A Witch In LA

Chapter 16

Tara laughs quietly, as Faith teaches Dawn the correct way to throw a punch. Biting her lip, she leans back in the chair.

“Little D, if you tuck your thumb in your hand like that it’s gonna get broke.” Faith grouses, un-tucking her hand and showing her how to make a tight fist with her thumb snug against the first knuckles. “Like that.”

Looking down at the spell book, Tara shakes her head, smirking. She realized a couple times ago, that Dawn was doing it just to irritate the slayer. To Faith’s credit, she’s been very understanding and has explained it to her numerous times. “Dawn you might want to do something else.” Tara finally calls out, not wanting the teen to actually push Faith’s patience too far.

Dawn pouts at Tara, knowing she’s busted. “I wanted to see how many times she would show me before getting angry.”

“Obviously.” Tara looks up, eyes twinkling. “But I’m the one that has to live with her. I would prefer that you not irritate her too badly.”

Faith narrows her gaze on the teen, and crosses her arms over her chest. “You fuckin’ with me D?”

Dawn’s eyes widen, and she nods her head hesitantly. “But it was all in good fun. Honest.”

“Yeah, right.” Faith growls quietly. “She was wantin’ to go to Caritas tonight, wasn’t she?” Faith turns to look at Tara, winking briefly.

“She was, yes.” Tara watches her lover curiously.

“But she wasn’t wanting to sing.” Faith raises an eyebrow, looking at the teen.

“No, I can’t sing. Already found that out when the Singing Demon tried to make me his Queen.” Dawn shakes her head, blushing.

“You wanna go, you’re gonna have to sing.” Faith smirks at the teen. “Paybacks a bitch.” She mutters, walking to sit beside Tara.

“Ah, Faith!” Dawn whines quietly. “That just isn’t fair.” She actually starts looking around the two women’s room, smiling as she sees some of Tara’s obvious decorating in the room. Catching sight of a picture frame, she works her way over to the picture picking it up, smiling softly at the picture of Faith and Tara. Obviously the couple had been caught unawares as Tara’s eyes are half closed and her head is tilted sideways towards Faith who has her arms around the witch and her lips pressed gently to her temple. “Who took this picture?” Dawn questions softly, glancing over at Faith and Tara, smirking as Faith pulls away from nibbling on Tara’s neck.

“Queenie.” Faith grumbles quietly at being interrupted. “After they bought that digital camera she’s been sneaking around taking pictures all the time. Bitch.”

“But I noticed you sure were interested in a lot of those pictures.” Tara grins at her lover. “And I must say some of them have turned out pretty good.”

“Yeah, but I don’t understand why she’s always takin’ pictures of us.” Faith growls.

“Probably because we’re the only ones ever doing anything picture worthy.” Tara laughs as she leans in and kisses Faith’s pouty lip. “And the camera has come in handy with helping us classify some of the demons we’ve come across.”

“Yeah, yeah. I just wish that she’d stop with catching me when I’m distracted.” Faith snarks.

“Is this a picture she saved and can print more of?” Dawn softly requests. “It’s sweet. I kind of want to have something to take back home with me, if you don’t mind.” Dawn looks questioningly at the two women.

“She’s probably got hundreds of pictures.” Tara admits. “Just all of them aren’t quite appropriate for you to have.” Tara blushes momentarily, and smacks Faith on the leg as she snorts in laughter.

Dawn grins as she places the picture back on the dresser. Glancing over the walls, she grins at the different pictures decorating it. Most of them of either or both of the women, a couple of the rest of the crew. Laughing quietly as she sees Gunn with something pink literally dripping off him. “I’m assuming this is either Demon blood or guts of some sort?”

Faith stands up and walks over to the picture Dawn’s laughing at. “Yeah, he should have ducked.” Faith chuckles. “At least it wasn’t smelly like a lot of them are.”

“We’ll make sure she gets some pictures of all of us before you leave Sunday.” Tara mentions quietly, as she places the book on the table. Walking slowly over to Faith, she wraps her arms around her waist and rubs her face gently over her shoulder. “I wouldn’t mind having some of you, Dawnie. All I have is your small school pictures.” Tara smiles softly at the teen.

“She might have already been takin’ pictures.” Faith squeezes Tara’s hands. “You know she can’t help but click away with that damn thing.”

“Then we’ll go check.” Tara smiles and places a kiss on Faith’s neck.

