The Missing Half
Chapter 18 – Wanton Willow
(Faith's POV)
Oh boy. That was great. A chance to sleep and hey, look! No dreams! But that's not the only thing that makes me happy when I wake up. It's the pressure on either side of my body that lights up my morning. I turn to the right and Little D's deep breathing gently blows the hair that wrapped around her head to her mouth around. Her arm is splayed haphazardly across my stomach.
To my right, B's all curled up towards my body, her head resting on the crook of my elbow. What angels they are.
I lay there thinking for a few more moments when B opens her eyes and smiles in my direction.
"G' morning Faith. Sleep alright?"
"A lot better. No more dreams of the nightmarish variety plaguing my beauty sleep. Damn good thing too, cuz without it I start to look slightly dead." I lean in and kiss B's cheek then gently pick myself out of the bed so as not to disturb Dawn.
As soon as I remove myself from the warmth the covers and Buffy had provided I find that it's really cold.
"Damn B, does it usually get cold like this in the 'Dale? Cuz I am literally freezing my tush off."
B pulls herself out of the bed and joins me in my walk downstairs.
"Not really. Even in the winter, it's hardly cold enough to see your breath. It really is chilly in here." She reaches out to me and we cuddle walk to the kitchen. However when we pass the living room, a sight causes us to both freeze in our tracks.
It's snowing outside.
It's freaking snowing in Sunnydale. In the middle of spring.
Apparently B's just as amazed as I am. Her mouth opens in little O's of surprise, then she runs to the front door and flings it open. Once outside she reaches her hand out and catches a snowflake in her hand, not believing it was real.
"Snow?" she weakly questions.
"Yep B. Snow. As in the icy cold frozen water that falls from the sky. The stuff that forms when it's below thirty-two degrees. The stuff--"
"I know what snow is Faith! I'm not 'Buffy, the Dumb Blonde!' It's just, it hasn't snowed EVER except for that time when Angel went to kill himself. And that was weird enough."
I push B back inside the house. "Yep, sure was. So what are you thinking, something supernatural-y?"
"I guess. We better go see Giles. I'm gunna call for an emergency Scooby meeting at the Magic Box. Can you go wake Dawn up?"
"Sure thing B," I obediently respond. I get back to B's room and walk silently over to Dawn's sleeping form. I gently nudge her awake and am instantly greeted by a groan. D turns over and attempts to pull the covers over her head.
Her attempt fails when I reach over to the covers and pull the sheets back down, leaving her body vulnerable to the icy chill in the air.
"Yikes! Jeez Faith! Did Buffy break the air conditioning system? It's freezing in here," Dawn squeals suddenly awake.
"Nope, B didn't break anything this time. Take a look outside."
Dawn stretches wearily and slouches over to the window. Her eyes light up and her mouth opens wide.
"So Bitesize, whaddya think? Do a bunch of birds have dandruff or is it snow?"
"SNOW!" Dawn yells.
"You know the answer would have sounded the same not yelled," I say to Dawn. But it goes unheard because she's already running down the stairs and out the door. I take this chance to go to my room and get dressed. Warmly.
I walk to my wardrobe and grab a loose fitting pair of jeans and long sleeve shirt. I get my hooded sweater, scarf, and a beanie and walk downstairs. Buffy's watching Dawn from the window. The kid's having a blast out there. Packing the snow. Throwing it around. Rolling it up. It's way too cute.
I drape an arm over B's shoulder and we watch Dawn together, embracing the moment. Then B embraces me. We lean up against the front door and it opens up, seeing as Dawn didn't close it properly.
Our lips meet and B leans in deeper. The pressure knocks us over and we land softly in a bed of snow. I hear an annoyed "Hey!" somewhere in the distance, but ignore it. I roll B onto her back continue our kiss. B rolls me over and it's my turn to feel the icy coldness of the ground beneath me.
Dawn clears her throat and the two of us look up. She stands there, hands on hips. She angrily taps her foot on the snow, as if expecting us to realize something—
Oops. "Thank you SO much guys. That was the beginning of Mr. Toasty you're lying on. He's all squished now."
"Sorry Dawnie," B apologizes.
"Yep sorry Pintsize. Wait…Mr. Toasty?"
"Uh huh. My snowman. You know like Frosty. But a hot version of him. As in better looking."
