Fanfiction || The Queen's Battle || Buffy/Faith || Part Six
Title: The Queen's Battle
Author: Sapphire Smoke cuzimastripper
Beta(s): supershineygirl & Frass
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): Buffy/Faith, Buffy/Satsu
Word Length Thus Far: 49,877 words
Timeline: Season 8 - though in my world the Gigi thing never happened and the whole world isn't going to shit with Twilight. Because I say so. lol
Summary: Slayer dreams don't always mean an apocalypse is looming, but they're still confusing as hell.
A/N: I don't know why I'm doing another multichapter story. I think I might be insane.
Other Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE
A/N: Don't yell - I had writers block. *hides behind things*
CHAPTER TEN
A Little White Lie
Buffy isn’t sure if she can do this.
She’s standing outside the door to the infirmary, one hand on the door handle, trying to get up the courage to open it. But it’s been a whole five minutes and yet she’s still standing outside like a coward. She doesn’t think she can go in there and see how banged up Satsu is without breaking down, blubbering like a fool, and then spilling her guts about the real reason she was gone. She’s going to feel guilty, she already does feel guilty and she wants to be honest; best policy after all, right? But getting it off of her chest right now wouldn’t do Satsu any good.
It would only do her good, make her feel better; it’d be selfish.
Satsu didn’t deserve this. Buffy tried to tell her that everyone she gets involved with either gets hurt or killed, but she didn’t listen. Just like she knows Faith won’t listen even if she tried to tell her the same thing. But Faith understands her life; has been around for so much longer. Satsu is so young, so eager… such a good lover, and not even just in the bedroom department. She’s caring, attentive, sweet… and she deserves someone who isn’t going to use her.
And probably someone who isn’t in-lust! Lust… with someone else too, because that isn’t right.
When Satsu is better… she’ll tell her. But only when she’s better; when she can handle it.
Or maybe it’s when Buffy can handle it, which definitely isn’t now. Crap, she’s back at the whole selfish thing. Should she tell her? She could sit here and weigh out the pros and cons but then she’d probably be here forever, and she’s already looking like an idiot just standing here, waiting for her hand to get the memo that she needs to open the damn-
“Ah!” Buffy screeches in surprise at the door suddenly opening. If it wasn’t for her Slayer reflexes it probably would have knocked her clean out, but she jumped away just in time as Krista emerged, looking at her with that strange smile on her face that creeps Buffy out to no end.
“Hello,” she says in a wistful voice. “Have you come to receive healing?”
“Err… no,” Buffy says, looking at her a little funny. There’s something seriously off about this girl, though she was providing Buffy with a much needed distraction, which she was thankful for. “I was just… going to check on Satsu. Is she awake? Because if she’s not I should probably just come back later…”
“She’s singing,” Krista says with a smile as she plays with her fingers like they’re the most fascinating thing she’s ever seen.
Is she on drugs? Maybe Buffy should start ordering mandatory drug tests; she does house a bunch of teenagers after all.
“Singing?” Buffy asks. Satsu doesn’t sing… does she?
“Mmm… she’s singing praise of life and love,” Krista tells her, though seems a little lost in her own world. “The angels saved her.”
Yes, drug tests are mandatory starting today.
“Right… I’m just gonna…” Buffy trails off, pointing at the infirmary rather awkwardly as she backs away from Krista. The girl just smiles at her before Buffy turns, walking into the room with her eyes a bit wide. Okay so, yeah… she’s going to have to talk to Satsu about how well Krista did on patrol tonight because right now she’s a little worried about crazy slayers and pointy objects.
But her thoughts shift quickly from crazy slayers to Satsu in a matter of a second once her brain seems to stop avoiding the reality of the situation. Taking to Satsu about Krista isn’t even in the realm of her thoughts anymore as she looks around the infirmary and is reminded of how much she hates hospitals. It’s not exactly a hospital per se, but there are still white walls, the obnoxious curtains that separate the beds… it’s close enough.
She needs to talk to Xander about painting this room a happier color. Something that doesn’t scream, “Hey, you might die in here!”
Buffy starts walking slowly down through the aisles of empty beds and the nurse on duty gives her a comforting smile and a brief head nod, motioning to around the corner. Buffy seems to be holding her breath as she rounds said corner and comes face to face with Satsu lying on the bed nearest to the back, eyes closed as she tries to get some much needed rest.
Buffy tries to stop it, but a little gasp escapes her lips as she looks at the younger slayer on the bed. Her hand comes up to her mouth just as Satsu’s eyes open to look up at her, and Buffy feels herself breaking a little. Bruises litter the girl’s tiny frame; dark, angry looking welts that are in different stages of coloring. Her arm is in a sling and a gash on her forehead looks like it just got stitched up. Buffy’s fingers are trembling as she stares at her, no words able to be emitted as the guilt slaps her across the face, the sting from it flowing through her entire body.
“Hey,” Satsu greets her with a small smile, her voice a bit hoarse.
Buffy swallows, walking over to her slowly. Her fingers are still trembling, her mouth still hanging open in horror at what her selfishness did. The worst part about it was that she knew that this wasn’t the worst of it. All of the blood had been cleaned up, all of her wounds attended too. Buffy can’t even imagine how she looked before this.
“Satsu… I am so sorry…” Buffy chokes out finally, tears welling up in her eyes. She tries to blink them back but one falls down her cheek slowly.
Satsu looks a little taken aback by Buffy crying - she knew Buffy cared, but she never thought enough to shed tears over her. She always goes on and on about how if you’re going to fight a battle people are bound to get hurt. She’s detached herself from it since becoming head of an army, and though she’s sleeping with Satsu, the younger girl never thought it would hold much more baring than that.
“I’m fine,” she tries to reassure her, but Buffy sniffs, wiping away another tear that fell down her cheek. “Really, Buffy, it’s just a scratch. I’ll be fine in a couple days.”
“You could have died…” Buffy whispers, looking distraught. “I am so sorry… this is all my fault.”
“Willow exaggerated, she freaked out a little when she saw me. Really Buffy, I’m okay… see?” Satsu says, then picks herself off the bed with her good arm to sit up completely. She winces a bit from her bruises, but otherwise tries to act completely normal for Buffy’s sake. “And it’s not your fault,” she adds.
Buffy scoffs bitterly, “How can you say that? I was the one who was supposed to be out there! This wasn’t your responsibility tonight! I should be the one lying in that bed, not you!”
“You wouldn’t be in this bed because you would have never let a demon get the upper hand like I did,” Satsu tells her pointedly. “The fault is entirely my own, Buffy. And if Krista hadn’t have jumped in when she did-”
“Wait,” Buffy says, looking surprised by that revelation of information. “Krista…? She killed the demon?”
Satsu nods. “Jumped in and sliced it’s head off.” Buffy looks surprised and then Satsu adds with an odd look on her face, “And then she insisted she bury it and give it a proper funeral to cleanse it’s soul.”
“It’s a demon; it’s soulless,” Buffy says, confused.
Satsu shrugs, but then winces from moving her broken arm. “Yeah, well don’t tell that to her. She thinks everything deserves to go to Heaven no matter their sins. I think she’s insane, but she’s an amazing swordsman and right now I owe her my life, so if she wants to give demons funerals then I’m inclined to let her.”
Fair enough.
“You still… you still shouldn’t have been out there,” Buffy tells her, another wave of guilt passing through her.
“I would have been out there no matter what. I was originally supposed to be in your patrol group.”
“Yeah but this wouldn’t have happened if I was there!” Buffy bursts out; angry and upset, mostly at herself, a little at the rest of the world and a tiny bit at Faith for being so damn… Faith-like and irresistible.
“It isn’t your job to protect me, Buffy. I’m a Slayer too… and I messed up. It won’t happen again.”
“It is my job to protect you, Satsu! It’s my job to protect all of you!”
“You aren’t our hero; you’re our teacher,” Satsu tells her, fire in her own eyes from Buffy burdening herself with a responsibility that she shouldn’t bear. “We didn’t come to you for protection, we came to be trained.”
“It doesn’t matter! The fact is that this happened because I stupidly thought I could be a normal person for once instead of being a Slayer!” Buffy exclaims loudly.
“You can be both.”
“Yeah, because that’s worked out so well for me in the past,” Buffy scoffs bitterly. She shakes her head, sniffing back the rest of her tears before running her shaky fingers through her hair. Satsu reaches out to her and Buffy looks at her sadly before taking her hand, allowing the younger girl to guide her down to sit next to her on the bed.
“I’m fine, Buffy. I promise,” Satsu tells her softly. “Don’t beat yourself up because you wanted to have a night off. Accidents happen.”
“But I should have-” Buffy starts, but is interrupted when Satsu’s lips meet hers. More guilt hits her like a ton of bricks in the face but she reciprocates, knowing neither of them is ready for the conversation she needs to have with her.
When they break Satsu tells her, “I’ll work harder; train harder. This won’t happen again.” Buffy just looks at her sadly and Satsu brushes a piece of blonde hair away from Buffy’s face before cupping her cheek lightly; lovingly. Buffy’s heart breaks in half.
“B?”
Buffy jumps away from Satsu quickly at the sound of Faith’s voice from around the corner, making Satsu gasp in pain from the sudden movement. Buffy looks guilty and mouths, “I’m sorry,” just as Faith rounds the corner and spots them. She gives Buffy a little smile, almost shy… but Faith doesn’t do shy, right? Before Buffy can contemplate too much on the matter though, Faith looks at Satsu.
“Sup, Yuri? Ya look more held together than I thought you would be with the way Red was freakin’.”
Satsu shrugs lightly. “She exaggerated. I’ll be fine.”
Faith’s eyes sweep over Satsu’s form and takes her in; every cut, every bruise. The girl’s tough, she can see that. She also can see that Willow did exaggerate a little, but not by much. If the chick didn’t have Slayer healing, she probably wouldn’t be conscious right now.
“You’ll be kickin’ ass again in about a week, probably,” Faith says, nodding her agreement.
“Can’t wait,” Satsu says with a little smirk. “I still haven’t been able to take you up on your offer of sparring.”
Buffy does not like the mental picture that arises in her head at that. Faith and Satsu sparring is a bad idea. Faith would say things, Satsu would say things back… and then it’d turn into a fight for real. So, no. Buffy is nixing that plan.
