The next morning, Faith woke up naked, her arms around Buffy. Her first instinct was to take her arms back and run out of the room, but when she loosened her hold, Buffy only pulled her closer, and Faith hesitated just a moment too long before Buffy's eyes opened, those beautiful eyes right in front of her, and Buffy murmured, "Good morning."
Faith tightened her arms around Buffy once more. "Good morning."
"What time is it?"
"Don't know," Faith said. She kissed Buffy. "Don't care."
Buffy grinned. "We should rally the troops."
"I think we've earned some time off," Faith answered.
"Yeah, but otherwise we're leaving Giles with like twenty new Slayers, and not even he deserves that."
"Fine," Faith sighed, disentangling herself from Buffy and sitting up. "Does this mean I have to get dressed?" She turned back to Buffy. "Did we even bring clothes?"
"No," Buffy said. "I wish."
"Yeah," Faith said. "I'm not the one with a bloodstain for a shirt."
Buffy groaned. "Do you think this motel has a gift shop?"
"Unlikely. How's that gaping wound, by the way? Any less gaping?"
Buffy sat up. "I think Spike's amulet had some sort of power," she said. "I mean, Slayer healing is pretty cool, but I shouldn't feel this okay."
"Yeah, it was pretty powerful," Faith agreed, standing. "Think it's helping the other girls?"
"I hope," Buffy said. "I mean, I'm not all fixed up. But, you know. You saw how well I moved yesterday."
"True," Faith grinned, grimacing as she pulled on the previous day's pants. "God, I need new clothes."
"There are a bunch of girls out there thinking the same thing," Buffy said. "Ten bucks says there's an emergency mall trip in progress right now."
Faith looked at the clock on the nightstand. It said it was about ten in the morning. "Nah. They're probably all still asleep."
"After a Slay like that? None of us ate dinner, Faith. I'm thinking there are a few non-fat yogurts in order."
"Guess we got the horny part taken care of," Faith joked. She put on her jacket. "I'm going to go see what's up as soon as I pee, okay? Might want to put on whatever clothes you have that aren't made of blood."
"Yeah, yeah."
Faith went to the bathroom, and then she walked outside, where the sun was shining far brighter than it had any right to. She knocked on the door to Giles's room. There was no answer. She checked the parking lot; the bus wasn't there. She walked back to the room she was sharing with Buffy and found a note on the door.
Gone to find a mall with some of the girls. Will bring back food and clothes for the rest of you. Stay safe.
-Giles
Faith took the note off the door and went back into the room. Buffy was sitting in pants and a bra, checking under her bandages.
"Note from Giles. You were right about the mall trip." Faith handed Buffy the note.
"My wound is doing better," Buffy said, taking the note and reading it. "Stay safe? What does he think we're going to be doing?"
"Whatever it is, he's wrong," Faith said, picking a remote up off the desk. "Think the TV works?"
"Never know until you try."
Faith pressed the power button. A kids' cartoon popped up. "Any preferences?"
"Not really," Buffy said. "Nothing about vampires."
"I'm with you there." Faith sat on the end of the bed and flipped through a few channels, landing on some reality show. "Mindless enough?"
"Perfect," Buffy said, coming up behind Faith and hugging her from behind.
Faith shrugged out of her jacket. "These clothes are gross. Mind if I go without?"
"Sounds good to me," Buffy said, kicking her pants off.
A few minutes later, they were sitting against the headboard together, leaning into each other and giggling at the show. Faith had never felt so happy before, and she was waiting for the moment it broke, the moment she realized that she didn't have the right to be this happy. It was bound to happen as soon as the thrill from destroying the Hellmouth wore off.
But for now, Faith was close to a girl she loved, and everything was okay.
There was a knock on the door.
"Just a minute!" Buffy called, leaping out of bed.
"How's that wound?" Faith snickered, turning off the TV.
"Shut up." Buffy was gathering clothes from the floor, throwing some to Faith. A moment later, they were both dressed, Buffy draped in Faith's jacket in lieu of a shirt. Faith opened the door to see Dawn, fist raised in preparation to knock again.
"Hey, Dawn," Faith said, holding the door open. Dawn walked in.
"You know, Buffy, shirts are all the rage these days," she said.
"I've heard blood is kind of out, though," Buffy said. "Good news is Giles is at the mall."
Dawn snorted. "Giles is at the mall? I didn't realize he knew what one of those was." She looked another moment at Buffy. "Is that Faith's jacket?"
"Yeah," Buffy said. "Figured, you know, if you were Giles I didn't want to be in just the bra."
"Is that why you took, like, a full minute to open the door?" Dawn asked, eyebrows raised.
Buffy looked at Faith. Her blush was adorable, and the jean jacket over her bra was one of the sexiest things Faith had ever seen.
"Come on, you two," Dawn said. "You think we can't tell."
"Tell what?" Buffy asked.
Faith laughed.
"Are you seriously going to make me say it?" Dawn asked.
"She really is," Faith said, wrapping an arm around Buffy's waist. "Come on, B. She's got us."
"Ha! I knew it!" Dawn exclaimed. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
"You can tell them," Buffy said.
"Really?"
"Me and Faith dating isn't the end of the world," Buffy said, "and I should know."
"Was that just an excuse to make a joke about the end of the world?" Dawn asked.
"Should've been," Faith said.
