Quest for Blondie

by Frass

Challenge: Cave Slayers
Rating: NC-17
5 Thing Minimum: Might be able to do everything, but for sure the Vibrator, Shelter, Fighting, Fire, and Food. Ya know, the basics.
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Joss and his people and their people. Some of the dialogue in the beginning is from This Year's Girl, twisted to fit my (twisted) needs.
Dedication: To everyone who reads and enjoys this: You are the reason I write this stuff. Not the only one, but a good one none the less. ;) And to Doug Petrie, thanks!

Listen to the Music

Chapter 1 - Who or What is Faith?

"Who's Faith?" Riley asked puzzled.

"What did you tell him?" Willow asked her friend the next day as they walked across the college campus.

Buffy sighed, "The truth." She put some false optimism into her voice. "That she's my wacky identical cousin from England, and whenever she visits hi-jinx ensue?"

"It's good you guys have such an honest relationship." The redhead replied sarcastically.

"No, I told him the story. I vagued up a few bits, but no flat out lies."

"That's fair." Willow conceded, then looked at her friend with concern. "How'd ya handle the sex with Faith parts?"

Buffy hesitated a moment and then sighed again, "I did some heavy editing. Not that I'm trying to hide anything from Riley. It's just that those stories would hurt his pride and make him suspicious, and I got a Faith hunt to do."

"Any luck?"

"Couldn't find her, don't know where to put that in the luck continuum."

"At least you're not alone; I'd say every cop in Sunnydale is looking for her."

Willow and Buffy walked up to the announcements board and stood behind a girl with tight clothing and dread locks.

"I know; if I were Faith I'd get outta dodge post haste-y."

The dread-locked girl turned around and faced the girls.

"B not me."

"Faith?! I've been looking for you."

Faith stepped up closer to Buffy and sniffed the air around her. Faith's nearness had Buffy visibly shaken, a shudder moved through her.

"Faith been sleepin'; where B look?"

"What's wrong with you?" Buffy not only noticed the obvious devolved way of talking Faith had, but she also noticed her unkempt, dreaded mane and a few twigs that stuck out from it. Her clothes had a haphazardness to them, as well. She saw that Faith had managed to put her shirt on inside out and her jacket collar was halfway turned down inside the jacket.

"Dunno." Faith sniffed the air around Buffy again, "Smell good. B always smell good."

Buffy inched closer and put her arm out, trying to get to the collar. Faith flinched a little at the movement then softened and let Buffy do what she wanted. She stood dutifully still while her collar was put into place for her. Next, Buffy tended to Faith's hair and managed to pull out some twigs and a few leaves she didn't see at first glance.

Willow regarded Faith with a curious yet concerned look.

"D'you think it's because of the coma, Buff?" She asked her friend without taking her eyes off of the devolved slayer.

"The way she's talking?"

Willow nodded. Faith cocked her head to one side and looked at Willow like a curious puppy looking at their master who had a treat in their hand.

"Red." She said as a greeting.

"Faith."

"B." Faith looked back at Buffy.

"Faith?"

"Want more beer."

"More beer?" Willow asked. "I don't know about you, Buff, but my knowledge of hospital food is severely outdated, I think."

"Beer!" Faith yelled and some of the students that were milling around started to take notice of the exchange.

"Faith, calm down you're making a scene," Buffy looked around at the other students smiling embarrassed, and made a decision. "Come with us, Faith."

"You're bringing her to class with us?" The witch's voice raised several octaves.

"No, Will, we're gonna go see Giles."

"G got beer?"

"Oh yes," Buffy nodded animatedly as if talking to a child. "Giles got lots of beer."

Willow mumbled, "If by beer, you mean tea."

"Shhh, Will."

"Red bad." Faith laughed a cave woman-like laugh and let herself be led by Buffy.

"Oh no, I'm not the bad one here. No sirree."

"Will, can it." Buffy scolded.

"Can it, Red." Faith said in a more Faith like way, but it was really just her way of mimicking Buffy, she laughed again like the cave-woman she was turning into.

"Do you think she's drunk still?" Willow asked as they make their way to Giles' door.

"No, I've seen her drunk and she's never been like this, she's… she's been…" Buffy got a wistful smile on her face, obviously remembering Faith's drunkenness as a good memory. After a moment or two, she realized she was spacing a little and said with a more serious look on her face, "No, she's not drunk."

"How is she when she's drunk?" Willow's curiosity was piqued.

As if to illustrate for Willow, Faith stepped closer behind Buffy and pressed her pelvis into the blonde's rear end. She held onto Buffy's hips and dipped her head down so that she could breathe in the scent from her hair, Faith grunted her obvious pleasure.

For a moment or two Buffy basked in the familiar feelings that were coursing through her body. They were delightful and tingly and she wanted to close her eyes and sink back into Faith. Into her warmth and strength, but then she remembered they were in front of a door that could be opened any moment by Giles. She also remembered that Willow was with them, and that she was now going out with Riley. She grabbed onto Faith's hands and pulled them off of her hips as she stepped out of the brunette's embrace and closer to the door.

"I see." Willow said, understanding blooming on her face.

But before Buffy could protest, an aroused and puzzled Faith grunted her protest at Buffy moving away and started to pull the blonde back to her.

"Faith, no!" Buffy moved to stand behind Willow.

"Faith want." The brunette reached out clearly frustrated. "Faith want B."

"Faith, no, we can't do that. You have to be good. We're at Giles' he's going to help us figure out why you're like this."

Faith again moved closer to Buffy and Willow tried in vain to hold off brunette in her quest for the blonde. "Buffy?!" Willow said, becoming even more alarmed. She could feel the strength pouring off of her.

"Faith, NO!" Buffy moved Willow to the side and grabbed onto Faith, pinning her arms to her sides and tried to keep her at arm's length.

Willow knocked frantically on Giles' door.

Faith tried to gain the use of her arms and break Buffy's hold in order to grab her again. She laughed at first, thinking it was a game, but then as a minute or two went by, Faith grew increasingly frustrated. She finally used her slayer strength to break Buffy's hold, and pulled the blonde to her, trying to give her a kiss.

Buffy struggled against the horny cave-slayer. "Faith, no!"

"Faith, want!" She shouted. Then, softening her voice, she tried a gentler approach. "Faith want B."

"Faith can't have B!" Buffy said, and then blushed when she saw the look on Willow's face. "Cave speak, it-it gets into your head." Buffy shrugged

Willow nodded, "Giles not home." She said, thumbing at the door behind her.

"Very funny, Will." Buffy was annoyed. "Let's take her back to the dorm."

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Where do you--Faith, no, stop!"

"Faith horny, Faith want B!"

"Oh god, I don't know if anything's a good idea." Buffy said struggling with a frustrated and demanding Faith. "What do you suggest?"

"A bed and some time to work it out." Willow said quietly as she observed the obvious want and need of the cave-like slayer.

"Will!"

Willow was startled out of her thoughts by Buffy's scold, ashamed to realize she said that last sentence out loud.

"Sorry, Buff." Her face turned as red as her hair. "I guess the dorm is our only option right now. Unless you think maybe the Initiative…"

"NO!" Buffy cut her off. "No evil empire, they'd probably put a chip in her head."

"Mmmm, Faith want chips. Hungry." She stopped trying to grope the blonde and patted her stomach.

"Faith must have been slaying, huh?" Buffy looked at Faith with a smirk. "You went slaying?" She mimed poofing a vamp.

That brought a smile to the devolved girl's face. "Oh yeah. Faith kill vamps. Poof, Unnnnh!" She illustrated her words with the appropriate gestures, the last one brought her pelvis into contact with Buffy's and the blonde had to stifle a moan.

"Faith, no." She grabbed onto her hands and tried to hold them away from her. "We can't do that, we-we have to get you somewhere and figure out what's happened to you."

Neither Willow, nor Buffy were prepared for the growl that seemed to emanate from the very depths of Faith's soul. Their faces reflected that as she let out a mighty rumble.

The brunette pushed Buffy away from her and asked in a low mean voice, "Buffy no want, Faith, huh?"

Buffy's heart broke at the question and the hurt-but-hiding-it look on Faith's face, but she didn't let either her cloud her judgment.

"Faith, we-we can't do that right now." She didn't mean make it sound like it was a possibility, but whether she admitted it to herself or not, Buffy wanted nothing more than to do just `that' with Faith again. Even though Faith went evil before her coma, Buffy had always kept some hope somewhere in the depths of her soul that the brunette would wake from the coma, reform and they might be able to be together again.

But she had duties right now, she couldn't luxuriate in hope and dreams.

She had Adam to hunt, she had to find out what was causing Faith to devolve and she had Riley.

All that added up to Buffy pushing Faith away, when really, she wanted to hold her close and bask in her strength. And yeah, she wanted the mind blowing, drug-like induced euphoria that came with their heated rounds of sex.

"Can't do, huh?" Faith shrugged Buffy's arms off of her and stepped back. "Faith see Buffy," She pointed at the blonde and nodded knowingly. "See B with Beefstick." She spit out the last word like it hurt to have it in her mouth.

"Uhhh, beefstick?"

"Tall, hair yellow," Faith points to her crotch lewdly. "Beefstick."

"I think she means…"

"Yeah, Will thanks, I got it." Buffy said not taking her eyes off of Faith who looked like she was about to make a righteous speech. "When did you see him? Where were we?"

"Were here." She pointed to Giles' window. "B, got new boy, Faith don't matter." The look on her face alarmed Buffy. It was the look Faith got when she felt she'd been wronged and was out for revenge.

"Buff, she must have some kind of amnesia, she thinks you two are still together."

Buffy hesitated almost saying what she shouldn't. Then she said quietly, "I guess."

"Got new boy, huh, B?" Faith wanted answers, and didn't look like she'd be satisfied if she didn't get them. She pointed to her body, "Not good enough for B?"

"It's fine…" Very fine she thought. "I just…" Buffy realized she had to go for delicacy and vagueness. "Why don't we go to my room and discuss this?"

"No! Buffy no get Faith." She gestured wildly with her arms. "Faith want beer! Faith want sex! Buffy don't want Faith! Buffy don't love!"

Faith turned and started to run off.

"Buffy, stop her!"

Buffy broke out of her little trance at the `love' word that Faith used and the memories it brought back to her.

"Faith, wait!" Buffy finally yelled. "It doesn't have to like this!"

