Chapter Thirty-Seven - The Aftermath

"Dude, Snyder is going to kill you," Faith tells Giles, looking at the large hole in the middle of the Sunnydale High library. It looks like it goes all the way down to the basement.

"Nonsense, I was never here," Giles tells her with a small smile of amusement. "It's amazing how destructive children can be these days, especially when riled up from a school dance."

"Long as the shit don't fall on me, I'm cool," Faith replies, leaning against the counter. She's taken the heat for a lot of stuff that she may or may not have done over the past years, but a crater in the library? She'll be expelled in a second.

"I hate this town, I hate this school," comes the hysterical voice of Cordelia Chase, who Faith didn't even notice was in the room until that moment. She's holding onto Xander like he's her damn life raft in the river of crazy.

"What the fuck is she doing here?"

"S-She helped fight," Willow stammers, standing up for her for God only knows what wacked out reason. "So please be nice."

Cordelia helped fight? That bitch only cares about one person: herself. Faith knows that if she is getting some credit for this shit, the only reason is cause she found herself in the middle of all of this accidently. No way would she ever volunteer to help any of them willingly.

But whatever, Cordelia is the least of her issues right now. "G, we got a problem…" she starts, about to tell him about the Zan'Hurrak, but she's interrupted by Buffy.

"Faith is a Slayer!" she bursts out suddenly, like she couldn't contain it any longer.

"Okay, that wasn't what I was talkin' about and hey, so not a problem either," Faith retorts, annoyed that she got just interrupted. "But… yeah," she went on, feeling a little awkward from everyone's disbelieving looks, "that happened too."

Willow squees loudly at this information, looking really excited for Faith. When everyone stares at her though she blushes and apologizes, "S-Sorry…" Faith can't help but grin though; Willow knew how much she wanted to be a Slayer. It was pretty bad ass.

"That's not possible," Giles says, staring at Faith as if he's not sure whether to believe her or not. He takes off his glasses, as if somehow things would become clearer with his fuzzy, old people vision. "A Slayer cannot be called unless the last dies." He looks over at Buffy now, now probably wondering if she's a zombie. Which after what he read in that book, was probably a valid deduction. Buffy was destined to die, Faith supposed. But fuck it, cause she didn't stay dead.

"Yeah well, B managed to drown herself in a puddle and was technically dead for like, a minute," Faith answers, shrugging and wishing she didn't feel so damn self-conscious with everyone just staring at her like that. "So I guess that was enough for me to get juiced."

"This is so not fair," Kennedy complains, looking at the two of them in disbelief and anger. Faith knows she wanted to be the Slayer, but she doesn't have to be a little brat over it. The card was drawn and Kennedy's name wasn't on it. Story; end of.

"Kennedy, please," Wesley says, holding his hand up to silence his potential. "We do not know if it's true. Faith could be lying."

"Ya wanna fuckin' hit me and find out, Wes?" Faith exclaims, taking a menacing step forward. She's not a fucking liar and she hates being called one. Fuck that shit. Wesley backs up like the good little dog that he is as Giles puts a hand on Faith's shoulder, silently telling her to stop.

"How do you think she managed to help me kill the Master up there, Giles?" Buffy says, coming to Faith's defense whilst ignoring Wesley. "If she didn't have the strength and the skill he would have killed her in ten seconds flat."

"She is a Slayer," Angel interrupts, coming out of the shadows. His whole Prince of Darkness act is getting old, but Faith doesn't say anything since he's backing her play right now. "I can smell it," he explains off of everyone's quizzical looks.

"Okay, that's just weird," Xander says, looking at Angel with mistrust. Faith can't blame him; it's like he just implied she was some kind of tasty snack. But he's neutered so it ain't like she's gonna worry about Angel trying to take a chunk out of her; he apparently has a fondness for pigs at the moment.

"This is fascinating," Giles says, looking at the two of them like he wants to poke and prod at them and do a bunch of crazy ass tests. Great, Faith knows now what the next six months of her life is going to look like.

"Yeah, sure, it's fuckin' amazing," Faith dismisses. "But can we get back to the real shitfest here? The Zan'Hurrak came and had a cryptic little chat with me and B."

"Emphasis on the cryptic," Buffy adds.

"The Zan'Hurrak?" Giles asks, eyes widening. "Dear lord, are you sure?"

"Says they're the composers of prophecy, keepers of… whatever, probably Narnia, but yeah; know it was them. They spewed some kind of bullshit riddle and warned us about an apocalypse and then got the hell outta dodge."

"Another apocalypse?" Kennedy asks, groaning as she slumps against the wall. "This is ridiculous."

"In four months," Buffy tells them softly, not looking entirely enthused by the prospect. Then again, any of them that were would probably have to be taken straight to the nuthouse.

"How'd you get four months?" Faith asks, having missed that.

"Four phases of the moon?" Buffy reminds her, in this tone like she should have understood that. "That's roughly four months."

"No need to talk to me like I'm a retard B; was kinda caught up with the part talkin' about death and someone turnin' against us," Faith retorts.

Giles looks like he's trying to say something, but then everyone starts talking at once.

"Wait, who the hell is gonna turn against us?" Kennedy asks, now looking at everyone suspiciously.

"Probably Vampy McSucky over there," Xander replies, looking at Angel like he's the reason the next apocalypse is going to rain down on their heads.