"You two are impossible," Buffy said, sitting on the bed.
"Proudly," Faith agreed. She flopped backwards so that she was lying across the bed next to Buffy.
"Can I take a look at your wound?" Dawn asked. "I'm no medical expert or anything, but someone should."
"Sure," Buffy said, tossing Faith's jacket back at Faith, who caught it with one hand and flung it to the side. The bandage around her waist was red with blood, but it was the rusty color of dried blood, not the fresh red of an open wound.
"Is anyone else up?" Faith asked.
"Just me," Dawn said, unraveling Buffy's bandages. "Xander's still at the hospital with the girls."
"Giles will probably get him," Buffy said. She looked down at her wound. "Wow. Looks much better than yesterday."
"I'll have to do some reading on what mystical energy does to Slayers," Dawn said, her eyes aglow with the possibility.
"Nerd," Faith teased.
"I know," Dawn answered. "I'm not going to replace these." She went into the bathroom to throw the bandages away. "Tell someone if it opens again, okay?"
"Okay, Mom," Buffy answered.
Sometimes, Faith wished she had a sister.
Dawn left to check on the other girls, and Buffy flicked the TV back on. After two episodes of a truly terrible reality show, Faith heard the bus engine in the parking lot. She grabbed her jacket and tossed it to Buffy.
"Ready to face the day?" she asked.
"No," Buffy answered, grabbing Faith's hand. "But we have to." She pushed the door open and pulled Faith through. Girl after girl was disembarking from the bus, each carrying overstuffed shopping bags. They were followed by Xander, who had a box from a fast food place, and Giles, carrying a few more bags of food.
Buffy let go of Faith's hand and made a beeline for the nearest's hand and made a beeline for the closest shopping bag. "What did you guys get?"
"Whatever we saw," said Vi, who had been carrying the bag. "We have all different sizes, too. Take your pick."
"Thanks," Buffy said, diving into the bag. "I'm kind of having a shirt emergency."
Vi dropped her other bag. "I'm going to go tell the other girls."
"Cool," Buffy said, still searching through the bags. More Slayers dropped their bags by Buffy.
Faith watched Buffy for a moment, then loped over to Xander as girls started coming out of their rooms.
"Got an extra big cheeseburger for me, Xan?"
"Actually, they were only serving breakfast," Xander answered. "But I have a breakfast burrito with your name on it."
"I'll take it," Faith said, plunging her hand into the bag and grabbing a burrito. "And one for Buffy." She shifted the burrito to her other hand and grabbed another. "Thanks."
"No problem," Xander said.
Faith went back to where Buffy was trying to find a shirt and hipchecked her. "B, you find anything my style in there?"
"What, black?" Buffy asked. "I'm sure there's something."
"Got you a burrito," Faith said, holding it out to Buffy. Buffy took it, and Faith started looking through the bags with one hand. Faith found jeans and a T-shirt that was sufficiently black and stood up. By now, there was a whole crowd of girls standing in the parking lot, looking through clothes, and Faith backed up a little. "Hey, B?"
Buffy stood up, clothes in one hand, her burrito in the other. "Yeah?"
"Are we going to have to do the whole talking about logistics thing with the Scoobies?"
"Definitely not until I shower," Buffy answered.
Faith laughed. "So I better get in there first, huh?"
"Not a chance." Buffy set off running, and Faith sprinted after her. They scrabbled to open the door, juggling clothes and food until they both fell into the room, laughing.
"Fine," Faith said. "You can have it. But only because of the gaping hole in your stomach."
"Actually, it missed the stomach," Buffy corrected, cheerfully slamming the door to the bathroom.
"Whatever," Faith called. She flopped on the bed with her burrito. Suddenly, she realized how hungry she was. As the water started running in the bathroom, Faith started devouring her breakfast.
She was halfway through when she heard a knock at the door. She got up and opened it. Giles was standing just outside.
"B's in the shower," Faith said.
"That's- that's fine," Giles said. "I actually was rather hoping to talk to you."
"Yeah, um, sure." Faith pulled the door further open and waved Giles in. "I'm going to shower when B gets out, though, whether you're talking to me or not."
"I'll keep that in mind," Giles said, sitting on the bed. He looked incongruous, sitting in his rumpled tweed on a dingy motel bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Dirty, mostly," Faith said. "Food was good."
"No," Giles said. "How are you really feeling?"
"Good," Faith said. "We beat the bad guys. Lots of baby Slayers. Good all around."
Giles nodded. "What I came to talk about is actually those extra Slayers. Faith, we're going to have to train them."
"Yeah," Faith said, staring at Giles. "Someone's gotta."
"I was thinking that maybe that someone could be you," Giles said.
Faith's eyebrows shot up. "Are you sure about that?"
"You've been through a lot, Faith," Giles said. "But you've pulled through. You won't be the only one to go off track. There will be other girls in similar situations to yours."
"I guess," Faith said. "But I'm no use with the others. You know, the Buffys and the Kennedys, where everything's perfect except one day they got superpowers."
"Perhaps we'll let Buffy and Kennedy take care of that, then," Giles said. "We'll talk about this with everybody eventually, of course. I just thought you might want to think about it a little."
"I'll think," Faith said. "Won't promise anything more."
Giles put a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, Faith." He stood. "Take care of Buffy." And he walked out, leaving Faith sitting on the bed, bewildered and alone.