The meeting had been going on for seemingly forever and Buffy had heard very little of it. Right now they were in the midst of listening to lengthy and vigorous assurances from Willow that it shouldn’t be much longer before they could actually go after the Scythe…and blah, blah, blah, vitally important information, and so on and so on. Whatever.
Buffy had sat as patiently as she could through every topic, but none of the words uttered made the slightest bit of sense to her. Her attention was fully focused on the dark and angry woman who was hunkered down alone in the corner of the room that was the very furthest from Buffy’s location. It was a seating arrangement that Buffy knew was not an accident.
She’d tried repeatedly during the seemingly indeterminable meeting to catch Faith’s attention, but that had proven to be a total impossibility. Faith would look nowhere near and she kept her eyes affixed to the floor the entire time. There was nothing Buffy could do except wait for the meeting to wrap, well nothing except stare at Faith and watch Giles constantly flick his worried gaze over his bright and shiny new Slayer.
Finally Buffy couldn’t stand the wait anymore and decided to go with her best “boss” voice:
“Okay, so is that it?”
She received some strange looks since she’d apparently cut Willow off mid-sentence, but with an apologetic smile and a quick rise to her feet, Buffy had everybody moving to the door in just moments.
There were some murmurs of confusion due to the abrupt ending of the meeting, but everyone began heading out anyway, happy things had been cut short and they were now free to pursue their various plans for the evening.
“Faith, could I talk to you for a minute?”
Faith never hesitated or broke stride, and she was out the door as if Buffy had never spoken.
There was no way that Buffy could or would allow that, and she headed after Faith only to find Giles standing in her way:
“Buffy, may I have a word?”
Her first thought was: “No, you may not”, but she knew that was unfair and she made herself stop.
“What is it, Giles?”
“I’m concerned about whatever it is that’s going on between you and Faith.” ”Well, join the club.”
“And that cryptic answer means?”
Buffy’s eyes swept past him, her gaze revealing that Faith had vanished from sight.
“It means that we’re having a problem and I want to go get it straightened out.”
“Might I enquire as to the nature of this problem?”
“Sure, you can ask all you want, but I doubt I’ll be answering.”
He didn’t look pleased and his glasses were now in his hand:
“By all means, Buffy, be as flip as you like, but I’m concerned about Faith and I…”
“Just Faith, Giles? No concern for me anymore, huh?”
“Of course I’m concerned for you as well. My God, how can you even ask me that?”
Buffy laughed with more than just a touch of hurt:
“Yeah, silly me. Look, I don’t have time for this right now. I need to talk to Faith.”
“Be that as it may, I am not at all comfortable with what’s going on between the two of you. While I understand…”
“Giles, I’m not doing anything to her, okay? We’re working on stuff, and right now she’s building up a huge wall because she thinks she has to. She doesn’t, and I want to go prove that to her. So if you don’t mind?”
He didn’t step aside and Buffy could feel her anger growing.
“Perhaps you aren’t aware, but Faith is doing exceptionally well. Please don’t put all her progress in jeopardy just because…”
“Faith’s a big girl, Giles. So am I, and I don’t appreciate your words of caution. Obviously you think I mean her harm, so thanks for the big vote of confidence...again.”
She shoved her way past him with a little more force than could be considered necessary and strode off down the hall, leaving him to watch intently after her.
“…Bollocks.”
He knew he’d just set them back a bit further and he hadn’t exactly done Faith any favors either. Buffy had misconstrued what he’d been getting at and he’d expressed his concerns in a fumbling manner that had allowed her to.
“Brilliant, Rupert. Just bloody brilliant.”
It took Buffy twenty minutes to find Faith. She was out on one of the turrets chatting with the Slayers who were there on guard duty. When Buffy appeared, the five Slayers on watch leapt to their feet, trying their best to look like they were totally watch-worthy.
“It’s been quiet all night, ma’am.”
Although they’d only been on duty for thirty minutes, Buffy chose to let the somewhat misleading report slide:
“That’s news of the good. Wow, look at all the stars!”
