Voices murmured downstairs. Buffy paced around her room, considering vaulting out of the window. Instead she flopped onto the bed sheets like a limp doll.
She felt Faith's presence below, linked to her own by some invisible string. Buffy recognised it as the underlying Slayer connection, In times past, she never noticed the connection with Kendra. Kendra never noticed either, since the Jamaican tried hacking Buffy to death the first time they met.
They made up of course. Slight misunderstandings and all. Plus, in the entire history of Slayers, until Buffy decided dying was a bad idea, two Slayers existing at the same time just didn't happen. Ever.
So who knew what sort of loopy Slayery would be cooked up if they did?
When Faith entered the scene after Kendra's death, sometimes Buffy felt the connection. The link remained tenuous at best, just a small intuitive tug whenever the other Slayer got close, rather like detecting a vampire or demon.
By close, they needed to be in the same room, practically breathing down each other's necks.
And at that distance, they were usually trying to punch or stab each other to death.
This one had a much longer range, spanning around the length of a house. It annoyed her. The last thing she wanted was a direct line to the one person she intended to avoid.
Her ears picked up the tell-tale sounds of footsteps, creaking at a measured pace. A sharp rap at the door jolted her back into reality.
Or at least, a reality.
"Buffy?" Giles called.
"Yeah?"
The door creaked open at the invitation. The Englishman blinked in rapid succession when he saw her on the covers. "Do you uh, need a few more minutes?"
"No! It's fine." Buffy sat bolt upright. She immediately regretted the motion. Making herself vertical again, she gave Giles a thumbs up. "I'm ready! For real. This time."
"Very good. They've all been briefed on you, although seeing you will be an experience. Willow in particular has been getting very excited."
Buffy grinned.She followed Giles downstairs, managing to ignore/suppress most of her thoughts and feelings; including the one plotting an escape route. Their steps were loud. The leaden quiet from the lounge amplified every sound she made and every thump of her heart. She bumped into a picture frame, almost knocking it off the hook. The picture rocked, before calming to a lopsided tilt. Buffy readjusted it, hands trembling. Stupid. What am I getting nervous for?
Buffy entered the lounge behind Giles. He issued a rapid reminder to stay calm to the group.
The two brown sofas were occupied to the max. Willow. Xander. Tara. Mugs lay scattered on the table. Anya. Faith. Voirrey nodded silent encouragement.
Buffy noticed Willow hovering on the edge of her seat, poised like a nervous animal. Xander clenched his hands, his mouth slightly agape.
Buffy tried quirking a friendly smile. "Hey Will. Xander."
"Hey, Buffy," Willow squeaked, eyes like dinner plates.
"Buffster." Xander saluted her.
Tara gave her a friendly wave. "Hey." She smelled of apples. Buffy liked it. The Wiccan appeared friendly and non-confrontational, making her a safe bet to start a conversation with. Everyone else appeared just a little bit too full-on or intense, or Faith. She deliberately didn't look the brunette's way.
"So, Tara. Did you ever get to meet me, here?" Buffy knew the answer.
"I-I'm afraid not." Tara shook her head, giving a little apologetic shrug. "D-do you know me, then? Or the other me?"
"Yeah. Of course I do." No, not really. Tara did hang around the group in Buffy's original dimension, but she was so shy and reserved, she may as well had been like one of those mugs on a table. Buffy glossed over that fact.
"Okay. T-that could make things awkward. If you want, w-we can have a talk after this? Just so, um, we can get up to date?"
At that moment Buffy could have hugged Tara, surprised the Wiccan was taking initiative. "Yeah. I would like that. Thanks."
"It's only f-fair, since everyone else knows you, and y-you know them." Tara breathed deeply.
Buffy gave a quick glance around the sea of faces. "How come you're so calm, anyway? About me, that is. You seem to be holding it together pretty well."
"You think so?" The Wiccan smiled. "Cool. Willow talks a lot about you. And... I can read auras." She hugged a cushion to her chest. "Y-Yours is pretty."
"Really? Is it shiny?"
"Very shiny." Tara squashed the cushion tighter, her green sleeves pressing into it like vines. A faint blush crept up on her cheeks. Buffy watched her for a little longer. She realised with absolute clarity that she wanted to get to know the witch more. Why didn't I see this before? I could seriously like this girl. Feelings coursed through her. Regret for not speaking to her so much? Guilt for never trying?
