Turned
by Bob Head
Part 15
[reviews]
Disclaimer: None of the characters below belong to me. All the BtVS/Angel people belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. (Damn it!) I'm just trying to have fun.
Pairing: Buffy/Willow, of course.
Spoilers: A few general ones for Season Six and a few specific ones for 'Once More With Feeling'.
Distribution: IKOLY, BtVS Wishful Thinking and the Immortal Slayer. Anybody else, just ask.
Rating: NC-17 for language, violence, and the occasional sexiness between B/W.
Feedback: Yes please! frank_8281@yahoo.com
A/N: I know that many people don't like the musical episode of BtVS. I am NOT one of them. I liked it. The only part that I didn't like was that damn kiss at the end. So, I thought, what if that kiss had ended... differently.
A/N 2: For the purposes of this little AU, the so-called Trio is not an issue so I'm just gonna ignore them.
A/N 3: (Buffy's demon.)
Turned
Part Fifteen
Still fuming, the Slayer listened impatiently to Dawn's tale. "Why didn't Xander stay with you?" she asked irritably.
Eyes downcast, "I might've... sorta... casually mentioned how Anya might react if she knew he was here with Faith." She replied sheepishly.
Willow giggled. "You blackmailed him?"
Buffy glared. "It's not funny Will"
"C-can you imagine the look on Xander's face?"
Buffy smiled. "Okay, so it is funny." She sighed, "but it still doesn't excuse the fact that you lied to me." She looked pointedly at Dawn. "Or the fact that you were in bed with Faith."
"Not like anything was going to happen anyway." Dawn grumbled.
If Buffy hadn't already been dead, she would've gone into cardiac arrest. 'Oh god, not Faith. Please, anybody else.' She thought.
Willow stepped between the sisters. "But you wanted it to?"
"I... I don't..." A plaintive whimper interrupted the teenager. "Dammit." She muttered rushing back into her bedroom.
The lovers followed Dawn and watched as she tried to soothe a troubled Faith.
"Shh... It's okay, I'm right here." The brunette quieted at the younger girls touch. Dawn looked back at Buffy. "She gets like this every time I leave her." She whispered.
Running a hand nervously through her hair, the Slayer Vampire drew a deep if unnecessary breath. "Will?"
"Oh no!" the redhead replied, "She's your sister, it's up to you." Lightly, she brushed Buffy's cool lips with her own. "Gonna go shower, don't be long?" As she turned, she let the towel dangle from one hand giving her lover a tantalizing view of her bare back.
'Damn.' Thought Buffy, 'How does she do that?'
(Damned if I know, just hurry up and go after her!)
'For once, we're in complete agreement.' She looked toward Dawn and the sleeping Slayer, "Stay with her."
Dawn smiled gratefully.
"But just for tonight!" Buffy said firmly. "Tomorrow, she can move into my old room."
"So... are we keeping her?" Dawn asked hopefully.
"She's not a puppy Dawn!" Buffy sighed as she remembered what Giles had told them about Faith's living arrangements earlier at the diner. "But if she wants to stay, she can."
Turning to go join Willow, she thought, 'And the Council can just kiss my undead ass!'
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
For hours, Vicky had been staring into space, waiting for her slayer to return. As the high windows in the warehouse brightened with early morning light, the Watcher rose from the kitchen table where she had been sitting and crossed the living space to her office.
She turned on the laptop on her desk and opened her personal journal. Vicky kept two, the 'official' Watcher's Diary, which she dutifully sent copies of to the Council every week and this one, in which she wrote her private observations and thoughts about Faith.
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
She's been gone all night. I'm deeply concerned, both as her Watcher and on a more personal level. I was already having difficulty connecting with her because of the restrictions placed on me by the Council. Now after our confrontation yesterday, I fear I may never reach her. Damn Quentin Travers and his control issues anyway! That girl needs a friend not an authority figure! I just hope I'm not too late.
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
Spike paced the cellar of the abandoned farmhouse impatiently as he and Frankie, the scruffy vamp he'd met in the bar, waited out the daylight.
'What kind of name is 'Frankie' for a vampire anyway?' he thought disgustedly, not for the first time since embarking on this quest to return to Sunnydale. 'All for this nameless amulet and the power it might contain!' the bleach-blonde vampire turned and moved to the farthest corner of their temporary shelter.
There, on the dirt floor, lay last night's meal. They'd picked her and her friend up at a truck stop. After the vamps had made sure that no one could see them, nature had taken its course. This one now bound gagged and terrified out of her mind, was the only one to survive.
Spike knelt beside her and examined her closely. She was pretty enough in a non-supermodel sort of way. Shoulder-length dirty blonde hair, small framed, not very tall.
'Though not as short as Buffy!' the vampire thought.
He pulled the gag from the girl's mouth and asked, "Do you know what we are?" he gestured to his snoozing henchman.
