Chapter Seven
Buffy exhaled loudly as she entered her room. She was tired, patrolling for way too many hours and then getting teleported home would do that to a girl, as would the fact that she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in over a week. She pulled off her shirt as she headed for the shower, swearing under breath as her tag caught on the clasp of her cross.
She managed to untangle herself and finish undressing, turning on the water as she did. It warmed quickly and she got in, sighing loudly with pleasure as the liquid heat rolled over her aching muscles. She leaned her arms against the wall and let the water pour over her back, easing the pain from where the vampire had cracked a large branch across it. The bruise was already fading, but the pain felt deep enough to last until at least the morning.
Whatever. It wasn’t the worst pain she’d ever felt, and it was barely a blip on her radar at the moment. What was on her mind was the same thing that had been causing all of her sleepless nights of late: Faith.
They’d barely spoken since they’d both come to their senses and at first that had been just fine with Buffy. She could remember every second of her Cave Slayer time, and to call herself embarrassed didn’t even remotely do it justice. Mortified beyond all reckoning, times ten, might start approaching the lowest level of embarrassment she felt. The things she’d done…the things she’d done to Faith.
Her face flushed red as she thought of their first time together. God, she’d practically ravished Faith, but Buffy remembered other things too…how they’d fought, how she’d given Faith her stick, how Faith had taken her so passionately and tenderly, the feeling of comfort and rightness that she’d felt wrapped in Faith arms. The fun they’d had finding food and weapons together, the sweet taste of the ice cream sandwiches, the satisfaction in making Faith do what she said and then giving herself to Faith in return...
She turned off the water and stepped out, grabbing a towel as she headed back into her room.
“This is ridiculous.”
True, they’d had sex and their real feelings about each other had come out. But the bottom line was they were still friends, best friends, and they couldn’t just keep avoiding each other because they’d done some…some different things. Besides, now that the initial flush of embarrassment had faded, Buffy was happy with what they’d done and she wanted to keep right on doing it.
Enough was enough. The awkwardness had to stop and clearly Faith wasn’t going to be the one to end it. That was fine with Buffy; she could be “Take Charge Girl”. When it came to Faith, she’d already proven more than once that she was up to the task.
She dressed quickly and headed out into the castle to find Faith. She looked in all of the usual places with no luck, and just as her search narrowed down to only one spot left, she literally ran into her. Faith was exiting the training room, her head down as she unwound the tape from her right hand, an angry scowl on her face. As they collided, her hands grabbed onto Buffy’s shoulders instinctively:
“Hey, watch where the fuck you’re…Oh, B…”
Faith trailed off all too quickly, her body going rigid and her gaze looking anywhere but at the woman she was holding onto. Her hands left Buffy’s shoulders way too fast and she immediately tried to slide off to the side to make her escape, but Buffy anticipated the move and slid smoothly with her:
“Hi. I was just looking for…”
“Yeah, well it’s all yours.”
And then she was gone, leaving Buffy staring after her.
“But I don’t want the training room, I want you…to talk to…with.”
Muttered to an empty hallway, and conversing with empty spaces was not at all what Buffy had had in mind when she’d started out on her quest.
She couldn’t remember the last time Faith had left her in the dust so quickly. Sure she had to be embarrassed by some of her actions, okay, most of her actions, but they were friends and they couldn’t just avoid each other forever. They had to talk. Talking was what friends did, and besides, they’d been doing nothing but talking for years. They were experts at it by now and talking was something they could…
By the time she’d shut up in her head and actually went after her, Faith was long gone. At first it seemed to be a minor problem because Buffy knew where Faith liked to hang out, she’d hung out with her in those places herself many times, but after several minutes it became apparent that she had a bigger problem than she’d realized.