Tara raised an eyebrow, her smile becoming a little less.
Buffy turned her attention back to Willow, who still seemed caught on borderline shock. She jumped when Buffy said her name. Buffy had to suppress a shaky laugh. "This is so weird," she said. "You're like, my best friend back in Sunnydale. My Sunnydale, that is. But here, I'm not…" she trailed off.
Something behind Willow's eyes crumpled and the redhead, complete in a multicoloured top and jeans, bounced up.
"No!" She exclaimed, before adding in haste, "That's, I mean, that's good. That I'm, the other me, that is, the other me is your best friend. Right?"
Buffy wanted at that precise moment to crush Willow in a hug. "Yeah. it's good. We were... I mean, are good. We're good."
She noticed Giles facepalming in the background. Voirrey just appeared deeply amused.
"It's so unreal, though," Willow continued, moving a few tentative steps forward. "I mean. You-you look like Buffy, and speak like her, with all the vowel sounds. Well, you are Buffy. Except you're not. Oh, but you are! And older."
Buffy watched Willow creep closer. "I'm like vamp Willow, minus the vamp. Totally without the vamp, though." Buffy furrowed her brow. "Tell me you had vamp Willow in this world?"
Xander let out a high pitched giggle, slapping his hand on his knee. "Yeah, we had Willow making with the vamp. With the leathers. And the whip. It should be illegal to see her wear that much leather."
"Do we have to b-bring that up, um, now?" Willow stammered.
"Oh, c'mon. You totally made out with yourself. I mean, like, full on groping and frenching. It was hot. It was also how we realised you were…" Anya grabbed onto Xander's arm and squeezed, making him hiss in pain.
"Xander! You're not supposed to say Willow is hot, because it sounds like you want to have sex with her, when I'm your girlfriend and you're having sex with me."
"No! That wasn't what I meant -" Xander shut up, ears burning as Buffy burst out into startled laughter.
"You implied it. You think I can't read between the lines because I'm a ex-vengeance demon who says everything in a strangely literal way?"
"No! Anya! You've got this all wrong. I do not want to have sex with Willow! Okay?"
"C-can we stop talking about the vamp thing?" Willow was as red as a beetroot. "I'm trying to repress."
"Why you would want to repress that is beyond me," Xander shrugged.
"The same way you're repressing the fact you used to hit on Buffy?" Willow's hands shot to her mouth. "Oops. My mouth's coming up with all sorts of stuff today."
Xander's eyes bulged. "B-Buffy? Of course not. I didn't hit on her. Nothing was being hit on, and especially not Buffy, whom I did not like, and certainly not in the moony eye way, and I should really stop talking now before my foot moves to my mouth."
"Please do," Anya cut in, "Although I am not unkind. You can have Buffy along with us later if you want to. Since she's been dead three years and I understand you might miss her."
"A threesome? Throw in the witches and ya got a sin wagon."
"Ew! Faith!" Tara and Willow said in unison.
"What?" Faith said, defensive. "You guys were talking about getting it on. I wanted a say."
"No one is getting it on over here," Buffy said, unable to keep the mirth out of her voice. "Although, thank you for considering me."
Her expression froze when their gazes met. Previously the dark Slayer had been taking interest in the walls, or the debate between the Scoobs. Buffy ignored the ongoing conversation and waited for a flash of heat, or rage. Something to bring all those old wounds pouring out. They held eye contact, sizing each other up.
Why would she be like that? This Faith hasn't done anything, the Inner Slayer whispered.
Buffy set her jaw in a stubborn line. Yet.
The Slayer connection twanged. Faith's eyebrow jumped as if choreographed with the pull. She creased her forehead and took her eyes off Buffy.
Willow slowed her babbling and twiddled her thumbs.
"Um...this is gonna be all strange and stuff I know. But can I...hug you? If that's okay. I haven't really...y'know...hugged...you."
Buffy broke attention away from Faith, facing Willow. "Sure you can. I could do with a hug right now." They closed up. Cautiously, Buffy held out her arms. Just as cautiously, Willow relocated herself into them. They both clung to each other like koala bears.
Xander bounced on the sofa. "Can I join? I miss my Buff, too."
"Sure you can, Xander-shaped friend," Buffy mumbled into Willow's hair. She breathed in Willow's scent. Musk. Xander enveloped the both of them, his arms not quite making it all the way around their protective koala sanctuary. He smelled of marshmallows. The scents were familiar and comforting.
