THE ROGUE SLAYER

BY

KINETIC-KID

Rating:             NC-17 (XXX - Sex ??  What Sex??!!!)

Disclaimer:       Definitely no money being made.  All characters belong to Joss Whedon and ME.  I own nothing except whatever characters I may make up for this story.  I just like to play with them - I promise to put them back after I’m done!!

Distribution:     Oh yeah, anywhere, anytime.  Just make sure I get credit and let me know where it is. 

Spoilers:           Pretty much everything - if you haven’t watched BTVS - why are you reading the fanfic???  J  This story is, of course, AU!!

Feedback:         Please, Please, PLEASE!!!  I live for feedback.  I get irritable and upset if I don’t get any and I might not continue writing.  Of course, if you don’t like the story and think it sucks you may not want me to continue!

Pairing:            F/T, B/R, W/O, X/A (Of course pairings are up for being changed throughout the story!!)

Auth Note:        A few differences definitely need to be noted:  First off, Faith did NOT kill Deputy Mayor Finch and she did not turn on the Scoobies.  They did have her infiltrate the Mayor’s organization as if she had.  So, she helped defeat the Mayor at the end of Season 3 and has been living in Sunnydale at the Summers’ residence, helping with patrols, and doing what she is destined to do.   There is no Oz/Veruca angst - Willow and Oz are a couple - no running off to Tibet.  The Watcher’s Council are somewhat helpful, actually paying the slayer’s against their own better judgment, and Wesley has went off on his own after Giles was reinstated as the Watcher for both slayers.  Pretty much everything else is the same.  Of course I’ll be taking liberties with time-lines and music, kind of like imagining it’s happening now not back five years ago!!  No Faith/Xander hot and heavies either!! 

Summary:         Faith is living at the Summers’ residence, helping with slaying and protecting human kind, still dancing and finding the handy body to help out with one of her H‘s.  One small event is about to change the Rogue Slayer forever.  

Chapter 1

Faith smirks as she helps Willow move into the dorm room with Buffy.  “B, it’s pretty bad that you can’t even get away from demons in your dorm room!”  Faith chuckles as Buffy gives her a deadly glare.

“Well, if everyone would have believed me, instead of thinking I was crazy!”  Buffy narrows her gaze on Willow and Faith.

“Hey!  Don’t blame me!  I never met her.”  Faith raises her hands in mock surrender.  “Was this the last of the stuff, Red?”  Faith questions as she looks at the small piles of boxes and bags they had moved into the room.

“Yes, thank you for your help, Faith.”  Willow smiles at the dark-haired slayer.

“No prob.”  Faith glances around.  “I need to head to the house and change.  I’m gonna take a run today.  You feel like joinin’ me?”  Faith questions Buffy.

“I think I’ll skip it this time, I’m meeting up with Riley in an hour.  He’s wanting me to meet some of the rest of his commandos.”  Buffy rolls her eyes.  “Just what I don’t need, a lot of testosterone driven men around me!”

“Just thump their heads together, B.  That’ll take care of them.  If any of them are cute, let me know.  I’m always lookin’ for someone to scratch my itch.”  Faith smirks as she sways her hips out of the room.

“Do you have to always be so damn vulgar?”  Buffy calls after the slayer.

“Yep!”  Faith chuckles loudly as she heads out of the dorm room.  Quickly striding back to the Summers’ residence, Faith lets herself in, quickly jogging up the stairs to her bedroom.  Changing into sweatpants and a t-shirt.  Faith hooks the two makeshift holsters on the straps around her calves.  Making sure the stake and knife are secured, Faith heads out of the house.

Walking down Revello Drive, Faith takes a moment to inhale deeply of the clean cool air before pulling her headphones on and opening the MP3 files for hard rock songs she‘d downloaded.  Grinning, Faith starts out at a slow jog, gradually building up her momentum as she jogs around Sunnydale.  Working her way to the outskirts of town and the lake that lies there, Faith grins as it comes into view, enjoying the sight of the almost unblemished countryside. 

***

“Hi, Faith.”  Joyce glances up from where she’s fixing dinner.  “Buffy called a little while ago, wanted you to call her.”

“She even gonna be there?”  Faith questions as she pulls the end of her shirt up, wiping the sweat from her face.  “Plus, I don’t know why she doesn’t use the cell phone.  Got it for a reason.”

“Here.”  Joyce grabs a clean tea towel out of the drawer and tosses it at Faith.  “Use that.  She said she’d be there for a couple hours, something about an argument with Riley and she was going to work on one of her reports before heading out on patrol.”  Joyce chuckles quietly.  “It must not have been major important, or she would have, Faith.”

“I don’t see what she sees in him.”  Faith grumbles lowly as she picks up the phone, punching the speed dial for the other slayer’s dorm room.  

“Nice arms.”  Joyce sounds just like Buffy, as she makes the comment.

Faith chuckles loudly at the comment, her eyes twinkling at Joyce.  “Yo, you wanted me?”  Faith asks as Buffy picks up the phone.

“Yes, I did.  I got a favor to ask of you for Thursday night.”  Buffy states as she shifts her books aside, grinning at Willow who’s shaking her head. 

“Shoot.”  Faith runs the towel around her neck, letting it soak up some more of the sweat.

“Willow has this on-campus meeting thing she wants to go to Thursday night.  But I’ve already made plans with Riley.  If you don’t mind, I just want you to play bodyguard, making sure she makes it to the meeting and back to the dorm okay.”  Buffy explains quickly.

Faith does some figuring in her head.  “Wolf moon?”

“Yeah.”  Buffy twirls her pen between her fingers waiting for Faith to answer.

“That’s fine.  What time?”  Faith leans down, taking off her weapons, setting them on the counter.

“What time, Wills?”  Buffy questions Willow.

“I want to leave here at 7:45.  It starts at 8:00.”  Willow answers quietly as she looks back up from the book she’s studying.

“Can you be here at 7:45?”  Buffy questions Faith.

“I’ll be ready and waiting at the dorm room door.”  Faith smirks.  “Want help with patrol tonight?”

“No, I got it.  Riley and I had a little argument.  I honestly don’t think he understands that this is my life, not a job.”  Buffy sighs quietly.  “I got some frustration to work out tonight.  It’s your night off, anyway.”

“I know, but I don’t mind taking it, or going with you if you want me to.”  Faith admits running a hand through her hair. 

“I got it.  Thanks for the offer, Faith.”  Buffy’s lips quirk up in a small smile.  “I’ll probably be using and abusing you when finals come up anyway.”

“No prob.”  Faith chuckles.  “That all you needed?”  Faith questions as she sits down on the stool at the island, opening the water Joyce set in front of her.

“Yeah, that’s it.  Have a good night, tell mom I’ll see her this weekend.”  Buffy laughs quietly at the snort she gets from Faith before she hangs up.

Disconnecting the phone, Faith looks at Joyce.  “B said she’d see you this weekend.”

“Laundry time.”  Joyce looks at Faith, laughing quietly. 

“What I figured.”  Faith finishes the water.  “Thanks for grabbing me a water.  I’m gonna go shower.”

“Dinner will be ready in half an hour.”  Joyce calls after the quickly departing slayer.

“Thanks, Mrs. S.”  Faith calls back as she jogs up the stairs.

***

Faith jogs up the steps in the dorm, striding down the hallway she stops and knocks on Buffy and Willow’s door.

“Perfect timing.”  Willow grins as she opens the door, pulling on her jacket. 

“What am I takin’ you to, anyway?”  Faith questions as she walks beside Willow as they cross the campus, keeping her eyes and senses open for any demon activity.

“On campus Wicca meeting.  I’m hoping to maybe find someone to help me expand my abilities.”  Willow grins, bouncing on the balls of her feet. 

“Okay, I was wonderin’.”  Faith chuckles at the redhead’s endless energy.  “This the last night of the Wolf Moon?”

“Yes, thank goodness.”  Willow grins happily. 

“You got plans with dog boy for tomorrow?”  Faith questions as they walk into the dorm that is holding the Wicca group meeting.

“I wish you’d stop calling him that.”  Willow sighs, turning and looking at Faith.

“Ain’t gonna happen.”  Faith smirks at the redhead.  “Just like you’re gonna be Red, B is B, Tweed, Demon and Xan.” 

“I know, but I wish that you could occasionally use our actual names.”  Willow grumbles under her breath.

“Nah.  No fun in that.  Everyone uses your names.”  Faith chuckles.  “This it?”  Faith looks at the women gathered in one of the rooms.

“Yes, this is it.  Thanks for doing this, Faith.”  Willow states sincerely.

“No biggie.  I’ll just go lurk in that corner over there.”  Faith leaves Willow to sit down on one of the chairs, while she prowls back to the corner of the room, where she can keep an eye on all the people in it.  Leaning back against the wall, she crosses her arms over her chest, unconsciously scoping out the group.

***

Willow sighs quietly as the group of women continue talking about bake sales and other non-spell related things.  Finally deciding to question it, Willow speaks up quickly.  “I was wondering, when do you get together and actually do spells?”

The leader of the group rolls her eyes.  “That is so stereotypical.  Magic isn’t real.”

“I-I was w-wondering if…”  Tara hesitantly speaks, amongst the group talking around her.

“Tara, did you want to say something?”  The leader turns her gaze on Tara.

“N-no.”  Tara tilts her head down, hair covering her face.

Faith’s eyes train on the woman as she starts to speak, hearing the hesitation and shyness in her tones.  Clenching her teeth as the leader of the group almost snidely asked the blonde if she had something to say.  Not realizing that she was even doing it, Faith continues to stare at the woman…Tara.  Faith makes a note to herself of the woman’s name. 

Tara blushes deeply in embarrassment at the leader singling her out like that.  After a few long moments, she gets more uncomfortable as she has the distinct impression that someone is staring at her.  Slowly raising her eyes, she quickly glances from one woman to the other in their group.  Not seeing anyone, Tara still can’t shake the feeling that she’s being stared at.  Lifting her head a little further, her eyes search more determinedly, her eyes finally making contact with intense brown eyes staring back at her.  Inhaling deeply at the beautiful woman, with the wild ‘just fucked’ hair, wearing a black leather jacket and leather pants, Tara blushes deeply as the full lips quirk up into a knowing smile.  Dropping her gaze back down to her hands, Tara waits impatiently for the meeting to come to an end so she can sneak back to her dorm room.

Faith stands in the corner in stunned surprise as the blue eyes make contact with her eyes, seeming to delve into her very soul.  As she watches the woman’s eyes slowly drink in her form, Faith’s lips quirk up knowingly.  Watching the blush cross the woman’s face before she drops her gaze, Faith raises an eyebrow in contemplation of the woman.

***

Willow gathers her notepad and pens, preparing to leave. 

“Ready?”  Faith questions Willow as she walks over to the redhead.  Her eyes following the quickly escaping blonde until she’s out of sight before turning her gaze on Willow. 

“Yes.  This was a waste of time.”  Willow mutters under her breath, so only Faith could hear her.

“Yeah, I didn’t think this was what you were lookin’ for.”  Faith admits, tucking her hands into her jacket pockets as she strolls alongside Willow on the way back to the dorm room.  “Though, that one girl seemed to want to take up for you.”

“Hmm?  What girl?”  Willow questions as they walk into her dorm building.

“The blonde, Tara, I think is what the leader of the group called her.”  Faith leans against the wall as Willow digs her keys out to unlock the door.

“I don’t remember.”  Willow shakes her head. 

“Shy blonde.”  Faith explains.  “She was sitting across from you, on the floor.”

Willow tilts her head, replaying the night in her mind.  When the woman in question comes to her minds eyes, she nods her head.  “Okay, I think I remember her.  She was sitting cross-legged almost exactly across from me, hiding behind her hair.”

“Yep, that’s the one.  If you see her again, maybe you ought to ask her if she’s a real witch instead of one of those Gaia nobodies.”  Faith grins.  “I’m gonna go hit a few cemeteries.  Have a good night, Red.”

“Thanks again, Faith.”  Willow calls after the quickly departing slayer, before closing the door and collapsing on the bed.  “Waste of an hour.  Bunch of Wanna Blessed Be’s.”  Willow grumps before grabbing one of her books to read the chapters for her next assignment.

***

“Yo, B!  Heads up!”  Faith calls out to the other slayer as she tosses one of the vampires she’s fighting Buffy’s way, chortling at the look of disgust on Buffy’s face as he lands at her feet, all bloody.  Faith slams her fist into the other vampire’s jaw before doing a quick spin kick, followed by an elbow to the temple.  As the vampire collapses, Faith snarls her nose.  “These guys just don’t have the stamina.  How ya’ doing with yours?”  Faith glances over at Buffy who’s staked the vampire she’d tossed her.  “You could have at least played with him first.”

“Why would I want to play with one you already broke?”  Buffy narrows her gaze on the other slayer before laughing quietly.  “Finish him off, let’s see if there’re some other evil monsters to play with.”

Faith shrugs, staking the vampire before following Buffy out of the cemetery.  “You still having problems with soldier boy?”  Faith questions, strutting along beside Buffy.  “I woulda’ thought you’d gotten over it sometime in the past couple weeks.”

Buffy sighs quietly, shoving her hands in her pockets.  “I just can’t get over the fact that he thinks it’s just a job.”

Faith glances at the blonde slayer with a raised eyebrow.  “It is to him, B.  So, you need to decide if you can deal with him feelin’ that way, or move on.”  Faith shrugs.  “Simple as that.”

Buffy growls quietly.  “Easy for you to say, want, take and have, woman.” 

“Works for me.”  Faith leers at the slayer. 

Buffy gets a serious look on her face.  “Have you ever been in love, Faith?” 

Faith stops and stares at Buffy.  “You askin’ me seriously if I’ve been in love?”  As Buffy looks at her, the joking gone, a serious look on her face, Faith turns and starts walking again.  “Don’t believe in it.”  Faith growls roughly.

“You’ve never been in love?”  Buffy questions softly, catching up to the striding slayer.

“Don’t think there is such a thing.”  Faith snorts derisively.  “There’s just good lays.” 

Buffy shakes her head at the thought of the other woman not knowing what love is.  “There’s no one that you’ve ever just wanted to curl up with, talk about stupid stuff with, laugh over jokes and then slowly touch and kiss?”

Faith snorts.  “What’s with the girly questions, B?  You offerin’?”  Faith eyes the blonde slayer, chuckling as Buffy blushes in embarrassment. 

“I hope that one day you find out what love is, Faith.  Because that’s what we’re ultimately fighting for.  It isn’t because of the demons.  It’s because of love.  If I didn’t believe in that, what is it worth fighting for?”   Buffy explains, as she comes to the realization at the same time she’s saying it, how true that thought is.  “It’s love of a friend, a family member, a pet…  Hell, whatever else you can think of.”

Faith clenches her jaw, her eyes narrowing.  “Love is shit.”  Faith growls as she turns down the street heading quickly away from Buffy.

Buffy sighs as she watches Faith practically run away.  “Love isn’t meant to hurt, Faith.  It can, but it’s not meant to.”  Buffy calls softly after the slayer, hoping she hears her.  “I really wish you’d tell me what made you like this.”  Buffy whispers to herself before she works her way back to her dorm room.

***

Chapter 2

Faith enters the house in the early morning hours, quietly easing up the stairs.  Stripping her torn and ripped clothes off, she throws them in the trash before sneaking into the bathroom.  Letting the hot water pound on her bruised and battered body, she leans against the side of the enclosure.  ‘Why does B always gotta fuckin’ push?  She can’t leave well ‘nough alone.’  Faith thinks to herself as she slowly starts washing her body, letting the dirt and blood swirl down the drain.

Faith’s mind drifts back to her life before being called as a slayer, the drunken mother, the boyfriend of the week.  Some of the men were halfway decent guys, some liked to use their fists, while others always tried to get in her…  Faith shakes her head, getting that thought to go away.  Faith finishes washing her body, leaning into the hot water, letting it continue to work out some of the kinks, as she closes her eyes.  ‘What is love, B?  If it’s somethin’ you grow up with, then I’m sadly lackin’.’  Faith continues in her head before turning the water off, drying her body roughly with a towel before tucking it around her and grasping another towel, giving her hair a half-hearted rub as she walks back to her bedroom.  Yanking the towel from around her off, she tosses it in the hamper as she throws the other one in behind it before running her fingers through her heavy mass of hair. 

Looking at the clock, she chuckles softly.  “Should I even bother goin’ to bed?  Mrs. S will be up and moving in less than an hour to go to work.  I promised her I’d do the laundry today.”  Faith questions the empty room.  Sighing she yanks open a dresser drawer, pulling on a pair of skintight sweat shorts and a tank top before sitting on the edge of the bed, looking out her window at the slowly lightening sky, contemplating her life.

***

Buffy groans as she sits down across from Willow in the cafeteria. 

“Rough night?”  Willow questions, drinking her chocolate milk as she looks curiously at the slayer. 

“Yeah.  I think I pissed Faith off.”  Buffy rolls her eyes.  “But then again, when don’t I piss her off?”  Buffy questions, grinning briefly.  “So, how did the meet go with that girl from the Wicca group?”

Willow’s eyes light up.  “She’s the real thing, Buff!  Not one of those wanna be’s!!  We’re going to get together for a little while tonight and do a spell.”

“You bringing her by the Bronze afterwards?”  Buffy questions as she eats her breakfast.

“I didn’t ask.”  Willow frowns.  “I could.  What do you think?”

“Sure, why not?  The more the merrier.  Give you someone to talk to while Oz is playing.”  Buffy offers up as she devours her second bagel.  “I’ll be there with Riley, maybe.”  Buffy smirks. 

“Things going any better?”  Willow questions softly, watching the slayer.

“Faith actually gave me a halfway useful piece of advice last night.”  Buffy admits, setting down her soda.  “She said it is a job to him.  And that I either needed to live with that or move on.”

“It’s scary how she can sometimes cut to the heart of a matter, isn’t it?”  Willow chuckles.

“Yeah, but don’t let her know that what she said makes sense.  I’ll never live it down.”  Buffy’s lips curl up in a half smile.  “I better head to class.  Catch you later!”  Buffy hops up, gathering her trash and leaves a chuckling Willow sitting alone at the table again.

***

“Anythin’ else you want me to do besides the laundry?”  Faith questions hoarsely as she carries down the two hampers. 

“That would be a great help.”  Joyce glances up, the grin on her face turning to a frown as she sees the bruised and cut slayer.  “Are you okay?”

“Huh?”  Faith turns to look at the woman as she’s opening the door to the basement.