Faith wasn’t in any of the locations she was supposed to be in. In fact, Faith didn’t seem to be anywhere at all, and even though Buffy knew that was a physical impossibility, it seemed to be all too true. And she didn’t get it, except she did. Faith was avoiding her, but Buffy didn’t know why. Sure, she understood being humiliated, but this was way past that, especially for Faith, the girl who never got embarrassed by sex.
After two hours she dejectedly gave up and returned to her own room. There was no point in wandering all around the castle, especially when there was no way to know if Faith was even still inside it. Besides, Faith had made it more than clear that she didn’t want to talk to Buffy, and that hurt way more than anything had in a very long time.
She got undressed and slipped into her black and white cow pajamas, a gift given to her last Christmas by a proud and grinning Faith:
“Took some doin’, B, but just didn’t seem right you not havin’em.”
The memory made Buffy’s eyes well up and she fought back the tears with more effort than she felt like expending. Faith was so sweet and considerate, and even though she always fought to hide her tender side, Buffy saw it with no effort at all. Faith was a softie, a bad-tempered, dangerous, “snap your neck and never look back” softie, but that didn’t make her any less of one. Buffy smiled, got into bed and shut off the light.
As she lay in the darkness, her mind went over the situation again and again and no matter how hard she tried, she could only come up with one answer: Faith hated her now. There couldn’t be any other explanation for how she was acting, and if Buffy looked at it objectively, what else could she expect Faith to feel?
Buffy had ruined their friendship and worst of all…no, that was the worst thing for sure when she really thought about it. Because Faith was her best friend and had been for a long time now. Sure, Willow was still her “best” best friend, nothing would ever change that, but Willow was always travelling around the world and they didn’t get much of a chance to talk anymore or just sit around being friends.
It was Faith who had become her “day in and day out” best friend. It was Faith who was there sharing the good times and the bad, the Slayer duties and the few chances when they were free to be just two young women out for a good time.
It was Faith who understood her, who stayed up late to talk about the important and the insignificant things. It was Faith who made her laugh when she was sad, and it was Faith who just let her feel whatever it was that she needed to feel. It was always Faith who knew when and how to reach out to her when she tried to pull away, and it was Faith who made her feel like she wasn’t alone. And now Buffy had lost her.
She couldn’t stop the tears this time and the worst thing was: she was in love with Faith. And she’d had her. For a brief time they’d been a couple, a weird animalistic couple engaged in a periodic power struggle, true, but they’d found something, or at least Buffy had. Despite the fact that she’d had the IQ of an ant at the time, she had found out the truth about herself at last.
Buffy Summers loved Faith Lehane like she had never loved anyone else in her life and she had never been happier than when she’d been running around naked, living in a cave, making love on a tent, eating crackers, paper and all, knocking the crap out of Kennedy, and sleeping wrapped up with Faith. God, it had been so perfect and Buffy wanted it to be her life…except with clothes sometimes and a real bed and conversation with more than two words at a time and food without paper, although she’d be just fine if she could still get to knock Kennedy out.
She eventually fell into a troubled sleep that wasn’t going to provide any rest, merely a respite from the pain she was feeling and would feel again as soon as she awoke…which was a short one hour and thirty-six minutes later.
Buffy was groggy and yawning repeatedly as she opened the door.
“B, we gotta talk.”
Buffy said nothing, suddenly wide awake.
“So um…can I um…Can I come in?”
Buffy stepped aside and let her enter, then shut and locked the door behind her. When she turned Faith was already staring out the window, at what Buffy could only guess because the blackness of the night left little on display.
They stood in silence for a couple of minutes, their mutual discomfort escaping neither girl’s attention. It hadn’t been like this between them in forever, and Buffy was at a loss what to do. Normally Faith breezed in, sprawled on the couch and rested her boot covered feet on the coffee table while telling Buffy to pick out a movie. Or she was jumping on Buffy’s bed saying they needed one of those “Whaddya call it, B? A bonding night. Well, let’s bond, baby!”
