Chapter Twenty-Eight - Running Away

"Why can't I have the ax?"

"Because knowing your aim, I'd fear for my safety," Buffy tells her flatly as she rifles through her bag. When she picks out a stake, she tosses it to Faith who catches it easily. Faith gives her a disgruntled look as she leans against the abandoned building that Buffy just crawled out of.

"Don't lose that stake," Buffy tells her seriously as she watches Faith play with it in her hands. "It's my favorite."

Faith raises an eyebrow. "Ya have a favorite stake? What; you name it too?" As she cracks a smirk and twirls it in her fingers, she guesses, "Stabby McDuster or some shit?"

Buffy looks halfway between being a little embarrassed and annoyed. "Mr. Pointy, actually," she corrects. Faith busts out laughing.

"Penis envy if I ever heard it."

"What? No! Ew," Buffy protests, looking disgruntled at being made fun of. She scrunches up her face as she zips up her duffle bag. With one last look at Faith she tells her, "You're gross," before she climbs back in the abandoned building through the window, putting the bag back where she found it. Faith leans over, looking at her through the small space.

"Why the fuck ya keep that shit there?" she asks.

"Because," Buffy begins before she starts climbing back out of the window. Faith holds out her hand to help her up and Buffy takes it. "My Mom likes to randomly search my bedroom for 'dirty laundry'," she air quotes, looking like she believed her Mom was snooping more than doing chores, "and I don't exactly have many hiding spots for weapons." She shrugs, looking back at the building as she stands to full height. "Besides, there's a million hiding spots in there and it's right between two cemeteries. It's convenient."

"What if the bums find it?" Faith points out. "Pawn some sweet shit like that and they could get drunk for… well, a fuckin' while."

"Faith, this is Sunnydale," Buffy tells her flatly, "Poster town for all things undead and hungry; homeless people don't last two days on the street."

True.

Buffy swings the ax over her shoulder and looks at Faith pointedly. "Shall we?" she offers, mocking Faith's chivalry from earlier.

"B, if you're gonna do it, ya gotta do it right. There's a hand gesture involved," Faith tells her, smirking at her in amusement.

"Right, sorry," Buffy says, then revises with an overdramatic gesture of her holding her hand out; leading the way for Faith, "Shall we?" She grins when Faith chuckles.

"You're such a gentleman, B," Faith jokes as she walks past Buffy's outstretched hand, heading towards the cemetery. Buffy's behind her, but Faith swears she can hear Buffy rolling her eyes at her.

"Gentlewoman," Buffy corrects, catching up so she's walking side-by-side with Faith.

"So you sayin' that when ya finally do get into a girly-lovin' relationship, you'd be the guy?" Faith teases.

Buffy's jaw drops. "What? No! What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well the guy's usually the chivalrous one, B. You're the one wantin' to be called a gentlewoman." Buffy scrunches up her face in annoyance and punches Faith in the arm. Probably not hard by her standards, but hard enough to make Faith nearly push her into the cemetery gates in retaliation. "Ow! Fuck, B. Ya gotta quit with that shit. Superwoman ain't meant to be bashing on civilians, if she was the comic book world would be turned upside down." She rubs her arm.

"Please, you're hardly a civilian, and I'm hardly Superwoman," Buffy scoffs as they enter cemetery grounds. "And I wouldn't be the guy, just for the record. I'm a cheerleader."

"You used to be a cheerleader," Faith points out, much to Buffy's annoyance. She either quit the squad or got kicked off once she became a Slayer, Faith didn't know the details. She just knew she wasn't hopping around with pompoms anymore. "Besides, ain't you ever seen that movie 'But I'm a Cheerleader'?"

"Um, no," Buffy states flatly, clearly not even knowing what it is.

"You're missin' out," Faith tells her as they weave through the gravestones. "There's this one bitch that masturbates while she gives herself like, aversion therapy or some shit with an electric shocker. Kinky."

"I'll take your word for it," Buffy replies, sounding completely unenthused by the prospect. She's obviously way too fucking vanilla, which Faith can't even begin to comprehend. But then suddenly Buffy turns to her and asks, "And what about you, huh?"

"What about me?" Faith asks, confused. Was she asking about her masturbation habits? Cause if so, Faith's totally down with this change in conversation.

"You're obviously the guy, right?" Buffy asks, like she's not all that sure about her theory.

Damn, not what she was thinking then.

Faith laughs though, "To be the guy in a relationship, I'd actually have to be in a relationship. Ain't ever been on a date or taken a bitch on one, so no. Not really."

Buffy narrows her eyes at her. "Can you stop with that, please?"

"With what?"

"With calling women 'bitches'. You're worse than a misogynistic male," Buffy tells her, not looking amused in the slightest.

Faith folds her arms across her chest, defensive. "Probably just the hood in me," she mocks, knowing that's what Buffy thought of her.

"Faith, you're not 'hood.' When you start wearing a gold tooth and more bangle bracelets than can even fit up your arm, saying stuff like 'Who dat …insert inappropriate N word here' and talking about your 'baby daddy', then you can call yourself hood," Buffy tells her, in an overdramatic display of her mimicking what she believes 'hood' to be, most notably with her body language. Faith nearly falls over laughing.

To see the whitest girl ever try to imitate ghetto behavior was probably the funniest shit she's seen in her whole life. She probably gets all her info on it from Jerry Springer.

"Shut up!" Buffy exclaims when she realizes Faith can barely even breathe from laughing so hard at her. She's bent over a tombstone, unable to even speak. "Faith!"

Faith just keeps laughing, but pulls herself together enough to request, "Throw some gang signs at me, B. Come on. Funniest fuckin' shit…" and then she dissolves into more laughter.

Buffy doesn't look amused. "I have a gang sign for you," she tells her, before she flips her off. Faith continues to laugh at her.

She stops though once they hear footsteps coming towards them. They both straighten up, instantly alert. Faith takes the stake out of her jacket and grips it tightly, eyes searching the darkness. Two figures step out from behind a mausoleum, smiling as they take notice of two lonely girls wandering around in a cemetery.

"Aw, look honey; they're adorable," the girl vampire coos, hanging on the male vampire's arm as they stalk towards Buffy and Faith. "The blonde one looks like a Barbie. I wanna play with her…"

Faith tries not to snort as Buffy exclaims, offended, "Hey! I'm way cuter than Barbie, right Faith?"

"I dunno, B. Kinda hard to compare. I mean, Barbie wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit of yours, that's for sure," Faith quips, which makes Buffy look down at her jeans and hooded sweatshirt with annoyance.

"You're supposed to tell me I'm prettier than her," Buffy tells her, seemingly more worried that Faith didn't validate her hotness than she is about the two vampires coming towards them.

"Wouldn't want to inflate your ego," Faith says with a grin. Her heart is pounding in her chest from being around two things that could kill her, but she felt way more comfortable because Buffy was with her.

"Mel…" the male vampire starts, noticing something is off as the two girls are flooded with moonlight as they start to walk towards them. He stops, grabbing into what could only be assumed as his lover's arm as he realizes they're armed. "Slayer!" It's said with fear.

"Which one?" the female, Mel, asks, seemingly not phased by their mortal enemy being in front of her. "The Barbie or the slut?" She turns her head, as if assessing them.

HEY. How the fuck would this bitch know about her sex life? Not like it's written on her forehead. Faith really hates when people just assume. It may be true, but give her the benefit of the fucking doubt first, damn.

"Who cares, let's just go!" The male urges, pulling on her arm, encouraging her to retreat.

