A/N: Angst! Drama! *cackles all evil-like* Anyway, thanks again for everyone who's been reviewing. Reviews are my crack. Hope everyone that isn't reviewing is enjoying the story as well :) In truth, ya'll keep making me a bit nervous after each great review I get cause I haven't written for this fandom in so long that I keep second guessing myself as the story goes on. Haha. I seriously just scrapped chapters 11 & 12 and started over on them because I decided they sucked. Er... lol.

CHAPTER SEVEN

"You made out with my sister?"

Faith looks over at Dawn, who's flopped down on the brick wall next to her. She didn't seem upset, merely curious. Faith blinks and takes a drag off her cigarette, willing herself not to just freak the fuck out at that statement. Buffy is going to go on a murderous rampage if she hears that rumor. More than likely she'll be the target too, not Kennedy who was now at the top of Faith's personal hit list.

"What the fuck? No."

"That's what everyone's saying," Dawn says as she takes out her own cigarette and places it between her lips. She motions for the lighter. Faith sighs and holds it out, flicking it, making it spark and flame. After Dawn get's hers lit, Faith shakes the lighter, letting it close with a click before pocketing it. She still won't look at her.

Great, that's what everyone's been saying. Fucking awesome.

"Ain't what happened. We were just sparring," she replies, looking out at the sunset. How she had gotten through the whole day without hearing a single thing about this rumor before now though, she has no idea. Maybe everyone else in this joint is intimidated by her. And honestly, Faith finds it mildly irritating that Dawn seems to be immune to that.

Dawn snorts, "Yeah, cause sparring turns into a rumor that you guys made out so easily." Faith takes another drag of her cigarette and ignores her. She doesn't want to talk about this. Especially not with her. "Seriously."

"Seriously, nothing, okay? We were sparring. I had her pinned and maybe it looked like something else but it just wasn't," Faith says, just wanting her to drop it. Why the hell did Dawn even care? And by care she means care about what happened, and not care as in like… coming over to attempt to kick her ass for violating her family. Because that she would have expected. This new found "adult Dawn" is freaking her out a bit.

"I'm not stupid, you know," Dawn snaps at her, and that finally makes Faith look at her. Alright, that wasn't so adult. "I was around for everything. I've seen how you guys are. So don't act like I'm some stupid kid."

"And how are we, exactly?" Faith retorts, eyes narrowing. Hell, she'd like to have a little insight on that herself. Maybe it'd answer all the lingering questions she has in the back of her head. Like why Buffy almost let her kiss her. Almost.

"You're completely in love with her, Faith. I mean seriously, wake up."

Faith stares at her, not believing she really just said that to her. But she doesn't deny it, there's really no point. And it sure as hell didn't help her any either, because she already knew that. She takes another drag of her cigarette before flicking it into the street, watching the sparks skitter across the pavement. "If you're gonna start giving me advice on how to get into your sister's pants I'm gonna throw myself into oncoming traffic," she says flatly.

"What? Ew. No," Dawn says, making a face. She shudders a little, probably just trying to get out the very horrible image Faith just put in her head. She takes a drag of her cigarette like she's trying to get out the bad taste by overpowering it with another. When she exhales she says, "I was just saying I'm not stupid. So if you kissed her…"

"I didn't kiss her, Dawn, okay? Shit. We were sparring, I'm not lying to you," Faith says, frustrated. She slides off the wall. Yeah, she's done with this messed up interaction right about now. She had been trying like hell not to think about what almost happened all day, and this wasn't helping any. She starts to walk away when she hears:

"Faith?"

Faith sighs and turns around, looking back at Dawn who was still perched on the wall. Dawn gives her a small, sympathetic smile. "Just don't be stupid about it," she tells her softly.

Man, Faith hated sympathy.

"I'm not gonna do anything about it," Faith tells her evenly, but honestly. She never has and she never will. It's just some kind of problem that she has, apparently. It was right there in front of her this morning and she couldn't just take it, what's wrong with her? Regardless, that's not the only problem she's got at the moment, because seriously? Everyone's been saying that? Buffy is going to hit the freaking roof. Probably tear the damn thing off and throw it at her.