Or Faith would knock softly and enter with her head down, her demons holding sway over her as she turned to the one person who could pull her back to the light. Or Faith would practically hammer the door down and stagger in, drunk out of her mind as she flirted way too graphically with Buffy until she passed out on the bed or couch, only to be hung over the next morning and asking for sympathy.
Buffy was equipped to handle those scenarios and many more besides, but this situation seemed like the old days, so old it was almost new, and both girls were unsettled and ill at ease.
“Faith, maybe we should sit down.”
There was still only silence, and Buffy could feel her tears threatening a comeback. This wasn’t going to be good, not at all. Faith obviously couldn’t forgive her, and it wasn’t like Buffy could exactly blame her. She felt herself starting to panic, and what Faith said next pushed Buffy right over edge:
“Not sure I can do this face to face and…”
Buffy felt the tears spilling down her face:
“Faith, God, I’m so sorry! Please, isn’t there some way I can make it better?”
“…I keep fightin’ the urge to run, but I know I owe you more than that…Huh?”
“What?”
“What’d ya say, B?”
“What did you say, Faith?”
“You go first!”
That last line said at the same time as they looked at each other in confusion.
“Okay, wait. Stop talking and come sit down.”
Faith did, only she chose the chair that faced the couch instead of sitting next to Buffy.
They fell silent again, Buffy studying her face intently as she searched for any sign of forgiveness. She saw none. Faith’s face was blank like it always was when she was upset, and she kept her eyes, which always revealed her true emotions, from looking at Buffy.
“So you can’t even look at me now?”
Said so softly and with such sadness, Faith’s head jerked up:
“B, I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“I know, I didn’t either. Faith, I never would have…”
Faith stood again:
“B, you don’t gotta say anything, okay? It’s my deal and I figured if it ever got out, it was gonna fuck us up.”
Buffy was actually listening, but it wasn’t clearing up her confusion in any way.
“What are you talking about?”
“So I was just gonna motor, but like I said, I owe you more than that. Figure the best thing is to ask Giles to reassign me somewhere. Gotta be some place I can go where…”
Buffy went over to her and grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face her:
“Faith, what are you talking about? Why are you taking the blame?”
Faith jerked free:
“Don’t do that! We both know how it is, I made that crystal fucking clear. And the thing is, B, a big chunk of me’s glad it’s out. Now you know how I feel, how I’ve always felt.”
Buffy stood there as Faith continued:
“It’s wrong, I know that, but that’s how it is. Havin’ you as my friend meant everything to me, but I can’t go back to that now. I can’t look at you and not remember that I had you, even in the fucked up way I did.”
Buffy’s shock was still with her, but the truth was filtering through slowly, picking up steam until she was starting to understand that Faith was in love with her.
Faith was back to staring out the window again:
“I know I oughta be bigger than this, know I oughta be able to push it aside, but I can’t. I see you, B, and all I wanna do is take you again, make ya mine. And it’s not fair to you, not fair to either of us.”
“Faith…”
Faith started walking to the door, her voice low but plenty loud enough for Buffy to hear her clearly:
“So I’m gonna talk to Giles tomorrow and head out to the first place I can. I’ll stay out of your way ‘til…”
“I don’t want you to go.”
Faith glanced at her, but kept moving:
“Been on my own before. Don’t need your pity, B.”
“It’s not pity, it’s…”
Faith whirled, her face filled with anger and hurt and sorrow:
“Jesus Buffy, don’t! I know you’re the spokesman for every straight girl ever. Think I don’t feel stupid enough for lovin’ a woman who…”
“I slept with Satsu.”
“…wouldn’t fuck a chick if the world was at sta…What?”
“I slept with Satsu…twice.”
For the first time Faith looked at Buffy head on:
“You ‘slept with’ Satsu? What’s that supposed to mean? Ya had a slumber party?”
“No, it means I had sex with her. Lesbian, non-straight, sex with her.”
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“No ya didn’t.”
