This little girl

I am so glad to see your dying love professed for me. It makes a girl feel...well...special. And even furthers her addiction to your praise. So you guys should really keep that up.

This story is getting soooooo long. I don't want it to go on and on, so I will end it at some point. Promise. Resolutions will come.

Can't put smut in every chapter because I am just not that creative. So this one is lacking that element. Sorry. Still, i think it's worth the read. But that's just my humble opinion.

As always, let me know what you think. I live for that. Seriously, I do.

Thanks

Disclaimer - Whedon

Chapter 17

Buffy’s POV

Well that was…fucking amazing. I have to concentrate.

“Get Dressed B!” Faith was frantically running around the room trying to find her clothes.

Jeez. Freak out much? “I am.”

“Well move your ass.”

It was kinda cute to see her so…freaked out, I guess. Not that there weren’t times when her freak outs led to some…what was I talking about? I shook my head. Get dressed, right. It’s just that…we just…wow…just thinking about it…ok, Buffy, don’t think about it. Right, so I was getting dressed.

Faith was staring at me like I had two heads. “Why are you so calm? What if she comes in here?”

I waved her off, “She’s never caught me having sex. Chill.”

Her head shot around. That was really the wrong fucking thing to say. Wasn’t it? Sometimes I think I need to invest in that filter that tells your mouth not to open until your brain can decipher what it is you are saying. “I’m just saying that she isn’t going to catch us.”

“Yeah, like she didn’t catch you fucking the supermodel.”

“Faith,” I wasn’t trying to piss her off. Why was she getting pissed off?

She raised her eyebrow at me. I gave her a weak smile and began to pout. She can’t resist that. I watch as a small grin began to form. Hah, told ya.

“You cannot do that.” She was shaking her head. “You know you are not supposed to stick that bottom lip out. That is so unfair. I can’t believe you are trying to…ok, I can believe it.”

I know. I know. I’m a little manipulative. So?

“Mommy?” I turned to the door. Annie was barreling in. “Look at the shoes Cordy bought me.” She stuck her leg out, twisting her foot. “They’re very pretty.” She emphasized the word ‘very’. “She says you have no fashion sense. And that if she wasn’t here I would be a clothing disaster.”

Cordelia came in behind her. “Actually I didn’t say you had no fashion sense. I said you were lacking the brain function that controls your fashion sense. I mean, look at your choices over the years. God, who could forget that train wreck that was Buffy’s high school wardrobe.” She shuddered and looked to Annie, “the thought alone gives me nightmares.”

Can we not get any privacy? I’m starting to think that they enjoy Faith’s and my drama. Not that we have drama. I mean we really don’t, do we? Except for Angel. I’d forgotten about that. That is gonna suck. What has gotten into him? Why are they so…so jealous of each other? And why was Cordelia insulting my taste in clothing? I so too had fashion sense. I was a clothing aficionado. People would see me and fall to their knees.

They were staring at me funny. “What?” I asked. Did I have two heads or something?

Faith picked Annie up and laughed, “Where do you go B? When you scrunch that little face, it’s really cute, don’t get me wrong, but where are you? You seem like you are in the twilight zone or something.”

Huh? I zone out? What’s she talking about? “Huh?”

Cordy smirked. “Buffy lives in a world we can only imagine. Every so often she comes to visit and grace us with her regal presence, but then she returns to Buffyland. I hear it’s a nice place. She’s quite worshipped there.”

What the fuck is she going on about?

“Do you think that she is queen there?” Faith asked. Well, I am so glad that they find me amusing.

Cordy shrugged. “Who knows?” She looked at the bed, and quirked an eyebrow. “What did you two do when you got back? We were wondering if you would be ok.”

Annie nodded. She looked at Faith. “Cordy said you were going to come home and work out. Did you do that yet? I liked to watch Mommy spar with Monica. Cordy said your sparring was even better. Way louder and scarier.”

I’m gonna kill her. I have threatened in the past. And I’m thinking it’s time to follow through.

Faith gave Annie a look of sheer horror. Hah. Faith gets so nervous sometimes. It’s really cute. She smacked Cordy on the arm. “Ow.” That probably did hurt, but she deserved it.

She walked out of the room carrying Annie, “Sorry, we already sparred. Your mom whacked me so hard I passed out.”

Annie giggled. “You pass out all the time, don’t ya?”

I could hear Faith down the hall, “Hey, I do not.”

Annie laughed. “That’s really funny. Does your head get all fuzzy?”

“No, I’m a badass.”

“Faith!” I yelled from the door. God, her freakin mouth.

“Well sorry B, but I am.” She was calling back down the hall. “Image is everything.”

