Buffy fic - The Aftermath (2/?)
Title: The Aftermath (2/?)
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Rating: PG-13 (future chapters will lead to NC-17)
Pairing: Buffy/Faith, Dawn/Faith, Dawn/Xander, mentions of Willow/Kennedy.
Word Count: 3,982
Summary: After Sunnydale sunk into the ground, the Scoobies and new slayers find themselves stranded at a small town motel while they wait for Giles to return with the bus. Cramped in close quarters, everyone gets a little stir crazy.
Spoilers: All seasons. AU to season 8 comics.
A/N: So I got distracted and wrote this instead of studying for my exams. *sigh* now I'm gonna have to cram hardcore. Oh well. I'll try to update again next weekend.
Faith was trying to calm down her raging hormones as she was walking back to her room, when she noticed a figure on the ground, slumped against her motel room door. She quickened her pace praying that it was not a body dump, as she really did not need attention directed to the escaped convict that she was, but as she got closer she could see that it was Dawn sobbing into her hands. Faith bit the side of her cheek nervously and cursed under her breath. She hated it when girls cried. She never knew what to say, other than what her mom always told her, which was to suck it up. She was also fully aware that in her current state, it was not the best idea to be helping out forbidden virgins.
“I think y' got the wrong room,” Faith said casually, making sure to stay a few steps away while her hormones were still having a party.
“I can’t go to mine,” Dawn replied with a sniffle, wiping her dripping nose on her knee, which made Faith make a mental Eww. “I don't want them to see me like this.”
“What about Willow,” Faith suggested hopefully, “she’s like a mom to you, right?”
“She’s busy with Kennedy,” Dawn answered, “They’re having a sex-a-thon.”
Faith sighed and then mumbled, “If your sis wasn’t such a prude I’d be doin the nasty too.”
“Huh,” Dawn asked, her brow furrowed in confusion as she looked up at Faith with big innocent eyes.
“Nothing, D,” Faith shook her head as she took her room key from her pocket and opened the door.
Dawn got to her feet, but looked inside the room nervously and motionless as if she was unsure if she really wanted to go in or not.
“You coming in,” Faith asked, as she brushed past her into the room, “Or you gonna just stand there and drip snot all night?”
She self-consciously wiped her wet nose again, this time with the back of her hand, before slowly taking the couple steps into the room. Faith shut the door behind her and then realized that Dawn had become a statue again, “What's with you?”
Dawn looked over at the queen size bed. It was like her mothers, only the motel's comforter pattern was about thirty years outdated and it probably housed a few diseases, but she could still see her and her mom, sitting on that bed, while Faith had kept them hostage. She had been so scared and yet, deep down, there was something else she had felt, something…
“Earth to D,” Faith called out, shoving her slightly, “You have some kind of traumatic event?”
“A long time ago,” Dawn whispered, more to herself than to Faith. She knew Faith was supposedly reformed, but she had not spent any real alone time with her since before her prison trip. The fear that Faith had instilled in her when she was just thirteen and fourteen still burned fiercely in her memories, even if those memories had been fabrications of the monks who created her. No matter how hard she tried to push them aside and give Faith a chance, there was always a voice in the back of her head telling her to keep her distance and at any moment she could turn on her.
“What are you talking about,” Faith asked, opening the mini bar and taking out several small bottles of hard alcohol, “Jack, Johnny, or Jose?”
“What,” Dawn asked, snapping out of her memories.
“This looks like a job for Jose,” Faith nodded, then unscrewed the cap to the bottle of tequila. She took a quick sip before screwing the cap back on and tossing it at the younger girl, who fumbled but still managed to catch it.
“I’m not allowed to-,” Dawn started, but then changed her mind and took a big gulp. She made a sour face and gagged as the liquid burned its way down her throat then looked back up at Faith, “If Buffy knew you were getting her little sister drunk, she’d kill you.”
Faith thought for a minute then replied, “I think Buffy’s got her own shit going on right now.”
“Well it’s still illegal, I’m only seventeen. That’s still like four more years until, I’m really allowed to,” Dawn countered, taking another painful sip.
“You're just itchin' to do somethin' bad, aren’t you,” Faith said, eyeing her as she sat back on her bed.
“So,” Dawn said with a shrug, feeling the need to impress Faith, “I can be bad. You know I used to steal stuff.”
Faith rolled her eyes, “Do you want me to give you a medal? Or call you lil miss bad ass or somethin'?”
“I do other bad things,” Dawn said softly, but there was determination in her voice as she came to stand at the foot of the bed, where Faith sat.