Faith stopped in her tracks, turned to the side, straightened her back, set her shoulders and fixed a mean gaze on Buffy, "Has to be exactly like this." And then, like a flash, she was gone into the night.

Buffy ran into the street and tried to see where she went so she could hopefully try to reason her back to the dorm. But when she got out there she saw nothing. No movement, not even a dog barking to let her know that Faith had run one way or the other.

Buffy sighed and puts her hand over her eyes, leaning her head back.

"I'd say that went well." Willow said as she finally caught up to her friend.

"Is it too late to request a transfer to Cleveland?"

"C'mon Buffy, we've got a cave slayer to find." She pulled Buffy by her arm and lead the groaning slayer towards the campus.

Chapter 2- This Year's Cave Girl

Forget your fancy manners, forget your English grammar,
`cause you don't really give a damn about `This Year's Girl'.
Still you're hopin' that she's well spoken `cause she's
`This Year's Girl'. –Elvis Costello, This Year's Girl.

"You say she was speaking like a caveman?" Giles said as he hurriedly walked to the door of his condo, juggling the books he had in his hands.

"Yes, well, cave-woman, but it was definitely Faith. She was at one of the tables, I didn't see her until the guys she was with started making a big commotion." Xander said, waiting for Giles, who was fumbling with the lock, to open the door.

"Do you know how she got that way?"

"I'm not the brains of this operation Giles. That's what I came to you for."

"Right, well, first things first, let's try to get in contact with Buffy, let her know what to expect from Faith if she encounters her."

The two men went into the building, not noticing a cave-like girl with brown dreads perched in the tree outside.

"Where Beefstick?" She muttered to herself. No one saw her jump down out of the tree and run off into the night.

"I don't think she'll turn up here, Will."

"You're right, she doesn't even know where you live. Does she?"

"How would she know?" Buffy paced back and forth across the room, then stopped and gestured with her hands up in the air. "She could be half way to the jungle by now."

"Did you see the way she kept smelling the air around you?"

Buffy remembered the way Faith would nuzzle into her neck and take a deep breath before sighing out how good she smelled. That was before it all went wrong. She tried not to think of that part of their history, she tried to focus on the good. Why she was doing that exactly, was not something she tried to focus on either.

"Buffy?"

"Hmm?"

"Was it nice where you were?"

Buffy blushed a light pink and looked away.

"Uhhh, so, we patrol. Should we split up?"

"I think that would probably be best." Willow's thoughts ran to Tara and being able to spend more time with her alone.

"I just wish I knew where she was and what happened to make her all cave-like."

"Don't worry, Buffy, we'll find out. At least we know she isn't out to hurt you."

"Or my friends and family, hopefully."

"Faith?" Joyce was surprised to see who was at the door when she opened it.

"Mrs. S." Faith grunted.

"Uh, what, uh…" Joyce looked closely at Faith, taking in her less than tidy appearance. "Were-weren't you in the hospital?"

Faith turned away slightly and looked out at the street, she knew something was wrong with her communication skills and didn't want to alarm Joyce. She thought about running but her stomach was winning the current war of whether to run or not.

"Got out." She shrugged and looked down at her hands.

"Are you looking for Buffy?" Joyce looked around her living room quickly, gauging her escape route and/or any weapons she could use to defend herself. "She-she's not here."

Faith looked at Joyce for a few moments then shook her head. "N-no. Hungry." She tried to cover her stomach's grumbles with her hands.

Joyce took in the girl's appearance again and her inner mom took over. "You look terrible." She opened the door wider to allow Faith entrance. "Come in, but so help me, Faith, if you try anything I will call the police, you understand?"

Again, it took Faith a moment to respond but she eventually nodded and followed Joyce inside.

Joyce found it curious that Faith's speaking was a little stunted. It's not as if the girl was particularly wordy, her manner of speaking was what could be called efficient if you wanted to be gracious about it, but this was even less wordy than usual. Still, she didn't question it, at the moment she was just worried for her own safety and for Faith's stomach.

As if to illustrate Faith's level of hunger, her stomach growled extremely loud. Her hands immediately flew to it, trying to muffle the sound. Her face showed a hint of embarrassment. Joyce stood quietly observing Faith's plight and found her actions endearing; she decided to give the young woman the benefit of the doubt.

`At least she didn't attack me as soon as she opened the door.' Joyce thought.

As they made their way into the kitchen, she indicated for Faith to take a seat at the island while she set out to make the girl some food.

She was actually glad to have someone to cook for. Buffy hadn't been home for a meal or anything else in a long while.

"Buffy, what's wrong?" Riley looked at his girlfriend who was looking around trying to find her girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend. "Did you leave something here?"

"Um, no, I um…thought I might have seen something."

Riley looked over his shoulder. "Doesn't look like anything's there," He reached out and engulfed Buffy slowly in a hug. "I missed you, where were you all day?"

"I was umm, looking for Faith." Buffy tried to not feel irritated by his touch. She loved Riley didn't she? She quickly decided not to answer that question and let herself be hugged.

"Oh, yeah. This Faith, gal. I don't see what the big deal is about her."

Buffy broke their hug and stepped out of his arms. "She's a very dangerous woman, Riley. And the fact that you called her a "gal" is the reason I want you to stay out of this."

"Ok, I get it." Riley chuckled and held up his hands. "Faith bad."

Buffy blinked as she was reminded of Faith's devolved speech.

"I just don't see why I can't help you find her."

Buffy tossed him a ball and Riley visibly flinched as he extended to catch it, his side was clearly hurting as he sat down heavily on his bed.

"That's why."

"Well, it's true I can't be action guy, but I can help with supporting my girl. Can't I?"

Buffy looked away guiltily as she heard him say `my girl'. Again, she didn't know why her heart was betraying her like this. Hadn't she treated it well? She only went for those she thought she'd truly loved, didn't jump into bed with someone unless she thought they were worthy, ate fiber and heart healthy foods, sometimes. What did she ever do to it to deserve this treatment?

"I-I have to go find her, she could be out there, doing anything…" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "…anyone." She was surprised the last part came out as a jealous whisper.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Please, just stay here, don't open your door to people you don't know. If you hear anything suspicious, call Giles."

"Ok, I will. Be careful out there." He held his arms out for a hug. Buffy stepped up to him and he pulled her down to sit in his lap. Her irritation was clearly visible.

"Are you ok?"

"Fine." Buffy tried to relax into Riley's embrace.

"I've never seen anyone get to you like this before."

"You don't know, Faith. That's all."

"What did she do to you?" Riley asked, concerned.

`What didn't she do?' Buffy thought. She sighed and said finally, "She…I gave her my…my friendship and she threw it back in my face. She also pledged allegiance to a giant snake."

"During home room?" Riley tried to lighten things up with a joke.

Buffy didn't notice Riley's attempt at humor, she was in her own world. "Huh?" His words caught up to her. "Oh, heh, yeah. No, during graduation actually. She went kinda crazy."

"Well then, I hope you find her and give her what she needs."

The blonde stared at him with a frown and a slightly opened mouth. "What did you say?!"

"I said I hope you find her and give her what she deserves. Which from what I'm gathering is a severe butt kicking. Am I right?"

Buffy nodded.

"Good, I like being right." Riley smirked and leaned in for a kiss.

The slayer gave her boyfriend a chaste peck on the lips and quickly got up out of his lap. She gestured towards the door.

"I uhh, should get out there. And you should be resting."

Riley looked puzzled but gave her a smile, "Ok, call me later?"

"Sure thing."

And then Buffy was gone.

For some reason, he couldn't help shake the feeling that there was something he was missing.

"Sweet lady Gaia." Willow sighed out as Tara popped her head out from under the covers and crawled up the witch's sated body.

"W-was I good?"

"You couldn't tell by all the `Yes, Tara, oh you're so good!'s'?"

"Your thighs were kind of squeezing around my ears, and besides, I was busy." Tara gave her a naughty grin.

Willow pulled her new girlfriend on top of her more and leaned in for a kiss. It was a long, increasingly passionate kiss and when they broke for air they were panting.

"Didn't you say we should be looking for that other slayer?"

"Who?"

"Buffy's current nemesis."

"Adam?"

"Adam's a girl?"

Willow shook her head and sat up. "Tara, did you take something before we, ya know." She winked lewdly. "Like that stuff that's going around the campus?"

"Ecstasy?"

"Shhhh." Willow looked around worriedly.

"Willow, let me start this conversation again." She lifted herself on her elbows and looked into the redhead's eyes. She noticed that Willow's gaze had dropped about chest high. "I guess I'll need clothes for this…" She started to get up.

"No, Tara, no. Please, I'm sorry. It's just…" She stopped and looked around trying to find the right words.

Tara raised herself up on her knees and moved closer to Willow. After a few more moments she brought Willow's face around to meet hers.

"It's just what?" She said softly.

"I know we should be out there looking for Faith…"

Tara looked stunned, "Willow, I thought you said you weren't particularly religious?" Her stunned look turned to puzzled. "Are you telling me you're suddenly trying to find Jesus because we had sex?" Her voice was becoming noticeably affected.

"What?"

"Because this happened to me last year, and it wasn't…"

"No, Tara, stop!" She calmed the blonde witch with a gentle hand to the face.

"Faith is the girl Buffy's trying to find. Ya know, `the other slayer'?"

"Oh," Tara said sheepishly and looked down with a blush creeping up rapidly to her neck and face from her chest. Willow wanted to cool that blush with kisses to the blonde's skin, but she knew it wouldn't exactly have the cooling effect she was going for.

"None of that," Willow brought Tara's face to meet hers. "It's just, I know we should be out there doing recon, but…I've never had…."

"Sex with women, I know. But I thought you would want me to at least meet your friends," Tara sighed. "It's like you're ashamed of me."

Willow gently shook her head, "Not ashamed," A soft smile broke out on her face. "Possessive." She wiggled her eyebrows in a way that would have made Faith proud and leaned in for another kiss.

As they kissed, Willow pushed Tara back on the bed, and settled herself on top. When she broke the kiss, she looked into the blonde witch's eyes and asked, "Are you mine?"

Tara nodded slightly and said, "Always."  The redhead's smirk turned into a smile that extended from ear to ear.

Thoughts of Faith, Buffy and patrolling were wiped clean from their minds as they showed each other how much they belonged to one another.

Over and over again.

