Night Falls

Notes: Thanks for the reviews. You guys keep me going!

Previously:

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?"

Chapter Twelve:

"Alone at last," Hailey murmured as she walked down Main Street. A light breeze was blowing through the trees and a chill was in the air that signaled the swiftly approaching winter season. She almost regretted leaving her jacket behind at the house. She knew that it was foolish to sneak out while Bringers actively patrolled Sunnydale, eagerly searching for any stray Potential that happened to be wandering the night, but she had to get out of the house. After several hours of researching that afternoon, her eyes felt as if they were about to melt and dribble out of her skull. She needed a caffeine boost.

Though researching had its drawbacks, it did enable her to spend quality time with Willow, who seemed to be quickly warming up to her. After Willow discovered that Hailey had been sleeping on the living room floor, despite her injuries, she officially kicked Kennedy out of her bed, allowing Hailey that place instead so that she could recuperate in comfort. Kennedy had been less than pleased and, nearly every time she and Hailey passed each other in the hallways, a violent glint entered into her eyes. Willow seemed rather oblivious to the tension she had created.

But the other girls felt it and Hailey knew that they were staring to take sides. The girls that had arrived with Kennedy had been throwing her contemptuous glances when they thought that she was not looking, while the girls that had arrived with her did the same to Kennedy. She knew that she should put a stop to it all before the girls became too divided, but her competitive nature reveled in the idea that she was beating Kennedy for Willow's affections.

Hailey sighed and glanced around, ensuring that she was not being followed by anything otherworldly. Though she did not have Slayer senses, she was very astute at detecting vampiric and demonic presences. Years of slaying demons had sharpened her senses nearly to that of a Slayer. However, she also glanced around to ensure that she was not going to run into the Slayers while on her forbidden coffee run. They had left for patrol nearly an hour before she snuck out the back door and she knew that they would be less than pleased to discover her wandering the streets of Sunnydale on her own.

Turning a corner, she spotted the Espresso Pump. Just a few more feet and she would be home free. She quickened her pace, eager to slip inside its protective walls, but something tugged at the back of her mind. She slowed to a stop, closed her eyes, and listened. She heard a low humming in her ears and she knew that a vampire was close. Grabbing her gun from the holster on her ankle, she clicked back the hammer, and approached the alley just in front of her. She could hear the sounds of a struggle. Aiming the gun, she stepped into the alley. "Oh shit," she whispered harshly, ducking behind a dumpster when she saw the vampire.

Spike had a young girl pinned to the wall, biting her with a reckless abandon. Hailey heard the girl's body thud to the ground. Spike chuckled and sauntered out of the alley, humming a strange tune. Hailey watched him leave from her hiding place. Once he was gone, she moved over to the girl. She could not find a pulse. Spike had killed her though he had a chip in his brain that should have prevented him from injuring anyone and despite his newly acquired soul. Though Hailey knew that she should dust him, nothing seemed to add up. Slipping her gun back into her ankle holster, she walked out of the alley, watching as Spike disappeared into the crowd on Main Street, like a panther stalking through the jungle.

………………………

"Is it always this dead out here?" Faith asked as she twiddled her stake.

"Were you aiming for a pun there or don't you even realize when you're doing it anymore?" Buffy replied, smiling when she saw the sheepish look on Faith's face. The closer she looked, the more Buffy could see whirling around in Faith's eyes. She wandered if the other girl had always been so expressive, or if she had just been blind to the mystery that was Faith.

"That was actually a serious question," Faith mumbled. "But there's nothing out tonight, human, demon, or otherwise. I say we just pack it in."

Buffy sighed. She had been hoping to get a slay in that evening to help calm her racing mind, but it seemed as if she was going to be stuck with her thoughts. She looked over at Faith, who was thinking nearly the same thing, and slipped her stake back up into the sleeve of her jacket. "Home it is," Buffy declared. Faith threw a last, desperate look around the cemetery and then followed Buffy as she walked out of the cemetery gates, back onto the road.

