Summer of Faith

 

Chapter 18

Buffy was so not looking forward to this. All day she had been dreading meeting with Giles. She really still was at a loss to explain why she had known about Faith, but hadn’t told him about her at all. She was guessing that temporary selective amnesia wasn’t going to fool him. Maybe she could tell him she fought some slime demon that cast a spell on her making her forget another slayer existed. Ok, Buffy, we are getting more than a little desperate now. She trudged down the hall towards the library, and still she had not clue one.

Maybe the truth? Hmmm…oh yeah, that’ll go over really well. “ Giles, me and faith met in L.A. , and then we defeated Kakistos, and then we fell in love and had a relationship, but it broke up because I wasn’t over Angel, so she brought me here, and then left me at my mom’s and disappeared for 6 months, then came back yesterday out of the blue”. Hmmm… I think I like the slime demon excuse better.

Buffy entered the Library. She looked around, and no Giles. Cool, I can say “ Hey, Giles, I was there, but you weren’t, so I left”. Then she sighed. No, that’ll just put it off ; it’s not going to go away. Well, I will have to tell the truth…with some selective editing. Then get Faith to go along to back  me up. That’ll go over well. Sigh. I suck at this.

Buffy notes some crystals on the big table, and moves in for a closer look. Ooo , look  pretty shimmery stones. Cool. Just as she is about to pick one up, she hears

“Buffy!” Giles calls out to her

She almost knocks over a stone, but manages to upright it before it goes over

“ Buffy, please be careful with those. They are rather valuable, and hard to get hold of a full set” Giles admonishes her.

“ Well, Giles, if you wouldn’t go sneaking around and startling me, I wouldn’t like knock them over” Buffy responds.

“ Look, Giles, about Faith….” Buffy begins, but Giles interrupts her

“ Faith? Is she here?” Giles asks, looking a bit startled

“Ummm….no” Buffy replies, and sees a chance to duck questioning. “ Have you seen her?”

“ No, actually I haven’t. Would you be kind enough to tell her I would like her to come in so I can assess her level of training?” Giles replies, but not really seeming to be paying attention.

“ Sure, sure Giles. No big. I will tell her tonight” Buffy says. She gives a small sigh of relief… ducked that bullet.

Buffy notes that Giles seems more distracted than usual, but chalks it up to concern about the mayor, or just general absent-minded-librarian syndrome. Whatever it's, she thinks, it works for her.

“ Anyway, those are for you” Giles says to Buffy

“ For me? For my Birthday? Gee, Giles. Sparkly stones. Hmmm… just what every girl wants. I know I wanted some” Buffy chides Giles a little. “ Though, usually a setting is appropriate. Hmmm… do you think they would look good on a charm bracelet?”

“Birthday? Oh, yes, right. Next weekend is your Birthday.” Giles replies. “ No, these are for your training”

“Training? Oh… cool, I get to learn how to juggle now? Clue me in how that helps my slaying?” Buffy jibes him.

“No, not for juggling” Giles replies, getting a bit exasperated. “ They are stones which have mystical properties. Also, they are used to help you  with your concentration. To help you meditate. So you can develop more of your slayer sense and other abilities.”

“ I really liked the charm bracelet idea better” Buffy said, looking a bit doubtfully at the stones. Meditation, ugh.

“ Please sit down at the table”

“ Ok” Buffy sighs. Ah, well… at least it gets me out of explanations.

Giles spends some time explaining to Buffy what each stone is, and what its properties are. He selects a large blue stone, and sets it on the table in front of her.

“ This stone has a small flaw in it. I want you to study the flaw. It's to help you with your concentration” Giles explains.

Buffy looks at the stone, and starts to concentrate on it. Slowly, Buffy loses contact with the world around her, and she becomes hypnotized by the stone. Giles checks her, to be sure she is under. He then walks to his briefcase, and extracts a small case from within. Inside the case is a vial with a clear yellowish liquid. Also present is a hypodermic needle, and gauze soaked in alcohol. He takes and fills the hypo, being sure to tap it to release air bubbles, and hits the plunger until liquid shoots out. Going over and checking Buffy, he sees she is still in the trance. He takes her arm and inserts the needle. He slowly presses the plunger home. When done, he cleans the site with alcohol. After returning the kit to his briefcase, he goes back, and waves a hand in front of the stone, releasing her from the trance.