"I hate it when they run," Buffy says, sighing a little as she watches them book it in the opposite direction. "It takes the fun out of it." But then she's off, hot on their heels, with Faith following closely behind her.

It's almost amusing to watch Buffy tackle the female to the ground like a friggin' linebacker, if not for the rage it induces in her boyfriend, who comes at them both, fangs bared and snarling like some kind of deranged, rabid tiger on speed. Faith tries to intercept him so Buffy doesn't have two on her, but after her first hit connects with his face he kicks her in the stomach, sending her sprawling.

Fuck, she hates that everyone but her seems to be obnoxiously strong.

As Faith picks herself up off the ground, ignoring the pain in her ribs, she snarls and launches at him. "Fucker, this was my favorite shirt!" she yells as she hits him. It's now got his ugly boot print all over it; it's gonna be a bitch to wash in her sink. He grabs her arm after she tries to punch him again, however, and his grip nearly breaks her wrist. So she head butts him instead, hoping to fuck she doesn't end up with an ugly bruise tomorrow. "Shit, you got a hard head," she swears as the vampire stumbles back, momentarily stunned.

Meanwhile, Buffy was finishing up on her vampire. With one fatal swing of her ax, the girl's head severs from her body and she disappears in a pile of dust. "Mel!" the male screams, angry and distraught. But his anger blinds him as he dismisses Faith completely to try to kill Buffy, and Faith easily sticks her foot out to trip him. He falls to the ground in a heap. Faith wastes no time getting on top of him, using her whole body weight to pin him.

"Aw, are you gonna miss her dead flavored pussy?" she taunts. The vampire snarls and tries to get her off of him, but he's pinned on his stomach and it doesn't give him much leverage to throw her off.

"Faith, don't play around," Buffy chides, looking at her disapprovingly. "Just stake him."

"You take all the fun outta life, B," Faith tells her with a sigh before she rams the stake into his back. He disappears into a pile of dust and she lands on the ground.

"I'm not taking the fun out of life, Faith. But the minute you choose to taunt him could end up being the minute another vampire chooses to try to kill you." Buffy holds her hand out to Faith and she takes it, allowing her to help her to her feet.

"Whatever, there was only two of them and you dusted the other," Faith retorts.

"That doesn't mean that there couldn't have been another one waiting in the shadows for a perfect opportunity, which is what you would have been giving said hypothetical vampire."

Faith rolls her eyes as she leans against a tombstone, rubbing her sore limbs. Buffy takes notice of it and asks, "Are you hurt?"

"Nah, just bruised. I'll deal," Faith responds. She touches her forehead and winces at the tenderness. "Did that fucker bruise my face?" she asks.

Buffy walks over to her, needing to get closer to inspect the area in the dim moonlight. She squints and reaches up, touching the area, which makes Faith smack her hands away when pain shoots through her head. "Jesus, you didn't have to poke it."

"I didn't poke it, and you'll be fine. It doesn't look like it's bruising. It may later though, I don't know."

"Some help you are," Faith tells her flatly.

"Well I don't know; I don't bruise easily anymore," Buffy replies, giving her a pointed look. Yeah, yeah, whatever. She's Ms. Bad Ass Slayer. Faith gets it.

"Please, I bet I could make you bruise," Faith retorts and gives her a dirty little smirk that Buffy would have looked annoyed by, if not for the slight blush that now adorned her cheeks. "Bet you'd like it too."

"Just… shut up," Buffy replies turning to walk away from her, embarrassed. She starts swinging the ax around to distract herself, and Faith has to dodge out of the way as she catches up to her.

Staying to Buffy's side that isn't swinging the ax, she grins as she pushes, "Oh come on, B. Don't deny it."

Faith knows she probably shouldn't be pushing the issue, but what could she say? She fucking loved making Buffy blush. Even if they were gonna be 'just friends', that doesn't mean she can't tease her. Otherwise, what point would there be to their friendship?

"No, I wouldn't like it," Buffy shoots at her, glaring. Faith just smirks.

"So why'd you blush?"

"I didn't—arg! Faith! Just shut up, will you? We're trying to slay," Buffy retorts, flustered. She won't even look at her and puts extra effort into looking for vampires, who don't seem to be anywhere in sight.

"Pretty sure the vamps will come to us, B. We're two hot chicks roaming a cemetery; we got 'meal' written all over us. So, not like ya gotta put too much effort into it," Faith tells her with a sly grin as she watches Buffy grow more frustrated by the second with the conversation.

"Do you enjoy this?" she asks angrily. "Torturing me?" Buffy finally stops walking and turns to look at her, one hand on her hip.

Faith shrugs casually, "So what if I do?" She gives her a shit eating grin, but it isn't well received.

"So you're an asshole," Buffy tells her, not hint of a jest in her voice. "Do you think this is easy for me? Do you? To fall for the one girl who is a commitment-phobe? It's not funny, Faith. All you're doing is confusing me and it's not fair."

"Hey, you're the one who told me you didn't want to go to Homecoming with me, after you already asked me to go. Ya wanna talk about confusing, Princess? Let's start there," Faith snaps, getting defensive.

For fuck's sake, she's not the only one throwing mixed signals around here.

"Well it wasn't going to be a date! So why would I want to go with you otherwise?" Buffy exclaims. She points at her accusingly, "You like me, I know you do. I'm not stupid, Faith. I see the way you look at me; I'd have to be blind not to notice."

"What you're seein' is lust, Twinkie. Not 'feelings'," Faith mocks, air quoting the word like it's completely laughable. Buffy's eyes flash. "Yeah, I wanna fuck you. I'd take you right here in the cemetery if I could, but I'm trying to be the good little girl that doesn't fuck around with you cause you're my friend. I ain't lookin' to hurt you, B, so quit actin' like I'm the bad guy. Just cause I like to make lewd comments at you, don't mean I'm tryin' to screw with your head; it's just how I am."

"It's just 'how you are?'" Buffy mocks heavily, getting angrier. "That's such crap! If that were true, you'd be making them to Willow, to Xander, and God forbid to Giles…"

"Well I don't wanna fuck any of them!" Faith defends, but Buffy's on a roll.

"And you want to talk about not screwing with me? What the hell do you call making out with me in your bed earlier? You seemed not to give a crap about screwing with me then!"

"You wanted me to kiss you!" Faith argues, getting angry. Why the fuck was Buffy acting like she was the worst person on the freaking planet just for giving her what she wants?

"I didn't say that!"

"You didn't have to! I think looking at me like you wanted to rip off my clothes was enough of a fuckin' indicator!"

"Fuck you, Faith!" Buffy yells, getting emotional. Her voice hitches, but she refuses to cry; at least, not in front of Faith. "You have no idea how hard this is for me! I run the risk of getting killed every single night, so excuse me for maybe wanting a little bit of happiness in my life before I go!"

"I'm not your happiness, Princess," Faith tells her with harsh honesty.

"Don't you think I know that?" Buffy shrieks. "You are the most lewd, crude, infuriatingly stubborn, impulsive slut I have ever known!" Faith opens her mouth, offended, but can't get a word out because Buffy goes on, "And yet every time I close my eyes at night, I see your stupid face, with your stupid little arrogant smirk. I can't get you out of my head and I hate it! I didn't ask for this, Faith! I can't stand you half the time, but apparently that doesn't matter because even when I want to beat your face in, I still want to kiss you so hard that your head spins and you forget where you are, because that's how you make me feel!"

