Chapter Eight

When Faith wakes up, she has the vague sense that someone is staring at her. She yawns, rolling over, and mumbles sleepily, "Stop staring at my tits." Not even realizing who in actuality was staring at her while she was naked and… on the floor? Why the hell was she on the floor? Did she drink that much last… night…?

The realization of what went on hit her like a truck in the face going fuckin' seventy five and yeah, she was definitely awake now. But she didn't move, didn't even open her eyes. She just froze. She could still feel Buffy looking down at her from where she sat on her bed. What is she looking at, exactly? She's vaguely aware that she slept on her back, pretty sprawled out, and the blanket she brought on the floor? Not exactly covering much. Or fuckin' anything. Christ.

She's not embarrassed. Not really. Naked's naked and whatever. But she did feel a bit vulnerable suddenly.

She expected Buffy to get angry at her stupid little comment, tell her she's being an arrogant asshole and that she needs to get up so they can finish their brawl, but all Buffy said was, "Sorry. I wasn't. You're just…" cue Faith opening her eyes at her soft voice, the way she said it, sounded so much like she was going to tell her she was— "bruised," Buffy finishes, and Faith makes a face. Well, that figured. Buffy would never call her beautiful.

She doesn't even think she'd call herself beautiful in the morning though either, to be fair.

"Yeah, well," Faith says, her early morning voice coming out husky and scratchy as she tries to sit up. She winces though. Damn, one of her ribs was fractured. "That happens when you get your ass kicked," she mumbles, trying not to put too much pressure on that side. She finally looks over at Buffy, noticing that she wasn't up to par either. "You don't look too hot yourself," Faith tells her, noticing a large, angry bruise on the left side of her face.

"It'll heal."

"Yeah, I know that," Faith responds. Come tomorrow they won't have a mark on them. Slayer healing was good for something, at least. "So I don't know why you're getting' all emo on me as you look at the damage."

"I'm not," Buffy says quickly, lifting her legs up to fold them underneath her. "I just… was saying." But she's looking at her in almost… guilt? That couldn't be right. Faith needed to wake the hell up.

"Yeah, well, great then," Faith says as she gets up, not even caring anymore that Buffy has seen her naked more times in the last week than she ever had in her entire life. Her little vulnerable moment had passed, and now she just really needed to clean herself up. Buffy didn't seem to even care about the nakedness either, though probably because that was at the bottom of the list of their problems at the moment. "I'm gonna shower."

Buffy doesn't say anything, Faith can feel her eyes on her the entire time she makes her way into the bathroom. She closes the door behind her and sighs softly, turning to look at herself in the mirror. Oh, ouch. Bad idea. Now that she could see the damage, everything hurt a whole lot worse. She bites her tongue lightly as she turns on the water for the shower, trying not to think about last night, but it was the only thing that would allow itself into her brain.

She was surprised to find Buffy even there in the morning. After everything that happened, the last thing she expected was for Buffy to just sit there and stare at her come morning. Maybe a kick in the gut, the word "bitch" falling from her lips would be more along the lines of appropriate. But nothing is ever black and white with them anymore. Was it ever? Nothing made sense; this maybe least of all.

Faith steps under the hot spray and closes the shower curtain. The water beating on her didn't do anything for her soreness, but she felt dirty and she needed to fix that. She closes her eyes and runs her fingers though her long dark hair and just tries to relax, but that definitely didn't happen when she hears a knock on the bathroom door.

She didn't say anything, but it didn't matter because Buffy had already opened it. Faith hears it click behind her and can see the blurred outline of the woman through her clear, but intensely fuzzy shower curtain, and she asks in a tired, but cocky voice, "Miss seeing me naked already?" It was just one of those things she needed to say, was so automatic, but there wasn't enough effort behind her words.

Buffy lets the comment pass though, too tired to banter. "Look, can we just… forget yesterday ever happened? All of it?" Buffy asks in a soft voice as she leans against the sink. Faith bites on her tongue lightly and doesn't say anything for a long time.

The water was pounding on the base of the porcelain tub and the steam from the heat was getting thick in the air, making Faith's head a bit cloudy. Just forget it ever happened? They can't do that. Not that she wouldn't love to just make everything go the hell away, but you can't just keep pushing shit like that out of your head.

And it's never going to stop. Everything. All of it. It's just going to keep happening over and over again. They were like oil and water when they are together, and it just tears her apart inside because she loves a woman who she can never get along with. It's so bipolar. When they were good everything was perfect and when they were bad everything was hell in a fuckin' fruit basket.

And it was never, ever going to change.

"Faith?" Buffy asks, since she's been silent.

"Think I'm gonna go away for awhile, B," Faith says finally, her voice cracking a bit. She runs the shampoo through her hair and tries to even out her voice. "Y'know, just head out. Find more slayers maybe. Send them your way."

There's another long stretch of silence after that, and Faith can see Buffy through the curtain, sigh and lean her head back against the wall. "You don't have to leave."

"Yeah, I do," Faith says, trying not to let the sadness that was bubbling in the pit of her stomach force its way up her throat. She purses her lips and grabs the soap instead, just trying to focus on washing.

"Look, we fight, alright?" Buffy says suddenly, and it makes Faith knit her eyebrows together in confusion as to why Buffy seems gung-ho about trying to keep her here. She never missed a chance to throw her out the front door. "We fight and we tear each other to little pieces but it never lasts. Okay? It doesn't… it doesn't last because we're supposed to be together." That makes Faith freeze, and she holds her breath. But she lets it out in disappointment once Buffy continues, "We're supposed to be working together to kick evil's ass and help the next generation of Slayers become the most amazing force for good the world has ever seen."

Buffy was on a roll, on one of her little speeches but it didn't matter. Or maybe it did, but it still wasn't washing away the hurt and the pain and making her feel like all of this is really worth it. Like her sanity is worth it. "When did you get all pro-us?" Faith asks, maybe a little spitefully.

Buffy sighs, a bit in agitation. "Look, I'm not trying to be a martyr." Faith scoffs. "I know I have a bit of a complex, okay?" Buffy snaps, but it's light. "Whatever. But like you said, there are thousands of Slayers in the world now and for some reason I can only feel you. It's always been just you. So don't you think that means something? Don't you think that means we're supposed to be together, side by side, whatever, fighting the good fight? We're not kids anymore, Faith. We have to learn to put aside our issues and deal and just do what we're meant to do, as a team."

"So then what?" Faith asks sharply, throwing the soap down and turning to look at Buffy's outline through the curtain. "We just continue to ride this merry go round just cause the world needs us in the same room even if we can barely stand it? Is that it?"

"We're fine in the same room together as long as you stop bringing whores around," Buffy snaps in irritation at Faith's tone.

"Alice is not a whore!"

"Oh, Alice now, is it? Surprised you even got her name," Buffy retorts, but then stops, trying to be the bigger person, like always. "Stop. Wait. Just… forget it. We can't fight over this." But Faith has always hated Buffy's I'm-more-mature-than-you-are act, and she whips open the shower curtain to stare down at her.

"Why do you even care who I sleep with?!" she exclaims loudly.

But Buffy acts like she's assaulted by the sight of Faith naked and puts up her hands in front of her face. "Jesus, Faith!"

"Oh, now you care? This morning you were eyeing me up for god knows how long."

"I wasn't eyeing up anything!" Buffy defends, still with her hands over her eyes. "But it's hard to not look at someone who's spread out on the floor naked!" That makes Faith stop, and Buffy too apparently, after she realized how that sounded. They look at each other for a long time, Buffy's face turning a bit pink, before Faith closed the curtain again roughly.

"So you were looking."

"Yes, fine. I looked. Okay? Are you happy now? Jesus. That doesn't mean I'm gay, but you were just THERE," Buffy spits out in a defensive rush. Faith can see her cross her arms through the curtain. Her face is probably as bright as a tomato.

But it makes Faith smile a little to herself, despite how that revelation came about. She clicks her tongue a bit and smirks as she asks "Did you like it?"

"FAITH!"

Faith snorts a little, knowing she'd get that reaction. But she's serious a minute after as she washes the rest of her hair. "…You never answered my question. About why you care."

"Yeah, well, you never answered mine either," Buffy responds, still defensive. Faith looks confused.

"What question?"

"You…" Buffy starts, then sighs a little as she bites on her lower lip softly, as if wondering if she should even ask. "You never told me why it was always about me."

Faith freezes for a second, then runs her hands through her hair slowly as she tries to breathe a little more regularly. "Thought you already answered that question," she says slowly. "Because of destiny, or some other crap."

"That's why we feel each other. The connection. Whatever it is," Buffy tells her, and Faith watches her cross over to stand at the edge of the tub, leaning back against the wall softly. Faith catches Buffy's gaze as she looks at her through the little slit that the curtain didn't cover. "So tell me why everything else is always about me," she asks softly.

Faith is not going to answer that.

"Two minutes ago you were bitching cause you had to see me naked and now you're peeking through the curtain?" Faith avoids, cocking an eyebrow at the older slayer.

"You see this?" Buffy says, pointing two fingers back and forth at them at eye level. "This is me looking at your face. So answer my question."

"You just totally dismiss privacy, don't you?"

"Like you care," Buffy retorts. Then softer asks, "Just… answer me, please?"

But that frustrates Faith, and she picks up the loofa, turns around so her back is facing her and keeps washing her body. "Look, it doesn't even matter, so just fuckin' drop it. Seriously."

"Faith…"

"I mean it, B!" Faith exclaims, turning around to face her, her face etched in annoyance. Anger, really, though it just came out of freaking nowhere. She was feeling too exposed, and it had nothing to do with her being naked. "So just fuckin' drop it and stop staring at me or drop your fuckin' clothes and get in here, I don't give a fuck but just shut up about it and stop standing there playing twenty questions with me!"