“Faith, it looks like you took on a dozen vampires by yourself.”  Joyce frowns deeply, walking quickly over to the slayer, eyeing the healing wounds.

“Yeah, well, that may be because I did.”  Faith grins lopsidedly at the older woman.  “I’ll be okay in a little while.  Most of the bruises and smaller cuts will be gone by tonight.”  Faith shrugs before carrying the laundry downstairs, sorting it and throwing the first load in the washer. 

Joyce sighs before turning back to the stove.  Pulling the big glass dish out of the oven, she sets it down on the island along with a fork before sprinkling some more shredded cheese on top and placing the hot sauce beside it. 

“Damn, Mrs. S.  You didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”  Faith’s mouth is already watering at the sight of the huge dish full of breakfast burritos.  “Not that I’m complainin’ mind ya’!”  Faith grins hugely at Joyce. 

“I didn’t think you were, dear.  If my hearing was correct, you just got in a little while ago.  So, I’m betting that you’re extremely hungry.”  Joyce explains as she sits down with a cup of coffee and a couple slices of toast.

“Ain’t you gonna have some?”  Faith waves the fork towards the dish as she grabs a water out of the refrigerator. 

“No. It’s all for you.”  Joyce chuckles as Faith cuts out a huge section of burrito before scooping it up.  “Be careful, I just pulled it out of the oven.”

“A little heat ain’t never hurt no-one.”  Faith growls before she pours on some hot sauce, shoving the food in her mouth.  Groaning, she chews for a few moments before swallowing.  “Damn, Mrs. S.  You sure can cook.”  Faith mutters before digging in.

Joyce laughs softly as Faith quickly works her way through the food.  “Thanks, Faith.  I appreciate the compliment.”  Joyce finishes her coffee and toast.  “You want me to leave the coffee pot on?” 

“Nah, go ahead and turn it off.  I’ll just nuke what I want later.”  Faith mumbles around a mouthful of food. 

“Try and get some sleep today, Faith.  If you don’t get to do the laundry, it’s okay.”  Joyce looks at the slayer for a long moment.  “I appreciate everything you do around here to help.”

“Don’t do that much.”  Faith looks down in embarrassment.  “Got anything comin’ in at the shop that you need me to help ya’ unpack this week?” 

“I have a shipment coming in Wednesday, and hopefully another one Friday.”  Joyce pulls on her blazer as she grabs her purse and keys.  “I’m serious.  Thanks for everything.  If I don’t see you before you head out tonight, be careful.”

“Thanks, Mrs. S.”  Faith lets a quick grin cross her face at the older woman before she goes back to eating her breakfast. 

Joyce sighs quietly before leaving the house, knowing the slayer doesn’t feel like she does that much around the house, but considering the fact the woman almost invariably does the majority of the laundry and cleaning, Joyce almost feels like she’s taking advantage of the young woman.  A small grin crosses her face as she remembers Faith threatening her bodily harm if she let any of the Scoobies know that she’s cleaning and doing laundry.  The first time she’d come home to find all the laundry done, even her outfits pressed neatly and hung up in the closet, Joyce had just about had a heart attack.  When Faith had shyly said something about wanting to help out as much as possible, Joyce had to physically grab onto the counter so she wouldn’t hug the poor girl to her.  Knowing that Faith would be embarrassed by the display of affection, Joyce occasionally just grasps the slayer’s shoulder or runs a gentle hand over her head. 

Shaking her head at the thought of the very confusing young woman, Joyce climbs in the Jeep, driving to work.

***

Faith groans quietly as her cell phone rings.  Pulling it out and seeing Buffy and Willow’s number on the caller ID, she answers.  “Let me call you right back, got a live one.”  She states quickly before flipping it shut, tucking it away.  Following the vampire around the corner into the dark alleyway, Faith jumps back as he swings a chain at her head.

“Heard there was a slayer in this town.  I’m aimin’ to make you dinner.”  The badly dressed vampire snarls, swinging the chain again. 

Faith jumps high over the chain, landing right beside the vampire, wrapping her arm around his neck and twisting.  As she hears his neck pop, as she breaks it, she drops him on the ground looking up and down the alleyway.  Not seeing or feeling any other vampires, she quickly stakes him.  Walking back out of the alleyway, she digs her phone out, calling Buffy.  “Yo, what’cha want?”

“Sorry to bother you, but it was later than I realized and I was wondering if you would mind playing bodyguard again tonight?”  Willow questions, smiling apologetically at Tara. 

“Damn, I’m starting to think I oughta get me a sign that says bodyguard for hire.”  Faith drawls sarcastically.  “I was just on my way to the Bronze, via a couple cemeteries.  I guess I can add the college onto the list of things to hit.  It’ll probably be half an hour ‘fore I get there.”

“Thanks, Faith.  I owe you.”  Willow grins as she hears a throaty chuckle on the other end of the phone.

“Be careful what’cha say, Red.  I might take you up on it.”  Faith laughs as she hangs up after Willow squeals out her name in embarrassment. 

“She’ll be here in half an hour.  Just to warn you, she’s a little… rough around the edges, I guess would be a good word.”  Willow smiles gently at the shy blonde. 

“Th-that’s okay.”  Tara glances up, briefly before looking back down to pick at her skirt.  “You s-sure you w-want me to go with you?”  Tara questions hesitantly.

“Sure!  Buffy wouldn’t mind meeting you.  Of course, she’ll be there with Riley, and she gets very Riley absorbed when they’re together.  My boyfriend plays in the band, and Faith… well, she’s Faith.”  Willow shrugs, not knowing how to explain the dark-haired slayer.  “It’ll be nice to have someone to talk to.  Plus you said you’d never been, so it’s kind of like an initiation thing going there!”  Willow bounces on Buffy’s bed, grinning.

Tara can’t help but giggle at the redhead’s obvious excitement.  “Okay.  B-but I’m not m-much of a dancer.”  Tara grins self-consciously. 

“Neither am I.  Doesn’t stop me.”  Willow stands and runs a brush through her hair, straightening her outfit.  “That spell was great!  Do you mind if we, maybe, make plans to get together once or twice a week?  You know, to talk about spells, and stuff?”

Tara chuckles quietly.  “That’s f-fine.  I’ve b-been looking for someone to practice with.  I haven’t done much in the last couple y-years.”  Tara admits softly. 

“Why not?”  Willow comes to sit beside the blonde witch, hearing a note of sadness in her tones.

“B-because I d-didn’t h-have anyone t-to p-practice w-with.”  Tara stutters horribly, tilting her head forward so her hair will cover her red face. 

“Oh.”  Willow frowns as she watches the woman.  “Well, that’s changed.  I really need the help.  Most of my potions come out soup.”  Willow admits.  “I usually can’t make my spells come out right.”

“T-there’s a lot of n-negative energy in this town.”  Tara glances up thankful Willow changed the subject.  “If you’re n-not careful, you’ll tap into that, and it would be bad news.”  Tara whispers quietly.  “That’s why I usually w-work with my own energy, then walk out of town to this b-beautiful spot on the weekends to re-charge and cleanse.”  Tara smiles at the thought of the beautiful lake outside of town, with the positive energy and the natural lei-lines. 

“You can help me with that?”  Willow questions hopefully.

“Y-yes.”  Tara smiles, then jumps as a firm knock comes on the door.

“That’s Faith.”  Willow grins happily.  “Come on.  Let’s go dance.”  Willow grasps Tara’s hand, tugging the witch to follow her.  Opening the door, she raises an eyebrow at Faith, who’s brushing off vampire dust from her pants. 

“Yo, Red.  I would think with the…”  Faith trails off shutting up quick when she realizes Willow isn’t in the room by herself.  “Hi, Red.”  Faith grins crookedly.

Willow sighs and mouths ‘thank you’ at the slayer, watching as Faith nods her head in acknowledgement.  “Faith, this is Tara.  Tara, this is Faith.”

Tara tilts her head, seeing the woman that had been staring at her in the Wicca meeting.  “H-hi.”  Tara blushes and looks down.

“Hey.  I guess you two are wantin’ to go to the Bronze, huh?”  Faith asks in her whiskey rough tone. 

“I appreciate it.  You can never be too careful walking around town at night.”  Willow quirks her lip in appreciation at the dark-haired slayer.

“Nope.  Definitely can’t be too safe.  No telling what big uglies might show up and try and give you girls a run for your money.”  Faith smirks at the redhead, before letting her eyes trail over the blonde.   “Come on, Blondie.  Looks like you could use a night of fun.”

Tara jerks her head up, her eyes wide in surprise, before she blushes and looks back down.  Quietly she walks along beside the other two women. 

“So, B and lover boy gonna be there?”  Faith questions as she shortens her steps to make it easier for the other two women to keep up with her.

“Yes, Buffy and Riley are going to be there.”  Willow rolls her eyes.  “You have a hot date tonight?”  Willow questions, raising an eyebrow at Faith.

“Probably.  Don’t know yet.  I’ll find out if there’s someone at the Bronze.”  Faith smirks knowingly at the redhead.

“Faith!”  Willow hisses at the dark-haired slayer.

Tara can’t help the little chuckle that escapes, as she glances up at the two women.  Seeing the almost devil-may care look on Faith’s face and the extremely mortified look on Willow’s.  “At least she’s being honest.”  Tara whispers quietly, before looking back down as dark brown eyes lock with hers.

“See… she knows when not to argue, or question.”  Faith waves her hand at the blonde.  “I am what I am, and that’s all that I am.”  Faith snorts back a laugh.

“You’ve been watching too many cartoons.”  Willow states exasperatedly.  “I never would have taken you for a Popeye fan.”

“Not.  Just like that sayin’.”  Faith admits, grinning hugely.  “Here you are, ladies.  All safe and sound.”  Faith chuckles as she grabs money out of her pocket to pay for her cover charge.

“I-I’ll pay.”  Tara offers quietly, digging some cash out of her purse, handing it to the bouncer.

“Thanks.  You didn’t have to do that.”  Faith eyes the woman again, wondering if she wears anything besides baggy shirts and long skirts.  Shaking her head, wondering why she even cares what the woman wears, Faith lets the two women precede her into the bar, before she splits off, heading towards the bar, while Tara and Willow make a beeline to Buffy.

Throwing a couple dollars on the bar, Faith accepts the soda, heading up the stairs to look out over the crowd below.  Not seeing or feeling anything amiss, Faith relaxes against the railing, letting her eyes roam over the group sitting close to the dance floor.  Watching Willow give Oz a quick kiss before he heads up on stage, she watches as Tara glances around nervously.  Seeing Buffy all curled up against Riley, Faith figures she finally decided to let bygones be bygones with him.  Sipping her soda, she lets her eyes drift back over the blonde.  Running her tongue over her bottom lip as a drop of soda tries to escape, her eyes widen in surprise as Tara looks up, making eye contact with her for a few long moments, almost as if she felt her eyes on the woman.   Faith stands there, not moving as she feels her heart speed up the tiniest bit before Tara’s scrutiny is broken by Willow asking her something.  Sighing, Faith finishes the soda, placing it on the table behind her, as she determinedly doesn’t look down at the witch again.

***

“Tara, this is Buffy and Riley.  Guys, this is Tara.”  Willow bounces up to the table before plopping down.  “Oooh.  And here’s my boyfriend, Oz.”  Willow’s eyes light up as Oz makes his way towards the table.

“Hey.”  Oz nods his head before draping an arm casually around Willow’s shoulder.

“Hi.”  Tara blushes, looking down.

“So, you’re a real witch, huh?”  Buffy questions, tearing her gaze away from Riley for a few moments. 

“Y-yes.”  Tara answers hesitantly, looking at Willow, who nods encouragingly.  Smiling briefly, she tries to relax.  “All my life.”  Tara admits.

“You must be powerful.”  Buffy eyes the woman a little more seriously.

“I-I don’t know a-about that.”  Tara blushes.  “My m-mom was.” 

“I need to go up.”  Oz whispers softly, placing a quick kiss on Willow’s lips. 

Willow grins as she watches Oz head up on stage.  Sighing quietly, she glances back at Buffy who’s engrossed with Riley again, before looking at Tara and rolling her eyes, making the witch giggle.  “You want something to drink?”

“No, I’m okay.”  Tara shakes her head, smiling gently.  Tara starts glancing around the Bronze, looking at some of the different people and the décor, when she has the distinct impression that she’s being watched.  Sighing quietly, she lets a small smile cross her lips.  ‘Is Faith staring again?’  She wonders to herself, not realizing she already knows the woman’s aura well enough to zoom in on exactly where the dark-haired woman is.  Looking straight up to the balcony, she catches the slayer’s tongue disappearing back in her mouth.  Seeing the dark brown eyes widen in surprise, Tara watches her for a long moment, seeing a very lonely, somewhat angry woman standing there.  Separate from her friends of her own choosing.  Feeling sadness for the woman creeping in, Tara tilts her head for a moment, wondering what makes the woman tick, when Willow interrupts her contemplation.

“Tara, you want to dance?”  Willow questions as The Dingoes start to play one of her favorite songs. 

“Not r-right now.  Thanks.”  Tara shakes her head, briefly looking back up, sighing as Faith’s looking elsewhere. 

“Buffy?”  Willow questions hopefully.

“Sure.  Come on, Riley.”  Buffy drags Riley out of the seat, and onto the dance floor. 

Tara chuckles softly as she watches the group dance.  Riley with a look of put upon despair on his face while he sort of shifts around, Buffy who seems to really get into the music and Willow who, as per the norm, is bouncing around to the music.  Not being able to help herself, Tara glances back up to where Faith had been standing, frowning as the woman has disappeared.  Letting herself feel for her aura, she glances a little further down, seeing her standing in the shadows to where you almost couldn’t see her at the back of the catwalk.  Biting her lip at the thought of the obvious loner, Tara slowly stands, walking to the bar and orders a couple sodas.  Slowly working her way up the steps, she places one of the drinks on the table beside Faith. 

‘Okay, what do I do now?’  Tara questions herself as she sips her drink, walking a little ways down the railing so there’re a couple yards between her and Faith.  

Faith turns her gaze on the soda Tara placed beside her up to the witch who’s not crowding her, but who’s not leaving either.  Glancing back down at the dance floor, she watches as Xander and Anya, who obviously just arrived, make their way out on the dance floor.  Watching as the group dances, talks and laughs with each other, her eyes invariably travel back to the blonde.  “Why ain’t ya’ down on the dance floor with the rest of the group?”  Faith finally questions.

“I’m not much of a d-dancer.”  Tara admits, running her finger over the top of her glass as she watches the group down on the dance floor. 

“Most of them ain’t either, but it don’t stop ‘em.”  Faith feels her lip quirk as she watches Xander and Anya try and dance. 

“They probably look like p-professionals compared to m-me.”  Tara states disparagingly. 

Faith reaches for the glass bringing it to her lips she takes a sip, considering the woman.  “I bet you can dance.”  Faith raises an eyebrow as the woman turns surprised eyes on her.  “I bet you…”  Faith trails off, trying to think of something good to bet the witch. 

Tara tilts her head watching the dark-haired woman, wondering what she’s going to say. 

“I bet you a pepperoni pizza that you can dance.”  Faith smirks at the witch. 

Tara raises an eyebrow at the woman.  “You want to bet food on my being able to dance?”  Tara states in disbelief, not stuttering once, she’s so shocked.

“Sure, why not?  If I wanted to bet you a roll in the hay, you might not wanta do it.”  Faith leers at the woman, chuckling as she blushes and looks away.

“And maybe I would.”  Tara glances back, her eyes daring.  Not knowing where her newfound courage came from, but liking it.

Faith guffaws loudly.  “Damn!  I thought you was a shy one.  Come on.  Gotta see if you dance, now.”  Faith urges the woman down the steps.  Quickly following behind Tara, she places her drink on the Scoobies’ table beside Tara’s glass. 

***

Chapter 3

Willow looks up in surprise as Tara and Faith both come out on the dance floor together.  Watching as Faith leans in whispering something to Tara, making the witch blush, Willow’s brows furrow.  When she watches as Tara lightly smacks the slayer on the arm, Willow opens her eyes in surprise, deciding to keep an eye on the two women. 

***

“So… a roll in the hay if ya’ can dance?”  Faith whispers softly in Tara’s ear, dancing by the witch, grinning unrepentantly at the blonde.  Laughing as Tara blushes then smacks her lightly.  “Come on, let’s see what’cha got.”  Faith starts letting the music seep into her body, just letting herself move with the beat.

Tara blinks her eyes a couple times watching the uninhibited way the dark-haired woman moves, almost as if she’s making love with the music.  Biting her lip, Tara closes her eyes, shifting her body slowly as she lets the music start working its way into her, taking her away to where it’s just her and the music.  Unaware that if it was possible, her moves almost rivaled Faith’s in the absolute sensuousness of her movements.  

Faith groans under her breath as she watches Tara literally become one with the music.  The witch was obviously picking up on the sensuous backbeat, letting her hips and body sway and move to the rhythm.  Unable to resist, Faith dances around behind Tara, letting her body move in close, not touching but picking out the beat the witch is obviously listening to, letting her own movements add to Tara’s. 

Tara can feel Faith behind her, matching her movements, the heat from the woman almost unbelievable.  The two women continue to dance this way, until the band finally takes a break.  As Tara slowly turns around, feeling the perspiration gathering on her upper lip and along her hairline, she looks into Faith’s dark brown eyes, a flair of desire burning in them.  Swallowing at the heat of the woman’s gaze, Tara takes a step back, smiling self-consciously. 

“You can dance.”  Faith hoarsely states, watching as Tara starts to climb back into her shell.  Unconsciously, Faith reaches out for the woman, not wanting her to do that.  “Come on, you can probably use your soda.  Plus I owe you a couple.”  Faith gently places a hand on her forearm, grinning crookedly. 

“Okay.”  Tara smiles briefly, following Faith to the table. 

“I thought you said you couldn’t dance!”  Willow exclaims at the witch.  Her eyes narrowing on Faith’s for a moment, wondering what the other woman might be up to, before turning back to a lightly blushing Tara.  “You dance beautifully.  I’m jealous.”  Willow pouts.

“Who’s your friend?”  Xander questions, eyeing the pretty blonde, then yelping as he gets a hard elbow in the ribs.  “Ahn, I was just wondering who she was!”

“Right!”  Anya grumbles, her eyes on the blonde.

“Anya, Xander, this is Tara.  Tara this is Anya and Xander.”  Willow grins nervously, realizing she forgot to mention Anya’s obvious bluntness to the witch. 