"You still don't trust me," Angel states, which was obvious but hey, maybe he just needed to voice it out loud. "That's fine, you all have reasons enough not to. But I'm here and I'm helping, so I'd like to say that before we start worrying about this apocalypse, we should probably be worrying about Darla."

"The vamp with the school girl fetish?" Faith asks, remembering her from the Harvest.

Angel nods. "The Master was her sire; lately she hasn't left his side. The fact that she did when he rose worries me. She's always out for her own means, but I don't know what would keep her attention more than the ascension of her sire."

"Oh great, so we got the kinky bitch vamp to take care of too," Faith replies. "Great." So not great, actually. Pretty much on this side of suck.

"Is she strong enough to start an apocalypse?" Buffy asks.

"Strong enough, yes. But she wouldn't; at least not intentionally. Darla likes to 'enjoy the earth in all its agonizing glory'," Angel says. When everyone looks at him funny he explains, "her words, not mine. Anyway, if the world ended… she wouldn't be very happy."

Giles tries to speak again, but he's interrupted for the second time.

"Why, no more people to torture?" Xander asks, trying to imply something or other about Angel that Faith was barely paying attention too. She's not Angel's biggest fan either, but she's pretty sure Xander's just pissed about not being the only dude on the ranch anymore.

Because let's face it: Wesley and Giles don't count. Regardless, Angel and Xander should just lay them out on the table and measure; get it over with.

Angel turns to Xander and simply says, "Exactly. Also, eradication of the humans would mean vampires wouldn't have a food source."

"But isn't it possible that there could be an apocalypse where we all don't die?" Buffy counters. "I mean, if the Master got his way I'm sure he wouldn't have killed us all because like you said, then he wouldn't have a food source."

"Or we could consider the possibility that Buffy and Faith are full of crap and there is no apocalypse," Kennedy replies, still sounding bitter about not being chosen.

"Ya wanna fuckin' run that by me again, Ken?" Faith snaps.

"You know what? The last thing I ever want to hear is you speaking," Buffy tells Kennedy. "So I suggest you shut up."

"Oh please," Kennedy scoffs, rolling her eyes. "You can be all buddy-buddy with Faith again, but you're still pissed at me? Pussy whipped if I ever heard it. Newsflash, Barbie: Faith can fuck whoever she wants."

"You think Faith's getting a free pass? HA," Buffy replies, laughing bitterly. "She's in more shit than you are. Excuse me for prioritizing the apocalypse over my relationship issues with Faith; I see how confusing that must be for you. Just because I can put stuff aside to do my job, doesn't mean they don't still exist. So the next time you have an opinion, how about you try keeping your mouth closed?"

Again Giles tries to speak, but this time he's drowned out by the shouting match.

"You're not in a relationship with her!" Kennedy exclaims. "You're fucking delusional, Buffy; just because you have a crush on her doesn't mean she's going to change who she is."

"Oh, because you know so much about her, right? Go to hell, Kennedy!"

"Okay, seriously, Ken? Stop trying to fuckin' help; you're shit at it," Faith interjects, needing that to be said before Kennedy continues to 'stick up' for her rights.

"Wasn't trying to help you; just stating the facts, here. I'm not particularly fond of helping ass kissers anyway."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"Is my face breaking out from all the dyke in here?" Cordelia asks Xander, who gives her a disapproving look as she waves her hand over her face. "Because I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to this kind of drama."

Faith chooses to ignore Kennedy and Cordelia, instead focusing on Buffy, "And hey, I'm the one that saved your life! I know I fucked up, okay? But that's gotta count for something, right?" Cause hell, it should, shouldn't it? She knows she screwed up big time, here; she's not stupid, but she also doesn't have the first clue how to fix it. And she wants to, but this kind of stuff is so far out of her comfort zone that she doesn't even know where to start.

"You know what? This is ridiculous, I'm out of here," Kennedy says before storming off. Only Tara and Wesley seemed to really notice.

"Just because you saved my life doesn't mean you didn't break my heart!" Buffy shouts, looking like she wants to deck Faith in the face and then cry for hours afterwards. "You have no clue how it felt for me to see her with you, Faith! So just do yourself a favor and shut up; I don't want to talk about this right now!"

God, this isn't going well at all.

Everyone else in the room is looking increasingly uncomfortable, which probably means they need to quit doing this shit here. But fuck, Kennedy started the whole thing. Or maybe it was Buffy; Faith can't remember. All she knows is it wasn't her.

"Stop, all of you!" Giles says, holding out his hands to stop the screaming finally. "Faith, Buffy, I'm sorry you two are quarreling—"

"Again," Xander mutters, prompting Faith to shoot him a dirty look.

"—but we need to focus on the important issues at hand here; this apocalypse and whatever else the Zan'Hurrak may have mentioned. Do either of you remember all of it?"

Buffy shoots one last glare in Faith's direction before she turns to Giles. "Like Faith said, they mentioned an ally turning against us and a death. Then something about a light that needs to shine through? I'm not sure. But the apocalypse will happen in about four months."

"They didn't say it was gonna happen specifically," Faith replies, trying not to show how much she feels like shit right now. "The new Big Bad could just be starting his plans then." She tries not to look at Buffy cause every time she does she feels like punching something to stop herself from crying. She fucking hates this. Why'd Buffy have to go and die? Faith was happy not realizing that she needed her before then, thanks; it was simpler.

"Well whatever, something bad is happening then; period," Buffy responds, a slight snap in her voice. Giles sighs.

"Do either of you remember the specific wording?"