Buffy blinks at that and Faith wants to slap herself in the face. Alright, that was not supposed to come out sounding like… that. "How did we get from you answering a question to me getting naked?" she asks, like Faith just said she wanted to recite the Bill of Rights.

"I don't know, I'm just fuckin' pissed," Faith spits out, throwing the loofa at the shower wall. Buffy raises her eyebrows.

"See, this is why things almost happen when we spar. You get angry and it makes you want to see me naked," Buffy says, but it's in amusement.

"Just get the fuck out of my bathroom, Buffy."

"Hey, I was just kidding…"

"Well ha, ha. Funny. Just get out," Faith snaps at her, taking the shower curtain and pulling it further to obstruct her view of her. Buffy sighs, but doesn't move.

"It was a joke."

"You're hilarious," Faith says sarcastically, but shakes her head and closes her eyes as she lets the stream of water hit her face. Fuck. This was ridiculous. "Just fuck off, okay?"

"HEY," Buffy says, ripping the curtain open to face her again, staring her in the eyes. "I wasn't trying to shit on you for it, I was just trying to make light of it. But it's the truth, isn't it?" she asks in an angry voice that has way too much cocky arrogance to be coming out of her mouth.

"Yeah," Faith spits out, taking a step towards her. "Fine. You want to take that win? Whatever. But you forget Princess; it takes two to tango." She licks her bottom lip, but her scowl of annoyance is still present. She scoffs a little as she gets in her face, "And I only get this close because you let me get this close."

Buffy's silent for a moment, just staring at her. Blinking a bit as she tries to take all of that in. Finally she says, "Too close." Faith cocks an eyebrow like ‘see?' but she shakes her head, "No. You, me, us, too close. Right now. You and the nakedness are way too close."

Faith rolls her eyes and steps back, once again closing the curtain roughly in front of her. "Point proven."

"Why does there have to be a point?" Buffy snaps, running her fingers through her hair in frustration as she walks away. She turns back around as she asks, "Why do you have to always dissect everything?"

"Me?" Faith cries. "You're the one who needs to rationalize everything so you can sleep better at night!" She shivers a bit as she notices the waters starting to get cold. Yeah, she had been in there way too long. "Just hand me a towel, will ya?" she snaps as she turns off the water. A towel is thrown in her general direction but it just hits the curtain and bounces off. "Thanks," Faith says dryly.

She opens the curtain and bends down, grabbing the towel as she steps out of the shower. Buffy's standing against the bathroom door, arms folded across her chest as she stares her down. Faith rolls her eyes again as she stands up straight, wrapping the towel around her.

"Y'know I'm starting to think the only reason you're in here is to get an eye full."

"Why is it always about sex with you?" Buffy asks, clicking her tongue in annoyance. "I mean, can you think of nothing else all day? Honestly."

Faith lets out a little amused laugh as she shakes out her hair. "Yeah, I think about slaying and eating." Buffy rolls her eyes, not finding that funny, but Faith doesn't care. She steps towards her, grasping the door handle, becoming very much in Buffy's face. "Besides," she says in a low voice, looking her in the eyes. She says each word slowly, just trying to make her point, "…It ain't never been about that."

She knew exactly what she was saying, but knew Buffy didn't, which is why it didn't matter. She pulls on the door lightly and Buffy moves out of her way, letting her pass through it. Buffy stands still for a moment, just trying to figure out something to say. Then she turns quickly calling out after her, "Then what is it about?"

Faith smirks, turning around. "Passion, girlfriend… It's always about passion. Anger, hate, love, lust, sadness, all the fuckin' craziness… it all boils down to that, don't it?"

That makes Buffy smile a little as she leans against the doorway, watching her get dressed. "So what?" she says slowly, "You're passionate about me then?" She sounds like she may like the sound of it, and suddenly Faith doesn't feel everything is all bad with the two of them. Because that's what they did, right? They fought, called each other names, made uncalled for sexual innuendos (alright, most of that has always been Faith, but still) and then… there was this.

"You sayin' you ain't?" Faith asks, a bit in challenge as she pulls her tank top over her head and adjusts her sweatpants. Buffy smirks a little and shrugs.

"Alright, fine. I can work with that. We're passionate about each other," she smiles, getting off the doorway and coming over to her. "At least it makes more sense than any other theory I've heard."

Faith cocks an amused eyebrow as she picks up her sneakers, putting them on. "You ain't gonna worry that makes you sound like a great big dyke now, are you?"

"Hey," Buffy says, defensive, "I'm comfortable enough in my sexuality that I can say I'm passionate about another woman." Faith snorts, and she defends, "I am!"

"Uh huh," Faith says in a tone that's filled with doubt, but amusement. "You keep telling yourself that." She smirks and gets up, walking towards the door. Well, uh, half a door, since it was still kicked in. "I'm gonna go work out. You comin'?"

"You just showered."

"You act like I can't take another one after," Faith says, laughing a little. She nods her head towards the door. "You game?"

Buffy purses her lips together in thought for a moment. "You go ahead; I'll meet up with you later."

"Suit yourself," Faith says, shrugging. She leaves Buffy standing in her room, but she also leaves with a big smile on her face. Hell, yeah, they might be a bit fucked up. They might fight and they might want to kill each other, fuckin' destroy everything and make the world all about them and what they're going through.

But agreeing they're passionate about each other? She'll take that. Because passion ain't all bad.

Chapter Nine

When Faith steps into Wolfram & Hart's little workout center for the suits, she's not surprised to see most of the new slayers already in there. The one she did notice over all the rest however was Kennedy, who was lying back on the weight bench, lifting. Faith cocks an eyebrow and strides over to her, coming up behind her and looking down at her suddenly.

"Hi there, K," she says, in a voice too chirpy to ever signify anything good.

The sudden intrusion of Faith in her line of vision startles Kennedy, and her grip slackens and the barbell almost falls on her. Faith shoots out her hands just in time to help her hold it up, before it all came crashing down on her chest. "Jesus," Kennedy exclaims as Faith helps her put it back up. She sits up as she holds her chest, looking at the older girl. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Then she looks Faith over and notices her bruises, "Damn, what happened to you?"

"Something that's a whole lot better than what's about to happen to you," Faith tells her, then takes her by her elbow, forcing her to her feet, dragging her over to a corner. Kennedy yelps in surprise.

"Hey! What are you—?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Faith snaps at her once she's basically thrown her into a semi-private space. "Do you just wake up in the morning and decide, ‘hey, since I'm official leader of the lesbians, I need to make sure no one else can join my little exclusive club'?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kennedy asks, her face masked in annoyance.

"My life is fuckin' hard enough without you spreading shit around!" Faith exclaims. "What? Do you think it's funny?"

"No, hey, whoa, hold on," Kennedy says, putting her hands up in defense and stepping away a bit. "That's not how that went down, I swear. I thought it was cute, what's going on with you two."

Faith puts her hands on her hips, a scowl on her face. "So wait, let me guess; you were the kid who ripped the heads off their Barbie dolls? ‘It's cute so I must destroy'?"

"Pfft, and you weren't? Besides, Barbie isn't cute, she's freaking hot for being a doll," Kennedy retorts. But when she realized that wasn't helping the situation she backtracks. "No, what I meant was that I told Willow, that was it, I swear. I think someone overheard me and just… well you've played the game ‘telephone', haven't you?"

Faith cocks and eyebrow, but says nothing.

"I didn't mean for it to…" Kennedy sighs, leaning against the wall. "I'm sorry. Did she completely freak out?"

"You mean you didn't hear our fight last night?" Faith asks doubtfully. She's sure the whole damn building heard it. But Kennedy shakes her head.

"Willow soundproofed our room; nothing in or out. That's what happened to your face?"

"My face doesn't matter right now, it'll heal," Faith says, sighing. She crosses her arms across her chest and looks away from her to focus on all the girls training.

"What happened last night?" Kennedy asks, carefully.

"Nothing," Faith says, shrugging. "Just, you know, the usual. I bring a chick back to mine and Buffy freaks the hell out on me. We fight and somehow she ends up passed out in my fuckin' bed and watches me take a damn shower this morning." Kennedy raises her eyebrows, and Faith looks over at her. "It's not like it sounds."

Kennedy chuckles a little, "Don't know how else that could sound."

"I slept on the floor."

"Ouch," Kennedy says, wincing a bit, "She kicked you out of your own bed? That's cold."

"No, she fell asleep there and I didn't want to end up kicking her in the middle of the night so I opted for plan B," Faith explains, though has no idea why she's even bothering. Maybe it's because it's nice to have someone to finally talk to about this, even if Kennedy tends to get under her skin. "I just don't sleep with people much. Or ever. I'm pretty sure my body would lash out against it."

"Aw," Kennedy coos, and Faith flips her off. She laughs, "Hey, it's sweet. I give you lesbian points for that." Faith rolls her eyes. "But what I don't understand," she continues, cocking her head to the side to look at Faith intently. "Is why you don't just ask her out."

"Buffy's straight," Faith tells her, like she should have figured that much out by herself.

"Sorry, but your gaydar must be all off, cause mine goes haywire whenever she's around." A pause, "And especially…" Kennedy goes on slowly, playing with her tongue ring for a moment. Faith swears she talks like this for dramatic effect. "When she's around… you."

"Well you're ‘gaydar' is broken then," Faith says, mocking the word.

"Hey, come on, seriously," Kennedy says, tapping her on the arm. "Ask Willow, I know these things."

