Chapter
9
Dianna
sighs quietly as she looks at her nervous daughter. When Buffy had dropped
“Do
you think she’s going to call?”
“Baby
girl, you have to give her a chance.
If she’s hurting that badly, she isn’t going to trust easily.” Dianna points out
quietly.
“I
understand that, mama. I just want
her to call. She can’t trust if she
doesn’t talk to us and get to know us.”
“Okay,
sweetie.” Dianna sighs softly and
settles down beside
“Did
you and Mrs. Summers have a nice time last night?”
“Yes,
we did. She’s getting antsy about
telling Buffy about us.” Dianna
admits, stroking her fingers through her daughter’s blonde hair.
“She’s
afraid of how Buffy will react.”
***
Faith
paces back and forth after she finishes the half sandwich she’d snatched out of
a trash bin before it had gotten covered over with nasty odds and ends. Looking at the phone on the nightstand
beside the bed, Faith pulls out the slip of paper staring at the number for
probably the hundredth time. She
was only paid up through tonight at this rundown fleabag hotel, and needing to
do something soon to make some cash, already knowing she won’t be able to live
on the streets here on the Hellmouth.
Rubbing
her belly as it growls it’s displeasure at the meager amount of food, Faith
slowly makes her way to the phone.
Hesitating for a few moments, she drops her head and closes her eyes as
she remembers the softly stuttered offer for dinner. Taking a deep breath and opening her
eyes, she picks up the phone and punches in the number she’d memorized. Not expecting much, she’d been
disappointed so many times in her life, she figures she hasn’t anything to
lose. Hearing the softly spoken
hello coming across the phone, Faith smiles. “Hey. I was kinda wonderin’ if the offer for
dinner was good?”
“She
can come over anytime she wants. If
she wants to now, I’ll fix something for you two to snack on before working on
something for dinner.” Dianna
offers, smiling at the sight of her happy daughter.
“Mama
said y-you could c-come now, if you want.”
“Yeah,
I might do that.” Faith writes down
the address quickly, and the directions on how to get to their house. “Do I need ta’ bring
anythin’?”
“Just
y-yourself.”
Faith
chuckles softly before answering.
“I’ll eat ‘bout anythin’.”
Faith admits looking at the trash can with the partial wrapper the
sandwich she’d snagged had been in.
“Please
c-come a-anytime, Faith.”
“I’ll
be there in a bit, Blondie.
Thanks.” Faith hangs up
after she hears a softly spoken goodbye from
***
“That’s
fine, you might want to go ahead and throw together a couple of sub sandwiches
for Faith to eat. With you
mentioning her eating almost half the cake herself last night, I have a feeling
she may not be getting enough food.”
Dianna admits quietly as she washes up the dishes they’d dirtied so
far.
“Either
that or she has a serious sweet tooth.”
“Want
me to get it, baby girl?” Dianna
questions softly, feeling her daughter’s apprehension.
“No. I’ll g-get it, Mama.”
“Nah. You gave good directions, Blondie.” Faith looks around the small house.
“I
was just f-fixing a couple sub sandwiches for you for l-lunch, since Mama and I
ate a little before you called.”
Faith
grunts quietly watching the blonde in surprise, before following her. “You ain’t gotta do anythin’ special for
me.”
“We
d-don’t mind.”
Faith
looks at the older version of
Dianna
sees the flaring of the slayer’s aura, like her daughter mentioned. So powerful and strong, yet filled with
so much hurt, pain, anger and fear that it was almost blinding. Gently shaking the woman’s hand, she
smiles softly. “Hello, Faith. You’re welcome here, so please make
yourself at home.”
Faith
shifts nervously, her luck with adults not the best in the world. The one person she’d finally started to
trust being torn apart in front of her eyes kinda made a person leery of being
friends with one, even if it wasn’t for her other experiences with adults.
“I
h-have ham, turkey, r-roast beef, Colby, American, and Swiss cheese along with
lettuce, tomatoes and m-mayonnaise for your s-sandwiches. Is that okay?”
Faith
smiles at
“You
c-can get yourself s-something to drink, if you want.”
Faith
licks her lips at the thought of lemonade, it having been years since she’s had
some. She watches as
“You’re
welcome.”
Faith
glances quickly at
“Honey,
I need to pick up a couple more things at the store. I’ll be back in a little while,
okay?” Dianna smiles at her
daughter.
“Okay,
mama. B-be careful.”
Faith
shakes her head in disbelief as she settles down in the chair. “Why are ya’ being nice to me,
Blondie?”
“Why
wouldn’t I?”
Faith
shrugs as she opens the bag of chips, dumping a nice pile of them on top of her
plate and sandwiches before picking up half a sandwich, looking at
“Yeah
it was. You might be more skittish
than most people, but I was the one that pushed ya’.” Faith takes another bite of the sandwich
watching the blonde intently. “Ya’
can tell me it ain’t none of my business, but I get the feelin’ your life ain’t
been the best.”
Faith
sets the sandwich down, staring intently into
Faith
sees the honesty in
Faith
settles back into the chair, popping a potato chip in her mouth watching the
blonde curiously. “What kind did
ya’ get?”
Faith
feels her lips curling up into an answering smile, relaxing even more as she
doesn’t hear any stutters coming from
“Yes.”
“Wait!! You go out and deal with the
nasties?” Faith frowns, leaning
forward as she looks intently at
Faith
furrows her brows as she stares at the blonde, looking over the feminine
features and soft body. “I don’t
see it.” Faith growls lowly shaking
her head.
Faith
stiffens slightly at the thought of the woman going with her. “No. I ain’t gonna be responsible for you
gettin’ hurt.” Her eyes flashing
angrily at the thought.
“Faith…” Tara unconsciously reaches for the
slayer’s hand that’s clenched on the table, when the slayer jerks it away from
her as she barely touches her,
“Fuck!” Faith hisses and tries to relax. “Look Blondie it ain’t nothin’ against
you, but I ain’t much of a touchy-feely person. Don’t take it personal, and I’ll try and
curb my normal reactions, ‘kay?”
“O-o-okay.”
Faith
rubs a hand roughly over the back of her neck as
“Thank
you.” Faith whispers, relaxing
slightly as a small smile finally crosses
“No.”
Faith
looks curiously at the blonde as her tones seem to become cold when mentioning
this Angel person. “So, who’s this
Angel chick? Your
competition?”
Faith
stares in shock at the blonde, letting her words sink into her brain. Silently wondering what kind of sick
soap opera she’s landed in. “Sounds
fucked up to me. I thought we were
supposed to stake the bastards, not fuck ‘em.” Faith states bluntly, working on the
last of her sandwiches.
Faith
shifts her head to watch
“Here
you go.”
Faith
licks her lips and looks at the plate, before slowly shaking her head. “Nah. I’m good, Blondie. Thanks for the
food.”
“You’re
w-welcome.”
“I
can get it.” Faith stands, grabbing
the bag of chips, folding the end over tightly before grabbing her plate to put
in the sink and placing the bag of chips back in the pantry
“So,
obviously you, your ma, Red, Boytoy and watcher dude know about slayers and
things that go bump. Anybody
else?” Faith questions
curiously.
“A
couple more.”
Faith
grunts quietly at the thought.
Reaching for the washcloth, Faith walks over to the table and wipes it
down quickly, throwing the crumbs in the trash can before walking back over to
the sink to rinse the cloth out, before draping it back over the middle of the
sink. “What all can ya’
do?”
“Yeah.” Faith nods, following
Faith
blinks in surprise at the woman, not expecting the woman to be able to actually
do much.
“Huh.”
“I’ll
give ya’ a chance to prove it to me tonight.” Faith finally gives in completely,
surprised at the absolutely beautiful, full smile that comes across
“Fuck
yeah. Clog my arteries up, ain’t
like they’ll have a chance to kill me.”
Faith watches the previews on the television as she hears the quiet
whimper coming from the kitchen at her words. Closing her eyes at her insensitivity,
Faith takes a deep breath and mentally makes a note to be more careful of what
she says and does around
***
Chapter
10
Faith
snorts at the sight of the vampire’s confusion as he keeps hitting the barrier
around her and Tara. “So, ya’ can
do this one that sorta just absorbs the blows, the other one that makes it feel
like he’s hittin’ concrete, and another one that wraps around ‘em like
jell-o?”
“Yep.”
“Sweet!” Faith nods her head before pulling her
stake and staking the vampire. “How
cool is that? I even get ta’ stake
him through the barrier. You’re
kinda handy to have around. But I
still like to grapple and fight with ‘em on a more personal basis.” Faith admits, feeling that slight little
tingle disappear, realizing now that it’s where
“I
figured as much.”
“I
need to get a couple more stakes, do ya’ mind my stopping at my room and
grabbing them?” Faith looks at her
last stake before glancing at
“That’s
fine, Faith.”
“You’re
welcome ta’ come in, if ya’ want.
I’ll only be a sec.” Faith
waves to the open door before hurrying in to grab the small bag she has her
personal effects in and digs under the clothes to pull out her last two
stakes.
Tara
looks at the trashy room, realizing from the looks of it, the only thing of
Faith’s is the bag in her hands as she doesn’t see any clothes hanging in the
open closet, or anything setting out on the dresser or nightstands. Wrapping her arms around herself,
Faith
glances up, a small grin on her face about ready to make a smart aleck comment
when she sees the look on Tara’s face.
