Another Day - 22
Title: Another Day
Author: Snag
Rating: FR18
Crossover: Rescue Me
Pairing: Faith/Xander
Word Count: 1065
Disclaimer: Copyrighted characters are copyrighted. Property o' Joss Whedon and Denis Leary.
Summary: The firefighters of 62 Truck in the FDNY get a woman in their house. Is she more woman than they can handle?
Warning (if any): Strong language, adult situations, violence, graphic descriptions of burn victims, and gender, religious and racial epithets.
Author's notes: Some of the twists in this chapter came to me out of the blue this morning, as Athena reached down out of the ether and touched me on the head. I can't decide if I'm going overboard with this bit or not, but it was just too fun of an idea to pass up.
The next day was an exercise in pretending everything was fine. For Xander and Faith, this was business as usual, due to the years of practice. For Tommy, not so much.
He was good at maintaining a semblance of fine when the not-so-fine events were normal, every day bits of human drama. But once he'd been smacked in the head with the supernatural, it threw his acting ability off. Tommy spent most of the day at work jumping at shadows, to Faith's vast amusement.
But Faith's amusement was short lived. In the early afternoon, she spotted Xander coming in from the front of the firehouse, slipping his cell phone into his pocket and looking quite grim. Faith trotted up to him, since there wasn't anything of consequence going on apart from the Probie washing the rig yet again.
"Somethin' wrong?" she asked quietly.
Xander made a pained face. "Not sure. Giles just called to tell me who he's sending out to help with Tommy's little haunting problem. Dawn and Robin." Clearly, he was expecting this to be a Big Deal.
Faith blinked, her expression assuming it's default look of nonchalance. "Whatever it takes to get the job done, yeah?"
Xander visibly repressed his frustration. "You don't have to make like everything is okay."
"While we're at work, I do!" Faith hissed, looking angry until Xander gave her a reproachful look. "Just don't, alright?" Her voice lost its edge. "The last thing we need is for anyone but Tommy knowing anything about our past history. Firefighters are like a pack of starving wolves when it comes to juicy gossip. We'll deal with it when they get here." She glanced around to make sure the Probie wasn't watching and reached out to cup Xander's cheek with one hand before going back inside.
By the end of the day, Faith had settled her 'about to encounter the ex-boyfriend' jitters and was able to indulge in standard firefighter banter and ball-busting. At the end of the shift, she, Tommy and Xander were loitering outside once most of the crew had gone home, waiting for the arrival of the supernatural backup squad.
"So neither of these two people is like you?" Tommy asked Faith curiously as he finished the cigarette he was puffing away at. Tommy had been rather conspicuously chain-smoking throughout the day.
"Nope, but they're directly connected. One's the son of a Slayer, a woman like me, the other is the sister to the oldest of us currently living." Faith made a face and looked at Xander. "I still say the title should to go me, though. Three months off for dead behavior is so not fair."
Xander snorted. "Don't look at me. I'm the not-a-Watcher here, I don't get to make the rules."
"After this is done, I'm gonna need a whole pile of back story." Tommy shook his head. "I feel like I came in on the middle of a movie."
Faith spotted a rental vehicle approaching. "Xan," she called to get his attention and tipped her chin in that direction.
Before the rental even came to a stop, a brunette streak leaped out of the passenger side and barreled into Xander, causing him to make an, "Oof!" sound and getting knocked back a step or two.
"Xander!" To Tommy's eyes, a tall, leggy brunette girl seemed to have materialized from nowhere for the sole purpose of squeezing the life out of Xander.
"It's always darkest before the Dawn," Xander noted with a wheeze, indicating the setting sun.
The girl pulled back from him and gave him a swat on the chest. "How long did you Google before you found that quote? And anyway, that really only works if you pick me up from the airport after a red-eye flight." She stepped back and gave Xander a critical once over.
By this time, a tall, fit looking black man with a shaved head had parked the car and moved over to join them. "Well, that scared a few years of my life out of me," he drawled in a rich, precise baritone. "Sorry Xander, I didn't expect her to do that."
