The Rogue Slayer

Faith looks around the apartment glancing up at the clock she’d hung in the kitchen. “Damn, didn’t realize it was getting that late.” Faith pulls out her cell phone as she walks out of the apartment, locking the door behind her. “Hey, babe. I’m on my way to you, I got busy and didn’t realize it was almost 3:00.”



“That’s okay, sweetie. I figured it was something like that.” Tara smiles as she tucks the phone against her ear as she finishes taping up the last of her items, having decided she’d pack everything up and just plan on walking to school the last two days of the week from the apartment.



Faith climbs in the Jeep, starting it. “I’ll be there in like five minutes. You hungry?”



“A little bit. We can maybe pick up something on the way to the apartment, if you want.” Tara offers quietly while eyeing the empty looking room, with the pile of boxes in the corner. Methodically, she works her way around the room, making sure she didn’t miss anything, smiling as she comes across an escapee earring, placing it in her pocket.



“I got fixings for hamburgers and french fries here, if you want to do that instead of ordering somethin‘.” Faith double-checks for traffic before pulling out, quickly driving towards the college campus.



“That sounds wonderful. Be careful and I’ll see you in a few minutes.” Tara smiles softly as she sits down on the edge of the unmade bed.



“I will be, bye.” Faith smiles as she disconnects the call, before dialing Joyce’s number. “Yo, Mrs. S. I’m all moved in and am going to go ahead and start staying at the apartment. After we get the majority of Tara’s stuff moved and eat dinner, I’ll come by and pick you up, or drop off the Jeep.”



“That’s fine, Faith. I’m going to miss having you around the house, you know that don’t you?” Joyce sighs quietly.



“I’ll come and pick on ya’.” Faith chuckles. “Plus I’ll still be coming by the gallery pretty much every day. I’ll even go by your house and help out, if you want.”



“No. You aren’t going to do that, dear. But I definitely want you two to come to dinner anytime you want. Just give me some advance warning, so I can make sure to fix enough to feed you.”



“I promise.” Faith laughs quietly as she pulls into the college campus, parking the vehicle. “And you ain’t got to remind me. Sunday dinners at 5:00, we will be there unless an emergency comes up.”



“That’s right. I’ll see you later, dear.” Joyce smiles and hangs up after Faith says goodbye. “I am going to miss having you around the house all the time.” Joyce sighs quietly as she leans back in her seat staring at the phone. “But Buffy will be there, and she’s already promised that she’s going to try and be around more. So maybe this is a good thing.” Joyce smiles softly before leaning forward to finish her paperwork.



***



Faith walks in the room, opening her eyes wide in surprise as she looks at the empty room with the pile of boxes in the corner. “I thought you were planning on staying here for the last couple days?”



“Changed my mind.” Tara shrugs smiling. “I did keep what I would need for the next couple days in one box, just in case the apartment wasn’t ready to be moved into. But since you said something about cooking dinner there tonight, I assume everything is up and running.”



Faith allows a happy smile to cross her face as she advances on Tara, her eyes twinkling merrily. “Oh, yeah. Everything is definitely up and running. The phone won’t get turned on ‘til tomorrow, but we got electricity and just about everything else we’ll need.” Faith wraps her arms around Tara, quickly invading the witch’s mouth in a carnal kiss.



“Gosh, guys. If you’re going to do that, the least you could do is shut the door.” Buffy grumbles walking into the dorm room, grabbing a couple boxes to take out to the Jeep.



“What the fuck?” Faith turns looking at Buffy, watching as a blushing Willow grabs a box and heads towards the door.



“Since you two are going to be helping us this weekend, we thought we’d help you with Tara’s stuff today.” Willow laughs quietly before walking out the door.



“I ran into Buffy earlier today, she asked what was going on.” Tara grins at a surprised Faith. “So, she offered to help. As soon as you got off the phone, I called her to let her know you were on your way here.”



