Chapter Eighteen: VDay
Author’s Note: Books mentioned in this chapter are:
No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sarte
Inferno (Hell) by Dante Alighieri
“One always dies too soon- or too late. And yet one’s whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are- your life, and nothing else.” - No Exit
Faith was sipping a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee as she sat in the passenger seat of the SUV, Dawn happily munching on a chocolate frosted donut in the seat behind her, with Buffy weaving her way through the beginnings of morning rush hour traffic. Faith glanced over at Buffy before she pulled a jelly donut out of one of the boxes of donuts that they had bought. Holding it close to Buffy’s face, Faith grinned upon seeing the blonde’s gaze tick from the road to the donut.
“Take a bite, I know you want it,” Faith ordered, smirking when Buffy shot her a look before doing as she was told.
It had become known to her back in Sunnydale that the almost everyone in the Scooby Gang were great fans of the jelly donut. Apparently it was all because of Giles, and his love of the jelly donut caused the group to impress it upon anyone who joined up with them. This morning, Faith had one and a half dozen jelly donuts, and another one and a half dozen various donuts. The group scoffed at her ability to withstand the jelly temptation, and Faith secretly laughed at how big a deal everyone made it out to be. She retained her reasoning to be that when she was younger, she used to read Calvin and Hobbes, and at one point in the comic strip, Calvin explained to his father that a jelly donut was a lot like eating a squishy bug with its guts popping out. In all honesty, Faith liked the jelly donut, but it was far too much fun to ruffle Xander, Willow and - especially- Buffy’s feathers about it every time they bought donuts.
The previous night had been a long one, with Faith staying at the hospital with Buffy long after everyone else had gone home, only able to drag her back to the car when Dawn’s insistence of Buffy leaving became more stern than the nurses informing her of the end of visiting hours.
“Question,” Dawn mumbled as she chewed a bit of her donut, “Why’d the doctor talk to you privately? I mean, he said nothing to me that I deemed private talk.”
“Mmm? Oh yeah,” Buffy glanced up into the rearview mirror, looking back at Dawn, remembering back to Dr. Hedig asking to speak to her in private, “Well, you are a legal adult, but I guess since you live with me and are a student, he figured I was more on top of things than you were, legally speaking.”
“Ha, now that’s funny,” Dawn laughed.
“Shut up,” Buffy retorted, glaring over at Faith, who had joined in with Dawn in laughing, “Look, do you want me to tell you, or not?”
Ah, the threat to withhold information, Faith thought, quite possibly the best way to get Dawn’s attention.
“Yeah, yeah,” Dawn replied, her face becoming serious again.
“He just wanted to tell me that, if I went to court, that he would aid in testifying to your injuries that they were caused by the accident that you were in, mostly using evidence of your ankle as proof of the double hit in the middle of the intersection. It’s no biggie. he just didn’t want to tell me in front of the others, as I am your only blood relative nearby and I own the house that you live in” Buffy informed her sister, shrugging as she spoke.
“That’s it? Man, I thought it was gonna be something bad,” Dawn drawled, raising her eyebrows in surprise, “I mean, he was all serious and somber.”
“Yeah, totally got the ‘badness’ vibe too, B,” Faith chimed in.
“Well, technically, the situation that landed Dawn in the hospital in the first place is a good reason to be serious, so I guess he wasn’t too wrong in acting the way he did,” Buffy rationalized, flicking the signal on as she exited the highway.
“Yeah, but still…” Dawn continued, and Faith suddenly knew that the younger Summers woman was just trying to push her sister’s buttons- and succeeding far too easily.
“Enough! Are you seriously going to blame me for not telling you something horrible?” Buffy silenced her sister, the exasperation evident in her voice.
Dawn’s face broke out into a grin, “Wow, morning wake-up calls make you grumpy, don’t they?”
Buffy was about to shoot a comment back, but after glancing into the rearview mirror, she saw the look in Dawn’s eyes that Faith knew was there just from the sound of her voice. Smiling, Buffy’s sighed as she took a right at a light they had come to.
