Title: Maybe, Just Maybe
Disclaimer: Please don't sue. The characters I created are mine. So steal my idea, or 'borrow' without my permission, and I will be the one to sue. Other characters remain...not mine.
Pairings:Buffy/Faith
Feedback: Always, please =)
Rating: R for adult scenes

Note: Once again, sorry for the lack of updates. I was really stuck with the fic, forgetting where I wanted to go with it, but then I got an idea so I got back up and running with it again. I hope you haven't lost interest! Please keep reading! I've got it back up and running again fully I'm writing like two chapters a day, so it should be good to go. Hope you're still enjoying it!

Also!!! This chapter is not from Buffy's POV, but from Faith's POV, and as far as I expect shall be the only one in the fic. Tell me what you think of it. I wanted to get one in here but I wanted to make something really special of it. I don't know if it completely went the way I intended but it still went. I won't keep you waiting any longer; here it is...

One more thing! I don't know if I'm the only one that's noticed, but have a look at the chapter heading. Does anyone watch Tru Calling? (Do you get it?)


Chapter 13

For the first time ever I believed she was jealous of me. Jealous of what apparently I had with Will. I didn't quite understand why.

Losing me, apparently. She was afraid to lose me.

I found my own way back to my motel room, that night. Told her I thought it best she went home and cleared her head. Thought some stuff out, and that I'd see her tomorrow, or whatever.

I closed the door behind me, the dull stench of the dust in the room wafting towards me. I chucked my coat on the chair in the corner of the room and headed straight for the bathroom.

Looking at myself in the mirror. I still didn't see it. She told me she was in love with the way I looked. Pretty. Apparently. No one had ever truly told me I was beautiful. Only a guy looking for a free fuck would, if it would get him the goods. He didn't mean it. They never meant it.

But her telling me she meant it gave it meaning. Meaning for me. I turned away from the mirror and headed for the shower, and turned it on, ran my hand underneath it a second.

I had scored a couple of bruises from before, as I remembered from peeling off my clothes. There they were. Although it was a pretty easy night for vamps I still had the reminder that Will would be scarred for a while.

Sometimes I wondered if I was the messed up one. Really. She got so jealous back there, it freaked me out a little. But I guess her emotions must've gotten the best of her. Normally she would be the one to have them under control.

Beads of warm water fell down my body and soothed my skin, and my hair clung to my back as the water ran through it, soaked it. I couldn't help but wonder what she was up to right now. My every thought somehow managed to go back to what B was doing, if B was thinking about me too. And here was me thinking so much about her, and there was she thinking I was thinking about Red. Not that I wasn't, Red was in bad shape, but…not in the way B thought.

Poor girl, wanting so much just to fight. Like us. But…there was so much difference between us. B, and me and Red. B and I, we're Slayers. Red's not. Never was. Won't ever be. That's the difference. She doesn't have that strength that I do, that B does. She's got strength in a completely different way. B and I are warriors…Red's not.

It just amazes me that she thinks there's something between me and Red. Not that there never would be or whatever, but…after everything we've been through.

I love Buffy.

Everything she does makes me wanna love her even more. And I do. I love her more and more everyday. Maybe I don't show her enough.

I lifted the handset and dialled her number, and then sat back in bed, chewed on my bottom lip, hoping she'd still be awake.

Just when I decided to hang up, cos she hadn't answered, the tone changed. 'Hello?' came that gorgeously gentle voice from the other end of the line.

'B,' I said, trying not to sound too surprised, naturally.

'Oh…Faith…hey…' She didn't sound too happy. I sighed and shifted on the bed a little.

'What was that tonight, B?'

There was some silence, and I think she was sitting down. 'I dunno, Faith.'

I dunno, I kinda expected her to continue. 'You calmed down now?'

I heard her sigh and I laid back in my bed. 'Yeah, I think so,' she said, sounding as if she was resolving her thoughts in her head as we spoke.

'Good.' I inhaled. 'You know you gave me a fright back there, girlfriend.'

'I know.'

I sensed she was still slightly pissed. Figures. 'Buffy?' I called, calmly.

'Yeah?' she said softly, her tone still soothing my entire form.

'I love you.'

Silence. Crap. That always freaked me out.

'Buffy?' I called, thinking now that the phone was just little too silent.

'Faith…I know. I just…I need to get some sleep.' With that, she hung up. I raised my eyebrows and looked at the phone, a little surprised she'd just hung up on me.

Round and round in my head I tried to work out if we were falling apart or not. I hadn't slept. I don't think I'd dressed myself properly. But somehow, through all the thinking about Buffy, I'd managed to get up and get changed and leave the motel and get into school.

I parked my ass on one of the benches outside of the school, hoping she'd pass through this way to get into school.