Mutely the girl nodded.
Spike snarled, "Say it!"
"V-vampires?" she squeaked.
"Very good, now we're communicating." Spike smirked. Gripping the girl's chin he forced her to look in his eyes. "What's your name?"
"Lyssa." The girl said quietly. "Please don't kill me."
"Don't worry luv." He brushed the hair back from her neck and shifted into game face. "You won't stay dead."
The girl screamed as fangs sank into her neck.
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
Giles sleepily wrapped his robe around himself as he went to answer the insistent pounding at his door.
"Hang on!" He called, working the locks on the door. "This bloody well better be important." He finally got the door open to reveal a determined looking Vicky.
"I believe it is Mr. Giles." She pushed past her astonished countryman. "My Slayer's gone missing."
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
Buffy was just drifting off to sleep with Willow in her arms when the phone rang.
She pulled away slightly to answer, "This better be an apocalypse."
Wincing at the annoyance he heard, "Ah, no. Actually, I was wondering if you'd seen Faith." Giles said.
Buffy growled softly at the reminder of where the dark haired Slayer was. "She's here."
"She's... Is she alright?"
"Yeah, she's..." Buffy heard a commotion over the line. "Giles?"
She heard a woman's voice over Giles' protests, "This is Victoria Allistair. Is Faith there? May I speak with...?"
"Didn't your mother teach you it's not polite to interrupt private conversations?" Buffy snapped.
"I... Who is this? I demand to speak to Faith immediately!"
Buffy sat straight up in the bed, seriously irritated with Faith's Watcher now. "Okay, in order. First, I'm Buffy Summers and if you know anything about me, you know that a Watcher's 'demands' have a really low priority with me! Second, Faith is asleep. and I wouldn't wake her up for you if the world was ending. Now put Giles back on the phone!"
The tone of command in Buffy's voice apparently caused Vicky to hand the phone over to Giles. " Er... Yes?" he asked tentatively.
"Do not let that woman come over here until after one o'clock." Buffy growled.
The angry tone in the Slayer Vampire's voice brought her lover fully awake. Sitting up, Willow slipped her arms around Buffy's waist. Drawing comfort from the Wiccan's touch, she sighed.
"Buffy... I understand your annoyance... I'm rather annoyed with her myself." The blonde heard a muffled protest. "But how do you suggest I accomplish this?"
Rapidly succumbing to the redhead's ministrations, Buffy replied less irritably "I don't care how you do it. Tie her to a chair, lock her in a closet," Willow whispered in her ear. "Will says to offer her some of that gross English tea of yours. Just keep her away from here."
Giles gave a long-suffering sigh at this, in his opinion, unfair description of his national beverage. "Very well... I'll um... do my best."
Buffy hung up the phone, turning in Willow's embrace. Taking a deliberate breath, that she really didn't need, she drew in the comforting scent of her girlfriend. She and her demon sighed simultaneously.
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
Sunlight was streaming in her face. This was in itself unusual since there wasn't an outside window in her room at the warehouse. Then she felt the warm body nestled snugly against her own. Gingerly, Faith opened her eyes and came face to face with Dawn.
'Oh fuck!' she thought. 'I'm in bed with Dawn!' Hesitantly, she peeked under the covers to find herself still wearing her t-shirt and panties. 'Thank god! Her relief was short-lived however, as she realized, 'Clothes or not, I'm still in bed with Buffy's little sister!'
Using all her Slayer skills, Faith carefully slipped from the bed and looked around. She found her shirt and leather pants folded neatly on a chair. After dressing in silence, she took a last look at Dawn and fled the room.
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
Buffy was sitting in the dining room when she heard stealthy footsteps coming down the stairs. She waited until Faith's hand was on the front doorknob before speaking. "Good morning."
Faith spun, instinctively dropping into a defensive stance.
"Coffee?" The blonde offered with a smirk.
"Goddammit B! Er... Buffy." Faith corrected herself. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
Deliberately Buffy took a sip out of her steaming mug before answering. "Depends. Are you trying to sneak out of the house after spending the night with my little sister?"
As Faith gave her best impression of a deer caught in the headlights, Buffy's demon chuckled, (That was just evil!)
'I blame you.' Aloud she said, "Have some coffee Faith. Then you need to take a seat."
Having finally found her voice, Faith asked, "You... uh, you're not pissed?"
Buffy sighed, "I know nothing happened between you and Dawn. I talked to Xander a while ago and he said you were already out when he put you in her bed." Seeing that Faith was about to say something, the Slayer Vampire quickly continued, "Giles told me where the Council put you." She looked thoughtful, "So, while I'm not exactly happy about where you spent the night, better here than somewhere... well..."
"I get it, and thanks." The dark haired Slayer relaxed just a bit, "You... uh, you mentioned coffee?"
