fanfiction || the chain of destiny || buffy/faith || part five
Title: The Chain of Destiny
Author: Sapphire Smoke cuzimastripper
Beta: supershineygirl
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Rating: R (for now)
Pairing(s): Buffy/Faith
Word Length Thus Far: 40,247 words
Timeline: *** AU *** Welcome to me screwing with canon for my own pleasure. Buffy and Faith aren't slayers (yet), Buffy grew up in Sunnydale all her life and is the picture of popularity. Faith moved to Sunnydale eight months ago with her mother and is befriended by only Willow and Xander. I take liberties with canon events and facts and twist them to mold to my needs, you'll learn to either love or hate me for it, I'm sure.
Summary: All her life, Faith struggled with being a nobody. Then suddenly she's hit with the revelation that she's a potential Slayer, and that she and another girl that she's always despised are just pawns in the game of destiny, fate, and maybe even the end of the world...
A/N: Hold onto your hats, boys and girls. This will be one LONG ride...
Other Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR
CHAPTER NINE
Breaking Apart: Part Two
Buffy tries to help Faith set up the mats but the brunette shoots her a look. “I got it,” she says dismissively, not really wanting to put up with being helped by the other girl because it only made her feel like more of an asshole. As she lays out the mats, Buffy folds her arms across her chest.
“You know, this isn’t the most ideal situation for me either,” she says flatly.
“Whatever.”
“You’re just a fountain of intelligent words, aren’t you?” Buffy mocks, starting to get a little furious with the younger girl’s unwarranted bitchiness. Faith finishes laying out the mats and stands up to face her. She needed Buffy to back off and keep her distance for her own piece of sanity.
“Look, Princess. I don’t like you, you don’t like me. Let’s just stick with that instead of you tryin’ to get all buddy-buddy with me.”
“I’m not trying to get-ugh,” Buffy says, frustrated. “I’m just trying to be nice since we have to work together and see each other every day now because of this. Excuse me for trying to make that a little more pleasant. Excuse me for fucking living, Faith. I can see how much it bothers you.”
Faith cocks an eyebrow at her, following her own advice of just saying angry. “Don’t start with this dramatic shit, okay? I know what you’re doing. Cordelia dumped you, from what I heard Scott dumped you. You got no friends, no boyfriend. You ain’t got anyone and now you think that just cause we got something in common me and mine are gonna be your rebound buddies? Really don’t think so.” Buffy just stares at her like she couldn’t believe Faith just said that too her. Hell, Faith is having a big okay, idiot, that was WAY over the line moment in her head, especially after what Buffy just went through, but she can’t stop herself.
Protecting herself. Pushing her away. Pushing everyone away. Anger. Hate. Fuck it. She can’t deal with it and she knows she’s going about it all wrong and yet the words keep coming.
“You can’t just come in here and think you’re one of us because you have nowhere else to fit in anymore. You can’t just fuckin’ waltz in here and screw up everyone’s lives and think we’re going to be okay with it. You know what? Yeah, I can deal with you being here. But don’t you fuckin’ dare act like a wounded puppy who’s trying to find their way back home when you bring this shit down on us. You’re the Slayer, B. Fuckin’ congratulations. Now deal with your shit like a Slayer.”
Faith just took the ‘Biggest Bitch’ title away from Cordelia. She can feel it and she already regrets every single thing that came out of her mouth when Buffy looks at her like she’s not even human. She doesn’t feel very human after that. She just took one thing and went way off base, turning it into something uglier just to hurt her; just to push her away. Faith’s a lot of things… but she’s never been that cruel. She can be a bitch with the rest of them but she doesn’t… fuck. She just did.
She feels the pull as she watches Buffy start to fall apart.
Buffy’s hands are shaking again and Faith realizes she’s trying to control herself not to just beat Faith into that blueberry Giles was talking about. Faith steps back hesitantly as she watches her. Buffy’s eyes have misted over and she sets her jaw and Faith watches her swallow hard before a strangled sob is released from her lips. The sound seems to infuriate Buffy and her hands connect with Faith’s chest as she shoves her into the ground furiously. Faith gasps in pain; the force making the safety mat that broke her fall relativity useless.
Faith doesn’t get up though and for once she doesn’t defend herself, though maybe only because she knows she’ll lose. She looks up at Buffy who’s standing over her, one tear falling down her cheek, the fury igniting behind her green eyes.
When she speaks finally, her voice comes out even, like she’s trying to control every single word. It only makes the anger sound more predominant though, and Faith’s pretty sure she’s not about to pick herself up off this floor anytime soon.
“My Watcher just died, you cold hearted bitch. He died! In front of me! Have you EVER seen anyone die, Faith? Get ripped apart?!” Buffy shrieks, the tears falling from her eyes faster. She points at the brunette below her furiously, “You don’t know what it’s like for me! Everyone around me is dying and it’s my fault! I close my eyes and try to go to sleep and all I see is death!”
Faith’s stomach feels like she swallowed rocks. The reality; the reality she’s been trying to avoid. Buffy’s pain. She saw it; she could practically feel it the minute she walked in the door. She didn’t want to think about what Buffy went through because this would happen: she would want to fix it. She can’t see her cry. She doesn’t know why but the last time she saw her cry it scared her because she wanted to make it better. And this? All she wants to do is make it better and it terrifies her.
She’s not supposed to care. She’s not that kind of person. She’s not the person who helps out someone when they need it cause no one has ever helped out her, that’s for damn sure. So she’s the person who gives a big FUCK YOU to the world and lets everyone go about their shit. But Buffy… she can’t leave it. It freaks her out and pisses her off and she tries like hell to avoid what is happening right now and yet the funny thing is that she’s the one that made it happen, her and her stupid fucking mouth.
Faith tries to get up, but Buffy won’t let her. “No,” Buffy demands, her voice dangerously calm as she stares down at her. “No, don’t you fucking move. You’re gonna sit there and listen to every single thing I have to say to you before you even think about moving.”
Faith’s eyes widen; Buffy’s dead serious. She’s never seen Buffy this way before. She doesn’t move though, she stays where she is. She locks her jaw to keep herself from saying anything that’s about to make this worse and make both of them feel like even more shit. It’s hard though. She’s never let anyone tell her what to do before, but right now? It seems like it might be a good idea to just shut the fuck up for once.
Buffy looks down at her. “You want this so badly, don’t you? This destiny,” she spits the word out like it’s vile. “But it’s not fun, Faith! Outside of all the blood and the gore and the fighting to survive every single night, everything else around you starts to fall apart!” More tears. So many that it’s a wonder Buffy can even see. “No one wants anything to do with me anymore because I’m some sort of freak! My mother’s starting to think I’m some sort of delinquent because I come home with bruises and wounds because I’m out there fighting for my life, fighting for your life and everyone else’s every single night instead of being normal! I don’t get a social life; I don’t get a life at all! All I am is this and I can’t make it stop! My entire world just fucking broke apart and I’m trying here, really trying to be the destiny girl and you’re… you’re not helping any, Faith! You don’t know what I’ve been through, okay?! So just shut up and get off of my back!”
Faith doesn’t have to see them to know that Giles, Xander, and Willow are watching the scene through the office window. Buffy’s loud enough to make that obvious. But Faith doesn’t care about them right now. She feels completely fucking horrible and it’s making her sick.
Buffy’s legs seem to give out from under her as she breaks down sobbing, putting her head in her hands and curling herself into a ball. Buffy’s breaking in front of her and it makes Faith feel like she’s breaking too. She has never witnessed anyone going through that much pain before. Ever. In her whole life. She’s had her shit but she keeps it all inside. Her mother has freak outs but it’s more rage than pain. But this… Buffy was shaking as she sobbed and for the first time since she heard about it… Faith hopes she never becomes the Slayer.
“B…” she tries, just trying to say something, anything. But Buffy doesn’t respond to her and the overwhelming feeling inside of Faith to just reach out and hold the crying girl was becoming more predominant. But she was scared. Reaching out and relating… she doesn’t want to do that. “Buffy,” she tries again, moving closer to her, but Buffy pushes her away from her. Not hard though, she can’t seem to put much effort behind it.
“Just go away,” she sobs.
“Buffy… shit, come on. Stop cryin’,” Faith says, her voice gentler as she tries to come closer to her again.
“No! Just… Faith, just leave me alone!” Buffy cries as she pushes her away again, but can barely see through her tears. She tries to make Faith get away from her, keeps trying to push, keeps telling her to leave her alone until she’s screaming it. But Faith’s arms wrap around her and the fight leaves the blonde and she collapses against her, burying her face in the crook of Faith’s neck.
“I’m sorry; I’m a bitch, okay? I’m sorry, Buffy,” Faith tells her as she holds her closer to her, just trying to get her to calm down. It was eating her up inside; the guilt. She shouldn’t have done that. She should have found a better way to deal with her own problems. She knows she’s not the poster girl for dealing with problems in the healthy way, but she shouldn’t have been that fuckin’ stupid.
Now look what she did.
It takes about ten minutes to calm Buffy down. Faith strokes her hair and holds onto her because she knows she has to; that she has to fix what she just broke. She watches Xander slip out quietly from Giles’ office, the list of things he was sent to get in hand. He glances at them quickly, but leaves without another look to give them privacy.
Buffy’s sobs have faded now; all that’s left are her sniffles every now and then. Her hands hold onto Faith’s shirt in a death grip and she won’t open her eyes. “Buffy?” Faith asks softly. “B? You… you okay?” Buffy doesn’t say anything, but she does lift her head up to look at Faith. Faith feels a tightening in her chest as she sees Buffy’s tear stained face and she wipes away the next one that falls down her cheek. Buffy takes a breath, maybe a sigh, and leans her forehead gently against Faith’s, closing her eyes.