Faith’s eyes twinkle and she smirks back. “Better give yourself two weeks before you attempt that, Junior. No way ya could keep up at only half form.”
“No one is sparring with anyone,” Buffy says firmly. Both Satsu and Faith look at her, a little annoyed.
“Ya ain’t the boss of me,” Faith tells her.
“I can take Faith,” Satsu objects.
“In your dreams, Yellow Ranger,” Faith laughs, but it’s playful. Buffy rolls her eyes.
“Did you seriously just call her the yellow Power Ranger? You need therapy.”
“You’d be the pink one,” Faith says, snickering. “All valley girl and shit.”
“There’s only two women so who would you be, one of the guy ones?” Satsu asks, amused by this conversation. It took her mind of her pain at least. Buffy laughs at that.
Faith scoffs. “Please, I’d be Zordon. I made you bitches,” she brushes her shoulder off in the most ridiculous way that makes both girls snort and makes Buffy forget why the three of them in one room should be awkward… until Faith moves closer to Buffy, sticking her hand in her back pocket, “Besides, think he always had a thing for the pink one.” She winks at Buffy whose eyes go wide and she backs away from Faith, coughing awkwardly.
“He’s still a guy and wasn’t he a floating head in a jar? You’re still low in the points column for that,” Buffy says, avoiding.
“It wasn’t a fuckin’ jar, B. Besides, he still made them all and therefore… I’m the shit,” Faith says, trying not to let Buffy’s strange behavior bother her. But then again, maybe Buffy isn’t ready to jump around and wave rainbow flags about what happened. Shit takes some getting used to, she guesses.
Satsu watches both of their behavior curiously, wondering what exactly went on during their little outing. She knows she has no right to be jealous; Buffy isn’t really hers after all, but didn’t Faith say she was over Buffy? Maybe she’s reading too much into it though.
Buffy seems to notice Satsu scrutinizing though so she gives her a small smile, trying to show her nothing weird is going on and then tells Faith, “We should go; let Satsu get some rest.”
Faith shrugs, “Alright. Itchin’ to do some trainin’ anyway.” She gives a head nod to Satsu. “You’re cool?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Buffy’s right; I should sleep. I’ll heal faster that way.”
Buffy gives Satsu a small smile and tells her, “I’ll check on you later, okay?” Satsu nods.
When they leave the infirmary, Buffy turns to Faith and says, “We need to talk…” She needs to let Faith know that there cannot be any obvious sexual or romantic indications between them in public. She doesn’t need the whole world knowing her business and even beyond that, she doesn’t need Satsu knowing before she has a chance to tell her.
Faith cocks an eyebrow, keeping her cool demeanor, “Figured.”
Buffy purses her lips together, nodding to the stairs. “Come up to my room?” Faith just shrugs, her signature indifference, but Buffy starts walking up to her room, knowing she’ll follow. When they get there Buffy closes the door behind her and Faith sits down on her bed, leaning back on her elbows.
“So?”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way…” Buffy starts, walking over to her. Faith scoffs.
“Yeah, great way to start a sentence, B.”
“No, I’m serious. Please let me finish before you start getting all moody and defensive, okay?” Buffy asks, sitting next to her on the bed. She takes one of Faith’s hands in hers, lacing their fingers together and looking up at her with a look of pleading on her face. Faith sighs.
“Fine.”
Buffy licks her lips a little nervously, knowing she’s going to have to mention all the good before she starts on the bad; cushion the blow or something. But spilling her heart to Faith was easier done in the secluded place of their hotel room; here it’s too… real. It makes her realize that everything that happened really did happen and wasn’t a figment of her imagination. But she needs to tell her this so she puts on a smile and squeezes Faith’s hand lightly.
“Last night was… completely amazing. Really, it was,” she starts.
“But?” Faith interrupts.
“Faith, please… just let me finish okay?” Buffy asks, pleading and yet annoyed at the same time. Faith just grunts something in response, obviously trying to pretend like she has no feelings either way. Buffy’s gotten better at seeing through the façade of her defenses though.
Buffy takes a breath and continues, “And I would… I’d really like if we could continue to do this; whatever this is. I mean, you make me feel…” she blushes a little as she admits, “more alive than I think I’ve ever felt in my entire life.”
Faith blinks at her, stunned a little at that admission. Sure, Buffy had sex with her and sure, Faith’s not stupid and knows that that obviously means more to Buffy than it would to, say, her. Well, alright, that ain’t completely true. Sex with everyone else always meant nothing to Faith. Sex with Buffy… that fuckin’ meant something. That meant a whole lotta something. But it’s still kinda fucked that it would mean that much to Buffy too.
“It was pretty fuckin’ hot,” Faith admits with a smirk. Buffy rolls her eyes.
“Thank you, Mistress of Romance,” she says dryly. Buffy chews on her lower a lip for a moment though, before she tells her, “But I… I guess I’m not ready for the whole world to know yet.”
There’s the ‘but’ Faith was waiting for.
Buffy quickly tells her though, “It’s not that I’m ashamed or scared, it’s nothing like that, okay? But we’re still trying to figure out what this,” she points between them, “is, and I just don’t want everyone else jumping in with their two cents before we can even figure it out ourselves. Do you understand?”
Faith lets out a breath and then shrugs. “Yeah, I get what you’re sayin’. Guess I ain’t lookin’ for people to be all up in my business right now either.”
Buffy smiles before leaning over to kiss her softly on the lips. Her eyes flutter shut and all the feelings that Faith gives her runs rampant through her body and she sighs in contentment before she breaks. “Thank you,” she whispers against her lips.
“Hey, I get it. Findin’ out you’re a huge dyke has gotta freak ya out a little,” Faith says with a smirk. Buffy rolls her eyes and lets go of Faith’s hand to push her lightly.
“Shut up! I’m so not a dyke; they have crew cuts and ramble on about cars and other mechanical things that would completely ruin my manicure.”
“B, ya haven’t gotten your nails done in years,” Faith points out, looking at Buffy’s hands. Buffy makes a face and closes her hands into fists, hiding her imperfect nails from Faith’s gaze.
“Hey, it’s not my fault I have to wield battle axes and stuff. After so many broken nails you kind of get tired of trying,” Buffy defends.
“Ya just got lazy,” Faith teases.
“I did not!” Buffy exclaims, then pushes Faith a little harder and giggle as her back lands flat on the bed. Buffy climbs on top of her, “Take it back.”
“Nah, still stickin’ with you being a big huge bull dyke with chipped nail polish,” Faith says chuckling as she looks up at her.
“If anyone’s a bull dyke it’s you with your leather pants and misogynistic attitude,” Buffy tells her, smirking. Faith scoffs disbelievingly.
“I ain’t misogynistic!”
“Oh yeah, what’s your ‘get some, get gone’ theory then?” Buffy counters.
“A lifestyle. Besides, I did that with men too, not just with chicks. If I’m a woman hating asshole then I’m a man hating asshole too.”
“Or just an asshole,” Buffy offers, but it’s teasing and Faith knows it so she flips her off, smirking. Buffy smiles and rolls off of her to lay next to her on the bed, propping her head up with her hand as she looks down at her.
“Yeah well that shit’s dead now. Stuck around till morning, didn’t I?” Faith says.
“Yeah… you did,” Buffy says softly, playing with the hem of Faith’s shirt idly with a big, stupid grin on her face. She looks up at her and tells her, “I’m happy you stayed Faith.”
“Yeah well, it was really for the breakfast food. Which by the way was great, since ya had to run off without eatin’ it,” Faith jokes. Buffy pinches her arm softly and Faith yelps, pushing her lightly. “Fuckin’ abuser.”
“Can’t you say anything sweet to me?” Buffy asks, pouting a little.
“Like what? ‘Your hair’s like the sun’ or some other crap like that?” Faith asks. “Ya want a damn poem?” Buffy rolls her eyes.
“No. I mean about… your feelings; what made you happy… with us,” Buffy says, feeling a little shy and lame that she’s asking Faith about that. She knows Faith doesn’t do sappy, but damnit if anyone’s going to be the one to break her, it’ll be Buffy.
Faith shrugs, feeling self conscious. She doesn’t usually talk about stuff like this. “I dunno. I liked that thing with your tongue ya did last night,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows. That earns her another smack on the arm.
“Faith, come on… just say one tiny little romantic thing to me and I promise I’ll make it worth it.”
Faith raises her eyebrows, smirking. “Oh yeah? How?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Don’t say that; that’s playing in dangerous territory,” Faith warns with a grin.
Buffy blushes but says calmly, “I think I can handle anything you throw at me.”
“Even if I asked for a strip tease?” Faith teases, knowing it’ll make Buffy embarrassed. Just as she thought, Buffy turns about ten shades of red and Faith snickers. “Face it B, ya can’t win this game and you’re not gonna turn me into a sap.”
Buffy narrows her eyes. “Fine... fine. Be romantic for thirty seconds and I’ll give you a thirty second strip tease.”
“No deal. In thirty seconds all you’ve be able to take off is your shoes.”
Buffy rolls her eyes. “Fine, be romantic for thirty seconds and I’ll let you feel me up while before we have to go train the other Slayers in…” she looks over at the digital clock on the bedside table, “fifteen minutes.” She knows the way to Faith’s heart is through her pussy, so she’s willing to compromise with sexual… situations.
Faith groans. “Fifteen minutes?” She was looking forward to training before, but now she’s got Buffy in bed and that kinda takes precedence.
“Mhm. So get to the mushy,” Buffy says, smiling excitedly.
“Ya know I could probably feel ya up anyway without havin’ to admit sappy shit, right?” Faith asks with a raised eyebrow; a challenge. Buffy pouts.
“Come on.” She knows she could, but she won’t give Faith the satisfaction of knowing that. One kiss from Faith and she’d let her hands wander wherever she wanted them to go. However she would like to keep the illusion that she isn’t a completely horny mess when around her, so she avoids.
Faith sighs in defeat, “Fine.” If this is part of being in a… whatever they’re doing… and it makes Buffy happy then she’ll try. She chews on her bottom lip for a minute in silence before she looks back over at Buffy. “Alright, first, if I say this, you never repeat it to anyone under penalty of a severe ass beatin’.”
Buffy’s starting to get that any and all romance comes with a violence warning label attached.