Cordy yelled after them. “Yeah, but your image has to be true. You can’t just make it up. Like say you’re a badass when really you are a girly girl.”

I laughed. Sometimes Cordy is so funny.

Faith groaned, giving up. “Whatever twinkies. You two wish you were as cool as me and Annie here.”

Annie yelled, “yeah.”

Glad they’re a freaking team now.

I was about to follow them, when Cordelia stopped me. “What?”

“Angel,” she said.

Fuck. Did I need to go through this with her? She was looking for an answer. “Again I say what?”

“Angel,” she answered, looking at me like I’m an idiot. How does she do that? “He’s extra broody. Wouldn’t talk to me or Willow. And I thought he was gonna kill Xander when he popped in his office to get a key to something. Tell me the two of you weren’t up here fucking so loud he could hear you?”

So? What if we were? What is his problem? I didn’t know what to say to her. “He can hear even if we were silent. Am I not supposed to have sex?”

Cordy rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what you do Buffy. Have sex until your ears fall off for all I care,” What the hell? “But he’s getting weirder and weirder about all of this…” she gestured with her hand. “Faith stuff. It’s like he doesn’t even want her around. They weren’t always like that. She took that stupid trip in his mind and all. He saved her, she saved him…blah, blah, blah. Whatever. Point is, I think that he is gonna be really hard to live with if this isn’t dealt with.”

I relayed the story of their encounter earlier to her. “And the worst thing about it all was that they had this whole icy indifference. Like both of them were making a promise, or a bet or something. You know how Faith is. She’ll stake him, if he gives her a reason.”

Cordy nodded, “And Angel doesn’t like disloyalty. I think he thinks she is gonna hurt you again.” She sat down on the bed. Then she made an Eww face and popped back up. “Truth be told, the rest of us, well probably besides Kennedy, I mean what was up with her and Monica anyway? Anyway, we are glad that she’s back. Cause gotta say, you are freakin hard to live with when she isn’t here.” Thanks. She sighed, “But, I don’t know Buffy…let’s be honest for a moment. It’s not like Faith is a member of the Sane gang.”

So? Didn’t see Cordy’s membership hanging on a wall anywhere. “What does that mean?’

“I’m not trying to piss you off Buffy. If I were, you’d know it. So don’t start getting all high and mighty with me. Faith may get off on it, but I’m not impressed.” She put her hands on her hips. “What I’m saying is…you two probably need to talk. I know the fucking’s all amazing and mind blowing and ‘oh Faith harder…right there Faith’ yada yada yada…but that is only gonna go so far. Or worse lead you back to where you were. And we are not equipped to deal with the second life-altering drama of the lesbo slayers.”

Sometimes, I have no idea what the hell she is talking about. “Why would you think that? We’re good. Faith and I. We are going to make this work.”

“Whatever. I’m just saying that you need to talk. I bet you haven’t even told her how Annie was conceived have you?”

So? “So?”

“Oh, come on Buffy. The two of you are so deviant that your main concern is ‘where, when, and how long can we fuck before someone catches us?’” I raised an eyebrow at her. “Hey, I know what you two have been up to ever since she got back. You’d have to be mentally deficient not to see it. Which, by the way, everyone else is in this hotel, so your secret is safe. Anyway, you fight or you screw. Cause, well…that’s what you did the last time she was here. And we all suffered the damn consequences of those incredibly intelligent actions.”

She so pisses me off sometimes. “Sorry to make your lives so fucking difficult Cordy.”

“Oh, please. Get over yourself and quit being so theatrical. You need to grow up. Angel is a dumbass. And he needs to stop being jealous. If he and Faith were anymore in love with you, I think I might just puke. But he does have a point. You two just combust. You don’t think. You just act. And for acting to be any good it has to have substance.”

“I have no idea what that means.” Does she ever shut up?

“It means that these overly dramatic lesbian plays that you and Faith put on for the rest of us are getting old. Why the two of you can’t just be normal I’ll never know.” She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is that I think everyone will agree when I say you need to talk to Faith. Really talk to her. Get all of this drama out of your system. Otherwise there will be more running and more fighting and more crying. And I, for one, do not have enough Valium to drown it out.” She walked out.

I fucking hate that she gets the last word. I hate even more that she is right. I do need to talk to Faith. I was worried about it though. We can’t seem to even start a conversation about what happened, about what was happening without one of us becoming angry, and more times than not, violent.

And Angel. I had to deal with him. I decided what I was going to do first. I just couldn’t go to Faith yet. I wasn’t ready. Fact is, I was afraid. Angel was the lesser of those two evils. I left the room and made my way down to his office.

