A/N: Ok, I promised that this would be up by Tuesday and voila! Here we are. Hope you like and don't forget to give me lots and lots of reviews or I might not continue. Haha, yeah right. Hopefully the next chapter will be up within the week but work starts again tomorrow and I have no idea what I'm doing at night, so, yeah. Anyway, here it is.
.:Faith:.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not the characters. Although I would really like to own Spike. Anyway nothing is mine sadly and none of the lines from any of the scripts are mine. The title and the plot are loosely based on the In Death books by J.D. Robb. I don't own it either. I also don't own Eve or any characters from the books. Damn.
Rating: R, just for good measure
Chapter 7
Buffy pressed a hand to her stomach before making the call to New York. She hadn't told anyone that she was pregnant yet. She didn't want anyone to know because then the baby pools would start and then the jokes and then the—well, she just didn't want anyone to know yet.
Buffy picked the phone up and dialed the number to the New York precinct that had Lieutenant Eve Dallas waiting.
"Morris that better be you with the god damn tox report." Came a very female and very pissed off voice
Buffy was taken aback at her curt tone but didn't let it faze her for more than a few minutes.
"Is this Lieutenant Dallas?" Buffy asked cautiously
"Yeah this is Dallas Who the hell is this?"
"This is Lieutenant Buffy Summers from the LAPD; it appears that we have a like crime."
In her tiny New York office, Eve sat back placing her boots on her desk and crossing her ankles.
"And which Homicide would that be?" she asked
"A little while back you handled a case that took place during a play, am I correct?"
"Yeah, that's correct."
"Well, turns out that someone decided to pull the same act . . . no pun intended. One of the people that was in your play is in mine."
"Is that so? Which one?" Eve asked as she took a long drink from her coffee
"Uh, Bambi Wilson, do you remember her?"
"How can I forget her? Well, first there's the name, then there's the fact that she's a total dink. But yeah, I remember her."
"She's a part of the homicide I'm investigating."
Eve placed her feet on the ground and leaned in intrigued.
"Is that so? Well I'll be damned. Can you hang on a minute Summers?"
Buffy waited on the other line while she heard muffled voices on the end.
"I don't give a shit, I said I wanted it today and I want it today! I don't care if he's on a cruise in the fucking Bahamas. Get him back here Peabody, I want him back here by twenty three hundred." Buffy heard Eve yell
"Sorry about that. My medical examiner decided that he was going to take the week off, fucking asshole." Eve said obviously angered
"Alright, here's what I was thinking. You could fly out here and we could look exchange case files and compare notes."
There was a long silence on the other end that made Buffy worry that she was going to say no and hang up.
"Alright Summers, I'll be there day after tomorrow, is that alright? I have to wrap some things up here before I leave."
"Yeah that's fine. Here's my number so you know where to reach me," Buffy relayed her phone number and hung the phone up.
..
Just as Buffy was leaving her office her phone rang.
"God it is just so damn tempting to just walk out and not care until tomorrow morning." She sighed and walked over to the phone and answered
"Summers?"
"Burkle? Jesus Christ, I've been trying to get a hold of you for fucking two days. Where the hell have you been?"
"I've been busy. Listen, I have the results of the rope."
"It's about god damn time." Buffy said under her breath.
"Bad news, the rope is completely standard and can be found anywhere. The make is also standard. Stuff that you would use for roping up a canoe to the roof of your garage or something, and lastly, the manufacturer is a place called, Angel Face."
"Thanks, I'll try and see how much room we have to work with that."
"There's something else Summers." Fred said with a hint of worry in her voice
"What is it?" she said mildly irritated that she didn't just leave the phone ringing
"Hargrove, you know, Faith? She's bad news."
"Yeah I got that."
"And she really hates you."
"Got that too, if there's nothing else Burkle I would like to go home."
"Yeah, there is something else. You went to the academy with her, in '93. She's hated you because you were the best that was being produced and everyone was talking about you and not her. She's switched precincts and divisions a lot. No one wants to deal with her for a long period of time because she's such a bitch. She's been filing complaints like crazy about you, saying that you threatened her and that you did all this shit that no one would believe. She even said that you called her last night saying that you were going to kill her. She's envious of you, and she will try her hardest to take you down."
