Chapter 9: Chapter 9
Author's Notes: Hi thanks for all the reviews and feedback. Sorry for the delay, was on holiday and then had to catch up with work lol. This chapter is now real time. No more flashbacks for a wee while.
The day of the big game had finally arrived. Willow and Xander where currently sitting near the front of the rink watching Buffy and the rest of the cheerleaders skate through their impromptu routine. The schools squad rarely cheered at hockey games, however this was the last game the Sunnydale sharks would play together, and near enough the whole school was there to support them.
Buffy skated off the ice to cheers and catcalls from the supporters, throwing off her skates, she pulled on her training shoes and ran up the steps to where her friends where sitting.
"Hey guys." She chirped, moving to squeeze into the seat between Willow and Xander.
"Liking the smooth moves out there Buffster." Xander grinned.
Buffy glared at him playfully, "Not all the squad can be blessed with my skating grace and finesse, your lucky nobody broke anything this time."
Willow snorted causing her friends to look over in amusement. "Sorry just remembered the massacre last year when Harmony broke her nose."
"Ah yes, that was a glorious day." Xander sighed.
"Kennedy and Faith weren't too happy that the game was held back until the mess was cleaned up." Buffy commented.
"We'll have to hope the Sharks win this game, or you two will have a lot of grovelling to do to cheer up your girls." Xander smirked.
Buffy and Willow looked at each other before simultaneously hitting Xander.
"What was that for?!" he exclaimed.
"You're going to jinx the game." Buffy said, Willow nodding in agreement.
"And if that happens Xander it will be you doing the grovelling not us." Willow said fixing him with her resolve face.
"Ladies this is a jinx free zone, nothing but positive vibes and goodwill floating around for all to absorb." he said.
"Nice imagery Xan." Buffy grinned. "I can only imagine what Faith would say if she heard that."
"Ooh speaking of Faith here come our girls!" Willow exclaimed. Pointing enthusiastically towards the rink as the Sharks skated out.
Xander watched in amusement as Willow and Buffy squealed and cheered as their girlfriends skated out. "I'm going to miss seeing Kennedy in her hockey gear." Willow sighed.
"Me too." Buffy sighed, her eyes glazing over as she watched Faith. "She looks so - "
"Butch?" Xander quipped, earning another slap from Buffy.
"No, I was going to say sexy." Buffy pouted.
Willow smiled dreamily as Kennedy blew a kiss her way. "That they are." she agreed.
"Okay ladies, enough with the love fest." Xander said, throwing his arm around Buffy's shoulders. "Let's see our girls give the other team hell."
"Yeah!" Willow and Buffy yelled. The three friends cheering as the game began.
"I can't watch!" Willow exclaimed, hurriedly shielding her eyes as she heard the distinctive thud of bodies colliding with the Plexiglas. "What happened?" she asked.
"Let's just say she'll feel that in the morning." Buffy winced.
Xander looked over at his red headed friend and caught her peeking through her fingers. "You are planning on watching the game at some point aren't you Wills?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm here as the supportive girlfriend." she said defensively. "And I'm planning to support my socks off, it's just I'm not so good with the crunching and squishing of body parts." she added sheepishly.
"Definitely not a fan of the squishy." Buffy agreed, before leaping out of her seat as Faith body checked the opposition halfway across the rink. "Yeah baby you show them whose boss!!!" She screamed, and then promptly sat back in her seat. Looking at Willow she smiled sheepishly, "Unless Faith's doing the squishing of course, then it's all good."
The buzzer sounded announcing the end of the second period. With one more period of the game to go, both teams where equal with three points each. The third period was going to be tense and Buffy hoped that the Sharks could pull a win out of the bag; she knew that winning this game was everything to Faith. And given the stress of the last few weeks, her girl deserved some good fortune.
Buffy couldn't help but feel some satisfaction as she saw Jessie sitting away from the rest of her team-mates. When they'd found out that she'd assaulted Faith, they had washed their hands of her, and she'd yet to play on the ice. She knew that had to sting the other girl, Jessie's love of hockey rivalled Faith's, and the fact that she wasn't being allowed to play in her final match worried Buffy somewhat. Jessie wasn't known for taking things lightly, and Buffy worried about the repercussions.
The sound of the puck smashing the back of the net caused the crowd to go wild, as Faith slammed home the goal needed to win the Sharks the final. Her team-mates flocked round her as the buzzer went signalling the end of the game.
