Trials and Restorations

~ Part 8 I (of II) ~


Straddling the psychiatrist at the waist and undoing the top button of his pants, Faith roughly inserted her right hand into his jeans.

The both of them now sat on a chair, the brunette raised her left arm, resting it on his shoulder. She momentarily raised herself upward to allow herself enough access to take hold of his penis, rubbing him roughly and almost instantaneously getting the reaction she wanted from the brunette. Smiling satisfied, the slayer told him, "See, that wasn't so hard." She winked, asking him to, "Excuse the pun."

Proceeding to bite his bottom lip and draw it into her mouth, she groaned before releasing it.
"I can't say I see what Buffy sees in you," she confessed. "Though I gotta hand it to you, you are very well equipped; you must be a regular stud between the sheets."

Looking at the silent man, she furrowed her brow. "Oh. My bad," she uttered staring at him. "How can you talk with this in your mouth?" Removing the gag she had created for her captive, the slayer mocked him as he screamed.

"Dude, no-one cares," she reminded him. Tonguing the brunette's open mouth, she laughed at him before standing up. She moved to retrieve the knife she had been holding until the psychiatrist had caused her to throw it in anger.

Blood pouring from his bound arm, cut where he had tried to fight his much stronger captor, Scott attempted to focus on events at hand rather than his looming need to faint. Throbbing almost everywhere and red-faced at his inability to resist the sultry brunette the psychiatrist tried, "I swear to you, I had no intention of having sex with you tonight, I just came to the bar to cool off."

Studying the man's features and approving of his apparent honesty, Faith decided, "Wow. Buffy really has found herself a good one, hasn't she? Well we'll just have to see what we can do about that. Before I fuck you and then probably eventually kill you, I just have a few things I want to know - is that ok with you?" Faith took the taller brunette's blank expression as a sign of concurrence and continued, "How long have you known your wife?"

"Buffy?"

Raising the knife and resuming her position on the man's lap, Faith ran the tool along the brunette's neck, tracing his jugular
vein. "You married to someone else?" she asked him.

His fear escalating, Scott stuttered, "No.. I..A year."

"Huh. Where d'you meet?"

Glaring worriedly at the woman, he felt obliged to disclose, "At her store."

Feigning interest, the slayer wondered aloud, "I bet it was real romantic. Did you fall in love with her when you first saw her? I mean B is easy on the eyes - you two must look great together."

In an attempt to stop the slayer's impending emotional descent, the psychiatrist decided to attempt to distract her, "Look, you're obviously hurting about something. Please, talk to me about it - I can help."

"Shit, you're boring," Faith concluded, replacing the gag into the man's mouth. "I thought you'd at least be like – I'm sorry. Please let me go I'll do anything." She shook her head, telling him. "I should kill you right now." Looking at the terrified expression on the man's face, she slapped him repeatedly and patronisingly. "Relax, Scottie. I still have plans for you."

Chuckling, she was forced to stop and turn by the call of her name from behind them.
Immediately standing up and moving to stand behind her prisoner, she grabbed hold of his short chestnut hair pulling his head back and causing him to cry out. Putting the steel blade in her hand, to his throat, she warned,
"I wouldn't come any closer."

Utterly bewildered at the sight of her bound and apparently bleeding lover, she looked to her knife-wielding ex.
"Faith."

"Buffy. Nice of you to join us."

"Faith, what are you doing?" the blonde slayer asked. "Scott hasn't done anything to you."

"True," Faith admitted. "But how much would it hurt you to watch him die right here?"

In disbelief, Buffy struggled to ask her former girlfriend, "What happened to you?"

"Meaning?"

"The Faith I knew wouldn't kill someone like this. It's not you."

"What about Riley?" the younger slayer reminded her past lover. "I gutted him. Stuck my knife inside and rolled it
around, 'til his blood spilt on my shoes. You should have been there, baby. It was quite a sight."

"I'm so sorry," was all Buffy could think to say. "I did this to you."

"Don't flatter yourself, girlfriend. I did this to me. I let you whip me for all those years, dealing with all your shit - well this is payback." Raising the knife, Faith paused when asked to do so.

"Why?" the dark slayer asked. "It's funny, I didn't hear you whine this much when the army took me off to use as their punch-bag for nearly four years." Looking at the psychiatrist in her clutch, she asked his wife, "Tell me, B, what's so special about this guy? Why him?"

Unable to answer the question, Buffy attempted to reason. "I know I hurt you, but if you could give me a chance, I want to explain-"

"That ship sailed the minute you crawled into bed with this loser,"
Faith told her ex. "What was it that did it for you? His boyish charm, his sincere eyes - or the fact that he has a cock? Or is it the fact that he's someone you can use.”

"You're angry."

"In your dreams, babe. I just feel sorry for you and for him actually." Resolved, she decided. "You two deserve each other."
Using the knife to cut Scott's hands free, Faith kicked the chair forward, sending the psychiatrist hurtling forward onto his hands and knees.

Moving to his aid and physically supporting her husband who was barely able to stand, the slayer looked to Faith; her former
vivacious lover now the shell of the woman she once knew.

"I have to take him home," Buffy voiced, disconcerted as an unresponsive Faith walked away.