Faith freezes and she stares at Buffy, wide-eyed. That was kind of heavy. Sexy in a way, but still really fucking heavy. The instinct to run flows through her entire being, but she can't move from the spot she's rooted too. Faith didn't know what to say, what to do. She knew Buffy liked her, that much was obvious; she used to practically follow her around like a puppy, after all. But something about the way Buffy said that made her scared for reasons she couldn't explain.

"Say something," Buffy begs softly, looking incredibly vulnerable and completely terrified at the same time.

Faith stares at her for a moment, having no idea what someone's even supposed to say to something like that. What was worse was that Faith closes her eyes at night and sees Buffy before she drifts off to sleep. But in her mind Buffy is usually doing a strip tease, so she never really thought much of it before. And the way Buffy described how she feels when they kiss… it's how she feels too, but she accounted it to hormones and an impatient libido. So why does what Buffy is saying sound completely different to how Faith feels? It's just sex, isn't it? Faith just wants to have sex with her, right?

Fuck, this would be when knowing what the hell she's actually feeling would come in handy. She usually just attributes most emotions to sex; it's simpler. And for good reason too. She couldn't actually like Buffy, could she? Cause that's fucking ridiculous. Faith doesn't do crushes.

"Vampire," is all Faith can manage as a response as she sees one start to dig its way out of a grave in the distance. Buffy looks confused until she points, making Buffy look behind her.

"Great," she mutters, sounding horribly upset before she takes off, running towards it. The vampire looks up, confused as to what the hell is going on, but doesn't even get a second to ask a question before Buffy swings her ax, beheading it without a second thought or a witty quip. She turns to look at Faith in the distance, but doesn't move. Faith thinks she waiting for her to come to her, but that'd just cause Buffy more mixed signals and she was pretty clear on not wanting those anymore.

How can she respond to all of that if she doesn't even know how she feels? It's too complicated, so Faith relies on her fallback plan: running away.

"I have to go," Faith tells her before she turns, walking away without even giving Buffy a chance to respond.

"Faith!" she hears Buffy call out to her. When Faith hears her start to run, she does too. She doesn't want to deal with this right now; she can't.

Faith runs all the way back to her motel, even though she's pretty sure Buffy stopped following her after she exited the graveyard. She leans against her door, closing her eyes. Her fucking head hurt. She didn't want to have to deal with this right now. She was just fooling around; egging her on. All she wanted was to make her blush; it was fun. Why the fuck did she have to take it so personally and then turn everything around to make it all… serious?

Faith doesn't even understand why Buffy likes her so much. If it was just about sex, she'd get it; she's a hot fucking bitch, obviously. But other than that? She ain't got nothing to offer her, not really. She's a broke kid from the wrong side of the tracks who lives in a fucking motel room, helping her coked out mom get her fix just so she can get up and go to work in the morning. It ain't like she's anything special. She's about as opposite of special that someone could get.

Fuck this. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think about anything. Thinking only caused headaches and more confusion. Faith just wanted to drink until she passed out; it sounded like an excellent plan under the circumstances.

When she opened her door, her lights were out. Everyone had gone home. Faith didn't even bother turning them on as she stripped off all her clothes, tossing them to the ground carelessly. As she sat on her bed, she grabbed the liquor bottle on her bedside table, popping it open and taking a swig.

Fuck today.

Faith replaced the bottle on the table before she lifted the covers, trying to get in bed. However, when she did that, she heard a groan and felt a body roll over. "What the fuck?" Faith exclaims, practically jumping out of bed and switching on the light. Kennedy rolls over, shielding her eyes from the light.

"Christ, turn it off, will you?"

"What the fuck are you doing in my bed?" Faith asks, staring at her like her presence there was completely alien. Kennedy opened her eyes, smirking as the site of a nude Faith greets her vision.

"You said we could stay," she clarifies, eyes trailing over every inch of Faith's body. "I did. Guess I fell asleep waiting for you." She cocks an eyebrow as Faith continues to stare at her. "So are you going to get back in bed and fuck me, or should I go? Cause I don't mind if you want me to leave, but it seems like such a wasted opportunity since you're already naked."

Well, when she put it that way. Faith already had a shit day dealing with feelings and the instant cure for that would be some great, mindless sex. At least, it'd be a better cure than drinking herself into a coma. Certainly more enjoyable.

"Get naked," is all Faith says before she switches the light back out. She doesn't even have to think twice about it; when an opportunity is in front of her, of course she's gonna take it.

They fell into each other shortly afterwards, Faith using sex to take out all her aggression about the mind trip Buffy's giving her. Kennedy was more than willing to follow her lead; allowing her to be as rough and as dominant as she wanted. In fact, she more than once vocally encouraged it. Kennedy scratched her back so hard as Faith fucked her mercilessly, that she was sure her back would be tore up in the morning. But it didn't matter. None of it really mattered.

Kennedy had three fingers buried inside of Faith's pussy when she finally came, slamming her hand against the headboard as she basked in one, short moment where she didn't have to think. But then when she came down from her high she remembered Buffy, and she demanded that Kennedy to make her cum again. She didn't want to think about her, she didn't want to think about anything.

Kennedy obliged, like the good little bitch she was.

Maybe it was wrong, how she used all these women. Maybe she shouldn't be a massive slut with no regard to how she made other people feel. Maybe she should try to have something that means something, for once in her life.

But this was easier, simpler. And the last thing Faith wanted was something complicating her life up even more than it already was. Her life was a fucking disaster, there was no point pulling someone else in so they could drown with her.

Faith was just better off alone. Period.

Chapter Twenty-Nine - A Backwards World

Kennedy left shortly after they were finished, thankfully.

Faith was already frustrated, so the last thing she wanted to do was yell at her to get out. She knew she'd end up being a huge cunt about it, and she really didn't want to have to deal with the backlash of it at school tomorrow. You'd think that with three orgasms, Faith's frustrations would just melt away. But no, because life likes to fuck her sideways, that wasn't what happened at all.

She just couldn't stop thinking about her. Buffy, obviously, not Kennedy. And it was really fucking stupid, because after sex Faith should feel worn out, but thoroughly satisfied. That's not too much to ask, right? But she lay in bed for hours, staring at the celling and wondering why the hell she can't just get her out of her mind. It ain't like Buffy was anything incredibly special, right? For fuck's sake. She's just a friend. She could be a good lay, but that was out of the question.

Eventually, Faith did end up falling asleep. But the next morning she woke up and Buffy was still on her mind, so in a wave of annoyance and frustration, she went to go talk to her mother. It was probably her fault anyway; she kept pushing Buffy on her like she was trying to set up a freaking arranged marriage.

When she opens the door to her mother's room, she doesn't do it delicately. The sound is loud and abrasive and it wakes her mother up, who sits up in bed sleepy and confused. "Whatsgoingon?" she mumbles, squinting as she tries to make out who just entered into her room in a less than polite manner. The covers fall from around her torso and Faith can see her mother's topless, which wouldn't be a problem except that she wasn't in bed alone.

"Who the fuck is this clown?" Faith asks defensively as the random man sits up, mumbling something like 'what the hell was that?'

"Fai?" Her mother asks, like she wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not.

"No, it's the tooth fairy. Who the fuck do you think? And who the hell is he?" Faith always hated when her mother brought home men; they never were of the highest quality, and this one was no different. He was a rugged and tattooed gangster-looking Italian, and basically screamed 'no good' from a mile away.

Fucking fantastic.

