The Path To Redemption
Chapter 14
Author: twin who likes to travel
Rating: R
Summary: The gang celebrates Buffy's 23rd birthday. Will it go smoother than the ones she's had since she moved to Sunnydale? Dawn attempts to give Faith a dose of her own medicine.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Reviews: I would like them. Constructive criticism is ok.
AAuthor's notes: I know I said in the author's notes for chapter eight that it was the last of the Angel crossover, but I have the gang talk about how Andrew and twelve new slayers went to L.A. to get Dana away from Angel and his gang at Wolfram & Hart. Since they didn't give an actual date for Buffy's birthday and it was after the Christmas episode in season three, I decided to make it near the end of January. I'm having the events of "Damage" happen around the same time because drama always seems to happen on or around her birthday. N666, thanks once again for such a quick review. I'm happy that you love Dawn and Faith and thought that they were cute in the previous chapter. You can expect more of that along with some sexual tension between the two of them. Ltlconf, it's good to hear from you again. Thanks for reviewing so quickly as well. I'm happy that you're satisfied with the speed of progress between Dawn and Faith. I recall the line about them being doomed at the end of the episode "I Robot...You Jane". However, it shouldn't be hard for the fans to remember the disagreement before Buffy was kicked out. And finally, Dawn will continue to defend Faith.
Friday; January 23rd, 2004; Buffy's 23rd birthday; a club in Rome, Italy; around 8:00 PM
All of the original Scoobies, Giles, Faith, and Vi had gathered at the Summers apartment to celebrate the blonde's birthday. They did the usual cake and presents before hitting a popular club in the city. After a drink or two, the only ones left at their tables were Giles, Buffy, and Willow. As always, Faith's provocative moves began drawing others to her. As a handful of guys made their way toward Faith, Buffy flashed back to the time she and the brunette slayer had gone to The Bronze after taking out that nest of vampires. She remembered Xander arguing over Buffy's ode to Faith during Chemistry class and Faith encouraging her to ditch school to do it.
All it had taken was being called "girlfriend", the drawing on the window, and a look to get her to climb out a window and join the other girl for a pre-sunset slaying. As she thought about it even more, she recalled that very look. The smirk and the temporary arching of her eyebrows seemed to work a magic of there own. The memory moved along to them dancing together and Faith occasionally holding her hand as they gyrated to the music. Faith's touch felt so seductive that she wasn't sure what would have happened if Angel hadn't shown up. The thoughts had distracted her from what the rest of her body was doing.
"Like moths to a flame, huh?" a soft voice said into her left ear. It snapped her back to reality. She turned her head to see her best friend smiling back at her, then straight ahead, then back at the blonde.
"Huh?"
Buffy gazed straight ahead at Willow's urging to see Faith dancing with a few guys, but the brunette was watching her and smirking. Buffy noticed that Faith was a lot closer than she was earlier. Buffy took a moment or two to scan the area around her and blushed. During her flashback, the rest of her body had gotten up from her seat and was closing in on the other slayer.
"I wasn't going to…"
"Sure you weren't," Willow giggled as the sadness she had been dealing with before arriving in Italy earlier that day disappeared at the power Faith seemed to currently have over her best friend.
"I wasn't, I swear."
"If you want to ditch your best friend for someone who…," Willow started to tease until she realized what she was about to say and stopped.
"I don't," Buffy insisted.
"It's ok, Buff. It's your birthday, and so far it's been trouble free. So if you want to dance with her, you can. I won't mind."
"You know you just jinxed it, don't you?"
"I…I."
"I'm just kidding, Will. I mean they have to get better sooner or later, don't they?"
"Now who jinxed it?"
Both girls giggled like schoolgirls briefly.
"How about YOU dance with me, Will?" Buffy suggested as she led Willow to the dance floor.
"Ok," Willow agreed and danced closely with the slayer, but not as close as Buffy had done with Faith the second night in Los Angeles.
