The Three of Us

I apologize, because it's summer, between rugby and the cabin, updates will be slower.
Reviews are welcome.
This Chapter was beta'd by The_Queen_of_Chaos, many thanks for her help.
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Faith walked up to Giles’ house and knocked. “Hey G-man,” she said when he opened the door. “How you doin’.”

“I’m fine Faith, and yourself?”

“Five by five, G.” Giles removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Of course you are.” He watched Faith as she sat on the couch and started to fidget. “Is there something I may be of assistance with Faith?”

“Huh? Oh, I dunno.” She sighed. She looked around the room, then looked at Giles again. “I went to the school with Mrs. S. today.”

“How did that go?”

“Pretty good actually, they seem to be really nice people. Most of the students are older than me though.”

“Yes, well, you did expect that they would be.”

“Yeah. Guess I’m just nervous ya know. It’s gonna be hard with slayin’ and homework and stuff.”

“That’s to be expected Faith. This will be a challenge for you. I have no doubt you will do well if you apply yourself to your courses. You are not dumb Faith; you’ve proven to me how agile your mind is. A little bit of work and you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah but it don’t make me any less nervous.”

Giles smiled at her, “Nervousness is something I would never have thought I’d see in you. You do have to remember Faith; it is not a character flaw to be nervous about a challenge. Once you get into it you’ll see there was nothing to be nervous about.”

“You’re right, my character is flawed enough.” Giles laughed at the dark slayer.

“That’s it Faith, a good sense of humour will help. I have to go out for a bit. I would like you and Buffy to do some training on your sword work. If it’s okay would you mind training her in the style that you use? She’s become quite enamoured with it. It seems that it’s all she talks about with Xander. I’m more of a cut and thrust type myself.”

“That’s good for the short Roman sword you trained her with, but the katana gives you a longer reach and the lightness allows you more flexibility.”

Giles tilted his head as he listened. “You seem to know more than you’ve let on. Any other secrets I should know.”

Faith’s eyes twinkled as she leaned back into the couch. “Are you sure it’s the sword play she’s enamoured with?” Giles furrowed his brow as he thought about her statement. “What else could it be?”

Faith laughed, “You’ll figger it out.” She stood and smiled at him. “Thanks G-man, B’s almost here so I’ll go get changed.”

“You’re welcome Faith. I am here to talk to if you need me.”

“Yeah, thanks again.” She said as she headed down the stairs.

Faith had changed and was standing on the mats doing some stretching when Buffy charged down the stairs. She ran over and leapt onto the dark slayer. Faith staggered as she wrapped her arms around her. “Whoa there B. You tryin’ ta kill me?”

“No, I’ve just been waiting all day to do this.” She brought her lips to Faith’s and proceeded to kiss her. When they came up for air, Faith smiled at her and touched their foreheads together. “Hello to you too.” She lightly brushed her lips over Buffy’s. “Is G-man still upstairs?” She asked.

“Nope, didn’t see him, why?”

Faith gently lowered Buffy down. “He wants me to teach you how to use a Katana.”

“YESSS!” Buffy’s face lit up like a sunbeam. “This is gonna be so cool! I can hardly wait.” Buffy started moving around the room with her hands holding an imaginary Katana and slicing through a pack of vampires. Faith just watched her with a smirk. She walked over to her duffel bag and pulled out the bokken.

“Go get changed and I’ll give you one of these to play with.” Buffy went over to Faith and kissed her. Smiling, she said, “Thank you for doing this.” then went to get changed.
Faith handed her one of the bokken when she returned. “Stand beside me, and do what I do.” Buffy moved to stand beside faith in the middle of the room. “Wrap both hands around the tsuka like so.” Faith held the bokken with her left hand at the bottom and right hand at the top of the grip. She checked to see that Buffy had it right. “We’re goin’ to go through two short strokes just to get started. Bring the bokken up, so your elbows are slightly bent, then as you follow through you snap your wrists. We’ll do a buncha strokes from the right, then the left, ok?”

Buffy watched Faith move through the cutting strokes, then started to mimic her. After ten minutes, the two were sweating profusely. Faith stopped, and turned to Buffy. “How ya feelin’?”

“This is a lot harder than it looks.”

