Challenge: Cave Slayers
Title: Welcome To The Jungle (4/4)
Author: Shamrock
Rating: A slightly more sickening European 18 now
5 Thing Minimum: Somehow managed to get these in while forgetting I needed to – A Full Moon; Food (gross as it was); Shelter; Wool Blanket; A Minor Injury; Girl/Girl Porn.
Disclaimer: Joss owns all (and some studios, but mostly Joss)
A/N: So due to time constraints the five-parter is now a four-parter. Immense thanks to everyone who cajoled, pestered and pressured me back into this crazy fic game, and to everyone who's left feedback for the story so far. As always, a massive (non-bovine related) thank you to Eden for the awesome beta work. Hope you guys enjoy.
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Buffy came to with a jolt. As soon as she opened her eyes, she realised three things in quick succession - none of them were good.
Firstly, she was chained to the wall in the dungeon of the castle. Secondly, she was completely naked apart from the thin woolen blanket someone had wrapped her in. Lastly, Faith was chained to the wall beside her, and the blanket that was trying valiantly to cover her nakedness was slipping from her body as the dark Slayer thrashed in her sleep.
For one glorious but all too brief moment, Buffy was thoroughly confused.
"Oh God."
Then she remembered.
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Five Hours Earlier:
Xander led the Slayers into the mouth of the cave system. Faith's signal had stopped moving three quarters of an hour ago and everyone was now on edge, listening out for the faintest sound of either Slayers or demons.
Kennedy and the others had reloaded the tranq guns, and all of them were walking with one finger on the trigger.
They continued on in silence for twenty minutes or so, until Satsu held up a hand from the front of the column of Slayers. Her arm was now almost completely healed, and she was as eager as any of them to find Buffy before... well, after the exhibition back there in the clearing, a plethora of worst outcomes were running through her head. She had every faith in Buffy's abilities as a Slayer, but Satsu had also seen the look on Buffy's face when she got back from England, after Faith had tried to drown her. If the two of them turned on each other - *really* turned on each other, with no holds barred, no conscience to tell them when to stop - Satsu wasn't sure who'd come out on top, and she had no desire to find out.
"You hear that?" she whispered to Kennedy who had stopped beside her. The other girl nodded, tilting her head towards the passage to their left, deeper into the caves. The faint sounds of a struggle echoed down the tunnel.
Willow, without the benefit of Slayer hearing, moved to the front of the group and shot a questioning look at her girlfriend. Kennedy pointed down the tunnel in reply, and they moved out silently, weapons at the ready. As they approached the entrance to a larger cave, Kennedy and Satsu led Willow and the others slowly around the corner.
Satsu successfully managed to stifle an angry cry at the sight that awaited them. For a moment, Willow thought she was reacting to the three dead demons in the centre of the room, until she looked beyond them and saw the Slayers.
Buffy had Faith pinned to the wall, one hand holding the younger woman's two over their heads, and at first Willow thought they were mid-fight. Then she noticed they were both naked, and Buffy was grinding against Faith in a distinctly non-violent way. The small grunts and groans emanating from the two women mixed with the sound of Faith's back scraping against the rough stone wall dispelled any potential non-'walking in on your best friend having primal cave sex with her part-time nemesis' explanation and Willow hurriedly dragged her eyes away from the pair.
As the rest of the group filled the entrance to the cave, Giles couldn't quite stop the startled "Bloody hell" that escaped him, and broke the trance that everyone else seemed to have found themselves in.
Faith's eyes shot open at the sound and she growled at the intruders. Pushing a startled and confused Buffy aside, Faith sprang forward, putting herself directly in front of the blonde as she charged at the group.
With a satisfied grimace, Satsu fired two darts in quick succession, hitting Faith in the thigh and shoulder. She managed another few steps before the drugs took effect and she crumpled to the ground. Buffy reacted with an outraged cry and made it to the fallen girl before Kennedy's darts found their mark. Buffy fell to one knee beside Faith as her vision started to blur. Reaching out one hand, she grasped Faith's arm before everything went black.
From the entrance to the cave, Xander was trying desperately to look at anything except the two naked bodies in the middle of the room. He hastily pulled a couple of blankets from the supply pack on his back and handed them to two of the younger Slayers, who moved to cover Buffy and Faith.
"Now I'm as big a proponent of girl on girl porn as anyone here but uh..." he shrugged helplessly, tilting his head in Buffy's direction, "Anyone else hankering for the days of her brooding over vampires and us *not* seeing her mid-... y'know, every couple of weeks?"
"Technically last time was post-'y'know'," Willow replied as she gently checked both Slayers' vitals. "And personally, well - Faith's a lot prettier than Spike."
