The Good, The Bad and The Fangy
by dawnm
Homecoming...Out
[reviews]
Chapter 14 - Homecoming...Out
Shock rendered the watcher's higher brain functions inoperative and speech was impossible. Instead he cleared his throat, hoping to break up the intimate homecoming. The kisses and cooing and whispers of love continued, both girls seemingly oblivious to his presence. He tried again...and again. On his third attempt, Buffy turned toward him with a smirk.
"That's really annoying, Giles. We heard you the first time, you know."
Willow followed Buffy's gaze, her eyes widening when she noticed the watcher's presence. "Uh...Giles...hi." She said, her voice barely more than a squeak.
The watcher blushed along with her and he finally found his voice. "Willow...good to have you back." He said shakily, turning his attention to his glasses, which he pulled off and began vigorously cleaning.
In the next instant, the hacker saw the other person in the room and her eyes narrowed. "Faith." Willow stared at the dark slayer, assuming a protective stance in front of Buffy.
"It's okay, Will." Buffy said, smiling at the redhead's instinct to protect her. The hacker looked at her quizzically. "Faith's waiting for the council. She's turning herself in." The stunned redhead looked from Buffy to Faith, then back to Buffy, still not quite believing what she'd been told. "I can explain it all later." Buffy assured her.
Giles donned his glasses and stepped forward. When Willow got a good look at his bruised face, she gasped. "What...what happened? Are you all right?" Her legs were feeling a bit weak and she began to sway. Buffy reached out to steady her.
"No need to worry. I'm fine." Giles assured her. "Perhaps we should all sit down and chat."
Buffy nodded her agreement and led the redhead into the living room. Willow hesitated as they moved closer to Faith's location. The sofa that Buffy was leading her to seemed all too near where the dark slayer sat in the neighboring armchair. With some amount of coaxing, Buffy finally managed to convince the hacker to sit at the end of the couch that was farthest from Faith, and she sat next to her redhead - a sort of buffer between the two. Giles pulled up a chair and sat down across from them.
"All right. Which one of you would like to start?" The watcher asked, leveling his gaze at the slayer and hacker.
"Start?" Buffy asked. "You really don't expect us to tell you every detail of the past week, do you? Cause we're pretty much exhausted."
"Just the highlights will do for now." Giles conceded. "We can cover it in more detail another time."
Buffy and Willow took turns telling the watcher the abridged version of the story about the warrior and bard, where and when they came from, how they met in the cemetery, the spell, etc. Both girls were waning fast. Willow leaned heavily into Buffy's side looking like she might fall asleep any minute, except for the suspicious glare she kept aimed at Faith nearly the entire time. Buffy yawned as she told of their encounter with Bacchus and her slaying of the demonic God of Wine and his vampish followers.
Giles looked at the two girls, drained from their ordeal. "I believe that'll do for now. Why don't you two go home and get some rest."
"Great idea." Buffy said. "But we should wait until the council gets here."
"That won't be necessary. Faith and I will be fine." Giles assured her, turning to the dark-haired slayer for confirmation.
"Sure. No problem, B." Faith put in.
With another look at the watcher who nodded his agreement, Buffy gave in. "Okay. We'll be at Will's house. Call us if you need anything."
"Of course." Giles nodded, following them toward the door. "And Buffy...I know you're tired, but you really should patrol tonight. While you were away, there was a fairly drastic increase in vampire activity."
"Right...back to work. Can't wait." She said sarcastically as she took Willow's hand and led her out of the house.
"Alone at last." Buffy said with a sigh, pausing on the stoop to pull the hacker into her arms.
"Does that mean I get a kiss?" Willow smiled a sweet little smile and wrapped her arms around Buffy's waist.
"Definitely." The slayer smiled, placing a soft kiss on the redhead's waiting lips. One kiss turned into two, then three until they lost themselves in the moment. "I really missed you." Buffy said breathlessly.
"I missed you too." Willow blushed at the memory of the kiss they had shared earlier. "But...I still can't believe you kissed me like that in front of Giles."