Faith smiled at her, “Good time to tell ya we’ve only got another 50 minutes to go?”
Buffy gawked at her, “How long?”

Faith laughed as she got them some water. “I trained seven hours a day when I was learnin’.” She handed a bottle to Buffy, “My sensei was teachin’ me a way of life though, not just how to use a sword.”

‘So what are you going to do with me?”

“There’s a lotta things I wanna do with you. As far as usin’ a sword goes, I’ll teach ya the basics. If ya wanna learn more, I’d recommend findin’ a proper sensei.”

Buffy grinned at her, “Dear me, are you flirting with me Faith?”

Faith looked around the room, “Do you see anyone else here?”

Buffy slowly moved towards Faith, “Why, no I don’t.” She looked up at Faith as she closed the distance. It was a surprise when she kissed the bokken blade.

“Uh-uh B, we got another fifty minutes to do. We do it now, I ain’t gotta do it later.” Buffy pouted at her and Faith just laughed. “Don’t waste it, we got work to do.” She turned Buffy so that she was facing away from her. “One of the things you have to learn, is to be able to ignore any distractions. You alternate left and right cuts, and I’ll guide you. Okay?”

Buffy shrugged, “Sure.” She gasped when she felt Faith’s entire body press up against her from behind. Faith reached around Buffy and covered her hands on the bokken with her own. “Your hands go like this.” she whispered in Buffy’s ear as she adjusted them. Buffy could feel the warmth from Faith setting her nerves aflame. She started to push back into Faith. “No B, this is serious. You have to be able to ignore distractions.”

“You want me to ignore the fact that you’re stuck to me, and it’s making me horny?”

“Yup,” was the whispered reply. “Now, as I go through the cuts like this, you’ll be able to follow exactly what I do with my hands, arms, and legs. Then you’ll learn. But remember to concentrate.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Nooo,” Buffy whined twenty minutes later when Faith pulled away. “I liked you there.” Faith smirked at her. “I’m sure you did. Now we’re gonna do the same thing, but I’ll be next to you.”

Buffy put her water bottle down, “When do I learn how to fight with the katana?”

“This is the first position B. There’s four more, then you have ta learn to string them together. Once we get ta that point, we’ll look into gettin’ you one.” Buffy sighed and let her shoulders droop. “I’ll never get to use one.”

“You’re a dork B.” Faith said smiling. “Like I told you, I started out seven hours a day, and there’s still a lot I can learn.” She moved to the middle of the floor. “C’mon, we got thirty minutes left.”

When they’d finished, Buffy collapsed onto the bench. “I’m exhausted, are you trying to kill me?”

Faith smiled at her, “Nah, just teachin’ the basics.” She reached down and picked up Buffy’s bokken, “You sit, I’m gonna go through the rest of my routine.” Faith stepped to the middle of the room with a bokken in each hand. Buffy watched as the two wooden swords started to cut through the air. In seconds they were a blur. She could hear Faith breathing hard, but she heard no noise from the swords. They never made contact as they whirled around Faith’s body. Buffy stood from the bench and moved along the wall till she was staring straight at Faith. She slowly lifted her water bottle to her lips and tipped it. The water dribbled down the front of her sports bra. Buffy smiled and watched Faith’s eyes as she tipped it even more. Dropping the bottle she started to run her hands across her wet stomach. Still watching Faith, she slowly licked her lips, as her hands moved over her breasts. She moaned slightly as she pinched her nipples through the fabric. Massaging her breasts with both hands she kept her eyes locked on Faith’s.
“Whatcha doin’ B?” Faith panted as she continued her routine.

“Distracting you, why?”

Faith laughed, “Ain’t gonna work B, but yer welcome ta try.”

Buffy shrugged her shoulders and slid down the wall. Sitting on the floor she pulled at both nipples and moaned. Her left hand slid under her bra and she started playing with her right breast. Faith could see the movement of her fingers through the fabric, and still the two bokken never touched. Buffy broke out in a lazy smile as she watched Faith. Her right hand slowly slid down her stomach and started to disappear into her shorts. Faith’s eyebrows shot up as she watched, yet she still didn’t miss a step. Buffy’s fingers slowly started moving inside her shorts. She groaned slightly as her fingers picked up speed while she watched Faith. Her hips started to move to the tempo her fingers set. A gasp escaped from Buffy as she dipped a finger inside herself. She pulled her bra up freeing her breasts as she tugged at a nipple. Moaning, her hand switched breasts and tweaked the other nipple. She inserted another finger into her slit and started to fuck herself harder. She groaned loudly when she started to circle her clit with her thumb.