“You were supposed to be the only one who could ever understand…” Buffy whispers, the pain still evident in her voice. It terrifies Faith that she wants nothing more than to make that pain go away. But she doesn’t think about it, she can’t right now. She’ll freak out later, alone in her room, sure. But right now? Right now she’s got more important shit to deal with.
“I don’t,” Faith tells her softly, almost regrettably. She sighs and closes her eyes too, just feeling Buffy’s skin against hers. “I’m sorry, B. I ain’t a Slayer. I’m… just me. I got shit I have to deal with every day but it ain’t like you.”
Fuck. Buffy’s lips are way too close to hers, making her think inappropriate thoughts and have stupid urges. The girl’s crying for shit’s sake.
Faith pulls away from Buffy, just needing the distance before she does anything stupid. She doesn’t know where that urge came from because this isn’t the sexiest of situations. Buffy looks up at her, so many emotions on her face that Faith can’t read.
“You hate me,” Buffy states, softly. There’s no emotion in her words even though her face is showing too much of it.
“I have to hate you,” Faith corrects quietly.
“Why?”
“It’s easier.”
“Then what?” Buffy asks, her voice cracking. Her eyes search Faith’s like she’s trying to find answers to her own questions that she’s never asked. Faith looks away from her, not wanting to see what’s behind her eyes; what’s reflected in her own.
“I dunno,” Faith tells her, honestly. “Easier than anything else.” She looks up at her when she feels Buffy’s grip slacken on her tank top and her fingers start to slightly caress Faith’s sides. Buffy doesn’t seem like she’s realizing that she’s even doing it. But Faith moves away from her, making her stop. “It’s easier for you too,” she tells her, keeping her distance now. “You know it.”
Buffy looks up at her, studying her; “You’re terrified,” she tells her.
“So are you,” Faith counters defensively, even though she’s sure neither of them knows if they’re talking about impending doom or something else. They just stare at each other for a long time, the tension so thick in the air that it’s almost suffocating them both.
“Yeah,” Buffy admits softly. “I am.” She takes a deep breath, contemplating something. She picks at her shirt absentmindedly as she goes on, “So maybe you’re right. We just… we shouldn’t get along.”
Faith nods a little as Buffy looks up at her again.
Buffy takes another breath, calming herself down. Making herself deal with the situation and move on. “But we should be training,” she says, trying to get back down to business. Faith’s grateful for it.
And just like Buffy, she pushes down everything she was feeling and tries to act normal. They both need to right now.
Faith cracks a small smirk. “Now you’re talkin’. Let’s get rough.” Yeah, that came out sounding a lot more suggestive than she meant it to and she can tell by the slight blush of Buffy’s cheeks. Shit, that’s not what she meant. She tries to move on from that quickly though, not wanting Buffy to think she’s hitting on her because she’s so not.As both girls pick themselves off the floor, Faith asks, “So what? You want to just come at me then?”
Jeez, that sounded like an innuendo too. Maybe she should just stop talking all together.
“Yeah, turn around,” Buffy tells her, thankfully seeming to miss the innuendo. She brushes off her pants and wipes her eyes and Faith can see the strength behind them. It’s almost beautiful in a tragic sort of way. Kinda like Faith’s life as a whole.
Faith turns around, looking at the doors of the library as she tries not to think about what just happened or what it was. What it even meant. It just didn’t make sense, any of it. She shouldn’t feel this connected to a person she barely knows. But that’s why she needs to run. She doesn’t need connections, especially connections she can’t explain. And most definitely not a connection that makes her… care. Caring is dangerous. Caring gets you hurt.
Faith’s lost in her thoughts and her pause in being aware of the situation costs her when Buffy comes at her and she only realizes at the last second. Before she knows it she’s sprawled out flat on her ass. Fuck. She needs to pay attention.
She rubs her shoulder where the hit connected. “Damnit, B. Giles said pull your punches!” Christ that hurt.
“I did!” Buffy insists. “Sorry, I’ll pull them more. I’m still trying to get used to this whole super strength thing.” She extends her hand to help Faith up, something that normally Faith would slap away. Though right now, after everything, she knows she has no right to be a bitch. She takes it reluctantly and lets the blonde help her to her feet.
“Alright, go again,” Faith says, turning around and planting her feet. She can hear Buffy behind her, trying to pay attention to where she is this time. But when Buffy comes at her, even though Faith accurately judges the distance, she still blocks too late and ends up on her ass again. She growls in annoyance and Buffy tries to stifle a giggle.
At least she’s feeling better. Christ. Faith rubs her back, wincing in pain.
“Sorry,” Buffy says again, helping her back up. “Can I… can I show you something?” she asks, not knowing how receptive Faith is going to be to being taught by her. But right now if it keeps her from landing on her ass she’s all for it.
“Go for it, Blondie.”
Buffy looks disgruntled at Faith’s array of nicknames but comes over to her. “Turn around,” she tells her. Faith does what she says and then feels Buffy get behind her; almost pressing against her she was so close. “You’re right handed, right?” she asks softly and Faith nods, most of the attention on how close Buffy is to her right now rather than their lesson. Jesus, Lehane. Get a grip.. If she got laid recently this probably wouldn’t be much of an issue. Well, she’s got a new thing on her to do list, anyway.
Not with Buffy. Let’s make that perfectly clear.
“Okay, so when you turn to block me, lead with your left,” Buffy instructs as she takes Faith’s left arm in her hand and guides her, slowly showing her how to turn. “Keep your arm bent like this, that way when you block my punch most of the force will go here,” her fingertips trail over an area on Faith’s forearm, showing her. Faith feels the tingles getting worse. God damnit, the closeness isn’t helping any. She’s really gotta talk to Giles about this. “It’s less likely to get broken on impact there.” Yeah, cause that’s comforting.
Faith is facing her now and Buffy has stepped back, demonstrating how she’s going to come at her and how Faith’s arm will connect to block it. “That way, if you do it like this, you can follow through with your right and get a clean shot,” Buffy tells her, smiling a little as she takes Faith’s hand in hers, guiding her along the pathway. Damn, they were way too… in each other’s space right now. “You get it?”
“Yeah, think so,” Faith says, waiting for Buffy to step the hell back from her space, but Buffy doesn’t move right away, nor does she let go of her hand or the grip on her arm. She looks kinda spaced for a second before coming back to earth and stepping away, looking a little shy. Faith narrows her eyes, confused. Okay, awkward.
They’re supposed to be hating each other. This isn’t helping.
“Gimme your best, Twinkie,” Faith says with a smirk before stepping back and turning around. She needs to get this back on track before she does something really stupid.
It takes about four tries before she manages to actually follow through correctly. Her fist connects with Buffy’s jaw making her stumble back a step. “Oh shit, I did it!” Faith says, excited. Then she notices Buffy rubbing her face. “Oops?”
“It’s fine, barely felt it,” Buffy tells her, rolling her neck to crack it. She smiles at her though and Faith can’t help but smile back, only a little.
It’s one short moment of a truce between them, but Faith doesn’t plan to think too extensively about the matter. She still needs to hate her, still needs Buffy to hate her back, but it doesn’t look like hate is on the menu anymore. Faith will knock it down to ‘strongly dislike’ but the fact of the matter is… no matter how much she tries to convince herself of it, Buffy isn’t exactly the enemy anymore.
CHAPTER TEN
A Little Bit of Jealousy
“We should go to Church this Sunday.”
Faith blinks heavily, trying to process what she just heard. She stops folding laundry and looks at her mother in disbelief. “Uh, why?”
Caroline digs a cigarette out of her pack, not meeting her daughter’s questioning gaze. “Well I just think it’s time for a little faith in our lives, maybe it will help us through the bad times,” she tells her calmly before pulling one out and putting it between her lips. Faith is still staring at her like she has four heads.
“Mum, I don’t need faith. I am Faith.”
Caroline looks over at her disapprovingly, not amused by her joke. “I’m serious Fai, we are Catholic, or did you forget?” She flicks the lighter, making it flame before lighting her cigarette. Faith just raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you’re a Catholic drug addict and I’m a Catholic lesbian slut. Pretty sure the big guy upstairs would smite us the second we stepped foot in the joint.”
“Faith!” Caroline snaps, annoyed now. “God doesn’t give up on us because of our sins. And I thought I told you not to speak to me about your sex life. I wasn’t joking and I really wish you would be more respectful with your body.” Oh please. Faith bites her tongue before she snaps back about how her mother should be respectful with hers by not snorting up drugs every damn day.
“Whatever,” Faith says, rolling her eyes before going back to work folding a shirt. “I don’t see why the fuck you’d wanna go all of a sudden. Ain’t like we’ve always been religious.” Then she stops, realization dawning on her. She looks up at her mother. “Aw, Mum… have you been watching the religious channel again?”
“That’s not the point. I think we should-”
“I told you ya gotta quit watching that.”
“-try to atone for our wrong doings. I think sitting in for a mass and maybe doing a confessional will be good for both of us,” Caroline finishes.
“I ain’t confessing nothin’ to nobody,” Faith says flatly as she puts down the folded shirt and picks up a pair of jeans.”You can go though. If you think it’s gonna do you good… more power to ya.”
“I’d like us to go as a family…” Caroline tries, but it rubs Faith the wrong way and she slams the jeans back down onto the bed.
