Trials and Restorations

Trials and Restorations:-

~ Part 2 ~

"Shit," Faith muttered, as she and Joyce came to a dead end in the wooded area, their path now covered with bramble. Holding onto the
young soldier for support, she scanned the area for options.

"What do we do?" Joyce asked, reminding the slayer, "They're right behind us."

"Kiddo, we're not gonna make it together. You have to leave me here and find a way out."

"You're kidding right?" Joyce asked her. "No way. If I leave you, they'll kill you for sure. I'm leaving with you or not at all."

"I'm not gonna make it though and we're just going to get caught."

The both of them turned as the roar of motor vehicles became louder.

"Maybe not," Joyce decided. She lifted the slayer, placing her near the side of the path and out of danger.

"Where-?" Faith began, cut off as the girl sped off.
Waiting impatiently for what felt like hours, she listened intently to her surroundings. Upon hearing the roar of an engine nearing, she desperately attempted to stand, but found the pain too much, letting herself fall back down. Temporarily blinded by the glare of the land cruiser's headlamps, she broke into a grin when the vehicle parked beside her.

"Fuck, J. How-?" She started to ask.

"We've got to hurry," Joyce instructed, leaving the motor and moving to help Faith to her feet. Placing the slayer in the passenger seat and strapping her in, the blonde ran over to the driver's seat. Entering herself and starting the engine, she reversed before heading in the opposite direction, attempting to keep the vehicle as quiet as possible by going slowly.

After spending a while keeping watch of the area behind them, Faith turned to stare at the driver, the look of amazement quite apparent on her features.

Noticing this, Joyce glanced toward the slayer. "What?" She asked returning her gaze to the road.

"You've got blood on your hand," Faith noticed. "Kiddo, how d'you get this car?"

"You told me to do whatever I had to do," the cadet answered. When Faith remained silent, she added. "I didn't kill them if that's what you're thinking."

"I wasn't. But there was a 'them' and you have their car and their blood on your clothes. How do you want me to be?"

Unable to answer the question, Joyce continued to drive along the narrow road. "We're about twenty minutes from the nearest town," was all she could say.

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Sat watching the arrival and departure of the local people from a café outside which the truck was parked, Faith looked up when Joyce returned to the vehicle.

"She said that there's a train that will take us near to the airport and we can get tickets from hawks down there," Joyce informed her, asking, "What are hawks?"

"They're people that sell cheap tickets down at the airport gates," Faith told the younger girl allowing her to help her stand. "They're illegal, but they'll get us to America at least."

"Ok," Joyce agreed, entering the café, holding on to Faith. The blonde set the taller woman down at a table, before seating herself in front of her.

"Begrijpt u het Nederlands?" A waiter asked, upon his approach.

"Een weinig," Faith replied. "Maar, wij zijn Amerikaans."

Smiling, the waiter replied, "In that case, what will you have?"

"Two large breakfasts," Faith told the man. "A coffee and juice."

"Coming up," he told them, leaving.

"I'm going to go to the restroom," the adolescent told her stand-in mother, leaving the booth after receiving an approval.

Faith watched after the young girl as she made her way. She studied the child's long flowing blonde locks and remembered the only other person she knew to have had such beautiful hair.

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Returning home, flustered from her run, Faith beheld the awesome sight that was her lover in a silk robe. She smiled.

"How was your run?" Buffy asked.

"Good," the brunette replied. "What are you doing back so soon?"

"Aren't you happy to see me?" the older slayer asked. Taking a bottle of champagne from the fridge and putting it inside the bucket of ice on the counter. "Even after I went to all this trouble?" In reference to her robe, she added with a pout, "And I'm naked under this."

Her grin's size increasing, Faith walked over to her girlfriend. "Of course I'm happy to see you - especially after that. But, baby, I gotta go take a shower before I pounce all over you."

Taking the brunette by the hem of her trousers, Buffy told her, "Forget the shower; pounce away. I'm only going to get you
sweaty again anyway."

"In that case," Faith decided, taking hold of the petite slayer beneath her arms, lifting her up and placing her on the counter. "I should really get to thanking you for going to all this trouble."

Smiling, Buffy agreed, "I think you should." She watched in anticipation, as the brunette nodded and moved to their drawers.