“What’s wrong?”
Faith
growls at hearing the stuttering,
Faith
looks into serious blue eyes, before dropping her gaze to look at the motel
room, comparing it to the small house
Faith’s
eyes narrow slightly on
“Mama
will w-want you to p-pick up after yourself, and g-go to school. Mr. G-giles will probably b-be willing
to help us with cost of l-living expenses with f-feeding and c-clothing
you.”
Faith
stares at the woman for a few minutes, before looking down at the bag that holds
almost all her worldly goods. The
only other things are a hair brush and toothbrush in the bathroom, along with
deodorant and just a couple pieces of make-up. “Why?”
“Because
w-we want to b-be there for you.
And I c-could use a f-friend to t-talk to that understands.” Tara whispers softly, the two women
having touched very briefly on the fact that they’d been physically abused,
though no details were really given on either side, both silently deciding to
discuss it again at a later date.
“Yeah,
I get that.” Faith twitches
slightly at the thought, knowing her old watcher had wanted her to try and talk
through some of her anger, pain and hatred. She was under the thought that it would
help her, but Faith wasn’t willing to open to the woman. Glancing up at
“I
don’t do windows.” Faith growls
deeply as she turns and heads to the bathroom, tossing her few items into the
bag and zipping it closed. Throwing
it over her shoulder, she tosses the key to the motel on the bed and urges a
shocked
“Odd
you thankin’ me.” Faith growls,
shaking her head. “I ain’t been in
school for over three year’s, Tare-Bear.
I don’t know what’ll happen with that.”
“Mama
will talk with Mr. Giles and see what needs to be done. Maybe th-they’ll have some testing you
could do and see what grade to place you in. You p-probably won’t being going to
school right away until they can get your records and we can get you some
clothes.”
Faith
rolls her eyes at the thought of this woman so quickly and easily sliding under
her defenses. Even her mother had
made her feel relaxed and was able to get her to talk. And for the first time in longer than
she can remember, she feels almost happy and has a full stomach. “Hope you two ain’t expectin’ a miracle
with me.”
“Easy,
girlfriend.” Faith cautiously wraps
an arm around
“Yeah.” Faith gently squeezes the shoulder
before releasing
“Yes. You can eat whatever you f-find in the
house. Mama works at the Gallery
with Buffy’s mom, Mrs. Summers. Mr.
Giles would probably like for you to see him before too much time goes by. He w-works as the librarian at the
school.”
“What’s
he like?” Faith turns to look at
“Very
proper, tweed-wearing Englishman.”
Faith
snorts at the thought. “I’ll pay
attention, see what’s the what.”
Faith looks around as she feels her senses picking up on some thing, or
some things. Two different
feelings. One that she normally
gets when a demon is nearby but the other one is different. Kind of like
“That
the bloodsucker that’s hornin’ in on your woman?” Faith growls softly in
“Faith!”
“Sorry!” Faith raises her hands and tries to
smile innocently at the woman. “I
know, I know. Ain’t public
knowledge, and you don’t want it to be.”
“Please.”
“I
hear ya’ Tare-Bear.” Faith nods her
head and turns back to look at the blonde slayer and the tall, dark, brooding
vampire walking beside her.
“What
are you doing out on patrol?” Buffy
questions roughly, her eyes narrowed on
“She’s
with me.” Faith growls shifting
closer to
Buffy
snaps her head to stare at the dark-haired slayer, her eyes flashing with
anger. “She usually patrols with
me.”
“Yeah,
so? Looks like ya’ got your own
patrol buddy.” Faith snarls at the
vampire, her eyes taking him in and not liking what she’s seeing. “Thought we were supposed to stake the
blood-suckers, not be friends with ‘em.”
Buffy
snarls and takes a step towards Faith to be pulled to a stop by Angel. Then her eyes open wide in shock as
“Buffy,
please.”
“All
day?” Buffy’s eyes search
“Yeah,
Tare-Bear here invited me to spend the afternoon with her and Mrs. M. We talked, and we’re… friends.” Faith allows a genuine smile to cross
her face at the word.
“And
Faith is g-going to be st-staying with us.”
“She’s
staying with you?” Buffy takes a
step back at the statement and the nod of agreement coming from
“Buffy,
we should probably finish patrol.
You have school tomorrow.”
Angel narrows his gaze on the other two girls, seeing the anger in the
narrowed gaze coming from the dark-haired slayer and the look of hurt, along
with that damn indefinable expression the witch always seems to have when she
looks at him, unconsciously snarling his lip slightly at
her.
“We
already hit downtown.”
“Good. I guess I can walk with you two on the
way back home, then.” Buffy narrows
her gaze even more on the slayer as she moves closer to Tara, fighting the urge
to rip the woman away from
“I
don’t like him.” Faith growls
softly under her breath as they make it over a block from the other two before
slowing down and waiting.
“That
makes two of us.”
“Ya
know, I could accidentally stake his ass one night while I’m out on
patrol.” Faith offers, a wicked
grin crossing her face as
Tara
shakes her head and rubs a hand over her face, part of her almost wanting to
accept the slayer’s offer, but knowing the vampire has been a help to Buffy and
the rest of the group, and with his having a soul, not something she can in good
conscience endorse. “No,
Faith. But
thanks.”
Faith
shrugs and quirks her eyebrow at
“Huh?”
Faith
casually drapes an arm over
“Trust
me, Tare-Bear. She’s willin’ to
come over here and rip my arm off my body and probably beat me ta’ death with
it.” Faith chuckles wickedly. “What’cha think? Should we fuck with
her?”
“Faith,
behave.”
“You’ll
do, Tare-Bear. You’ll do.” Faith squeezes
***
Buffy
practically ignores Angel as she keeps her eyes on
“I’ll
catch up with you tomorrow night.”
Angel finally states, fighting the urge to let his demon come to the
front and take out the witch.
Buffy’s reaction to the blonde and the slayer slut cementing it in his
mind that Buffy cares more for the witch than she’s telling him. His demon fighting, wanting to kill his
competition while taking his slayer and turn her so they can spend eternity
together. Fighting the feelings and
desires flowing through him, Angel’s unaware of his eyes tingeing towards yellow
as he looks at Buffy.
“Tomorrow.” He practically
snarls, leaning down and kissing her roughly before turning and striding
away.
Buffy
blinks in surprise at the anger and abrupt departure of Angel, her eyes
following him for a few minutes until he’s completely out of sight. Frowning at the feeling of disquiet she
feels in regards to Angel, she turns and practically jogs towards
Faith
growls softly as Buffy practically pushes her way between her and Tara. Fighting the urge to smack the blonde
slayer upside the head, Faith finally smirks, drops back a step and moves to the
other side of
Buffy
stares around
“Nothing
much. We just ate d-dinner and
watched some movies.”
“And
now you’re best friends and she’s going to live with you?” Buffy stares hard at the dark-haired
slayer.
“I
ain’t gonna say best friends, but yeah, we’re friends and yeah I’m gonna live
with Tare-Bear and her ma. What’s
it to you, B?” Faith stares back at
the slayer, unaware of the three women coming to a stop,
Buffy
looks intently into the somewhat scared blue eyes looking back at her, frowning
as it sinks in that Tara’s stuttering horribly again. “
“Please,
B-b-buffy.”
Buffy
clenches her jaw,
Faith
sighs heavily, her eyes turning to look at Buffy before turning back towards
“That’s
all I can ask. Thank you,
Faith.”
Faith
blinks in surprise and reaches up to touch her cheek. “Huh. Don’t ever remember bein’ kissed without
it havin’ to do with sex… and even then I usually don’t like that level of
intimacy.” Faith snorts at the
thought, shaking her head as she watches
***
Chapter
11
Buffy
watches as Tara and Faith talk, growling quietly as Faith smiles at Tara and
almost jumps to rip the other slayer from her friend when
Buffy
unconsciously snarls at
Buffy
blushes darkly and looks down, really not understanding why she doesn’t like the
other slayer. Just knowing that
whenever Faith is near
“Please,
Buffy. She’s h-had a hard l-life of
it, so far. She needs f-friends not
people that want to irritate her.”
“How
did you get to the point of having her stay with you, Tara?” Buffy questions, the confusion and hurt
obvious in her eyes.
“She
was staying at the sleaze bag hotel on
“Demons
won’t even stay there.” Buffy
growls softly.
“No,
they won’t. Everything she owns is
in that small bag over her shoulder, and I have a feeling she’s h-had even a
w-worse t-time of it than mama and I.”
Buffy
sighs quietly as
Surprised,
Buffy finally returns the hug, closing her eyes at the feel of the slightly
taller woman’s body being pressed against her, feelings stirring to life inside
her that she’d never felt before, making her uncomfortable.
Faith
chuckles quietly at the confused look crossing Buffy’s face when Tara releases
her, nodding her head that Buffy definitely likes Tara whether she’s wanting to
admit it or not. Strutting towards
the two women Faith comes to stand right beside
Realizing
what she’s doing, Buffy stops and lets the two women get a couple steps ahead of
her before finally walking and catching up to Faith and
“No.” Faith answers, her tones cool.
“You
c-could come and talk with Mr. Giles, if you want.”
