Certainly Unexpected
by Victoria
Rating: R
~Good morning, the law offices of Hendrick and James, how may we be of service?~ A clearly English secretary boomed cheerfully on the other end.
“Yeah, uh I had a question about Mr. Hendrick.”
~I’m sorry, he’s on a very important trip for a client, but we have plenty of other.~
“Um… actually, I had a question about what exactly this guy does.”
~Mr. Hendrick, well he has quite a range of talents, he used to practice personal injury law… ~ Buffy watched nervously as the color drained from Faith’s face.
“Yeah?” Her voice cracked. “Do you know uh…know what he did when he worked for Marguerite Thornstrom?” She was starting to shake a bit.
~Mam, I’m afraid telling you that would violate the attorney-client privilege.~
“Oh, yeah.”
~Can I ask your name, I will leave a message for him if you would like?~
“Um…” The brunette was so preoccupied at the mention of personal injury, she answered automatically. “Faith Ryan.”
~OH MY GOODNESS!!~
“Shit.”
~NO Ms. Ryan please don’t hang up!~
“What does he want with me?”
~I’m not sure…but I do know it’s very important, not just business, personally important that he find you.~
“Why?”
~I’m not exactly sure, but I believe it revolves around a probate…~
“What the fuck is that?”
~Please call him, it’s…~ Faith’s reply was non-committal, as she ended the conversation. She stared at the far wall, seemingly lost in thought. Buffy chewed over whether or not to ask about the phone call.
“So what did they say?” She asked, making her voice as gentle as she could, not wanting to come across as intrusive.
“Nothing really…she said she didn’t really know what he wanted, that I should call him.”
“Well, what do you think?” The blonde had her knees drawn up against her chest, and her chin resting softly atop them. She was watching Faith with a look of genuine concern painting her features.
The dark slayer smiled crookedly. “I think you’re absolutely fucking adorable.”
Buffy looked taken aback for a second, but laughed after collecting herself. “No avoiding the question.”
“I’d argue that was a perfectly valid answer to ‘what do you think?’. You’ve got to be more specific with your questions.” Faith shrugged, her eyes sparkling almost mischievously when she saw the blonde’s eyes narrow just the tiniest bit.
"Ok then, are you gonna call him?"
“I don’t know. Maybe, I mean what if it’s like a trap?”
“We can take a couple of measly watchers…besides, the council has got all this money and high tech stuff, seems a lot to go through, why not just bust in?”
“Yeah… I guess.” The brunette rubbed at the back of her neck.
“His story checks out so far, he is a real lawyer.” Faith half-nodded. “And no calling me adorable, if word gets out my reputation in the demon world would be shattered.” The brunette had to laugh, because either that was delivered with deadpanned perfection or the blonde was serious.
“Hmm…what should I call you then B? Cute?”
“Nuh uh.” Buffy shook her head. “Same problem.”
“Hmm…sweet?”
“Nope, see reasons stated above.”
“Delightful?”
“I see you’ve made friends with Mr. Thesaurus, but delightful?… I think you just took that too far Faith.”
“Probably.” The dark slayer conceded smirking.
“A crime worthy of the ultimate punishment.” The younger girl merely raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? And what is that?”
“Tickle attack.”
“B, absolutely not.” Suddenly the dark slayer’s defenses were visibly up.
“I’m afraid your fate has already been decided.” The blonde said shrugging just a bit.
“I’m serious Buffy don’t you dare!” A rather girlish screech echoed through the mansion followed by wild laughter and thuds as the blonde discovered just what happened when an extremely ticklish slayer is cornered.
Spike awoke to a terrible throbbing pain in the back of his head, a pain greatly amplified by the brightness of a nearby fire.
“Bloody Christ!” He croaked out, shielding his eyes and turning on his side.
“Spikey, do you feel it?” He recognized the voice.
“Dru?”
“Do you feel the magic? It came back.” His eyes widened and his hands flew to the back of his head rubbing frantically. He felt a slight upheaval about halfway down the back of his skull. The raised skin was patterned with a series of three crisscrossing shapes. Stitches he realized. He felt a power surge in himself, a power that had been absent for quite some time. He was ready; this time she wouldn’t brush him off. He would make her understand or he would end this torturous feeling that festered and ate away at him. He would have her or he would end her. A man with a purpose, he was now that his limitations had been withdrawn. Drusilla seemed to notice this change and it caused a wilting smile to appear. “The flame, her flame… you feel it.” He nodded firmly.
She took his hand, the way the fire lapped in her empty pupils and reflected back into his said all that need be said between them. Two pacts were made, a pact with his former love, and a pact with himself.
Dawn jerked upward, jolted awake by a loud crash from upstairs. She glared, half with worry half with anger, at the ceiling as she sleepily forced herself out of the warm, comfortable bed. Two doors on the lower floor opened simultaneously and two not quite awake girls stared at the stairs leading to the upper level.
“Did you hear that?” The younger Summers girl inquired.
“Yeah…you think they’re ok?”
“I don’t…” A scream echoed through the mansion followed by a loud bang as if something very large and very heavy had suddenly been heaved to the floor. As one, the two girls crept up the stairs, horrible and tragic scenarios, most quite improbable, racing through their young minds. However, no amount of imagination and paranoid thinking could have predicted the scene that awaited them… well at least as far as Dawn was concerned.
In the middle of the floor, surrounded by rumpled bed sheets were the two slayers. Buffy was kneeling beside the younger woman who was lying, apparently not by choice, on the floor. Her hands were pinning Faith’s struggling arms down by her sides. Now that by itself perhaps could have been passed off as a training session, possibly sparing. However any believability that the excuse may have at one time possessed was completely shattered by the fact that Faith’s shirt had been pulled up and the other slayer was mercilessly blowing raspberries on the exposed skin of her stomach. The dark slayer had tears streaming down her face and was giggling wildly, an ability that only Alex knew she possessed prior to this incident. The rather disheveled look about the blonde and the light red marks along her hands and arms served to demonstrate that the other girl had put up quite a fight before finally being pinned. Both Dawn and Alex were willing to wager, this struggle had caused the ruckus that disturbed their sleep.
“I see you found her tickle spots.” Alex commented, smirking. Dawn’s mind had yet to come up with something reasonable to say.
For the first time the two slayers noticed their company. Buffy’s head flew up, her eyes wide with shock; she pulled off the ‘deer caught in the headlights’ look flawlessly. As she stared blankly at Dawn a strand of blond hair fell in front of her face, which she made no move to fix. Faith meanwhile was dragging in ragged breaths, a little thankful for the interruption. The pain of laughing so hard had been mounting and she was eager to reacquaint her lungs with wonders of air.
“What?” The youngest brunette finally spoke. The blonde still stared blankly. “I…um…WHAT?” The reaction could have been worse, Alex supposed. It seemed more confusion than anything else.
“Um…we were just…” Buffy began…
“I know what you were doing.” Dawn finished for her, not with anger, just dreamily as if she had just woken up and was not quite aware, which was consequently quite accurate. She turned to the girl she had arrived questioningly. “How come you didn’t tell me it would happen here too??”
“Uh… I wasn’t sure it would.”
“Oh.”
“Wait…she knows about you?” The blonde questioned.
“We talked.”
“So… you two are really like…” Dawn attempted to think of a word to express what she meant without sounding vulgar or ignorant.
Buffy sucked in a breath. “We’re in love Dawn.”
“Um…that’s great…but I thought you had that whole arch enemies thing going on.” Her confusion was quite obvious.
“Um…I guess we got over that?” The blonde girl answered, smiling awkwardly.
“Ah ha.”
An awkward silence filled the room. “So you’re ok with it Dawnie?”
The younger girl seemed to think it over. “Um…yeah, you know what they say, as long as you’re happy. Besides more boys for me.” Buffy looked shocked, but still unsure and Alex laughed. Faith being too tired to even chuckle, smirked instead. “I would have to say the most shocking thing was Faith with the giggling.”
Faith glared at the unseeing blonde, then spoke for the first time. “B?”
The blonde seemed visibly startled by the proximity of her companion, clearly having forgotten their somewhat questionable position. “Yeah?”
“Let me up already?”
“OH… Oh god I’m sorry.” She quickly let Faith loose and stood, offering the brunette her hand. She took it pulling herself up.
“Hey no problem Buffy” She dusted herself off. The blonde honestly expected a more fiery reaction. She knew she had gotten a bit carried away with the tickling. The brunette smiled almost sadistically, “I wouldn’t sleep too soundly though.”
“Well we definitely know where we aren’t.” Buffy commented sipping at her French vanilla coffee and watching Faith’s half eaten muffin. The brunette woman nodded, thinking as she cradled her tea. The blonde had always thought it strange that the other slayer disliked coffee. It seemed somehow out of character. She realized that her mind was wandering and brought it back to the issue at hand. “Hmmm…” Her attempts to think were interrupted as her stomach continued to complain about the lack of morning sustenance. She continued to eye the other half of Faith’s muffin.
“B, just take it.”
“What?”
“The muffin.” The older woman looked sheepish, as the smiling brunette pushed the plate in front of her. “Why didn’t you just get one at the register?”
“I wasn’t hungry then”
“What a difference five minutes can make.” The brunette laughed, as the other woman all but inhaled the poor baked good.
“Besides none of them looked as fully of tastiness as that one.” She spoke around a mouthful of food, swallowing hard.
“Of course not.”
Buffy merely shrugged, licking the bits of cinnamon and bread from her fingers. They shared a smile, still contemplating their next area to search when they overheard a young female ordering. Not just any order, it was an iced coffee in the dead of winter…only one person they knew would be so bold as to order that. Faith raised and eyebrow and turned toward the register. Sure enough, standing there bundled up with Tara was Willow.
“Told ya my plan would work.” Faith smiled triumphantly at the blonde.
“What plan? This is just plain luck.” Buffy argued sipping her coffee.
“Not plain luck B, it’s blind luck!” Faith pointed out, pushing in her chair.
“Whatever.” The blonde rolled her eyes.
“Come on.”
“You think they’ll believe us?” Buffy questioned in a moment of doubt. Faith shrugged. They flipped their coats over their shoulders and followed the pair of young witches outside.
“Hey B, you ok?” Faith questioned, looking at the blonde. She had been rather quiet since Dawn left the room. They had moved to the bed, sitting silently on the edge. The brunette had been picking at her nails waiting for the other girl to say anything.
“Yeah,” she answered not at all convincingly. “She seemed OK with it right?”
Faith nodded. “I think she was just surprised.”
“Yeah.” Another unconvincing response came from the older girl.
“Listen B, if it’s bothering you that much, go downstairs and talk to the kid about it.”
“I guess maybe I should.” She reasoned, noticing Faith seemed completely bored she added “I’ll come back up and talk to you about it afterwards.”
“Hey it’s good, cause I’m fucking starving anyway. I’m gonna make a killer breakfast.” A smile broke onto the other girl’s face, as she cracked her knuckles. “You want anything?”
“Mm…yes on the food.”
“Ok…you eat pancakes?”
“Most definitely.”
“Cool, does the kid?”
“Dawn? Yes.”
“Nice.”
“Alright, well I better go talk to her then.” The blonde said, pushing herself up off the mattress.
“Yeah.” Faith agreed, getting up too. Buffy seemed to be thinking something over as she remained in place for a few minutes. The brunette watched her curiously until she began walking towards her. “B?”
The blonde did not answer, but continued to advance on the other girl. Faith watched her approach, her face a picture of confusion, until the other slayer leaned down and kissed her soundly.
“Mmm…” Buffy smiled as the kiss broke.
The brunette slowly opened her eyes, before speaking. “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”
“I need a reason to kiss you?” Faith’s eyebrow rose at the blonde’s incredulous expression. Her face finally fell, as she relented. “Fine, it’s for the revenge you’re so NOT going to exact on me for the earlier tickling fiasco.” She gave an almost pleading expression.
The brunette spoke with complete composure. “I make no guarantees.” She cracked her knuckles, smiling that off-putting smile from earlier. The blonde only eyed her warily in response. With that they made their way downstairs, Buffy subtly watching Faith out of the corner of her eye.
Two figures trailed another unnoticing pair down the street. “So how does this work exactly?”
“I dunno.” The brunette commented sipping her tea and adjusting her scarf. “I guess there are a variety of different ways we could do it.”
“I’m all for the slow and cautious approach.”
“Should I be brutally honest??”
“Nothing’s ever stopped you before honey.” The brunette glared lightly.
“I don’t think it matters how the hell we do it, pretty sure they’ll freak no matter how we introduce ourselves.”
“I’d agree, but add that popping out at them from behind bushes or something is ill-advised.”
“Uh, let me steal one from you here, DUH!”
“Shh you.”
“You say that so much, have you ever noticed…”
“That it doesn’t work?”
“Yeah.”
“Yes, but I can still cling the hope that one day it will.” The blonde answered with a lop-sided smile.
“Uh huh.” Faith answered, choosing not to comment further.
“Besides if I really cared that you were talking, I have ways to silence you.” The brunette raised an eyebrow.
“Those ways do nothing but change the kind of sound I make.”
“I’ll give you that, but they do stop you from making those smart-alecky little remarks you’re so fond of.” The brunette conceded with a nonchalant shrug and a grin. “So…let’s do it?”
“Here?? B, we’re in the middle of the god damn street.” The brunette ranted over-dramatically.
“Actually pervo, I was talking about the introducing thing.”
“Pervo?” The brunette appeared mildly offended. “I’ll remember that.”
The blonde merely smiled. “C’mon.” Stowing their banter, they quickly closed in on the pair about five minutes from their shared apartment. Realizing they really had no plan, the blonde simply did the first thing that came to mind. She reached out and tapped the red-headed girl on the shoulder. Willow slowly turned around.
“Hey Wills.”
“Uh…” The witch’s eyes looked as if they were about to fall out of their head. “Oh my gods, what happened to you two?”
“Hmm?” The blonde asked confusedly.
“You look…” Tara began.
“Old, especially you Buffy” Willow finished. Faith scarcely contained her laughter, as the blonde’s eyes danced with angry fire.
“Actually I was gonna say different.” Tara mumbled under her breath.
“Is it a new demon-y thing?” Willow continued. “Have you two talked to Giles? We should find a way to stop it before it gets any worse.” The red-head nodded emphatically, as she eyed the two of them.
The blonde cleared her throat, trying to hold back her anger. “Actually, we’re Alex’s parents. From the other dimension, we need you to take us to…um well…us.”
“… I’d never seen Buffy so embarrassed.” Alex finished her story, smiling. Faith chuckled lightly, continuing to slice a variety of fresh fruit. “Are you sure you don’t want help with anything?” The younger girl eyed the various ingredients set out along the marble counter.
“Nah.” Faith tossed some chopped potatoes into the sauté pan.
“So where’d you learn to cook anyway?”
“Never asked your mom?”
“I did… I’m just wondering if it is the same story.”
“After my parents died, I pretty much lived on my own, wherever.” Alex began smiling and mouthing her words. “Same story?” Faith asked as she grated some cheese.
“Same story.” The young brunette confirmed, putting on her imitation of her mother she finished. “A little Italian dive, downtown. Cook was real nice, let me stay with him for a bit, while I learned the ropes… good ole Uncle.”
“Uncle Tony.” The slayer watched the girl, both unnerved and amused at the same time.