“Deal,” Buffy says, excited. The only time Faith ever said anything romantic to her was when they were drunk and she even had to drag it out of her then. But she knows from experience that it’s worth it. So she smiles and waits for Faith to try to figure out a way to voice her feelings.
“This is gonna sound so fuckin’ stupid,” Faith mumbles, rolling her eyes at herself.
“Please?” Buffy asks softly, prodding her gently. Faith sighs.
“Fine. Okay. So this is wicked retarded but… I dunno.” She takes a breath as she gathers her thoughts. “Virginity is supposed to be this big deal, right? Mine never was so I never really fuckin’ got it I guess… until you.” Buffy looks confused because she’s not a virgin and Faith definitely isn’t either, so she’s not sure where she’s going with this. But she’s silent as Faith continues, “But… I guess I kinda like that ya lost your lesbian one with me. That, I dunno, ya trusted me enough to be your first time. Cause that seems like somethin’ that’d be important to you.”
Buffy’s stomach drops to the floor.
“I know it’s stupid as hell cause ‘lesbian virginity’; I dunno if that even counts, but yeah… there’s your sappy moment: it made me happy.” She rolls her eyes at herself again and then looks at Buffy who tries like hell to smile and act like everything’s fine.
She leans down and kisses Faith softly before whispering, “I’m glad that it was with you, Faith…” She didn’t know what else to do, what else to say besides lie. That’s something that makes Faith happy and she’s not going to take that away from her.
Besides, a little white lie never hurt anyone… right?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
An Unexpected Visitor
“Faith, I think maybe we should-”
“Shh.”
“But, this isn’t exactly-”
“Do ya want everyone to hear us?”
“No, but-oh fuck, okay… Faith… we… oh my god.”
Buffy stopped protesting after that. After all, Faith’s hand was in her underwear with her fingers teasing her clit in a way that already had her panting softly into the stillness of the night. Granted, this probably wasn’t one of their better ideas, seeing as they were in the middle of a graveyard with a bunch of other Slayers wandering around looking for something to kill. Buffy said the word to split up and they did, though made sure to stay within yelling range of one another - hence Faith trying to shush her with pretty much little to no success.
“Bite on my shoulder,” Faith whispers in her ear, hearing Buffy’s panting become louder each passing second as the pleasure rises within her. Buffy whimpers, her fingers digging into Faith’s back as the brunette presses her flat against the mausoleum and more into the shadows. Buffy bites down as instructed, but as Faith’s fingers slide into her she emits a loud moan that’s barely stifled by her mouth being gagged.
It’s been like this for the last four days; them constantly having sex. Faith’s leaving tomorrow and instead of talking about what’s going to happen between them they’ve both been avoiding it by spending as much naked time together as they could. Well, Buffy’s tried to bring it up, but it always ends with wandering hands in naughty places and well, that thought ends up going completely out the window.
Buffy also probably should have known better than to try to bring it up right after they just killed one big ass demon, seeing as she’s known about Faith’s H&H theory for years now, but time was running out. But once again; wandering hands in naughty places though and, well….
Buffy’s pants are halfway down her thighs and the cold stone she’s leaning against makes her shiver from being in direct contact with her bare skin. She can tell Faith’s trying to be quick now, knowing that trying to keep Buffy quiet was like trying to make a cat in heat shut up; it just was never going to happen. Faith’s fingers plunge in and out of her and Buffy shuts her eyes tightly closed as she rocks her hips almost violently against her, needing the release.
“Come for me… come all over my fuckin’ fingers baby,” Faith breathes into her ear and Buffy’s clit twitches in response as her muscles clench around her fingers, pulling her in deeper. She cries out, the sound still being audible through her biting just as Faith’s thumb finds her clit. It’s over almost instantly after that; Buffy holding onto Faith like her life depended on it while she rides out her orgasm in the middle of the cemetery.
“Jesus,” Buffy breathes out, but it’s all she can breathe out before Faith’s lips crash against hers, the brunette’s breathing still ragged. Buffy knows she has to do this quickly so she tries to collect herself the best she can as her fingers flick open the buttons on Faith’s pants, not even bothering to pull up her own. Faith pushes her pants down herself, panting into Buffy’s mouth as she grabs her hand and pulls it between her legs, groaning softly against her lips at the blonde’s touch.
“Jesus Faith, you’re-” soaked.
“Fuck me, Buffy,” Faith breathes before her lips fall to her neck, Buffy’s fingering slipping through her folds and finding her hard nub, building her up as quickly as possible.
Faith’s easy to fuck once you know how she operates, which Buffy is thankful she learned quickly. Faith is all about being taken hard, rough, and passionately. Her clit isn’t super sensitive so Buffy has to put forth a lot more effort into it, but if she touches her in just the right way she can have Faith pop her cork almost instantaneously.
Buffy’s fingers tangle in Faith’s hair and she pulls just hard enough to make Faith emit a growl against the skin of her neck. Buffy can feel her hot bursts of breath tickling her ear and though Faith is able to be almost silent the entire time, she can feel she’s getting close by how hard her grip is on Buffy’s hip and the slight twitches of her hips.
“Well, this is new.”
”Fuck,” Faith gasps just as she comes, slamming her hand into the mausoleum wall just as a voice is heard behind her. Buffy seems to be frozen in place, looking past her in horror and Faith growls, unhappy at being interrupted even though she came. Which, let’s be honest, whoever the fuck is behind her should be thankful for.
Faith’s growl seems to snap Buffy out of her daze though and she jumps away from Faith, frantically pulling up her jeans as she exclaims, “Kennedy!”
Well, Faith wasn’t expecting that.
Faith turns around just as she pulls up her pants, not at all caring that she’s flashing Kennedy at this point. Kennedy does look down, cocking an eyebrow before she looks back up at her, that stupid little smirk on her face as Faith buttons them. “Sup, K? Thought you were supposed to be in New York,” Faith asks casually, trying to hide her smile, though mostly for Buffy’s sake. She might be annoyed that Kennedy interrupted shit, but she’s the only person Faith’s ever really been close enough to call a friend, so having her back was a good thing in her book.
Not in Buffy’s though.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Buffy hisses at the same time as Faith’s question, her face bright red at her embarrassment at being caught.
“Hi to you too Buffy, I’m fine by the way, thank you for asking,” Kennedy says snidely, then looks at Faith since she was the one being civil. “And I was, but Willow asked me to come back. Vi’s taking over top dog duties for the week while I’m gone.”
“Wait, Willow asked you to come here?” Buffy asks, sounding surprised. Willow didn’t mention this to her. Why wouldn’t she mention something as important as that to her?
“That’s what I said,” Kennedy reiterates. Then she points between them, “You two do realize that there are about five other Slayers around her wandering like lost puppies while you two bang like bunnies in heat, right? Which, by the way…” she holds up her fist to Faith who smirks and bumps it. Buffy slaps Faith’s arm in irritation. She is not going to watch Faith and Kennedy do their ‘guy’ bonding thing in front of her, it’s just annoying. And they’re both women, so guy bonding is just… stupid. Damnit.
“They’re fully capable of taking care of themselves,” Buffy defends hastily, since she knows that neither Faith nor herself should have left them on their own, even if they are within yelling range. “They’re Slayers, Kennedy. All of them.”
“Yeah well, I had to help out two of them take out a couple of vamps, which I’m guessing you didn’t know was going on,” Kennedy says flatly. She leads her own team now and she knows what it’s like to be a leader, and while screwing around in the graveyard is always bound to be a fun time, you don’t leave your team to fend without you.
Buffy shoves Faith hard in irritation, even though she’s mostly just irritated by the entire situation; the girls, Faith leaving, Kennedy, “I told you we shouldn’t have done that!”
“Hey, watch you’re fuckin’ hands, B. The troops survived, didn’t they?” Faith asks, annoyed at being shoved around.
“That’s not the point!” Buffy bursts out. “You only did it to avoid talking to me anyway, which is complete crap and I’m sick of it! Whether you like it or not Faith we actually have to have a discussion before you leave tomorrow!”
“B…”
“I’m going to go round up the girls; don’t get into any trouble that I’m gonna have to bail your ass out of,” Buffy snaps as she storms off around the corner, leaving Faith and Kennedy to just stare after her.
“You’d think an orgasm would mellow her out a little,” Kennedy says, watching her go. Faith just sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. She does know it’s her fault, that they shouldn’t have been fuckin’ around when on patrol but she just doesn’t wanna have that inevitable conversation. Once they have that shit’s like… final. All etched in stone and crap. She just ain’t ready to decide what the hell she wants to do. She loves what she does; helping girls but… she doesn’t wanna leave Buffy either.
So no, she hasn’t made her decision.
“So when did this happen then?” Kennedy asks, starting to walk with Faith back towards their meeting point.
“Couple days ago,” Faith tells her, not at all surprised by the question. She knows Kennedy enough to know she’d pry, but she’ll back off once Faith needs her to, which is why they get along.
“Can’t say I’m not surprised; you two have always had sexual tension that could be cut with a knife. Little surprised Buffy actually stepped foot out of that closet of hers though.”
Faith doesn’t say anything for a moment as they walk side by side, the night air still and cool around them. “How’d you find us?” Faith asks, avoiding the subject of Buffy.
“Giles told me where you guys were patrolling; he thought it’d be a good idea to check in.”
“You see Red then?” Faith asks, looking over at her.
“No. Don’t know if I’m really ready too. Figured killing a few things would help with that,” Kennedy says, letting out a breath. She shrugs a little, “I don’t know what she wants; the whole reason I got stationed in New York was so it’d make the break up easier. Now she’s calling me down here?”
“And you came runnin’.”
Kennedy gives her an irritated look, “I’m still in love with her, so yeah. Not sure if that makes me a complete idiot, but I’m here anyway.”
“I’m fuckin’ someone who was once my mortal enemy; think I got ya beat in the idiot department,” Faith says with a smirk as she digs around in her jacket pocket for her smokes.
“Yeah but you’ve been in love with her since you were like what, sixteen?” Kennedy asks. Faith shoots her a look as she opens up her pack and slides one of her Marlboros out.
“Ain’t in love with B,” she avoids, placing it between her lips. “Just wanted to fuck her since like… fuckin’ ever.”