Sighing
heavily, Faith nods her head in agreement.
“I guess ya’ ain’t gonna let up on me, until I do it anyways.” Faith grumbles, her voice rough with the
feelings working through her.
Surprised at how much she likes the thought of someone caring for
her. Silently wishing that her
younger brother had lived. Him
being the one ray of sunlight in her life, making the world bearable. Shutting down the feelings coming to the
surface, knowing it’s only a small leap to tears following, Faith puts thoughts
of little Jimmy back behind her walls to only be brought out when she’s by
herself.
“Thank
you.”
“Whatever.” Faith grumbles, shrugging her
shoulders.
Buffy
watches the two women for a few minutes, keeping quiet. Still wanting to rip the slayer’s arm
from around Tara’s shoulders, but working on the anger flowing through her at
Faith usurping her place with
Buffy
feels her jaw clench automatically before smiling back at
Faith
nods her head and answers simply.
“B.”
“You
got it bad, Tare-Bear.” Faith
whispers softly into Tara’s ear as
“She’s
had my heart pretty much from the moment we met.”
Faith
groans quietly as she follow’s
“Hmmm. I pictured you more for a Brad Pitt or a
younger Mel Gibson person.”
Faith
unconsciously licks her lips.
“They’ll do, too.” Faith
wiggles her eyebrows and grins wickedly at
***
“Damn,
it Tare-Bear.” Faith grumbles,
tagging behind
“You’re
going to g-go and talk with Mr. Giles.”
Faith
groans and shakes her head. “Come
on, do I have ta’?”
“Yes. You’re going to go to school. You’re going to g-graduate, and you will
be around for a long time to irritate the h-hell out of me.”
“Shit.” Faith grumbles, fighting the smile
wanting to cross her face at
“We
can discuss it.”
Faith
groans, knowing
Giles
hurries from his office, having already been made aware yesterday morning that
Faith had appeared, of all places, at the Bronze Saturday night, and Buffy had
in no certain terms let him know she didn’t care for the dark-haired slayer,
explaining her view of what had happened.
Now, as he strides out to the main section of the library, he’s more than
a little shocked to see Tara standing almost protectively besides the woman that
can only be Faith, the new slayer.
Blinking in surprise as he sees a quick scared look cross the dark-haired
girls face before she puts on a smirk and gets a cocky attitude pretty much
pouring from her in waves, fighting back the smile wanting to cross his face as
he remembers a young man by the name of Ripper that had pretty much the same
attitude as her when he was younger.
“Mr.
Giles, I’d like you to meet Faith.”
Faith
finally releases
“Hello,
my dear.” Giles shakes her hand
while patting it with the other, looking curiously at
“She
invited me over to her and her ma’s house for dinner, we got to talkin’ and they
kinda made me an offer of stayin’ with ‘em. Then she insisted I come with her here
today.” Faith explains quickly and
concisely, without any additional information. “Uh, I don’t know what ya’ do in cases
like this, but if the Council dudes can give ‘em money to help pay for my
necessities, that would be of the good.”
“Well,
I do have a spare bedroom at my place, if you…” Giles trails off as he watches
“Umm. Is there any w-way you can g-get her
school records, and w-work on getting her placed in classes? It’s been three years since she’s been
in school, and I d-don’t know if they’ll do p-placement tests or what
here.”
“Of
course. I’ll be in contact with the
Council later and get right on that.
Is everything okay, do you need anything?” Giles offers, looking from one girl to
the other.
Faith
looks down at the table, not wanting to admit to the watcher that she basically
only has a couple pairs of clothes to her name.
“Everything.”
“Well,
if you two would like, after school you can meet me here, and I’ll forgo Buffy’s
training to take you two ladies to the mall.” Giles offers, wincing slightly as he can
just imagine what his Mastercard bill will look like, but knowing he can’t
begrudge the girl clothes and anything else she needs. Knowing that he should be able to get
the money back from the Council with little problem.
Faith
snorts quietly, finally looking up to make eye contact with the watcher,
surprised at the kindness she sees in his bluish/green eyes. “You’re willin’ to take two teenagers to
the mall? You’re braver than most
guys I know.”
“Yes,
well, I dare say I’ll probably regret it, but…” Giles quirks his lip at the teenager as
he notices her starting to relax.
“Tara, if you would let your mother know that whatever she has to buy for
the house to give me the receipt, or let me know and I’ll buy it for her. Whichever will be
easier.”
“We’re
going to need a twin bed.”
“Consider
it done. Is there room in you
bedroom for it?” Giles questions
curiously.
“It’ll
be a tight fit, but we sh-should be able to make it work.”
Giles
pulls his glasses off and chews on the earpiece as he looks at the two young
women, still trying to figure out how they came to be this close, when they’d
only met not even two days earlier, and from the majority of what Buffy had told
him, it was something of a bumpy start.
“How about bunk beds? Would
that be better in your room?”
“I
get the top.” Faith grins, liking
that idea, knowing
Faith
listens to the kids and teachers starting to arrive in the school, sighing
quietly as she looks at the clock, realizing that here soon
“Are
you going to stay here and try to t-talk to Mr. Giles, or do you p-plan on going
back to the house?”
Faith
shifts nervously as she looks at the man then back to
Buffy
looks from Tara to Faith and back again, noticing the closeness of the two girls
and how Faith’s hand is resting comfortably on
“Like
I had a choice.” Faith grumbles,
though a small smile crosses her face at the light bump she gets as
“We’ll
forgo training after school today, Buffy.
I have some errands to run and paperwork to do.” Giles purses his lips as he considers
Faith. “Faith, we do have a lot to
talk about, and if you don’t mind spending the day here, I’ll order a couple
pizzas for lunch to eat while we discuss things.”
Faith
looks down at the table, slowly nodding as she feels
“Maybe
I can come here and j-join you two for lunch?”
“I
think that would be a wonderful idea.”
Giles nods his head, noticing the obvious relaxing of Faith’s tense
shoulders with
Buffy
crosses her arms over her chest, staring at Faith and
“Thank
you.”
Faith
swallows hard, but nods her head in acceptance, knowing
“Thank
you.”
“And
another week of school begins.”
Buffy grumbles, unconsciously moving close to
Faith
smirks at the sight, having seen the quick questioning look
“Would
you like something to drink?” Giles
offers softly, making a mental note to use soft tones and slow movements around
the slayer, having read her file and knowing that her home life was probably
even worse than what Tara’s was like.
“Ya’
got a soda?” Faith finally
questions after a few minutes of staring at the watcher, not knowing how far to
trust the man, but knowing
“I
most certainly do. I’ll be right
back.” Giles sighs in relief as he
shifts the chair back and strides towards his office.
***
Chapter
12
“Look,
“Faith…” Giles starts, having finally gotten to
the heart of the matter, only to sigh heavily as the pizza delivery guy brings
in the pizzas. Digging his wallet
out of his pocket, he pulls out the money, shoving it in the young man’s hands
before grabbing the pizzas from him and setting them on the table, his eyes
drawn back to the slayer who had jumped up to the upper tier of the library and
was striding back and forth up there.
“You did what you had to do, to survive, Faith. Anna wanted it that way. She wanted you to live to fight another
day, and you’re here to fight. If
you had died needlessly against Kakistos, you wouldn’t be here to help us…” Giles hesitates for a moment before
rolling the dice, hoping he’s not wrong.
“To help
Faith
clenches her hands tightly into fists, her stiff, tensed back towards the
watcher as she inhales sharply at him bringing
“I
was taught to fight with the tools that are at my disposal, my dear.” Giles whispers softly and somewhat
sadly. “I saw something this
morning with you two… An
understanding and a… common bond that
Faith
rakes her fingers roughly through her hair as she slowly turns and reaches for
the railing, grasping it gently as she stares down at the watcher.
“I
can understand if you don’t want to talk with me, or anyone else from the
group. But you do need to discuss
what happened in your life with someone, and the friendship you’ve already
started with
“She
doesn’t love me,
“She
does, as a friend and a sister. I
may be old, but I’m not a fool, young woman. And you’d be smart to remember
that.” Giles quirks an eyebrow at
the dark-haired slayer as the bell rings for lunch.
Faith
blinks in surprise and shock at the watcher. “You… You know about…” Faith shakes her head, not able to say
it.
“Buffy.” Giles answers softly, nodding his
head. “As do you, if I dare
guess.”
“You
wouldn’t be guessin’.” Faith
growls, sighing heavily as she looks up at the skylight in the ceiling. “Fuckin’ shit.”
“My
sentiments exactly.” Giles
sighs. “Come down and eat,
Faith.
Faith
grins at the thought of the woman.
“She’s too sweet to be in this godforsaken town.” Faith grumbles before just swinging over
the railing and dropping down to the ground below.
“Some
kind of differing version of that statement could probably be said for all of
us, my dear.” Giles darts a look
over his shoulder as he heads towards his office to grab sodas, a small smile
crossing his lips as he notices the slayer’s head nodding in silent agreement.
***
“Hey,
“Not
today, Xander.”
Xander
pouts slightly before nodding his head.
“Don’t much blame you, it’s Mystery Meat Monday. I’ll see you later,
okay?”
“Okay.”
***
Buffy
hesitates, watching
Smiling
at
***
“Hey,
Blondie.” Faith calls to
“Hi.”
