Wild Star
by Samantha
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Joss owns them.
Notes: Just looking to write something kinda short, and mostly fun, hope you enjoy the summer fic!
Feedback: Pretty please.
I jumped as I was poked in the ribs. I turned, looking into a well tanned, laughing face.
"Zoning a little?" Maria teased, leaning against the counter and smiling.
"Just waiting for my pizza," I smiled back at her, noticing for the hundredth time how ungodly hot she was.
"So, Faith," she smiled slyly. "You wouldn't want to work the breakfast shift for me tomorrow, would you?" I raise an eyebrow at her.
"Maybe."
"Please Faithy," she bats those long eyelashes at me, and I can't help but melt a little. I sigh, so as not to seem a total push over.
"Fine."
"Really?" She smiles, and I grin back at her.
"Yeah," she let's out a little squeal, and hugs me tightly, kissing my cheek. "You better have a bigger hug for me tomorrow."
"I will," she grins, grabbing her food and walking off into the dining room. I sigh, leaning back against the counter, watching her walk away.
"Gotta get a backbone when it comes to hot women Faith," I say to myself under my breath. But damn, Maria is the definition of hot, five foot nine, 130lbs of muscle; guess model face, and a mouth like a trucker. Fuck.
"Faith," the cook shouts my name from right behind me, I turn to glare at him as I take my pizza, he laughs as he walks back to the grill. Asshole. Fun, dirty old man asshole, but asshole all the same.
I wind through the dining room back to my table that was missing the pizza, mom, dad, two kids, good old typical family. Cute really, brings back, no wait, doesn't bring back any memories. I set down their pizza and walk away; sometimes I am not in the mood for refilling drinks. They ask anyway before I get out of range, and I take the kids drinks to refill. This night really needs to end.
Half hour till closing and I am rolling silverware. A lot of the waitresses hate doing this, but me, I find it relaxing, something to really zone out on, anything I don't have to concentrate on, I like doing. Maria walks up to help, dropping the first fork she picks up.
"Fuck me," she says, only loud enough for me to hear.
"Not right now," I smile, not taking my eyes from the silverware.
"Oh, fine then," she pretends to pout.
"Maybe later, what time is it?"
"Eight-thirty, we have a half hour."
"Maybe after work," I tease.
"Alright," she laughs.
"I don't know though, I am still sore from jet skiing," I say truthfully, kicking vamps butts, beating down demons, nothing leaves me as sore as riding those damn things.
"Me too," Maria says wide-eyed. "My fucking ass hurts, muscles I never knew I had."
"I told you I'd show you a good time," yes I flirt a little shamelessly sometimes. So?
"I always have a good time with you," she laughs and walks away to check on a table. I stand there smiling as I roll the silverware. That girl makes everything worth it about this job.
"Faith."
"Huh?" I look up, over to Clissa, she points behind me to the counter, and I turn, expecting to see someone from one of my tables, wanting another beer, or just paying their bill. The blonde sitting there makes my heart stop for a second, the whole world seems to slow down around her, and everything's real quiet. Then it all starts back up, and I take the few steps needed to lean on the counter.
"Hey Buffy."
Disclaimer: Joss owns them, lyrics from "just a ride", by jem.
::life is ever so strange it's so full of change think that you've worked it out then bang, something happens to you to throw you off course::
I push the door open, walking slowly into the restaurant, looking around to see if I can spot her. It's not hard, she's behind the counter talking to a tall blonde, hearing her laugh I almost loose my will to do this. I move up to sit at the counter, watching her talking with the other girl. I change my mind and stand up to leave.
"Can I help you?" I turn back to see a scrawny dark haired girl about to set a menu in front of me. I don't know what to say.
"I was looking for Faith," not sure I meant to say that.
"Oh, yeah. Faith." Faith turns to look at her, and she points to me. Faith turns to me, her face pales for a moment, just a tiny second before she leans on the counter in front of me.
"Hey Buffy," there's that smirk I remember so well. "What's up?"
"Just in town, wondering if you would be up for giving me a hand with something."
"Sure thing, B, I'll be out of here in about an hour. Meet me out back?"
"Okay." She turns away without another word, smacking the butt of the blonde girl on the way to the kitchen, the girl let's out a little squeal, and takes off after her into the kitchen. I see enough of her to know that she is gorgeous, hot in a way normal people aren't supposed to be. As I stand up I can hear the two of them giggling in the back, and something crash to the floor before the laughter gets louder.
I try to push aside the definite pang of jealousy that is twisting in my gut as I walk out. That Faith in there isn't one I ever knew, or at least one I never allowed myself to get to know. Not to mention she just seems so damn happy for once. I kinda hate to bring her into all this, but it shouldn't be anything big, just some vamps wanting to raise and ancient one, nothing I haven't dealt with ages of times. Nothing a few of the potentials couldn't have handled.
Giles told me it was near Faith though, and I decided to come. It's been over a year, and we haven't spoken once. We had finally connected a little over that scythe, come to a little more of an understanding about the way we each felt. It didn't seem to matter though; we still didn't know how to talk when our lives weren't in danger.