"What do you…?" Caroline asks, confused for a moment as she wakes up. Then she realizes what must be going on because she asks, "Are you okay?"

"I need to talk to you," Faith says flatly.

"This ya daughter?" the stranger asks, looking at Faith in a way that made her skin crawl.

"Yeah, now get the fuck outta my mum's bed. Ya had your fun, now get to steppin', Fabio." She grabs his clothes off the floor and throws it to him almost violently. This was the last thing she wanted to deal with right now.

"His name is Alberto," Caroline corrects as she grabs her shirt that's hanging over the side table lamp before slipping it over her head.

Whatever, still Italian, so Faith was pretty sure her guess was a good one.

"You really let ya daughter just kick out ya dates like this?" the guy asks, like Faith was the one being rude. Fuck that. His presence was rude. "If she were my kid, I wouldn't let her get away with that. Girl's rude, Caroline. She ain't got no respect for her elders; needs to be taught some obedience."

Faith snorted. Right. Good thing she ain't his kid then, huh? Whatever, guys like him were a dime a dozen. He doesn't scare her.

"I'm sorry, call me later?" Caroline suggests hopefully, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek. Fabio, or whatever his name was, didn't look like he was going to do it as he grabs his clothes, pulling them back on.

"Yeah, sure," he replies dismissively.

He won't call.

Her mother looks like she knows that too as she sighs a little, but it's not like it's unexpected. Caroline's dates never stuck around for more than the first night anymore. As Fabio leaves, she pats the bed next to her, encouraging Faith to come over and sit down. She does.

"Why the fuck ya gotta get douchebags like that, Mum? Ain't like you're ugly or nothin'."

"He was… sweet," Caroline falters a little, like she isn't even sure if that's the word. Faith's sure it isn't. But she changes the subject to, "What did you want to talk about, dear?" as she reaches over to her bedside table, opening the drawer and getting her blow.

"Whoa, where the fuck did ya get that?" Faith asks, looking at the bag. She didn't buy it. "Ya know you're not supposed to keep that shit in here."

"I know, I'm sorry. Alberto gave it to me and I didn't want to wake you," Caroline tells her as she sticks her finger in there, gathering some up on her long nail. Faith curls up her lip in disgust as her mother waves at her to turn around. She obliges reluctantly, and as she hears her mother snorting up the drug she tells her,

"Well ya gotta give to me after."

"I know," Caroline replies, then seals the baggie and hands it to her. Faith puts it in her bra.

Her mother looks at her expectantly and it kind of bothers her so she bursts out with suddenly, "Why the fuck are you always on about B?"

"What?" Caroline asks, confused.

"Buffy," Faith clarifies. "You've met her once, so why the hell are you advocating for me to like, I dunno, fuckin' settle down and get married to the bitch or something?"

Caroline gives her a patient look. "I never said you should marry her, Faith. I just think she's a nice girl."

"But like I said, ya met her once."

Her mother sighs a little, leaning against the headboard of her bed. "Faith, I've known you your whole life. I've watched you sleep for nearly two decades now and not once have you ever talked about a girl in your sleep. And it isn't just sometimes, it nearly every night I go in there. It may even be more than that. You must really like her, so I just think that maybe you should give dating her a shot. You never know, you may enjoy it."

"What, bein' tied down to one bitch? No thanks. And by the way, that whole 'watching me sleep' thing is kinda creepy. I'm practically an adult, Mum."

"I know sweetie, but I like doing it," Caroline tells her with a smile. "You look like my little girl again; innocent."

Faith scoffs. Right, innocent. Whatever.

Caroline takes one of her hands in hers, holding it. "I think you should give her a chance. Trust me when I tell you I know how unsatisfying sleeping with random people all the time can get. You need something more than that; I want something more than that for you."

"Ya ain't doing it with the right people if it's unsatisfying, Mum," Faith tells her flatly as she untangles her hand from hers, standing up. She didn't want to give Buffy a chance. Buffy was cool and all, hot as shit if she were to be honest, but that didn't mean they'd work in an actual relationship. That shit fuckin'… scares her. She hates using that word but it's true. There isn't a lot that scares Faith, but relationships are one of them. She wouldn't even know how to go about being in one and besides, to be in relationship you should probably have to love the person right?

Faith doesn't love. She just doesn't. She fucks and that's… that's just it. Okay?

"I gotta… get ready for school," Faith tells her mother as she runs her fingers through her hair. She just didn't want to talk about this anymore. She figured coming in here and confronting her mother would help, but all it did was confuse shit even more.

When she got to school, Faith did all she could do avoid Buffy. However, she was present in her English class, which was sadly unavoidable. Buffy was trying to get her attention all throughout the test they were supposed to be taking, which got her told off by the teacher and then she finally stopped. Once the bell rang, Faith practically flew from the room.

When faced with a choice between dealing and not dealing? She'll choose not to deal, thanks.

Faith tries to get her books for her next class out of her locker as quick as humanly possible, but it isn't quick enough. Buffy corners her, and for someone who had so much determination to talk to her, she doesn't look quite as sure about herself now that she's actually gotten Faith within her general vicinity. "Hey," she starts, sounding a little unsure about how Faith's going to react. "Can we… talk?"

"I gotta get to class," Faith tells her shortly, shoving her English book in her locker before pulling out her history one.

"It's lunch," Buffy reminds her. Her voice was low and dejected; she knew Faith was purposely avoiding her.

Shit.

"Hey Summers!" one jock hollers at Buffy as he comes over to her. Buffy looks a little annoyed to be interrupted, but Faith was glad for it. Now she could get the fuck out of there.

"Oh, hey Dan," Buffy says, smiling at him a little. Faith rolls her eyes and closes her locker; she wanted nothing to do with all this cool-kids crap. How Buffy still managed to have every guy like her even after her popularity status plummeted, is beyond her. Then again, maybe she didn't need to be a cheerleader and hang around other stuck up bitches to still be popular. What would Faith know? She certainly wasn't.

Not that she cared.

"Hey uh, I was wondering…" Dan starts, flashing her this ridiculous looking smile that's apparently meant to flatter her. "Would you like to go to Homecoming with me?"

Oh, please. Fuck this.

"See ya, B," Faith tells her dismissively as she closes her locker, starting to walk away from her. The last thing she needed was to hear about that stupid dance again, it's when all the trouble started.

"I…" Buffy starts, looking a little overwhelmed with Dan asking her out when she's trying to talk to Faith. "I can't, I'm gay," she tells him suddenly and distractedly before turning and exclaiming, "Faith, wait!"

Faith freezes. She heard what she just said to Dan, and apparently Buffy didn't realize it slipped out until it was too late. Her face turned almost as white as a sheet.

Dan laughed, "You're what? Come on, stop kidding around. My dad got me this sweet car for my birthday, you'd be riding in style if you—"

"Faith, come to Homecoming with me," Buffy says abruptly, like the words just flew out of her mouth with seemingly no permission from her brain. She completely ignored Dan, who was now looking at her like he really couldn't believe he was baring witness to a lesbian moment. He didn't look entirely pleased about it either, since he was shot down because of it.

So much for Buffy's popularity.

Faith slowly turns around to face her fully, not really knowing what the hell she's supposed to say to that. Some students stopped what they were doing to watch; having heard Buffy's proposal. Buffy's cheeks are flushed in embarrassment, but she doesn't back down. She isn't going to do this halfway if she's going to do it at all, apparently. Even so, Faith notices that Buffy's hand has started shaking.

