A/N: Hey this time I updated sooner! Thank you to all who were kind enough to leave me some reviews with good points in them. Yes I'm talking about you Ltlconf! Also I absolutely love that the story has made someone sound like an 8-year-old! It's great!
Also I had to fully edit this on my own. I proofread it several times but I'm not an English major so I apologize in advance for any errors.
Disclaimer: I only own the computer I type this on.
Enjoy.
Ch. 9 Keys
Giles rushed towards a table full of books with Willow trailing right behind him.
"Could this even be possible?" Willow asked flipping through the small worn out book in her hand.
"I'm not sure. These sort of things were not necessarily in the watcher's handbook I'm afraid." The British man searched through the books "I've never heard of anything like this. Please Willow we must not alarm Buffy. I trust you will keep this between us until we have this figured out?"
Willow nodded and watched as Giles collected some books and walked away. As the witch was about to dive back into the book Xander approached her.
"Hey Willow, what's up with Giles?" he asked turning to look at the watcher. "He looks more British and not in the cup of tea kind of way."
Willow chuckled at her best friend's comment "He is just being Giles . . . " She looked at Xander a bit concerned her self "we just want to get ahead of this Big Bad."
Xander nodded and grabbed a book from the table "Well then I better get this eye to reading then." He patted Willows shoulder and sat at the table.
Willow collected a few of her things and opted to go to her room. On her way there she passed by the gym and saw Kennedy helping to train some of the girls.
Buffy was currently sitting in Faith's room. To be more precise, she was in Faith's room watching her argue with Mike about her ability to get out of the hospital room.
It had been several days since the two slayers had shared their first kiss. Buffy sat there and mused about what had happened afterwards. Hearing Faith be nearly speechless was priceless. She remembered how shortly after the first kiss, more had followed. After getting acquainted with each other's lips, the two slayers had talked about what that signaled in their relationship, and more importantly, if they had a relationship. Faith had been uncertain about the shift in their relationship. She had tried to pull away. However, Buffy had held on through all of Faith's attempts. They had come to an understanding that they both had a unique attraction to each other and with a little of persuasion by Buffy, they had agreed to pursue something together. Faith had given the blonde a disclaimer about her sucking at relationships and her famous rules. Despite that, Buffy ended Faith's weakening opposition with tender kisses. Buffy grinned as she remembered cutting off Faith's sentences with her lips.
"Buffy!"
The screams brought Buffy back to reality and recognized Faith's Voice.
"B please tell this man to let me out of here." Faith demanded.
Mike was keeping his distance from the dark-haired woman; afraid she might prove she was better by taking a swing at him. "Just two more days. We need to make sure your wounds are okay and your blood is completely clean."
"Faith it's just two more days. You can do it." Buffy said as she got up and in between Mike and Faith.
Faith cracked her fists "Buffy I'm fine I've been able to walk around and I'm feeling so much better. I'm sick of this room and all these machines" the younger slayer pulled at the various cables attached to her "I'm getting restless B."
Buffy couldn't help but find Faith's little tantrum adorable and if Mike wasn't in the room she would have kissed away all of her grumpy demands. However she knew it wasn't time for anyone to know about her and Faith. "All right Faith let me talk to Mike outside. Stay in bed." the blonde walked out of the room letting Mike out First.
"I can't let her out of here yet. She needs to stay here a bit longer." Mike stated while he went over Faith's charts.
Buffy frowned and looked towards Faith's room "Is there anything you can do? She is so stubborn and to be honest I understand how frustrating it gets to be there."
Mike looked over the charts again "I'll need someone to watch her. Monitor her and be sure she comes back here multiple times during the day to be checked up. I don't understand why she just won't stay here. But if she must she can be transferred to her own room. Under the conditions that she has someone to watch over her."
Buffy smiled and placed her hand on Mike's arm "Thank you. I'll be sure to keep an eye on her and get her here for check ups."
The two made their way back into Faith's room and the younger slayer looked towards Buffy with the biggest smile on her face. "Tell me you got good news B."
