Chapter Two

Buffy had been at military school for almost two weeks. She hadn't yet gone to the on-campus house Giles and Joyce lived in, claiming she was still adjusting to what was expected of her.

Willow, Tara and a reluctant Anya were helping her out, explaining some of the statistics in classes. She wasn't good with numbers and memorizing battle sites and all that. It just didn't make sense to her.

Surprisingly, Buffy was very good at the physical aspect of school. Every once in a while, she'd get a compliment from Captain Lehane or an approving nod and it made her feel really good. She liked knowing that Lehane thought she was worth something during training.

Buffy also constantly found herself wondering about Lehane's past and how she'd ended up in military school and...well, wondering what her first name was as well. That was the easiest place to start.

So, she asked Willow at lunch one day.

"Oh, it's 'Faith'," Willow said, flashing Buffy a surprised look at the question. "Didn't we tell you that?"

"Nope," Buffy said, cutting her roast beef sandwich in half.

"Oh, well, yeah."

"And who's that girl that's always following her around during inspections and stuff?" Buffy asked.

"Kennedy," Willow said. "She's in our year and she's Faith's...well, there's not a real word for it. Her assistant, I guess. And her little sister. She's cool to hang with sometimes."

"Oh, okay."

"Why the sudden curiosity?" Tara asked. "I thought you would've asked these questions a lot sooner."

"Didn't really occur to me, I guess," Buffy said, shrugging.

"If you say so."

Buffy looked up and met Tara's eyes, seeing the other girl's mouth twitch into a knowing smile. Buffy blushed.

Willow looked up, a confused expression on her face, but she didn't ask any questions. They finished their food in a comfortable silence. Eventually the bell rang, and they made their way to class.

Willow and Buffy walked to their first after-lunch art class. They were in the middle of an intermediate painting lesson. Willow sucked at it and constantly complained when she was sitting at the easel. Buffy wasn't the best, but she liked trying, and it normally came out looking semi-believable. The teacher had started them out on still-life, fruits and the like. It was hard, yes, but Buffy enjoyed it and had learned to tune Willow's complaints out after the first three days.

When class ended, Willow and Buffy went to their battle statistics class. That was boring for Buffy, but Willow was sitting up straight in her chair, clearly enthralled. Willow was good with numbers and didn't mind showing it. Buffy would take the basic notes, but she didn't hear much else. Willow was constantly lending Buffy her notes and pushing her to study them each night, just in case.

When free time came, Willow went off to find Tara while Buffy decided to wander the campus for a while. But as she walked, she couldn't help thinking about Captain Lehane or Faith, as she now knew her. She thought about Faith and Kennedy's past. Tara had told her that their father was a military colonel, but she wondered what their mother had been like.

"Summers! Summers!"

Buffy's head snapped up at the familiar husky voice. She turned around, saw Captain Lehane and immediately saluted.

Lehane chuckled and a dimpled grin appeared on her face.

"At ease, soldier," she said gently. "Just came over to say 'hey'."

"Oh... Well, hey. What's up?"

"My free time too, y'know," Lehane said. "Was heading over to the gym to stretch out a little? Wanna come with?"

"If that's what you want me to do, Captain."

Lehane chuckled again. "Just Faith right now, Summers," she corrected the younger girl.

"Well, then you should call me Buffy...Faith."

"I will. So...you wanna come?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

Faith smiled and started walking; Buffy followed close behind.

"You know, you're pretty good at the physical stuff I put you guys on, B," Faith told her as they walked. "How's that?"

"I don't know," Buffy said, shrugging. "It's just always come kinda naturally for me, I guess."

"Me too," Faith said. "That's why my dad sent me here when I was fifteen. And he only sent Ken here because she begged him when she was fifteen." She sighed.

"You sound tired," Buffy observed.

"I'm five by five," Faith said quietly. "C'mon, we're here."

Faith led Buffy inside and into the locker room. They changed into the gym's provided mesh, dark blue shorts and white tee shirt with FDR printed across the chest. Faith grabbed them a few towels and led Buffy out into the actually gym.