Yeah, Buffy’s been the center of her world for as long as she can remember, but that doesn’t mean it’s love. If it was then all the shit she did when she was crazy is really a whole fuckin’ lot worse if she did it to the woman she’s in love with. That’s forty five flavors of fucked up right there.
Kennedy snorts in disbelief, “You still tell yourself that?”
“Fuck off, Ken,” Faith says as she flicks her lighter, making it spark and flame as she lights her cigarette. She puts the lighter back in her pocket as she takes a long drag.
“Touché,” Kennedy says with a smirk, but drops it. They walk in silence for a little while before they start to see the outline of Buffy’s group in the distance. “So you’re leaving tomorrow?” Kennedy asks.
“S’posed to.”
“Which means?”
Faith shrugs, taking another drag of her cigarette. “Dunno what I wanna do yet. Probably ask G to stay for another week to figure it out,” she tells her, smoke curling from her lips, exhaling it as she talks. “I dunno…”
“Does he know about you and Buffy then?” Kennedy asks, figuring the reason for the extended stay was for none other than the blonde slayer herself.
“No. Really ain’t lookin’ for people to be all up in my business,” Faith tells her, then looks at her pointedly.
“Hint taken; don’t say a word, got it,” Kennedy says, then stops walking as soon as Faith does, which is what she can only assume is a safe distance out of Buffy’s ear shot. “But what are you going to tell Giles?”
Faith shrugs as she leans against a gravestone, looking across the way at Buffy. “Whatever comes to mind first.”
“So you’re serious then... about this?” Kennedy asks, then gives a low whistle. “Gotta say, I’m a little impressed, Faith.”
“It ain’t like how it seems,” Faith says, taking another pull from her cigarette before flicking it off into the distance. It’s exactly as it seems, but she ain’t about to admit to it yet. Pussy whipped, ball and chain, whatever the fuck ya wanna call it; Faith knows Buffy’s the one that’s gonna turn her whole fuckin’ world upside down.
It kind of terrifies her, which is the reason for the indecision.
“No?”
“No. I’m just… figurin’ out what the fuck’s goin’ on. Same reason ya came back here when Red asked,” Faith says pointedly, though she’s still looking at Buffy across the way, who was now making her way over to them with five other girls in tow behind her.
“Point taken,” Kennedy says, then looks over to see Buffy walk up to them.
“We should head back,” Buffy says to Faith, making a point to ignore Kennedy. She knows that she was once her best friend’s girlfriend, but she can’t help it that her mere presence irritates her all to hell. She always questions her judgment and undermines her authority in front of the other girls and she’s pretty sure this visit will be no different.
“Lead the way,” Faith says, pushing herself off the gravestone to stand up. Buffy gives her a look she can’t decipher and then flickers her eyes over to Kennedy before pushing past them and leading the troops out of the graveyard.
Kennedy looks at her with an eyebrow raised and whispers, “I’d guess PMS, but...”
“Shut up, Ken.”
* * *
“Hey G, ya got a minute?” Faith asks, leaning against the threshold of the library doors. Giles looks up from his book and removes his glasses rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes.
“Of course,” he responds, blinking a bit before replacing the glasses back on his nose. “Come in.”
Faith looks at him as she walks into the room. “When’s the last time ya slept?” she asks him, watching him try to stifle a yawn. She flops down on one of the big armchairs and revises, “Actually scratch that; are ya doin’ the whole obsessive research thing cause the world’s about to end again? Cause seriously, the PTB better quit with this shit for a bit.”
“As far as I’m aware, the world is not ending,” Giles says with a little amused smile. “I’ve just been catching up on a bit of light reading while we’re here. After all, when we’re on the road I can hardly carry a library in my back pocket.”
Faith raises an eyebrow at the big book he was just leafing through. “Light readin’, huh?” she asks skeptically. She shakes her head, knowing better that to even get into Giles and his geek parade. “Actually though… wanted to talk to ya about that; leavin’.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, uh, unless Red found us some dires I kinda wanted to see if we could stick around for another week or whatever,” Faith says, trying to act casual but she know she’s avoiding his gaze. Giles looks at her curiously.
“May I ask what prompted this? Usually you’re already packed and ready to leave two days into your visit.”
“Just thought maybe the other girls aren’t so ready for me to leave. Ya heard that Jenna knocked Angela clean out in that… Anger Management or whatever they got here, right? Girl won’t listen to anyone else but me for some reason and she almost took a chunk outta B two days ago when she tried to ‘enforce her authority’, or whatever,” Faith waves her hand absentmindedly still without looking at him fully.
“Weren’t you under the impression it would be Krista that would have the most problem with your absence?” Giles asks, surprised.
“Yeah well, surprisingly enough she’s actually fittin’ in here. Well, kinda. Everyone thinks she’s fucked in the head, which she might be. Even Mariah’s doin’ okay, Red told me yesterday she’s got someone teachin’ her sign language so she can communicate outside of just throwin’ me the finger.”
“Faith,” Giles says seriously, looking at her. Faith finally lets her eyes meet his as he tells her, “You and I both know that Jenna will be fine. You’re an excellent Slayer, but you’ve always been a horrible liar. If you don’t wish to indulge your real reasons as to wanting to stay longer, that’s alright with me. As it so happens, Willow has only located a few minor incidents, but nothing that requires our immediate attention. If you wish to stay another week then it’s fine by me as long as nothing comes up.”
Faith nods, pressing her lips together tightly. Alright, well she should have expected that; Giles has always been able to tell when she’s pulling a load of crap outta her ass. “Thanks,” she says before giving him a small smile.
“Faith?” Both Giles and Faith look up and see Buffy standing in the doorway, looking all Slayer. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Duty calls,” Faith says, smirking as she gets up. She gives Giles another appreciative smile before turning and following Buffy out of the room. When they get far enough Faith asks, “Jeez B, what’s with the serious? Ya look like your dog just died.”
Buffy grabs her hand and opens the door to the basement, leading her down to her private gym. But the door is barely closed behind them when Buffy’s arms are wrapped around Faith’s neck and she kisses her passionately. Faith has to hold onto the wall before they both go tumbling down the stairs and when Buffy breaks she says a little breathlessly, “Damn B, ya didn’t think to wait till we got down the stairs at least? We coulda busted our heads open.”
“I heard what you said,” Buffy says with a smile. “You’re really going to stay for another week?”
“Ya know eavesdroppin’ is rude,” Faith tells her with a smirk, starting to walk down the stairs. Buffy follows her.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping! I just… happened to walk by when you were talking to Giles and I just happened to overhear you,” Buffy defends. She grabs Faith’s hand when they reach the bottom of the stairs and laces their fingers together before pulling her over to the bench to sit.
Faith snorts, “Yeah, right.” She sits down next to Buffy and tells her, “But it ain’t like I’m just gonna up and leave on ya. We still got shit to figure out.”
“Which would probably involve more talking and less sex,” Buffy points out, but she’s blushing a little as her mind wanders back to the graveyard not an hour before and Faith smirks at her.
“Yeah well, ya know me; screw first and ask questions later.”
Buffy is silent for a moment as she dusts her thumb over the back of Faith’s hand, looking down at them entwined together. “I’m glad you’re staying, Faith. And I’m sorry… about before. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.”
“S’Cool, I get it. Ken’s always rubbed ya the wrong way. Gettin’ caught with your pants down in front of her musta sucked,” Faith says, but smirks a little in remembrance. Buffy groans a little, burying her head in the crook of Faith’s neck.
“God, that was so embarrassing!”
Faith chuckles softly, “Coulda been worse.”
“How, exactly?” Buffy mumbles against her neck.
“Coulda been all the Slayers gettin’ an eyeful ‘stead of just one,” Faith tells her. Buffy groans again softly and shakes her head.
“That would have been a nightmare. I have an image to uphold.”
“As a stuck up tight ass with no sense of fun?” Faith jokes, “Or the fearless leader who never gets laid?”
Buffy pinches Faith’s arm, making the brunette jump and flash her an annoyed glare. “None of the above, asshole,” Buffy says, but is giggling a little. She lets out a breath and leans against the wall, looking across the room. She shrugs, “Well, I guess maybe partly. I don’t need them seeing me when I’m vulnerable.”
Faith looks at her confused and Buffy rolls her head against the wall as she turns to look at her. She gives her a small smile, “You, I mean. You’ve always made me weak, Faith… at the same time you’ve made me stronger.” So that might be a bit sappy, but Buffy meant it.
“Ya know that doesn’t make sense, right?”
“Yes it does, and you know it,” Buffy tells her, pushing herself up from leaning against the wall and turning around to face her. She sits up a little so she can swing one of her legs over Faith’s, straddling her. Faith cocks an eyebrow at her and Buffy plays with the hem of the brunette’s shirt as she tells her, “I know I’m your weakness too, otherwise you’d be leaving tomorrow. You’d have left the night we had first had sex.”
“Cocky, aren’t ya?” Faith retorts lightly, but she looks at Buffy and knows it’s true, there’s no point in denying it.
“Not cocky, just right,” Buffy tells her, sliding her arms around her waist as she leans her head on her shoulder. When Faith wraps her arms around her she whispers softly, “It’s always been different with us, Faith. You know it has. We contradict and complement each other at the same time.”
Faith lets out a small breath. “Yeah…” She runs her hands up Buffy’s back, who sits up to look at her before her lips touch hers tentatively. They kiss slow and soft, something they haven’t really done. It’s always been wild and passionate between them, but this was different. Faith could feel the emotion coming from Buffy with each breath and it scared her a little with the intensity of it. But Faith has spent her whole life running so she doesn’t break the contact, knowing this is one of those moments that are almost like a test.
Buffy’s the one that pulls away first, her eyes searching Faith’s before she purses her lips together and smiles a little shyly. “It’s getting late; we should probably get to bed. I need to check on Satsu; hopefully she’ll be getting out of the infirmary tomorrow.” Faith nods as Buffy starts to climb off of her.
“S’Cool. I’m beat like hell anyway.”
“And we have to train the girls bright and early,” Buffy says with fake chipperness before she makes a face of distaste. Faith smirks.
“Yeah well, we’re the teachers. We can just sit there and dictate.”
Buffy laughs a little, “You’re so lazy.”
“Just pointin’ out the upside.”
Buffy smiles and leans in to give her another lingering kiss. “Goodnight Faith,” she whispers against her lips before she pulls away, starting to walk up the stairs.