Joyce marveled at the way Faith seemed to inhale whatever was put in front of her. She was kind of grossed out by the fact that currently the slayer didn't mind her hair getting in the way of shoveling the ice cream from a large bowl, into her mouth.

"Faith, honey, slow down. There's more where that came from, you don't have to lick the bowl."

Faith grunted and watched Joyce out of the corner of her eye as she continued to lick the melted ice cream from the bottom of the bowl. However, she slowed down to an almost civil pace as she did so and the older woman took note of that appreciatively.

"You know," Joyce leaned in and spoke to Faith almost conspiratorially. "I was hoping you'd come back to us, Faith. I mean, I know you and Buffy had some hard times, but…" She half laughed at the absurd yet true words she was speaking so freely. "I always thought you two were right for each other. You know?"

Faith's expression never changed as she watched Joyce, but at the older woman's last sentence she moved the bowl away from her face and used her sleeve to wipe her mouth. The words were knitting themselves together in her mind and her heart sped up as she gained understanding out of them.

"Oh, dear, here. Here's a napkin." Joyce handed the devolved girl one of the paper napkins from the center of the island and then turned around to the refrigerator to get some more soda to fill up Faith's glass.

Faith immediately shoved the napkin into her mouth and chewed on it, grimacing when she realized it wasn't so tasty and it was rather dry. She gratefully accepted the glass of soda that Joyce held out to her and gulped it down quickly.

"Honey, don't drink so fast, you'll get hiccups!" She tutted as she watched the brunette drain the glass in no time flat. Faith had spilled some of the soda out of the sides of her mouth while drinking and when she was done, Joyce held out another napkin to her.

"No," The brunette held a hand up to Joyce. "No more." She shook her head and pointed at the others in the holder on the counter. "B make those?" She asked, as she proceeded to wipe her mouth with her sleeve.

Joyce looked down at the counter. "No, Buffy…"

Faith spotted the mail that was on the counter, a very big stack of it. Even in her devolved state she put two and two together quickly. She gave Joyce a sympathetic look.

"B not around much, huh?"

"No, well…" Joyce tried to hide her true feelings with a fake smile and even faker light-hearted laugh. "She's busy at school, with her friends and the slaying. She calls though."

"Not the same." Faith laid a soft, comforting hand over Joyce's and after a moment or two the woman broke down in tears. As Faith stood up to comfort her Buffy burst in through the back door.

"Hi, Mom!"

"Buffy!" Joyce was a little startled by her daughter's appearance, but happy at the fact that she was home.

"Don't worry, I'm here now." Buffy said hero-like, right before she delivered a round house kick to the side of Faith's head, making the younger girl lose her balance and fall to her knees.

"Buffy!" Her mother cried out.

"I know, Mom. She won't hurt you ever again. She won't hurt us again." The blonde said righteously, as she watched the other slayer shake the birdies from her head and struggle to get back to her feet. "Get up, Faith!"

The brunette staggered to her feet using the corner of the island as support.

"B, wait..."

"I've done enough waiting for you, Faith." She had a defiant look on her face. "This time I'm gonna do what I should have done long ago."

She punched Faith in her side and shoved her down to the ground. Faith sprawled out on the linoleum and tried to take purchase of each side of the doorjamb in order to pull herself away from her attacker.

"Uhhn," She grunted as she pulled herself into the dining room.

"Buffy, don't, you're hurting her!"

Buffy didn't seem to hear her mother as she followed Faith into the room and dodged a half-hearted punch from the brunette who had just gotten to her feet.

"You think you can come into my home, into my kitchen, and hurt my family?!" Buffy yelled and held up her fists. "You think I would let you?!"

Faith knew Buffy meant business when she felt the blow to her lip, she looked up stunned as another blow tried to connect with her nose and just managed to catch the blonde's fist in mid air and then held onto her hand.

Buffy looked at the brunette and then at their joined hands, it was like a force field was traveling through her. She knew right then that she was never over Faith. All of the things she had told herself when Faith had betrayed her were lies. Her face was stunned as she looked into the pleading face of the other slayer.

"Faith, go. No stay." The devolved slayer tried to let go of Buffy's hand, but the blonde was reluctant to break their connection. It felt too good.

"Faith, come into the kitchen, I'll help you with that lip."

The even tones of Joyce's voice caused Buffy to finally break eye contact with Faith, and she let go of her hand.

"No, Faith no stay." Faith looked at Joyce apologetically. "Sorry. Thanks." She put a hand on her stomach and nodded her head. Then turned around and ran out of the house.

"Faith, NO!" Buffy ran after her.

"Buffy! Faith!" Joyce called out to them to no avail.

Again, Faith proved to be too elusive for the frantic slayer. She had lost track of her by the time she ran out of the door.

"Buffy, what's going on?!" Joyce asked as she caught up to her daughter who was pacing back and forth on the lawn trying to track in which direction Faith had fled.

"Nothing, Mom." Buffy avoided her mother's gaze.

"Don't nothing me, young lady." Joyce folded her arms in front of herself. "Now, I want to know why you busted into the house, and started beating on Faith. She just got out of the hospital."

"She escaped from the hospital!" The blonde turned finally to face her mother. "And I thought she was hurting you."

"She was comforting me," Suddenly, the older woman didn't want to admit why she was crying. "I must be going through pre-menopause, I seem to cry at the drop of a hat."

Buffy went to console her mother and Joyce backed away.

"Mom?"

"I'm sorry Buffy, I just feel…" Joyce shook her head. "I just feel like you shouldn't have come in here with your fists blazing like that. After all, I don't see you for weeks and the first time I do you practically rip the back door off its hinges. Not to mention the destruction of the center piece I got from your Aunt Linda. It's probably ruined beyond repair now."

Buffy could feel the disappointment in her coming off of her mother in waves. She wondered briefly if there had been a spell that Faith had cast while they were holding hands to make her suddenly the bad one.

Joyce didn't wait for a response from her daughter and left her standing by herself out on the front lawn.

"What the heck kind of a day am I having?!" Buffy said to no one in particular as she slowly made her way into the house.

"Kind of day Faith has." The brunette slayer mumbled as she watched the blonde walk into the house and close the door behind her, after looking out to see if she could spot Faith one last time.

As Faith jumped down out of the tree a small club like branch came off in her hands. Feeling like it was something she should be carrying, she bounded down the lawn and off in the direction of town with it still in her hand.

You want her broken with her mouth wide open, `cause she's `This Year's Girl'.

Chapter 3- Can't Stop Clubbing You

"Faith?" The large demon came out of the shadows as Faith was walking through the alley. She stopped and looked at him, trying to place where she knew him. "A friend sent me, told me to give you this." He held out a package to her.

Without another word Faith lifted her club in the air and smacked him on the top of the head. He fell motionless to the ground. The package skittered a little towards her feet. She stomped on it and heard it crunch beneath her foot. She liked that sound so much that she did it again and again. Finally, the contents were visible through the ripped outer package. The video tape was destroyed, but the shiny object that had spilled out from the fancy box caught Faith's attention.

"Shiny," She said in wonder as she lifted it to her face and gazed at the contraption. A thought occurred to her. "B like shiny."

At that moment she heard a siren and saw a flashing light, she quickly pocketed the object and climbed the fire escape. Getting to a safe height, she watched as the police car passed by the alley, miraculously not seeing the unconscious demon on the ground, or Tarzana Queen of the Jungle, hanging off the fire escape with a club in her hand, like she would have hung off a vine in the jungle.

After Buffy cleaned up the mess she'd made when she fought with Faith, she walked up to her room exhausted. Today had been a very draining day. More emotionally then physically, but the emotional was always worse than the physical. At least after a good spar or a fight she could relax in a bath and then fall exhausted into bed without a care in the world. Well, almost without a care in the world. But at least she would get a good night's rest.

Tonight she knew that any rest she would get would be uneasy, she had done a lot of thinking while she was cleaning up, and she knew a lot more needed to be done.

One thing she knew she had to do was to pay more attention to Riley, she couldn't let her long buried feelings for Faith come bubbling back to the surface just because Faith came back the way she had hoped she would. Minus the cavewoman persona, of course. But Faith had come back wanting Buffy, and granted she seemed not to remember about the whole `accidental killing of deputy mayor and joining up with the evil mayor who wanted to destroy the world' part of last year, but that was what Buffy had most wanted: to forget that whole time and to go back to being like it was before.

There was one flaw in that whole line of thinking. All of those things had happened. Faith had chosen a 100+ year old man over her. A man that wanted to end the world. Not that she hadn't chosen Angel who was a 200+ year old man over Faith first, and not that he hadn't tried to end the world, but what was she supposed to do? Angel didn't know about them, she was going to tell him, but she never seemed to find the right moment, and when she almost did, Faith had found them together. It was during a speech from Angel about how he would always be there for Buffy and love her. And how he knew she was having doubts because of their difference in age, but that it didn't matter, they would get through everything together. Faith had jumped out and yelled `You played me!' at Buffy and ran off before the blonde could catch her.

After that, their relationship had devolved rather quickly.

Devolved. `That seems to be the word of the day.' Buffy thought.

She settled on her bed with the pillow Faith had given her for their two week anniversary, next to her head. It was an embroidered pillow with the group Blondie on it. Faith found it at a flea market and thought it was pretty clever. Buffy liked it, not only because she liked the music from her childhood, but because it came from Faith. She hadn't thought the brash girl was going to be particularly romantic, so she was pleasantly surprised each time Faith gave her something just because, or made a big deal about their anniversaries. Faith had said they should have weekly anniversaries because in their line of work, you could never count on the passing years. While that thought was a rather cynical one, Buffy found it endeared Faith to her even more.

Those anniversaries were really important to Faith, no matter what was going on in their lives, she always managed to remember and to get Buffy something. It wasn't always something expensive, one time it was just a pack of gum, but Buffy always cherished the presents, and the love that came with them.

Love. There was that pesky word again. It kept creeping back into her thoughts when she was thinking of Faith. She felt guilty to realize that she never had that problem with Riley.

`Oh, shoot!' Buffy quickly sat up in her bed. `I forgot to call him to let him know I was ok.' She thought as she reached for the phone.

"Hello?"

"Riley, it's me."

"Buffy, I'm so glad you called, are you ok?"

"Yes, I ran into Faith earlier."

"You did?!" He said with a worried yet excited voice. "Did you give her the butt kicking we talked about?"