The younger Slayers looked around, muttering their agreement under their breath somewhat nervously as Buffy then turned her attention elsewhere:
“Faith, I was wondering if we could go somewhere and talk.”
“Nah, fine where I am.”
“So you want to talk right here?”
“Not plannin’ to talk anywhere, so see ya.”
Buffy wanted to punch her, but she smiled her friendliest smile as she turned toward the other Slayers:
“Could you guys take five…better yet, make that ten or fifteen.”
They didn’t exactly hesitate, but they looked confused as they exited single file with numerous backward glances. Once they’d cleared the threshold, Buffy shut the door behind them and turned back to the most beautiful woman in the world.
Faith was looking out into the night, or maybe she was just trying to figure out a way to scale down the castle wall. As it was, all she presented to Buffy was a sliver of her unfriendly profile, one that showed no signs of speaking first, and so Buffy plowed ahead:
“So, nice weather we’re having.”
Faith didn’t smile, not even the hint of a dimple flashed across her face.
“O…kay, note to self: Humor so not the way to go.”
Faith sighed, but there didn’t seem to be any thawing. She turned just slightly, and the smidgen of her profile that had been on display was now replaced by a ramrod stiff back.
“Faith, we need to talk.”
“Just told ya we don’t.”
“So you figured what exactly? That you’d just fuck my brains out and then we’d go back to how things were without even mentioning it?”
Faith looked somewhat startled to hear Buffy using the word “fuck”, but she still wasn’t giving an inch:
“Don’t know. Hadn’t given it much thought.”
Buffy edged closer:
“Yes you have. That’s all you’ve thought about all day, and now you’re freaking out.”
“Wow. Still think it all revolves around you, huh, Princess?”
“I’ve been thinking about it all day too…”
Buffy moved close enough to lay her hand on Faith’s back, and the contact made Faith flinch and move away.
“…and the truth is I can’t think about anything else. I don’t want to either.”
Buffy touched her again, and although she jumped once more, this time Faith didn’t move away.
“Last night was…well last night was incredible, Faith.”
“…Yeah.”
“You’re the best lover I’ve ever had.”
Whispered sexily into Faith’s ear and sending a noticeable shiver through her.
“Wanna do it again?”
“…D…Don’t usually do repeats.”
Buffy’s arms wrapped around her waist from behind:
“You don’t usually spend the night either.”
Faith instantly tried to pull loose, but Buffy tightened her grip:
“Hmm, now see? This looks very much like a freak-out to me.”
“Let go.”
Buffy’s lips nibbled along Faith’s ear, then downward to her neck:
“Make me.”
Faith’s response was a soft groan that seemed to be dragged out of her.
“…Let…go…B.”
“It’s still the same answer, F…Make me.”
“Look…”
Buffy nuzzled in even closer:
“I don’t wanna look. I wanna smell and touch and taste…”
Her tongue swept out after that last word, swiping seductively along Faith’s neck until it returned to her ear. Buffy’s groin pushed hard into Faith’s ass as she swayed slowly, her hands beginning to reach those ultra sensitive places.
Faith moaned and her head flung back onto Buffy’s shoulder. Her eyes closed tightly as she felt the sensations only Buffy could cause so easily.
“Obviously that’s what you want too, so I say we head to my room and you let me show you just what I can do.”
“…Not smart…”
“You know, Faith, we’ve never been smart with each other, not until last night. That’s all thanks to you, and tonight I wanna return the favor.”
“I…B, I don’t know…”
“Well, I know, F. I know exactly what you need and that’s me between your…”
“Ma’am…Oh, excuse me!”
Buffy let go of Faith as she turned to face the intruder. She struggled to keep the irritation off her face, but she wasn’t sure she was entirely successful:
“Yes, Susan?”
“Ms. Summers, I was wondering if it would be possible for me to have tomorrow night off? Keira said she’d cover for me and…”
“It’s fine with me, but that decision is really up to Mr. Harris.”
Susan’s smile lit up the night:
“He said it was okay with him if it was okay with you.”
Buffy wrapped her arm around Susan’s shoulders and steered her towards the door:
“Well if your dad says it’s okay, so do I.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. Enjoy your night off.”