Faith’s POV

Annie was swinging on my leg. “Just show me a few moves.” She was tugging on my pants. “We don’t have to tell Mommy. It can’t be a Faithie and Annie secret.”

Heh. That’s kinda funny. I looked down at her. Was she worth B kicking my ass? Do I even have to answer that? “Alright, come on.” Those puppy dog eyes were going to be the death of me.

“Where are you two going?” Red. Why is she so nosey all the time?

“We are going to spar.” Well, that’s just great. Tell the wicked witch.

“Faith! You cannot spar with her!”

“Duh Red,” I gave her my best ‘you are a dumbass look.’ “I’m not going to spar with her. Why would I do that? She’d probably kick my ass like her mom, anyway.” And we weren’t going to spar. I was just gonna show her a few moves. It wasn’t like I was taking her to psychos in training class or something.

“Oh well, I’m…of course you weren’t. I believe you.” She tried to smile. Yeah, I bet my ass she believes me. So don’t fucking give a shit though.

“Uh-huh.” I nodded and grabbed Annies hand. “We are going out back. See if Annie can pick up some Tai Chi. It’s good for the soul.” Hah, kill her with the spirtual crap.

Willow called after us, “Annie, please be gentle with her. You know she doesn’t know. And I know what you’re doing.” I heard Annie giggling beside me. What the hell is she going on about? “Faith has no clue Annie.” Why does everyone say that?

The day had become even warmer, and I immediately thanked myself for putting on a pair of loose pants and a tank top. There would be no way I could stand it out here otherwise. It’s like a fucking oven. I’d forgotten how hot it gets. We normal people were not made to withstand this kinda weather. But hey, it explains a hell of a lot about the rest of them, doesn’t it?

I got into position. Spreading my legs slightly, I stretched and looked to Annie. She was sitting on the ground, legs spread to the side, touching her face to her knees while holding her foot. She rose and moved to the other leg. What the fuck? This kid was stretching, like she was gonna work out. How did she know to do that?

I was about to ask her that very question when she popped up and into a fighting stance. She was so graceful, it took me by surprise. Which was a bad thing. Cause then she pounced. Sweeping her little leg around and taking me out of my stance and effectively causing me to fall on my ass.

She giggled at me, “Sorry.” She said, looking over me. Huh? Am I the one in the twilight zone?

She moved to let me up and struck. Each movement of her arms and legs was like liquid. I couldn’t even defend myself. She was attacking me with such ease that I felt retarded. Plus, what was I going to do, hit a five year old. Ow, uppercut, that fucking hurt.

I finally found the fortitude to block a few punches. If I could have talked, I would have asked her where the fuck she learned that. Well, obviously not with the word fuck. But I was pretty much putting all my energy into not getting my ass kicked by a little kid. It was kinda spooky. And, I have to admit, kinda cool, cause she was my daughter and all. Ow!!! Fuck Faith, pay attention.

She seemed to be reading my mind, “Gotta pay attention, Mom.”

Oh my god. She just called me…did she just call me…she saw my shock. “Sorry.” She said backing off.

“No…No…”I tried, she looked crushed. “It’s ok…I mean…that’s what I am, right?”

She nodded slowly, like she didn’t really trust that it was ok. I tried to give her some reassurance. “That was amazing. Where did you learn to do all of that?” Did I tell you she called me Mom? Oh, she’s talking. Damn Faith, pay a-freaking-ttention.

“…taught me. I just always knowed how to do it.”

She always knowed…, fuck knew how to do it? “Really?”

She nodded again. Oh, I see pride. Yep, so my kid. “Yeah. I always knowed. Mommy showed me some moves. So did Kennedy. Angel showed me Tai Chi. But you can too if you want.”

Well what the fuck was I gonna teach her? She already knew it all. “Why don’t you teach me something instead?” Well that was humbling.

“Why don’t we just spar?” She asked, shrugging her shoulders.

Why the hell not? It won’t be the first time a Summer’s girl kicked my ass.


After sparring, and I have to say, a severe ass kicking by the midget standing beside me, we went to get some water. Red rounded the corner at the same time.

She was smiling like she’d won the lotto. Fuck you Wills. “Hah! Sorry.” She shook her head, “But…haha!” She was laughing. “You know that never gets old. It is so funny to watch her kick a little ass.” She was highly amused. “How does it feel?”

I was holding my side, breathing heavily. I hadn’t been so worn down in a long long time. “Like I was hit by a passenger train.”

“Passenger…? Oh, never mind…” Red was shaking her head. “Anyway, you should see yourself. It’s hilarious.”

“Well, what would I be if not a source of constant amusement for you?” I asked her.