"Goddess," Willow breathed, her grip becoming firmer. "This is beyond weird right now. I'm hugging a Buffy, and I like it."
"And she's not even hitting us for being all clingy!" Xander exclaimed.
Buffy gave him a punch.
"Ow. Anyway. You know we've missed you right, Buff?"
Buffy blinked back moistness from her eyes. "I.. may have been noticing."
"And I know this is going to sound pretty crazy…" The lump in Xander's throat bobbed. "… But I want to apologise to you."
"What for?"
Xander studied the floor. "For well, not saving you. Other you."
Buffy felt a rush of understanding. "Oh." Of course. "Um, no hard feelings. If it makes you feel any better though, I'm here right now, because of you. Well, other you."
Almost as soon as she said it, she wanted to kick herself. He obviously felt guilt for 'failing' her. Come to think of it, it might even empathise said failure. The last thing she needed to do in this dimension was start breaking people with stupid thoughtless comments.
"It sounded better in my head," she apologised.
Xander chuckled. "It's okay. I get it. Thanks, Buff."
"You guys probably shouldn't be hugging me. For all you know, I could be a serial killer back from where I come from. Or some weird clone."
"Well…" Xander shrugged, letting go of the embrace, "I honestly didn't think of that."
Willow dismissed the notion. "Cordelia said it would be you. She's rarely wrong about her vision-y stuff." She squeezed Buffy's shoulder. "And you and me, missy, we've got a lot of catch up to do."
"I'll hold you up to that."
Xander and Willow went back to their seats, leaving Buffy alone to face the mob. She felt less awkward now, but decided the meeting was trudging towards its natural
end. Nobody would complain if she made excuses and left. She hoped. The next person to break the silence was Faith.
"We could do with extra help around here. You wanna patrol later?"
Voirrey shot a warning glance to Faith, who ignored it.
"Hey, always up for slaying evil things." Buffy made it sound as neutral as possible, not trusting her own reactions when it came to the dark Slayer. This one looked like her, sounded like her, moved like her. The way she sprawled on the sofa, the dark jeans and tank top - all of it brought a ball of hated memories into her mind.
"Wicked. Get to see what sort of skills you're packing in that body." She curled her lips into a smirk. Buffy identified the message as a challenge.
She mirrored the smirk.
Patrol
Faith prowled in front of the group, Buffy walked behind. Everyone without exception came to the patrol, which, according to Giles, was rare nowadays. Usually patrol groups consisted of Faith and at least one magic user. They didn't range out too far, focusing mainly on areas around high populated places. So cemeteries near residential homes, clubs or the university. Sunnydale High had been destroyed last year by a giant snake demon and the antics of the Scoobies. Faith took part in blowing the snake demon to smithereens, taking all of Sunnydale High with it.
"We thought for a moment she wasn't going to make it," Willow confessed to Buffy when recalling events. "She got that big nasty snaky mayor demon to chase her inside to stop him eating people. Xander was asking where she went, and then the school went boom. Bits of mayor everywhere like candy. Bad, disgusting, non-edible candy. Why did I think of candy? Anyway, Giles started making the sacrifice announcement, getting us all teary eyed, then she walks up to us covered in powder and was all, 'So, guess that means school's out.' It was so awesome."
"That's cool," Buffy said. She compared the information of events to what went down in her own dimension. So this Faith didn't join sides with the Mayor, blowing him up in place of Buffy. So if she didn't join the bad side, then she didn't spiral down into crazy land. But why not? What was so different?
She squinted at Voirrey. The female Watcher walked next to Faith, engaging her in quiet conversation. She didn't lose her Watcher. And she didn't have to complete with me, Buffy realised.
Funny how things turn out, The Inner Slayer whispered.
It all seems a little too perfect. I don't like it. Buffy scowled at Faith's back. She breathed in the cool, fresh air, secure in her navy coat, combat trousers, and beanie hat. Before she became a Slayer, bench presses were something only strapping, muscular guys who went to the gym every day could do. Afterwards, lifting nine-hundred pounds? No problem. The only thing that sucked was the fact her enemies also possessed the same kind of strength.
Buffy crunched along the uneven ground in her steel-capped boots. She could see them being more practical than high heels on a number of occasions. Buffy suspected that if Voirrey or Giles had the opportunity, they would kit both Slayers up in full body armour, or have them sit in tanks. They acted fairly protective. Giles in particular kept checking to see if Buffy was doing okay, if she wanted to rest, if she wanted the company. He offered training sessions in the near future. Voirrey thought the patrol a good opportunity to test Buffy's progress as a Slayer.
