Title: Maybe, Just Maybe
Disclaimer: Please don't sue; purely for entertainment, creators of 'Buffy'. My characters are however mine. So steal my idea, or 'borrow' without my permission, and I will be the one to sue.
Pairings:Buffy/Faith
Note:Around Season 3, before 'Bad Girls,' and just so you know, I'm rough on my viewings of S3 so if I get things wrong please let me know. And also, I'm debating whether or not 'Bad Girls' etc will happen. This however may change.
Feedback: Always and forever =D
Warnings: Adult situations. Not yet, but knowing me, there will be.
Rating: As far as rating goes, it will develop into situations of adult nature and language will probably get bad too, so if you're under 18 (or 16 in the UK) please don't read. I've given it R for bad language, and potential scenes of adult nature.
Chapter 1
I awoke to the sound of my own heartbeat jamming at my chest. I couldn't believe what had just happened. I clutched my chest, gasping for breath, and I felt my drenched hair clinging to my neck.
It was still dark. I noticed the pale blue light of the moon shining through my blinds. The air around me wasn't warm. Yet I had broken out into a cold sweat.
I laid back down, scrunching my forehead, trying to figure out what had just happened. My breathing was still the only thing between sound and silence and my body was emitting heat of it's own.
- - -
'Came out of nowhere,' I said to Giles as I watched him pace back and forth the library. He opened his mouth as if to speak, though when no words came out, he furrowed his eyebrows and outstretched his index finger instead.
'Hmm. I would listen to your thought train, if only I could hear it,' I said out loud, as I watched him, slightly amused that he seemed to disappear off into a world of his own whenever I talked to him about anything, slayer-related.
'Yes…' He turned to look at me for a moment, removing his glasses from his face, before swivelling on his heel and heading up the red stairs and along a column of shelves with books that I had no intention of digging into…especially at this hour. 'And what did you say it looked like again?' he said, and I thought I heard what sounded like him exhaling onto his glasses.
I squinted. 'Erm…Black, cape…hooded, thing, no face, of what I remember. Not I saw a face…I think…' I made a little face and fidgeted with my fingers a little. 'Oh, then a red hand. And it was gripping my throat, and I couldn't do anything about it. But what the hell does that mean?'
I waited at the counter, imagining that he was drawing down a large book from somewhere.
My attention was immediately drawn to the swinging doors of the library and the figure that strolled through them. I felt my heart going again. Crap.
Faith. I realised quickly that she'd been jogging this morning. Her breathing was heavy and her hair was clinging to the back of her neck, though most of it was drawn up into a ponytail. She was only wearing a pair of joggers and a tee shirt but she looked pretty good in them, and I made it priority to check out the curves of her body as she approached me. 'Hey, B, what happened with jogging this morning? I went to your place but you weren't there, wassup with that?' she said all laid back, through breaths.
I couldn't help but notice the heaving of her chest, so gracious. Even sweated out as she was, she still looked amazing, and the flex of her arm muscles as she reached for her ponytail. She fixed it up into a messy bun as she stood by me, and I don't think I moved my eyes off of her once. 'Hey, B? Are ya there?' she said with a little laugh, and I took my eyes away from her, and cursed inwardly because she noticed me staring.
I cleared my throat and focussed on my hands. 'Yeah…sorry, I had to talk…Giles and I-'
'S'cool. We don't have to train if you've got some assignment thingy, I just thought that you would be-'
'Oh, no, it's not that, I was telling Giles about this-'
'Jordipe,' came Gile's voice from behind the row of books.
I looked towards his voice. 'Er…what?'
Faith tapped my arm and I turned to her. 'I think he said he's got a sore pipe…' she said, under her breath. 'Hey G! You might wanna get that checked out-' she said, piping up.
I smiled, and shook my head. 'He didn't say that,' I said leaning in a little closer to her and hitting her arm gently. I think I must've had bad breath because she didn't smile back.
Giles appeared from behind the shelves presumably ignoring Faith's comment. 'It's not harmful, but I would keep an eye out, just in case.'
Faith chuckled. 'Well if you don't wanna go with my suggestion…' I hit her playfully on the arm and she laughed even louder.