“Since when have we ever been a ‘family’, Mum? I mean really. Between the cops knocking on our door every other week and Dad’s gang shooting up the apartment when he jacked their stash, no wonder we couldn’t find time for family fun, right?”
“Faith Hope Lehane,” Caroline starts, her eyes flashing from her daughter’s tone and pulling out the full name card like it’s going to scare her. It doesn’t scare her, but it does get Faith’s attention. “I know I might not be the best mother and I know I haven’t protected you as well as I should, but you damn well better respect me. I try my best and I’m sorry that isn’t enough for you, but I am your mother and we are a family and you will go to church with me on Sunday. Is that clear?”
“Crystal, mother,” Faith shoots back as she gives her a glare. Fuckin’ whatever. If she wants to try to play happy family just… whatever. She can play that game if it makes her sleep better at night. Fuck it.
She doesn’t know if she loves it or hates it when her mother gets like this. It seems she goes between being the good mother, to the fuck up, to the try-to-be-your-friend type. Like she doesn’t know where to fit in or what will make Faith love her. Faith just tends to go with it though, knowing more often than not it’s the drugs the effect her mood swings. She’s gotten used to it.
Caroline looks at Faith and her face softens a bit. “Honey… I know…” she starts, then sighs, “I know things are bad. I know I’m bad. But I’m starting to get better, you know that. And I know you’ve been going through some stuff, stuff you don’t think you can tell me and that’s fine, okay? It is.” Her gaze lands on the angry bruise that’s starting to form on Faith’s face, but she doesn’t comment on it. She knows Faith won’t tell her. “But I just think this could be good for us,” she goes on. “We can learn and grow and… all that shit.”
Faith smirks a little as her mother’s speech falters a bit. But she relents, shrugging a bit. “Fine. Whatever. But just so you know, if we walk in there and get struck by lightning, the first thing my dead ass is gonna tell ya is ‘I told you so.’”
Caroline smiles a little, “Fair enough.”
There’s a knock on the door then, making Faith look up. “My door,” she says, noticing the sound was from next door. She grabs some of her clean laundry and gives her mother a small smile, “I’m gonna go see who that is. You’ll be alright?”
“I can survive on my own, Faith. I’m a big girl,” Caroline reminds her with a soft smile. They hear another knock on the door and Caroline gets a twinkle in her eye. “You might want to get that, it could be Buffy.”
Faith groans, deciding yeah, now is time to leave. “Don’t start on that, Mum. Seriously. Me and her? Not ever gonna happen,” she tells her as she starts backing out of the room with her arms full of clean clothes.
Great, she finally went all of a couple hours not thinking about the girl and then her mother has to go and bring her up. Seriously, she went out of her fuckin’ way to distract herself so she didn’t have to think about her and what happened earlier. But of course, because life likes to have a laugh at her expense, now her mother is convinced the girl that’s the cause of her bruises is the girl she wants to send flowers and candy too. Right.
“You still talk about her in your sleep. Every night,” Caroline tells her with this grin that Faith just despises. Like she’s teasing her cause she’s a school girl with a crush. She does not have a crush on Buffy! Ugh. Fuck! Maybe she talks about her in her sleep cause she’s always dreaming about the stupid Slayers. I mean, fuckin’ obviously.
Not like she can tell her mother that though.
“Whatever. Bye, Mum,” Faith says with a dismissive tone as she walks into her room. As she closes the door she hears her mother ask:
“When you start dating you’ll let me meet her, right?”
Faith groans again and shuts the door. Good fucking grief. Her mother was never gonna let it go. Caroline knows she’s a lesbian but Faith has never once mentioned another girl to her before. Well, okay, she knows about Willow, but she met Willow and could tell that there was no sparks there, just friendliness. While she gets that her mother is trying to be all… excited over the prospect of Faith having a crush or even a real girlfriend - which she’s never had - the fact remains that she’s blowing smoke up the wrong damn chimney.
Dating isn’t what Faith does. She screws. A lot. Though not really much as of late. After Harmony and that whole disaster she’s kinda steered clear. Well, except for that one time last week she let the bartender go down on her in the storage room at The Bronze. But come on… needs had to be met. It’s only so long she can go until she starts feeling antsy.
The knocking on her door continues.
“I’m coming, hold your shit together! Damn!” Faith yells as she puts the clothes down on her bed before making her way over to the door. When she opens it, she’s not surprised to find Willow and Xander on the other side. She smiles, trying to make up for her grumpy response. “Sorry… Mum was drivin’ me nuts.”
“That’s what parents are for, otherwise I’d think we both drew the short straw,” Xander says with a smirk before Faith steps aside letting them both inside. When she closes the door, Willow starts talking a million miles an hour.
“I can’t believe Buffy’s the Slayer! I mean THE Slayer! Here! H-Here with us, in Sunnydale! It’s so weird! She’s not like a kick ass bad girl like you either, she’s… she’s a cheerleader! A slaying cheerleader!” Willow gets out all in a rush, almost like she was teetering on bursting a second before she opened the door and greeted them.
Faith cocks an eyebrow at her. She was far too enthusiastic for her liking.
Willow seems to get that and quickly diverts to, “I-I mean, damnit, damn Buffy and her… slayerness. It’s wrong and it’s bad and she’s… a-a bitch.” Well, on a scale of one to ten of how convincing that sounded, Faith would give it a two point five. Then Willow seems to notice her face and she winces, “Okay… m-maybe I shouldn’t have been so ‘Ra! Ra!’ over the girl who gave you… well, multi-colored bruises.”
Faith sighs and sits on the bed heavily. No, probably not.
“It’s fine Red, you don’t have to be jumpin’ on my bandwagon of hate if you don’t want to. I dunno. I’m just kinda pissed about it. I mean Buffy’s so fuckin’… girly, y’know? Packs a mean punch now but she’s still such a… girl.” Yeah, her ego is still bruised as well as her face on that one.
“Isn’t that one of the main qualities a Slayer is supposed to have?” Xander asks pointedly. Faith rolls her eyes and lays down on her bed, looking up the ceiling.
“Whatever. Yeah, though that wasn’t my point,” Faith says, though more to the ceiling to them. “I just don’t like her.” She knows how stupid and jealous that sounded before it even left her mouth, but she has to convince herself of it. Like she told Buffy; it’s just easier.
Easier than what though… she hasn’t really thought about. She doesn’t want to think about it.
“I’m sorry, Faith,” Willow says, putting her hand on her leg and rubbing it, trying to comfort her. “We um… we saw…”
“I know,” Faith interrupts, still not looking at either of them. “Buffy was screamin’ pretty fuckin’ loud. Figured half the world heard her.”
“You kind of deserved it,” Xander tells her honestly.
“Thanks, man,” Faith says dryly.
“Sorry, but you did.”
Yeah. She knows she did. That’s why it sucks so fuckin’ badly.
“Do you wanna… talk about it?” Willow asks, entering that territory cautiously since Faith doesn’t ever talk about emotional shit much and what went down was definitely emotional.
“No. You know me… dealin’. Five by five, whatever. Eventually. I dunno,” Faith says, still keeping her eyes trained on the ceiling, but now watching the fan spin slowly around. She feels like such an asshole right now.
She sits up suddenly, trying to put on that tone of indifference she likes so well before she starts spilling her guts. “It’s cool though. We’ll help her kick the bad guy’s ass. No big.”
“I’m still wigged that there’s a bad guy that wants us all dead,” Xander says.
“Yeah, about that… why the fuck did G-Man get you guys involved?” Faith asks. “This ain’t your battle.”
Willow looks sheepish. “Um… it was my fault. We came in and we heard him talking to Buffy and we… w-well I kind of… offered to help. He tried to pretend he didn’t know what I was talking about but… we’re your backup, Faith. We go where you go.”
Faith smiles a little. “That’s sweet and all - seriously you guys are like the best fuckin’ friends a chick could ask for… but you shouldn’t have wanted in this mess.” She doesn’t want to be the one responsible if something goes wrong.
“Too bad, you’re stuck with us,” Xander says with a grin as he sits down next to Faith and slaps her thigh lightly. “Besides, our lives would just be dull if we didn’t have all the impending doom.”
Faith snorts a little as she laughs, “Yeah, cause that’s what dreams are made of right? Demons and doom.”
“In Sunnydale? Yeah,” Xander responds with a lopsided grin. Faith grins back, and then sees Willow checking her watch out of the corner of her eye.
“You got somewhere to be?” Faith asks her and Willow noticeably jumps a mile. Well, shit. Suspicious behavior for one hundred, anyone? Faith cocks an eyebrow at her.
“W-What? No! No, where would I need to be? I-I don’t have a life,” Willow stammers, nervous. Faith looks over at Xander and he shrugs. They both look at Willow questioningly.
“Willow, I love you to death… but you are a crappy liar, my friend,” Xander tells her with a pat on the knee.
“I’m not! I-I’m… I’m…” Willow stammers some more. But both Faith and Xander are looking at her like they know better and suddenly she sighs in defeat, “Okay I give! I’m… I’m supposed to meet… Buffy… later…” She looks really guilty at Faith, whose eyebrows get lost in her hairline. Xander coughs uncomfortably.
“Is Buffy your new study buddy now?” Faith asks, folding her arms across her chest. She tries to keep her voice even, like she doesn’t care, but it doesn’t go over so well. The bitchiness is seeping back in and she doesn’t really know why.
“N-No… it’s not… she just… I mean I just thought…” she sighs again, looking like she’s feeling horrible about herself. She looks down at her hands and mumbles, “You hate me now, don’t you?”