Both girls relaxed and smiled as Faith continued to taunt the guys. The brunette would pull one close enough for them to kiss her and then shove them away when the guy tried before moving to the next guy. When she had gone through the entire circle around her, she wiggled a finger on her right hand to someone. The other two ignored it and spun around to face the happy couple of Xander and Vi. The foursome was smiling until curiosity got the better of them, and they glanced back to Faith. The four of them gawked as the person the dark haired slayer had encouraged to join her was none other than Dawn. The blonde broke away from the group and took a few steps before being stopped by a small hand grabbing her right arm. She peeked over her shoulder to see her best friend pleading for to not make a scene.
"They're just dancing together, Buffy. Yeah, they're close, but not as close as you were to her that night back in L.A.."
"That's how it started with me and Faith. The next thing I know, we were in my hotel room before I…Oh God. I have to stop it now before she makes a move on Dawn."
"Please don't do anything. You'll just embarrass yourself and upset Dawnie. Dawnie trusts her, and we're starting to as well. Faith even taught her some moves when you couldn't or wouldn't just in case she needed them. Don't ruin it, ok?"
"What if she uses that trust to lure Dawn back to the apartment, gets her to have sex with her, and hurts her? Like it's just another round of 'Get some, get gone.'"
"At least wait until they get as close as you got before you overreact."
"Fine."
They eyed the slayer and the teenager, who returned the stare they were receiving. Dawn and Faith appeared to have a good idea of what the blonde and the redhead were whispering about. Dawn clearly got annoyed at Buffy once again treating her like a little kid and decided to do something about it. The Scoobies watched and gasped as the other two got as close as they could without actually touching each other. While Buffy was getting angry at her sister's antics, Dawn was loving it and could tell Faith was too. Dawn chose to take it a step further by twirling around to come face to face with Faith. She pretended she was going to kiss the slayer by leaning in to do it and pulling away at the very last second. Faith smirked but inside she really wanted the kiss, even if it meant fighting with the overprotective blonde.
At the expression from Faith, Dawn leaned in again and whispered, "Let's go get something to drink, ok?"
"Cool," Faith told her before focusing on the guys, "Sorry, boys, but the girl gets upset if she doesn't get her way."
The guys groaned as they observed the sexy female letting the younger girl grab her by her left hand and lead her away from the crowd. They went on a search for other girls to hook up with. They didn't see the couple being chased after by four other people. As the group followed the other two, they caught Giles waving goodbye to all of them.
"I should get back at you for that little comment back there," Dawn declared with what Faith could see was fake anger.
"But you won't because I'm so hot."
Before Dawn could reply, they were interrupted.
"Where did Giles go, and what the hell did you think you two were doing earlier?" Buffy asked angrily.
"We were dancing, duh. As for why Giles left, he said it was because it was getting late for him, and I think we were making him a little bit uncomfortable," Dawn answered calmly.
"Gee, you think so?" Xander blurted out and got a glare from Buffy.
"I can handle this, and thank you for taking the words out of my mouth," Buffy replied sarcastically and directed the rest to her sister and Faith, "Well?"
"Well, what?"
"What did you think you were doing with my sister?"
"She already told you, B. Besides, you saw it for yourself."
"You didn't need to dance that close to her. Any closer and you would have been rubbing up against her."
"So?" both Dawn and Faith challenged.
"You're too young for her, Dawnie."
"Quit treating me like a kid; I'm a teenager."
"That's right, you're only seventeen. The last time I checked that was underage. So if anything happened, it would be illegal."
"Not here it isn't," Dawn asserted.
"What?"
"It's sixteen here," Faith revealed with a smirk.
"How do you know that? Did you check so you could legally seduce my sister? You know…Get some then get gone."
"I checked, Buffy. It was my idea because I was curious. Faith didn't even know until I told her," Dawn explained and sighed happily the feeling of Faith's right arm resting casually on her left shoulder, which clearly irritated Buffy.
"So does this mean you're bi or...," Buffy began to question but was stopped.
"A lesbian?" Dawn finished for the blonde.
"Y-Yeah."
Dawn gazed at everyone in their group, ending with her sister, and responded. "I guess I'm bi like Faith is. I still find some guys attractive, but I'm also attracted to Faith."