“Only if they include alarm clocks,” Buffy mumbled, her eyes flicking quickly to Faith, who grinned back, yes, something which is quickly becoming used far less frequently.
Dawn groaned, “I don’t want to hear about it! It’s bad enough that I need to leave my room to use the bathroom, and thus hear the particularly loud sounds that actually make it through Will and Ken’s walls on my way to it- I don’t have to hear about how you get woken up by Faith.”
Faith almost laughed at the blush that covered Buffy’s cheeks, “I didn’t say…”
“It’s the implication in what you said- and that’s more than enough. Plus you’re all Obvious Insinuation Girl by looking over at her anyway,” Dawn shot back, cutting off any attempts to defend herself that Buffy might’ve made.
Faith finally laughed at this, and ignored the daggers that the blonde was shooting her way as they pulled into the driveway.
“Oh come off it B, right now you are about to have to deal with something far more awful than your sister calling you on a simple truth,” Faith sighed, trying to lighten up the currently sulking slayer.
“Oh? And what is that?” Buffy asked, glancing back at Dawn as she put the SUV in park in the garage.
“You are about to get mauled by sugar fiends,” Faith stated matter-of-factly as she climbed out of the vehicle, helping Dawn get out and onto her crutches while Buffy carried the three boxes of donuts towards the door that led into the house.
Buffy smiled before looking down at the boxes, a look of apprehension flashing across her features as she glanced up at the door and then over to Faith and Dawn.
“You go in first,” Buffy urged- her eyes on Faith.
Faith chuckled as she pressed the button beside the house door to shut the garage door, “Wimp.”
“So,” Faith began after Buffy had finally extricated herself from the slayer horde in the dining room currently eating all of the donuts, “You got any type of schedule today, or tonight?”
Buffy looked over at her, and after taking in the brunette, arched an eyebrow slightly in amusement.
“What?” Faith asked, uncertain what had earned her the look the blonde was leveling at her. It might have been the leg hooked over the arm of the loveseat, or the fact that she had a book resting on her abdomen, her finger holding her place, or even the fact that she had propped herself up with pillows- proving that she was planning on being there for quite some time.
“Nothing, I’ve just… never seen you with a book before,” Buffy shrugged, smiling as she plopped down next to Faith before continuing, “Comics, yeah, but not books.”
Faith sat silently, her emotions leaning more towards feeling insulted than proud of surprising Buffy, “I read,” She commented, her voice sounding slightly more put out than she had intended, “I needed something to kill the time in prison besides staying in shape, and staying alive. Plus traveling the world forced me into learning more about distinct cultures, languages and the demons living there.”
Buffy nodded, her expression looking apologetic, “I didn’t mean to say that you couldn’t read…”
Faith waved Buffy silent, “Don’t worry about it,” An odd silence came between the pair as they sat there before Faith cleared her throat, “So, you didn’t answer my question.”
“What? Oh, yeah, no, no schedule today. I mean, besides patrol, I’m planning on it being a lazy Valentine’s. Considering past experiences, I try to stay put on certain important dates,” Buffy shrugged.
“Such as your birthday?” Faith asked, grinning.
Buffy nodded, before shaking her head at the memories, “Yeah, definitely that one,” The pair again fell silent, but this time it was far more comfortable. When Buffy spoke again, Faith, who had been resting her eyes across the room, jerked slightly at the question, “Why did you ask?” before looking at her.
“About what?” Wow, I completely lost that train of thought…
“About my day,” Buffy replied, as if Faith should have been able to follow her thought process, yeah, ‘cause your thoughts “always” follow a common thread…
“Ah yeah, well, I have plans,” Faith replied, breaking her gaze as she did so, remaining vague.
Buffy allowed a smile to flash across her face, “Really?”
Faith looked over, talk about short-term memory issues, “Yeah, but not ‘till later. Why not have Ken spend the night in with Red, and I’ll patrol with you? I talked to her about it, and she seemed kinda relieved, but wanted to check with you first.”