Fuck. Faith runs her hand through her hair and sighs. “No, I don’t… I don’t fuckin’ hate you, Red. Don’t think it’s physically possible. But I just…” Faith rolls her eyes, more at herself than anyone. She doesn’t want to say it out loud. Saying it out loud made it even more real and even more pathetic. “Nevermind.”
Willow looks at her sympathetically. “Faith… that doesn’t mean I’m not your friend! I-I mean, you know that, right? But Buffy’s been all… I mean, she doesn’t have any friends now a-and she’s upset about… everything. I think that… that maybe since she’s around now maybe we could-”
“It’s cool, Willow. Don’t worry about it. You go with B and have your girly thing. Whatever you’re doin’.”
“You’re still my best friend,” Willow assures her.
“Hey!” Xander exclaims. Willow smiles and looks at him.
“You too, you goof.”
“Good, because I haven’t been in the market for a new best friend since I was five and the competition was pretty stiff then - I don’t even want to think about what it would be like now,” Xander says with a sly grin.
“What happened when you were five?” Faith asks, an eyebrow rising.
“I stole Willow’s Barbie. We didn’t talk for two whole days,” Xander tells her with a smirk. “Hardest time of my life.”
Willow giggles, then looks down at her watch again. Faith rolls her eyes and gives her a little push.
“Go,” she tells her, making sure her voice sounded like she was okay with it and not like the jealous bitch she was really feeling like, which was hard. Faith’s never been one to try to hide her emotions, mainly cause she sucks at it. Like, say, right now. Damnit.
Willow just looks at her for a moment before pulling Faith into a hug. Faith’s eyes go wide, feeling like she’s never gonna get used to the whole physical touching thing. But she slowly reciprocates. When Willow pulls away she assures her, “You’re still my favorite Slayer-person.”
“I’m a potential Slayer-person,” Faith corrects with a smirk.
“Same thing,” Willow says with a smile before she gets up, hugging Xander goodbye. She gives a little cheerful wave and a “Bye!” before she leaves, which then lets Faith finally relax her face into a scowl. Xander chuckles getting up to stand in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall as he looks at her.
“Jealous?”
Thanks Xander, because THAT needed to be said out loud. Jeez.
“She’s stealing my fuckin’ friends now,” Faith grumbles. Yeah, she knows how stupid she sounds. If her, Xander, and Willow weren’t so close she’d just brush it off; be defensive about it. She’s like that with everyone else, anyway. Those two seemed to have a knack at breaking down her walls though, and she’s realizing that she keeps opening up without meaning too all the time. It’s kind of annoying, but she can’t exactly back track or train herself to stop it. She doesn’t have much in the way of self control.
“Relax, possessive-girl,” Xander jokes, but Faith flashes him a look that shows him it wasn’t funny. He’s not put off though. “We’re still your friends, and Buffy’s still a two-faced popular girl that fell from grace, but she’s kind of penetrated our little group now cause of all the evil bad stuff going on. Besides, you should know better than anyone how much she’s… well, you know she’s just hurting a lot.”
Faith raises an eyebrow at the word ‘penetrating’, a little smirk on her lips. She tries to steer the conversation toward something she can deal with: this. She can deal with sexual innuendoes much better than having a talk about Buffy’s feelings. Or her own, for that matter. Xander looks embarrassed once he realizes what she’s smirking about. Sometimes it’s just way too damn easy.
“Not what I meant.”
“You sure you don’t want to go and penetrate her, Xand?” Faith asks with a dirty smirk. Xander turns all kinds of shades of red.
“No! I don’t! There were no thoughts of penetration running through this mind, let me assure you.”
“There wasn’t, but I’m guessing there is now,” Faith presses. Bingo! Cue more inappropriate blushing. Faith laughs a little. Okay, she’s feeling a bit better. This was more natural.
“You do this on purpose,” Xander mumbles accusingly as he comes back over to flop down on the bed.
Faith chuckles, “Damn right I do.” Xander flips her off and Faith laughs some more, leaning back and putting her hands in back of her head, relaxing a bit. “You should try it sometime, it’s hella fun to screw with people.”
Xander looks up then, an eyebrow raised a bit almost as if accepting her challenge. He says calmly, “Like you screwed with Buffy at The Bronze?”
Faith narrows her eyes. She didn’t want to talk about Buffy and her. “I was drunk; shit gets said.”
“You looked like you wanted to eat her,” Xander points out. Then he realizes the implication of his words in their literal meaning and he blushes a bit, but he doesn’t retract his statement.
Faith smirks, not rising to the bait. “Yeah, and have her kicking and screamin’ the whole way down.”
“You know that’s not what I meant. You think Buffy’s sexy,” he taunts her with a smirk of his own.
“Oh lay off, I was just messin’ with her head.”
“Uh huh.”
“I was!”
“You’re not jealous because Buffy’s stealing your friends, you’re jealous because Willow gets to spend time with your lover,” he makes the word sound as taunting as possible and Faith makes an annoyed face before grabbing a pillow and hitting him with it. She didn’t like how that one sentence made her feel; like her insides were doing back flips. “Ow!” Xander exclaims.
“Oh don’t be a baby; it’s just a fuckin’ pillow.”
“Faith, you just bitch slapped me with the pillow,” Xander complains, rubbing the offended area with a pout. Faith just flashes him a triumphant grin.
“Be thankful you didn’t get worse. I mean, come on dude, Buffy?” Why does she sound like she’s trying to convince herself more than him? Christ. Maybe Buffy’s fist rattled her brain more than she thought it did.
Xander shrugs, “You had sex with Harmony. I’d say after that all bets are off.”
“Harmony was all… fuck, I dunno. Some kind of fluke. I was deranged or somethin’. I dunno. But B? Hell and no. She might be hot and all but my hormones don’t control my life,” Faith defends, arms crossing in front of her chest defiantly. Xander just looks at her skeptically and Faith sighs heavily. “Fine, hormones don’t always control my fuckin’ life. Happy?”
“A little. You just admitted she was hot,” Xander says, a look of triumph on his face now.
“I got eyes, don’t I? Shit. I ain’t fuckin’ stupid, but I ain’t desperate either. Besides, I ain’t the one who wants to penetrate her.” Yeah, she’s a bit defensive now.
Xander blushes again. “I don’t want to penetrate her!” he defends.
“You’ve wacked off to the thought though,” Faith says in that confident way she does that makes Xander’s eyes go wide and then makes her smirk. “See? I knew it.” She just needs to turn everything around on him; it’s easier to deal with.
“It was once!” he defends quickly, then realizes what he just admitted too and says quickly, “Oh god, don’t tell Willow I said that. Ever! In fact, this conversation never happened.” He covers his face with his hands and groans.
Faith laughs. “Relax, I ain’t telling Red nothin’. What we talk about stays between you and me, you know that. Besides, it ain’t nothing to be embarrassed about. We all do a little self-lovin’ every now and then, even to weird shit like Buffy fuckin’ Summers.”
“You’ve masturbated thinking about Buffy?” Xander asks, looking up at her, his eyes going wide. So do Faith’s.
“That’s not what I meant,” Faith says quickly. “I meant you. You and your fuckin’ weirdness of doing it.” That didn’t come out near as convincing as she wanted it too. Oh shit.
“You’re a sucky liar,” Xander tells her, but now he’s smirking. He knows. God fucking damnit. It’s not like she meant for it to happen!
“Fine, whatever. Once. It was a fuckin’ accident,” Faith admits flatly, then points at him dangerously. “Never. Leaves. This. Room.”
Xander laughs a little but makes a motion like he was zipping his lips and throwing away the key. But then he looks at her, eyebrow rising. “Wait, how was it an accident?”
“Fuck. I dunno. One minute I’m goin’ down on Angelina Jolie and the next…” she doesn’t finish her sentence; he gets it. “I think my time ran up and Angelina was just needed in someone else’s fantasy so I got stuck with the runner up.”
But that just makes Xander’s eyebrow arc even higher. “Buffy’s your second best after Angelina Jolie?”
“What? No! Fuck, Xand. I dunno. It just happened and… whatever. You’ve done it too so just… fuck it. Whatever. The end. Conversation over,” Faith says, her defenses kicking in again. Xander holds up his hands in surrender.
“No need to get snippy.”
“I wasn’t getting snippy.”
“You were snippy. You were snipping. You were full of sniptasticness,” Xander tells her with a grin. Faith rolls her eyes, but smiles a little bit.
“Pretty sure snipstasticness isn’t a word.”
“It is. Look it up under the dictionary and it’ll show a big picture of you,” Xander quips. Faith flips him off and he makes a motion like he’s grabbing it and putting it in his pocket. “Thanks, I’ll save that for later.”
“Whatever. Fuckin’ dork,” she says, but she’s laughing.
“Yeah but you love me,” Xander says with a grin. She’s gotta agree there, she kinda does. Bit weird, seeing as she never thought she’d have friends. But it’s nice. Cool. It’s… good.
“Alright, get outta my house. I gotta do homework,” Faith tells him, but she’s still smiling.
“Yeah, yeah, homework. I probably have some of that too but I’d rather go home and watch TV,” Xander says as he gets up and heads towards the door.
“I don’t know how the hell you pass your classes, dude.”
Xander smirks, “I copy off of Willow.”
“Oh, she’s gonna kill you if she finds out,” Faith says with a laugh. But Xander just puts his finger to his lips, signaling her to not say a word. She just shakes her head a little at him. “Alright, I won’t tell. But if she finds out - I never knew.”
“Faith enough,” Xander says as he opens the door. “Night Faith.”