Mike spoke up as he moved to check the monitors around Faith. "I will release you under certain terms agreed?" The man stared down towards Faith and only proceeded to talk when Faith nodded. "You are to be under the watchful eye of Miss. Summers at all times. You are still required to be in bed rest for most of the time." The man paused as he saw Faith roll her eyes. He observed how Buffy placed her hand on Faith's shoulder keeping the slayer calm. "This last part is important, you must report here every at least once a day for check ups. If you miss any of them or are late I will have you back here permanently until the last bruises disappear understood?"
"Sure thing Doc." Faith winked and moved to get out of her bed.
Buffy stopped her from getting any further and used both of her hands to gently push Faith back onto the bed.
"You will have to wait a few more hours here" Mike said "I have to let Angel know, get your room ready and make some preparations."
"Come on Doc. Let me just walk around for a bit." Faith looked up towards Buffy.
Mike wrote something on the chart and made his way to the door. "You will get to do that soon. Please have some patience" the young man then exited the room.
Buffy smiled and took a seat on the edge of Faith's bed. She swiped a strand of loose hair from Faith's face "You are very cute when you throw tantrums you know that?"
Faith was caught off guard by the Blonde's complement. "I was not throwing a tantrum B. I'm getting so restless here and I can't stand it. I want to go train be of some use to you. Help out with the training and research. I'll even be the doughnut getter . . . Kennedy was in here and she told me more about this Big bad you are not worried about. I just want to help B." Faith's forehead wrinkled in a worried expression.
Buffy reached for Faith's hand and lightly kissed it. "I know you do. You will get to do all of that. As a matter of fact, I'd really like to see you bring in some doughnuts to the crew. That would catch them off guard . . ." the blonde laughed. "But you have to get better."
"I am better B, I can feel it." Faith slipped her hand away from Buffy and slowly raised her arm. "See my arm is doing great."
Buffy chuckled thinking about how stubborn Faith was. She lightly pressed on the bandage around her shoulder causing Faith to wince in pain.
"Damn B, what you do that for?" Faith hissed covering her wound with her other hand.
Buffy leaned in and placed a tender kiss over the hand covering Faith's wound. "Because you are still hurt and you are not going to risk getting hurt again because you can't wait a few more days." The blonde then moved to connect their lips to silence Faith's attempt to argue.
Faith was about to list many reasons as to why she should be up and out of this bed but was silenced by Buffy's lips. She had to hand it to the blonde, she had a way to shut her up and get her way. Faith of course didn't mind. She gave into the feeling of Buffy's lips. It had only been a few days but she was having trouble believing this was happening.
Buffy pulled back and caressed Faith's face. She stared into the chocolate brown eyes staring right back at her. " Strawberry filling"
"Hmm?" Faith questioned.
"Strawberry filling. I like jelly filled doughnuts my favorite is strawberry. For when you go on the doughnut run." Buffy smiled and kissed Faith's forehead. "I have to go and train some of the girls. I'll be back to help you move to your room later okay?"
Faith nodded and rested her head back down on her pillow and watched as Buffy left the room. There was uneasiness whenever the blonde was away from her. The rogue slayer was scared about this relationship with Buffy. It was what she had dreamed about but she was scared to mess it up, or worse, have Buffy realize she had gone momentarily crazy for wanting her. She had avoided the questions Kennedy had asked her in her last visit. They had an unspoken understanding to keep what they had to themselves. She could imagine the look on everyone's face if they find out. Of course Willow and Kennedy probably wouldn't be surprised. She was sure Kennedy had told Willow about Faith's little crush. She knew that they were avoiding doing the heavy talking for now, but she couldn't help to think about the one person who would be the most affected Angel.
The vampire had been working endlessly to stop the new threat that had taken a liking to his demon. Over the days he had been taunted by numerous appearances. He had ignored them and had his magical teamwork along side Willow to finally make a shield over the building.
A knock at the door brought him out of the book he was reading. "Come in," he said
Giles walked in through the door holding three additional books. "Angel I'm not sure who else to turn to," the British man confessed.
Angel closed his book and turned his attention to the watcher who seemed distressed. "What's going on?"
