Night Falls

Notes: Thanks for the reviews. Keep them coming.

Previously:

"Oh, baby, it hurts so bad. You left such a big hole," Cassie mocked. "You don't know hurt. This last year's going to seem like cake after what I put you and your friends through. Believe me, I'm going for the big finish."

"From beneath you it devours," Willow muttered, her eyes wide.

"Not it," Cassie said, grinning widely. "Me."

Chapter Eleven:

Faith slammed her fist into the punching bag, grunting in pain as her knuckles split under the white wrapping on her left hand. The bag flew across the room, settling to a stop after hitting the far wall with a force that shook the floor. Faith looked down at her hand, watching as blood began to seep through the wrapping, staining the pristine white a dark, dirty red. "What'd the punching bag ever do to you?" Buffy smirked from where she stood on the basement stairs.

She had been watching Faith wail on the bag for ten minutes. Usually her sister Slayer noticed her presence right away, but the dark haired girl was lost in thought. Buffy was glad that Faith did not notice her; it gave her time to think about what to say to the other girl. She knew that Faith was in the basement, just like she knew that Faith was angry, though she did not know why. The connection between them was so strong that Buffy could practically feel the rage pouring off Faith. Though she knew better than to get in Faith's way when she was in that sort of mood, she needed to make sure that Faith was not going to fly off the handle. However, she had to admit to herself that she was worried about the other girl.

Willow had told her that the First appeared to Faith earlier that morning. Though the former rogue Slayer had not opened up to her, Willow was certain that whatever the First had said had deeply troubled the girl. Buffy knew that if Faith's experience was anything like hers, than she would be seriously freaked in the least. "Nothing," Faith replied sharply. "Just got in the way."

"That's how it is? Something gets in your way and you beat the shit out of it? That's the way it was with us anyway, right Faith?" Buffy said, taking another step down the stairs. Faith looked over at her.

"If I recall correctly, you didn't have a problem pummeling me either," Faith muttered, turning her back to the blonde Slayer.

"Well, you were evil and all that," Buffy noted, taking another step down.

"I don't bite, you know," Faith said, turning back around. "You can come down if you want."

"Not sure I want to," Buffy replied honestly. "You're hand is bleeding."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Faith retorted.

"Fine," Buffy said steely. "You don't want to talk, that's fine." She turned and began to walk back upstairs when Faith sighed loudly.

"Wait," she said, her voice almost pleading. "What did you want to talk about?"

"This," Buffy said, finishing her journey down the stairs as she motioned back and forth between them with her hand. "There's a lot between us."

"I know, I was there," Faith replied. She saw Buffy's walls harden at her flippant comment and mentally slapped herself. "Look, I'm sorry, that came out wrong."

Buffy softened a little and nodded. "You want to sit?"

"Sure," Faith replied. She was starting to become rather nervous. She knew that she and Buffy had a lot of things to talk about before they could get back to the way they had been before she lost control, but she dreading opening up to the other girl.

Faith slowly moved over to where Buffy had taken a seat on some stacked up exercise mats. She felt her shoulder stiffening and slowly rotated it, stretching it high over her head. She smiled slightly when she heard a satisfying pop. Lowering her arm, she looked down at Buffy, only to find her staring back at her with a horrified look on her face. "What?" Faith asked in confusion.

"It's still there," Buffy said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What're you talking about, B?" Faith asked. Buffy slowly stood and closed the distance between them. Reaching her hand out, she carefully lifted the bottom of Faith's shirt. Faith sucked in a breath, hoping to hide the charge that went through her body when Buffy's fingers touched her skin.

"The scar," Buffy whispered, looking up into Faith's deep, brown eyes. "It's still there."

"Some scars don't fade," Faith whispered back. She was painfully aware of her close proximity to Buffy and though she knew that she should back away, she could not help but watch the other girl with fascination as she ran her fingers over the length of the scar on her stomach. Faith closed her eyes, trying to calm her racing heart. All she had to do was move an inch closer and she could capture Buffy's lips with her own. "You wanted to talk?" Faith asked, forcibly taking a step back. For a moment, she thought she saw disappointment flit across Buffy's face.

"Yeah," Buffy mumbled distractedly. Sitting back down on the mats, she looked up at Faith curiously. "I guess you heard that we all got visits from the First today."

"Busy day," Faith replied, taking a seat some distance away from the other Slayer. Her skin was humming and she knew that Buffy must have been able to feel her anxiety and arousal. Her blood was pumping through her veins and she felt flushed. If Buffy did not notice, she was the densest person on the planet, but she did not let on either way.

"What did it say to you?" Buffy asked, skipping straight to the point. Faith opened her mouth to respond, but closed it, looking away.

"If I tell you, you're gonna freak out," Faith said at last.

"Try me," Buffy replied reassuringly.

"It told me to kill you," Faith responded, looking at the other girl intensely. Buffy faltered for a moment, but recovered.

"Really? That's nice," she said, practically leaping to her feet, while ringing her hands.

"Relax," Faith said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not going to kill you. I know it was trying to mess with me."

"Of course," Buffy replied. "Didn't doubt you for a second."

"Yes, you did," Faith said angrily. "And that's gotta stop. If we're going to work together, we have to be able to trust each other."

"I can't trust you, Faith. Not after what you did," Buffy replied sternly.

"You know, you weren't exactly innocent," Faith spat back.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Buffy demanded.

"You stabbed me in the stomach," Faith noted. "You put me in a fucking coma. You stole eight months of my life."

"You were evil," Buffy shouted angrily. "You had to be stopped."

"And what? Stabbing me was the only way?" Faith shouted back.

"Talking wasn't really working all that well," Buffy growled. "You poisoned Angel."