Faith could see the look in her eyes, it was a look that she had something to prove and despite her hormones, which were now on overdrive, she decided to show Dawn what being bad was about. She swiftly rose to her feet, startling Dawn into taking a few steps back and then pushed her back into the wall, hard. Dawn let out a startled cry but she did not speak, mostly because her brain could not formulate a thought.
“You want to be bad,” Faith asked, her lips threateningly close to Dawn’s, and she brought a hand up to grasp Dawn’s neck. “This is how you want your first time?”
Dawn glared at her and tried to stand her ground, “How do you know it’s my first time?”
Faith took her free hand and grabbed Dawn’s crotch, watching her response. She could see a quick flash of fear in Dawn’s eyes and Faith shut her own eyes, then backed away from her. “I can tell. Look, right now I got an inner battle royale smack down with my hormones and I don’t trust myself with you. You should go.”
“No,” Dawn whined, gathering her confidence back, “Please, I’m sorry. Let me stay.”
Faith grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels and downed it before looking back at her, “Okay, but this is a hands off zone or I really will lose control and I been workin' hard on this redemption thing. The last thing I need is to fall for jailbait.”
Dawn nodded obediently, then as Faith's words sunk in she smiled and bit her lip, “So I turn you on?”
“Your sister turned me on,” Faith sighed, pulling another small bottle out of the mini bar, “You just kept me going.”
“Buffy,” Dawn asked confused, it was not that she could not see Faith going after her sister, but it was hard for her to imagine that Buffy reciprocated any of those kinds of feelings, especially since she had spent so much energy hating Faith for so long. Then again, Buffy seemed to be attracted to those she hated.
“Forget I said that,” Faith said, drinking half of the next bottle and falling back onto the bed.
“Everyone loves Buffy,” Dawn mumbled, bitterly.
“Don’t need to tell me that,” Faith replied, downing the rest of the bottle and tossing it on the ground, “I used to think I was just jealous of the girl. Perfect friends, perfect life, and perfect former boyfriend.”
Dawn laid down on the bed beside her, beginning to feel more comfortable with her, “And now, you’re in love with her?”
“Whoa, back it up,” Faith laughed, “I ain’t in love with no one. I just think her butt looks cute in blue jeans and wonder what it looks like without the blue-.”
“Okay, okay,” Dawn yelled quickly, cutting her off, “God, that’s my sister.”
“Sorry lil D,” Faith laughed, “Don’t worry, you’ll find yourself a cute boy toy soon enough.”
Dawn took a few more sips of her tequila and then tossed it aside before saying softly, “Hey Faith?”
“Yea,” Faith asked, closing her eyes and realizing just how tired she was.
“Do you think I could sleep here with you tonight,” she asked, nervously looking down at her fingers.
“Sure, as long as you don’t try anything,” Faith smirked, “If anything happened, B really would kill me and I ain't got no friends who would bring me back from the dead.”
“Oh yea, because I can’t help myself around you,” Dawn replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
“I know, it’s a curse, people just can’t help falling in love with me.”
******
Faith awoke early the next morning and the first thing that occurred to her was that she was not alone. She opened her eyes slowly to find Dawn tucked under her arm. The brat had the hints of a smile tickling the sides of her lips and Faith regretted the fact that she was going to inevitably disrupt her as she got up from the bed. She slid away from Dawn as carefully as she could, but even with slayer stealth, Dawn stirred anyway and cracked open an eye.
“I liked it better with you in bed,” Dawn groaned, still half asleep and not thinking too clearly about her words.
“Sorry to disappoint, but ya better get used to it,” Faith replied, shamelessly stripping off her dirty tank top and jeans leaving her in her bra and panties. “Go back to sleep. I gotta shower.”
Dawn watched Faith’s body move to the bathroom and close the door behind her. She took a whiff of the tank top she was wearing and realized that she was in need of a change of clothes as well. Sliding off the bed, she grabbed Faith’s room key laying on the night table, and quietly slipped out of the room. She hurried back to her own room and stalked into it as silently as she had slipped out of the other.
Inside her room, two slayers slept in one bed silently, while Andrew and Xander slept in the other. Andrew had an armed wrapped around Xander, much like how Faith had been holding her earlier, and both were snoring lightly. Dawn tiptoed across the room, grabbed a set of clothes out of her suitcase and then quietly slipped into the bathroom. She left the door open a crack so that she would not make any noise when it closed fully, and quickly began to change into her clean clothes.
“Where have you been all night,” she heard Xander whisper sleepily from the other side of the door.
Startled, Dawn let out a high pitched squeak and wrapped her arms around her body to shield herself from view, even though she was still wearing her bra and jeans. “You better not be looking through that crack,” she whispered back angrily, although most of the anger was because he had startled her and not because he could be watching her changing.
“I wouldn't,” Xander yawned, “Besides, I'm too tired to even open my eye. Now back to the first and extremely important question.”