"After what happened on my birthday, you shouldn't look so surprised, B," Faith advised after a gape from the blonde.
"What happened on her birthday?" Willow butted in before she could stop herself.
"After we left the club, B and I headed to her room at the Hyperion. We got kind of far before B conked out."
Everyone noticed the glare from the blonde focusing on the brunette.
"How far?" Xander babbled, "That is if you don't mind telling us."
"XANDER! Faith…don't," Buffy demanded but it was ignored.
"I got B down to her underwear."
"And you?" Xander added instantly.
"She saw everything," Faith divulged with a wink toward her sister slayer and continued when Dawn frowned at her, "Don't worry, D. You'll get your chance sometime."
"Buffy, I know what you're doing is because you love me. I know all four of you care, but so does she," Dawn responded at seeing the concerned look on her sister's face before smiling at Faith and placing her left hand on Faith's arm, "You can't protect me from everything. You have to let me grow up. You even said you wanted to see me grow up because I was going to be beautiful and powerful. I will still need you, just not for everything anymore."
At the sight of tears coming from her sister, Dawn stepped up to her sister and pleaded, "Don't cry, Buffy."
"I'm s-sorry," the blonde apologized as she was hugged.
Faith bit her lower lip to prevent herself from teasing the sisters.
"If you hurt her in any way, I swear to God..."
"We haven't even gone on a date yet. It was just a dance."
"Oh, right," the teenager exclaimed, "Faith, would you like to go on a date with me?"
"Sure. When?"
"How about tomorrow night?"
"Sounds good. Oh, wait. I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because B and I have to leave tomorrow, remember?" Faith reminded her before turning to the blonde behind her, "Sorry if that spoiled the good mood you've been in tonight."
"No, it's ok."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Faith, I'm sure."
"Ok. Do you think sending geek boy to go get that Dana chick was a good idea? I know he's doing well with the training, but he screams like a little girl at something dead and whines a lot."
The entire group laughed at Faith's accurate description.
"Well, he's got a dozen slayers with him. If he can't handle it, I know they can."
"You're probably right. How about next Friday night, D? I know you did the asking, but how about you let me make the plans?"
"Alright. I get to make the plans for the second date…I mean if there is one."
"Fine with me."
Everyone had another drink before leaving the club.
"So was this a good birthday, Buffy?" Willow inquired with a nervous smile.
"I've had worse," Buffy commented with a smile after checking out everyone's reaction to the redhead's inquiry.
Everyone then smiled or laughed as they made their way back to the apartment, where Giles was waiting on them. Fortunately for both Dawn and Faith, none of them saw Faith slowly run the fingers on her right hand down Dawn's spine during that time or the silent gulp Dawn let out at the touch.
Many hours later, The Summers apartment
After another talk where the gang expressed their concern for Willow's attempt at finding that special someone, Willow gladly teleported Xander, Vi, Giles, and herself back to Scotland. Faith had tried to relax, but thoughts of how to make sure her date with Dawn next Friday was perfect kept running through her mind. To get her mind off of it, Faith decided to patrol the streets of Rome in the hopes that staking some vamps would end any nervous thoughts. At Dawn's insistence to Faith and a begging to the blonde, Buffy agreed to tag along despite the fact there had been no reports of anything even the slightest demonic going on. As they walked beside each other, the slayers found things to talk about. The longest topic had been their worry about Willow. When they decided to call it a night, they started to head back home. Buffy suddenly remembered that they needed a few things from a grocery store. They assured each other that they could make it back safely on there own since the patrol had been a bust.
Faith returned to find Dawn asleep on the couch. Apparently, Dawn had been worried enough to try and wait up for them. It hadn't worked though. Faith smirked at the smile on Dawn's face as she took off her boots. She noticed Dawn was wearing a pink tank top that appeared to show a fair amount of cleavage and that she wasn't wearing a bra. She was also in shorts. This made her think about how the younger girl looked innocent and hot at the same time. The innocence made her want to protect Dawn. The hotness made her want to take the girl back to the bedroom, rip the clothes from her body, and have the other girl make all kinds of noise as she took away that innocence with great pleasure. She didn't want to wake the other girl and decided she was going to carry the teenager to bed. She was getting ready to pick her up when Dawn yawned and shifted a little. The shifting made the shirt move until it was right above her belly button. Faith had stepped to her right as the younger Summers did this, accidentally bumped into the end table, and knocked off the lamp.