“Night B.”
GO TO PART SEVEN...
Author: Sapphire Smoke cuzimastripper
Beta(s): supershineygirl & Frass
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): Buffy/Faith, Buffy/Satsu
Word Length Thus Far: 49,877 words
Timeline: Season 8 - though in my world the Gigi thing never happened and the whole world isn't going to shit with Twilight. Because I say so. lol
Summary: Slayer dreams don't always mean an apocalypse is looming, but they're still confusing as hell.
A/N: I don't know why I'm doing another multichapter story. I think I might be insane.
Other Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE
A/N: Don't yell - I had writers block. *hides behind things*
CHAPTER TEN
A Little White Lie
Buffy isn’t sure if she can do this.
She’s standing outside the door to the infirmary, one hand on the door handle, trying to get up the courage to open it. But it’s been a whole five minutes and yet she’s still standing outside like a coward. She doesn’t think she can go in there and see how banged up Satsu is without breaking down, blubbering like a fool, and then spilling her guts about the real reason she was gone. She’s going to feel guilty, she already does feel guilty and she wants to be honest; best policy after all, right? But getting it off of her chest right now wouldn’t do Satsu any good.
It would only do her good, make her feel better; it’d be selfish.
Satsu didn’t deserve this. Buffy tried to tell her that everyone she gets involved with either gets hurt or killed, but she didn’t listen. Just like she knows Faith won’t listen even if she tried to tell her the same thing. But Faith understands her life; has been around for so much longer. Satsu is so young, so eager… such a good lover, and not even just in the bedroom department. She’s caring, attentive, sweet… and she deserves someone who isn’t going to use her.
And probably someone who isn’t in-lust! Lust… with someone else too, because that isn’t right.
When Satsu is better… she’ll tell her. But only when she’s better; when she can handle it.
Or maybe it’s when Buffy can handle it, which definitely isn’t now. Crap, she’s back at the whole selfish thing. Should she tell her? She could sit here and weigh out the pros and cons but then she’d probably be here forever, and she’s already looking like an idiot just standing here, waiting for her hand to get the memo that she needs to open the damn-
“Ah!” Buffy screeches in surprise at the door suddenly opening. If it wasn’t for her Slayer reflexes it probably would have knocked her clean out, but she jumped away just in time as Krista emerged, looking at her with that strange smile on her face that creeps Buffy out to no end.
“Hello,” she says in a wistful voice. “Have you come to receive healing?”
“Err… no,” Buffy says, looking at her a little funny. There’s something seriously off about this girl, though she was providing Buffy with a much needed distraction, which she was thankful for. “I was just… going to check on Satsu. Is she awake? Because if she’s not I should probably just come back later…”
“She’s singing,” Krista says with a smile as she plays with her fingers like they’re the most fascinating thing she’s ever seen.
Is she on drugs? Maybe Buffy should start ordering mandatory drug tests; she does house a bunch of teenagers after all.
“Singing?” Buffy asks. Satsu doesn’t sing… does she?
“Mmm… she’s singing praise of life and love,” Krista tells her, though seems a little lost in her own world. “The angels saved her.”
Yes, drug tests are mandatory starting today.
“Right… I’m just gonna…” Buffy trails off, pointing at the infirmary rather awkwardly as she backs away from Krista. The girl just smiles at her before Buffy turns, walking into the room with her eyes a bit wide. Okay so, yeah… she’s going to have to talk to Satsu about how well Krista did on patrol tonight because right now she’s a little worried about crazy slayers and pointy objects.
But her thoughts shift quickly from crazy slayers to Satsu in a matter of a second once her brain seems to stop avoiding the reality of the situation. Taking to Satsu about Krista isn’t even in the realm of her thoughts anymore as she looks around the infirmary and is reminded of how much she hates hospitals. It’s not exactly a hospital per se, but there are still white walls, the obnoxious curtains that separate the beds… it’s close enough.
She needs to talk to Xander about painting this room a happier color. Something that doesn’t scream, “Hey, you might die in here!”
Buffy starts walking slowly down through the aisles of empty beds and the nurse on duty gives her a comforting smile and a brief head nod, motioning to around the corner. Buffy seems to be holding her breath as she rounds said corner and comes face to face with Satsu lying on the bed nearest to the back, eyes closed as she tries to get some much needed rest.
Buffy tries to stop it, but a little gasp escapes her lips as she looks at the younger slayer on the bed. Her hand comes up to her mouth just as Satsu’s eyes open to look up at her, and Buffy feels herself breaking a little. Bruises litter the girl’s tiny frame; dark, angry looking welts that are in different stages of coloring. Her arm is in a sling and a gash on her forehead looks like it just got stitched up. Buffy’s fingers are trembling as she stares at her, no words able to be emitted as the guilt slaps her across the face, the sting from it flowing through her entire body.
“Hey,” Satsu greets her with a small smile, her voice a bit hoarse.
Buffy swallows, walking over to her slowly. Her fingers are still trembling, her mouth still hanging open in horror at what her selfishness did. The worst part about it was that she knew that this wasn’t the worst of it. All of the blood had been cleaned up, all of her wounds attended too. Buffy can’t even imagine how she looked before this.
“Satsu… I am so sorry…” Buffy chokes out finally, tears welling up in her eyes. She tries to blink them back but one falls down her cheek slowly.
Satsu looks a little taken aback by Buffy crying - she knew Buffy cared, but she never thought enough to shed tears over her. She always goes on and on about how if you’re going to fight a battle people are bound to get hurt. She’s detached herself from it since becoming head of an army, and though she’s sleeping with Satsu, the younger girl never thought it would hold much more baring than that.
“I’m fine,” she tries to reassure her, but Buffy sniffs, wiping away another tear that fell down her cheek. “Really, Buffy, it’s just a scratch. I’ll be fine in a couple days.”
“You could have died…” Buffy whispers, looking distraught. “I am so sorry… this is all my fault.”
“Willow exaggerated, she freaked out a little when she saw me. Really Buffy, I’m okay… see?” Satsu says, then picks herself off the bed with her good arm to sit up completely. She winces a bit from her bruises, but otherwise tries to act completely normal for Buffy’s sake. “And it’s not your fault,” she adds.
Buffy scoffs bitterly, “How can you say that? I was the one who was supposed to be out there! This wasn’t your responsibility tonight! I should be the one lying in that bed, not you!”
“You wouldn’t be in this bed because you would have never let a demon get the upper hand like I did,” Satsu tells her pointedly. “The fault is entirely my own, Buffy. And if Krista hadn’t have jumped in when she did-”
“Wait,” Buffy says, looking surprised by that revelation of information. “Krista…? She killed the demon?”
Satsu nods. “Jumped in and sliced it’s head off.” Buffy looks surprised and then Satsu adds with an odd look on her face, “And then she insisted she bury it and give it a proper funeral to cleanse it’s soul.”
“It’s a demon; it’s soulless,” Buffy says, confused.
Satsu shrugs, but then winces from moving her broken arm. “Yeah, well don’t tell that to her. She thinks everything deserves to go to Heaven no matter their sins. I think she’s insane, but she’s an amazing swordsman and right now I owe her my life, so if she wants to give demons funerals then I’m inclined to let her.”
Fair enough.
“You still… you still shouldn’t have been out there,” Buffy tells her, another wave of guilt passing through her.
“I would have been out there no matter what. I was originally supposed to be in your patrol group.”
“Yeah but this wouldn’t have happened if I was there!” Buffy bursts out; angry and upset, mostly at herself, a little at the rest of the world and a tiny bit at Faith for being so damn… Faith-like and irresistible.
“It isn’t your job to protect me, Buffy. I’m a Slayer too… and I messed up. It won’t happen again.”
“It is my job to protect you, Satsu! It’s my job to protect all of you!”
“You aren’t our hero; you’re our teacher,” Satsu tells her, fire in her own eyes from Buffy burdening herself with a responsibility that she shouldn’t bear. “We didn’t come to you for protection, we came to be trained.”
“It doesn’t matter! The fact is that this happened because I stupidly thought I could be a normal person for once instead of being a Slayer!” Buffy exclaims loudly.
“You can be both.”
“Yeah, because that’s worked out so well for me in the past,” Buffy scoffs bitterly. She shakes her head, sniffing back the rest of her tears before running her shaky fingers through her hair. Satsu reaches out to her and Buffy looks at her sadly before taking her hand, allowing the younger girl to guide her down to sit next to her on the bed.
“I’m fine, Buffy. I promise,” Satsu tells her softly. “Don’t beat yourself up because you wanted to have a night off. Accidents happen.”
“But I should have-” Buffy starts, but is interrupted when Satsu’s lips meet hers. More guilt hits her like a ton of bricks in the face but she reciprocates, knowing neither of them is ready for the conversation she needs to have with her.
When they break Satsu tells her, “I’ll work harder; train harder. This won’t happen again.” Buffy just looks at her sadly and Satsu brushes a piece of blonde hair away from Buffy’s face before cupping her cheek lightly; lovingly. Buffy’s heart breaks in half.
“B?”
Buffy jumps away from Satsu quickly at the sound of Faith’s voice from around the corner, making Satsu gasp in pain from the sudden movement. Buffy looks guilty and mouths, “I’m sorry,” just as Faith rounds the corner and spots them. She gives Buffy a little smile, almost shy… but Faith doesn’t do shy, right? Before Buffy can contemplate too much on the matter though, Faith looks at Satsu.
“Sup, Yuri? Ya look more held together than I thought you would be with the way Red was freakin’.”
Satsu shrugs lightly. “She exaggerated. I’ll be fine.”
Faith’s eyes sweep over Satsu’s form and takes her in; every cut, every bruise. The girl’s tough, she can see that. She also can see that Willow did exaggerate a little, but not by much. If the chick didn’t have Slayer healing, she probably wouldn’t be conscious right now.
“You’ll be kickin’ ass again in about a week, probably,” Faith says, nodding her agreement.
“Can’t wait,” Satsu says with a little smirk. “I still haven’t been able to take you up on your offer of sparring.”
Buffy does not like the mental picture that arises in her head at that. Faith and Satsu sparring is a bad idea. Faith would say things, Satsu would say things back… and then it’d turn into a fight for real. So, no. Buffy is nixing that plan.