Giles looked up at her from the book. 'What?'
'Er, nothing, she thought you said something different.' I cleared my throat and nodded my head a little, listening to Faith laughing. 'Erm…what else does it say? Oh, and about the hand?'
He hummed slightly and Faith quietened down a little. 'Nothing to worry about. They're messengers of some sort-'
'Yeah I bet I could identify which kind,' Faith said under her breath before chuckling some more. She leant her hand on my shoulder and laughed into it.
Giles frowned a little, wondering what she had just said, and I couldn't help but smile. 'It's the colour of their skin.'
'So why was he strangling me?' Faith burst out laughing and I couldn't help but chuckle either. 'Faith, shut up…'
Giles made a small sound. 'What's so funny?'
Buffy shook her head. 'Nothing, nothing's funny,' I tried to assure him, although I think he was feeling a little nervous because he removed his glasses from his face once again. 'Ignore Faith.'
The morning bell rung and I made a reach for my bag. 'Er, Buffy?' Giles said to me. 'Training after school today…you as well, Faith,' he told us, nodding towards Faith as he spoke to her.
'Sure,' we both said at once, though my voice sounded naturally chipper than hers, and hers naturally huskier than mine.
I followed Faith out of the library, my mind back to what she looked like in the clothes she was wearing. Tee shirt, joggers…I liked the way her hips moved in those things. She always walked with confidence and as if she knew where she was going. In actual fact I don't think she did, though I managed to follow her all the way out of school without remembering once that I had homeroom.
It was only when she turned and reached a hand out to my shoulder to stop me, and I looked her in the eye. 'You know, Red won't be too happy about you cuttin' classes to be with me.'
I tried to resist the urge to say, "What I do with my love life has nothing to do with her," although before I could comprehend my mouth spilled, but I was overly glad that it had come out as a quip, rather than a serious comment.
I couldn't help but smirk when I saw the corner of her mouth tug up into a smile to expose her teeth. 'So what are you sayin', B? Ready to kick, it; you an' me, rough and tumblin' it back at my place, all kinks and no vanilla?'
I wish I hadn't froze and looked as 'deer caught in headlights' as I did because it made her smile drop and she looked awkward. 'Oh yeah. The "uncomfortable" card. Shoulda known what with the, grunting,' she began, looking down into the palms of her hands. A troubled look came over her face and I punched her on the arm lightly.
'Hey,' I said, alerting her to myself, just one more time. She looked up and immediately I could tell she was disappointed. In what, was what I was wondering. Why should it bother her what I had just done? 'I'm not uncomfortable, just…' I made funny face and a little hand gesture to go with it.
Great. What a dumbass I am. She looked at me as if to say, "Yeah, right. Little blonde straight Slayer couldn't get any straighter." I continued. 'Training tonight, then patrol?' I said, as if asking. 'I kinda need to check around, see if this hood thingy is for real.'
She searched my face for a moment before speaking, and I felt a little strange now, anxious of what she would say to me. For a moment there I thought I'd seen something in her eyes that didn't exist in her. The desire for security; something safe. It seemed as if she was asking for it as she looked into my hazel eyes, her own chocolate ones wide and gleaming, as they naturally did. Faith's natural instinct was to go for what she thought she should go for; it was all about trusting your instincts with her. But just then I thought she hesitated in saying something to me.
Perhaps I wasn't the only one thinking this way.
'Sure,' she said, her gaze moving away from mine, and continued to search from side to side for something to focus on. That nervous thing she does. She's nervous. She made a little motion with her hands as she spoke. 'You should…probly get in there before Red gets ballsy with you for being late.'
I furrowed my eyebrows, feeling apprehensive about the conversation we'd just had. I offered a gentle nod, and no more, though I tried to catch her gaze and noticed all too quickly how she avoided me. I took a step back away from her, frowning still at what had just happened. 'Okay…sure,' I began, sucking in a breath before turning and walking. Something inside me made me want to turn back and run to her and slam my lips against hers.
Whoa. Back up. I just said that?