“Yeah, sure, sounds fine with me. I know she has serious plans with Willow that probably have nothing to do with being quiet,” Buffy nodded, smiling knowingly.
“Oh yeah…” Faith exhaled, gaining a curious look from Buffy, “Ah, she just talked to me about it a few days ago,” she explained quickly.
Buffy smiled back, a hint of a blush creeping up on her face, naughty thoughts B? As the pair just looked at each other, Willow came in, oh the impeccable timing.
“Hey Buffy? Morning Faith,” Willow greeted the rogue slayer before refocusing on Buffy, “I’ve got those papers you asked about, you can read them over and then get back to me, and then we can talk to Xander if you want,” Willow finished as she handed Buffy a manila folder with a small hunk of papers in it, a pen hooked on the edge of the folder.
Faith nodded at Willow in greeting, her eyes following the transferal of the folder from one woman to the other and watched Willow leave the room before looking back over at Buffy.
“What’s that?” Faith asked, nodding towards the folder in Buffy’s hands, her eyes flicking from the blonde’s to the folder and back.
“Oh, just some landscaping, construction and other assorted building conditions forms,” Buffy explained turning sideways on the loveseat so that her back was against the opposite armrest, her legs sliding over the thigh that Faith didn’t have up over an armrest as she got comfortable before flipping open the folder, pulling open the pen as she did so.
“For what?” Faith continued, glancing down with a sardonic look at the feet and legs now on top of her own slightly outstretched body.
Buffy looked up from whatever she was reading, “Oh, uh, we’ve been thinking about extending the house on the right side,” Buffy replied.
“We’ve?” The tone in Faith’s voice had a hint of hurt in it, and Faith could tell that Buffy picked up on it, not leaving me outta the loop again are you? Faith thought.
Buffy’s face became serious, “I’m sorry, it was just an idea Willow, Xander and I had thrown up in the air before you even came here, and then both you and Trey came here, which has completely screwed us out of extra beds in case we need to give specific aid to Slayers. I don’t send many Slayers to Vi and Rona’s mansion because I prefer to keep an actual eye on them. Not to knock Vi or Rona, they’re both amazing, but…”
“You’d feel better if you could look after any problem Slayers, without displacing any of the others?” Faith finished, gaining a nod from Buffy.
“So as the months have gone on, we actually started planning it out, and we figured we could add in a study for myself down here, as well as at least four bedrooms that can be turned into doubles if need be, and up on the third floor there will be a few extra rooms- we haven’t fully planned that out yet. We also wanted to expand Willow’s study into a sort of double room, where we would allow for a greater amount of space for researching in a large group, instead of having everyone spread out in the house and then convene together. If this all works out, we’ll be able to keep all information and research in the same room, allowing for a much smoother and far more collaborative research system,” Buffy explained.
“Cool,” Faith nodded, impressed, then, a teasing idea came into her head, “So, do I get an extra bedroom?”
Buffy looked over at her in surprise, just keeping you on your toes B, Faith thought as the blonde relaxed after noticing that Faith was kidding.
“Well, if you would like something specific, we could set up a room on the third floor for gaming. You know, move the pool table up there; set up a dart board or air hockey, maybe make a room where everyone could just hang. I was also thinking of adding a library specifically for regular reading upstairs on the third floor as well, instead of extra main bedrooms. I don’t want every bookshelf in this place to have a demonology or vampire lore anthology crammed into it due to lack of room anywhere else. The idea is to get all of the reading material not related to vampire slaying out of the two studies and put upstairs into this new library, as well as to bring all of the extraneous books that are related to world save-age and things that go bump in the night that are in all of the bedrooms upstairs down into the main research room- again to keep things together. Hopefully, this bookcase in here can then get rid of its entire shelf dedicated to anything that isn’t a demon or vampire that we need to know about, and be filled up with regular books,” Buffy continued.
“Trying to create a sort of normalcy everywhere but in the HQ?” Faith asked, smirking slightly.
“HQ?” Buffy asked back.