~ Part 8 II (of II) ~

"1630 Rovello," Buffy instructed the taxi driver. She looked to her husband sat in the back seat.

"I don't want you alone with her," Scott pleaded, holding his tattered shirt to his bleeding arm. "Please, Buffy."

Smiling tenderly at her lover's concern, the slayer assured, "I'll be okay. I just need you to go home and get some rest."

"You think I can do that knowing that you're with that... that loon. Buffy, that woman is incredibly strong."

"I'll be... What are you doing?" Buffy asked, rushing beside Scott, the brunette furiously tapping away at his mobile phone.

"Calling the cops," he answered, putting the cell phone to his ear.

Relieving the mobile phone from her lover, Buffy ordered, "No."

"Buffy-"

"Scott, please. Just go."

She nodded at the driver who started the car, before leaving the vehicle herself.

Shaking his head, the male psychiatrist tried, "Buffy."

"I'll see you at home," Buffy told him, ignoring his protests as the car drove away.

Turning her back to the passing car, the slayer braced herself, re-entering the home of her Wicca friend. Making her way through the darkened home, she listened out, following the only noise she could hear coming from the outside. Walking out into the garden, Buffy beheld her ex, sat beside the clear-blue swimming pool, making mini-waves with her feet.
Taking a moment to admire, the dark slayer's effortless good looks when bathed by the moonlight, the older woman approached, standing behind her.

"I sent Scott home," Buffy explained. "I figured we should talk without him in the way... without him involved."

"I have nothing to say to you," Faith told her, staring ahead at the still water.

"That's good," the blonde decided. "Because I have a lot to say to you."

"Save it," Faith told her, standing up and walking past her. "I don't want to know."

Taking hold of the passing brunette by the arm, Buffy ordered, "You're going to have to."

Looking down at the arm on hers, Faith locked eyes with the slayer, "You wanna let go of me?" she asked, menacingly.

"If you're going to listen to me."

Shrugging the slayer's body from hers, Faith left, making her way back inside.

"So that's it? You're not even going to give me a chance?" Buffy called, following her. "That's really mature. God! Why are you
always so pig-headed?"

Whipping around, Faith stopped. "Pig-headed?" she asked. "Okay, you wanna explain? Fine, explain. Are you or are you not married?"

Not expecting the question, Buffy paused, finally admitting. "I thought you were dead. I mean, what was I supposed to think?
Amanda'd been called the same night you were gone."

"That means nothing and you know it. I was called and you're still alive. You knew that there was a chance the rules could have been bent, but you didn't care. Admit it Buffy, didn't it make it easier for you that I was off the scene?"

"What? No."

"Aw, c'mon. Wasn't life great without your not-good-enough-for-Dr.-Buffy-Summers girlfriend hanging around? I bet you take Scott to all your little Dr. meetings and show him off to all your Dr. friends."

"He's my husband."

"Yeah he is and a fine one too. D'you know he came here tonight thinking he was going to screw me?"

"Scott would never-"

"So what was he doing here?"

Taken aback by the question and unable to think of an answer, Buffy diverted, "Why are you doing this? You want to prove a point? I get it; you're angry that I moved on. I'm sorry. Did you expect me to stay hung up on you all this time? To pine for you and wither away alone. Would you be happy then?"

The brunette's silence seemingly answering her question, Buffy continued,
"Or are you angry with me because I'm with a man? Tell me, Faith, would you be this upset if I were with a woman?"
When the brunette failed to answer, Buffy ordered, "Tell me, because I really want to know this. Are you this angry
with me because I'm with a man?"

"Okay," Faith decided. "Yes. I am pissed off that you're with captain penis. Happy now?"

"That is so not fair," the blonde slayer told her ex. "You can't judge me because I've had more relationships with men than women."

"I'm a firm believer that if you want to make a choice, you should stick with it. Why were you even with me anyway? You never loved me and it's obvious that you need trouser snakes to keep you happy."
Glad that it was now the golden slayer's turn to be silent, Faith told her. "You should go home, B. The hubby'll be wondering where you are. Besides, we have nothing to talk about anymore."

"We still have you to talk about," Buffy replied. "Faith, I need you to know it means the world to me that your back. You don't know how many times I wished you would walk back into my life. Fantasized that you'd turn up at the house or meet me at the movies... If I'd have known you were ever going to come back, I would have... I never thought it was possible - I laid flowers on your grave last week for God's sake."

"I shouldn't have even had a grave," Faith told her. "Because you should have been out there looking for us! Or was it too convenient for you to have a clean slate? Without your mistake of a kid or your-"

Interrupting, Buffy asked, "How dare you? You're way out of line. You know how much I love my daughter."

"So much, you signed her away to low-life bent army guys."

"For you. I signed my daughter's life away and missed three whole years of her life, for you. To get you back. Had I have known that you would have turned into this monster, I might not have bothered."
Before turning to leave the speechless dark slayer, Buffy added, "Faith, you can accuse me of some of the things that went
wrong between us, but don't ever hide behind the lie that I never loved you. You can't accuse me of that."

Rendered near-speechless and feeling guilty, a remorseful Faith called out after her fellow slayer, "Buffy!"
To which she received no reply.

TBC...