"Damn, that was close," Faith muttered in what she hoped was low enough tone after catching the lamp.
"Yeah, it was. Be glad you caught it. Buffy would have been pissed. That's her favorite lamp," Dawn informed her as she got up off the couch.
Faith gulped while Dawn approached her and realized that Dawn had caught her staring at the teenager's chest.
Dawn smirked and added as she stood less than a foot in front of her, "Like what you see?"
Faith nodded when she found out that seeing Dawn like that had made her temporarily lose the ability to talk.
"Would you be up for sleeping in my room? I'm sure you remember the hide-a-bed isn't that comfortable."
Dawn giggled at the second nod.
"Then come with me."
"What about Buffy? Aren't you worried about her catching us?"
"Not really. But if you are, you can join me in an hour. She's usually out by then."
"And when she wakes up?"
"I know when she gets up. It's the same time every day without fail. I'll set my alarm for fifteen minutes earlier that that, just to be safe," Dawn confirmed before kissing the brunette softly on the lips and gently grabbing Faith's hips.
Faith welcomed the kiss and did the same with Dawn's. At the sounds of feet climbing stairs, Dawn broke the kiss and the grip on each other's hips. She marched quickly to her bedroom and closed the door. Faith turned on the TV and searched for anything interesting. She smirked back at the smile Buffy sent her way as the blonde held up a canister of coffee grounds and some orange juice.
"So, where's Dawnie, and what are you watching?"
"D's probably asleep in her bed, and there's not much on," Faith claimed and settled on some eighties movie she couldn't remember the name of at that time.
"Faith."
"Yeah."
"Why did you tell everybody about what happened on your birthday?"
Buffy became confused at Faith indicating for the blonde to join her on the couch.
"I didn't tell them everything, like how I got more off of you than that and what else you let me do," Faith whispered, "And let's not forget what I was able to do the next morning."
"You better not tell them, and why are you whispering?" Buffy spoke just as softly after a combination blush and gasp.
Faith simply pointed over her shoulder toward Dawn's room.
"I'm going to go check on her before going to bed," Buffy stated as she got off the couch and unintentionally began to ogle the brunette's ass as the other slayer pulled out the bed.
"Ok, I guess I'll see you the morning," Faith announced while unaware the glimpse the blonde had given her changed into an ogling of her butt.
"Right. Goodnight," Buffy responded as she realized what she was doing and immediately quit, "Faith."
"Yeah, B?"
"Thanks for not making a big deal over how protective I am of Dawn, even though she's seventeen."
"I understand. Thanks for letting me crash here by the way."
"You're welcome."
Faith watched as the blonde opened the door to check on her sister, peek in briefly, closed the door, and signaled for Faith to keep the noise down before heading into her room and closing the door. Faith smirked again at how Dawn had obviously faked being asleep. She got off the hide-a-bed and arranged the pillows to appear that she was there in case the blonde passed by on the way to the bathroom or kitchen for any reason.
Half an hour later, outside of Dawn's bedroom
Faith had planned to follow Dawn's request and wait an hour, but the sounds coming from the blonde's bedroom had made her curious. She strolled up to the door and smirked when she heard her breathing a little bit louder than normal and mumbling. She couldn't tell what Buffy was saying but took it as clear sign the slayer was officially asleep. She went back and double checked the hide-a-bed before walking to Dawn's room. Then she knocked lightly on the door and opened it enough to see the other girl.
"Are you awake?"
"Yes, who is it?" Dawn questioned just to be sure.
"Faith."
"Come in and close the door quietly."
Faith did as ordered while a light was turned on low. Faith slowly turned around to see Dawn smiling while lying on her right side.
"Are you joining me or not?" Dawn added when Faith hadn't moved at all.
"Definitely," Faith whispered as she advanced at her usual pace.
