"We're set then." Buffy relaxed against Faith, taking a deep breath. "Oz," Buffy raised her voice, ignoring his glare as Willow stirred against his shoulder. "Are you and Willow bunking down here?"
Understanding lessened his glare. "Yes. I don't want to move her." Oz stroked Willow's tangled red hair gently.
"I'll stay with them, Buffy," Giles announced. "I have a cot in my office." He smiled slightly. "Not the most comfortable bed, perhaps, but I believe I'm too fagged to care." Hearing Xander's badly smothered laughter, Giles glowered at him. "Dear Lord, can't you get over your adolescent sense of humor for even a moment? I'm tired, Xander. Is that better?"
Jumping in to stave off an argument, Buffy said, "Thanks, Giles. Faith and I would stay, except…" Her eyes slid to Joyce. There was no way she was sending her mother home without an escort. She caught Giles' nod of understanding. "What about you, Xan? Are you and Anya going to your parents'?"
"Yes," Xander replied.
At the same time, Anya said, "No."
Buffy felt Faith quiver against her, laughter bubbling through their link. Pressing her lips together to prevent a smile in response, Buffy said, "I'll let you two figure it out. Just make sure to be at my house tomorrow morning. If we're going to get Snyder and the graduation stuff to the ceremony, we need a game plan." Jumping up, she held out a hand for Faith. "We're going."
"Just a sec, B." Faith took her hand and stood. Buffy frowned, wondering why they were still here. "We...ah…we forgot to tell you there was a vamp in the hallway when we came back from the football field."
"Good Lord. Why didn't you say anything?" Giles came out of his chair, hand running through his already badly mussed hair.
Stepping in front of Buffy, Faith tried to shield her from Giles' anger. "Easy, G-man. He's a pile of dust. B staked him. Wes was there, too. Ain't anything else we can do." She met Giles' hazel eyes. "Just wanted everybody to be careful, that's all. If Ivan did give the Mayor a heads up…" she let the words trail off.
"Right." Giles sighed. "Go on. Wesley can drive Xander and Anya wherever they decide to go."
Two arms slipped around her waist, and lips bushed her neck. "Let's go, Faith. Please."
Shivering, Faith gave in to Buffy's soft voice. "You got it, B." The second the words were out of her mouth, the weight behind her increased, pushing her forward. "See you later, guys," she called out as Buffy maneuvered her to the door.
Once in the hallway, Buffy stopped shoving.
"Wanna tell my why we were almost runnin' for the door?" Faith pried Buffy's arms off and turned to face her.
She got a shrug and a sheepish grin in response.
Faith put her hands on her hips, preparing to press for more when Joyce joined them.
"With the way Buffy commandeered you, Faith, I was sure I'd find you in a clinch." Joyce winked and patted her shoulder. "I'll have to have a talk with my daughter about wasting her opportunities."
Praying her face was not as red as it felt, Faith mumbled, "We were just talking, Mrs. S."
She wasn't ready for the arm Joyce put around her shoulders. "Honey, I was teasing. I know you were just talking." The arm tightened in a slight hug as they moved down the hallway toward the main entrance. "You have to realize, though, I'm not going to freak if I see you two kissing. I may not be a teenager anymore, but I remember how it works."
The arm dropped away as they reached the door.
"B, I'll go out first. Make sure the coast is clear." Faith felt driven by emotion. Joyce's casual acceptance of their relationship, of her…The Mayor wasn't getting his hands on Mrs. Summers. Not waiting for Buffy's agreement, she shoved the door open and jumped through.
Attention and senses focused on locating any danger, she barely heard Buffy's exasperated, "Faith, wait!"
Caged energy tingled beneath her skin as Faith dropped into a defensive crouch, scanning the sidewalk and lawn. Nothing. She didn't relax, though. It was still light. Vampires weren't the greatest threat. The Mayor had humans on the payroll, too. Eyes searching every shadow, Faith remained still. There was no movement.