"Dude, kinda had other things on our minds," Faith replies, holding out her hands so he can survey the scene in front of him. "Which by the way, kinda fucked up that the Hellmouth was like, right under us."

"Yes, well… I wasn't quite expecting that either," Giles admits. His eyes flicker over to Buffy. "Among other things," he adds quietly. "But some of what has transpired tonight has turned out to be wonderful twists of fate. I wonder, Buffy, how you managed to get around the prophecy."

"You mean the Anointed One and how I wasn't supposed to be able to stop him?" Buffy asks. "Well it said I wouldn't know who he was and hi; I'm sorry, but a creepy little kid randomly outside in the dead of night, alone, and in need of 'help'? I've seen enough horror movies to know that never spells anything good. Which is probably why I was able to slice and dice him like a Christmas ham."

"Don't ruin ham, Buffy," Xander requests, looking a little ill.

"You killed him?" Giles asks, ignoring Xander's comment.

"You didn't expect me to keep him around, did you? He worked for Big, Bad, and Ugly over there," she nodded to the Master's remains. "He wasn't a child anymore; that much was obvious. I don't know what he was honestly, but he gave me the wiggins."

"So that is how you were able to survive," Giles comments, looking fascinated. "I never knew the Codex to have loopholes, but I suppose you learn something new every day." He sounds like he's talking to himself more than anyone, but it's still very much out loud.

"The Codex?" Buffy asks, confused.

"The dusty old book that said you were gonna die," Faith answers without thinking. Buffy's eyes snap to look at her.

"What?"

Shit.

Giles sighs, looking over at Faith disapprovingly even though he's the one that brought up the stupid book in the first place. "The Codex," he explains carefully, gauging her reaction, "is a book of prophecy. It… had stated that the Master would kill you."

"And you knew about this?" Buffy exclaims, rounding on Faith.

"Well it ain't like you stayed dead or anything!" Faith defends. "I mean, you're still standin' here, right? So what's the big deal?"

"The big…?" Buffy starts, sounding exasperated and a little bewildered. "The big deal is that for God only knows how long, you thought I was going to die! And you still treated me like shit?"

"Hey, I said I was fuckin' sorry about the Kennedy thing alright? I was stupid; not headline news or anything. And last time I checked, I was treating you pretty goddamn good these last couple weeks, in comparison."

"Oh, so you were only being nice out of pity? That's great, Faith. Really."

"Okay, make up your fuckin' mind! First you say I treated you like shit and now you're pissed cause I treated you nice?" Faith exclaims, not understanding her train of thought in the slightest.

"You did both! And you know what, none of that even matters because you should have just told me!"

"Well I'm sorry for trying not to freak you out; next time I'll be sure to lay that mental breakdown on you, Princess," Faith snaps.

"Girls, please," Giles tries, sounding tired. Hell, they were all tired, which is probably why all their tempers were running high.

"You know," Buffy starts, looking really upset as she stares at Faith. "Out of everyone, I thought you would at least be honest with me," she tells her before shaking her head and storming off.

"B!" Faith tries, but Buffy doesn't look back as she exits the library in a wave of fury and sadness. "Fuck," Faith swears, closing her eyes as she rubs her temples, trying to dull her oncoming headache. She rounds on Giles, "Thanks a lot, G. I was already halfway up shit creek without a paddle; didn't need to be fuckin' capsized."

"I'm sorry," Giles apologizes, looking a little guilty. "I didn't mean to bring it up. I was merely stunned by the revelation that The Codex has loopholes, when the Watcher's Council had always found it so concrete."

"If I may…" Wesley tries to interrupt.

"No," Faith says, not in the mood.

Wesley ignores her, of course. "If Faith and Buffy are now both Slayers, as they say, we should probably begin tests right away. As this has never happened before—"

"If?" Faith repeats, so not in the right frame of mind to deal with this right now. Which is probably mostly to blame for her next decision: picking up one of Giles' letter openers and throwing it at the target board that was barely hanging by a string not two feet from where Wesley's standing. He jumps a mile when the thing goes whizzing past him. "There's your fuckin' if, Wes."

Giles looks at the board. "Not a perfect bull's eye, but I daresay a staggering improvement from yesterday." He raises his eyebrows, "Impressive."

Faith looks at the target. Oh come on, she was this close. That should count as perfect anyway, fuck it. "I'm pissed, otherwise I woulda hit it," she grumbles. She's actually not sure that's true, but whatever. She's better, yeah, but she's still pretty sure most of that was luck. Even Buffy had to practice with this stuff.

"Okay, if we've gotten to the 'Angry Slayer Throwing Knives' part of the evening, I think it's time for the sane people to leave," Cordelia says, looking at Faith like she doesn't want to be her next target. Yet it's funny, because the way she talks kinda makes it seem like she does. Maybe she just doesn't know how to talk to people without being a ginormous cunt. "Xander?" she says, turning and looking at him expectantly.

"What are you, a taxi service now?" Faith asks, looking at him.

"I offered her a ride home…" Xander replies softly, looking a little sheepish for being called out like that.

"You know, Faith; maybe if you spent a little less time being a slut and a little more time being a gentleman like Xander, then maybe the only girl who has ever given a shit about you wouldn't always look like she wanted to kick your ass," Cordelia replied with a snotty attitude.