“And the other three restaurants you worked in. Makes you uncomfortable when I do that doesn’t it?” She commented grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. Faith nodded as she stirred the pancake batter “In all fairness to you this is a rather odd situation.” She bit fully into the apple, smiling amusedly at the taller girl.
The silence seemed to indicate that a change in subject was in order. “So you and the kid seem to be getting along well.”
“Dawn?”
“Yeah.” Faith commented slicing some more potatoes and grabbing some spices from the rack, as she flipped the dishtowel she had been using over her right shoulder.
“She intrigues me.”
“Oh, she INTRIGUES you.” The slayer stressed the word.
“Yes…” Alex glared, catching the hint of mockery. “She doesn’t exist in my world, I’ve never even heard mom or mama talk about her.” She bit into her apple again, half-glaring. “Exactly what are you trying to imply about me and my would be AUNT?”
Faith raised her arms in gesture that was supposed to convey her innocence. “Nothing. I was just saying you two seem to be getting along.” The dark slayer smirked almost devilishly. “It’s weird that you’re so defensive about it, though.”
“I am not being defensive.” She tossed the apple core with deadly accuracy. The slayer was unpleasantly surprised as it flew past her face and into the garbage can, missing her by mere millimeters. Rather than continue with any further teasing, Faith merely collected herself and continued to spice her home fries.
“WHAT???” The red-head nearly screamed.
“What what?” The blonde slayer asked confused.
“Whoa…” The brunette rubbed her ear, trying to sooth it after the auditory assault.
“Whoa what?” The blonde asked even more confused.
“Wait…” The red-head piped in again.
“Wait for what?” The blonde asked even more earnestly than before.
“What?” The brunette questioned, just now fully recovering from the loudness of Willow’s reaction.
“What what are you what-ing over?” The blonde asked, obviously lost.
“Huh?” Two confusion filled pools of brown turned toward their partner.
“JUST STOP!” Willow, Faith, and Buffy turned to stare at the normally quiet and reserved blond-haired wiccan. “Sorry, but if you continued like that, I was afraid my head might explode.”
“You… what… with the… and then…” Willow fumbled over her words, her usually agile mind obviously short-circuited by the implications of what had just been revealed.
“You’re gonna have to ask a question before I can actually answer it Red.”
“You two are her parents??” How far the witch’s eyes were open was absolutely astonishing. “Like together parents…like you two together… with the loving each other ….and making babies parents?”
“Uh, seems to me that’s the way it went?” Faith answered, turning to her wife.
“As far as I know.” Buffy agreed, amused.
“But you… I… “ Tara moved over taking Willow’s hand and gently rubbing it. She gave the red-head a look that while not unkind, firmly told her not to say anything else.
The blonde witch said, taking over the conversation. “We can take you to… um you. In fact we were just headed there.”
“She gonna be ok?” Faith nodded toward the red-head who looked half-way between a heart-attack and a fit of hysterical laughter.
“She’s ok, I think her systems just been overloaded.”
The brunette smiled, raising an eyebrow. “Well I’m sure you can reboot her later.” The blonde girl turned about ten shades of red, which gave Buffy some justification for elbowing her lover in the stomach.
“Oomph.” Faith glared at the blonde, who merely smiled at her as they followed Tara.
“Wow! Faith this is incredible!” Dawn enthused, cutting another piece of pancake off and popping it into her mouth. She and Buffy were both feeling much better after their discussion. Faith had a mild curiosity about what actually was said, but was not concerned enough to bring the subject up.
“That’s only cause you’re used to Buffy’s breakfast attempts.” Alex chided.
Faith tried not to laugh openly, but failed miserably. Buffy’s eyes narrowed at all three brunettes. “Why am I always the butt of your jokes? Pick on someone else for a change! And you should be defending me not laughing!” She protested, pointing a fork full of home fries at her sister slayer and then popping them into her mouth. She continued staring at Faith as if deep in thought, until a slight smile, mischievous, broke onto to her face. Faith merely raised an eyebrow and after nothing happened over a period of about five minutes continued making small talk with the other two girls.
This was nice. A small, good thing that she had never really done. Just sitting down and eating with people, that in one way or another were like family to her. She honestly was starting to feel quite at ease with these three girls, especially the beautiful blonde across the table. She smiled softly, talked and laughed when appropriate, but generally just enjoyed the overall normalcy of it and the contented relaxation that came with that normalcy. It felt right and easy, the way mornings were supposed to.
The dark slayer was drawn out of her thoughts by the slightest of touches along the bottom of her left leg, as if something had just brushed it. She rubbed at her calf with her bare foot of the opposite leg, nothing. Shrugging it off she continued to eat and listen. Then she felt it again, firmer this time running up her calf almost caressingly, causing goose bumps to form and her abdomen to stir pleasantly. The long, linen tablecloth made it impossible to see what was going on. Having a good idea, she turned and stared at Buffy, who was completely engaged in conversation with Dawn and Alex. The feeling faded again. Confusion settled upon the dark slayer, as she began to eat, the feeling returned, this time moving around to both of her calves, moving higher, just brushing her outer thigh, around her knees. Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment, before she looked across the table again. The blonde was still talking animatedly with the other two. Faith looked at the table, it was small enough for Buffy to reach her foot that far, quite a bit farther in fact. A look of worry began to cross her features and the touch moving higher, just barely brushing the tops of her thighs, five toes stroking, moving along her inner thigh now, about six inches past her knee, traveling slowly forward…
“Faith are you ok?” As soon as the words left Alex’s mouth, the touch was gone and three pairs of concerned eyes turned on her. She sucked in a breath she had not realized she was holding. “You look a little flushed or something.”
Faith did not miss the amused smiled that crept unbidden over Buffy’s face. It had been a long time since she had been with anyone, a long time. The blonde had caught her completely off-guard with her boldness, which worried the brunette. Had she lost all her game? Faith Ryan did not melt into a quivering pool of inactivity when advances were made, she was supposed to be the one making them.
“Oh, yeah.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Guess the food was hotter than I thought.”
They all nodded, accepting the answer.
“I’ll take care of the dishes” Buffy announced. The brunette slayer watched her retreating form, deciding that it was high time she become and active participant in the game Buffy had initiated this morning. She waited patiently while Dawn and Alex took their plates in, finishing the last of the food on her plate. After they left the general vicinity of the kitchen, Faith walked quietly in, her footsteps easily masked by the running water of the sink. She stepped unnecessarily close to the blonde, her breasts brushing along the other girl's back and just to one of her arms. She felt Buffy stiffen, as she leaned into her putting even more of their bodies in contact while placing her dish into the sink with the others. She kept her head at just such a position that the breath from her slightly parted lips fell across the other woman’s ear and down her neck, which was now rapidly reddening. Drawing even closer, to the other girl, she whispered in her ear with a voice she knew the power of.
“Buffy?”
She cleared her throat. “Yes?” The unnatural highness, made the brunette smile.
“I want you to remember something for me.” She spoke low enough for the blonde to feel the vibrations.
“Uh huh?” She could practically feel the other girl’s heart racing.
Adopting her sexiest and breathiest whisper, she moved so close that movement of her lips would be felt against the blonde’s ear. “Turnabout is fair play.” With that she withdrew quickly, and walked away whistling and leaving the shaken slayer alone at the sink.
A figure paced across the pounded dirt floor of the mausoleum. The prone form of a bleach blonde vampire lay a few feet away. His over zealousness about the implementation of their plan so soon after the operation had drained him. She was honestly not surprised. Though intelligent, he was often hasty and acted out of passion rather than direction. He was one of the more trusting demons she had worked with. It took relatively little convincing for him to accept her in her manifest form. This Drusilla, though complex, was easy to master. If she spoke nonsensically, bringing in fragments from his memory, she was not at all difficult. He was also quite accessible psychically. His memories were given up with nearly no exertion on her part. His tendency to keep to himself had proven helpful too. However, most useful was his apparent love for the blonde slayer. He was an admirable ally. Strong physically, determined, passionate, and quite skilled in the art of fighting. He was a warrior and a warrior was the best defense against what was coming.
Her thoughts turned back to the approaching event. The prophecy was so vague. It was a problem not uncommon to prophecies; speak of the trouble not of the outcome. Despite its lack of clarity the prophecy had pointed a stunning finger at her enemy. The dark slayer (as her twin soul was nowhere to be seen she was unconcerned with that issue). The young woman with the fractured aura, so wounded and yet so incredibly and undeniably strong. Sighing in frustration, she beckoned one her minions forward. Telepathically she spoke…
<The bond that you have created is to be broken…>
<Shall we create another?>
<It would do no good I’m afraid, they know now how to undo it.>
<Pardon my insolence, but how do you know?>
<I feel it weakening.>
<How can we be of service then?>
<You and the others will come with me tonight. You will distract them, especially the others. Be quick, your purpose is not to fight only to occupy. If you are able, take the two energy sources… but I need to a chance to dig further into the recesses our enemy’s mind. The time is fast approaching, and we must win.>
<We understand. Will you be bringing him?> The small demon nodded toward the sleeping vampire.
<No, your presence alongside him would arouse suspicion. His time is soon, but not now.>
<We will ready ourselves.>
<You are dismissed.> He made a slight bow and returned to the lower level.
She would appear in her true form, invisible to the eye and just barely detectable by touch, a slight lowering in temperature the only sign. She could be a sudden gust or cold shiver, nothing more.
Watching the flame of a nearby candle she whispered. “I’m coming… Faith.”
Faith walked through the mansion, exploring its many rooms and halls. She supposed, based upon the age of the building, that it would be more correct to call them chambers. They certainly looked like chambers, with their stone walls, expansive ceilings, and ornate chandeliers. She looked at the massive hard wood dining table and its lengthy and regal tablecloth. Continuing her tour, she walked out on the balcony. It was certainly an interesting piece of architecture and she found herself thinking that there was something oddly fitting about a slayer living here. Looking over the landscape, it occurred to her that something probably not too far beyond her current line of sight was right now planning her demise, as well as everyone else's here. A thought that she found quite depressing.
“Faith?” A voice called through the hall.
“In here!” She hollered back, wishing desperately she had a cigarette.
“Hey there you are.” The blonde girl smiled coming out onto the balcony. “Wow, the view’s even better in the daytime.”
The brunette smiled. “Most views are.”
The blonde stuck her tongue out at the unseeing slayer. “So what are you doing out here?”
“Just checking out Fang’s mansion.” She answered, distractedly. Movement from below had caught her attention. “Who are they?”
Buffy squinted leaning over the balcony just a bit. “Wills and Tara, but the other two…” As the group of four reached the mansion door, a loud bell echoed from the bottom floor, followed by Alex’s voice.
“I’LL GET IT!!” The two slayers made their way down the stairwell, to meet their guests. “MOM!!!” The exclamation held the two slayers dead in their tracks mid-way down the flight. They turned to look each other in the eyes, mouthing the word. They cautiously continued down the stairs, peeking from around the railing. Faith eyes practically rolled out of her head.
The two older women stared amused at the girls on the stairs, while hugging their quite excited daughter.
“Hey there kiddo.” The newly arrived Faith said, ruffling the teenager’s hair.
“What are you doing here?” Alex asked confused.
“Seems Willie made a mistake.” Buffy answered, still more than a little angry at the contact. “We came to take you back.” She announced purposefully.
“Are we leaving like now?” The teenager seemed almost disappointed at this turn of events.
“You’re leaving?” Dawn asked having just come around the corner. Upon seeing the newly arrived guests, she froze wide-eyed. A similar, but more emotional expression had been adopted by the elder Buffy.
“Dawnie?” It was more of a whisper than anything else, further muffled by sobs that threatened to erupt from a tightened throat.
Cordy sat quietly on the couch, nursing her glass of water.
“Bad one?” Fred asked.
A simple glance was the only response that was needed.
“When you’re ready Cordy.” Angel encouraged. Four quite concerned members of the Angel Investigations team were gathered around seer. They watched the woman for any sign of physical illness, unknowingly inching closer and closer.
“Wow, with the personal space.” She croaked out, shaking off the after effects of her vision. The foursome immediately fanned out to more comfortable intervals within the office. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Angel. “You need to go back.”
Angel looked less than pleased, an expression that thankfully had become less frequent in his emotional repertoire as of a late. However, he nodded in his typically dutiful way. “How bad is it?”
“I’d said extra bad, the fate of mankind hangs in the balance bad.”
He only nodded again, while Gunn rubbed his hands together. “So suit up?”
“No, only Angel.” They all new better than to argue with Cordy, but it did not mean that they were happy with it. The vampire for his part looked not the least bit surprised.
He clasped the brunette’s hand with his and looked in her eyes meaningfully. “Call Faith.” She nodded and squeezed his hand back. There was something strange about the scene that aroused both suspicion and curiosity in the on-lookers, but nothing more was said on the subject. Sensing that privacy was of some importance, the three now uninvolved people left the room.
Seeing the question in his eyes, Cordy continued. “I saw you and Faith, fighting some small demons, and a larger one that was floating over what looked like a crack in the earth. You both about to leap over it or….” She paused “into it.” He looked down as if thinking hard, then suddenly noticed their fingers were still intertwined. She seemed to realize it to, but neither made a move to correct the situation. “Angel?” When she saw she had his full attention, she continued. “Be careful.” The vampire looked deeply into her brown eyes and again nodded. After a few moments more of quiet contemplation between the two, Angel was up and in the weapons closet with car keys in his coat pocket.
The living room of the mansion was filled with a silence so awkward and mind numbing that all of its eight occupants were now seriously considering screaming out some nonsense, just as a relief. On a large couch sat the older Buffy and Faith, in between them Alex. The resemblance between child and parents was now so painfully obvious and not just physically. Both her and her birth mother were idly tapping the thumb of their left hand on the sofa cushion. This nervous fiddling was mirrored on the loveseat directly across from them by the younger Faith. Both Buffys, one from the couch and one from the loveseat watched the almost hypnotic movement with the tiniest of amused smiles. Every so often however, the older of the blonde slayers would turn to look at Dawn, almost as if she were checking to make sure she was still there. Willow and Dawn watched the scene with expressions of quiet bewilderment. A soft cough from Tara turned everyone’s attention uncomfortably on her. She looked nervously around, smiling slightly and then turning her eyes downward. It was then that the older Faith noticed a sword learning against the fireplace.
“Whose is that?”
“Mine” Faith answered, locking her eyes with her counterpart’s.
The older Faith, tired of sitting, stood and picked up the sword, unsheathing it. “Nice blade.” She commented admiringly.
“It’s pretty sick” Faith, not surprisingly agreed. They stared at each other openly for the first time. Eyes drew down their bodies appreciatively. Both smiled at the similarity of their clothing, leather pants and a white top. This caused groans and eye rolls from both of the blonde slayers.
“I can’t believe you two.” The older Buffy began. The two brunettes looked slightly confused.
“You two were so just checking each other out!” The younger blonde finished disbelievingly, getting an approving nod from the other. The two women in question just shared a smirk.
“What can I say, I age well!” The younger of the dark slayers said.
The older woman, shrugged happily. “I was a hottie.” The younger Faith smiled cockily.
“Still are.”
“I like this girl.” The older brunette smiled and slung her arm around the still teenage version of herself.
“Oh God…” The middle-aged blonde woman sighed over dramatically.