“Please,
sit down.” Giles nods towards the
table, hiding the smile crossing his face as she sets her books down at the end
of the table and proceeds to sit down right beside Faith.
“Are
you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m good. Just talking about some shit, ya’
know.” Faith murmurs, a small quirk
to her lip as she looks at
“Here
you young ladies go. I’ll be in my
office, if you need anything else.”
Giles sets the sodas and napkins on the table before grabbing a couple
slices of pizza and puts them on a plate before hurrying back to his office,
planning on making a couple phone calls.
Tara
slides a piece of pizza on her plate and slowly eats it, glancing at the slayer
occasionally as the woman works through one of the pizzas in record time before
starting on another. “Are you
s-sure you’re okay?”
Faith
sighs and sets down the slice of pizza she was demolishing and looks fully at
Faith
closes her eyes, exhaling softly as her hands clench tightly into fists. Slowly nodding, she just whispers. “Yeah.”
“How
b-bad…”
Faith
slowly opens her eyes and looks into worried blue eyes, forcing her hand to
unclench Faith takes a deep, steadying breath. “As bad if not worse.” She finally answers, seeing the sadness
in
“Yeah,
well, when we get down to the nitty gritty on this shit, you may wish I’d kept
my mouth shut.” Faith shakes her
head and bumps gently into
“Yes.”
“Yeah,
I think I’d like it to.” Faith
murmurs, a small smile playing about her lips as she thinks about the fact that
it’ll probably piss off the other slayer.
Chuckling quietly at the thought, Faith starts working her way through
the pizzas, the two young women eating companionably in silence, both unaware of
the eyes of the watcher checking on them occasionally from the office.
Giles
smiles at the sight of the two women, seeing the start of a strong bond of
friendship starting between the two.
“I dare say though the two women seem to be totally different, they’re
more alike than either of them realizes.”
Giles murmurs softly to himself before picking up the phone and dialing
***
“What
no after school Scooby meeting?”
Xander pouts as he steps into the library, before turning his gaze to
“If
you want it to be just us three, we can.”
Buffy rolls her eyes at Xander as she looks around the empty library,
sighing quietly. “Look, I probably
should head home and work on my homework.
I’m meeting up with Angel for patrol later, so you two be careful,
okay?”
“See
ya’ Buff.” Xander calls after the
quickly departing slayer, before turning to Willow as they slowly follow the
blonde. “Is something up with
her? She’s seems to be a little
grouchy today.”
“I
think she doesn’t much care for the new slayer.”
“She
seemed a bit… intense at the party Saturday.” Xander tilts his head, before a huge
grin crosses his face. “But she’s
hot.”
“Xander!”
“Boy-ish?” Xander smirks at his best friend. “Are you trying to tell me to be nice
and sweet in your to the point way?”
Xander jokes, laughingly dodging the next smack coming his way from
“I’d
say to be nice and not flirt with her too much. Though she does seem… different compared
to our normal group, there has to be a reason for Giles’ comments.”
“Okay,
okay!” Xander holds up his hands,
giving up. “I’ll be on my best
behavior… as much as I can be anyways.”
“I’ll
take it.”
Xander
groans at the mention of homework before licking his lips at the mention of
food. Mentally weighing his
options, the food wins out and he decides to go to Willow’s house, even though
she’ll make him do his homework.
“Let’s go.”
***
“This
ain’t me.” Faith growls softly at
the slacks and blouse she’s wearing.
“You
look g-good.”
Faith
sighs as she looks at herself in the mirror. Shifting so she can see
“Yes,
I do.”
“Okay. Let’s see if they got any black slacks,
instead of these.” Faith gives in,
glad she did when she see’s the huge smile cross
“But
we are gonna buy some jeans, t-shirts and tanks, right?” Faith calls out to
“And
bras and underwear.”
“I
ain’t fuckin’ Mary ‘Friggin’ Stewart here!
I’m a hot, sexy slay… teen and I wanna flaunt it, girlfriend!!!” Faith sticks her head out from behind
the curtain, her eyes narrowed on the witch.
“Martha.”
“Perky?” Faith shifts back and looks down at her
breasts. “They ain’t fuckin’
perky. They’re too big to be
perky. Now Buffy’s on the other
hand…”
“Faith!”
“We
could. I know you’ve checked ‘em
out.” Faith smirks at the whimper
coming from the other side of the curtain as she takes the clothes from
“Yes,
Faith.”
Faith
tries on the clothes, chuckling quietly to herself. Putting one of the pairs of pants in the
to be put back stack, as they didn’t fit quite right, she has to admit, the feel
of the looser slacks and blouses felt kinda good. Carrying the keep clothes over one arm
and holding the other ones to put back up in her left hand, she smiles at
“How
did they fit?”
“They
fit good, except for the one pair seemed cut different or somethin’.” Faith admits, nodding her head to the
one pair of black pants that’s with the tan pair.
“That
happens.”
Faith
takes the items up to the register before walking to the entrance to the mall
and looks up and down, smirking as she sees the watcher pick up his pace as he
catches sight of her. “He’s
comin’.”
“Did
you find anything?” Giles questions
as he steps into the store.
“Yeah,
bought a few pairs of pants and some shirts.” Faith watches as he pulls out his wallet
and grabs a credit card out of it, her eyes turning to
“Where
to next?” Giles hands the credit
card over before looking at
“The
Gap, I g-guess would be good. They
have t-shirts and j-jeans. Maybe a
shoe store afterwards, and somewhere to b-buy underwear?”
Giles
nods his head, trying not to smile at the obvious discomfort the young woman has
about talking about unmentionables.
Signing the slip and accepting the receipt along with the credit card, he
takes the bag from the cashier and smiles.
“Lead the way ladies.” As he
follows the two young women out of the store, he sighs in relief as he notices
the dark haired slayer slowly relaxing more, and joking with the blonde
witch. Having to admit the young
girl had been tense, angry and disgruntled while in the library with him. But being around
“Mr.
Giles? Were you able t-to get the
bunk bed?”
“I
think we’ve found something she really likes.” Giles chuckles with
“That’s
okay.”
“Yes,
my dear.” Giles smiles softly at
the young woman, her worry and caring obvious for the other slayer. “They are already in the process of
getting her school transcripts, what there are of them. We’ll have Faith take a special test to
see which grade she should be placed in.”
“She
should be a Junior, shouldn’t she?”
“Age
wise, yes. However when she was
younger, she missed a lot of school and was held back a few years.” Giles sees the questioning look on
“Something
for me and her to t-talk about.”
“I’m
sure she would appreciate your help.
Maybe what we can do is alternate nights she and Buffy patrol, giving
both young women time to work on their studies?” Giles offers the idea. “Though maybe I should put that idea to
both her and Buffy, instead.”
“During
the week, that sounds like a g-good idea.
Maybe on the w-weekends, they c-can patrol together.”
“I
plan on them sparring and working out together, also, each day after school for
at least an hour.” Giles
admits.
“I
hope y-you plan on k-keeping an eye on them.”
Giles
allows a small grin to cross his face before commenting dryly. “I hadn’t
noticed.”
Giles
smirks, having noticed a while ago that
“Looks
like she’s stocking up on c-clothes.”
“She
needs it. And slaying is hard on
clothes.” Giles shrugs, not really
worried about it.
“They
got the jeans buy one and get the other half off.” Faith offers, having heard the comments
from the two, looking from
“How
many pairs did you buy, my dear?”
Giles helps take the clothes from the slayer and heads towards the
register.
“Eight
pair.” Faith winces at the
admittance.
“Why
don’t you go get another four or six pairs while they’re on-sale?” Giles smiles at the stunned look on
Faith’s face. “Go on.” He waves the slayer back to the clothes,
chuckling softly as she spins around and practically runs back to the jeans
rack.
“She’s
easily pleased.”
Giles
grunts softly, not saying anything as he watches the cashier’s helper start
pulling the clothes off the hangers and folding them in staggered stacks for the
cashier to ring them up. “Do you
want to grab a bunch of those socks over there for her, Tara?” Giles nods his head to the piles of
socks near them.
Faith
shrugs and smiles at
Giles
looks up as
“Jackets.”
“Go
on, then. Grab Faith and you two
look at them.” He comments as he
sees Faith heading back towards him with jeans thrown over her arm.
Faith
sighs as she hears them talking about jackets but doesn’t argue, knowing the
leather jacket she has is okay for patrol, but not good for wearing much of
anywhere else. The holey,
threadbare jacket was rescued from a dumpster a couple years ago. “Thanks.” Faith whispers, somewhat uncomfortable
with all the money being spent, silently deciding that somehow or another she’ll
make it up to the watcher. Though
somewhat still leery of the man, her own feelings that he’s a good guy, plus
Tara’s unwavering support of the man making her trust him more than she’s
trusted any men her whole life.
“Come
on, sweetie. Let’s g-get you some
jackets.”
Faith
groans quietly but follows, a huge smile crossing her face at the obvious
pleasure
***
Chapter
13
Dianna
chuckles as she hangs up the phone, looking at Joyce as she heads towards
her. “Looks like Rupert has decided
to take Faith shopping.
“No
dinner out tonight?” Joyce frowns
slightly at the thought, the two women having made plans to go out to dinner at
the little steak house around the corner.