From behind the group, a gravelly voice rang out, "Hey, what's all this?" Chief Riley came out of the firehouse in his civilian clothes and approached them, curious about the gathering in front of his domain.
"Oh, hey Chief," Tommy greeted. "These are some friends of Xander and Faith in town visiting, uh..." He suddenly realized that he didn't know any names.
Xander took over. "Chief Jerry Riley, Tommy Gavin, this is Dawn Summers and Robin Wood," he introduced, indicating each of them before subsiding.
"Oh, good," Chief Riley bobbed his head. "You gonna show 'em around, take 'em out on the town?"
"I actually used to live here, Chief, but it's been a long time," Robin supplied.
Dawn shrugged. "I've been here a double handful of times. Nothing new."
"Still, it's good to go and see what's changed." Chief Riley stopped and looked at Robin more closely. "Wait. Robin Wood? Was your mom Nikki Wood?"
Robin's eyebrows went up along with Xander, Faith and Dawn. "Yeah, she - holy hell. Fireman Jerry?"
"God damn, kid, I haven't seen you since you were a little sprout." Jerry gave a pleased smile and stepped forward to give the man he'd known more than thirty years prior an unashamed hug. "I was sorry to hear about your mom. Me n' Jeannie always wondered what happened, but I figured Bernie must've taken care of you."
"Yeah, he did," Robin chuckled. "God, I remember he used to hate you calling him that."
Jerry shrugged. "I wouldn't have, if he hadn't been so uptight. But he was, so I had to give him double rations of shit!"
The others passed a look around. Xander raised his hand. "I got this one." He looked from Jerry to Robin and back again. "So, you guys know each other?"
Robin looked embarrassed, but Jerry nodded cheerfully. "Oh, hell yeah. I used to know his mom when I was working out in the Bronx. She, uh, used to do volunteer work there and in Harlem. You know, before they had outreach programs n' shit like that."
"It's okay Fir- er, Jerry. They know," Robin chuckled.
"Yeah?" He looked at Dawn and Faith in turn, frowning for a moment before announcing, "I can't tell. Which one's the Slayer?"
Xander's jaw dropped open. Loudest. Silence. Ever.
Author: Snag
Rating: FR18
Crossover: Rescue Me
Pairing: Faith/Xander
Word Count: 1065
Disclaimer: Copyrighted characters are copyrighted. Property o' Joss Whedon and Denis Leary.
Summary: The firefighters of 62 Truck in the FDNY get a woman in their house. Is she more woman than they can handle?
Warning (if any): Strong language, adult situations, violence, graphic descriptions of burn victims, and gender, religious and racial epithets.
Author's notes: Some of the twists in this chapter came to me out of the blue this morning, as Athena reached down out of the ether and touched me on the head. I can't decide if I'm going overboard with this bit or not, but it was just too fun of an idea to pass up.
The next day was an exercise in pretending everything was fine. For Xander and Faith, this was business as usual, due to the years of practice. For Tommy, not so much.
He was good at maintaining a semblance of fine when the not-so-fine events were normal, every day bits of human drama. But once he'd been smacked in the head with the supernatural, it threw his acting ability off. Tommy spent most of the day at work jumping at shadows, to Faith's vast amusement.
But Faith's amusement was short lived. In the early afternoon, she spotted Xander coming in from the front of the firehouse, slipping his cell phone into his pocket and looking quite grim. Faith trotted up to him, since there wasn't anything of consequence going on apart from the Probie washing the rig yet again.
"Somethin' wrong?" she asked quietly.
Xander made a pained face. "Not sure. Giles just called to tell me who he's sending out to help with Tommy's little haunting problem. Dawn and Robin." Clearly, he was expecting this to be a Big Deal.
Faith blinked, her expression assuming it's default look of nonchalance. "Whatever it takes to get the job done, yeah?"
Xander visibly repressed his frustration. "You don't have to make like everything is okay."
"While we're at work, I do!" Faith hissed, looking angry until Xander gave her a reproachful look. "Just don't, alright?" Her voice lost its edge. "The last thing we need is for anyone but Tommy knowing anything about our past history. Firefighters are like a pack of starving wolves when it comes to juicy gossip. We'll deal with it when they get here." She glanced around to make sure the Probie wasn't watching and reached out to cup Xander's cheek with one hand before going back inside.
