fanfiction || the chain of destiny || buffy/faith || part seven
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: 55,522 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 | PART FIVE | PART SIX
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Embarrassment
“Faith?”
“Yeah?”
Buffy lifts up her jeans, grabbing two stakes that she had strapped to her leg. She looks over and tosses one to Faith, who catches it easily. “Try not to get eaten.”
Faith cocks an eyebrow at her. “I was hoping to get eaten, but not by one of them.” Buffy flushes red and it makes Faith smirk.
“Don’t distract me either,” Buffy tells her with a pointed look, but Faith can see a shy smile trying to sneak out. She turns back to the vampires who are closing in on them. “You boys looking to party?” Buffy asks them with a ‘blonde ditz’ attitude and a hand on her hip. Faith can’t help but snort behind her.
“You could say that,” one of them responds, getting close enough for the street light to illuminate their deformed faces. They both snarl and Faith’s grip on her stake tightens. She’s not nervous though; there’s only two and she’s sure Buffy can take care of them without a problem.
“I dunno, B. I mean, look at them. They’re kinda ugly,” Faith says, leaning against the wall nonchalantly. “I think we can score hotter.”
“They are kind of deformed,” Buffy says, coking her head to the side a bit to peer at them. “Inbreeding?” she suggests lightly, which makes Faith laugh. Buffy’s cool demeanor makes Faith feel a lot better about the situation and she just stands back and watches the Slayer work.
“Why aren’t they screaming?” the other asks the first, confused.
“You must be new,” Buffy says, like she’s explaining something to a child. “Let me introduce myself; I’m Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.” She holds up her stake and smiles.
“Slayer?” the confused one asks.
“Shit,” the other says, but doesn’t back down. Not that he really has a chance to because before Faith can even register that Buffy has moved, she’s delivered a roundhouse kick to the first, sending him sprawling on the ground before turning to the second.
The way Buffy moves is almost like physical poetry, only more violent. Faith can’t help but appreciate it. She makes everything look so easy and every move she makes has a purpose. She takes some hits but she lands so many more. The confused vampire goes poof into a pile of dust quickly and the other isn’t far behind. An uppercut to the jaw, a kick to the stomach and the vampire lands on the ground. Buffy’s above him, that cocky look on her face as she slams the stake down into his chest making his last scream turns into nothing but an echo in the wind.
Buffy dusts herself off and turns around to face Faith. “Not to say ‘I told you so’ about the alleys, but…”
“Yeah, yeah,” Faith responds with an eye roll and a bit of a scowl as she mockingly says, “My hero.”
Buffy smirks and Faith tosses the stake back to her. “No,” Buffy says, throwing it back to Faith. “You should keep that on you. Like, every day probably. I can’t believe you don’t already.”
Faith shrugs. “Never thought about it.”
“Faith, you’re a Potential Slayer. How can you walk around unarmed after knowing what goes on at night?” Buffy asks incredulously.
“Who says I’m unarmed?” Faith asks with a smirk as lifts up her tank top a little to show Buffy a nasty looking knife that’s hooked on her belt.
“It may have, I don’t know, flown over your head or something, but stabbing a vampire with a knife isn’t going to kill it,” Buffy says flatly.
“No, but it can cut through bone; sever the head,” Faith says with a smirk.
Buffy looks disgusted, “Okay, one; thanks for the serial killer visual. Two; if you think you can actually subdue a vampire long enough to slice through its head with that little knife, you’re delirious. You’re not a Slayer, you don’t have the strength.”
“Whatever,” Faith says, scoffing before she starts to walk down the alley and towards the street. “Fuck off. You don’t know what I‘m capable of.”
“Just do me a favor and keep the stake on you now, okay?” Buffy asks, apparently deciding to ignore all of the brunette’s rude retorts as she catches up to her. Faith rolls her eyes, annoyed now.
“Why do you give a shit?”
“I’m sorry, would you rather I feed you to the next vampire we come across? Because that could be arranged,” Buffy says, her own annoyance clear now. She folds her arms into herself as she walks side by side with Faith down the street.
“Go for it, Blondie.”
“What is your problem?” Buffy asks, stopping. Faith rounds on her as she stops too.
“My problem?”
“Yes, your problem,” Buffy reiterates. “One minute you stand up for me, the next you want to fight me, then you practically hump my leg in the alley and now you’re bitchy again. So again I ask, what the hell is your problem?”
“Maybe I’m on my rag,” Faith says sarcastically. “What’s it to you?”
“You’re not on your period,” Buffy states.
“Okay, how the hell would you know?” Buffy flushes a little and Faith’s eyes go wide. “No, seriously, how the fuck do you know that?”
“I just… know, okay?” Buffy says, turning red as she starts walking down the street. Faith goes after her.
“No, you can’t just say shit like that and walk away,” Faith says, grabbing Buffy’s arm and making her turn around to face her. “What, do Slayers have some kind of fuckin’ weird period tracking… whatever the fuck?”
“We have a heightened sense of smell, okay?” Buffy says, her face turning redder. Faith makes a disgusted face.
“That’s fuckin’ nasty, you know that right?”
“Just shut up, Faith. It’s not like I asked for any of this,” Buffy snaps, shrugging Faith off of her before turning to walk down the street again. Faith stares at her for a minute before catching up.
“So what, you got senses like an animal or somethin’?” She’s not mocking anymore; just curious. It’s fuckin’ weird, but also a little cool.
“I don’t know. My vision’s better, my hearing’s better, and my sense of smell is better so… I guess so,” Buffy says softly, still a little embarrassed.
“Can you like… track people?”
Buffy rolls her eyes. “Do I look like a dog to you?” She pauses, then decides that wasn’t a safe question to ask. “Don’t answer that.” Faith laughs a little.
“No, I mean like… if you can smell bitches who are on their rag, which, still fuckin’ gross, but whatever… can you smell people when they’re not? Like do I got some kind of scent?” Faith asks, her own curiosity making her forget that she was pissed off at Buffy earlier.
“You want to know what you smell like to me?” Buffy asks, looking at her funny.
Faith shrugs, walking a little faster before turning and facing Buffy. She starts walking backwards as she faces her. “Tell me,” she presses.
“You’re going to end up walking backwards into something and I’m gonna laugh,” Buffy says with a smirk.
“I ain’t a kluz.”
“Famous last words.”
“Just tell me, B. I know you can,” Faith says, making sure to pay attention to her surroundings so that she doesn’t actually walk into something. She looks at Buffy, watching the slight breeze pick up her blonde hair a little and spill it around her shoulders again. Buffy looks a little shy and it makes Faith try to hide her smile. “Come on,” she presses.
Buffy shrugs a little self consciously. “You smell like…” she sighs. “Like leather and…” she mumbles the rest, not looking at her.
“Leather and what?”
“Honey,” Buffy mumbles, though a bit louder this time. She flushes again and Faith smirks. “…And a little bit of cinnamon,” she finishes, her voice really low now as her face gets even redder.
“What about Willow?” Faith asks, now wondering what everyone else smells like.
“Spearmint…”
“Xander?”
“Kind of like a Christmas tree, or maybe one of those car incense that smell like one?”
Faith laughs a little, then looks over her shoulder and dodges a street lamp before she backs into it. “Giles?”
“Coffee.”
“Giles drinks tea,” Faith says pointedly.
“Yeah, well he smells like coffee beans,” Buffy says with a shrug. “I don’t know.” She looks around. “Are we going the right way to your house?” she asks, trying to change the subject.
“You mean my motel room? Yeah,” Faith says. Then she gets a twinkle in her eye and smirks. “Can you smell yourself?”
“I can’t… smell my own specific scent, no,” Buffy says, but doesn’t look at her as she seems a bit embarrassed again. Faith cocks an eyebrow.
“But you can smell other things about you? Or… about other people?” Faith wiggles her eyebrows suggestively; teasing.
“Faith? Conversation over.”
Faith chuckles a little, knowing where this is going. “No it ain’t,” she says with a wicked grin that makes Buffy look a little nervous. “If you can smell bitches on their rag, you gotta be able to smell… other stuff too.” She stops in front of Buffy, making her stop too.
“This conversation is making me uncomfortable,” Buffy states, like that’s gonna stop it from happening. Faith rolls her eyes.
“You really need to get that stick removed.”
“I don’t have a stick!”
“You have a huge fuckin’ stick. Have you ever gotten laid?” Faith asks incredulously as she looks at the blonde.
“That’s none of your business,” Buffy says indignantly with a little stomp of her foot before she pushes past her. Faith’s eyes go wide.
“No way! Are you fuckin’ kidding me? Weren’t you with that Scott tool for like two years?” Faith asks surprised as she turns to catch up with her.
“My sex life is none of your business,” Buffy snaps.
“You mean your lack of sex life,” Faith corrects. Buffy rounds on her, making Faith stop. She glares at her.
“Just because I don’t prance around and act like a huge slut like some people doesn’t mean that I don’t have a sex life,” Buffy retorts.
“No, the fact that your cherry is still intact means you don’t have one,” Faith snaps back at her. “And for the fuckin’ record, Twinkie, I don’t sleep with every woman I see.”