“There’s two of them.” Finishing again for her clone, Buffy stared warily at the two grinning brunettes. Alex laughed out loud.
“This is like one of those horrible made for TV movies.” Dawn whispered to Tara, who nodded with agreement.
“‘My Stepmom is an Alien?’” She questioned conspiratorially. “Along the same lines.” Dawn said solemnly. They watched the little quips and jokes passing between the four slayers still unnerved. That was until things became a little more serious. It was quite disturbing on multiple levels for the girls.
“Kiddo can we talk to you alone for a sec?” The older Faith questioned while her wife and Alex nodded. “Is there somewhere we could go?”
“Kitchen.” The younger brunette slayer answered quickly. Alex nodded and the three of them left the room.
“Well that was interesting.” Faith commented, looking over in Willow’s direction. The witch had yet to move a muscle or even speak since they all sat down in the room. “You ok Red?”
Willow seemed to suddenly remember something at the mention of her name. “The spell!” She reached into her back pocket and produced the necessary ingredients. “I forgot all about it.”
Buffy seemed to perk up. “You figured out a way to close it?”
“Not exactly.”
At this point the younger Faith jumped in. “Not exactly?”
“It’s irreversible.”
“IRREVERSIBLE?” Buffy was near panicked.
“We were with the researching and well, rather than opening a door in your mind, it’s more like they tore the door of its hinges and chopped it into little tiny pieces.” The redhead explained, gesticulating wildly as a result of her nervousness.
“So you’re saying?” The blonde woman prompted.
“We can’t stop you from picking things up. But we can do three things. We can stop you from transmitting them, make it so that the other person has to give you permission, and erase the block on positive memories.” Tara finished, taking Willow’s hand in her own and stroking her thumb along it soothingly.
“Good enough.” Buffy answered.
“We’ll need you two to leave so the spell doesn’t affect you.” The blonde wiccan added quietly, looking at Faith and Dawn. They left with no argument and the two young witches set about casting their spells.
“So when are we leaving?” Alex interrupted, eager to be brought up to speed.
“When the sun goes down tonight, Wills says the magic can only be performed at night.” Buffy answered.
“You look disappointed.” Faith observed.
“You and mama were a hoot as teenagers. Besides I’m getting to see you two fall in love.” She overemphasized the last wording in a teasing manner.
The brunette woman chuckled lightly and her wife laughed nervously, quite embarrassed.
“The magic Willow gave us won’t last beyond a few days. She told us the sooner we use it, the less likely it is we’ll end up dying a horrible death in some hell dimension.”
“Red’s really focused on the hell dimension thing.” Faith commented. Alex nodded in understanding, hopping on the kitchen counter and grabbing a piece of fruit.
“How come you never told me about Dawn?” She asked curiously. “Does she not exist in our dimension?”
The blonde slayer looked completely shell-shocked by the question. Faith watched her with a mix of tenderness and concern, as she gently worried her full bottom lip. She knew that look, a look that the blonde always got right before she was about to cry. Both women had always been shy and embarrassed about crying in front of each other, or in front of anyone for that matter. The brunette prepared herself to take the blonde in her arms should she need it. Alex looked apologetically at Faith, knowing she had just asked the wrong question. With a deep breath, Buffy turned to her daughter and answered the question in the only way she could think of.
“Not anymore.” The implications of the blonde’s reaction solidified in a depressing realization for Alex. Dawn had died before she was born. Further questions raced through her mind, but she knew better than to ask. With her abilities she didn’t need her mother to tell her how. She could scan it out, but now was not the time. Buffy realized where her daughter’s thoughts probably were and with a shuddery sigh, looked at her and nodded.
Alex closed her eyes and received the altogether disturbing images her mother had been privy to. Visions of a bleached-blond vampire draining the life from the young girl she had spent the past few days with filled her mind. The most disturbing factor of all being that at the time of her death, Dawn looked exactly the age she did moments before when they were all sitting in the living room. A single tear fell from beneath her closed eyelids.
“Dawn…”
“Yes?” The young brunette asked, watching the slayer who appeared quite nervous.
“Look… I’m not just apologizing cause I want you to be ok with me and B, well you know.”
“Ok, so why are you apologizing and what for?” Dawn watched Faith curiously. This seemed to be coming out of the blue.
“I’m apologizing cause I… well, I don’t want any bad blood between us… between me and anyone anymore. So, I’m sorry for back then, all that shit I pulled… y’know.”
The sixteen year-old shrugged, and then smiled brightly. “Forgiven.”
To say the brunette slayer looked surprised, would be quite the understatement. “You sure kid?”
Smiling at the nickname, she answered. “Yeah, if Buffy can forgive you, which she definitely has.” She giggled a bit, remembering earlier. “Then I can, besides I always thought you were kinda cool.”
Faith smirked, chuckling softly. “You did huh?”
“Still do. Cooler than Riley anyway.” She rolled her eyes.
“Wow, cooler than farm-boy?” The sarcasm was light-hearted.
“Not too hard I guess.” Dawn agreed.
The slayer looked fondly at the girl. “You’re pretty cool yourself.”
“Yeah?” A smile reaching upwards of 1000 volts, graced the girl’s face.
“Hell, if I had a sister, I’d want her to be a lot like you. B’s lucky.” Faith affectionately nudged the girl with her shoulder for emphasis. The two shared a smile and continued to make some idle chit-chat while they waited for Willow and Tara to complete the spell.
“How are you feeling?” Tara asked as she and Willow cleared the remnants of the spell.
“Remarkably close to normal.” Buffy answered, brushing some powder from her forehead. She, like Faith, had noticed how odd Willow was acting. “What’s up Wills?”
The redhead seemed to be struggling with her own thoughts. “There’s something I should probably tell you.” The conspiratorial manner in which the line was delivered, put the blonde slayer on instant alert.
“What is it?”
Willow took a deep breath, as Buffy and Tara looked on both quite confused. “Alex, she isn’t just your daughter.”
“What do you mean?” the slayer was instantly concerned. She couldn’t be an enemy too? No, She would have noticed…
“Well she’s the daughter of both you and Faith, like you two are together, like couple-y together in the other dimension, that’s why Faith was with alternate dimension you.” She paused closing her eyes. Tara watched Buffy cautiously.
“I um…” Buffy’s mind was desperately searching for a way to respond.
Seeing the confusion as she opened her eyes, Willow took what she thought was pity on her friend. “I know. I was shocked too.”
Despite the potential for a bad reaction, she felt no desire to lie. “I knew.”
“It must be hard for…YOU KNEW?” The redhead’s eyes were as big as saucers.
“Yes. It was one of the first things she told us.”
“And you’re ok with it?” The wiccan appeared genuinely disturbed by the information. Sure she and Faith were at least being civil. However, the ease with which her friend discussed this matter held implications that the girl was entirely uncomfortable with. Tara was mentally willing Buffy to realize the complete and utter badness of the timing.
“Um… actually Faith and I are well… we’re in love, in the here too.” As soon as she said it, she regretted it. The look on her friend’s face made her stomach turn and her face fall. Without a word Willow got up and proceeded to leave the room. “Wills wait…”
The redhead turned around and opened her mouth to speak.
“Don’t honey.” Tara said, standing up. “Go outside… I’ll be out in a minute.”
Buffy watched with saddened eyes her friend left the mansion, before the blonde witch’s form obscured her view. Tara knelt down in front of her, and gave her hand a soft squeeze. The entire situation unnerved her.
“Don’t worry, I’ll t-talk to her.” The slayer nodded her thank you, squeezing back just slightly. As the other woman left to meet her less than happy girlfriend outside, the other five occupants filtered back into the living room. Outside dusk began to fall.
Spike stalked through the graveyard smiling like a mad man. His chip was gone and for the first time in quite awhile he was ready, willing, and able to feast, but first he had an errand to run. After all he was quite certain there would still be plenty of teenagers stupid enough to still be out late at night. He and Drusilla… reunited after quite sometime. With her help he could finally have what he’d been wanting for so long. He stopped at an unassuming house and kicked in the bulkhead, sauntering down the stairs.
“Is it done?” He asked, cooling lighting a cigarette.
“Yes, she’s done.” The young man answered nervously. “Do you have the cash?”
Spike smirked and transformed. “I think not killing you is payment enough? What do you say?”
“I… um.” The young man shivered as the vampire growled softly, flicking the corner of his left fang with his tongue. “Definitely.”
“Damn right.” He commented. As the young man scrambled behind some equipment, Spike inwardly reveled in his newly regained ability to make good on threats. He stared, stunned, as the young man’s creation was presented. It looked just like her. “Job well done. How do you turn the bloody thing on?”
Warren gave the thing a poke to its mid-section and sea green eyes opened and it smiled upon seeing the bleached-blond.
“Hello, luv.” He wanted to see if the dork had indeed programmed it in the manner he requested.
The robotic representation seemed to be processing something. “You’re Spike.”
“See it works!” Warren proclaimed eager for the vampire to take his prize and leave.
“You’re evil and I find it sexy.” Perhaps it was not the most tactful robot, but that was not its purpose.
“Do you now kitten?” He smirked off-puttingly.
“I can't resist the sinister attraction of your cold and muscular body.” With a grin the vampire shut the facsimile of his slayer down and carried it off as quickly as he could, his desire for blood replaced by another of equal power.
“So I guess this is goodbye?” Alex said slinging the pack she had brought with her over her shoulder.
“Yeah, it was nice to meet you.” Dawn answered smiling sadly.
“Definitely.” Buffy agreed gathering the young girl in a hug. Already shaken up by earlier incident with Willow, which she had yet to discuss, the blonde slayer was trying very hard to not loose it.
“It was cool kiddo.” Faith added, ruffling her hair and then giving her a hug of her own.
“Aww… I’ll miss you guys!” The young brunette smirked trying not to get emotional.
“And it was nice meeting you two, after hearing so much about you.” Buffy added smiling at the older versions of herself and Faith.
“Well thank…” The older Faith was stopped mid-word as a veritable swarm of the black demons broke through the window and came full force at them.
“SHIT!!” The young Faith yelled, bounding over two of the demons to grab her sword where it rested by the fireplace. As she unsheathed it she felt herself knocked back quite forcefully, only stopping when the wall collided with her back. Dazed as she clutched her stomach, she glanced around and saw nothing that could have possibly been responsible for such a blow.
Meanwhile, the three other slayers were quite successfully warding off a barrage of demons. “Dawn, Alex get upstairs.” The two Buffy’s yelled at the same time. The girls scrambled upstairs without argument. Each of the three remaining took on at least five of the small demons kicking and punching and easily knocking them aside, until they began to employ their powers.
“AHH!” The older of the two blonde slayers clutched her head as her unaccustomed mind was forced to recall things long buried. She flailed, throwing punches wildly, most connecting due to the sheer abundance of demons. The older Faith was soon to follow suit, her eyes closing in shock and her face contorted in pain.
The younger blonde watched the scene in horror and did the only thing she could think off. Turning to the wall she ripped the mounted axe from it and began mowing down the demons by the tens, hoping that she would break whatever hold they had.
Across the room, Faith found herself suddenly hoisted a good two feet in the air as an unusual sensation of coldness began wrap itself around her scalp. Though quite unnerved, the young brunette found herself recalling the lessons Giles had taught her earlier. She didn’t have to see it to feel it. Closing her eyes and trying to calm her breathing, she reached out with her slayer senses and releasing a loud grunt kicked as hard as she could at the area that caused the strongest tingling. As a hiss sounded disturbingly close to her ear, she knew she had connected and as proof she fell to the ground. Quickly standing, she found herself sparring with a completely invisible enemy. Keeping her eyes shut, one thought echoed in her mind. Giles really did know what he was doing.
After she laid about 30 of the demons out with the axe Buffy saw that the other two slayers seemed ok again. She smiled until she felt something hit her in the back. She cried out and whipped her head around to find one of the demons that she hadn’t quite put down for the count, had taken the opportunity scratch her. It stared deep into her eyes and without a second’s hesitation she swung the axe thereby dislodging its head from its neck. A thick purplish blood, splattered onto her arm and stomach. As the next wave launched at them, claws slashing, the older Buffy and Faith followed her lead as they too ripped the decorative medieval weapons from their mountings. The demons only got a few, though quite painful, hits in from then on in.
After an intense exchange of blows, Faith finally felt she was gaining some real ground. She blocked a kick, she threw the being, she blocked a punch, and she threw a punch, which was unexpectedly caught. The brunette slayer felt herself being pulled in and a sudden coldness on the right side of her chest, which traveled up her neck and around her head. She tried, unsuccessfully, to pull away but the grip was like iron. A breathy, wind like voice sounded inside her, seeming to bounce around her mind before she fully comprehended its meaning.
“You can’t win.” And with that a pulse of blue light erupted from the center of Faith’s chest throwing her clear across the room. As soon as this occurred, every demon stopped and retreated just as quickly and unexpectedly as they had entered.
The younger Buffy had turned just in time to see her girlfriend fly across the room and connect solidly with the stone wall. Stumbling over to the girl who was coughing and seemed quite short of breath, she dropped to a sitting position.
“Faith, are you… God, are you ok?” She croaked out, rubbing the brunette’s back. Another series of coughs and gasps, though more subdued than the first, came from her. Finally catching her breath, she ran a shaky hand through her hair.
“Yeah…” She calmed down a bit. “Yeah I’m fine B…” As she turned to face the blonde, she saw a small puddle forming behind the woman. “Shit Buffy, you’re bleeding.” Worriedly she crawled behind the girl, finding a large wound on her lower back still seeping blood. Stripping off her top she pressed it firmly against the wound.
“You’re hurt.” The rather large bruise forming just below the brunette slayer’s right shoulder concerned Buffy. The blonde slayer reached out and caressed the shoulder just near the injury, while Faith continued to hold the shirt firm and staunch the bleeding. They stared into each other’s eyes.
“FUCK.” They heard the yell from upstairs and recognized the voice as belonging to the older Faith. They heard two sets of feet stampeding down the stair well. The middle-aged women stopped at the bottom looking near panicked. The brunette pushed out words, between her clenched teeth. “They came in upstairs too…” Taking a deep breath she continued as she cradled a familiar hunting knife in her hand. “They have Alex and Dawn.”
Disclaimer: I own almost nothing in this story and a scene in this section
is taken directly from the episode "Intervention" (although slightly altered
to fit the specifications of my plot). In conclusion, I'm a poor college
student who can only dream about owning something as profitable as a
successful television series or any of its characters…
Notes: I'm not sure if any of you are in the same predicament as I, but I am
always the last to know. Needless to say when I brought my new chapter on
disk to my Internet connected computer with the intention of posting about a
week and a half ago, I was in for a surprise. I found that my living room
had no walls and all the furniture was piled in the middle of the room,
everything completely unplugged. Apparently no one thought it would be
important to tell me that we were re-plastering the room over the next week
or so. Anywho! The point of that little story was to introduce my apology
for the longer than anticipated wait! So I apologize.
Notes Continued: This is a transition chapter that relies far more heavily
on the developing relationships between the characters than the plot line.
“What the fuck do we do?” Faith asked worriedly.