“Nice to meet you.”  Xander grins at Tara.

“Xander’s mine.  You can’t have him.”  Anya narrows her gaze on the blonde witch.

“Mmmm.”  Tara looks around worriedly. 

“Easy, demon girl.  Not everyone wants your man.”  Faith grumbles, feeling an uncontrollable urge to yell at the woman for making Tara feel nervous, as she was just starting to loosen up. 

Tara turns surprised eyes on Faith as she says the word demon.  Nibbling on her lip, she looks down at the table, wondering about this group of friends. 

“Want another soda?”  Faith questions softly, her eyes on the white teeth chewing on her bottom lip. 

Tara glances up, making brief eye contact.  Glancing at her now empty glass, Tara nods her head.  “Please.”

“Be right back.”  Faith narrows her eyes on Anya, giving her a warning glare, before heading towards the bar.

“What’s her problem?”  Anya looks from Faith back to the other people sitting at the table. 

“Maybe she’s tired of you always thinking every woman that sees Xander automatically wants him.”  Willow exasperatedly states.  “Didn’t mean that in a bad way, Xander.”

“That’s okay.  Not much of my manly pride left, anyway.”  Xander mutters half under his breath. 

Tara glances up, a small smile crossing her face at Xander’s comment.  As Faith sets another soda down in front of her, Tara looks up in thanks. 

Faith allows a grin to cross her face as she stands back a small distance from the crowded table, watching as Oz makes his way to the group, standing behind Willow and placing his hands on her shoulders, unconsciously kneading the witch.  Her gaze travels slowly from Willow and Oz to where she’s looking at Xander and Anya, who are arguing quietly.  But you can see the two care for each other.  Sighing Faith looks towards Buffy and Riley, trying not to smirk.  No matter what Buffy might say Faith knows she’s just in lust with Riley.  No way that, was this big mystery thing that Buffy calls love.  Looking back at an obviously uncomfortable witch, Faith considers the woman for a moment. 

“Know how to shoot pool?”  Faith finally questions, deciding Tara might feel a little better if she’s away from the bunch of lovebirds.

“Not very well.”  Tara shifts in her seat so she can look at Faith.

“Yeah, kinda like the dancin’, right?”  Faith smirks.  “Come on.  Let’s give you a chance to win back that bet.”  Faith’s eyes twinkle with merriment as she watches the obvious relief of getting away from the group is making Tara feel.  Leading the way to the pool table, Faith raises an eyebrow at the two guys playing.  “You guys about done?”  She questions softly.

The one guy remembers her from where she’d beat the hell out of this guy before he disappeared, nodding his head quickly he looks at his friend.  “It’s getting kind of late anyways.  We have to work tomorrow.”  He slides his pool cue onto the table, the two men leaving quickly.

“Thanks.”  Faith calls after them, chuckling quietly. 

Tara leans against the pillar by the pool table watching as Faith slides her money into the machine before gathering all the balls and putting them in the rack. 

“Wanna break?”  Faith looks at the witch who seems to be debating on saying something.

“I really d-don’t know how to play pool.  I’ve only played it once b-before.”  Tara chews the inside of her lip.

“Then I’ll just have to show ya’.”  Faith grins.  “I’ll break.”

Tara accepts the pool cue Faith hands her, and watches as the woman leans over the table, pulling the cue pool back in one smooth fluid movement before slamming the tip of it into the cue ball.  As the cue ball impacts on the other balls, making them scatter about the table, Tara’s eyes stay glued on the brunette.  Tara realizes as she watches the woman that there’s a lot more to her, than her rough exterior and blunt approach hints at. 

Faith looks up, making contact with intense blue eyes.   Not even realizing it, she stays that way for a couple minutes, just allowing herself to be immersed in the other woman’s gaze, her heart pounding a little harder in her chest.  Swallowing, Faith finally stands up, breaking the gaze to look at the table.  Seeing she sunk two solids and one stripe, she scopes out the table seeing which were set up better.  Realizing the run on stripes should work to her advantage, she quickly calls her shot, before sinking the ball in the side pocket. 

Tara tilts her head as Faith finally misses and waves her over to the table. 

“It’s your turn.”  Faith smirks at the look on the witch’s face.  “You got the solids.  Don’t sink the eight ball ‘til last.  And don’t hit one of my balls first, or it’s a foul and you lose your turn.”

Tara nods her understanding and fumbles with holding the cue stick, when she hears a soft chuckle and feels a warm body leaning against her; she closes her eyes at the heat literally blasting from the other woman.

“Here, hold it like this.”  Faith whispers in her ear as she leans over her back, wrapping her right hand around Tara’s on the thick part of the cue stick.  “You don’t have to strangle it, just hold on easy.  Now, I hold the end of the cue stick like this, where it slides between my thumb and crooked index finger, you just want to use this as a guide, and let it slide smoothly back and forth, got it?”

Tara swallows hard as she feels the woman’s breasts pressing into her back, and the smoky voice whispering in her ear, the hot breath sending shivers down her spine.  “I think so.”  Tara finally murmurs in a slightly higher pitched voice, almost whimpering as the other woman pulls away.

“Good, you gotta line up your shot, and stroke nice and smooth.”  Faith smirks at the slightly flushed woman, trying to ignore her own surprising response to being close to the blonde. 

“Line up the white ball with one of my solid ones and aim for a pocket?”  Tara questions as she closes one eye, trying to aim her shot.

“That’s pretty much it.”  Faith moves around the table and leans against the pillar, her eyes invariably drawn to where the witch’s shirt has gaped open somewhat, showing an intoxicating view of a set of very lush breasts encased in a pale blue bra. 

“I made it!”  Tara stands up, grinning at the dark-haired woman.

“Good.  Now, do it again.”  Faith can’t help but smile at the woman’s obvious excitement.  “You beat me here, we’ve really gotta discuss the bet.”  Faith jokes, then laughs as Tara misses the next shot as she looks up at her.  “You ain’t gonna win like that.”

Tara scowls good-naturedly at the brunette.  “It’s not fair trying to distract me while I’m just learning the game.”

“Gotta do, what I gotta do.”  Faith chuckles as she brushes softly against the witch as she walks around looking at her options. 

“Hey!  I wondered where you got off to.”  Willow comes to the end of the table, glancing from one woman to the other.

“Faith’s t-teaching me to shoot pool.”  Tara admits, grinning shyly. 

“How are you doing?”  Willow glances at the table and Faith, watching as the dark slayer’s lips quirk up in a half smile.

“Losing.”  Tara states simply, grinning crookedly at Willow, before glancing at Faith, the grin turning into a half smirk.  “Of course, if someone w-would stop distracting me…”

“Told ya’.  I’m here to win…”  Faith stops and leans on her cue stick for a moment, considering the witch.  “Actually, I probably should lose.  I think I’d like that better.”  Faith chuckles loudly as Tara blushes deeply and looks down at the floor.

“Stop it!”  Tara mumbles in embarrassment.  “You’re just trying to embarrass m-me now!”

“Maybe, maybe not.”  Faith wiggles her eyebrows before finally leaning over to sink her next ball.

“What bet?”  Willow questions, confused.

“Nothin’ you need to worry about, Red.”  Faith leers at the redhead, making her blush. 

“Don’t alienate my friend, Faith.  She’s promised to help me out with my magic.”  Willow warns seriously. 

“Am I alienatin’ you?”  Faith looks at Tara with a raised eyebrow.

Tara blinks in surprise at the serious question coming from the dark-haired woman.  “N-no.  You’re not.”   Tara shakes her head, smiling softly. 

“There.  Nothin’ to worry ‘bout, Red.”  Faith glances back down at the table, wondering why she felt a sense of relief when the witch answered. 

“I g-guess I should go back to the table.”  Tara states softly, looking from the witch to the brunette and back again.

“No!  No, it’s okay.  If you’re having fun, it’s all good.”  Willow waves her hand smiling.  “Go ahead and play pool.”  Willow grins. 

“Okay.”  Tara allows a big smile to cross her face.  Watching as Willow bounces back to the table. 

Faith watches as Tara’s blue eyes twinkle and the beautiful smile crosses the witch’s face as she realizes she can continue playing pool.  Faith wonders for a moment if it’s the pool playing, or herself that the witch is more interested in.  Sighing quietly, trying to figure out why the hell she seems to care, Faith quickly sinks her next two balls, before missing her next to the last ball. 

“Damn.”  Faith mumbles.  “I got almost all my balls out of your way.  If you’re real careful, you could have a run.”

“A run?”  Tara questions confused at the phrasing.

“Where you can sink all your balls in.”  Faith’s lips curl up in a small smile.  “Come here, let me show ya’.”  Faith waits patiently for Tara to walk over to her, before softly explaining how if she hit this ball first, gently, knocking it into the side pocket, she’d be lined up for the next ball down in the corner.  Slowly she works her way around the table showing the witch what would be the best way to make the ‘run’ on the table. 

“I’ll be lucky to m-make the first shot let alone the rest, Faith.”  Tara states exasperatedly.  

“Want help?”  Faith offers softly.

“Well, I don’t know what you m-mean by English, backspin, topspin or any of those other words you were t-talking about.”  Tara admits staring at the table.  “I see hit white ball into one of my balls and pray it goes in the hole I want it to go in.  That’s about as far as I’ve gotten.” 

Faith can’t help but laugh quietly at the witch.  “Here, I’ll show ya’.”  Faith takes up the position of leaning over the witch again, showing her how and where to hit the cue ball as they line up the shot.  “Now, a very soft, easy stroke is what you want.  It’s hard to sink the balls in the side pockets.” 

Tara swallows hard as she swears that someone must have kicked the heat up twenty degrees.  As Faith’s hand guides her through the soft stroke, and the ball slowly rolls towards the pocket before dropping in, Tara turns her head to look into dark brown eyes that are less than a couple inches away from her.  “You’re good at this, aren’t you?”  Tara questions, her voice deeper than normal.

Faith’s eyes traverse down to the lips speaking the words, staring for a moment after they stop moving before glancing back up into dark blue eyes.  “We talkin’ about pool?” 

Tara hesitates for a moment, before breaking the eye contact.  “I-I’m not real sure.”  She admits honestly. 

Faith hears the slightly scared note in the witch’s voice, for some reason she doesn’t like that sound coming from the blonde.  Backing off slightly, she smiles softly.  “Maybe we should call an end to the pool playin’ for tonight.”  Faith places her pool cue in the holder, holding her hand out to Tara, placing hers in the rack. 

“I-I’m sorry.”  Tara whispers, before quickly heading back to the table.

Faith watches the witch practically run away.  Sighing quietly, Faith glances around the bar.  Deciding to head out on the dance floor and try to forget about the blonde, Faith strides quickly through the group of people before quickly immersing herself in the music. 

***

Tara smiles quickly as she sits down at the table. 

“Who won?”  Willow questions, wondering at the blonde’s demeanor, as she sits there not saying anything for a few long minutes.

“Faith did.”  Tara admits, quirking her lip.  “I think I should g-go back to the d-dorm.  I have an early c-class tomorrow.”  Tara explains softly as she stands. 

“You need someone to walk you home.”  Willow looks at Buffy and Riley who are hiding in the corner making out.  Sighing quietly she knows better than to ask Xander and Anya.  Xander would be okay with it, but Anya gets a little strange about things like this sometimes.  Not ready to go back to the dorm room herself, Willow’s eyes land on Faith.   “Let me see if Faith would mind.”

“No, no.  That’s okay.  I’ll b-be fine.”  Tara shakes her head before grinning.  “See you later this week.  We still on for Thursday evening?” 

“Definitely, I’ll come to your dorm room at 7:00.”  Willow smiles watching as Tara starts to walk away.  “Tara, I’m serious!  Someone should walk you home.”

Tara just waves as she continues walking quickly towards the exit.

“Damn.”  Willow mutters, before quickly making her way through the group of people on the dance floor.  “Faith!”  She calls loudly, interrupting the slayer as she slithers her body from one male to another male.

“What?”  Faith growls looking at the redhead.

“Tara decided to head back to the dorm without anyone to walk with her.”  Willow starts explaining, before she realizes Faith’s already striding off the dance floor towards the exit.   “Umm, thanks?”  Willow says to the empty spot, before turning back to the table.  “What the hell is going on?”  Willow sighs as she sits back down, alone at the table.

***

Chapter 4

Faith growls deeply at the thought of Willow allowing Tara to leave the bar without going with her.  “Damn redhead knows fuckin’ better.”  Faith quickly strides to catch up with the blonde walking at a pretty good clip ahead of her.  As she sees a vampire detach himself from the side of a building trailing Tara, Faith growls lowly.  “I don’t think so.”

Tara gets the distinct impression that she’s being followed.  Turning her head slightly, she sees a tall man a couple yards behind her.  When she watches as his eyes turn to yellow, and bumps come up on his forehead, she reacts without thinking, sending a blast of magic at him, knocking him twenty feet back, making him land at Faith’s feet.  Looking in surprise at Faith as she leans down with something in her hand, stabbing it in the guy’s chest, Tara stares in stunned disbelief as he explodes into dust.  It finally clicks in her mind that the guy must have been a vampire.

Standing there in shock, she watches as Faith cautiously walks up to her, placing a gentle hand on her arm.  “Vampire?”  Tara questions hoarsely.  When Faith nods her head in the affirmative, Tara closes her eyes, sighing.  “Vampires, demons, werewolves are all real?”  Tara questions, almost wishing they weren’t.  If they’re real, that means her father could possibly have been telling the truth all these years.

“They are.”  Faith watches the emotions flickering across the witch’s face, the hope, then the sadness and despair.  “You okay?” 

“I don’t think so.”  Tara shakes her head, paling at the brunette’s words.  “What are you?”  Tara questions hoarsely, opening her sad, scared eyes to look at the brunette. 

“Ummm.”  Faith shifts around uncomfortably for a few moments.  “How about I tell ya’, but not out here?  Somewhere a little more private, maybe?”  Faith offers seriously.

Tara considers the woman for a moment.  “Let’s head back to the campus.”  Tara sighs, turning back around and walking towards the University, her eyes on the ground in front of her, as Faith walks beside her, a couple inches separating them.

Faith follows the witch up the stairs to her dorm room.  As Tara glances at her again, Faith tries to smile her most benign smile to make her feel a little more comfortable.  When Tara allows a brief smile to flit across her face, Faith releases the breath she’d unconsciously been holding.  Following her into the room, Faith’s eyes quickly take in the room with the white Christmas lights twinkling merrily around the ceiling and top of the walls, before her gaze takes in sketches hanging here and there.

Leaning her back against the door not wanting to crowd the woman, Faith watches as Tara slides her shoes off and reaches down to her mini refrigerator.

“Would you like a water or juice?”  Tara offers softly as she pulls out a juice. 

“Water, thanks.”  Faith answers, slowly easing her way towards the witch, accepting the water handed to her.

“So?”  Tara questions after a couple minutes and a few sips of her juice.  Watching the dark-haired woman intently as she sits down on the edge of her bed, watching as Faith perches a hip on her desk.

“You obviously know about vampires and other things that go bump in the night, right?”  Faith questions hesitantly.  As Tara nods her head, Faith plays with the label on her water bottle.  “Well, have you ever heard of ‘One girl in all the world to fight the forces of evil’ yadda, yadda, yadda shit?”

Tara frowns and shakes her head.  “No.”  Tara states simply, watching as Faith sighs. 

“Yeah, well, the girl is called a slayer.  She was born… sorry make it created originally.  She was made to fight vampires and other evil.  She’s a lot stronger, faster, and heals quicker than a normal human, that way she can fight on a more even basis with these creatures.”  Faith explains quickly. 

“Created?”  Tara’s brows furrow at the wording.

“The original slayer was created by men.  They pretty much took this poor girl and did some kind of voodoo shit on her.  When she died, a new one was called.  They tapped into some cosmos shit, or something, making it so that there would always be a new one to replace the old one.  Down through time, that’s the way it goes.”  Faith snarls her lip at the thought. 

Tara watches Faith for a long moment.  “You’re the slayer.”  Tara whispers as she makes the connection.  Paling even more at the thought.  “It’s your job to kill demons.” 

“Evil demons.”  Faith nods her head.  “There are such things as non-evil demons.  Some are actually kind of cool.”  Faith shrugs her shoulders.  “It’s more of a case by case basis.  If they try to kill me, or someone else, I kill them.”

“Willow knows?”  Tara whispers.

“Yeah.  Her and B go back to Sophomore year together.  She found out then, along with Xander.”  Faith explains.

“Wait.  B?”  Tara looks confused at the dark haired slayer.

“Buffy, she’s a slayer also.”  Faith admits, frowning.  “I’m fuckin’ this all up.  B was the slayer two before me.  She drowned, Xander performed CPR on her, bringing her back to life, but not before a new slayer was called.  Her name was Kendra, she was killed, then that made yours truly.”  Faith waves her hand at herself. 

Tara sits there in stunned silence. 

Faith watches the woman, wondering if she was going to freak out, or just continue to sit there not saying anything.  “Tare?”  Faith calls her name quietly, when the woman seems to have faded off into her own little world. 

“A l-lot to t-take in.”  Tara’s lip quirks the tiniest bit, not able to do more than that.

“Yeah, it is.”  Faith sighs quietly, before heading towards the door.  “If you can’t deal, let Willow down easy.  She’s really been lookin’ hard to find someone to practice magic with.  I‘m sorry that this isn‘t what you‘re lookin‘ for.”  Faith softly states before quickly slipping out of the dorm room.

It takes a moment for Tara to realize that Faith left.  Glancing up at the closed door, Tara runs a shaking hand over her forehead.  “What am I going to do?  In six months I turn twenty.  If I become a demon…”  Tara feels tears gathering in her eyes.  “Mama, I wish you were here to help me.  Is what father said true?  Am I a demon?  Will they have to kill me when I turn into one?”

Letting the tears fall, Tara curls up into a small ball on the bed, crying herself into a restless night’s sleep.

***

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”  Faith growls as she stomps her way towards Revello Drive.  Almost hoping to come across a few vampires to take her frustrations out on, but of course, when she’s wanting them to be around, there’s none to be found. 

Joyce looks up in surprise as Faith opens the door, closing it a little more forcefully than necessary.  “Faith?” 

“Mrs. S.”  Faith looks at the woman, questioningly. 

“Everything okay?”  Joyce questions hesitantly, seeing the anger practically pouring from the woman’s eyes.