A gentleman like Xander? Did she really just say that? Even Xander looks perplexed by that; it was probably the nicest thing she's ever actually said about him. Faith doesn't even care about the insults, she's used to that shit, but she wants to know what the fuck is going on. Earlier Cordelia looked like she didn't even want to be seen talking to him and now she's… holding his hand?

"Come on," she practically orders Xander as she starts to pull him out of the library. He gives Faith a helpless look before he's pulled around the corner, out of sight.

"My brain can't even wrap around this fuckery," Faith states, running her fingers through her hair in confusion. She turns to Willow. "Did he play hero or something? Cause that bitch is actin' like he's the patron saint of boyfriends right now and I don't get it."

Willow purses her lips, knowing Faith isn't going to like her answer. But she tells her, "S-She nearly got bit when we were trying to keep the vampires out and yeah, he… w-well, he staked it."

"Great," Faith says flatly. "If she starts tryin' to hang with us, I'm petitioning that we tell her to fuck off."

Willow doesn't look like she entirely agrees with that plan, but stays silent.

"Well," Giles starts, trying to lighten the mood with a more cheerful tone, though what he had to say was nothing exciting. "I would appreciate if you all would help me clear this place up before Principle Snyder sees it."

"How we gonna fix the hole?" Faith asks, staring down at the crater in the ground.

"We won't. I only meant disposing of the Master's remains and helping me move all of the weapons and my private book collection out. Temporarily, of course; while they are repairing the floor," Giles answers.

"Where the hell are we gonna train?"

"I have some space in my house," Giles tells her, beginning to gather up some of his books. "It isn't ideal, but it will have to do for now."

Faith makes a face at that. She's never been over Giles' house… be kinda weird to see how he lives like a normal person when Faith's always known him as… well, a stuffy librarian-slash-Watcher. Faith idly wonders if he's got a lady at home with him. God, that'd be even more awkward.

Least she won't have to train there alone.

The thought of Buffy makes her stomach sink to the floor though. They felt totally in sync when they were slaying that for a second Faith actually thought maybe everything wouldn't be complete shit. Turns out she was wrong but hey; what else is new? She's got no clue how to go about making it up to her. But for the first time in her life, she actually does want to make things right with a chick so if that doesn't say something about Buffy, then Faith doesn't know what does. She's just… shit, special or something. Faith doesn't know, but she does know she wants to… crap; she kinda wants to fucking be with her, as pussy as that sounds. That's so weird for her to admit, but whatever; couldn't hurt to try it, right? You only live once.

But if she ever actually gets to that place, it'd be a goddamn miracle because right now, Faith's pretty sure that the last thing Buffy wants to hear is that Faith changed her mind.

Chapter Thirty-Eight - Homosexuality and Slayers

Homosexuality and Slayers

"I think I wanna date Buffy."

Xander chokes on his cookie.

After a moment of coughing and attempting to breathe, he looks at her and asks, "I'm sorry, what?" He's looking at her like she just sprouted two extra heads.

Faith sighs, knowing how utterly stupid she sounds. She rubs her forehead as she replies, "I want her to be my fuckin' girlfriend, alright?" She knows she's snapping at him, but this is an uncomfortable topic of conversation. Her voice is hushed though; she doesn't need everyone else in the lunch room knowing her business. It's bad enough half the fucking school witnessed Buffy punching her during Homecoming.

Xander's eyes go almost as wide as saucers. "You're serious?" he asks, like he still can't believe he actually heard those words coming out of his friend's mouth.

"Wouldn't have said it if I wasn't."

"Wow," Xander replies, impressed. "That's… huge. That's bigger than huge, that's like… an elephant on steroids."

Faith groans, pitching her head forward to lie in her arms on the table. Xander cocks an eyebrow.

"I take it you don't think this is a good thing."

"She fuckin' hates me, Xand," Faith mumbles beneath her arms. She looks up at him and finishes, "She wouldn't even look at me earlier. And when I tried to say hi, she completely ignored me. I don't know what to do."

"Don't worry, the Love Doctor is in," Xander says, shooting her a cheesy grin. Off of Faith's skeptical look he revises, "Okay, I don't know anything; I'll admit that. Honestly I don't even know if Cordelia and I are dating right now, which is… confusing. But I do know that you should try apologizing first and see where it goes from there."

"I tried that."

"Yeah, but you said you were sorry without actually expressing your feelings for her. Tell Buffy that you realized she's the one you want. Tell her you like her, Faith. And if that fails, then try buying her lots of flowers and chocolates. Or you could serenade her? I don't know. But you have to do something, otherwise I'm pretty sure you'll never have her."

Faith curls up her lip in disdain. "I'm gonna look like a fuckin' idiot if I do… any of that." Does she look like the type of person to go all Romeo on her Juliet? No. If Xander starts suggesting tights she's gonna hang herself in the gym; save herself the humiliation.

"I think for once you're going to have to put your pride on hold," Xander tells her. "You hurt her, Faith. The least you can do is make yourself look like an 'idiot' while you try to win her back."

"Not 'winnin' her back', Xand. Woulda had to have her first to do that."

"You kind of did," Xander tells her seriously, looking at her like she should know this. "If you hadn't had sex with Kennedy and still decided today to ask her out, she would have said yes in a heartbeat. I think you know that."

Faith groans again and bangs her forehead on the table. Fuck, he's right. Why did she have to go and screw everything up? This could have been a whole lot easier if she wasn't such a grade A retard. Not that Faith's advocating for her new found lifestyle change since it still kinds fucks her sideways, but why the hell couldn't she have realized this shit months ago?