Buffy sighed, "Yes, but she ran away again."

"She's probably holed up in the last place you'd think of." Riley paused a moment. "Have you checked the churches?"

"No, but, well…"

"I could do that for you, I know some of the priests."

"Ok, but don't actually go yourself."

"No, I'll call them."

"Good," Buffy nodded slightly, closing her eyes and bracing herself for what she was about to say next. "Riley?"

"Yes?"

"I love you." The sinking feeling in her heart when she said that told her she really shouldn't have said that.

"I love you, too, Buffy." She could hear the excitement in his voice and she felt that much worse. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure." Her heart didn't speed up at the thought of seeing him. "Tomorrow, I'll call you before I come over."

"Ok, good night."

"Night."

She hated herself for lying to Riley, the last thing she wanted to do was lie to him, but she couldn't stop from lying to herself and so she had said she loved him. Today was just one complicated mess and she was grateful that it was ending.

Outside, Faith sunk under Buffy's window when she heard the blonde tell her boyfriend she loved him. She felt like her world was slipping away from her, and she had a feeling she had been in this position before. Pocketing the shiny device she stood up and leapt from the roof into the tree, swinging from branch to branch and tree to tree, until she was far away from the Summer's residence.

There would be stories the next morning from some of Buffy's neighbors about how there was a strange sound the night before, like Tarzan was crying as he moved through the night.

"Xaaaaandeeeeer…"

"No mom, not now, let me sleep."

"Xaaaaandeeeeer…"

"I'll get the cans later…"

"Xander!"

"Wha, huh?!" He sat up slightly and looked around expecting to have to fight something.

"I've been trying to wake you for the last five minutes!"

"Sorry," Xander sat up more in the bed, shook the sleep from his head and looked over at his girlfriend. "I was out late last night with Giles."

"I don't want to hear the sordid details, what I do want to hear is why that blond guy is sleeping on the floor?"

"Huh?!" Xander looked over the bed and onto the floor. "Hey!!"

"No Mummy dear, just five more minutes, I'll take the bins out and the bloody cat for a walk later."

"SPIKE!"

The vampire was jolted awake and hit his head on the coffee table he was currently lying half under.

"Bugger!"

"I'll `bugger' you if you don't tell me what in Frodo's name you're doing sleeping on my floor."

"Hmm?!" The blonde woman next to Xander, holding the sheet up to her chest, was getting impatient for an answer.

"Went partying," Spike said as he looked to the corner of the room with a far off look in his eyes, clearly he was remembering the night before fondly. "Some bird with dread locks holding a club was pounding the beers back. She was a lot of fun, mate." The look on his face suddenly went from wistful to puzzled. "Kept shoutin' about a beef stick. I guess she was hungry, but boy did she know how to fight! She'd just pop `em on the head and then I'd stake `em. We must have dusted like a hundred vamps last night."

"You stake your own kind? How noble of you."

"Gotta take my aggression out on somethin'." Spike shrugged.

"Where were you partying?"

"Place near campus. Went out in the hopes that the bloody chip would malfunction and I could actually get a decent meal."

Xander quickly put his pants on while under the sheets and reached for his shirt. He slipped it over his head, tucked it in with one swift motion, and leapt out of the bed.

The surprised yell from his girlfriend caused him to turn around and look at her. He saw, horrified, that he'd managed to tuck the sheet into his pants as well, leaving her upper and most of her lower body exposed.

"Well, hello girls." Spike said with a suave and seductive quality to his voice.

In Xander's haste to cover his girl and her girls he inadvertently, but happily, wiped the lascivious look off of Spike's face by kicking him in the side of the head.

"Hey!" The vampire clutched at his head. "Watch it!"

"No, you, watch it!" Xander said as he pulled the sheet over Anya's bare chest and tried to keep it there.

"How about you both watch it?!" She wrestled the sheets from her clumsy boyfriend and got up from the bed, wrapping the bedding deftly around her body, she went to sit on the couch behind the coffee table and the lascivious look of the vampire.

"I did watch it love," Spike said with a wink and a wry grin as he turned around to her. "They were lovely." He wiggled his brow.

"Spike!" Xander yelled, catching the vampire's attention back to the other side of the room.

"Bloody hell!" He cried out and clutched the back of his head as Anya wound up for another swat to his skull with the racing magazine from the coffee table.

"An! Stop!"

"Why, Xander?! Why can't I erase the memory of my exquisite women's breasts from his head by clubbing him over the head repeatedly?"

"Well for one thing," Xander pointed to the blond on the ground. "It'll only encourage him, and for another, I need his memory, what's left of it, intact. At least for now."

"Oh, so when you're done questioning why he slept on our floor you'll let me beat him senseless?"

"Exactly."

Xander's face broke into a grin as he watched his girlfriend bounce excitedly on the couch.

"Hey, I don't have to take this kind of abuse you know!"

"No? Where're you gonna go?"

The vampire started to come back with a reply then thought about it and the comeback died on his lips. "Just you wait, Harris." He finally said ominously.

"Yeah, I'll do that." Xander quipped not caring what Spike threatened. "Now how about you tell me where you were last night?"

"I think we've established that he was right there on the floor, but the question is why."

"An, please!" Xander turned his attention from his girlfriend back to Spike. "You partied, where?"

"I told ya. Near campus."

"Where?"

Spike looked at Xander in earnest. "Would this information be really helpful to you?"

"Yes," Xander answered impatiently.

"Then sod-off," Spike spit out. "I'm not sayin' anythin'."

"Spike!" Xander said frustrated.

"Why would I, a known vampire that hates your guts, help you?"

Anya kicked out with her foot and hit Spike in the back of the head.

"Stop doing that!"

"You'll help us, because if you don't we'll get Xander's mom's UV lamp and watch you burn to a crisp!"

"Ya don't have to be kicky and hitty about it." Spike rubbed at the back of his head.

"You should get more kicks and hits for taking a cheap look at my goods." Anya mumbled. "I should charge you money for that."

"Uh, An? That would be a whole other realm of business we don't want to be getting into." Xander said in a matter of fact manner.

"Yes, but he looked at my goods, Xander, there should be a monetary exchange when…"

"Anya, just stop!" Xander held up his hands in an incredulous manner, then turned his attention back to the vampire. "Look Spike, I don't need much, just tell me where you were last night and then we can move on."

"Bar next to the campus. Isn't that the one you work at?"

"Yes, and for the first time in my life I'm regretting that I asked for the night off." Xander shook his head and sat down heavily on the bed.

"Can you two go upstairs? I need to get dressed."

"But, An…"

"No, no more looking at the goodies, I know you've seen them before, but I'm feeling prudish right now, so scat!"

"Well, the light…" Spike started.

"You too, Vlad the Imposter. I don't care if the curtains are opened upstairs." Anya said irritated and shooed the men upstairs.

They stood around in the kitchen awkwardly for several minutes, trying to look anywhere but at each other.

"Why did you come here exactly?" Xander asked after a while.

"Me and the cave girl were havin' so much fun I lost track of time, your place is on my way home. Didn't want to burn, so I took a torture of a different kind."

"Hey, no one's keeping you here, ya know." Xander spit out defensively.

"Too late now, I'll have to stay."

"Oh goodie, what do you want for breakfast? I'll whip it right up, Friend!!" Anymore sarcasm in that sentence and Xander would probably have choked.

"Got any blood?" Spike asked seriously.

Xander laughed, "Yeah sure, we keep it in buckets in the refrigerator."   

Spike's eyebrows rose hopefully and then instantly narrowed.

"Watch your step, Harris." The vampire's eyes flashed. "You've got fresh blood in those veins that I wouldn't mind taking."

"You can't touch me." Xander said low and mean.

"Xander!" Anya called out from downstairs. "I'm done."

"That bint downstairs is a tasty one I bet. Ex-demon is it? Probably can touch her, can't  I? Hmm?" Spike nodded his head towards the basement door.

Xander's hand immediately shot out from his side and cold-cocked the blond vampire in the nose sending blood spurting from it.

"There's your blood. Literally." Xander said satisfied with the result of his punch.

"Jesus!" Spike tried to hit back but the chip in his head engaged and he lost his footing, tumbling through the opened basement door and falling backwards down the stairs.

"And I think it's you who should watch your step, Spike." Xander said as he descended the stairs with a spring in his step. "Being a scoob sure has it's perks." He noted happily.

"Thank you, Xander." Giles said as he looked at his watch. "What time did you say the bar opens?"

"12:00, they serve lunch."

"Ok, well, I'll head over there when it opens."

"Don't you think it would be better if I went?"

"You have a vampire to watch."

"Since when do I have to baby sit Spike?"

"You'd rather leave him home with your family?"

"No, I'd rather he spontaneously combusted."

"Xander, please. Just stay there. When night falls you can let him go. But do try to get more information out of him, please."

"I'll do my best, G-unit."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing, I'm on guard."

"Thank you."

Giles hung up the phone and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well, hello, Rupert."

A familiar English voice sounded from behind him.

"Bloody hell." Giles whispered.

Buffy woke from an uneasy sleep. She seemed to be more tired than when she went to sleep, that was because her dreams had been non-stop running, and as one turned into the next, the theme was the same. `Find Faith'.

The blonde's stomach turned at the prospect of having to patrol the streets and woods around Sunnydale. With the added bonus of Adam being out there somewhere, she was not looking forward to another frustrating day.

As she pulled her robe over her pajama's she could smell the coffee her mother had brewing downstairs. `Oh, well. I better get going, no use in just dreaming and thinking about it.' She thought.

She saw her mother come in from outside as she was making her way down the stairs.

"Good morning, dear." Joyce said to her daughter. "I picked up the paper. Can you go out and bring in Faith?"

"What?!"

"Faith," Joyce pointed to the open door with her thumb. "Seems she had a long night, she's passed out on the front lawn," Joyce frowned puzzled. "Clutching something that looks very much like a club."

Buffy scowled for a moment or two as she watched her mother go into the kitchen, then she remembered Faith was still on the lawn, she ran out and practically leapt off of the porch.

With no time for pleasantries, Buffy unceremoniously picked up the sleeping cave-slayer, club and all as Faith didn't let it go, and fireman carried her inside.

Joyce came back out from the kitchen to see what state Faith was in. "Her clothes are even more tattered than before," She tutted. "It looks like she was put through a wood chipper. You're also going to need to give her a bath, her hair is completely matted."