“Yeah, peachy keen.”  Faith snarls as she heads into the kitchen, opening and shutting cabinet doors as she looks for something to munch on.

“Please tell me Buffy didn’t piss you off.”  Joyce questions softly as she watches Faith tear open a bag of chips, grabbing a handful and shoving them into her mouth, chewing them viciously.

Swallowing the chips.  Faith shakes her head.  “Not B.  I pretty much fucked up all on my own.”  Faith admits, opening the refrigerator door, grabbing a soda out before hopping up on the counter. 

Joyce waits, hoping that Faith might open up to her, watching as the teenager works her way slowly and methodically through the bag of chips. 

“What’s it like to be in love?”  Faith questions out of the blue. 

“Uh…”  Joyce blinks in surprise as she watches Faith look at her with questioning brown eyes.  Slowly walking into the kitchen, Joyce sits down at the island across from the slayer.  “I guess it’s different for different people.  But, in my experience, it was getting lost in Hank’s eyes first.  My heart would speed up at the sight of him, or when I’d hear his voice.  I’d catch myself thinking about him at inopportune times, wanting to spend time with him.”  Joyce shrugs. 

“Wanting to bump uglies with him?”  Faith allows a small smile to work across her face as Joyce narrows her gaze before grinning at her.

“Yes, having sex with him was part of it, too.”  Joyce chuckles quietly.  “Found some hunk you’re interested in?”

“Not a hunk.”  Faith tilts her head at the older Summers.

“Okay, hunkette?”  Joyce grins at the surprise on Faith’s face.

“Damn, I thought that might freak you a bit.”  Faith’s mouth drops as Joyce laughs heartily at her.

“Kids today!”  Joyce shakes her head, her eyes twinkling with mischief.  “You think you’re the only ones that even consider having same sex relations.  That’s been going on probably since the beginning of time.”

Faith raises an eyebrow in wonder at Joyce, her curiosity peaked.  “Do tell.  Sounds more like a little note of experience coming through there, Mrs. S.” 

Joyce blushes lightly.  “If you tell anyone, I’ll get you back, some how, some way, understood?”  As Faith’s eyes open in surprise, and she nods her head, Joyce smirks.  “My freshman year in college, my roommate and I were known to… experiment.  It was actually quite enjoyable.  But, in the long run, not for me.”  Joyce shrugs, grinning.

“Damn!  B ought to know this.  Little Miss Tight Ass could probably use a little experimenting, instead of dealing with corn-fed boy.”  Faith guffaws loudly as Joyce smirks at her comment. 

“We did not have this conversation, understand?”  As Faith nods, Joyce laughs quietly.  “Honestly, I agree with you.  She goes from that damn vampire, to the Mr. America wanna be.  She needs to let her hair down and enjoy life some.”  Joyce sighs quietly.  “But it isn’t like she’ll listen to me.”

“Don’t know.  Maybe you oughta tell her you got it on with another girl, might open her eyes.”  Faith jokes, jumping down from the counter to sit on the stool across from Joyce. 

“Probably make her look at me like I’m a two-headed vampire.”  Joyce chuckles.  “So, how did you fuck up?”  Joyce questions, using Faith’s terminology.

Faith blinks in surprise at Joyce saying fuck.  “Well, Willow met this girl in the Wicca meeting group who’s an actual witch.  She actually intrigued me there.  I had walked Willow there because it was a wolf moon.  Anyway, Willow talked her into going to the Bronze tonight.  I played bodyguard walking them there, then kind of went off on my own.  I kept catching myself staring at her, you know.”  Faith glances up briefly seeing the look of understanding crossing the woman’s face.  “Well, she glanced up and it was like she was starin’ into my soul.  Well, I got her out on the dance floor we danced a few fast dances before the band took a break.  By then the whole group was there, being all huggy, kissy type shit.  I asked her to shoot pool.”

Joyce watches the emotions playing over Faith’s face.  They seemed to range from everything from happiness, to sadness to confusion to a hint of anger.

“Well, I kind of had to show her how to shoot pool.”  Faith grins wickedly at this point, her eyes lighting up with merriment.

“How do…”   Joyce trails off, thinking about it, before blushing and laughing quietly.

“Yeah, I kinda hung all over her back, pressing my body into her type thing.”  Faith admits, smirking.  “Anyway, it kinda got heated there at the end, where I came close to kissin’ her.  She ended up heading back to the table and Willow, while I decided to hit the dance floor.  Next thing I know Willow’s coming up to me, telling me Tara decided to head back to the University, without anyone walking with her.  That damn redhead could have went with her. But no, she lets her take off on her own, so she can stay there with dog boy.”  Faith growls deeply at the thought. 

Joyce reaches out, placing a calming hand on the slayer’s clenched fist.  “Easy, Faith.”

Faith slowly calms down.  “I took off after her and good thing I did.  A vampire was planning on making a snack of her.  She saw me dust him.  It was weird, when she asked me if vampires, demons and werewolves existed and I said yes they did, she turned real pale and scared like.  She asked me what I was.  I insisted we go somewhere more quiet and followed her to her room, explained I was a slayer, as was Buffy.  Needless to say, I think it kind of freaked her out.  I think I scared her off, Mrs. S.”  Faith finally admits what’s really bothering her.  “I like her.  I ain’t never liked no one before.  I don’t know what love is, but I know I don’t want to just jump in the sack with her.  I want to get to know her, too.”

Joyce sighs quietly.  “Give her some time.  Maybe talk to Willow, tell her that you had to tell Tara.  Maybe she can talk to her, also.  She went through this revelation in high school.  I’m sure she can help explain things a little more to Tara, so she won’t be so upset.”

Faith plays with her empty soda can, tearing little chunks off the top, dropping them into the opening.  “I think I scared her off, Mrs. S.  I don’t think I’ll ever get a chance to know if there might have been somethin’ there.”

“Don’t write it off yet, Faith.”  Joyce states softly, watching the teen.  “Give her a few days to let it soak in.  She might surprise you.”

“Yeah, like my life is that great.  If I was her, I’d run to the farthest point on the map to be away from this shit.”  Faith growls.  “Thanks for listening to my shit, Mrs. S.  I appreciate it.”

“Anytime.  I’m always here for you, if you need me.”  Joyce pats Faith’s arm gently.  “Buffy never gave me the chance.  I appreciate you talking with me.”

“Yeah, well…  B sometimes ain’t the brightest crayon in the box.”  Faith smirks as Joyce smacks her arm at that comment.

“Be nice.  She’s still my daughter.”  Joyce chuckles at the gleam in Faith’s eyes. 

“You sure about that?”  Faith laughs, as she ducks the dishtowel that comes sailing at her head.  “You’re all right, Mrs. S.”  Faith throws the empty bag in the trash along with her soda can. 

Joyce watches as Faith strides out of the kitchen.  Smiling softly, she whispers to the empty room.  “You’re all right, too, Faith.”   Joyce glances at the clock on the stove.  “It’s late and I need to be in bed.”  Joyce shakes her head, surprised at how long the two of them had been talking.  Quickly shutting the lights off, Joyce double-checks the doors before heading upstairs, grinning as she hears Faith singing quietly in the shower.  “’Night, Faith.”  Joyce calls out, knowing the slayer will hear her, before heading to bed.

***

Willow bites on her lip nervously as she waits outside Tara’s door.  As the door slowly opens and Tara stands there quietly, Willow smiles self-consciously.  “Ummm.  Am I still welcome?” 

Tara sighs, letting a small smile cross her face as she opens the door wider to allow Willow to come in.  “Yes, you’re welcome, Willow.”  She states softly after Willow enters the room.

“Just make sure you don’t invite anyone in your room.  That’s a no-no.”  Willow quirks her lip up into a quick smile.  “So, how are you doing?”  Willow questions as she glances around the woman’s room. 

“Don’t really know.”  Tara admits as she sits down on her bed. 

“Anything you want to ask?  Clarify?”  Willow’s foot bounces nervously as she watches Tara.

“Please sit, Willow.”  Tara can’t help but laugh quietly at the obviously worried redhead.  “Faith kind of gave me a quick run down.”

Willow nods her head.  “She told me she was afraid she’d scared you off.  Did she?”

Tara runs a hand over the coverlet on her bed, smoothing out the wrinkles.  “It wasn’t her, necessarily, that s-scared me.  It was the thought that d-demons are real.”  Tara looks up with worried eyes. 

“But Buffy and Faith fight demons.  They’re here to protect us and keep us safe from evilness.  The Hellmouth is a lot safer place than it was before.  I remember when Buffy first came here how it seemed every weekend a new group of vampires were trying to take over the town.  But they keep that down to a minimum now!  Honest.”  Willow babbles quickly. 

Tara bites her lip, not looking up, nodding her head silently.  “I get that.”  Tara sighs softly, deciding to wait to say anything.  Maybe she can help Willow with her magic before it gets to her birthday.  “Did you want to work on your meditations?  They’ll h-help you in the l-long run.”  Tara tilts her head thinking for a moment.  “That’s why the n-negative energy is so b-bad here in Sunnydale.  It’s a Hellmouth.”  Tara finally realizes what Willow had said, making the connection.

“So the Hellmouth is partially to blame for my soupy spells?”  Willow questions eagerly.

Tara laughs quietly.  “Well, it certainly isn’t helping.  Let’s w-work on your meditations, letting you get in touch with your inner s-store of magic so you can draw on it, instead of d-drawing on the things around you.  That’ll help you a lot.  Then I have a couple books that you can borrow.  Read them, they might give you a l-little more insight into the magical realm.”  Tara grins crookedly, relaxing.

“Thank you.”  Willow breathes out a huge sigh of relief.  “I’m so glad Faith didn’t scare you off.”

“Faith didn’t d-do anything wrong, Willow.  There w-was n-nothing she did to be blamed for.”  Tara explains softly.  Hesitating for a moment, Tara finally questions the redhead.  “How is she?”

“Who?”  Willow looks at the blonde from where she was perusing her magic books. 

“Faith.”  Tara whispers the slayer’s name. 

“She’s okay, I guess.”  Willow shrugs her shoulders.  “She just called to let me know she’d let you in on the slayer deal, and that she was kind of worried about you.”

Tara frowns momentarily.  “You guys aren’t real close?”  Tara questions. 

“Well…”  Willow hesitates momentarily.  “Faith is kind of a loner.  She sort of does her own thing.  She alternates out nights with Buffy, doing the slayer thing.  Occasionally they’ll patrol together.  She’s kind of on call.”  Willow grins briefly. 

Tara furrows her brow at the words, wondering if the original group had ever really tried to bring Faith into their circle, or if they had just decided that if she wanted to join them, she could.  If she didn’t, they’d use her when they needed her.  Deciding to wait and see what happens, Tara puts those thoughts out of her mind for the time being.  “Let’s work on your meditations.”

Willow grins hugely at the witch, climbing up on the bed facing Tara as the blonde witch indicates. 

Tara softly explains what she wants Willow to do, to relax, try and get that busy mind of hers to empty and concentrate on her heartbeat, before continuing.

***

Chapter 5

Faith sighs quietly as she walks by Tara’s dorm, her eyes unconsciously looking up at the general area she knows her room is at.  It’d been roughly a month since she’d told the witch about being a slayer.  The witch hadn’t tried to contact her, and of course, Faith hasn’t taken the initiative to see how she’s doing.  Only getting the occasional comment from Willow to go by after Willow started to look at her strangely when she kept asking after the witch.  According to Buffy and Willow they are studying for finals, since it was almost the end of the school year.  So Faith had decided to wait and try and contact the witch after the end of the school year.  Maybe see if she’d want to grab a meal.  Faith chuckles to herself at the thought, having talked extensively with Mrs. S about the witch. 

Noticing the campus is unusually quiet, Faith figures everyone must be studying hard for finals, chuckling at the thought, Faith continues patrolling, looking for something to take her irritation out on.  Faith frowns as she cruises around the campus, the hairs on the back of her neck starting to stand on end.  Sharpening her gaze, her eyes widen as this huge guy, demon…  “What the fuck?”  Faith looks the guy up and down.  “Frankenstein, I presume?”  Faith questions hoarsely.

“You’re the other one.”  Adam states calmly in a mechanical sounding voice.  “Good, I want to see what you’re capable of.” 

Faith ducks a quick strike by the monster, before slamming her fist into his stomach, yanking her hand to her body as she cries out in pain.

“Sorry, does my titanium stomach bother you?”  Adam allows a smile to cross his patchwork face before extending the spike in his hand, piercing the slayer’s shoulder before picking her up and tossing her twenty feet. 

Faith groans as she hits the ground, trying to roll so it absorbs some of the impact.  Cradling her almost useless right arm to her body, she snarls as she looks up at the monster.  “Who the fuck are you?”  She yells as she jumps up, snapping off a kick to his jaw, his head barely moving at the hard kick.  Landing, she nails his knee with everything in her, finally making him grunt and partially collapse before he slowly stands again. 

Adam tilts his head, his gaze narrowing.  “That actually hurt.  I don’t like that.”  He grabs her up with both arms, slinging her a good forty feet away closer to the dorms.  “I need to work on this.”  Adam looks down at his leg as he limps away into the night.

***

Tara sighs quietly as she takes a break from studying.  Standing up she works her way over to the electric kettle, checking the water level.  Grabbing a large bottle of water she pours some more in before turning the kettle on, deciding a nice cup of chamomile tea wouldn’t go amiss.  Preparing the mug and tea bag, she walks over to her window looking out at the night, thoughts of the dark-haired slayer crossing her mind, wondering how the woman’s doing.  Knowing that she’s doing the patrols pretty much every night by herself, since Buffy is studying for finals, just like pretty much every other student on the campus. 

Tara had subconsciously decided to stay away from the dark-haired woman, and the way she makes her feel.  Not wanting to chance caring for the woman, or Goddess forbid, Faith care for her and then she turns into a demon.  Not wanting the woman to have to possibly kill someone she’s interested in, or could become interested in. 

Turning back as she hears the kettle click off, she pours the hot water in her mug.  Setting the kettle back down, she tilts her head as she feels…  “Faith.”  She whispers quickly closing the short distance to the door, opening it.  “Sweet Goddess!”  Tara cries out, reaching down for the battered and bloodied slayer. 

“You closest.”  Faith mutters, trying to drag her body into the room.  Grunting in pain as Tara wraps her arm around her waist, helping her to stand.  “Frankenstein…”  Faith coughs up some blood, crying out at the pain in her body.

“Shhh.”  Tara eases the slayer onto the bed, watching as the slayer impossibly turns paler, her eyes full of pain, her aura radiating strong reds with the pain she’s in.  Whispering a small incantation, Tara blocks some of the pain, and in effect knocks Faith out.  Grabbing up the phone, she calls Willow’s room. 

“Faith’s in my room.  Bring the biggest damn First Aid kit you got.”  Tara mutters quickly as Buffy answers the phone, hanging up before the other slayer has a chance to say anything.  Quickly striding over to Faith, Tara gently eases the slayer’s top off before she prods the dark-haired woman, seeing the bad scalp laceration, Tara quickly grabs all the towels and washrags she has, pouring the hot water into a bowl.  Wiping away the blood, Tara winces, but waits before trying to heal it, making sure there isn’t anything else that needs immediate attention.  Pressing a towel against the wound, she runs her hands gently over the slayer’s body, whispering soft nonsense words as the slayer groans, shifting, as her hands press on the already bruised and swollen ribs and stomach. 

“Goddess, the internal damage has to be bad.  But so is the head laceration.  Internals first.”  Tara finally decides, deciding they can probably stitch up the head wound, but the internals were going to need something more.  Praying quietly to the Goddess for the strength and power to take care of the broken slayer Tara concentrates on sending all her energy into the woman, seeing the healing of the woman’s internal organs, with a mental eye, the ribs slowly knitting together.  Sending the majority of her energy to the internal organs after starting the ribs to healing, Tara whimpers as she finally drains herself.  Hoping that what she did would help the worst of it, she glances up as Buffy comes barreling in the unlocked door Willow a few steps behind her. 

“What happened?”  Buffy questions, stopping in stunned surprise at the slayer lying on Tara’s bed, almost half naked.  Taking a moment, she notices the blood that obviously had soaked the witch’s bed, and the bloody towel behind Faith’s head.

“Who the fuck cares, give me the first aid kit!”  Tara growls deeply, yanking the kit from Buffy’s hands, pulling out scissors, sterile pads and silk before digging around until she finds a needle.  “Turn her over onto her stomach, GENTLY.”  Tara orders hoarsely, pouring some of the rubbing alcohol in with the hot water, soaking a washrag in the mixture as Buffy and Willow gently shift Faith onto her stomach.  Setting the bowl down beside the woman’s hips and climbing up on the bed, Tara gently cleanses the wound before snipping the hair away from the gash, frowning at having to cut some of the woman’s beautiful hair, but knowing it has to be done. 

Buffy glances at Willow frowning deeply as she silently tilts her head towards Tara with a raised eyebrow in question.  When all she gets is a shrug of the shoulders in response, she watches the witch silently. 

“Can you try and hold her still for me?  I don’t want her moving around while I’m trying to stitch her head.”  Tara questions quickly as she washes her hands with alcohol before tearing open the needle and thread. 

“Did she pass out?”  Buffy questions as she climbs up on the bed, holding the woman’s shoulders, looking at Willow.  “Can you try and hold her head?” 

Willow nods.  “Hope the bed can hold us all.”  Willow mutters. 

Buffy sees what Willow means.  Quickly hopping back off the bed, Buffy looks at Tara.  “Anything under the bed you got to worry about?”

“No.  Faith’s more important.”  Tara shakes her head as Buffy slides the bed away from the wall a good two feet so Willow can slide in at the head.  Sighing deeply, Tara waits as Buffy and Willow get situated.  Gently wiping the wound again, Tara swallows hard as she pinches the skin together.  Biting her lip, harder than she realizes, she cleanly stitches nice small stitches in the gash, pulling it closed, tying off the thread.  Tara snips the excess before reaching down for one of the sterile pads placing it gently on the wound before wrapping the gauze around the slayer’s head to hold it in place. 

“Can you shift her back?  I didn’t get a chance to finish checking over the rest of her wounds.”  Tara runs a shaking hand over her forehead, unaware that she’s leaving a streak of blood in its wake. 

“How badly is she hurt?”  Willow questions as she shifts out from the front of the bed, watching as Tara quickly cleans and bandages the wound in Faith’s shoulder, before she slides her hand down Faith’s body, paying special attention to her abdomen and ribs.