Buffy practically shoved her through the doorway, then firmly closed the door.
“Now where were we?”
Faith was back to staring out at the dark landscape, and any softness Buffy had managed to earn had all but disappeared.
“We were no place. “
Buffy walked over to stand next to her:
“That’s not exactly how I remember it. As I recall, we were…”
“Yeah, well that’s the thing. I don’t live in ‘Buffy World’ and I don’t play by ‘Buffy Rules’. Got my own thoughts and memories.”
“Okay, well the good news is that I’m more than happy to live in ‘Faith World’, so why don’t we go to my room? You can share your thoughts and…”
Faith turned to look at her then:
“Right, we’ll go to your room and what? Just talk? How fucking stupid do you think I am?”
“I didn’t say we’d just talk, but if that’s all you want to do, that’s all we’ll do. Slayer’s honor. If you don’t want to have sex, which would be way over on the stupid side, I won’t force the issue.”
“Like you could.”
Buffy chuckled:
“All I’m saying is that we clearly need to get some things straightened out, so fine. Although after we do, if you want to ravish each other, well I sure won’t be saying ‘no’.”
Faith ran her hand through her hair, then blew out a huge breath:
“Alright, we’ll talk. But I’m not gonna go on and on about shit. You say what you want, I’ll say what I want, and that’s it.”
“Fine with me.”
Buffy opened the door and called in the other Slayers:
“Guys, you can come back in now.”
They quickly returned to their posts, still with the confused and somewhat nervous glances as they tried to figure out what was going on.
“Okay then, we’ll leave you to it. Faith?”
She held open the door and gestured with a flourish for the other girl to proceed.
Faith stomped past her, her anger and fear fairly oozing from her. Buffy smiled cheerily at the squad of guard Slayers:
“You guys are doing great, and you definitely passed the pop inspection… the sneak inspection…the surprise inspection guard thingy…Night!”
She quickly shut the door behind her and hurried to catch up with Faith who was now out of sight. Buffy hustled around the corner, only to slam into the object of her desire who was now standing still.
“Whoa! Wanna fuckin’ slow it down?” ”Sorry, I didn’t think you’d be waiting for me.”
“Wasn’t exactly. Just a little clueless how to get to your room from here.”
Buffy smiled, trying her best to lighten the increasingly gloomy mood:
“Then allow me to lead.”
“Yeah, like you’d let it go some other way.”
Buffy’s anger flared:
“Fine, Faith. You wanna lead? Go right ahead.”
Buffy stood there with her arms folded across her chest as they stared at each other for nearly a minute. Finally Faith looked down at the floor somewhat sheepishly:
“Can’t.”
“So then can I get us there without the snide comments?”
“Yeah, go.”
It took about five minutes before they arrived, and the tension mounted the entire time. When they got there, Buffy said some word in Latin and opened the door. When they were both inside, she closed the door and said the same word as she threw the deadbolt.
“So what’s with the spell, B?”
“Just a gift from my favorite witch, which I sometimes forget to use. But with a place this big, well, let’s just say I don’t want any nasty surprises waiting for me when I get home at night.”
“Why bother with the regular lock then?”
Buffy smiled as she kicked off her shoes:
“It can’t hurt, can it?”
“No, guess not. So what, I can’t get outta here now without your say so?”
“It just works with demons and vamps. You can leave whenever you like.”
Faith didn’t say anything, but she seemed to relax somewhat as she began wandering around.
“Sweet place.”
“Yeah, it’s nice. Do you want something to eat or drink?”
“A beer would be good.”
“Coming right up.”
Buffy disappeared around the corner, then came back a minute later carrying two beers. She took a swig of hers as she handed Faith the other bottle.
“So you’re a beer drinker now?”
Buffy laughed:
“Well, I wouldn’t call myself a “drinker” per se. But every now and then I indulge myself a little.”
“Wow, when you pulled the stick out, you went all the way.”
“I guess I did. So, do you want the guided tour?”
Faith drained nearly half her bottle in one go before she responded:
“Sure.”