"I'm sure you know a lot about hell dimensions and such." The watcher paused recalling Angel's escape from such dimensions before. "This Hell god requires a key of sorts to open that door."
"So there is a key? Do we know what it is?" Angel questioned.
"Yes." Giles paused and lowered his head. He had found out about this only a few hours ago at the brink of morning. The watcher had also spent endless nights awake researching.
Angel waited for the man before him to continue with an explanation.
"Tragically it seems the key is in human form again." Giles placed two of the books on Angel's desk and opened up the third book.
"How can this be? You said last time it was because the energy was transformed into Dawn. Wouldn't that required the powers the monks had? Who has that kind of power? " Angel was alarmed.
"Well it appears with Willow's spell, the order of things changed quite a bit." He paused as he found a passage in the book "The only thing powerful enough is the slayer line. I've got Willow working on a spell to find who it is. We think it's one of the slayers."
"How sure are you?" Angel asked
Giles looked at the vampire in the eye. "I wouldn't be here if it was only a hunch. Angel I came to you because, until we find out who it is, I rather not alarm anyone else, Including Buffy."
"Why not Buffy?"
The watcher tensed for a moment "Buffy is a slayer she may very well be the Key. I need to be sure, but she is the original slayer. The odds don't look good"
Angel's face went a further shade of white and only nodded as a response.
"We both know that Buffy would do anything to keep everyone safe. I can't imagine what she would do if she was indeed the key and found out about it." Giles warned.
Angel knew that very well. "Who knows about this?"
"Only Willow and myself." The British man leaned in towards the desk "I'm sure we can keep it that way. I have Willow working on this and she of course is helping to keep everyone in the dark until we find out for sure." The watcher placed the last book on the desk. " I am leaving these books with you. We can't afford anyone else finding out about this. I trust you are fit to keep them safe and get some useful information from them." Giles then proceeded to walk out of the Vampire's office.
Buffy walked into the makeshift gym and saw Kennedy running some drills with a group of other girls.
"Hey Kennedy do you have the list of the next group who is up for training?" Buffy asked
Kennedy handed the blonde a clipboard with names on it. "Yeah. They should be coming in soon. This group has started on weapons training. One of Angel's guys came in to help."
Buffy looked over at the list and then up towards Kennedy. Her now Best Friend's girlfriend had really taken the leadership role. She admitted to herself that at first she was wary of Kennedy who seemed like a brat. However after the battle against the First and the move to LA, Kennedy had really stepped up and helped with the influx of new slayers. Buffy was really impressed by the brunette's skills. She looked at the list trying to learn some of the girl's names.
Kennedy went to collect some of the weapons from the other girls and made her way back towards Buffy.
"We are really making progress. When do you think you will have time to train with me?" Kennedy said with a smirk as she twirled around a stake.
"What?" Buffy questioned a bit confused.
"Well not to blow my own horn, but I really don't have anyone to challenge me. I figured THE slayer could teach me a thing or two?"
Buffy rolled her eyes. Kennedy was really getting cocky, but being honest with herself she knew that Kennedy was one of the best fighters. "Yeah I think I can manage that. Maybe the next session you have I'll come by. I can teach the rest a lesson as well."
Kennedy raised her eyebrow. 'What is that supposed to mean?' she thought but instead just nodded and walked away.
"Miss. Summers?" A tall blonde girl approached Buffy.
"Buffy, Please just Buffy." The slayer said, "Don't be so formal."
"Sorry. I'm on the next training session. My name is Jennifer." The taller blonde extended her arm out.
"Nice to meet you Jennifer. Ready to train?" Buffy was amazed at how most of the new girls stared at her. She often felt like she was big foot. They looked at her in disbelief and a bit of fear. She was sure everyone had heard the stories of 'Buffy THE slayer.' She shook the girls hand.
"It's an Honor to be training with you." The younger blonde stated. The excitement was poorly contained.
"Well tell me that when you walk away from a vampire nest." Buffy smiled. She couldn't understand how this girl was so excited to be here in the middle of a potential apocalypse.