Faith’s eyes twinkle and she smirks back. “Better give yourself two weeks before you attempt that, Junior. No way ya could keep up at only half form.”
“No one is sparring with anyone,” Buffy says firmly. Both Satsu and Faith look at her, a little annoyed.
“Ya ain’t the boss of me,” Faith tells her.
“I can take Faith,” Satsu objects.
“In your dreams, Yellow Ranger,” Faith laughs, but it’s playful. Buffy rolls her eyes.
“Did you seriously just call her the yellow Power Ranger? You need therapy.”
“You’d be the pink one,” Faith says, snickering. “All valley girl and shit.”
“There’s only two women so who would you be, one of the guy ones?” Satsu asks, amused by this conversation. It took her mind of her pain at least. Buffy laughs at that.
Faith scoffs. “Please, I’d be Zordon. I made you bitches,” she brushes her shoulder off in the most ridiculous way that makes both girls snort and makes Buffy forget why the three of them in one room should be awkward… until Faith moves closer to Buffy, sticking her hand in her back pocket, “Besides, think he always had a thing for the pink one.” She winks at Buffy whose eyes go wide and she backs away from Faith, coughing awkwardly.
“He’s still a guy and wasn’t he a floating head in a jar? You’re still low in the points column for that,” Buffy says, avoiding.
“It wasn’t a fuckin’ jar, B. Besides, he still made them all and therefore… I’m the shit,” Faith says, trying not to let Buffy’s strange behavior bother her. But then again, maybe Buffy isn’t ready to jump around and wave rainbow flags about what happened. Shit takes some getting used to, she guesses.
Satsu watches both of their behavior curiously, wondering what exactly went on during their little outing. She knows she has no right to be jealous; Buffy isn’t really hers after all, but didn’t Faith say she was over Buffy? Maybe she’s reading too much into it though.
Buffy seems to notice Satsu scrutinizing though so she gives her a small smile, trying to show her nothing weird is going on and then tells Faith, “We should go; let Satsu get some rest.”
Faith shrugs, “Alright. Itchin’ to do some trainin’ anyway.” She gives a head nod to Satsu. “You’re cool?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Buffy’s right; I should sleep. I’ll heal faster that way.”
Buffy gives Satsu a small smile and tells her, “I’ll check on you later, okay?” Satsu nods.
When they leave the infirmary, Buffy turns to Faith and says, “We need to talk…” She needs to let Faith know that there cannot be any obvious sexual or romantic indications between them in public. She doesn’t need the whole world knowing her business and even beyond that, she doesn’t need Satsu knowing before she has a chance to tell her.
Faith cocks an eyebrow, keeping her cool demeanor, “Figured.”
Buffy purses her lips together, nodding to the stairs. “Come up to my room?” Faith just shrugs, her signature indifference, but Buffy starts walking up to her room, knowing she’ll follow. When they get there Buffy closes the door behind her and Faith sits down on her bed, leaning back on her elbows.
“So?”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way…” Buffy starts, walking over to her. Faith scoffs.
“Yeah, great way to start a sentence, B.”
“No, I’m serious. Please let me finish before you start getting all moody and defensive, okay?” Buffy asks, sitting next to her on the bed. She takes one of Faith’s hands in hers, lacing their fingers together and looking up at her with a look of pleading on her face. Faith sighs.
“Fine.”
Buffy licks her lips a little nervously, knowing she’s going to have to mention all the good before she starts on the bad; cushion the blow or something. But spilling her heart to Faith was easier done in the secluded place of their hotel room; here it’s too… real. It makes her realize that everything that happened really did happen and wasn’t a figment of her imagination. But she needs to tell her this so she puts on a smile and squeezes Faith’s hand lightly.
“Last night was… completely amazing. Really, it was,” she starts.
“But?” Faith interrupts.
“Faith, please… just let me finish okay?” Buffy asks, pleading and yet annoyed at the same time. Faith just grunts something in response, obviously trying to pretend like she has no feelings either way. Buffy’s gotten better at seeing through the façade of her defenses though.
Buffy takes a breath and continues, “And I would… I’d really like if we could continue to do this; whatever this is. I mean, you make me feel…” she blushes a little as she admits, “more alive than I think I’ve ever felt in my entire life.”
Faith blinks at her, stunned a little at that admission. Sure, Buffy had sex with her and sure, Faith’s not stupid and knows that that obviously means more to Buffy than it would to, say, her. Well, alright, that ain’t completely true. Sex with everyone else always meant nothing to Faith. Sex with Buffy… that fuckin’ meant something. That meant a whole lotta something. But it’s still kinda fucked that it would mean that much to Buffy too.
“It was pretty fuckin’ hot,” Faith admits with a smirk. Buffy rolls her eyes.
“Thank you, Mistress of Romance,” she says dryly. Buffy chews on her lower a lip for a moment though, before she tells her, “But I… I guess I’m not ready for the whole world to know yet.”
There’s the ‘but’ Faith was waiting for.
Buffy quickly tells her though, “It’s not that I’m ashamed or scared, it’s nothing like that, okay? But we’re still trying to figure out what this,” she points between them, “is, and I just don’t want everyone else jumping in with their two cents before we can even figure it out ourselves. Do you understand?”
Faith lets out a breath and then shrugs. “Yeah, I get what you’re sayin’. Guess I ain’t lookin’ for people to be all up in my business right now either.”
Buffy smiles before leaning over to kiss her softly on the lips. Her eyes flutter shut and all the feelings that Faith gives her runs rampant through her body and she sighs in contentment before she breaks. “Thank you,” she whispers against her lips.
“Hey, I get it. Findin’ out you’re a huge dyke has gotta freak ya out a little,” Faith says with a smirk. Buffy rolls her eyes and lets go of Faith’s hand to push her lightly.
“Shut up! I’m so not a dyke; they have crew cuts and ramble on about cars and other mechanical things that would completely ruin my manicure.”
“B, ya haven’t gotten your nails done in years,” Faith points out, looking at Buffy’s hands. Buffy makes a face and closes her hands into fists, hiding her imperfect nails from Faith’s gaze.
“Hey, it’s not my fault I have to wield battle axes and stuff. After so many broken nails you kind of get tired of trying,” Buffy defends.
“Ya just got lazy,” Faith teases.
“I did not!” Buffy exclaims, then pushes Faith a little harder and giggle as her back lands flat on the bed. Buffy climbs on top of her, “Take it back.”
“Nah, still stickin’ with you being a big huge bull dyke with chipped nail polish,” Faith says chuckling as she looks up at her.
“If anyone’s a bull dyke it’s you with your leather pants and misogynistic attitude,” Buffy tells her, smirking. Faith scoffs disbelievingly.
“I ain’t misogynistic!”
“Oh yeah, what’s your ‘get some, get gone’ theory then?” Buffy counters.
“A lifestyle. Besides, I did that with men too, not just with chicks. If I’m a woman hating asshole then I’m a man hating asshole too.”
“Or just an asshole,” Buffy offers, but it’s teasing and Faith knows it so she flips her off, smirking. Buffy smiles and rolls off of her to lay next to her on the bed, propping her head up with her hand as she looks down at her.
“Yeah well that shit’s dead now. Stuck around till morning, didn’t I?” Faith says.
“Yeah… you did,” Buffy says softly, playing with the hem of Faith’s shirt idly with a big, stupid grin on her face. She looks up at her and tells her, “I’m happy you stayed Faith.”
“Yeah well, it was really for the breakfast food. Which by the way was great, since ya had to run off without eatin’ it,” Faith jokes. Buffy pinches her arm softly and Faith yelps, pushing her lightly. “Fuckin’ abuser.”
“Can’t you say anything sweet to me?” Buffy asks, pouting a little.
“Like what? ‘Your hair’s like the sun’ or some other crap like that?” Faith asks. “Ya want a damn poem?” Buffy rolls her eyes.
“No. I mean about… your feelings; what made you happy… with us,” Buffy says, feeling a little shy and lame that she’s asking Faith about that. She knows Faith doesn’t do sappy, but damnit if anyone’s going to be the one to break her, it’ll be Buffy.
Faith shrugs, feeling self conscious. She doesn’t usually talk about stuff like this. “I dunno. I liked that thing with your tongue ya did last night,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows. That earns her another smack on the arm.
“Faith, come on… just say one tiny little romantic thing to me and I promise I’ll make it worth it.”
Faith raises her eyebrows, smirking. “Oh yeah? How?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Don’t say that; that’s playing in dangerous territory,” Faith warns with a grin.
Buffy blushes but says calmly, “I think I can handle anything you throw at me.”
“Even if I asked for a strip tease?” Faith teases, knowing it’ll make Buffy embarrassed. Just as she thought, Buffy turns about ten shades of red and Faith snickers. “Face it B, ya can’t win this game and you’re not gonna turn me into a sap.”
Buffy narrows her eyes. “Fine... fine. Be romantic for thirty seconds and I’ll give you a thirty second strip tease.”
“No deal. In thirty seconds all you’ve be able to take off is your shoes.”
Buffy rolls her eyes. “Fine, be romantic for thirty seconds and I’ll let you feel me up while before we have to go train the other Slayers in…” she looks over at the digital clock on the bedside table, “fifteen minutes.” She knows the way to Faith’s heart is through her pussy, so she’s willing to compromise with sexual… situations.
Faith groans. “Fifteen minutes?” She was looking forward to training before, but now she’s got Buffy in bed and that kinda takes precedence.
“Mhm. So get to the mushy,” Buffy says, smiling excitedly.
“Ya know I could probably feel ya up anyway without havin’ to admit sappy shit, right?” Faith asks with a raised eyebrow; a challenge. Buffy pouts.
“Come on.” She knows she could, but she won’t give Faith the satisfaction of knowing that. One kiss from Faith and she’d let her hands wander wherever she wanted them to go. However she would like to keep the illusion that she isn’t a completely horny mess when around her, so she avoids.
Faith sighs in defeat, “Fine.” If this is part of being in a… whatever they’re doing… and it makes Buffy happy then she’ll try. She chews on her bottom lip for a minute in silence before she looks back over at Buffy. “Alright, first, if I say this, you never repeat it to anyone under penalty of a severe ass beatin’.”
Buffy’s starting to get that any and all romance comes with a violence warning label attached.