“Headquarters. You’re basically making that expanded research room the hotspot for, well, research,” Faith explained.
“Ah, well, there’s that, yes, but also, I’ve never enjoyed trying to steer anyone who doesn’t know the true nature of this mansion and its inhabitants away from that bookcase,” Buffy nodded to the bookcase in question to Faith’s left, “It doesn’t happen often, usually an occasional police officer or detective, and once the governor’s aide. When it does though, they’re there due to me attempting to keep their eyes away from everything really happening here, so I don’t like those books so easily giving everything away, or at least alerting them.”
“I thought the cops did know what you were up to,” Faith furrowed her brows in confusion, “You gave endorsements to the Chief of Police and the Governor, I know that much.”
“The Chief, yes. The regular police do not know what’s going on here, but the Chief does. It was important for me to have him aware of what is really going on in this world, so that I wouldn’t be constantly crossing paths and dealing with red tape and arrests. The annual endorsements- which are perfectly legal I might add- are my way of telling the Chief, ‘you stay off my back, and I keep the number of bodies that are drained of blood via puncture wounds in their necks far lower than it has ever been before I moved here.’”
“Nice,” Faith nodded, “Talk about reading between the lines.”
Buffy laughed, “Yeah, well, the less written, the better.”
Faith nodded again in agreement before watching Buffy go back to reading the papers. Lifting her book back up, Faith opened it and continued reading.
It was some time before either spoke again, and when Buffy did speak, Faith finally realized that she had been too engrossed in the book to notice that the house had fallen silent- the younger slayers were off to their schools and everyone had either headed out to work or hidden themselves somewhere in the mansion.
“What are you reading?” The question jolted Faith out of her focus and she looked over at Buffy, who had seemingly gotten through most of the stack of papers.
“‘No Exit’ by Sarte. It’s a one-act play,” Faith replied, then, continued, “I’ve read it more times than I can count. I found it in the library at prison, and was captivated from page one.”
“What’s it about?” Buffy inquired, putting down the folder in her lap, giving Faith her full attention.
“Hell,” Faith shrugged, then, smirking at Buffy’s expression, “Seriously. This play makes Dante’s Inferno look like a childish fantasy.”
“What makes you say that? I thought Inferno was about the types of Hell,” Buffy’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
“Well, Inferno is about the types of Hell for people and their crimes, with each circle of Hell getting progressively worse as the punishments are doled out to people who are increasingly immoral and evil. ‘No Exit’ is about three people’s personal Hell, which is a lot like living, according to Sarte,” Faith explained, “The fact that it is short is just an added bonus in making it a fulfilling quick read.”
Buffy smiled, shaking her head, “Quite the attention span you got there.”
“I was saying that for your benefit, not mine,” Faith shot back, grinning when Buffy leaned forward and swatted her in the arm.
“I’m suddenly wishing I had taken Vi up on letting her and Rona patrol tonight,” Buffy murmured as the pair made their way through one of the larger cemeteries.
“Oh come on, you know you can’t stand not going out at least once a week to slay something, and if you didn’t go out tonight, it would’ve been even longer than a week before your rotation came up again,” Faith cajoled.
“Well, yeah, you have a point,” Buffy nodded before coming to a stop.
Faith stopped only one step further, her Slayer sense picking up on something nearby. Looking over her shoulder at Buffy, she could tell that the shorter woman was feeling the same thing. The pair locked eyes for a moment, and then both separated, going in opposite arcs towards where their senses were telling them to go. As she made her way around a rather large angel, Faith glanced past the wings of the gravestone, and saw a small group of vampires gathering around a fresh grave. Moving forward silently, Faith snuck up behind one vamp and plunged her stake through his back and into his heart. The scream of his dusting caused the group of vampires to turn suddenly, leaving the newly risen vamp to get out on his own.