Buffy was silent for a while, trying to take in all the information that was just passed on to her.
"Well, thanks. Uh—thanks for the update." She said clearing her throat
"You're welcome. I only did it because I like you."
Before another word was said Fred hung up the phone. Buffy placed the phone in the cradle and stared at it for a good long while before deciding that she had to get home and go to sleep.
..
Her dreams of a fluffy bed and a naked Spike vanished as she saw Faith coming towards her at almost a run.
"You think you can threaten me with phone calls in the middle of the night?" Faith shrieked her brown eyes wild with rage
"I don't know what you're talking about." Buffy said calmly trying not to let her temper show
"Don't even play that game with me Summers. You know exactly what you did. You called me, last night at four am threatening me."
"First of all, I don't make threats. And secondly, why would I waste my time with someone like you?" Buffy said cocking her head to the side hoping she'd get a reaction
She did and Faith went wild. The fist that came across Buffy's face threw her off guard and the rain of fists that went into her stomach sent Buffy over the edge.
Buffy grabbed Faith by her arms and threw her as far as she could across the room. She couldn't walk away however and stormed over to Faith as she lay sprawled on the floor. Buffy raised a fist ready to pound but a hand stopped her.
"Now as much as I like to see cat fights between two women, I regrettably say that you two should walk away." Xander said as he stared hard at Buffy
Buffy threw her arm down and sent a death glare to Faith.
"I'm filing a complaint that you physically abused me Summers! You're career is over!" Faith yelled across the room as the remaining people that were still working just went back to work as if nothing happened.
"Now, you wanna tell me how the hell that got started?" Xander asked
"It's a long story, I have to get home." Buffy said pressing a hand to her stomach
..
Buffy walked through the door of the house and was greeted by Spike who was walking down the steps.
"Buffy, love, is everything alright?" he asked
"Uh—yeah, it should be. Faith just went crazy on me and decided my face would be a real nice place to take out her aggression." She said smiling a bit, though the humor never reached her eyes
"Well, let's get you upstairs and into bed."
"That sounds great."
..
Faith was walking down the street towards her apartment furious.
"She thinks she has reign all over the god damn station. I'll show her. I know how people like her have gotten up in rank . . . all because of sex. I should be the one wearing the Lieutenants badge; I'm the one who should be out there solving all the high profile cases. Who the hell are you?" she asked as she reached the front of her building
"I'm the person that will be killing you tonight." Said the person
"Oh yeah, that's real funny. Move aside." Faith said pushing the figure aside and trying to find the right key to go in the lock
She had just gotten the key in the lock when the figure smacked her over the head with a hard blunt object.
She dropped to the floor lifeless as the figure that stood over her said while dragging her into an ally, "Now we're gonna make this as long and painful as possible."
..
The communicator's shrill cry rang through the still air of the bedroom like a fog horn.
Buffy woke groggy and reluctantly pulled herself away from Spike's arms and answered her communicator.
"Lieutenant Summers," she answered, her voice fuzzy as she ran a hand through her massive bed head
"Dispatch Summers, Lieutenant Buffy. Homicide DOS," dispatch gave her the coordinates of where she was to go and Buffy clicked off after telling them to notify Tara.
"I'll drive you." Spike said as he dragged pants on
"It amazes me how light you sleep and how you're always perfectly awake," she said in mild interest as she dragged on her own pants.
..
Buffy and Spike arrived at the ally where dispatch had told her to go. She stepped out of the car and into hell.
There was blood smeared and splattered all over the already grimy walls. There was a crowd already forming even though it was four in the morning and Buffy felt that it was only moments to go before the media got wave and bombarded the place with cameras.
"Who do we have?" Buffy asked Tara who had arrived earlier.
"I think you should give this case to someone else, sir." Tara said with compassion in her voice
Buffy pushed her way passed her, "What the hell do you mea—"a wave of sorrow and perhaps pity had Buffy stopping in her tracks
There, lying in front of her, lie Faith Hargrove. She was stripped and her badge was resting between her breasts with blood smeared on it. Her stomach was cut open in a vicious diagonal exposing her intestines and everything between.