"That's what it comes down to doesn't it?" Faith spat angrily. "Lover boy."

"Don't go there," Buffy warned.

"Why not? Let's take off all the gloves here, B. Get it all out," Faith said, unconsciously pacing in a circle around Buffy. "You just couldn't let him go, could you? Nothing else mattered. He didn't even want you anymore. He left. But you just clung to the memory of some great love that probably never existed."

"I couldn't let him die," Buffy defended herself.

"So you thought you'd sacrifice me," Faith muttered.

"You didn't really leave me much of a choice," Buffy said.

"I didn't know!" Faith yelled. Her voice echoed through the basement and she stopped walking. Looking down at the ground, she desperately tried to rein in her emotions.

"You didn't know?" Buffy asked slowly.

"The Mayor just gave me that shit and told me what to do," Faith said. "I didn't know what it did or how to cure it."

Buffy laughed mirthlessly and shook her head. "That's just great. Is that supposed to change anything?"

"I don't think I can change anything, B. Apparently there's no reason for you to give a shit about me, not then, and not now," Faith said sadly.

"That's not true," Buffy said before she could stop herself. Her words fell into silence as the two Slayers watched each other.

"What're we gonna do, B? We can't keep doing this to each other," Faith said softly.

"We both fucked up," Buffy conceded at last. "I should have paid more attention after Alan," she said, noticing Faith flinch when she mentioned the Deputy Mayor's name. "I know that you were hurting after that, but I was too involved in everything else going on in my life to care. I had school, my friends, slaying, my mom, Angel," Buffy said.

"And I had none of that," Faith whispered. "Didn't that ever occur to you? I didn't have anything."

"You had us," Buffy insisted.

"No, I didn't," Faith contradicted her. "You just thought of me as a convenient excuse to go to the Bronze because Faith could always go on patrol. It's not like I had anything else going on, right? I wasn't in school, I didn't have any friends, any mythic lovers, any family. I was all alone."

"You were never alone, Faith," Buffy said, stepping closer. "You always had me. I could always feel you, somewhere in the background, burning away like some flame that would never go out. Even after everything went down between us, I could still feel you."

"We had a moment, B," Faith said. "But that was it."

"You can't tell me that you don't feel me right now," Buffy said. "I know you can."

"What does it matter?" Faith asked. "I've always been able to feel you. Even in Boston, I could always feel someone else out there. But it's different for me," Faith said.

"Why?" Buffy asked, stepping closer again. Faith looked down at the ground. She had said too much.

"It's nothing," she said, looking up again, her eyes dark and hard. Buffy sighed, knowing that she had lost her chance. Having the dark Slayer around the past couple of days had been more normal for her than anything in the past couple of years. She felt like Sunnydale was really home when Faith was there. Memories had been flooding her consciousness, assaulting her at the oddest moments – memories of slaying with Faith, dancing with Faith, and a smoldering kiss that the dark haired girl had planted on her forehead. Her skin tingled just thinking about the feel of Faith's lips. Something was changing in her. She had felt like an iceberg drifting through the ocean with nothing but the cold sea to comfort her. But then Faith had come back and she felt herself starting to melt inside. She still hated the younger girl for what she had done, but she was starting to realize that the Faith she had known no longer existed. She had turned into the somber, beautiful woman standing in front of her.

"Want to patrol tonight?" Buffy asked after a long silence. Faith looked at her in shock.

"Seriously?" Faith asked.

"Yeah," Buffy replied. "I wouldn't mind getting a little synchronized slayage in," she said, smiling when Faith laughed at their mutual memory.

"I should bandage my hand first," Faith said, looking down at the dried blood on her wrapping.

"I'll do it," Buffy volunteered, instantly wondering how her brain had become disconnected from her mouth all of the sudden.

"Okay," Faith said warily.

"Just follow me to the bathroom," Buffy said, nearly flying up the stairs. Faith followed her. Once they were both in the bathroom, Buffy closed the door and instructed Faith to sit on the edge of the tub. Faith complied, wondering at Buffy's behavior. She had thought that the blonde girl wanted nothing to do with her, yet, some of Buffy's comments suggested otherwise. There was a heat growing between them that Faith could not deny, but that she did not want to acknowledge for fear that it would be a false hope.

Buffy knelt down in front of Faith. What the hell am I doing? She wondered to herself as she slowly unwrapped the white cloth from Faith's hands. She grimaced at the sight of the other girl's knuckles busted and bleeding. Pouring some rubbing alcohol on a gauze pad, she looked up at Faith apologetically as she said, "This might hurt."

Faith repressed a groan of pain as Buffy cleansed her wounds. "Don't feel a thing," she lied. Buffy smiled and slapped a bandage on her hand.

"I'll bet," she said. She looked up at Faith, preparing to stand and move away, but found herself captivated by the other girl's eyes. Faith sat frozen, petrified that if she so much as breathed, Buffy would take her hand away and their connection would be lost. Faith's eyes widened as she noticed Buffy unconsciously lean forward and lick her lips. Bolting from her seat on the tub, she moved passed the other girl and swung the door open.

"We've got vampires to kill and all that," Faith said, glancing nervously back at the older girl. "I'll just be outside waiting. Need some air and what not. Take your time. Vampires aren't going anywhere. But don't be too long. Yeah. Outside," Faith said, walking away. Shaking her head, she resisted the urge to slap herself. "I'm rambling like Red. This is not good."

Buffy sighed and hit her head against the tub. "I was going to kiss her. I seriously was. What the hell is wrong with me? I was gonna do it," she muttered to herself. Looking up, she narrowed her eyes wondering, "But would that have really been a bad thing?"