“You don’t know anything about my hypothetical cherry,” Buffy says, hands on her hips. “And besides, if what you say is true then why the hell were you all over me in the alley? You don’t even like me and you wanted to sleep with me.”
“Oh please. Don’t flatter yourself, girlfriend. I’m…” Faith starts, then waves her hand around in the air for a minute to find the word, “Intoxicated. I was just messing with you.” No she wasn’t, but whatever. But she did have a lot to drink and besides; Buffy responded to it. She was all breathless and pressing up against her. For one second, Faith could feel her let go.
“You could have just said drunk… and no you weren’t,” Buffy tells her, the last part quietly, like she doesn’t even know if she should say anything.
“I’m not drunk, I’m intoxicated. There’s a fuckin’ difference,” Faith says, then points at her. “And you were the one eyeing me up to begin with, so don’t put this on me. Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
“I wasn’t eyeing up anything!” Buffy defends. “Can’t I just look at you now without you having to turn it into something sexual? God, Faith!” Buffy stomps again and takes off down the street. Faith growls in frustration and walks after her.
“You’re gay.”
“I am not gay!” Buffy practically screams. She looks over at Faith, eyes shooting daggers. “Will you shut up about that?!”
“Yes you are. You wanna know how I know?”
“NO,” Buffy says firmly, then stops at crossway of streets. “Which way to your motel?”
“Right,” Faith says, and follows after Buffy as she turns down the street. Faith still has a cocky look on her face, “I know cause-”
“Shut up.”
“-when you were all pressed up against me, your breathing picked up, your pupils got darker and, let’s not forget the best part of it - you let me do it,” Faith says confidently.
“Faith,” Buffy says flatly, turning around to face her, making them both stop again. “This may have escaped your notice, but you’re a little intimidating.”
Faith looks at her skeptically. “Please, you’re the Slayer. You could have gotten out of it if you wanted.”
“That’s not-” Buffy starts, then sighs, exasperated. “That’s not what I mean! I mean you… you and you. You’re all…” she waves her hand a little. “You’re like if sex was a human being, all walking around on two legs. It’s… well, you know.”
“Intimidating?” Faith asks with a smirk as her ego swells double its size. She leans against someone’s fence and crosses her arms over her chest, her tongue teasing her bottom lip a little. Damn, and the award for the best compliment ever paid to her goes to…
“Will you stop?” Buffy asks, flustered as she looks at her. “You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?” Faith asks, amused.
“Being all…” she waves her hand again, trying not to look Faith in the eye.
“Sexy?”
“Yes-NO! Intimidating. Damnit, Faith!” Buffy snaps, turning bright red before spinning around and walking away from her. Faith chuckles as she watches Buffy walk away from her. She tilts her head a little as she checks her out.
“You got a nice ass, y’know.”
Buffy’s hands automatically fly to her ass to cover it from Faith’s view before turning around. Faith laughs as she gets up off of the fence and walks over to her. She might have just found a new game to play; this was fun. “Stop hitting on me,” Buffy says, flustered.
“I wasn’t hitting on you, just sayin’ you got a nice ass,” Faith says with a smirk as she walks past her. She can see her motel room in the distance. “Don’t worry; I don’t fuck closet-cases.”
Buffy scoffs, “Yeah, cause I so got that impression when you were trying to make out with my neck.”
“I wasn’t fuckin’-” Faith starts, annoyed. But she’s interrupted.
“And what about Harmony?” Buffy asks suddenly.
“What?”
“Harmony; she wasn’t gay and you had sex with her,” Buffy points out.
“Are you trying to make a case about why I shouldn’t fuck you or why I should?” Faith asks, confused.
“You’re not having sex with me, I’m not having sex with you, there will be NO sex between us,” Buffy says firmly. Faith rolls her eyes.
“You keep tellin’ yourself that, Twinkie,” Faith says with a smirk as she walks onto the motel’s property, Buffy following after her, glaring.
“Why do you do this?” Buffy asks, annoyed as they stop outside of Faith’s motel room. Faith turns to her with an eyebrow raised and Buffy goes on. “I mean you don’t like me, you told me you want us to, I don’t know, hate each other, and now you’re… you’re doing the sexual thing!”
“It’s kinda entertaining, not gonna lie,” Faith says with a grin. She puts her tongue in her cheek as she looks her over, amused. “You get all flustered and embarrassed.”
“Well will you stop?” Buffy pleads. “I don’t want to be your entertainment!”
Faith leans against her door, smirking. “Kinda sucks for you then, huh?”
“Faith, I mean it! It’s not funny!”
“Faith?” comes another voice that makes Faith’s eyes go wide. She turns to see her mother’s door opening. “Fai, is that you? I need-” But then Caroline stops as she notices Buffy. “Oh, hello. I’m Caroline; Faith’s mother,” she says, holding out her hand to Buffy. Buffy takes it with a smile, but not before shooting a glare at Faith.
“Buffy,” she introduces herself. Caroline’s eyebrows get lost in her hairline.
Oh no.
“Oh, so you’re Buffy,” Caroline says with a smile and Faith smacks her forehead with her palm and closes her eyes. God damnit. This can’t go over well. “Faith has told me so much about you.”
“She has?” Buffy asks, confused. She turns to Faith, “You have?”
“No, Mum’s just trying to be polite,” Faith says, shooting her mother a glare. She folds her arms into herself and narrows her eyes. “Which you can stop anytime now, seriously.”
“Faith, don’t be rude,” Caroline chastises her. Faith’s eyes flash but Caroline ignores her, still smiling at Buffy, “You’re just as pretty as she said you were.” Faith’s eyes go just as wide as Buffy’s do.
“Mum, will you quit it? I didn’t say shit about her being pretty and you know that. Stop trying to-”
“Would you like to come in, dear?” Caroline asks Buffy, ignoring her daughter. Then Faith notices the tone in her voice. Great, she’s super fuckin’ high. This just keeps getting worse and worse.
“Um…” Buffy says, looking over at Faith who’s sure she’s five shades of red now and getting more pissed off with each passing second. She’s gonna kill her mother. Chop her up into little pieces and scatter them all over New Mexico.
“She’s gotta go,” Faith says, putting her hand on Buffy’s arm and trying to steer her away from the catastrophe that’s sure to be had if she stays. But Caroline will have none of that.
“Nonsense, it’s not late. I’m surprised you’re home this early, Fai,” Caroline says, opening Faith’s door before ushering them both inside. “Now you girls have fun and I’ll be back in a second with some drinks,” Caroline says, her smile wide as she closes the door to the room and walks into hers.
Buffy and Faith just look at each other for a second.
“Your mother seems… friendly,” Buffy says slowly, then looks around the room. Faith glowers. She didn’t want Buffy in here, but she knows her mother’s room is probably a freaking disaster and that’s why she shoved them in this one. Jesus.
“Ignore her. She’s trying to get me a girlfriend,” Faith says flatly before sitting on her bed heavily. “Feel free to make a run for it.”
“I don’t want to be rude…” Buffy says slowly, but her eyes flicker towards the door.
“Run while you still can,” Faith tells her seriously. But just as Buffy starts to back up towards the front door, the door that connects Faith’s room and Caroline’s opens and her mother walks through carrying three… shots. Christ.
See, this is why she doesn’t like her mother hanging out with her friends. Not that Buffy’s a friend, but still. Most mother’s bring out milk and cookies. Her mom? She brings vodka.
“Here you go, dear,” Caroline says, smiling as she hands a shocked Buffy a shot. Faith almost laughs at the look on her face, but doesn’t. She takes the one her mother hands her and does it without a moment’s hesitation. She’s gonna need it for this. Caroline looks at her disapprovingly.
“Rude,” she says again.
“Whatever. Mum, B’s really gotta go, so I think-”
“So Buffy,” Caroline says, shooting a glare at Faith before coming back to smile at the blonde who looks incredibly uncomfortable. “Do you go to school with Faith?”
“Yes,” Buffy says, her eyes glancing to look over at Faith who’s mocking her mother under her breath. At least she was… until Caroline’s hand connects with Faith’s stomach, making her cough a little. Caroline doesn’t stop smiling at Buffy though.
“Do you have any classes together?”
“History,” Buffy says, still looking at the shot in her hand like she doesn’t know what to make of it.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Mum! Stop with the third degree. Shit,” Faith snaps, then looks over at Buffy almost pleadingly, “You gonna do your shot?” She needs more liquor to keep her from strangling her mother.
“Here,” Buffy says, handing it to Faith who downs it immediately. Buffy clears her throat a little before answering Caroline’s question, “And no… I did, but we broke up a couple weeks ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Caroline says, frowning a little. “A girlfriend?”
Faith chokes on her own breath. “Mum!” she exclaims. “Okay, time to go,” she says, pushing her mother off the bed and towards the door.
“But Fai, I was just-”
“Leaving,” Faith finishes for her with a pointed look as she guides her mother through the threshold. “Will you stop trying to embarrass me? What the hell is wrong with you? How high are you right now?” Faith snaps quietly when she’s out of earshot from Buffy.
“Sorry for taking an interest in your life, Fai,” Caroline snaps. “But I think you could do with having a nice girl like Buffy in your life. She seems very… normal. And she’s very pretty,” she tells her with a smile.