"Please," she adds softly. "If not as like… a date date, then just as friends. But I… I want to go with you."

Faith runs her fingers through her hair, feeling really awkward about being put on the spot like this. Everyone's fucking staring. And while she doesn't give a crap about what they think about her, she knows Buffy does. What she just did… that was fucking huge. Come tomorrow, everyone was going to be talking about how Buffy was gay. She doesn't know if Buffy can handle something like that, but there's no backing out now.

What's worse is that Faith can't reject her after she just basically shouted her sexuality for everyone to hear; she'd be the biggest asshole ever.

Fuck.

"Yeah," she replies, trying to shrug it off like it was no big deal. "Fine, whatever." She doesn't want to have the rumors circulating tomorrow that Buffy's gay and that she got rejected by the biggest lesbian slut in the school. That'd be a really shitty thing for Buffy to deal with and already she was gonna have to deal with a lot after something like this.

Buffy looks surprised that Faith actually said yes. "Okay well… good. That's… that's good," she stutters a little, forcing a smile even though it was obvious she felt uncomfortable. "See you at lunch then?" she asks, fiddling with her top self-consciously.

"Sure," Faith replies, feeling awkward herself. She watches Buffy purse her lips and nod before she turns, practically fleeing into the lunchroom to get away from all of the witnesses.

Fuck. This probably isn't going to end well. And shit, now she's going to have to buy a stupid dress; she doesn't have the money for that.

But there's no backing out of it now. Besides, a little part of her wanted this. After all, she wouldn't have said yes to Buffy's previous proposal about the dance if she didn't. It was just fucking confusing though, all of it. Were the two of them even capable of just being friends? It didn't seem like it. But Faith wasn't capable of a relationship either, so where the fuck did that leave them?

Whatever. Too many deep thoughts.

Faith ignores everyone's stares as she heads into the lunchroom. She notices Buffy seated with Willow, Tara, and Kennedy, but doesn't go over there right away. She needed to get food to eat her feelings first. Thank god for her high metabolism. Besides, Buffy looked hella distressed as she held her head in her hand, elbow on the table, shaking her head as she talked to her friends. The realization of what she just did must have finally hit her.

Ain't no turning back to for her either. But coming out could be good for Buffy. Sure it's gonna suck at first, almost always does, but better to be honest about who you want to fuck then lie about it. Lying is liable to eventually drive you bat shit crazy.

As Faith walks over to the lunch line, she notices Xander standing amidst the crowded room, staring off into space again. Christ, what has this kid gotten himself into? If it's drugs, he's really gotta lay off. Shit's clearly fucking with his head a little too much.

"Xander!" Faith exclaims as she comes up behind him. Xander jumps about a mile as Faith startles him out of his staring contest with… whatever the hell he was staring at.

"What?" he shouts, like he just got caught masturbating by his parents. At least, that was the best comparison Faith could come up with for how guilty he looked right now. She crosses her arms over her chest.

"What's up?" she asks him pointedly, raising an eyebrow.

"Me? Nothing, I'm doing nothing!" Then he coughed, realizing that wasn't even her question. He looks a little awkward as he corrects himself, "I mean… nothing's up. Except maybe the sky and—"

"Xander," Faith interrupts flatly. She gives him a look that makes him look a little sheepish. "What the fuck drugs have you been smoking? Seriously. You've been wacked out for like a week."

"Nothing! No drugs. I am as drug free as a… okay I can't think of anything that rhymes with free that would make sense, but you know what I mean," Xander replies, rambling to try to distract Faith. It doesn't work.

"Then what's up? You're always staring off into space like a stoner, dude."

"Nothing! There's nothing. Nothing at all. My life is boring. Lame and… boring," he falters, looking unsure of himself. "I said that already." He sighs when he takes notice of the look on Faith's face. "You're not buying this are you?"

"Not even a little," Faith tells him, smirking. She nudes him with her shoulder a little, prodding, "Come on; just tell me what's goin' on. We're friends, man."

He sighs, turning to look out at the crowd of people in the lunchroom. He doesn't say anything so Faith follows his gaze, trying to figure out what's got him acting like this. It seemed to be only at school, so it's gotta be something or someone here, right? Jeez, if Xander's got himself a crush then—

Faith's train of thought stops once she realizes what he's looking at; the popular kids table. Mainly, Cordelia, Harmony, and all those other anorexic bitches. "Oh, Jesus," she groans, which makes Xander turn to look at her quickly. "Don't tell me ya got a hard on for one those nasty sluts."

"Me? No! No, why would you…? That's crazy…! They're… no!" and then he starts doing the 'head laugh'; you know the one – overdramatic, loud, and head tilted too far back to even be natural. In short, the laugh to cover shit up. Faith just looks at him, disgusted.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Faith asks bluntly, putting her hands on her hips. "Ain't none of those bitches worth even half of your time. I mean, shit, Cordelia especially—"

"Shhh!" Xander hisses at her, grabbing her arm and pulling her away just as Cordelia stands up, heading right for them. Faith rolls her eyes but stays quiet, not wanting to embarrass Xander just in case Cordelia ended up overhearing them.

Faith thought she was just going to walk by, but Cordelia actually stops in front of them. Faith raises her eyebrow at her expectantly. What the hell did she want?

"Are you two losers done staring at me?" she asks with her snobby little attitude as she throws her leftover food away, putting the tray back where it belongs. "Because I wouldn't want people to think we actually knew each other."

Excuse her? She came up to them.

"The mac and cheese, huh?" Faith mentions, taking notice of what was left on her plate that she just threw out. "No wonder you've been looking a little pudgier. You really gotta cut down on those carbs, Cor. Your fingers are gonna start lookin' like sausages. But hey, that might be an improvement. Bigger shit to fill that gaping cunt of yours, that's for sure."

"Excuse you? Nobody rang your buzzer, halftime hooker," Cordelia told her with an eye roll and a scoff before she mentioned, "Whatever, I don't have time for this. I left my book in math class anyway; I need to go get it." Why the fuck would they care where she left her stupid book? But she doesn't have much time to think about that, because Cordelia goes on, "Some of us are planning to graduate, Faith, not just become waitresses at Hooters."

Whatever. Hooters would kill to have her, just for the record. With tits like these? BAM, bitch.

But just as Cordelia leaves, she notices the look shared between her and Xander. Faith's mouth drops open just as Cordelia walks from the lunch room, and Xander turns around and says, "I have to go. I… er, have to get something from my locker."

Faith really hopes they got sucked into some kind of alternate universe, because the conclusion she's rapidly coming to is not pretty.

"Oh no," she starts slowly, waving her hands at him. "Oh hell fucking no!" Faith exclaimed, her voice loud enough to get a few students attention. Xander's eyes go wide, fearing she's about to start screaming her theories all over the lunch room, so he grabs her arm and pulls her outside into the hall. It was deserted except for a few students way down the other end.

"Tell me you're not," Faith starts, her voice low and dangerous. "Xander, fuckin' tell me you're not!"

"Not what?" Xander asks, still trying to get around it. But there was no getting around this.

"Fucking her!" Faith practically shouts. Xander's eyes go wide and he shakes his hands erratically in front of him.

"No, no! I'm not, I swear!"

"Then what the fuck was that, Xand? She comes up and 'casually' mentions where she's going to be, and then you try to slip out with some bullshit excuse of your own? I'm not fucking stupid, Xander. You think I haven't pulled that shit in my life before? How the fuck… Why the…?" she couldn't even get the questions out, they all sounded so ridiculous. Xander and Cordelia. It didn't even make sense. Cordelia hated all of them, and all of them hated Cordelia!