"Ummmm ok. Kid? You're on crack. You might wanna lay off that stuff. I hear it's horrible for you complexion."
B nods all serious like. "Yeah, and we can't have any of that. So how about you come inside, get dressed, then we'll go out to the Magic Box, maybe have a colossal snow fight."
"Assuming the Scoobs haven't killed me first," I mutter under my breath.
"Don't worry Faith, it'll all work out."
The three of us turn and walk back into the house. B and Dawn go upstairs to change and I pop some bread into the toast. The Summers sisters are still upstairs when the bread pops back up. I grin, getting an idea.
I take the chocolate chips from the cupboard and place them into a smiley face on a piece of toast.
Dawn come back down, followed by B. Dawn looks at the toast with the face, then back at me.
"Mr. Toasty," I explain. "He says life as a snowman wasn't working out for him. He liked being a piece of bread better."
Dawn growled in mock anger and purposefully took a bite from her toast. Buffy giggled into her own food.
"Nice one Faith," she praises.
……………………….
Ten minutes later, we're on our way to the Magic Box. The snow looks right at home on the small town. Everything's covered in a sheet of white, like a fine layer of dust covering a bookshelf.
It's still weird though. This snow in southern California. But then again, everything about our lives is weird. Here we are, two slayers, chosen to fight vampires and other demons, walking to the Magic Box with a teenaged girl. The reason behind going to the Magic Box? We have an archaic weapon made of beastly parts that can be used to stop some demon from Hell. To top it all off, us two slayers are a couple, and that's gunna piss off two of our allies, a witch and a construction worker with an ex-vengeance demon as a girlfriend.
"Call me Crazy and inject me with drugs. Strange does not begin to explain my life," I mutter under my breath.
"I hear ya girlfriend," B responds, her superb hearing picking up my mumbled words.
I smile at her brightly, but as soon as it creeps across my face, it fades. We're at the Magic Box now.
"B?" I ask meekly. "You ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
I brace myself and push open the door to the shop. A bell rings from above me, oh boy what a pleasant sound.
When no insults fly my way, I continue into the store, and walk up to Giles. Suprisingly he smiles.
"Good to see you girls made it back in one piece." He says warmly.
Xander pipes up from somewhere behind the counter. "It's safe to presume that Buffy didn't drive."
"Hey! I happen to be very skilled at driving!" Buffy protests.
Willow shoots her a look of disbelief at her words. "Of course, cuz the last time you were behind the wheel, you didn't crash."
I arch my eyebrow in amusement and watch B open her mouth to protest again. Luckily Giles speaks up before the argument starts.
"Wesley called and informed me of you success in retrieving the weapon. May I see it?" I hand him our weapon and he takes it in his hands gently. After a moment he grabs a book from his shelves and explains his findings. "Ah yes, the Sword of Ramses. It was said that long ago a beast came to take Egypt, using his control over the elements of nature to attack the civilization. Ramses and his troops fought long and hard against the beast, but to no avail. Finally, after months of fighting it, Ramses deduced that only a piece of the beast itself could kill it. So he managed to get a piece of the demon's armor and had it forged into a weapon capable of sending the thing back to Hell. Ramses succeeded, and the beast is in Hell, unable to return to Earth until now."
Giles opened another book and explained once more to us. "Between the earthquake, the snow storm, and the weapon you two have obtained, I'd say we are dealing with a demon named Aldinach, an Egyptian demon capable of controlling natural disasters."
I process this bundle of information goodness. "So when this guy Aldinach rises, all we gotta do is poke him with our sword and he's gone?"
Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "If only it were that easy. In reality, that's all you need to do, but actually succeeding will be quite difficult. He's an extremely skilled fighter, strong, powerful, not unlike a god. When it comes down to the fight, it's safe to say it's going to be a challenging one."
"Well, that's why the Powers made us the way we are," Buffy replies enthusiastically.
"So G, do you know why Aflac—"
"Aldinach."
" --- Aldinach is suddenly able to come up to our world to say 'Hi'?" I question.
"Egyptian myths have it that when enough power is concentrated in a place near a portal to Hell, Aldinach can feed off the power by entering a host and putting some of the power at his mercy."
"So you're saying when there's two beings of power, me and B for example, near a hell portal, the Hellmouth, our boy can come to Earth?"
"Precisely."
"Well, that sucks," I state then take a seat at one of the tables.