Faith looks up once she hears someone coming to sit at their table. Her eyebrows rise when she sees that it's Cordelia, looking incredibly uncomfortable with her decision to sit with them. "Hi," she says awkwardly, smoothing out her expensive dress with her hands.

"You lost?" Faith asks with an attitude, "Because I'm pretty sure the soulless bitch table is three down."

"Faith," Xander says disapprovingly.

"What? I don't like her, she don't like me, so I don't think it's too out there to wonder what the fuck she's doing at my table."

"I've decided to sit with Xander today. Is that a crime now?" Cordelia asks, like she's trying to challenge her or something. Bitch, please.

"Pretty sure in your crowd it is, actually," Faith retorts. Her eyes flicker over to the popular kids table and notices them stealing glances at Cordelia and whispering to each other. Then they laughed; not in the funny 'ha-ha' kind of way, but the 'we want to destroy your self-esteem' kind of way.

Oh, dude.

The realization hits Faith and it may be mean, but fuck it; she couldn't help but laugh. "What the hell is so funny?" Cordelia demanded, suddenly looking less sure of herself.

"They kicked you out, didn't they? That's fucking hilarious."

"Sympathy isn't one of her strong suits," Xander mutters to Cordelia, but she ignores him. She outright scoffs at Faith's accusation.

"Please, I'm Cordelia Chase. No one kicks me out of anything," she tells her, flicking her hair over her shoulder in a wave of self-importance. "But if you must know, I left to pursue other options."

"Bitch, this ain't a job; it's high school. They found out that you were mackin' on Xander and gave you the boot, huh? Typical. Real great friends ya got there, Cor. Can see how much you mean to them," Faith responds nastily, still laughing. Xander's looking at her like she's being the biggest bitch on the face of the planet but hey; Cordelia started that shit. This is just payback, baby.

"Actually, they were the one's begging me to plead temporary insanity and dump Xander's ass, but I was the one that told them to go to hell," Cordelia snaps. That makes both Faith and Xander look at her like she just said she wanted to fly to the moon on the back of a broomstick made of cheese.

"Wait, what?" Faith asks, not sure if she heard her correctly. If Cordelia just said what she thinks she just said, then that means she's not a total cunt bag after all and Faith's not exactly sure how to process that information.

Cordelia knows she heard her, so she doesn't repeat it. "Look, Faith. I don't like you and it's not like I'm exactly thrilled to be in the same vicinity as all this," she waves her hand in front of Faith, indicating she's talking about her – or maybe even just her wardrobe choice, "but Xander's my boyfriend and I know you're his best friend so…" she struggles with her last sentence, like it's physically difficult for her to say, "I will make a point to not be as… opinionated about you." She looks like she's trying to hold back the urge to vomit because of those words.

"I'm your boyfriend?" Xander asks, looking like he felt he missed something important.

"Well, obviously. Jeez," Cordelia replies, shaking her head and scoffing a little. Xander's face breaks out in a huge grin and Faith would like to be happy for him, really, but now all she can think is that this bitch is going to be hanging around them all the time.

That sucks.

"Yeah, well," Faith says, standing up. "I ain't makin' the same promise. You tried to make my life a living hell when I transferred here, the last thing I want is to do you any favors." Cordelia looks offended that Faith didn't just take her offer of a truce on bended knee, but Faith turns to Xander. "I'm gonna go find Giles; figure out when the hell we're all meetin' up at his for the training/research parade. I'll let you know."

Faith left without hearing Xander's response, though mostly because she knew he was annoyed with her for being mean to Cordelia when she's attempting to somewhat resemble an actual human being. But a year of getting shit on by her and her friends just cause she was gay, poor, and didn't dress like a goddamn supermodel has made her bitter; that's not going to change in a day. Frankly Faith thinks he should know that, should even be kind of on the same side of the fence with her but… hey, his first real girlfriend? Faith knows that's gonna cloud his vision. She can't blame him for it, but it ain't like she's gonna throw a party over it either.

She did eventually find Giles and after he told her to please tell everyone to meet at his house at four, she went and told the rest of the troops. Well, all except Buffy, who somehow had this knack of avoiding her. That was, at least, until their last class of the day; History.

Even before they were friends, they were seated next to each other. Assigned seating can either be a blessing or a curse and if you asked Faith six months ago, she would have said that she hated being next to Buffy. However, right now she was glad for it. It's juvenile and probably hella retarded, but while Mr. Blackwell is rambling on about World War II she starts scribbling Buffy a note:

"I know you're pissed and have every reason to not wanna talk to me right now, but G told me to tell you that we're meeting at his at four."

She doesn't want to go into it any more than that on a piece of paper so she folds it up and slips it onto Buffy's desk. The blonde looks at her funny, like she wasn't ever expecting Faith to be passing notes in class (because c'mon, that's girly as shit), but she picks it up anyway, unfolding it to read. After a moment she writes something back and hands it to Faith.

"Fine. But don't expect for me to speak to you unless it's Slayer related. Ever."

Faith sighs, running her fingers through her hair for a moment as she tries to think of something to say back. She was kind of expecting that, but it still sucked. Finally she puts her pen to paper and writes, "You'd be dead right now if it weren't for me, you know." But she decides that's a really stupid thing to say and crosses it out a couple times before she revises, "You wanna make me beg, don't you?" That probably wasn't any smarter, but it sounded less self-important.