"Thanks Will, any fear of embarrassing myself in public with bulging pants has been entirely taken care of by that mental image."
"If by any chance we could return to the castle post-haste, where we can restore Buffy and Faith to their usual selves, and immediately start repressing all memories of what we've just seen, I would be most grateful." Giles was staring fixedly at the gleaming glasses he was polishing, both for the comfort of having something to do with his hands, and the blessed relief of not being able to see a damn thing.
"Agreed." Satsu tried not to let her eyes linger on Buffy's body - particularly not on the bites and scratches that she knew weren't caused by demons. "Let's get her home."
Four of the Slayers hoisted the other two on their shoulders and they all began the long, and mostly silent trek back to the castle.
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"Whuzza?" Faith sat bolt upright, causing the blanket to slip
completely from her torso.
A second later than she should have, Buffy dragged her eyes away and stared at the corner of the ceiling overhead. She heard Faith rattle the chains that bound them both, briefly testing their strength, and then silence as the same memories came rushing back to the other Slayer.
"Aw, fuck me."
Buffy risked a quick glance to her left. Faith was staring at the floor while what looked suspiciously like a blush made its way up her neck.
"Not the most appropriate choice of words, Faith."
There were a few prolonged seconds of heated silence.
"Long shot here," Faith cleared her throat, still not able to look at Buffy, "but by any chance could you maybe have some sort of memory loss? Amnesia? Anything like that?"
Buffy pulled the blanket tighter around herself. "Nope," she shook her head, "it's all there in instant replay, surround sound and glorious technicolour."
"Everything, huh?"
"Yep."
"Huh."
"Yep."
The two lapsed into another awkward silence. Buffy tried desperately to think about anything other than what happened in the caves - she dredged up Giles and her Mom, dead puppies, every Owen Wilson movie she'd ever seen - but on the fifth replay of her clamping her thighs around Faith's head as she came hard under the other Slayer's tongue, she gave up on trying to get the full-body flashbacks under control and settled for trying to distract herself.
"So what happened?" she asked Faith.
"Come agai-? Shit, I mean... say what?"
"This. Me. The whole 'Predator on speed' vibe, do we know what caused it?"
"Oh, right. Yeah, Willow's got it figured that her spell to activate all the potentials kinda super-sized whatever it is that makes us Slayers all slayery. So when you and uh... Shi-tzu? Sushi?"
"Satsu."
"Her." Faith ignored the warning in Buffy's tone. If there was one thing that could make this already chock-full-of-uncomfortable situation even worse, it was bringing up Satsu. "When you two got down and dirty, the 'Original Slayer' or whatever took you over. Made you go all PCP Flintstones."
"I - okay."
"Giles explains it with more words, I just picked up the gist," Faith said, mostly to fill the returning silence. Conversation was uncomfortable, but silence was filled with thoughts and images that Faith was trying real hard not to be thinking and imagining.
"So what's your excuse?" Buffy nodded to her.
"For getting in touch with my inner cavewoman?" Faith shrugged. "Willow said it was the only way to track you down. Did some spell that worked off the whole Slayer connection thing."
"So you volunteered for this?"
"Wouldn't say 'volunteered' when you got Giles pullin' the pep talk on ya. Doesn't leave a girl with much choice."
"Well, lack of gung-ho not withstanding... thanks."
Faith shrugged uncomfortably. "S'no big."
The conversation was teetering again on that precipice of mortification. Buffy tried to regain some balance, and hopefully some dignity.
"So Willow says we were, what, 'taken over' by this Slayer power, right?"
"Right."
"So then," Buffy shifted a little, trying to get comfortable without losing her grip on the thin blanket, "we wouldn't really be responsible, as such, for... anything. It's not like we were in control. I guess what I'm saying is - what happened, well that wasn't really us, right?"
"Too fuckin' right that wasn't me." Faith was quick to jump in.
"Yeah," Buffy surprised herself with a faint but definite pang of disappointment at the scorn in the other woman's tone. "Right, 'cause you're not-"
"-a bottom? Hell no. You think me in my right mind would be lettin' you play top dog?"
Buffy smiled in spite of herself and looked over at the other Slayer. Faith was grinning at her - a full on, force ten, dimples and all, shit-eating grin - and just like that the tension was gone.
"Funny, didn't hear you complaining."
"Wasn't particularly able to talk."
"Well if you insist on having your mouth there."
"I meant the 'having no language' not able to talk. Ya perv. And from where I was standing, or... kneeling - I wasn't the one doing the insisting."