“I’ll go.” Dawn bounces on the balls of her feet. “I haven’t gotten to irritate her much yet.” Dawn’s eyes fill with mischief.

“Give ‘er hell, Little D.” Faith grins at the teen as she quickly heads to the door.

“I will.” Dawn smirks, as she quickly leaves the two women alone.

“Hmm. Now that we got rid of the brat, what are we gonna do?” Faith turns around, grinning at Tara.

“Make out?” Tara questions. “Can’t for long, since we’re planning on leaving in an hour for Caritas, but…”

“That’s okay. We got time for some major kissing action.” Faith groans quietly, leaning in and attacking Tara’s lips.

Tara laughs into the kiss, before kissing her lover back.

*******************

“Hey, Cordy.” Dawn chirps, watching the Seer. “Tara and Faith said you might have some pictures of them, that I can get?”

Cordelia smiles at the teen. “I’ve pretty much saved all of the ones I took. Come on over here and sit down. I put them into different folders, that way I can embarrass them later.” Cordy chuckles quietly, as she opens the folder of the two women’s pictures. Clicking on one of the sub folders, she smirks. “Look through this folder - but I really suggest you not check out the other folder, okay?”

Dawn laughs quietly, and shakes her head. “I can just imagine what you might have gotten pictures of. Do they always make out that much?”

“Always. Most of the time it’s pretty PG-13, but they’ve been known to hit the R rating quite a few times around the hotel where they can be found. Caught them once on their way to a hard X rating - but, thank God, they stopped.” Cordelia laughs. “I think they’ve been a little better about that since then. Or they’re just hiding in better spots.”

“Probably hiding in better spots.” Dawn glances up grinning, before becoming serious. “I didn’t think I would like them being a couple. I mean, I was so used to seeing Tara and Willow together and they seemed to be like the perfect couple. I had a hard time reconciling bad-ass Faith being with sweet, kind Tara.”

“At first, they don’t seem like they would be a good couple.” Cordelia nods her head in agreement. “But once the two started spending time together, and I saw how much they really, truly, love each other it became the most perfect thing I think I’ve ever seen. They belong together.”

“They really do.” Dawn nods her head, while looking through the pictures.

“Here, let me get the glossy picture paper for you.” Cordelia quickly walks over to the storage cabinet and pulls out a stack of the paper. Placing it in the tray, she smiles at the teen, surprised at how grown up she seems.

“Thanks, Cordelia.” Dawn smiles up at the woman, before glancing back down. “You’ve got a lot of good pictures of the two of them.”

“Well, with those two it’s kind of hard taking a bad picture.” Cordelia sits on the edge of the desk. “Even I have to admit they’re both very beautiful women.”

Dawn smiles at the woman’s wording. “They are. They make a good contrast against each other.” Picking a couple different pictures Dawn prints them. “Faith mentioned you might have already taken pictures of all of us together, have you?” Dawn looks hopefully at Cordelia.

“I’ve got a few I haven’t downloaded from the camera yet.” Cordelia admits, smiling. “Those the only three pictures you want?”

“For now. I don’t want to use up all your paper and ink. Maybe you can e-mail me the pictures?” Dawn mentions questioningly.

“Just give me your e-mail address before you leave.” Cordelia smiles. “I’ll download the pictures if you want me to?”

“Please.” Dawn quickly stands up out of the way, allowing Cordelia to hook up the camera to the computer.

After the pictures download, Cordelia opens the file. “I really hope…” Cordelia trails off grinning. “It did turn out. Here, I think this one was one of my favorite pictures I’ve taken since you’ve been here.”

Dawn looks over Cordelia shoulder, looking at the picture of her with Tara and Faith. “Wow.” Dawn whispers in awe. It’s a picture of Faith on one side of her and Tara on the other, the two women had actually been picking on her, pointing over to a corner of the hotel, making her think there was something there when it wasn’t, but she has a look of concentration on her face and Faith has a soft smile playing on her lips, with Tara’s crooked grin on her countenance. Obviously Cordelia had taken the picture from the stairs, because of the angle.

“Here, let me do something.” Cordelia smiles at the obvious look on Dawn’s face. Quickly opening a program she brings the picture up trimming it so just the shoulders and heads of the three women are pictured. Quickly printing off two copies, Cordelia hands one to Dawn. “I know Tara and Faith will want to have a copy of this one.”