Faith’s breathing had become ragged. The two bokken cut through the air at a furious pace. Rivulets of sweat were running down her body. Still the swords never wavered or touched. Buffy was furiously humping herself now. Gasping, moaning, grunting, she was past caring if she distracted Faith anymore. She could feel Faith’s arousal through their Slayer connection, and that only increased her desire. She twisted away from the wall so she was lying on her back. The tempo of her hips increased along with her fingers. She was so close now, her eyes squeezed shut, a breast in one hand and two fingers stuffed inside of her, there was nothing on this earth except for the nerve endings n her clit. She increased the pressure from her thumb and continued rubbing her clit. Drops of sweat emerged on her body as she drove herself closer to the edge.

“Faith.” she cried as she came. Her head flopped from side to side as her body stiffened. Her hips were thrust in the air as she shook with her orgasm. She collapsed in a heap as she sucked in a huge gulp of air. “God!” she moaned as the aftershocks coursed through her body. Slowly her eyes refocused on Faith. She blushed as she bit her bottom lip. “Did I really do that?” Faith nodded as she kept the swords moving. Buffy smiled, then pulled her fingers out of her shorts. Watching Faith, she brought her fingers to her lips and slowly sucked them in. Faith brought the bokken to a halt in front of herself. “Yeah, you did. Now it’s my turn to distract you.” She laid the swords down on the mat and started to approach Buffy.

“Umm, Faith?” Buffy held her hand up to stop her. “Do you really want our first time to be on the floor in Giles’ basement?”

“Oh, God.” Faith crumbled to the floor. “Yer not really doin’ this to me. Are you?”

“It’s not really that I don’t want to, it’s just it would feel weird doing it here.”

“I can overlook that.” Faith started to lean towards Buffy. Her eyes were black with lust and Buffy could feel herself weakening.

“No, no, I can’t.” She reached out to touch Faith’s arm. “I feel strange enough that I did what I just did. I want it to be special, not just scratching an itch. Do you understand?”

Faith’s head drooped. “Yeah, I do. But do you have any idea how frustrated I am right now? I’m gonna explode!”

“I’m sorry,” Buffy whispered. “I could feel your excitement through the Slayer connection.” She smiled at Faith, “It really made things more intense.”

“I’m glad, but it’s not helpin’ me any at the moment.”

Buffy sat up and kissed Faith gently on the cheek. “Trust me, you’ll get it back.” She stood and tucked her breasts back into her sports bra. Turning, she went to the cooler and pulled out two water bottles. She looked into Faith’s eyes as she handed her a bottle. She could read the longing in her eyes and knew it matched her own. “Soon.” was all she said.

The two Slayers sat in the kitchen on Revello Drive. Buffy pushed her plate away and looked at Faith. “I needed that. I was starved.” Faith nodded as she pushed some food around on her plate. “You ok? Did I do something?”

Faith’s head snapped up. “No, I just been thinkin’, that’s all.” Faith took her hands off the table and let them drop to her side.

Buffy stood and moved next to Faith. She stepped over and sat in Faith’s lap facing her. “I’m going to assume you’re done with that.” she smiled. She slid her hands down Faith’s arms to just past her elbows, then pulled her arms up and wrapped Faith’s arms behind her. Placing her arms over Faith’s shoulders, she looked into her chocolate eyes. “Is this better? Or would you prefer this?” Buffy leaned forward slightly and gently touched Faith’s lips. After a moment she pulled back and raised an eyebrow at the dark Slayer.

Faith slowly opened her eyes and gazed into Buffy’s. “I don’t know if I wanna smack you or kiss you.” Faith’s low voice raised the hair on Buffy’s arms. “I’m frustrated as hell, but I’ll do anythin’ for you. It’s no wonder I’ve never dated before.” With a sigh her head dropped forward and rested on Buffy’s shoulder. “How many dates do we hafta go on before we can start sleepin’ together?”