“I was with Faith,” Dawn said, quickly changing into her clean clothes and throwing the door open. Her breath caught when she found Xander was shirtless with a pair of dark sweatpants hanging low on his hips and all coherent thoughts left her brain.
“Faith,” Xander questioned, his eye fully open in surprise, “What were you doing with her?”
Dawn managed to recollect herself and she shrugged, “I just had a bad night and she was there.”
“She didn't-” Xander started, but he found himself not wanting to finish that question.
“Still a virgin,” Dawn sighed, “It wasn't like that anyway.”
“Good,” Xander nodded and she could see the relief wash over him, “Very good. Because even though you may not be- I mean you may think you're not- and then she- Faith's really good at making you think that you're- and then before you know it you're standing outside, wearing nothing but a motel blanket, and you're suddenly not a virgin anymore.”
“Xander,” Dawn giggled, but said his name lovingly, “Faith isn't trying to get me into bed. Well, we were in bed, but we didn't do anything.”
Xander quickly shot his pointer finger upwards, “That's what she wants you to think. But then suddenly she's tightly wound up from a slay and needs a release and-”
“Stop,” Dawn said quickly, pressing her hand against his mouth, “You're sharing way too many details that I really don't need to know.”
She removed her hand from his mouth once she was sure that he had conquered the urge to bring up anymore personal information and they stood there awkwardly for a moment, neither moving or speaking. Dawn wanted to pull him into the bathroom and have her way with him, but she knew he still saw her as a kid and she also knew he was still dealing with Anya's death. Not to mention, being the younger sister of the slayer not only earned the perks of being kidnapped by vampires as bait, but also struck fear in the hearts of potential suitors. She was sure that Xander would always consider her forbidden fruit as long as Buffy was there to cast threatening glares at any who approached her little sister. At least with Faith she felt desirable. She could see Faith battling her urges every time Dawn got close to her and even if she was second to Buffy, Faith still managed to make her feel like she was first.
“Xander, the bed feels all lopsided when you're not in it,” she heard Andrew's whiny voice call out and Xander smacked himself in the forehead.
“Your boyfriend is calling,” Dawn said, raising an eyebrow.
“Don't even joke, Dawn,” Xander shook his head, “Be safe, okay? Faith is not someone you want to trust. No one really knows what is going on inside her head except Faith.”
“I know,” she agreed. She did know that and she trusted Faith about as far as she could throw her, but she had to admit that sleeping with her last night and waking up with her in the morning, it felt good. In fact, she had gotten the best sleep she had had since the potentials had moved in and taken over her room.
Xander gave her a big hug and a kiss on the forehead and said, “I promise things will get better.”
Dawn smiled and nodded, but she did not really believe him. She turned to glance at herself in the mirror as he went back into the main room. She had a feeling things were just going to get worse.
“Ow,” she heard Andrew wail from the other room and she imagined that Xander had given him a hard punch.
“Stop being such a nerd,” Xander growled back, “And stay on your side of the bed.”
******
Faith was laying on the bed watching TV when Dawn used the key to get back into her room. Dawn stopped in her tracks when she saw that Faith was wearing nothing but a towel and her hair, still wet from her shower, dripped beads of water down her chest and arms.
“And she's back,” Faith noted keeping her eyes focused on the TV and Dawn could not pick up on any emotion as to whether Faith was pleased by this or disappointed.
“Uh, yea. I just needed to change my clothes. They were kinda smelly,” Dawn laughed nervously and once again she found herself afraid to move into the room further.
Faith continued to watch TV for a few minutes before noticing Dawn had not moved from the doorway, “I thought we were over this? Didn't we do some kind of bonding last night or something? Have t'say you were my first.”
“What,” Dawn asked, once again confused. The fact that she could be a first anything for Faith was mind blowing, especially since nothing had happened.
“First time I let someone sleep in my bed the whole night,” Faith chuckled, “I usually kick them out afterwards.”
“Oh,” Dawn replied with a smile and then found the courage to drop down on the bed beside Faith, “So how was your first time?”
The dark haired slayer stared at her sideways for a moment as if she was trying to find the right words and then answered with her own smile, “Didn't suck.”
Dawn blushed and gave her a soft shove, which caused Faith's towel to slip a little lower down her breasts, revealing a good amount of cleavage, and Dawn felt her face go even warmer as she noticed. She quickly pulled her eyes away and tried to change the subject to get her mind off the half naked, wet slayer beside her. “So do you have any plans for today?”
“Tons,” Faith nodded seriously, as her attention returned to the TV.
Dawn tried to contain her disappointment, since she had been hoping she would be able to spend the day with Faith and not another boring day trying to beat the pinball high scores, “What's up?”