Faith rolls her eyes. “I’m not looking for a girlfriend, okay? Just… stay out, seriously. And quit doing so much fuckin’ coke. You’re high as a kite right now and it’s not exactly something I want you to show the world,” Faith says quietly, angry, then steps away and closes the door before Caroline can say anything else. She turns to Buffy who’s just standing there looking even more uncomfortable by the second.
“Sorry,” Faith mumbles. “She’s just… she’s like that.”
“It’s okay,” Buffy says, giving her a shy smile before taking a step back. “I should, um…”
“Go? Probably. She might try to come back,” Faith says with a sigh. God, the last thing she needed right now was her mother trying to set her up with a girl she… she…
How does she feel about Buffy?
“I’ll see you on Monday,” Buffy says with a smile as she opens the door. Then she corrects herself, “Well, unless Giles makes us come in for more training tomorrow.”
“Probably tomorrow then,” Faith says with a smirk. Buffy giggles a little, looking just as embarrassed as Faith’s feeling right now about the whole ordeal.
“Bye,” Buffy says softly, before walking out the door.
“Later, B.”
The door closes behind Buffy and Faith sighs, flopping down on the bed and putting her head in her hands. She wants to try to figure out what the hell is going on; why she’s hitting on Buffy, why she makes her pissed off all the time, why the hell she even cared what her mother was saying… but she’s too drunk right now.
So instead she passes out, hoping that everything she was feeling tonight was only happening because of the liquor.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cleaning Up The Mess
Faith is in a freaking sundress.
Where the hell her mother found this monstrosity is beyond her, but yesterday she presented it to her with a big smile and the request that she wear it for church this morning. Of course there was the sarcastic comments, the raised eyebrow, and the clear look of distaste on her lips at the sight of it, but after a lot of persuasion and a bit of crying on her Mum’s part because of “how important it is that she look nice”… Faith relented.
Tears are Faith’s weakness, obviously. It’s like cheating. She swears people pass that info around like a freakin’ memo or something.
She stands in her bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. The soft green compliments her complexion well, but she still feels like a freak in it. She lets out a breath, sighing a bit as she smoothes out the dress with her hands; it wasn’t as clingy as she would have normally liked, even for a dress. She feels like such a girl in this thing.
Not that she’s butch, cause she’s not. Not really. Just cause she knows a thing or two about cars and can kick a lotta ass don’t make her the type to shave her head.
Faith runs her fingers through her hair as she turns away from the mirror, figuring this is the closest she’s gonna get to lookin’ “nice.” Walking into her bedroom she looks at the alarm clock, figuring she has about ten minutes before she needs to go check to see if her mother’s ready. She collapses on her bed heavily, arms spread as she looks up at the ceiling.
She feels so stupid. For so many damn reasons.
The silence of the room is pierced by the shrill ring of her room phone. She groans and grabs a pillow, putting it over her head and covering her ears. She’s not answering that.
She’s been avoiding Giles’ calls since yesterday morning. She knew he wanted her to come in and train with Buffy, but after Friday night that hasn’t exactly been high on the list of things she wants to do. Not cause of the drunk innuendos and the little up close and personal they had against the wall. Nah, that shit didn’t matter and she’s not embarrassed by it. Actually, more points if B’s the one embarrassed about it, which she probably will be.
No, why she’s avoiding Buffy has nothing to do with that. It has to do with how much of a mind fuck the night ended up giving her.
Faith gets being horny. She was drunk, was filled to the fuckin’ brim with adrenaline from the fight and running from the cops. Any sane person in that situation would wanna dry hump the nearest bitch, right? Obviously. It’s like human instinct or something. It’s a situation that gets your blood pumpin’ and your heart racing and the easiest thing to do to calm the storm is to fuck the hell outta someone till you burst. Buffy was just… she just happened to be there during all of that.
But that’s the problem, isn’t it? Buffy being there. She’s Buffy fucking Summers, the girl who took being a Slayer away from her, the girl who’s pretty much taken her Watcher from her too. She’s hording in on her friends and pissing her off all the god damn time with her high and mighty attitude and that huge stick up her ass. She shouldn’t want to fuck her, even for a minute. She shouldn’t be able to just let all of that go just because her pussy needs a fix.
She also really shouldn’t have actually liked spending time with her that night. Well, until things got awkward with her Mum, anyway.
But she did. Maybe it was cause she was drunk… whatever. Liquor is the world’s biggest fucking excuse. Probably also the most bullshit excuse, but since everyone uses it, everyone accepts it when other people give it to them or they give it to themselves. But yeah, right now she’ll blame it on the liquor. She’ll blame it on the liquor that she noticed how pretty Buffy is when she smiles. She’ll blame it on the liquor that she liked the way she could make her blush. She’ll blame it on the fuckin’ liquor that she had fun tormenting her and she’ll definitely blame it on the liquor that she noticed how Buffy seemed to like it too.
Yeah, Buffy complained. She didn’t want to be picked on for her lack of sexual expertise and her virginal state (fuck she hopes she really isn’t a virgin), but she egged her on. She pushed Faith’s buttons just as much as Faith pushed hers and she loved every minute of it. Maybe it was some kind of sick game they started playing; fucking with each other just because they could. Pissing each other off cause it was fun to see the other get all riled up about it.
Or maybe that’s just Faith. And maybe she’s just really fucked in the head that she likes that sort of shit. Either way.
But that’s what bothers her. That. Not the shit that happened in the alley, the stuff after. It gives her a mind fuck and a half how she found herself being happy when she was bantering with Buffy. Happy. How screwed up is that?
Maybe that’s supposed to be some sort of sign like ‘Hey, lookie here, Faith. You can have some kind of really screwed up friendship with this girl.’ Maybe it’s something else. She doesn’t know. She doesn’t wanna know, hence the avoidance.
She shouldn’t want to be near a girl who drives her fucking insane. Yet she does. So the plan? Stay as far away as possible. It’s probably not gonna work out all that great, what with impending doom and whatever the fuck’s about to rain shit on their heads, but it’s a good enough plan to start, right? It works for this weekend anyway.
Faith’s been trying to clear her head, but it ain’t working out so well. Maybe if the stupid fucking phone stopped ringing it might help- fuck, finally it stopped.
“What’s that ringing? Do I have a tumor?”
Faith snorts a little as she laughs, that line from a movie coming into her head. It’s what she feels like sometimes. She’s gotta have a fucking tumor if this is where her heads at: all kinds of fucked up. Sometimes she wishes she could get high; just say fuck it and forget about everything and everyone. But then she looks at her mother and knows that’s just a cop out. A simple solution to a more complicated problem that’s gonna do more hurt than good in the end.
And really, the last thing Faith needs is to end up being a junkie on top of it all. She might not be worth a lot, but she’s worth more than that. She has to be.
Fuck Buffy. Fuck Destiny. Fuck the whole Slayer thing right now. She just needs to deal with herself; with her own life. Buffy’s just complicating it.
But what else is new?
Faith sighs as she gets off her bed, deciding to go check to see if her mother’s ready. She crosses the room to the door and opens it, hoping to just get this whole Catholic thing outta her Mum’s system in one go. Cause come on, church is boring as all hell. Or heaven, whatever. Probably shouldn’t compare church to hell.
But when she opens the door, church seems to be the last thing on her mother’s mind.
“Mum??” Faith asks, worry coloring her voice as she sees Caroline sitting in the middle of her bed, knees to her chest, naked, as she cradles a bottle of scotch closely as she rocks back and forth. Tears are streaming down her cheeks and she doesn’t even acknowledge Faith’s presence.
“Mum? Hey… Mum?” Faith asks softly as she comes over to her mother, picking up the comforter which was thrown carelessly on the floor and bringing it up to wrap it around her mother’s naked body. “Mum… what’s wrong?” She tries to reach for the liquor bottle to take it away from her but Caroline makes a sound of disgruntled disapproval and holds it closer to her. Faith’s hand falls to rest at her side.
There’s silence for a little while before Caroline’s teary eyes lock on Faith, and the brunette watches one tear slide down her cheek slowly. “You look beautiful…” she whispers to her, looking at her daughter in the dress she gave her.
“What’s wrong?” Faith repeats, her eyes scanning Caroline’s for any sign she might recognize. She wasn’t high, that’s for sure. Drunk, yeah, but not high.
“I was trying to be good for you,” Caroline says softly, then shivers and pulls the covers around her body tighter. Her breathing hitches a bit as she tries not to sob, but her bottom lip shakes her voice comes out strangled as she says, “But I can’t handle it anymore…” More tears start to fall.
“What are you talkin’ about?”
“I need it, Fai. I need it all the time a-and I can’t stop. I… I tried to stop and all it did was make the nightmares more real and I can’t…! I can’t do this! I-I don’t want to be nothing anymore, but that’s all I am, I’m nothing…” she cries harder, clutching the liquor close to her before she takes a long swig, coughing a bit as her sobs make it hard to swallow.
“What are you…? Did you…? Oh,” Faith says softly, realizing what her mother tried to do. “Mum… how long has it been since you’ve had any blow?”