"Sorry. I was just so happy to see you...I didn't really think about it." Buffy said, taking Willow's hand in hers and leading her down the walk toward the street. "But look on the bright side...one less person we have to tell about us."
"That's true." Willow admitted. "So, where are we headed?"
"I thought we might stop by my house so I can get some clean clothes and write my mom a note. Then, I thought maybe your house, for a nice nap. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good. We probably should get some rest if you have to patrol tonight." Willow said. "I didn't really sleep last night. I was worried and missing you too much."
"I missed you more." Buffy countered.
Willow shook her head. "Not possible. I spent the night alone, camping with the wolves."
"You weren't alone. You had Xena and Gabrielle. Besides...I spent the night with Faith."
"Buffy! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Willow's head snapped up to meet the slayer's gaze with wide green eyes.
"What?" Buffy shot her a confused look.
"You spent the night with Faith. That's what."
"Oh that." Buffy shrugged. "No big. I had her tied up all night." Willow gasped in shock and her eyes nearly bugged out. "Now whose mind's in the gutter?" Buffy prodded. "She was shackled to a chair, Will. It wasn't exactly a good time..." A slight smirk appeared on the slayer's lips. "At least not for me, but you know Faith...."
"Oh." A stormy expression took up residence on Willow's face.
"Don't tell me you're jealous of Faith...you should know me better than that."
"Its not you I'm worried about, Buffy. It's her. Faith was always after you." Willow said grumpily.
Buffy was getting an education this day. Faith had known about Willow. Willow had known about Faith. "You knew? Why am I always the last to know?"
"She didn't exactly try to hide it, Buffy. That's part of why Faith and I never got along so well."
"You thought I had a thing for her?" Buffy asked, coming to a halt on the sidewalk and turning toward the redhead.
Willow looked down at her feet. "It may have crossed my mind a few...hundred times." She said softly.
Buffy smiled and kissed the pouting redhead softly on the lips. "Believe me, Faith was never more than a friend. I didn't even know about her...more-than-friendly feelings toward me until today."
"If you'd known before...do you think things would have been different?" Willow asked softly.
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"I mean...if you knew she wanted you, you know, before she went all evil, would you..." Willow trailed off, not wanting to verbalize the rest.
"God, no." Buffy said, pulling the hacker close. "Why would you think that?"
"She's pretty, Buffy. And she's a slayer, like you. You shared things with her that you couldn't with me. She's all confident and strong a-and sexy and everything I'm not. Everybody wanted her. Even Xander."
"Sorry to be blunt, Will, but Xander is an idiot." Buffy said, brushing aside a lock of red hair and resting her hand on Willow's cheek. "Yes, Faith is easy on the eyes...but she's not my type. And you are gorgeous...and exactly my type."
"Really?"
"Really. And just for the record...Faith could take lessons from you on how to be sexy."
"That's really sweet...but have ya seen Faith?"
"I have. And I find her a little crude. A lot crude actually...which may attract all the boys, but...kind of a turn off for me." Buffy said decidedly.
Willow breathed a sigh of relief. "You don't go for the skanky? Cause I don't think I could ever..." Her voice trailed off as Buffy started to chuckle.
"I really don't find it appealing." The slayer drawled. "I do have a weakness for adorable redheads, though...and there's one in particular that I kinda have a thing for."
"Me?" Willow asked hopefully.
"Only you." Buffy smiled, bringing their lips together for a brief kiss. A dreamy smile lit the hacker's face and she drew Buffy into an urgent kiss.
"Okay...we better go." The blonde said, drawing in a ragged breath. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."
Willow grinned playfully. "Thinking of having your way with me in broad daylight again?"
"Actually, I was." Buffy chuckled.
***********************
"Angel's really...gone?" Willow asked as they made their way through the front door of her house.
"I know. It's hard to believe." Buffy said, dropping her overnight bag on the floor and collapsing on the couch.
