The Missing Half

Chapter 13 – Fun in the Sun

(Faith's POV)

The next morning I wake up and worry when the room I'm in is unfamiliar. It takes me a few seconds but I remember that I'm in Angel's hotel and we have a mission. To find that weapon thing. I stretch my arms; the pain in my ribs is almost gone now. Gotta love that slayer healing.

I fell asleep as soon as I made it to my bed last night. Didn't even change out of my clothes. I feel a little grungy so I peel off my clothes and head to the shower. I stand there and let the water run over my body. It feels so good. Warm water, clean body. I shampoo my hair and revel in the little bubbles. I love bubbles.

I'm washing off my body with cucumber melon body soap and as I ran my hands over my stomach, I stop. I feel my scar there. Every time I touch it or look at it I'm reminded of my past life. What I did to B. What B did to me. But now I look at it and think about how all that has changed. Me and B are cool now. I have part of my life back.

And I get to spend that part of my life right now with her. That just makes everything ok.

As I rinse my body off, I sing part of a song I heard on the car ride up here.

"And after all of my alibis dessert me / I just want to get by I don't want nothing to hurt me / I had no idea where my head was at / But if my heart says I'm sorry can we leave it at that /Because I just want for all of this to end"

(Buffy's POV)

I hear her singing down the hall. She's got such a beautiful voice, another one of the things I never woulda guessed about her. It's throaty and deep. Very melodic.

I'm sitting here on my bed listening to her now, completely enraptured in her voice and the song. I close my eyes and drown myself in her.

"All of my escapes have been exhausted/ I thought I had a way but then I lost it /And my resistance was once much stronger / And I know I can't go on like this much longer"

I'm savoring her every word and committing the way her voice sounds to memory. I don't want her to ever stop singing.

(Faith's POV)

I'm closing my eyes now, letting the song take me over. I don't care who can hear me; I'm just having one of those moments. One of those moments that feels like its just me in this world.

"And my sins, they watched me leave / And in my heart I so believed / The love you felt for me was mine / The love I'd wished for all the this time"

Now as I sing I'm thinking of B and the song. Nothing but those two thoughts goes through my mind.

"I said the words I knew you knew / Oh God, oh God I needed you / God all this time I needed you, I needed you"

I need B like flowers need bees. Ha. Even in my singsong trance I can make a funny.

(Buffy's POV)

I wonder if she needs me like I need her?

"And I so hate consequences / And running from you is what is my best defense is / I hate these consequences / Cause I know that I let you down / And I don't want to deal with that"

She finishes her song and I'm left with an empty feeling inside. I want her to keep singing.

Oh wow don't I sound like a creepy stalker?

(Faith's POV)

I'm done, all squeaky clean. I wonder if B's up now? Oh well I'll just go wake her up if she's not.

I walk to B's room and softly knock on the door. I hear a soft "Come in" so I do. I am greeted by the sight of B sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Hey B, sleep well?" She nods. "So you ready for today? The fun scavenger hunt for the mysterious piece of hell beast made into a weapon? Cos I'm juiced, ready to go."

B gets an excited look on her face. "Ya, plus, you know, the beach! Haven't seen it in a while."

"I haven't seen it in…ever. I mean the West Coast beach. Should be cool." B looks at me and grins.

"It is, the water's so pretty. And the sand!" She claps her hands like an excited little kid. God she's adorable.

"Well, let's get going then, you make it sound so life changing." We walk downstairs and see Dawn, Wesley, Cordy, Angel, Gunn, Fred, and some green demon named Lorne sitting in the lobby.

I walk up to Angel and say, "So big guy, you now where this weapon is?"

"Yeah, it's in this little cove at this beach." He points to a place on the map he's holding. "You guy's gunna go now?"

"Yep, the quicker we get this thing, the quicker we can get back here and party," I say.

Buffy chimes in "And you know our girl Faith, she loves to party." I throw my arms up and give them a little dance to prove my point. Angel smiles and hands over the map and a wicked looking sword.

"You might need some defense. Have fun girls."

And with that me and B are making our way to the car. I climb into the driver's seat and we peel out of the parking lot.

"You ready for some fun B?"

"You bet. I've been looking for a good rumble. You up for it?" She asks hinting at my ribs.

"You know me B, five by five." She smiles and looks out the window. "Turn here. It should be pretty close."

I'm turning the corner and there it is. The ocean. It's beautiful. I look over at B and she's smiling, obviously transfixed by the beauty of the water.

We pull up to the boardwalk and get out. I've concealed my sword in my jacket. Don't need any beach-goers freaking out. We walk to the beach.

"Too bad we're wearing these boots, the sand feels sooooo good between your toes." B says.

"Be careful Twinkie, don't give yourself an orgasm." Ha. B laughs at that one. We keep walking, and I can tell we're both hypnotized by the ocean. We walk for a good twenty minutes to a more secluded area of the beach. Just around the corner I see a cove.

B glances my way. "Hey Faith, looks like this is it. Let's check this thing out." We jog the rest of the way and stop when we reach the small cave. We enter it and look around. It's kinda dark in here.

"Wish I had a flashlight right about now." Suddenly we bump into a wall. The cave just ends here. We start to feel around. The wall is smooth except for a few depressions towards the center.

Me and B look at it closely and notice that the depressions are shaped like hands.

"How convenient," I mutter. "Angel said this was a chosen two kinda thing so I guess we just put our hands there. Kinda simple for the Powers that Be huh?" Buffy chuckles and we put our hands next to each other on the wall in the lots.

