Distance
Disclaimer: I own nothing; just borrowing a while.
Author notes: May be a while before I update; relatives are coming over for four days. By the way guys…if it's not obvious by now, this is supposed to be humorous. This is more of a parody of Buffy/Faith than anything else…obviously Faith is out of character, being so insanely drunk…and Willow's spell, as you may have guessed, is also going to come into this. Lol
Part 4
"I'm going," Buffy muttered, and when Faith quite predictably did not respond to this less than assertive statement by backing off and respecting her apparent wishes, she gritted her teeth, trying again. "Faith, I'm going. Get off of me."
"You're warm," Faith mumbled, and she lifted Buffy's hair aside, pressing her face directly into the back of Buffy's neck. Her nose was cold, and Buffy gasped, a chill passing quickly through her spine, her stomach dropping in a manner that wasn't entirely unpleasant.
"Faith! Stop!" She finally shook herself of her previous near paralysis and shoved at Faith's hands, breaking her hold on her and pivoting quickly out of her grasp. Grabbing hold of Faith's shoulders, she held her at arm's length from her, preventing her from latching onto her again as she forced herself to look hard into the other girl's eyes and to speak with deliberate directness.
"I'm going home. You're going to keep your hands off me and go inside, get someone to babysit you, go dance your freakin' legs off, take a nap, further deplete the world's stock of alcoholic beverages, whatever you want, but I'm going home."
Letting go of Faith now, watching for a second to make sure she wasn't going to immediately topple over without the balance of Buffy's hands, Buffy turned to walk back inside the club, bracing herself. Nearly immediately Faith called out, obviously not having "got" the gist of what Buffy had thought was a very, very clear message.
"Wicked…gonna go with you, B…"
Buffy was going to kill her. There was no other option. Surely this counted as justifiable homicide.
"NO!" she said emphatically, stopping to pivot about to face Faith and shake her head vehemently. "NO, you are NOT. Now come inside- you can't stay outside because vampires are outside, and they really, really like drunk Slayers, and right now you are definitely a drunk Slayer, probably the DRUNKEST Slayer, in the history of humanity, and possibly the world."
"Wicked," Faith grinned, dimples flashing, eyes lighting up, seemingly pleased to have the honor of holding this dubious title. "Finally…beat you out in something, B…"
Buffy just stared at her, exhaling through her teeth. Now that she wasn't touching Faith she felt better, more clear-headed, able to feel again some of the frustration and anger she should be feeling instead of…something else. Now that she wasn't touching her, she was able to remember that Faith was a maddening pain in the ass and all she wanted was to go home- without Faith tagging along to demonstrate how "good" she was on Buffy's bed, table, couch, or kitchen floor.
God, she was going to have to clean later.
"I'm going home," she repeated for the tenth time or so, but her voice was louder now, more convincing, even angry. Encouraged by this more appropriate tone, she continued. "I'm going home, and NO, you're not going with me, I don't want you to go with me, I don't want to go anywhere, with anyone, but especially not you! Okay? You are NOT coming with me, I don't WANT you to come with me, so go inside, go skank dance with everyone else who actually likes it, and leave me alone!"
Leaning towards Faith and grabbing at her upper arm less than gently, she began to haul her up the front steps of the club again, intending to seek out Xander, get his keys, dump Faith on him for him to take care of, and go home to the peace that was all she had wanted in the first place. It seemed that it was destined that night for Buffy to be unable to move more than two steps forward without being forced to a stop, however, because Faith picked that moment to burst into tears. As Buffy immediately pulled them up short, having to grab Faith with both hands to keep her from falling on her face, her eyes grew round with shock and more than a little alarm at the other girl's actions. She had never seen Faith cry before, ever, at least not while wearing her own body, and as frustrated as she was with her, seeing her suddenly break out now with a steady flow of tears and audible sobbing was enough to kickstart serious concern. What was going ON with her?
"Faith?" she asked hesitantly, her brow furrowing, still holding Faith's shoulders, and she tilted her head, trying to get a good look at her face. "Faith…"
"You don't like me!" Faith ground out, a loud sob escaping, turning her face away stubbornly, as if trying to hide from her, her shoulders shaking, rounding in under Buffy's hands. "You're mean…stuck up bitch…skinny little twit…stick up your ass…you don't like me…you're never gonna like me…"
Buffy gaped at her, still holding her by the shoulders loosely, blinking several times. Every time she thought Faith could startle her no further, the woman seemed determined to prove her wrong…
"You have GOT to be kidding me," she said incredulously, shaking her head. "Faith, you really need to go sleep this off, you don't even know what you're saying anymore."
She tried to turn her around, to steer her back inside the rest of the way, but Faith's body was stiff and resistant, and she covered her face with her hand, making it quite difficult for Buffy to turn her, let alone drag her.
"I do too…you don't like me, you're never gonna like me, you're always taking off on me, everyone's always taking off on me! No one stays, they all go taking off, bye Faith, see ya later Faith, and then no more see you later, don't see them EVER, fucking liars, fucking assholes, there is NOT a see you later! They always go…stupid asshole, fucking mama's boy, I don't love you no more, just GO then, don't love me, I don't love you either, I hate you, hate you all! I don't love anyone, hate you all, hate love! You don't' love me, I don't love you either, I hate you!" Faith nearly screamed.