Faith smirked when Buffy took advantage of her ability to distract the group and copied Faith’s maneuver by staking another vampire in front of her. Down from five to three, plus one ugly duckling half in the grave. Taking on the closest vampire, Faith hit him under the chin with a high kick and then pivoted around to slam a fist into his face. Grabbing him by his long hair, Faith yanked the vampire down and kneed him in the face before shoving him backwards and staking him. The sound of his dusting was echoed by Buffy’s stake finding home on the vampire she had been fighting. Turning, Faith saw the dirt covered vampire snarling before her, the feed upon him stronger than any of the others. The sound of a fight off to her right let Faith know that Buffy was dealing with the third vampire, and Faith grinned, a glint in her eye as she set herself, waiting for the new vampire to rush her.
He didn’t let her down. Snarling even more, he ran right at her and ducked her punch to land his own in her stomach. Grunting, Faith pulled back and eyed the vamp, who was now grinning.
“You think that was an accomplishment? You’ve got a lot to learn about this business. Unfortunately for you, you’ll never get the chance,” Faith taunted, faking a punch with her right hand, only to slam an uppercut with her left into the vamp’s face.
A roundhouse kick to the vampire caused him to stumble, and an elbow to the side of his head made his footing unsteady, allowing Faith to finish him off quickly. Dusting off her hands, Faith turned to see Buffy leaning against a headstone, waiting for her.
“Enjoying the view?” Faith asked, giving Buffy a knowing look.
“There’s that,” Buffy agreed, the edges of her mouth twitching, “But it took you long enough.”
“Eh, beginner’s luck,” Faith shrugged, “I’m not always a speed slayer.”
“You let a newbie land a punch,” Buffy ribbed as Faith approached her.
“B, you’re the one who has a worse record with getting injured by them,” Faith shot back sarcastically as they began walking towards the back of the cemetery, where one of the several local forests pushed up against the edges of it- it’s proximity to the cemetery a partial reason behind why it was infested with something demonic most of the week.
After Buffy’s quiet laugh faded, the pair fell silent, moving stealthily through the forest, the eyes and ears tuned into anything the forest produced. It was a general rule to bring all of the younger slayers into this particular forest once a week, as it never failed to provide perfect training against nests of vampires, bands of demons, or anything else the Hellmouth decided to spew out. In the heart of the large forest there was a circular clearing where the trees, bushes and undergrowth stopped; giving the Scooby Gang all of the physical proof they needed to know that the clearing was the residence of the currently active Hellmouth in Cleveland.
It had been almost thirty minutes since Buffy and Faith entered the forest, and Faith was getting an itch. Nothing was rearing its horned head, and she needed to do some damage. The vampires had merely whetted her appetite, and Faith was starting to wonder if she’d be able to control herself within Buffy’s presence that night if she didn’t get in a real good slay. Faith had again turned to slaying as her form of medicine in curing the hornies- a big slay calmed her far better than just a few random dustings. If something doesn’t happen soon, I’m gonna be jumping her bones within hours, Faith thought, glancing sideways over at Buffy, who had turned her head to look out into the trees to her left. Turning to look away, Faith scanned ahead of them, only to stop suddenly when Buffy grabbed her hand, pulling her back to her.
Buffy apparently hadn’t looked when she pulled, and Faith brushed up against the shorter slayer, sending jolts of heat throughout her body at the contact. Buffy turned to look at her, the desire in her eyes was quelled for the moment by a look of concentration.
“Listen,” Buffy whispered, jerking her head off to her left.
Faith stood still, breathing silently through her mouth, all systems on alert for whatever Buffy wanted her to hear. At first, she heard nothing. Then, that sounds like chanting- and in these woods, that isn’t generally a good thing. Looking down into Buffy’s eyes, Faith nodded, silently telling her that she did hear. The two Slayers moved towards the sounds, staying close to each other this time around to check out what was going on before attacking. Faith hadn’t noticed just how close to the Hellmouth area they had been, and found herself looking out from the edges of the brush into the clearing where four Kartuk demons were chanting inside a powder circle with candles lit up around them. It took only one look between the pair of women for a decision to be made, crashers it is. Crouching down, Faith pulled her knife from its ankle holster and stood back up. Glancing over at Buffy, Faith saw that she had had the same idea, her own knife in her hand. Nodding once, they moved in quickly.
