As Faith finished her morning shower and rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, she realized that she was beginning to enjoy her morning runs more and more. They gave her time to be alone and today was no different. It didn't hurt that the weather was finally starting to cooperate and she had a sneaking suspicion that everyone was glad that her 'winter sucks' comments were coming far less often.
Of course, the potholes still blew.
She grinned as she turned off the faucet and stepped out onto the soft throw rug that was waiting at her feet. She wiggled her wet toes. Granted, the rug might be ugly, but it was soft and it was clean.
After getting dressed, she went downstairs and found Giles, Buffy, Xander and Willow gathered around the kitchen table. The fact that they were there didn't shock Faith; the shocking part was the mess of papers scattered all over and the expressions on their faces.
"What did I miss?"
"Faith," Giles began, "so glad you're here." He began shuffling papers around the table. "Ahh…" He handed Faith a list of dates. "What do you make of this?"
"Kinda out of the blue, but okay," she said, taking the paper and looking it over. "A bunch of dates starting forever ago. Number of people killed or reported missing goes up a little every year until…"
Xander said, nodding. "You see the pattern don't you?"
"Numbers go crazy right after we closed Sunnydale, the first time, and then starting a few months ago they go down to almost nothing."
"Our demon shortage," Buffy said.
Faith handed the paper back to Giles. "So what exactly is this tellin' us?"
Giles sighed and sat down at the table. "We know why the numbers went up, those fleeing Sunnydale needed to relocate. With regard to the numbers going down drastically…"
"We have absolutely no clue," Buffy said.
"All we can figure is that there's a bigger hotspot somewhere that we haven't found yet," Willow added, walking to the refrigerator and grabbing a bottle of water.
"Like another hellmouth is open and ready for business?" Faith asked. "Aren't there some spells or something…?" She rolled her eyes. "Who am I? I used to hate that shit and now I'm asking for it."
Willow smiled. "It sneaks up on you."
"No kiddin'. So what do we do now?" Faith asked, leaning against the wall and placing her hands on her hips. "How can we fight something if we don't even know what it is or where it's at?"
Nobody seemed to have any ideas.
"Speaking of the mojo," Xander said, "Willow and Giles have been trying to expand the helpiness of a locator spell."
"How?"
"Instead of focusing on a person, they're going to try and see if they can focus on negative energy coming from somewhere specific," Buffy said, chin in hands.
"Doesn't the hellmouth give off that type of vibe? Won't we just, well, locate us?"
"Hey, that's what I asked!" Xander said. "You didn't get the look." Xander looked at Giles. "How come Faith doesn't get the look? I got the look."
Faith smiled. "When you got it…"
"If what I suspect is true, the 'vibe', as you call it, will be a lot stronger than the hellmouth is," Giles said. "I suspect that when and if we locate it…"
Willow said. "I'm pretty sure I'll be able to tap into whatever it is and find it."
"And Willow will work closely with the coven if necessary," Giles added.
"Whatever it is, it won't be good," Buffy said.
"Look on the bright side, B. At least we won't be bored anymore."
XXXXX
Nothing like a pre-slayage food run, Faith thought, pulling her Viper into the Taco Bell parking lot.
"Willow's going to do a spell?" Emma asked. If she'd been a puppy, her tail would have been a wagging blur.
"Yeah," Faith said.
"Okay, this could be sweet. She does a spell, we find out where all the baddies are, and we all take off and go there," Emma said, holding the restaurant door open for Faith. "I might actually be getting out of Detroit. I've never been out of Detroit, well, unless you include Windsor, and that basically doesn't count."
"We don't know nothin'. Don't be hatchin' those chickens yet."
"You don't think this is exciting?"
"How can I think it's exciting when I have no clue what's going on?" Faith asked, moving up to take her turn. "I'll take one of those number sixes. Extra cheese on all of it."
"That sounds good." Emma turned her attention towards the cashier. "I'll have what she's having and put 'em together. I'll buy."
XXXXX
"Like I said," Faith said between bites of her food, "we don't know yet, so stop with the excited."
"When are they going to do it?"
"Research first. Spells later." Faith noticed how quickly Emma was eating her dinner. Girl ate faster than Faith did and that was saying something. "Better slow down. Kind of hard to slay with indigestion."
"Indigestion? I never get no stinkin' indigestion." Emma smiled brightly. "Besides, I want ice cream after this and that's gotta put out any fires this'll cause."
Faith just sighed and downed the rest of her soda.
XXXXX
Spring had finally sprung in Michigan and Faith thought it was about damned time. Knowing she had a few hours to kill and not wanting to exactly be around anyone at the moment, she decided that it was car time, drop the top and go for a little ride. Just her, the open road and the radio blasting. Smiling, she grabbed her keys and headed down the stairs, taking two at a time in her excitement to get out of the house and be on her own, if only for a couple hours.
"Hey, Faith."
Xander? Not now. "What?" she asked stopping at the bottom of the stairs.