Buffy glares at her as she hands the note back to her, but grabs it before the teacher can see. She sits there for a moment, ignoring it, but curiosity apparently got the best of her because she opens it up to read it. Even though she tries to hide it, Faith can see her smirk slightly as she writes her back.

"Maybe. It's probably the least you could do, after everything."

Well, here goes her pride. She'll miss it. Faith starts scribbling away on the note, so much that it even gets Buffy's attention that she's taking so long. When she finally gives it back to Buffy, nearly the whole page is filled with the word "please" and then "talk to me" tucked away once at the bottom. When Buffy receives it, her eyes go wide before she looks over at her, not believing she really just did that since it was so… un-Faith like. Faith feels like an idiot, but doesn't make less of what she said by turning it into a joke or pretending it doesn't matter. She just waits while she watches Buffy slip the note in her binder before pulling out a blank sheet of paper.

When Faith gets a response, it reads, "As appreciative – and surprised – that I am that you just did that, it doesn't change anything. I know you want to be friends, Faith, but I just can't right now. You broke my heart; that's going to take some time to get over. I'm sorry, but please stop."

Um, no. She's not going to do that. If Faith's one thing; it's stubborn. And you know what? When she wants something, she gets it. So maybe she's gonna have to work a little harder for this but in the end she's gonna figure out a way to fix everything.

Faith only wished she had the magic answer as to how though.

She takes a breath as she writes, "Don't wanna be friends, B. Wanna be more than that." Faith doesn't give it to her right away though, mainly cause she's being a pussy over it. Once she gives this to Buffy, that's it; ain't no taking it back. She pretends to concentrate on Mr. Blackwell's droning voice for a little while, until she finally works up the courage to slide it over to Buffy.

Buffy gives her a 'seriously?' look once she realizes Faith's still talking to her after she told her to stop. She rolls her eyes as she opens it, probably ready to tear Faith a new asshole in her reply, but she never gets that far. Once she reads what's on the paper she exclaims suddenly, "What?" very much surprised and very much out loud as she turns to look at her.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class, Ms. Summers?" Mr. Blackwell asks, looking at her disapprovingly for interrupting his class. Every student in the room turns to look at her and Buffy blushes.

"No," she mumbles as she crumples up the note, hoping he doesn't see it.

"Then I hope you'll refrain from interrupting my class again, otherwise you'll be finding yourself in detention," Mr. Blackwell warns. Buffy looks thoroughly embarrassed as she apologizes and Faith decides it's probably not safe to keep fucking around with notes during the middle of class, so she stops. It kills her though; leaving shit like that. Big reveal and now it feels like it's hanging over their heads, taunting them. But neither of them says anything; it's not the time.

Faith figures Buffy would wanna talk after class, but she nearly bolts out the door once the bell rings. Buffy's usually the queen of talking so that confuses Faith immensely but she tries to ignore how shitty she feels as she puts away her books in her locker. Part of her hoped that maybe just saying that would make a difference, but it didn't seem to at all. Sure she's a fuck up, but isn't that all Buffy's wanted for like… ever?

Faith doesn't see Buffy again until they're all gathered at Giles'. They don't get a chance to talk alone though because, well, they were joined not only by Giles, but by Kennedy, Wesley, and Xander too. Willow and Tara said they were going to be late and Faith is praying like hell that Cordelia doesn't randomly stop by, though she figures she won't since she doesn't seem to like their little world of craziness. And since it's the middle of the day, the chances of Angel showing up are pretty slim to none. So at least it isn't a large crowd, but it's enough to keep them from talking about what Faith's note said, which is annoying.

Giles house is actually bigger than Faith expected, with three bedrooms even though he lived alone. He had cleared one out and put all of their training stuff in there and it actually looked pretty bad ass. Faith missed the library, but ain't like they could do much about it; there's a huge crater in the floor.

"Principal Snyder has informed me it should only take a month before the library is back to new," Giles tells them as they sit around his living room-slash-practically a library. Man, this dude likes to read.

"He pissed?" Faith asks, kicking back in one of his large armchairs.

"That would be an understatement," Giles replies, looking a little amused despite himself. "Until then, I have more than enough room and resources to use this as our temporary base, for lack of a better term."

"That sounds so secret agenty," Xander replies. "Oh! We should have name – like the Avengers!"

Buffy raises an eyebrow, but says nothing. Faith however, in all her dorkiness finds this to be a great idea. "Aw, dude. Like, the X-Men of kickin' undead ass!"

"Yes, well; if you find it that important you may brainstorm names later," Giles replies, clearly not seeing the importance in the awesome that is a bad ass name. "But for now I think we should focus on the looming apocalypse."

"Focus on what? We don't know nothin' about it," Faith responds. "I figure when the world starts comin' to an end again we'll know, but for now can't we have a break? I mean c'mon, we just killed the Master. Think we deserve a little R&R."

"I agree," Buffy replies from over on the couch, looking at Giles. "I mean, I understand that something's brewing, but we don't have the first clue what; it makes it kind of hard to find a way to stop it. Besides, Faith needs more training to be ready for it."

"Excuse you? Pretty fuckin' sure I did a bang up job helpin' you out, Princess," Faith replies, offended.

"Yeah, but you're still sloppy and impulsive," Buffy points out, for the first time actually making eye contact with the dark Slayer. It obviously makes her feel a little weird so she drops her gaze automatically.