“Honestly?  I haven’t a fucking clue.”  Tara admits.  “She had some serious internal damage.  I drained my stores of energy trying to heal them to the best of my ability.  She had at least four broken ribs, I started them knitting together to help her slayer healing along, just to be sure that they didn’t accidentally puncture a lung again.”  Tara runs her hands down Faith’s legs, frowning at the obvious swelling of one knee.  Leaving the tight leather pants on for now, knowing that they’re probably keeping the swelling to a minimum, she checks the other leg. 

“Want me to wrap her ribs?”  Buffy questions quietly, as it looks like Tara’s finished taking inventory of Faith’s injuries.

“Please.”  Tara nods her head before opening a drawer in her desk, pulling out a heavy duty pair of scissors.  “I’m probably going to get yelled at for this…”  Tara mutters more to herself than the other women in the room as she cuts up the leg of the pants, stopping before she reaches the knee.  “Willow, can you go get me as much ice as you can?”  Tara glances up, making eye contact for the first time with the redhead.  “I have a small cooler in the closet, if you can fill it and maybe a couple of the small trash bags with it?” 

Willow nods her head, opening the closet, grabbing the cooler and the trash bags sitting on the small shelf unit, running out of the room.

“Sorry for earlier.”  Tara whispers as she helps lift Faith, for Buffy to wrap her ribs.

“Yeah, well, I was kind of stupid asking what happened when she needed help.”  Buffy admits, quickly wrapping Faith’s ribs, taping the wrap down.  “How exactly did you know how to do all this?”  Buffy questions as Tara gently lays Faith back down.

“Willow didn’t tell you what I’m taking for college courses?”  Tara allows a small smile to cross her face.

“Uh, no.”  Buffy shakes her head.

“I’m sort of pre-med.  I’m planning on becoming a veterinarian.  Have to take a lot of the same courses medical students have to.”  Tara admits, running her hand through her sweaty hair. 

“I thought you were 18 like us?”  Buffy questions sitting back on the bed.

“No, I’m nineteen, getting ready to turn twenty in five months.  This is actually my third year of college.  My mother signed papers for me to be emancipated before she died.”  Tara looks away, running a hand gently through Faith’s hair, sighing deeply.  “I graduated high school early, started college technically when I was sixteen.  My mother died a few months after I turned seventeen.”

“So, you’s smart?”  Faith slurs, her eyes slowly opening, as she groans in pain.

“Shhhh, sweetie.  Try and go to sleep.  You need to rest and let your slayer healing take care of the injuries I couldn’t help.”  Tara runs a soothing hand down Faith’s face, cupping her swollen cheek gently. 

“Hurts.”  Faith admits, shifting slightly, whimpering. 

“I don’t have any power left to knock her out again.”  Tara looks up with haunted eyes at Buffy.

“I’ve got pain pills in the kit.”  Buffy answers, hopping off the bed, grabbing the bottle out of the kit handing it to Tara.  “Faith, juice or water?”  Buffy questions after sticking her head in the small refrigerator.

“Get her juice.  She can use the natural sugar.”  Tara suggests.  “There’re bendy straws in the little box on top of the refrigerator.” 

“Here’s the ice.”  Willow pants as she comes back in carrying the cooler and two bags filled to the brim with ice. 

“Buffy, can you get her to take the pills, while I look at her leg?”  Tara questions quietly, as she looks down into Faith’s brown eyes.  “Take the pills and try to go to sleep, okay?”

“But…”  Faith winces, arching up in pain as her ribs creak in protest of her trying to shift.

“Damn it, Faith!  Stay the fuck still!”  Tara states harshly, looking down into the pain-filled eyes.  “Don’t piss me off.  I’m a scary bitch when I get mad.”

“’Kay.”  Faith eases her body back down in the bed, her eyes following Tara as she walks back down by her leg.  Faith groans as she watches Tara finish cutting her pants then cries out as the flow of pain makes it from her leg up to her brain. 

“Here, take the pills.”  Buffy states, before dragging her eyes away from the woman’s horribly swollen leg and sliding four pills into Faith’s mouth before putting the straw to her lips, watching as she sucks down the juice slowly.  When Faith releases the straw, Buffy frowns.  “What did this to you, Faith?”

“Frankenstein.”  Faith whimpers as she feels fingers prodding her leg.  “Part monster, part human, part machine.  Wicked strong.  Looked like a bunch of demons patch-worked together.”  Faith clenches her jaw in pain.

“I can’t tell how badly your leg is hurt because of the swelling.”  Tara admits, glancing up at the brunette slayer.  Wrapping a clean towel around the woman’s knee, Tara stands grabbing extra trash bags out of the closet, triple bagging the ice before tucking them on either side of the slayer’s knee.  Kneeling beside the bed, Tara pulls out the boxes, digging through them until she finds her refillable ice pack.  Quickly scooping some ice in it, she closes the top before sitting down gently beside the slayer, placing it against the woman’s swollen cheek.  “Sleep, Faith.”  Tara whispers, watching as the woman tries to fight the pills, and her own body’s natural reaction of wanting to slide into unconsciousness. 

“Thanks.”  Faith finally whispers, slowly closing her eyes.

“Anything else we can do?”  Willow questions worriedly.

“Unfortunately, no.  I need to recharge.”  Tara sighs looking at the redhead. 

“What do you need to recharge?”  Buffy questions, frowning.

“I need to get out of Sunnydale.  If I spend a few hours at the lake, I can charge my stores of energy and come back here and help Faith along some more.”  Tara softly answers, unconsciously running a hand up and down the slayer’s arm beside her leg. 

Buffy glances out the window to the slowly lightening sky, realizing her mother should be up, getting ready for work.  “Let me call mom.  I’m sure you have classes?”  Buffy looks back at the blonde witch.

Sighing, Tara nods, trying to figure out what to do. 

“When’s your first class?”  Buffy questions as she dials her mom’s number.

Tara glances at the clock, realizing it’s almost 5:00 a.m.  Taking a moment to figure out that it’s Friday, she figures her first two classes she can get by skipping, she should be worked far enough in advance to be okay.  “I can skip the first couple.  I’ll need to take my 11:00 class.”  Tara admits.

“Mom, Faith ran into a bit of trouble last night.”  Buffy explains quickly what little bit she knows that happened.  “Can you maybe come by the dorm, take Tara to the lake outside of town?”

“Of course.  I’ll call work and tell them I won’t be in today.  One of the perks of being the boss.”  Joyce frowns deeply.  “What else does Faith need?”

“What do you think Faith’ll need until she’s well enough to go home?”  Buffy looks at Tara questioningly. 

“Maybe a couple changes of clothes, preferably either loose sweat pants or shorts, loose button up shirts.  Normal personal items.”  Tara shrugs.  “She shouldn’t be going anywhere for a few days, even with what help I can give her, and her slayer healing.”

“I heard, I’ll gather together a bag of stuff, which dorm?”  Joyce wonders whose voice had been speaking, not having recognized it. 

Buffy quickly explains where the dorm is at, and that she’d be downstairs in half an hour to wait for her mother.  After hanging up, she watches Tara as she slowly stands, gathering her clothes. 

“Would one of you mind staying here while I take a quick shower?”  Tara actually looks down at her body, frowning at the amount of the dark-haired slayer’s blood that’s covering her. 

“You’re going to need to cover your clothes, or change before showering.  Plus, you kinda got some blood streaks on your face and through your hair.”  Buffy admits, standing, gathering a washrag and pouring some water from a water bottle on it.  “Here, I can at least get the streaks off your face, in case you run into someone.” 

Tara chuckles and grins crookedly at the slayer.  “Thanks, Buffy.  And I am sorry for being kind of b-bossy earlier.”  Tara looks down, blushing.

“Willow?”  Buffy questions as she wipes the blood gently from Tara’s face.

“Yes?”  Willow looks at Buffy, wondering what she’s wanting.

“Why is it that the whole time we were here and Tara was ordering us around and bitching at us, that she didn’t stutter once, but she just did?”  Buffy’s eyes twinkle as she grins at the blonde witch.

“Ah, hell.”  Tara mutters, blushing even deeper.  “Extreme situations, I don’t s-stutter.”  Tara admits.  “Finished?”  She questions as a grinning Buffy steps back.

“Yes, I’m finished.”  Buffy smirks at the blushing witch. 

“Good.”  Tara grabs a robe, yanking it on before grasping her clothes and her shower kit, quickly heading out of the room to go shower and dress.

“How come you didn’t tell me she was going to be a veterinarian?”  Buffy questions, before glancing at the clock, and realizing she was going to have to run downstairs in a few minutes. 

“Didn’t think about it.  Not something that I thought about telling you.”  Willow admits, shrugging. 

“Did you know this is her third year in college and that’s she’s only 19?”  Buffy questions Willow quickly.

“What?”  Willow looks up in surprise.  “I didn’t know that, I knew she was taking classes to become a veterinarian and she was finishing her third year, but I didn’t know she was only 19.”  Willow shakes her head in surprise. 

“Uh, huh.  Might want to talk a little bit more with Tara.  I think she’s a lot deeper than any of us know.  I’ve got to go down and wait for mom.”  Buffy glances from the passed out slayer back to the redhead.  “Got any idea what’s going on between those two?”

“No.  Faith asked about her the past month a few times.”  Willow admits.

“And Tara was sure acting very protective over Faith.  Curious.”  Buffy eases the door open, heading down to the front of the dorm to wait for her mom.

Willow looks curiously at Faith, wondering what’s going on between her and Tara.  Also it crosses her mind to wonder why Faith came to Tara’s door instead of theirs when she needed help.

***

Chapter 6

Buffy runs out to the Jeep as her mom pulls into the parking lot.  Grasping the bags from her mom’s hands, she allows a small smile to cross her face.

“How bad is she?”  Joyce questions, following Buffy. 

“Pretty bad.  For some reason she made her way to Tara’s door.  Tara’s a witch, she used all the powers she had trying to heal the worse of Faith’s injuries, but she still isn’t happy with how badly Faith’s hurt and wants to re-charge.  Hence you taking her out to the lake, she said something about being able to recharge after a couple hours there.”  Buffy explains quickly as they make their way to Tara’s door.  Quickly opening the door, she lets her mom precede her in, before placing Faith’s items beside the door. 

Tara glances up from where she’s trying to gently wash away some of the blood and dirt from the slayer’s body.  Patting the slayer’s arms and chest dry, Tara reaches down for the blanket, gently laying it over the woman. 

“Hi.”  Tara smiles crookedly at Buffy’s mom, wiping her hands dry before holding one out to shake Joyce’s hand.

Joyce tilts her head, looking at the witch.  It finally occurs to her that this is the woman Faith was talking about.  As she shakes her hand, she smiles.  “I’m Buffy’s mother, Joyce.  How’s she doing?”  Joyce’s eyes shift to the sleeping slayer. 

“Better than she was.”  Tara admits, turning back to look at the slayer, running a hand over the woman’s forehead.  “I want to charge my batteries, as it were, so I can help her more.” 

“Who’s going to stay here with Faith while I drive Tara out to the lake?”  Joyce looks from Willow to Buffy.  “Don’t you both have classes this morning?”

“Yes.”  Willow admits.  “Buffy and I can’t miss this morning’s class, the professor made it clear that any student missing any classes this close to finals would get a failing grade.” 

“Tara, can you drive?”  Joyce questions the blonde with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, ma’am.”  Tara nods, looking in surprise at the set of keys Joyce presses into her hands. 

“Buffy will show you my vehicle.  Do what you have to.  I’ll stay here with Faith.  Anything special I need to do?”  Joyce explains quickly. 

“If she comes to, try and get her to take some more pain pills.  I’ll fill the cooler with ice again before I leave.”  Tara checks the ice packed around Faith’s leg, frowning. 

“Go to the lake.  I can get ice, or have Buffy and Willow run down for more ice before they have to get ready for class.”  Joyce waves the woman away.  “Go.”

Tara grins briefly at the woman.  “I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”  Tara grabs her purse as she practically runs out of the room.

“Guess I should go with her to show her your vehicle.”  Buffy mumbles before quickly heading after the witch.

Joyce chuckles, before turning back to the dark-haired slayer frowning.  “How badly was she hurt, Willow?” 

Willow sighs.  “I don’t know for sure, Tara mentioned something about at least four broken ribs, a punctured lung, internal damage, the hole in her shoulder, a nasty gash in the back of her head and her knee.  I think those were the worst of it.  There seems to be a lot of bruises and scrapes also.”

“She should be in the hospital.”  Joyce frowns as she looks at the blood soaked sheets.

“She’s probably better now than she would have been in the hospital.”  Willow admits quietly.  “Tara drained her energy healing a good portion of Faith’s wounds.  Stitched up the scalp wound and bandaged a couple other wounds.”

“Where did she learn to do that?”  Joyce questions curiously, unknowingly taking Tara’s place beside the slayer running a hand gently over the slayer’s forehead and cheek. 

“She’s training to be a veterinarian.   They have to take a lot of the same classes that pre-med students do.  She’s in her third year of college.”  Willow explains, as she fidgets watching Faith, feeling at a loss as to what to do. 

“And she’s obviously the witch helping you out.”  Joyce looks up, smiling softly at the redhead.

“Yes.  She’s helping me get control of my powers, showing me where I’ve gone wrong and the right way of doing things.  She’s been a great help.”  Willow nibbles on her lip. 

Joyce glances towards the door as Buffy comes in. 

“Let me get some more ice, we’re going to need to go here soon for class, Willow.”  Buffy smiles at her mother. 

“I’ll go ahead and get ready, see you at the room.”  Willow quickly leaves Tara’s room.

“Mom, want to help me with these?”  Buffy questions grasping the two bags on either side of Faith’s leg.

“They’re still cold and have ice in them.  Why don’t you get more bags and fill them with ice and I’ll replace them later.”  Joyce offers as she feels the bags. 

“Okay.  I’ll be back in a few minutes.”  Buffy grabs more bags out of the box in the closet before grasping the cooler. 

Joyce frowns at Faith.  “What am I going to do with you?”  Joyce grumbles, grasping the washcloth Tara had been trying to clean Faith with, running it gently down the woman’s arm and hand, frowning at the swollen, bruised knuckles.  “Need to ice these down also.” 

Buffy lets herself back into Tara’s dorm room.  “Here, mom.  Sorry about this.”  Buffy frowns.  “We’re going to have to figure out what the hell did this to Faith and take it out.  If it hurt her that bad, it probably isn’t going to be easy.”

“Be careful.  Go to class, honey.  I paid good money for them, after all.”  Joyce smiles sadly at her daughter.

“Love you.”  Buffy whispers as she hugs her mother tight. 

“Love you, too, honey.”  Joyce smiles as she watches Buffy leave.  Sighing quietly, Joyce slowly works on removing the bedclothes and sheets from under Faith, thankful that it didn’t look like the blood had made it to the mattress.  Checking the closet first, Joyce smiles as she sees the stack of linens at the top of the closet.  Pulling the sheets down, she grabs a couple of the large trash bags, placing them under Faith’s swollen leg, hoping to keep the condensation from soaking the mattress.  Covering the bags with a couple towels, wincing in sympathy as she hears a groan come from Faith, Joyce gently shifts the slayer as she re-makes the bed. 

Sighing at the ruined pants, Joyce looks around, eyes lighting on the heavy scissors lying on the desk.  Chuckling quietly, she looks up at the dark-haired slayer.  “You’re probably going to be more pissed about a pair of your leather pants getting demolished than anything.”  Joyce glances over towards the clock, realizing that Tara’s probably been gone a little over two hours, walking over to the window she glances out, smiling as she sees the blonde hurrying towards the building.  “So Tara’s your young woman’s name.  She seems to care about you, Faith.”  Joyce chuckles before she heads back towards the slayer’s pants, planning on cutting them the rest of the way off her.

Tara eases her dorm room door open, closing it quickly as she drops her purse on the desk, walking over to Joyce, realizing that the older woman had obviously changed the bedding, along with helping clean Faith up, she smiles briefly.  “I don’t think we got much of an introduction.  I know you’re Mrs. Summers, Buffy’s mom.  I’m Tara Maclay.” 

“Hi, Tara.”  Joyce smiles.  “I’m going to go ahead and cut these pants off her, get the old clothes away from her, wash her down as good as I can before putting a pair of my sweat pants and an old shirt of mine on her.”

“Let me help, that way I can check for any additional wounds that I might have missed before.  Now that my ‘batteries’ are full to overflowing, I can see where the worse damage is and take care of it first.”  Tara grins crookedly at the older woman.   “I hope she won’t be embarrassed about this.”  Tara states, not thinking.

“Faith?  Embarrassed?”  Joyce chuckles loudly.  “I don’t know if it’s possible!”  

Tara blinks a couple times as she looks at Buffy’s mom.  “That may have been a stupid statement.  She actually doesn’t seem like the type to be embarrassed.”

“She isn’t.  She has a tendency to runaround upstairs naked, I’ve bought her three robes, but she won’t use them!”  Joyce rolls her eyes as she finishes cutting up the one leg of leather pants before going over to the other leg. 

“She lives with you?”  Tara questions as she eases her hands around the slayer, unhooking her bra, gently easing it down the woman before tossing it in her hamper. 

“Yes, she does.  She’s been living in the house for the last year, give or take.”  Joyce glances up, watching as Tara closes her eyes, gently running her hands over Faith’s head, slowly working her way down the slayer’s body.  Surprised at the gentleness of her hands noticing as they linger at the slayer’s ribs.  “Are her ribs bad?”

“There were at least four broken, one had punctured a lung.  I want to make sure I healed the puncture completely.”  Tara explains softly.  Using her inner sight, Tara sighs in relief.  “It’s healed.”  Tara opens her eyes and glances back at Joyce.  “Want some help getting those pants off her?”

“Might be easier.”  Joyce grins as she finishes cutting through the heavy leather.  “I’m going to have to buy her a new pair of pants.  She’s going to be pissed.  I think these were her favorite pair.”  Joyce chuckles quietly. 

“Well, technically I’m the one that cut them first.  But there was no way they were going to come off that leg without being cut away.”  Tara admits looking at the still swollen leg.  “Here, let me do something.”  Tara closes her eyes concentrating for a few moments.

“Wow!”  Joyce mutters in awe as Faith and the ice bags are lifted a couple inches off the bed, watching in surprise, before realizing Tara was doing this to make it easy to pull off Faith’s pants.  “Might help if I do what I’m supposed to.”  Joyce grumbles, glancing up as she hears a tinkling laugh come from the blonde.  Removing the pants, Joyce rolls her eyes at the naked slayer.