Before the two blondes could start a conversation more girls came into the gym. After ten minutes there were twenty something girls standing before Buffy.
"Okay everyone have a seat for a second." Buffy announced. All of the girls immediately complied.
"I'm sure all of you know who I am. I'm also sure you've heard plenty of stories. Let me just say we are here to train not to gossip. We can have time for that after we save the world. As all of you have been informed the First is back trying to kill every single one of us." Buffy paused and made eye contact with several of the girls then continued. "We don't know when or where the First will try to attack. We are here to keep everyone safe and alive understood?" She waited and all of the girls nodded in agreement. "Good. Now we will be training in hand-to-hand combat. After you are done stretching find a partner. You will be sparring one another so don't let this become personal it's just training. Anyone not okay with that come see me. Now lets get started."
"Hey."
Faith looked up and saw Buffy smiling at her. "Hey B, just getting ready to head to my room. Got here just in time." The dark-haired slayer pushed her self of the bed and stood up finding her footing.
"Yeah. I told you I'd be here to take you there. Plus Mike wouldn't let you go without your babysitter." Buffy closed the door behind her and made her way towards Faith. "Need any help?"
"Nah, I got it B. I'm doing real good. The doc is just over reacting."
"Good because I've been waiting to do something." Buffy stepped closer towards Faith.
"What's that?" Faith asked fully knowing it was something good.
Buffy didn't answered but she leaned in and wrapped her hands around Faith's back and kissed her. The slayers finally had the chance to kiss like this while Faith was standing and Buffy could entangle her self with the other woman. Buffy gently traced circles on Faith's back. The two separated only when Faith pulled away.
"B if you keep this up I might not stay standing." Faith said as she leaned against the bed.
"That's the point." Buffy whispered.
Faith was amazed at how flirtatious and right out sexual Buffy could be. "Look at you B, who would have thought."
Buffy put on her best innocent face and smiled. "I don't know what you're talking about. Now lets go get you to your room." She went to open the door for Faith and the two slayers walked out and bumped into Mike.
"He Mike." Buffy greeted the man.
"Hello. I assumed you two are heading to Faith's room?" The man took out two bottles of pills and handed them to Buffy. "She needs to take two pills in the morning and two every night before Bed. These other ones are pain killers." He looked at Faith and as reading her mind interjected before she could say anything. "I know you are feeling fine right now, but you will be moving more and this will stress your wounds. Trust me you rather have these just in case rather than not have them."
"Thank you. I'll be sure she takes them." Buffy slipped the bottles in her pocket.
"Now you will report here at noon and from there on we will figure out how many visits you will need to make. If you feel any discomfort or complications speed dial 1 on the phone in your room or make your way here understood?"
Faith nodded. "Sure thing doc but don't be expecting many calls. I'm feeling great." She really didn't have anything against the guy but she really hated doctors, but more so hospitals. With that, the two slayers made their way to the elevator.
"Have you seen my room?" Faith asked.
"Yup. I think you are going to like it." Buffy smiled
"Yeah? Why is that?" The younger slayer looked at Buffy confused.
"Well because I'll only be a few steps away. Your room is next to mine." Buffy blushed she was glad they had managed to do the arrangement because as much as it served the purpose to watching over Faith, she wanted the comfort of knowing she was so close. "You know to watch over you and that you don't go off and hurt your self of course." Buffy cleared her throat.
Faith only nodded and smirked.
Willow was gathering materials for a spell. She opened her book to the marked page and double-checked all the ingredients. She was still a bit nervous about using magic. After her last spell for the shield. She wasn't sure if she should be messing with magic again. She feared it would get addicting again or loose control. However the need to help her friends over came that fear and so she set to task of finding the Key. She knew that who ever they were would change them.
The witch laid her stones and lit her incense and began chanting. What the spell would do was give her the ability to see past people and see their energy. According to her research a key's energy would stand out from the rest and this way she could inspect every single one of the slayers and not raise any suspicion. Once finished she put away her tools and walked out into the hallway. She immediately saw the change. She saw a couple slayers past by her and their energies were indeed revealed. They had displayed a soft orange aura. As she kept walking she saw the same kind displayed an all of the girls. 'Good now I have a baseline. Now who ever is different must be the key she thought.