"Oh my god," Buffy said resisting the urge to gag she held it down and forced herself to take deep breaths.
She bent down to take a closer look at the body, she slightly turned Faith's head to the side and saw what Buffy presumed, had killed her.
There was a gash in the back of Faith's head the size of Spike's fist and blood was smeared all over her neck and face.
"This is symbolism." Buffy said gesturing toward the badge
"What do you mean?" Tara asked
"Blood on the badge . . . think about it." Was all Buffy said
"Sir, with all due respect, I really think you should give this case to someone else." Tara said
"No. Faith might've been a bitch to me in life. But in death, she's mine."
..
Buffy made her way into the office trying to avoid the stares that she was getting from her fellow co-workers. Word would've spread by now that Faith had died and that she had the case.
She just walked into her office and shut the door to work on the paper work that she was going to be bombarded with.
Just as she had closed her door and sat down to a relaxing day of going over files, her phone had rung.
"Summers,"
"Lieutenant this is Commander Lockley. I need you in my office immediately." She said and hung up
Buffy looked at the phone as she hung up and said, "Well that can't be good,"
..
Buffy walked into the Commander's office and instantly went on guard at the display that was spread out before her. Her commander and the guy from IAB were both sitting in chairs before her.
"What's this about?" Buffy asked skeptically
"Sit down Lieutenant." Kate said
"I'd rather stand commander, until I know what's going on."
"Very well. You've had some complaints filed against you by Officer Faith Hargrove."
"Yes, I haven't had so much as a smudge on my record in all my years on the force. What does this have to do with anything?"
"It has come to our attention that you have threatened Officer Hargrove with physical harm." Piped up Wesley as he turned to face Buffy
Buffy shot him a look of death and said as calmly as she could muster, "Yes I did. That was after she placed her hands on me in a threatening way. It's all on record, you have the record, and I suggest you watch it." She said in an icy tone
"That's enough Lieutenant." Kate said
Buffy took several deep breaths to calm her and asked directly to Kate, "Alright fine. Why am I here?"
"It has also come to our attention that you are Head Investigator of the homicide involving Officer Hargrove." Wesley continued to say
"Yeah that's right . . ." she said not wanting to know where they were going with this
"We, as a group, have come to the conclusion that we cannot have you running the investigation, it will raise too many questions. We suggest that you go on leave, with pay, until this issue is resolved." He concluded
"Are you saying I'm a suspect?" Buffy said appalled
"No, we are not saying that at all. We're simply saying that we think you should take a leave of absence for the time being."
"And what if I refuse?" Buffy asked defiantly
"We're not suggesting, we're ordering," Kate said "I'm going to need your gun and your badge."
Buffy's mouth dropped open in shock, embarrassment, and horror.
They want to take my badge? she thought to herself
"I'm sorry Summers, there's nothing I can do." Kate said softly
Buffy's eyes were wide and filled with emotion. Tears were on the peak of falling but she wouldn't let them fall.
Slowly, she raised her hand to her harness, un-strapped her gun and set it on the table. With great reluctance and hesitance she reached toward her belt and un-hooked her badge. Everything she had worked for, everything she was, thrown away.
"I'm sorry . . . Buffy. I promise to have you re-instated as soon as I can." Kate said
Without saying a word, Buffy turned and walked out of the office.
..
Everything is gone. Everything is falling apart. she thought to herself Nothing matters anymore. I am nothing now. Everything I worked for, everything I stand for is gone. Oh my god, what am I going to do?
Tara was walking toward Buffy and saw that she had tears in her eyes and stopped.
"Summers, are you ok?" she asked
"They took it." Was all Buffy said
"Took what? What are you talking about?"
"They took my badge." Buffy shot back angrily as she walked off toward the elevator
"Oh dear god." Tara said as she walked Buffy get into the elevator and fall apart
..
A/N: I hope that was long enough for you guys. Took me a while to write it. Well, a lot of shit happened in this chapter, and a lot more is gonna happen in the next one, so tune in next time as we explore how Buffy really feels. R & R : )
.:Faith:.
