The Dawning of Faith
Chapter 24
"I never dared to imagine having anything like this, but if I had, it would have been just this way, just this way…"
The first thing Dawn saw upon awakening was a pair of dark eyes watching her with love simply pouring from them.
"You're right, this is perfect," Dawn told her.
"How's the shoulder?" Dawn moved it experimentally and winced. "Still sore, huh?"
"Just a little, it won't be a problem," Dawn insisted.
"Sure, we'll just alter the workout to compensate. Dawnie, never try and hide an injury from one of your instructors, okay? Don't minimize, if it hurts, I mean really hurts, not just sore muscles from the workout, let them know. You can't train effectively if you're injured; all you'll do is make it worse. Okay?"
"Okay," Dawn agreed. "It's maybe more than a little painful," she said sheepishly.
"Right then, no pushups, I'll fill Kennedy and Amanda in on the sitch. Pay attention to what your body is telling you during the rest of the PT. Used to be we had to go out hurt, but not anymore, at least not until the next apocalypse."
"There's always going to be one of those," agreed Dawn.
"Dawnie?"
"Yes?"
"I love you, I just felt like saying that." Dawn kissed her with more than a little pressure.
"And I just felt like doing that. You know, if we get up right now we can get our teeth brushed in time to do it a little bit more before we have to admit that the rest of the world exists," Dawn suggested.
"I like the way you think," Faith said as she rose.
"I love that part too, Will," panted Buffy, "how many parts you got left?"
"One less than seventy," Willow answered.
"That much math I can do, let's see, seventy minus one is – you really are a dirty girl, aren't you?"
"That's part of number 26, I was serious," Willow explained, "then of course, we start adding things together… ."
"Oh. Where you wanna go on vacation?"
"Giles, when do you play next at the club?" Rona asked over breakfast.
"Tonight, in fact, but please don't feel obligated to come," he added hastily. Rona just smiled.
"See you in 20 ladies," Kennedy delivered the usual threat as she rose from the table.
"I'll go and catch Kennedy, Dawnie, see you out there," Faith told her.
"Right, no pushups," Dawn knew better than to say "I love you" out loud just then, but the smile on Faith's face told her that she had heard it.
"I am hugely grateful that I have lived to see Faith happy," Giles told Willow softly, "we very nearly lost her."
"She's really changed, the girls look up to her, and she's great with them."
"Much better than the old days in Sunnydale, isn't it?"
"Miles," agreed Willow, "especially now. Thanks for shaking things up Giles, I'm not sure either one of us would ever have gotten up the nerve to say anything."
"My endless pleasure; I much prefer having Buffy's heart in your care rather than a vampire's or a government operative's. You're what she's always needed, someone to treasure her and treat her gently. Is she limping this morning?" he asked, watching Buffy head out to work.
"Little bit, maybe," agreed Willow, with a Cheshire grin on her face, "she'll be okay."
"Willow, have you got a minute? I want to talk with you about lessons," Dawn asked after lunch.
"Sure, go ahead," Willow invited.
"Why don't we take a little walk while we chat?" suggested Dawn. "Just to kind of help lunch settle."
"Okay, see you guys later," said Willow to Faith and Buffy, who were last at the table.
"So how's it going?" they asked at the same time.
"You first," Buffy suggested.
"It's great, it's better than great. Buff, she really loves me. I still can't get my head wrapped around that."
"She really does," Buffy agreed. "So, is she taking it easy on you?"
"Yes, she's been great about things. We're going slow, getting to know each other. Dawnie is being really patient with me while I adjust, and I know she had to have been shocked when I went all kind of, well, shy and stuff. I've never been in love; never even much liked anybody I was with back when I hated myself. It's like I'm… new."
"I think you're just finally yourself, the Faith you've always really been, the real Faith. I like her very much," Buffy smiled at her, "but you're right, that Faith is brand-new. Are you scared?" Faith was silent for a long moment.
"Yeah, I guess that's it. I guess I'm scared that if we have sex she'll disappear. Everybody else I've been with has. I threw them out or they threw me out, slam, bam, fuck-you-very-much."
"You know it's different with Dawn, right?" Buffy asked her.
"I do. In my heart I know it without question, but my damn brain keeps tapping me on the shoulder and saying, "she'll leave too". "And it's always been about taking, in the past, not sharing. I'm not sure I'll know how," Faith sighed and let her head fall to the table with a thump.
"You have to trust Dawnie; just put some faith in her." Faith snorted and looked at Buffy in astonishment. "That sounded really, really, nasty, didn't it?" Buffy asked with a grimace.