Caroline sniffs, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand. “Y-You yelled at me and you didn’t want me to meet your girlfriend cause you were ashamed of me cause I was fucked up and I didn’t… I mean, I d-didn’t…” the rest of her words come out jumbled as she’s crying too hard to make much sense anymore.
Shit. She’s gone cold turkey for like thirty six hours. That ain’t good.
“Mum, I ain’t ashamed of ya, I swear,” Faith says softly, sighing as she takes her mother’s hand and holds it. “I was just fucked up; drunk. And B is… B’s not my girl, Mum. So ya didn’t get shoved outta some big moment in my life or nothin’. I was just irritated, it wasn’t you. I didn’t mean that you should stop like this, y’know you can’t quit this way.”
Caroline just cries harder and Faith looks at her sadly, upset with herself that she made her Mum go and hurt herself like this.
“Where’s your stash? The shit I gave you?”
Caroline points a shaky finger into the bathroom and Faith groans. This ain’t good. She flushed it. Fuck. Faith takes a breath, realizing she needs to fix this. “Alright, look, lemme go out and meet your dealer, okay? I’ll go get ya some more. Promise.” Caroline nods slowly, sniffing a little as she pulls the covers up to her chin. Faith lets go of her hand and turns to the bedside table, getting her mother’s wallet to get some money out. Once she has it, she looks back at her. “Rest, yeah? I’ll be back soon.” Caroline nods again, silently, and Faith gets up and makes her way out the door as she shoves a couple twenties in her bra.
This ain’t gonna be fun. She hates when she’s the one that’s gotta go to Larry. He’s a nasty little sleazeball who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “jailbait.”
But when she opens the door she comes face to face with Buffy, who seems to be standing outside of her door. Faith blinks and closes her mother’s door behind her and Buffy turns, looking a bit taken aback from Faith suddenly being next to her.
“Oh, hi,” she says quickly, shuffling her feet a little. Faith raises an eyebrow suspiciously, trying to look nonchalant even though her heart started going a million miles an hour. Damnit, obviously avoidance is a bust. Buffy looks at her, eyes sweeping down her form as she takes in the younger girl.
“You look… really nice,” Buffy says with surprise, noting her dress.
Faith chooses not to respond to that. Fuck this dress. “What’s with the stalking?”
“I wasn’t stalking!” Buffy insists, though looks wicked uncomfortable. “I was just… Giles was worried and he told me to-”
“See if I was still alive and kickin’? Well you can tell him I am,” Faith interrupts dismissively, turning to walk away from her. But of course Buffy follows her. Faith tries to ignore her, the best she can.
“No, I know, but there’s a warrant out for your arrest for assault, Faith. Willow searched their database and Cordelia filed a report that night. We didn’t know if the police…” she trails off, and Faith stops short, sighing a bit before she turns to face her.
“Well as you can see, I’m five by five. Now if ya don’t mind, I got places to be.”
“You shouldn’t be walking around when the cops are looking for you,” Buffy tells her quietly.
“They ain’t lookin’ too hard. I’m home.”
Buffy rolls her eyes, putting a hand on her hip. “Well they don’t know where you live. The school has false records and your mother booked you guys under a different name.”
“How the fuck do you know that?” Faith asks, getting defensive. She steps in Buffy’s personal space, staring her down. She doesn’t need this bitch to know her business.
“Willow,” Buffy says, like it’s obvious. She narrows her eyes at Faith’s intrusive behavior but doesn’t move forward nor back down. “Look, just lay low for a little while, until we can figure out how to get rid of it.”
“Didn’t ask you to clean up my messes, Blondie.”
“I know that, and it doesn’t matter if you ask or not - I am.”
“Why?” Faith scoffs, looking at her like she’s insane. She crosses her arms across her chest. “What the hell do you get out of it?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Buffy snaps sarcastically, obviously getting fed up with Faith’s attitude towards her. “Maybe you not in jail? You can’t exactly help us out in there.”
“Like you give a fuck.”
“Obviously I do! Damn, Faith. What’s your problem? Why are you so grumpy today?” Buffy asks her, looking at her like she’s being a huge bitch. Maybe she is. But whatever.
“Just not in the mood for bullshit pleasantries.”
“Yeah, cause this is so pleasant,” Buffy says dryly. Faith just turns away from her, trying to end this unhelpful bit of interaction, but Buffy’s hand grabs her arm, sending tingles through her skin. “Wait.”
“What?” Faith asks flatly, not turning to look at her.
Buffy doesn’t say anything for a minute and that makes Faith finally turn her head to look at her. “You’re… you’re going to be at school tomorrow, right?”
“Not if the pigs are lookin’ for me. You know Queen C will have them on speed dial the moment I show my face.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“I said I don’t need you to fight my battles, B.”
“I know, but I… will. Just come to school tomorrow, please?” Buffy asks softly. She still hasn’t taken her hand off of Faith’s arm and it’s making her feel weird so she shrugs her off.
“Yeah, fine. Whatever,” she relents, just to get her outta here. She doesn’t need her around.
Buffy looks down at the ground for a moment and Faith takes that as her cue to leave. She gets all of about five steps before Buffy calls out to her, “Just be careful.”
Faith can feel the tug of her lips as a smile threatens to escapes. She looks over her shoulder. “I’m cool, Twinkie. Grew up in South Boston; ya learn how to avoid the 5-0 pretty quickly.” Buffy nods, smiling a little at her shyly. The urge to walk over there and kiss her pretty fuckin’ lips hits Faith in the face like a god damn freight train and she turns and walks away from her as quickly as humanly possible.
Fuck. That can’t be good. Gotta be some kind of after effect of the liquor; like way after. Or maybe she’s just insane, that could also be a factor. Whatever it is, it ain’t good and she really needs to get her head back on straight.
Well, as straight as a lesbian can get, anyway. Ha. Yeah, she amuses herself.
Larry lives a little ways down the street and when she gets there she goes to the backdoor automatically. The little shit for a dog he has barks at her and she flips it off before rapping on the door with her knuckle. She leans against the house as she waits.
A moment later the paranoid bastards asks, “Who dat?”
“Faith.”
The door opens and Larry smiles at her with his crooked grin. Faith tries to keep her face neutral as she fights the urge to throw up. The mother fucker is the damn definition of a ‘Class A’ douchebag. Leering Larry is what she calls him in her head, cause that’s all he fuckin’ does at her.
“Faith, baby,” he says as he throws his arm around her shoulder. “Ya finally here ta take me up on my offer of a good time? Cause it still stands, mama.” He fingers a strap on her dress and says, “Diggin’ the girly look. Special occasion or ya tryin’ to look pretty for me?”
Faith curls up her lip in distaste and she pushes his arm off of her. She wishes people would fuck off about the damn dress. “I ain’t here to play games, Double L. I need a gram.” She pulls out the money from her cleavage and slaps it down on the counter, keeping her hand on it though as she looks at him expectantly. He just looks at her, amused by being turned down for the millionth time and she cocks and eyebrow. “Like, yesterday,” she finishes, trying to stress the importance.
“All business then? S’Cool, brotha’s gotta pay the bills,” Larry says. Faith tries like hell not to roll her eyes. This dude’s picture should be under the word ‘wigger’ in the dictionary. “But ya holla at me if ya ever need to find yaself ridin’ a real man ‘stead of whatever the fuck little boys you’re pickin’ up.”
“Yeah. Boys,” Faith says sarcastically. She sighs in annoyance. “Look, ya got it or not? My Mum’s freakin’ so I’d appreciate it if we could skip tea time and small talk.”
“You’re a hot thing when you’re all riled up, aren’t ya?” Larry says with a laugh as he smirks. “Yeah, got what ya need. Hold on a sec, mama.” He disappears into the other room and Faith has the urge to take a good long shower after this. His house is disgusting; bastard’s probably always too damn high to clean it properly. He should take up meth, at least the place would be spotless then and he’d croak a whole lot sooner.
When Larry comes back he hands her the baggie and she looks at it carefully. She frowns, annoyed. It’s clearly lacking in size. “What the fuck is this? You tryin’ the jack me now?”
“Nah girl, this shit’s eighty five pure. Better than the other crap I was gettin’ that was seventy. Trust me; it’ll fuck your mom up good an’ nice. You can test if ya think I’m pullin’ bullshit.”
“You know I don’t touch this shit,” Faith says flatly, but she stuffs it in her bra and slides the money towards him. “But if you’re sellin’ me crap then you best believe I’ll come back and put your fuckin’ head in the wall.”
“Chill mamacita, would I fuck over one of my best customers?”
Faith arches an eyebrow at him, but steps away. “We’ll see,” is all she says before she turns towards the door.
“Come back anytime, sexy,” he says with a hint of a leer in his voice and she knows he’s checking out her ass as she walks out the door. She flips him off over her shoulder and she can hear his low chuckle as she leaves, the door banging lightly behind her. The stupid dog starts barking up a storm again and she kicks at it, not connecting, but makin’ the damn thing back the hell off before she walks back down the street.
She doesn’t get to be Faith the Vampire Slayer; she gets to be Faith the Drug Runner.
Fuck she hates her life.
ON TO PART EIGHT.