"It's not what you think," Xander says hastily, looking a little worried that Faith was going to implode and take him and half the school out with her.

"Then what the fuck is it?" Faith demands.

"We just… it just happened!" Xander exclaims, both nervous and ashamed. He looks like he wants to run, but he knows better; he can't outrun Faith.

"What just happened, exactly?" Faith asks. "What, did she slip and fall on your dick one day?"

"We're not having sex!"

"Are you mentally deficient?" Faith exclaims. "She treats you like shit; she treats all of us like shit! Can't you keep your dick in check for one fucking minute?"

"Oh, as opposed to you, the girl that sleeps with every woman she meets, breaking hearts along the way?" Xander retorts. "Half the women in this town hate you, Faith."

"That's different!"

"How?"

"Because I don't fuck bitches that are cunts to us!"

"You slept with Harmony!" Xander shouts, which makes Faith stop for a second. Fuck, yeah she did. He's got her there. She doesn't have a comeback for that, so she chooses to just glare at him instead. This is ridiculous. This didn't even make sense.

"How did this even happen?" she asks, completely confused. Nothing against Xander, but he didn't exactly seem like Cordelia's type. He wasn't popular, he wasn't a jock. He was just… he was just Xander.

"It's… a long story," Xander mutters, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah? Well I got time," Faith says, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at him expectantly. She couldn't wait to hear this cracked out little fairytale.

"Look… can we please talk about this later?" Xander asks pleadingly. "I just… I need to…"

"You know what? Fine. Whatever. Go have fun suckin' face with the devil wearin' prada. Ain't none of my business," Faith dismisses him, starting to walk away. Whatever, if that two faced bitch is more important than his friends? Then… fucking whatever. He can have his fun. Watch her give a shit.

"No, Faith, wait!" Xander calls after her, but she doesn't look back. She doesn't want to deal with it anymore; she already has enough to deal with as it is.

Shit. This whole fucking world really has gone backwards.

Chapter Thirty - This is Not a Clown Car

Xander and Cordelia? That was probably the most ridiculous thing Faith's heard of since Justin Bieber.

In some fucked up way, it felt like Xander betrayed her. Cordelia had been like, her sworn fucking enemy since she got in this joint. And now suddenly the most popular girl in school decides she wants to use Xander for a little bump n' grind on the down low and he's all over it like a fat kid presented with an all-you-can-eat pass to Arby's? Fuck that. Bet Cordelia's shit hangs like roast beef too.

Whatever, she had more important things to deal with; like how the fuck she's gonna manage going to Homecoming with Buffy. Shit just screamed that something would go wrong.

After classes ended, everyone gathered in the Library for some more training and research. Well, all except Xander, who was MIA. Before Giles and Wesley started getting all Watchery at them, Willow slides in the seat next to Faith, giving her a soft smile, "Hey." Faith looks over at her, snapping her bubble gum and not looking very pleased. Not with her, but with this whole fucking day.

"Hey," she responds, unenthused.

"I heard what happened at lunch," she mentions, looking at Faith closely to gauge her reaction. Faith snaps her bubble gum in response and shrugs.

"What about it?"

"I just… I wanted to tell you that I... I think it's good, you know, t-that you're going to go to Homecoming with Buffy. You should really give dating her a chance," Willow tells her, smiling like it's something to throw a goddamn parade over.

And hey, wasn't Willow the one actively telling her to stay away from Buffy? Well okay, maybe not in so many words, but she did warn her not to hurt her. And now she wants them together? In what fucking bigger way could Faith hurt her than that? She'd make a shit girlfriend, so she'd be bound to fuck Buffy over at one point or another.

"Ain't a date," Faith says flatly. "We're just… goin' together. Not a big thing."

Willow looks at her skeptically, but Faith's eyes are on Buffy, who's trying to teach Kennedy how to anticipate her opponent's moves. She looks entirely too focused; like she's trying to block out the rest of the day's events by overcompensating with training. Faith figures that's probably a good idea. God knows she needs to beat the crap out of something soon or her head might explode.

"Faith, it's—" Willow starts, but is interrupted.

"So how's shit goin' with that girl Tara?" Faith asks, training her eyes on Willow now and giving her her full attention. "You guys learn how to summon the Devil yet?" She smirked, knowing full-well that wasn't what Willow was trying to do.

Willow narrows her eyes at her, knowing she was changing the subject because she wasn't comfortable with the topic. But she relents and responds with a sigh, "W-We're not bad witches, Faith. So no."

"Well then what have you guys been doin'?" Faith asks. "Ain't you been hanging out with her like, everyday?"

"Not every day," Willow mumbles, a bit of a blush coloring her cheeks. "B-But it's been really cool!" she exclaims, smiling. "She's really good; a-and I mean like, really, really good. Much more advanced than I am. She's so powerful, it's amazing. She's been teaching me some basic stuff, but she says that I'm a really fast learner. I can't wait until I can be like…"

"Glinda?" Faith asks, smirking. "Lookin' forward to seein' ya in that pink frilly dress, Red; wavin' your magic wand. Classic."

Willow looks surprised. "You know who Glinda is?"

"What kid hasn't seen 'The Wizard of Oz'? Come on," Faith replies, raising an eyebrow. What kind of person did she take her for? Jeez. Even she can respect the classics.

"Sorry, it just didn't seem like something you would be interested in," Willow responds, still looking a little shocked that Faith used and understood a classic pop culture reference. "You like… serial killer movies," she pauses, then adds, "a-and porn." She blushes at her use of her last word, but then remembers last minute, "Oh! And comic book movies!"

"Glad you think I'm so deep, Red," Faith says sarcastically.

"W-Well it's all you ever talk about!" Willow protests, then revises with, "Movie-wise, anyway. Your television preferences seem to be a little broader than that, which is good! It's, you know…. broad. And good with its broadness, so I-I'm not implying you're simple or anything, because that would be bad." Willow scrunches up her face a little and stops herself, thankfully. "You know what I mean," she finishes quieter, her cheeks turning a slight pink because of her ramble.

Faith shrugs lightly. She had to give Willow that at least; she did only ever talk about horror flicks, comic book movies, or porn. But it ain't like she's gonna start prancing around singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" just because she's into it. She may be gay, but she ain't flamin'.

"S'Cool, Red," Faith tells her, not wanting Willow to think she offended her. She looks over towards Giles' office once she hears arguing inside, however. Buffy and Kennedy stop their training too to turn towards the door, watching Giles and Wesley walk out of it, deep in mid-argument.

"They're not ready!" Wesley protests.

"I've already taken Faith out a few times myself," Giles tells him calmly, though his patience looks like it's wearing thin by the amount of lines his forehead was now sporting. "Kennedy's progressing at a better than average rate and I believe she is ready for some field work as well."

"This is completely unacceptable," Wesley retorts, shaking his head. "The Council clearly states Potentials must be trained for six months before—"

"We may bloody well not have six months!" Giles shouts, which makes Wesley fall silent for a moment before he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Be that as it may—"

"We're going to slay vampires tonight?" Kennedy interrupts, a huge grin spreading across her face. She looked like a kid who just got told they could have all the candy in the store.

"With supervision," Giles tells her pointedly, taking off his glasses to clean them in a fit of annoyance due to Wesley's spluttering protests.