"You don't need to whisper. Buffy isn't that light of a sleeper these days. The only things that can wake her are when she senses something supernatural other than other slayers, when she needs to go to the bathroom, or an alarm clock."
"Dawn," Faith muttered when the teenager patted the spot beside her and lifted the covers a little.
"Yeah."
"Did you think that by dressing like that for bed that I would change my mind and have your sister go to Scotland without me? Buffy asked for my help. That doesn't happen that often. I'm not going to let all of them down."
"Maybe I was, or maybe I just felt like messing with your head," Dawn confessed and continued when she saw Faith was about to talk again, "Just like you have done to me and Buffy before."
"I guess what goes around comes around, huh?"
"In that case, definitely. Now, get in bed, please."
"Sure," Faith murmured as she took off her pants to reveal underwear more revealing than Dawn's.
She held in a smirk at hearing Dawn gulp at discovering some of her butt wasn't covered by the underwear while she laid the pants on a nearby chair.
"So what were you doing earlier? I was going to ask then, but we heard Buffy coming. So I decided to wait until we were alone again."
"What do you mean?"
"You were looking at me before you knocked the lamp off the end table. Were you planning on taking advantage of me in my unconscious state?"
"Of course not," Faith argued after gasping in shock at the accusation she didn't know was a bad joke, "I wouldn't do that that to you. I swear. I didn't want to wake you, so I thought I'd try to carry you to bed. But…"
"But what?"
"When I was getting ready to pick you up, you yawned and shifted enough to make the tank top move until it was right above your belly button."
"You mean like this?" Dawn guessed as she pulled the shirt up into the exact position it had been in before.
"Yeah."
"Ok. By the way, I was kidding about the taking advantage of me while I was asleep. Do you forgive me?"
"Yes."
Dawn observed silently as Faith reached for the covers, and got on her back. Dawn smiled at her before leaning in and softly kissing her. Faith didn't stop her and held the back of Dawn's head with her right hand to make the kiss last longer. Dawn didn't object and even lay partly on Faith. Faith moaned as her left hand landed on the other girl's back and began to massage it. Dawn reacted by actually climbing on top of the slayer. She partially straddled Faith's upper thighs while lying down on her and running her fingers through the dark hair. She held back a giggle as the hand on her back trailed down to her butt. She let it rest there for a few seconds. Then she pulled it off, broke the kiss, and switched to snuggling up beside the older girl. When Faith groaned, Dawn pulled up the shirt up to expose a small part of her stomach again. She gently reached for the brunette's right hand and put it on the exposed skin. Faith sighed happily and did the same with her shirt and Dawn's left hand. Dawn gasped, pulled both hands away, put her shirt back in its original spot before laying her head partially on the left side of Faith's chest.
"Oh, come on. You're going to stop it now?"
"We HAVE to."
"Why?"
"Because if we had continued with all of that, I don't know when I would have stopped you or if I would have. I'm sorry, Faith, but I'm still not ready for that. We haven't been on a first date yet. I'm really sorry; please don't leave."
"Not until you say so. Hey, get up for a moment."
"Why?"
"So I can turn off the light."
"Ok," Dawn complied as she got up long enough for Faith reach out for the lamp.
Since it was now completely dark, Faith reached for where she thought Dawn's shoulder was. She smiled to herself when she felt the bare skin under her fingers.
"What did you do that for?"
"It's kind of dark now, so I just wanted to make sure I knew where you were at," Faith divulged as she lay down beside the other girl, "Goodnight, Dawnie."
At hearing Faith calling her that nickname, Dawn placed her left hand back on Faith's still exposed stomach and her head partly on the left side of Faith's chest.
"I never thought I'd say this to anyone in a situation like this, but please stop," Faith requested as she felt the small hand moving back and forth across her stomach while her heart seemed to beat faster and louder.
"Relax and I'll stop."
Faith got her heart back to its normal pace and sighed when the hand quit moving but didn't quit touching her.
"This is ok, right? I mean about keeping my hand there."
"As long as it doesn't move, we're cool."
Both then gradually fell asleep with smiles on their faces.