“Obviously she doesn’t believe in panties.”  Tara mumbles, blushing lightly. 

“She does, I’ve seen them occasionally.  But not that often.”  Joyce admits, grabbing a towel and throwing it over the slayer’s nether regions. 

“She’s like a daughter to you, isn’t she?”  Tara questions as she works her way down the slayer’s good leg before sliding around working her way up the slayer’s swollen leg, frowning deeply at the damage. 

“Very much so.  Here lately we’ve been talking a lot, becoming closer.”  Joyce admits.

“Don’t tell… me.”  Faith grumbles.

“Shhh.  Faith, don’t you dare try and move.  I’m at full power and you don’t want to see me mad, remember?”  Tara walks up to the top of the bed, running a hand soothingly over the woman’s forehead.

“Thirsty.”  Faith croaks, forcing her eyes open. 

“Let me get you some juice and some more pain pills.”  Tara smiles down at the slayer’s hazy eyes.

“Sorry for mess.”  Faith mumbles, her eyes drooping closed before she forces them open again.

“Nothing to be sorry about, Faith.”  Tara answers softly as she grasps a juice, the pills and another straw.  “I just want to see you well, that way you can be a smart ass and yell at me for ruining your pants.”

“Gotta talk ‘bout that.  Favorite pair, too.”  Faith grumbles, moaning as she shifts her leg.  “FUCK!”  She cries out. 

“Shhh, sweetie.  Next time you wake up, it’ll be better, I promise.  How’s your head feeling?”  Tara questions after the slayer swallows the pills along with the whole bottle of juice.

“Jackhammer city.”  Faith admits, looking into worried blue eyes, before her gaze moves and she sees Joyce standing a short distance away looking at her worriedly.  “Sorry, Mrs. S.  Won’t unpack today.”  Faith staggers out, her eyes trying to close again.

“Don’t worry about it, Faith.  Just go back to sleep.  If you feel up to it, I’ll see if I can get one of those meat lover’s pizzas delivered here for you along with a couple orders of those spicy wings you like.”  Joyce looks at the slayer, feeling an uncontrollable urge to take a shotgun to whatever did this to the slayer.

“Thanks, guys.”  Faith whispers as she slowly loses consciousness again.

“Her leg has the worse of it now.  I’m going to use the majority of my energy on that.  I think she tore just about every major tendon and ligament in the knee.  Plus I think she might have torn part of her muscle away from the bone.”  Tara admits as she eases down beside the leg, kneeling on the floor.  “This’ll probably take me a few minutes.”  Tara glances up, looking apologetically at the older woman.

“Anything you can do to help her is appreciated.”  Joyce smiles softly.  “Don’t worry about me.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Summers.”  Tara let’s a quick smile cross her face before she closes her eyes concentrating on the slayer’s leg.

Joyce curiously watches the blonde woman, before her eyes go back watching as the woman’s hands delicately maneuver over the slayer’s leg, barely touching the flesh.  Joyce watches in amazement as the swelling finally seems to start subsiding right in front of her eyes.  When she glances back up, she smiles at the blue eyes looking back at her questioningly.  “Fixed?”  Joyce questions softly.

“I took care of all the internal damage.  There will probably still be some swelling, so we should try and keep it iced as much as possible.”  Tara takes a deep breath, allowing her hands to stay on the woman’s leg for a moment.  “She’ll probably still have some pain, but nothing like she was having.”  Tara shifts and stands, slowly she removes the bandaging around the slayer’s head checking the head wound, noticing how it’s already knitting together.  “I’ll probably need to remove these stitches when I get back from classes this afternoon.  Let me get some water, so we can work on washing her down a little better.  I’ll need to get these down to the wash before heading to class.  I might be able to get the majority of the blood out.”  Tara frowns at the bedclothes. 

“Let me take them home, I made up this solution that does a pretty good job with blood.  Kind of had to between Buffy and Faith.”  Joyce explains.

“You don’t have to.”  Tara shakes her head, then sighs as she sees a stubborn look come across the woman’s face.  “But I would appreciate it.  Let me get some hot water.”

Joyce smirks as she watches the woman leave the room.  Looking at the bags of almost pure water, Joyce removes them from around the slayer’s leg, wondering what to do with them.  Setting them on the floor by the door for now, she turns back, bundling up the bedding as much as possible so the blood isn’t showing. 

Tara smiles self-consciously as she walks back into the room carrying the large bowl of hot water.  “I’m going to have to go to class here in a few minutes.”  Tara explains quietly as she sets the bowl on the nightstand grabbing a washcloth, squirting her shower gel on the washrag, grinning at the vanilla smell.  Gently washing the slayer’s face, Tara slowly works her way down across her neck, shoulders, arms, hands, carefully cleaning the scuffed hand, sending a small amount of healing into the cracked knuckles. 

Joyce tries not to smile at the obviously tender way the woman is cleaning Faith as she grabs another washrag, starting at the slayer’s feet, slowly working her way up the slayer.  As they finish washing Faith, she glances as Tara.  “Should we turn her over and clean her back?” 

“Probably.  Let me levitate her, then we can wash her down quickly before I set her down again.”  Tara uses the majority of the last of her energy lifting and turning Faith, holding the slayer above the bed as she quickly cleans down the strong back and across Faith’s muscular ass as Joyce cleans up the strong legs.  As they finish drying the slayer, Tara turns Faith back over, gently letting her lay down on the bed.  “Maybe for now, we should just leave a light sheet over her body, kind of let her wounds get a little air.”   Tara suggests as she wipes down her hands.  “Goddess, I’ve got to hurry.”  Tara glances at the clock, looking down at her wet shirt, yanking it off and replacing it as she slides her shoes on, grabbing her book bag. 

“Go, we’ll be okay.  I’ll just baby sit the sleeping slayer.”  Joyce smiles at the hurrying witch. 

“Please make yourself at home.  Anything, everything you can look at.  Thanks, Mrs. Summers.”  Tara smiles quickly before she leaves the room.

Joyce looks around the room, deciding to run the bags of melted ice down the hallway, dumping them in the sink before coming back to Tara’s room.  Placing the other bags gently against Faith’s legs, she looks around the room, actually paying attention for the first time.  Tilting her head she looks at the sketches, smiling at the animals and landscapes.  As she starts to turn to the bookshelf, she stops and turns back to the sketches.  Wonderingly, she looks at the T. Maclay signed at the bottom of the sketches.  Curiously she works her way around the room.  “So, Tara Maclay, you sketch?” 

Chuckling softly, Joyce glances over the books, finally picking one that looked like an actual book, not a magic book and sits down in the chair, settling in to read until Faith comes to.

***

“Mrs. S.”  Faith hoarsely calls the woman’s name after trying for a few minutes. 

“Sorry, Faith.”  Joyce sets down the book quickly closing the distance to Faith.  “Want something to drink?”

“Bathroom.”  Faith admits, grimacing. 

“Then you need clothes on.”  Joyce admits.  “Do you think you’re going to be good enough to get down to the bathroom?”

“Think so.”  Faith groans deeply as she slowly moves her body to the edge of the bed. 

“Easy, Faith.”  Joyce grabs the bag of clothes she brought with her, easing the sweat pants over Faith’s legs, pulling them up gently, leaving them half on as she pulls her shirt out, easing her right arm in first before pulling it over her left arm, buttoning it quickly. 

“Feel like a damn kid.”  Faith grumbles, accepting Joyce’s arm to help her stand as the woman finishes pulling her sweat pants up. 

“You were hurt badly, Faith.  Really bad.  Tara healed the worse of it.”  Joyce explains everything that she knew Tara had done as she helps Faith slowly down to the bathrooms.

Whimpering as each step jars her body, Faith shakes her head.  “Guess I made it to the right person.”

“What made you come to Tara, Faith?”  Joyce questions softly.  “You know Buffy is going to wonder why you came here instead of to her and Willow’s room.”

“Honestly, a combination of things.  It was closer, and it’s where I wanted to come.”  Faith admits.  “I got it from here.”  Faith maneuvers her way into the handicapped stall, sighing quietly as she finally uses the bathroom.

“Are you well enough to eat?  If you think you can stay with us long enough, I’ll order some food to be delivered.”  Joyce helps Faith slowly back to the room. 

“Please, I’m about starvin’.”  Faith admits, as she sighs in relief as she eases back down on the bed, watching as Joyce gently lifts her legs to place on the bed. 

Joyce turns to the board where Tara placed menus to places that delivered to the campus.  “Here, pick what you want.”  Joyce hands the menus to Faith, frowning as the woman’s hands shake slightly.

“I feel as weak as a newborn baby.”  Faith admits, running a hand up over her sweating brow, before moving her fingers back to the source of her pounding head.  Wincing slightly as her fingers come in contact with the stitches.  “Who stitched me up?”

“I think Tara.  Buffy mumbled something about Tara ordering her and Willow around while she took care of you.  Seems your young woman can be quite the spitfire.”  Joyce grins at the dark haired slayer.  “Of course all I’ve seen is a very caring young woman that’s doing everything within her powers to help you get better.”

“Tara a spitfire?”  Faith frowns at the thought.  “I’d like to see that.”  Faith allows a small grin to cross her face.  “I really got to get to know her better.”  Faith glances over the menu.  “Can we get some Chinese?”  Faith looks up hopefully at the woman.

“Anything you want, Faith.  You want your usual hot and spicy?”  Joyce questions as she takes the menu from her. 

“Of course.”  Faith chuckles, then groans, holding her ribs.  “Still fuckin’ hurts like hell.”

“Tara said it would.  We’ll get you fed, then you can take a couple more pain pills and crash for a few more hours.”  Joyce offers as she calls the number, placing an order for a bunch of different items, while glancing at the clock.  Realizing Tara would be back soon, she adds a couple more items to the order, hoping that something she ordered Tara would like. 

***

Chapter 7

Tara practically runs back to her room, opening the door, she stops as the smell of food about knocks her back. 

“Hungry?”  Joyce smirks waving towards the containers of food covering almost every surface of the room.  “Hope you like Chinese, even though I did just get some sweet and sour chicken and pork, with the sauce on the side.” 

“Ummm.  Sure.”  Tara grins quickly, placing her stuff down by her desk, walking over to Faith who is scarfing food down.  “How are you feeling?”

“Better.”  Faith looks up into the warm caring eyes looking back at her.  “I owe you huge.”  Faith admits.

“No you don’t.”  Tara whispers, easing down on the side of the bed, easing the slayer’s face away to look at her scalp.  “When you finish eating I want to take those out.”

“’Kay.”  Faith mumbles, almost shyly. 

“How sore are you?”  Tara questions glancing over the woman, smiling at the sight of her in Joyce’s shirt and sweat pants, the baggy clothes not looking right on the woman.

“Not too bad.”  Faith smiles at the witch, trying not to move too much.

“Liar.”  Joyce grumbles between mouthfuls of food.  “She’s still in a lot of pain, and extremely sore.  She’s being all stubborn right now.”

“Mrs. S!”  Faith hisses at the woman, turning her body towards the older woman, groaning in pain.

“Mmmmm hmmm.”  Tara shakes her head, patting Faith gently on the shoulders.  “Take it easy, you can stay here as long as you need to.”  Running a hand up, Tara brushes a thumb over the bruised cheekbone, before pulling her hand away and shifting off the bed.  “So, what all food do we have here?  Or maybe I should say, what don’t you have?”  Tara glances up, chuckling quietly. 

“A lot of spicy food, Faith has a weakness for it.  Pretty much a little bit of everything.  Pick a container and try it.  We’re not real picky with food.”  Joyce watches as Tara investigates a couple containers, finally picking one, grabbing up a pair of chopsticks to quickly pull a piece out. 

“Hmm.  Good.”  Tara grins as she slowly sits down by the closet door, on the floor to where she can look at both women.  “Faith, it’s going to probably take you a few days to heal good enough to start back on patrols.  I want to ask you a very big favor, I don’t want you patrolling until then.”  Tara turns serious eyes on the slayer.  “You’re going to be tender and sore, I helped the worse of it, but the wounds are going to be easily re-inflicted if you’re not careful.  Your slayer healing will need time to finish doing the job.”

“But B’s got to study.”  Faith watches Tara.

“Don’t care.  You’re important, and I’d rather not have you show up like that again, or worse.”  Tara whispers the last.   “Buffy can do patrols, Riley and his crew are paid to do this, so you need to take the time off and heal properly.”

Joyce chuckles quietly at the stubborn look crossing both women’s faces.  “You two are both pig headed and stubborn.  You’d really make a good couple.”  Joyce laughs as two pairs of eyes bore into her.  “What?”

“Mrs. S!”  Faith growls warningly, shifting in the bed, paling as a serious bolt of pain works its way through her body.

“Damn it, Faith!”  Tara practically drops her food on the floor, jumping up and pushing the slayer back against the bed.  “You’d probably try and go out tonight on patrol, wouldn’t you, you stubborn bitch?”

“It’s what I do.  It’s all that I do.”  Faith grumbles, her voice showing more of the pain than she wished it did.

“I’m going to go get some more sodas.”  Joyce offers quietly, leaving the two women alone.

Faith and Tara don’t even notice the older woman leaving, as Tara stares hard into brown eyes.  “That’s not all you are, Faith.”  Tara states calmly, her heart tugging at the thought of the woman thinking that’s all she’s good for.

“Okay, I fuck, I dance and I slay.  That’s pretty much what I am.”  Faith’s eyes search Tara’s.  “I don’t know nothin’ else, Tare.”

“Faith…”  Tara swallows as she sees the deep want buried in the slayer’s eyes.  “Why did you come to my room?”  Tara questions softly.

Faith glances away from Tara.  “It was the closest.” 

“The truth, Faith.”  Tara lifts her hand to Faith’s cheek, and turns it to look into the scared brown eyes.  “I want the truth.”

“I wanted to.”  Faith admits, her eyes searching the witch’s blue eyes.  “I couldn’t help it.”  Faith whispers.

Tara sighs softly.  “This is so wrong.”  Tara whispers, confusing the slayer with her words before she leans in kissing the dark-haired woman gently.  Brushing her lips softly over Faith’s for a few moments, Tara finally leans back away from Faith.  “Goddess.”  Tara whispers, closing her eyes.  “Faith, you don’t know me.  There are things that could fuck up whatever is possibly happening.”

“What things?”  Faith questions hoarsely, the simple caresses making her realize that there possibly could be such a thing as love.

Tara searches the slayer’s eyes, not knowing what to say.  As the door eases open, Joyce coming in, Tara sighs quietly.  “Eat, Faith.  Then take some more pain pills and try and get some rest.  Thank the Goddess that today is Friday.  I can take care of you this weekend until you’re feeling better.”  Tara turns and walks back to her food, surprised that it hadn’t fallen out onto the floor.  Sitting down, she doesn’t say anything else and proceeds to eat her dinner.

Joyce’s looks questioningly at Faith, when all Faith does is shake her head gently, her eyes going back to the witch, Joyce gathers a couple containers of food, placing them in a bag to take home to eat later.  “Buffy called earlier to check on Faith, making sure she’s okay.  She said she might stop by later, but she wasn’t sure.  I need to run by the gallery on my way home, make sure they got the shipment in and unpacked okay.” 

“Thanks, Mrs. S.”  Faith waves her hand at the woman, turning her gaze back on the witch.

“Thank you, Mrs. Summers.”  Tara stands walking with the woman to the door.  “If you were interested in that book, you can take it with you.”  Tara grasps the book up from the chair Joyce was sitting in, handing it to the woman.

“Thanks.  I’ll bring it back when I finish.  Or maybe have Faith bring it back.”  Joyce smiles briefly at the witch.  “You two take care.  Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”  Joyce smirks at Faith.

Faith can’t help the laugh that comes out then groans deeply.  “No makin’ me laugh!  ‘Bye.”  Faith smiles, allowing a small chuckle to escape her lips at the older woman. 

“Take care of her.”  Joyce places a gentle hand on the witch’s shoulder.  Leaning in she whispers quietly.  “She likes you, you know.”  Smiling, Joyce pulls back, her eyes twinkling at the surprise and the light blush crossing the woman’s face.  “Hope to see you frequently.” 

“Goodbye.”  Tara calls after the quickly departing woman as she shuts and locks the door before turning back to the room.  “Do you want some more food?”  Tara questions softly, watching as Faith tilts the container up to her mouth, finishing off the small pieces of food.

“Please.”  Faith looks at Tara, almost embarrassed.

Tara chuckles softly.  “Any particular container you want me to grab?”  Tara questions as she looks through different things. 

“Look for something with that thick red sauce that smells spicy.”  Faith suggests, smiling as Tara giggles. 

“That description fits most of the food here.”  Tara grabs a couple containers, sitting them down beside the slayer.  “Eat up.  I’m sure that’ll help your metabolism and healing to work better.”  Tara reaches down, grabbing her container and chopsticks, sitting down on the now vacant chair, curiously watching as Faith stabs her food with her fork, quickly working her way through another container.

“You gonna tell me what you meant?”  Faith questions, looking up occasionally at Tara.

Tara sighs looking down at the floor as she plays in the food that’s left in her container.  “Faith…  Damn.”  Tara unconsciously brushes her hair back, tucking it behind her ear, not something she normally does as she’s self-conscious about showing her ears.

Faith watches the witch, wondering what could be so bad to make her afraid of saying whatever it is.  Faith’s eyes unconsciously follow the witch’s movements, surprised at the woman’s ears, noticing the slight abnormality.  For some reason she has the urge to run her tongue over the flesh.

Tara picks at her skirt, before she glances up at the slayer.  “Do you really want to chance g-getting involved with someone that you m-may have to k-kill in five months t-time?”  Tara stutters, her eyes boring into the surprised brown eyes of the slayer.

“What do ya’ mean?”  Faith questions, confused.

Tara sighs, slowly explaining her life.  How her father was convinced she was a demon.  That her mother was a demon.  When she turns twenty, she’ll become like her mother.  Tara softly explains that while her home life wasn’t great, it wasn’t bad.  Her father liked to yell and drink, but never got abusive.  How he was old-fashioned, that women were meant to take care of the men folk.  How her mother helped her, allowing her to continue with her education away from her father.  How she’d given her daughter her family’s jewels and the money she’d been able to squirrel away.  Finally going on to explain about her mother dying of Leukemia.  

Tara finally looks back up at the frowning slayer.  “If I turn into a demon when I’m twenty, will you be able to k-kill me if we act upon this attraction, Faith?” 