"A bath?" Buffy looked at her mother like she was insane.

"Yes, you're not putting her in one of my beds or on my couch with her like that. She needs a bath."

"How about the back porch?"

"Buffy!"

"Ok, ok! It's just…"

"What? You expect me to bathe her?"

"Well…"

"'Well', what?" Joyce held up a hand before Buffy could say anything. "No, wait, don't tell me. You've never seen Faith naked before and it would be too awkward to bathe her because of that, is that it?"

Buffy looked at her mom with her mouth slightly hung open.

"That excuse is not going to fly with me, Buffy. You might think that all of the adults in Sunnydale are in the dark about certain things, but I'm not one of them."

"What do you mean?" Buffy tried to play innocent.

"I mean, I've known about you and Faith since you probably first were together."

"What?!"

"You tried to hide it from me, but I knew."

"If that was the case then why didn't you say anything?"

A groan from Faith stopped Joyce from responding.

"You better get her in the bath, use the cat shampoo and comb at first to try and get those tangles out. I'll be in the kitchen, making a list for the store."

Buffy sighed a frustrated sigh and made her way upstairs with Faith.

`Why me?' She thought.

Resting, Faith up against the side of the bathtub she filled the tub with water. Testing the temperature and finding it to be just right, she looked over at Faith who was happily snoring with her face up against the toilet bowl.

`I should leave her like that, but I won't do that. Because it's wrong.' She thought righteously, then frowned. `Oh well, here goes.'

As she unbuttoned Faith's tattered shirt she found that her hands were slightly shaking.

`C'mon Buffy, it's just like washing a dog or a cat.' She reasoned as she pulled the shirt the rest of the way off and threw it to the floor.

`A dog or a cat with really nice breasts.'

She shook thoughts of `nice breasts' out of her mind and went about trying to take Faith's pants off. She had to stand the sleeping girl part way up to do so, and the awkward angle she was in, and the nervousness she felt at the whole situation caused her to lose her grip on Faith and the brunette went splashing backwards into the tub. Buffy managed to catch her arms so that her head did not hit the tiled wall. She was amazed that Faith didn't seem to notice, all she did was grunt and make herself comfortable in the bath.

The blonde looked down at her own soaked clothes. `Great, just great.' Buffy thought a moment. "Maybe I'd better take one, too.'

It only took her half a second to squash that idea down as a very bad one. Especially because the way her betrayer of a body had reacted at the thought.

After filling the tub with a much needed cover of bubbles, Buffy went about the very hard task of taking Faith's pants off. `Good thing she didn't wear the leathers, this would have been a lot harder.'

After approximately an hour, one in which she tried very hard to scrub and comb the knots out of Faith's hair, Buffy finally was able to pull the plug on the tub. Faith had not woken up once during the whole ordeal, and Buffy had become more relaxed with her task of washing the brunette. She marveled at the fact that even though she used her best shampoo and conditioner, several times, Faith's hair still seemed to be a ratty mess, just a less severe one. She remarked that it was almost like the bed head Faith would get after a night of passionate love making. Love making that she thought her mother was ignorant of. The blonde quickly decided to not think any more thoughts for the rest of the day.

As she turned on the shower and rinsed the remnants of soap off of Faith's body, she thought that decision hadn't come a moment too soon.

Finally done with toweling off the still sleeping slayer, and able to get her in some night clothes, she tucked Faith into bed. She didn't want to look at her in any way other than making sure she was in a comfortable position, but when she heard Faith's content sigh, and saw her burrow herself into Buffy's pillow, taking a deep breath and murmuring out the blonde's name, her heart soared. She again stuffed those feelings down, closed her bedroom door and proceeded to make her way to the bathroom for her own shower. After she cleaned up the bathroom and burned Faith's clothes, of course.

As she picked up Faith's pants she notices something shiny sticking out from one of the pockets. It was gold and had rings for someone's fingers to fit in and some contraption that might rest on the palm. Besides being mesmerized at the item's shininess, she was also curious about why Faith would have such a thing. Making a mental note to give it to Giles later, she placed it on the bathroom sink.

Joyce tapped on the door and opened it slightly. She leaned up against the doorjamb as Buffy continued cleaning up. "I brought a trash bag with me, I thought you might want to get rid of Faith's clothes."

"Thanks," Buffy gave an uneasy smile to her mother and put the clothes in the bag.

"I'm not disappointed in the fact that you dated Faith, Buffy. I'm disappointed in the fact that you didn't tell me."

Buffy sighed, but this time it wasn't a frustrated sigh, she was a bit surprised to find it was a relieved sigh. "I don't know why I didn't tell you mom, in fact Faith kept telling me we should. But then things happened so fast, and I was afraid, and when it seemed like a good time to tell you, we broke up."

"Well, I'm sorry that we weren't able to share that together, that must have been hard."

"You have no idea." Buffy said sincerely.

"I'll let you get you washed and ready, Faith might be up any time now. She'll no doubt be hungry, so I'll go to the store and stock up on some food in the meantime."

Joyce turned to go.

"Mom," Buffy said quickly, stopping her mother from leaving.

"Yes?"

"Thanks," Her daughter said gratefully.

"You're welcome honey," Joyce smiled and they both shared a comforting hug.

Buffy smiled at her mom as the hug broke, she felt a hundred times better, and was sorry she hadn't talked to her mother about everything sooner.

"We'll talk more later, Mom. I promise."

"Ok, dear. I'll make sure I get extra ice cream for tonight."

"That sounds great."

"I'll leave you to it."

"Ok."

After her shower, Buffy went into her room to get a change of clothes. Faith was still sleeping like the dead. From the way she smelled when she picked her up off the lawn, she guessed that the cave slayer had done some heavy drinking after she had left the Summers'.

With the week she'd been having Buffy was a bit jealous. She wanted something that would take her cares away like that. At one time Faith had done that for her. Someone to share in the slaying, to share the burden, and to share the joy of life. There were days that she and Faith just hung out, having fun, laughing, going to the beach. Those were things she could never share with Angel, and while she said she didn't miss them, that those types of things didn't mean all that much to her as long as she and Angel were together, when she had them, she was joyously happy. And when she lost them, she was devastated.

As she watched Faith sleep, she noticed a bump on her head. Setting Faith's shiny object, that she brought back from the bathroom, on the night stand and bent down to take a better look.

Without warning, Faith's hand shot up and grabbed onto Buffy's, bringing the blonde slayer's momentum forward and onto the bed. Faith quickly jumped up to a position of dominance and held Buffy down on the bed.

"Faith!"

"B?"

"Faith, stop! What are you doing?! Don't hurt me!" Buffy could feel the strength in Faith and worried that she wouldn't be able to fight her off.

Faith looked curiously at the blonde underneath her, she could sense the fear in her and something primal said she should exploit that fear. But something else in her, stronger than any other feeling or thought, told her to be calm. To soothe Buffy's fears, to protect her and most of all, to love her. Faith settled herself down next to Buffy, and held the blonde slayer close.

Buffy could feel the aggression melt away from Faith's body as quickly as it had appeared. Faith's quiet grunts and cave woman-like coos were strangely affecting. Buffy let herself get caught up in the calming effect they had on her.

Faith lifted her head and slightly raised herself up, something off to the side of her glinted and it caught her eye. She got excited when she saw it was the object she wanted to give to Buffy.

"B! B!" Faith picked up the present for Buffy and held it out to her. "Here!"

"What?" Buffy reached out for the object and Faith put it on the blonde's fingers. "Is this a present for me?"

Faith smiled and nodded her head. "Present. Shiny. B like shiny."

So many thoughts went through Buffy's head. The cute way Faith looked as she gave her the present, the loving way in which she was treating the blonde, despite the fact that said blonde had kicked her ass less than 12 hours ago, the warmth and strength she felt from Faith that was like a drug to her. And the fact that she really, really wanted to kiss her right now. One thing that she didn't think about was Riley, and that was unfortunate, because later she would feel guilty about betraying him. But at this moment, she felt the love pouring off of her ex-girlfriend, and she wanted to bask in it. So she did.

Buffy reached out with her unoccupied hand and gently caressed the side of Faith's face. The brunette leaned into the touch and took her own comfort in it, this was what she'd been wanting from Buffy above all else, which was a great amount considering how horny she was for the blonde slayer.

Faith clasped the hand Buffy had the object in and laid her back gently on the bed. Buffy leaned up slightly and caught the question on Faith's face. The answer was yes, and Faith leaned down and captured the blonde's lips in a slow, sweet kiss. A jolt of energy went through both girls as they clapsed hands tighter and deepened the kiss. Neither of them noticed the bright light that emanated from between their hands.

When the kiss broke, Buffy whispered, "Faith love Buffy?"

Faith's smile went from ear to ear and she nodded, "Faith loves B." She leaned in again and this time the kiss was a scorcher.

Buffy grunted her pleasure and shook off the contraption from her hand, as Faith shed the rest of her clothes and kept leaning in for heart stopping kisses.

When they broke again, Faith asked an important question, "What about Beefstick? B love him?"

Buffy looked like she tried to remember something but it was elusive, then she said, "Buffy liked Beefstick, not loved."

Faith smirked and leaned in for another kiss, then kissed along the blonde's jaw and cheek ending at her ear. She lowered her voice to a low whisper, "Faith thought so."

Chapter 4- Girl on Girl Interrupted

Faith smoothed her hands over Buffy's skin, "B soft, Faith like soft."

Buffy groaned at the tingles Faith's hands were giving her as they traveled up and down her flushed torso. She watched the brunette's face and saw her eyes darken with lust, the same lust she knew she was feeling even in her devolved state.

Another feeling she couldn't quite place kept tugging at her, but since it confused her she stopped trying to figure it out. All she could think about was everything she was feeling at the moment.

She felt relief, she felt loved, she felt extremely horny, and she felt safe.

Faith had made shelter for them, after they shed their clothes and had their fill of just kisses.

As Faith's hands wandered lower, Buffy's breathing became more and more erratic until she couldn't take it anymore and she grabbed one of Faith's hands, holding it to the area where it could do the most good. Faith grinned and grunted her approval of Buffy's demands.