“What can we do?” Answered Buffy. “We don’t know where they are or how many of those demon things there are…”
“And you two aren’t looking in any shape to fight.” The older brunette commented, looking at the bruised and bleeding girls. Her and the elder blonde had a few scratches, but nothing of comparable severity. “Looks like we wait till morning”
“I hate waiting.” The younger brunette mumbled as she attempted to stand up, only to have a powerful wave of dizziness overwhelm her. Shaking her head slightly, she rubbed her temples.
The pained silence bearing down on them, was broken up by the shrill ring of a nearby cordless. Getting up more slowly (this time with success) Faith fumbled with the phone for a second before getting it on. The others waited patiently.
“Hello?”
<Faith.>
“Oh hey C.” There was a change in the atmosphere of the room, a little of the tension dissipating.
<Angel is coming.>
“What? Why?”
<I had another vision. He was in it this time, you two were fighting this demon energy thing.>
“The two of us were? Me and Angel?” She was stunned as fragments of the prophecy flew through her mind… a warrior of night that stands at her side… twin soul…
<Yup. He’ll be there tomorrow.>
“Oh, thanks for the heads up!”
<Hey are you ok?>
“They got ‘em C.”
<What?>
“The two girls.” There was a certain hopeless, defeated quality to her voice, which worried the seer and everyone else in the room.
<Oh no…>
“I got to go.”
<Faith…>
“Yeah?”
<Be careful. Ok?>
“You know me.”
<Bye.>
“Bye” She hung up the phone a heaved a deep sigh before stating the obvious. “This is so fucking bad.”
Tara sat on the end of the bed watching a dejected Willow stewing in her anger. Sighing as she collected herself, she voiced what had been bothering her since Faith first returned. “I honestly don’t understand this.”
“Huh?” The redheaded witch looked up, her green eyes meeting concerned blue ones.
“Explain it to me Wills, cause I don’t understand at all.” The blonde was obviously quite upset and her girlfriend took notice. She moved closer.
“What don’t you understand?”
“Why?” Willow understood instantly. Sympathy for the dark slayer was the really the last thing she wanted to deal with right now, but she tried to keep any harshness she was feeling out of her voice.
“I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again! She’s evil, Tara.”
“No, if that were true she w-wouldn’t try as hard as she is to m-make things right.” The blonde answered quietly, nervously. Anger was never an emotion she felt at ease with, not even when it belonged to her.
“You didn’t see her before.” Willow answered, doubt creeping into her voice. “She killed people, she held me at knife point… with a knife! I’d say that’s big with the evil!” Stopping for a second she added “She doesn’t deserve any of this! Especially Buffy.”
“Y-you’re trying so hard to m-make yourself believe that…. And th-that’s what I don’t understand.” Again the words were spoken quietly, nervously. Confrontational situations were extremely difficult for her to deal with. “Why?”
“Because she…” The redhead deflated, any righteousness in the words she was about to say quickly faded. “I don’t know.”
Tara silently thought over the situation, looking for any angle she missed. She was sure that it was more than mere jealousy and anger. She’s considered the fact that maybe the two girls just rubbed each other the wrong way, but it seemed more than that too. In all honesty, she just didn’t understand.
“You can tell me anything you know…” She tried. Her nervousness had faded with the other witch’s anger. Reaching over the small distance between them, she took Willow’s hand in her own. “Anything.”
“I…I know.”
“B keep still.” Faith commanded, leaning over the wounded girl. They were in the upstairs bedroom, where they had been staying the past couple nights. The older versions of themselves had taken up residence in Alex’s old room, tending to their few scratches. After all, infection is a very real danger when one fights as much as slayers do. Buffy was lying on her stomach, shirt removed for the sake of ease, while Faith diligently worked at cleaning the wound on her back.
“I’m trying!” She answered somewhat aggravated. Willow was angry with her, they had been attacked, Dawn and Alex were gone, and now Faith was doing things that stung and telling her not to squirm. All in all? Not a great day and the night wasn’t looking too promising either.
“It’s not that bad… not bad enough to need stitches anyway.” The dark slayer stretched the truth a bit for the other. The reason that she didn’t need stitches was not because the wound wasn’t that severe, but rather the angle at which the claws had made contact. It looked like the demon had taken off the first few layers of skin. As such the wound resembled a deep and rather large skinned knee. To Faith, it seemed more like the blonde had been whacked with baseball bat covered in heavy grade sandpaper than scratched. Maybe she wasn’t then… maybe the skin on those demons was a lot rougher than it looked. “It's gonna be tender.”
Buffy watched from her position on the mattress as the girl got up and made her way to the vanity, gathering up some gauze, medical tape, and whatever else she needed. The brunette was still shirtless, and the blonde couldn’t help the goofy grin that formed on her face as she traced the lines of her taunt stomach and the exceptionally nice way her breasts rested in that black bra which oddly matched her leather pants…Faith looked damn fine in leather pants… Faith looked damn fine in general. Better than damn fine, she looked beautiful. Maybe tonight wouldn’t be so terrible…
Catching the stare, the brunette only raised an eyebrow as she stood still a moment. “Don’t get any ideas B, I’m not done fixing you up yet.” She warned, popping open the case of medical tape and bandages as she made her way back to the bed.
“You spoil all my fun.” She pouted and Faith chuckled. Humor was the best remedy for tough situations they say…
“I said yet… there’ll be time afterwards.” She smirked, expecting the blonde to blush or at least be embarrassed.
“I’m holding you to that.” Perhaps Buffy still had a few surprises up her sleeve.
“…I…” Instead it was the brunette who was getting all flustered, much to her own chagrin.
“Faith, relax.” She responded, chuckling softly.
Carefully dressing the wound, the younger woman coughed before changing the subject “Sit up, if you want this to stay I’m gonna have to wrap it all the way around.”
Obediently Buffy sat up, trying desperately not to react to the feeling of Faith’s bare skin touching hers. Her fingertips were softer than the blonde expected them to be. Apparently it was a losing battle because as soon as the brunette secured the bandage, the blonde slid her hands over the other girl’s.
Silently she watched the two pairs of hands now sitting in her lap. Faith seemed surprisingly ok with it and even moved to accommodate by stretching her legs out on either side of the girl, giving her room to get comfortable. Buffy rubbed her thumbs over the skin on the top of the brunette’s hand, as she asked a question that had been swimming restlessly in her mind searching for some sort of absolution.
“Do you think she’s ok?”
“Dawn?” Faith’s voice was gentle and soothing and sounded almost foreign coming from her.
“Both of them.”
Perching her head on the blonde girl’s shoulder, she answered. “Yeah I do and we’ll get them back. I’ll get them back, B. I promise.” The determination in the slayer’s voice was strangely reassuring. A comfortable quiet hung about them for a few more minutes.
“I told Wills.”
“Oh did you call her? Can they do some location spells or some shit?” Although that was not what she was referring to, Buffy stored the useful information for a later date.
“Not about them.”
“Then what did you…oh.” The blonde slayer felt Faith swallow hard against her shoulder blade. “How’d she take it?” The other girl’s silence was answer enough.
Buffy felt the brunette tense and try to withdraw, so she tightened her hold. “Please don’t.”
“B maybe this isn’t…” The dark slayer looked down.
“Don’t finish that sentence. Cause it is.” Turning around slowly (so as not to upset her wound), the blonde caught Faith’s eyes. “I know it is… cause I love you.”
“I…” Looking into the eyes of her now girlfriend, she swallowed the uncertainty mounting at the back of her throat. Maybe it wasn’t so ridiculous to think this could last. Hell, stranger things have happened she found herself thinking. However, the uneasiness would not die. It swirled about her stomach, mimicking the flight of a butterfly. “Red’s your best friend though…”
“I know and that’s exactly why she’ll be ok with it…Eventually.” She added as an afterthought. Granted Buffy was upset that Willow had reacted badly, but she never considered it would end their friendship, not after all they’d been through.
Heaving a sigh and looking down, Faith continued with a raw vulnerability that tugged at her sister slayer’s heart. “I just don’t want to screw it up again…”
“I don’t think you will, I think…” She paused. “Faith, look at me.” The brunette reluctantly obliged. “I think we’re finally getting this right.” Buffy cupped her girlfriend’s cheek as the brunette blinked away forming tears with frustration. “Trust me… ” She inched a little closer. “It’ll work out.” Repeating Faith’s earlier words, she finished with a smile. “I promise.”
“Yeah?” The brunette smiled a bit.
“Yeah.” The blonde agreed, leaning in for a kiss.
Outside the room two figures watched quietly, smiles on their faces.
“Well done B.” The brunette woman congratulated the blonde next to her.
“I’m certainly proud.” The woman answered, she turned to her partner wearing a lop-sided grin. “Never knew I was good with stuff like that.”
“Come on, you’re wicked good at stuff like that.” The older Faith answered, nudging her Buffy affectionately with her shoulder.
“Aww, thanks…” She smiled, putting her arms around the taller woman’s waist. “Y’know” she began “I think they got the right idea… I could stand to forget a little while too.” The last part of her sentence held an air of melancholy. The brunette smiled somewhat sadly at her and nodded. They made their way down stairs.
The candlelight really did nothing to counter the dank atmosphere of Spike's crypt. Pillars stood, clearly outlined as well as a single well-used armchair. On the floor two figures, a man and a woman, lay on their sides. He spooned her from behind, his arm resting on her side, while a pink fitted sheet covered them. The man’s hair was in a complete state of disarray making the activities of the past hour or so apparent.
“You're evil.” She said, quite matter-of-factly.
Containing a smile, he answered in a manner he knew her programming would accept. His object being to preserve what little realism the situation possessed. “And that excites you?”
“It excites me, it terrifies me ... I try so hard to resist you and I can't.” Perhaps not the way she would have actually phrased it, but the message was exactly what he so desired to hear. She wanted him.
Grinning, only half at her words he questioned, “Yeah?”
“Darn your sinister attraction.” It was said with a sauciness just slightly overdone.
Becoming serious, he asked something that he had been quite concerned over as of late. “Are you afraid of me?”
With an exaggerated smile, the robot responded in the affirmative. “Yes”.
Thinking on her answer, he continued quietly. “You know I can't bite you.” It was still true, regardless of the fact that the superficial source of his restraint had been extracted. Spike could never, if it did actually come to it. He knew, despite the ego blow it caused, that he would have to end her in a far less personal way… a way where he could forget or pretend.
“I think you can. I think you can if I let you, and I want to let you. I want you to bite me and devour me until there's no more.” He was somewhat surprised by the answer, but only faltered a moment before falling back into the world the bot created for him.
Smiling he complied, biting lightly, gently at her neck. “Like this?”
The robot version of the slayer answered his smile with a bright one of her own. “Oh, Spike, devour me!”
“All right.” He conceded, laying her on her back and coming over her.
“Spike, I can't help myself. I love you.” She was so achingly close real, so achingly close to being Buffy and she loved him.
Expressing feelings that refused to dim, even with his newly restored vampire status, he said simply. “You're mine, Buffy.” He was losing himself in the fantasy.
“Should I start this program over?” In that instant, with those words it all shattered, as did his smile. It wasn't real.
Attempting to salvage the remnants of his shattered illusion, he hushed her. “Shh! No programs. Don't use that word. Just be Buffy.” The pleading in his voice was barely concealed. The blonde robot only smiled.
“So this pretty much sucks huh?” Alex commented, kicking a small pebble in Dawn’s general direction. She sighed heavily, testing the bonds on her hands for the umpteenth time to find them still quite secure. This was most definitely not good. The prophecy was seemingly accurate, which was to say the least distressing as that would point towards her and Dawn being sacrificed. A less than pleasing idea…
“Yup.” Dawn agreed, attempting not to freak out. Not only had she been abducted by extremely creepy black demons, which were at this moment staring at her, but they insisted on leaving a record single on constant repeat. It was some old song, not unpleasant, but after the 50th time it was beginning to get on their nerves. To make matters worse those same demons insisted on humming in a strange little robotic way to it.
“Look, I don’t mean to intrude or anything, but can you shut that damn thing off!” Alex had had it with this. If she was going to be held captive the least they could do was not annoy her. It was only polite after all. Besides that, she was reasonably sure that she was close to developing a facial tick. The demons did not even make the slightest movement to acknowledge they’d heard her. They merely continued to hum and returned to what looked like grooming each other.
“They enjoy ‘Twilight Time’. They find it soothing. It helps them to clear their minds and focus.” Ah yes! ‘Twilight time’ was the name of the song. She knew she’d heard it before but that wasn’t important. What was important right now was that the voice had seemingly come from nowhere.
“Who’s there?”
“You needn’t concern yourself with that.”
“Uh huh. Translation: you’re that crazy demon.” Perhaps she was giving it a little sass, but she was well aware that for its plan it needed her alive.
“I said… you needn’t concern yourself with that.” The voice itself was rather strange. It was discernibly female, but sounded almost as if it had been filtered through air or carried on the wind. It made the tiny hairs inside her ear tickle.
“Well then what need I concern myself with?” The silence that greeted her was somewhat unsettling, until it was disrupted by the sounds of the record player skipping back to the beginning. The string introduction began.
Heavenly shades of night are falling; it's twilight time.
Out of the mist your voice is calling, it's twilight time
Sighing she yelled out exactly what Dawn herself was thinking. “Could you at least turn it down?”
When purple colored curtains mark the end of day,
I hear you, my dear, at twilight time.
Downstairs two figures lay silently on a queen-sized mattress upon covers still unmade from the night before. Next to them sat a small backpack filled with random items, some logical, some not that logical, packed as preparation for their daughter’s trip. One of the figures sat idly toying with the hand-carved wooden handle of a hunting knife. The other stared motionless at the ceiling.
“It’s not your fault Faith.” The body language of the brunette had spoken volumes. A small noncommittal grunt was the only response from the slayer. Her partner’s mood had become noticeably and increasingly heavy ever since they had entered Alex’s old room. The blonde placed the blade gently on a nearby bedside table, before rolling on her side to face the other woman. “It isn’t.”
“I was the one who was all cool with sending her here, you thought it was a bad idea from the beginning B.” She spoke quietly and matter-of-factly. Moving the backpack, Buffy scooted even closer to the slayer, sitting cross-legged next to her lover’s head.
“And you were supposed to realize that Willie’s message was alcohol induced before he even knew?” She asked as she ran fingers through dark brown tresses.
“You did…” Faith answered, a shame lingering in her voice.
“I didn’t. I’m just overly cautious.” The blonde woman responded playfully. “I’m still the same girl you met all those years ago, it’s just the stick up my ass is slightly shorter, which is actually of the good because it makes sitting much more comfortable.”
Chuckling silently the brunette looked at Buffy. “Have I ever told you you’re wicked strange B?”
“I think you've mentioned it once or twice, yes, but you’re not exactly Miss Normal USA.” The blonde smiled at her mischievously. “Eh that’s OK though, I like you the way you are, even if that means I’m married to a biker chick with a teenie bopper soul.”
“Y’know I’m desperately seeking comfort and all you're giving me is names and jabs. You called me a pervo earlier and NOW you make fun of my appreciation for NKOTB???” She questioned with mock incredulity. Feigning hurt, the brunette turned on her side giving the blonde the cold shoulder. “… I think there’s a couch in the living room with your name on it.”
“Aww baby, they were very talented. Much better than any of those other copy-cat boy bands…”
“Damn straight.” Faith muttered to herself, smiling. However it quickly faded as her mind brought back all the feelings that had been floating around inside her for the past hour. Buffy watched as the other woman’s shoulders fell and her entirely body seemed to sink hopelessly into the mattress. Sensing it was time to be serious again she cuddled up to the brunette, using her slightly higher position on the bed to counteract her height disadvantage as she held her wife.