"I'll show ya sloppy, B," Faith tells her, her pride wounded. Fuck that, she may not be perfect but she is good. "C'mon," she says, standing up. "Let's spar; I'll lay smack down in a second, guaranteed."

Buffy outright snorts at that, but she doesn't get a chance to respond because Giles intervenes, "I do think it would be a good idea to watch the two of you spar now that you are both Chosen. There have never been two active Slayers at one time and there could be advantages that we have yet to know about."

"Like how I can feel her?" Faith asks, looking at Giles.

"Excuse me?"

"Buffy; I can feel her when she's near me. Like a humming or something against my skin. It gets a little stronger the closer she is. Kinda wicked, honestly," she replies, flopping back down in her chair since she knows Giles is gonna wanna investigate this before they train.

"Buffy, can you feel Faith as well?" Giles inquires, looking at the blonde Slayer. Buffy looks reluctant to answer as she folds her arms across her chest, apparently not wanting to give Faith the satisfaction of knowing it goes both ways. But after Giles prods with another, "Buffy?" she answers:

"Yes. But I'm better at tapping into it than Faith is."

"How the hell would you know?" Faith asks, annoyed by Buffy always thinking that she's better at shit than her.

"Because I was able to avoid you all day," Buffy replies flatly, still not looking at her. "If you were better at it than me, you would have found me. I know you were looking."

Well that's not fucking fair.

"Well how the hell are you tappin' into it?" Faith asks, actually more curious than annoyed at this point. If it can go deeper than what she feels right now, she wants to know how to do it.

Buffy blushes a little, still not looking at her. But she mumbles, "I'm more in touch with my emotions than you are. You're a door; I'm a window, basically."

"Well great, now that we've established Buffy and Faith have emotional feelings for one another," Kennedy mocks, "can we get back to discussing something important?"

"Fuck off, Ken; this is important," Faith snaps.

"Okay, everyone, I will say this once," Giles starts, holding out his hand to stop the forthcoming argument. He doesn't look happy. "I do not care who is sleeping with whom and if that makes any of you upset; when we are all together all of your personal problems need to be put on hold, otherwise when the next apocalypse comes around we will all surely fail. Is that understood?"

"G, you got a bunch of teenagers in one room; what the hell else did you think was gonna happen?" Faith retorts, knowing he's asking for a pretty tall order right now.

Xander raises his hand. "I have a random question that may or may not get me slapped, but I'm curious." Faith raises an eyebrow but says nothing, waiting for him to ask Giles his question. He backs up a little from Buffy, Faith, and Kennedy before he asks, "Are all Slayers gay?" Off of Buffy's disbelieving look he exclaims, "What? It's a valid question! You and Faith are both gay and Kennedy is a potential Slayer and she's gay; it stands to reason."

"How is this relevant?" Wesley asks, not seeing the point in discussing Slayers' sexual preferences.

"The majority of them are, yes," Giles replies, ignoring Wesley. Maybe he's just answering because he's happy Xander actually asked a question and expressed an interest in an area he's familiar with. "It's never been specifically documented as an area of importance, but there are more references to Slayers preferring women then there are of them enjoying the company of a man. I do not what the statistical average is of the potentials though."

"Wait, did being the Slayer make me gay then?" Buffy asks, looking at Giles like she doesn't know how to feel about that. "Could I be normal if I wasn't?"

"Normal?" Faith repeats, offended that she just said that. "Nice, B. Real fuckin' nice."

"Right? What the fuck did you mean by that?" Kennedy replies, looking offended as well.

"I didn't—" Buffy tries to protest, but falls silent rather quickly, knowing she doesn't really have an excuse for what she said. Instead she apologizes softly, "Sorry."

"I do not believe the Slayer essence made you homosexual, Buffy," Giles tells her patiently. "If I am not mistaken, sexual preference is something you are born with. Besides, there have been few Slayers who have taken a preference to men, some have even birthed children."

"Yeah, but I was born to be a potential, right?" Buffy replies, still stuck on the fact that this could be the reason her life is so fucked up. It kind of annoys Faith.

"I don't know," Giles tells her honestly. "The Council is unable to find potentials until they are thirteen years old, at the earliest. Whether that means you aren't chosen until then or if there is some kind of block until you reach your teenage years, no one knows."

"Is this really important?" Wesley asks, growing annoyed with the conversation.

"They asked, so I should say that to them; yes, it is," Giles replies, not looking too happy by Wesley's rude interruption. "Perhaps you should begin Kennedy's training while I go over this connection Buffy and Faith have with each other."

"Good, I want to hit things," Kennedy says flatly before practically stomping into the new training room, a disgruntled Wesley following behind her.

Giles looks like he's trying to refrain from rolling his eyes, but settles back into his seat and looks at the two slayers. "So you say this connection between you has an emotional aspect as well as a physical?"

"I don't know," Buffy replies, looking a little embarrassed to be talking about this. "I just… thought about how much I…" but she trails off, not wanting to say it out loud. She changes her answer to, "Honestly, I just think that I'm more open to wanting to feel Faith. Unlike her, I'm not emotionally retarded. I don't think she wants to feel me, which is why she only feels the minimum."

"What do you mean I don't want to feel you? I want to feel you, B!" Faith protests, which makes Xander snicker because of the implication that sentence had. "And hey, just because I don't run around and spew my feelings like some kind of damn poet, don't mean I'm emotionally retarded."

"No, that fact that you slept with another woman in my house when you knew I had feelings for you does," Buffy snaps.