"Wet." Faith said in awe and appreciation as she rubbed the outer lips of Buffy's vagina. The action of Faith's fingers made Buffy's legs squirm and open wider. All she could think of was `More'. She wanted more, she needed more. Since she was feeling a bit dominant she moved Faith's fingertips to just inside and on the area that seemed to have the most tingles. Faith had a small smirk on her face and knew what Buffy wanted without a word ever having to be said. The brunette slid one finger into Buffy's moist hole, as her thumb kept pressure on her clit. Buffy let out a gasp, then a low rumble as Faith's fingers started their exquisite torture.

"More." Buffy grunted, her eyes closed tight.

"No." Faith said simply.

Buffy's eyes flew open and Faith's own inner vaginal muscles clenched as she saw the raw anger reflected in the hazel orbs.

"Please." Buffy said, but her tone was not at all pleading, it was demanding.

"Faith said, `no'." The brunette's eyes glinted mischievously and her smirk widened, never changing her pace on Buffy's clit, or adding another finger to her hole.

There was a battle of wills being played out only through their eyes. Each cave-slayer tried to dominate the other with piercing looks that would have made any civilized person involuntarily mess their pants. All the while Faith kept up her slow ministrations to Buffy's pleasure center.

The blonde was about to let out a howling protest, when without warning, Faith lowered her head to Buffy's chest and clamped down on her hardened nipple, sucking hard. Buffy cried out loudly. She could feel something rising in her body, something that was telling her to let go. When Faith picked up the pace of her fingers just slightly and started to bite at her nipple, letting go was not a problem and suddenly Buffy was howling out in pleasure. Her vagina spasmed around Faith's fingers as her hips bucked up and down on the mattress uncontrollably.

Faith held her hand still as Buffy sought her own pace, prolonging her pleasure on her terms. Finally, after several moments the blonde's hips slowed and then stopped all together. Faith's breathing was almost as hard as Buffy's, her own clit spasmed moderately from the pressure it was receiving as she clenched her legs around Buffy's thighs and from the satisfaction of having made Buffy come so hard, so quickly.

Buffy's eyes fluttered open, her muscles relaxed and she felt Faith pull her fingers from out of her body. She let out a long groan and sighed out, "Oh, Faith. Buffy needed that."

"So did, Faith." The brunette said as she brought her wet fingers to her nose grunting at the scent. "B, always smell good."

Just as Faith was about to put the fingers in her mouth, the door opened.

"Buffy?!"

Both girls groaned as they realized Joyce was probably going to stop them from taking pleasure in each other.

"Buffy?! Is Faith in here with you?"

Neither slayer said anything, they were still too caught up in the carnal feelings that were coursing through their bodies.

"Buffy, answer me!"

A grunt from her daughter was the older woman's only answer.

"Did you do this to the bed?"

The mattress was on the floor pushed up against the wall and the box spring was leaning over it. It made a very comfortable and cozy lean-to for the slayers to have their way with each other in.

When she was again met with silence, Joyce got very worried. "Faith, did you do something to Buffy?!"

As if the question triggered the memory, Faith looked at Buffy then quickly shoved her still wet fingers into her mouth, the scent was just too much, she wanted to taste as well. Buffy groaned a little at the sight. Each girl was eager to get back to what they had been doing. It was apparent that being found out was not a worry for either of them.

Joyce had finally had enough and walked over to the front of their crude shelter to peer in.

"Oh, so help me!" Joyce turned her back quickly and brought her hand up to her chest. "What are you two doing?!" She immediately found that to be a stupid question, as she knew very well what they had just been doing.

Buffy reached up and removed Faith's hand from her mouth, the brunette grunted slightly unhappy until Buffy replaced the hand with her own mouth and shared a hungry kiss with the other slayer.

Joyce heard the grunting noises and stole a glance. "Oh, Buffy, really!" She walked to the door. "I want to see you both, clothed, downstairs! Do you hear me?" After a few moments of waiting she said sternly, "Grunt if you understand!"

Buffy replied with a grunt, but Joyce didn't quite know whether it was directed at her, or because of something Faith might have been doing to her daughter.

"Downstairs in two minutes, young ladies!" Joyce said angrily before shutting the door loudly.

Buffy's inner good girl caused her to push Faith back.

"Mom." She said in her halted cave speak. "Need to go down." She pointed towards the direction of the door.

"Faith need B!" Faith said in protest, pointing to her crotch.

Faith had gotten some pleasure from rubbing against Buffy and from the things she was doing to her, but she needed a lot more.

"Not now. Go now. Down!" Buffy wriggled away from Faith's grasp and made it out of the tent-like shelter before Faith could grab her back.

"B!" Faith stuck her head out of the structure. "Faith horny!"

Buffy pouted sympathetically and then said, "Not now. Later."

Faith dropped back onto the mattress and let out a frustrated sigh as Buffy left the room to go downstairs and see her mother.

The brunette stayed like that for a moment or two until her protective instinct kicked in, she got up and grumbled something unintelligible to herself and then followed her partner down the stairs.

Neither of them had put on a stitch of clothing.

"Buffy, upstairs! I told you to put on clothes before you came down." Joyce was shooing her confused daughter out of the kitchen as Faith had started to make her way down the stairs. "Faith! You too! Get in that room and put some clothes on!"

Faith stopped where she was and then turned around running towards the room with Buffy right behind her. Each girl was letting out a half shriek, half grunting noise in fear of Joyce who was hot on their heels.

"What's wrong with you, Buffy?!" Joyce said as she got into the room.

Buffy looked at her mother, who was clearly embarrassed to be in the presence of the unclothed slayers, and immediately understood. She reached into her drawer and brought out two shirts, tossing one to Faith as she put her own on, inside out.

Faith quickly put the shirt on, backwards and took her place beside Buffy, in front of Joyce.

"Pants, too!" Joyce pointed to the girls lower halves. Then, seeing their confused looks downward, decided to take matters into her own hands. "Here," she said as she tossed them both a pair of shorts each. "Now, once those are on, I want you both to come downstairs into the living room."

Buffy nodded and poked Faith in the side who nodded eagerly as well. Joyce almost laughed at the scared look on the slayer's faces and the submissive way they were acting, but the memory of Faith sucking on her own fingers, that had obviously been in a private area of her daughter's, prevented her from doing so.

The girls managed to put their shorts on relatively easy, only once knocking their heads together when they bent down at the same time. Soon, they made their way together down the stairs and into the living room where Joyce was waiting.

"Sit down, girls." The older woman gestured to the couch.

The slayers climbed up on the couch and sat with their feet on the couch and legs bent in front of their chests. As Joyce stood and watched them, Faith started to groom Buffy. It reminded her of one of those documentaries on gorillas she watched on the public television channel last week.

"What's going on?" Joyce finally said.

After several moments, Faith spoke up truthfully, "Horny."

Joyce closed her eyes and took a breath before speaking again.

"I understand that, but what I want to know is why Buffy is looking and acting a lot like you?"

Faith shrugged her reply and went back to grooming Buffy's hair.

"Buffy?"

Buffy turned to fully look at her mother and it was at that moment that Joyce realized whatever was going on with Faith, was happening to her daughter now too. Alarmed, she knew she had a phone call to make.

"Stay here girls," She said as she turned towards the kitchen, before she took a step she turned back and said. "You understand? Don't go anywhere."

Both of the cave slayers nodded and Joyce turned and hurried into the kitchen to use the phone.

Faith continued grooming Buffy's hair and leaned down to plant a small kiss on the girl's neck.

"Faith loves B." She said sincerely.

Buffy smiled and leaned back into Faith contentedly, "B loves Faith."

Both girls sat happily in close proximity feeling the love pour off of one another.

"Rupert Giles speaking."

"Mr. Giles, I'm glad you're home…"

Giles watched nervously as the council men roamed around his house looking at his things. They had come in unannounced.

"Um, excuse me, but I don't need any encyclopedias."

"No, this is Joyce, it's about Buffy and…"

"I'm sorry, but I have an extensive collection already. Good day."

"What's going on Mr. Giles?!" Joyce said alarmed.

"I really appreciate your interest in my level of education, but I assure you it is very good."

"Is someone holding a gun to your head?"

"No, again, I'm perfectly alright." Giles looked like he was giving in as he said. "Look, I'll come over tomorrow and take a look at your compendiums, but not the encyclopedias. Yes, ok. Good day."

"Ok, I think I get it. I'll wait for you here."

"Very well. Until then."

Giles replaced the receiver on the phone base and looked apologetically at the head council man, Collins.

"I'm terribly sorry, telemarketers."

He looked at Giles suspiciously, "You're sure you haven't seen the rogue slayer anywhere?"

"I'm positive; if I do I'll call you at once." He said earnestly.

"See that you do." He handed Giles a blank business card. The watcher frowned at the card and was about to question what he should do with it. "Recite the opening of Hamlet's first soliloquy."

"The entire opening?"

Collins looked at Giles a couple of beats too long before speaking again. The look was no doubt designed to intimidate a lesser man, but Giles was not a lesser man, and he had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the look being given him.

"Just recite it until the numbers appear." Collins said annoyed.

The watcher smiled like he was amazed by the concept.

"Very well."

"Ok, chaps. We're off."

"Bloody ponce," the watcher said as he saw the door close, he then went immediately to the telephone. He was grateful that the person picked up shortly after he had dialed the number.

"Yello?!"

"Xander, where's Willow?"

"I don't know Giles, I haven't seen her all day."

"Have you tried calling her dorm?"

"Have you?"

Giles closed his eyes and let out a frustrated breath, "Xander, please, the council's assassins are out looking for Faith. We need to find Willow."

"I'm sorry, Giles." Xander said apologetically. "I'll try her dorm." Then confused he said, "Wait, why are we concerned about the council killing Faith?"

"Don't question me right now, just do as I say." Giles' tone indicated he meant business.

"Ok, you're the boss."

"Thank you." The watcher didn't say goodbye as he hung up the phone and waited a moment before picking it up and dialing again. "Mrs. Summer, I apologize…"

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Giles."

"How can I help you?"

"Faith is here with Buffy and they're…" She trailed off.

"What?" Giles looked at the wall opposite him curiously.

"I don't know how else to say it other than `devolved."

"You say Faith, and Buffy?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite."

"My word!" Giles put his hand to his forehead. "Both girls? I wonder if it's catching." He hadn't meant to say that last part out loud.

"What is it exactly?"

"We're not sure," He then looked as though a thought occurred to him. "Please, can you get the girls in the basement? Do not open the door to anyone saying they are on official business. As a matter of fact, don't open the door to anyone."