So. Best not be around for that one, then.

Instead of heading back into Wolfram & Hart, she heads down the street to the bar she went to last night. Hell, if she's gonna come back to getting screamed at, she might as well be drunk for it. Least then when Buffy hits her it won't hurt so bad. Least not until the morning. But hey, maybe the hangover will overpower that pain. Can't hurt to try, right?

She downs three jack and cokes and turns away five drunk men before she even begins to notice her surroundings. It was a Monday night so there weren't that many people; just what seemed like a few regulars and some college kids having it off cause they had nothing better to do with their lives. She's about to say fuck it and leave, go out and do some slaying or something, until she notices a woman sitting at the other end of the bar, looking bored.

Oh, it can't be…

Faith gets up, taking her drink with her and makes her way over to the blonde. Sliding in the seat next to her she says, "What is this, your pick up place?"

The girl she very much slept with last night turns to her, that bored look still on her face. "No," she replies, like she didn't even understand the question. "I failed the apples and oranges test, so I'm here to socialize." She sounds like she's reading off of a billboard, and Faith snorts a bit as the woman fiddles with the straw in her little girly looking concoction that she seems to not even have an interest in.

She has no idea what the apples and oranges test is, but she'll just pass that one by. "Yeah, cause sitting here by yourself is really making that one work out well."

"I'm not by myself," the woman says simply, in that eerie little way that she does. She cocks her head slightly as she turns away from her, seemingly people watching, "I'm with you."

This girl really ain't all there upstairs.

"Yeah, whatever," Faith says, taking a sip of her drink. She finishes it with one last pull of her lips and as the ice clinks against the bottom of the glass, she puts it back down on the bar. She wasn't much for seeing her old fuck dates, but she had an unsettling feeling of loneliness in the pit of her stomach. She clicks her tongue a bit to get the girls attention, and when she turns back to her she asks, "You gonna tell me your name tonight, or are you gonna pull that woman of mystery crap again?"

"Today I'm Alice," she replies, a little smile on her face. Faith can't help but think that, hey, even if the bitch is a bit crazy, she's still beautiful, especially when she smiles. Anyone with eyes can see that. She was a tiny little thing, even though she stood a good two inches taller than her. Tiny in every way but very strong underneath; like she was trained for something that Faith is pretty sure she wants to know nothing about.

"Right. Okay. Alice," Faith mocks, because she's sure that's not her name, but whatever. Least she has something to call her now. She waves to the bartender to get them two more drinks, and after they're delivered she slides one over to Alice, asking, "So what's your deal?"

"I'm a book keeper," Alice tells her, but then makes a face like she isn't sure if that's right. She picks up her drink and takes a sip as she seemed to think about that one, then she nods, sure of it. Faith cocks an eyebrow. Part of her wishes the chick's just drunk, then she'd have a reason to be all fucking weird, but Faith has a feeling that's just how she is.

"Doubt that," Faith says, but shrugs. "But whatever." She ain't gonna dwell on it since she ain't gonna tell her what she does either. Not that dusting the undead is really what she does for a living, though. But man, if she had a dollar for every vamp she slayed she'd… alright, she wouldn't be rich, but at least she wouldn't have had to resort to stealing when she was younger. Because really, there's only so many times you can eat people's leftovers that they threw away before you go insane.

Alice blinks a little, then looks at her curiously. "Are we going to have sex again? Is that why you came over?"

Faith laughs a little just because, hell, you had to laugh at that. The girl might not have tact, but she was direct, and Faith kind of liked that. It saves time by not playing all the stupid games every woman tries to pull. She smirks, "Why? You up for some fun tonight?" She wasn't particularly horny, what with all the craziness going on back at the ranch, but who was she to pass up sex with a good looking woman? It might take her mind off of things, at least. Sex was always good for that.