“What do you mean?”

Faith looked at Buffy, “Well, what are the rules? Do we hafta go out three times then its okay to touch each other? Do we hafta go out three or four more times before we can sleep together? How many times have we dated? Does patrollin count? I don’t know the rules and it ain’t helpin’ bein’ so frustrated either.”

Buffy sighed, “There really isn’t a set of ‘Rules’ to follow. When we’re comfortable enough with each other it’ll happen.”

“You looked pretty comfortable this afternoon.”

Buffy blushed. “I’ve never, ever done anything like that before. Feeling your excitement just fuelled my own and I couldn’t stop. Not that I wanted to.”

Faith gently kissed her. “You looked so fuckin’ hot; I almost came just watchin’ you.”

“Thanks for the compliment.” Buffy smiled, then leaned forward and kissed Faith again. “I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I haven’t felt like this in a long time.” Faith furrowed her brow and leaned back to look at Buffy.

“You’ve felt this before?”

“Crap.” Buffy sighed. She bit her bottom lip and looked at Faith. Seeing the question in her eyes, she made up her mind. “I didn’t want to say anything, but yeah. I had these feelings once before, but I didn’t recognize them, or maybe I chose to ignore them. You made me re-examine my life and that’s when I figured it out.” Buffy could see the hurt rising in Faith’s eyes.

“So what does that mean?” Faith asked quietly as she turned her head from Buffy.

“It just means I have some, umm, issues to deal with. Then I’m all about you. Well it’s pretty much all you now anyways.”

Faith sighed, “I’m missin’ somethin’ here. What does this mean for us?”

“It means I have to deal with some questions, and then we’re 100 percent.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

Buffy recoiled in shock, “God no!” She leaned forward and rested her forehead on Faith’s. “I want you right here with me. I just have to sort some stuff out about me. It’s nothing to do with you. Believe me when I tell you I belong to you.”

“Was it Angel?”

Buffy looked away from Faith, she sighed as she turned back. “No, it wasn’t Angel. It was Cordelia.”

Faith paused, “I don’t remember that name.”

“No, she’s in L.A. now. She works for Angel. She went to school with us and used to date Xander.”

“And you say she made you feel like I do.”

“Yeah, don’t doubt yourself Faith. I didn’t realize my feelings with her, but I sure as hell did with you.”

“I never was known for bein’ subtle.”

Buffy smiled at her girlfriend, then leaned forward and kissed her long and hard. “Subtlety is definitely not one of your strong points.” Buffy looked at the clock and sighed. “It’s almost midnight. I’m going to bed.” She kissed Faith again. “I’ll see you in the morning. Okay?” Faith hugged Buffy tight, then kissed her. “Yeah, I should be able to last that long without ya.”

Buffy bolted upright in bed, covered in sweat. She was shaking as she reached over to turn on the bedside lamp. She shrieked when the door to her bedroom slammed open and a naked Faith stood there with a stake in one hand and a knife in the other. “Faith! What the hell are you doing?”

I heard you yellin’ all the way to the basement.” She relaxed as she spoke. Looking around the room, “I thought you were in trouble.”

“But you’re naked!”

“Well, duh! It sounded like you were bein’ attacked. I didn’t stop to get dressed!”

“Here,” Buffy tossed her robe to Faith. “Put this on before my..”

“”Buffy?” Joyce called. What’s going on?” She walked in as Faith closed the robe.

“I was having a bad dream and Faith came to rescue me.” She giggled as Faith blushed.

“Oh,” Joyce looked between the two girls. She turned to Buffy, “Are you okay?”

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded. “It was just a bad dream, and Faith heard me.”

Joyce cocked an eyebrow at her daughter. “I didn’t hear anything till I heard your door slam.”

“It was my Slayer hearing.” Faith spoke up. “I could hear her whimperin’ and moanin’. Then it sounded like a muffled yell, and that’s when I came up.”

“Okay,” Joyce turned back to Buffy. “If everyone’s okay, I’m going back to bed.”

“Me too.” Faith said as she followed Joyce out of Buffy’s room.