Giles takes his glasses off and cleans them furiously. "Yes, it appears so. But there's just one thing that doesn't add up. Aldinach could have returned the last time you were here. There was power then. But …" Giles clears his throat and goes on. "…something is making the power stronger this time. A passion that Aldinach seems to be feeding off as well…"
Giles drifts off and B and I shift uncomfortably in our chairs as the words reach the other Scoobies ears. I can see the confusion creeping across Xander's face, the calm understanding in Tara's eyes, the awkward crook of Giles' mouth, and the inevitable anger sketching itself into Red startled features.
"So are you two orgasm buddies then?" Anya's voice cuts through the embarrassing silence.
"Oh umm…" B falters, then shuts up. It's quiet again, but not for long.
"So Buffy, sleeping with the enemy?" Willow verbalizes. "Decide to put us all in danger by getting close to the person that held a knife to my throat? The person that tried to help a pure demon gain control over Earth? The person that tried to steal your life? The person that tried to kill us all?"
That's it. I'm done. I have had enough of this crap. I shouldn't have to listen to some witch tell me what I did wrong.
I don't stick around enough to hear what anyone has to say cuz I'm out that door faster than you can say "Life sucks."
(Buffy's POV)
"ENOUGH!" Giles roars. That was enough to surprise the Hell out of all of us, momentarily shutting Willow up. "Faith has changed. She is not who she once was. Either you can see that or you can keep quiet until you do."
Willow's face turns a deep red when Giles says this. Her eyes narrow and she opens her mouth again. "I can't see it, she'll always be a no good dirty—"
SMACK! Before any of us can react, Dawn has walked up to Willow and slapped her across the face, her eyes burning with a fiery passion. "You will not speak that way about Faith. She saved my life. She treats me like a human. She makes us happy. Shut up or leave."
Damn, I had no clue she had it in her. Willow stands up furious. She stalks out of the shop in a huff.
I stand up, trying to take in all that just happened. Then I speak up. "Look guys, I know none of you have any reason to really like Faith, but the girl has changed, she saved my life and Dawn's. Put her own in danger and got hurt because of it. She loves me and I love her. As sappy as it sounds, it is true. Accept that she's back. Accept that she's changed. Accept that she's my girlfriend. Accept it and move on."
A look of calm passes over the room. Xander's the first to speak. "Alright Buff, I will. I don't want to chance losing you as a friend. And if you say this is a different Faith, then so be it. But if she does anything to hurt you…" He lets himself trail off, but I'm grateful.
"Thanks Xan, she won't let you down."
Giles speaks up next. "Just don't let it interfere with your training. And the impending apocalypse. Lord knows romance has only made things harder in the past." I know he's thinking about Angel.
"It won't Giles. Slayer's promise."
Anya and Tara nod their agreement. "I'm h-happy for you B-Buffy. You deserve happiness," Tara says.
"Yes, just don't let Faith touch the money. Or my Xander. His sexual pleasures are all mine," Anya warns.
"Gee thanks Anya," I reply, not sure whether to be disturbed or amused by her comment. "Now if you guys don't mind, I think I'll go after my girl."
"Of course Buffy. I'm going to give Angel a call and let him know about our findings. Best wishes to you Buffy," Giles says.
I nod and exit the shop, wondering where Faith had run off to.
(Faith's POV)
Goddammit. This sucks. I knew this was going to happen. Buffy and I have something that makes us happy, and bonehead Willow has to go and take it away. I'm walking in an alley by the Magic Box, trying to cool my head. I hear footsteps behind me. I feel power radiating off of them. Not a vamps, broad daylight. I turn around to meet my possible attacker.
"Red?" I question as I swivel on my feet.
I'm surprised by the person standing in front of me.
"Nope Slayer. Last time I checked I had all the male anatomy."
"Spike? But the sun. Daylight. Poof." I said, making motions with my hands to emphasize his dusting.
"Nope, Spikey's got a new power." I stand there confused. I look deep into his blue eyes and see that they are moving, swirling around. All hypnotic like. I find myself unable to move. Spike leans forward to pick up an empty beer bottle.
He flips it in his hand before smashing it into the side of my head hard. I crumple to the ground and the world spins all around me. My vision soon fades to black. Very black.
"Buffy…" I weakly whisper before passing out completely.
A/N: Our poor slayers, never getting a break. Reviews are VERY welcome. Lemme know what you think!