"Mr. Giles, the Watcher's Handbook—"

"Oh, sod the handbook," Giles responds in a tired tone, to which Wesley's eyes go wide and nearly every adolescent in the room cracked up over. Giles swearing was like seeing Halley's Comet; a once in a lifetime event. Twice if you live a freakishly long time. "The handbook doesn't account for uncontrollable circumstances, which the Master falls under. We need to prepare the girls and throw them into a life or death scenario so they understand the severity of the situation."

Buffy raises her hand. "I understand the severity," she points out with a 'duh' look on her face. "Big bad; my job to slay. Check; got it."

"I know you do, Buffy," Giles responds. "But both Faith and Kennedy aren't out there fighting for their lives every night, and I fear they will be ill equipped to bear the burden of being a Slayer if the worst should happen."

"If I die, you mean," Buffy states, glaring at him and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I'm sure you won't die, Buffy," Giles tells her sincerely. "You are by far one of the most resourceful and cunning Slayers the Council has seen in ages. But it is also my job to prepare for the 'what ifs' in life, which unfortunately include…"

"My hypothetical death?" Buffy finishes for him with a raised eyebrow when Giles didn't seem inclined to finish his sentence. The older man sighed.

"Precisely."

"Um, if I may..." Wesley started, but was interrupted by Xander walking through the library doors. Giles narrows his eyes.

"Two thirty was not just a suggestion, Mr. Harris," Giles tells him dryly. It was now three o'clock.

Xander looked sheepish. "Sorry I… got lost." Everyone looked at him oddly – all except for Faith who just glared at him – but Wesley interrupted before anyone could ask.

"Excuse me, but I must say that not following the Council's procedures will put both of our potentials at unnecessary risk and—"

"Oh shut up, Wesley," Kennedy groaned, which made Wesley look at her both surprised and disapproving. "We wanna slay!" She grinned wide.

"Yeah, Wes. Chill with the by-the-book shit, we're kicking some ass tonight," Faith tells him. "Story; end of. So either get on the fun-train or get the hell off the tracks before we run your ass over."

"Faith," Giles chides, disapproving at the way she spoke to him. Faith just gives him an innocent look and shrugs. Fuck it, she ain't about to get lectured for telling it the way it is.

Wesley looked flustered. "Well I'm… I'm telling the Council!" he announces dramatically before he storms off into Giles' office, probably to do just that. Giles sighs, rubbing his temples.

Training that day wasn't very long, since Giles told them he needed them to save their strength for tonight. Faith was excited; she loved to slay. Plus, bonus points this time that she doesn't have to do it with just Buffy, because last time was way too fucking awkward.

Giles picked them up in his old dude station wagon, in which Faith wasted no time calling 'shotgun for all eternity', which caused an argument between everyone. But Faith did eventually win, smirking as she sat in front while Buffy, Wesley, and Kennedy were all crammed in the back. Wesley was sulking and complaining the whole time, repeating that he didn't think doing this was such a good idea, but it didn't do much else besides further aggravate Giles.

The first hour of slaying was pretty boring. Even though Faith had slayed before, she had to sit back and watch with Kennedy as Giles gave them a running commentary while Buffy kicked all the ass. Basically it was all "watch her form" and "watch how the vampire reacts"… blah blah. Whatever. Fight, stake; end of story.

Wesley was unusually quiet, though that was probably because he was looking around, increasingly paranoid as he gripped the stake in his hand like it was his only hope to continue breathing. He was white as a sheet. Giles finally takes notice of this and turns to him after Buffy had slayed her fourth vampire of the night, "Are you alright?"

"What? Me?" Wesley asks, his voice a much higher pitch than normal. Faith and Kennedy exchange amused looks. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. Man out on the hunt, ready for action, you know… always prepared!"

Giles looks like he's trying to hide his amusement, but it's Buffy who chimes in: "Maybe I should give the next vampire to you, Wesley, since you're all excited and ready for action." She tries to look innocent when Giles give her a disapproving look, knowing that she's picking on him.

"No!" Wesley squeaks, then coughs to try to play his exclamation down. "I mean, no; it is the Slayer's job to rid of the undead. You shouldn't expect that someone will take over for you if you've suddenly grown weary of the task."

"Who said anything about being weary?" Buffy asks as she hops up on a gravestone, idly kicking her feet in the air. "I'm pep – the queen of pep! Not tired in the slightest. In fact, the more vampires the better, I say. I was just trying to give you something to do, since you're…" she smirks, amused, "a man out on the hunt."

Wesley looked as much like a hunter as a toddler did.

"Don't jinx it, B. Jeez," Faith tells her, twirling her stake between her fingers. "You start sayin' shit like that and we're gonna get rushed by an undead football league or somethin'." Buffy rolls her eyes but Faith turns to Giles then, "Is it our turn yet? This is boring."

"Faith, while I admire your… pluck, I do think—"

But Giles didn't get to finish his sentence. Suddenly, four vampires appeared, stopping short when they saw a group of humans idly siting around the graveyard. They grinned, teeth bared.

"Wow, Faith called that one," Kennedy says as she gets up, looking a little nervous as she grips her own stake in her hand tightly. Faith only grins though; about time they had some fucking action!

"Damn, shoulda bet on it," Faith replies as she walks up to stand behind Buffy, who slid off the gravestone looking more than a little annoyed that Faith was right that she jinxed it.

"Dinner's arrived, boys," one vampire says to his friends before they start coming at them, apparently no other words needed.

"Oh, because that's original," Buffy mutters before she leaps into action, throwing punches with what could only be assumed as the leader of the little vampire pack. Faith jumps in without a second thought, gunning for the vampire closest to her. She connects with an uppercut to the jaw, but was quickly pushed to the ground mere moments afterwards. Growling as the vampire got closer to her, thinking it won, she uses her legs to kick him in the stomach to send him sprawling as she got off her feet.

They hear a girly shriek in the middle of all this and then a frantic, "Back! Back creatures of the night!" and Faith looks over to see Wesley looking terrified as one vampire advances on him. Wesley is holding the stake up and it's obvious he doesn't have much of a clue what to do with it, as the other holds out a cross at the vampire. His hands are shaking. Thankfully for him, Giles comes to his rescue.

Faith notices her vampire getting off the ground so she lunges at him again, kicking him in the gut to make him go down again. But he grabs her wrist and pulls her with him and they start rolling around on the ground, trying to gain the upper hand. When it seemed like either had it, suddenly the tables would turn.

Kennedy is trying to hold her own with another vampire, but is failing pretty miserably. While she got in some good punches, she was now pinned against a gravestone, the vampire's fangs descending on her neck. She shrieks and Buffy looks over and without a second thought and throws her stake directly at the vampire on Kennedy. It disappears in a pile of dust. Buffy's lack of concentration on her own fight costs her though and she's punched squarely in the jaw, which makes her eyes flash as she begins to beat the living pulp out of her vampire. She didn't have a stake anymore, so it was all she really could do.

"Fuck, you asshole!" Faith screams as her vampire hits her in the face, making her tooth slice the inside of her cheek. He has her pinned now, having gained the upper hand eventually. He grins at her sadistically in that way that says "I'm going to kill you" and Faith feels her heart rate increase tenfold. Angry and scared, Faith spits blood at him and it gets right in his eye, which blind and disorients him enough for her to ram her stake right into his chest. He shouted as he turned into nothing before her eyes, his last sound dying in the wind. "B!" Faith calls, throwing her stake to Buffy so she could finish hers. Buffy catches it easily and stakes him, coughing a little as she gets off the ground.