Whatever Buffy was about to say was cut off as Xander opened the door to the dungeon, very slowly. His head peeked around the corner, one hand covering his good eye.
"Is it safe?"
Buffy waited for Faith to pull her blanket up a little higher before answering. "As it's gonna get, Xander."`
He carefully spread his fingers to check for himself. Seeing the two Slayers were as decent as he could be, he sighed in relief and entered the room. He was carrying two sets of clothes which he laid down beside them. Taking a key from his pocket he gently unlocked the cuffs from their wrists.
"Thanks X-Man." Faith rubbed at the chafed skin on her wrists, only now starting to feel the rest of the aches and pains all over her body - some more pleasant aches than others.
"No problem. I'll leave you guys to..." he gestured at the piles of clothing, "uh, yeah. We're up in the main boardroom when you're ready to join us."
"We'll be right there," Buffy assured him.
Xander nodded, turned and left the room, completely unable to look either woman in the eye.
The two Slayers shared a brief smile, then reached for the spare clothes, dressing in a silence that was comfortable now, before making their way upstairs.
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The tension evident in the boardroom when the two Slayers entered was quickly dispelled by everyone's relief at seeing Buffy back to her normal self again.
"Welcome back, Buff," Willow greeted her with a hug. When she pulled back she held on to Buffy's shoulders and peered at her intently.
"Checking for signs of caviness?"
"I'm pretty sure my spell managed to counteract all the symptoms," Willow released her friend, apparently satisfied with what she saw. "But I'm sure Giles will happily replay the 'unforeseen consequences' speech if you want."
Buffy looked across the table to her former Watcher. "Hi Giles."
"Buffy," he nodded to her. "It's good to see you've recovered."
"So we're good?" Xander addressed Willow. "No more cave slayer or freaky primal possessions?"
Willow shook her head. "All clear."
"Well then," Giles stood from the table and motioned to Faith. "As long as there's nothing else we can do, we should gather our belongings and try to catch the afternoon flight out of Glasgow."
"You could-" Buffy stopped herself, fighting down the rush of conflicting emotions. She wanted to tell him to stay, and at the same time she wanted to yell at him to get the hell out. In the end she settled for a lame "We could get you a private jet, if that'd be easier."
"Thank you, but we already have a return flight booked. Besides, I've discovered Faith has a fondness for those airline peanuts and I'd hate to deprive the poor girl."
"This from the guy who asked for a second beef wellington when we flew outta London." Faith smiled at him. "The hell *is* a beef wellington anyways?"
"Beef and pâté baked in pastry."
A number of surprised looks were turned Xander's way.
"What?" he shrugged. "I'm acclimatising."
Giles placed a hand on Faith's shoulder and turned to Willow. "We'll find you before we leave."
As the two of them left the room, Satsu was approaching down the corridor outside. She passed Faith with a barely concealed glare, at which the older Slayer merely rolled her eyes. There was a time when she would have called the other girl out on it, started a fight just for the sake of getting under someone's skin. Now though she just didn't have the energy - the last couple of days were starting to catch up with her and she found herself, for the first time, thinking of going back to Cleveland as going home.
But then she found herself thinking of Buffy.
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Satsu knocked briefly on the open door and Xander gestured her into the room.
She stood ramrod straight, hands clasped behind her back. "Kennedy's asking for you in the training rooms," she said to Willow.
"Thanks, Satsu. I'll head down now. Xander?" she gestured for him to leave with her.
"What?"
"Don't you have that thing now?" she shot a meaningful glance his way and he nodded knowingly. "Right. The thing. That is elsewhere. I'm on it."
As he passed Buffy he squeezed her arm gently. "Good to have you back, boss."
Then he and Willow exited the room, leaving Buffy and Satsu alone. The Asian Slayer maintained her 'attention' stance, determined not to be the first to speak. Buffy sighed and moved to sit on the edge of the table beside the other girl.
"I'm sorry about your arm," she began by way of an apology. "Does it still hurt?"
"Not as much as seeing you with her."
Satsu surprised herself with her own honesty. She hadn't meant to be quite so blunt, but after everything that she'd heard about Faith and everything that had happened recently with Buffy, it had been too much for her.
Buffy nodded, crossing her arms over her stomach. "I'm sorry you saw that."
"But not sorry it happened?" Satsu's eyes were searching Buffy's face for the faintest trace of what she was hoping to see. It wasn't there.
The blonde Slayer shook her head. "Not entirely. But then this isn't about Faith, is it?"
Satsu's shoulders slumped, the fight going out of her. She turned and perched on the table beside Buffy.
"No. This is about me."