“Alex doesn’t blame you and neither do I,” she said softly against the other woman’s ear. “They don’t either you know.”
“Buffy if I hadn’t convinced you she’d be fine here, hell if I’d just thought about…” The blonde chewed her lip worriedly. Faith only used her full name when she was truly serious.
“Faith you’ve saved her life more times than I could count…”
“So it’s ok that I ended it.” She finished with a somewhat defeated quality, which sent a cold shiver down her partner’s spine.
“Don’t you dare get pessimistic on me… not about this.” Faith had known she was entering dangerous territory with that comment but she couldn’t reign in her lack of confidence. “We’ll get her back.” There was steeled conviction in the blonde slayer’s voice.
A prolonged silence filled the air, as both women lay lost in thought. “I just don’t think I could fucking take it Buffy, if something … if she… and especially if it was because of me…”
“Nothing that happened was your fault, if there was any fault it belongs with Willie.”
“I could have fought harder or something, I could have done…” The brunette felt herself being turned over and forced to face the blonde as she spoke. “…Something”
“Faith there wasn’t anything you could have done, and none of that matters, the only stuff that matters is what we can still do now. We’ll get her back, baby, both of them. I promise.”
“Yeah?” The dark slayer smirked a bit at the familiarity of the situation.
“Yeah.” Buffy smiled bringing her lips to the other woman’s. They shared a soft, gentle kiss, which was soon proceeded by far longer, far deeper kisses, kisses that were not confined merely to lips, kisses that only served to strengthen their need for each other, for physically.
Drawing in a shuddering breath, Faith looked at the ceiling with darkening eyes. “Y’know that forgetting you mentioned earlier?”
“Mmm hmm?” The latter part of the response vibrated against the sensitive skin of the younger woman’s neck, causing her eyelids to momentarily flutter and low, soft moan to rumble from her chest. The brunette found it difficult to construct coherent strings of thought as her partner positioned herself on all fours over her, a hand now joining her lips in their exploration.
“I…we should…uh… BUFFY!” Smiling at Faith’s reaction, the blonde retracted her hand. Deciding against teasing the other woman any further, she simply leaned down. In between nibbling and kissing her ear, she chuckled soft and low before answering with a definite smile.
“I think that’s a fine idea.”
“So did it hurt or anything?” Faith asked, stroking her fingers gently through blonde hair. Buffy’s head was cradled in crook of Faith’s un-bruised shoulder as she lay on her side cuddled up to the other girl. It was incredibly soft and the shampoo she used had a strong, but pleasant smell. The brunette was finding the scent and velvety texture quite relaxing.
“No, it kinda feels like getting goose bumps.” She answered, rubbing softly with the hand that lie on the dark slayer’s bare ribcage. They had yet to leave the bed since her wound had been cleaned. Neither girl bothered to get another shirt, theirs having been sacrificed to the fight.
“Still glad they didn’t have to cast one on me.” There was something necessary about the physical contact between them, though they had no knowledge of why. Perhaps it was about comfort, perhaps about quiet or forgetting… either or, it was needed. A comfortable silence surrounded them as they just lay together. “B?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you OK with Angel coming?”
“If Cordy had a vision that he should be here, well I can’t argue with the PTBs.” The little blonde shrugged against Faith’s shoulder.
“I mean do you want… we don’t have to tell him about us or anything if you don’t want to is all I’m saying.”
“Why wouldn’t I want to?”
“I don’t know.” However, the look in the brunette’s eyes said otherwise.
“I’m with you, not him.” Buffy’s face was a picture of confusion. “If you don’t want me to tell him I won’t, Faith.”
“No, I’m ok with it, mostly cause he already knows how I feel about you.”
“Does he?” The blonde turned surprised eyes to her partner.
“He called me on it. We talked…” Sighing, Faith looked at the ceiling. “I just don’t want it to mess things up between you two.”
“It wouldn’t, and there really isn’t the two of us anymore. We pretty much realized it’s never gonna work when he left for LA. Honestly, I’m much more worried about the telling Xander.”
“Really?”
“I mean you two have like a history.”
The brunette chuckled softly. “One night isn’t a history B, if anything it’s a footnote. Besides, I somehow can’t see him really being bothered by it… at least not in the way you meant.”
Buffy’s expression was half disgusted and half amused. “Ew, but no I guess I can’t really either.”
Looking nervous, Faith asked another question she had been concerned about since pretty much the origin of their relationship. “What about your mom B?”
“I don’t know yet, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Watching her girlfriend, the blonde was taken aback by how uncomfortable the other girl seemed with the idea. “You don’t want to tell her?”
“I just… I’ve never had to meet the parents before.”
Buffy laughed softly. “You’ve met my mom, she’s not that bad.”
“No your mom’s cool B, but the Summers women, well they are dangerous when crossed, hell even the kid has already got the glare down…” The blonde leaned over, chuckling softly and kissed Faith’s lips before settling back into her arms. Again they rested silently with each other for a few moments.
“Faith?”
“Mm?”
“If you had a choice… would you be a slayer?” Buffy asked it with some hesitance. She thought about it often, but maybe it wasn’t even a question for the other girl. She waited quietly while Faith considered the question.
“I don’t think so.” She answered quietly, with a lack of certainty that calmed the blonde’s fears. “It’s too much sometimes y’know… maybe I don’t do it right or whatever, but sometimes… I just wanna screw up and know that it’ll be ok, but I dunno… I’m a slayer, it means I screw up and people die, I know that now” she added that last part quietly “… I miss my mark or I get my ass kicked or can’t hold my own and it could be like the big ending… it’s just too much.”
“Yeah, I know. I wouldn’t be one either.” The shorter woman said almost shamefully, but in agreement as she began nudging at the other girl’s ankles with her toes. They had long since kicked off their shoes and pushed off their socks, so the foot now creeping into the brunette’s pant leg was bare.
“Your feet are wicked cold.” Faith commented. However she made no indications that she had any intention of moving.
“Your legs are warm” Buffy answered smiling a bit and inching her foot just a little deeper inside the leather. Snuggling closer she added as a whispered afterthought. “Your entire body is warm.”
She felt that heat on her hand and in every place where their bodies were in close proximity. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just pleasant enveloping… like a blanket on a winter’s day. She remembered Angel at this moment, how cool his skin was, how strange it felt to touch, what it served to remind her every time they were close. Riley had been warmer, but not soft, not as comfortable, not like Faith.
The brunette was meanwhile willing the blonde not to look up, for fear she’d see the slight blush creeping onto her cheeks. It was odd, at least in the brunette’s opinion that Buffy could make her blush. She could not remember ever blushing about anything. She felt her face grow redder as the smaller girl stretched slightly against her side and then cuddled even closer to her.
“Faith?”
“Yeah B?” The brunette answered, trying to ignore the stirring that the feeling of Buffy’s breath on her neck was causing.
“Do you hear that?”
“What?” She listened intently, instantly more alert. A small sound could be heard, not loud enough to identify. “Yeah…” They both sat up a bit more, heads cocked to the side, focused expressions on both of their faces as they disentangled themselves from one another.
“Do you think one of those little demons could still be in the house?” the blonde asked cautiously.
“I don’t know B” Slowly the brunette padded to the heavy oak door that closed off the bedroom from the rest of the house. Buffy sat upright on the bed preparing herself to rush downstairs if need be. Faith inched the door open, the sound becoming clearer with each creak of the old hinges.
“UHHHhhhhhhhh.” Both girls’ eyebrows shot upward (though for entirely different reasons), as the distinctly audible groan filtered into the upstairs room. The huskiness of the sound gave no doubt as to its owner.
The blonde slayer was up and ready to go on the offensive within seconds, whereas the brunette was standing still holding the door handle a blush painting her features and the beginnings of a smirk twitching on her lips.
“Jesus, we should have checked the mansion. We better get down there Faith, before those demons…”
“OH GOD…UH.” This time it was slightly louder, an unmistakable grunt added to the end.
“…Give alternate dimension you an incredible orgasm.” She finished, an embarrassed and surprised look adorned her features.
“BUFFY!!!” Both girls could have sworn that the echo from the scream hung about and bounced off the walls for a full ten minutes, which was only half the amount of time that a deep red occupied their cheeks.
“This is the longest FREAKING night of my entire life.” Dawn grumbled, slumping to the pounded dirt floor. As the record player yet again skipped to the beginning, an overdramatic sob erupted from her crumpled form. “Kill me.”
“No good, can’t reach you.” Mumbled the other brunette against her forearm. She sat a good three inches away and moving more than a millimeter was strictly out of the question. Her head rolled and drooped lethargically, against the crossed arms that rested atop her knees. Bloodshot eyes were thankfully hidden by the shadows of the cave.
“This is worse than my US History class…” The younger Summers' girl commented, staring at the ground. “OH! Another pretty rock.” The excitement was obviously born out of over-tiredness.
“Yeah? Kick it over here.” Dawn lazily kicked the stone in the general direction of the other girl.
“That is a pretty rock.” Alex agreed, nudging it into the building pile of ‘pretty rocks’ they had accumulated over a period of time the two girls would have estimated as decades, but was in actuality about four hours.
She watched Dawn, as the girl lay seemingly lost in deep thought. “You know it’s too bad we aren’t outside and near a highway or there would be various travel games to play…’cause even the license plate game is sounding like big fun right about now.”
Alex chuckled softly, drawing idly in the dirt with her booted foot. “Having my arms slowly and painfully torn from my body is sounding like big fun right about now…”
“Or going deaf…”
“Yeah that would probably be more enjoyable…” She agreed as the record skipped to the beginning again. “Even desirable.”
“Definitely…” Dawn nodded in concurrence, her eyes lids slipping lower with the heaviness of them. “I guess being made of mystical stuff has its drawbacks, what with making me much more prone to being kidnapped…”
“I hear that.”
“You’ve been kidnapped before too?” She inquired curiously.
“Yup, but they usually don’t have me for more than twenty though before mom and Buffy get them or Wills burns them up…” She answered around both a smile and a yawn.
“Pretty much the same here.” The young brunette smiled. “I guess she’s a pretty ok sister.”
Without warning the record player was turned off, causing each of the girls to wake up considerably. Eyes somewhat alert they watched as the black demons cleared the room.
“That wasn’t so bad now was it?” They didn’t need to see the face that went with voice to know there was a smirk adorning it. Neither dignified the jab with a response. “So serious? No sense of humor? No smart remark?” Again both sat silently and merely watched what appeared to be empty air within the cave. “You know the music was actually to calm them, your annoyance was just an added bonus.” They heard a sigh, carried in the air itself, floating through their ears. “Fine then, shall we just get down to it?”
“To what?” Alex was surprised by the calm in her voice. In spite of her faith in the slayers and her parents, her nerves and uneasiness were nearly impossible to quell. Her eyes followed the sound of soft padding across the ground.
“I’ll need something from both of you if I am to remain on schedule.” She chuckled softly and the sound was quite unexpectedly pleasant. “I’m well aware you will give nothing to me by conscious consent, you needn’t tell me so. I have made provisions to accommodate my needs.”
“The restraints?” Alex asked warily. Dawn seemed to have no desire to speak to the creature at all and remained intently quiet throughout the entire encounter as she had during the last.
“Smart girl.” The amused tone left the child of the slayers feeling just a bit less confident, especially with the new proximity of the enemy. The last answer had sounded remarkably close to her head. A few seconds later, she felt a cold breath of wind on her face followed by the sounds of retreating footsteps.
“Are you ok?” She asked her companion, in a hushed whisper.
“What? Yeah… yeah.” Dawn answered. “She’s just a little hard to look at for long periods of time, like yellow highlighter… it would probably help if I had some sunglasses… it’s most likely doing some serious damage to our… eyes? Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked, taking in the other girl’s astonished and dumbfounded expression.
“You can see her?” The fierce whisper was interrupted by the sudden intrusion of what looked, to Alex, like a floating silver basin coming round the corner. Out of the left side hung the craved handle of ornamental knife. Thinking it best to not answer that question and retain whatever small advantages the two of them still possessed, the key was silent.
The psychic girl watched as the knife rose out of the basin and felt herself being turned around. A slight chill covered her hand as she felt the knife penetrate the tip of one of her fingers. Her sharp intake of breath nearly masked the soft sound of dripping blood hitting the silver dish.
Dawn swallowed nervously trying to remain under control. She only winced, closing her eyes as the knife made contact and her blood swirled and joined Alex’s in the basin. The sound of clanging metal caught her attention as did the feeling of cold iron around her wrists. Opening her eyes, she saw that both her and Alex had been shackled and the same knife was now being used to cut away the rope that had held their hands.
Picking up the basin, the demon spoke. “You should be able to sleep more comfortably with those.” It was true, their mobility had been greatly increased.
After a few seconds passed, Dawn spoke around the finger she was nursing. “She’s gone.”
He sat on the edge of the bed in his uncomfortable hotel room watching the phone intently. He only had about a week left before it would be too late. She would call, unless he hadn’t give the card. Why wouldn’t he though? A business card never hurt anything. He found himself wishing once again that his late employer had not been so intent on everything going to the young slayer. Faith had proven more than difficult to find, let alone contact. If he hadn’t loved Maggie as dearly as his partner Mr. James did, he was sure that this near impossible quest would have been abandoned three times over by now. Perhaps she wasn’t even in town, perhaps Mr. Giles had been telling the truth…
The loud ring of the hotel phone jarred him and it took a few seconds for him to register that it need to be answered. This assignment was by far the most mentally exhausting of his career.
“Hello, this is Mr. Hendrik speaking.”
<Mr. Hendrik?>
“Emma! Why hello! How are things at the office?” His secretary’s cheeriness always seemed to have a positive to effect on him. Remembering her lovely chestnut hair and bright sunshine smile also helped considerably.
<Going quite well sir, but I called because that girl that you’ve been trying so hard to find called the office this morning.>
“Faith Ryan??” He leaned backward, the surprise overwhelming him.
<Yes, that’s her!>
“Well heavens what did she say?” So she was indeed in Sunnydale.
<I think she is considering actually calling you sir, I did explain that it was to do with the probate.>
“Did you? Good then, I shall redouble my efforts.” The confidence he once possessed returned in full force. “Thank you so much Emma.”
<My pleasure, Mr. Hendrik…>
“Please dear, call me Ewan…” He muttered conversationally, uncharacteristically unconcerned about the lack of properness.
<Ewan.> Just as he thought. The name from her lips sounded wonderful. <Well good night sir… I mean Ewan.>
“Yes good night!” His normally tight smile, expanded to stretch well across his face. As he loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collared shirt, he felt the weight of responsibility and failure that had been threatening to crush him for the past week, begin to slowly lift.
Tara watched the clock on the microwave as another minute passed. It was now 12:34 and this was her third cup of tea this evening. Normally the warm, fragrent liquid served to calm her easily excited nerves but for all the herbal she downed nothing sat still within her. She drummed her fingers against the ceramic mug noticing its advertised ergonomic design did in fact fit her hand quite naturally.