She watched as he walked in from the living room.
"Do you have a sec?" he asked. "I need to talk to you about something."
"Now? I was on my way out. Can it wait?" she asked, anxiously jiggling her car keys in her hand.
"Emma asked me to sleep with her."
"What!" she exclaimed, grabbing his arm and dragging him out the front door onto the porch. "Are you kidding me? That little shit."
Xander just shook his head. "Look at my face. Do you see the I'm just joking expression anywhere on it?"
"I cannot believe she did that. I told her… well, I didn't tell her tell her, but I figured she'd catch the drift with my well-placed hints." Faith sat down hard on the front porch, shoving her keys in her jeans pocket first. Squeak had finally taken the plunge, cash be damned. Faith would've thought she was past the point of being surprised. Maybe not.
Xander sat beside her. "I swear. She asked if she could talk to me and of course, me being me, I said, 'Sure, Junior Slayer, come talk to the Xan Man.'"
Faith glared at him.
Xander sighed. "She said she needed to ask me something that was important and I told her to go for it."
"And she pulled the 'I don't want to die a virgin' card," Faith said, shaking her head.
"Are you shocked and appalled? Because me? I'm shocked and appalled. But since I am the noble older man, I told her no." He paused. "You know I used to dream about this happening to me? Coming to the rescue of some poor and lonely virgin slayer." He sighed. "Reality sucks."
Faith smiled, putting her arm around his shoulders. "Gotta say, that took balls."
"Well, not literally, because…"
Faith glared at him again, but on the inside she was smiling. Xander just had a way about him sometimes.
"Okay, the Xander who hasn't had sex in a while wanted to jump at the idea. I mean she's a cute girl and everything and, hello, virgin... But the Xander who remembers the last person he had sex with…"
"Kind of put a damper on it." Faith could see how that could happen.
"And the one-night-stand-guy, I'm not him."
Faith raised one eyebrow, silently questioning, her experience telling her differently.
"Okay, that was your idea, not mine," he pointed out.
He had her there.
"Besides, my one and only one-night-stand was with you. Not that it wasn't fun and all, and had I known it was just a one-timer… so not counting the almost second time, but with Anya and then Emma… but not Emma. Hey, names that end in an 'A', there could be a pattern."
"Cordelia."
"Oh, there is a pattern. But Cordy and I, well, we never…"
"Really? From all the yakking going on there for awhile, I figured you two had bumped uglies."
"Nope, never got that far."
Look at that, another surprise, all in one morning. "Wow, so just me and…"
"Yeah."
"Maybe you should've taken Squeak up on her offer." Faith stretched her arms over her head. "Least she'll still get the cash."
"What cash? You didn't bet her I wouldn't…"
Faith rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like I'd do that. No. Her parents are gonna pay her off if she doesn't do the deed. On her 21st birthday or somethin'."
"Wow." Xander looked at Faith. "There's a one-liner in there somewhere, I just can't put my finger on it."
Faith arched an eyebrow.
"Not putting my finger on that!" he said. "What is it with you lately?"
Faith sighed. "I don't know." She stood up and began pacing back and forth across the front porch. "Antsy. B and I have been having the same dream. Don't know what it means. Nothing much going on here lately. Got all this energy and no way to ditch it. I know how I usually like to get rid of it..."
"Uh oh, not you, too," Xander said, standing up. "Is there another love spell I don't know about?"
"Oh, please. I wasn't coming on to you. Too much history there, Sinbad."
"Good to know." Xander's demeanor changed and Faith knew something was coming. "You miss Spike?"
"Is this the 'let's get into Faith's head' hellmouth or what? Why is everyone so interested in my life all of a sudden?"
She wasn't sure what to say when Xander put his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to stop pacing and look at him.
"Faith, like it or not, we are your friends. We care about you. Eventually you're going to need to get used to that fact."
Faith yanked herself away, Xander being a little too much in her space at the moment.
"So, you miss Spike?"
"You don't give up, do you?" How in the hell can she get over it, if people kept bringing it up?
Xander sat back down on the porch, adjusting his jacket so he wouldn't sit on it. "Nothing better to do."
Faith sighed in resignation and joined him. "Beats me. Haven't missed anyone in a long time. Not sure what it even feels like." That was about as honest as she could get.
"I guess it would depend on the person. And it gets better over time." Xander leaned back, letting his arms support him. "When Ahn and I first split up, I missed her every minute of every day. As time went on, it wasn't so bad. But when she died…"
"Made it all come back again, huh?"
"All of it."
"Could we be any more depressing?" Faith had a thought. "Wanna go for a ride? Was just headin' out. Figured it was a nice day for once, didn't wanna waste it."
"It's not like a date or anything, right?" Xander said.
Faith catching his teasing smile. "Only if it was your lucky day, and from what I can tell, today ain't it." She stood up, bringing him with her. "Let's go."
XXXXX