Taking the chanters by surprise, Buffy had already broken one of four demons’ necks before the group roared as a whole and attacked. Shit, Faith thought, as they all decided to converge on Buffy at once, instead of attacking one at a time, not like the stupid vamps I see. Before Faith could move toward the group, Buffy had knocked one away and slightly toward Faith before being hit to the ground, where a kick to her midsection caused her to let out a loud gasp. Faith wanted nothing more than to ignore the current demon in front of her and race over to help Buffy but she knew that in order to go from point A to point C, she had to deal with point B first. Closing a hand into a fist, Faith used the hand with the knife in it to keep the demon at bay before landing a solid blow to his jaw. She had just barely grazed her fist against his chin horns, and the skin on her knuckles split from the contact. Cursing, Faith moved away, parrying a kick the demon aimed at her midsection and using the weight from his forward movement to pull him toward the spot she had previously stood in as she spun around him and plunged the knife through the back of his neck.
Ignoring the loud gurgling sounds of his painful death, Faith moved toward the scuffle between Buffy and the other two Kartuk demons. Buffy had managed to get one in a choke hold, but was losing her grip due to the other demon repeatedly barreling into her side. Running over, Faith spun and kicked the free demon, her foot connecting with his shoulder, causing him to growl as he stumbled away in an attempt to stay upright. Moving into a ready stance, Faith watched him circle her, saliva dripping its way down his chin horns, his bright red eyes focused only on her. Faith waited, your move you ugly imp. The demon charged her, and Faith decided that this must be their main mode of attack, as their short stature and solid build made it very appealing to knock over or off-balance an adversary. Crouching down, Faith bent her arms at the elbows and grabbed hold of the brutish demon, vaulting him over her and onto his back behind her. Swiveling around, Faith dropped her body, slamming all her weight into the elbow currently making contact with the demon’s nose. Howling in pain, the demon scrambled around, shoving Faith away as he moved into a crouch. Faith barely registered the loud sound of a neck cracking off to her right, and instead kept her attention on the demon snarling at her, an almost black colored blood pouring down his face and dripping off his horns.
It was a quick movement, but Faith noticed, as the demon seemed to shift his feet before springing up and twisting his body, his cloven feet slamming hard into Faith’s sternum. Grunting, Faith stumbled back, only to feel the intense pain of the demon bang the side of his head into her right thigh, the horns around his ears slicing easily through the jeans and flexed flesh beneath it. Letting out a painful yell, Faith didn’t even wait for the demon to pull away and instead plunged her knife down into its neck. The demon shrieked and grunted, twisting around, it’s ear horns ripping themselves from Faith’s leg as he collapsed by her feet, jerking around as he died. Faith exhaled loudly when his horns came out, and her leg buckled beneath her, causing her to fall to one knee. Taking deep, calming breaths, Faith pulled the knife from the demon and sheathed it before feeling a pair of hands grip her arms from behind, one of them pulling Faith’s right arm up. Faith turned and saw Buffy crouch next to her, pulling her right arm around her neck.
“C’mon, let’s get you home,” Buffy said quietly before helping Faith to her feet.
Faith lay in bed, a white bandage wrapped around her thigh. As much as it had hurt, the Kartuk demon hadn’t actually sunk his horns in too far, and Faith was pretty sure she’d be able to use the leg fully by the morning. She had showered and was currently sitting in a muscle shirt and a pair of panties, waiting for Buffy to come upstairs with dinner. She had planned something very simple and completely her style for Valentine’s, but was currently furious for not being able to bring it to Buffy. Hearing Buffy push on of the doors open, Faith looked up at the four bags of Chinese food in the blonde’s hands. Buffy grinned,
“This was a nice idea, Faith,” Buffy stated, placing the food next to the brunette, was leaning over to her nightstand, “What are you looking for?”
“Hold on,” Faith replied quickly, pulling out a plastic grocery bag, “Okay, for Valentine’s Day, I both rented and borrowed from downstairs, four movies for a little vidfest.”