“Yes I did.”
“No fucking way you did.”
“Lots of fucking way I did.”
Faith stood there staring, the shock all on her side now, and Buffy took advantage of her inability to form words:
“You’re standing here making all kinds of assumptions and so far, every single one of them has been wrong. Please Faith, just sit down and let me talk to you.”
Faith did as she was told, and when she was settled, Buffy started speaking:
“I don’t want you to go, and besides, this is your home and this is where you belong. You can’t just up and go when something happens. There are at least fifty people who’d try to stop you or would go after you to bring you back. You’re stuck here.”
Faith looked conflicted: happy at the truth in Buffy’s statement and slightly panicked as she realized what that truth meant. Buffy plowed ahead, they could deal with that issue another time.
“We’re friends, Faith, really good friends and I’m sorry. I should have told you about Satsu a long time ago.”
“…So why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know.”
Faith snorted, an angry huffing sound, and Buffy knew she’d have to do better.
“Okay, wait, that’s not true. I didn’t tell you because I thought it would make you mad.”
“Yeah? Why’d ya think that?”
Buffy’s eyes met hers:
“Because there’s always been this ‘thing’ between us and I was afraid of what it would mean if you knew I could be with a woman.”
“Fuck! Always thought she had the hots for you! She’s always lookin’ all moony and droolin’…Fuck her, ya know?”
“The point is…”
“Who else knows about this?”
Buffy felt herself flush:
“Unfortunately lots of people. It wasn’t exactly the best coming out in the history of coming outs.”
Faith stood, her anger practically billowing off of her:
“And nobody tells me?! How’s that fuckin’ work, Buffy?!”
Buffy answered her calmly, Faith’s obvious jealousy making it plain just how in love she was.
“It works because I asked them not to say anything to you. Would you please sit down and let me explain?”
Faith stood there glaring angrily for a few tense moments, then flung herself back into the chair:
“Fine. Go.”
“I felt funny about it. I didn’t want it to mess things up between us and…”
“That makes no fucking sense. We’re supposed to be friends, the kind that tell each other everything. That’s what you said, Buffy, and that’s what I did! I told you shit I’ve never told…”
“I know that, Faith, okay? And you’re right, I should’ve told you, but I was afraid it would make it weird between us and we couldn’t really afford that back then.”
“Yeah, fine, but you had plenty of chances after that and you never even…”
Buffy leaned forward, her voice coming out in a shout despite her determination to stay calm:
“I felt guilty, all right? It should have been you, but we were still too busy hurting each other, so it was Satsu. Happy now?”
“…No B, I’m not happy at all.”
“She doesn’t matter, Faith. I don’t love her, I never did. We’re friends, but that’s it, and that’s all we’ll ever be.”
Faith’s dark eyes were filled with jealousy:
“Yeah? Well, that’s all we were, and look what we did.”
“We’ve never been ‘just’ friends and you know it. I was lonely, she was there and I went with it. Then things got complicated and we had goodbye sex. And that’s all it was, Faith…just sex. It wasn’t like anything you and I had.”
“And what’d we really have, B? Some wild sex while we were under a spell?”
Buffy’s anger flared up just like that:
“Well whatever we had, it was enough to make you wanna run like a coward.”
“Fuck you, Buffy.”
“You already did, several times, and I loved each and every second of it.”
Faith didn’t respond for a minute and when she did, her voice came out uncharacteristically small:
“B…Okay, so you can swing both ways even when you’re not drunk. All that means is…means it wasn’t even as special as I thought it was. You’d have fucked anybody who was in that room, just happened to be me.”
Buffy looked at her in disbelief:
“God, you really are stupid.”
“B…”
“No, I mean it! I’m in love with you, don’t you get that? I don’t need beer to…well, okay, I did need beer to let me show it, but the beer didn’t change how I felt about you.”
Faith’s laugh was mocking:
“Right, so why didn’t ya say anything before?”