I jumped as my cell rang out in my bag. I hate when it rings in my bag, I never know if I am going to be able to find it before it stops. Maybe I should look into a smaller bag. I consider this as I drop the bag on a convenient bench and begin to dig through it in search of the phone. Finding it I yank it out and flip it open, pressing it to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Did you find her?" Willow asks bubbly.
"Yeah, I just saw her," I answer with a smile, shoving the bag over to sit down.
"And? Is she going to help?"
"She said she would, I am meeting her after work," I answer glancing at my watch. I hadn't realized how long I had been wandering; it was already almost time to head back.
"Where is she working?" Willow asked.
"Waitressing at this little pizza shop by the beach."
"Is she doing okay?"
"I don't know, we didn't talk that much yet. I will let you know," I paused before continuing. "She seems happy."
"That's good," Willow sounds genuinely glad, a major step after the hate those two had.
"You should see the blonde she works with, that might explain the happiness," I smile to myself.
"Well, that's possible," Willow, admits. I glance at my watch again.
"Listen, I gotta start walking back, I've been wandering. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye," Willow disconnects, and I shove everything back into my bag, heading back to the pizza shop.
Disclaimer: Joss owns them, duh..lyrics belong to the dandy warhols from the song "We used to be friends".
Notes: Ahh the dance scene with Faith dancing to living dead girl....i just find it so...inspirational.....
::A long time ago we used to be friends but I, haven't thought of you lately::
"So, who's the blonde?" Maria asks as we push out the back door of the restaurant.
"What blonde?" I ask, aiming on casual, falling far from it.
"Shut up asshole, you know which blonde. But in case you forgot, she stands about this tall, real pretty, seemed to tense you up about twelve degrees, am I painting a picture here?" She grinned at the look I threw at her.
"Yes, and that's Buffy."
"The Buffy?" Maria asked, eyes wide, stopping at turning to face me.
"The Buffy," I confirm, facing her.
"Shit."
"Yeah. A whole fucking truckload of shit," I confirm.
"What's she want?" Maria tilts her head in that way I have come to love so much, and I smile, bringing a hand to her cheek for a moment, before letting it fall back to my side.
"I don't know," I pull out my cigarettes, lighting one and inhaling deeply. "Probably wants to fuck me over, per usual."
"Just stay away from her Faith," Maria makes it sound so simple.
"That's the thing. I never can stay away from her." I see the 'her' in question past Maria's shoulder. "She's coming. I'll see you tomorrow okay?"
"Take care of yourself babe," Maria tells me, leaning forward to place a slightly lingering kiss on my cheek. "Don't let her kick the shit out of your heart again. Kay?"
"I'll try," I reply dryly, she waves and turns, walking past Buffy without a word, gotta give her credit for that.
"Hey," Buffy stops in front of me, arms crossed in front of her, looking anywhere but at me.
"Hey." I am not going to be the one to crack.
"She's..." she trails off and I am just daring her to say one bad word about Maria. "Pretty, I'm happy for you Faith." It's all I can do not to laugh at this. She thinks I am with Maria? I wish, but points for being a progressive thinker, didn't think you had it in you.
"Yeah, so's he," I point, and she turns watching as Maria throws her hot body into the arms of an equally hot man on a motorcycle. "That's Josh," just so we're clear here, "her boyfriend."
"Oh, I thought," B's getting flustered, I like this, "well she kissed you. So you know I just assumed."
"A kiss doesn't usually net me the girl B," I turn, walking towards my apartment. "It never worked with you anyway." I don't even have to turn to know she is now blushing. It's a couple seconds before I hear her start after me.
"Where are we going?"
"My apartment."
"I thought you were gonna help me," she sounds jilted, I sigh and stop, turning towards her.
"I am going to help you, but take a look at me." I motion to the outfit, orange polo shirt with 'Gino's' embroidered on the left breast, and a khaki miniskirt. "Do I look ready to fight anything?"
"Well, no," she smiles a little. My heart flutters, we're so close right now. God, I missed that smile.
"And to top it all off I smell like pizza," I say this taking a step forward, definitely into her space. She doesn't back off, she's looking up slightly at me, and I am close enough now to feel her breath on my face. We stand frozen like that for a second before I lean in. "What do you think, pepperoni, or sausage?"
She laughs and the tension dissipates. I smile and step away leading her down the road again, it's only a couple blocks to my place, and we don't talk again till we're almost there. For once it's not tense silence though, so I take that as a good.
"How much further?"
"It's that building," I point at the horrible pink apartment complex I live in.
"Pretty," she grimaces.
"Hey, it's close to work, and I can afford in. Also, not too far from the beach, which is a big check in the plus column for me."
"Well that I can agree with," she nods.
As we walk up the outdoor stairs I try to pull myself together, try to figure out how I am going to tell her what I have been holding back all night. It's not a bad thing, just not something she is going to expect. I take the cowards way and stall in front of my door. I pull her by the elbow leading her to the railing, a block over, past a nice apartment building we can see the beach.
"See B, a beach view."
"It's so pretty at night," she sighs, and I can feel her relax, she is leaning on me just a little, only enough for me, in my hyperawareness of her, to realize it. She glances back at me, and smiles. "Alright, I forgive the buildings color now." I have to smile at this. I turn to go inside and she follows.