Nothing happened. "Switch places maybe?" B suggests.

"Sure why not." Our arms cross over each other's and we place our hands in the other slot.

The wall just disappears. No big bang. No loud noises. It just vanishes.

"Well that was anticlimactic," I say. We walk through the newly opened passageway. The walls in the cavern have this weird glow to it. They're lighting themselves up, no torches or lamps or anything.

"Weird," I hear B mutter.

"Ya like, everything else in our lives. It's more like 'normal' for us." B smiles and nods in agreement.

We continue to explore the hidden room and after a few minutes of searching I hear B calling my name.

"Faith! I think I've stumbled upon something. Something of the weapon variety." I dart over to her and see what she's looking at. In the middle of a small pool of water a wicked looking weapon floats in midair. It's kinda high up, definitely a two-person job.

"So, I'm thinking one of us gets in and the other stands on her shoulders to get our little toy?" I suggest.

"Works for me. I better do the heavy lifting, you're still hurt."

"Good point." I look down at my white wifebeater. "Damn knew I shoulda gone with the black one."

B gives me this odd smile and says, "Where's the fun in that?" She strips off her jacket and wades into the water. I follow her close behind.

"Ooh water's a bit nippy. But not bad. It beats sewer water."

B breaks into a kinda half doggy paddle and says. "It's ok, be careful, it gets deeper."

I suddenly get a little lower in the water. Now I'm treading water too. Once we've positioned ourselves under the weapon, B says, "I'm gunna have to go under. Climb on my shoulders and get that thing."

B takes a big gulp of air and ducks under water. I climb onto her back and straddle her neck with my legs. Well this is kinda an awkward position.

(Buffy's POV)

I take a breath of air and submerge myself completely. I feel Faith's hands on my shoulders and then her legs around my neck. Oh great her thighs are resting on my neck now. Isn't this fun.

A little voice in my head tells me I'm not being sarcastic.

(Faith's POV)

I finish the climb and am now stepping on her shoulders. I stand up, a little off balance and then reach up as high as I can. My hand touches only air at first, but after a few tries I've got the weapon in my hand. Damn this thing feels powerful.

I can check this thing out later. Right now, I need to let B breath again. I push off her shoulders and jump back into the water. B immediately comes up and gracefully gulps for air. Oh what a sight that is.

(Buffy's POV)

Ok air becoming an issue now. I hope Faith realizes that just because we're slayers, it doesn't mean we don't need to breathe. But I know she won't let me drown.

A few seconds after thinking that, I feel the weight lift off my shoulders and see Faith underwater. I swim upwards and break the surface, gasping for breath while trying to look not to look fish-like.

A moment later my eyes meet Faith's. "Did you get it?" I ask. She nods her head and lifts up the weapon so I can see it.

"Sorry it took so long B, had a little trouble reaching it. You ready to get out of this water? Or are you going to practice your mermaid routine?" She grins and I laugh.

"Yeah yeah let's get outta here. I'm getting cold." We swim to the side and step out of the water.

Faith gets this little smirk on her lips and says, "Well look at me, I'm all wet." She's having so much fun in pointing out the obvious. What it does do though is draw my attention to the white shirt she's wearing, now very see-through. I can see her black bra underneath. Faith notices me looking.

"Enjoying the view B?" I look away quickly very embarrassed and try to change the subject.

"Lemme see the weapon." Faith hands it over and I inspect it closely. Angel wasn't lying when he said it was simple. It was shaped like a basic sword, but the metal it was made out of seemed to be hard and not light like most swords. "Powerful," I mutter out loud.

"Ya seems sturdy," Faith observes. We're lost staring at the weapon. Our trance is broken by a screeching behind us.

"Oh great," Faith whines. "I knew it was too easy."

"Looks like we get to rumble after all," I proclaim. We rush the demon. It's a little winged thing. Pointy horns, sharp little teeth. The basics. Faith pulls the sword from her jacket and we begin to slice and dice.

Faith swings at the demon's head, but it ducks and lashes out with its fist. It catches Faith in her ribs. Not good. She goes down hard and I hear her curse.

"Oh shit, mother fu--"she starts and tries to push herself up, but she goes back down, clearly in a lot of pain.

Just me and winged boy are fighting now. We trade blows, neither of us able to get a good hit in. I lash out with our new weapon but he uses his wings to deflect the blow. After I go in for a punch, I left myself open and he swiped at me, grazing my shoulder with his claws. Three jagged lines are cut into my shoulder and I grit my teeth against burning in my shoulder. "You little bitch." I say to him through clamped teeth. First he hurt my Faith and now he makes me bleed—

Wait? My Faith? Where did that come from? Can't think about that now, I gotta kill this little demon. I strike out with my sword and next thing he knows his head is rolling around on the floor. He explodes in a burst of ash and smoke.

I run over to Faith who's lying on the ground holding her ribs. "Sorry B, I tried to get up but my body was just telling me no. I'm sorry. Are you ok? I'm so sorry." She looks up at me pleadingly, hoping I won't be mad at her.

"No worries Faith, you're hurt because you saved me in the first place. I'll be fine. It's just a scratch."

"Ya well you're scratch is bleeding quite a bit." She tears off a strip of her waterlogged shirt and ties it around my shoulder.

"Thanks Faith. Let's get outta here ok?"

"Yeah, I need to shower again." I help her to her feet and we walk side by side from the cave.

Now that the business is out of the way, it's party time.

A/N: Reviews means a happy me. A happy me means a new chapter. Thanks.