“Thanks, Cordelia.” Dawn whispers, running a finger lightly around the edge.

“Hey, are we still going to Caritas?” Faith calls out from the counter, looking at the two women, smirking.

“Faith, look at this.” Dawn hops up and runs quickly to Faith, showing her the picture.

Faith smiles down at the picture. “Told ya’ she probably got some of us together.” Glancing up she smiles at Cordy. “Thanks, Queenie. You did good.”

“Yeah, well, don’t think we’re going to be best friends or anything, now.” Cordelia snarks at the slayer, before winking and grinning. Picking up the other print-out she hands it to Faith. “I went ahead and printed you guys a copy, also. I kind of figured you and Tara would want one.”

“You’re right.” Faith smiles in thanks at the Seer. “So, you wanna go with us?”

Cordelia looks at Faith and watches as Tara walks towards them. “Do you mind?”

“Would I have made the offer if I minded?” Faith growls, looking at the woman. “Of course you’re gonna have to listen to us sing, you know.”

“Well now that you put it that way…” Cordelia laughs at the dirty look she gets from Faith. “I guess I can go. It’s been a while, and Lorne was whining yesterday about us not being there in so long.”

“Yeah, he had to go and mention it. Little D begged all night last night and this morning ‘til we finally caved to take her there. B is probably gonna kick my ass for taking her to a demon bar.” Faith groans at the thought. Looking over at her grinning lover, she narrows her eyes. “You’re gonna have to protect me from her, you know. She won’t get mad at you.”

Tara laughs and wraps her arms around Faith, hugging her tightly. “I’ll keep the mean slayer away from my baby.”

“If you don’t, you’ll have a broken baby. Possibly in many, many pieces, baby.” Faith grumbles. “Then I won’t be good for nothin’.”

“I won’t let her hurt you, love.” Tara laughs quietly, hugging her firmly. “I love you and won’t let anything bad happen to you. I promise.”

“Let me go get my make-up fixed and let Angel know I’m going with you.” Cordelia quickly walks to the door leading down to the vampire’s apartment.

Tara turns the picture around and grins. “Our copy?”

“Yep.” Faith smirks. “Queenie figured we’d want a copy of it.”

“It looks good.” Tara admits. “Wonder what other ones she might have captured?”

“There were more, but that was the best one of all three of us. Maybe we should actually sit for her to take some pictures of us.” Dawn looks at the two women hopefully.

Faith sighs and drops her chin on her chest.

Tara places a kiss on her neck. “Yes, Dawnie, we’ll actually let Cordelia take our picture. Right, love?”

Faith grumbles quietly, before nodding her head in acceptance. “Like I got a choice.”

Tara chuckles quietly. “I don’t know why you hate having your picture taken, love. You’re beautiful. You could be a model, if you wanted to.”

“Yeah, right.” Faith growls. “Got any idea what you’re gonna sing tonight?”

“Hmm. Maybe a couple. You?” Tara questions, grinning at Dawn.

“Do I have to sing?” Dawn whines quietly.

“Yes, you do.” Faith smirks at the teen. “Personally I have a coupla ideas for songs. I figgered I’d sing a Bonnie Raitt song and make him happy, now that I know who the hell she is.”

“Have you decided which one?” Tara questions, shifting to sit down. Watching as Faith prowls slowly around the lobby. Wrapping her arm around Dawn’s shoulders as she sits down beside her. “What about you, Dawnie?”

“I guess I’ll do Love Sneakin’ Up on You.” Faith growls, before quietly laughing.

“I’ll have to look and see what songs they have when we get there, if I can’t talk you into letting me forgo this pleasure.” Dawn whines quietly.

“What about you, babe?” Faith comes to sit down beside Tara. “What’cha gonna sing?”

“I don’t know if he has it on the machine, but there’s one in particular I wouldn’t mind singing.” Tara smiles softly at Faith. “Lonely Road of Faith.” Tara admits quietly. “It kind of takes on a whole new meaning since you’ve been in my life.”

Faith smiles and kisses Tara briefly. “We gonna do a duet again?”

“Sure. But you have to choose.” Tara smirks at her lover.

“Fine.” Faith grumbles looking at Tara. “We gonna get some hot wings?”

“Of course.” Tara looks up as Cordelia and Angel walk up into the lobby. “You coming with?” Tara questions Angel.