“Sorry, did I just zone out there? Must be a little tired” Said Buffy. She yawns a little.

“ Yes, well… you learned a lot today. We will be going over this more another time. Why don’t we call it a night?”

“ Ok, sounds like a plan to me” Buffy gets up to go

“ Oh, by the way, Buffy. Congratulations on turning 18” Giles smiles at her

“Well, give me a week yet, ok Giles? I mean, I get to be a kid another week” She replies, smiles at him, and then leaves.

Giles watches his slayer go, a worried look on his face. The look turns to a frown. He is not happy about this.

Not happy at all.

Faith is ecstatic!

She feels like doing summersaults, but might not be a good idea in the Summer’s kitchen.  She is back home after talking with Vamp boy, and trying to find a job. No luck yet on the job front, but she really doesn’t care.

I win… Fang boy loses. Yeah! YEAH!  She is pumping her fist, and jabbing the air. Realizing she is getting soap suds all over the place, she calms a bit, but she has that Faith shit-eating grin on her face. Too cool, too cool.

She settles down and goes back to washing the dishes, after wiping down the counters from her little soapsuds splash-o-rama, but she hums a little tune and makes up the lyrics “ I get Buffy, I get Buffy Nyah, nyah” and chuckles to herself for being so stupidly silly happy.

Her mood dampens a bit when she thinks about how Buffy may take it. Sigh. What if it isn’t what B wants? What if she really wants dead boy? Damn. That’ll suck for her. I mean, I want her, but I don’t want her unhappy. Doesn’t this stuff get easy, ever? Geeze…

Snap out of it , Faithy. You won! You’ll just have to devote your life to making Buffy so deliriously happy she’ll forget ole Toothy. Yeah. I can do that. I can live with that . Yeah…I WON … WHOOO . HOOO.

Faith goes back to humming and washing the dishes, and is just rinsing the last of them when she hears

“ Mom? You home?” Buffy calls out.

“ Naw, Honey, just us Slayers” Faith calls back, giggling a little.

Buffy walks in the kitchen, and almost laughs out loud at Faith in one of her mom’s frilly aprons washing the dishes. Boy, is that a sight, she giggles.

“ Hey baby, getting all domestic on me?” Buffy teases her. “ You could have left those for me. I would have done them”

“ That’s ok, wasn’t doing much. Didn’t have any luck on the job front, anyway” Faith answers, humming

Boy, she is in a good mood today. Even better than this morning. Buffy shakes her head. Someday, I will figure her out. I swear I will.

“ Speaking of jobs…well…callings, lets say” Buffy starts, “ Giles wants to see you. He says he wants to evaluate your level of training”

“ I love exams” Faith makes a noise

“ Hey, don’t worry. If you do what you did last night when we fought” Buffy says. “ You’ll do just fine” Crap… had to bring that up, eh Buffy?

“ How’s your face doing, Faith?” Buffy asks, feeling more than a little embarrassed.

“ Fine, B. Just fine” Faith smiles.

“ Let me see” Buffy says, and walks over. She takes Faith’s face in her hand, and turns it. “ Well, it's looking better. Slayer healing is great, I have to admit. Does it still hurt?”

“ A little, but not like this morning” Faith is liking Buffy’s hand on her face.

Buffy rubs her thumb gently over Faith’s lip. Faith is feeling little sparks going through her. Man, so not fair . Buffy leans in, and gently kisses the corner of Faith’s mouth. Oh…so, so not fair.

“How does that feel?” Buffy asks, voice low.

“Dunno. You’ll have to do it again” Faith responds, her voice a little husky

Buffy leans to kiss her mouth again, but Faith turns so their lips meet full on. Tiny little sparks dance across their lips for each of the slayers. Faith finds her hand cradling the back of  Buffy’s neck, and the kiss holds for awhile. Finally, they break to breathe.

“mmmmm… that feels nice” Faith whispers, feeling a bit breathless

“ Can’t argue that” Buffy concurs. She leans in for another kiss, but Faith puts her finger to Buffy’s lips, and stops her.