“Oh,
we’re still on for dinner. Now I
don’t have to worry about
“At
least
“That’s
true. I don’t have to worry about
her starving. We’re just going to
be on a learning curve to find out what Faith likes and doesn’t like. Though from what I could tell yesterday,
the young woman will eat just about anything.” Dianna admits, frowning briefly at the
thought of how Faith had devoured the food like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.
“Buffy
on a good day has a very healthy appetite.
She isn’t terribly picky about food, there’re just a few things that she
doesn’t care for.” Joyce admits,
looking up at the time. “Are you
ready to help me close up the shop?”
“Of
course.” Dianna smiles softly as
she follows Joyce out of the small office, heading in the direction of the back
of the building to make sure it’s secured properly as Joyce says goodbye to
Kathy, the receptionist and all around ‘Girl Friday’.
***
Chewing
and swallowing the food, Faith narrows her gaze on the witch before stabbing
some of the Szechuan Chicken and waving it towards
“No
you won’t.”
Faith
growls playfully at the witch before wiping the sauce off her nose with the back
of her hand and continuing to eat.
The two women being dropped off about fifteen minutes earlier by the
watcher and after setting all the bags in their bedroom, they’d settled in the
living room on the couch beside each other with the television on low as they
work their way through the
“I
need to w-work on a paper tonight for probably about an hour. We can go out on p-patrol
afterwards.”
“Ya’
wanna go out on patrol with me?”
Faith turns and blinks at the witch, watching as
“I
know. But I’d f-feel better if I
was with you.”
Faith
fights her initial angry reaction that
“I
won’t.”
“Trust
me, I am.” Faith smirks wickedly as
she tips the container to her mouth, getting the last few pieces of chicken out
of it before setting it inside another empty container and grabbing another
one.
“Nah. I’ll wear what I got on out
tonight.” Faith shakes her head as
she hesitates with another fork full of food on her way to her mouth. “I can do the clothes, Tare-Bear. Why don’t ya’ go ahead and start working
on your paper?”
“It
won’t take me but a couple m-minutes to unpack the clothes and t-take off the
tags. I can throw a load in before
I start on my homework.”
Faith
sighs, having a feeling she’s going to have an argument with the young witch
that she can do things herself, that she don’t need someone waiting on her hand
and foot. Deciding to wait a couple
days and see if things settle down, Faith turns back to the food and decides on
what to eat next.
***
Dianna
slides in the chair Joyce holds out for her, smiling as the waiter sets the
menus in front of them before getting their drink orders and
disappearing.
“It’s
nice.” Joyce looks around at the
elegant restaurant before her eyes land on
Dianna
reaches across the small, cozy table and laces her fingers together with
Joyce’s. “The company outshines
everything else.” Dianne smiles
softly at the thought of how close the two of them have become again as they
rekindled the fire between them as they learned who they are now.
“
“But
it’s getting harder being with each other every day at work, going out to dinner
two or three times a week and sucking face on the weekends without it going any
further?” Dianna’s lip quirks up as
Joyce blushes lightly.
“I
think you’ve been spending too much time with the kids lately.” Joyce finally chuckles quietly as she
looks up when the waiter brings them the bottle of wine. After trying the wine, she nods her head
and finally opens the menu with her free hand, gently squeezing Dee’s fingers
when the woman was about to ease away.
“Speaking
of the kids, the newest addition to the family is going to make things
interesting.” Dianna purses her
lips as she looks at the menu, deciding on the six ounce prime rib before
shutting the menu.
“How
so? I mean, Buffy just grumbled
under her breath about
“It’s
Faith, the new slayer.” Dianne
whispers the last word so only Joyce can hear her. “And from what I can tell, Buffy and her
have already about gone at it.
She’s a very angry, upset and scared young woman.”
“So,
of course you and Tara have taken her under your wings.” Joyce has to laugh quietly at the
thought, knowing
“Under
our wings and roof.” Dianna admits,
smiling shyly. “She needs friends
and family. And from what
Joyce
groans and picks up her glass, sipping it quickly. “Are we running a soap opera
here?”
“Sometimes
wonder. You have us, old college
lovers, one divorced the other hiding out from her husband, both with teenage
daughters.” Dianna starts and looks
up as the waiter comes back asking for their order.
Joyce
watches as the waiter disappears to place their orders before looking back at
Dianna
blinks and her eyes open in shock.
“You know about that?”
“I’m
a mother, of course I do.” Joyce
rolls her eyes before chuckling at the shock on
Dianna
unconsciously breathes out a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry.”
“No
need.” Joyce chuckles and shakes
her head, shifting her hand so she can trail her fingers over the back of
“Nooo…
but maybe the kids could have a slumber party at your house, and we can spend
the night at my house.” Dianna
offers, the wheels turning as a slow, sensual smile crossing her face at the
thought.
“Call
them now.” Joyce begs only half
joking. “I can’t tell you how much
I’d love that.”
“You
and me, both.” Dianna agrees,
smiling lovingly at the taller woman.
“I think the kids were planning on going out on patrol tonight, if you’re
interested.” Dianna whispers as she
leans partially across the table, her eyes hooded.
“God,
don’t look at me like that.” Joyce
whimpers, unconsciously shifting down in her seat as she feels her blood heating
up.
“Does
it… bother you?” Dianna laughs
softly at the obvious desire crossing Joyce’s face. “Goddess, I am so happy I decided to
come here.”
Joyce
growls softly and pulls back from Dianna, a small pout crossing her lips. “I’m happy to, but driving me crazy is
not a good thing. The older and
less horny theory pretty much has gone out the window.”
Dianna
tries to fight the smile crossing her lips as she looks at the taller
woman. “You do know, that women hit
their sexual peaks in their forties, don’t you? We’re getting close…”
Joyce
groans as she picks up her wineglass and finishes off what’s left. “Behave, or we’re going to end up making
out in my vehicle like a couple of teenagers.”
“I
bet you could hit a homerun first time up to bat.” Dianna grins wickedly as Joyce whimpers
and flushes darkly. “I’ll behave,
for now.”
“Please. I don’t know how much more teasing I can
handle.” Joyce admits softly, her
eyes becoming serious as she looks into
“You
don’t think she might have an idea?”
Dianna tilts her head slightly watching as Joyce eyes become distant as
she obviously thinks.
Joyce
slowly shakes her head. “My
daughter is clueless about a lot of things,
“I
know.” Dianna sighs quietly, before
smiling sadly. “I just hope
“We’ll
see. We’ll have to let this little
soap opera play out and see what ends up happening.” Joyce reaches out to gently stroke her
fingers over Dianna’s arm and hand.
“Dinner, love.”
Smiling
lovingly at the taller woman, Dianna gently pulls her hand back as the entrée is
placed in front of them. “It looks
wonderful.”
Joyce
smiles as she pours more wine in their glasses before they settle down and talk
about inconsequential things, unconsciously agreeing to not talk about their
families for the rest of the meal as they enjoy their food and the
company.
***
“It
ain’t that fuckin’ funny, Tare-Bear.”
Faith growls and swipes a hand down her face, snarling her nose in
disgust at the slime she wipes away.
“But
it’s a p-pretty pink color.”
“And
to think I considered you a friend.”
Faith continues to wipe the gunk from her face and body. Stiffening as she feels a demon, before
her eyes widen as she sees movement on top of the mausoleum
“Faith?”
“Don’t
you fuckin’ dare.” Faith warns,
growling loudly as she hops down from the mausoleum. “If ya’ laugh one more time, I’m gonna
fuckin’ hug ya’ all over to make sure you’re as coated as I am, got
it?”
“Got
it.”
Faith
snarls at the witch as she shakes her head. “No. We’ve been patrolling for a little over
an hour, might as well patrol for another hour or so before heading
back.”
“If
you’re sure.”
“Finish
the laundry, then head over to the school in the afternoon for training
exercises.” Faith curls her nose up
at the thought. “I guess me and B
are gonna trade blows so tweed can see what I got.”
“Please
b-behave tomorrow during the training.”
Faith
sighs quietly and nods her head as she looks over at pleading blue eyes. “Fuck, blondie! You’re bad for me. Ya’ want me to dress in regular clothes,
go to school, and not be a bitch.
It ain’t fuckin’ right.”
“Damn,
you’re gonna get this shit on you, Tare-Bear.” Faith shifts away, frowning as she sees
some of the gunk on
“It’ll
wash.”
“I
know.” Faith mumbles as she kicks
at the sidewalk. “I ain’t used to
people wantin’ to help me, Tare-Bear.
It feels fuckin’ weird.”
“Get
used to it, Faith. Get used to
b-being cared for, and p-part of a family, too.”
“Yeah,
yeah.” Faith stiffens, feeling a
demon nearby, before snarling her nose in disgust as brood boy and the other
slayer turn the corner. “Fuckin’
lovely.”
“Faith.”
Faith
growls quietly but nods her head sharply.
“She starts anything, I ain’t fuckin’ laying down,
though.”
***
Chapter
14
“What’s
wrong?” Angel finally questions,
the two of them having been patrolling for the last two hours and Buffy had
barely said five words the whole time.
“Nothing.” Buffy practically grunts the word as she
glares down at the sidewalk, her thoughts having been on
“I
wish.” Angel grumbles under his
breath.