"I will." Joyce realized her mistake. "I mean I won't. Thanks, Ripper." She boldly added his nickname at the end.

Giles felt a stirring at her use of the name she used for him during the Band Candy fund raiser incident. "You're most welcome." He started to hang up and then said, "Um, ah Joyce?"

"Yes?"

"Be careful."

"I will."

They hung up from their call with a renewed sense of duty for the girls and each other, to defeat an evilness that was trying to take one of them out. One that wouldn't care if they took anyone else out to get to their target.

"Anya, I can't get through to Willow, would you mind going to her dorm to see if she's there?"

Anya looked at her boyfriend annoyed. "You want me to do what?"

"Find Willow. Please?"

"Why can't you go?"

He indicated towards Spike with his head.

"What?"

Again, he gestured with his head and gave her a pointed look.

"You've got swimmer's ear?"

"No," He shook his head and hung it slightly. "I just think it would be better if you went, I have to stay here."

"Why?"

"Because he's worried I'll eat you, luv."

Xander picked up a magazine and threw it at Spike.

"Hey!"

"Shut up, Spike."

"Ok, Xander, I'll go." Anya said, eyeing the vampire suspiciously.

"Thanks, An."

"You owe me big time."

Xander nodded, "I know, I know."

"Where should I look if she's not at her dorm?"

Her boyfriend thought for a moment, "Oh, I know! Check with the girls in her Wicca group."

"And where would I find them, exactly?"

Xander looked puzzled.

Spike spoke up, "Under a tree, praising the vastness of its limbs."

Anya's mouth hung open slightly, "Well that's a bit phallic, don't you think?"

"Oh, yeah, all those birds are gaggin' for it."

"For what?" The blonde woman asked.

"Just go, Anya, you don't wanna know."

"You have very weird friends," Anya said as Xander pushed her towards the stairs. "I think I would have reconsidered going out with you had I known how weird."

"Oh, and you're friends aren't weird?"

"Would you consider someone taking their vengeance out by making their subjects listen to Captain and Tenille albums weird?"

"Just, go, An. Please."

"What do I tell her when I find her?"

"Tell her Buffy's in trouble and to get here right away."

"Got it."

When they reached the top of the stairs Anya turned to her boyfriend looking expectantly at him.

"What?"

"Don't I get a kiss?"

He rolled his eyes but leaned in and gave her a loving kiss.

"Thank you." Xander said.

"You're welcome, but you better kick him out once it turns dark. All that talk of eating me made me incredibly horny." She said sincerely.

"Anya!"

"What?!"

"He meant a different kind of eating."

"Oh?" She looked confused, then the light bulb went off. "Ohhhhh! I'm going!"

"Finally," Xander mumbled as he watched her leave out of the back door, then he turned and went back down the stairs, to find something heavy to hit Spike in the head with.

Joyce's heart raced when she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly went to the window and peered out of it. Three men who looked like they were on `official business'. One who looked like the leader turned and whispered something to a tall thin man. The thin man left the porch and went down the front steps towards the side of the house. She quickly ran to the back door and made sure it was locked.

The doorbell rang again, and she went to it, right before she put the chain across.

"Hello, Mrs. Summers?"

"Yes?"

The door was shoved back violently, the breaking the chain, a needle was stuck into Joyce's throat and the plunger depressed, all before she had a chance to even shout a warning to the girls.

She slumped, boneless, to the floor.

Downstairs, Faith could sense a struggle, indicating to Buffy that she should remain silent, she took the club that Joyce had given her back as she ushered them down the stairs, and pulled them both under the stairs to wait.

Both girls could smell the fear in Joyce, but it instantly had disappeared, it puzzled them but they hadn't panicked.

"Smithy, you check upstairs, Weatherby, you go downstairs, I'll check the phone."

"For what?" Weatherby asked dumbly.

"To see who they placed their last call to, you idiot."

"Oh," He frowned then looked at Collins, "No need to get insulting."

"Would you just look in the basement for the girl?!"

Weatherby opened the door and peered in as far as he could, before descending the stairs. "No need to shout either." He mumbled.

Faith looked at Buffy and gestured for her to sit on the cot. Without another word the blonde quickly understood what Faith meant to do and made her way over to sit down.

Weatherby saw the movement and got ready to shoot his dart. He stopped when he saw who it was. "Oh, it's you."

"It's you." Buffy parroted.

"How'jou know me? We've never met."

The blonde smiled a radiant smile and he frowned, the smile couldn't be for him could it?

The answer was no, but he wouldn't have known it, because in the next instant Faith's club came down on the top of his head and knocked him out cold.

Buffy jumped up and hugged her girlfriend, and they held hands as they made their way quietly towards the steps. Before they started to ascend the steps, Buffy pulled back and gestured for Faith to wait. She kneeled down beside Weatherby and took the dart gun off of the unconscious council goon.

Faith smiled appreciatively and reached her hand out to Buffy. Taking it, the blonde brought it up to her mouth and gave the knuckles a kiss. Her nostrils flared as she caught her scent on them, and she hoped could go back to their lean-to and do what they were doing before Joyce interrupted them, very soon.

Chapter 5- Not So Easy, Is It Cave Slayer?

Buffy and Faith stealthily made it up the stairs of the basement to the kitchen and saw that the back door had been forced open, they became instantly agitated, and Faith wanted to bellow out but Buffy put a hand over the brunette's mouth.

Faith's eyes held her question, and Buffy nodded her answer. She indicated towards the living room with her head. They heard heavy footsteps coming from upstairs, in the area of Buffy's room. Instinctively they knew it was someone who was not supposed to be in the house, just like the tall thin man that Faith had to hit over the head. They stood still as they heard the person descend the stairs quickly.

"Collins, there's nothing up there."

"Did you check the attic?"

"Yes, and the bathrooms, under beds and in closets. I even looked out the windows to see if she was on the roof."

"How about wardrobes? We're dealing with a very sneaky person, very dangerous."

"Yes, I know," Smithy was a little annoyed because they had heard the speech from Travers about a hundred times before they left. But he managed to keep his cool. "Only the master bedroom had one big enough, and she wasn't in their either."

"Good," Collins looked towards the door of the kitchen. "Why don't you help Weatherby? He's been down the basement long enough. Probably found a stack of girlie magazines."

Smithy looked puzzled, "What like Razzle?"

"No, like `Teen Bloody Vogue'." Collins said condescendingly. "Would you just go down and see what he's bloody well up to?!"

"Fine," Smithy said nervously and quickly made his way towards the kitchen door and down to the basement.

Unfortunately for him he didn't see the two cave slayers perched on the kitchen counters waiting for him to descend the stairs so he could meet the same fate as his co-worker did.

Collins was busy looking through the Summers' address book and the drawers of the desk. After several minutes he realized that Smithy was also taking too long. Cautiously, he made his way to the kitchen door and opened it.

With his dart gun trained on the area of the basement door he called out, "Smithy, Weatherby, are you down there?" He heard a groan from someone sounding like Weatherby and immediately pulled out his cell phone, punching one button on the keypad he held it up to his ear.

"We've run into a bit of a problem, send the extraction team."

"You are the extraction team, you twat." A woman with a strong British accent said annoyed.

"I think I have some men down at the Summers' residence."

"May I remind you of the speech we're taught to recite to people who try to take us hostage?"

"So, you're not sending anyone?"

"I hope you have your affairs in order." The woman said coldly and the line went dead.

"Bloody cow." Collins snapped the phone shut and put it in his pocket. He called out again. "Smithy, Weatherby, are you there?!"

More groans from the basement were his only reply. He still made no further movement into the kitchen, he was pressed up against the door poised to shoot anything that came at him.

Faith couldn't stand the tension any longer and she leapt out from her hiding position behind the kitchen island. Buffy tried to stop her but it was too late. Collins managed to get a shot off, but Faith had hit his arm so it went wide and stuck into one of the cabinets. He wasn't too worried because he had two other tranquilizer cartridges in the gun. What did worry him was the strength Faith was showing she was capable of. He thought soon either his arm would break from the grip she had on it or he would pass out from the pain. Possibly both.

Faith was just about to wrestle the gun from his hand and club him over the head when she was distracted by Buffy's shriek to the side of her and she could see the blonde was peering wide eyed at the area of the front door. The look on Buffy's face was enough to break Faith's heart. Buffy ran past the struggling pair and kneeled down beside her unconscious mother. The cave slayer was highly distressed as she picked up her mother's arm, let go and it thumped like a dead weight back down to the floor.

Buffy was shrieking and jumping around the body from a kneeling position, poking at it with her finger, trying to get a response.

Faith in the meantime was still struggling with the British man, who was only gaining ground because she was worried about Buffy and Joyce.

"Excuse me! Do you know a red-headed Wicca, goes by the name of Willow?" Anya eyed the dreadlocked boy, with the hemp pullover, hemp pants and Birkenstocks.

"No, dude, but you can check with some of the girls that are in that group, ya know? Most of the extra curriculars meet in the area outside the library." He pointed towards a doorway. "It's right through that door."

Anya smiled appreciatively at the laid back young man, and started to walk towards the building. She stopped suddenly and turned back to him.

"At first I thought you were someone to be avoided because of your matted hair and grungy clothing, but you're very nice. Thank you."

The student chuckled and shook his head, "You're welcome, dude."

"Bye, dude." Anya waved and walked quickly towards the building, very pleased with herself.

When she had asked a couple more students where she could find the Wicca group, she finally was able to find them. She instantly saw that Willow wasn't with them.

"Excuse me." Anya said politely but no one seemed to hear.

"So then he said that my thighs were fat, so I pushed the cake I made for him right in the face." One of the girls in the group was saying.

"You know a stair master would help those." Anya said loudly, getting the girl's attention.

"Help what?" The girl asked, not pleased with the comment.

"Fat thighs," Anya said eagerly with a smile. "They really tone those suckers up."

"Who are you?" The girl said annoyed.

"I'm Anya."

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, I was wondering if you knew where I could find Willow."

"Willow Rosenberg?"

"Yes, the red-headed girl, has a passion for spells and hopefully an old passion for my boyfriend."

"Oh, I'm sure she's gotten over him." One of the other girls said knowingly with a wicked grin on her face. The girl sitting to her right hit her on the leg. "What?!"