“It sounds like a load of shit, Tare.”  Faith growls, looking up with angry eyes.  “Sounds like some kind of shit he made up to keep you guys under his control.”

“That’s what I thought.”  Tara admits softly looking down.  “Until I met you and found out that demons are real.”  Tara glances back up, tears in her eyes.  “My mom never argued the point.  She never tried to explain whether it was real or not.  She’d just look at me and smile this soft knowing smile.  When I’d ask, she said whatever happened would happen.” 

Faith snarls her lip.  “Was your mom evil?  Was she mean?  Did you notice anything that would make you even remotely think that she would hurt anyone?”

Tara jerks her head up, looking at the woman.  “No.  She was the k-kindest, most g-giving person I know.”

“Then why would you think that she was a demon?  Why would you believe that you’re going to be evil?”  Faith shifts around in the bed, ignoring the pain, to stand walking over to the witch.  “Why?”  Faith questions, looking at her.  “Nothin’ you say will make me believe that you’re going to become a demon.  Nothing!”

Tara looks up into the dark, angry eyes of the slayer.  “Will you be able to k-kill me if it comes to that?”  Tara narrows her gaze on the slayer, slowly standing ‘til they’re nose to nose.  “If I become evil, will you be able to t-take my life?”  Tara clenches her jaw, seeing the fight going on inside the slayer.  Cupping the slayer’s face in her two hands, Tara searches the dark brown eyes, seeing the confusion and the mental pain her words are causing.  “Because if I become evil, Faith, I would rather you did it.  I’d rather someone that actually might care for me take me out, than an acquaintance, or someone I don’t even know.  Say, someone in the Initiative.  Some asshole that it’s just a job to.”  Tara releases the slayer, turning her back on the woman.  “You promise me you can do that, I would love something more to come of this relationship.  If you can’t promise to k-kill me, nothing will happen.  I won’t take that chance on other people’s lives.” 

“FUCK!”  Faith growls loudly, raising her hands to the side of her temples, the pain shooting through her body almost unbearable, not counting the mental anguish she’s going through.  “You won’t…”  Faith grunts as she bends, her stomach shooting a sharp pain through her.

“Damn it!”  Tara turns around catching Faith before she collapses completely to the floor.  Helping the slayer back onto the bed, Tara shoves the containers of food off the bed out of the way, lying Faith down.  Grabbing the pain pills she shoves four of them in Faith’s mouth before grabbing the drink, tipping it up, not giving the slayer a choice but to swallow.  “Told you things were still going to be tender.  If it makes you feel any better, the pain you’re feeling is probably more a phantom pain than real.  No matter how bad it hurts.”  Tara pushes Faith back down on the bed, frowning at the slayer. 

Faith whimpers at the pain, her eyes closed as she tries to get control of her faculties.  “Hate those fuckin’ pills.  Make me foggy.”  Faith finally grunts out as she blocks some of the pain, looking up into worried blue eyes.  “So, you think you’re a demon, and if you’re evil you want me to kill you?”  Faith boils it down, watching as Tara nods her head in agreement.  “If I promise to do that, promise to kill you, you’ll consider dating me?”  Faith looks at the woman like she’s crazy.  “That’s kind of fucked up.”

“It may seem that way.”  Tara nods her head, sighing as she sits down beside the woman.  “Are you finished eating?”

“Yeah.  My hunger’s kind of gone.”  Faith admits. 

“Would you rather I wait until the pain pills knock you out to remove your stitches or do you want me to do them now?”  Tara offers softly. 

“Go ahead and do them now.”  Faith watches as Tara nods, reaching down to the first aid kit and pulling out the small scissors and a pair of tweezers.  Tilting her head to make it easier for Tara to get at the wound, Faith thinks for a few moments.  “I should explain a little bit about me.  My home life was shit.  Alcoholic mother with a different boyfriend each week.  The boyfriends differed, some were okay, some were kinda heavy handed and other ones would try and rape me.”  Faith gazes off into the past.  “One finally succeeded.”  Faith feels Tara’s hands still on her head, and hears the soft intake of air.  “I ran away after that.  Unfortunately the streets were more unforgivin’ than home life would have been.  I pretty much did anything and everything I had to.  I stole, I sold my body, slept in abandoned buildings.  I ain’t proud of it, but it happened.  You ask any of the Scoobies, they’ll tell you.  My motto is get some get gone.  Now, that gives ya’ something to think ‘bout.”  Faith hoarsely explains.  “’Cause whatever you think you might become ain’t nothing compared to what I’ve been.”

Tara slowly finishes pulling the stitches out before placing the small strips of string off to the side along with the scissors and tweezers.  As Faith turns her almost fearful gaze back to her, Tara tilts her head considering the woman.  “Would I be one of these get some get gone leftovers?”  Tara questions softly.

“No.”  Faith finally answers after a few moments, searching the blue eyes, surprised when she doesn’t see any censure for her past deeds.  “There wouldn’t be anymore get some get gone.”

“Joyce told me you liked me when she left.”  Tara states calmly, knowing her heart wants to open to this woman, while her head is fighting against becoming close to the woman, that this could end very, very badly and in more ways than one. 

“She was right.  I’ve been kinda talking about you for the last month with her.”  Faith admits watching the inner struggle the witch is going through, knowing that they’ve both got their own demons to fight, no pun intended.

“You met me once… Well, twice if you count the Wicca meeting.”  Tara blinks a couple times.  “And you mean to tell me that you’ve been talking about me?”

“Yeah.”  Faith admits, looking down, groaning as she feels the pills starting to work their way into her system.  “I couldn’t get you outta my head.  I’d ask Willow about ya’ until she started giving me looks.”  Faith sighs as she leans back further into the bed, her eyes trying to close. 

“Sleep, sweetie.  Food and sleep are the best two things for you right now.”  Tara sighs softly as she comes to the realization that even if she doesn’t actively engage in a relationship with this woman, that she already cares for the rough, sometimes coarse woman.  “Goddess, either this will end up being a beautiful relationship or we’ll end up making the Hellmouth split wide open.”  Tara lets a small smile cross her face as Faith’s eyes jerk open in surprise, the hope slowly working in them.  “We’ll take it one step at a time, see how it goes.”

“Good.”  Faith finally allows a grin to cross her face.  Reaching up with her left hand, she eases it around the witch’s neck, gently tugging her down, pressing her lips firmly against Tara’s.  “I’ll want to seal the bargain a little better when I’m a little more aware.”  Faith growls as she releases Tara, as she fights her body trying to crash. 

“Don’t fight it, sweetie.  Sleep, you’ll be awake again in a few hours.  Then you can eat some more, maybe a few kisses if you’re up for it.”  Tara smirks as Faith’s eyes slowly close and the grin crosses the dark-haired woman’s face.

“More’n kisses, hope.”  Faith mumbles as she slowly fades to unconsciousness. 

“You’ve got to heal, first.”  Tara whispers, softly running a hand gently through the dark hair.  “But when you are healed, it’s definitely in the cards.”  Tara smiles softly, slowly gathering up the food, throwing the empty containers in the trash before trying to fit the majority of the rest of the food in her small refrigerator.  Looking through the items, she picks the items that were less likely to spoil if left out for a few hours on the top of the refrigerator as she puts the rest of them in the refrigerator. 

Gathering her book bag, Tara grabs out the books she needs to study, curling up in the chair.  Watching Faith for a few minutes, Tara lets a small smile cross her face, before she finally opens her textbook, studying for finals.

***

Tara’s head jerks up as she hears a knock at the door, realizing she’d fallen asleep.  Looking at Faith, who’s still asleep, she quickly places her book to the side as she opens the door.  “Hey, Buffy.”  Tara smiles gently at the small blonde slayer.

“How’s Faith?”  Buffy questions as she steps into the room, looking at the slayer.

“Getting there.  She’s a lot better than she was last night.”  Tara admits, smiling at Faith.  “I’m waiting for her to come to from the last batch of pain pills and a full stomach, that way she can eat some more.  I think that’s about the best thing for her right now.”

“Food and sleep goes a long way to help slayer healing.”  Buffy nods in agreement.  “Mom can come and take her home, if you want her to.  Faith’s probably good enough to make it to the car.”

“No.  She’s perfectly fine where she is.”  Tara states adamantly, not wanting the slayer to go anywhere.  “I’ll be here all weekend, studying for finals anyway.”

Buffy unconsciously takes a step back at the witch’s strong words.  “Tara, what’s going on?  You hardly say boo to anyone, then last night you were ordering us around and just now you’re being very…”  Buffy trails off, trying to think of the proper wording.

“Stubborn and forceful.”  Tara offers, raising her eyebrow.  “Depending on the situation, I do what I have to, Buffy.  Can you let Willow know that I think we should skip our Sunday meeting?”

Buffy nods her head, hearing the note of dismissal in Tara’s tones.  Buffy unconsciously shifts her gaze to Faith, swearing she sees a small playing on the slayer’s mouth.  Confused about what the hell is going on, Buffy decides she’ll wait and discuss it with Willow.  “Well, I guess I’ll see you later.  If you need anything, you got our number.”

“Thanks, Buffy.  I’ll let Faith know you were worried about her.”  Tara follows the slayer out to the hallway.  “Be careful.”

“Yeah, you too.”  Buffy answers, confusion lacing her words as she quickly walks away.

***

Chapter 8

Tara chuckles quietly as she shuts the door, walking back into the room.  “Did you enjoy that?”  Tara questions the possum-playing slayer.

“You knew I was awake?”  Faith hoarsely questions, opening her eyes. 

“Yes.”  Tara lets a smile play across her lips at the surprised slayer’s look.  “So, what do you need first?  Something to drink, eat, bathroom or something else?”

“You offerin‘?”  Faith’s eyes trail over the witch’s clothes.  “I gotta ask.  You got anythin’ besides long skirts and baggy shirts?”  Faith looks back up Tara’s form, laughing at the look of embarrassment crossing the witch’s face. 

“Faith, we’ll discuss this later.  What do you need now?”  Tara questions, blushing deeply. 

“Need, want, come on.  Close enough.”  Faith smirks as Tara gets a stubborn look on her face and places her hands on her hips.  “’Kay.  I gotta go to the bathroom.  And I know you guys kinda cleaned me, but I feel cruddy.”  Faith admits, shifting her body around.

“That can be taken care of.”  Tara nods, eyeing Faith for a moment.  Pulling out one of her oversized t-shirts and a pair of her shorts, Tara grabs her sleepwear, consisting of a pair of shorts and tank top.  Putting them in her small carryall, Tara grabs her shower kit.  “Do I need to grab a razor or anything for you?”  Tara glances over her shoulder at the slayer as she grabs the personal items Joyce had brought with her. 

“I would say yeah, but I’m afraid of tryin’ to bend over and shave.”  Faith grins crookedly at the witch. 

Tara chuckles quietly, going back and pulling out a fresh razor throwing it in the bag.  Grabbing a couple towels and washrags, Tara lays them on top before walking towards Faith.  “Come on, sweetie.  Let’s get you cleaned up.” 

Faith eases her body off the bed, grunting quietly.  “As long as I don’t move too quickly, it ain’t bad.”  Faith admits, slowly standing. 

“Uh, huh.”  Tara murmurs, wrapping an arm around the woman as she helps her walk out of the room and towards the showers.   “Bathroom first?”  Tara looks up at Faith, smiling as the woman nods.  “You okay by yourself?”

“Yeah, I can handle going potty by myself, mom.”  Faith grumbles limping the last couple steps into the stall.

“Smart ass.”  Tara grumbles at Faith as the woman smirks and shuts the door.  Tara walks down to the largest stall on the end, placing their stuff on the floor outside the large shower stall set up for just that purpose.  Picking up the small wooden bench, she sets it down inside the stall, leaving the water off for now. 

Faith eases out of the stall, smiling at Tara.  “So, betcha didn’t realize you were gonna be takin’ care of an invalid this weekend.”

“I didn’t expect to open my door to a broken slayer last night.”  Tara admits as she helps Faith into the shower.  Closing and locking the outer door, Tara helps her into the stall, leaning the slayer against the wall.  Looking up, Tara smirks as she quickly unbuttons the slayer’s shirt easing it off the woman’s shoulders before laying it over her shoulder and sliding her hands in the waistband of the sweat pants, pushing them gently down the slayer’s strong legs, easing them off as Faith lifts her feet a couple inches with just a small grunt of pain. 

“So, I see you’re getting me naked quick.”  Faith wiggles her eyebrows at Tara when she stands, tossing the clothes into the little alcove behind them. 

“Been there.”  Tara smirks, before she removes the bandage on the slayer’s shoulder, inspecting the healing wound, front and back.  “What the hell did he use?”

“Do you mean to tell me that you took advantage of me when I was unconscious?”  Faith grumbles, frowning.  “Some long spiky thing that came out of his arm.”

“Sorry, I was checking for wounds and trying to clean you up.”  Tara tosses the used bandaging after the clothes.

“Nah, it ain’t that.  It’s the fact that I was unconscious while you were doin’ it that upsets me.”  Faith smirks at the witch.

Tara raises an eyebrow at the slayer before pulling her own shirt off, tossing it in the alcove.  Quickly unbuttoning and unzipping her skirt before sliding it down her legs, stepping out of the garment before unhooking her bra and sliding her panties off, tossing them after her clothes. 

Faith’s eyes follow Tara’s hand movements as she quickly disrobes, as the pale flesh comes into view, Faith’s eyes become more desire filled with each piece of clothing that disappears.  As the bra slides down arms to be flicked into the other small area, Faith can feel her mouth watering at the soft, large breasts topped with rosy colored areolas come into view.  As she watches Tara slide her panties off, Faith groans quietly at the narrow strip of hair being revealed.  As Faith’s eyes continue to caress over the witch’s body, she realizes the witch hides a voluptuous and absolutely gorgeous body under those frumpy clothes. 

Tara smirks for a moment, letting Faith look her fill.  Tara finally allows herself to look at Faith’s body in more than a clinical way, letting her eyes slide over the woman’s high, firm, round breasts, down over the muscular stomach, slight hips, bald mound to the firm, muscular legs.  As she looks back at the slayer’s face, she can’t help the little chuckle that escapes her lips as Faith’s eyes seem to be fixated on her breasts.

“Looked your fill yet?”  Tara questions as she steps back, turning the water on, waiting for it to heat up properly before walking back to the slayer.

“No.”  Faith finds it hard to speak, as she finally drags her eyes up to look into twinkling blue eyes.  “Why do you hide your gorgeous body under those damn clothes?”  Faith has to question. 

“They’re comfortable and inexpensive.”  Tara admits as she wraps an arm around the slayer’s waist, urging the woman over to the seat, having the slayer sit with her back to the water, letting the hot water beat down on her back.  Turning around, she grabs her shower kit, bringing it into the large shower stall, placing it on the small shelf under the water as she unzips it, pulling out the new razor and the shave gel. 

Faith closes her eyes, letting the water play over her body, almost wishing the witch had turned it to cold.  When she feels a warm hand run down her leg, gently lifting it up, she opens her eyes looking at Tara.  Surprised at the sight of Tara sitting in front of her, Faith frowns deeply when Tara sets her foot on her lap.  “What’cha doing?” 

“Shaving your legs for you.”  Tara explains softly as she places a dollop of the shave gel in her hand before lathering up the slayer’s leg.

Faith stares at the witch in stunned surprise, rendered mute at the sight of the woman calmly and gently shaving her legs while sitting on the shower floor. 

“Do you shave your thighs?”  Tara questions looking curiously at the body parts in question.  “I don’t shave mine, the hairs are so soft and fine that it’s a waste.”  Tara allows her hand to run over the silky smooth leg, glancing up when she hears a low groan come from the slayer.  “Sorry.”  Tara eases her hand away.  

Faith captures the hand, placing it back on her thigh.  “You were fine.”  Faith whispers in a husky voice.  “Why are you doin’ this?”  Faith questions.

“You aren’t up to doing it yourself yet.”  Tara’s eyes watch the varying emotions crossing Faith’s face. 

“That ain’t what I meant, and you know it.”  Faith growls quietly. 

“I thought it was kind of obvious, Faith.”  Tara smiles softly as she runs a hand over the slayer’s cheek.  “Let’s get you showered before we run out the hot water heaters.” 

“Yeah.”  Faith watches as Tara stands.  “Let me have the razor, I can shave the rest.”  Faith accepts the shave gel and razor from Tara, shaving the rest of her assorted areas.  Moaning quietly as Tara’s hands start working shampoo into her hair, Tara’s fingers gently massaging against her scalp and through the long strands.

“I had to trim some of the hair away from your wound.  Not much, it shouldn’t even be noticeable to see, but you’ll probably feel it when you wash your own hair.”  Tara explains quietly.

“’S’kay.”  Faith’s eyes close, enjoying the tender ministrations.  “Tell me about you.”  Faith states quietly.

“What about me?”  Tara questions before shifting her body out of the way, allowing the shower water to rinse Faith’s hair, while she continues to run her fingers through the heavy mass. 

“Brothers, sisters, who was the first person you loved that type of thing.”  Faith answers.

“Hmmm.  No sisters, one brother, Donnie.  He’s a couple years older than me.  Same mindset as my father, we never got along.  I’m assuming by first person I ever loved, you don’t mean family.”  Tara chuckles as she hears the snort come from Faith.  “Are you wanting to know who my first crush was, or the first person I had sex with?”  Tara questions, her lip curling up.

“Damn, and they say I’m blunt.”  Faith chuckles quietly, before groaning as her stomach protests.  “How about whatever you’re comfortable talkin’ about?”

“Hmm.  My first crush that I remember was my third grade teacher.  Her name was Mrs. Sanderson.  She had beautiful black hair that hung straight down her back, with ice blue eyes.  I always sat at the front of the class and would spend half the day daydreaming about her eyes and hair.”  Tara chuckles as Faith raises an eyebrow at her as she tilts her head back.  “Hey, I was in third grade!  I was only eight years old.” 

“Okay, I’ll give ya’ a break.”  Faith groans as she feels Tara start to wash her shoulders and back.

“This would probably work better if you stood up.  You can lean forward against the stall while I wash your back then use me to support you when I wash your front.”  Tara offers quietly. 

“You gonna spoil me?”  Faith questions as she slowly stands, doing as Tara suggested and placing her hands against the shower stall wall.