She checked out Faith again, walking as far from the other Slayer as possible without losing sight of the rest of the patrol. Pale moonlight trickled onto the ragged grey surfaces of cemetery stone, and glinted in the grass. Willow, Giles and Xander talked, their voices blending into the inky background.
Grasping the stake in her coat pocket, she took comfort in the texture of the sturdy wood and its rough, whittled surface.
Strange as it seemed to admit, being on patrol made her feel a little more at home. She didn't have to worry about much, other than where a vamp might make an appearance. The Slayer part of her that enjoyed fighting wondered how Faith fought. Buffy felt sublimely confident in her own skills. The Faith she knew fought with raw, unbridled power, lacking technique. She had no style or focus behind her moves, slugging out punches and kicks as though stuck in a drunken pub brawl. Good enough for the average vampire and unaware Buffy, but not useful in the long run, since Buffy's extra training always gave her the edge, the ace in the hole in their conflicts. Faith's other disadvantage was that she fought with too much emotion, too much rage and recklessness, as though she didn't care about what happened to herself. Would this one be the same? Buffy anticipated finding out.
Two hours into the patrol, the whole gang clustered around an array of headstones and trees. When walking amongst the living dead and regular dead - a graveyard seemed as good a place as any to set up camp, picnics, or a short rest. The whole group shared between them seven sun bombs. Voirrey had one. Faith had three. Willow and Tara held one each, and Giles kept the last. Xander and Anya apparently didn't have any because
they tended to be a little trigger-happy.
Buffy found out that fetching the ingredients for the bombs was a bundle of fun, that they only discovered the spell by accident, and the explosives were pretty vitalin today's Sunnydale. It would take them a fortnight to make more.
Three weeks ago the tally chart was fifteen bombs. They only ever used the bombs when the numbers worked unfairly in their advantage, so the fact they ate through the bombs so fast made Buffy wonder just how badly infected this Sunnydale was from the creature of the night syndrome. Maybe their apocalypse wasn't too far off. She saw no signs of Initiative activity, and they greeted her with blank stares when she asked.
"You think the bads aren't coming because there's a lot of us?" Buffy questioned. She wrapped her arms tight about herself, hunching up small in an effort to contain warmth. Her breath condensed in the night air.
"It's possible," Voirrey conceded. She adjusted her purple scarf, rubbing her gloved hands together. "But it may not be wise to seperate. They would take full advantage of that."
"Quite right," Giles agreed. He wore a bulky black jacket. The combination of the glasses and jacket made him resemble a huge beetle. "Always stay near someone with a sun bomb. The demons group up much more nowadays than their usual, solitary ways…" He sighed. "So much for statistics stating that one in fifty thousand people is a vampire."
"Rules like that don't apply to Hellmouths, Rupert. I fully suspect that half the population here is a little on the evil side."
Buffy raised a hand. "Stupid question, I know, but do the bombs work against demons? Demons that are not vamps."
Voirrey directed an amused look. "Remember what happened when I told you to close your eyes and you didn't?"
"Oh."
Faith lounged against an overturned headstone, hair tied in a rigid ponytail. Although everyone else around appeared as relaxed as they could be under the circumstances, Faith remained tense. Her huge dark eyes constantly scanned the surroundings, unwilling to relent even for a moment. The brunette used her Slayer senses to probe. Buffy did the same. It helped in locating freshly made vamps, still stuck in their coffins. Each time their mental searching swept over each other, the connection buzzed. It made sense. Both of them were supernatural. Both would ping on each other's radar.
"Buff, you okay?" Willow waved. "You can huddle up with us if you want. Plenty of warmth to go around."
"Yeah. Willow's l-like an oven." Tara dramatically fanned herself.
"I'm okay." Buffy circled the group, impatience surging through her. She needed something to kill, and soon.
Both Slayers stiffened.
"Guys, got something," Faith announced. She pounced to her feet, stake in hand before anyone else reacted. "Just a couple. No prob." She stalked away, emanating off her. She glanced at Buffy. "Almost forgot. You along for the ride, B? Even let you get first poke."
"Sure, F." Buffy twirled her own stake, catching up. "I can handle both, if you want."
"Depends how quick you are." Faith fell back, a provocative smirk dancing on her lips.