Her thoughts were on a particular redhead who was currently plugging away at her laptop, searching for any possible information that could help them against the latest threat to humanity. By now, the blonde was aware that Willow researched and immersed herself in her studies for reasons that were not always educational. In fact she was quite sure that this bout of web surfing was brought on by the Faith situation.
She too was uncomfortable with it, although admittedly not for the same reasons. Willow’s main concerns revolved around the dark slayer herself, at least ostensibly, whereas hers were focused on a different person entirely. It was disconcerting to say the least, to see the redhead acting as she had around the brunette. Tara had never seen her behave so callously or judgmentally. She honestly believed the two were making progressed after Faith had apologized, but the newly revealed relationship between the two slayers apparently set the two girls back to square one. The blonde considered perhaps Willow was deathly afraid of loosing Buffy’s friendship, but the reaction just didn’t fit. It was wholly frustrating dilemma.
“Find anything?” Tara asked softly, taking another sip, the neutrality of her voice sounding noticeably forced.
Slipping the pen she had been jotting notes down with behind her ear, Willow turned to look at her girlfriend. “Not too much, just a few spells of the potentially helpful variety.” She sighed, closing the laptop. “Tara…”
The wicca turned her eyes on her partner in such a way as to suggest that the other girl had her full attention.
“I’ve been thinking…” The hacker began.
“Oh?” She asked interestedly.
“Other dimension Buffy and Faith… they looked kinda happy didn’t they?” Finishing, she looked to the other girl for reassurance.
“Very happy.”
“Happy is a good thing.” Willow said nodding to herself, before half-smiling at Tara. “Especially love type happy.”
“Mmm… yes.” She nodded in agreement taking yet another sip.
“And if Buffy chooses to be with Faith cause she gets the happy from her then I should be happy for their happy right?”
It took the blonde a minute to compute exactly what it was her love had said. “Sounds logical.”
“Even if the happy comes from a girl who got in five minutes the best friends it took me years to get.” She mumbled it more than said it.
Tara stared questioningly across the table. “You think she took Buffy and Xander from you?”
“No… well no in a yes sort of way.”
“Honey… they were most definitely always your friends.”
“I know…” Willow responded, explanations that she was afraid to consciously acknowledge swimming in her brain. There was a definite unspoken ‘but’ in the air.
The blonde watched the other girl curiously. Knowing full well that Xander and Faith had slept together, she asked a question that had occurred to her once or twice. “Is this about your crush on Xander?”
“Crush that I at one time, but no longer have on the childhood friend Xander… and no well yes well maybe.” She sighed laying her head on the table, clearly confused.
A smile so laced with amusement as to border on a smirk, appeared on Tara’s unaccustomed features. “Is this about your crush on Buffy then?”
Willow bolted upright, her face a mask of fearful surprise. “WHAT? I didn’t… I never… crushed on…what?”
“So it’s about both of them…” Tara surmised, speaking more to herself than anyone else. Seeing her girlfriend was apparently on the verge of seizure, she moved closer. “Wills, it’s ok… I’ve known for a long time.”
“But I never… I don’t… how?”
“I could just see it.” She answered. Feeling the nervousness begin to mount, she tried with all her might to suppress the stutters creeping up her vocal chords.
“Tara I… but, I love you.”
Caught of guard the blonde moved to lock her eyes with Willow’s. “I know that honey. I don’t see it anymore, and I’m not worried or anything.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. I just want you to feel ok.” Tara smiled a bit. “So how do you feel?”
“Like a big hunk of jerk. I just… I don’t know. I mean I was a little geeky back then, maybe even frumpy, but it was like they just meant so much to me and I was with the raging adolescent angst and admiring from a far… I was getting comfortable with it even. Not that Oz wasn’t a good boyfriend… he was a great boyfriend besides the werewolf factor, but he wasn’t any them… Then Faith shows up and she’s beautiful, and sexy, and strong and all those things that I wasn’t and kinda wanted to be and it took like a day before Xander and Buffy were her biggest fans…”
“Made you insecure?” The blonde added quietly, realizing that this was most likely the first time Willow had said any of this out loud.
“Yeah, like big time.”
“And you hated her for it?”
“Well that and the whole hostage slash I’m all evil now thing, but mostly that… hence the feeling like a big hunk of jerk.” She said slumping in her chair. Realizing that the moral high ground she once believed herself to be standing on was nothing more than veiled insecurity was to say the least a rude awaking for Willow.
“You’re not a bad person honey, we all do stuff like that. Everyone needs to be selfish or petty once in awhile or else it just builds up.”
Looking disbelievingly at the blonde girl, the redhead shook her head. “Somehow I can’t imagine you being anything of the sort.”
Tara turned away a bit. “I was just a second ago.”
“How?”
Speaking quietly, the shy wicca answered. “I was glad it never worked out between you and Xander or you and Buffy…” The other girl watched her lover, waiting for an elaboration. “B-because” she stopped a second to relax. “Because if it had… you wouldn’t be my Willow.”
A brilliant smile crept onto the redhead’s face, her depression dissipating. “Always yours.” She whispered, leaning over to kiss her girlfriend. After it broke, the legendary resolve face made an appearance. “I should go apologize to them.”
Tara looked at her with eyes that spoke volumes. It was a gaze that the blonde witch seldom used, but its effectiveness was undeniable. Willow caught her breath before quickly adding. “Tomorrow, definitely tomorrow.” The smile that greeted this addition was beautiful, though not quite as breath-taking as the kiss the redhead soon found herself entirely engaged in.
“Well that was exceptionally awkward” Buffy stated.
Shrugging and deciding to make light of the situation, Faith smirked a bit. “Sounds like you’re good B. Takes a lot to make me scream like that.”
“Well I’m sure I’ve had lots of practice.” Buffy smirked back.
“Maybe you're just naturally talented.” The brunette suggested.
“We’ll have to wait and see won’t we…” The teasing tone in her voice was beginning to get the brunette. She didn’t want to rush this though. It was important. It meant something. It wasn’t just sex and there was something, nagging just at the back of her mind, something that was keeping her from moving forward. Perhaps that was why it was so hard for her to fit comfortably into her normal role as seductress. “You keep doing that…” The blonde commented.
“Doing what?” The dark slayer worried her bottom lip.
“Looking lost whenever I mention… or you mention…” Though Buffy didn’t say the words, it was clear what she was referring to.
“I um…” Faith looked off the to the side. “I just… I haven’t ever… and well… it’s um… fuck…that I...”
The blonde raised an eyebrow, smiling. “You’re babbling.”
“Shit B, I’m sorry… it’s…”
“Cute.” The shocked looked on the brunette’s face caused Buffy’s smile to grow even bigger. “It’s cute.” She moved closer to the other girl, putting her arms around her waist. Faith tried to ignore the feeling of the shorter girl’s breasts pressing against hers.
“I’ll be honest, you got me a little shook up B.” The slayer swallowed the lump in her throat.
“What little ole me?” She asked leaning deliberately closer, almost delighting in the nervous anticipation that shown from her girlfriend’s eyes. Softening and stepping it down a notch, she gently took the brunette’s cheek in her hand. “Don’t worry… when we do, we’ll take it slow.”
It was clear that Faith was quite embarrassed by the entire situation. Buffy found that lack of surety wholly endearing. Once again their lips met in a kiss that lasting quite a long time. When it finally broke the two slayers found themselves laying on the bed next to each other.
Buffy allowed the hand that had been resting on Faith’s cheek to slide down the brunette’s body. It brushed her breast and thereby caused her breathing to pick up. However, any further progress was halted by the discovery of a patch of scar tissue above her partner's navel. The dim, but warm light of the fireplace had kept it hidden until now.
“Faith…” The dark slayer heard the pain in the other girl’s voice. She knew Buffy had never seen it and the situation made her wish she was better with things like this.
“Hey B it’s ok.” She said as reassuringly as possible, reaching up to rub the other slayer’s cheek surprised to find tears there. Wiping them gently away with her thumb, she took the smaller woman in her arms and held her. “It’s ok.”
She soon felt the girl break away. The hand that had found the remnants of her wound was yet to be moved. The blonde’s eyes now joined fingers in studying the textured scarring. Almost as if they were trying to smooth it out, those same fingers traced the scar. The brunette watched, not knowing what to do or say as she felt an overwhelming amount of emotion flood her; emotion that was finally released in the form of tears when she felt soft lips kissing the skin in some attempt to sooth it away, to make amends.
“I’m sorry.” Faith felt more than heard the whisper against her stomach, mixing with the fallen tears running and pooling in the dip of her navel. “I never ever wanted it to go that far…”
“I know Buffy…” She reassured unsteadily. A fresh set of tears trailed down her cheeks, as she felt another series of soft reverent kisses along the scar.
“I’m sorry.” Again whispered, this time much more shaky.
“It’s ok B.” Buffy rested her head on the dark slayer’s stomach, as fingers trailed affectionately through her hair and whispered reassurances filled her ears.
With their tears ebbing and the heaviness of exhaustion descending upon them, Faith finally felt the last shades of apprehension concerning Buffy melt away. For the first time since her return, since her birth really, she felt truly comfortable, truly right. Sleep found them in this same position.
Alex’s eyes slowly opened as she found herself suddenly awake. She was less than pleased to find her cheek resting on cold, damp earth. Grimacing slightly, she pushed herself into a sitting position. Raising an eyebrow, she looked down at Dawn who was just rising herself. The young girl’s brown hair was sticking up at angles that the other had previously believed impossible.
“Rough night?” She joked.
The key merely squinted at her, rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes. A huge yawn and a stretch followed before she grumbled her response. “Not funny.”
Reaching into her jacket pocket Alex pulled out a tin. Popping one of the candies into her mouth, she offered the tin to Dawn. “Altoid?”
“Got anything else?” She responded, not sure was ready for such a large dose of peppermint.
The other girl fished around in her jacket until she found just a bit of fuzz. “Pocket lint?” She smirked, raising her eyebrows.
“Yuck, on second thought I’ll take the Altoid.” She grabbed one from the tin, and her eyes opened a bit wider as the tingle filled her mouth. Alex merely shrugged and flicked the pocket lint out of her hand.
“Good morning.”
“It’s too early for disembodied voices…” The brunette mumbled slipping the tin back into her jacket pocket.
“I trust you slept well?”
“What’s with that?” Was the irritated response.
“I’m sorry?” For the first time, the voice held no smugness or arrogance or marks of supposed superiority whatsoever.
Sighing exaggeratedly, Alex elaborated. “I trust you slept well, it’s none of your concern? Y’know the creepy butler speak?”
“I… it’s none of…” With an audible sigh, which caused a smirk to appear on the face of her questioner, she stopped herself. “I’m going out, I hope you don’t mind if I put on a little mood music?” As the voice now appeared to be moving to the record player in the far corner of the cave, expressions of shock and horror simultaneously appeared on Dawn and Alex.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” The teenagers more whined than anything else.
“I’m afraid I must. They get so rambunctious without the music.” She responded in a tone lacking any and all indication of sincere apology. “Unless…”
“Unless what?” Dawn asked, for the first time speaking to the voice.
“Well, I can see one other solution.” The tickle of amusement left the girls already half fearing this new possibility.
With sufficient wariness, Alex gently pried. “What did you have in mind?”
The air was inundated with the unsuppressed laughter of the demon. “Perhaps they might enjoy a sing-a-long?”
Buffy winced as the hot water streamed across the slash on her back. Taking a shower had been a challenge this morning. Not that challenges were necessarily a bad thing but when things that take only the intellectual and physical ability to wash one’s hair become labeled as such it is usually unpleasant. The positions she was forced to adopt in order to avoid having the jets of water directly hit her wound made her curse Angel’s fondness for multiple showerheads and give thanks for her natural limberness. In any case she found herself glad that she was near finished. The only issue still at hand would be re-dressing the wound and she was sure she could get Faith’s help. The thought brought a slight smile to her lips.
She remembered this morning and the pleasantness that waking up on a cool morning in a warm blanket brought. A pleasantness that was multiplied ten fold by the soft midsection she had slept on and the hand which gently brushing her hair away from her face. She smiled, as she tilted her head back.
After rinsing the last of the remaining conditioner from her hair, she shut the water off and reached out to grab a towel… a towel that apparently did not exist. Her eyes widening, she pulled the clear glass door back and looked. No towel. No towel? Wasn’t there a towel? Who doesn’t keep towels in their bathroom? She found herself thinking in a panic, though she provided herself with an answer almost immediately. People who live in a different city now that’s who. She cursed herself for not thinking to look before she stepped in. Her clothes from last night!… The clothes Faith had graciously grabbed to throw in the wash. She doubly cursed herself as she dubiously eyed a hand towel hanging over the sink.
As the nervousness continued to mount and the hot moisture-rich air of the bathroom began to take affect, a thought struck her. She was the slayer was she not? She ran fast, quite fast. She had done it before, once or twice when no one was home at her house and she forgot a towel… It was only a short sprint upstairs. As the sweat began to bead on her forehead (as well as far less tolerable places) from the steam left by her shower, a decision, the only feasible one in her mind, had been made. She, Buffy Summers, would make a run for it.
Using the hand towel to squeeze out her hair she listened carefully. Nothing, no sound. Perfect. The door was swung open and the sprint was underway.
However, before she even rounded the living room. The knocker of the front door echoed, followed by the sound of it being pulled open and a choking cough from the couch. In shock she froze.
“So I’m all ready… let’s get to saving the kiddies and kickin’ this big ba……ah oh” Xander stopped his chatting, as the group stepped through the threshold to the living room.
“Ba ah oh?” Willow repeated, looking at her childhood friend, confused by his bulging eyes and intense stare. That was until she looked into the room herself. “Oh. OH.” She too was immediately frozen in place, her face a flaming red matched perfectly by Tara who had the presence of mind to look away. Only her and a flustered watcher had done so.
The scene that greeted them was quite unexpected. In the center of the room stood a very naked, rather wet woman, a woman who they all knew quite well, looking just as shocked as they did. On the couch sat an equally stunned vampire, looking for all the world as though he was trying to look away only to find the vertebrae in his neck suddenly fused and his eyelids stapled open.
“What’s going on?” Asked the sleepy older Buffy, just coming into the room from a bedroom down the hall clad in her pajamas. She stopped mid yawn, slack jawed as she too processed the situation.
For her part the older version of Faith, having let all the guests in with no prior knowledge of Buffy’s intent to make a great naked dash to the upstairs bedroom, merely blinked at the sight and turned away with a smirk. As the silence and staring was reaching levels of intolerable awkwardness, a yawning voice interrupted.
“So what did I… ” To say that Faith was surprised by what she saw when she reached the bottom of the stairs is too much of an understatement to even be considered as a proper description of her state of mind. “miss?” The highness of her voice was quite unnatural.
Buffy’s mind desperately searched for a way to rectify or completely erase the entirely too naked situation she had just found herself in. The only thing her mind could come up with was to finish with her original plan. So it was in this trance like state that she regained her mobility and quietly walked upstairs. Leaving the occupants of the room to stare at the air space where a nude blonde slayer had previously been.
“Doo doodoo doo doodoo doo doodoo doo doodoo.” Alex sung the intro with a lack of enthusiasm that was characteristically teenage from her position on the dirt floor. Dawn accompanied her with some slightly livelier snapping before beginning the first verse.
“Oh, it’s not unusual to be loved by anyone.”
“Doo doodoo” Alex tapped the ground in a simulated drumbeat.