Faith felt a huge surge of relief when Buffy’s eyes lit up, her fear of disappointing the other Chosen One dissipating instantly, “Really? Oh my God, simplicity on an overly gaudy holiday! You’re the best.”
Faith smiled appreciatively, “Okay, well, the four movies are, and I state beforehand that they are clichéd, but I doubt you care,” Faith informed her, gaining a shake of Buffy’s head- indicating that she did not, “We have…” Faith rummaged into the bag, pulling out the four DVDs and proceeded to read the titles, “We have, Pretty Woman, Thelma & Louise, Imagine Me & You, and When Harry Met Sally…. So, it’s your pick for which will be first.”
Buffy kneeled on the bed and took the DVDs when Faith handed them to her. She brought them over to the TV and turned it on. Opening the case to When Harry Met Sally…, Buffy put the DVD into the player and moved to the door, flicking off the main light- leaving only Faith’s nightstand light on- and shut the door before walking back to the bed, a remote in her hand. Sitting down on the bed, Buffy propped her pillows next to Faith and sat down next to her, pulling out a carton from the bag of Chinese food. Pressing “play” the pair dug into their post-slayage meal as the opening scene started.
It wasn’t until halfway through Pretty Woman later on, when both women were dozing off that Buffy leaned over to Faith and kissed her gently on the cheek. Looking down at the blonde slayer, Faith smiled when Buffy whispered sleepily, “Thanks for an amazing Valentine’s Day.”
“Aside from getting hurt?” Faith asked back quietly, kissing the top of the drowsy slayer’s head.
A quiet chuckle made it’s way out of Buffy’s mouth, “Yeah, aside from that.”
Faith waited until she was sure that Buffy was asleep before she turned off the television and put all of their trash into the plastic bags, dropping them quietly on the floor before turning out her light and falling asleep as well.
Faith woke slowly, taking in the muffled sounds of the waking world. The sun was making its grand entrance slowly through the deck doors- flecks of pink brightening the warm orange hues scattering the horizon over the trees. She was on her side with Buffy’s back flush against her chest; her arm draped over a jutting hip of the blonde’s, her fingers curled up against the smaller woman’s panty line. Nuzzling Buffy’s neck, Faith inhaled the other woman’s scent. Faith smiled when she felt Buffy shift in front of her, a quiet murmur of contentment being exhaled from the slumbering woman’s mouth. Flattening out her free hand, Faith caressed the smooth skin of Buffy’s lower abdomen and the ridge created from the elastic on her panties. Moving her thumb back and forth gently, Faith smiled into Buffy’s hair when the other woman hummed a second time, reacting to the subtle ministrations.
“Mmmm, you woke me up,” Buffy murmured quietly, her eyes still closed.
“Kinda the point,” Faith replied softly, her lips perilously close to Buffy’s ear.
Flicking her tongue out, Faith trailed it gently along the curved edge of Buffy’s ear, while her hand softly stroked a path up along the other woman’s stomach. Receiving a sigh, Faith lowered her head to Buffy’s neck, starting a slow trail of kisses where ever her mouth could reach. As her hand moved further north along the blonde’s warm skin, Faith could feel the flimsy undershirt that Buffy wore to bed riding up as well. Faith knew she was just teasingly stoking the fires, and without a thought, pushed the envelope just a bit further- simultaneously cupping one of Buffy’s breasts while gently biting the heated flesh on the other woman’s neck.
That got the reaction Faith had been aiming for. Buffy arched her body back into Faith, her voice hitching as Faith soothed the bitten area with the flat of her tongue, her words tumbling out of her mouth in a ragged breath, “God, Faith…that feels…”
Faith smiled against the blonde, letting out a warm breath of air along the now thoroughly tasted skin, “Preview of coming attractions.”
Buffy smiled softly as she shifted herself against Faith, “Emphasis on the verb?”
Faith grinned, her thumb flicking over Buffy’s hardened nipple, “Oh yeah.”