“Okay.” Faith blinks a couple times before turning her gaze back on Tara. “Not happy about my lovings being interrupted, but I guess I can deal.” Faith growls before swooping in to continue the kiss where they left off, groaning quietly as she hears Buffy behind her again. “Damn, B. Can’t you just give me a couple minutes?”



“You’ll have all the minutes you need later.” Buffy chuckles, surprised at herself at not being bothered watching the two women kiss.



Willow whimpers quietly. “Come on, guys. I’m not getting any smoochies, so you two need to stop!”



“Why ain’t ya’ getting any smoochies?” Faith questions before placing a quick kiss on the end of Tara’s nose and winking at her as she whispers softly. “Definitely later.”



“Oz finished his finals yesterday and had to go out of town with the band.” Willow sighs quietly as she grabs another box.



“That sucks, red.” Faith grabs a couple of the heavier boxes, watching as Tara gathers up her sketch pads and another box. Following Willow outside, they quickly load the Jeep. “You two wanna come to the apartment? We’re gonna have burgers and fries for dinner, if you want?”



Tara raises an eyebrow in surprise at Faith making the offer. Smiling softly at her lover, Tara winks before heading back into the dorm to pick up the last couple boxes.



“We won’t be interrupting your time together?” Buffy questions with a raised eyebrow.



“Nah. Like you said, we got plenty of time for that. Plus I can give you two a ride back to campus when I take the Jeep back to the gallery.” Faith shrugs, smiling. “Ain’t that much of a biggie.” Faith’s eyes gaze towards the building watching Tara carry the last of her stuff down, striding towards her and gathering the boxes from the witch, Faith places them in the back.



“So, are you two coming to check out the apartment and have dinner?” Tara questions as she leans back into Faith’s body as the slayer stands behind her.



“You sure you two don’t mind?” Buffy questions, before grinning as the two women shake their heads. “What do you say, Willow? I’m up for burgers and fries.”



“Sure.” Willow grins. “We need to know where these two are living anyway, that way we can come and bother them.”



“Hah. It’s got a security code and key to get in the front door! Won’t be no unannounced visits from you guys.” Faith laughs as the women climb in the vehicle.



“That’s not fair.” Buffy pouts as she sits in the back watching as Faith quickly drives them across town. “After you unbox your stuff Tara, Willow and I can use the boxes for our stuff.”



“They’re yours, if you need them.” Tara smiles over her shoulder at the two women.



“I got my empty boxes at the apartment broken down by the door, if you want them, too.” Faith admits as she pulls into their designated parking spot behind the apartment complex. Faith chuckles as she climbs out of the Jeep watching as Kevin brings the dolly towards them.



“Did he help you move, sweetie?” Tara questions as she walks around back.



“Yeah. I think he was kinda disappointed that you weren’t here, though. He asked about ya’.” Faith wiggles her eyebrows at her lover, making Tara blush lightly. “Hey, Kev!! This is Willow, and this is Buffy. Guys, this is Kevin, the owner, landlord and all around good guy.” Faith introduces them as she grabs the heavier boxes placing them on the dolly.



“Nice to meet you.” Kevin smiles at the two women, sighing quietly at the four beautiful women. “Are these two family, also?”



Tara laughs quietly at the look of confusion on Buffy and Willow’s face. “No, Kevin, they’re not. Just good friends.”



Faith chuckles as Buffy and Willow turn questioning eyes towards her. “He’s wantin’ to know if you two like girls.”



Willow blushes a deep red and shakes her head. “Nope, got a boyfriend.”



Buffy laughs quietly, even as she turns pink. “Not so much, but it has started occurring to me more frequently lately. Which I need to thank you two for.” Buffy growls as she grabs a couple boxes.



“I gave you fair warning.” Tara’s eyes twinkle with mischief. “I think you were wanting to see me completely naked.”



“BUFFY!” Willow turns wide eyes on the slayer. “You didn’t tell me that!”