Her voice had started off slightly raised, high pitched with weeping agitation coloring its tone, but as she had started off in her ranting the volume of her voice had raised considerably so that she was shouting, tears gone now, her features tight with sudden rage. But then, just as Buffy tensed up, starting to let go of her, fully expecting her to attack her, Faith's expression crumpled, and she started to cry again, her posture slumping. "You don't like me…"
Buffy in no way knew how to deal with this. She in no way WANTED to deal with this. She'd had more than enough DEALING with Faith for one night- or one year, for that matter- and she wanted nothing more than to throw her fireman style over her shoulder, carry her inside the club, dump her on the floor, and delegate someone else to take a turn dealing with her. She was very very tempted as it was to do exactly that.
But on the other hand…some of Faith's behavior was finally beginning to make sense to her. From what she was saying to Buffy, anyway, it sounded like Faith was still upset over breaking up with Robin. That would explain the terrifying amount of drinking, the weird groping behaviors, and all the tears and babbling about people leaving her now…still weird, still highly uncomfortable, still something Buffy in no way wanted to deal with. But at least it was something Buffy could understand and even sympathize with. She'd been a mess too after breaking up with Angel, and even Riley…and well, Spike was just a whole swimming pool of mess-ness from the start. And if it had only been a week, and this was the first guy Faith had a real relationship with, maybe even loved a little…or a lot…
Buffy suddenly realized that she had no clue how deep or serious Faith's and Robin's relationship had been while it lasted, that she had never really been interested enough to ask. And it wasn't like Faith was one to go around sharing her feelings or looking for a shoulder to cry on.
Except now apparently. With a lot of help from her friend Jack Daniels.
Well, that made sense…but it still didn't make this easy for her to deal with. Still, with these new thoughts and suspicions, Buffy felt a twisting of sympathy in her chest for Faith, enough to have a slight edge over her irritation, and she took a deep breath, patting her back awkwardly.
"Hey…hey, I like you, okay, just not…not like you're wanting here…or like Robin, or like…okay, bad name, don't say that name?" Buffy said hurried when Faith made a low growling noise somewhere between a snarl and a sob. "Well anyway…you're not gonna want me like that tomorrow morning anyway, that's your friend Mr. Booze talking. Uh, look, Faith, it's okay…okay?"
"Is not!" Faith protested, sniffing loudly and turning to glare at her fiercely even through still teary eyes and mascara streaked cheeks. Buffy visibly cringed at the sound, praying not to see snot joining tears any time soon. "Is not…liar…you don't' like me, he don't, no one does…I don't' either, I don't like you either…"
She suddenly jerked out from under Buffy's hands, still glaring, eyes glinting darkly, still crying, but angry now, gesturing wildly. "Get offa me…go away…I don't like you either, go away!"
Up until this point Buffy would have been delighted to oblige her. But she couldn't just leave her like this now…plus, ridiculous as it was, Buffy was actually starting to feel guilty that Faith was upset. Even if it was mostly the alcohol talking.
Sighing heavily, she took a slow step towards Faith, reaching out again. When Faith stepped back, throwing out her arms for balance, Buffy steadied her and then awkwardly lay a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes, I do, Faith…you just piss me off sometimes is all. Okay, a lot of times…most of the time…look, let's go inside, okay? Come on, turn around."
Slipping an arm somewhat gingerly around Faith's shoulders, Buffy attempted to turn her around and guide her the rest of the way up the steps. But Faith, seeming to mistake the gesture for an embrace rather than a practical way of moving her along, at first grunted her protest, trying to twist away from her. When Buffy, setting her jaw, persisted, Faith fought her for a few more moments, her resistance weak and ineffectual, continuing to yell that she didn't like her or anyone else, that no one liked her either, before suddenly turning and letting her full body weight sink into Buffy, burying her face in her shoulder and hugging her so tightly that Buffy winced, unprepared.
"I don't like you," Faith repeated in a mutter into Buffy's shoulder, her breathing shaky, and Buffy felt a few hot tears wet the bare skin of her shoulder.
She swallowed hard, trying to ignore the heat settling inside her, twisting itself slowly in her stomach, as once again, Faith and her very warm breath and very hot body got very, very close. Hot temperature-wise of course, not like, sexy, or, or seductive, or, or…hot TEMPERATURE wise!
"You don't like me…don't like you either," Faith was still asserting in a slurred mumble. "Don't like anyone…you all suck. Suckkkk…and not the right way…not the good way…"
Restraining herself from sarcastic comments or from pushing Faith away, Buffy simply let the woman hold her, somewhat loosely and very much awkwardly closing her arms around her in a reluctant returning embrace. She tried hard to ignore her own suddenly clammy palms, her roiling stomach, the heat flooding her face, slowly spreading through the rest of her, the number of times she was forced to lick her lips as her senses were overwhelmed with Faith's scent, Faith's warmth, Faith's touch. She didn't know whether to pray no one she knew would see them, or to pray that someone would, so they could rescue her.
But a tiny voice inside, a voice she quickly squashed, said she didn't really want to be rescued…and that alarmed her almost as much as Faith herself did.
Friend…friend, you do this for friends…you hug friends, you comfort friends, you shut them up when they're drunk babbling…and Faith is a friend…I guess…so this isn't weird…okay, it's very weird. But it's okay, she's a friend, and why are you worrying over this anyway, of course she is, why was this ever for even a split second a doubt, even if she doesn't seem to realize tonight that you are in fact, like, NOT ROBIN?
"Don't like you," Faith was muttering again, her voice softer now, and she had stopped crying entirely. Her embrace seemed different, looser, gentler, and as she exhaled slowly, still pressing her face against Buffy's neck, she flattened her hand between Buffy's shoulder blades, sighing out in a declaration that abruptly changed its tune. "Mmm…I love you, B…"
Buffy's eyes bulged, her throat choking briefly, and her mind spun wildly. She was pretty sure that Faith couldn't have said any other sentence to shock her more than that one…or set her heart to knocking any harder against her ribcage.