“What?” Buffy looks curiously at the vampire,
not sure she heard him correctly.
Angel
clenches his jaw, not knowing what to say.
Afraid if he says that maybe Faith likes
Buffy
shoves her hands in her pockets as they continue patrolling her thoughts on the
other slayer and Tara, silently wondering if the two women are patrolling
together right now. Catching Angel
stiffen out of the corner of her eye, she looks up wondering what he sees, a
quick smile crossing her lips at the sight of Tara, before it drops from her
lips at Faith walking beside her.
Sighing heavily at the look in
“Hell
if I know what it was.” Faith
grunts, swiping a little more of the slime off her body. “All I know is that Tare-Bear thinks
it’s a ‘pretty pink color’.” Faith
snarls her nose up at the stuff as she slings some more of it into the
grass.
Buffy
smiles at the giggles coming from
Faith
grunts as
“Actually
I think it was th-three horns and two extremely l-large, pointy ears.”
“Anything
special to kill him?” Buffy looks
at the two women, before glancing at Angel who had moved a short distance away
and was staring off into the night.
“Nah. Took his head and the bastard exploded
not a couple seconds later. So, I’d suggest if ya’ come across one, to do the
deed and get the fuck outta dodge.”
Faith leans into
“We’ve
been patrolling for roughly two hours and started at the other side of
town. I’d say you were working from
“Yeah. I wanted to do a three or four hour
patrol tonight, though. Tare-Bear
was gonna show me around town and help me with more of the hot spots.” Faith glances up at the slayer, noticing
the flame of jealousy in Buffy’s eyes before the slayer realizes she’s watching
her and shuts down all emotion showing from the hazel depths.
“It’s
not going to go anywhere. We’ve
probably done a good enough patrol between us, that we can all go home. Plus, it’s getting cooler at night, and
you might get sick if you don’t get that stuff cleaned off.” Buffy offers the olive branch to the
slayer, surprised when a soft smile crosses full lips and Faith nods her head
towards her.
“Thanks. I think that might be a good idea. Plus that’ll give me a little extra time
to work on some more laundry when we get back home.” Faith darts a quick glance at
“Are
you going to spend the day in the library again tomorrow?” Buffy questions curiously as she nods to
the slayer’s question.
“Nah. I got laundry and shit I gotta do. I’ll show up a bit before the end of the
day.” Faith shrugs. “I’ll probably be goin’ there soon
enough because I gotta, no sense in being there anymore than I hafta.” Faith snarls her lip playfully at
“You
n-need to go to school.”
“He’s
probably already placed calls on it.
Giles doesn’t much like to wait for anything if he doesn’t have to. Procrastination isn’t in his
dictionary.” Buffy smiles fully for
the first time that night as she looks at
Faith
darts a quick glance at
Buffy
notices the glare on Faith’s face and starts to bristle until Faith answers
without any sarcastic comments.
“Good, we can firm up times tomorrow. You two be careful on the way home. I’ll see you in the morning at the
corner?” Buffy questions Tara
quickly as the two women start to head towards
“I’ll
be th-there.”
Buffy
crosses her arms over her chest and watches the two women stride away, Angel
having moved to where he was practically plastered against her back.
“You
were very civil.” Angel watches as
“Well,
Faith was also. Plus
“And
of course, since
Buffy
frowns as she slowly turns, seeing a hint of yellow in Angel’s eyes before he
makes eye contact with her, his features purposefully bland and his eyes their
normal brown. “Do you not like
“I
need to check on a few things, I’ll see you later.” Angel grasps Buffy slightly rougher than
he normally does and kisses her possessively before releasing her and striding
away.
Buffy
blinks and stares after the vampire as she rubs her hand over her bruised lips,
silently wondering at the actions of her boyfriend, a slight feeling of unease
working through her before she shakes it off and turns to head towards
home.
***
“Damn! Woulda gotten a floor show if we’d
waited another fifteen minutes.”
Faith yelps as
“That’s
my mom!”
“Ain’t
mine though.” Faith tries, before
grunting and turning her back on the two women hurriedly buttoning their shirts
and straightening the rest of their clothes.
“Sorry,
honey.” Dianna runs slightly
shaking hands through her hair as she stands, feeling the blush heat her face
even as she looks at an almost mortified looking Joyce.
“I
knew I should have gone straight home.”
Joyce mumbles, groaning as she realizes she’d buttoned her shirt wrong
and quickly undoes it and re-buttons it.
“We’re decent, and I’m sorry,
“It’s
okay Mrs. Summers.”
“Yeah,
I kinda figgered that out, Tare-Bear.”
Faith looks the woman over slowly, seeing some similarities between her
and Buffy. “Ya’ didn’t tell me that
these two were…” Faith trails off
and wiggles her hand and eyebrows at the same time.
“Buffy
d-doesn’t know, yet.”
“That
girl obviously ain’t got a fuckin’ clue about much of anythin’.” Faith grumbles and looks back at Joyce
and Dianna. “Hey. I’m Faith.”
“Joyce
Summers.” Joyce nods towards the
dark-haired slayer, looking past the cocky and somewhat belligerent attitude as
she thinks about what
Dianna
looks apologetically at Faith and
“Your
mom and B’s mom are gettin’ it on?”
Faith hisses softly to
Tara
unconsciously plays with the necklace Buffy had got her for her birthday as she
looks over her shoulder towards the door where her mom and Joyce are whispering
softly to each other, smiling as Joyce leans down to kiss her mom before she’s
pulled unceremoniously into their bedroom.
“Faith!”
“I
gotta get outta this shit, its becomin’ stiff.” Faith waves Tara towards the bed and
quickly strips her clothes off, smirking as
“Yeah,
it is.” Faith smirks as she grabs
an old tank top and shorts, pulling them on before settling on the floor to look
up at
“So,
B ain’t got no clue that her mom and your mom are all hot and heavy? She’s also out in right field somewhere
in regards to you likin’ her. And
she’s dating a friggin’ vampire.
I’m seriously thinkin’ this girl ain’t too bright, Tare-Bear.” Faith points out, extremely
serious. Seeing
“Yet.” Faith qualifies the point, frowning as
“Sh-she
d-doesn’t look at w-women as p-possible dates. She’s straight… c-completely
straight.”
“That’s
bullshit. She likes ya’, she just
ain’t figured it out yet.” Faith
states with conviction. Knowing how
jealous Buffy is of the witch, and knowing it’s because she likes her but the
stupid blonde slayer doesn’t understand why. “When she does figger it out, I’d lay
odds she’ll drop Captain Broody so fast it’ll make your head
spin.”
Faith
groans quietly to herself, realizing she isn’t going to get
“No,
you g-go ahead, you’re a little worse off than me.”
“Yeah,
I can just imagine.” Faith grunts
out the words, seeing where
“You
okay, sweetie?” Dianna slowly steps
into the room and eases onto the bed beside
“I
j-just want you to be happy, mama.
Mrs. Summers obviously c-cares for you.”
“No,
sweetie. No it isn’t bad.” Dianna rocks
***
Chapter
15
Giles
watches the two slayers closely, but tries not to make it obvious as he watches
them trade and block punches and kicks.
Making notes of different weaknesses and strengths each slayer has,
hoping that he can make them work together to help each other with their
weaknesses. Having already made
note of the quick, strong legwork of Faith, though the dark-haired slayer left
herself too open and was taking more hits than she should. Having made the rest of the group leave
after he’d seen
“Okay,
time!” Giles yells, grabbing two
bottles of water, tossing them to the two sweaty slayers. “That’s enough hand to hand training
today. I wanted to see how you
handled yourselves ladies and you did well. There’s definitely room for improvement
on both sides, however.”
Buffy
rolls her eyes, catching Faith doing the same thing and starts to laugh softly
as they make eye contact.
Faith
smirks and reaches over to grab one of the chairs, sliding it towards the slayer
before grabbing another one, spinning it around to sit straddling it, her arms
resting on the back. Her opinion of
the other slayer better, the woman obviously knows her shit, though she still
thinks Buffy needs to have her head examined for overlooking
“Now,
I’d like for you two to go on patrols together at least three nights a
week. I understand that things will
come up to where this won’t be possible all the time, like school work, studying
for tests and the like.” Giles
looks at the two slayers. “Faith,
I’m working with the Council on getting your transcripts from when you last went
to school. We’ll probably have to
put you through some placement tests to see what grade they’ll allow you
in.
Buffy
shrugs, not really that worried about it.
She and Tara having done the majority of the patrolling before Angel came
back and now Angel helps out with the patrol. “That’s fine. Angel’s here to help
out.”
Faith
snarls her lip slightly and unconsciously at the vampire’s name before covering
it with sipping from her water.
Giles
looks up from his notes and nods his head.
“Good, good. Now, tomorrow I
would like for us to go outside of town to see how well you two work with
crossbows and other weapons. I’ll
head out here in a few moments and get it set up so it’ll be ready for
tomorrow. Now, why don’t you two go
shower and change then head home to eat dinner before patrol
tonight.”
“And
we’re dismissed.” Buffy groans as
she stands slowly rotating her body at the aches she’s feeling. Having to admit the other slayer had
kept her on her toes the majority of their training session, having been
surprised at the dark-haired slayer’s quickness.