“Why didn’t you? You knew you loved me forever and you never even said a word.”
“Yeah, so it’s all my fault now, right Buffy?”
Buffy stood up and walked over, putting her hands on the chair’s armrests and leaning in just inches from Faith’s face:
“Don’t you dare pull this! It’s both our fault, or it’s nobody’s. God, it doesn’t even matter anymore! We’re right here, it’s our time now, so stop acting like such a bitch and focus on what’s really going on. We love each other, it’s finally out in the open, so shut up and let’s deal.”
Faith’s mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. She had no real rebuttal, and after a beat, Buffy straightened up and held out her hand. Faith took it as she stood and let Buffy lead her to the couch. They sat next to each other, and Buffy kept holding her hand:
“You know, I thought you were avoiding me because you hated me.”
“What? Why would you think somethin’ like that?”
“Because…because of that first time.”
At first Faith was puzzled, but then understanding flooded her face:
“‘First time’? Ya mean the sex? How the hell could I hate ya for that?”
“Well, I…because I…”
“‘Cause ya just took me? No B, I wanted it. I just thought I was takin’advantage of you, so I kept tryin’ to resist.”
Buffy looked embarrassed:
“But you were saying ‘no’ and I…”
Faith took her other hand and waited until Buffy met her eye:
“B, you did stop, remember? You said, ‘Faith not want Buffy?’ and you stopped. It only kept goin’ because I did want you and you knew it. So fuck that, even Cave Buffy does the right thing.”
Buffy smiled and lifted Faith’s hand to her lips:
“Thank you.”
“Facts are the facts, plus Cave B? Fuck, she was hot.”
“What about regular Buffy?”
Faith tried to shift away, but Buffy wouldn’t let go of her hands.
“Well, regular Buffy’s pretty hot too.”
“So I’m thinking maybe we’ve got something here.”
“Maybe.”
“Hmm…let’s see…”
Buffy swung her leg over until she was straddling Faith, her arms hanging loosely over Faith’s shoulders as her hands played with her hair.
“…we both have the hots for each other, we’re best friends…”
“Yeah.”
“…we’re wildly in love with each other and hey, one of us is even willing to admit it.”
Faith looked at her almost shyly:
“I’m willing to admit it, B.”
“You are?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, so let’s hear it.”
“Now?”
“Now would be good.”
Faith squirmed a little and blew out a breath, but then she looked Buffy right in the eye:
“I love you.”
“You do?”
Faith’s dimples popped out at Buffy’s gentle teasing:
“Yeah B, like ya wouldn’t believe.”
Buffy leaned in, stopping just before their lips touched:
“Oh, I believe it, F. In fact, I’m counting on it.”
Faith grabbed the back of Buffy’s head, pulling her forward until their mouths met. Buffy smiled as they kissed, their tongues dancing together as the fire between them blazed up in an instant. They only moved closer, each seeking more of the heat, no matter how hot it got.
When they finally pulled back, Faith laughed:
“Thought we had to talk.”
The tip of Buffy’s tongue darted in and out of Faith’s dimple:
“We do.”
“So?”
Buffy was pushing her back onto the couch:
“So we’ll talk.”
“Okay, but gotta tell ya, B, you layin’ on top of me and puttin’ your hands under my shirt…”
“Mm-hmm…”
“…not gonna get much talkin’ outta me.”
Buffy’s smile was confident and amused:
“Faith, I’m pretty sure I can make you talk or do just about anything I want you to do.”
The sexy laugh that came out of her when she saw the goose bumps rising on Faith’s flesh had Faith’s skin pebbling even further:
“B, I don’t care if we ever talk as long as you keep doin’ that.”
Buffy continued upward, pushing Faith shirt along with her:
“Now this is no good.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not used to you wearing a bra. It’s in my way.”
“Well yeah, I was gonna work out so I…”
The ripping sound drowned out Faith’s words.