Author: Sapphire Smoke cuzimastripper
Beta: supershineygirl
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Rating: R (for now)
Pairing(s): Buffy/Faith
Word Length Thus Far: 55,522 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 | PART FIVE | PART SIX
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Embarrassment
“Faith?”
“Yeah?”
Buffy lifts up her jeans, grabbing two stakes that she had strapped to her leg. She looks over and tosses one to Faith, who catches it easily. “Try not to get eaten.”
Faith cocks an eyebrow at her. “I was hoping to get eaten, but not by one of them.” Buffy flushes red and it makes Faith smirk.
“Don’t distract me either,” Buffy tells her with a pointed look, but Faith can see a shy smile trying to sneak out. She turns back to the vampires who are closing in on them. “You boys looking to party?” Buffy asks them with a ‘blonde ditz’ attitude and a hand on her hip. Faith can’t help but snort behind her.
“You could say that,” one of them responds, getting close enough for the street light to illuminate their deformed faces. They both snarl and Faith’s grip on her stake tightens. She’s not nervous though; there’s only two and she’s sure Buffy can take care of them without a problem.
“I dunno, B. I mean, look at them. They’re kinda ugly,” Faith says, leaning against the wall nonchalantly. “I think we can score hotter.”
“They are kind of deformed,” Buffy says, coking her head to the side a bit to peer at them. “Inbreeding?” she suggests lightly, which makes Faith laugh. Buffy’s cool demeanor makes Faith feel a lot better about the situation and she just stands back and watches the Slayer work.
“Why aren’t they screaming?” the other asks the first, confused.
“You must be new,” Buffy says, like she’s explaining something to a child. “Let me introduce myself; I’m Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.” She holds up her stake and smiles.
“Slayer?” the confused one asks.
“Shit,” the other says, but doesn’t back down. Not that he really has a chance to because before Faith can even register that Buffy has moved, she’s delivered a roundhouse kick to the first, sending him sprawling on the ground before turning to the second.
The way Buffy moves is almost like physical poetry, only more violent. Faith can’t help but appreciate it. She makes everything look so easy and every move she makes has a purpose. She takes some hits but she lands so many more. The confused vampire goes poof into a pile of dust quickly and the other isn’t far behind. An uppercut to the jaw, a kick to the stomach and the vampire lands on the ground. Buffy’s above him, that cocky look on her face as she slams the stake down into his chest making his last scream turns into nothing but an echo in the wind.
Buffy dusts herself off and turns around to face Faith. “Not to say ‘I told you so’ about the alleys, but…”
“Yeah, yeah,” Faith responds with an eye roll and a bit of a scowl as she mockingly says, “My hero.”
Buffy smirks and Faith tosses the stake back to her. “No,” Buffy says, throwing it back to Faith. “You should keep that on you. Like, every day probably. I can’t believe you don’t already.”
Faith shrugs. “Never thought about it.”
“Faith, you’re a Potential Slayer. How can you walk around unarmed after knowing what goes on at night?” Buffy asks incredulously.
“Who says I’m unarmed?” Faith asks with a smirk as lifts up her tank top a little to show Buffy a nasty looking knife that’s hooked on her belt.
“It may have, I don’t know, flown over your head or something, but stabbing a vampire with a knife isn’t going to kill it,” Buffy says flatly.
“No, but it can cut through bone; sever the head,” Faith says with a smirk.
Buffy looks disgusted, “Okay, one; thanks for the serial killer visual. Two; if you think you can actually subdue a vampire long enough to slice through its head with that little knife, you’re delirious. You’re not a Slayer, you don’t have the strength.”
“Whatever,” Faith says, scoffing before she starts to walk down the alley and towards the street. “Fuck off. You don’t know what I‘m capable of.”
“Just do me a favor and keep the stake on you now, okay?” Buffy asks, apparently deciding to ignore all of the brunette’s rude retorts as she catches up to her. Faith rolls her eyes, annoyed now.
“Why do you give a shit?”
“I’m sorry, would you rather I feed you to the next vampire we come across? Because that could be arranged,” Buffy says, her own annoyance clear now. She folds her arms into herself as she walks side by side with Faith down the street.
“Go for it, Blondie.”
“What is your problem?” Buffy asks, stopping. Faith rounds on her as she stops too.
“My problem?”
“Yes, your problem,” Buffy reiterates. “One minute you stand up for me, the next you want to fight me, then you practically hump my leg in the alley and now you’re bitchy again. So again I ask, what the hell is your problem?”
“Maybe I’m on my rag,” Faith says sarcastically. “What’s it to you?”
“You’re not on your period,” Buffy states.
“Okay, how the hell would you know?” Buffy flushes a little and Faith’s eyes go wide. “No, seriously, how the fuck do you know that?”
“I just… know, okay?” Buffy says, turning red as she starts walking down the street. Faith goes after her.
“No, you can’t just say shit like that and walk away,” Faith says, grabbing Buffy’s arm and making her turn around to face her. “What, do Slayers have some kind of fuckin’ weird period tracking… whatever the fuck?”
“We have a heightened sense of smell, okay?” Buffy says, her face turning redder. Faith makes a disgusted face.
“That’s fuckin’ nasty, you know that right?”
“Just shut up, Faith. It’s not like I asked for any of this,” Buffy snaps, shrugging Faith off of her before turning to walk down the street again. Faith stares at her for a minute before catching up.
“So what, you got senses like an animal or somethin’?” She’s not mocking anymore; just curious. It’s fuckin’ weird, but also a little cool.
“I don’t know. My vision’s better, my hearing’s better, and my sense of smell is better so… I guess so,” Buffy says softly, still a little embarrassed.
“Can you like… track people?”
Buffy rolls her eyes. “Do I look like a dog to you?” She pauses, then decides that wasn’t a safe question to ask. “Don’t answer that.” Faith laughs a little.
“No, I mean like… if you can smell bitches who are on their rag, which, still fuckin’ gross, but whatever… can you smell people when they’re not? Like do I got some kind of scent?” Faith asks, her own curiosity making her forget that she was pissed off at Buffy earlier.
“You want to know what you smell like to me?” Buffy asks, looking at her funny.
Faith shrugs, walking a little faster before turning and facing Buffy. She starts walking backwards as she faces her. “Tell me,” she presses.
“You’re going to end up walking backwards into something and I’m gonna laugh,” Buffy says with a smirk.
“I ain’t a kluz.”
“Famous last words.”
“Just tell me, B. I know you can,” Faith says, making sure to pay attention to her surroundings so that she doesn’t actually walk into something. She looks at Buffy, watching the slight breeze pick up her blonde hair a little and spill it around her shoulders again. Buffy looks a little shy and it makes Faith try to hide her smile. “Come on,” she presses.
Buffy shrugs a little self consciously. “You smell like…” she sighs. “Like leather and…” she mumbles the rest, not looking at her.
“Leather and what?”
“Honey,” Buffy mumbles, though a bit louder this time. She flushes again and Faith smirks. “…And a little bit of cinnamon,” she finishes, her voice really low now as her face gets even redder.
“What about Willow?” Faith asks, now wondering what everyone else smells like.
“Spearmint…”
“Xander?”
“Kind of like a Christmas tree, or maybe one of those car incense that smell like one?”
Faith laughs a little, then looks over her shoulder and dodges a street lamp before she backs into it. “Giles?”
“Coffee.”
“Giles drinks tea,” Faith says pointedly.
“Yeah, well he smells like coffee beans,” Buffy says with a shrug. “I don’t know.” She looks around. “Are we going the right way to your house?” she asks, trying to change the subject.
“You mean my motel room? Yeah,” Faith says. Then she gets a twinkle in her eye and smirks. “Can you smell yourself?”
“I can’t… smell my own specific scent, no,” Buffy says, but doesn’t look at her as she seems a bit embarrassed again. Faith cocks an eyebrow.
“But you can smell other things about you? Or… about other people?” Faith wiggles her eyebrows suggestively; teasing.
“Faith? Conversation over.”
Faith chuckles a little, knowing where this is going. “No it ain’t,” she says with a wicked grin that makes Buffy look a little nervous. “If you can smell bitches on their rag, you gotta be able to smell… other stuff too.” She stops in front of Buffy, making her stop too.
“This conversation is making me uncomfortable,” Buffy states, like that’s gonna stop it from happening. Faith rolls her eyes.
“You really need to get that stick removed.”
“I don’t have a stick!”
“You have a huge fuckin’ stick. Have you ever gotten laid?” Faith asks incredulously as she looks at the blonde.
“That’s none of your business,” Buffy says indignantly with a little stomp of her foot before she pushes past her. Faith’s eyes go wide.
“No way! Are you fuckin’ kidding me? Weren’t you with that Scott tool for like two years?” Faith asks surprised as she turns to catch up with her.
“My sex life is none of your business,” Buffy snaps.
“You mean your lack of sex life,” Faith corrects. Buffy rounds on her, making Faith stop. She glares at her.
“Just because I don’t prance around and act like a huge slut like some people doesn’t mean that I don’t have a sex life,” Buffy retorts.
“No, the fact that your cherry is still intact means you don’t have one,” Faith snaps back at her. “And for the fuckin’ record, Twinkie, I don’t sleep with every woman I see.”