"Girls, please," Giles tries, holding up his hand to try to stop them from bickering. "What did I ask of you not ten minutes ago?"

Neither of them listen.

"I don't even get why the fuck you'd want to feel me, since you're so goddamn pissed at me," Faith retorts.

"And I don't get why after you did everything in your power to screw things up, that you're now telling me you want to be more than friends! So I guess we're both confused," Buffy snaps. "And in case you're wondering, the reason I haven't fallen into your arms is because I don't trust you anymore. You're selfish and you're impulsive and I know you can't guarantee that you won't hurt me again."

"The last thing I wanna fuckin' do is hurt you, Buffy!" Faith exclaims angrily, too pissed to scale down her honesty. Then again, when she was scaling stuff back was when she screwed everything up, so maybe honesty will work better.

"And yet it's always the first thing you do. Congratulations," Buffy says dryly.

"Girls!" Giles exclaims, getting fed up. "Please stop before I have to separate you both. You're acting like immature children. If you have personal problems then fine; but keep them buried until you're not at work, because for all intents and purposes your sole job is being Slayers."

"Well I can't work with her," Faith snaps, pointing at Buffy angrily. "She won't fucking let shit go!"

"If I still cry myself to sleep at night, I think I have a pretty good reason not to let it go, Faith!" Buffy screams. Xander clears his throat and wanders off into the kitchen, apparently deciding this conversation is beginning to get a little too personal for him to witness.

Giles sighs; he knows he's not going to get anywhere. He gets up too, not bothering to try to diffuse the fight anymore; he probably realized they needed to have it. So he exits the room and goes into the kitchen with Xander.

"I'm sorry!" Faith exclaims, getting fed up of apologizing. She stands up, knowing she'll feel more in control that way. "How many times do I have to tell you that? I don't fuckin' want Kennedy, B; I want you! Why can't you get that?"

"Because this came out of left field!" Buffy replies loudly, standing up as well so she doesn't feel towered over. She points at her and goes on, "You told me we couldn't be any more than friends, Faith! You said that! And now suddenly you want to be, what; my girlfriend?" She says the word like it's almost ridiculous.

"Well I'm sorry I'm so fuckin' stupid that it took you having to die to realize I needed you!" Faith screams, hating how raw and exposed she feels right now. She doesn't want to have this conversation here, but at least they're finally having it. Besides, her mouth seems to be on autopilot and it's as if she can't stop spewing out her feelings like word vomit.

"You don't need me," Buffy replies, outright scoffing at that. "The only person you've ever needed is yourself, you've made that really clear!"

"Well I was wrong!" Faith shouts. "Okay? I was fuckin' wrong! And I know I'm a screw up and I know you have no goddamn reason to trust that I'm not gonna go off and fuck some other bitch, but I want to try, okay? I'm new at this; I don't know my head from my ass when it comes to this kind of touchy feely bullshit but at least I'm not just sitting here being all 'oh well, B's pissed so it's too much effort' and fucking off! I'm standing here trying; for once in my fuckin' life Buffy, I'm trying!"

"No, you're not!" Buffy tells her heatedly. "You think that just because you say you want to be with me that I should ignore everything I feel and pretend it never happened? I can't do that, Faith; I won't do that. You need to try harder than that, okay? Words are just words and right now the last thing I do is trust anything you say to me. If you really want me that badly, then prove it."

Fine.

Faith's lips are on Buffy's so fast and so quickly that the blonde loses her footing, falling back onto the couch. She squeals in surprise as Faith wastes no time getting on top of her, straddling her waist as she kisses her with every bit of damn emotion she has in her. Maybe it's the shock of it, or maybe it's that no matter how pissed Buffy is she still wants to kiss her, but she allows Faith's tongue to claim hers long enough to leave them both breathless.

"Girls, not on my furniture!" comes the voice of an embarrassed sounding Giles from the other room. He probably heard them land; it wasn't exactly graceful. And well, with the lack of screaming, that can usually only mean one thing.

Faith ignores him though as she breaks the kiss, allowing her hands to roam down Buffy's arms until she laces their fingers together. "Go on a date with me," she requests breathlessly, looking directly in Buffy's eyes. She wants her to know she's serious.

"What?" Buffy asks, sounding as if the kiss left her unable to comprehend things properly.

"Go on a date with me," Faith repeats, her breathing still a little labored as she squeezes Buffy's hands in hers. "Give me a chance to not fuck something up for once. Please?"

Buffy purses her lips, looking up at Faith through her lashes. Her expression is distrustful, yet intrigued. She's silent for a moment. "One date doesn't mean I'll sleep with you," she tells her finally. She's probably just trying to make sure Faith isn't just in it for the sex.

"I know how to masturbate, B; I'll live," Faith replies, smirking as she watches Buffy blush as she no doubt entertained that thought in her head. "C'mon… please?" She knows she's begging, but hell; she threw out her pride already so what the hell, right? "I promise it won't suck too bad."

Buffy can't help but crack a small smile at that. "Fine," she relents, looking a little shy. "One date. But that doesn't mean that I'm still not pissed at you."

That's fine; Faith's making better progress than she thought she would already. "Tomorrow night?" she asks. Buffy nods, trying to not look as happy as she obviously feels; she doesn't want to Faith to think she has an advantage. Faith grins anyway and can't help but lean in a little, giving Buffy a quick peck on the lips.

Problem is, Faith doesn't know how to plan a date night to save her life. But fuck it; improvising always works… right?

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