Buffy padded softly, following her senses. One vampire clawed partially out of a grave. His thin fingers scrabbled on the grass. Soil bucked as his head emerged, spitting out dirt. Buffy watched him struggle for a little longer. After a moment he blinked his yellow eyes clear and looked up.
"Hey, cupcake. Fancy digging me out of this hole? I'll make it worth your while."
"Think you just dug yourself a deeper one." Buffy yanked him up and stabbed his chest. A surprised, gurgled squawk disintegrated into dust.
Faith snorted. Another grave started to move. The brunette positioned herself, jostling the stake over the ground where she judged the heart of the vampire to be. With a grunt she plunged in, her whole arm disappearing into the earth. She pulled back out with a thin, feral smirk.
"Score." She wiped some of the dirt off. "Too slow, B."
"Sharing is caring." Buffy smarted at the word B. "Didn't you want to play with the vamp a bit?"
"Not worth the trouble."
This surprised Buffy. Her Faith once got so carried away pounding some random vamp's face in, Buffy nearly ended up pulverised when calling for help. Her Faith was reckless, unpredictable and savage. Not really much of a thinker.
This Faith brushed off her sleeves in a practised manner, ready to crash down on the next vampire daring to show his sorry ass. She beckoned. "You coming?"
Buffy walked into stride next to the brunette. She observed large, purple shadows hitched under Faith's eyes. The constant searching and inability to relax gave the brunette a haunted appearance. More than that. Under the pale moon, Faith looked ill. Gaunt. Ragged. Or maybe it was a trick of the light?
"We usually get a few more vamps than this," Faith informed her as they circled around the others. She tilted her head and scratched at her hair. "Prob gonna pack up soon. No action means a lie in."
"Do you guys alternate patrols, then?" Buffy stashed her stake neatly away.
"Usually me and at least one of the lezzos," Faith replied. "I go nearly every night. Don't go to school, so it's no big. Not like with Red and the others." The brunette's expression said otherwise. Buffy recognised envy when she saw it.
"Uh, that's not bad. You can focus more on slaying stuff, right?"
"Yeah, I guess. You went to school?"
Buffy nodded, sighing. "I didn't really do it very well. Felt kinda dumb, mostly. Skipped studies a lot because of the odd apocalypse or two."
"Dropped out eight grade." Faith lifted a shoulder. "Was a bad time, for a while. In a bad place." She fixed Buffy with a penetrating stare. "I heard about that, you know."
"Huh?"
"From Voirrey. About Other-Me... getting on the crazy train."
"You did, huh?" Buffy frosted over. Faith regarded her in puzzlement.
"Gonna guess that shouldn't be something you wanna talk about?"
"You guessed right."
"Hmm." Faith lapsed into silence.
Well. That killed that conversation.
"Sorry," Buffy tried, in a bid to salvage... whatever it was they had going on.
"S'okay." Faith walked a little faster. Gravel crunched under her feet. "Can't help but be curious though, you know? Thinking about all these different places. How things musta turned out in them."
"I suppose." Buffy hadn't thought about it. She didn't really want to.
"Mind screw and a half. Damn scary. But of course, can't imagine what you must be going through. You must be freaking."
Buffy chewed her lip in brief agitation. "A bit."
Faith waited for Buffy to elaborate. Buffy pretended to concentrate hard on the scenery.
"Never mind, then," Faith muttered. "Gonna stake the left." She stalked away into the shadows.
Buffy stared after her, resisting the urge to apologise. The brunette appeared to be making a tentative effort to reach out. Buffy on the other hand, couldn't deal with it. Looking into her face bought their whole sordid past bubbling up to the surface. Hearing her voice triggered impulses to lash out. It was just too much to cope with on top of everything else.
Those memories contained nothing but pain.
She sighed, veering off to seek more undead to kill. Luck smiled on her when near the end of the cemetery, she spotted four shifty people hanging outside a crypt. They smoked cigarettes, dressed in outfits that should have been vetoed out decades ago. Their scent screamed to her of vampires. That, and the teeth. Faith patrolled by the other end of the graveyard, not yet in range.
Buffy sneaked closer. She caught snatches of conversation.
"So, Harriet, you've been dead a few weeks. How many you killed?"
Harriet, a raven haired vampire, smiled at the speaker as she puffed on a cigarette.
"Twelve."
"Whoa. That's pretty hot."