“Well first I figured I'd head over to the diner an' grab some breakfast,” Faith said, rubbing her stomach as if to emphasize her hunger, “Then I thought I'd teach ya a few things.”
Dawn was sure that her entire face had now gone beet red. “What kinds of things?”
Faith noticed Dawn's deep red blush and held up her hands in defense, “No, you got me all wrong, D. I meant, give you a few pointers on your fighting skills. You got mad beginner skills, for a civilian anyway, and I thought I could just help you out with your technique. I mean one apocalypse diverted, an infinite number to go, right?”
“Oh, right,” Dawn nodded, “No, that's totally what I thought you meant too.”
“I know what you thought I meant, D,” Faith said, lightly brushing a finger down Dawn's bare arm, “Looks like we both gotta work on keepin' our hormones in check.”
Dawn could not help the shiver that charged through her body and she also could not help but notice that Faith's finger was still on her arm. When another moment past she looked over at Faith and found her staring hungrily at where their bodies were touching.
“Faith,” Dawn questioned drawing out her name and wanting her to either increase the pressure or stop torturing her with light touches.
Tearing her attention away from Dawn's arm and pulling her finger away, Faith looked her in the eyes and said in a husky voice, “Sorry D. I just never really noticed how cute you are- and I'm just realizin' that shower I just took, shoulda been a cold one.”
“You think I'm cute,” Dawn blushed, self-consciously tucking her hair behind an ear.
Faith decided it was best not to answer that since she had already let it slip once, “I gotta get dressed.”
Dawn watched her for a moment, but when she noticed that Faith was watching her and seemed to be waiting for something, she realized she was waiting for Dawn to turn around. “Oh, sorry,” Dawn said, turning quickly to face the other side of the room.
“No offense,” Faith replied, and Dawn could hear rustling behind her, along with the sound of a towel hitting the floor, “For the most part I don't care who sees my naked ass, but considering the sitch we got here, I don't wanna chance it leadin' t' something else.”
“Of course,” Dawn answered and tried to not sound at all disappointed. She was starting to feel like a moth drawn to the flame and Faith was that flame. She was a teenager, though, she told herself, these years were all about finding your identity and sexual exploration and she really wanted to start on that sexual exploration part. She was well aware that even her older sister had lost it by now and it was with a vampire, so she figured that if she started out with a slayer, even if it was a former rogue slayer, she still got bonus points for her partner not being dead.
“Decent,” Faith called out and Dawn was still half hoping to turn around and find a naked Faith behind her, but to her, not quite disappointment, she was fully clothed in a pair of skin tight black leather pants and a dark red halter top that had a low enough neck that her black bra peeked through. While Dawn was noticing, without trying to notice, how hot Faith looked in the leather pants, Faith had made her way to Dawn and suddenly had her hand down the front pocket of Dawn's jeans.
Not realizing what was happening, Dawn's eyes closed on their own volition and a humming sound escaped her lips. Faith's hand was gone as quick as it had come and when she opened her eyes again she saw Faith holding the room key.
“Just taking back what's mine,” Faith smiled and gave her a wink, “Not that I mind you in my room, but I only got one an' I prefer it was with me. Were you just-”
“Uh, no,” Dawn interrupted her quickly, searching her brain for an excuse, “I just- I'm still tired. Definitely didn't think you were trying something though. That would just be-”
“Plausible,” Faith admitted, “But like I've been sayin', not such a good idea.”
“I know,” Dawn exclaimed, waving her hands, “It's not even like I'm like that. I'm so not at all like that.”
Faith eyed her doubtfully and chuckled, “D, you're so young I bet you don't even know what you like. I been where you're at, hell I'm still where you're at. All I know is I like sex, doesn't matter if it's got boy packaging or girl packaging, it's all the same in the end. Best thing to do, is to not think about it too much.”
Faith held out a hand to her and Dawn took it, allowing herself to be pulled up from the bed and she followed the dark haired slayer out of the room.
“Hey, I'll meet ya at the diner,” Faith said, closing the door and locking it behind them, “Something I gotta do first.”
“Sure,” Dawn shrugged, pretending that she was not bothered by Faith blowing her off and not taking her on whatever errand she had to do. She turned and walked towards the diner and as she walked around the side of the motel, she stopped and peered back around the corner. She watched as Faith stopped in front of Buffy's motel door and banged on it loudly. She could see her talking, but could not hear anything she was saying, and then watched as Buffy's hand reached out, grabbed the front of Faith's halter top and yanked her into her room.
Dawn clenched her teeth tightly, as the jealousy washed over her. She guessed Faith would be different when she finally got to the diner, after she had gotten what she wanted from her sister.
It was all about Buffy. It always was.