"Well tell me this then," Faith says, rounding on her, arms still crossed. "If you knew Buffy was into the girly-lovin' from the minute you met her, why didn't you try to fuck her before you made camp with Red?"

Kennedy laughs, "Because she's bossy, annoying, arrogant, a know-it-all—" Faith glares at her, and Kennedy stops her list that seemed like it was gonna go on for quite awhile. She changes to, "She's too much like me, okay? I'm a brat. We clash. Besides, she's still half in the closet and I don't have much patience. But you? You guys fit. You might be cocky, but when she's around you lie down like a rug for her."

"Excuse me?"

"Hey, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It is what it is. Besides," she goes on, arching an eyebrow. "The only woman she's ever going to go for is you."

"Seriously, what kind of crack are you smoking?"

Kennedy laughs and shrugs. "Hey, you can believe me or not, but my advice? If you want her, just take her. There isn't anyone stopping you but yourself." She gives her one last pointed look before walking off, back to the weight bench.

Right, sure, because it's just that easy. Whatever.

Faith sighs, leaning against the wall as she watches everyone around her. They were all so happy; the threats over, big bad is gone. If only they knew an apocalypse comes around about once a year.

But yeah, they had time to have fun. The next evil ain't scheduled to make an appearance until November (according to some ancient prophecy Fred was rambling on about as she passed her in the hallway), and maybe she should just chill out and just… try, for once. Passion and all that, right? It had to mean something. Hell, even Buffy continuously being around her when she's naked had to mean something.

But there's still that nagging doubt in the back of her mind that she can't shake. Even if Buffy does have some tiny little part of her that's into chicks, why the hell would she want her? She's sexy and all, she ain't stupid on that front, but with all the past? It doesn't make sense why Faith is love with her, let alone Buffy's maybe-but-probably-not attraction to her.

As if on some kind of cue, Buffy walks into the gym. She spots Faith in the corner and comes over, smirking. "Thought you were here to work out, not ogle the girls."

"Who says I'm not working out right now?" Faith retorts with this grin that should have let Buffy know that she shouldn't ask. But it didn't.

"Working out what?"

Faith cocks her head and smirks, "Something you can't see."

"Oh, gross," Buffy says, but laughs a little. Then she apparently thinks she can bring it all to the conversation because she says, "But seeing as how much you have sex, you probably need to tighten that back up."

"Ouch," Faith says, but it's all in good humor. "As opposed to you? I probably wouldn't even be able to squeeze my pinkie in."

"Hey, I have sex!" Buffy retorts, loud enough for some people to stare, but she wasn't paying attention. "It's just been a little while, that's all." Faith laughs a little and she narrows her eyes, hitting her with the back of her hand. "Come on, let's work out the rest of your body."

"Aren't you scared it's going to lead to me wanting to see you naked again?" Faith asks, slightly in a huff, but she follows her to the mats anyway, stretching out her arms. She tried not to notice how everyone was staring at them. Seeing both of them bruised and beaten and probably hearing the cause of it last night, was probably making them wonder why the hell they were even talking in the first place.

Buffy smirks, tongue in cheek as she turns around. "You said it takes two to tango. So let's just try not to do that dance." Faith raises her eyebrows.

"You're taking some of the blame? Wait, wait," she says, and mockingly puts her fingers to her pulse. "Am I still breathing?"

"Shut up," Buffy says, but laughs a little, stepping back into a defense stance. "Let's do this."

"Hey, watch my right side. You fractured a rib last night," Faith tells her, but gets into position anyway. Being injured wasn't going to stop them.

"Fine. You sprained my wrist pretty badly too," Buffy admits, but Faith looks at her skeptically.

"What, did you hurt it when it collided with my face?"

"Probably, you have a pretty hard head," Buffy jokes, and then they start to circle each other.

All of the new slayers gathered around to watch their dance. And it was a dance with them this time. They put aside their ego's for once and just used each other to train, letting them feel each other through their connection rather than watch each other with their eyes. It was fluid and it was probably damn near beautiful by the way the onlookers whispered among themselves. And as usual, Buffy did end up on top, but Faith realized that maybe it isn't that bad being on bottom after all.

About a week went by and no drama commenced except for a few heated arguments here and there, but it was doable. Actually, it was more along the lines of fuckin' fantastic seeing as how they usually are. But they spent more time together, hung out, trained some of the newbies once they were well enough, and shit was kind of… it was kind of alright. More than alright.

But more than anything else, Buffy had seemed to accept how they were. And not just with the screaming and the angst, but she's been… playful, lately, Faith supposes is the word. She's basically flirting with her, though Faith is sure she'll never see it that way. She just thinks it's a joke, that they're having fun. And they are, it is fun. But it was more than that. Buffy might be kidding with all her innuendos and winks but Faith isn't, and she wonders if Buffy knows that.

Sometimes she thinks she does.

"Come on, night out, what do you say?" Buffy says, appearing in Faith's doorway suddenly. The door had been fixed by now, but Faith usually just kept it open since Buffy seems to be barging through it now-a-days anyway. Faith turns around.

"Just me and you? You asking me on a date, B?" Faith asks with a hint of a smirk, and maybe a little hope in her voice. Only a little.

Buffy rolls her eyes. "No, I meant all of us. The world didn't end; we should celebrate. At least now that everyone is able to." That makes Faith raise her eyebrows.

"You're advocating fun now? Thought that now everyone was better you'd be working them double shifts like at the Mickey D's."

"Hey, I know how to have fun," Buffy retorts, but Faith still looks skeptical. "I do! I'll prove it to you," she says, walking into her room and closing the door behind her. That makes Faith back up a little instinctively, half wondering if her having fun means that she's gonna do something sexual just to screw with her. The look in her eyes made her wonder, anyway.

Buffy stops in front of her though and holds out her hands in offering. "Dress me."

"What?"

"You heard me. I know you hate what I wear, so I'm going to let you have your fun tonight." Faith smirks and Buffy rolls her eyes, "Not in that way, moron. But really. Just this once, I'll be your Barbie." That puts a twinkle in Faith's eye and she darts off to her closet.

Buffy stands there patiently as Faith picks out the perfect outfit, and when Faith comes back with it, she makes a face. "No," Faith says quickly. "Remember, you told me I could."

"I didn't mean dress me in barely anything," Buffy says looking at her choice of clothing warily. Faith rolls her eyes. Please, if she was going to dress her in nothing she would be in nothing. Literally. Faith smirks at that mental image, and it was Buffy's turn to roll her eyes, like she knew what she was thinking.

"Come on, just try this on," Faith says after she snaps herself out of it, handing her the shirt first. Buffy takes it hesitantly, giving Faith one last look of distaste before she strips off her shirt. She goes to put the one Faith gave her on but Faith shakes her head, "You're gonna have to lose the bra, seriously."

Buffy makes a face, then an overdramatic sigh as she turns around so her back is facing Faith as she unhooks her bra. "Hey," Faith says, complaining a little. "You've seen me naked and I can't even see you topless? How is that fair?"

Buffy laughed. "The world isn't fair, Faith. Live with it," she says as she slides the tiny halter over her head. "Besides, when you see me naked it won't be like this." Then she freezes, realizing what she just said. So does Faith. "I didn't mean that how it sounded," Buffy says quickly, not turning around.

Faith tries to think of some witty comeback so they can just laugh it off, but nothing comes to mind. All she can think about is how that did completely sound like Buffy was planning on having sex with her at some point. And she can think of nothing to say back to that. At all.

She's pretty sure her brain just broke.

"I think we're just going to pretend I never said that," Buffy says, just trying to say something, and she turns around, grabbing the leather pants Faith had for her. Faith just stands there, stock still, still staring at her. "Faith," Buffy says, snapping in her face. "Earth to Faith. Moving on from that, are you with me?"

"What? Yeah. Sorry," Faith mumbles, trying to get past whatever that just was. "Sorry," she repeats, just to say something. Her brain still wasn't really working.

"You okay?" Buffy asks softly as she looks her over, almost in concern that she maybe did almost break the girl from one simple statement.

This is why she thinks Buffy knows.

She touches her arm lightly, and the sparks that produces is what shakes Faith out of it. "Yeah," she says, looking up at her with a grin. "You know me. Five by five." She nods at the pants. "So you gonna put those on or are you gonna go half naked?" Cue dirty smirk. It makes Buffy smile, since she's obviously okay now. She pinches her arm and Faith yelps in surprise.

"Perv," Buffy retorts, but unbuttons her jeans and pulls them down before putting on the ones designated for her. When she stands up to full height, she bites on her bottom lip a little. "So?"

What was going through Faith's mind was pretty much along the lines of I'd like to rip those fucking things off of you, but she winks and says, "You look hot, B." Buffy smiles, but fidgets with the clothes that were much tighter than what she was used to.

"I probably look like a hooker, don't I?" she asks, but she doesn't seem to be complaining too much.

"Yeah, but a high priced one," Faith jokes and Buffy shoves her playfully.

"Come on, I'm not done. I'm sure you're just dying to make me look like even more of a slut," Buffy jokes as she sits down at Faith's vanity, looking at her through the mirror. Faith grins and walks over to her, starting to fiddle with her hair.

And yes, by the time Buffy was done, she did kind of look like a slut. But she was definitely the sexiest slut Faith had ever seen in her life. Somehow, the woman made slutty clash with beautiful and she was just… gorgeous. Her hair was in loose, messy curls, and the shade of lipstick Faith slapped on her? God. The only thing Faith could think about was licking it off of her.

Which she tried very hard not to think about. Very hard.