“Ooops.” Buffy shrugs, smiling in apology. “Willow, I saw Tara and Faith naked. Now you know.” Buffy quickly follows a chuckling Faith into the apartment building.



“You have some explaining to do!” Willow calls out after the slayer, her hands on her hips. Turning her gaze on Tara, Willow raises an eyebrow.



“Don’t look at me.” Tara raises a hand at the redhead. “I had to go to the bathroom, I couldn’t help it that I was naked and sun burnt at the time, and Faith was treating my sun burn.”



“She told me about how she found out about you and Faith, but she didn’t say there was no clothes!” Willow closes her eyes and whimpers quietly. “But anybody that would think about it, would know… Wait! Your whole body was sun burnt?” Willow grabs a couple boxes following the laughing blonde into the apartment building.



Kevin stands there looking at the four women as they quickly disappear inside the apartment building. Shaking his head in disbelief, he grabs the last couple boxes and shuts the back of the Jeep. “How come I have this feeling things are going to get real interesting around here?” He grins as he walks towards the doors.



***



“Kevin, you can stay for dinner, if you want.” Tara offers as Kevin grabs the dolly, ready to head out of the apartment. “We appreciate your help.”



“Nah, you guys go ahead and get settled. I might take you up on dinner some other night, though.” Kevin grins and waves at the group of women before heading out the door.



“He seems super nice.” Willow comments as she unpacks Tara’s books, placing them on the book case Faith had bought at the store and put together earlier that day.



“He is. He helped me move in earlier today and even helped me put together the bookcases I bought.” Faith grins as she places the hamburgers in the skillets and the fries in the oven, before washing her hands. “He was going to help me unpack, but considering that half the boxes had weapons in them, I thought it might be best to do that part myself.”



“You were busy today, sweetie.” Tara comments looking up at Faith.



“Got up and was at the utility place at 8:00 when they opened.” Faith admits, smiling as she gathers the bathroom items, taking them into the bathroom and putting them up.



Tara follows behind Faith, noticing the stacks of towels and washcloths along with the varying shampoos, conditioners, lotions and body washes that adorned the bathroom closet. “Looks like someone went and spent some serious money at the store today, also.”



Faith blushes lightly and nods her head. “I noticed you seemed to like the vanilla and citrus-y type stuff, so I stocked up on it.” Faith smiles as Tara inspects the items.



“Looks like we won’t need any of this type stuff for months.” Tara whispers turning her gaze on her lover. “What else did you buy today, sweetie?” Tara questions softly.



“A little bit of this and a little bit of that.” Faith steps into Tara’s embrace, hugging her back gently. “Since there’s some room in the kitchen, I bought a small freezer chest so we can stock up on meat when it’s on sale. They’ll be delivering it on Monday.”



“Putting it in that empty area on the other side of the refrigerator?” Tara questions stroking her hands down the slayer’s strong back.



“Yeah. I measured the distance to make sure it’d fit before I went back and bought it.” Faith closes her eyes at the soft stroking.



“Come on, you two! What else do you need us to unpack?” Buffy grumbles standing in the doorway with her arms crossed.



“I’ll get my clothes and things later. It’s not that big of a deal.” Tara eases her arms from around Faith, smiling at her lover before kissing her gently on the lips. “Let’s be proper hosts, sweetie.”



“Why? They don’t expect me to be nice.” Faith grumbles good-naturedly as she follows the witch out of the bathroom. Faith checks the hamburgers, turning them before walking out into the living room, smiling as Tara places her crystals on one of the empty shelves on the book case. Looking around, Faith eyes Tara’s sketch pad, her hands itching to look and see what else she might have drawn.



“Hey, Tara! Did you draw these?” Buffy questions as she picks up the framed drawings, looking at them closely.



