Fic: The Times In Between Part 3/?

["frank_8281" <frank_8281@xxxxxxxxx>]

Author: Bob Head
Disclaimer: None of the characters below belong to me. All the BtVS 
people belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. I'm 
just trying to have fun.
Pairing: Buffy/Willow, of course.
Spoilers: Anything up to and including the Series Finale is possible 
Rating: NC-17, mostly for language, but who knows what might happen.
Feedback: Well, Yeah! frank_8281@xxxxxxxxx   



The Times In Between


May 24th, 2003 2:53am

It was a nice enough hotel as small town hotels went. Nothing fancy, 
but it was just a place to stop while they all rested up anyway. 
After getting Willow tucked into bed in Kennedy's room Faith had just 
sat there watching her sleep for a while and worrying that letting 
Kennedy go talk to Buffy had not been a good plan. A worry that was 
in no way eased when she called the hospital only to learn that Buffy 
had left against doctor's orders, with Kennedy no less! 

`Shit,' thought Faith, `if those two kill each other, Red'll turn me 
into a rat or something.'

The sound of a key in the door brought her to her feet in a ready 
stance. She relaxed a little when she saw Buffy and Kennedy walk in 
but not much. "You know," She said, "you two are gonna make me gray-
haired before my time and if you bust so much as a single stitch 
Blondie, Red will kick BOTH our asses!"

Buffy chuckled, "I'll have to be careful then." More seriously, "How 
is she?"

Faith sighed, "Out like a light. But she's gonna have one hell of a 
hangover when she wakes up."

Buffy sat on the bed next to Willow as she said, "Yeah, tequila's 
like that. Fun while it lasts but hell the next morning."

"Geez B sounds like you're talking from experience there." Faith said.

"Unfortunately," she said with a wry expression, "I am."

Kennedy, who had been quietly gathering her few things asked, "Can I 
bunk in with you Faith? I'll get another room tomorrow."

Faith looked from Kennedy to where Buffy sat stroking the sleeping 
wiccan's red hair. "Uh& yeah sure Kenn, Here, I'll be& there in a 
minute." she tossed her the key as Kennedy walked to the door. 

Buffy called, "Kennedy?"

"Yeah." She said with out turning around.

"Thank you."

"Just& don't hurt her." She said as she walked out the door.

"Buffy," Faith said, "you and Red, you're gonna be okay, right?"

"God I hope so." She said earnestly.

"She's& pretty pissed at you, you know that right?"

Buffy sighed and said, "I thought she might be." Never taking her 
eyes off the sleeping red head. "But it doesn't matter, I'll fix it 
somehow. I can't lose her now Faith. Not when I'm finally done 
baking." She leaned down and gently kissed Willow's forehead.

"You hear that Wills?" Buffy whispered, "I'm cookies."

Faith almost choked, " Uh& Cookies?"

"Something, I told Angel a few days ago."

"Oh good, cause damn B, I thought you were going squirrelly on me for 
a minute."

"Nope, no squirrels in my head. Butterflies in my tummy though. Big 
ones." Said Buffy.

"Yeah, I bet." Faith said, "Look B, I'm probably not the best person 
to ask this but what about Kenn? I know you and Red getting together 
has been coming for years but& this doesn't seem fair to her, you 
know?"

"I know, one more thing for me to feel guilty over. But I can't worry 
about it right now, I've already screwed things up with Will so 
badly," Buffy sighed, "I've got to try to make it up to her. If 
she'll let me after..."

"Uh& about that B, you ever do anything like that again, I'LL beat 
the shit outta you! No way are you leavin' me to deal with a bunch of 
wet behind the ears Slayers by myself!"    She said as she closed the 
door behind her.

After Faith left Buffy spent a little time getting ready for when 
Willow woke up. She made sure there were plenty of washcloths and 
towels, and then got a bucket of ice from the machine she'd noticed 
in the hall on the way to the room. She called the desk to see if 
there was a wakeup call left for the room then cancelled it. Since it 
was almost four am now Buffy felt that six was just too damn early. 
She left the bathroom door open so Willow would have a clear path if 
she were sick. If her own experience with the one time she'd tried 
tequila, during that summer in L.A. all those years ago, was any 
indication Will was going to be VERY sick when she woke up. Then she 
carefully slid into the bed beside Willow and put her arms around 
her. Willow whimpered and snuggled closer to the smaller blonde.

"Shh," Buffy murmured, "I'm here Wills, I've got you." To herself she 
thought, `and if I have my way about it, I'm never gonna let you go.'

Faith's Room

When Faith got to her room she found the door unlocked. `Shit, Kenn 
knows better than this. We may not be in Sunnydale anymore but that 
doesn't mean you don't gotta be careful at night!'

"Kennedy?" she asked as she entered the darkened room.