Taking a clean dish-cloth from within it, Faith used it to wrap around the older slayer head, covering her eyes. Once convinced that her blindfold was secure, the brunette released the rope holding her lover's robe together.

Her vision impaired, Buffy could do little more than feel and listen, as Faith reached for the champagne on ice.

Removing the bottle from the bucket, Faith took hold of a cube of ice from it. Leaning in to kiss, the older slayer, she drew the blonde into a passionate lip-lock before replacing her lips with the ice.

Biting lightly on her bottom lip, Buffy tried to keep from smiling as she slowly sucked on the cube of ice, eventually taking it into her mouth and swallowing it.

Feeling her arousal mounting and taking another ice cube from the bucket, Faith rubbed the frozen water over her lover's sun-kissed body. Starting from beneath her neck and working down to her nipples, she grinned as the contact caused Buffy to wince.

"Is that too cold, baby?" the slayer asked, despite having absolutely no intention of stopping.

Buffy moaned her reply, aware that her answer was irrelevant.

Exhaling audibly, Faith enveloped her lover's breast with her mouth; the warmth of it providing a welcomed contrast to the ice.

Enjoying this, the older slayer entangled her hand in her girlfriend's hair, intent on keeping the brunette fixed in her
position.

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"Are you thinking about mom?" Joyce interrupted the slayer's thoughts, upon her return to the table.

"Yeah," Faith admitted, taking a mouth full of the cup of coffee that had been delivered. She took hold of her cutlery and began to eat the food that had been laid in front of her.

Pausing for a moment, Joyce eventually voiced, "Do you think she still remembers us?"

"Are you kidding?" the older of the two asked, in-between bites. "When we get back, it'll be like we never left. I'm sure she
misses you like crazy."

"And you," Joyce supplemented. When the slayer neglected to comment, the youngster pressed on. "Faith, why wont you tell me why you and mom broke up?"

"Kiddo, eat your meal," Faith ordered, gulping down the first meal she had had in almost a week.

"Was it Dad?"

Ignoring the question, the brunette continued to eat.

"What's so bad that-?" the adolescent started, her voice trailing off once her gaze was distracted. She looked through the café window to the outside as soldiers made their way towards the building.

Following the teenager's gaze, Faith spotted the uniformed officials, making their way inside.
"Shit," she muttered. She realised, "They're probably tracking the cruiser."

"What do we do?" Joyce asked, starting to panic.

"It's cool," Faith assured. In a bid not to draw attention to them, the slayer subtly scanned the area for exits. Her gaze setting on the toilet door, she asked the blonde, "Any exits in there?"

"No," Joyce answered.

"No windows??"

"Oh. Yeah." The young girl nodded.

"Can you get through?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. In three, act normal and go back in there and wait for me, ok?"

The youth waited for the third count and casually made her way to the bathroom.

Keeping an eye on the soldiers; two of whom were approaching the front desk, whilst another two were questioning seated patrons,
Faith looked to the vehicles the militia had come in. Spotting them unmanned, she carefully stood when another customer made her way to the bathroom, taking her table knife with her. Following her, she entered the ladies. Faced with Joyce's concerned look, she signalled for the blonde to stand in front of the door.

Convinced that the three of them were alone, the brunette took hold of the other woman and produced the knife.

"I'm really sorry," she told her, holding up the utensil and motioning for her belongings. "I need you to give me your purse and the keys to your car."

Her expression a mixture or shock and disbelief, she looked to the other female barricading the door. Not finding the girl offer any assistance, she handed over her purse.

"I am so sorry," Faith told her, taking it.

"En toch rooft u me," the smaller woman, stated her sarcasm apparent.

"Het spijt me," the slayer replied. Throwing the key to Joyce, she cocked her head toward the bathroom's only exit. "Red convertible," she told the adolescent.

Nodding and catching the key, the youngster made her way to and opened the window, leaving through it.

The knife still now at her captive's throat, Faith waited for Joyce to leave, before releasing her. "Ik ben droevig," she repeated, leaving after the blonde. Spotting Joyce at the door of a car, she ran towards her as quickly as she could in her weakened state.

Entering the car, Joyce started the engine and drove toward the slayer, urging her to hurry as she watched out for the soldiers who had been alerted by the roar of the engine.

Faith opened the door and entered the vehicle, as the youngster sped up the car.


TBC…