Alice shrugs, very nonchalantly, then agrees, "It was fun. I liked it." She smiles then, almost giddy at the prospect. "We can do it again."

Faith's maybe still a bit wary of her mental state but hey, the girl was amusing her. She needed that after the whole confusion that was Buffy and their little spar slash almost make out session. So yeah, she took her back to her room. And no, maybe it wasn't the smartest idea, but hell, she just needed to forget everything. Alice could help her with that. Just fall into her and fuck for hours and just forget.

The problem though, was that Faith failed to see the large, gaping hole in her plan that was Buffy waiting for her outside her bedroom door.

Alice seemed to have some kind of aversion to clothes, because in the elevator she had already stripped off her shirt and had her tongue down Faith's throat. Not that Faith was opposed to that, or even gave a fuck. Quite the opposite, actually. She laughed at her craziness, almost reveled in it as they were attached at the mouth all the way back to her room. All the potentials had been hanging out downstairs so she knew none of them would catch a glimpse of what or who she was doing, and especially whose jeans she now had her hand down as they attempted to make it to her bedroom door. She didn't think about anything besides how she was about to feel within the hour, didn't pay attention to anything around her, and thus didn't notice Buffy staring at her, eyes wide, mouth open, at her very slutty display in the hallway, until:

"You've got to be kidding me."

That made Faith's heart leap into her throat as she turned around, taking her hand out of Alice's jeans quickly. But she doesn't even have time to think of some lame ass excuse, or whatever it was that she was about to have come pouring out of her mouth and having her look like even more of an idiot, because Buffy's screaming now.

"We have kids in this building, Faith! What the hell do you think you're doing, bringing your whores up here and being all… whorish in the hallway?!"

"HEY!" Faith exclaims, the only thing she can find herself to say. Fuck, Buffy can be pissed all she wants, but she doesn't have to be a rude bitch, either. Faith might never have been one to explicitly care about other people's feelings, but Buffy used to be, and calling Alice a whore didn't exactly constitute as welcome wagon behavior. Not that she expected such, but the least she could have done is wait to scream at her until after her guest leaves.

"I don't like her," Alice tells Faith simply, though seems to not care much either way. She states it just how it is: a fact. She then turns to inform Buffy, like she didn't hear her the first time, "I don't like you."

"Great, I don't like you either," Buffy snaps at her, seemingly dismissing her from the conversation. She turns back to Faith, hands waving in the air erratically until they fall to her hips, "What is the matter with you? First you go around and tell people you kissed me, and now you've decide to run around and act like a five dollar hooker? Side note: you're past your hormonal teenage bullshit excuse, so don't feed me that."

"Go ram a stake up there, B. What I do ain't your business," Faith snaps back angrily, grabbing Alice's hand. She opens the door to her bedroom and lets her in, before she turns back to Buffy, who's standing there seething. "Oh. And F-Y-fucking-I: I didn't tell anybody shit. You want someone to blame? Go kick Kennedy's ass." She slams the door and locks it before Buffy can say another word, and leans against it heavily, just trying to take a breath.

That irrational, childish anger was boiling to the surface. She tried to suppress it, she did. She tried to just let everything go, just let it be what it was – just some stupid fight, but she couldn't. Buffy always had to make her out to be the bad guy, didn't she? Never mind that she was just screaming at her in the middle of the hallway like Wife Swap gone bad, the only thing that mattered was that Faith was the fuck up, right? Faith the whore, Faith the slut. Whatever. Faith, the one who ruins everything.

Well fuck that.

Alice didn't ask, which she appreciated. She also took her angry I-Hate-Buffy sex like a fuckin' champion, and Faith made sure they screwed for hours and was as loud as possible just to spite the bitch. She wanted her to hear every little dirty moment and imagine everything she was doing in there with vivid detail. She wanted to hurt her, bad. Not that she thinks her sex will actually hurt Buffy, but it sure as hell is pissing her off at least. That much was obvious each time Buffy punched the wall that separated their two rooms.