"Just so you know B, I am living with someone, so, just don't be too surprised to see him okay? And be nice." I was aiming for nonchalant, and missed it by a mile again. The words all came out rushed, and I wouldn't have been surprised if she told me I was blushing. She looks a little pale though.
Disclaimer: Joss owns them, lyrics belong to common, from the song "Human nature" I think it is common at least.
:: this ones dedicated to all the freaky people out there all those lovely freaks and weirdos just trying to make it through life::
She's living with someone? What kind of a someone? Ok this is Faith, so that pretty much answers the question, the someone is someone she is sleeping with, which is fine, she is allowed to sleep with whomever she wants, I have no business getting into it, if she wants to sleep. Ok right there I am going to stop the mental ramble.
She opens the door, holding it open for me to enter first; I do, but then stand just far enough in the doorway to let her in. She tosses her keys on a table near the door, I look around, I can see most of the apartment from here, the hallway leads into the kitchen, which is really just in one big room with the living room. From there I can hear the sounds of some video game or another, and just the top of a baseball cap sticking up over the back of the couch.
"Todd, I'm home," Faith calls, pushing past me. A hand just brushing my arm on its way by. I shiver just a little, and follow her. I can see the video game is Tony Hawk as we get into the living room. Yeah this guy's a real gem.
"Todd, I brought someone home. You could say hi, or something," Faith flicks the back of the baseball cap and the game pauses.
"Hey," Todd says, turning to me. For a minute I feel a little stunned.
"Hey," I manage to reply. Okay that was not what I was expecting. Beefy no brain biker boy? Sure. Hot skanky blonde? Why not? Thirteen-year-old skater boy? See, now that wasn't on my list of possibilities.
"This is Buffy," Faith introduces me.
"Hi," Todd stands up on the couch, leaning over to shake hands with me; I give mine to him on reflex. He grins, and takes off the cap. "I heard a lot about you."
"Thanks?" I say, feeling a little unsure about this. I glance to Faith; she is wearing that smirk I just love so much.
"Did you eat?" Faith asks, as she starts picking up random clothes from the floor.
"Yeah, I still had that alfredo from last night," Todd answers, sitting back down on the couch; I move to sit in the comfy chair next to him, and observe.
"Did you do your home work?" Faith asks, returning from tossing the clothes into another room.
"Yeah, I only got home from school six hours ago." He's a cute kid, his hairs a little shaggy, a little curly, almost as deep a brown as Faith's, and he is totally rocking out the skater boy look.
"Can I see it?" Faith asks. Todd rolls his eyes, but leans over to pull a pile of papers from the backpack by his feet.
"Here," he hands it to her. "So what are you doing here? I thought you were in Europe or something." She really has been talking about me.
"I just had some business to take care of. Thought I would stop to see an old friend," I notice a little smile on Faith's face as I say this. She finishes flipping through the pile and hands it back to Todd.
"Alright, I am gonna change, then we are going patrolling."
"Can I come?" Todd asks excitedly.
"No."
"Come on Faith."
"It's a school night," she lays down the law.
"Like you never patrolled on a school night," he grumbled starting the game again.
"I never really went to school, and that is why I have this fabulous waitressing job to get us by. Now if you want to work in a shit hole like I do forever, be my guest."
"No."
"Tomorrow night, maybe," she ruffles his hair on the way by, and he grins swatting at her hand.
"I'm gonna change B, come with?" I am not sure if she meant that in a teasing way or not. But I follow her anyway. Her room is fairly empty, the clothes she threw in earlier the only things littering the floor. I watch as she pulls a shirt off that pile, and a pair of pants out of the dresser drawer.
"So, Todd huh?" I ask, leaning against the dresser.
"Yep," she says, pulling off that ugly orange shirt. Any return comment I had is lost when she does this. I don't think I ever realized how well she was built. In a black bra and mini skirt she is gorgeous. Firm stomach, nice breasts, more than enough leg showing. And then the skirt is off too, and the thong doesn't hide much as she bends to slip on the jeans. I blush, turning away.
"I'll tell you his story while we're out, I promise," I turn back as she pulls the shirt on. "Ready?"
"Yeah," in the black tank top and jeans, she is still stunning. I follow her out of the room.
"Turn it off and get to bed by ten thirty, okay?" She says to Todd as we pass.
"Yep, have fun," he throws us a grin and Faith waves to him. Grabbing her keys she locks the door behind us.
Disclaimer: Joss owns them, Maroon 5 own the lyrics from "not coming home".
::What makes you think I'll let you in again think again my friend no more misuse me and abuse me::
I know it is killing her wondering about Todd. I wonder how long I should let her dwell on it. We're headed down to the beach, now she's leading, and I have to assume this has something to do with the baddie she has us after.
"Where are we headed, B?" I ask, hands in my pocket against the sudden brisk breeze.
"Down to the beach, the rituals supposed to happen in some sort of huge heart shaped cove."
"And the ritual is?" I ask.