I guess I'd been sitting there near enough half an hour before I saw her approaching. She was wearing a pair of jeans with a green t-shirt and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She looked like she'd bothered just about as much as I had. I stood up and began heading slowly in her direction. She glanced at me, then looked back again, and smiled a little. We both came to a halt when near enough. 'Hey,' I uttered, trying to sound bothered. I really was, just….trying not to coax her or anything. Maybe she didn't even want me around.

'Hey,' she said, sounding pretty…inward.

I'd never felt so awkward with such silence between us like this. But now she was looking at me as if she wanted to apologise but was too scared to, or too…I dunno.

Turns out perhaps she did want me to stick around, because she'd pulled me round the corner, where…fewer people were, and without admonition pressed her lips to mine, very gently, for a long moment. When she pulled away I smiled.

'I'm so sorry, Faith. I've been such a bitch to you and…god, look at you,' she said, her tone softening up a lot more than it had been before.

I looked down at myself, not quite understanding what she was getting at.

'You look like you haven't slept.' Great. She thought I looked amazingly similar to a pile of smelly trash.

'I haven't,' I told her, chuckling a little on my words.

She smiled. 'Me either.' My smile faded and she gazed at me. 'I couldn't stop thinking about us.'

Hey, me either, so join the club. 'It's okay, Buffy, really it is-'

'Do you really love me?'

I paused completely, then nodded slowly. And there she was again, pressing her lips to mine, so solemnly, as if kissing a baby's forehead. When she pulled away she lingered before me, and I could not help but inhale her scent. She smelt so gorgeous…all the time. I couldn't live without that smell. I had to know it, everyday.

'I love you, Faith.' She moved a hand to my cheek and ran her fingers along it so gently.

'Really?' I said. Not that I was unsure, just…surprised to hear it this time, rather than dismissing the fact that I had said it.

She nodded, then I kissed her and she chuckled. There she was. The gorgeous girl I knew and loved. I thought I'd lost her for a while, there.

'So we're okay?' she asked me, fingers lingering at my chest, teasing me, slightly.

I nodded. 'Of course we are.' I straddled her hips and then pulled her in close and let her embrace me back.

'Good. Cos for a moment there…thought I'd lost you.'

'Why?'

'I just…I was such an idiot last night and…you just dealt with it.'

'Hmm.'

'I'm sorry, Faith. I'm the screw-up.'

'No, it's alright. We all screw-up. Just…let it go.' I held her closer and laid my chin upon her shoulder. I liked that this felt right.

I met with her at lunchtime and we went to sit on the grassy knoll outside the entrance of the school. It was really hot that day, a lot hotter than I'd expected for it to be, but bearable enough. Still we sat underneath a tree, in the shade.

'I was thinking of stopping by the hospital today, to go and see Will, wanna come?' she started, as she picked at the tiny shards of grass from beneath her.

I shrugged. 'Maybe we should get her a card or something.'

She nodded. 'That'd be nice.'

From what had happened this morning I'd have thought maybe she'd be a little more chirpy about us being together, alone, right now, but…she still seemed really thoughtful and really inward. I didn't know whether or not it was my place to say anything, a part of me felt she still blamed me for last night.

'Is everything alright?' I finally said, trying to keep my tone as gentle as possible. I had to squint because of the sun, but when she looked briefly into my eyes she flashed a quick smile. It seemed a little fake to me, but still, I guess it was something.

She shrugged as her gaze dropped back to the grass and she continued to pick at it. 'I dunno.'

I nodded and sat back, leant against the tree. 'You can talk to me, Buffy.'

She looked up at me. 'You just called me Buffy.' I smiled a little bit and I think it was contagious. 'You never call me Buffy…'

I shrugged and soon her smile faded. Something was definitely still up. 'I would've done something sooner if I'd know, Buffy, you know that.'

I noticed her eyebrows raise a moment and her lips departed as she drew in a breath. Was that sarcasm?

'Buffy, you know it wasn't my fault, we were surrounded, I did the best I could do…'

She raised a hand to me signalling me to stop simultaneously to her head nodding and I paused. 'I know, you would have Faith. It's just…' She whimpered as if stuck for the right way to say this, which hurt slightly. '…I dunno. I guess I'm just…' She pressed her lips together and looked out ahead, all the while my eyes fixed upon her fast-becoming-awkward form. '…Call me out of order but…it wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened and you've…' She trailed off as she looked up at me, my jaw near enough hell-met and my eyes near enough out of my head.

'Are you saying I'm careless?'

'No, I don't that, I just-'

I sat forward, my eyebrows furrowed and my face mad-painted. 'Oh, because I'm Watcher-less I have no sense? No guidance? What is it? I should've been more like you and it wouldn't have happened?'

'No, I just mean…'

I stood and began to walk away.

'Where are you going, Faith?' Buffy called as I began to walk away. I could not believe she did still blame all of this on me. It wasn't even my fault. Here was me thinking I had issues. It wasn't me at all.