She wanted to piss her off so badly with it in fact that after Alice left (though the window, again. What's wrong with her?), she continued to masturbate with the most overdramatic noises in the world. The worst part about it was that Buffy knew she was alone now, and knew she was doing it just to piss her off. So she wasn't that surprised when finally there was banging on her door.

"Will you shut up?!" Buffy shrieks, her lack of sleep infuriating her even more. It makes Faith smirk. Yeah, they were fighting like childish brats, but Buffy started it. Well, alright, maybe she started it, but Buffy didn't have to be rude about it. She wouldn't call her a whore for bringing home some guy in the middle of the night, but maybe because she just doesn't have the balls to.

Or maybe because Buffy isn't a slut like she is.

And maybe she should have stopped there; she proved her point, after all. But instead of stopping she replies with a very loud and long moan. Her fingers teased her clit but she could barely feel it anyway because all she was focused on was pissing off Buffy. It was always fuckin' about Buffy.

The banging on her door continues. "Faith, I swear to god if you make me come in there I will kick your ass!" Buffy screams, probably waking up the entire floor. But their juvenile feud apparently knows no bounds anymore. Buffy was pissed, Faith was pissed, and when they were pissed the only thing that mattered was the two of them and how much further they could take it until one of them snaps.

But Faith continues, not going to back down from this. All the orgasms weren't helping her anger; if anything, they were fueling it. So when the door splinters and comes crashing in, Faith is expecting it. She's standing just in time to block the first punch that heads in her direction.

Everything was a blur; the whole day was a blur. Everything seemed to go too fast and get too heated and too fucked up so quickly that Faith didn't even have a moment and stop to think what was really going on. But this was how it was with them. Everything was good, fine, fuckin' dandy one minute and the next the whole world comes crashing down and they're trading punches, though usually Faith is dressed for this part.

It was messed up; it was really fucking messed up. All of it. How did they get here? Yesterday they were out slaying; coming to some sort of truce and then the rug gets ripped out from underneath them. They're kidding themselves, right? They can never be friends. Not really. Because this is what happens. They really are like two children. They fight over the stupidest shit just to hear themselves argue. Just to best one another; come out on top. They have this competition complex with each other, and no matter how much they try to fix it… it's always gonna be screwed up. This is always going to end up happening.

And Faith is always going to wake up the next morning, littered with bruises and guilt, and blame the whole thing on herself.

This all got screwed up way too fast.

They fought for what seemed like hours, but probably was only twenty minutes. It only ended when Buffy finally got in one good blow that sent her skidding across her bed to hit the wall. Buffy stood there, angry, breathless, looking on the verge of fucking tears as she waits for Faith to get up. But she doesn't, she's just done with this. She sits up, wincing at the pain in her back and knows there's gonna be a mark later.

"Fine, you win," Faith gasps out as she rubs the offended area. Fuck that was painful.

Buffy doesn't say anything, but Faith doesn't think she can. She's just staring at her, looking like she's on the verge of breaking. She finally finds it in her to sit on the edge of the bed, her breathing still labored. "No…" she tells her softly, her voice shaking a little from either the sadness or the rage. "I didn't."

And as if the screwed up situation couldn't even get any more messed up… Buffy ended up sleeping in her bed that night. They didn't say anything after that last exchange of words; both of them were just too exhausted and upset to even begin to form a thought. So when Buffy curled up at the bottom of Faith's bed, just staring at the wall, Faith let her. And when she realized Buffy was asleep, she took a pillow and a blanket, and decided to sleep on the floor so she wouldn't accidentally kick her in the middle of the night.

It didn't make sense. Any of it. How they can just go back and forth, be so perfect and then fuck everything up. How they just fought fiercely for what seemed like forever and then just let everything go for the night for the sake of sleep. Maybe for the sake of sanity. Neither of them really knew.

If there ever was a need for Slayer therapy… now would be it.

TBC…