"Bunch of college boy's trying to raise some sort of get your grades up demon. The usual. It's like they never really understand what goes on, all that you are expected to do, the sacrifices, and all that."
"Well who would think of that?" I ask smiling.
"So, feel like telling me about Todd?" B asks, I laugh, and she glares at me.
"Sorry, B. I was just waiting to see how long you would be able to hold out before you asked."
"You still are such an ass," she says, shaking her head.
"And you're so fucking great," I kick a rock, and it goes hauling ass down the stairs to the beach, I follow it along, no longer as interested in speaking with B. I hear her sigh deeply before starting after me. A few steps down she grabs my arm, pulling me to a stop, and spinning me to face her.
"I'm sorry Faith. I didn't mean it like that."
"Yeah, you did," I answer, pulling my arm free.
"Okay, well maybe I did. But I didn't mean to say it."
"Whatever," I spin, and start down the stairs again.
"Faith," there is a gentle pleading in her voice, and it forces me to turn around, she takes the two more steps to be face to face with me. A step above me and she is only an inch taller.
"What?" I ask, not bothering to take the sharpness out of my voice.
"Are we ever going to stop this?"
"Stop what?" I ask, crossing my arms defensively in front of me.
"Treating each other like shit," way to be blunt, I almost smile when she say this.
"I don't know. You're the one that called me an ass."
"And I said I'm sorry," she smiles a bit, hearing the childish whine in my voice. Damn I had meant to hide that.
"Fine, you're forgiven." I finally give in, I think I lasted a whole ten seconds longer than I had expected to.
We start down the stairs again, both of us quiet again, it's a little bit more uncomfortable this time. We get to the beach, and she heads south.
"So, Todd? How old is he?" She asks again.
"He just turned thirteen."
"And he lives with you because?"
"About six months ago I found him digging through the trash outside of Gino's. He ran, but it wasn't hard for me to catch him."
"Why was he there?" She interrupted.
"Well once I caught him, convinced him I wanted to help, and took him out for some dinner, he told me the whole story. I guess he was visiting Los Angeles, and Newport, and all this area, one night they were out and his parents were attacked. Vamps. He got away, I'm not sure how, but he had been wandering Newport for a couple weeks before I found him."
"That's so awful. Didn't he have any family?"
"No. I asked, but apparently it was just him and his parents."
"So he's just been living with you?"
"Yeah, it seems to be working out."
"Yeah," she sounds distracted, like she wants to add something else.
"What? You think I should have sent him to a home or something?" I ask bitterly.
"No. Not at all. I was actually thinking you seem to be doing a better job than I did at first with Dawn. And taking care of him, that's just, well, really cool of you."
"Thanks, B," I smile, but it's too dark for her to see.
"Why Newport Beach?"
"What can I say? I'm a big fan of the 'OC'."
"Right Faith," she bumps me, shoving me sideways a little.
"No, really, Marissa is hot."
"Ah yes, the real reason comes out," she laughs a bit.
"Yeah, so where are these frat boys, or whatever?"
"Should be coming up soon. Giles said it was about here," she is peering off into the darkness. I look too, and soon can see the outline of some cliffs.
"Cliffs up ahead," I point out.
"Yeah, I see them. Bet the coves in there." As we get closer we can hear chanting echoing off the water, sliding back to us with the waves. She stops and I look over at her.
"Ready B?"
"Yep, I just love beating up frat boys," and with that she is off, running towards the cliffs.
Disclaimer: Joss owns them, lyrics belong to Seether.
::Cause i'm broken When I'm lonesome and I don't feel right when your gone away::
I can't believe that asshole cut me. And fucking good too. Having B around is not good for me; someone always seems to get a knife shoved into their gut. She doesn't seem to see the irony in it as she fumbles in my pocket for the apartment key. Now this is something I have trouble doing, my pants are so tight, so watching her try, makes it even more amusing. Finally she pulls it out and we stumble into the house with less grace than two slayers should be capable. Todd is in bed, good boy. She drops me as gently as possible onto the couch, I can't help it, I wince at the contact.
"Oh, sorry, so very, very sorry," she cries, kneeling at my feet, looking up with pain in her eyes.
"It's okay, no biggie. Can you get the first aid kit from under the sink?"
"Yeah of course," she jumps up and away, back in two seconds flat with the case. "I hate to say it, but you might actually have to go to the doctor for this one Faith."
"Nah," I answer flipping open the box, I see her mouth gape open at the contents, this is not some school nurse kit. I'm riding with the big boys here. I quickly clean the wound. "It's not so bad, I should be healed in a couple days. Till then it's gonna hurt like a bitch." I pop the top off a bottle of heavy-duty painkiller and throw four back. "That should do me."
"I'm so sorry Faith," I look up cause I can hear tears in her voice; sure enough I can see them in her eyes.
"Hey, B, it's my fault, he was just some dork college boy, he shouldn't have gotten near me, I just messed up," I peter off as I see she is looking at the three inch long scar on the other side of my stomach. I take her hand, she tries to pull away, but I won't let her. I run her hand gently over the scar.
"Sorry," she whimpers biting her lip.
"It's just skin, B. Flesh, memories." She's crying for real now, and I feel like shit. "Oh god, B, please stop."