"I'm so sorry, Buffy." Willow said, settling on the sofa beside her. "Are you okay?"
"I will be."
"Anything I can do?" Willow asked softly.
"Hold me?" The redhead opened her arms and Buffy snuggled in with a sigh. They sat for a minute or two quietly enjoying the embrace. Buffy finally broke the silence. "At least Xand is okay. I thought we'd go by the hospital and see him tonight if you want."
"Good idea." The hacker said with a yawn.
Buffy got to her feet and held out her hand. "Come on. Time for bed."
Willow grinned and took the offered hand. "Yes, ma'am."
***********************
The slayer woke to the blaring of the alarm. She tried to reach out to turn it off but Willow had a firm hold on her. "Will...the alarm." Buffy said, kissing the redhead's cheek. "Time to get up, sweetie." She tried again and still got no response.
Finally giving up, she wiggled her way out of the hacker's arms and silenced the obnoxious noise. As soon as she left the bed, Willow began to stir, pouting when she reached out and couldn't find her girlfriend. Buffy smiled at the sight and jumped back on the bed, pouncing on the unsuspecting hacker.
"It's 6:00..." Buffy whispered in Willow's ear, making the redhead squirm. "Wanna take a shower with me?"
Suddenly wide-awake, the hacker's eyes popped open to stare at the teasing blonde. "That's okay...you go ahead. I can wait." Willow said sheepishly.
"I really don't mind sharing." Buffy said with a playful grin.
Willow chuckled nervously. "No, really, you go first. I-I think I'll go and order pizza or something. Is extra cheese okay?"
"Sounds good." Buffy laughed and kissed the flustered redhead before hopping off the bed. "I'll try to be quick...but after a week in the great outdoors, the whole grooming process could take a while."
***********************
Freshly showered and dressed, they curled up on the sofa with the pizza and talked about all that they had missed of the modern world.
"Running water."
"Shampoo."
"Deodorant."
"Definitely deodorant." Buffy agreed. "Pizza."
"Mochas." Willow added enthusiastically.
"Uh huh...gotta have mochas soon. And ice cream."
"Your cherry lip gloss." The redhead said dreamily.
Buffy chuckled. "How could you miss that? The first time we kissed was in Greece and I didn't have it."
"True..." Willow said with a blushing grin, "but I used to dream about kissing you and in my dreams you were usually wearing it."
"I see. Well, that's one dream that I can make come true." Buffy smiled, leaning in to give the redhead a taste of her cherry lips. The slayer almost dropped her pizza when Willow captured her lower lip between her own and softly ran her tongue across it. All thoughts of dinner and everything else were momentarily forgotten.
"So, how was it?" Buffy asked a bit breathlessly when they finally separated.
The redhead wore a blissful smile. "Even better than I imagined."
Buffy smiled adoringly at her. "That good, huh?"
"Every time you kiss me is like a dream come true." Willow declared. "No lip gloss required."
Buffy snatched the slice of pizza from Willow's hand and tossed it back in the box along with her own. The hacker looked at her surprised. Buffy shifted her position, pushing Willow down on the couch. "What?" The redhead asked.
"First you kiss me like that." The blonde demonstrated her point with a lingering kiss that left the redhead feeling woozy. "Then you say such sweet things." Buffy brought their lips together again, another slow, tender, teasing kiss that left them both breathless. "How's a girl supposed to concentrate on dinner?"
"Sorry." Willow said with an impish grin. "If it'd help, I could try not to say anything nice while you finish your pizza."
"Okay. We can try that." Buffy sighed, stealing one last kiss before pushing herself up into a sitting position. She handed Willow's pizza back and the redhead gave her a shy smile that made the slayer's heart flutter. "And while you're at it...try not to be so darn cute."
***********************
"This is it. Room 218." Willow said, approaching the door. Buffy knocked and pushed it open and peered into the room.
"Buffy?"
"Hey, Xand." Buffy greeted him, taking Willow's hand and walking into the room.
"Willow?"
"Hi." Willow gave a small wave.
