Surprises

Disclaimer - see part one

Part 2
Willow shielded the sun from her eyes as she looked out the window of the airport. She was waiting for Faith outside of the terminal. When Faith had left the message on the answering machine with her flight number, Willow had been more than a little surprised. Buffy hadn't mentioned calling Faith, and Willow had no idea why she was coming. The scary demon that was to open the hell mouth, well it was actually a vertically challenged fledgling looking for a way to cause a little chaos, and Buffy had stomped him out with no problem. The phone call, Faith said Buffy made about said demon, had to have been right before she took off. Now Willow was going to have to explain all of this to Faith, as well as what was really going on and why she was here. A task she was not looking forward to.

Caught in her own musing, Willow jumped when she felt a tap on her shoulder, "Hey Red."

"Faith," she said pulling the girl into an awkward hug, "it's really good to see you."

Faith pulled out of the hug and looked at Willow, "You too. I hate to say though, I was kind of expecting B," she unconsciously looked around for the other girl.

Willow cleared her throat, "About that..." she started, and the paused, unsure how to proceed, "she's not...do you know why she called you Faith?" Willow asked.

"What do you mean? Didn't you guys get my message?"

"Yeah. I got it. Something about a badass demon. Seems he's been trying to open the hell mouth, right?" Willow asked Faith, making her way to one of the long rows of chairs and sitting down, "I don't know what to tell you, Faith."

Faith stood over Willow, not wanting to sit down, "what the fuck do you mean, "you don't know what to tell me?' What is going on, Red? Where's Buffy?"

"She's not here," Willow said, willing the girl to sit down.

Faith looked around the terminal, "I can see that. But where is she?" When Willow started to shrug, Faith lightly grabbed her by the shoulders pulling her up, "Are you trying to tell me, you don't know where she is?" Faith couldn't hold the anger from her voice as it continued to rise, "is she gone?" Willow nodded, "disappeared?"

"No," Willow said, "she left on her own."

"Left on her own. Like left the house, left the town, left the state? What?"

Willow sighed, "Look Faith, I'm here because of the message you left for Buffy. I didn't want you to be alone at the airport and..."

"And what?"

"I don't know. You're already here. Why don't we talk about all this when we get home?" Willow said grabbing Faith's bag. She noticed Faith's hesitant stance, and continued, "I know you're tired. So am I, actually. I want to explain everything to you, but not here. Please, come with me?" Willow looked at her pleadingly.

"All right Red. Let's go," Faith said, following Willow out of the airport and to her car.

Willow hadn't said much on the way to the car and Faith felt the need to strike some sort of conversation. Still, if the redhead wanted to hold on discussing the real deal, she would wait, seeing as she really had no choice in the matter, "So, Nashville, huh?"

Willow smiled wearily at her, before pulling into traffic, "Yeah. It's not as bad as you would think. The weather is okay. It snowed last winter, and it proves to be pretty hot in the summer." Willow swerved to miss a car that was pulling out in front of her, "Fucking traffic," she mumbled, under her breath.

"What was that?" Faith asked.

"Oh nothing. Traffic's just a bitch around Memorial Day, apparently." Willow answered.

"So, are you off work today, or are you working?" Faith asked, trying to think of something to keep the momentum going.

"Off work. For the summer. I teach high school chemistry. It's not bad. The kids are pretty cool actually. But, we're out for the summer," Willow mused, getting off the interstate.

"You work at the same school Buffy does?" Faith asked.

"She told you about that?" Willow asked as she turned to look at the dark haired girl. When Faith nodded, she continued, "Yeah. Buff's a counselor there. She's actually got the tougher of the two jobs if you ask me. Everyone's got a problem."

"But you're off for the summer?"

"I am. Buffy was supposed to work, but..." she turned the car into a driveway, and stopped, "here we are," she said.

Faith got out of the passenger's side and looked up at the two story home in front of her, "Nice digs for a couple of teachers," Faith said, walking around back to help Willow with her bags.

"Ken has money," Willow said, closing the trunk, "lots of money."

Faith followed her inside, and laid her bag by the door, "No kidding," she sarcastically commented, as she sat down on the couch.

Willow followed her, " Can I get you something to drink? Or are you hungry?" Willow noticed the beginning of a protest forming on Faith's lips, "Well Faith, like I said, I don't know where to begin."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere, so why don't you start at the beginning," Faith proclaimed, "I'm a little curious."

"To tell the truth, so am I," Willow responded.

To be continued