"I'm sorry," she's still crying, I pull her up on the couch with me, holding her tight against me, stroking her hair.
"It's okay, it's okay," without thinking I kiss her forehead as I push away her hair. She looks up at me with those deep green eyes, and I use every ounce of my self-control not to kiss her right then.
"I never meant to hurt you so much," it's a whisper, but it cuts through me like the knife we both remember so well.
"I didn't either," she laughs a little when I say this, but it still sounds more like a sob, I shift a bit on the couch, thinking we are being too loud and I don't want to wake Todd.
"Am I hurting you?" She asks, pulling away a bit.
"No," I pull her close. "It's just, I don't want to wake Todd, he has to be up for school in the morning. And this is the part where I would usually just carry your snuggling body into my room, but I don't think I could make it tonight." I blush thinking of how that must have sounded to her. "I didn't mean like carry you in to do bad naughty things, I just meant like...you were sad." I finish lamely, but she smiles at me, and in a second I am up in her arms, we're moving toward the bedroom.
"Well you're the one with the killer wound, so I guess I should carry," somehow she manages to get the door open and lay me softly on the bed, kneeling to remove my boots, I pull off my pants and scoot back, sliding under the covers. She is standing in the doorway looking like she doesn't know what to do.
"Plenty of room, B," I tell her, eyes already closing from the medicine.
"Thanks," I watch lazily as her silhouette lifts one leg, then the other removing her shoes, then bends, removing her pants. She crawls in next to me in her sweater and panties. We lay close, but not touching, and soon I feel myself dozing off.
Disclaimer: Joss owns them, Lyrics are Maroon 5's from "Harder to breathe".
::Is there anyone out there Cause it's getting harder and harder to breathe::
I don't know how long I lay awake, I know Faith was out like a light soon after we lay down, but I stayed up a bit longer. Lights shining in fell over her face, making her look so peaceful, and again I was struck by how happy she seemed here. The waitress job had to suck, but she had friends, and a kid. That was the really weird part; she really seemed to be enjoying taking care of Todd. I never thought Faith would be able to take care of herself, let alone a teenager.
Sun was shining in my eyes when I woke up, not even remembering falling asleep. I glance over at the clock, the blinking digital lights read ten am. Yeah I am so not good at getting up early. Moaning I roll over, realizing for the first time that Faith is gone. I sit up frowning, and then push up off the bed, making my way into the other room.
Idling up to the counter I see a piece of paper folded up with my name on it, sliding onto one of the tall stools I open it, reading to myself.
B-
Working the early shift.
Feel free to come in before you leave
and I will hook you up with some
Breakfast.
I frown shoving it aside. Before I leave? She is getting rid of me already? I thought we were really connecting last night. Well fine, if she wants me gone, I'll just go then. I start to walk to the door, then realize I am still only in underwear. Maybe I will put on pants first.
"So she slept in your bed? Did you touch her?" Maria asked, wiggling an eyebrow suggestively at me. She is the first person I have met who can do it as well as me.
"No I took a bunch of pain killers and past out like a hooker on prom night," she raises an eyebrow at this.
"A hooker on prom night?"
"Yeah, that one was outa left field, don't ask me," I shrug, pushing open the back door of the restaurant, where I am accompanying Maria for a cigarette break, under the guise of an ice run. Lighting up I lean back against the building, letting the morning sun soak into my face. Cancer be damned. I rub my stomach gently, it's still a hell of a wound, and I am not looking forward to running my ass off this morning.
"I can't believe you made me switch with you, and then ended up switching with Tanya," I shake my head at her, she blows a puff of smoke at me.
"I just wanted to work with you, sweet thing," she winks, and licks her lips suggestively.
"Don't make promises, you can't keep," I hook a finger through her belt loop, pulling her playfully up against me, not fighting at all she leans in, mouth next to my ear and in a breathy voice whispers.
"Never said I can't keep them. I'm just not going to," before pulling away with an evil grin on her face.
"Touche," I nod.
"Don't even try to start with me bitch," she laughs, throwing her cigarette to the ground and grinding it out. "Better get the ice before Leon starts in on us."
"You kidding?" I ask, putting my own cigarette out. "The perv is hoping we are back here dyking it out."
"Too bad he doesn't know about you and Buffy."
"Too bad I wasn't getting any," I throw back, rolling my eyes.
"Come on Faith, where is that get in the pants charm you are usually just oozing?"
"She is immune to it," I answer picking up the two empty ice buckets and following her to the huge machine.
"No one is immune."
"You are. Will you take a fucking bucket?" I ask holding one out to her.
"Will you not take out your sexual frustration on me?" She replies, simultaneously taking a bucket, and opening the cooler.
The scream is higher, and girlier than I ever would have expected from her, and the ice bucket goes clattering to the ground.
"Fuck," she cries, turning and burying her head in my neck, unconsciously I wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her close as I stare into the eyes of the dead man in the cooler. His skin has a bluish white tint, and his eyes seem to be staring right back at me, he was probably about thirty, and dressed for success in a Gucci suit. The two punctures in his neck are easy to see.
"Ah, shit," I say under my breath.