“Night X-Man.”
GO TO PART SIX...
Author: Sapphire Smoke cuzimastripper
Beta: supershineygirl
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Rating: R (for now)
Pairing(s): Buffy/Faith
Word Length Thus Far: 40,247 words
Timeline: *** AU *** Welcome to me screwing with canon for my own pleasure. Buffy and Faith aren't slayers (yet), Buffy grew up in Sunnydale all her life and is the picture of popularity. Faith moved to Sunnydale eight months ago with her mother and is befriended by only Willow and Xander. I take liberties with canon events and facts and twist them to mold to my needs, you'll learn to either love or hate me for it, I'm sure.
Summary: All her life, Faith struggled with being a nobody. Then suddenly she's hit with the revelation that she's a potential Slayer, and that she and another girl that she's always despised are just pawns in the game of destiny, fate, and maybe even the end of the world...
A/N: Hold onto your hats, boys and girls. This will be one LONG ride...
Other Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR
CHAPTER NINE
Breaking Apart: Part Two
Buffy tries to help Faith set up the mats but the brunette shoots her a look. “I got it,” she says dismissively, not really wanting to put up with being helped by the other girl because it only made her feel like more of an asshole. As she lays out the mats, Buffy folds her arms across her chest.
“You know, this isn’t the most ideal situation for me either,” she says flatly.
“Whatever.”
“You’re just a fountain of intelligent words, aren’t you?” Buffy mocks, starting to get a little furious with the younger girl’s unwarranted bitchiness. Faith finishes laying out the mats and stands up to face her. She needed Buffy to back off and keep her distance for her own piece of sanity.
“Look, Princess. I don’t like you, you don’t like me. Let’s just stick with that instead of you tryin’ to get all buddy-buddy with me.”
“I’m not trying to get-ugh,” Buffy says, frustrated. “I’m just trying to be nice since we have to work together and see each other every day now because of this. Excuse me for trying to make that a little more pleasant. Excuse me for fucking living, Faith. I can see how much it bothers you.”
Faith cocks an eyebrow at her, following her own advice of just saying angry. “Don’t start with this dramatic shit, okay? I know what you’re doing. Cordelia dumped you, from what I heard Scott dumped you. You got no friends, no boyfriend. You ain’t got anyone and now you think that just cause we got something in common me and mine are gonna be your rebound buddies? Really don’t think so.” Buffy just stares at her like she couldn’t believe Faith just said that too her. Hell, Faith is having a big okay, idiot, that was WAY over the line moment in her head, especially after what Buffy just went through, but she can’t stop herself.
Protecting herself. Pushing her away. Pushing everyone away. Anger. Hate. Fuck it. She can’t deal with it and she knows she’s going about it all wrong and yet the words keep coming.
“You can’t just come in here and think you’re one of us because you have nowhere else to fit in anymore. You can’t just fuckin’ waltz in here and screw up everyone’s lives and think we’re going to be okay with it. You know what? Yeah, I can deal with you being here. But don’t you fuckin’ dare act like a wounded puppy who’s trying to find their way back home when you bring this shit down on us. You’re the Slayer, B. Fuckin’ congratulations. Now deal with your shit like a Slayer.”
Faith just took the ‘Biggest Bitch’ title away from Cordelia. She can feel it and she already regrets every single thing that came out of her mouth when Buffy looks at her like she’s not even human. She doesn’t feel very human after that. She just took one thing and went way off base, turning it into something uglier just to hurt her; just to push her away. Faith’s a lot of things… but she’s never been that cruel. She can be a bitch with the rest of them but she doesn’t… fuck. She just did.
She feels the pull as she watches Buffy start to fall apart.
Buffy’s hands are shaking again and Faith realizes she’s trying to control herself not to just beat Faith into that blueberry Giles was talking about. Faith steps back hesitantly as she watches her. Buffy’s eyes have misted over and she sets her jaw and Faith watches her swallow hard before a strangled sob is released from her lips. The sound seems to infuriate Buffy and her hands connect with Faith’s chest as she shoves her into the ground furiously. Faith gasps in pain; the force making the safety mat that broke her fall relativity useless.
Faith doesn’t get up though and for once she doesn’t defend herself, though maybe only because she knows she’ll lose. She looks up at Buffy who’s standing over her, one tear falling down her cheek, the fury igniting behind her green eyes.
When she speaks finally, her voice comes out even, like she’s trying to control every single word. It only makes the anger sound more predominant though, and Faith’s pretty sure she’s not about to pick herself up off this floor anytime soon.
“My Watcher just died, you cold hearted bitch. He died! In front of me! Have you EVER seen anyone die, Faith? Get ripped apart?!” Buffy shrieks, the tears falling from her eyes faster. She points at the brunette below her furiously, “You don’t know what it’s like for me! Everyone around me is dying and it’s my fault! I close my eyes and try to go to sleep and all I see is death!”
Faith’s stomach feels like she swallowed rocks. The reality; the reality she’s been trying to avoid. Buffy’s pain. She saw it; she could practically feel it the minute she walked in the door. She didn’t want to think about what Buffy went through because this would happen: she would want to fix it. She can’t see her cry. She doesn’t know why but the last time she saw her cry it scared her because she wanted to make it better. And this? All she wants to do is make it better and it terrifies her.
She’s not supposed to care. She’s not that kind of person. She’s not the person who helps out someone when they need it cause no one has ever helped out her, that’s for damn sure. So she’s the person who gives a big FUCK YOU to the world and lets everyone go about their shit. But Buffy… she can’t leave it. It freaks her out and pisses her off and she tries like hell to avoid what is happening right now and yet the funny thing is that she’s the one that made it happen, her and her stupid fucking mouth.
Faith tries to get up, but Buffy won’t let her. “No,” Buffy demands, her voice dangerously calm as she stares down at her. “No, don’t you fucking move. You’re gonna sit there and listen to every single thing I have to say to you before you even think about moving.”
Faith’s eyes widen; Buffy’s dead serious. She’s never seen Buffy this way before. She doesn’t move though, she stays where she is. She locks her jaw to keep herself from saying anything that’s about to make this worse and make both of them feel like even more shit. It’s hard though. She’s never let anyone tell her what to do before, but right now? It seems like it might be a good idea to just shut the fuck up for once.
Buffy looks down at her. “You want this so badly, don’t you? This destiny,” she spits the word out like it’s vile. “But it’s not fun, Faith! Outside of all the blood and the gore and the fighting to survive every single night, everything else around you starts to fall apart!” More tears. So many that it’s a wonder Buffy can even see. “No one wants anything to do with me anymore because I’m some sort of freak! My mother’s starting to think I’m some sort of delinquent because I come home with bruises and wounds because I’m out there fighting for my life, fighting for your life and everyone else’s every single night instead of being normal! I don’t get a social life; I don’t get a life at all! All I am is this and I can’t make it stop! My entire world just fucking broke apart and I’m trying here, really trying to be the destiny girl and you’re… you’re not helping any, Faith! You don’t know what I’ve been through, okay?! So just shut up and get off of my back!”
Faith doesn’t have to see them to know that Giles, Xander, and Willow are watching the scene through the office window. Buffy’s loud enough to make that obvious. But Faith doesn’t care about them right now. She feels completely fucking horrible and it’s making her sick.
Buffy’s legs seem to give out from under her as she breaks down sobbing, putting her head in her hands and curling herself into a ball. Buffy’s breaking in front of her and it makes Faith feel like she’s breaking too. She has never witnessed anyone going through that much pain before. Ever. In her whole life. She’s had her shit but she keeps it all inside. Her mother has freak outs but it’s more rage than pain. But this… Buffy was shaking as she sobbed and for the first time since she heard about it… Faith hopes she never becomes the Slayer.
“B…” she tries, just trying to say something, anything. But Buffy doesn’t respond to her and the overwhelming feeling inside of Faith to just reach out and hold the crying girl was becoming more predominant. But she was scared. Reaching out and relating… she doesn’t want to do that. “Buffy,” she tries again, moving closer to her, but Buffy pushes her away from her. Not hard though, she can’t seem to put much effort behind it.
“Just go away,” she sobs.
“Buffy… shit, come on. Stop cryin’,” Faith says, her voice gentler as she tries to come closer to her again.
“No! Just… Faith, just leave me alone!” Buffy cries as she pushes her away again, but can barely see through her tears. She tries to make Faith get away from her, keeps trying to push, keeps telling her to leave her alone until she’s screaming it. But Faith’s arms wrap around her and the fight leaves the blonde and she collapses against her, burying her face in the crook of Faith’s neck.
“I’m sorry; I’m a bitch, okay? I’m sorry, Buffy,” Faith tells her as she holds her closer to her, just trying to get her to calm down. It was eating her up inside; the guilt. She shouldn’t have done that. She should have found a better way to deal with her own problems. She knows she’s not the poster girl for dealing with problems in the healthy way, but she shouldn’t have been that fuckin’ stupid.
Now look what she did.
It takes about ten minutes to calm Buffy down. Faith strokes her hair and holds onto her because she knows she has to; that she has to fix what she just broke. She watches Xander slip out quietly from Giles’ office, the list of things he was sent to get in hand. He glances at them quickly, but leaves without another look to give them privacy.
Buffy’s sobs have faded now; all that’s left are her sniffles every now and then. Her hands hold onto Faith’s shirt in a death grip and she won’t open her eyes. “Buffy?” Faith asks softly. “B? You… you okay?” Buffy doesn’t say anything, but she does lift her head up to look at Faith. Faith feels a tightening in her chest as she sees Buffy’s tear stained face and she wipes away the next one that falls down her cheek. Buffy takes a breath, maybe a sigh, and leans her forehead gently against Faith’s, closing her eyes.