“Yes, I did.” Tara glances towards Buffy seeing what she has in her hands. “Sweetie, we don’t have to hang those up, if you don’t want to. We can look for actual pictures to hang on the wall.” Tara turns her gaze towards Faith, watching as the slayer stops as if she was caught doing something she shouldn’t be. Frowning, Tara looks around seeing what the slayer might have been making her way towards. When her eyes light on her sketch pads, Tara raises an eyebrow and turns her gaze back to Faith.



“No, I like ‘em. We can hang ‘em wherever you want.” Faith smiles and works her way back to the pile of boxes, gathering the ones with clothes in them and taking them to the bedroom.



“Uh, huh.” Tara considers her lover before she finishes putting her little knick knacks around the living room. Frowning briefly at the few items adorning the living room.



“Well, unless you want me to hang the pictures, I think that’s about it.” Buffy shrugs her shoulders sitting down on the end of the couch, watching as Tara shifts things around to her liking.



“I want to thank you two for helping.” Tara smiles at Buffy and Willow.



“No biggie, and no thanks necessary. We’ll be using you here pretty soon.” Buffy grins as she flicks the television on, clicking through the stations.



Tara laughs at Buffy. “You have a point.” Tara leaves Buffy and Willow arguing good naturedly about what they want to watch while she checks on the food, turning the hamburgers again before opening the oven to see how the fries are doing. “Do either of you need anything else to drink?”



“I’m good.” Willow answers before smacking Buffy on the leg. “I wanted to watch that, turn it back!”



“Come on, Willow! How much nature can you deal with?” Buffy grumbles flicking the station back. “I’m okay, thanks, Tara.” Buffy answers finally handing the remote to Willow, sighing.



Tara chuckles as she walks over, grabbing her sketch pads and carrying them back to the bedroom, watching as Faith hangs the clothes up in, what she’s assuming, is going to be her closet. Tilting her head, Tara sets the pads down on the bed, walking towards the closet, looking inquiringly at the tops and jeans hanging there. “I don’t remember having those.”



“You didn’t have ‘em.” Faith admits as she smoothes the skirt she just finished hanging up in the closet. “You need to try ‘em on and make sure they fit when you get the chance.”



Tara turns her gaze on Faith. “Anything else you bought that I should know about?” Tara questions softly leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.



“Uhhh…” Faith hesitates her eyes glancing towards Tara.



Tara raises an eyebrow in question.



“Some other clothes and stuff.” Faith admits as she slowly shuts the closet door, walking towards the dresser.



Tara cautiously follows Faith, glancing in the drawer, seeing what looks like a serious quantity of skimpy panties and lacy bras adorning the drawers Faith’s opening. “Did you get the right sizes?” Tara questions softly as she pulls out a bra, looking at the sizing. “Yes, you did.” Tara slowly slides the drawers shut and leans against the dresser looking at Faith for a few moments, trying not to smile at the fidgeting slayer. “Just to clarify a few things, sweetie. Christmas is a good time to buy clothes as gifts. Otherwise, that’s one of those things I should probably spend my own money on, okay?”



Faith slowly raises guilty brown eyes, to look at Tara. “You ain’t gonna make me take ‘em back, are ya’?” Faith hesitantly questions, watching as a small smile crosses Tara’s face as she shakes her head no. Sighing heavily, Faith wraps her arms around Tara. “I noticed you didn’t have much in the ways of clothes, and wanted to buy you some.”



“Did you buy yourself anything while you were out?” Tara questions running her hands through the dark hair. “And we should probably check the food.”



“Yeah, I bought some things.” Faith grins as she walks out of the bedroom, looking at the hamburgers, turning them once more before pulling the fries out of the oven. Glancing towards Tara as she pulls out an onion, lettuce, tomato, pickles and condiments out of the fridge.



“Anything we can do to help?” Willow offers as she watches the two women.



“Nah, we got it under control.” Faith answers as she pulls a couple cutting boards out and a couple sharp good knives she’d bought today, also.



“I don’t think these came with the apartment.” Tara appraises the knife Faith handed her before quickly cleaning and slicing the onion.