“You don’t know anything about my hypothetical cherry,” Buffy says, hands on her hips. “And besides, if what you say is true then why the hell were you all over me in the alley? You don’t even like me and you wanted to sleep with me.”
“Oh please. Don’t flatter yourself, girlfriend. I’m…” Faith starts, then waves her hand around in the air for a minute to find the word, “Intoxicated. I was just messing with you.” No she wasn’t, but whatever. But she did have a lot to drink and besides; Buffy responded to it. She was all breathless and pressing up against her. For one second, Faith could feel her let go.
“You could have just said drunk… and no you weren’t,” Buffy tells her, the last part quietly, like she doesn’t even know if she should say anything.
“I’m not drunk, I’m intoxicated. There’s a fuckin’ difference,” Faith says, then points at her. “And you were the one eyeing me up to begin with, so don’t put this on me. Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
“I wasn’t eyeing up anything!” Buffy defends. “Can’t I just look at you now without you having to turn it into something sexual? God, Faith!” Buffy stomps again and takes off down the street. Faith growls in frustration and walks after her.
“You’re gay.”
“I am not gay!” Buffy practically screams. She looks over at Faith, eyes shooting daggers. “Will you shut up about that?!”
“Yes you are. You wanna know how I know?”
“NO,” Buffy says firmly, then stops at crossway of streets. “Which way to your motel?”
“Right,” Faith says, and follows after Buffy as she turns down the street. Faith still has a cocky look on her face, “I know cause-”
“Shut up.”
“-when you were all pressed up against me, your breathing picked up, your pupils got darker and, let’s not forget the best part of it - you let me do it,” Faith says confidently.
“Faith,” Buffy says flatly, turning around to face her, making them both stop again. “This may have escaped your notice, but you’re a little intimidating.”
Faith looks at her skeptically. “Please, you’re the Slayer. You could have gotten out of it if you wanted.”
“That’s not-” Buffy starts, then sighs, exasperated. “That’s not what I mean! I mean you… you and you. You’re all…” she waves her hand a little. “You’re like if sex was a human being, all walking around on two legs. It’s… well, you know.”
“Intimidating?” Faith asks with a smirk as her ego swells double its size. She leans against someone’s fence and crosses her arms over her chest, her tongue teasing her bottom lip a little. Damn, and the award for the best compliment ever paid to her goes to…
“Will you stop?” Buffy asks, flustered as she looks at her. “You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?” Faith asks, amused.
“Being all…” she waves her hand again, trying not to look Faith in the eye.
“Sexy?”
“Yes-NO! Intimidating. Damnit, Faith!” Buffy snaps, turning bright red before spinning around and walking away from her. Faith chuckles as she watches Buffy walk away from her. She tilts her head a little as she checks her out.
“You got a nice ass, y’know.”
Buffy’s hands automatically fly to her ass to cover it from Faith’s view before turning around. Faith laughs as she gets up off of the fence and walks over to her. She might have just found a new game to play; this was fun. “Stop hitting on me,” Buffy says, flustered.
“I wasn’t hitting on you, just sayin’ you got a nice ass,” Faith says with a smirk as she walks past her. She can see her motel room in the distance. “Don’t worry; I don’t fuck closet-cases.”
Buffy scoffs, “Yeah, cause I so got that impression when you were trying to make out with my neck.”
“I wasn’t fuckin’-” Faith starts, annoyed. But she’s interrupted.
“And what about Harmony?” Buffy asks suddenly.
“What?”
“Harmony; she wasn’t gay and you had sex with her,” Buffy points out.
“Are you trying to make a case about why I shouldn’t fuck you or why I should?” Faith asks, confused.
“You’re not having sex with me, I’m not having sex with you, there will be NO sex between us,” Buffy says firmly. Faith rolls her eyes.
“You keep tellin’ yourself that, Twinkie,” Faith says with a smirk as she walks onto the motel’s property, Buffy following after her, glaring.
“Why do you do this?” Buffy asks, annoyed as they stop outside of Faith’s motel room. Faith turns to her with an eyebrow raised and Buffy goes on. “I mean you don’t like me, you told me you want us to, I don’t know, hate each other, and now you’re… you’re doing the sexual thing!”
“It’s kinda entertaining, not gonna lie,” Faith says with a grin. She puts her tongue in her cheek as she looks her over, amused. “You get all flustered and embarrassed.”
“Well will you stop?” Buffy pleads. “I don’t want to be your entertainment!”
Faith leans against her door, smirking. “Kinda sucks for you then, huh?”
“Faith, I mean it! It’s not funny!”
“Faith?” comes another voice that makes Faith’s eyes go wide. She turns to see her mother’s door opening. “Fai, is that you? I need-” But then Caroline stops as she notices Buffy. “Oh, hello. I’m Caroline; Faith’s mother,” she says, holding out her hand to Buffy. Buffy takes it with a smile, but not before shooting a glare at Faith.
“Buffy,” she introduces herself. Caroline’s eyebrows get lost in her hairline.
Oh no.
“Oh, so you’re Buffy,” Caroline says with a smile and Faith smacks her forehead with her palm and closes her eyes. God damnit. This can’t go over well. “Faith has told me so much about you.”
“She has?” Buffy asks, confused. She turns to Faith, “You have?”
“No, Mum’s just trying to be polite,” Faith says, shooting her mother a glare. She folds her arms into herself and narrows her eyes. “Which you can stop anytime now, seriously.”
“Faith, don’t be rude,” Caroline chastises her. Faith’s eyes flash but Caroline ignores her, still smiling at Buffy, “You’re just as pretty as she said you were.” Faith’s eyes go just as wide as Buffy’s do.
“Mum, will you quit it? I didn’t say shit about her being pretty and you know that. Stop trying to-”
“Would you like to come in, dear?” Caroline asks Buffy, ignoring her daughter. Then Faith notices the tone in her voice. Great, she’s super fuckin’ high. This just keeps getting worse and worse.
“Um…” Buffy says, looking over at Faith who’s sure she’s five shades of red now and getting more pissed off with each passing second. She’s gonna kill her mother. Chop her up into little pieces and scatter them all over New Mexico.
“She’s gotta go,” Faith says, putting her hand on Buffy’s arm and trying to steer her away from the catastrophe that’s sure to be had if she stays. But Caroline will have none of that.
“Nonsense, it’s not late. I’m surprised you’re home this early, Fai,” Caroline says, opening Faith’s door before ushering them both inside. “Now you girls have fun and I’ll be back in a second with some drinks,” Caroline says, her smile wide as she closes the door to the room and walks into hers.
Buffy and Faith just look at each other for a second.
“Your mother seems… friendly,” Buffy says slowly, then looks around the room. Faith glowers. She didn’t want Buffy in here, but she knows her mother’s room is probably a freaking disaster and that’s why she shoved them in this one. Jesus.
“Ignore her. She’s trying to get me a girlfriend,” Faith says flatly before sitting on her bed heavily. “Feel free to make a run for it.”
“I don’t want to be rude…” Buffy says slowly, but her eyes flicker towards the door.
“Run while you still can,” Faith tells her seriously. But just as Buffy starts to back up towards the front door, the door that connects Faith’s room and Caroline’s opens and her mother walks through carrying three… shots. Christ.
See, this is why she doesn’t like her mother hanging out with her friends. Not that Buffy’s a friend, but still. Most mother’s bring out milk and cookies. Her mom? She brings vodka.
“Here you go, dear,” Caroline says, smiling as she hands a shocked Buffy a shot. Faith almost laughs at the look on her face, but doesn’t. She takes the one her mother hands her and does it without a moment’s hesitation. She’s gonna need it for this. Caroline looks at her disapprovingly.
“Rude,” she says again.
“Whatever. Mum, B’s really gotta go, so I think-”
“So Buffy,” Caroline says, shooting a glare at Faith before coming back to smile at the blonde who looks incredibly uncomfortable. “Do you go to school with Faith?”
“Yes,” Buffy says, her eyes glancing to look over at Faith who’s mocking her mother under her breath. At least she was… until Caroline’s hand connects with Faith’s stomach, making her cough a little. Caroline doesn’t stop smiling at Buffy though.
“Do you have any classes together?”
“History,” Buffy says, still looking at the shot in her hand like she doesn’t know what to make of it.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Mum! Stop with the third degree. Shit,” Faith snaps, then looks over at Buffy almost pleadingly, “You gonna do your shot?” She needs more liquor to keep her from strangling her mother.
“Here,” Buffy says, handing it to Faith who downs it immediately. Buffy clears her throat a little before answering Caroline’s question, “And no… I did, but we broke up a couple weeks ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Caroline says, frowning a little. “A girlfriend?”
Faith chokes on her own breath. “Mum!” she exclaims. “Okay, time to go,” she says, pushing her mother off the bed and towards the door.
“But Fai, I was just-”
“Leaving,” Faith finishes for her with a pointed look as she guides her mother through the threshold. “Will you stop trying to embarrass me? What the hell is wrong with you? How high are you right now?” Faith snaps quietly when she’s out of earshot from Buffy.
“Sorry for taking an interest in your life, Fai,” Caroline snaps. “But I think you could do with having a nice girl like Buffy in your life. She seems very… normal. And she’s very pretty,” she tells her with a smile.