“As much as I’m enjoying this, I really need to use the bathroom,” Buffy stated huskily, a hint of embarrassment on her cheeks.
Faith let go of the blonde reluctantly, enjoying watching her get up and enter the bathroom. God that woman drives my body insane. Rolling onto her back, Faith laced her fingers together behind her head as she stared up at the ceiling. Flexing her right thigh beneath the sheets, Faith was glad to feel very little pain from the injury from the previous night- thank God for Slayer healing. Upon hearing the toilet flush and the subsequent sounds of the faucet, Faith turned her head to watch Buffy open the bathroom door. Flicking off the light, Buffy leaned on the door jam, her eyes darkening as the pupils dilated in the sudden darkness. Faith felt a flush rush through her body at the way she was being visually stripped by Buffy, and couldn’t help shifting oh-so slightly- just enough to allow the low slung sheets to accentuate the dips and curves of her lower body a bit better. All this waiting is about to pay off if B follows through with that look, Faith thought, allowing a sly smirk to creep up her face as Buffy started moving towards the bed.
It was miniscule, but then again, Buffy would later tell her that she had brushed it off initially, too. As Buffy was about to climb into bed, she lost her balance, even if only for a second. Stopping her forward movements, Buffy looked at Faith, and grinned sheepishly. Looking as if she was about to say something- and Faith figured it had to do with the small trip- all comedy vanished as Faith saw the blood drain from the blonde’s face and her whole body swooned. Moving quickly, Faith jumped up to her knees and caught the collapsing woman. Gently laying her on the bed, Faith checked her pulse before a sudden realization came over her. Running over to the speaker by Buffy’s door, Faith found the button labeled simply “W&K” and pressed it. Holding the button down long enough to both wake up anyone sleeping and also make them go over to the speaker, Faith let go, only to have a very groggy and angry Kennedy grumble “What?” through it.
“Get Willow up, those fuckers found some way around our spells. They’re doing the second life-suck on B,” Faith yelled into the speaker, letting it drop back down.
Hearing a crackle signifying that Kennedy was about to speak back, the sounds of quick movements from the other end of the line gave background noise to Kennedy as she said, “Willow’s on her way over, I’ll get Sandra up and have her prep a bed downstairs.”
Faith didn’t reply, she merely moved away from the speaker and back over to the bed, flicking on the lamp on the bedside table as she sat on the edge, her hand moving gently through Buffy’s hair as a cold sheen of sweat covered her skin. It felt clammy to the touch and Faith’a anger at the Kartuk began rising up in her, those assholes are so gonna pay for this. If they thought last night was bad, just wait until I find out where they fucking sleep. The sound of running footsteps jarred her from her thoughts. Looking up from Buffy’s pale face, Faith watched Willow open the doors to the bedroom, the sight of Kennedy slipping into Xander and Sandra’s room a flash of movement behind the redhead.
Willow moved quickly across the room, her eyes alert and full of concern, yet the puffiness of recent awakening from slumber still remained. Moving to Buffy’s side, Willow silently acknowledged Faith, who had stood up when she had entered, and placed a hand on Buffy’s forehead. Closing her eyes, Willow whispered an incantation in Latin before flicking her eyes open and looking up at Faith.
“I’ve stopped the initial attack of magick. We need to get her into the trauma room to keep her stable.” Willow informed her, “Can you carry her down?”
Faith nodded mutely before slipping a hand under the small woman’s knees and at the top of her shoulders, angling Buffy’s body as she lifted her so that her head rested against Faith’s chest. Glancing at Willow as they left the room, Faith noticed that the witch was just as undressed as Faith- except that Willow had a pair of shorts on to covered herself a bit more. A flimsy red undershirt hugged the redhead’s frame, giving a colorful accent to the white of Faith’s muscle shirt. It would only be later on, when everyone was certain that Buffy would be okay that Faith would remember that she was clad only in her panties and this shirt, but then again, the morning turned into a day full of half clothed woman who were woken from sleep and had to act fast- the notion of decency all but an afterthought.