“ Look, I gotta meet with Giles and convince him I can slay. Can’t do that weak kneed” She giggles. “ And you should probably patrol”

“ Aw, do I have to?” Buffy pouts.

No fair. Pouts should be illegal. Especially B. pouts

“ Hey, you’re a slayer. It's in the manual. Slayer slays, right? Tell you what. Get something to eat, go patrol. I will try to meet you  out there, and we can maybe sneak in some smoochies. There is supposed to be a full moon tonight” Faith smiles.

“ What about you, Faith?” Buffy pats Faith’s tummy. “Don’t want to have you getting skinny on me”

Damn, B. Just give me the shivers, ok?

“ Looks who’s talking, Ms. Size 1” Faith returns the salvo.

“k, k…go play nice, and meet me later to patrol” Buffy orders.

“ Yes, Ma’am” Faith salutes her with her tongue.

“ Use it or lose it, Private” Did I just say that?  Buffy blushes.

Faith laughs, taps her on the arm, and walks out. Buffy watches Faith go. Nice sway. Ok, ok…she said no touch. She didn’t say I couldn’t look . Gee Buffy, horny much?

Giggling, Buffy looks around for something to make for dinner

Faith is feeling pretty cocky.

She just went a few round with Giles, and he was impressed with her skill. He felt she was advanced enough that they could skip to weapons for now. Faith had never been great with exams in school. She’s pretty jazzed when she passes with flying colors.

Man, this has just been a great day all around. First Fang boy bows out, then kisses in the kitchen with B, then I impress G-man with the kicks and punches… and whoa, my luck continues, there’s Buffy now. Faith licks her lips, thinking about the kitchen kiss. Mmmm,  moonlight smoochies. Yeah, can it get any better?

“ Hey, B. !” Faith calls out. But Buffy just stands there “ B…that you?” Yeah… that’s her. She must hear me.

Faith trots up a bit and calls again “ B! B! What’s up?” She trots right up to Buffy, who is turned away from her. She lays a hand on Buffy’s shoulder and says “ Hey, Earth to …” But stops and is startled when Buffy jumps and runs away a little.

“ B…Buff?  What is it? What’s wrong?” She walks over to Buffy, and walks in front of her. “ It’s just me….” Then stops.

What she sees startles her. Buffy is scared. I mean, Buffy looks really scared. Her eyes  are wide, her face is worried looking, and her lower lip is trembling. She looks ready to cry. And there is a little bit of blood on her top.

“B. honey? What is it?”  Faith takes her in her arms.

“F-F-Faith? I …I don’t know what’s wrong. I…I was fighting a vamp, and I was winning. But all of a sudden, I got a funny feeling…and…and my strength….was gone! I … he jumped on top of me, and turned the stake on me!…I…I almost bought it tonight, Faith. If I hadn’t been able to push him off, I … I would be lying here, staked …and drained” Buffy breaks in to tears.

“ Shhh , shhh, baby it's ok , it’s ok, I’m here now” She soothes Buffy, holding her and patting her back like a child. Buffy slowly calms down.

“What’s wrong with me, Faithy? I…I never had that happen before. I was so scared. It …was awful” Buffy is really feeling frightened.

“ Maybe it was just a fluke, B. Lets try something” Faith releases her, and stands a bit back. She holds up her hand, palm out.

“ Go ahead, B. Hit my hand. Give it a good punch” Faith encourages her.

Buffy puts her all into it, but it barely moves Faith’s arm

“C’mon, B, quit kidding around, ok? Punch it hard” Faith says

“ That’s as hard as I can do” Buffy looks more frightened. Faith hugs her again, soothing her.

“It’s ok, B. We’ll figure it out. We’ll see the G-man tomorrow. I'm sure he can figure this out” Faith tells her.” Lets go home now, and get you to bed. I think we’ve had enough patrolling for tonight.”

Faith puts her arm around Buffy’s shoulder, and they start back for the Summer’s home. Buffy leans in to Faith, and Faith holds her a bit tighter.

What the hell is going on? Faith wonders, worried about the little blonde slayer.

Two very confused slayers make their way home.

End of chapter 18

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