Faith rolls her eyes. “I’m not looking for a girlfriend, okay? Just… stay out, seriously. And quit doing so much fuckin’ coke. You’re high as a kite right now and it’s not exactly something I want you to show the world,” Faith says quietly, angry, then steps away and closes the door before Caroline can say anything else. She turns to Buffy who’s just standing there looking even more uncomfortable by the second.
“Sorry,” Faith mumbles. “She’s just… she’s like that.”
“It’s okay,” Buffy says, giving her a shy smile before taking a step back. “I should, um…”
“Go? Probably. She might try to come back,” Faith says with a sigh. God, the last thing she needed right now was her mother trying to set her up with a girl she… she…
How does she feel about Buffy?
“I’ll see you on Monday,” Buffy says with a smile as she opens the door. Then she corrects herself, “Well, unless Giles makes us come in for more training tomorrow.”
“Probably tomorrow then,” Faith says with a smirk. Buffy giggles a little, looking just as embarrassed as Faith’s feeling right now about the whole ordeal.
“Bye,” Buffy says softly, before walking out the door.
“Later, B.”
The door closes behind Buffy and Faith sighs, flopping down on the bed and putting her head in her hands. She wants to try to figure out what the hell is going on; why she’s hitting on Buffy, why she makes her pissed off all the time, why the hell she even cared what her mother was saying… but she’s too drunk right now.
So instead she passes out, hoping that everything she was feeling tonight was only happening because of the liquor.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cleaning Up The Mess
Faith is in a freaking sundress.
Where the hell her mother found this monstrosity is beyond her, but yesterday she presented it to her with a big smile and the request that she wear it for church this morning. Of course there was the sarcastic comments, the raised eyebrow, and the clear look of distaste on her lips at the sight of it, but after a lot of persuasion and a bit of crying on her Mum’s part because of “how important it is that she look nice”… Faith relented.
Tears are Faith’s weakness, obviously. It’s like cheating. She swears people pass that info around like a freakin’ memo or something.
She stands in her bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. The soft green compliments her complexion well, but she still feels like a freak in it. She lets out a breath, sighing a bit as she smoothes out the dress with her hands; it wasn’t as clingy as she would have normally liked, even for a dress. She feels like such a girl in this thing.
Not that she’s butch, cause she’s not. Not really. Just cause she knows a thing or two about cars and can kick a lotta ass don’t make her the type to shave her head.
Faith runs her fingers through her hair as she turns away from the mirror, figuring this is the closest she’s gonna get to lookin’ “nice.” Walking into her bedroom she looks at the alarm clock, figuring she has about ten minutes before she needs to go check to see if her mother’s ready. She collapses on her bed heavily, arms spread as she looks up at the ceiling.
She feels so stupid. For so many damn reasons.
The silence of the room is pierced by the shrill ring of her room phone. She groans and grabs a pillow, putting it over her head and covering her ears. She’s not answering that.
She’s been avoiding Giles’ calls since yesterday morning. She knew he wanted her to come in and train with Buffy, but after Friday night that hasn’t exactly been high on the list of things she wants to do. Not cause of the drunk innuendos and the little up close and personal they had against the wall. Nah, that shit didn’t matter and she’s not embarrassed by it. Actually, more points if B’s the one embarrassed about it, which she probably will be.
No, why she’s avoiding Buffy has nothing to do with that. It has to do with how much of a mind fuck the night ended up giving her.
Faith gets being horny. She was drunk, was filled to the fuckin’ brim with adrenaline from the fight and running from the cops. Any sane person in that situation would wanna dry hump the nearest bitch, right? Obviously. It’s like human instinct or something. It’s a situation that gets your blood pumpin’ and your heart racing and the easiest thing to do to calm the storm is to fuck the hell outta someone till you burst. Buffy was just… she just happened to be there during all of that.
But that’s the problem, isn’t it? Buffy being there. She’s Buffy fucking Summers, the girl who took being a Slayer away from her, the girl who’s pretty much taken her Watcher from her too. She’s hording in on her friends and pissing her off all the god damn time with her high and mighty attitude and that huge stick up her ass. She shouldn’t want to fuck her, even for a minute. She shouldn’t be able to just let all of that go just because her pussy needs a fix.
She also really shouldn’t have actually liked spending time with her that night. Well, until things got awkward with her Mum, anyway.
But she did. Maybe it was cause she was drunk… whatever. Liquor is the world’s biggest fucking excuse. Probably also the most bullshit excuse, but since everyone uses it, everyone accepts it when other people give it to them or they give it to themselves. But yeah, right now she’ll blame it on the liquor. She’ll blame it on the liquor that she noticed how pretty Buffy is when she smiles. She’ll blame it on the liquor that she liked the way she could make her blush. She’ll blame it on the fuckin’ liquor that she had fun tormenting her and she’ll definitely blame it on the liquor that she noticed how Buffy seemed to like it too.
Yeah, Buffy complained. She didn’t want to be picked on for her lack of sexual expertise and her virginal state (fuck she hopes she really isn’t a virgin), but she egged her on. She pushed Faith’s buttons just as much as Faith pushed hers and she loved every minute of it. Maybe it was some kind of sick game they started playing; fucking with each other just because they could. Pissing each other off cause it was fun to see the other get all riled up about it.
Or maybe that’s just Faith. And maybe she’s just really fucked in the head that she likes that sort of shit. Either way.
But that’s what bothers her. That. Not the shit that happened in the alley, the stuff after. It gives her a mind fuck and a half how she found herself being happy when she was bantering with Buffy. Happy. How screwed up is that?
Maybe that’s supposed to be some sort of sign like ‘Hey, lookie here, Faith. You can have some kind of really screwed up friendship with this girl.’ Maybe it’s something else. She doesn’t know. She doesn’t wanna know, hence the avoidance.
She shouldn’t want to be near a girl who drives her fucking insane. Yet she does. So the plan? Stay as far away as possible. It’s probably not gonna work out all that great, what with impending doom and whatever the fuck’s about to rain shit on their heads, but it’s a good enough plan to start, right? It works for this weekend anyway.
Faith’s been trying to clear her head, but it ain’t working out so well. Maybe if the stupid fucking phone stopped ringing it might help- fuck, finally it stopped.
“What’s that ringing? Do I have a tumor?”
Faith snorts a little as she laughs, that line from a movie coming into her head. It’s what she feels like sometimes. She’s gotta have a fucking tumor if this is where her heads at: all kinds of fucked up. Sometimes she wishes she could get high; just say fuck it and forget about everything and everyone. But then she looks at her mother and knows that’s just a cop out. A simple solution to a more complicated problem that’s gonna do more hurt than good in the end.
And really, the last thing Faith needs is to end up being a junkie on top of it all. She might not be worth a lot, but she’s worth more than that. She has to be.
Fuck Buffy. Fuck Destiny. Fuck the whole Slayer thing right now. She just needs to deal with herself; with her own life. Buffy’s just complicating it.
But what else is new?
Faith sighs as she gets off her bed, deciding to go check to see if her mother’s ready. She crosses the room to the door and opens it, hoping to just get this whole Catholic thing outta her Mum’s system in one go. Cause come on, church is boring as all hell. Or heaven, whatever. Probably shouldn’t compare church to hell.
But when she opens the door, church seems to be the last thing on her mother’s mind.
“Mum??” Faith asks, worry coloring her voice as she sees Caroline sitting in the middle of her bed, knees to her chest, naked, as she cradles a bottle of scotch closely as she rocks back and forth. Tears are streaming down her cheeks and she doesn’t even acknowledge Faith’s presence.
“Mum? Hey… Mum?” Faith asks softly as she comes over to her mother, picking up the comforter which was thrown carelessly on the floor and bringing it up to wrap it around her mother’s naked body. “Mum… what’s wrong?” She tries to reach for the liquor bottle to take it away from her but Caroline makes a sound of disgruntled disapproval and holds it closer to her. Faith’s hand falls to rest at her side.
There’s silence for a little while before Caroline’s teary eyes lock on Faith, and the brunette watches one tear slide down her cheek slowly. “You look beautiful…” she whispers to her, looking at her daughter in the dress she gave her.
“What’s wrong?” Faith repeats, her eyes scanning Caroline’s for any sign she might recognize. She wasn’t high, that’s for sure. Drunk, yeah, but not high.
“I was trying to be good for you,” Caroline says softly, then shivers and pulls the covers around her body tighter. Her breathing hitches a bit as she tries not to sob, but her bottom lip shakes her voice comes out strangled as she says, “But I can’t handle it anymore…” More tears start to fall.
“What are you talkin’ about?”
“I need it, Fai. I need it all the time a-and I can’t stop. I… I tried to stop and all it did was make the nightmares more real and I can’t…! I can’t do this! I-I don’t want to be nothing anymore, but that’s all I am, I’m nothing…” she cries harder, clutching the liquor close to her before she takes a long swig, coughing a bit as her sobs make it hard to swallow.
“What are you…? Did you…? Oh,” Faith says softly, realizing what her mother tried to do. “Mum… how long has it been since you’ve had any blow?”