"And the finishing touch…" Faith says with a grin as she picks up her cross necklace. She unclasps it and slides it up Buffy's collar bone slowly, maybe a little too slowly if she's to be honest, before clasping it around her neck and lifting her hair out of it. She lets her fingers linger on her skin probably longer than should be allowed, and when she looks into the mirror she catches Buffy's gaze. She's got this weird look on her face that Faith doesn't think she's ever seen before.

"Hey," Buffy says softly, and her hand reaches up to grabs Faith's that was lingering on her shoulder. "Maybe we should… ditch the necklace. I feel like it's just an invitation for baddies to come around and I'd rather the night not get interrupted by bored vampires."

"You think my necklace is cursed?" Faith asks, with mock hurt. But her only focus was on the fact that Buffy was still holding her hand there. Or maybe just holding her hand in general.

Buffy laughs a little, "Just rather not jinx it." She lets Faith's hand go then, sliding her fingertips back down it in a way that if it was any other woman, Faith would understand what it meant. But with Buffy? She second guesses everything, and therefore tends to let little things go right over her head, just like this. So she unclasps the necklace and puts it back on the vanity.

Buffy smiles, standing up. She turns around and loops her arm in hers, "Alright, let's go round up the troops."

"You know they're gonna be mad that you didn't give them time to get ready," Faith points out, trying not to dwell on Buffy's sudden touchy-feeliness.

Maybe she was already drunk?

"I'm going to give them time," Buffy defends, and then shrugs. "Me and you are going to go now though. They can meet us all later."

If Buffy was any other woman, the minute she slipped and said anything about nakedness Faith would have gotten her that way. If Buffy was any other woman, the subtle touches would have already become very obvious touches. If Buffy was any other woman, she'd have been fucking her five ways till Sunday without another thought.

But Buffy wasn't any other woman, so Faith follows her out the door, still too paranoid that she's making these things up in her head to ever really do anything about it.

Chapter Ten

Friday night at a club was a lot better than Monday night at a bar.

The music was loud, the place reeked of lust and booze and the lighting made you want to either dance or take off your clothes. Maybe both. Buffy and Faith fell in there around eleven and the rest of the motley crew came about an hour later. At about two in the morning everyone was drunk, laughing, and having a good time. They had about another two hours before the club closed, and it seemed like none of them were planning on leaving a minute before.

Buffy, Faith, Willow, Kennedy, Xander, and Dawn sat around on the couches near the back, watching the other slayers run around and make fools of themselves in good fun. Giles and Andrew opted not to come, and neither did Robin. He actually hadn't been around that much, and Faith thinks it's partly her fault. She fucked the dude than basically ignored him, and he didn't seem like the type to really screw and leave.

"Someone tell me I'm not contributing to underage drinking," Buffy says with a bit of a groan as she's sprawled out on the couch, one leg draped over Faith's (which Faith tried to not think extensively about), as she watched all the Slayers. "I'll be able to sleep better tonight."

Dawn make's a guilty face and puts hers down. Kennedy, on the other hand, takes an overdramatic sip.

"Lighten up, B," Faith says, shoving her lightly. "If the kids got a way to get it, I say more power to them."

"I'd like to know where they all got their bracelets that show they're over twenty one," Xander says, then looks pointedly at Dawn, who slinks lower in her chair. But Xander isn't lecturing her; he seems more in awe of it than anything else.

"Found it?" she offers with a shrug, which doesn't sound like the truth even a little bit. Faith smirks and holds up her fist to Dawn, who bumps it. Buffy grabs her arm and puts it back down, her fingers lingering on it probably a bit more than they should. Faith tries not to notice that everyone else was looking at Buffy's behavior towards her curiously.

"You're a bad enough influence on her," she says, to which Faith merely shrugs. Hey, she never asked to be anyone's role model, or for people to follow her awesome ways.

"Come on," Kennedy says, getting up and taking Willow's hand with a smile, "Let's dance."

"I don't know," Willow says, looking at the dance floor. "Me and the feet? We don't get along so well. Stumbling is usually involved." But Kennedy just rolls her eyes at her playfully and pulls, helping her up.

"I'll catch you if you fall," she tells her with a loving smile before she leads her onto the dance floor. As Faith watches them leave, Buffy pokes her in the arm.

"You haven't asked me to dance yet, you know," she says pointedly.

"What am I? You're boyfriend now?" Faith jokes with a laugh, taking a sip of her drink. The way Buffy just said that completely sounded like she was her nagging girlfriend who was upset because she wasn't getting enough attention paid to her.

"You know, normally I'd ask if there was something you've been keeping from me if you think of yourself as a ‘boyfriend'," Buffy laughs, and then her eyes land very much between Faith's legs. "But I already know that isn't true." Her eyes sweep up her body to land on hers.

Yeah, Buffy was a little drunk. That much was clear.

"Oh ew!" Dawn exclaims suddenly, looking at the two of them and taking that in completely the wrong way. "You two actually had sex?! I didn't need to know that!"

"What?!" Buffy exclaims, but Dawn's already up and holding her hands over her ears going ‘la la la la' as she tries to get away from something that's probably gonna scar her for the rest of her life. "I didn't mean…! Dawn!" But she's gone, and all that's left is Xander who's staring at them like they have two heads. Well, okay, four heads, between them.

"I don't want to know," he says, standing up before he walks away. Buffy tries to protest, but it falls on deaf ears, until all that's left is the two of them. Faith can't do anything else but laugh. She's pretty sure the only reason Xander doesn't want to know is so he's not tempted to wack off to the thought.

"Oh shut up," Buffy says, shoving her hard in annoyance once they're alone. "Now everyone is gonna think I'm sleeping with you." She slumps in her seat and pouts, and it makes Faith giggle. It didn't matter what it was about; Buffy was adorable when she pouted.

Alright, she didn't just use the word adorable. That's completely not in her vocabulary.

"There are worse things."

"Says you."

"Oh, ouch," Faith says, holding her hand to her chest dramatically. But Buffy's still pouting, so she stands up, holding her hand out to her, trying to cheer her up a little. "May I have this dance?" she asks with a stupid (and probably drunk) looking grin on her face. And yeah, maybe it was cheesy, but hey, if the girl says she wants to dance…

"Now you're just mocking me," Buffy says, folding her arms across her chest and making a face filled with grumpiness. Faith holds up her hands in surrender.

"Hey, you said you wanted to dance. Excuse me for trying, girlfriend."

Buffy narrows her eyes, as if studying her to detect a lie, but then her eyes widen and Faith feels a tap on her shoulder. She turns around to come face to face with a man. A very good looking man, if she's to be honest.

"Hey, can I buy you a drink?" he asks with his suave little smile in his expensive looking suit and nicely shaven goatee.

"Back off," Buffy snaps suddenly, and his eyes widen. So do Faith's. And even though she's not turned around to see it, she's pretty sure Buffy's just did too.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were with…" he trails off. "Sorry," he says again, backing away. Faith whips around, confusement all over her face.

"When did we start doing the territorial thing?" Faith asks, just trying to find something to say. "I missed that memo."

"I just… he was just…" Buffy starts, trying to find something to say to defend herself. She waves her hands in the air all crazy-like. "You could do better than him," she finishes, lamely. Faith just stares at her.

Buffy rolls her eyes, like Faith should just let it go, and takes Faith's hand, pulling her down to sit next to her. "I think I'm a little drunk," she admits, and Faith's bound to agree on that point at least. "Whatever. Things are spinning a bit, and so you should be here with me and not with Mr. Goatee," Buffy says, and moves to lie down so her head is in Faith's lap. Faith can do nothing else but just look down at her. What is she doing?

"Stop," Buffy says, and hits her chin lightly with her hand. Faith looks disgruntled at that. "Stop thinking. I hate when you do that."

"You hate when I think?" Faith asks, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"Well sorry, then. Let me just lay here like a vegetable for you," Faith deadpans, but Buffy rolls her eyes.

"That's not what I meant," she responds, and she takes one of Faith's hands to drape around her torso. Faith makes every effort not to react to that in any way, shape or form, because she's starting to think that's what Buffy's talking about.

She has the urge to pinch herself to see if she's dreaming, but that'd just end up looking wicked retarded.

Instead she just goes with it. What else can she do? She feels a bit bad, like maybe she's taking advantage of Buffy because she's drunk, but Buffy's the one encouraging… whatever this is. Not like it's gotten to any kind of level that they need to raise alarm bells about. She lets her fingers softly trace patterns on the skin of Buffy's midriff that's exposed, just trying to let go of thinking.

Best way to do that though is to drink, so she picks up her glass. It's time to get hammered.

"You ever wonder what it would be like if we were never slayers? That we just grew up normal, both of us, together, in a normal high school somewhere?" Buffy asks as she looks up at her.

Faith shrugs. "Never gave it much thought," she says honestly. "Though I'm sure if we did, we'd never hang out together."

"Why do you say that?"

"B," Faith says flatly, stopping the movement of her fingers. "Look at you and look at me. We're cut from different cloths, sweetheart. Ain't no way we'd ever be besties."

"Hey, you don't know that," Buffy says, sitting up a little, which then practically made her on top of Faith, leaning over her. "I would have hung out with you."

Faith snorts, "Whatever. Maybe if you were looking for drugs. I know how I look to everyone else. And I also know you were little-ms.-popular back before you became a slayer."

Buffy makes a face, then slumps her shoulders, relenting. "Fine," she says, and lies back down in Faith's lap. She points up at her, determined, "But I totally would have hung out with you in college." Faith just laughs, amused at her persistence. She'll let her have that one. For now.