“I don’t think so.” Angel shakes his head. “I’m going to grab Gunn and do a sweep. It’s been kind of quiet lately.” Tossing the keys to Faith, he grins. “You can have the car. Just be sure to bring it back in one piece.”

“Don’t jinx it Fang, you‘ll make all hell break loose. Thanks for the ride.” Faith growls quietly. “Well, you know where we’re at if you need us. Ready Prom Queen?” Faith smirks at Cordelia.

Cordelia snarls her nose up at the slayer. “More ready than you are.” She brushes an imaginary piece of dirt off her blazer.

“What, you gonna try and impress the Chaos Demons that go there?” Faith snarks watching the Seer.

“Well at least I don’t look like a…” Cordy snaps her mouth shut at the look she gets from Tara.

“If you two are going to act like this tonight, you can both stay here.” Tara raises an eyebrow at both women. “Can you at least get along for a short period of time, please? Or maybe just ignoring each other would be good.” Tara sighs quietly, looking at the two. “Come on, Dawnie.” Tara grumbles, leading the way to the vehicle.

“Damn. Now we done went and pissed my witch off.” Faith bitches, following Tara and Dawn.

“Sorry. I think it was more me than anything.” Cordelia whispers.

“Nah, I think it’s more the fact that Dawnie’s here and she’s trying to keep our razzing down to a minimum.” Faith admits. “So, truce tonight?”

“Truce.” Cordelia nods in agreement. “Don’t want to piss the witch off.” Cordelia smirks at Faith.

“Got that right. I won’t get my lovings if I do that.” Faith grumbles quietly, making Cordelia laugh. Faith stops at the car, looking at Tara sitting in the back seat with Dawn. Frowning, she looks at her lover. “Tara?” Faith half whines, half pleads.

Cordelia rolls her eyes and looks at the witch, who’s just calmly looking at the slayer. “Jeeze, Tara. She didn’t do anything wrong, it was me. So just climb up front so she can have her snuggles and I‘ll sit in the back with Dawn.” Cordelia shifts the seat forward looking pointedly at the witch.

Tara turns a raised eyebrow at the seer. When Cordelia crosses her arms over her chest and waits, looking at her seriously, Tara sighs. “Are you two going to behave tonight?”

“As much as possible. But I’m not guaranteeing that I won’t be somewhat sarcastic.” Cordelia admits.

“I’ll be on my best behavior.” Faith murmurs quietly, before grinning and wiggling her eyebrows. “I’ll probably get something good for behaving, huh?”

Tara rolls her eyes at Faith, before climbing out of the car, watching Cordelia sit down beside Dawn, before climbing in the front seat.

Faith slides behind the wheel starting the car. Looking sideways at Tara, she smiles hopefully. Watching as a slow smile works its way across the witch’s face, Faith chuckles. “Come on over here, babe.”

Tara shakes her head, and slides over so she’s right up against Faith. Gently placing her hand on the slayer’s upper thigh, she leans in and kisses Faith on the ear. “Love you.”

“Love you too, babe. Now let’s go rock this joint.” Faith grins as she puts the car in gear, heading towards Caritas.

***********

“Faith-y! Sweet Cheeks, Lovey. And Oooh, what do we have here?” Lorne calls out gaily as the group walks into his bar. “We’ve got a broken Starling coming to sing for us.” Lorne leans down and grabs Dawn’s good hand kissing it, before grinning at the teenager. “Come, come, Dawnie, my diamond in the rough. I have just the place for you four to sit.” Lorne quickly leads the way and jerks his head to a shape-shifter. Placing them at a booth by the front by the stage. “Soda’s all around?” He questions quickly.

As everyone nods, he waves the waitress over. “How many of the killer wings do you ladies want tonight?”

Tara and Faith grin at each other. “Six dozen?” Tara questions quietly and at Faiths nod of agreement, she smiles at the waitress that had served them previously. “Six, please. Do either of you want any appetizers?”

“Do you have potato skins?” Dawn questions hopefully.

“Of course we do, my beautiful Diamond.” Lorne answers. “What about you Lovey?” He turns and looks at Cordelia.

“Actually potato skins sound pretty good.” Cordelia admits, smiling at Dawn. “Do you mind sharing an order?”

“Not at all.” Dawn grins at the seer.

“Okay. That’s the appetizers out of the way. We’ll bring over the menu so you four can decide what you really want to eat. Are you going to sing for me tonight, ladies?” Lorne looks hopefully at Tara and Faith. “Pretty please?” He begs.