“Goodnight.” Buffy watched her mom close the door as she left. She sighed as she flopped back onto her bed, ‘Now what do I do?’ she thought. ‘I tell Faith about Cordelia, and now I’m having nightmares about her. But that dream really scared me.’ She sat up on the edge of the bed, put her elbows on her knees, and held her head in her hands. ‘I need to call her. I really think something’s wrong. It didn’t really feel like a slayer dream, but I’m not sure.’ She sighed and stared up at the ceiling. ‘If I call her and nothing’s wrong, she’ll never talk to me again. The upside would be that I don’t have to worry about my feelings anymore.’ She stood up and walked to her desk. Digging around she found her address book and looked up Cordelia’s number. Picking up her cell she dialed as she sat back down on the bed.

“Who the fuck is that?” Cordelia mumbled as she struggled to pick up the phone. “Hello?” she croaked in a sleep caked voice.

“Cordelia?” Buffy asked. “It’s Buffy.”

“Who?”

“Buffy, Buffy Summers.” She could hear Cordelia rustling around in the sheets.

“It’s two-thirty in the morning, what do you want?” Cordelia snapped.

“I’m sorry to wake you, but I had a nightmare and you were in it. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

Cordelia sat up in the bed. “You have a bad dream and you phone me? Why would you call me? Did I even talk to you when I lived in Sunnyhell?”

Buffy closed her eyes, ‘This is not going well.’ She thought. She sighed as she spoke, “We did exchange pleasantries on occasion. And we were civil while you dated Xander.”

“So that makes it okay to call me at this time of night?”

“I’m sorry; I was scared you’d been hurt. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

Cordelia thought for a moment, “Tell me about this dream.”

“Okay,” Buffy spoke quietly into the phone, “But it isn’t pretty. It really scared me.”

“Just tell me.” Cordelia ordered.

“Okay,” Buffy paused, and then started to talk. “You were in a cave, and there were a number of Vahrall demons. They dragged you into the middle of the cave and dropped you on the floor next to a large fire. I could see you moving, so I knew you weren’t dead. I could see what was going on, but I wasn’t really there. I tried to reach you, but I couldn’t. One of them pulled a large knife out and he cut off your clothes. When you were naked another one of them appeared with a long metal pole. It was pointed on one end. They rolled you over on your stomach, and then they started to push the pole inside you.” Buffy’s voice trailed off. She could hear Cordelia’s breathing on the other end.

“What happened next?” she asked Buffy.

Buffy swallowed, and then continued. “They pushed it into you for a ways and then it stopped. One of them picked your head up off the floor and then two of them pushed the pole the rest of the way through. It came out your mouth. I could still see you twitching. They trussed you to the pole, then they injected you with something and you started to come to. I could see you moving and I heard your muffled screams. Two of them picked you up and placed you over the fire. I couldn’t get to you Cordelia, everything I tried, and I couldn’t save you. It scared the crap out of me. That’s when I woke up.” Buffy waited for Cordelia to say something. She nervously bit her bottom lip as the seconds ticked away.

“You said it was a bunch of Vahrall demons?” Cordelia finally asked.

“Yeah,” Buffy replied. “There were five or six of them. I’ve never known them to barbeque anyone though. Have you heard of that before?”

“No, but they’re demons, so who knows.”

“I’m sorry Cordelia. It just scared me so badly and I was worried so I thought I should call and make sure you were okay. I know we’ve never really been close, but I didn’t know what to do. And I started to think that maybe something did happen, then how would I feel, so I ...”

“Did you turn into Rosenberg since I’ve been gone?”

“Huh?” Buffy stopped.

“You’re babbling like Willow. I’m okay, and I appreciate the fact that you called to check on me. It would’ve been alright if you’d waited till later today though.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry, I’m glad you’re okay. I’ll let you go back to sleep now. It was nice talking to you.”

“Why don’t you tell me what else has happened since I left. Fill me in on how everyone is doing.”

Buffy looked at the phone, “Okay, who is this and what have you done with Cordelia.”

Cordelia laughed on the other end. “It’s me Buffy; I’ve just changed a little. That’s all. Besides, after what you just told me, it’s not like I’m going to get any sleep anyways, right?”

Buffy smiled and leaned back on the headboard. “I’d like that.”