"There's a dead body in there right?" Maria asks, face still buried in my neck.
"Yeah," I sigh.
"Can you shut the lid?"
"Yep," I reach out and close the top, she pulls away from me.
"Thanks," she says looking around, "it's always dead bodies with you isn't it? All oh that's where the slayer works, lets kill someone and leave it for her like a cat bringing home a mouse. Why can't I get normal friends?"
"Not sure." She sighs, pushing her hair back from her face with both hands.
"All right, let's go tell Leon."
"You do that. I need to call Buffy."
Disclaimer: Joss owns them, lyrics belong to Michelle Branch from love me like that.
::well I thought that we'd be different baby I thought that we would last tell me why you love me like that::
I slide past the cops surrounding the restaurant, and sidle up to Faith where she is sitting at the counter with Maria, a few seats down from the rest of the waitresses. I put a hand on her arm, and she turns to me with worried eyes.
"You okay?" I ask.
"Yeah, just a little shaky, you think there is gonna be a dead body in that cooler every day, but you don't really expect it to happen."
"Do we know what happened?" I ask, choosing to ignore the whole expecting a body theory. She leans in, closely followed by Maria.
"At first I thought it was a vamp, cause you know, two puncture wounds in the neck. But before the cops got here, I got a closer look and there is this like red ring around the punctures."
"Around each one?" I ask frowning.
"No, just one big one, around the pair."
"Looks like the fucker had a suction cup stuck to him," Maria throws in, we both look back at her, and I can see Faith arch an eyebrow. "What? It did." I glance over at Faith, and she shrugs.
"It kinda did, now that she mentions it," Maria sits back looking self-satisfied, and I kinda hate her, while Faith reaches back to give her knee a squeeze.
"Faith," we all look up as their manager calls to her. "The cops want to talk to you now."
"I'll be right back," the silence between Maria and I is incredibly uncomfortable. We both sit staring around the room, looking everywhere but at each other, finally our eyes meet.
"So you tried to kill her?" My jaw drops at the words that come from her mouth. "I mean, I saw the scar."
"So you ever going to stop teasing her and let her fuck you?" I ask, keeping my own cool expression, even though I am just as surprised by my words as she is.
"I have, twice," she stands up, "she's good at what she does, but I guess you never gave her the chance. Did you?" Turning from me she heads over to the other waitresses.
Okay she got me with that one. I had thought my comeback was good, and then she went and said that. She didn't strike me as the type to have sex with a woman. And so what if I didn't give Faith a chance. She would have rather had me anyway. Why do I care that she had sex with Maria? I don't, that's why. Okay, enough talking to myself. Oh thank god here comes Faith.
"Where's Maria?"
"Over there," I grumble.
"B?" She asks. "What's wrong?"
"You! First you leave me a 'get out of my house now' note, and then, then," I lower my voice, leaning towards her. "You had sex with Maria."
"That wasn't a get out of my house note, it was a 'I assume you still don't want to chill, I'll let you exit gracefully and give you some breakfast' note. And why is who I have sex with your business?"
"Um..I don't know. You didn't want me to leave?" I feel kinda dumb now.
"B, I have never wanted you to leave," she says, squeezing my hand, now I can feel myself blushing, and I pull my hand away nervously.
"What are we doing now, we should research, or something," I look around, not willing to meet her eyes right now.
"Yeah, sounds good." She nods. "Todd will be home from school soon too. Let me get Maria, and then we can go."
"Oh, okay," I know I am acting like a spoiled little kid, but I don't care. She doesn't seem to notice as she grabs Maria by the arm, pulling her back to us.
"Let's go," she already has Maria's hand, and now she takes mine as well, leading us out of the restaurant and towards her apartment. This is going to be a long night.
I feel like there is a lot of tension in the apartment with Buffy and Maria both here, and it is starting to get more than a little uncomfortable. Neither of them are talking, both just looking through the few thick research volumes I keep around, (yes I do own books) while I search the Internet. The only breaks they are taking are to glare at each other. I could almost kiss Todd when he comes stomping through the door.
"Hey ladies," he plops down on the couch, giving Maria the kind of once over I used to. He still has quite a crush on her, luckily everything that happened with her and me was distant history by the time he came into the picture.
"Hey Todd," Maria smiles. "How was school?"
"What did you do today?" Buffy jumps in, and Todd slyly lifts an eyebrow at me, I give him the smallest shrug possible.
"Not much," he answers, with a bigger shrug for them. "What are we researching?"
"Some uber sucky vamp," I answer, thanking God that someone is talking.
"Aren't they all sucky?" He asks.
"This one did a suction thing too," Buffy, answers, still flipping through her book.
"Like with a suction cup," Maria adds, and I see B's shoulders tighten. Todd seems to have gone a little pale at the suggestion.
"You okay?" I ask him, leaning over to see him better.
"Yeah, that's just gross," he shrugs, but I can tell he is still uneasy. I really thought he was used to vamps by now, but I can tell he is more than a little freaked.
"How bout some late lunch?" I ask, standing up abruptly, the two women look at me like I've lost my mind, but Todd smiles thankfully.