“Nah, I picked up some quality items while I was out today. I knew that he’d only have the basic stuff here.” Faith cleans the head of lettuce before tearing it up and placing it in a bowl. Grabbing the tomato she rinses it off and hands to Tara, watching as Tara quickly slices it. Reaching into the pantry, Faith grabs a couple bags of hamburger buns, tossing them on the table before grabbing the plates down and setting the table.



“It’s about ready, if you two want to come and start fixing your burgers.” Tara offers as she places the hamburgers out of the three skillets on the stove on to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the grease, quickly placing the plate on the table before grabbing sodas out of the fridge and setting them on the table as Faith dumps the fries into a big bowl and setting them down in the middle of the table.



Faith grabs a roll of paper towels and sets it on the table. “Forgot to buy napkins.” She grins as she sits down grabbing a couple hamburgers and throwing everything on them before starting to eat.



“Have you heard anything else from Riley?” Tara questions Buffy as she dips her fry in the ketchup, eating it.



“Just a quick call that he was going to try and get away this weekend after things have calmed down from finals and the kids are leaving campus.” Buffy shrugs as she slides some more french fries on her plate. “I think he’s trying to avoid me, to be honest.”



“Why do ya’ think that?” Faith questions as she makes another hamburger.



“Because I’ve seen the rest of his group out and around the campus.” Buffy admits. “Forrest and Graham I’ve seen multiple times, and when they catch sight of me, they high tail it away from me.” Buffy frowns as she takes a drink of soda. “Then the fact I’ve left something like fifteen messages for Riley to call me and he just finally called today.”



“So no more news on the Adam front?” Tara questions softly as she picks up her hamburger.



“No, nothing.” Buffy looks towards Faith. “You haven’t seen him or run into him again, have you?”



“Nah. Haven’t seen hide nor hair of him.” Faith admits, setting down her hamburger. “Kinda glad, to tell ya’ the truth.”



“You and me both.” Tara whispers softly as she looks down at her plate.



Faith reaches out for Tara, running a soothing hand down her arm. “Tare has an idea of something we can do to help fight him, but we need to see if we can find out anymore information on him.”



“What idea?” Willow questions as she finishes her hamburger.



Tara hesitates for a moment before slowly explaining. “I can hook my essence to Faith, basically giving her me and my abilities with a psychic link. If I’m out at the lake, I’ll have an unlimited supply of power to draw on, so I can keep feeding it to Faith. Or myself as the case may be.” Tara smiles apologetically at the women. “I’ll be at the lake, the physical me, but the spiritual me would be with Faith.”



“Isn’t that dangerous?” Willow whispers frowning as she looks at Tara. “You’re projecting yourself out of your body into Faith, right?” As Tara nods her head, Willow turns her gaze on Faith. “If, Goddess forbid, something happened to Faith while you were in her, it would effect you too, right? Just like if your physical body is killed you would permanently be part of Faith. That’s very strong, high magic.”



Faith turns her gaze on Tara. “You didn’t quite explain that part, Tare.” Faith’s eyes narrow on the witch.



“Someone could protect my physical body, that’s not a big deal. As long as you don’t get hurt badly, I’ll be fine.” Tara explains softly. “And, I can pull out if it looks like I’ll need to.” Tara offers frowning at that thought. “But I’m not planning on that being an option.”



Faith keeps her narrowed gaze on the witch. “I’m going to want you to explain this to me in complete detail soon, understand?” Faith growls, her eyes deadly serious.



Tara sighs deeply at Faith’s serious look. “I understand. This isn‘t something that‘s going to happen anytime soon, anyway. I‘ll have to work on the link between us, strengthening it and we have to find out what Adam‘s weakness is. He may be immune to magic and this whole conversation is a moot point.”



“There’s things immune to magic?” Buffy questions surprised.