“Yeah.” Faith reaches for her bag and hooks it
over her shoulder. “Can ya’ point
me towards the showers? T-Bear’ll
have my ass if I walk home soakin’ wet.
Damn girl’ll worry about me gettin’ pneumonia or somethin’.”
Buffy
bristles slightly before slowly relaxing, knowing
“Fuck. I didn’t think ta’ bring anythin’ but a
change of clothes and towels.”
Faith grunts out as she heads towards the door as she digs through the
bag.
“You
can borrow my body wash and shampoo if you want.” Buffy trots after the other slayer after
grabbing her bag, missing the small smile on Giles’ face.
Sighing
in relief at the sight of the two women obviously making the effort to get
along, Giles had worried a couple times when they first started trading blows,
the two obviously testing each other.
Making his way back to his office, he picks up the phone to call
***
“Is
brood boy gonna be goin’ on patrol with us tonight?” Faith slips into her older clothes, not
wanting to ruin her new clothes until she doesn’t have a choice but to wear the
newer items out on patrol.
“I
think so.”
“I
want you two to be careful.” Dianna
hands the silver cross she’d blessed and put protection charms on to the
dark-haired slayer. “Here, even if
you aren’t religious, it might help a little.”
“Thanks.” Faith murmurs, feeling her cheeks heat
up. Between Tara and Dianna, she
doesn’t know how to act as both women were doing their best to be protective and
worried over her.
“Can
you believe it? Actually about
halfway down my block he was sneaking around in the bushes.” Buffy grumbles as she steps back and
lets
“Just
be careful.” Dianna smiles as the
three girls make their way down the sidewalk, the sound of Tara’s giggles at
whatever one of the slayers said making her heart happy. Slowly shutting the door, she leans her
back against it and sends a silent prayer to the Goddess that the feelings that
***
“Here. I w-want you two to try these.”
“What
do they do, T-Bear?” Faith looks
curiously at the clear liquid with little flakes floating around inside it.
“Put
up a p-protection ring around you.
Hopefully.”
“Why
are ya’ doin’ this when we got you to protect us?” Faith darts a smirk at Buffy before
turning to the exasperated witch.
“I
w-won’t necessarily be here all the time.”
Buffy
chuckles softly at Faith’s comment, actually feeling better when
“Okay,
so we need to find some evil bastards to fight.” Faith nods her head at the thought as
she tucks the small vial in her pocket.
“How long will the spell hold up?”
“Hopefully
for ten to fifteen minutes. I
f-figure that’ll be long enough for you to g-get away from whatever you m-might
be fighting.”
“How
long have you been working on this?”
Buffy questions curiously after tucking the vial away in her jacket
pocket as they continue on their way towards the first
cemetery.
“A
little over a m-month.”
“What
else have you been working on?”
Buffy furrows her brows as
“Just
little things h-here and there.
Both of you are mystical beings and have magic in you. I’m h-hoping there’s enough to activate
the spells.”
“I’ll
take whatever ya’ come up with, Tare-Bear.
I ain’t proud, and anything that’ll give me an edge over these bastards
I’ll be more than happy to use.”
Faith feels her lips quirk up in response to the happy smile crossing
“These
could come in real handy if… when we… they work. We’ll definitely have to try them
out.” Buffy hoarsely comments
stuttering over how to phrase it since they don’t know if they’ll work yet along
with the confusion of the feelings streaking through her at the sight of Tara so
easily reaching out to the other slayer.
“Giles would probably be more than happy to reimburse you for whatever
you spend out on the ingredients,
“We’ll
see.”
Buffy
can’t stand it and steps up to hug
Faith
snorts and shrugs her shoulders at the partial glare she gets from the blonde
slayer. “Ain’t my fault. Though I’m sure my ass is gonna be
studying hard if Tare has anything to say about it here
soon.”
“You
better believe it. You’re going to
go to school and g-graduate.”
“Are
these kinda like the spells you place around you that we can fight
through?” Faith questions curiously
as she pulls the small vial out again to look at.
“N-no.”
“It’s
all good.” Faith nods her head at
the thought.
“If
this works, I’ll s-see what else I can drum up for you two.”
“I
feel like Faith does, anything that helps us out is of the good,
“You
wanna test yours now and let me fight ‘em, or me test it out?” Faith looks at the large vampire
striding out of the darkness towards them, not knowing if she’s happy that it
isn’t Broody Britches or angry.
“What
do you want to do?” Buffy tosses it
back into the dark-haired slayer’s court.
Honestly not minding one way or the other which one of them goes
first. But she is curious as to
whether or not it’ll work.
“I
got mine out. I’ll test it
first.” Faith grunts out, striding
to meet the vampire. “But I get ta’
play first.”
“Unless
what?” Buffy looks curiously at
“When
she th-thought I might get hurt, she didn’t play around last night.”
“She
hasn’t hurt you since that first night, right?” Buffy whispers softly as she leans in
closer to
“N-no,
Buffy. She didn’t mean to h-hurt me
that night, and she’s apologized multiple times for it, too.” Tara looks into searching hazel eyes,
finally seeing the softening in Buffy’s eyes as the slayer nods and let’s go
about what happened on
“Okay.” Buffy relaxes and smiles at
“Thank
you.”
Buffy
unconsciously grabs Tara’s shoulder at the witch crying out as she watches the
blow glance off the slayer, breathing out a huge sigh of relief as Faith spins
around grinning hugely at them as the vampire continues to try and pound the
slayer into the ground, the confusion on his face obvious as his hits don’t seem
to make contact and just slide off at different angles just short of their
mark.
“You
sure I can’t hit ‘em?” Faith
questions looking at
“What
if it didn’t WORK?????”
“It
did.” Faith shrugs, bends over and
kicks back against the vampire before spinning around watching as he goes flying
back about seven yards, landing against a tombstone. “I can hit ‘em.”
“I
didn’t think you would be able t-to with it.”
“Hot
damn!” Faith jumps up and grins
hugely as she spins the stake around in her hand and tucks it back away. “Fuck, Tare-Bear. This is great. They can’t hurt me, but I can kick their
ass even if you’re not here.
This’ll be great if we get in a tight fit, or against some big, really
old fucker.” Faith’s eyes become
distant and her voice low and guttural towards the end as she thinks about
Kakistos. “That bastard’ll never
know what hit him.” She snarls out
loud unconsciously as she thinks about taking out the vampire she knows is
somewhere on his way to Sunnydale.
He has a score to settle with her, and she knows he won’t give up until
one of them is dead.
“Faith?”
Faith
shakes off her anger as she hears the soft questioning tones of the witch. Slowly coming back and looking into
worried blue eyes, she runs a hand roughly through her hair. “I gotta tell ya’ guys that some really,
really old bastard is after me. I
don’t know when he’ll show up, but he ain’t exactly happy with me and he’s
lookin’ to get even.”
“Then
we’ll talk about him, research everything we can find out about him and then
kick his old, stinky ass when he shows up.” Buffy let’s the words rumble out of her
chest, seeing the surprise and… respect finally flaring in brown eyes watching
her. “It’s not just the Chosen One
anymore, Faith.”
“Chosen
Two?” Faith’s lips curl up into a
smile as she stares at the other slayer, honestly having felt like second fiddle
with the way her watcher had went on and on about Buffy, but here is the slayer
to end all slayers putting her on the same level.
“Damn
right.” Buffy nods her head,
holding her hand out as she keeps eye contact with Faith. The truce offered, even knowing that the
two of them will probably butt heads more often than not, but a silent promise
exchanged that they’ll work on being friends if not for Tara, because they’re
stronger together than separate.
“Fuck,
yeah.” Faith grins, accepting the
hand and shaking it firmly. “Come
on, girlfriend. We gotta check out
and make sure that magic potion works for you, too. Hey, why’d it let us touch?” Faith questions Tara curiously as she
looks from where they’re grasping hands to
“She
isn’t trying to h-harm you, it only w-works when someone’s trying to hurt
you. Plus it’s been close to ten
minutes, so…”
“We’ll
have to play with this a little more when we get the chance.” Buffy pulls her vial out and looks at it
curiously, grinning at the soft laughter coming from
“I
wonder…”
“But
if we aren’t meaning to hurt each other, it probably won’t work, right?” Buffy points out the flaw in
“Definitely
of the good. Don’t worry or get
upset about it, Tare. You did a
good thing here, don’t let the other thought get ya’ down. It wasn’t somethin’ you planned on it
doin’ to begin with.” Faith decides
to try and lighten the sad light in
Buffy
turns and looks at the laughing slayer, furrowing her brows at the laughter
before turning back to look at a blushing
“N-nothing.”
“Not
possible. Ain’t no fun
behavin’.” Faith smirks and starts
to swagger as she heads towards the cemetery exit. “Come on, girlfriends. We got a patrol to
finish.”
Tara
cautiously looks at Buffy, seeing the curious look in her eyes,
“I
have a feeling Faith being herself is going to be enough to drive everyone
crazy.” Buffy grumbles as she stays
close to
“Probably.”
***
Chapter
16
Faith
glares as the pile of books grow larger and larger on the table in the
library. Two weeks after running
into
“I’ll
be more than happy to help you study during the day while
“Fuck
me.” Faith snarls her lip up as she
glares at the piles of science, history, math, English and God only knows what
other texts. Honestly, she’d always
enjoyed history and science when she did go to school. English she was so-so on and math
usually left her confused and angry.