A few seconds after that, Giles finishes with his vampire, driving the stake home while a pathetic Wesley does nothing else but just whimper for a second. But then he clears his throat, dusting off his tweed and says, "I... had it all along, but thank you for the assistance, Mr. Giles."

Whatever. Guy's a piece of work.

After another hour or so out in the cemetery, Giles has them all pile in his car to drive them home. Wesley still looks shaken up by his near death encounter, and Kennedy looks pissed that she didn't get to stake any vampires tonight. Faith, however, is grinning ear to ear, proud of herself. She did fucking good tonight. God, she loves the feeling of killing vamps – it's such a rush.

"I would have had him, you know," Kennedy blurts out finally to Buffy, folding her arms into herself and looking at her across from Wesley.

"You—" Buffy starts, but was interrupted by Faith.

"Ken, two more seconds and we woulda had to hold a funeral for your ass."

"Whatever, like you did any better," Kennedy shoots at her. Faith looks at her like she went insane for even suggesting she did as bad as her.

"Hey, I staked a vamp!"

"Yeah well I staked seven, do I get a prize?" Buffy mumbles, thinking the interaction between Kennedy and Faith is ridiculous.

"Girls, please…" Giles tries, attempting to focus on the road.

"Well I dunno, B, what do ya want?" Faith asks, turning around to smirk at Buffy behind her. Buffy flushes red almost instantly and Faith can't help but laugh, which earns her a shove from Buffy, who hit Faith's seat so hard she practically catapulted into the dashboard from the force. "Ow, shit!"

The sudden impact of Faith to his dashboard made Giles jerk, making the vehicle swerve. "Girls!" he shouts as he gets the car back under his control. "This is not a clown car! And Faith, put on your seatbelt before you get yourself killed, now." Faith grumbles and gets back in her seat as Buffy and Kennedy quietly snigger at her getting lectured. She flips them off before she puts on her seatbelt.

But just as they pass the school, on the way to Faith's motel, they hear the unmistakable sound of a scream. Giles slams on the breaks (which made Faith thankful she did buckle up this time) and he doesn't even have to tell Buffy to go check it out before she says, "I'm on it," and jumps out of the car. Everyone else scrambles out after her (all except Wesley, who mumbles something about how someone should guard the car) and they run over to where the sound was heard.

"No, please! My father has money – lots of money, he can pay you! I swear, just please don't kill me!" came the sounds of a hysterical Cordelia as they round the corner to the gym. Faith's eyes go wide as she sees one of the football players – Donny or Drake, something or other – lying on the ground, dead. Sucks, but Faith never really knew him so it isn't like a huge blow or anything. Besides, she has other things to focus on; a vampire has Cordelia pinned up against the brick wall, fangs descending. At least, that was until Buffy unloaded a can of whoop ass on him.

"Run!" Buffy tells her as she grabs the vampire by his shirt, pulling him off of Cordelia. The brunette doesn't need to be told twice and she makes a run for it, heading towards Giles.

Faith just stands there, having that fucked up moral moment where she can't even decide if saving Cordelia from a vamp is even worth it, but then again that's probably why she's not the decision maker of the group. Buffy has clearly already decided Cordelia's life is worth saving (why, Faith has no idea) and after a couple punches are thrown, she stakes him cleanly.

Cordelia, however, is still hysterical, even though the threat has been eradicated. Faith resists the urge to roll her eyes as she cries, holding onto Giles like he's the next fucking messiah.

"Are you alright?" he asks her, looking a little overwhelmed by how much Cordelia is all over him.

"You saved me! Oh, it was awful. He was… he was deformed, like some kind of slasher movie psycho and he… he…" she starts bawling all over Giles.

"You're welcome," Buffy says flatly, annoyed that Giles is getting all the credit when he didn't even lift a finger.

"What the fuck were you even doing out here? How stupid are you, anyway?" Faith asks harshly, folding her arms across her chest. Bitch has lived in Sunnydale all her life, was there when the whole Harvest shit went down, and she's still chilling out in dark corners? Rub two brain cells together, idiot.

"Faith," Giles says disapprovingly.

"Nah, fuck that shit," Faith responds, growing more agitated as she realized why exactly Cordelia was out here. Took a minute with all the commotion, but her and a popular jock? Not that difficult to put together. "What, were you out here blowin' him? What about Xander?" Fuck, it ain't like she's into the whole… them thing, but hell if she's gonna let her treat him like dirt.

"What?" Buffy asks, looking at Faith with wide eyes; surprised.

"Excuse you?" Cordelia shoots at her defensively, looking halfway between angry and scared that Faith just put that out in the open. "Have you gotten too many blows to the head from all those butch dyke bar fights you participate in? What does Xander have to do with anything?" She scoffs, but it isn't convincing.

And jeez, talk about bipolar. One minute she's hysterically crying and the next she seems perfectly fine, albeit a little pissed and freaked.

"Don't play dumb, Princess. You're shit at it," Faith snaps at her, feeling her temper rise. "It's one thing when you fuck around with my friend; it's another when you fuck around behind his back. Ain't no bitch gonna treat him that way."

"Oh my god, are you sleeping with Xander?" Buffy asks, looking at Cordelia like the whole world turned upside down and fucked her in the ass. Yeah, that's how Faith feels.

"God, what is your childhood trauma?" Cordelia shrieks. "Dirk is dead—" Right, that was his name. Whatever, she was close. "—and all you can talk about is Xander? He has nothing to do with anything, you side-show, psychotherapy needing freak!"

"Bitch, I'll fuckin'—"

"Enough!" Giles yells, silencing them both. "This isn't the time for your quarrels. Cordelia, we'll drive you home. I'll call the authorities and give them an anonymous tip about Dirk—"

"Are you going to tell them vampires ate him?" Kennedy asks, curious.

"Of course not. This town, as susceptible as it's been to frequent vampire attacks, still chooses to live in the dark about what really happens here. It—"

"I am not riding home with any of you!" Cordelia bursts out suddenly, which makes everyone look at her as she backs away from them a couple steps. "You're all… you're all on drugs! Vampires? He was just… deformed, like maybe a birth defect or… I don't know! He—"

Giles looks at all of them pointedly, proving his case.

"How fuckin' thick can you get?" Faith snaps at her, getting impatient. "You were there when that shit when down at the Bronze. Fuck, you've almost been eaten twice now. How can you seriously sit there and be up to your scrawny little neck in denial? Seriously; get some perspective, you dumb bimbo."

"Acid!" Cordelia bursts out, pointing at Faith accusingly. "You're all on acid, aren't you? Hallucinating and… And I don't want any part of your… your weirdo delusions! My father—"

"Oh, do shut up," Giles requests tiredly, sick of hearing Cordelia's hysterical high pitched voice that was grinding on everyone's nerves. Cordelia stops, looking at him, offended. "I'm sorry," Giles apologizes, looking a little guilty. "But your hysterics are a little difficult to swallow."

"Vampires are real, Cordelia," Buffy tells her pointedly. "So do yourself a favor and don't go out after dark. I don't particularly like saving someone who's ungrateful; especially twice." And with that Buffy stomps off towards the car. Faith follows, but not before flipping Cordelia off.

God, she hates that girl with every fiber of her being. Not only has she made Faith's life miserable since she got to Sunnydale, but now she managed to sink her claws sunk into Xander and make him her personal whipping boy, while she freely cheats on him. That is fucked up. More than fucked up.

Faith doesn't know how she's gonna break the news to Xander.

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