"I know what you're trying to imply, smart alek."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The girl said innocently but her smile deepened.

"Yeah, right."

"Could you tell me where she might be?" Anya asked.

"She said something about going to study in Tara's room."

The girl with the wicked grin giggled and her friend kicked her in the shin this time.

"Tara?"

"Tara McClay, she's one of the members of our Wicca group. She lives in Stevenson Hall, the next one over. Room 215." Another girl spoke up.

"Thanks very much." Anya said gratefully. "I really want to get home and have sex with my boyfriend and the sooner I can find Willow the sooner that can happen."

All the girls except the mischievous one were silent. She was unable to control her laughter.

"Have a good day," Anya said cheerily and turned quickly to leave.

"I can't believe you gave her all that information, she could have been a serial killer." One of the other girls whispered.

"You're crazy, she was fine." The girl thought about it a bit. "But she was a little whacky with all the boyfriend talk. Maybe Rosenberg plays both sides of the fence." She shrugged.

"Hey! I thought you didn't believe those rumors! Why'd you hit me?"

"Because you're always making jokes at other people's expense, and I heard you tell Tony that my thighs were fat." The girl glared at her friend and her wicked grin and mischievous smile disappeared in an instant.

"I didn't…I don't…"

"Just shut up and let's go over today's meeting."

"Ok, so, who's bringing the baked goods to the next meeting?"

Anya knocked at the door she was told she might find Willow in.

She heard someone who wasn't Willow shout, "Just a minute!"

The ex-vengeance demon folded her arms and leant up against the wall impatiently.

A few moments later a woman with long blonde hair and an understanding face opened the door.

"Hi, c-can I help you?"

"Anya?!" Willow said from inside the room.

"Oh, good, Willow. You're here!"

"What are you doing here?"

"C-come in please." Tara said politely. "We were just studying."

"Thank you," Anya smiled at Tara. "Everyone's so polite at college, it makes me sorry that I didn't go, well except for the math, I hated math in high school…"

Willow's top was a little disheveled, but Anya didn't seem to notice, she was busy babbling about high school and looking around at the decorating Tara had done to her room.

"Hmmm, nice," Anya looked at the wall. "I like the pretty lights. Do you have a cat?"

"A c-cat?" Tara asked nervously.

"Yes," Anya took a sniff of the air. "It smells like you've recently fed it a lot of tuna, if you have one that is."

Willow looked like she wanted to crawl under the bed.

"Anya, why are you here?!" The red-head said impatiently.

"Oh," Anya looked like she just remembered why she was at the dorms. "Xander said you have to go to his house, it's very urgent."

"Is something wrong?"

"Buffy's in trouble."

"What happened?!"

"I don't know, but Xander got a call from Giles and he made me come get you right away."

"Well, let's go then!" Willow started ushering Anya out of the room.

"Hey! Watch the goods…quit man-handling me. You're being incredibly rude you know!" Anya turned her head around and said over her shoulder. "It was nice meeting you!" She added helpfully, "You really should get one of those Glade plug-ins, it'll take the tuna smell right out of the room."

"Umm, thanks?" Tara answered meekly. "It was nice meeting you, too."

"You should come with us!" Anya yelled as Willow shoved her all the way out of the room.

"I'll be right back, I forgot my ring. Stay here." Willow said sharply to Anya.

"I'm not a puppy." Anya grumbled.

Willow went back into the room and walked over to Tara, taking her by the hand.

"I'm sorry about her Tara. She just says whatever comes into her head."

"She's fine," Tara said and looked away from Willow.

"Then why do you look mad?"

"I'm not mad. I just don't see why you don't want me to meet your friends."

"Anya's not really my friend."

"No, I mean your other friends."

Willow sighed out and Tara took her hand back from her.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Willow finally said, "Would you mind coming with me to Xander's?"

Tara's eyes lit up, "Let me get my purse." Then she hesitated. "Only if you really want me to go, I-I don't want to make you feel like you have to take me."

"Not at all Tara, you're very special to me. I just didn't want to share you yet, that's all."

"Don't worry, Will. There's enough of me to go around." Tara smiled sincerely.

Willow smiled sheepishly, "But only certain parts are for me right?"

Tara winked and leaned in for a kiss, "You're absolutely right."

The redhead's heart soared and she deepened the kiss. Several moments later they broke apart when they heard the knocking on the door.

"Oops." Tara said breathlessly. "We forgot your friend."

"She's more of a friend of a friend," Willow said in a rush.

"Well, we better get going. I'll bet it has something to do with Faith."

"Oh, I get to see you in action!" Tara said excitedly.

Willow smirked and wiggled her brows, "All that action this morning and afternoon wasn't enough for you?"

"You're terrible." Tara swatted at her new girlfriend's arm and kissed her on the cheek. They both bounced happily out of the room, walking on something very close to could nine.

"Stay back you, bitch, or I'll shoot you dead right here!" Collins yelled at Faith after he was able to break her grip. The gun he pointed wasn't lethal, but by the looks of it no one would have known that.

Faith could smell the fear coming from him, but she also could feel Buffy's distress, and the site of Joyce lying unmoving on the floor worried the dark haired girl very much. Faith didn't look at Buffy, her instinct told her to keep the man's focus on her, so she didn't see Buffy's growing anger coming to a boiling point.

The blonde girl jumped up without warning and roared, lunging at Collins who pointed the gun at Buffy and fired. Faith's quick reaction had pushed the gun slightly so the dart hit Buffy in the shoulder, rather than the chest or neck, which would have felled the cave slayer instantly. Faith wrestled Collins to the floor and beat his wrist into the ground until he let go. She punched him in side of the face which rendered him dazed and confused long enough so that Faith could tend to Buffy.

The blonde was fading fast, she stumbled backwards and then sat down on the floor clumsily. She pulled the dart out with a grunt and looked puzzled towards Faith. The brunette didn't know what to do next. She wanted to pick up both women and get them out of the house, but she knew she wouldn't get far that way, especially since she knew they had devices that fired things to hurt her from great distances.

Weatherby came up from the basement, stumbling into the living room. He was carrying a bat that he picked up from one of the boxes of sports equipment that was rarely to never used by the Summers'.

"Is that the bloody bitch who hit me?!"

Collins was shaking the cobwebs out of his head and nodded, he managed to stagger to his feet. Faith quickly assessed her options. Buffy was closest to her so she grabbed the blonde by the arm and swung her up over her shoulder.

Faith wanted to leave by the back door, but her way there was blocked by the two angry Englishmen. She wasn't afraid for herself, she was afraid for the unconscious women she knew she had to protect. Instinct took over as the anger over the entire situation became too much for the devolved slayer. Using Buffy's prone legs as a weapon, she cold cocked Collins with them and he immediately fell to the ground. Weatherby was about to strike out with the bat, but the top of Buffy's head connected with his face and he dropped the bat behind him so that he could stop the flow of blood coming from his nose and cry out in pain. Faith ran past them the hurting men into the kitchen, something inside of her told her to pick up the phone in the kitchen and dial 911.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Help!"

"Ok, ma'am we're gonna get you some help, can you tell me what's happening?"

"Hurt."

"You're hurt? Where are you hurt?"

"Hurt!"

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"Please. Help!"

"We'll get you some help, we've got your location and the ambulance is on its way. Is anyone else in the house with you?"

"Men, bad men."

"What did the men do?"

"Hurt Joyce."

Faith didn't wait for any response, she dropped the phone and with a mighty roar she was climbing a tree and swinging and jumping through the neighboring trees, with Buffy still slung over her shoulder.

Giles arrived a little while later, just as the ambulance was turning up.

"Oh my word," He said as he went into the house and saw Joyce sprawled on the floor.

"Is this your wife, sir?" One of the paramedics, who was checking Joyce for a pulse, asked.

"M-my wife?" Giles was dazed, he thought for an instant that Joyce had been killed. He realized the paramedic was looking for an answer. "N-no sh-she's not my wife." Sensing they might make him leave he added, "She's my girlfriend."

"Well, she's gonna be ok. Looks like someone broke into the house and knocked her out with some sort of drug, we found the syringe near her body. There was a bit of a struggle all over the house, but the cops will check into that."

"Marcus!" A voice shouted from the direction of the basement. "We've got one in the basement, looks to be unconscious, Caucasian male, about 35-40 years old. Send the stretcher, looks like he has blunt force trauma to the head."

"Explains the bat," The EMT attending to Joyce mumbled.

Giles took note of the state of the house, there was blood on the floor in a couple of spots in the living room, and drips of blood leading through the dining room to the kitchen.

"Will you ride with us in the ambulance?"

Giles was broken from his thoughts by the question. "Yes, absolutely." He stated almost in a daze. "I wonder if I could make a phone call?"

"Sure."

"Thank you." Giles went to the phone and quickly dialed Xander. "Spike, is Xander there, oh Xander there you are. Listen, did you find Willow?"

"Do you want me to listen, or to answer."

"No fun and games now, answer the question."

"Yes, we found Willow, she's here with her friend Tara, and me Anya and Spike." Xander figured he better give Giles all the facts since the watcher sounded like meant business.

"Very well. Now, don't panic, there's been an accident at Joyce's and I'm going to the hospital with her."

"What happened, Giles?!" Xander said, it was evident he was panicking.

"We don't know yet, it appears to be an attempted robbery."

"Anyone hurt?"

"Joyce was knocked unconscious." Giles voice wavered slightly, the lump in his throat growing. "I'll keep you updated. Tell Willow to meet me at the hospital, tell her to go get my car and bring it there."

"Where are the keys?"

"She has a spare set."

"Wait, whoa, Willow gets a spare set of your car keys? Your precious baby, the sexy BMW?! I don't get it."

"Xander, I have no time for this, we'll discuss this later. You stay watching Spike until it turns…" Giles again realized he wasn't alone. "We'll see you at the hospital when you're done babysitting. I've got to go."

"Ok, bye."

"Goodbye."

Giles watched as Smithy's body was wheeled out from the basement on a stretcher.

"Does this man look familiar to you?"

"I've never seen him in my life." Giles lied.

"Ok, well, we've got your girlfriend stable in the van now, if you're going you better go now."

"Yes, thank you." Giles hurried out to the ambulance and climbed inside.

No one noticed the devolved slayer perched high up in the tree across the street, with her girlfriend held tightly to her body, watching the activity around the house with great interest.

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