“Yes, we’re going to sing.” Faith grumbles. “I’ll even do a Bonnie Raitt song for ya‘.”

“Oooh. Be still my heart. Sweet Cheeks, I so owe you for getting her to sing it for me. What song?” Lorne’s eyes light up at the thought of Faith singing for him.

“I kind of figured Love Sneakin’ Up on You. What do you think?” Faith hesitantly offers.

“Wonderful.” Lorne claps happily. “Do you want to wait or would you like to sing now? I’m just getting ready to start up the show.”

Faith looks at Tara. “What’cha think?”

“Go ahead, love.” Tara smiles encouragingly at Faith. “The wings will take a little while.”

“That’s true. Looks like if you want me to go up soon, you got me.” Faith grins at the demon.

Lorne shivers with anticipation, before turning quickly and walking up the steps to the stage. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. For those of you who have heard her before, you know what a treat you are in for. For those of you who haven’t, please sit up and take notice. Here’s our very own, Faith!” He calls out to scattered applause.

“I can’t believe you make me do this.” Faith grumbles quietly, as she stands.

“You sing wonderfully, sweetie.” Tara murmurs quietly, smiling as her lover quickly takes the stage.

“She can sing?” Dawn mutters in disbelief.

Cordelia smirks. “Wait, listen and learn, Dawn.”

“Okay.” Dawn shakes her head not believing it, but willing to see. Blinking her eyes as Faith starts singing the song, the slayer keeping her eyes glued to Tara the whole time, Dawn’s jaw drops, as Faith’s husky voice belts out the words. “Damn.” Dawn whispers in awe.

Tara smiles at Faith’s facial expressions and the grins she directs her way during the song. As the crowd breaks out in applause, Faith winks at Tara before whispering in Lorne’s ear. Lorne chuckles and nods his head before backing down the stage.

As Faith starts singing I Wanna Be Your Lover by Prince, Tara chuckles in appreciation.

“Who’s that song by? It sounds sort of familiar.” Cordelia questions quietly, looking back to a smirking Tara.

“Prince. She griped and complained about listening to him the whole time, but look at one of the songs she decides to sing.” Tara’s eyes twinkle merrily, watching as Faith finishes the song, tossing the mic to Lorne as she quickly comes to sit back down beside her. “Wanna be my lover?” Tara whispers quietly into Faith’s ear, chuckling as Faith nods her head.

“Hell, yeah! Any time day or night.” Faith growls, leaning in and kissing Tara firmly on the lips. “So who’s next?” Faith looks at the other three sitting at the table.

“Personally, I plan on eating wings.” Tara pats her gently on the leg as the waitress set’s the wings down in front of them, along with napkins and wet naps.

“And I’m having potato skins.” Dawn’s eyes get real big as the piled high skins are set in front of her and Cordelia. “I don’t know if I should order something for dinner. These might be enough in and of themselves. Even sharing with Cordelia.”

“You gotta get at least a burger or somethin’. You can’t eat just skins.” Faith mutters, as she grabs a wing munching on it. “I’d offer you some of these, but they’ll rip the skin right off your lips.”

“Oh, they can’t be that hot.” Dawn mutters reaching for a wing, to be smacked lightly by Faith.

“They are. Trust me on this. Witch over there grew up eating spicy foods, but you ain’t. If you want to try some wings, try some of the milder batch.” Faith explains seriously.

“Trust her on this, Dawn. I had one of those wings on a dare and I couldn’t taste anything for a week. Plus I think I drank about five gallons of water and ate two loaves of bread to put the fire in my mouth out.” Cordelia shudders in remembrance.

Dawn looks at Tara and as she nods her agreement, she sighs quietly. “Okay. But one day I do want to try them.”

“One day you can. When Buffy comes with you.” Tara makes the stipulation. “I’ll deal with her being mad at me for bringing you here. But I won’t have her getting mad at me because I gave you food that ate away at your stomach lining.” Tara smiles softly at the teen, before eyeing Faith. “What else are you going to get to eat tonight?”

“Want to split a burger?” Faith questions, as she grabs another wing.

“I might be able to eat a couple bites.” Tara smiles and reaches over with a finger to collect some of the sauce on Faith’s cheek. Licking it off her finger, she winks at Faith. Finished with eating the wings, Tara wipes her hands down with a wet-nap and wraps her arm around Faith’s shoulder. Leaning against the slayer, Tara runs one hand over a strong thigh.