"Thanks, Lee. I try. Gotta get the hang of the whole being evil thing."
"It's an art. The badder, the better," a bearded vampire confirmed. "Anything with kids, puppies or kittens, and you go way up the scale."
"Really? Puppies?" Harriet appeared interested.
The last member of the group, a spotty looking teenager, spoke up. "Terrorising the victim works too. Don't have to always go for the jugular. Once I haunted this old ladies house. She was the kind who had like a million cats. Killed one each night, left messages on the fridge in blood. Even made a little rope of intestines and hung it over the ceiling a couple times. It ripens the taste, fear."
"Mmm," Lee agreed.
"That's pretty sad. Don't you guys have a life? Oh wait. You don't." Buffy stepped into view, stake on display. All vampires blinked at her in astonishment.
"Whoa! Where did that chick come from?"
"Lee… she has a stake." Harriet ditched her cigarette, reaching for a knife. "She probably wants to kill us."
"Waste the bitch," the bearded vampire growled. They all jumped her. Buffy laughed in delight and caught the wrist of the teenager, tugging him aside to slam him into the crypt wall. She jumped over Lee and kicked Harriet's knife aside, grabbing and rolling with the vampire over the ground. Harriet attempted to bite and scratch at Buffy, snarling murder. Teeth snapped inches away from Buffy's face. She jammed the stake into the vampires mouth and twisted. She left Harriet thrashing on the ground and took a punch from the bearded guy, reeling sideways. She dug for another stake and tripped him up, quickly pouncing forward to get the first kill. She made short work of Harriet as well, losing a stake in the process.
Lee howled at her and flailed a left hook. The spotty teenager circled behind. Buffy ducked and weaved Lee's haymakers, unable to wipe the grin off her face. This is fun. Sensing the vampire behind preparing to strike, Buffy slid out last moment to watch him sucker punch Lee.
Before she made another move, Faith whirled into the fight. The brunette hurled one stake at Spotty and tackled Lee, dusting them simultaneously. The absolute precision and speed ripped a snarl of appreciation out of Buffy. She tucked her stake away and paced around Faith, breathing heavily. The excitement of the fight pulsed in her bloodstream.
Faith circled with her. "Pretty sick moves you got, B."
"Not bad yourself. Were you watching?"
"Saw you get the drop on the scrawny one." She licked her lips salaciously. "You look like you've been put out."
"You did kill my vamps," Buffy said. Their connection fizzled. The brunette's movements were tight and controlled, sinuous, perfectly poised. Power radiated off her form.
Buffy feinted a jab. Faith didn't react. They continued circling, testing each other's defences. Faith stepped in close. Buffy curled and roundhouse kicked. Faith grabbed the kick and sent Buffy off balance, fast as lightning. She rammed Buffy before she recovered and danced back into the same spot, pacing around her fallen opponent.
Buffy got up. Good moves. Fast. Military. She feinted more punches. Faith took the bait on one and they launched into an exchange of blows. Faith used her arms and fists more, Buffy utilised her leg strength more. Finally breaking through the brunette's guard, she smashed an uppercut into Faith's jaw. The brunette staggered back, dazed, but somehow managed to dodge out of the next attack, weaving behind Buffy and twisting her left arm back. The pain forced Buffy gasping to her knees.
"That all you got?" Faith said.
"Honey, I'm just getting started." Buffy's fighting instincts reached fever pitch. She back kicked and wrenched herself out of the hold, turning on Faith. She noticed the way the brunette protected the side of her stomach. Buffy's hand slowly slid into her jacket for the stake.
"What's going on?"
Buffy and Faith froze. Voirrey strode towards them, flanked by the others. "You better not be doing what it looks like you're doing."
"Just testing out moves. We staked a few vamps." Faith stood easy, relaxing her muscles. It took longer for Buffy to do the same.
"Don't be foolish. What if any more of them assaulted whilst you girls were busy fighting? This is a cemetery," Giles reminded them. "It's not safe."
"Sorry." Faith shifted from side to side, like a guilty child. Buffy swallowed, her mind un-fogging. She twitched her hand away from her jacket as if burned, hastily brushing her sleeves.
Oh my God. I was going to try and stab her. Buffy couldn't comprehend why. One moment they were sparring, witnessing each other's skills, the next…
It was like something else had taken over. Something else had moved her hand. Spooked, Buffy headed away from Faith, not trusting herself to look or speak at the brunette.
Be careful what you wish for.