Faith found that her fingers started running through Buffy's hair of their own accord as Buffy turns her head to the side so she can take another sip of her drink, like she actually needed more alcohol or something. But it didn't matter, them being drunk didn't really matter because it let them let down the walls they usually hold up so high and guard so protectively. After Buffy puts her drink back down she looks at Faith and smiles a little, and her hand finds the one that's resting on her midriff. She doesn't hold it, but she lays hers on top, and her thumb was definitely stroking the top of hers a little.

Faith brushes a piece of blonde hair off of her forehead, letting her fingers linger on her skin for a little. Buffy purses her lips and looks down for a minute, before her eyes find hers again. "Does it always feel this way for you?" she asks her suddenly. Quiet, but loud enough for her to hear over the music. Loud enough that the question seemed to be ringing in her ears, but not because of the decibel.

"What?" Faith asks cautiously, but she can feel her heart speed up against her will by the way Buffy was looking at her. Buffy shrugs a little, then takes her hand and runs it right over Faith's skin, hovering over it about an inch. Faith could feel her even though she wasn't touching her, but that was nothing new for her.

"This. The connection," Buffy says as she tests it out more, running her hand up as it hovers over Faith's arm. "You've always seemed to feel more than me. You were always more in touch with it than I was," she tells her as she watches her hand go up further, up her neck, and over to brush her lips. The tingles shot all the way through her, deep into her bloodstream.

"B," Faith says quickly, moving her head away and blinking heavily at that feeling. "Don't do that."

But Buffy looks more intrigued by her reaction, and as she lets her hand fall, she does it slowly… all the way down her chest. Faith jumps up, practically throwing Buffy off of her. "I said don't!" Faith says, a little more forcefully this time and she looks down at her. Shivers were running down her spine and her hairs stood on end. Yeah, this was different. She could feel her, but it was so much more this time.

"Sorry," Buffy says automatically, sitting up. "I didn't mean—"

"This isn't some kind of game for me, Buffy!" Faith exclaims, standing up. She's upset all of a sudden, just out of nowhere, and she doesn't know how to get a handle of it. "This all might be some kind of fun experiment for you but I really don't need you fuckin' playing with me right now."

"Faith…"

But Faith turns and walks away, just needing to get some breathing room. She makes her way out the side door and into the alleyway, finding a place against the brick wall to lean as she digs in her pockets for her cigarettes. She's not surprised when the door opens not a minute after her and Buffy comes out, right when she's lighting it.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," she says, meaning smoking, as she makes her way over to her, hands in her pockets. Faith just shrugs, really not caring what she wishes right at that moment.

The cool night air makes the leaves on the trees tremble and both girls shiver. Buffy wraps her arms around herself, but doesn't complain about it. She looks up at her and tries, "Look, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking…"

"You never think," Faith mumbles as she takes a drag of her cigarette, letting the white stream of smoke fall from her lips quickly.

"I keep forgetting you like women," Buffy says, just trying to make it better. She holds herself tighter in the cool night air. "I just… don't think. I guess. I'm really sorry," she says, and it sounds genuine, so Faith's eyes flicker to hers for a moment. She flicks her cigarette ash and just looks at her for awhile, before she sighs and throws her cigarette on the ground.

"Let's go inside, you're freezing."

"No," Buffy says, stepping closer to her. "We can talk out here. In there it's all loud and… drunk. I don't know," she says, then nods a bit at her. "Just let me… in your coat."

Faith chuckles a little but unzips her coat and holds it open for Buffy, who takes another step before leaning completely against her chest, letting Faith wrap her coat around her. Faith can feel Buffy slightly shiver again, so she holds her tighter, trying not to think about the intoxicating smell that was the older girl. "So talk," Faith says in a low voice as she buries her face in her hair, telling herself it was to keep her face away from the breeze.

But Buffy doesn't say anything. Faith can feel her hand rest lightly on her hip, half on her belt and half on her exposed skin that her shirt gave her from riding up a bit with her arms being around the other woman. Buffy presses into her more, making Faith close her eyes and decide that talking would suck right now anyway because it'd probably ruin the most perfect moment she's ever had with Buffy in her entire life.

She can hear the low thumping of the music inside, but all she's focused on is the sound of Buffy's breath near her ear. It's picked up slightly, and Faith feels her run her fingers up Faith's shirt. It's slow, agonizingly and painfully slow, and it makes Faith close her eyes from the feeling. "Is it always like this with you?" Buffy asks, this time in a whisper, and meaning so much more than just the connection.

Faith has no idea how the hell she's managing to still breathe. Buffy brushes her lips across her neck, and Faith tries not to gasp at that as she tells her quietly, "Every day…" She closes her eyes shut tighter, wishing that didn't just come out of her mouth. But Buffy's fingers are now running back down her stomach softly, and her breathing is a bit hitched as she presses herself deeper into her, letting her lips fall to her neck for just a moment.

"B…" Faith manages to get out, not understanding what she's doing and least of all why right now.

"Sorry," Buffy says quietly, backing off a little, but still leaning herself against the younger slayer. "I think I'm drunk…" she manages softly, as she lifts her head up to look up at Faith. They lock eyes and Faith licks her bottom lip a bit nervously, which makes Buffy's gaze drop to watch. Faith can see her breathing has picked up; she can see her chest rise and fall and yet that in no way prepared her for what was coming next.

Faith has no idea when Buffy moved, but all of a sudden her lips brushed hers softly, making Faith close her eyes again and let out a tiny breath she didn't know she'd been holding. It was hesitant, almost testing, and when Faith opens her eyes to look at Buffy, they're only a breath apart. "I can feel it," Buffy whispers, the breath falling from her lips dancing across Faith's sensitive flesh. "You, everything. It's never been like this… it's like…" she stops, trying to find the words. As she does, her hand slides a little further up Faith's shirt, over the base of her ribcage, making Faith inhale sharply. "It's like we're one person… I don't know…" she trails off, and Faith is breathless as she waits for her to make her move, because she sure as hell is too frozen to do anything herself.

She's still half convinced this is a dream.

Emotions flicker across Buffy's face as she's silent for a moment, before the words Faith is torn between not knowing if she ever wanted to hear or glad that she did, comes out of her mouth. "…How long have you loved me?" Buffy asks softly, looking at her with more vulnerability than Faith has ever seen on her.

But it terrified her. It terrified her to realize that Buffy knew. It opened a whole new set of doors and instated brand new rules that she just didn't know how to follow. And when she's scared, she does what her first instinct is. "B, I can't do this," Faith gasps out, pushing her away from her a little, just needing room to breathe. But Buffy can't handle her not answering that question, can't handle her trying to run away, so she grabs onto her, stilling her, then backs her up against the wall again, her body pressed tightly against her.

"I need to know!" Buffy tells her, a bit desperately as she looks her in the eyes, yanking on her shirt for effect. "Just… damnit," she says, half in defeat as she looks at her, "Faith. Please…"

But she doesn't end up giving her a chance to answer, because all of a sudden her lips are on hers, and Faith is drowning in the feeling. Her eyes close and instinct takes over as she pulls her closer, running her hand up the back of her shirt, just needing to feel her skin. Buffy opens her mouth, emitting a quiet moan that tickles Faith's bottom lip, allowing her to slide her tongue in and dance with hers.

It was so much like a dream, but also harsh like reality as Buffy's fingernails rake down her ribcage before she holds onto her. "Tell me," Buffy whispered, breathless between kisses, her voice coming out rushed and desperate, "Just tell me…"

"Forever," Faith gasps out before her lips collide with hers again, turning them around so Buffy's the one pressed against the wall before her lips fall to her neck, making Buffy moan softly and grab onto her back as she closes her eyes, pressing her breasts into hers. Faith lets her lips find her throat, then her shoulder, back to her neck before they meet hers again, panting slightly against Buffy's lips.

Her hand slides up Buffy's shirt, but Buffy grabs a hold of it before it reaches its destination and laces their fingers together, raising their arms up so it's over her head. "Not here," she whispers against her lips, before kissing her softly. "Not in some dirty alley…"

Faith's breathless as she nods, leaning in to kiss her once more before she leans her forehead against hers, closing her eyes. It was almost too much for her to handle, and she felt like her heart was about to pound its way out of her chest. "Not when you're drunk," Faith adds in a whisper. "Fuck," she says, and gets off of her then, realizing something.

Buffy looks at her confused as Faith steps back and runs her fingers through her hair, her hands shaking slightly. "You're drunk," she says, though it's mostly to herself than to Buffy.

"Faith…"

But Faith's doubts are flowing through her mind again, completely without remorse, and it's making her chest tighten. Buffy's drunk. She's just drunk. That's all this really was. If Buffy was in her right mind this would have never happened. This was just some fake bullshit as a result of the alcohol and fuck, it was tearing her to shreds inside.

"Faith!"

But it's distant now, and Faith realizes she's running, and no matter how badly she wants to stop herself, she finds that she can't.

Chapter Eleven

She's definitely going to turn into an alcoholic.

Faith sat at the bar, downing her fourth shot of Jack Daniels in ten minutes. Maybe the bar down the road wasn't the best choice to go to, but she sure as hell wasn't gonna end up back at the ranch cause she just can't deal with that right now. Can't deal with Buffy. Can't deal with drunk Buffy, who's probably pissed off that she just took off after they got a little hands on against a brick fuckin' wall in the freezing cold.

It didn't make sense.

Alright, the liquor part made sense. Liquor makes people do funny things. It dulls reality and twists it into making the worst possible scenario look like a friggin' field of flowers. And it wasn't like she's saying that it wasn't the best damn moment she's ever had in her life, because it was. It was like a dream come true, minus the harsh reality of booze and bad timing. Cause that's what it's gotta be, right? Just bad timing. Buffy was drunk and Faith was just there and it was all some kind of stupid drunken mistake that Buffy's gonna realize she made when she wakes up in the morning with the hangover from hell.