“You were supposed to be the only one who could ever understand…” Buffy whispers, the pain still evident in her voice. It terrifies Faith that she wants nothing more than to make that pain go away. But she doesn’t think about it, she can’t right now. She’ll freak out later, alone in her room, sure. But right now? Right now she’s got more important shit to deal with.
“I don’t,” Faith tells her softly, almost regrettably. She sighs and closes her eyes too, just feeling Buffy’s skin against hers. “I’m sorry, B. I ain’t a Slayer. I’m… just me. I got shit I have to deal with every day but it ain’t like you.”
Fuck. Buffy’s lips are way too close to hers, making her think inappropriate thoughts and have stupid urges. The girl’s crying for shit’s sake.
Faith pulls away from Buffy, just needing the distance before she does anything stupid. She doesn’t know where that urge came from because this isn’t the sexiest of situations. Buffy looks up at her, so many emotions on her face that Faith can’t read.
“You hate me,” Buffy states, softly. There’s no emotion in her words even though her face is showing too much of it.
“I have to hate you,” Faith corrects quietly.
“Why?”
“It’s easier.”
“Then what?” Buffy asks, her voice cracking. Her eyes search Faith’s like she’s trying to find answers to her own questions that she’s never asked. Faith looks away from her, not wanting to see what’s behind her eyes; what’s reflected in her own.
“I dunno,” Faith tells her, honestly. “Easier than anything else.” She looks up at her when she feels Buffy’s grip slacken on her tank top and her fingers start to slightly caress Faith’s sides. Buffy doesn’t seem like she’s realizing that she’s even doing it. But Faith moves away from her, making her stop. “It’s easier for you too,” she tells her, keeping her distance now. “You know it.”
Buffy looks up at her, studying her; “You’re terrified,” she tells her.
“So are you,” Faith counters defensively, even though she’s sure neither of them knows if they’re talking about impending doom or something else. They just stare at each other for a long time, the tension so thick in the air that it’s almost suffocating them both.
“Yeah,” Buffy admits softly. “I am.” She takes a deep breath, contemplating something. She picks at her shirt absentmindedly as she goes on, “So maybe you’re right. We just… we shouldn’t get along.”
Faith nods a little as Buffy looks up at her again.
Buffy takes another breath, calming herself down. Making herself deal with the situation and move on. “But we should be training,” she says, trying to get back down to business. Faith’s grateful for it.
And just like Buffy, she pushes down everything she was feeling and tries to act normal. They both need to right now.
Faith cracks a small smirk. “Now you’re talkin’. Let’s get rough.” Yeah, that came out sounding a lot more suggestive than she meant it to and she can tell by the slight blush of Buffy’s cheeks. Shit, that’s not what she meant. She tries to move on from that quickly though, not wanting Buffy to think she’s hitting on her because she’s so not.As both girls pick themselves off the floor, Faith asks, “So what? You want to just come at me then?”
Jeez, that sounded like an innuendo too. Maybe she should just stop talking all together.
“Yeah, turn around,” Buffy tells her, thankfully seeming to miss the innuendo. She brushes off her pants and wipes her eyes and Faith can see the strength behind them. It’s almost beautiful in a tragic sort of way. Kinda like Faith’s life as a whole.
Faith turns around, looking at the doors of the library as she tries not to think about what just happened or what it was. What it even meant. It just didn’t make sense, any of it. She shouldn’t feel this connected to a person she barely knows. But that’s why she needs to run. She doesn’t need connections, especially connections she can’t explain. And most definitely not a connection that makes her… care. Caring is dangerous. Caring gets you hurt.
Faith’s lost in her thoughts and her pause in being aware of the situation costs her when Buffy comes at her and she only realizes at the last second. Before she knows it she’s sprawled out flat on her ass. Fuck. She needs to pay attention.
She rubs her shoulder where the hit connected. “Damnit, B. Giles said pull your punches!” Christ that hurt.
“I did!” Buffy insists. “Sorry, I’ll pull them more. I’m still trying to get used to this whole super strength thing.” She extends her hand to help Faith up, something that normally Faith would slap away. Though right now, after everything, she knows she has no right to be a bitch. She takes it reluctantly and lets the blonde help her to her feet.
“Alright, go again,” Faith says, turning around and planting her feet. She can hear Buffy behind her, trying to pay attention to where she is this time. But when Buffy comes at her, even though Faith accurately judges the distance, she still blocks too late and ends up on her ass again. She growls in annoyance and Buffy tries to stifle a giggle.
At least she’s feeling better. Christ. Faith rubs her back, wincing in pain.
“Sorry,” Buffy says again, helping her back up. “Can I… can I show you something?” she asks, not knowing how receptive Faith is going to be to being taught by her. But right now if it keeps her from landing on her ass she’s all for it.
“Go for it, Blondie.”
Buffy looks disgruntled at Faith’s array of nicknames but comes over to her. “Turn around,” she tells her. Faith does what she says and then feels Buffy get behind her; almost pressing against her she was so close. “You’re right handed, right?” she asks softly and Faith nods, most of the attention on how close Buffy is to her right now rather than their lesson. Jesus, Lehane. Get a grip.. If she got laid recently this probably wouldn’t be much of an issue. Well, she’s got a new thing on her to do list, anyway.
Not with Buffy. Let’s make that perfectly clear.
“Okay, so when you turn to block me, lead with your left,” Buffy instructs as she takes Faith’s left arm in her hand and guides her, slowly showing her how to turn. “Keep your arm bent like this, that way when you block my punch most of the force will go here,” her fingertips trail over an area on Faith’s forearm, showing her. Faith feels the tingles getting worse. God damnit, the closeness isn’t helping any. She’s really gotta talk to Giles about this. “It’s less likely to get broken on impact there.” Yeah, cause that’s comforting.
Faith is facing her now and Buffy has stepped back, demonstrating how she’s going to come at her and how Faith’s arm will connect to block it. “That way, if you do it like this, you can follow through with your right and get a clean shot,” Buffy tells her, smiling a little as she takes Faith’s hand in hers, guiding her along the pathway. Damn, they were way too… in each other’s space right now. “You get it?”
“Yeah, think so,” Faith says, waiting for Buffy to step the hell back from her space, but Buffy doesn’t move right away, nor does she let go of her hand or the grip on her arm. She looks kinda spaced for a second before coming back to earth and stepping away, looking a little shy. Faith narrows her eyes, confused. Okay, awkward.
They’re supposed to be hating each other. This isn’t helping.
“Gimme your best, Twinkie,” Faith says with a smirk before stepping back and turning around. She needs to get this back on track before she does something really stupid.
It takes about four tries before she manages to actually follow through correctly. Her fist connects with Buffy’s jaw making her stumble back a step. “Oh shit, I did it!” Faith says, excited. Then she notices Buffy rubbing her face. “Oops?”
“It’s fine, barely felt it,” Buffy tells her, rolling her neck to crack it. She smiles at her though and Faith can’t help but smile back, only a little.
It’s one short moment of a truce between them, but Faith doesn’t plan to think too extensively about the matter. She still needs to hate her, still needs Buffy to hate her back, but it doesn’t look like hate is on the menu anymore. Faith will knock it down to ‘strongly dislike’ but the fact of the matter is… no matter how much she tries to convince herself of it, Buffy isn’t exactly the enemy anymore.
CHAPTER TEN
A Little Bit of Jealousy
“We should go to Church this Sunday.”
Faith blinks heavily, trying to process what she just heard. She stops folding laundry and looks at her mother in disbelief. “Uh, why?”
Caroline digs a cigarette out of her pack, not meeting her daughter’s questioning gaze. “Well I just think it’s time for a little faith in our lives, maybe it will help us through the bad times,” she tells her calmly before pulling one out and putting it between her lips. Faith is still staring at her like she has four heads.
“Mum, I don’t need faith. I am Faith.”
Caroline looks over at her disapprovingly, not amused by her joke. “I’m serious Fai, we are Catholic, or did you forget?” She flicks the lighter, making it flame before lighting her cigarette. Faith just raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you’re a Catholic drug addict and I’m a Catholic lesbian slut. Pretty sure the big guy upstairs would smite us the second we stepped foot in the joint.”
“Faith!” Caroline snaps, annoyed now. “God doesn’t give up on us because of our sins. And I thought I told you not to speak to me about your sex life. I wasn’t joking and I really wish you would be more respectful with your body.” Oh please. Faith bites her tongue before she snaps back about how her mother should be respectful with hers by not snorting up drugs every damn day.
“Whatever,” Faith says, rolling her eyes before going back to work folding a shirt. “I don’t see why the fuck you’d wanna go all of a sudden. Ain’t like we’ve always been religious.” Then she stops, realization dawning on her. She looks up at her mother. “Aw, Mum… have you been watching the religious channel again?”
“That’s not the point. I think we should-”
“I told you ya gotta quit watching that.”
“-try to atone for our wrong doings. I think sitting in for a mass and maybe doing a confessional will be good for both of us,” Caroline finishes.
“I ain’t confessing nothin’ to nobody,” Faith says flatly as she puts down the folded shirt and picks up a pair of jeans.”You can go though. If you think it’s gonna do you good… more power to ya.”
“I’d like us to go as a family…” Caroline tries, but it rubs Faith the wrong way and she slams the jeans back down onto the bed.