“You gonna sing tonight, Queenie?” Faith questions, smiling as Tara starts making patterns on her thigh.

“I don’t think so. As you know, I’m not much of a singer.” Cordelia shakes her head, smiling. “I’ll leave it to you two.”

“Faith, I have to admit, you surprised me.” Dawn smiles at the slayer. “I never would have thought you could sing, but you did a great job up there.”

“You have to wait and hear Faith-y and Sweet Cheeks singing together.” Lorne comes over to lean against the booth. “You two are going to sing me a duet, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know.” Tara jokes quietly. “I mean, you’ve already gotten two songs out of Faith. Wanting her to sing a duet also? That might be pushing it.” Tara grins up at the demon.

“Come on. Please?” Lorne begs quietly. “I’ll pick up the meal for tonight and the next time you come, if you do.”

Tara laughs and looks at Faith. “It’s up to you, love.”

“I don’t mind. What’cha wanna sing?” Faith looks at her lover inquisitively.

“Nope. You get to choose, remember?” Tara smirks at Faith. “Lorne, when’s your next opening on stage?”

“Well, I thought…” Lorne looks around not seeing the person that was supposed to be up next. “I guess it’s open. I had a customer lined up but it looks like he disappeared.”

“If you want, I’ll sing next.” Tara offers, leaning in and kissing Faith on the cheek.

“Hell, you don’t have to wait for an opening. I’ll bump everyone else for you, Sweet Cheeks!” Lorne gaily admits, before heading up on stage as the singer finishes the song. “Okay, for those of you who knows Faith, and heard her sing previously, I’m sure you remember the love of her life, Tara, singing the duet with her previously. So everyone give a big round of applause for Sweet Cheeks!” Lorne looks at Tara as she walks on stage. “What’cha singing Sweet Cheeks?”

“Lonely Road of Faith by Kid Rock.” Tara smirks at the demon.

“You two like Kid Rock, don’t you?” He questions, laughing as he programs the song in.

“Just wait. We’ll be doing a duet to another group tonight.” Tara smirks, having a feeling she knows what Faith will pick, when she saw her eyes light up while she was looking at the song menu.

“I don’t know, the last song went over so well, I’d almost like to hear you sing it again.” Lorne admits, laughing, as he waves and walks off stage.

Tara shakes her head and as the song starts playing she winks at Faith.

Dawn tilts her head, actually listening to the words of the song, before turning and looking at the soft smile on Faith’s face as she sings the words quietly along with Tara.

Cordelia looks at the stage and the unwavering gaze Tara has for Faith. Glancing at Dawn, she smiles. “I always thought that song was kind of sad, but looking at those two while Tara’s singing it…”

“Yeah, it’s kind of almost like a love song. I would have never thought of that song like that before.” Dawn admits. “It suits them.”

“Yeah, it does.” Faith growls quietly, before standing as Tara quickly steps off the stage. Wrapping her arms around the witch, she kisses her lovingly. “Love you, babe.”

“I love you too, Faith.” Tara smiles, brushing her lips over Faith’s again, neither woman paying any attention to the hoots and hollers coming from demons and humans alike. As Faith releases her, she slides into the booth with Faith quickly following.

“Wow. That was a great song, Tara.” Dawn smiles at the witch. “Of course, I knew you could sing. But you seem to sing a lot better now than you did before.”

Faith smirks at Tara. “That’s because the witch ain’t as easily embarrassed and is willin’ to let herself open up fully on stage, where before she probably held somethin’ back.”

“Too true.” Tara admits, smiling in agreement. “And I have you to thank for that.” Tara squeezes the slayer’s shoulders gently. “So, is it burger time yet?” Tara looks down at the decimated plate of wings and the empty platter of potato skins.

“I don’t know if I have room for anything else.” Dawn glances at the empty platter. “Maybe dessert? Do they have dessert?”

“They have an absolutely wonderful key-lime pie.” Faith admits. “It’s hard to find good key-lime pies and this one is just tart enough to make your lips pucker. Most key-lime pies are too damn sweet.”

“I would have thought you were more of a Boston cream pie person, Faith.” Dawn smirks at the slayer. “Being from Boston and everything.”

“Nah. It’s okay, but give me Key-lime any day.” Faith grins.