Hopefully she's drunk enough to forget the part where Faith told her she's been in love with her forever. Maybe Faith will get lucky and she'll forget about the whole thing. But her luck never works like that.

She's such a fuckin' moron sometimes she wonders how the hell she's managed to survive this long. One night of touchy-feeliness and Faith jumps to the conclusion that somehow, from some bizarre twist of fate, Buffy had the hots for her? She was drunk. She was just fucking drunk.

Like Faith's getting right now. Though by now Faith's probably three sheets past the damn wind more than Buffy. With all she drank at the club and now, as she orders her, fuck, maybe sixth, seventh shot of the night in this place, her vision is more than just a little fucked off and she's in a daze that she can't snap herself out of. All her slayer balance doesn't help her right now, she sways a bit as she stands herself up, gripping the counter to steady herself. She vaguely hears the bartender cutting her off, but it doesn't matter. One more and she's definitely going to puke. Might do it now, just because.

But it was all fucked up. So fucked up. It's not real, any of this.

She's not really sure how she made it back to her room. She knows she fell twice trying to go up the stairs because the stupid elevator didn't work. She swears she was pushing the damn button, but she might be seeing double right now so she probably was just pushing the duplicate. Fuck. Whatever. She's just gonna pour herself into bed, and probably not get out of it until enough time has passed that Buffy isn't going to feel the need to punch her for taking advantage of her when she was wasted. Days? Months? Years? Really doesn't matter. This was one thing she doesn't want to face.

Her bedroom door falls open with a crash as she stumbles, still holding onto the door handle as she collapses against it and into her room. She swears, picks herself up, and then realizes the lights are on. She didn't leave them on. At least, she didn't think so. But hell, she wasn't even sure of her own name at the moment.

"Faith?"

Oh right, that's what her name is.

Faith stands up and tries to focus her vision on the source of the sound. She blinks once, twice, trying to make the three Buffy's stop doing their dance and move back into being one entity. "What the fuck you doin' here, B?" She manages to get out, squinting a bit. Too much light. One hand slams against the wall, sliding down to flip the switch. There, that's better. Now to move on to more important things; like sitting before she falls.

"You just… left."

"Aware of that," Faith slurs as she stumbles over to her bed, landing on it with a crash. She doesn't care though. She didn't break it, so whatever. She rolls on her back and stares at the ceiling, trying to get a hold on her screwed up vision. She's vaguely aware of Buffy sitting next to her, but it doesn't matter.

"Then you're aware you're an asshole?" Buffy snaps, still a bit drunk herself. Faith can hear it in the tone of her voice. Buffy looks down at her, how upset she is written all over her face, and yet she still feels the need to shriek, "How could you do that to me?!"

"Christ, B. Can it, will ya?" Faith hisses at her before she takes a pillow and pulls it over her head, holding it over her ears. Fuck, she didn't need to be that loud. Damn near echoed in her skull.

"No, Faith, what the fuck!" Buffy yells, grabbing the pillow from Faith and throwing it across the room. Faith growls, but doesn't move. She's not sure she can. "And how much have you been drinking?"

"A couple. A few. Maybe a boat full. I don't know, I need to pass out, can't you scream at me in the morning?" Faith asks in what sounded like an intoxicated tone even to her drunk ears, and she makes a face and closes her eyes. Good. Fucking. NIGHT.

"NO!" Buffy yells, and slaps her face to wake her up. It isn't hard, but it makes Faith jerk back, her eyes flying open. "No, you are not just gonna ‘get some, get gone' me, Faith! What the fuck is your issue?! Do you tell every woman you come across that you're in love with her? That's screwed up!"

"The fact that you just fucking touched me would be one of my issues right now," Faith growls as she sits up, trying to fight the dizziness. She glares at Buffy, trying to keep her image as one person, not two. She closes one eye. Alright, that makes it a bit better. "And just fuck off, will you? You really think I tell every bitch I meet that? I don't have to resort to that crap to get in people's pants. In case it escaped your notice, I'm fucking hot."

"You don't just say something like that and run, Faith! You can't do this to me! Here I am with this messed up realization that I might be one big fat lesbian for you, and you just… run away like some stupid prick!" Buffy exclaims as she pushes Faith back. She's just trying to make her point, and it wasn't rough, but when Faith's drunk her defenses kick in cause she's vulnerable while intoxicated, and her fist swung before she even realized she had moved.

After that, everything was a blur. And when Faith woke up the next morning with the hangover from hell, stark fuckin' nude with a naked Buffy in her bed, it startled her so bad that she jumped up, scrambled backwards… and fell right on the floor.

"FUCK!" she yells, the pain shooting up her spine. That wakes up Buffy, who's hazy in her disorientation from her own hangover… until she looks down at herself, looks over at Faith… and screams. Fucking screams.

Great.

"What the fuck happened last night?" Faith asks as she tries to pick herself off the floor, looking around at the state of the room. Practically everything was trashed.

"Oh my god," Buffy says, grabbing Faith's sheets and clutching them close to her chest to obstruct her nudity from Faith's view. "Did we have sex?"

"How do you not know?!" Faith yells, suddenly angry because if she had sex with Buffy and didn't remember it that just sucks on so many different levels. But it wasn't just that. She didn't like when she blacked out. She doesn't like not knowing what went on in her own life. That scared her. "Out of both of us, you were the least trashed last night!"

"Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh god," Buffy repeats, eyes wide. "Oh god, oh god."

"Alright, enough!" Faith snaps, needing to get Buffy out of her little terrorized moment that apparently the thought of sleeping with her does. She grabs her head as pain shoots through her temples. Fuck. This so isn't good. She sits back down on the bed, grabbing her aspirin out of the bedside table drawer and swallowing three without water. She puts her head in her hands and tries to think, but she only remembered bits and pieces. "Last thing I remember, I punched you out," Faith says in a low voice, just trying to contribute something. She doesn't look at her.

"I…" Buffy starts and then clears her throat, blinking a bit as she tries to think. "I remember us fighting…"

"Anything else?" Faith asks, though it comes out more of a groan. She runs her fingers through her hair and bends down, picking up their clothes on the floor. She throws Buffy hers without a word.

"We. We, uh. We kissed," Buffy says, though it sounds like it's difficult coming out of her mouth. She starts to put back on her clothes, but Faith just sits there, frustrated with the world.

"In the alley. I remember that at least."

"No," Buffy says quietly. "After that. In here." That makes Faith turn to her.

"We try to kill each other and then make out?" Faith scoffs, even though it's really not that funny. "Sounds like us." Kinda fuckin' sad in a way. She shakes her head. "Anything else?"

"Well I don't remember getting naked, if that's what you mean," Buffy snaps, her own hangover making her moody. She pulls her shirt over her head, looking at her in a way that Faith couldn't decipher. Buffy should come with a user manual.

"Well, fuck. One way to find out if we had sex…" Faith says, then slips her fingers over herself. Buffy's eyes go wide as Faith feels around.

"What are you doing? Stop!"

She ignores her protests. She was going to find out one way or another. "We didn't have sex," Faith tells her finally, withdrawing her hand. "Least, you didn't fuck me." Buffy's looking at her like she's insane. And she might be, but not for this.

"And how can you tell that?"

"Pelvic bone, B. If you'd have fucked me… slayer strength. It would have been bruised from your knuckles hitting it."

"Oh god," Buffy says again, putting her head in her hands. "I didn't need that mental image…"

This was what Faith was afraid of. This is why she ran the fuck away. She was drunk, and she regrets it. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out. Buffy looks like she swallowed jagged rocks and is about to throw them all back up. Faith bites the inside of her cheek, trying not to think about that. She wasn't about to have some hangover induced breakdown right now. She has more important things to do.

"You gotta check," she tells Buffy quietly. She knows this isn't going to go over well.

"What? No! I am not… NO!"

"I need to know if I fucked you, Buffy!" Faith yells as she finally grabs her shirt and pulls it over her head. "Fuck, this is important, so just do it."

"I am not going to stick my hand down my pants in front of you!"

"Then do it in the fuckin' bathroom. I don't give a shit, just do it, will ya?! Damn!" Faith yells, and Buffy stares at her for a long time before she gets up in a huff, throwing the covers at Faith for good measure, and storming into the bathroom. The door closes with a slam.

A minute passes and Buffy finally reemerges. "Well?" Faith asks, her heart speeding up. She's praying she didn't do anything stupid last night.

"No. No, you didn't…"

Buffy makes her way over to the bed and sits down heavily, right next to Faith. She puts her head in her hands and sighs, staring at the floor. The two women are silent for awhile, just trying to remember last night as best they could. But nothing new appears in their memories, so they're both left with nothing.

"Figures," Faith says quietly, mostly to herself.

"What?" Buffy asks, just as quiet. She looks over at her.

"That we tried to fuck but couldn't. Sounds like us too," Faith says, distaste coloring her tone. Disgust at herself, at the whole situation.

"Why do you assume we tried to have sex?" Buffy asks, slightly accusing, but with not enough effort for it to piss Faith off.

"You think we got naked for shits and giggles, B?" Buffy doesn't say anything, just looks away from her. "Yeah, didn't think so."

"Look I can't… I can't handle any of this right now," Buffy stammers, running her hands up her pant legs nervously. She doesn't look at her when she talks either, but Faith didn't expect as much. "This is too much. All of it. You. Me. Us. Kissing? I mean… it's just too much."

"Which I why I fuckin' stopped it. You were ready to bring me back to your room after the alley," Faith snaps, just cause she wishes she didn't hear that. She needs to put some of the blame on Buffy too. It was partly her fault, after all. Getting all drunk and stupid and just fucking with Faith's emotions.