I turned to see her beginning to follow me. 'Faith I didn't mean it like that, of course we all make mistakes-'

'Yeah, well, I'm sorry I'm not perfect, and that I mess up a little bit. You know, it's a little hard trying to save someone AND fight off evil at the same time. But of course, you're so wonderful that you could multi-task in your sleep.' I turned and continued to walk, truly pissed off. At myself for yelling at her, but also at her for still blaming this on me.

'Faith, just wait, a minute, please,' she called to me, but I continued to walk, headed out of school.

I sensed rather than saw her slow up as I continued to walk away. She knew I wasn't ready to hear what she had to say, whatever it was.

I peeked my head around the corner before entering, just in case she was asleep. It seems she was awake, though because as soon as I did I heard her utter a tired, 'Hey, Faith. Why doncha come in?'

I smiled a little upon entering and approached her, slowly. 'Hey.' I reached for a card in my back pocket and gave it to her immediately, watching her open it as I perched on the edge of her bed. 'It's nothing big.'

She read it and smiled. 'It's sweet. Thanks.'

I nodded in acknowledgement of her calling it "sweet." I think she meant the thought.

'So…' she began. 'I'm a little hazy on why I'm here…could you fill me in?'

'Oh, er…vampires. Sucked. You lost blood. Here you are.' The abridged version.

'Oh.' She seemed a little confused for a moment, before raising a finger and sucking in a breath as if to start talking about it. She frowned, letting her finger drop again. 'When did that happen?'

'Last night, we went patrolling and…' She nodded and I realised I didn't have to finish my sentence.

It seemed she was thinking a while, hard about what had happened last night. 'It's like a puzzle,' she finally uttered and I frowned.

'What is?'

'My memory. Like, a…a puzzle. Like…I-I remember, things…but…fragmented things. Like…I remember being at Gile's but I don't understand why I was there, and…and I remember walking with you and talking about…' I saw her look up at me mid-explanation and pause as if she'd been busted for something. I soon realised my eyebrows were furrowed and I think she thought I was wondering what the hell she was talking about. Either that or I was concentrating too hard on trying to understand why she had stopped talking. '…Er…where's everybody else?'

I looked around briefly, following her gaze with my eyes. 'Erm…well Giles, Xander and B are at school…'

'Oh, right, yeah I forgot.'

She sucked in a breath in the way that she did, and I watched her.

'You're probably thinking what the hell I was doing, last night, huh,' she muttered, her gaze on her fidgeting hands.

I shrugged. 'I don't know what you mean.' I offered a smile, though I think she wasn't looking for all smiles and fluff right now.

'You do. I leant in, to kiss you and you pushed me out of the way – because of the vamps, I get it. But…what if there wasn't a vamp there…'

I stayed silent, my eyes just focussing on her fidgeting hands too.

'I realise what you did was for my own safety, Faith, but, I needed to know.' I glanced up at her eyes, seeing now that they were focussed on me. I looked around the room a little, keeping myself from looking at her, until finally she reached a hand out to mine, and my eyes gravitated to it, followed by my eyes trailing back up to hers. 'I need to know, Faith. If you meant it when you kissed me before, and…I don't wanna, force you into anything or, whatever, but…I've never felt like this before.'

I swallowed, and clenched my jaw repeatedly, not sure if I should speak or not.

'I told you I had been through this emotional roller coaster and you said it was normal. Is…is this…normal?'

At this point her voice was so soft and pleading, I didn't know what was normal anymore. For her. I think she was honestly lost. In me? Was what was circling through my head, but…why? Why would she feel this way? I looked into her eyes, worried that she was so worried about what she was feeling.

Buffy semi-jogged through the corridor leading to the library and upon pushing the swinging door away from her to get in, she realised what all the trauma was. Giles hadn't looked this worried since he discovered the lenses of his glasses were scratched. 'Giles, I came as fast as I could, what's up?'

'I understand what it means,' he began, immediately. He had been sitting at a table, clearly researching some supernatural situation that had spirited a while ago. 'Here…tell me, what does this mean?'

She approached him and her eyes gravitated to the spot in which Gile's fingers had instructed. 'Everyone is doomed.' She looked up into his eyes, to find him looking at her. 'Er…what?'

'Remember, the er…apocalypse? That was initiated by the Erachnii?' She nodded and Giles presented her with a small photograph. 'Erachnii. I spotted one on the way home from speaking to a spirit guide. Lucky I had a camera.'

She raised an eyebrow, noticing how the demon really seemed as if it didn't pose as a threat to mankind. 'So should I go kill it?'

Giles shook his head. 'Absolutely not. Try to and it could capture you, take you to the underworld, whatever it's plans are. Where's Faith?'

She shook her head a little, all of a sudden a little more alert. 'I haven't seen her.'

'You need to inform her of this demon. Make sure she knows to keep safe. I don't want you patrolling until we've figured out a way to stop these demons-'

'You can't stop them, it's impossible.' Buffy looked towards the voice that accompanied the heels on the ground. Utterly astounded, she dropped the photograph in her hand.