"Sounds good," he stands too. "Let me put my stuff away." Hoisting his backpack up he heads into his bedroom.
"Faith, I hate to say it, but if you're hungry we should order pizza or something," Buffy says quietly.
"And I hate to say it but she's right," Maria adds.
"How cute you two can finally agree," I say with liberal use of sarcasm, rolling my eyes. "He's freaked. I want to get him outta here for a while. And I want you two to stop being morons, get over your issues, and get along." Before they can answer, Todd is back.
"Ready!"
The kid was freaked. Once she said it I could tell, no points to me for having my head up my ass over this whole Maria thing. Now we're in some sort of unspoken truce for Faith's sake.
"You gonna finish that stir fry?" I ask leaning over towards Todd's plate, and leering at it.
"Yes. Thank you anyway," he pulls it protectively close.
"Good plan," Faith laughs.
"Hey, the first time you came to dinner at my house you were stealing food off my plate," I remind her.
"I was poor," she shrugs.
"You still steal food," Maria teases. "Can I have a bite? Can I have a bite?"
"We're still pretty poor," Faith, grins, leaning back in her chair.
It's mid afternoon now, and the weather is perfect, I forgot how beautiful California could be. Sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, perfect temperature, Faith picked this little Chinese restaurant right near the ocean, and the view is fantastic. Plus they have great outdoor seats along the boardwalk. For the first time today things seem perfect, and then I see him.
It's a kid, he looks a little younger than Todd, and he is stumbling across the boardwalk towards us, hand clasped to his neck. I stand up quickly almost knocking the table over in the process.
"Hey! What the hell?" Maria asks, standing up and wiping the rest of her dinner from her lap.
"Faith," I point, the boy is almost behind her now, and there is no mistaking the crimson seeping from under his hand.
"Peter," the kid cries, reaching for Todd who is just standing, he catches him by the sleeve, tugging him towards him. "They're here, Peter, they're here," the kid coughs, blood spraying over Todd's white shirt, then still clutching Todd, falls to the ground, pulling Todd with him.
"Let go, let go!" Todd looks terrified, trying to free himself from the death grip.
"It's not far enough, you have to kill them," is the last thing the boy says and lets go of Todd's shirt.
For a moment the world seems unnaturally silent, then the screams come, the ones I was waiting for. The table next to us scatters, knocking over chairs trying to get away from the body as quickly as possible. The three of us stare at Todd; he's looking in horror at the body below him. I know I am not the only one to notice the twin punctures, and the ring around them both.
Disclaimer: Joss owns them, lyrics are from Trapt, still frame.
::And everytime I think I've finally made it I learn I'm farther away than I have ever been before::
Watching Todd I can feel his pain. We've been at the police station for nearly five hours, and being questioned by the police is so not fun. I turned myself in, and they still had a good half hours worth of questions for me.
People had told the cops how the kid seemed to know Todd, even though he was calling him the wrong name. They were asking Todd if he was part of a gang, if they had enemies who would have wanted the kid dead, all that sort of shit. Todd just kept telling them he had no idea who he was.
Now they are giving him one final lecture before we can go home. I have already been told I am supposed to keep a close eye on him, figure out if he is hanging out with the bad element, otherwise he could be the one with the suction cup death. Thankfully Buffy and Maria have been blessedly quiet during this whole thing. Maria left for a while to pick up her car so we could all ride back with her instead of in the cop car again. I hate riding in cop cars. Every horror movie with someone being trapped in the back seat while some killer comes is replayed in my head.
"You okay?" I ask Todd as we pile into Maria's Eclipse, I take the front leaving B and Todd in the back.
"Yeah," he nods, but I can't say I am convinced. Still he doesn't seem to want to talk so I let him have his silence until we get home.
"So that's another victim of the suction cup killer then," Maria say's idle as we sit at a stoplight, in my side mirror I see B roll her eyes.
"Yeah, and somehow I don't think those are the only two. And I am getting the disturbing feeling there is something somewhat personal about the killings, otherwise why would they have dumped the body in the cooler?" I sigh, leaning back as Maria guns the engine.
"Could just be coincidence," I turn to look at B when she says this.
"I know you don't believe that."
"No, I don't," she admits. "I called Giles earlier while you were in with Todd, he is looking into it. But he said it didn't sound familiar."
"Great, so we got this whole new breed of evil? This is the last time I let a TV show dictate where I live."
"Welcome to the OC, bitch," Maria quotes, with a sideways smile.
"Why do you encourage her?" B asks.
"Just trying to lighten the mood a bit, grumpy," Maria snaps back, and I shoot her a look, mentally telling her to back off. She rolls her eyes, but shuts her mouth.
"So back to your apartment?" B asks.
"Yeah, I guess so, nothing else to do really."
"Are you going to do some more research?" Todd asks quietly from the back seat. "Can't you just let this one go, Faith?" I turn to look at him, registering the true fear in his face.
"No, anytime people are getting killed I have a hard time letting it go." He doesn't answer me, just turns to look out the window. Something's up with him, he hasn't been bugged by vamps since a couple weeks after I took him in. Settling into my seat I wait to get home.