“It’s not huge, but it’s home and I like it. Besides, it beats having just a single.”
There was the living room, a kitchen which apparently didn’t get much use, and a spacious bedroom with a bathroom attached. The bathroom was incredible, complete with a huge Jacuzzi tub and every bottle of everything ever made for every girly-girl on the planet.
The place was nice and the bed was…well, the bed was the bed and Faith was better off ignoring just how comfortable, welcoming, and fuck-ready it looked. The headboard alone had her thinking about all sorts of crazy positions, like Buffy on her knees and…
“Do you like?”
Faith jolted back to reality and just managed to stop herself from spilling the remnants of her beer:
“Yeah, it’s cool, ‘specially that tub.”
Buffy’s smile held more than a slight tinge of mischief:
“I made Giles get it. I claimed it was a work requirement, but the truth is I’ve just always wanted one. Plus I have a separate shower for when I need to clean up fast.”
“Hey, no argument here. Should get what ya want, not like you don’t deserve it.”
“So do you.”
They stood uneasily, both looking everywhere but at the bed and each other.
“Faith?”
“Yeah?”
“If we’re going to just talk, maybe we’d better go back into the living room.”
“Yeah, probably. Could use another beer anyway.”
“Okay, you go sit down, I’ll be right back.”
They parted ways as Buffy made her way into the kitchen, calling back over her shoulder:
“I’m starving, you?” ”Could eat somethin’.”
“Okay, make yourself at home while I make us some sandwiches.”
Faith began prowling around the room as she listened to the sounds of Buffy doing her version of cooking, and she couldn’t stop the grin from appearing on her face. She knew Buffy was wide-open with the sandwich making and she’d bet money The Slayer was making a huge ass mess.
She shook her head and began looking around, seeing just what crap Buffy’d accumulated over the last year or so. There wasn’t all that much, just some weird knickknacks from other countries, probably brought back to her by Willow and Xander, some pictures of the gang, and some other tattered photos of Anya, Tara and Joyce. There was also a picture of Angel and Spike together looking all pissed off with each other, and the sight made her laugh out loud.
“What’s so funny?”
Buffy was carrying a large tray of sandwiches, chips, two beers and a can of Coke.
“Just lookin’ at the Dynamic Duo here. Look like two old lovers.”
Buffy smiled as she put the tray down on the coffee table, sliding some magazines off to the side as she did:
“Ahh, the mystery that was Angel and Spike.”
A couple magazines fell to the floor and Buffy bent to pick them up:
“I asked him once, you know.”
“Who, Spike?”
“Yep. He said vampires weren’t hung up on gender.”
“That it?”
Buffy sat down on the couch:
“That’s it.”
Faith walked over and sat on the other end feeling weirdly at ease, which instantly unnerved her:
“Fuck, how could ya not ask him for more info?”
Buffy smiled as her face turned a cute shade of pink:
“Um…He kind of made me forget what I was talking about.”
Faith laughed against her will:
“Gotcha. So the fucker did have skills.”
“Uh…that would be a ‘yes’. Lots of them.”
“Thought maybe he did, but never know if somebody’s just all talk, least not ‘til you test drive’em.”
“Mmm...I just recently found that out.”
Now it was Faith’s turn to blush. She snatched up a sandwich and after a beat, Buffy followed suit. They ate voraciously, leaving not so much as a crumb behind, and when they’d polished off the last of the drinks, an uncomfortable silence descended.
“So…”
Spoken at exactly the same time.
“Go ahead, B.”
“No, you go ahead.”
“Was just gonna say I’m not sure what we gotta talk about.”
“Yes you are. You know we have all kinds of things…”
Faith put her boots up on the edge of the coffee table and folded her arms across her chest:
“That’s just your take on it. Mine’s way different.”
Buffy turned to face her fully:
“And what about what happened last night?”
“What about it? We fucked, not sure there’s any big…”
“Don’t do that.” ”Do what?”
Buffy slid over closer to her:
“Don’t act like it didn’t mean anything.”
“Not sayin’ that. Hell B, been wantin’ a taste of you since I met ya, so yeah, pretty big thing last night. But beyond that? Not sure what you were expecting.”