“Problem solved. See? I’m a problem solver, F.”
“Yeah, you’re a real natural at it.”
Faith’s torso arched upward to meet Buffy’s mouth.
“Mmm…you’re very tasty.”
“Yeah, I uh…Fuck, B.”
“B fuck Faith now.”
Buffy stood and pulled Faith to her feet. She kissed her, then hoisted Faith over her shoulder.”
“Whoa! What the hell are you…”
Buffy smacked Faith hard on the ass as she headed into the bedroom:
“Buffy say come. Faith come.”
“Not that I mind the ‘coming’ part, but…”
Buffy tossed her down on the bed and quickly stripped off her own clothes:
“Buffy want Faith. Buffy take Faith.”
“And Faith want B too, but...”
Buffy crawled up the bed, sliding herself along Faith’s body until she was resting lightly on top of her, her center nestled securely between Faith’s legs.
“Good. Then don’t be a stupidhead. Make love to me.”
“Yeah, okay, cave girl, but I…”
“Faith?”
“Yeah?”
“We’re in love. Now let’s prove it.”
The giggling was muffled, but it was growing louder.
“Shhh! B, you’re gonna get us busted!”
All yelled in a whisper, as Faith tried to be quiet.
“Sorry.”
An unladylike snort escaped from Buffy as she tried to stop laughing, and that was when Faith began to lose it. They gave up, and laughing and giggling, they made a run for it.
Food began sliding all over the trays and drinks started sloshing over onto the hallway’s floor.
“Shit, grab that can, B!”
Buffy just managed to save the can of root beer, the only beer either Slayer would be drinking for a long time, from smashing to the floor. The apples were another matter entirely. They thudded, bouncing barely at all as they smushed more than happily, half on and half off on the ornate hall rug.
Buffy bent to get them, but Faith sounded the alarm:
“Leave’em! Think I hear somebody!”
The Slayers picked up steam, determined to get back to Buffy’s room with their stolen supplies.
There was a castle rule, an edict really, that no one was allowed in the cafeteria after hours unless they had the express permission of the Cafeteria Commandant: Andrew. Giles had instituted the rule after the first week of operation when Andrew came to him nearly in tears because despite all of his careful planning, he was going to run out of food before lunch time…and that was assuming he could make it through breakfast.
Slayers were to keep food in their own quarters for those in between meal treats and leave the cafeteria off limits unless it was open. The doors were secured with Slayer proof locks and the situation was resolved smoothly, much to Andrew’s happy satisfaction.
The only problem was that here in the here and now, Buffy had no food in her refrigerator, Faith never kept anything substantial in hers, and the Slayers were starving after having had wild, passionate sex for two hours. They quickly agreed that what they needed was in the cafeteria and they were going to get it.
They’d brought two pillowcases along, their stint as Cave Slayers having taught them about their multiple uses, and after using the hidden emergency key that Faith knew all about, they’d quickly loaded up. But not surprisingly, they’d gotten a little too greedy and one of the cases had split down the seam, causing it to be pretty much unusable.
Faith had “solved” their problem by grabbing a couple of trays and stacking the overflow onto those. A seemingly great idea, but as they’d hurried back to Buffy’s room, the delicate balance kept shifting and Faith was struggling almost every step of the way to keep their bounty from crashing to the floor. The fact that she’d insisted on placing an open can of root beer as well as two large glasses of coke filled to the brim on the trays was not making her struggle any easier.
Buffy had her own battle to fight, making sure that she kept the split pillowcase tightly closed as well as catching whatever bounced its way off of the trays. The look on Faith’s face coupled with her forced awkwardness as she kept trying to quickly counterbalance, had Buffy laughing almost beyond control.
As they began making their way past the sleeping quarters, they heard voices.
“B!”
Buffy looked around and thinking quickly, she opened the door to the nearby training room. She motioned Faith inside, then pulled the door almost closed behind them, peering out through the narrow crack. She went wide-eyed as the voices kept approaching and she was forced to shut the door all the way.