"We're clear, B." She never looked back at the other two. "Give me minute to check the Jeep out." Running full tilt, Faith dropped to the ground and scrambled under the car. Sometimes, her unique education on the streets of Boston came in handy. The brake lines looked fine. There was nothing attached to the undercarriage. Crawling out, Faith opened the driver side door and pulled the hood latch. All good. Closing the hood with a sharp bang, Faith waved for Buffy to bring Joyce out.
She was tense the entire time the two blondes were in the open. Once Joyce was behind the wheel and they were driving away from the school, Faith felt a little of the tightness in her muscles ease. One hurdle down. Now they just had to get from the car to the house.
Glancing at Buffy in the rearview mirror, Faith noticed Buffy looked just as stressed. She turned her head slightly, noting Joyce's death grip on the wheel. She didn't want to tell Buffy she thought the Mayor might have booby-trapped the house. Fuck. Going home had been a stupid idea. B? she asked through the link, wondering if it would work.
There was a long pause, and she tried to catch Buffy's eyes again. Then, Buffy's voice sounded in her head. Faith? Is that you or am I imagining things?
It's me, B, Faith thought back with a grin. Then she sobered. I don't want to scare your Mom. We need to get into the house to check it out. We need her to let me out. I can break in through the back while you drive around the block a few times. We can use this internal phone line so I can tell you when the coast is clear.
No way! Faith's head rang with Buffy's loud refusal. I can do this. You stay with Mom-
Mentally bracing for another explosion, Faith cut in. How many houses have you broken into, B?
The explosion didn't happen. Instead, Buffy's mental voice was tiny as she replied, None.
Stay with your Mom, B. Let me do this, Faith begged. Despite everything, Faith still needed to prove herself.
All right. Buffy's reply was grudging.
"Stop the car, Mrs. S," Faith said immediately.
Joyce gave her a startled look, the car diving for the curb. "What? What's wrong?"
Faith left Buffy to answer that, slipping out of the car and taking off.
Watching Faith disappear over a backyard fence, Buffy climbed into the front seat and shut the door. "Keep going, Mom. Take us on a tour of Sunnydale. We can't go home just yet."
The car started up again, accompanied by a heavy silence from the driver's side.
Leg jiggling, Buffy kept her link with Faith wide open. Unfortunately, Faith was blocking hers. Not even pushing on the barrier helped. Damn it. She should have gone with Faith. Even the Mayor wouldn't have tried to kill or kidnap her mother in the middle of Sunnydale.
"Where did Faith go?" Joyce's voice merged with her thoughts, and it was several seconds before Buffy realized her mother had actually spoken.
Jerking in her seat, Buffy whipped her head around. "What?"
Joyce leveled a look at her before glancing back at the road. "I asked," she sharply, "where Faith went."
Oh." Mind racing, Buffy tried think of something to say. "She…she ah…"
"Buffy!" Slamming on the breaks, Joyce pulled the car to back to the curb. "What the hell is going on now?"
Slumping against the passenger-side door, Buffy mumbled, "We were afraid the Mayor did something to the house. Faith went to check it out."
The normally roomy interior of the Jeep shrunk. Buffy felt suffocated by Joyce's silence.
"You should keep driving…Faith said she'd let us know when it was safe to go home." Buffy wanted to bang her head on the window. Why had she said that? Now her mom was going to want to know-
"How is Faith going to let us know?" Joyce pulled back onto the road, and her voice was calmer but just as determined. Buffy didn't even hope she'd give up on getting an answer, though. "Is she meeting us somewhere?"
For a second, Buffy thought about going with that, telling Joyce that Faith would simply meet them when the coast was clear. However, Faith wasn't, and the questions would start up again. "Mom, it's a long story."
Joyce snorted. "I think I've heard that one before."
Smiling reluctantly, Buffy said, "I'm not trying to explain the big hunk missing from my bangs this time." She saw Joyce nod. It was time to come clean. "Before the Aspect happened, I asked Will to do a spell. I wanted to know if Angel loved me." It seemed a lifetime ago, and Buffy was ashamed of the selfish thinking behind the request. "Something went wrong, though. It didn't work on Angel." She took a deep breath. "It did work on Faith."