“Well I sure wasn’t expecting you to spend the night.”
Faith was on her feet then and strolling over to Buffy’s DVD collection:
“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. Guess it was the jetlag.”
“No it wasn’t. You stayed because you wanted to.”
“Hey cool, got the first two “Alien” movies. Bet Cyclops insisted on ya havin’em.”
Buffy got up and walked over to her:
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but it isn’t working.”
Faith stayed bent over, running her finger along the spines of the DVDs.
“What isn’t?”
“This whole casual, uncaring…”
Faith straightened up and looked her right in the eye with a cocky smirk:
“Look Blondie, know I shook your world last night, but c’mon. You know me well enough to know I’m not lookin’ for anything more than a good screw. You gave that in spades last night, but I’m not…”
Buffy grabbed her head and jerked her into a passionate kiss. Faith refused to kiss back at first, but the soft feel of Buffy’s tongue tickling her lips soon had Faith opening wide.
It lasted for some time and it was Buffy who pulled away, not Faith.
“Hey tough girl, talk to me.”
“You want me to talk? Then listen close: I got carried away last night ‘cause you pissed me off and I was tired of waitin’ in a long line for my very own special piece of ‘Buffy’ ass. You give it up to everybody else, figured it was my turn. Beyond that…”
Buffy laughed and laced her fingers with Faith’s, pulling her over to the couch.
“Can we sit back down now?”
“Uh, yeah…Did you hear what I just said?”
“I did. Now I get a turn to talk too, right?”
“Well, yeah, that was the deal, but uh…did you hear what I just said?”
Buffy brought the back of Faith’s hand up to her lips and kissed it gently. Faith actually blushed again, then looked pissed at her own reaction. Buffy smiled and let go of her.
“All right, last night was…well, last night was amazing and made it impossible for either of us to go back to how we were. It feels like I’m finally living for the first time in my life, like I was just waiting for you to do that for years. Now that you have, I know what’s mine and I don’t want anything, anyone else. I just want you, Faith.”
“Sure, I’m good if you wanna keep fucking while I’m here.”
“Yes I do want to keep ‘fucking’ while you’re here, and I also want us to make love. Because that’s what this is, Faith. We’re in love with each other.”
Faith laughed loudly, but Buffy could see the fear in her eyes.
“Oh man, Twinkie, you are such a typical girl. Know ya don’t know your way around, but shit. Here in the real freakin’ world it’s not all gentle with flowers. I don’t love anyone, never have, never will. What I love is making you do what I want and then fucking you ‘til you can’t take it any more.”
Buffy never moved or said a word and Faith’s expression merely hardened:
“Don’t get me wrong, wouldn’t say no to seein’ what kinda skills you got when it comes to eating pussy, but love? Sorry B, you better go crawlin’ back to cute little Slutsu. You got the wrong chick here.”
“No I don’t, you made that more than clear last night. I understand why you’re scared, I’m scared too in a way, but…”
Faith stood with a snort:
“Scared? Of you? Man, you’re bein’ all kindsa stupid.”
“Faith, I heard everything you said last night, I felt everything you did. I can’t go back to how we were, I don’t want to. You opened my eyes and you can’t ask me to close them again.”
“Not gonna ask you for anything.”
Buffy got to her feet as well, facing Faith without any masks or barriers, and the biggest surprise of all was that Buffy felt no fear and no doubt:
“I love you. I have forever and I know it now. Last night was…last night was everything to me and I know it was everything to you too.”
Faith didn’t move, her face was a blank, but her eyes, those expressive brown eyes told Buffy the whole story.
“You didn’t make a mistake, Faith, you didn’t leave yourself wide-open. I won’t hurt you, God, I’ve done way too much of that already. All I’ve got for you now is love and I want to be with you. I want us side by side just like we always should have been.”
There was still no movement from Faith, she looked like she’d been carved out of granite…except for her eyes that were blazing with emotion as they filled with tears.
“You were so brave last night, Faith, just hang on. I’ll take it from here, I’ll prove it to you, whatever you need me to do. Just don’t run from this. Please, don’t run from me.”