“Actually there are quite a few things that have a natural defense against magic. Some things it kind of slides off of. Some absorb magic, then there’s others that can reflect the magic back on the caster.” Tara explains quietly. When Faith turns surprised eyes on her, Tara smiles embarrassedly. “I’ve been researching since I found out about demons and the like being real.” Tara explains, seeing the acknowledgement in her lover’s eyes that she understood what she’d been trying to research.



“So, how are we gonna figure out if Frankenshit is immune to magic?” Faith frowns at the thought.



“Try a small spell against him that won’t harm whoever casts it to see what happens.” Tara shrugs looking at Faith. “That’s going to be our best bet. Since he’s not an actual ‘demon’ but a hybrid military construct, I’m betting he doesn’t have immunity to magic, if any of the demon parts used to make him had immunity, it was weakened when they decided to make it into a piece of another whole.”



The women decide to change the conversation to more mundane things as they finish eating dinner.



Faith looks towards Tara as they put the dishes in the sink to be washed as Buffy and Willow put the other items in the refrigerator. “I’m gonna go take them back to the college, babe. Then I’m gonna drop off the Jeep and do a patrol before coming back, ‘kay?”



“Do you want company?” Tara offers quietly as she grabs the dishcloth, wiping down the oven and counters before working her way to the kitchen table.



“You offerin’ to go on patrol with me?” Faith questions to make sure she understands what Tara’s offering.



“Yes, I am. If you want me to go with you.” Tara smiles at the slayer. “You said it’s been kind of quiet lately.”



“It has been. What time is your classes tomorrow?” Faith walks over to the pantry and pulls out the Tupperware box in the bottom, pulling out a couple stakes, tucking them in her pants.



“I really only have one class I need to be at tomorrow. It’s the second part of a three part final.” Tara rinses the wash cloth before placing it over the sink to dry.



“Second part of a three part final? What the hell?” Faith turns her gaze on Tara.



“First part was dissecting and naming parts of a couple animals last week. Tomorrow is a written question and Friday is the multiple question section.” Tara explains rolling her eyes.



“A written question?” Faith frowns at Tara, trying to figure out if she misheard her.



“Yes, one written question. It just happens that the question has fifty parts to it.” Tara grumbles quietly. “The professor said to plan on the test taking three hours. Knowing him, it’s probably closer to four hours to do it.”



“That long? What if you have other finals that conflict with it?” Willow questions surprised.



“Oh, he makes sure that there are no other finals during that time. Do either one of you have finals tomorrow?” Tara questions with a raised eyebrow.



“First thing in the morning and that’s it.” Willow admits as she thinks about it.



“Same here.” Buffy turns her gaze on Tara.



“My test is from 11:00 on.” Tara smirks knowingly. “He’s the only professor that has a test tomorrow from 11:00 or later.”



“That’s just cruel.” Faith growls looking at her lover. “Do you need to study for it?”



“No. Either I know it by now or I don’t.” Tara admits, smiling softly. “So, am I allowed to come with?”



“Yeah.” Faith nods as she walks back to the pantry, pulling the box out again. Grabbing the fanny pack she’d filled for Tara, she turns and hands it to the witch. “That’s yours. I’d like for you to have it on you at all times when you’re out and about.” Faith explains quietly.



Tara raises an eyebrow in surprise before unzipping the fanny pack, as she sorts through the items, she chuckles. “Oh, sweetie. You’ll turn a girls head giving her gifts like this.” Tara’s eyes look up, twinkling merrily.



“Smart ass.” Faith grumbles as she kneels down, double-checking her knife that’s strapped to her leg.



“What’s in there?” Buffy questions leaning over Tara’s shoulder.



“Oh, there’s a couple bottles of holy water, a large wooden cross with a sharpened end and a stake.” Tara laughs quietly as she looks over at a smirking Buffy.



“Come on, let’s get goin’.” Faith grumbles heading towards the door, watching as the rest of the group laugh as they make their way towards her.



“Thank you, sweetie.” Tara stops and places a soft kiss on the slayer’s cheek before heading out of the apartment.