"I hate all of this waiting," Buffy said as they walked down the street towards her house.

"What do you mean?" Faith asked, glancing over at her.

"I know that I'm going to regret saying this, but I just wish that the First Evil would make a move, you know?" Buffy said in frustration.

"I think it's just enjoying messing with us," Faith stated.

Buffy looked over at her, wanting to ask a question, but uncertain if she should. Finally, she made up her mind and spoke. "When it appeared to you, who was it?" She asked.

Faith sighed and kicked a bottle cap down the street. "My first Watcher," she said after a painfully long silence that had Buffy questioning whether she had made the right decision.

"I'm sorry," Buffy said, hearing the sadness and anger in the other girl's voice. "You and she were close, weren't you?"

"She was like a mother to me," Faith replied. "A much better one than the one I had, anyway," she added mostly to herself. "Who did it appear to you as?"

"This boy Jesse. He was best friends with Xander and Willow when I arrived in Sunnydale, but he was taken hostage by some vampires and they turned him. Xander staked him at the Bronze," Buffy explained. "I've always felt guilty about him. When I first came here, I wanted nothing to do with slaying. I dragged my feet the whole time we were searching for him. Sometimes I think that if I had been more attentive, I could have saved him."

"It's not your fault, B," Faith replied earnestly. "Honestly, I don't know what the Powers that Be were thinking when they decided that high school girls were the best choice for being Slayers."

Buffy laughed. "Yeah, I've often questioned that logic myself."

"This feels good, you know?" Faith said quietly. Buffy strained to hear her. "It feels right."

"What does?" She asked, though she already knew the answer to her question. She needed to hear Faith say it however; needed to know that she was not alone in what she felt.

"Being here in Sunnydale…with you," Faith said, looking down at the ground. Buffy stopped walking, though Faith continued ahead several yards before she realized that the blonde Slayer was no longer at her side.

"Faith," Buffy whispered, her eyes shining with something that Faith could not quite recognize, but interpreted incorrectly.

"I meant in a general way," she added quickly. "Being here good because we're getting along now and not so much with the violence…" She trailed off, watching with wide eyes as Buffy walked forward, stepping into her personal space. The shorter girl stared up at her for several long moments before she grabbed the back of Faith's head and crushed their lips together. Faith moaned at the contact, her brain reeling at the thought that Buffy was kissing her. As quickly as it started, it ended. Buffy pulled away, glanced at her with wide eyes, and ran off into the night.

"What the hell was that?" Faith muttered to herself. Reaching up, she touched her lips and smiled. She had not been expecting that kind of reaction from the older girl, but she could not say that she was disappointed. Kissing Buffy had been everything that she thought it would be, though it worried her that Buffy felt the need to flee afterwards. She feared that somehow Buffy would blame her for it and convince herself that Faith was somehow playing her emotions like she had back in high school. But Faith hoped that Buffy could see the earnestness in her eyes, hear the sincerity in her voice, and recognize the honesty in her touch. Faith mentally dragged herself out of the daze she had settled into and began walking, unaware of the two emerald eyes that watched from the cemetery gates.

The First Evil, wearing the face of the older Slayer herself, stepped out into the moonlight as Faith faded into darkness. "Well that is very interesting."

………………………………………

Hailey glanced around the kitchen and quietly shut the back door. Her near encounter with Spike had not hindered her late night coffee run, but it had meant that she arrived back much later than she had hoped. She knew that if she was gone a half hour, no one would notice, but she had been gone for nearly an hour, and she feared that someone would have realized that she was no longer in the house. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," she heard someone say. Turning, she saw Willow standing in the doorway with her arms folded over her chest, but with a goofy grin plastered on her face. "I think someone snuck out of the house," the witch said in a singsong voice.

"Should I even try to lie my way out of this one or just plead the Fifth?" Hailey asked, smiling when Willow dropped her arms and moved into the kitchen.

"I'd plead the Fifth if I were you," she replied. "Where did you go anyway?"

"Espresso Pump," Hailey admitted. "I needed a jolt."