By the end of the day, Faith had settled her 'about to encounter the ex-boyfriend' jitters and was able to indulge in standard firefighter banter and ball-busting. At the end of the shift, she, Tommy and Xander were loitering outside once most of the crew had gone home, waiting for the arrival of the supernatural backup squad.
"So neither of these two people is like you?" Tommy asked Faith curiously as he finished the cigarette he was puffing away at. Tommy had been rather conspicuously chain-smoking throughout the day.
"Nope, but they're directly connected. One's the son of a Slayer, a woman like me, the other is the sister to the oldest of us currently living." Faith made a face and looked at Xander. "I still say the title should to go me, though. Three months off for dead behavior is so not fair."
Xander snorted. "Don't look at me. I'm the not-a-Watcher here, I don't get to make the rules."
"After this is done, I'm gonna need a whole pile of back story." Tommy shook his head. "I feel like I came in on the middle of a movie."
Faith spotted a rental vehicle approaching. "Xan," she called to get his attention and tipped her chin in that direction.
Before the rental even came to a stop, a brunette streak leaped out of the passenger side and barreled into Xander, causing him to make an, "Oof!" sound and getting knocked back a step or two.
"Xander!" To Tommy's eyes, a tall, leggy brunette girl seemed to have materialized from nowhere for the sole purpose of squeezing the life out of Xander.
"It's always darkest before the Dawn," Xander noted with a wheeze, indicating the setting sun.
The girl pulled back from him and gave him a swat on the chest. "How long did you Google before you found that quote? And anyway, that really only works if you pick me up from the airport after a red-eye flight." She stepped back and gave Xander a critical once over.
By this time, a tall, fit looking black man with a shaved head had parked the car and moved over to join them. "Well, that scared a few years of my life out of me," he drawled in a rich, precise baritone. "Sorry Xander, I didn't expect her to do that."
From behind the group, a gravelly voice rang out, "Hey, what's all this?" Chief Riley came out of the firehouse in his civilian clothes and approached them, curious about the gathering in front of his domain.
"Oh, hey Chief," Tommy greeted. "These are some friends of Xander and Faith in town visiting, uh..." He suddenly realized that he didn't know any names.
Xander took over. "Chief Jerry Riley, Tommy Gavin, this is Dawn Summers and Robin Wood," he introduced, indicating each of them before subsiding.
"Oh, good," Chief Riley bobbed his head. "You gonna show 'em around, take 'em out on the town?"
"I actually used to live here, Chief, but it's been a long time," Robin supplied.
Dawn shrugged. "I've been here a double handful of times. Nothing new."
"Still, it's good to go and see what's changed." Chief Riley stopped and looked at Robin more closely. "Wait. Robin Wood? Was your mom Nikki Wood?"
Robin's eyebrows went up along with Xander, Faith and Dawn. "Yeah, she - holy hell. Fireman Jerry?"
"God damn, kid, I haven't seen you since you were a little sprout." Jerry gave a pleased smile and stepped forward to give the man he'd known more than thirty years prior an unashamed hug. "I was sorry to hear about your mom. Me n' Jeannie always wondered what happened, but I figured Bernie must've taken care of you."
"Yeah, he did," Robin chuckled. "God, I remember he used to hate you calling him that."
Jerry shrugged. "I wouldn't have, if he hadn't been so uptight. But he was, so I had to give him double rations of shit!"
The others passed a look around. Xander raised his hand. "I got this one." He looked from Jerry to Robin and back again. "So, you guys know each other?"
Robin looked embarrassed, but Jerry nodded cheerfully. "Oh, hell yeah. I used to know his mom when I was working out in the Bronx. She, uh, used to do volunteer work there and in Harlem. You know, before they had outreach programs n' shit like that."
"It's okay Fir- er, Jerry. They know," Robin chuckled.
"Yeah?" He looked at Dawn and Faith in turn, frowning for a moment before announcing, "I can't tell. Which one's the Slayer?"
Xander's jaw dropped open. Loudest. Silence. Ever.