We Need Each Other

"Hey, anyone home down there?" Faith called as she poked her head into the basement. She took a tentative step down the first few steps, listening for a response.

"Oh bollocks." Spike whispered under his breath. Just the person I want to see right now. "Come on down."

Hearing that, Faith walked down the rest of the steps and into the basement. Looking around, finally she saw Spike sitting on the floor. His back was too the wall and the side of his head rested on his fist, in a pose that made him look totally bored.

"You a big fan of concrete?" She asked. "Thought you had a..bed." Her eyes fell upon the broken pieces of wood and torn cloth that once made up the cot that Spike had been sleeping on.

"Wow, did you have a `break some shit' party? Kinda wish you'd invited me, cause I'm totally into that if you hadn't heard."

"Got kinda bored." Spike answered, noncommittally. "What brings you down to my little slice of heaven?"

Faith shrugged. "Came down to see if you wanted to share a smoke. B, gets pissed at me when I wanna smoke upstairs."

Spike gave a slight smirk. "Yeah, she is a little ponce about that, isn't she?"

"Yeah well, whatcha gonna do?" She said, breaking out her pack then drawing out two cigarettes and her lighter. Then she handed one to Spike.

Hell, he thought. Might as well talk to her.

After they had both lit up Faith sat down on the floor beside him. They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a while.

"So.." Spike began. "You're Buffy's new squeeze, eh?"

Faith wasn't looking at him to see the look on his face when he asked that. She was just staring off at the far wall. But she answered.

"Yeah. I guess I am." She smiled at the thought, and Spike noticed. He looked her over for a few seconds. Okay then, she's sweet on the blonde, not just a shag.

"You always get all moony like that?" Breaking her out of her daze.

"Huh? Oh, not always." Faith laughed at herself. "There was a time when all I could think about was ripping her damn head off. Now all I wanna do is be close to her."

"I can identify with that.." Spike said absentmindedly. Faith looked at him, her eyebrow raised. "Uh..in the fight..against evil and all." He tried to cover.

"Come on, man. Don't bullshit a bullshitter."

He shrugged, taking another drag on his cigarette. "Ya well, guess your gonna find out from one of the others, sooner or later. See..the Slayer and I..the OTHER Slayer and I, we had a thing."

Faith just shook her head. "Geez, you know, given her past history, I shouldn't be surprised. So what, a huggy kissy thing, like her and Angel had?"

Spike laughed out loud at the comparison between himself and Angel. "More like a shag, till the damned building falls down thing. Literally, one time."

"Damn. That's..incredibly not suprising." She thought for a moment, having to admit to herself that she didn't know how she felt having a conversation with Buffy's ex-lover. "So when'd this `thing' between you guys end?"

"You have a watch? About five hours, thirteen minutes ago." He muttered.

"Huh?" A sudden realization hit her. "Oh shit, I'm sorry man..Fuck!" She stood up and started pacing the floor back and forth.

"Hey..what the hell?"

Faith wasn't hearing him. She just kept walking around the floor of the basement. She was speaking but actually talking to herself.

"Fuck! Why'd you even come back here? You shoulda just stayed in LA, bitch.."

Spike flicked his cigarette into a corner and stood up, catching Faith by the shoulders. "Listen.."

"Don't, ok. I don't need to hear it. I've only been back in Sunnydale for two days and I'm already fuckin' with B's life again! That's what I swore I'd never do. Only this time she actually helped me do it!" Suprisingly enough, Spike actually felt for the dark haired girl. She actually cared, and that's a unique quality.

"No, you listen!" Spike had to yell at her, holding her by the shoulders to get her attention. "You didn't do anything. You didn't know."

"Are you kidding?" Faith said, feeling the familiar self-loathing worm its way back into her. "Buffy's already kicked one of her oldest friends out of the house, and screwed you over in one big swoop. I didn't wanna..I just wanted to.."

"Make her life a little better?" Spike finished for her.

She finally looked at him. "Yeah..but still I end up fuckin' it up. Screw my good intentions.."

Spike looked her directly in the eye. "Welcome to the club, girlie. The boy got all brassed off and stormed away when he found out about me and her, too. But guess what? He got over it. By the way, Buffy has been famous for going off all harsh on her friends lately. Look, sit down. Ya make me nervous." He motioned again to the floor, since there was no furniture left.

Faith sat down, then Spike next to her.

"I guess that's the reason behind your little redecorating spree, huh?" Faith muttered.

"Buffy, didn't screw me over. Not really I guess.." Spike said. "What we had..it was actually over months ago. Thing is, though, there was still this thing between us, that didn't actually go anywhere. We still had this vibe, and I hoped it would blossom again."

"I'm sorry." Faith said again, her eyes closed. "Why didn't you say anything, upstairs earlier?"

Spike chuckled again. "What was I supposed to say? I'm not a whiny little poof, and I've suffered enough indignation at Buffy's hands to be used to losing."

"Yeah well.." Faith said "Sometimes `winning' doesn't feel so cool."

They sat for a bit longer, leaning against each other.

"Ya know..? I just thought of something." Spike told her. "When Xander got all pissy at her, over me..she didn't even say a word to him until days later. She just let him run off on his merry way."

"So?"

"So..when he fucks with you, just a little, she threatens to break body parts. I guess that should mean something to you."

"What're you saying?" Faith finally asked him.

"Oh, bloody hell!" Spike exclaimed. "Do I have to do all the math? It means she feels something for you that she never did for me."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Whatever that means." Spike admitted to himself as the words came out of his mouth.

Faith smiled again. "Cool."

"Look, Slayer, just go to her. I know you guys seem pretty happy together. Regardless of how I feel, I'll get over it..sooner or later. We're still on the same side."

She looked at him, and saw in his face that he was sincere.

"You know something?" Faith asked him, before she left. "For a vamp, you're not such a bad guy."

She started to bolt up the stairs, then as an afterthought, she turned back.

"Thanks, Blondie."

"Just be off, with you.." He answered, watching her head up the stairs.

Ok. Maybe that girl's not so bad after all.

--

Buffy was in the living room, looking over Willow's shoulder as she did research on her laptop.

"Hey, Wil. You seen Faith?"

"Not lately." Willow answered. "She said she was going down to smoke with Spike about an hour ago, and I haven't seen her since."

"Um..ok." Buffy walked to the basement door, only to have it open as soon as she reached for the handle. Faith was standing in the doorway, grinning.

"Holy crap." Buffy said, even while Faith was grabbing her hand and leading her out the front door. "Faith, where are we going?" Buffy asked.

"We're going out, so we can talk, snuggle bunny." Faith gave her a sly wink and dragged her out the door.