I turned back to face her, drawing in a harsh breath as I did, though sighed it out slow as I saw her walking away from me. Something about the way she walked made me think even further that something about what I'd just said had bothered her. I saw her kick a rock further in front of her, then walk up to it, kick it again. She slid her hands into her pockets and her head hung.
- - -
I let out a pitched moan as my back hit the ground, although quickly got back on my feet, before landing a punch in Faith's stomach then hitting her in the chin with both hands, sending her stumbling backwards, her hair moving a fraction of a second behind her. She looked as heated as I felt. She grunted, having been knocked slightly off balance, but she was quick to tackle me back, and what a fine tackle it was. She threw a kick that swooped me off my feet and landed me right beneath her, though I shoved my legs out, knocking her off her feet as well, and she landed on her ass. 'Woah, B, gotta gimme a chance here,' she said between shallow breaths.
I chuckled a little, shuffling back a bit. 'Well, when I was gonna ask you the same thing you kicked me in the back and sent me head first through the air. Was a near blackout experience, I think,' I said, as I watched her scramble to her feet. She reached a hand out to me, and I looked at it, thinking. I decided to use it to get her back, and tugged on it, knowing she would be going straight over my head and right back onto the floor. I jumped up, then got on her, held her arms down. 'Oh, we're not over yet.'
She scoffed and I chuckled a little, though that faded fast when I gazed into her eyes and surprisingly saw her gazing back. Was she watching me laugh?
'What?' I uttered softly, becoming slightly moved by her current expression.
She smiled softly and licked over her lips. 'Your smile is adorable.' She looked as if she had begun to search my eyes once again for something that I had no comprehension of. That comment sent me into a daydream. I'd never really been this close to her before, with just in the room, this position of me sitting a top her stomach being practiced between us. But when looked at her gorgeously naturally pouted lips, then focussed on those dark chocolate swirls I felt a sensuous shiver travel the length of my spine.
Finally after what seemed like a lifetime, I muttered, 'What?' a gentle smile coming to my lips. It wasn't until I snapped out of my actual daydream that I realised she was yelling at me.
'I said I'm getting cramp!!! Get up!!!' I frowned and back off her, standing as I did. She scoffed again as she got up herself, and I let out a silent sigh, afraid I had done something that she may be able to use against me in the future.
She crossed the deserted library to the counter where she grabbed a half drunken bottle of water, and as she unscrewed the cap, as she sucked off the round plastic hole, as she swallowed, I could not release my eyes from her, the way her muscles moved with her; with that same grace as a dancer and a fighter all at the same time. The way her chest rose and fell with each breath, and how it heaved when she was deprived of oxygen.
Her facial expression remained content, even as she looked at me across the room. I found myself sitting on one of the tables with my legs crossed. 'Call it a day?' she said to me after swallowing her last mouthful of water.
I thought for a second. 'Faith, I need to ask you something.' I didn't know where that came from. I didn't even realise I wanted to ask her something.
She replaced the blue bottle on the countertop and approached me, briefly wiping her hand over her mouth, then her forehead as she watched me with a concerned expression. 'What?' I heard, rather than saw her say. She perched on the table across from mine, that same expression lingering at her face.
I drew in a deep breath, furrowing my eyebrows as I did. 'Er…well…the thing is…I…'
'B, at this rate that hood demon thing is gonna have gutted, grilled and gobbled every single human being by the time you finish your sentence.,' she said quickly, and I watched her lips as she said it.
I nodded. 'Right.' I hopped off the table and headed for my things.
I heard her hop of her table too. 'No, B, I just meant-'
'Yeah, I know.' I shrugged my shoulders and slung my bag over my shoulder. 'S'not important anyways.'
Listening to the scuff of her shoes on the ground I wished I had talked faster. I had my back towards her but I could tell she was coming towards me and wasn't going to let me leave until I said everything. If just to have the courage to, then I wouldn't be having this problem.
I wonder what I would've said if I hadn't moved.
'Alright.' She picked up her bottle of water and the keys beside them and looked over at me. 'Fancy something to eat?'
I shook my head indolently. 'I'm not hungry,' I started.