“Since when have we ever been a ‘family’, Mum? I mean really. Between the cops knocking on our door every other week and Dad’s gang shooting up the apartment when he jacked their stash, no wonder we couldn’t find time for family fun, right?”
“Faith Hope Lehane,” Caroline starts, her eyes flashing from her daughter’s tone and pulling out the full name card like it’s going to scare her. It doesn’t scare her, but it does get Faith’s attention. “I know I might not be the best mother and I know I haven’t protected you as well as I should, but you damn well better respect me. I try my best and I’m sorry that isn’t enough for you, but I am your mother and we are a family and you will go to church with me on Sunday. Is that clear?”
“Crystal, mother,” Faith shoots back as she gives her a glare. Fuckin’ whatever. If she wants to try to play happy family just… whatever. She can play that game if it makes her sleep better at night. Fuck it.
She doesn’t know if she loves it or hates it when her mother gets like this. It seems she goes between being the good mother, to the fuck up, to the try-to-be-your-friend type. Like she doesn’t know where to fit in or what will make Faith love her. Faith just tends to go with it though, knowing more often than not it’s the drugs the effect her mood swings. She’s gotten used to it.
Caroline looks at Faith and her face softens a bit. “Honey… I know…” she starts, then sighs, “I know things are bad. I know I’m bad. But I’m starting to get better, you know that. And I know you’ve been going through some stuff, stuff you don’t think you can tell me and that’s fine, okay? It is.” Her gaze lands on the angry bruise that’s starting to form on Faith’s face, but she doesn’t comment on it. She knows Faith won’t tell her. “But I just think this could be good for us,” she goes on. “We can learn and grow and… all that shit.”
Faith smirks a little as her mother’s speech falters a bit. But she relents, shrugging a bit. “Fine. Whatever. But just so you know, if we walk in there and get struck by lightning, the first thing my dead ass is gonna tell ya is ‘I told you so.’”
Caroline smiles a little, “Fair enough.”
There’s a knock on the door then, making Faith look up. “My door,” she says, noticing the sound was from next door. She grabs some of her clean laundry and gives her mother a small smile, “I’m gonna go see who that is. You’ll be alright?”
“I can survive on my own, Faith. I’m a big girl,” Caroline reminds her with a soft smile. They hear another knock on the door and Caroline gets a twinkle in her eye. “You might want to get that, it could be Buffy.”
Faith groans, deciding yeah, now is time to leave. “Don’t start on that, Mum. Seriously. Me and her? Not ever gonna happen,” she tells her as she starts backing out of the room with her arms full of clean clothes.
Great, she finally went all of a couple hours not thinking about the girl and then her mother has to go and bring her up. Seriously, she went out of her fuckin’ way to distract herself so she didn’t have to think about her and what happened earlier. But of course, because life likes to have a laugh at her expense, now her mother is convinced the girl that’s the cause of her bruises is the girl she wants to send flowers and candy too. Right.
“You still talk about her in your sleep. Every night,” Caroline tells her with this grin that Faith just despises. Like she’s teasing her cause she’s a school girl with a crush. She does not have a crush on Buffy! Ugh. Fuck! Maybe she talks about her in her sleep cause she’s always dreaming about the stupid Slayers. I mean, fuckin’ obviously.
Not like she can tell her mother that though.
“Whatever. Bye, Mum,” Faith says with a dismissive tone as she walks into her room. As she closes the door she hears her mother ask:
“When you start dating you’ll let me meet her, right?”
Faith groans again and shuts the door. Good fucking grief. Her mother was never gonna let it go. Caroline knows she’s a lesbian but Faith has never once mentioned another girl to her before. Well, okay, she knows about Willow, but she met Willow and could tell that there was no sparks there, just friendliness. While she gets that her mother is trying to be all… excited over the prospect of Faith having a crush or even a real girlfriend - which she’s never had - the fact remains that she’s blowing smoke up the wrong damn chimney.
Dating isn’t what Faith does. She screws. A lot. Though not really much as of late. After Harmony and that whole disaster she’s kinda steered clear. Well, except for that one time last week she let the bartender go down on her in the storage room at The Bronze. But come on… needs had to be met. It’s only so long she can go until she starts feeling antsy.
The knocking on her door continues.
“I’m coming, hold your shit together! Damn!” Faith yells as she puts the clothes down on her bed before making her way over to the door. When she opens it, she’s not surprised to find Willow and Xander on the other side. She smiles, trying to make up for her grumpy response. “Sorry… Mum was drivin’ me nuts.”
“That’s what parents are for, otherwise I’d think we both drew the short straw,” Xander says with a smirk before Faith steps aside letting them both inside. When she closes the door, Willow starts talking a million miles an hour.
“I can’t believe Buffy’s the Slayer! I mean THE Slayer! Here! H-Here with us, in Sunnydale! It’s so weird! She’s not like a kick ass bad girl like you either, she’s… she’s a cheerleader! A slaying cheerleader!” Willow gets out all in a rush, almost like she was teetering on bursting a second before she opened the door and greeted them.
Faith cocks an eyebrow at her. She was far too enthusiastic for her liking.
Willow seems to get that and quickly diverts to, “I-I mean, damnit, damn Buffy and her… slayerness. It’s wrong and it’s bad and she’s… a-a bitch.” Well, on a scale of one to ten of how convincing that sounded, Faith would give it a two point five. Then Willow seems to notice her face and she winces, “Okay… m-maybe I shouldn’t have been so ‘Ra! Ra!’ over the girl who gave you… well, multi-colored bruises.”
Faith sighs and sits on the bed heavily. No, probably not.
“It’s fine Red, you don’t have to be jumpin’ on my bandwagon of hate if you don’t want to. I dunno. I’m just kinda pissed about it. I mean Buffy’s so fuckin’… girly, y’know? Packs a mean punch now but she’s still such a… girl.” Yeah, her ego is still bruised as well as her face on that one.
“Isn’t that one of the main qualities a Slayer is supposed to have?” Xander asks pointedly. Faith rolls her eyes and lays down on her bed, looking up the ceiling.
“Whatever. Yeah, though that wasn’t my point,” Faith says, though more to the ceiling to them. “I just don’t like her.” She knows how stupid and jealous that sounded before it even left her mouth, but she has to convince herself of it. Like she told Buffy; it’s just easier.
Easier than what though… she hasn’t really thought about. She doesn’t want to think about it.
“I’m sorry, Faith,” Willow says, putting her hand on her leg and rubbing it, trying to comfort her. “We um… we saw…”
“I know,” Faith interrupts, still not looking at either of them. “Buffy was screamin’ pretty fuckin’ loud. Figured half the world heard her.”
“You kind of deserved it,” Xander tells her honestly.
“Thanks, man,” Faith says dryly.
“Sorry, but you did.”
Yeah. She knows she did. That’s why it sucks so fuckin’ badly.
“Do you wanna… talk about it?” Willow asks, entering that territory cautiously since Faith doesn’t ever talk about emotional shit much and what went down was definitely emotional.
“No. You know me… dealin’. Five by five, whatever. Eventually. I dunno,” Faith says, still keeping her eyes trained on the ceiling, but now watching the fan spin slowly around. She feels like such an asshole right now.
She sits up suddenly, trying to put on that tone of indifference she likes so well before she starts spilling her guts. “It’s cool though. We’ll help her kick the bad guy’s ass. No big.”
“I’m still wigged that there’s a bad guy that wants us all dead,” Xander says.
“Yeah, about that… why the fuck did G-Man get you guys involved?” Faith asks. “This ain’t your battle.”
Willow looks sheepish. “Um… it was my fault. We came in and we heard him talking to Buffy and we… w-well I kind of… offered to help. He tried to pretend he didn’t know what I was talking about but… we’re your backup, Faith. We go where you go.”
Faith smiles a little. “That’s sweet and all - seriously you guys are like the best fuckin’ friends a chick could ask for… but you shouldn’t have wanted in this mess.” She doesn’t want to be the one responsible if something goes wrong.
“Too bad, you’re stuck with us,” Xander says with a grin as he sits down next to Faith and slaps her thigh lightly. “Besides, our lives would just be dull if we didn’t have all the impending doom.”
Faith snorts a little as she laughs, “Yeah, cause that’s what dreams are made of right? Demons and doom.”
“In Sunnydale? Yeah,” Xander responds with a lopsided grin. Faith grins back, and then sees Willow checking her watch out of the corner of her eye.
“You got somewhere to be?” Faith asks her and Willow noticeably jumps a mile. Well, shit. Suspicious behavior for one hundred, anyone? Faith cocks an eyebrow at her.
“W-What? No! No, where would I need to be? I-I don’t have a life,” Willow stammers, nervous. Faith looks over at Xander and he shrugs. They both look at Willow questioningly.
“Willow, I love you to death… but you are a crappy liar, my friend,” Xander tells her with a pat on the knee.
“I’m not! I-I’m… I’m…” Willow stammers some more. But both Faith and Xander are looking at her like they know better and suddenly she sighs in defeat, “Okay I give! I’m… I’m supposed to meet… Buffy… later…” She looks really guilty at Faith, whose eyebrows get lost in her hairline. Xander coughs uncomfortably.
“Is Buffy your new study buddy now?” Faith asks, folding her arms across her chest. She tries to keep her voice even, like she doesn’t care, but it doesn’t go over so well. The bitchiness is seeping back in and she doesn’t really know why.
“N-No… it’s not… she just… I mean I just thought…” she sighs again, looking like she’s feeling horrible about herself. She looks down at her hands and mumbles, “You hate me now, don’t you?”