She walked off, still laughing, “I don’t know Faith…I don’t know.”

Annie was pulling on my arm. Damn don’t pull it out of the socket. I was already hurting. “Huh?” I asked her.

“I’ll go get you some water. You stay here. I don’t want you to faint again.” She giggled, running off.

Well everyone is just a fucking comedian.

“Be right back Mom,” she called down the hall.

Oh, she called me Mom again. That makes my chest constrict. That is the best word in the English language. …And I am such a fucking cheesy sap.

I went to sit down on the counter. I needed a few drugs and a nap more than water. And about a week to recuperate. I stopped rubbing my shoulders when I heard voices.

“…you don’t understand, Buffy.” Angel, undead motherfucker.

“What?” Why does she sound so weak around him?

I moved a little across the counter, leaning nearer the closed door.

“You know she is psychotic. You know that.” He’s lucky that he’s wrong, cause the old Faith would have jumped down at that comment and beat him dust. “I don’t mean it as anything bad.” Oh, no that’s not a ‘bad’ comment.

“On, no that’s not a ‘bad’ thing to say,” Buffy said. Go, sweetie. Did I just call her sweetie? I’m turning into a mush bucket or something. Fuck, focus.

“I mean…I don’t judge her for it. But I love you.” Make me sick. Don’t fall for that shit B. “And I don’t want you or Annie getting hurt.” I would never never hurt her or Annie.

“She would never hurt Annie.” See why we are made for each other? Or you Buffy…say I wouldn’t hurt you.

Angel spoke. “What about you?”

There was a silence. Did she answer him? Why didn’t I hear her? “I don’t know.” What the fuck? What does she means she doesn’t know? I gripped the counter harder. Don’t crack it, I told myself. “She never meant…never means to.”

“Oh well that makes it all better doesn’t it? She doesn’t mean to hurt you. She just does. And where does that leave you? Pining for her. Lying in bed for months crying over her. Ignoring everyone, including your own daughter, for her. While she made off with no obligations, no responsibilities, no anything. She left us to look after you. And to tell you the truth Buffy, we almost didn’t make it.” What? Bed for months? What?

“You know, I do know all of that Angel. I remember wanting to die. It’s not a feeling I relish.” God, she wanted to die? Why? What the fuck did I do to her? “But it’s not the same this time. We are not the same. It’s going to be different. Why doesn’t anyone believe me?”

“Given your track record with her,” Angel said. He is such a fucking stone cold dick. “we are inclined not to.”

“I’m going to talk to her,” Buffy sighed. I was leaning all the way over the counter now. I was trying to balance and listen at the same time. It was a difficult thing to do cause she was talking so softly now. “But I…I just don’t want to fuck it up. I don’t want her to run again. I don’t think I can take a second time of that.” She thinks I’m going to run? Why did she think that? I’m not going to run. I told her.

“Neither can we.” Shut the fuck up Angel. When the fuck did this shit become about them? He just wants her all to himself. Not that he could do anything with her even if she did love him. With that spiritually impotent dick of his.

“I know.” Nah, B, tell him to stay the fuck out of your business. “You’re right.” What!?! He’s right?

“Good, I’m glad you see it my way.” Oh, he is so fucking dead.

“Mom!!!!!!!!! Why are you leaning over the counter like that? What are you listening to?” Annie yelled, running back in the room. It caught by surprise.

And fuck if I didn’t fall backwards. Shit. That fucking hurt. I popped up as the door to Angel’s office burst open. Buffy’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. Yeah, I fucking heard you. “Did she just call you Mom?” She asked.

And they say I don’t focus. “I am, aren’t I?”

She looked at me funny. “Yes, of course. It was just that…wow, Faith…I’m just…” She smiled a little.

Which would have been cute, had Angel not walked out of the office at the same time. To tell you the truth, I would have killed him where he stood if Annie hadn’t been standing there. He looked so fucking smug. I scowled at him. I could see B staring at me from the corner of my eye. Yeah, be smug, I thought, cause I’m gonna wipe that fucking smirk off of your face when we get alone big boy. And that’s a promise.

Annie must have sensed the tension. She looked at Angel and me. Noticed that we were staring at each other. She grabbed my hand. Handing me the water, she pulled me away. “Let’s go watch TV.”

I snapped out of my scowl and allowed her to pull me. “Ok.”

We left them standing there. Buffy with a shocked look on her face. I couldn’t figure out where that was coming from. Angel still fucking smirking. I looked over my shoulder at him and smiled. This smile was called the ‘bring it the fuck on, motherfucker’ smile. “See you later, Angel.” I said, my voice dripping with sugar.

“Count on it,” He called back.

TBC