Buffy edged closer, approaching slowly as if Faith were a cornered animal:
“All the wasted time, Faith, all of the stupid wasted time. You were right, this is what’s always been between us, just simmering along while we did our best to deny it. Well I won’t deny it anymore, I don’t care what you do. I love you.”
Faith suddenly seemed to wake up, her face coming to life with an expression Buffy didn’t much care for:
“No. Last night was about me getting a piece of ass. You’re hot B, one of the hottest chicks I’ve ever seen. Toss in that ‘high and mighty’ attitude…well always wanted to see if I could make ya bend. Rough sex, makin’ ya take it even though it made you feel like a whore, dancing just this side of legal, man, what a fuckin’ turn-on. ‘Little Miss Straight as They Come’ getting fucked whether she wanted it or not by the lowlife slutty Slayer. Who wouldn’t get off on that? I know I did.”
“…I should slap you for saying that.”
“Go ahead. Not like you were ever big on hearing the truth.”
Faith finally met Buffy’s eyes and she could easily read the compassion staring back at her. Neither of them moved or broke the silence until Buffy spoke up:
“There’s not an ounce of truth in anything you just said, except hopefully the part about me being hot. God, how can you talk that way about yourself? You’re nothing like that, last night was nothing like that.”
“Yeah? Seem to recall it being pretty down and dirty.”
“And hot and loving and revealing and consensual. And for your info, I’ve never been ‘Little Miss Straight as They Come’, at least not when it comes to you.”
Faith’s grin was unpleasant as she looked Buffy up and down:
“Not when it comes to your precious little Cuntsu either. Never did tell me, B, what was it like with her? First time and all, musta been a real eye-opener for ya. How many times did she make ya come? Figurin’ you for a pillow queen with her too, but who knows? C’mon, gimme the details, B. What’s it like to fuck a kid who looks up to ya?”
Buffy just stood there, her face resigned:
“So you have to do this, Faith? Really? We can’t just sit down and deal with things? You have to try and hurt me before you make yourself leave?”
Faith ran her hands through her hair and then folded them casually across her chest, more relaxed now that she found herself on familiar ground. Acting like an asshole, nailing Buffy to the wall, hurting herself, making them both hate her…Yep, it was just like home.
“What’s the problem? You’re the one fuckin’ everything that moves. So tell me, B, how many other bitches ya got lined up? Plannin’ to fuck your way through the whole group of…”
Her voice was silenced just like that as Buffy casually began getting undressed. First her shirt, then her bra, leaving her top half bare, well except for the sexiest smile Faith had ever seen.
Buffy unbuttoned her jeans next and shimmied her way out of them, then slowly lowered her panties and stepped forward as they pooled on the carpet. She sauntered up to Faith, her hazel eyes turning a deep green as she approached.
She shoved Faith’s arms down to her sides and wrapped her own around Faith’s neck. She pressed their bodies together as tightly as she could and delivered a quick, yet passionate kiss to Faith’s mouth…which was conveniently hanging open in disbelief. As the kiss ended, Buffy’s hand slid down until she reached Faith’s ass. She promptly gave it a forceful squeeze, then used it to pull her even closer:
“Come here.”
She swept Faith up into her arms, kissing her firmly as she carried her over to the bed. Buffy tossed her down, then quickly straddled her, allowing Faith to get an eyeful.
“So here’s what I’m thinking: I’m thinking I’d better lead for awhile. You’re obviously going to be spending your time trying to fuck things up, and that’s definitely not the best use of our time, is it?”
Faith found she couldn’t respond. Not when Buffy began kissing her again, not when Buffy began undressing her, and definitely not when Buffy began moving against her.
She struggled to speak, finally managing to gasp out a desperate fact:
“You promised no sex.”
The low laugh Buffy breathed out into her ear almost had Faith coming right on the spot.
“Yeah, I kinda lied.”
“B…Not a good idea.”
“No it isn’t, it’s a great one. And Faith?”
“Y…Yeah?”
“You didn’t make a mistake.”