She made her way to Giles' make shift office paying close attention to everyone past her checking for any changes.
"Giles. I did the thing you asked me to." Willow said trying to be discreet. The witch tried to adjust to her new vision. She noted Giles' aurora was a dark shade of blue.
"Oh yes. Do you have anything to report?" Giles questioned hoping their search for the key was over and they could move on to keep it safely away from the First.
"Not yet. I'm going to make my way around. I'll report back when I find anything out of the ordinary."
Gilles nodded and retreated back to his book.
Willow walked around the training rooms, hospital base, and kitchen. She had yet to find anything. She did bump into Angel, which had scared her a bit.
"He Willow you okay?" The vampire asked.
Willow looked at him and took a step back. "Oh I'm fine. Sorry just really Busy." She kept staring at angel and saw a heavy dark aura around him.
"You see it don't you?" He said more of a statement.
"What?"
"You see my demon. Giles filled me in on what you were doing. Willow that is not part of me. My soul allows me to keep that darkness locked up." He placed a hand on Willows shoulder.
The witch nodded in understanding and gave him a soft smile. "Yeah. It just freaked me out a little."
Angle walked away. "When you guys find something let me know."
It was nearing 10pm when Buffy was trying to get Faith into bed. The once rogue slayer was causing trouble. Not only had she refused to lie down since they had made their way to her new room, but had on two occasions tried to make it to the training room.
"Faith listen to me, you either get into the bed or I will make you." Buffy threatened.
Faith grinned but took a seat on the bed.
"Good. That wasn't so hard. Now you have to take your pills." The blonde handed her two capsules and a glass of water.
Faith took them and then stood up. "Can't we go out to a club or something?"
Buffy huffed in annoyance. Faith was really being a brat. She wanted to take care of the other slayer but she was making it so difficult. However, past her annoyance and frustration she found it really hot how Faith insisted to go train and defy her.
"No. You are still injured."
"Come on B, A little dancing never hurt anybody. You won't let me train. Let me at least dance."
Buffy laughed and pointed to a small radio on the desk "If you want to dance you can turn that on and dance while you are in bed." the blonde walked towards Faith and placed her hands on the other's waist. "Now lets get you into bed okay?"
Faith leaned in and captured the Blonde's lips. She was really being an ass but she loved watching Buffy be all frustrated. She couldn't help it. As they were kissing Buffy walked Faith back towards the bed until they were forced to break the kiss as Faith fell back onto the bed.
Buffy smiled. "See that wasn't so hard."
"It's not fair. You cheated." Faith pretended to pout.
"It's your fault. You started it. Not me."
Faith finally settled down on the bed and patted on a small space next to her. "Keep me company for a bit?" Faith asked.
Buffy nodded and sat down next to Faith.
"So how did training go?"
"Well half of the girls fear me and the other half see me as an idol. It's frustrating either way."
"Well you are THE slayer." Faith laughed. "I'm sure they will be more terrified of me though."
"Don't say that." Buffy demanded. "I know most of them know about our past, but they are going to find out that you have changed. Plus don't think you can get out of helping me train the girls. Once you are good to go you are dealing with them too."
Faith was taken aback by Buffy's statement. She still wasn't sure if the others would accept her into the group and trust her to be near any of the other slayers. Hearing Buffy say that in a 'matter of fact' way made her feel like there was hope yet to redeem herself. "And let you have all the fun? Wouldn't dream of it B."
A knock at the door disrupted their pleasant conversation.
"Come in. It's open." Buffy yelled.
"Buffy. I thought I'd find you in here. I have some things I have to discuss with you." Willow said as she finished reading a section out of a book the witch looked up and seconds later fell to the floor unconscious.
A/N: Well what do you guys think? Let me know by leaving some awesome reviews I have become addicted to. Seriously I'm addicted. I should get a patch or something. OR you my wonderful readers could continue the very rewarding cycle and review!