Faith is pissed, I can see it in her face, research was a bust, even Giles called to tell me he had still had no luck. This whole situation was looking worse by the minute. Faith and Todd had argued about something in his room, before he stormed out, yelling that he would be at a friend's house. Since then she hadn't said anything to me except, 'let's patrol'. The first vamp got a worse than average beating.
Now we're near the restaurant, and still not another sign of vamps, and definitely no sucky suction creature. Faith has slowed the pace a little, and is starting to look a little more like someone I could try talking to. Taking a deep breath I attempt to break the silence.
"What happened with Todd?" I didn't really mean to start with such a touchy subject, she glares at me a minute, then sighs and answers.
"He just wants me to give up on this one for some reason. He is wicked freaked, and I don't know why. He won't talk to me." I can't help but smile when she says this. "What? Why you smiling?"
"You just sound like me with Dawn. I had been thinking how much better you were doing than I did with Dawn, it's nice to see you are clueless too sometimes."
"Fuck, B, you do good by Dawnie, don't ever think you don't." Her words warm me, and again I am blushing without really knowing why.
"But I had to Faith, you didn't have to take in Todd."
"Sure I did, what else was I gonna do with him? I know what happens to kids with no place to go." Again her honesty hits me hard, and I don't know what to say. I stop and turn to her.
"Faith, I'm," I stop, frowning as I look ahead. "Is that Todd?" She spins toward the restaurant, where we can see two boys standing outside, one is definitely Todd. Faith looks at her watch.
"It's fucking one in the morning! What the hell does he think he's doing?" She storms toward him with a look on her face that makes me glad she isn't my guardian.
What the fuck does he think he is doing? Some unidentified creature on the loose killing people left and right and he is walking the streets at this time of night? I am gonna kill him.
"Todd!" Even I cringe at the mom in my voice. "What the fuck do you think you are doing here?" That's better, moms don't say fuck.
"Faith! Uh, well, me and Braden were just going for a walk, he was walking me home and then he was gonna stay over."
"So you were walking. Do you know what time it is? And I was worried about how scared you were, and I find out you're obviously not scared at all, and," behind me Buffy screams. I spin to look at her; the biggest vamp I have ever seen has obviously just tackled her. "You see what I mean?" I ask Todd before running off to help her.
I do a running dive and pull the vamp off her, now he is on me though and that isn't much better, as he hisses in my face, saliva raining down onto me. Out of the corner of my eye I see B wind up and kick the living shit out of him, and he goes flying off me. She pulls me up and we run back toward Todd.
"Inside, get inside," I yell as I fumble in my pocket for my keys, they tumble out of my hand onto the street and I turn back to grab them. Glancing up I see the vamp has already gotten up and is looking around for us, seeing me he growls and starts for me. I turn and sprint to the others, shoving in front of them and slamming the key into the lock, and quick twist and the doors open. I shove them through, and then follow, slamming the door shut and twisting the lock.
"That isn't going to hold." Todd says frantically, as the beast starts tugging on the door.
"I know, it should buy us enough time to get out the other side." Even as I say this, the door splinters, the hinges already whining in protest. "Go," and we are all running across the kitchen, halfway the door is ripped from its hinges. "Fuck."
It's there behind me, lumbering toward us; I don't have to see it to know it. It growls again and then speaks one word.
"Peter."
I spin to meet him, giving a solid kick to his jaw and he spins away just a bit before whirling right around to face me again. This bitch is hardcore. I get another solid punch to its jaw before it backhands me across the room.
This is not your average vamp. It has just wiped the floor with both me and Faith, As it tosses her aside, I go in, a low kick and it's down on its back, but reaching for me, it gets a hold and pulls me on top of it, holding me to it in a bear hug. I kick it in the groin and it loosens its grip just enough for me to sit up a bit and have hands free for punching.
Then it does something truly disgusting, its teeth seem to come out of its mouth, and they're climbing toward me on this weird alien like flesh tower, getting closer to my neck, even as I keep the rest of the beast pinned to the floor. Which is growing harder as I try to keep my neck away from the now gnashing teeth.
"Watch out, B," I turn toward Faith and see she's coming to my rescue with one of those giant pizza-cutting things. She kneels behind the thing's head and slides the cutter in, putting all her weight on the thing, until it slides through its throat, and the whole vamp evaporates.
We sit panting for a minute, just looking at each other, I know she is wondering the same thing I am, could we have beaten it without each other? I have a sickening feeling the answer may have been no. But we did beat it, and that's what counts. And sitting here looking at her like this, and having her look at me like that, she's covered in sweat, her hair swinging in front of her face, her eyes look hungry to me, I am starting to feel just as hungry, and it takes all my self control not to reach for her.
It also helped that she stood up, reaching down to pull me up with her. God I wonder if she was just ran through with the same sparks when we touched; I pull my hand away like I've been burned. That's how it's always been with her; I just never could admit it to myself before now. Together we turn to where Todd and Braden are both in a corner, just pulling themselves to their feet.
"Todd, who the hell is Peter?" Faith asks. He sighs, glancing at Braden.
"I'm Peter. Peter Pan."
When I look at Faith she is giving me the same unbelieving look.
...continued in part 11...