That makes Buffy look over at her, "Yeah…" she says, trailing off a bit. She chews on her bottom lip for a moment before saying softly. "Thanks. For that."

Faith looks at her surprised. "Out of the hundreds of things I thought you would've said to that, that wasn't one of them." Buffy's just quiet though, and Faith plays with her hands, nervous. She needed to ask. She sure as hell probably doesn't want to know the answer, but she's gotta ask, "…What do you remember about the alley?"

"Everything," Buffy says quietly. She doesn't meet her gaze.

"Great," Faith says, sarcastically, as she gets up and starts fucking pacing. "Just… fucking great." She runs her fingers through her hair, frustrated. So Buffy knew she was in love with her. That's just… great.

"Faith…"

"Really don't wanna hear it. Don't think my sanity can handle hearing it," Faith interrupts, holding her hand up to her to silence her as she still paces back in forth and front of the older girl. She was probably making her dizzy, but she didn't care.

"I'm just not ready yet," Buffy tells her honestly, completely disregarding Faith's plea for her to just not right now. "This is too fast. This is way too fast. Scary fast. I need a second to just let it sink in that I'm…"

"That you're what?" Faith asks, stopping finally to stand in front of her.

Buffy looks up at her, but looks uncomfortable to admit, "That I'm maybe, sort of… attracted to you. On some weird messed up level that makes no sense because of… us. And also, secondly? Women? Hi, didn't see that one coming." She sighs, then waves her hand absentminded. "Or woman, whatever."

"Welcome to my nightmare, B. Been here for about five years now."

Buffy looks surprised by that revelation, that it's been so long, and she takes a breath. She reaches out to take Faith's hand, pulling her back down to sit on the bed next to her. "I just… need some time, okay? My head hurts and I can't remember last night which is scary, and I know you… that you… you…" she seems to be trying to find the words to say, then finishes with, "that you have… feelings for me… and, okay, yeah, didn't really see that one either. Sexy feelings, yes. With the nakedness and stuff. I saw that. But real feelings? The kind with the romantic snugglies and the whatever else? No. That… that I missed."

"Yeah, well," Faith mumbles. It's the only thing she can get out. Buffy is still holding her hand though, and so it makes her feel a bit better that she's obviously not running screaming.

"And what if this doesn't work out?" Buffy says suddenly, fear in her voice. "I mean, what if we do the naked thing, and maybe the flowers and candy thing, and then we have another big fight and hate each other forever? That scares me. And I know that we won't always get along, and that I've always been like I don't care if you're here or there but when you're not around it feels like I'm missing something. And I don't know if that's the connection or something more, but I don't want it to go away if we screw everything up. I like that feeling. The feeling of us." She pauses, but only for a second. "And what if I have sex with you wrong? Oh god. I mean it's not like I'm experienced in the way of the lesbians, here."

"I don't think you can really do it wrong, B," Faith says, a hint of amusement in her voice from her little rant. The way of the lesbians? Really?

"I just… I need time," Buffy tells her, squeezing her hand a little. "And probably some space. So I can just… figure out what I want. Okay?"

Faith just nods, and she misses the feeling of Buffy's hand as she slips it away. Faith takes a breath, trying to just… relax. Because that? That didn't go as bad as she thought it would. Compared to what she was expecting, that just set off fireworks.

Buffy gets up, about to leave, when she turns back around again. "I don't know how long it'll take," she tells her, or maybe warns her. "And I don't expect you to wait around for me. So if you…"

The only thing Faith can do is nod, but that's probably because she can't find her voice. After Buffy leaves, she just sits there for a little while, just trying to come to terms that something might actually happen between the two of them. Something real. That there is something real, somewhere, hidden deep down. If there wasn't then Buffy wouldn't be doing this.

It seemed so much like a fantasy, but when Faith stands up, feeling the soreness from the fight they had last night, she smiles. Bruises never felt so good.

Chapter Twelve

"You woke up naked with Buffy?!"

Faith slams her stake down that she was in the middle of sharpening, and looks up at Kennedy who has decided to grace Faith with her presence this afternoon. "What is this, high school?" Faith replies, frustrated. "How the hell does everyone find out about this shit??"

"I don't know about everyone, but Buffy told Willow and Willow told me," Kennedy says as she just invites herself into Faith's room. Faith just stares at her. But Kennedy isn't put off by her unwelcoming behavior; instead she smiles and plops down next to her. "So, details?"

"Apparently you already got them from Willow," Faith responds as she picks up her stake again, gripping her blade as she flecks off pieces of wood.

"Not the same thing," Kennedy tells her. "Besides," she goes on, with a little taunt in her voice, "Don't you want to know what Buffy said about it…?"

"Do I look fifteen to you?"

"No, you look like a woman who's hopelessly in love and therefore needs to know if she has a chance in hell. Don't you want to know…?" Still with the taunting. Faith tries to ignore her, but her curiosity is peaked. She acts nonchalant though as she focuses on sharpening.

"You know, you getting your lesbian kicks through me is really fucking weird. You do have a woman of your own, you know."

"Just tell me."

Faith rolls her eyes as she lets out a breath, putting her stake down before looking at her. She cocks an eyebrow. "I don't know. We got drunk, we made out, we fought, made out some more, probably while naked, and apparently didn't have sex. The end."

Kennedy scoffs. "Alright, even Buffy gave more detail than that."

"What do you want me to say, Ken? I don't want to get all fuckin' googly eyed and get my hopes up and whatever else about this. B said she needed time, and knowing her that could be years," Faith says. And it's the truth. While she was absolutely ecstatic for a little while, she realized that Buffy is the queen of indecisiveness when it comes to her romantic life, and it might take forever for her to even come to a decision about them. So basically, she's back where she started, only this time she has the ghost of Buffy's lips lingering on hers and memories that make a lot better masturbation material than her fantasies just because they're real.

"Years? Please. I give it a week tops," Kennedy says with her little cocky know-it-all attitude. Faith just looks at her skeptically, so Kennedy leans forward, putting her elbows on her knees as she looks at her. "Look, the girl's into you. I know it, you know it, and more importantly, she knows it. It won't take long before she cracks."

Faith doesn't say anything for a moment, but only cause she's battling with herself over a asking a question or not. She loses though, and she asks begrudgingly, "What did Buffy say about me?"

"HA!" Kennedy says, a smile of victory on her face as she has the nerve to point at her. "I knew you couldn't stand it for long!"

"Fuck off, seriously."

"You need to work on your manners," Kennedy tells her pointedly, but sits back and crosses her legs as she looks at her, this smirk lingering on her lips. "Well, for starters, she told Willow that you were beautiful." That makes Faith raise her eyebrows, and Kennedy's smirk widens. "And…" she draws out.

"Don't pull this crap, come on."

Kennedy chuckles, "This is fun for me, I gotta prolong it for my own benefit."

"You act like I won't kick your ass out this fucking door," Faith growls, grumpy. She doesn't want to be played with today. Especially not over something like this.

"You seriously have way too much tension, when's the last time you got laid?" Kennedy asks, commenting on her violent little tendencies she's been having lately.

Faith sighs, leaning back on her bed. She stares at the ceiling. "I dunno. Like a week?" Fuck. It really has been far too long.

"Oh, ouch. No wonder."

"Well it's not like I can go pick up any random person anymore; last time I did I got my ass handed to me by Buffy. Really not looking to start another fight right now."

Kennedy smirks, leaning down to lie on the bed next to her. "You can't say that Buffy getting all jealous and violent over you doesn't get you going though." She prods her a bit, making all these little faces that Faith almost wants to slap off of her. Why does she talk to this girl? Really.

"Just tell me what she said, damn."

Kennedy smirks, playing with the comforter a bit as she talks, "That kissing you was one of the best kisses she's ever had in her life."

Faith whips her head around to face her instead of the ceiling, and fuck; she thinks she just pulled something. She rubs her neck as she asks, "Seriously?"

"Mhm…" Kennedy says with a smile, but then she shrugs and sighs. "But you know her. She thinks if she has sex with you the whole world will come to an end. Big angst; fight-to-the-death… whatever it is with you guys.

"That's a little fucking dramatic."

"It's Buffy."

"…Good point," Faith says, then picks herself back up to a sitting position. She sighs as she puts her hands together and rests them on her lips for a second, her elbows on her knees as she stares at the wall. Then all of a sudden she's up again, slapping her hands on her thighs. "And she's right, ain't she? I mean, us? All we're gonna do is fight and fuck if we start doing this whole thing. Which, yeah, alright, the fuckin' part would be great and all that but we're just gonna end up destroying each other. I love her, she thinks I'm hot, yeah whatever, one day. The next? We're both trying to tear each other's fucking faces off."

"Okay, both of you with all this drama is getting stupid," Kennedy tells her, looking at her pointedly. "You love her, Faith. You guys have this weird little connection or something, whatever the hell Willow was talking about, and it's like… alright, I don't want to say destiny, but I'll say it anyway."

Faith scoffs, "Over the top, ya think?"

"As opposed to you two?" Kennedy says, then mocks, with dramatic little swooning gestures, "Oh, I love her soooo much but if we ever pursue this relationship we'll bring about the next apocalypse!" She folds her arms into herself and raises a brow, "Really. Get over yourselves. If you two do the naked thing, I highly doubt some Big Bad is going to rise from hell."

"It's not just the naked thing!" Faith exclaims, getting up and grabbing her stake, twirling it in her fingers as she walks around. "It's more than just down and dirty fucking, here. This is Buffy."

"Like I said; get over yourselves. Buffy ain't all that, and frankly neither are you, so really? Just get your girl and move on with her in your life. You guys are completely into torturing yourselves, and it's getting old."