“I never thought to ask, but do you like peanut butter?” Tara questions, looking at her lover.

“I love peanut butter, why?” Faith turns towards Tara.

“I make a pretty good peanut butter pie, if you want me to fix one.” Tara offers.

“Hell, yeah! Sounds good to me.” Faith growls quietly, before leaning in to Tara’s ear. “Can I eat it off you?” She questions huskily, as she flicks her tongue against the witch’s ear lobe.

Tara groans and turns to whisper back. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

“I’m in.” Faith smirks.

“I don’t know if I want to go home or not.” Dawn groans quietly looking at the two women.

“They’ve actually been behaving themselves pretty good since you’ve been here, Dawn.” Cordelia smirks at the two women. “I haven’t caught them as much since you’ve been here.”

“That’s cause we’re hidin’ better.” Faith smirks at the seer. “Don’t want to give Little D early classes on Sex Education. Buffy would definitely have my ass.”

“What do you want to do in the time you have left?” Tara questions, smiling at the teen. “You’ve got two more days.”

“I don’t know.” Dawn whines briefly. “There’s no good movies’ coming out tomorrow.”

“Want to see if Fang will let us borrow the vehicle tomorrow and take it down the highway - hit the beach?” Faith offers, looking from Dawn to Tara.

“Overnight stay?” Tara questions quietly, grinning.

“If you want.” Faith’s eyes light up, before dimming as she remembers they’ll have Dawn with them. “I can look into reserving a room somewhere. Maybe get a couple hours in at the beach first thing in the morning, before headin‘ back?”

Tara looks at Dawn, and as Dawn nods, grinning hugely, Tara smiles. “Sounds like we have a plan. When we get back tonight, we’ll look at a map and see where we might want to go.”

Faith glances up as the waitress comes by. “Can I get a burger with everythin’ and fries?” Faith looks questioningly at Cordelia and Dawn.

“I’m fine, thanks.” Cordelia smiles at the waitress.

“I think I’ll try a piece of that key-lime pie.” Dawn grins at Faith.

“Good choice, kid.” Faith grins back. Looking around Faith chuckles as Lorne heads there way. “What’s wrong demon boy?”

“It’s a slow night tonight. Either that or everyone doesn’t want to follow you two.” Lorne chuckles quietly. “You guys want to do your duet now?”

Faith looks to Tara and as Tara nods that it’s okay with her, Faith stands. “I guess we will.” Grasping Tara’s hand in hers she helps her out of the booth as they walk up on stage. Laughing as some wolf whistles and claps start coming from the crowd.

“What are you two going to sing for me this time?” Lorne questions, looking at the two women.

“Broken by Seether and Amy Lee.” Faith smirks at Tara. “I’m singing Seether’s part.”

“And that’s a surprise?” Tara murmurs quietly, as she accepts the microphone from Lorne.

“Smart assed witch.” Faith growls, kissing her quickly, creating a ruckus with the crowd as they yell and cat-call. “Yeah, yeah. Get your own, you bunch of animals.” Faith growls into the microphone. “You’re just jealous.”

“Hell, yeah!” Somebody in the back yelled in agreement, making the rest of the bar crack up.

Lorne quickly makes his way to stand by the bar and grab his Sea Breeze, sipping as he plans on just enjoying the song. As Faith starts singing, Lorne frowns as he gets brief glimpses of her, Tara, Buffy and a lot of other girls fighting what appears to be vampires, but much, much worse than a normal vampire. As he realizes it’s the original vampires, his eyes widen in disbelief. Knowing they can only come from an active Hellmouth. Realizing The First Evil is the only being capable of bringing the Turok Han’s to Earth, Lorne runs a shaky hand over his chin. As Tara starts’ singing her part, Lorne almost drops his drink as he watches her close the Hellmouth permanently, the power coming from an amulet and the witch’s very essence. As the song slowly draws to an end, Lorne motions to one of his waiters to take over on stage before heading back to his apartment. He sits down, dropping his face in his hands, as tears roll down his face. He mutters to himself. “It‘ll kill Faith. It won‘t just end the witch‘s life, when she‘s gone, Faith won’t be long following her. How the hell can I tell them what‘s to come? I can‘t… Faith‘ll make her go somewhere else far away from Sunnydale. But she can’t. Tara‘s a Champion of the Powers - no doubt about that.” Lorne looks dejectedly around his room, not knowing what to do.

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