Caroline sniffs, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand. “Y-You yelled at me and you didn’t want me to meet your girlfriend cause you were ashamed of me cause I was fucked up and I didn’t… I mean, I d-didn’t…” the rest of her words come out jumbled as she’s crying too hard to make much sense anymore.
Shit. She’s gone cold turkey for like thirty six hours. That ain’t good.
“Mum, I ain’t ashamed of ya, I swear,” Faith says softly, sighing as she takes her mother’s hand and holds it. “I was just fucked up; drunk. And B is… B’s not my girl, Mum. So ya didn’t get shoved outta some big moment in my life or nothin’. I was just irritated, it wasn’t you. I didn’t mean that you should stop like this, y’know you can’t quit this way.”
Caroline just cries harder and Faith looks at her sadly, upset with herself that she made her Mum go and hurt herself like this.
“Where’s your stash? The shit I gave you?”
Caroline points a shaky finger into the bathroom and Faith groans. This ain’t good. She flushed it. Fuck. Faith takes a breath, realizing she needs to fix this. “Alright, look, lemme go out and meet your dealer, okay? I’ll go get ya some more. Promise.” Caroline nods slowly, sniffing a little as she pulls the covers up to her chin. Faith lets go of her hand and turns to the bedside table, getting her mother’s wallet to get some money out. Once she has it, she looks back at her. “Rest, yeah? I’ll be back soon.” Caroline nods again, silently, and Faith gets up and makes her way out the door as she shoves a couple twenties in her bra.
This ain’t gonna be fun. She hates when she’s the one that’s gotta go to Larry. He’s a nasty little sleazeball who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “jailbait.”
But when she opens the door she comes face to face with Buffy, who seems to be standing outside of her door. Faith blinks and closes her mother’s door behind her and Buffy turns, looking a bit taken aback from Faith suddenly being next to her.
“Oh, hi,” she says quickly, shuffling her feet a little. Faith raises an eyebrow suspiciously, trying to look nonchalant even though her heart started going a million miles an hour. Damnit, obviously avoidance is a bust. Buffy looks at her, eyes sweeping down her form as she takes in the younger girl.
“You look… really nice,” Buffy says with surprise, noting her dress.
Faith chooses not to respond to that. Fuck this dress. “What’s with the stalking?”
“I wasn’t stalking!” Buffy insists, though looks wicked uncomfortable. “I was just… Giles was worried and he told me to-”
“See if I was still alive and kickin’? Well you can tell him I am,” Faith interrupts dismissively, turning to walk away from her. But of course Buffy follows her. Faith tries to ignore her, the best she can.
“No, I know, but there’s a warrant out for your arrest for assault, Faith. Willow searched their database and Cordelia filed a report that night. We didn’t know if the police…” she trails off, and Faith stops short, sighing a bit before she turns to face her.
“Well as you can see, I’m five by five. Now if ya don’t mind, I got places to be.”
“You shouldn’t be walking around when the cops are looking for you,” Buffy tells her quietly.
“They ain’t lookin’ too hard. I’m home.”
Buffy rolls her eyes, putting a hand on her hip. “Well they don’t know where you live. The school has false records and your mother booked you guys under a different name.”
“How the fuck do you know that?” Faith asks, getting defensive. She steps in Buffy’s personal space, staring her down. She doesn’t need this bitch to know her business.
“Willow,” Buffy says, like it’s obvious. She narrows her eyes at Faith’s intrusive behavior but doesn’t move forward nor back down. “Look, just lay low for a little while, until we can figure out how to get rid of it.”
“Didn’t ask you to clean up my messes, Blondie.”
“I know that, and it doesn’t matter if you ask or not - I am.”
“Why?” Faith scoffs, looking at her like she’s insane. She crosses her arms across her chest. “What the hell do you get out of it?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Buffy snaps sarcastically, obviously getting fed up with Faith’s attitude towards her. “Maybe you not in jail? You can’t exactly help us out in there.”
“Like you give a fuck.”
“Obviously I do! Damn, Faith. What’s your problem? Why are you so grumpy today?” Buffy asks her, looking at her like she’s being a huge bitch. Maybe she is. But whatever.
“Just not in the mood for bullshit pleasantries.”
“Yeah, cause this is so pleasant,” Buffy says dryly. Faith just turns away from her, trying to end this unhelpful bit of interaction, but Buffy’s hand grabs her arm, sending tingles through her skin. “Wait.”
“What?” Faith asks flatly, not turning to look at her.
Buffy doesn’t say anything for a minute and that makes Faith finally turn her head to look at her. “You’re… you’re going to be at school tomorrow, right?”
“Not if the pigs are lookin’ for me. You know Queen C will have them on speed dial the moment I show my face.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“I said I don’t need you to fight my battles, B.”
“I know, but I… will. Just come to school tomorrow, please?” Buffy asks softly. She still hasn’t taken her hand off of Faith’s arm and it’s making her feel weird so she shrugs her off.
“Yeah, fine. Whatever,” she relents, just to get her outta here. She doesn’t need her around.
Buffy looks down at the ground for a moment and Faith takes that as her cue to leave. She gets all of about five steps before Buffy calls out to her, “Just be careful.”
Faith can feel the tug of her lips as a smile threatens to escapes. She looks over her shoulder. “I’m cool, Twinkie. Grew up in South Boston; ya learn how to avoid the 5-0 pretty quickly.” Buffy nods, smiling a little at her shyly. The urge to walk over there and kiss her pretty fuckin’ lips hits Faith in the face like a god damn freight train and she turns and walks away from her as quickly as humanly possible.
Fuck. That can’t be good. Gotta be some kind of after effect of the liquor; like way after. Or maybe she’s just insane, that could also be a factor. Whatever it is, it ain’t good and she really needs to get her head back on straight.
Well, as straight as a lesbian can get, anyway. Ha. Yeah, she amuses herself.
Larry lives a little ways down the street and when she gets there she goes to the backdoor automatically. The little shit for a dog he has barks at her and she flips it off before rapping on the door with her knuckle. She leans against the house as she waits.
A moment later the paranoid bastards asks, “Who dat?”
“Faith.”
The door opens and Larry smiles at her with his crooked grin. Faith tries to keep her face neutral as she fights the urge to throw up. The mother fucker is the damn definition of a ‘Class A’ douchebag. Leering Larry is what she calls him in her head, cause that’s all he fuckin’ does at her.
“Faith, baby,” he says as he throws his arm around her shoulder. “Ya finally here ta take me up on my offer of a good time? Cause it still stands, mama.” He fingers a strap on her dress and says, “Diggin’ the girly look. Special occasion or ya tryin’ to look pretty for me?”
Faith curls up her lip in distaste and she pushes his arm off of her. She wishes people would fuck off about the damn dress. “I ain’t here to play games, Double L. I need a gram.” She pulls out the money from her cleavage and slaps it down on the counter, keeping her hand on it though as she looks at him expectantly. He just looks at her, amused by being turned down for the millionth time and she cocks and eyebrow. “Like, yesterday,” she finishes, trying to stress the importance.
“All business then? S’Cool, brotha’s gotta pay the bills,” Larry says. Faith tries like hell not to roll her eyes. This dude’s picture should be under the word ‘wigger’ in the dictionary. “But ya holla at me if ya ever need to find yaself ridin’ a real man ‘stead of whatever the fuck little boys you’re pickin’ up.”
“Yeah. Boys,” Faith says sarcastically. She sighs in annoyance. “Look, ya got it or not? My Mum’s freakin’ so I’d appreciate it if we could skip tea time and small talk.”
“You’re a hot thing when you’re all riled up, aren’t ya?” Larry says with a laugh as he smirks. “Yeah, got what ya need. Hold on a sec, mama.” He disappears into the other room and Faith has the urge to take a good long shower after this. His house is disgusting; bastard’s probably always too damn high to clean it properly. He should take up meth, at least the place would be spotless then and he’d croak a whole lot sooner.
When Larry comes back he hands her the baggie and she looks at it carefully. She frowns, annoyed. It’s clearly lacking in size. “What the fuck is this? You tryin’ the jack me now?”
“Nah girl, this shit’s eighty five pure. Better than the other crap I was gettin’ that was seventy. Trust me; it’ll fuck your mom up good an’ nice. You can test if ya think I’m pullin’ bullshit.”
“You know I don’t touch this shit,” Faith says flatly, but she stuffs it in her bra and slides the money towards him. “But if you’re sellin’ me crap then you best believe I’ll come back and put your fuckin’ head in the wall.”
“Chill mamacita, would I fuck over one of my best customers?”
Faith arches an eyebrow at him, but steps away. “We’ll see,” is all she says before she turns towards the door.
“Come back anytime, sexy,” he says with a hint of a leer in his voice and she knows he’s checking out her ass as she walks out the door. She flips him off over her shoulder and she can hear his low chuckle as she leaves, the door banging lightly behind her. The stupid dog starts barking up a storm again and she kicks at it, not connecting, but makin’ the damn thing back the hell off before she walks back down the street.
She doesn’t get to be Faith the Vampire Slayer; she gets to be Faith the Drug Runner.
Fuck she hates her life.
ON TO PART EIGHT.