“Deal,” Buffy says, excited. The only time Faith ever said anything romantic to her was when they were drunk and she even had to drag it out of her then. But she knows from experience that it’s worth it. So she smiles and waits for Faith to try to figure out a way to voice her feelings.
“This is gonna sound so fuckin’ stupid,” Faith mumbles, rolling her eyes at herself.
“Please?” Buffy asks softly, prodding her gently. Faith sighs.
“Fine. Okay. So this is wicked retarded but… I dunno.” She takes a breath as she gathers her thoughts. “Virginity is supposed to be this big deal, right? Mine never was so I never really fuckin’ got it I guess… until you.” Buffy looks confused because she’s not a virgin and Faith definitely isn’t either, so she’s not sure where she’s going with this. But she’s silent as Faith continues, “But… I guess I kinda like that ya lost your lesbian one with me. That, I dunno, ya trusted me enough to be your first time. Cause that seems like somethin’ that’d be important to you.”
Buffy’s stomach drops to the floor.
“I know it’s stupid as hell cause ‘lesbian virginity’; I dunno if that even counts, but yeah… there’s your sappy moment: it made me happy.” She rolls her eyes at herself again and then looks at Buffy who tries like hell to smile and act like everything’s fine.
She leans down and kisses Faith softly before whispering, “I’m glad that it was with you, Faith…” She didn’t know what else to do, what else to say besides lie. That’s something that makes Faith happy and she’s not going to take that away from her.
Besides, a little white lie never hurt anyone… right?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
An Unexpected Visitor
“Faith, I think maybe we should-”
“Shh.”
“But, this isn’t exactly-”
“Do ya want everyone to hear us?”
“No, but-oh fuck, okay… Faith… we… oh my god.”
Buffy stopped protesting after that. After all, Faith’s hand was in her underwear with her fingers teasing her clit in a way that already had her panting softly into the stillness of the night. Granted, this probably wasn’t one of their better ideas, seeing as they were in the middle of a graveyard with a bunch of other Slayers wandering around looking for something to kill. Buffy said the word to split up and they did, though made sure to stay within yelling range of one another - hence Faith trying to shush her with pretty much little to no success.
“Bite on my shoulder,” Faith whispers in her ear, hearing Buffy’s panting become louder each passing second as the pleasure rises within her. Buffy whimpers, her fingers digging into Faith’s back as the brunette presses her flat against the mausoleum and more into the shadows. Buffy bites down as instructed, but as Faith’s fingers slide into her she emits a loud moan that’s barely stifled by her mouth being gagged.
It’s been like this for the last four days; them constantly having sex. Faith’s leaving tomorrow and instead of talking about what’s going to happen between them they’ve both been avoiding it by spending as much naked time together as they could. Well, Buffy’s tried to bring it up, but it always ends with wandering hands in naughty places and well, that thought ends up going completely out the window.
Buffy also probably should have known better than to try to bring it up right after they just killed one big ass demon, seeing as she’s known about Faith’s H&H theory for years now, but time was running out. But once again; wandering hands in naughty places though and, well….
Buffy’s pants are halfway down her thighs and the cold stone she’s leaning against makes her shiver from being in direct contact with her bare skin. She can tell Faith’s trying to be quick now, knowing that trying to keep Buffy quiet was like trying to make a cat in heat shut up; it just was never going to happen. Faith’s fingers plunge in and out of her and Buffy shuts her eyes tightly closed as she rocks her hips almost violently against her, needing the release.
“Come for me… come all over my fuckin’ fingers baby,” Faith breathes into her ear and Buffy’s clit twitches in response as her muscles clench around her fingers, pulling her in deeper. She cries out, the sound still being audible through her biting just as Faith’s thumb finds her clit. It’s over almost instantly after that; Buffy holding onto Faith like her life depended on it while she rides out her orgasm in the middle of the cemetery.
“Jesus,” Buffy breathes out, but it’s all she can breathe out before Faith’s lips crash against hers, the brunette’s breathing still ragged. Buffy knows she has to do this quickly so she tries to collect herself the best she can as her fingers flick open the buttons on Faith’s pants, not even bothering to pull up her own. Faith pushes her pants down herself, panting into Buffy’s mouth as she grabs her hand and pulls it between her legs, groaning softly against her lips at the blonde’s touch.
“Jesus Faith, you’re-” soaked.
“Fuck me, Buffy,” Faith breathes before her lips fall to her neck, Buffy’s fingering slipping through her folds and finding her hard nub, building her up as quickly as possible.
Faith’s easy to fuck once you know how she operates, which Buffy is thankful she learned quickly. Faith is all about being taken hard, rough, and passionately. Her clit isn’t super sensitive so Buffy has to put forth a lot more effort into it, but if she touches her in just the right way she can have Faith pop her cork almost instantaneously.
Buffy’s fingers tangle in Faith’s hair and she pulls just hard enough to make Faith emit a growl against the skin of her neck. Buffy can feel her hot bursts of breath tickling her ear and though Faith is able to be almost silent the entire time, she can feel she’s getting close by how hard her grip is on Buffy’s hip and the slight twitches of her hips.
“Well, this is new.”
”Fuck,” Faith gasps just as she comes, slamming her hand into the mausoleum wall just as a voice is heard behind her. Buffy seems to be frozen in place, looking past her in horror and Faith growls, unhappy at being interrupted even though she came. Which, let’s be honest, whoever the fuck is behind her should be thankful for.
Faith’s growl seems to snap Buffy out of her daze though and she jumps away from Faith, frantically pulling up her jeans as she exclaims, “Kennedy!”
Well, Faith wasn’t expecting that.
Faith turns around just as she pulls up her pants, not at all caring that she’s flashing Kennedy at this point. Kennedy does look down, cocking an eyebrow before she looks back up at her, that stupid little smirk on her face as Faith buttons them. “Sup, K? Thought you were supposed to be in New York,” Faith asks casually, trying to hide her smile, though mostly for Buffy’s sake. She might be annoyed that Kennedy interrupted shit, but she’s the only person Faith’s ever really been close enough to call a friend, so having her back was a good thing in her book.
Not in Buffy’s though.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Buffy hisses at the same time as Faith’s question, her face bright red at her embarrassment at being caught.
“Hi to you too Buffy, I’m fine by the way, thank you for asking,” Kennedy says snidely, then looks at Faith since she was the one being civil. “And I was, but Willow asked me to come back. Vi’s taking over top dog duties for the week while I’m gone.”
“Wait, Willow asked you to come here?” Buffy asks, sounding surprised. Willow didn’t mention this to her. Why wouldn’t she mention something as important as that to her?
“That’s what I said,” Kennedy reiterates. Then she points between them, “You two do realize that there are about five other Slayers around her wandering like lost puppies while you two bang like bunnies in heat, right? Which, by the way…” she holds up her fist to Faith who smirks and bumps it. Buffy slaps Faith’s arm in irritation. She is not going to watch Faith and Kennedy do their ‘guy’ bonding thing in front of her, it’s just annoying. And they’re both women, so guy bonding is just… stupid. Damnit.
“They’re fully capable of taking care of themselves,” Buffy defends hastily, since she knows that neither Faith nor herself should have left them on their own, even if they are within yelling range. “They’re Slayers, Kennedy. All of them.”
“Yeah well, I had to help out two of them take out a couple of vamps, which I’m guessing you didn’t know was going on,” Kennedy says flatly. She leads her own team now and she knows what it’s like to be a leader, and while screwing around in the graveyard is always bound to be a fun time, you don’t leave your team to fend without you.
Buffy shoves Faith hard in irritation, even though she’s mostly just irritated by the entire situation; the girls, Faith leaving, Kennedy, “I told you we shouldn’t have done that!”
“Hey, watch you’re fuckin’ hands, B. The troops survived, didn’t they?” Faith asks, annoyed at being shoved around.
“That’s not the point!” Buffy bursts out. “You only did it to avoid talking to me anyway, which is complete crap and I’m sick of it! Whether you like it or not Faith we actually have to have a discussion before you leave tomorrow!”
“B…”
“I’m going to go round up the girls; don’t get into any trouble that I’m gonna have to bail your ass out of,” Buffy snaps as she storms off around the corner, leaving Faith and Kennedy to just stare after her.
“You’d think an orgasm would mellow her out a little,” Kennedy says, watching her go. Faith just sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. She does know it’s her fault, that they shouldn’t have been fuckin’ around when on patrol but she just doesn’t wanna have that inevitable conversation. Once they have that shit’s like… final. All etched in stone and crap. She just ain’t ready to decide what the hell she wants to do. She loves what she does; helping girls but… she doesn’t wanna leave Buffy either.
So no, she hasn’t made her decision.
“So when did this happen then?” Kennedy asks, starting to walk with Faith back towards their meeting point.
“Couple days ago,” Faith tells her, not at all surprised by the question. She knows Kennedy enough to know she’d pry, but she’ll back off once Faith needs her to, which is why they get along.
“Can’t say I’m not surprised; you two have always had sexual tension that could be cut with a knife. Little surprised Buffy actually stepped foot out of that closet of hers though.”
Faith doesn’t say anything for a moment as they walk side by side, the night air still and cool around them. “How’d you find us?” Faith asks, avoiding the subject of Buffy.
“Giles told me where you guys were patrolling; he thought it’d be a good idea to check in.”
“You see Red then?” Faith asks, looking over at her.
“No. Don’t know if I’m really ready too. Figured killing a few things would help with that,” Kennedy says, letting out a breath. She shrugs a little, “I don’t know what she wants; the whole reason I got stationed in New York was so it’d make the break up easier. Now she’s calling me down here?”
“And you came runnin’.”
Kennedy gives her an irritated look, “I’m still in love with her, so yeah. Not sure if that makes me a complete idiot, but I’m here anyway.”
“I’m fuckin’ someone who was once my mortal enemy; think I got ya beat in the idiot department,” Faith says with a smirk as she digs around in her jacket pocket for her smokes.
“Yeah but you’ve been in love with her since you were like what, sixteen?” Kennedy asks. Faith shoots her a look as she opens up her pack and slides one of her Marlboros out.
“Ain’t in love with B,” she avoids, placing it between her lips. “Just wanted to fuck her since like… fuckin’ ever.”
Yeah, Buffy’s been the center of her world for as long as she can remember, but that doesn’t mean it’s love. If it was then all the shit she did when she was crazy is really a whole fuckin’ lot worse if she did it to the woman she’s in love with. That’s forty five flavors of fucked up right there.
