On Lying in Alleys
by The Last Good Name Left
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never were. Not ever going to be.
Buffy was on the ground just outside the back entrance of a diner, the kitchen fan roaring above her head. She snapped at Faith, who was kneeling next to her and poking at Buffy's swollen ankle. "Ow. Stop fucking around Faith."
Faith glared at Buffy. "If you hadn't charged in without looking...." Faith let the rest of the sentence hang.
"I thought you were," Buffy squalled in pain as Faith poked once more, this time on Buffy's bleeding shin.
Faith leaned back, still squatting next to Buffy. "You thought that I was just going in blind. You still don't trust me to plan, to have your back. Well, this time, it came back and bit you."
"Literally. With very large teeth." Buffy grimaced.
Faith shrugged. "It'll be ok. Sooner or later." She stood and kicked at the dead demon sprawled in the doorway to the diner. "I guess I should take care of this."
Buffy didn't even attempt to move as Faith looked for a location to dispose of the demon. "Not that anyone's going to notice the smell, but yeah."
"Hey, I grew up eating at places like this. In fact, I think I've been to this one a thousand times before." Faith grabbed one of the demon's legs, and began pulling it towards the diner's dumpster.
Buffy frowned at Faith.
When the demon was safely in the dumpster, Faith turned back to Buffy, brushed off her hands, and noticed Buffy's expression.
"What the fuck is your problem? I had a plan, you fucked it up, now you're hurt. It wasn't my fault." Faith's words exploded from her mouth, and Buffy blinked at the frustration in Faith's tone.
Buffy shook her head. "I know it wasn't your fault. Just help me up."
Faith hesitated, her expression unreadable, before she moved to assist Buffy to stand.
Buffy tried to put weight on her injured leg, and immediately collapsed against Faith.
"Guess that's not going to work." Faith sighed. "Look, I can carry you, or you can put your arm around me and we'll limp back. Your choice."
"Some choice." Buffy slowly maneuvered herself so that her arm was around Faith's shoulders, and her injured leg dangled between them.
Faith wrapped her arm around Buffy's waist, and took a small step.
"Go slower!" Buffy said with some force. "Fuck, that hurts."
Faith took a deep breath, and then took another, smaller, step.
The two women limped with painful patience to the end of the alley, and then down the street.
After inching along for about ten minutes, Faith steered them towards an abandoned building, and stopped against a wall.
Buffy looked at her, still balancing on one foot. "What are you doing? I'm the one in all the pain here."
"Lean against me, or the wall, or something. Y'know, rest. You're hurt, you can't push yourself so hard."
Buffy did not move. "I know what I can and cannot do, Faith. Keep moving."
Faith shrugged and resumed her position as Buffy's crutch. She did not suggest stopping again.
It took nearly an hour to walk back to the apartment complex they were staying in, and by the time they reached the entrance, Faith was more carrying Buffy than providing help walking. Buffy's face was pale, and she winced with every jarring step.
Faith pushed open the door to the apartment, and contorted her body to keep the door open while maneuvering Buffy through the doorway. Once inside, she helped Buffy to the couch, and lay Buffy down. Buffy collapsed against the cushions, and promptly passed out. Faith stared at her, annoyed; after a moment she groaned. She was about to stand and find Giles when he strode in from the back bedroom.
Upon seeing Buffy, he rushed over the couch, glanced at her pale and pained face, and then pushed aside her torn trousers to examine her bloody leg and swollen ankle in more depth. When he was done with his visual examination, he turned to Faith. "What happened?"
Faith sank down to the floor next to the couch, watching Buffy and Giles. "We went to check out that Tyogret demon that was terrorizing all the diners, you know?"
Giles nodded in understanding.
"Well, we found it, and cornered it in the kitchen of some dive over on Second Street, and Buffy was coming at it from the back, and I was wailing on it from the front, and then all of a sudden, it had Buffy's leg in its mouth, and was shaking her like a dog with a bone, and she got tossed out the back door, and I killed it, and, well, she got hurt."
Giles sighed and pursed his lips, and turned back to Buffy. Faith stared at his back, waiting for him to say something. Instead, he walking to the bathroom, and returned with numerous first aid supplies. Faith reached out to assist Giles in cleaning and bandaging Buffy's wound, but he ignored her.
As Giles began to wipe the dried blood from Buffy's wound, she opened her eyes and looked at Giles.
"It wasn't her fault, Giles. I rushed in when I knew that she had everything under control. I tried to do a flying kick at the back of the thing's head, but I forgot that they have eyes, and a mouth, in the back of their head."
Both Giles and Faith stared at Buffy.
Giles made a sound from the back of his throat. "Yes, well." He handed the cloth to Faith. "Here, finish cleaning off her wound while I find a bandage for her ankle."
Faith took the cloth from Giles, and glancing at Buffy for permission, began to gently dab at the blood.
"Can you get some ice, too? I think it's all sprained from when I fell," Buffy called out as she shifted on the couch, not moving her leg.
Giles rummaged in the large supply box in the kitchen. Faith blotted at Buffy's leg. Buffy watched Faith's face.
Faith was focused intently on the wound, and did not return Buffy's gaze.
"You know, you can do that a little harder. It doesn't hurt much anymore."
Faith slowed her already hesitant movements. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't."