She grabbed my arm and began leading me towards the double doors marked exit. 'Well I am.'
- - -
She walked along, a bag of greasy chips covered in vinegar wrapped in a large piece of white paper in one hand, and a chip in the other hand, which was half in her mouth. 'No wonder you're so tiny,' she mused, and I raised an eyebrow to her, looking at her for a moment. 'Well you don't eat anything.'
'Yeah, actually I do,' I told her, my voice insult-ridden. I sucked in a breath and looked ahead of me, at the long street in front of us. 'I ate a blueberry muffin today.' I nodded my head a little and smiled a little, as if proud of myself.
Faith chuckled through the mouthful of chips. 'Please. Let me book you in for a liposuction session, quick; before you burst,' she said, reaching for even more chips.
My jaw dropped and I looked at her, then the chips. 'Well I just wasn't hungry,' I piped up, even more offended by her comments of my size. I quietened a little. 'Just had things on my mind, s'all.'
'Uh huh,' she pushed, through that same mouth of chewed chips.
I glanced sideways at her, not intending in the slightest to continue.
'So what was that back in the library, you wanted to say something?'
'Yeah right before your stomach started creating an earthquake,' I muttered and she hit me on the arm. 'Well it did.'
'Well I didn't get to have a blueberry muffin unlike some.'
I glanced at her again, narrowing my eyes at her. 'Shut up, it just so happens that I had an extra-large one.'
'Hmm.'
We strolled for a moment and I listened to the chewing noise she made with her chips, coupled with the scuff of our shoes on the ground and the shuffling of my jeans, until she piped up. 'So what was that back in the library?'
I sighed and reached a hand up to run my fingers back through my hair. 'Nothing, don't worry.'
'Didn't look like nothin',' she began, dragging out every word.
'Well appearances can be deceiving.'
'Yeah well.'
'Yeah well, what?' I repeated, deliberately trying to turn things around.
She munched for a second. 'Yeah well nothing.'
We walked in silence some more. I glanced sideways at her again, and saw her lick over her lips, still eating out of that greasy chip bag that contained enough chips to feed the city twice over. 'Ever think about who will be next?'
Faith made a noise as if to ask, 'What?' because her mouth was too full.
'The next one. The next Slayer.'
She stopped chewing, walking, moving, looked at me as if to say, "Why, why would you mention that?" and I stopped a little in front of her, and looked back. It seemed as if she disposed of the question and resumed chewing, looking at her chips, and walking.
'Well don't you?'
'Did you ever wonder about me?'
I felt my heart start up again. All the time. 'Yeah.'
She swallowed. 'Really? Did I live up to your expectations?' she said as if excited that I had said "yes" in response to her question.
I nodded. 'And a bag of chips…' I smiled as I looked at her, and she laughed a little.
'Want one?' she offered holding the bag out to me and I pushed it back towards her. 'You're gonna break.'
'No I'm not.'
'Yeah, you will.'
I scoffed. 'No, I won't, Faith. I eat.' I paused a moment. 'Just not excessively.'
'Or at all,' she mumbled through a mouthful of chips.
'Whatever.'
'So this thing?'
'Would you stop bringing it up, I said it was nothing,' I snapped (gently).
'Geez, okay, sorry, just you looked as if you were about to spill your guts for fucking my boyfriend or something,' she replied.
'Faith!' I said and frowned.
She shrugged. 'Fiiine, god I'm sorry.' She screwed up her chips and I silently thanked god they were finished. I didn't notice her shrug her shoulders and make an irresolute facial expression. 'Girlfriend,' she muttered as she turned away from me to chuck her chips in the trashcan.
I think I got whiplash turning my head. 'What'd you just say?' I said, and I swear to God no one ever had a voice that high-pitched in the history of man…speaking.
She shook her head and scrunched her face a little. 'Absolutely nothin'.'
I sighed upon looking back ahead of me. Perhaps I just imagined she said that. Although I noticed a cheeky smile on her face as we walked, and her eyes possessed some sneaky look that gave me the impression I had heard something. She strutted, and sucked on every finger she'd used to eat her chips with, one by one, deliberately slowly. Enticingly.