"Hell yeah!" Faith yelled, "We only went and fucking did it!"
Kennedy grinned and slapped her on the back. "No thanks to me setting you up for that shot." she said.
"Of course, couldn't have done it without you Special K." Faith beamed. "Or the rest of you bitches."
"Spoken like a true captain." Rhona said causing the rest of the team to laugh.
Vi shook her head in amazement. "That was one hell of a game." she said. "Don't know how we pulled it off, but we did it guys."
"We sure as hell went out with a bang." Caridad said.
"Damn straight we did. I'm proud of you guys." Faith said, looking up at the seats she saw her friends waving like crazy. Waving back she realised Buffy was missing, however a flash of blonde near the edge of the rink caught her eye, and she grinned as she saw her girl standing waiting on her. "I'll be back in a sec." she said, skating over to Buffy.
Buffy beamed at her as she got closer, and stepped out onto the ice to greet her. Faith removed her helmet before grabbing Buffy in a bear hug and spinning her round on the ice.
The small blonde squealed with laughter and threw her arms round Faith's neck. "I can't believe we fuckin won!" Faith exclaimed, setting Buffy back onto the ice before kissing her tenderly on the lips.
"I'm so proud of you; I knew you guys could do it." Buffy said, her fingers playing with the soft hairs at Faith's neck.
"Touch and go there for a while." Faith said. "Good thing I've got my own personal cheerleader, kept me goin."
"That's me cheerleader extraordinaire." Buffy said. "Think I nearly deafened Willow and Xander with all the shouting and screaming." she said sheepishly.
Faith grinned wolfishly. "Can think of the kinda screaming I wanna hear." she whispered, causing Buffy to blush.
"Why am I not surprised Miss gutter mind." Buffy said, swatting her arm affectionately. "But if you play your cards right, I won't be the only one doing the screaming." she said pulling Faith in for a steamy kiss, before breaking away from her. "Now get your cute butt over there and collect your trophy." she ordered. "And when we're finished here we've got some celebrating to do."
"Yes Ma'am." Faith grinned.
The plan was to relax and watch a few movies at her house before heading out to the bronze later to meet up with the rest of the hockey as usual nothing ever ran according to plan.
Buffy sighed and looked at the clock, Faith and the others where taking longer than expected. "I knew we should have gone with them." she muttered.
Willow nodded in agreement." Seeing as we're supposed to be the responsible ones, I think that would have been a good idea."
"I mean how long can it take to choose a couple of movies. We even wrote them a list." Buffy exclaimed.
"This is Faith and Kennedy we're talking about. They're probably arguing over whether they should get a film with Angelina Jolie, or Megan Fox." Willow replied.
Buffy rolled her eyes, "No wonder Xander volunteered to go with them."
"They could be there for days." Willow added.
"I'll give them another ten minutes, and then I'm ordering pizza just for us." Buffy said defiantly.
Willow gasped in mock horror. "You'd order pizza without Faith, you do realise the repercussions of this."
"Trust me, she can try the puppy dog eyes and pouting as much as she wants, she still won't be getting any...pizza that is." she added hastily.
"Ooh you're an evil one Buffy Summers." Willow grinned.
"So I've been told." Buffy said getting up from the couch and heading towards the kitchen. "Meanwhile I'll be the perfect host that I am, and get us some drinks."
Willow settled back and started flicking through the channels looking for anything of interest. She'd decided to settle on an old re-run of Friends when the front door flew open and a breathless Xander barrelled into the room.
"Where's Buffy?" he gasped.
"Xander what's wrong?" Willow asked, in all the years she'd know him, she'd never seen him appear so shaken.
"Faith's been taken to the hospital, Kennedy's with her." he replied.
A crash alerted them to Buffy's presence; she stood frozen in the kitchen doorway, broken glass at her feet. "What's happened?" she asked quietly, her voice sounding small as she felt dread overcome her.
"She had a seizure when we where on our way back from the store. She wouldn't stop fitting." He stuttered. "Kennedy's gone ahead with her in the ambulance."
Buffy felt her stomach drop; this was the one thing she was most afraid of. Judging by the looks on her friends faces she knew they where feeling it to. Grabbing her coat and her keys she rushed for the door, not waiting to see if her friends where following. She needed to get to the hospital, she needed to get to Faith.
Tbc.
A/N: Sorry for any spelling mistakes, was rushing to post this chapter from work lol.