“It’s not unusual to have fun with anyone.” Dawn bobbed her head slightly against the wall as she tried to remember the words.
“Doo doodoo.”
“And when I see you hanging round with anyone, it’s not unusual to see me cry.”
Smiling a bit, Alex finished with her “I wanna die…”
Then they both continued with a little more life than before. “Doo doodoo doo doodoo doo doodoo doo doodoo.”
For their part the demons seemed to be enjoying their rendition. By now they had all gathered around the two girls in a circle and were humming in their strange little way along with the intro. It seemed that Alex was right Dawn found herself thinking, Tom Jones is always a crowd pleaser.
Although for now things did not look terrible for the two girls, nervousness and fear were mounting and mixing within them in dangerous proportions.
It was a good half hour into the meeting when Buffy finally came down from upstairs, making no eye contact whatsoever with anyone in the room. The embarrassment was really unlike any she had felt before. Even the time that Steven Johnson from first grade had spilled apple juice on the front of her new skirt and told everyone she had an accident did not compare. So it was with a slight flush of her cheeks and a demure glance downward that she took a seat.
Everyone seemed ill at ease. Xander especially. He seemed to have no idea which way to look. He and Angel both were trying not to stare at the older versions of Buffy and Faith who were revealed to be the parents of the now missing girl and thereby physically and more importantly sexually involved with each other. The two men were clearly very affected by this news though for entirely different reasons. Angel couldn’t help but consider that it would (if it hadn’t already) happen here. Though he was quite fond of Faith, as an ex of the slightly over-protective and more than minimally possessive variety he was understandably unnerved by the situation. Not to mention of course the fact that Buffy would be dating a woman, which made him feel slightly guilty as he thought about her less than stellar experiences with men (at least half of which were his doing).
Xander on the other hand was a far less complex creature. Like most young men of his orientation he often fantasized about women and like slightly fewer young men he often fantasized about women together. Now sitting in the same room with him were two sets of exactly what tended to fill his mind late at night. His real struggle was to keep his mind on the enemy.
Giles coughed. “So, we were just discussing the best way to go about rescuing Dawn and Alex. More specifically whether we should focus on getting them back or on the coming ritual…”
Clearing her throat, while not quite trusting her voice, Buffy bravely spoke. “Well there are lots of us.” All of whom have now seen me sans clothes, she couldn’t help mentally adding. “I say we split up, having one group do the head on attack and the other a sort of rescue.”
Smiling with something akin to a father’s pride, Giles nodded. “Yes I’d say that would be both logical and to our advantage.” Looking around the room, he began mentally planning the groups. There were eight people not including himself. That would be four and four, plus an extra.
“Well I guess I know what group I’m in.” Faith chirped.
“Yes, you will be the leader of the group heading the attack.” The watcher confirmed. “And Buffy will be the leader of the rescue effort.”
“Effort is such if-y word. What about if we called it a rescue success or maybe just a rescue with no if’s cause that’s much more upbeat.” Willow debated.
“Right then, Buffy will lead the rescue.”
“I’m guessing you mean little Buffy.” The older of the blonde slayers questioned.
“I object to the usage of ‘little’, youthful, younger, early twenties Buffy all ok, but no on the little Buffy.” The younger girl replied.
“Yes well, I’m sure you can sort that out at a later date. I am assuming that you two.” He pointed to the older slayers. “Wish to fight also?”
Buffy nodded, while Faith merely replied “Hell yeah.”
After a moment’s thoughtful pause, the younger blonde continued the discussion. “I think that our best chance is to put Angel and Wills and Tara together with Faith.” The four of them turned to her, Willow somewhat questioningly. “Angel and Faith can take care of the fighting stuff.” The two looked at each other and shared a small smile. She turned to Willow. “And you and Tara can come in behind and use some magic-y stuff to help and buy them some time.”
“I’d be inclined to agree.” Giles added.
“And then me and um… other Buffy and other Faith will come in and get Dawn and Alex back.”
“What about me?” Xander asked.
“You’re like first aid guy and fend off guy. You make sure they're alright and take care of anything that gets past us.” He nodded in happy compliance. “Maybe Giles can help you.” The older man gave a thankful glance in the blonde slayer’s direction. He rose before speaking.
“I think that perhaps now we should research a bit and try to uncover some probable locales for this demon and tonight you four” he glanced at the slayers and then remembered Angel. “Or five rather can scout them.” They all nodded. He stepped close to the young brunette slayer and placed his hand on her shoulder. “And I believe that you could benefit from some more training.”
“Sure thing G man.” She smiled at him and stood up.
“Buffy, you can join us if you’d like.”
She nodded and followed Faith into a room of the mansion that Angel had told them was the best suited for such things.
As a knock sounded on the door of his crypt it was with amazing speed that Spike threw a bed sheet over and then shoved into the closet his newest toy.
“William.”
“Hello pet didn’t expect you here so early.” He spoke, as he inched away from the sunbeam that was crawling underneath the door. Something occurred to him as he took in the woman for all outward appearances was Drusilla. She was not hooded nor cloaked, yet she was unscathed by the sun. There was something amiss with that situation.
Without a moment’s warning he pinned the imposter to a nearby wall. It was taken by surprise but apparently only for a split second. Laughter completely unlike that of his old flame emanated from the body. “I suppose this means I’ve been discovered…”
“What the bloody hell… “ He mumbled in confusion as the figure he had so securely pinned the wall faded into invisibility and slipped from his grasp.
“I apologize for the deception, but it is much easier to gain someone’s cooperation if they believe they know you.”
“Who the hell are you?”
Smiling slightly, though he was unable to see. “No one you know, and…” The shocked vampire soon found himself pinned on his back with a terribly angry looking Buffy pinned on top of him with a stake in her hand. “Anyone you want.” It was her voice exactly. Then the solid form faded like a wisp of smoke in the breeze. Then the laughing again and something entirely new materialized. It looked much like electricity in the dark, bluish and static and unsettled wrapped around the pale resemblance of a woman’s body.
She watched the disgruntled vampire, who looked ready to pull out of everything they had planned.
“I need your help.”
“Sod off.” He waved his hand dismissively.
“I can still deliver you the slayer you know. That is a promise that I can keep. She will be yours to do whatever you wish with. And as I see it, you are indebted to me.”
Offended, he stood his full height. “Like hell I am!”
“Oh but you are, I removed your chip, I gave you the power to help me and I can take it back. All you need do is refuse me and close your eyes, not pay attention for just so long and it’s back in.”
Sighing loudly, he gave in just a bit. “What the hell do you need me for anyway?”
“My race was nearly destroyed by the humans. I wish to bring them back and exact the vengeance they have evaded for far too long already. Now the only way to do this is to drain the blood of two born of mystical energy over the abyss of hell. Now I ask you what sort of creature would I need for such a job?”
Thinking awhile, Spike answered. “You’ll get me the slayer?”
“Completely unharmed.”
Looking at the closet where his robot was stored, he made a decision. “Deal.”
Faith dodged Buffy’s attacks easier than she had before, she was getting better it seemed with each passing set. It was at this time that Buffy made a decision. The brunette really needed to be ready. She would throw everything she had at the blindfolded girl. Taking a deep breath she launched an attack that visibly startled the watcher though he did not stop the training.
Faith, for her part took a few seconds to adjust to the change in pace and the blonde was able to land a few. As the blonde girl leapt attempting to land a kick to the other girl’s jaw, Faith merely stepped aside and gave a joking smack to the other girl’s bottom. The brunette’s slight amusement over her success gave Buffy the chance to sweep her. However as the brunette fell she turned in just such a way as to land a kick to back of the older girl’s knee, collapsing her right foot.
Both girls collected themselves breathing hard.
“That was very well done.” Giles commented. “Perhaps you’d like to try it with your sword, Faith?” he tossed it to her and she caught it gracefully.
“Whoa! Your gonna give blindfold girl a sword and tell her to have at me?” Buffy was clearly not ok with that scenario.
“You get one too of course.” He tossed the blonde a near identical sword. Smiling Buffy readied herself for round two.
It was not so much the power that amazed Giles. It was the speed and accuracy of their attacks and counters and the grace that they still managed to have. It seemed both slayers had matured quite a bit. As he watched Faith fight he felt a certain reassurance. Though admittedly he had never quite noticed before, she was quite good and quite resilient to say the least. He watched over their intense training for another two hours before he told the now thoroughly sweat soaked slayers that they needed to save their strength.
Untying her blindfold Faith blinked at the sudden intrusion of light. “So how’d I do watcher man?”
“Well the speed of the session made it somewhat difficult for me tell,” he saw her face fall just the slightest bit. “But off-hand I’d say, well… extraordinary.” He smiled, in the way he often did when his slayers accomplished something incredible. His slayers? He wondered to himself when had he come to think of Faith as his slayer?
She gave a beaming, if somewhat embarrassed smile as she put the assorted tools they had used in the truck.
“I’d say she could use a bit more practice.” Buffy commented with a feigned seriousness, until she saw the definite frown on the other girl’s face. As she approached, she prepared to apologize. However before she could open her mouth she found herself in a chokehold.
“I’d say you could use some more too.” She struggled a bit, but was unable to escape the accompanying noogie. Which earned an eye roll and an exit from Giles.
Thankfully the torture was short lived and Faith placed a semi-apologetic kiss on the top of the other girl’s head before she let her go. After putting the trunk of Angel’s weapon’s they had used back in its original place, the brunette turned to the blonde.
“How’s the back?” She asked, eyeing the now somewhat exposed bandage just below the hemline of Buffy’s shirt.
Smiling at the concern, the older girl waved her hand dismissively. “Fine. The Shoulder?”
“Healed. So, we done here B?”
“Almost.”
“Almost?” The brunette surveyed the room. Everything appeared to be in order, except perhaps her girlfriend who had by now taken up residence on the second to last step of the nearby stairwell. “What’s up B?”
“I don’t know if I can go back up there.”
Confused, Faith sheathed her blade and moved closer. “Why?”
Starring in disbelief, the blonde reviewed the situation. “Um… you may not remember but I was just naked! Very naked! With people! Who weren’t! With Xander! I was naked with Xander! And Giles! I was naked with Xander and Giles! Do have any idea what that’s like?” The sudden display of neuroticism struck the brunette as quite amusing though she hid it well.
“Yes on the Xander part and I definitely remember. Not something you easily forget, naked women in the middle of your living room.” The dark slayer answered, blushing a bit with the memory of it.
“Woman! One woman. One Buffy. It would have been not so bad if there were other naked people.” She added a little too quickly. “Like both of us.”
Shrugging and sighing playfully, she responded. “Somehow I don’t think that would have helped much. Especially with all the questions about why the two of us were in the shower together to begin with.”
“I don’t think you understand Faith. I was without clothes! In front of everyone I know with the thankful exception of my mom and Spike! Naked! Naked Faith!” She put her head in her hands.
Stifling a laugh, she tried to be comforting. “B, it’s not that bad.”
“Says the dressed girl.”
“Buffy I’ve been there before, with a priest.”
Looking curiously at the girl, she asked. “That was true?”
Surprised, Faith looked at the girl. “You thought I made it up?”
“No?” Rolling her eyes, the brunette sat next to the blonde. “I think I just need to relax a bit.” Buffy said. “Too much stress.” The younger woman knew that she was talking about much more than her accidental exhibitionism.
“We’ll go up when you’re ready B.” Smiling at the other girl, Faith leaned against the wall, placing a hand on the other girl’s thigh. “It’s no big.” Smirking, the dark slayer used her best reassuring tone. “I can think about you being naked too if it helps?”
Buffy only shook her head, pretending not to be amused.
“Ah ha! And other sounds of sudden and exciting discovery!” Xander stood up, holding the page with a rather large smile on his face.
“Whatcha got Xand?” Willow leaned over his shoulder to try and read from the book.
“It says that our big bad likes a nice one bedroom cave.” The boy announced. Giles took the book and read over the part in conformation. “With moon roof of course!”
“Perhaps then the moon is central to the ritual?”
“The next full moon is in two days.” The brooding vampire commented.
Nodding slightly, Xander put the book down. “Or it just adds that special homey demon feel.”
“There are a few cave formations out past the cemeteries.” Angel offered helpfully. “I can take you there.”
Nodding seriously, Giles spoke. “Yes, that would be fine. Thank you Angel.” As always the tension between the two men was nearly palpable. “So I believe that all we have left to do is wait till sundown.”
“Sounds like a plan.” The older Faith commented. “Where the hell are Buffy and Faith by the way?”
“I’m assuming that they are still putting the training implements away.”
“Uh huh.” The older brunette responded in such a way as to make it abundantly clear she had an entirely different explanation in mind, which earned her a stare from Angel and an elbow from her nearby wife.
“I’m not sure I know anymore songs.” Dawn sang the worried phrase.
“We can probably just fend them off by singing our words.” Alex crooned back.
“This is almost exactly like a candid camera sketch I saw…”
The other girl nodded seeing the comic potential of their current predicament. “I bet we could just sing the same thing over and over again and it wouldn’t bother them.”
“It would bother me.” Dawn hastily sang back.
“Me too.” She added a little embellishment to her ‘too’.
“Oh wait!” The younger Summers seemed to remember something. Alex and the demons were completely shocked as the girl attempted a rendition of a gangsta rap song, humming the introduction.
“Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild west,
A state that’s untouchable like Elliot Ness.”
It quickly become apparent that the demons were less than pleased, as a hurled stone hit her square in the forehead.
“OUCH!”
“I guess they don’t like 2pac” Alex mumbled sympathetically. The tension began to mount as the demons started to become rambunctious. “Uh… damn…” The girl racked her brain for something to sing, as Dawn rubbed at her forehead. Humming a bit of the first bar, and scrunching her brow in thought she shakily began.
“Uh…bro…brother… bought a coconut, he bought it for a dime
His sister had another one, she paid it for a lime
She put the lime in the coconut
And mix it all up…”
The hypnotic and simple tune soon calmed them.
It was a few hours, maybe two before complete darkness would settle over Sunnydale. The nine occupants of the mansion had split up to pass the time as they saw fit. Faith had gone to take a shower after the training session wisely taking both a towel and a change of clothes into the bathroom. Angel had disappeared into the lower levels to gather weapons and other such useful items for the trip, although it was quite evident that he was seeking solitude as well. Willow, Tara, and Giles were still hard at work in the study looking in the materials available for any further information. The older slayers had retired to their bedroom looking very much worse for the wear. Buffy assumed that the full reality of the situation, particularly the Alex component of it, was weighing extraordinarily heavy on them. That left Buffy and Xander alone together for the first time since Faith’s unexpected arrival.
“So…” She began unsteadily.
“Yes indeed-y do.” It was clear that each of them had more to say, but neither seemed particularly interested in taking that first step, that was until Xander spoke up. “So, quite the little surprise with other Buffy and Faith being, well of the together variety huh?”
“Um…not exactly.”
He looked at her, clearly surprised. “Not exactly? Not exactly as in not surprising?”
Nodding, a bit of color coming to her cheeks, she responded with attempted nonchalance. “That would the one.”
Xander stared at her clearly trying to figure something out. There were multiple inferences he could make from such a statement, most of which made him uncomfortable.