Buffy was surprised to see there was a pool inside, enclosed in one room. There were some kids playing regular games: volleyball, basketball, kickball. There were others lifting weights, some twirling those fake guns around; the drill team.

"Up for a little tug-of-war, B?" Faith asked with a grin.

Buffy smiled. "Sure," she replied. "Why not?"

So the two girls went over and picked up the rope. They were easily matched for a while: Buffy won some, and Faith won some. But Buffy could tell Faith was getting tired so she woke her up by pulling as hard as she could when Faith wasn't paying attention. Faith started falling, surprise clearly shown on her face, and she barely caught herself in time. If she'd waited one more second, her face would've hit the ground.

Buffy burst out laughing.

Faith stood up, grinning herself and gave Buffy her best scary glare. Buffy squealed in pretend terror and took off running. Her captain chased after her and finally caught her just outside the pool area and held her in a headlock.

"Gonna say you're sorry, maggot?" she asked, hardly able to keep the laughter out of her voice. "Huh? Are ya?"

"I'm...I'm sorry," Buffy managed to choke out, between laughs. "I-I'm sorry, Faith. Really."

Faith nodded in satisfaction and let her go, smiling cockily.

"But your face was absolutely priceless," Buffy added, grinning as Faith turned to glare at her again.

Buffy ran into the enclosed room and dove into the pool inside. Faith followed and caught her again, pinning her against the pool wall. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as they stared into each other's eyes, neither of them very concerned about the position they were in.

Buffy leaned forward a little, still staring directly into the brown eyes in front of hers. Faith seemed tempted to mimic Buffy's movement and butterflies took over Buffy's belly. But, at the last minute, Faith pushed off the wall, away from Buffy, and swam over to the other side of the pool. Buffy sighed and climbed out of the pool, grabbing one of the pool towels stacked up on the side.

Buffy went back into the locker room after she'd dried off and changed back into her uniform. She put the gym uniform in the laundry basket next to the lockers, along with her towel.

Faith walked in just as Buffy was leaving and their eyes met for a moment. Faith looked away first and Buffy felt a little hurt. But she ignored what she was feeling and went back to the barracks to get ready for the afternoon training.

Buffy was sure that Faith was going to be harder on her than usual. Faith had looked frustrated and Buffy knew that she, being the cause of said frustration, would be the one to get the brunt of it.

Willow and Tara greeted her happily and asked her why her hair was so damp. Buffy just smiled and shook her head, before quickly going to change into the camouflage uniform they were supposed to wear for training. It was going to be a long afternoon.

:

Well, Buffy had been right. By the time the afternoon training session ended, Buffy was sore all over. She wasn't sure she'd be able to sit through dinner so Willow talked Kennedy into making an excuse for the two of them. Kennedy was reluctant but eventually agreed, telling Buffy that she knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of Faith's moods.

"So..." Willow began, trying to start conversation, "wanna tell me why Lehane was so pissed at you?"

Buffy sighed. She was laying in bed, trying to relax, after a warm shower to get the aches and pains to fade. She knew Willow meant well but she kinda wished her friend would shut up.

"I don't know, Will," Buffy lied. "I guess she just had a bad day and she chose me as her victim. You're the one who told me she could be pretty mean sometimes, if you recall."

"I remember," Willow said. "But she seemed a bit more on...well, you, than anyone else."

"She didn't," Buffy said. "She just put me through a rough training session. I'll be all right."

"Something happen with the two of you?"

Buffy was silent. She remembered how close she'd come to kissing Faith in that pool and how much she'd wanted it. She remembered how much it had hurt when Faith rejected her and swam away from her. She didn't know why it had hurt her like that. She barely new the older girl. Why did it matter so much to her what Faith thought?

"Okay, well, I'm meeting Tara in a few minutes for some food. I get that you don't want to talk now, Buffy, really I do. But if you ever do feel like talking, I hope you know I'm here. You can tell me anything or ask me anything."

"Thanks, Willow," Buffy said quietly. "I may take you up on that later. Right now, I just wanna sleep and make the pain go away."

"Okay. Sweet dreams, then."

"Thanks. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Buffy closed her eyes and slowly fell asleep, hoping that she wouldn't dream about Faith.