Buffy reached over, covering Satsu's hand with her own. "I'm sorry if-"
"Don't," the younger girl interrupted. "Please don't apologise."
"Don't get me wrong," Buffy caught her gaze. "I'm not sorry that it happened - not at all. It was beautiful and I don't regret a single moment. But I am sorry if I hurt you."
Satsu nodded, trying desperately not to cry. She knew what she needed to do, and right now she needed to be able to say this.
"I'm in love with you. And I need to *not* be. That can't happen with you right in front of me."
Buffy frowned. "What are you saying?"
"That I need distance." She squeezed Buffy's hand. "I need to leave."
"I hope you don't think you have to," Buffy said after a moment's pause. "But if that's what you want..."
Satsu wiped a hand across her eyes. "It is. If uh, if that position's still open in the Tokyo team I was thinking I'd apply."
"It's yours - if you're sure you want it."
"I do."
Buffy stood and pulled Satsu into a tight embrace, kissing the other girl softly on the cheek. "Thank you."
Satsu managed to smile through the tears that were now falling freely.
"I guess I'd better go pack."
Buffy watched her leave the room and allowed herself a moment to regain her composure. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself to go and find Faith.
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She was putting the last of the few clothes she'd taken with her into a duffel bag when there was a soft knock at the door. She didn't answer, didn't need to as Buffy entered the room quietly. She stopped in the middle of the floor, hands deep in her pockets.
Faith zipped up the bag and turned to face her. "Hey."
"Wow, I really know how to inspire a packing frenzy."
"Giles has his tweeds in a twist, wants to catch the next flight out so we can redeye it to the States."
Buffy just nodded, searching for the words she wasn't sure she had.
"You could..." she took a breath, exhaled slowly. "Do you have to leave so soon? I mean, I know Slayer Central isn't exactly your scene but... I feel like we have a chance here, to start putting some stuff behind us, you know? When we were fighting together, on the same side, that felt right. And it's nice to know our base instincts don't solely consist of beating the crap out of each other. If you wanted to, you could stay?"
Buffy meant it as an invitation, but it came out sounding like the plea that it was. Faith had to look away from the open vulnerability in the other girl's eyes. Here it was - the one fantasy that, even more than the slow screw on a moonlit beach somewhere or the quick hard fuck up against a cemetery headstone, had gotten her through night after night in prison, the one thing she had wanted more than anything: Buffy goddamn Summers offering up forgiveness and a second chance.
"I can't."
Buffy's face crumpled, and Faith could literally see her walls coming up. She hurried to explain herself.
"B, I don't regret a thing that happened - 'cept maybe for that whole 'eating a demon heart' thing 'cause seriously? Wicked gross. But everything with you and me - the fighting on the same team again, the kicking demon ass... the ridiculously hot sex? No complaints here."
The smirk and raised eyebrow earned a smile from the blonde Slayer.
"You're not so bad yourself, F."
"Seriously, I'm not looking to run away from anything here. And yeah, some day you and me are gonna sit down and hash this out, but I'm not ready for that. Not yet. I've spent five years trying to figure out how to be in control. I'm still trying to figure that out. And I just can't do that if I'm here."
"You can't do that if you're with me."
"You drive me nuts, B, always have." Faith grinned at her briefly before her expression sobered. "I'll know I'm getting somewhere when I can trust myself around you. When I'm not gonna want to pound on you or jump your bones depending on what day of the week it is. I just... I need time, to figure this out for myself, to- fuck, I dunno."
"Be cookie dough."
"Say what?" Faith's brow furrowed.
"Nothing," Buffy shook her head ruefully. "It's just... I get it." She managed a small smile.
She took the few steps that separated her from Faith, bringing her hand to rest on the other girl's cheek.
"Just know that when you're ready - if you're ready - you'll always have a place to come home to here."
"In a great big castle at that." Faith raised an eyebrow at her, half-teasing. Buffy smiled and, taking that smile as an invitation - not needing an invitation - Faith took the final step to close the gap between them, bringing her lips to the other Slayer's.
Buffy who, in her young life had experienced more than her fair share of star-crossed love and bittersweet romance found herself thinking that she'd never kissed anyone quite like this. It was an end and a beginning all in one, and if she could freeze one moment in time this would be it - before anything had begun or ended, and everything just *was*. Just her and Faith, and lips and tongues and heat.
When they broke the kiss, Faith's eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and Buffy found she couldn't speak.
"See ya round, B."
Faith took the last few steps to the door, not looking back, just pulling it gently shut behind her.
When the latch clicked into place, Buffy was alone.
And for the first time in over a year, she was just fine with that.
THE END