lucky? I don't get it." Dylan looked confused.
"Well, the way I see it, if I had to go through what I went through, at
least...I don't have to remember it. A lot of people are haunted when they
go through it; I won't be, not that badly anyways. I mean, I know that it
happened, but I think I would feel completely violated if I actually
remembered exactly what was done to me...does that make sense?"
The two girls thought deeply for a few minutes and each nodded. Dawn heard
a knock at the door and peeked her head around the corner to see a
smoldering blanket barge through the door. She stood at the doorway and
managed to pick up fragments of the conversation Buffy was having with
Spike.
"...so you found them..."
"...damn scent all over town, but I tracked them down. They're holed up
downtown..."
"...definitely human?...Are you..."
"...tested them, the chip buzzed, I got a bloody head sizzle..."
"What is Spike doing here?" Kennedy snapped Dawn out of her eavesdropping
and headed towards the door.
Both Buffy and Spike caught sight of her and ended the conversation
quickly. The vampire hooded himself again and pulled the door open. Just
as he was about to make a mad-dash, Buffy grabbed his arm. He turned back.
"You hungry Spike?"
He looked at her questioningly until she raised her eyebrows slightly.
"You know I can't..."
"You're a very resourceful guy when you want to be."
They exchanged a look and Spike went running out the door.
"What was that all about?"
"Just trading some info for some blood...the boy's gotta eat."
Buffy smiled tightly as she watched Spike hop into a sewer opening nearby.
She shut the door and headed back upstairs where Faith had been lying down
since their little blow up. Buffy crawled into bed with Faith and wrapped
her arms around the brunette's middle. She couldn't help but feel a twinge
of guilt in the pit of her stomach.
I just gave Spike permission to eat those two guys. What am I thinking?
Yeah, the two guys who drugged your girlfriend and delivered her to a demon
to do God knows what. The two guys who raped and beat your best friend's
girlfriend. Screw them.
But still, I had it out with Faith for her wanting to do exactly what I am
allowing Spike to do.
You knew Faith would do it, no hesitation...what Spike does with your
permission is up to him.
True and its not like Spike will be the one to actually kill them if they
do get killed, he can't do it, it will probably end up frying his brain...can
he eat humans that are already dead?
Who cares...all I did was let him know that I wouldn't interfere if he wanted
to take care of those two pricks.
Right...let it go, its out of your hands now anyways...it's Faithy time, don't
let her go, give her some love.
Buffy shook off the guilt and held Faith tightly dropping a light kiss on
her temple. Faith smiled and kept her eyes closed. She simply reveled in
Buffy's embrace as she felt the blonde slayer relax and eventually drift
back to sleep.
About an hour later Faith slipped quietly from Buffy's bed and eased the
door shut as she left the room. She heard the sounds of the shower running
as she went downstairs. Faith found the D twins sprawled out on the couch
looking bored.
Its only 9 a.m. and these two are already bored...its gonna be a long day.
"Is this the best you two could come up with?"
"We don't really have too many options here Faith."
"You have your license don't you Daybreak?"
"Yeah, but Buffy won't let me take the car."
"Well if we ruin it, I'll just buy her a new one, come on, let's go get
some entertainment."
Faith moved towards the door but stopped as she noticed the two girls
looking at her funny.
"What?"
"You might want to change first." Dylan pointed to her pj's and smirked.
Faith rolled her eyes and ran upstairs to change. A few minutes later she
returned and they headed out the door. They made it to the mall slowly,
but surely and Dawn barely got the car in the parking space. The piled out
and wandered into the mall. The first stop was a video store. They
wandered up and down the aisles and picked out about thirty DVD's. They
left that store and headed next to the video game store. Faith picked out
a PlayStation 2, a Game Cube and an Xbox. They bought roughly twenty games
and Faith insisted that they have every accessory the store had. She
bought extra memory cars, wireless controllers and every thing else she
could. Before they left the mall, arms full of bags, they made one last
stop. They headed into one of the larger department stores and went to the
seasonal department. The two girls were flabbergasted when they found out
Faith wanted to buy a pool. She picked the biggest aboveground pool she
could find and paid a huge price to ensue it would be delivered later that
morning. Feeling satisfied, she led the two girls back to the car and
smiled as they squealed in excitement about the pool.
The three girls arrived home around 10:30 and began dragging bags and boxes
into the living room. Faith took her time setting the game systems up and
just as she was finishing they heard a knock at the door. The D twins
began playing games as Faith kept an eye on the guys installing the pool.
They finished around noon and Faith made sure they received a huge tip.
She rolled her eyes at them as she saw them checking out her ass. The dark
slayer grinned as she turned and looked at the pool. She sauntered over
and dipped her hand in the water, testing the temperature.
B's gonna love this. She thought with a smile. She heard the back door
and turned and saw Kennedy gaping at the pool. Faith smirked.
"Where did this come from?"
"We went shopping this morning."
"I noticed Dawn and Dylan playing with all the stuff in the living room,
but a pool? I didn't know you could just buy them and have them delivered
same-day."
"Money talks...anyways, how ya feelin'?"
"I don't really wanna talk about it right now...if that's okay."
Faith smiled sadly at the girl as she took her usual smoking seat and lit a
cigarette.
"No prob Ken, but if you do want to talk...I...know what its like."
Kennedy smiled as she sat next to the slayer and lit a cigarette of her
own.
"So what happened to you last night?"
Faith rolled her eyes and began telling Kennedy about her night.
consider 5,000 words to be short, but I don't wanna disappoint. But be
patient with me, I have to work out some details about the final showdown
with the baddie. I think the next chapter will take care of the rest of
the last day off before the fight and some of the prep work for the
showdown. The chapter after next will most likely cover the big fight and
possibly the day after that, which is the day Dylan leaves. The timeline
for this story is wacky, I realize, its kinda S7 after Kenny shows up
obviously and there are no other potentials, mostly just because I think
they are whiny and I don't really like any of them but Special K. I think
I'm setting it up to be the prequel to the story I wrote called 'I Wish'
I'm gonna skip the whole Caleb and First stuff cause we all know where it
goes. Anyways, be good boys and girls and leave me some feedback. It
really does make me want to please you all and write more. The more I get,
the more I know people are reading, so in turn no feedback=no real want for
the rest...its up to you to decide how much more is written. If ya get a
sec, take a look at the other story, I'm gonna revise it eventually to
reflect more of the stuff that happens here, probably once I get this
finished...it's tough to write two big stories at once, but anyways...it's a
much lighter story, so if that's your thing, ya might dig it. Enjoy kids.