Fuck. Faith runs her hand through her hair and sighs. “No, I don’t… I don’t fuckin’ hate you, Red. Don’t think it’s physically possible. But I just…” Faith rolls her eyes, more at herself than anyone. She doesn’t want to say it out loud. Saying it out loud made it even more real and even more pathetic. “Nevermind.”
Willow looks at her sympathetically. “Faith… that doesn’t mean I’m not your friend! I-I mean, you know that, right? But Buffy’s been all… I mean, she doesn’t have any friends now a-and she’s upset about… everything. I think that… that maybe since she’s around now maybe we could-”
“It’s cool, Willow. Don’t worry about it. You go with B and have your girly thing. Whatever you’re doin’.”
“You’re still my best friend,” Willow assures her.
“Hey!” Xander exclaims. Willow smiles and looks at him.
“You too, you goof.”
“Good, because I haven’t been in the market for a new best friend since I was five and the competition was pretty stiff then - I don’t even want to think about what it would be like now,” Xander says with a sly grin.
“What happened when you were five?” Faith asks, an eyebrow rising.
“I stole Willow’s Barbie. We didn’t talk for two whole days,” Xander tells her with a smirk. “Hardest time of my life.”
Willow giggles, then looks down at her watch again. Faith rolls her eyes and gives her a little push.
“Go,” she tells her, making sure her voice sounded like she was okay with it and not like the jealous bitch she was really feeling like, which was hard. Faith’s never been one to try to hide her emotions, mainly cause she sucks at it. Like, say, right now. Damnit.
Willow just looks at her for a moment before pulling Faith into a hug. Faith’s eyes go wide, feeling like she’s never gonna get used to the whole physical touching thing. But she slowly reciprocates. When Willow pulls away she assures her, “You’re still my favorite Slayer-person.”
“I’m a potential Slayer-person,” Faith corrects with a smirk.
“Same thing,” Willow says with a smile before she gets up, hugging Xander goodbye. She gives a little cheerful wave and a “Bye!” before she leaves, which then lets Faith finally relax her face into a scowl. Xander chuckles getting up to stand in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall as he looks at her.
“Jealous?”
Thanks Xander, because THAT needed to be said out loud. Jeez.
“She’s stealing my fuckin’ friends now,” Faith grumbles. Yeah, she knows how stupid she sounds. If her, Xander, and Willow weren’t so close she’d just brush it off; be defensive about it. She’s like that with everyone else, anyway. Those two seemed to have a knack at breaking down her walls though, and she’s realizing that she keeps opening up without meaning too all the time. It’s kind of annoying, but she can’t exactly back track or train herself to stop it. She doesn’t have much in the way of self control.
“Relax, possessive-girl,” Xander jokes, but Faith flashes him a look that shows him it wasn’t funny. He’s not put off though. “We’re still your friends, and Buffy’s still a two-faced popular girl that fell from grace, but she’s kind of penetrated our little group now cause of all the evil bad stuff going on. Besides, you should know better than anyone how much she’s… well, you know she’s just hurting a lot.”
Faith raises an eyebrow at the word ‘penetrating’, a little smirk on her lips. She tries to steer the conversation toward something she can deal with: this. She can deal with sexual innuendoes much better than having a talk about Buffy’s feelings. Or her own, for that matter. Xander looks embarrassed once he realizes what she’s smirking about. Sometimes it’s just way too damn easy.
“Not what I meant.”
“You sure you don’t want to go and penetrate her, Xand?” Faith asks with a dirty smirk. Xander turns all kinds of shades of red.
“No! I don’t! There were no thoughts of penetration running through this mind, let me assure you.”
“There wasn’t, but I’m guessing there is now,” Faith presses. Bingo! Cue more inappropriate blushing. Faith laughs a little. Okay, she’s feeling a bit better. This was more natural.
“You do this on purpose,” Xander mumbles accusingly as he comes back over to flop down on the bed.
Faith chuckles, “Damn right I do.” Xander flips her off and Faith laughs some more, leaning back and putting her hands in back of her head, relaxing a bit. “You should try it sometime, it’s hella fun to screw with people.”
Xander looks up then, an eyebrow raised a bit almost as if accepting her challenge. He says calmly, “Like you screwed with Buffy at The Bronze?”
Faith narrows her eyes. She didn’t want to talk about Buffy and her. “I was drunk; shit gets said.”
“You looked like you wanted to eat her,” Xander points out. Then he realizes the implication of his words in their literal meaning and he blushes a bit, but he doesn’t retract his statement.
Faith smirks, not rising to the bait. “Yeah, and have her kicking and screamin’ the whole way down.”
“You know that’s not what I meant. You think Buffy’s sexy,” he taunts her with a smirk of his own.
“Oh lay off, I was just messin’ with her head.”
“Uh huh.”
“I was!”
“You’re not jealous because Buffy’s stealing your friends, you’re jealous because Willow gets to spend time with your lover,” he makes the word sound as taunting as possible and Faith makes an annoyed face before grabbing a pillow and hitting him with it. She didn’t like how that one sentence made her feel; like her insides were doing back flips. “Ow!” Xander exclaims.
“Oh don’t be a baby; it’s just a fuckin’ pillow.”
“Faith, you just bitch slapped me with the pillow,” Xander complains, rubbing the offended area with a pout. Faith just flashes him a triumphant grin.
“Be thankful you didn’t get worse. I mean, come on dude, Buffy?” Why does she sound like she’s trying to convince herself more than him? Christ. Maybe Buffy’s fist rattled her brain more than she thought it did.
Xander shrugs, “You had sex with Harmony. I’d say after that all bets are off.”
“Harmony was all… fuck, I dunno. Some kind of fluke. I was deranged or somethin’. I dunno. But B? Hell and no. She might be hot and all but my hormones don’t control my life,” Faith defends, arms crossing in front of her chest defiantly. Xander just looks at her skeptically and Faith sighs heavily. “Fine, hormones don’t always control my fuckin’ life. Happy?”
“A little. You just admitted she was hot,” Xander says, a look of triumph on his face now.
“I got eyes, don’t I? Shit. I ain’t fuckin’ stupid, but I ain’t desperate either. Besides, I ain’t the one who wants to penetrate her.” Yeah, she’s a bit defensive now.
Xander blushes again. “I don’t want to penetrate her!” he defends.
“You’ve wacked off to the thought though,” Faith says in that confident way she does that makes Xander’s eyes go wide and then makes her smirk. “See? I knew it.” She just needs to turn everything around on him; it’s easier to deal with.
“It was once!” he defends quickly, then realizes what he just admitted too and says quickly, “Oh god, don’t tell Willow I said that. Ever! In fact, this conversation never happened.” He covers his face with his hands and groans.
Faith laughs. “Relax, I ain’t telling Red nothin’. What we talk about stays between you and me, you know that. Besides, it ain’t nothing to be embarrassed about. We all do a little self-lovin’ every now and then, even to weird shit like Buffy fuckin’ Summers.”
“You’ve masturbated thinking about Buffy?” Xander asks, looking up at her, his eyes going wide. So do Faith’s.
“That’s not what I meant,” Faith says quickly. “I meant you. You and your fuckin’ weirdness of doing it.” That didn’t come out near as convincing as she wanted it too. Oh shit.
“You’re a sucky liar,” Xander tells her, but now he’s smirking. He knows. God fucking damnit. It’s not like she meant for it to happen!
“Fine, whatever. Once. It was a fuckin’ accident,” Faith admits flatly, then points at him dangerously. “Never. Leaves. This. Room.”
Xander laughs a little but makes a motion like he was zipping his lips and throwing away the key. But then he looks at her, eyebrow rising. “Wait, how was it an accident?”
“Fuck. I dunno. One minute I’m goin’ down on Angelina Jolie and the next…” she doesn’t finish her sentence; he gets it. “I think my time ran up and Angelina was just needed in someone else’s fantasy so I got stuck with the runner up.”
But that just makes Xander’s eyebrow arc even higher. “Buffy’s your second best after Angelina Jolie?”
“What? No! Fuck, Xand. I dunno. It just happened and… whatever. You’ve done it too so just… fuck it. Whatever. The end. Conversation over,” Faith says, her defenses kicking in again. Xander holds up his hands in surrender.
“No need to get snippy.”
“I wasn’t getting snippy.”
“You were snippy. You were snipping. You were full of sniptasticness,” Xander tells her with a grin. Faith rolls her eyes, but smiles a little bit.
“Pretty sure snipstasticness isn’t a word.”
“It is. Look it up under the dictionary and it’ll show a big picture of you,” Xander quips. Faith flips him off and he makes a motion like he’s grabbing it and putting it in his pocket. “Thanks, I’ll save that for later.”
“Whatever. Fuckin’ dork,” she says, but she’s laughing.
“Yeah but you love me,” Xander says with a grin. She’s gotta agree there, she kinda does. Bit weird, seeing as she never thought she’d have friends. But it’s nice. Cool. It’s… good.
“Alright, get outta my house. I gotta do homework,” Faith tells him, but she’s still smiling.
“Yeah, yeah, homework. I probably have some of that too but I’d rather go home and watch TV,” Xander says as he gets up and heads towards the door.
“I don’t know how the hell you pass your classes, dude.”
Xander smirks, “I copy off of Willow.”
“Oh, she’s gonna kill you if she finds out,” Faith says with a laugh. But Xander just puts his finger to his lips, signaling her to not say a word. She just shakes her head a little at him. “Alright, I won’t tell. But if she finds out - I never knew.”
“Faith enough,” Xander says as he opens the door. “Night Faith.”
“Night X-Man.”
GO TO PART SIX...