Snatching one of the history books off the pile she flips through it, she
has a thing for remembering dates and honestly can remember just about anything
history wise, even stuff she had learned back in first grade is still floating
around in her head. Finally looking
up at Giles, she sighs heavily.
“I’ll probably be okay with the history and science shit, tweed. But math and English’ll probably kick my
ass.”
Giles
slowly smiles at the admittance coming from the slayer, having seen her grades
and noticed that the young woman had a good learning curve in her history and
science classes with math giving her a serious problem and English being kind of
around the average grade-wise. “Not
to demean you in any way, but Buffy had some serious problems with math,
also. But
“She’s
real smart, ain’t she?” Faith
questions seriously, looking up at the Watcher. “
Giles
chuckles and pulls out a chair, sitting across from the slayer. “Yes, she is. But because of her home life before
moving here, she missed so much school that her grades suffered because of
it. When she was in class and able
to take the tests and do the reports, she pulled down straight A’s, but because
of missing other quizzes, tests and reports, she averaged C’s. I think that’s something that really
bother’s the young woman.”
“Between
me and you, if those bastards ever show up here, they’re gonna learn ta’ not
pick on a woman ever again.” Faith
warns softly, her voice deadly, surprised when she sees a flare of anger and
hears a low growl coming from the Watcher.
“You’ll
have to get in line.” Giles warns
in even a more deadly voice. “I’ll
string those two bastards up by their balls then work my way through my weapons
alphabetically.”
Faith
slowly smirks and nods towards the old man. “Fuck, yeah. Now that’s what I’m talkin’
about.”
Giles
returns the smirk and sets his glasses back on the table. Rubbing a hand over his eyes he sighs
quietly. “We really need to start
your studying right now. But first
I want to ask you, would you like to take a practice test for each subject to
see how you’ll do and then us work on your weaker subjects or do you want to
study for a week or two and then test?”
Faith
growls as she rubs the back of her neck with one hand while tapping her fingers
on the history book in front of her with the other one. “Let me read through some of these books
first on history and science, maybe have
“I
somehow doubt that, but we’ll do as you wish. I picked up a lot of notebooks, pens and
pencils for you to use and make notes with. I’ll get them for you along with a soda
if you want?” Giles offers as he
stands, not having much else he can do now that he’s pulled all the books and
the slayer is wanting to read and study what she has.
“Yeah,
sounds good. Thanks,
Giles
steps back away from the table, watching somewhat surprised as the slayer works
her way methodically through the history book, taking notes while reading, the
woman starting off slowly and gradually working her way quicker through the
book. Silently wondering if the
‘hard, bad-assed’ slayer actually enjoys history, or possibly school given the
chance. Frowning, he makes his way
back to his office and pulls out the file on the slayer and settles down at his
desk, deciding to actually read the file instead of skimming it and
concentrating on the more recent happenings to research her past a little
more.
***
“Hey,
sweetie.” Tara whispers as she
settles in the chair beside Faith, not wanting to surprise the slayer as
normally Faith would look up and smile at her whenever she’d come into the
library, but today the dark-haired slayer seemed engrossed in what she’s doing
and not aware of her being there.
Faith
blinks as it finally registers on her that
“Planning
on it, if you’re going to join me?”
Slapping
the notebook into the history book and standing up, she nods her head as she
rolls her neck, grunting as it pops.
“I’m hungry and I don’t think
“Come
on. Mom g-gave me extra money for
our lunch since they’re having pizza today.”
“Good. I could eat about ten or fifteen of the
slices.” Faith rubs her growling
stomach.
“More
like twenty or thirty.”
“Yeah,
probably.” Faith chuckles as she
hurries out of the library,
“You
won’t. I’ll give them the e-evil
eye.”
“Yeah,
that’ll work. Your evil eye is
about as good as my innocent look.”
Faith grins back as
“Has
Snyder stopped in today?” Tara
questions curiously as they step into the cafeteria, her eyes automatically
going to the table where Buffy, Willow and Xander were sitting, waving to the
group to let them know they’ll be there in a couple minutes as they head towards
the short line.
“Not
yet, little fuckin’ twerp.” Faith
growls at the thought of the little prick bastard. Really not liking the man and knowing
for a fact that nobody else liked the Principal.
“Faith!”
Faith
smirks as Buffy reaches over and automatically flips around a chair for
her. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.” Buffy pats the empty chair on her other
side and motions
“Got
about three dozen friggin’ books to go through.” Faith snarls as she folds one of the
rectangular pieces of pizza and shoves half of it in her mouth biting it off and
chewing viciously.
“Oh,
man. That sucks.” Xander commiserates with the dark-haired
slayer.
“We’ll
help her through it.”
“Yeah,
I heard you’re pretty good with helpin’ us weak-minded slayers with math.” Faith snorts at the kick she receives
from Buffy under the table.
“What? Hit a little close
ta’ home, did it B?”
“Hit
the nail on the head, F.” Buffy
growls at the slayer. “
“We’re
selling candy for the school band, would you like to buy some?”
Faith
grunts and looks at the girl with a flute case tucked under her arm and carrying
a large box of candy. Knowing she
doesn’t have the money for the junk food, she shakes her head, not surprised to
see Xander and
“I
think I have some money…” Buffy
digs in her pocket and pulls some cash out. “Mom likes the candy bars with the
almonds in them.”
“How
many?” Michelle smiles as she looks
at the group. “They’re two dollars
each.”
“I’ll
take five of them.” Buffy grumbles,
pulling out a ten dollar bill and handing it to the girl and accepting the five
candy bars after the flute player digs through the boxes to give her the right
kind of candy bars. Tossing the
candy into her book bag, she chuckles as she watches Xander and
“Straight
up chocolate.” Xander grins goofily
as he hands four dollars to the girl and gives one of them to
“Thanks!” Michelle tucks the money away in the
envelope before hurrying away to the next table.
“You
actually gonna give them to your mom, B?
Or are ya’ gonna be snackin’ on ‘em later?” Faith smirks at the slayer even as she
grabs another one of her pieces of pizza and starts to munch on it as she gets a
glare from the blonde slayer.
“They’re
for mom. I’m in the dog house for
breaking her favorite coffee mug.
Which I’m really upset that I couldn’t find another one like it at the
store, so sweet, sugary goodness can’t go wrong.” Buffy grumbles before finishing off her
milk.
“You
should have said something, I can look on-line and see if we can find a
replacement one.”
“That’s
okay. I think she’s about finished
grumbling, I only got a heavy sigh from her this morning when she pulled down
another mug to drink her coffee from.”
Buffy grins as she hears the quiet giggle coming from
“Yep.”
Faith
snorts softly, having heard the whole story, too. Buffy still doesn’t have a clue about
the fact that her mom and
Buffy
hears the snort and growls as she half-heartedly slaps the thigh beside her,
chuckling as Faith grins at her.
“There’s something not right about the fact that you guys know when I’m
in trouble.” Buffy pouts as the
whole group at the table busts out laughing. “Figures, no respect.” Buffy drops her head down to the table,
a soft smile crossing her face as a gentle hand rubs across her
back.
“Poor
Buffy.”
“I
think I’d rather train and go on patrol tonight. If I’m gonna be studyin’ in the library
every day, and havin’ ya’ help me with my math and English, I should be
good. I’ll try an’ alternate out
what I’m workin’ on. I’m doing a
History text right now.” Faith
admits, picking up another slice of pizza, having demolished the majority of
them and is now down to three.
“You
don’t w-want to overdo it, either.”
Buffy
chuckles at the growl coming from Faith.
“Now, sweetie…” Buffy yelps
as a hard smack catches her on the thigh, before she starts laughing harder at
the disgusted look coming from Faith.
“Ain’t
fuckin’ sweet.” Faith snarls,
glaring at Buffy before darting a quick smile at
“Yes,
you are.
“Sure.” Faith grunts out, nodding her head as
Buffy trots away as the warning bell rings, watching as the rest of the group
gather up their belongings amidst talking and laughing. When
“I
just want to thank you for working things out with Buffy.”
“Ahh,
Tare. It ain’t that much of a
biggie. She’s actually pretty cool
when ya’ get her away from brood boy, and she gets that stick outta her
ass.” Faith mumbles, slightly
embarrassed at the hug. She’d been
getting more used to
“Yeah,
she is, isn’t she?”
“Go,
girl. Don’t want ya’ to get in
trouble with little prick.” Faith
orders nodding to
Shaking
her head at the group and their lack of ability to see what’s right there, she
makes her way back to the library, silently wondering what she can do now, to
maybe make Buffy jealous as the small blonde had relaxed and didn’t seem to get
so irritated with her anymore after they’d called the truce. Short of actually walking around with
her arm wrapped around
“Now,
we gotta get ya’ to say or do somethin’ with B.” Faith mumbles under her breath as she
slips into the library, unconsciously looking for the Watcher, waving to him as
he looks out from the stacks to see who it was that walked in. Chuckling as he waves and grins at her
before disappearing again. “Fuckin’
weird group of people we got here.
That’s for damn sure.”
Settling
back down at the table, Faith pulls the text back in front of her, flipping it
open and pulling her notepad back beside it as she prepares to go back to
work.
***