"Fuck off."

"Once again with the manners," Kennedy says, but stands up. "Hey," she says softer, looking at her. Faith makes a point not to look back at her, a scowl on her face as she focuses on the stake in her hand. "In all seriousness… you love her. Just do what feels right, but don't torture yourself because you think you can't handle the bad. No relationship is perfect."

"Whatever," Faith mumbles, biting the inside of her cheek a little. She knew she was right, but that didn't make her any less freaked out about it. It's like everything she's ever wanted is really within her reach, fuckin' finally… and what does she do? She finds reasons why she can't just take it. It's so damn typical for her that the repetitiveness of the entire thing really makes her kind of hate herself.

Besides, the word relationship makes her scoff a bit. Not that she didn't want that with Buffy. She's just never been one for dates, flowers, moon eyes, and the touchy-feeliness… but with her? She's pretty sure she could manage. Hopefully, anyway. But Buffy wanting to be in a relationship with her? See, there's one of two ways this whole thing can go: One, Buffy decides she does want to get down and dirty with her, they do it a couple times, end up in some big fight, blah blah. The fucking end, thanks for playing the game. Two, she tells her she's completely straight and that last night was due to misjudgments and too much vodka.

A relationship didn't exactly fit in the picture.

Kennedy left, leaving her to her thoughts. Later that night, she took the troops on patrol… with Buffy. Weekends were always the busiest, so they had to double up the man power. Honestly, Faith was surprised Buffy let them take last night off, because she was usually General Uptight about it. But the group did deserve at least one big hurrah for the whole saving the world from impending doom thing, and at least everyone else had fun.

Well, alright, she did have fun. Obviously. With Buffy's tongue down her throat and the nakedness, that usually equaled fun. If they just wiped the fight out of the picture, and the morning awkwardness, it was damn near close to a successful first date. Though not like Faith has any others to compare it too.

The word date in her head makes her snort out loud though since it was so close to ridiculous that she found it amusing, and a couple people, including Buffy, turn to look at her in question.

"Just… thought of something funny," Faith mumbles, not really wanting all the attention right now, which was probably a shocker, but hey. Patrolling with Buffy after their conversation that morning was weird. They barely even spoke to each other besides a few awkward, "Hi's."

"Least you're having fun in your head," Rona says with a bit of a huff as she plays with her axe. "This is boring." She swings her weapon a little absentmindedly, almost cutting Vi in the process.

"Hey, watch it!"

"Gotta agree there," Kennedy interjects, like always. Faith is ninety eight percent sure that if this girl doesn't stick her opinion in at every chance she gets, her head might explode. "There are ten of us and we've killed two vampires. Two."

"Look guys, I know this isn't the most active patrol we've had, but we have to stick to the schedule. One more hour," Buffy tells them, to which everyone groans. "We can spread out, cover more ground. But stay in each other's line of sight and if there's a problem, yell for either Faith or myself."

Some people were heard mocking Buffy under their breaths, but Buffy chose to ignore it. Faith, however, didn't. "Hey, do what she says and stop bitching. This is training, not a walk on the fuckin' beach."

"Way to defend your woman," Kennedy says in this amused little tone and a fist thrust in the air, and for a split second Faith has the urge to rip her head off of her body.

Instead she just gives her a sarcastic smile and flips her off. "Eat me."

"Otherwise engaged, but thanks for the offer."

Buffy was turning pink all through that exchange, especially with the few stares in her direction from the Slayers that didn't wander off far enough to not be in hearing range. "Faith, don't," she says quietly, embarrassed, as Kennedy just looks at them in amusement before going off with Rona, leaving the two slayers alone. "I can handle myself."

"I just don't like people mouthin' off to you, B."

"I know, and… I appreciate the ‘grr' and all, but I can handle it," Buffy tells her softly. She looked all kinds of awkward and embarrassed over it, so Faith threw up her hands in defense.

"Hey, sorry. You want the troops to disrespect, it's cool."

"That's not…" Buffy starts, but sighs a little. "They're just frustrated. Do you remember when we first got our powers? It's like nothing could touch us. We just wanted to just kill demons all day long." She pauses, then admits, "Well okay, that was more you than me, but I did enjoy it a lot at the beginning, and I remember being frustrated when there was no action. They just have pent up energy. Let them live through a few apocalypses and then have them run through a cemetery when it's quiet. That's the only time they'll be thankful that it is."

"Way to make us sound old," Faith says, but she smirks a little, glancing in her direction out of the corner of her eyes. She meant to just look away, but Buffy's eyes catch hers and she smiles a little before shrugging.

"We are old, at least for being Slayers."

"Hey, come on," Faith says, twirling her stake in between her fingers. "You know us. We ain't gonna be dying any time soon. I'm willin' to put money on us fifty years from now, kicking undead ass with our walkers together." She laughs a little at that mental picture, then she realizes how that sounded. Like she meant she wanted to grow old with Buffy. Them. Together. She quickly says, "Didn't mean that the way it sounded."

"…I didn't think anything of it until just now," Buffy tells her quietly, and Faith feels like an idiot for opening her mouth and basically putting the idea in her head when she was trying to dismiss it. They're silent for a little while as they walk through the headstones, keeping their eyes on their little disciples. Finally Buffy says, "Do we… should we talk?"

"We talked this morning," Faith says, not looking at her. "And, y'know, I get it. I respect it. It's cool. I can do the space thing, back off for a bit. Be over here," she moves away from her a bit, to get her point across, "until you need me. Or don't. Or. Whatever." She finally lets herself glance in her direction, though only for her little self reward for making that come out sounding okay and not the sad mess that she really felt about it.

"Have you done the… space thing, before?" Buffy asks carefully, then makes a face. "That was stupid, of course you haven't. No relationships." Then her eyes go wide. "Not that this is a… you know. Just. With the feelings, it's kind of not just a sex thing, so I don't know if there's any other word besides… you know. But not that you know is completely off the table, cause it's not. But it's not all the way on the table either, maybe like suspending mid-air, like some haunted book, or maybe a haunted muffin? I think I heard about a haunted muffin once, though I really wouldn't compare it to a relat—"

"B," Faith says, amused. "You're babbling."

"Right. Sorry," Buffy says, turning pink again. It makes Faith smile a little, cause fuck. Buffy was cute. And yeah, that word ain't normally in her vocabulary but right now? With the babbling and the embarrassment? She was very cute.

"You're cute when you do that," Faith tells her, then wants to punch herself in the flippin' jaw. Alright. Brain? Mouth? Meet filter. Fuckin' ridiculous.

Buffy looks down, her pink turning into a brighter shade of red. "Sorry," Faith says, automatically. "Backing off. Shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's fine," Buffy says softly, trying to get over her embarrassment. "It's just… weird," she admits, looking up at her again. "Not the woman thing. Well, okay, that's weird too. But. You. You and the sweet comments? I'm used to… sex comments. The sweet is kind of throwing me for a loop."

"Sorry," Faith mumbles again, and now it's her turn to be embarrassed. The sweet thing was new for her too. Not that she didn't always have sickingly sweet comments floating in her brain all damn day about the woman, but voicing them out loud? That would be a first. For anyone.

"No. It's… good," Buffy says finally, but then looks a bit awkward for admitting that. She turns away from her, choosing to look at the troops and their endless boredom. "I mean it's nice. And. I um, I appreciate them."

"Well… you're welcome then," Faith says slowly, like she doesn't know what to say to that.

"And it's not just you," Buffy blurts out suddenly. "It's not just the relationship with you thing that's got me wigged. It's all of my relationships. And all the bad. It's always just heartbreak and pain and I don't think I'm ready to do that again right now."

"B… you sure this is the time to talk about this?" Faith asks, thinking it's a little soon since Buffy said she needed space. Besides, they were in the middle of patrolling with eight other slayers. Granted, not a single one was paying attention to them, but still.

"No," Buffy says, fiddling with her own stake nervously, "But I just… wanted you to know."

"Noted and filed. Relationships; bad."

"No, Faith. No," Buffy says, sounding exasperated with her. She finally looks at her again as she says, "I'm not saying poo on relationships. I know you've never done the relationship thing so I'm not trying to tell you that when you finally do that I'm all ‘no, relationships are evil' now, cause I'm not. I'm just… wary of them, at the moment."

"Got it," Faith says, keeping her answers short and sweet. But Buffy looks disgruntled.

"You know, opinions would be helpful here."

"You know me, not much of a talker," Faith says, avoiding her gaze. But Buffy keeps staring at her expectantly so she sighs, attempting to get in on the whole talking thing. "Fine. No, I ain't never done a relationship. No, I don't know if I'd be any good at it. No, I'm not sure it'll work out between us either, and no, I don't know if I can wait for you. There, happy? Everything you need to know between this morning and now."

Buffy blinks, not really expecting that. "Okay…" she says slowly. "Hated that last answer, but I did ask for it. Though, not specifically, so kinda wish you didn't say that out loud."

"Well what do you expect me to do, B?" Faith asks, rounding on her, making her stop. "You know me. Always gettin' some. About to go stir crazy and it's only been a week."

"So what?" Buffy asks, putting her hands on her hips. "Are you saying that if I did do this… thing with you, and I wanted to wait a little while, that you'd run off and cheat on me because I wasn't putting out?"

"What? No. I didn't say that. Don't put fuckin' words in my mouth, Buffy."

"Well what's the difference then?" Buffy asks, clearly annoyed now.

But Faith doesn't have a chance to answer, because all of a sudden they hear a scream, their names being called, and they're both taking off towards the sound without a moment's hesitation. Talking would have to come later.

Next