“Let me move this.”  Tara leans down moving the makeshift seat out of the way before walking back to Faith.  Pouring some more shower gel on the washcloth, Tara washes over Faith’s back, slowly working her way down the slayer’s body, smiling as Faith spreads her legs wider.  “I might spoil you.  I might decide to be a major pain.”  Tara runs the washcloth gently between the slayer’s strong butt cheeks before washing down the strong legs.

“That’s good.  I can be a pain, also.”  Faith admits, biting back the groan at the desire the woman is building inside her body.  Knowing that the witch isn’t actually doing it to turn her on, but nonetheless it’s becoming a rising concern. 

“I never would have guessed.”  Tara chuckles quietly as she washes the slayer’s feet, smiling softly as Faith bites back a giggle when she runs over an obviously ticklish spot. 

“So, Mrs. Sanderson was your crush…”  Faith hints. 

“Turn around.”  Tara softly orders before soaping up the washcloth again, smiling into the obviously desire filled eyes of the slayer.  Nibbling on her lower lip, Tara slowly starts washing the front of the slayer.  “Toni was the first person I ever had sex with.”  Tara closes her eyes momentarily before easing the washcloth gently between the slayer’s legs, her eyes lifting to make contact with the brown eyes in front of her.

“So, Tony?”  Faith groans, her hands clenching the witch’s shoulders gently while she tries her damnedest not to rock into the witch.

“Toni, Antonia.  She was my best friend growing up.  We were fifteen and she’d found her older brother’s stash of marijuana and decided it’d be fun to check it out.”  Tara smirks at the look of shock coming across Faith’s face.  “Yeah, well, it was only the one time.  I haven’t done it since.”

Faith starts chuckling.  “You smoking pot, hard to imagine.  You seem so sweet and innocent.” 

“Looks have been known to fool people.”  Tara quirks her lips up before kneeling in front of the slayer and washing the woman’s legs.

“So you got stoned and got laid?”  Faith raises an eyebrow in question.

“Pretty much, we were smoking, getting silly.  Started tickling each other, I kind of ended up on top of her.  The next thing I know we’re kissing and hands are caressing various body parts.   We kind of broke apart looked at each other in surprise, before we slowly went into kissing each other and it continued from there.”  Tara shrugged.  “Here, let’s get you rinsed off.”  Tara makes sure the slayer is suds free before urging her back out of the way to help her sit down. 

Faith accepts the towel Tara hands her, slowly drying her body as she watches Tara quickly clean her own body.  “Were you two together for long after that?”  Faith questions quietly.

“A few months.  She ended up getting this thing for a guy in the grade above us.  Said it’d be easier dealing with a relationship out in the open, instead of dealing with our hidden relationship.”  Tara finishes rinsing her body before turning the water off.  Running her hands through her hair, trying to squeeze some of the excess water out before squeezing out the extra water from the washcloths, throwing them into the plastic bag she pulls out of her shower kit.  Gathering her items, she takes them to the little room, setting them on the floor before grabbing a towel, drying herself off quickly. 

“That’s shit.”  Faith finally whispers.

“We were fifteen, Faith.  There’s no way my father would have been okay with it.  Her parents would have freaked.  It is what it is.”  Tara shrugs as she quickly pulls on her shorts and tank top before wrapping the towel around her head.  Grabbing the clothes for the slayer, she helps her dress. 

“You said your father, not anything about your mother.”  Faith frowns, looking at Tara.

“She knew before I did, that I was gay.”  Tara grins crookedly.  “That’s part of why it was so hard on me when she died.  She always accepted me as I was and loved me.” 

“But she couldn’t tell ya’ if you’re demon or not?”  Faith questions, confused.

“Mom had a certain way of doing things, Faith.  She always figured that sometimes it was best to learn things on your own.  Like finding out I was gay.”  Tara shrugs as she gathers their items, wrapping her arm around the slayer’s waist as they slowly make their way out of the communal showers.  Tara nods to one of the girls that live down the hall as they stop to brush their teeth. 

Faith raises an eyebrow as the woman stares at them.  “Take a picture, honey, it’ll last longer.”  Faith chuckles as the woman turns around and leaves the bathroom.

“Faith, that wasn’t nice.”  Tara mumbles as she finishes brushing her teeth. 

“She was starin’.  I don’t like people starin’.”  Faith shrugs as she spits the toothpaste into the sink, before rinsing her mouth out. 

“I bet you get irritated a lot, then.”  Tara states as she tosses her toothbrush in her kit, accepting Faith’s and placing it in the holder before tossing it in her kit. 

“Huh?”  Faith questions as she turns and limps out of the bathroom, smirking as she feels an arm wrap around her waist and a hand squeezing her waist in admonishment. 

“You’re beautiful.  I’m sure people stare all the time.”  Tara explains as she unlocks the door, helping Faith onto the bed. 

“So, how are you about being out and proud, now?”  Faith questions shifting her body back against the headboard, wincing slightly. 

“Hasn’t really come up.  I dated a girl last year for a couple months.  But I think it was more of an experimentation stage for her.”  Tara grabs a couple plates, dumping one container of the food with the red spicy smelling sauce on it for Faith, before throwing it in the microwave.  “But it isn’t something I hide, it’s just been a non-factor.”  Tara glances, smiling at the slayer.  “What about you?  Obviously not gay, but not straight either.”

“Nah.  I pretty much like both.  As I mentioned before, I’m more of a get some get gone kinda gal.”  Faith accepts the plate and fork from the witch before quickly attacking the food.  

“Never been in love?”  Tara questions softly as she waits for her food to heat. 

“Not real sure I know what that is.  Part of my discussions with Mrs. S.”  Faith admits. 

“So, I’m just causing you an itch that needs to be scratched?”  Tara questions as she curls up in the chair, gingerly blowing on her piece of chicken before popping it in her mouth to eat. 

“FUCK NO!”  Faith glances up in horror at the witch.  “I mean, not that you aren’t causing an itch, but I ain’t plannin’ on scratchin’ it and disappearin’!”  Faith frowns heavily at the witch. 

“Good.”  Tara smirks at the slayer.

“You testin’ me?”  Faith narrows her gaze on the woman.  “I’m aimin’ for this to be a proper relationship.  Not just fuckin’ you and leavin’ you.”

“Good.  As long as we understand this is going to be a relationship.  I don’t want to hide anything.  Just to let you know.”  Tara states unequivocally. 

“I ain’t got a problem with that.  You know more about me than anyone else in Sunnydale.  But I’d be more than willin’ to tell you everythin’ about me if you want to know.  I mean, I done told you the big shit.”  Faith shrugs.  “As for the rest of the crew, I think they already know something’s up, but it won’t occur to any of that crew that we like each other in the hot and heavy way.  They’re too tight assed for that.”  Faith chuckles as she thinks about Joyce.  “Well, most of that crew, anyways.” 

Tara frowns at Faith, trying to figure out who Faith’s talking about.  “Mrs. Summers.”  Tara finally comes to the conclusion, with the comments Joyce had made, and the fact that Faith had spoken with the woman about them. 

“Mrs. S is cool.”  Faith smirks as she finishes her food.

“Here, let me get you some more.”  Tara sets her plate aside, standing up to grab Faith’s plate piling some more food on it before throwing it in the microwave.  “So, I assume she’s okay with same sex relationships?”

Faith chuckles at that comment.  “Yeah, I’d say she’s okay with them.”  Faith winces slightly grumbling as she thinks to herself that she wishes the damn aches and pains would go away already. 

“Here.  I want you to eat your fill of food, then take more pain pills to get more rest.”  Tara hands the plate to Faith.

“Had enough fuckin’ rest.”  Faith growls as she accepts the plate.

“Are you trying to say being cooped up in the r-room and sleeping all the time is irritating you?”  Tara questions as she sits back down grabbing her plate.

“The sleeping all the time thing is irritating me.”  Faith admits. 

“You need to heal, Faith.”  Tara comments quietly.  “The quickest way, besides making a trip out of town, is for you to rest and eat.” 

“Trip out of town?”  Faith questions, trying to remember if anyone had said anything about that before.  “Yeah, Mrs. S said something about that.”

“Just to let you know, I re-charge over time, naturally.  However, the amount of energy I used on you, I d-drained completely and needed more to finish helping out the worst of your wounds.  The Hellmouth has tainted most of nature h-here inside Sunnydale.  I had to go out of town to draw from natural sources, in effect, charging my batteries to come back and help you.”  Tara explains quietly as she finishes her dinner, setting the plate aside as she watches Faith think heavily.

“So…”  Faith finally smirks wickedly.  “I got my own Energizer Bunny that can get a recharge whenever she needs it?”  Faith starts to chuckle as Tara narrows her gaze on her.   “Okay, maybe not bunny.  I’ll think of somethin’.  How long does it take you normally to re-charge?”  Faith questions seriously as she finishes her plate of food.

“Want some more, sweetie?”  Tara questions softly as she stands holding her hand out for the plate.  “Just depends on how deeply I dig into my stores of energy.”

“Please.”  Faith groans as she reaches for the soda, holding her side.  When Tara growls and grabs the drink, handing it to her, Faith smiles apologetically. 

“Ask if you need something, please.”  Tara admonishes gently.  “More red sauce covered food, or do you want some…”  Tara trails off opening a couple containers out of the refrigerator as they’d finished off the other boxes.  “Looks like we have pepper steak, chicken fried rice, lo mein, and a couple things I can’t figure out what they are.”  Tara chuckles. 

“Hmm.  Pepper steak would be good this time.  Maybe a little bit of the fried rice to go with it.”  Faith grins as she watches Tara dump a good portion of the steak and rice on the plate. 

“Want me to brush your hair?”  Tara offers as she unwraps her own hair from the towel, running her fingers through the still damp strands. 

Faith blinks, realizing she still has the towel wrapped around her head, starting to reach for it she drops her hands when Tara narrows her gaze.  “Yes, please.”  Faith sighs, grumbling mentally.  “Just to let you know, I’m gonna pay you back.  This ain’t exactly normal behavior of…”  Faith trails off, frowning.  Not knowing exactly what they are.

Tara chuckles at the confusion crossing the slayer’s face.  “Friends wanting more would be the proper phrasing for right now.”  Tara hands the slayer the plate, taking the empty soda can and tossing it in the trash, grabbing another soda out of the refrigerator as she walks back to Faith, placing it on the night stand.  Unwrapping the towel from Faith’s head, Tara smiles gently at the woman before placing it in the hamper and grabbing her brush. 

“Definitely want more.”  Faith watches Tara as she walks around the back of the bed, still pulled out from the wall.  “Why don’t you have this thing against the wall?”

“It was.”  Tara lets out a small laugh.  “I wanted to make sure you didn’t jerk while I was s-stitching your head.  So Buffy pulled it away from the wall, while Willow held your head and Buffy held your shoulders down.”  Tara gently starts brushing the beautiful dark locks. 

“So, you ordered those two around, huh?”  Faith questions in between bites of pepper steak. 

“Yes.”  Tara admits, blushing. “I think I kind of shocked Buffy.”  Tara bites her lip, debating on asking the slayer about her relationship with the group. 

“I get the distinct impression you’re wantin’ to ask somethin’.”  Faith tilts her head back, looking at the serious blue eyes.

“I do.”  Tara strokes the brush over the now tangle free hair.  “You have absolutely gorgeous hair.”  Tara runs a hand through the dark strands. 

“Thanks.”  Faith shifts around a little, uncomfortable with the compliment.  “What’cha wanna ask?”

“I’m not sure I have the right to ask.”  Tara admits leaning down to place a soft kiss on the top of the slayer’s head, before going to put up the brush. 

“Not hiding anythin’ ‘member?”  Faith watches the witch curiously.

“I know, but…”  Tara frowns as she sits back down in the chair, tucking her legs up under her.  As she makes eye contact with Faith, Tara sighs quietly.  “Do they try to make you a part of their group, or do they just use you when they need you?”  Tara finally questions bluntly, the anger noticeable in her tones.

“Don’t be mad at ‘em.”  Faith looks at the witch.  “I’ve always been more of a loner, than part of the group thing.  I kind of like being on my own.”  Faith shrugs, wincing a little as her shoulder pulls, starting to feel the aches and pains more, as the last of the drugs break down. Placing the plate on the table, she continues.  “Plus they’d been together a coupla years before I came on the scene.  They already had their thing down.  So no biggie.” 

Tara sighs quietly.  “So correct me if I’m wrong, but Buffy has Willow, Xander, Giles, and Riley to fall back on, while you have who?”  Tara looks up, anger simmering under the surface of her eyes.

“Yo!  Easy there.  They’re there if I need ‘em.  Giles is sort of my Watcher, also.”  Faith watches Tara, trying to figure out if she’s going to stay angry or calm down.

“But it’s more of a work-related way, not in a friend way.  Who the fuck do you call your friends, Faith?  Buffy has Xander and Willow that have obviously been her friends for years.  Who do you have?”  Tara leans forward, watching the slayer intently.  “Who can you go to, to bitch about stuff, how crappy a night you had?  Who do you have to share the happy times with?  Anything?”

Faith realizes what’s making Tara angry, finally.  Faith allows a huge, genuine smile to cross her face.  “Joyce.”  Faith starts laughing.  “Believe it or not, Buffy’s mom lets me talk to her about anythin’ and everythin’.  She’s like a friend and mom all rolled into one for me.  She just said a while back that Buffy kind of keeps her out of the loop, never really lets her do her motherin’ duties and such.  I actually don’t mind.  If it wasn’t for her, there’s no tellin’ what woulda happened with me.”  Faith finally admits looking down at the bed.  “If she hadn’t insisted on me movin’ in, stayin’ with them, it could have ended very badly.” 

Tara considers the woman’s words, knowing how hard it is for her, sometimes to be by herself, she couldn’t imagine doing it without the love and care she’d grown up receiving from her mom.  “Your mom wasn’t a very good mother, was she?”

“Nah, like I mentioned, she was an alcoholic.  Most important thing for her was makin’ sure she had booze.  Food and electricity came in second.”  Faith looks up at the ceiling, as she shifts down in the bed, stretching out.  Faith works on a little meditation to help her manage the pain working through her body.

Tara watches Faith for a moment, as she tunes into the woman’s aura.  Sighing quietly, Tara stands gathering the other empty soda can and plate, putting them up.  “Want something else to drink?”

“Water would be good.”  Faith watches Tara as she silently works her way around the room. 

Tara sits down gently on the edge of the bed, placing the water on the nightstand.  Placing a hand on the other side of the slayer’s waist, she looks down at the woman. 

Faith watches as Tara seems to be studying her, wondering what it is that she sees when she’s looking at her.  Watching as Tara raises her other hand, cupping her face gently, Faith closes her eyes, leaning into the caress. 

Tara smiles briefly at the beautiful woman, watching as her features soften.  “Since you’re going to refuse to take the pills for a while, just to piss me off, I guess I have to distract you from the pain.”  Tara murmurs quietly, leaning down and capturing the woman’s lips in a soft, tantalizing kiss.  As Tara brushes her lips repeatedly against Faith’s, she finally captures the slayer’s full bottom lip between both of hers, gently sucking on it, before running her tongue over the captured flesh, finally releasing the slayer’s lip, Tara eases back away from the slayer.  Placing her hands on the bed, on either side of the slayer’s shoulders, Tara watches as Faith’s eyelids slowly open, showing dark brown eyes gazing up at her. 

“More.”  Faith whispers hoarsely, wrapping her left hand around the witch’s neck urging her down.  Groaning quietly as their lips come into contact, Faith runs her tongue over the witch’s lips, growling as she allows her entrance, quickly delving her tongue into the warm cavern Faith battles gently against Tara’s tongue groaning as Tara captures her tongue and sucks gently on the muscle. 

Tara finally releases Faith’s tongue, gently pulling back to place soft kisses on the slayer’s panting mouth as she tries to get control of her own breathing after the intense kiss.

“I’m gonna suggest blonde Witchy kisses for what ails a slayer.”  Faith whimpers quietly, as she feels the witch’s hot breath cross her cheek as full lips kiss softly across her cheek towards her ear.

“Any slayer or a particular slayer?”  Tara breathes in the slayer’s ear, chuckling as she hears the disgusted grunt come from Faith.  Leaning back, Tara smirks at the dark-haired woman.

“Yeah, like B would know a good thing if it hit her upside the head.”  Faith comments snarkily.  “That woman needs to get that fuckin’ stick out of her ass.”

“Hmmm.  Talk like that around Joyce, do you?”  Tara raises an eyebrow, laughing quietly.

“Actually, yeah.”  Faith grins at the surprise on Tara’s face.  “She and I thought it might be good for her to have fun, check out the different options there are instead of going from Fang to All-American corn-fed boy.”  

Tara laughs loudly at that.  “That’s priceless.  You and Buffy’s mom talking about Buffy’s love life!”

“Not so much love life, as the fact that she should try being laid just for the hell of it.  Maybe try a woman, you know, that type of thing.”  Faith smirks as Tara pulls back, laughing even more. 

“Oh, Goddess!”  Tara wipes a tear from her eye.  “Just imagining Buffy, with the way her and Riley are, even remotely being interested in a woman is unimaginable.  You and her own mother talking about her being laid by a woman is just… hilarious.”  Tara finally admits, chuckling.  “Goddess, I think I want to get to know Mrs. Summers better.  She seems like a wonderful woman.”

“She’s the best.  B don’t know how lucky she is.  Sometimes I just want to smack her and tell her not to take her mom for granted, ya’ know?”  Faith frowns deeply.  “Our lives are pretty much forfeit, and we could cash in at any time.  Both of us should spend as much time as we can with people we care about.” 

“She is.  She cares about Riley.”  Tara sighs quietly.  “Unfortunately we can’t always spend as much time with the people that we want to.  If I could have, I would have spent every waking minute with my mother at the end, but she made me promise to continue going to school.  She wanted me to make something of myself.”

“I’m sorry, babe.”  Faith rests a hand on the woman’s thigh, stroking her fingers soothingly over the warm skin. 

Tara allows a small smile to cross her face and wipes a tear from her face.  “Yeah, me too.  I need to run to the bathroom.  When I get back I want you to take your pills and get some rest.” 

Faith scowls at the witch.  “I don’t wanna take anymore.”

Tara chuckles as she walks towards the door, opening it slightly, she glances back at the slayer.  “The sooner you’re better, the sooner you can get more than just kisses.  So, you might want to take that into consideration when you think about taking your pain pills and sleeping.”

“Bitch.”  Faith grumbles, then smiles as Tara’s tinkling laughter follows the witch out of the room.  “No fair, playing dirty like that.”  Faith laughs quietly at the thought that Joyce was right.  They would make a good couple.

***

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