“Yeah, well I couldn’t sleep either. Will just pisses me off sometimes, like it’s my fault that I hung up on the Coven.”
Kennedy’s voice sounded irritated and Satsu’s was almost placating in its response:
“Women, right? I wish I was straight so I didn’t have to…”
She stopped speaking as she couldn’t get the training room door handle to budge.
“What the hell?”
“What?”
Satsu tried again, but there wasn’t even a wiggle.
“The door’s broken or stuck…or something.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes:
“Step aside and let a real Slayer take care of it.”
Satsu released her grip and stepped back:
“Oh yeah, like you’re stronger than me.”
“I am, which I shall now prove by…”
Her grunting became a full-fledged groaning before she gave one final tug:
“Aarrgghh…grrrr…Shit! It’s like it’s been super-glued or something. It doesn’t even move at all.”
Satsu’s expression was smug:
“Told you so, Wonder Woman. I’d better go get somebody.”
“At this hour?”
Satsu nodded in agreement:
“Good point. I guess we can just head to one of the other rooms and…”
“But this is the only one close to us, the other one’s still being renovated. We’d have to go all the way to the other side of the castle. Here, just let me…”
Again Kennedy took hold of the handle and gave it her all. Sweat popped out on her forehead as her muscles strained…and nothing, not even a twinge of movement.
“God, that’s crazy! What could possibly be stronger than a Slayer?”
“Hey, I know, Kennedy! We can grab some of the tools from the…”
“Yeah! Then we can take the damn door off the hinges ourselves!”
Satsu turned to go, then stopped.
“Except, where are the tools? They were re-plastering and painting in there, so Xander had all of the stuff moved somewhere that’s else.”
“Right…I think most of it got shoved into the supply room.”
“Which is where?”
Kennedy’s voice sounded irritated again:
“Where it’s always been.”
“Well sorry, I don’t usually run flunkey errands.”
“Yeah, right, like you’re too good for menial chores. I guess that explains why your place looks like a bomb went off in it.”
“Uh-huh, and if you didn’t have Willow, yours would be way worse than mine!”
“Whatever, Satsu. It’s like five doors down around the corner.”
“You come with me.”
“It doesn’t take two people to get some tools.”
Satsu’s tone of voice revealed the delight she took in agitating her fellow Slayer:
“I’m not your underling, Kennedy. I don’t take orders from you.”
“Fine, you little baby. I’ll go get them myself.”
“Stop trying to boss me around. I’ll get them.”
Their squabbling voices drifted further away and Faith whispered softly to Buffy:
“Think we oughta make our break now?”
Buffy slowly released her grip on the door handle:
“I think it’s the only chance we’re going to get. Ditch the drinks and let’s go.”
She picked up the pillowcases as Faith drained the root beer and quietly tossed the empty can and cups of coke into the nearby trash can.
“Ready, B?”
“Yep, on three. We just have to make the corner before they hit this hall again.”
“Got it.”
“One…Two…Three!”
Buffy swung the door open with Slayer speed, barely registering the brief impact she initially encountered. With a cursory glance back Buffy and Faith hauled ass, successfully gaining the corner before they were spotted:
“Damn, B.”
“What can I say? Girl bad.”
They grinned at each other and kept running.
An approaching voice could be heard along with the sound of clanking tools:
“It was seven doors down, smartass, and it only took one special Slayer to get the job done.”
Satsu was surprised that Kennedy offered no immediate comeback about just how ”special” she really was, like “little bus” special, but when she turned the corner she saw the reason for her friend’s uncharacteristic silence.
The training room door stood wide-open and Kennedy lay sprawled on the floor, out cold. A lump had already started forming on her forehead, and Satsu knelt down to make sure she was okay.
“Wow, Ken, you really are hardcore.”
THE END