"Little bit, yeah," Faith admitted. "Doesn't mean you're wrong though. Shit, I might need to talk to Giles myself," Faith admitted in some wonderment. "Been a long road for you and me, hasn't it? Lots of potholes in it, most of 'em my fault, I guess."
"We were both there, and I didn't help things much. God I'm glad Sunnydale's gone. That place truly sucked ass."
"No argument here," Faith agreed.
"I'm sorry about the whole stabbing you thing, Faith."
"I had it coming, like I told Dawn. Anyway, that turned out to be the second best thing that ever happened to me."
"The best thing just left with Willow, right?"
"No doubt about it. I promise I'll be good for her Buff, and I'm glad you're okay with it."
"She's happy, I'm happy. And I know you're good for her, Giles and I were talking about it earlier. I'm proud of her for being gentle with you too. Being truly loved is an overwhelming thing," Buffy told her.
"It is that. How's Will treating you?"
"She's killing me."
"I suppose this is about magic, isn't it, about the training?" Willow asked Dawn.
"Yes, I've decided. I want to train with you on teleporting and the offshoots of it."
"You're sure?"
"No doubt about it," Dawn said with a smile.
"Okay then, we'll start tomorrow if you like." Dawn agreed. "One question. Why?"
"Because it's fascinating, and it could be really useful, even if I never get as good as you or Rachel. But mostly it's because being a part of everything feels right, and the more I think about what you showed me, the more I feel like I've known it all along," Dawn explained. Willow felt a frisson at her words, but betrayed no sign of it.
"Okay then, tomorrow morning after your exercise we'll get started. It might be a long day."
"How's the shoulder?" Faith greeted Dawn in their room.
"It seems to be loosening up," admitted Dawn.
"I think we caught it early, if we don't overwork it you'll be fine by Monday. Maybe not a hundred percent, but good enough to start using it, are you doing anything before gym time?"
"I don't have any homework from Willow yet, I think I'll just go and brush my teeth," Dawn said.
"I left the cap off for you," Faith told her with a smile.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Buffy as she entered the gym to find Faith strapping Dawn's arm to her side securely, "if you two are gonna do the bondage thing you should really do it in your room. There are kids around here you know."
"Bondage?" asked Faith, her brow arching sharply.
"I wonder what number that is…" mused Buffy, "oh, no, just fooling around with you. What's up?"
"Dawn has a tweaked deltoid; I'm making sure we don't hurt it any worse. Gives us a chance to work on a "what-if" kind of thing, anyway. You want to play too?" Faith asked.
"You guys don't mind?"
"It's okay with me if my instructor clears it," Dawn answered.
"Neat, what's the plan coach?" Buffy asked.
"We're assuming that Dawn's left arm is disabled, not terribly realistically, but effectively. I can't have it flopping around. You'll be a vamp, Buffy. Dawn, it's the usual drill. You're dealing with a more powerful opponent, but this time you've only got one arm; this is one reason we had your scythe made so light. Buff, get the goggles on, any other padding is your choice though. The training scythe won't hurt you much."
"Much?" queried Buffy as she donned the eye protection; she hesitated for a moment and then added headgear, "just in case Dawnie is holding a grudge of some kind…"
"Why do you hate me, Dawn?" Buffy asked some two hours later as she picked herself up. Dawn had neatly sidestepped a rush, tripped Buffy with her weapon and stabbed her in the center of the back.
"You're holding back, aren't you?" Dawn asked.
"A little bit, maybe," confessed Buffy, "but not that much, wouldn't do you any good if I just let you pound on me."
"It might help a little," Dawn suggested.
"Nice," Buffy said, grinning ruefully. "Seriously Dawn, you did really well, I'm proud of you. You too coach," she said to Faith.
"She's a natural Buff; I swear, sometimes it looked like she knew what you were going to do before you did."
"She points her lead foot to the side a little, just before she moves," Dawn told them, "you should get Faith to help you with that." Buffy stared.
"I don't normally," Buffy said, "I'm just a little, tender, in spots, today. But good job picking up on that."
Faith howled with laughter.
"What's so funny?" Dawn asked.
"Nothing," Buffy said emphatically, glaring at Faith, "absolutely nothing, got it, laughing girl?"
"Sure B, no problem," Faith said as she struggled to quit laughing.
"I'll see you two comedians at supper," Buffy said as she hurriedly departed. She wasn't fast enough to miss Dawn's laughter joining Faith's however.
"Florida, maybe we'll go to Florida," muttered Buffy as she went to check on another class. "If she does four numbers a day it will take – about a month, and I just don't have a month. Come to it, there's no way I could handle four a day on a regular basis." She continued towards the field where the tai-chi class was in session, and a grin blossomed on her face as she came to a realization.
"I'm gonna be the first Slayer ever to die in bed!"