- - -
Faith slammed the broken wood into the guy's chest and then watched as he became a tiny pile of dust. She grunted as she got up off of the floor and wiped herself off, before chucking the wood aside. She looked across the fallen apart warehouse to see a couple of vampires attacking me, and as I landed a mid kick in the vamp's stomach, he let out a cry and flew in the direction of Faith. I yelled out her name to her and I'm glad she was watching where she was going because otherwise he would have gone straight into her. Too bad I forgot the other vamp was behind me and he grabbed my throat and I shrieked. I retrieved a stake from the front pocket of my jeans and twisted his arm over and round his back before shoving the stake into his chest. And poof.
I threw the stake in Faith's direction upon her calling for it, and she caught it, swung it round and slammed it into the vamp before kicking him backwards, and he was dust. She let a long hard moan as she leant down and grasped her thighs in her hands as if she had been running and needed to stop to catch her breath.
I furrowed my eyebrows as I stepped over the dust and began to approach her. 'You okay?' I said, noticing the echo in the warehouse as I spoke. We had stumbled across this place accidentally. I never realised it was there and neither had she. But when we got in, it was a world of vampires seeming to be congregating. We decided to use the element of surprise and jump them from behind, poof one of them then appear, and watch their faces as they watched the vamp disintegrate to reveal their worst enemy. We must have fought ten of them, give or take. I know that at the end I was beat.
She nodded as she straightened out, her left out hair flinging itself back over her head, and the brown curls bounced around her naked neck. She was only wearing a cami top and a pair of tight jeans. I hadn't bothered to change after training- I was still in my jeans and 'Hawaiian Beach' yellow tee. Even so, she made her outfit look a million times better, all because she wore it. I could see her shoulders and chest glistening, and I watched on as she raised a hand to her forehead and left it there for a moment, all the while her eyelids shut and her voice box humming a continuous note.
'Sure?' I said, my own breath a little puffed out. I stopped pretty close to her, far enough to be able to reach out and grab her shoulder, and that I did. She opened her eyes to me as if surprised that I was there and putting a hand on her shoulder. 'Hey,' I began, sure that my expression was portrayed anxiety.
Her eyes were wide open and I think watering slightly, and she exhaled heavily through her mouth before inhaling quickly and exhaling quickly, this time through her nose. She smiled a moment. 'Yeah. Just, erm…' she paused and winced a moment. 'He stepped on my bad foot.' She shrugged and looked at me, I think, expecting me to laugh at her.
I nodded. 'Ouch.'
We began walking, although she stumbled a little and then stopped, taking her bad foot off the ground. She bent down a moment to hold it, before uttering a small, 'Fuck,' under her breath. She grimaced as she held the injured foot, her brows deeply furrowed in her forehead and her eyes clenched shut. I think I saw her clenching her jaw because her jaw bone was protruding slightly.
I immediately moved to her side and wrapped her arm around my neck. 'Come on, you can lean on me,' I said through an exhaled breath.
'No, I'll be fine, really,' she insisted and moved her hand away.
I gave her a "fine" look and lifted my palms to her. 'If you wanna walk on it that's just fine-'
'I'm not about to start hopping back to my place, looking like an idiot, I can look after myself.'
I raised my eyebrows, looking down at her foot. 'Alright,' I said beneath my breath.
She sighed and scoffed, mentally kicking herself I think. 'Urgh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that.'
'It's okay.' I drew in a breath, deliberately avoiding eye contact with her. 'So I guess I'll go home, then.'
Faith nodded a little, before stepping on her bad foot and letting out a bellowing cry. 'Holy shit!' she picked up her foot and started hopping, making a high-pitched noise in her throat as her eyes widened and she grabbed her foot. I sighed and she looked up at me. 'I'm good. Just gonna…hobble on down back to m'place…yeah…' she told me before limping away.
I stayed back a little, contemplating whether or not to say what I wanted to say. 'Unless…you wanna come back to my place?'
She stopped and looked back at me over her shoulder, a raised eyebrow staring me in the face.