She heard the sound of quiet sobbing across the room, `Dammit!' Faith 
thought, `I knew this shit was coming.' Out loud she asked, "Kennedy, 
you okay?"

Kennedy answered, "God Faith, what the fuck was I thinking! I just& 
just GAVE her to& to Buffy! Little Miss Queen of the Dysfunctional 
Relationship!"

Faith flipped on the light to reveal Kennedy sitting on the floor in 
the far corner, tears and mascara streaming down her face, knees 
hugged to her chest. `Damn.' She thought.

She sat next to the crying girl and crossed her legs in front of 
her. "Yeah, B can be pretty fucked up sometimes but if there's one 
thing I know about her, it's that she'd crawl through hell on her 
hands and knees to help Willow. She ever tell you how she passed up 
stopping an apocalypse one time to save Red?"

"Really?" Kennedy sniffled.

"Yep, traded a magic box doohickey that the big bad had to have to do 
his thing. All Buffy had to do was destroy the box to stop him cold. 
But we had captured Willow and&"

"Wait," Kennedy interrupted, "We? You had Will prisoner?"

"Yeah," Faith said softly, "the big bad was my old boss, the Mayor. 
It was during my `bad old days' back before I started getting my head 
on straight. I'm still not done yet. I mean, sure I helped beat back 
the First but I got a long way to go yet to make up for all the shit 
I did back then."
"I'm not sure I can do this Faith." Kennedy whispered.

"Not sure you can do what, Kenn?"

"Just let her& have Willow."

"Okay, first of all, you are not just `letting her have Willow', you 
said it yourself earlier. Red's hurting and you can't help her. So 
you did what you had to do." Faith said with a shrug.

"But Buffy's had seven years to get together with her, and from what 
Will's told me she's spent a good part of that time pushing her 
friends away. Including Willow! So how the fuck is she supposed to 
help her now Faith!"

"I don't know Kenn, but if there was ever two people that needed each 
other, it's B and Red. They& fit. Like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. 
But like a puzzle, there's a bunch of other pieces to go through 
before you find that perfect match," haltingly, Faith continued, "but 
when that match finally& comes together you get to see this beautiful 
picture. Shit! I'm not much good with this kinda thing, did that make 
ANY sense?"

Kennedy sighed, "Yeah, it did."

"I'm not making this any better am I?" asked Faith.

"Not really." Kennedy answered   

"Okay. Look, it's," Faith looked at the clock on the opposite 
wall, "god! Almost four-thirty. I don't know about you but I need 
sleep, and I think you'll feel better after a couple of hour's shut-
eye. I'm gonna take a shower, you can have the bed, I'll sack out on 
the floor." 

"Um& Faith?" Kennedy asked as Faith opened the door to the 
bathroom, "What about Robin?"

Faith smirked, "In case you didn't notice, he's not here. Him, Giles 
and Andrew went on a mission to pry Xander outta that room he's been 
hiding in almost since we got here. Since he's not back yet, I'd 
guess they took him out somewhere to get drunk. If I didn't like the 
big jerk so much I'd beat the crap outta him, and I might anyway 
after that shit he pulled on the bus!"

"What shit?" Kennedy asked, grateful for a little distraction from 
the pain in her heart.

"You didn't hear?" Faith laughed, "during the last fight he took a 
knife stroke right across here," she ran a finger across her own 
middle, " not very deep but long and messy lookin'. Any how, we get 
clear of Sunnydale, almost everybody else is off the bus and I'm 
trying to see how bad he's hurt. Well, he passes out! I thought he'd 
died on me for a minute, then, just as I'm reaching to close his eyes 
he coughs and goes `Surprise!' with this stupid ass grin like it's a 
big joke! Yeah, I got a surprise for his ass when he's healed up a 
little more. Payback is a bitch."

Kennedy smiled, even if it was only a little one. Faith looked 
thoughtful for a moment then said, "Come in here a minute Kenn."

Looking puzzled, Kennedy entered the bathroom to find Faith soaping 
up a washcloth. Faith handed it to her and when she still seemed 
confused, gestured at the mirror. "Oh shit!" she moaned, " I look 
like a raccoon!" she quickly washed her face and left Faith to her 
shower.

When Faith came out, she was wearing a t-shirt and panties, though 
she normally slept nude, with Kennedy there she thought better of it. 
The room was already dark and she thought the young Slayer was 
asleep. As she took a pillow off the bed she heard soft crying 
again. "Kenn?

"I-I'm s-sorry, I j-just c-can't seem to s-stop." She stammered.

Faith sighed deeply, and laid down next to Kennedy pulled the sobbing 
girl into her arms. "It's okay Brat, let it all out. Even big, tough 
Slayers need to be held once in a while."

TBC&



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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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