Kennedy snorts in disbelief, “You still tell yourself that?”
“Fuck off, Ken,” Faith says as she flicks her lighter, making it spark and flame as she lights her cigarette. She puts the lighter back in her pocket as she takes a long drag.
“Touché,” Kennedy says with a smirk, but drops it. They walk in silence for a little while before they start to see the outline of Buffy’s group in the distance. “So you’re leaving tomorrow?” Kennedy asks.
“S’posed to.”
“Which means?”
Faith shrugs, taking another drag of her cigarette. “Dunno what I wanna do yet. Probably ask G to stay for another week to figure it out,” she tells her, smoke curling from her lips, exhaling it as she talks. “I dunno…”
“Does he know about you and Buffy then?” Kennedy asks, figuring the reason for the extended stay was for none other than the blonde slayer herself.
“No. Really ain’t lookin’ for people to be all up in my business,” Faith tells her, then looks at her pointedly.
“Hint taken; don’t say a word, got it,” Kennedy says, then stops walking as soon as Faith does, which is what she can only assume is a safe distance out of Buffy’s ear shot. “But what are you going to tell Giles?”
Faith shrugs as she leans against a gravestone, looking across the way at Buffy. “Whatever comes to mind first.”
“So you’re serious then... about this?” Kennedy asks, then gives a low whistle. “Gotta say, I’m a little impressed, Faith.”
“It ain’t like how it seems,” Faith says, taking another pull from her cigarette before flicking it off into the distance. It’s exactly as it seems, but she ain’t about to admit to it yet. Pussy whipped, ball and chain, whatever the fuck ya wanna call it; Faith knows Buffy’s the one that’s gonna turn her whole fuckin’ world upside down.
It kind of terrifies her, which is the reason for the indecision.
“No?”
“No. I’m just… figurin’ out what the fuck’s goin’ on. Same reason ya came back here when Red asked,” Faith says pointedly, though she’s still looking at Buffy across the way, who was now making her way over to them with five other girls in tow behind her.
“Point taken,” Kennedy says, then looks over to see Buffy walk up to them.
“We should head back,” Buffy says to Faith, making a point to ignore Kennedy. She knows that she was once her best friend’s girlfriend, but she can’t help it that her mere presence irritates her all to hell. She always questions her judgment and undermines her authority in front of the other girls and she’s pretty sure this visit will be no different.
“Lead the way,” Faith says, pushing herself off the gravestone to stand up. Buffy gives her a look she can’t decipher and then flickers her eyes over to Kennedy before pushing past them and leading the troops out of the graveyard.
Kennedy looks at her with an eyebrow raised and whispers, “I’d guess PMS, but...”
“Shut up, Ken.”
* * *
“Hey G, ya got a minute?” Faith asks, leaning against the threshold of the library doors. Giles looks up from his book and removes his glasses rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes.
“Of course,” he responds, blinking a bit before replacing the glasses back on his nose. “Come in.”
Faith looks at him as she walks into the room. “When’s the last time ya slept?” she asks him, watching him try to stifle a yawn. She flops down on one of the big armchairs and revises, “Actually scratch that; are ya doin’ the whole obsessive research thing cause the world’s about to end again? Cause seriously, the PTB better quit with this shit for a bit.”
“As far as I’m aware, the world is not ending,” Giles says with a little amused smile. “I’ve just been catching up on a bit of light reading while we’re here. After all, when we’re on the road I can hardly carry a library in my back pocket.”
Faith raises an eyebrow at the big book he was just leafing through. “Light readin’, huh?” she asks skeptically. She shakes her head, knowing better that to even get into Giles and his geek parade. “Actually though… wanted to talk to ya about that; leavin’.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, uh, unless Red found us some dires I kinda wanted to see if we could stick around for another week or whatever,” Faith says, trying to act casual but she know she’s avoiding his gaze. Giles looks at her curiously.
“May I ask what prompted this? Usually you’re already packed and ready to leave two days into your visit.”
“Just thought maybe the other girls aren’t so ready for me to leave. Ya heard that Jenna knocked Angela clean out in that… Anger Management or whatever they got here, right? Girl won’t listen to anyone else but me for some reason and she almost took a chunk outta B two days ago when she tried to ‘enforce her authority’, or whatever,” Faith waves her hand absentmindedly still without looking at him fully.
“Weren’t you under the impression it would be Krista that would have the most problem with your absence?” Giles asks, surprised.
“Yeah well, surprisingly enough she’s actually fittin’ in here. Well, kinda. Everyone thinks she’s fucked in the head, which she might be. Even Mariah’s doin’ okay, Red told me yesterday she’s got someone teachin’ her sign language so she can communicate outside of just throwin’ me the finger.”
“Faith,” Giles says seriously, looking at her. Faith finally lets her eyes meet his as he tells her, “You and I both know that Jenna will be fine. You’re an excellent Slayer, but you’ve always been a horrible liar. If you don’t wish to indulge your real reasons as to wanting to stay longer, that’s alright with me. As it so happens, Willow has only located a few minor incidents, but nothing that requires our immediate attention. If you wish to stay another week then it’s fine by me as long as nothing comes up.”
Faith nods, pressing her lips together tightly. Alright, well she should have expected that; Giles has always been able to tell when she’s pulling a load of crap outta her ass. “Thanks,” she says before giving him a small smile.
“Faith?” Both Giles and Faith look up and see Buffy standing in the doorway, looking all Slayer. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Duty calls,” Faith says, smirking as she gets up. She gives Giles another appreciative smile before turning and following Buffy out of the room. When they get far enough Faith asks, “Jeez B, what’s with the serious? Ya look like your dog just died.”
Buffy grabs her hand and opens the door to the basement, leading her down to her private gym. But the door is barely closed behind them when Buffy’s arms are wrapped around Faith’s neck and she kisses her passionately. Faith has to hold onto the wall before they both go tumbling down the stairs and when Buffy breaks she says a little breathlessly, “Damn B, ya didn’t think to wait till we got down the stairs at least? We coulda busted our heads open.”
“I heard what you said,” Buffy says with a smile. “You’re really going to stay for another week?”
“Ya know eavesdroppin’ is rude,” Faith tells her with a smirk, starting to walk down the stairs. Buffy follows her.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping! I just… happened to walk by when you were talking to Giles and I just happened to overhear you,” Buffy defends. She grabs Faith’s hand when they reach the bottom of the stairs and laces their fingers together before pulling her over to the bench to sit.
Faith snorts, “Yeah, right.” She sits down next to Buffy and tells her, “But it ain’t like I’m just gonna up and leave on ya. We still got shit to figure out.”
“Which would probably involve more talking and less sex,” Buffy points out, but she’s blushing a little as her mind wanders back to the graveyard not an hour before and Faith smirks at her.
“Yeah well, ya know me; screw first and ask questions later.”
Buffy is silent for a moment as she dusts her thumb over the back of Faith’s hand, looking down at them entwined together. “I’m glad you’re staying, Faith. And I’m sorry… about before. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.”
“S’Cool, I get it. Ken’s always rubbed ya the wrong way. Gettin’ caught with your pants down in front of her musta sucked,” Faith says, but smirks a little in remembrance. Buffy groans a little, burying her head in the crook of Faith’s neck.
“God, that was so embarrassing!”
Faith chuckles softly, “Coulda been worse.”
“How, exactly?” Buffy mumbles against her neck.
“Coulda been all the Slayers gettin’ an eyeful ‘stead of just one,” Faith tells her. Buffy groans again softly and shakes her head.
“That would have been a nightmare. I have an image to uphold.”
“As a stuck up tight ass with no sense of fun?” Faith jokes, “Or the fearless leader who never gets laid?”
Buffy pinches Faith’s arm, making the brunette jump and flash her an annoyed glare. “None of the above, asshole,” Buffy says, but is giggling a little. She lets out a breath and leans against the wall, looking across the room. She shrugs, “Well, I guess maybe partly. I don’t need them seeing me when I’m vulnerable.”
Faith looks at her confused and Buffy rolls her head against the wall as she turns to look at her. She gives her a small smile, “You, I mean. You’ve always made me weak, Faith… at the same time you’ve made me stronger.” So that might be a bit sappy, but Buffy meant it.
“Ya know that doesn’t make sense, right?”
“Yes it does, and you know it,” Buffy tells her, pushing herself up from leaning against the wall and turning around to face her. She sits up a little so she can swing one of her legs over Faith’s, straddling her. Faith cocks an eyebrow at her and Buffy plays with the hem of the brunette’s shirt as she tells her, “I know I’m your weakness too, otherwise you’d be leaving tomorrow. You’d have left the night we had first had sex.”
“Cocky, aren’t ya?” Faith retorts lightly, but she looks at Buffy and knows it’s true, there’s no point in denying it.
“Not cocky, just right,” Buffy tells her, sliding her arms around her waist as she leans her head on her shoulder. When Faith wraps her arms around her she whispers softly, “It’s always been different with us, Faith. You know it has. We contradict and complement each other at the same time.”
Faith lets out a small breath. “Yeah…” She runs her hands up Buffy’s back, who sits up to look at her before her lips touch hers tentatively. They kiss slow and soft, something they haven’t really done. It’s always been wild and passionate between them, but this was different. Faith could feel the emotion coming from Buffy with each breath and it scared her a little with the intensity of it. But Faith has spent her whole life running so she doesn’t break the contact, knowing this is one of those moments that are almost like a test.
Buffy’s the one that pulls away first, her eyes searching Faith’s before she purses her lips together and smiles a little shyly. “It’s getting late; we should probably get to bed. I need to check on Satsu; hopefully she’ll be getting out of the infirmary tomorrow.” Faith nods as Buffy starts to climb off of her.
“S’Cool. I’m beat like hell anyway.”
“And we have to train the girls bright and early,” Buffy says with fake chipperness before she makes a face of distaste. Faith smirks.
“Yeah well, we’re the teachers. We can just sit there and dictate.”
Buffy laughs a little, “You’re so lazy.”
“Just pointin’ out the upside.”
Buffy smiles and leans in to give her another lingering kiss. “Goodnight Faith,” she whispers against her lips before she pulls away, starting to walk up the stairs.
“Night B.”
GO TO PART SEVEN...