“Xander…” Breathing in, she debated whether or not to continue the sentence. “I um… that is… Faith and I are…”
He watched intently, trying to grasp what she was saying, but not quite believing that she would say what it seemed she was trying to. “Faith and you?” The question hung in the air just long enough for Willow to overhear.
With a shy excited smile, she turned to her friends. “Oh you told Xander?” As Buffy was about to comment, Willow continued taking in his shocked expression. “I know! I was definitely of the shocked too. I mean Buffy and Faith together… with the really together, who could have guessed?” She gave an encouraging smile to Buffy as a lead in to the apology she was about to issue for yesterday. “Which I am very OK with!! Super OK even!”
However, as Xander jumped up and Buffy hung her head the redhead began to sense something was wrong. This belief was confirmed a second later when the boy found his voice.
“WHAT??? You and Faith??? Buff… you can’t… I mean…” His mouth continued to move wordlessly.
“Why am I getting the feeling he didn’t know?” The witch asked nervously, more to herself than anyone else.
“Because he didn’t.” The blonde slayer mumbled.
“So it’s true?” The brown-haired man stared at his close friend, a girl he thought he knew. “You and Faith?” The question though short was clear. No one was quite sure how to react.
“Xand I…” Buffy began.
She watched as he threw himself dejectedly into the chair. “Is it me?”
Confused and thrown by the vulnerability in his tone, the blonde slayer sat beside him. “Is what you?”
“That’s what now? Three out of um… my only four not so gay when I met them female friends and the first girl I y’know-ed with… are now not not so gay anymore. I said say that’s a staggering coincidence.”
Buffy smiled reassuringly at him. “It’s definitely not you.”
“Well what is it then??” he mumbled.
“Um Wills help me out here!”
The redhead became even more nervous as the pressure for an answer mounted. “I don’t know. Tara… me and Tara well we are witches together and since we were already together with the witchiness why not be together with the nakedness and wow that didn’t sound right, um… this is hard question, give me another one!”
Buffy and Xander just stared blankly at the girl for a few moments. Coughing, the blonde slayer tried to interpret what Willow had meant. “I think she meant that they have a lot in common, since they both do the magic stuff and the shy stuff. Just like me and Faith we have the slayer stuff and the um… slayer stuff covers a lot of things.”
“Yes on that being what I was saying.” The redhead confirmed quickly. “And Tara’s big with the sexiness. That helps too.”
No one noticed the aforementioned blonde who was passing by on her way to the kitchen stop dead in her tracks at the entrance the living room, her face a deep red. After what seemed like a full minute she retreated back into the library.
“The sexy thing is definitely a plus.” Buffy agreed, eyeing a slightly flushed Faith. “So it’s a combination of sexy girls and having things in common.”
The news seemed to be truly sinking in and for the first time a Xander grin broke onto his face. “So you and Faith huh?”
He looked at Buffy. She looked back with a slight flush in her cheeks and a shrug. He seemed to lose himself in thought for a bit all the while that grin staying plastered to his face.
“I think he’s ok with it.” The redhead conjectured.
“Me too” Buffy answered. “Maybe a little too ok.”
“What are we going to do?” The elder Buffy stared at the now useless enchantment given to her by Willow. “We can’t go back.”
Sighing, the brunette threw an arm over her face. “I honestly don’t know. It’s not like we could have left without her.”
“I know.” The blonde quickly agreed. That was the most important thing, Alex was the most important thing. “But aren’t you worried?”
“Of course I am Buffy!” Faith sat up, disbelief bordering on hurt appearing on her face. “She’s our daughter.”
Alarmed the slayer took a seat on the end of the bed. “I wasn’t talking about that. I know you're worried about her, I’m petrified.” She whispered the last part. “I meant about what Wills said.”
“She said a lot of things.”
“About altering this dimension, about the dire consequences… that we couldn’t stop anything we knew would happen. If we’re stuck here…”
“What are saying?”
“How long do you think it is gonna be before one of us crosses that line?” Buffy mumbled quietly.
Sitting up, the brunette woman turned to look the blonde in the eyes. “We’ll find a way back, all of us. Red and Tara exist here too they could probably do the witch thing.”
“And if we don’t?”
The other woman’s reply was firm. “We will.”
“How can you be so sure?” The other woman wrapped her arms around herself.
“Jesus B, I can’t.” Faith ran her fingers through her hair. “I can’t.”
Sighing, Buffy glanced sideways at the wall. “I’m sorry…”
“Not your fault. It’s cool.” Blinking rapidly, Faith chewed at her bottom lip. The blonde knew it to be a brooding expression, usually a precursor to some type of explosive emotion. She didn’t have to wait long for this one. “You know what? Fuck this shit! I’m so sick of this! I thought this kind of fucked up stuff was finally done with us. I thought maybe we finally got cut a break then this happens? What the fuck did I do, either of us do to deserve it? Not only am I the fucking slayer, not only do I have to put my life in danger every night, hell it has be everyone who means anything to me too and it has to be for the rest of my life?? Tell me how the fuck that’s fair!” The brunette’s eyes held a dangerous anger, an anger that hadn’t appeared in them for quite sometime.
Sitting on the bed next to her lover, she answered honestly. “I can’t because it’s not fair.”
“I don’t know what the fuck to do anymore.” The brunette whispered. “How to fix this. I don’t have a handle on anything now B. ”
Swallowing Buffy just watched the other woman for a moment, not knowing what to say. The brunette looked far from ok, she looked as she had when they had met so many years ago. She looked completely lost, only now there was no real bravado, nothing to chip away before that was evident. It still tore at her the same way it had back then.
Angel wandered around in the basement of the mansion, the dungeon levels as they had once been described to him. This was where he had stored all his weapons and artifacts: the amulets, the swords, the knives, the axes, the shackles, his toys as he used to refer to them. That was before though, now they were just tools. He had gone upstairs, to check on Faith and he had overheard… she was telling Xander, he wasn’t supposed to be around he was sure. Buffy and Faith were together. It had happened here too.
In all honesty he wasn’t terribly surprised. He had known then how Faith felt about Buffy, because it was how he himself felt about her. Angel had seen some things, some actions, some words, some looks that would seem to point to the blonde slayer sharing those feelings, but there was always fear there too. The same looks she gave him. Though no one else noticed, there was fear in her when they kissed, when they smiled, when they were together. It was a fear of loving some one who was so damaged, some one who was not stable, someone who every one around you would never understand you loving.
The incredible affinity he felt with Faith made him wonder sometimes. They were so alike. Though the circumstances were different, he had understood her since the moment he met her, he watched her make the same mistakes he did, he knew her motives and her defenses. Strangest of all perhaps, was that he knew that he would do exactly as she did if their circumstances were equivalent. Something about her…
“Hey fang.”
Turning to see the subject on his thoughts on the steps, he smiled. “Faith.”
“How are things back at base?”
“There going fine. Gunn and Wes are taking care of things.”
She nodded. “How’s C?”
Faith couldn’t help but notice the slight quaver in his voice. “She’s fine. I’m guessing you’re not coming back after this is over.”
“Angel I…” The brunette was caught completely off guard.
He smirked at her. “I heard.”
“How?”
“Buffy told Xander. I was upstairs.”
The brunette was extremely uncomfortable with the situation. “Angel, I… I never… this wasn’t… I’m not tryin’ to y’know…”
“I do.” He watched her breathe a sigh of relief. “I’m sure you two will be happy.” He added in the quiet not particularly emotional way of his. Without asking, she knew he was not entirely ok with it, that it had upset him at least minimally. However, she appreciated his attempts to hide it.
“Thanks boss.” She said quietly.
He began his walk upstairs. His demon side was telling him that the sun was gone. “Faith?”
“Yeah fang?”
“Take care of her… and yourself.” It was as sincere a request as ever came from the mostly broody man and Faith found it brought a smile to her lips.
“Always.” With a nod, he disappeared upstairs.
As the darkness settled, the nine members of the house gathered in the living room. The five who were this evening’s appointed scouts had weapons in hand. In the case of all four slayers it was stakes as usual as well as various other weapons. The two Buffys carried weapons chosen from Angel’s downstairs arsenal, a particularly lethal looking blade for the younger of the two and surprisingly enough a quarterstaff for the older. The younger Faith carried her sword and the older Faith carried Alex’s hunting knife strapped at her side. Angel carried a small hand axe with a sharpened wooden end and a light sword that, like the younger brunette’s strapped across his back. Though each of them carried more than one weapon, no one had taken anything particularly heavy.
“I trust that all of you will be careful tonight, and should you find anything remember to alert the others before going in” Giles began. Smiling in a slightly unconvincing way he wished them luck.
Xander smiled. “We’ll be here, with the strategizing and behind the scenes magic!”
“And hot drinks for when you get back, or cold drinks, or even adult-y drinks!” Willow added.
“Less than healthy snacks and choose your own drinks.” Tara nodded at them.
“Sounds good guys.” The younger Buffy said with a somewhat forced smile. The tension of their current situation was stifling and had succeeded in sucking any real cheerfulness left in the older slayers out. The younger brunette and the soul-ed vampire seemed quite aware of it too. It was with a curt nod that the five of them left.
“Angel knows B.” Faith said solemnly as they made their way through the forest and towards the southern most cave formations. The vampire had given them all directions. It was three teams: the older slayers, the younger slayers, and Angel. He seemed to want to be alone and Faith despite the sinking feeling in her gut made no protest. They were to meet at the formations, searching for anything helpful along their designated routes.
“Yes or else he would be pretty bad at giving directions.” The blonde conceded. After all, it seemed to her the person telling you where to go would know how to get there.
“No, I mean about us y’know being extra friendly.” She elaborated.
“Extra friendly huh? I don’t think I’ve heard that one before.” Buffy gave a nervous laugh, which quickly died. “How?”
“Overheard you telling X.” Faith answered, pushing a branch aside.
Chewing her lip worriedly, the blonde slayer whispered. “How’d he take it?”
“Pretty good, he seemed at least ok with it, but as you know Fang’s a bit hard to read.”
“Not unlike someone else I know.” The blonde smirked.
Laughing slightly, the brunette stuck her tongue out and released the branch she was holding. It snapped back, just missing the older girl’s head. Faith knew it wouldn’t hit her because of their height difference, though as she guessed it would the sudden movement startled Buffy.
“You are so lucky that didn’t hit me.” The threat was only half-mocking.
Smiling mischievously, the brunette took the bait. “Yeah, why’s that?”
“I’d have to dole out due punishment.” The blonde answered in a not-quite believable apologetic tone.
Quirking a brow, Faith pursued the line of questioning. “Punishment huh? What are you gonna do B? Spank me?”
Shaking her head, the blonde answered with a deadpanned “I said punishment Faith.”
“Very funn…” The dark slayer was stopped mid sentence by a jarring blow to her face. Cracking her jaw back into place, she turned ready to face the vamp who had the balls to attack a slayer so forcefully. Instead, she found herself looking at something she never in a million years expected, something that made her newly realigned jaw as slack as Buffy’s had been for the past minute.
An exact copy of the blonde slayer stood a mere few feet away with a scowl adorning her pretty features. She looked at them, shaking her head. “You are not my friends.”
The older slayers had been given a path, which led them directly through three of the most frequently vampired graveyards in the Sunnydale area. They had by now already come across four newly risen members of the undead on their trek through the first two cemeteries and were currently making their way out of the third.
Looking over at her partner, she took in the quarterstaff, which Buffy was tossing from hand to hand. “So what’s with the stick B?”
“You don’t like it?” The woman pouted. “I think it’s kind of neat!” She swung it for emphasis.
Smiling slightly, the brunette woman shook her head, mumbling an affectionate “Dork.”
The blonde glared jokingly. “Well I like my stick, it makes fun noises when you hit the baddies with it.”
At that moment both women’s slayer enhanced senses began tingling. “Vamps.” Faith said unnecessarily. A group of four vampires stepped out from behind a mausoleum about fifty feet in front of them. Their postures were intentionally menacing as they began a confident approach. The slayers merely stood their ground until the vampires were but ten feet away.
“Slayers! Prepare to die!” One of the demons announced pointing at them. They merely shook their heads at the lack of originality. Giving Faith a smiling glance, Buffy approached the vamp who had spoken. He seemed entirely confused by their unresponsiveness. The blonde slayer quickly, not giving him time to react, whacked him rather hard across the head with her weapon. The hollow sounding “whap” echoed in the still air.
While the vampires stared in bewilderment, Buffy turned to her partner. “Tell me that noise isn’t fun!”
Laughing slightly, the brunette shrugged and nodded. It seemed no matter how bad she felt the blonde was able to make her laugh genuinely. She didn’t treat the Alex situation as though nothing had occurred, she just put on her best face, she joked, and she smiled. Not to pretend nothing had happened, but rather as a demonstration of affection and strength. The blonde made herself the stable element when all others seemed to collapse. As if that were not enough, Buffy also had the sense to know how much was too much. There were no words to express the level of appreciation that Faith felt.
It was about this time that the vamp who had been whacked regained his senses. Snarling, he growled at Buffy. “Bitch!” The blonde responded by whapping him again. He seemed even more stunned than the first time as did his companions.
“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” The brunette scolded, tossing a stake that hit him directly in the heart. Before he even had a chance to retort he was but a pile of dust.
“Feeling lazy tonight?” The blonde asked as she swept one of the three remaining vampires.
“No, just don’t want to get my clothes dirty, packed light. Can’t very well be walking around in the buff Buff.” The statement amused both even more, with this morning’s mishap.
Punching one of the two still on their feet, the blonde girl smiled. “I wouldn’t mind.”
Looking the dark slayer up and down, the demon on the ground spoke up. “Me neither.”
“Stay out of it.” Buffy poked him with her stick and then staked him.
Sighing over dramatically, Faith took out the last vamp standing with another thrown stake before he could attack Buffy. With a smirk, the brunette responded. “Geez B! Is that all you think about?”
Smiling, the blonde used a lethal combinations of thrusts with her staff to neatly polish off the forth and last vampire, who had yet to get back up.
He had given himself the most direct route he knew. Angel had lived in Sunnydale for a good while and familiarized himself with the area. The vampire knew he would get there a good twenty minutes before the slayers. He had given the Buffy and Faith of his world a path that lead them almost entirely around the caves before finally depositing them at the end of the forest. From there the would have to walk almost half a mile back the direction they had come along a rocky trail to the tip of the formations.
The Buffy and Faith from the alternate dimension had a similarly though slightly less indirect route. However, once he took into account the fights they would likely encounter within the cemeteries themselves, the arrival times of both teams were likely to be the same.
Angel now stood at the entrance to one of the large caves in the group. The flickering light of a fire inside dancing along the walls and the sense of danger that stirred in him seemed to say that this was the place. He had never planned on following Giles’ instructions to wait for the others. After Cordelia’s latest vision, he vaguely recalled the prophecy. The vampire had arrived quite early this morning, before the first rays of the sun were visible. He had quietly, so as not to wake the occupants of the mansion, made his way into the study intent on relocating the text. On the table he found a rudimentary translation of the ancient Babylon. It seemed they already knew. Angel put the prophesy alongside the vision and understood. He read it over and over. He had decided. It would be him that would die, if anyone. If he had to trick the others, so be it, but so long as he had a choice it would not be Faith, not after how far she had come. There would be no burden, no death, not for her.
With a quick a glance to make sure he was not being followed he entered the cave, hand axe in a loose but ready grip.
...to be continued...