"Well, next time you decide to sneak out," Willow said, "Bring me a coffee back, will ya?"

Hailey laughed and nodded. "Anything you say," she replied.

"Really?" Willow said, wiggling her eyebrows flirtatiously.

Hailey watched, completely entranced, as Willow sauntered over to her and leaned against the counter next to her. She found herself entirely speechless. Willow's actually flirting with me, she thought in amazement. Finally, she recovered when she saw the witch looking at her strangely. "You okay?" Willow asked in concern.

"Fine," Hailey muttered. "Just blanked out there for a moment. All good now," she replied, smiling easily. "You seem to be in a good mood."

"I am," Willow replied honestly. "Things don't seem as doom and gloom anymore, though I'm not really sure why. To be honest," she said, but hesitated. Her eyes shone with anxiety and Hailey brushed a reassuring hand over her arm, trying to ignore the sparks that it sent through her fingers.

"It's okay," Hailey whispered. "You can tell me."

"Well," Willow said, looking up into her eyes with a childlike innocence, "I think it's because of you."

"What?" Hailey asked in surprise.

"Ever since you showed up, I don't know, I've just felt happy," Willow replied.

"I make you happy?" Hailey asked, a goofy grin spreading across her face. Willow laughed and nodded.

"Yeah," she replied. "But I just want to take things slow, you know? No rushing."

"I think I can handle that," Hailey said softly. "Though it's kinda hard not to want to rush things when I'm around you," she added, her voice dropping to a level that Willow found quite seductive.

"Lots of cold showers," Willow muttered. "That's the ticket."

The front door slammed open and Buffy stalked into the kitchen, starting in surprise when she saw her best friend and Hailey standing so close. "Did I just interrupt something? I just interrupted something, didn't I?" Buffy asked, instantly retracing out of her steps.

"No," Hailey quickly replied, the corrected herself, "Well, yeah, you kinda did. But I need to talk to you anyway."

"Oh, okay, good," Buffy said. "Let's go down stairs." Hailey threw Willow an apologetic smile before she followed Buffy down into the basement. "What's going on?" Buffy asked, once they were alone. She had heard a note of urgency in the other girl's voice that told her their conversation would be best conducted without an audience. By the grave look on Hailey's face, she knew that she had been right.

"Well, and I'm totally about to incriminate myself here, but I saw something tonight," Hailey said.

"What do you mean you saw something? In the house?" Buffy asked in alarm.

"No," Hailey replied. "Not in the house."

Buffy gasped in mock anger and shock. "You snuck out didn't you?" She said accusingly, smiling humorously at the guilty look on Hailey's face.

"You know, I don't know why I feel guilty about that anyway. I'm twenty-three years old for god sakes, I should be able to take a walk if I want to," she grumbled.

"And you would be able to, if not for the massive amount of Bringers patrolling Sunnydale, specifically looking for girls like you to maim and murder," Buffy pointed out.

"While I was out, I saw Spike," Hailey said.

"He said he was going out," Buffy replied.

"Yeah, but I saw him biting someone," Hailey finished. Buffy stared at her for several long moments with a furrowed brow until she made a surprised and slightly angry noise that Hailey could not identify. "That's not all though."

"It's not?" Buffy asked worriedly.

"We both know that he shouldn't have wanted to or been able to bite the girl in the first place," Hailey said. "But what's more, it didn't seem like him."

"You think the First is controlling him somehow?" Buffy asked, a light bulb going off in her mind.

"Yeah," Hailey replied. "He kinda strolled out of the alley, humming this weird song. It just wasn't right. What do you think we should do?"

Buffy thought for a moment before sighing. "Chain him up in the basement when he gets back. We might be able to coerce him into talking."

"What if he is under the First's influence though? He might not remember anything," Hailey noted.

"That would be a problem," Buffy said darkly. "But Giles might be our solution." The front door slammed open and Buffy and Hailey instinctively felt a vampiric presence.

"Spike," they said in unison.

Buffy nodded and looked back up at the basement door, saying gravely, "I guess it's now or never."