"You guys are back. We were so worried about you."
"Us? You're the one in the hospital. How are you feeling?" Buffy asked, approaching the bed with Willow at her side.
"Much better. Cordy's been taking good care of me." He said, flashing the brunette a goofy grin.
"Somebody had to take care of him while you two were off traipsing around god knows where." Cordelia griped. "Did you enjoy your little vacation?"
"I wouldn't exactly call it a vacation." Buffy remarked.
"Yeah, we were fighting ancient vampire type girls a-and a demonic god and we had to sleep outside on the ground." Willow added defensively.
"Down girl." Buffy teased, squeezing the redhead's hand.
"Ancient vampire girls?" Xander asked with a gulp.
"Called Bacchae." Willow nodded.
"They could fly." Buffy added. "Hard to catch and hard to kill."
"And for a few hours, I was a Bacchae." Willow put in.
"What do you mean?" Xander asked, staring wide-eyed at the hacker.
"Gabrielle got bit and then she bit Willow." Buffy explained.
"Yeah. Xena and Buffy fought Bacchus - the demon god - and when Buffy killed him, we turned back into ourselves."
Xander looked at Cordelia with a worried expression. "How many pain pills have I had today? I think I'm hallucinating."
"No. It's not you. They aren't making any sense." The brunette said snippily.
"It's not important." Buffy said.
"Yeah. We're just glad you're doing better." Willow added.
"How long 'til you get to go home?" Buffy asked.
"If all goes well with my check-up in the morning, I could be going home tomorrow afternoon."
"That's good news." Willow said. "Is there anything we can get for you while we're here? Anything you need?"
"Nope. I'm just glad to have you back. I missed you guys. And this town was really falling apart without you, Buff."
"So I've heard. I still have to go on patrol tonight." Buffy said with a slight frown. "Speaking of which...we should probably get going."
"Right...things to slay." Xander nodded.
They said their good-byes and soon Buffy and Willow made their way toward the door. Xander watched them walk away, hand in hand, and noticed the smiles and whispers they shared at the doorway before they disappeared down the hall. "Did they seem strange to you?" He asked, turning to Cordelia.
"They're always strange, Xander." The brunette commented absently. "You're all a bunch of freaks, you know."
"Thanks...but that's not what I meant." He said dryly. "Something was definitely different...."
"You mean the looks, the whispers, the hand holding...?" Cordy asked.
"Exactly. I wonder what that was all about."
Cordelia rolled her eyes at a clueless Xander. "Dense much?"
***********************
"Slayer!"
"The one and only." Buffy said, planting a high kick to the vamp's face. "Er...one of two technically."
"I thought you were dead." The vampire said, scrambling toward her again. Two more kicks and the vamp dropped to the ground.
"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Buffy quipped, plunging the stake into his undead heart. She stood up and pocketed her stake. "That was kind of a lame quip, huh?"
"Not at all, Buff." Willow said reassuringly. "It's totally a classic."
"You think I'm losing my touch?" The slayer asked, putting an arm around the redhead.
"Never." Willow said with a wide smile.
"You're too good to me." Buffy said with a winsome smile. "So...ready to call it a night?"
Willow nodded. "Tomorrow's Monday, isn't it?" She frowned. Buffy nodded. "School, huh?"
"Unless you wanna stay home with me instead?"
"Tempting...but we've missed four days already." Willow said sadly.
"Speaking of which, are you going to help me catch up?"
"Sure. You know I love to help."
"Great. So...you gonna stay home with me tomorrow?" Buffy asked hopefully. Willow chuckled at the slayer's persistence. "I promise this time no spells of any kind. Just junk food and TV and anything else you want."
"Anything...?" Willow asked with a sly smile.
The slayer captured the redhead in a warm embrace and gazed into mischievous green eyes. "Whatever your heart desires."
Willow's heart seemed to like the promise, suddenly picking up a dancing beat. "Only a fool would pass up an offer like that...and I'm no fool."
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Continued in Chapter 15