'Well, you can't exactly walk on that thing, I could…fix it for you…' Faith chuckled a little and I swallowed, nervous.
'I'll live,' she assured me and continued limping.
I sighed and shook my head. 'C'mon, you look ridiculous.'
'Not as ridiculous as I would if I was hopping.' I made a tutting sound and rolled my eyes before grabbing her arm.
'Since when did you care what people thought of you?'
- - -
I focussed on releasing the tension as I massaged slow circles into her foot. We both sat upon my bed, me shuffled down to the end and her in the centre, her arms behind her, propping her up. Her eyes were focussed on her foot also and I begged my senses to concentrate solely on the foot and not the fact that Faith was on my bed.
I stretched the white material gradually around her foot, being careful not to coax her out of her state. Her eyes had closed, and I think she was listening to the strumming guitar on my CD. I couldn't help but move my eyes up along the curves and contours of her body, just for me to memorise. To be able to close my eyes and know where they were. Her facial expression told me that she was at peace, and that I was doing something right. All the while I was wrapping the material around her feet, although my wrist accidentally knocked against her foot and she cried out. I tore my gaze from her and looked down at her foot. 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry…' I started, my voice pleading.
She shook her head. 'It's alright. It's just…it fuckin' hurts, man.' She brought a hand to her temples and began massaging them, then replaced her hand in the previous spot, her eyes falling closed again. 'Stupid vampire.'
I think I gave the impression I was worried because I knew my eyebrows were furrowed but I guess my eyes were somehow too, because when she opened hers and looked at me, she uttered a gentle, 'Hey.'
I looked up, alerted by her sudden change of tone. Her voice was breathy, and gentle. 'Don't worry, it'll be okay.'
I swallowed and let out a breathy laugh. 'I don't wanna put you in anymore pain than you have to be.'
She smiled and nodded her head. 'That's nice.'
The corner of my mouthed tugged up a moment as our gaze between each other was kept for just a moment longer, then I looked down, and continued wrapping up her foot.
I could feel her eyes burning in to me, all the while I was focussing on her foot, inwardly daring myself to look up and tell her how gorgeous she was. I didn't dare. But I could feel her gaze on me, and when she looked away, I felt as if I was being deprived of oxygen. I needed that gaze back. I wanted her to look at me.
I tucked in the bandage at the edge and put her foot down on one of my cushions. 'All done.' I used that chipper tone to let her know I was alright, but when she opened her eyes to me, I couldn't read her expression.
'You didn't have to, B-'
'I-I wanted to. Cus…otherwise you'd still be…hopping.' I took a breath. 'Imagine trying to stake a vampire on one foot. You'd be all-'
'Please…let's not…' she said as if to tell me I was waffling. Something I had adopted from Willow, I was sure.
I nodded and offered a careful smile. 'Do you want ice, or something?'
She shook her head.
'I can get you painkillers, or-'
'B, it's alright, really. It'll be better by tomorrow, I'm sure of it.'
She pulled herself into a better sitting position and reached out to me. I looked back over my shoulder, a little surprised at her touch, and that continued further when she let her hand fall to mine, and then tugged on it. I let my lips apart, still wondering why the hand was there. It was only when she cocked her head towards the top of my bed and I began to move I realised what was going on in her mind.
I was close enough to her to feel her breath on me, and I could see her pupils before me, beginning to dilate. She leant in towards me and I felt a sudden rush of nervousness in my stomach. It tightened, twisted and I thought I would panic. Though as soon as her lips hit mine, all of that melted away, and all that was left was the passion, that began to arise between us, as I reached my hands up to her shoulders at first, then up her neck, up to her cheeks-
'Buffy?' she said, forcefully, and I think she had said it many times before because when I looked at her she was frowning.
I frowned and looked around for a moment, away from her, at the surroundings in my room as if I had never seen them before. 'Ur, yeah?' I said, looking back at her.
'Do you have any food, I'm starved…'
I watched her for a moment, offering a timid smile, before nodding and getting up. 'I'll get snacks.'
I made my way out of my room as fast as I could, closing the door behind me. I leant against it a moment, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Had I just been hallucinating?