Buffy gestured to the sideboard where the coffee maker was set up. Faith poured a cup and sat down across from the blonde vampire.
"So, what's the what?" she asked, propping her feet on the table.
"Well..." Buffy glanced at the clock. "We don't have a lot of time, your Watcher's probably on her way and this is one of those things I don't want the Council to know."
"With you so far." Said Faith. "Not too thrilled with the Council myself right now."
Buffy smirked, "In a nutshell, I've been a naughty girl."
Faith leaned forward conspiratorially, "Really? Do tell!" she exclaimed with a grin.
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
A short time later, Buffy was putting several recently delivered bottles of pig's blood in the fridge when the doorbell rang. "Faith! Can you get that?"
Faith, who was watching TV in the living room, answered "Sure." Tossing the remote onto the couch she muttered, "Better not be a Jehovah's Witness."
She opened the door to be greeted by Giles and Vicky. "No, it's worse."
Giles gave Faith a bemused look and said, "I'm sorry?"
Eyes still locked on her Watcher faith replied, "Buffy's in the kitchen Giles."
"I'll just go and join her then." As he passed, Giles squeezed Faith's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.
She watched as he exited through the dining room. Turning to Vicky, she said, "Well?"
Vicky sighed and stepped across the threshold. "I see the bandages are gone." She reached for Faith's arm only to have her pull away. "I am sorry Faith." She said letting her hand drop to her side. "We need to talk."
The brunette Slayer rolled her eyes, "Whatever." She said, dropping back down on the couch, she grabbed the remote and turned the volume back up.
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
Buffy tapped the countertop impatiently as she waited for the microwave to finish heating her blood.
(If you can call that blood.) Her demon complained.
'We've been over this.' thought Buffy.
(But she's willing!) The demon whined, (And we won't hurt her, you won't let us!)
'Got that right.' The microwave dinged and she took out the mug and drank it down quickly. "Hello Giles." She said without turning around.
"Is there tea?" He asked.
"Yeah," Buffy replied, kneeling to pull a teakettle from a cabinet. "Gonna have to make it yourself though."
"Happily." Said Giles, moving to fill the kettle with water.
"Didja bring her with?" Buffy asked casually.
"Er... yes actually." The TV volume went up another few notches. "And from the sound of it, things are going much as I expected."
Buffy smirked as she downed the blood.
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
Willow woke to the sound of the TV blaring. "What the...?"
Grumbling in annoyance, the Wiccan dressed and headed for the stairs. As she stepped into the Hallway, a sleepy looking Dawn emerged from her room.
"Where's Faith?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Dunno." Said Willow, making a mental note of the teenager's first concern. "Let's go find out."
As they reached the bottom of the stairs, they saw that Faith was the source of the loud TV. She turned the volume up again, apparently in an attempt to drown out the small blonde woman trying to speak to her.
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
Vicky strode to the TV and pressed the 'off' switch. She turned to face the glaring brunette. "I know that you haven't had the best of luck with Watchers in the past..."
"Is that what'cha call it?" Faith interrupted, springing from the couch to stand face to face with Vicky. "Unlucky? Cause let's review. My first watcher? Torn to shreds in front of my eyes. My second, oh 'scuse me! The lady that said she was my watcher cause she really wasn't! She was evil and tried to kill me. And let's not even go into Wesley, cause everybody knows how that turned out!"
Vicky spluttered, "But I..."
"Oh yeah! How about when the Council, your bosses, sent their goon squad to kill me. Not once but twice! I think 'unlucky' doesn't quite cover it, do you?"
Her 'stiff-upper-lippyness' as Buffy would call it now completely out the window Vicky snapped, "I had nothing to do with any of those things!" She stepped even closer to the brunette Slayer. "I'm neither evil, nor am I a Council toady." The blonde continued in a quieter voice. "Let me tell you something Faith."
Vicky looked around at the now gathered Scoobys. Giles and Buffy having come up behind Dawn and Willow. Xander having entered uncharacteristically quietly when he heard the raised voices inside the Summers home.
"Let me tell you all something."
"Okay, is this gonna be a long story?" asked Faith, "Cause if it is, I need to go hit something."
"Faith." Said Giles softly. "I think you should hear her out."
Faith's head snapped around like it was on a string. After a moment though, she nodded her agreement.
~~~~~BtVS~~~~~
The group settled into seats around the living room and gave their attention, however reluctantly, to Vicky. Willow couldn't help but notice that Dawn sat next to Faith. She felt Buffy stiffen slightly beside her and knew that she had not missed the significance either. The redhead squeezed the Slayer Vampire's hand and felt her relax as she linked their fingers together.
"For some time now," the watcher began, "there has been a difference of opinion within the Council."
"About what, exactly?" asked Buffy.
"Their treatment of the Slayer."
TBC...