Leaving Her
by Salix
Little Silver Dove
[reviews]
It's been a week since Emily was released from the hospital. The conversation with Willow didn't go very well. The redhead and the brunette have always been able to sit down and have very important conversations without them turning into a big fight, but that's exactly what happened. She understood that Emily felt alone, and was just acting out and trying to get some type of comfort, but she was pissed that her seventeen year old daughter had used sex for comfort, especially with a vampire. Once Willow had calmed down she apologized for freaking out and she and Buffy agreed to save the punishment for later. They had a lot to think about still and didn't have to have to think about how many weeks or months would be the right amount to ground their daughter.
The two lovers were sitting out in the backyard on the wooden bench, soaking up the afternoon sun. With all of the explanations said and done, all of the anger expressed and all of the apologies said, it was time for a little R&R, and they were taking full advantage of that. Willow is leaning against the arm of the bench, her head resting to the side as she lazily played with Buffy's hair. The blonde was leaning up against her. Her back was pressed up against Willow's chest. Her hands were resting on the redhead's knees, which were on either side of her. They haven't sat together like this, in this position in a long time. And every time that it had occurred Willow was always the one leaning against Buffy and nuzzling the blonde's neck, and now for whatever reason the roles were reversed.
"I know that we're supposed to be relaxing," Willow said which earned her a very displeased groan from the blonde. She smiled to herself. After all of these years she still thinks that Buffy is the cutest person alive. "Things aren't all crazy now, and I was just thinking that maybe we could just brainstorm, you know, just talk about some ideas for right now, not make any big decisions yet. What we do need to talk about though is: where are we going to live?" Buffy took in a deep breath. She hadn't thought about it much. She thought that they would just go back to Stars Hollow and see how it worked out. But apparently Willow wanted to do the whole 'make a back-up plan just in case' thing.
"Well, I thought that maybe we'd go back to Stars Hollow and just see how it works out. I don't know. I mean, I like it there, I have a good job- holy shit I still haven't called work yet! I need to call Lorelai, she's probably freaking out. We had a wedding we were hosting and I had to help with a lot of it and," she stopped talking when she noticed that Willow was holding onto her arms, restraining her from getting up. She looked over at her wife, curious and also a little worried.
"It's ok. I called for you as soon as we got Emily back from Spike. I told her we were having a family emergency and you had to fly back to California and wouldn't be back for a couple of weeks. She was really nice about it and said to take all the time you need. Apparently you had worked up a bunch of vacation days so she said not to worry about it," the redhead told her and gave her a small peck on the lips. "I knew you were too stressed to remember anything about work and other stuff like that. Your mind can get pretty one-tracky when we have to deal with a big bad. Lorelai even offered to feed the cats while we were gone. Don't worry, it's all taken care of."
Buffy smiled and relaxed into Willow's embrace once again. They've been together for fifteen years, and even after all of this time Willow still surprises her. The number would be sixteen years together, but Buffy had left her. 'But if I hadn't left her then we wouldn't be together right now. Or we would be together but we would be miserable,' she thought as she nuzzled her wife's neck. She was just so happy. She can remember being this happy in the past and it's all because of Willow. She had been miserable with Angel. He caused a lot of heartache, so she left him. It didn't take her as long as she thought it would to get over him.
Four months later after he had gone off to LA because he couldn't be around her and not go crazy, she got with Willow. The admission of the redhead liking the blonde had been completely accidental, but obviously a very happy accident because they had been together ever since. And things went down hill, and Buffy left. They were both miserable the entire separation and now they're so grateful to have each other again. She shivered as a cool breeze blew by and Willow tightened her grip on the blonde.
"Anyway, like I was saying, I think that maybe we should try Stars Hollow for a while, see if it works out. We both work there, Emily's enrolled in the school there, and there is that whole 'no supernatural evil can enter' thing. I think it would be nice to be in a place like that. I do miss slaying, it's still a part of me but I like the domestic life a lot better. I like just sitting here with you like this, and going to work, and fixing dinner, and going to parent-teacher meetings and stuff like that. I like watching up and not worrying about which one of my friends is going to get hurt by a vampire or a demon. I know that the apartment is nowhere near as nice as this house, but maybe we could save up together and get a house there. I kind of like those old styled houses, they're nice."
She took a deep sigh and looked around her backyard. She had missed this place, she'll admit. But she liked it in Connecticut, a lot more then she thought she would. Sure she had been miserable because she was away from Willow and things with Emily had been rapidly going downhill, but the town of really nice, and the houses were beautiful, especially when it snowed. That's another thing that she loved about the other state: it snows a lot. She could already picture it now:
Her and Willow walking through the town at night hand in hand, making their way to the park to watch the snow fall on the pond. Buffy will most likely start a tickle fight or something like she always does whenever they walk together in a somewhat romantic setting. Then Willow will try to get away and Buffy will end up playfully chasing her and grab Willow by the hips and lift her up and spin around, falling on purpose with Willow landing on top of her, and then they'll make out while the snow falls around them. Just thinking about it put her in the mood to frolic.
"I guess we could do that. But what about this place? We can't just leave it sitting here. And I know you don't want to sell it because of all the sentiment, and I don't want to sell it either. Maybe we could rent it out or something? Or maybe we could have Xander look after it for a while just in case we decide to move back here. I don't know. Do you have any ideas?" she asked and waited for Buffy to respond. She watched as the blonde nodded her head. Willow saw the little foxy smile play its way across Buffy's lips and she knew that her wife was up to something.
"Uh huh. I have a couple of ideas," she said in her low, fiery voice that very rarely fails to get Willow worked up. Willow couldn't help but squirm a little when she felt one of Buffy's hands leave her knee and start to work its way up her leg. "But I don't think the neighbors would appreciate it very much if I tried to follow through on them. So, why don't we finish this conversation later and go upstairs?" She turned her head and placed a slow yet passionate kiss on the redhead's lips. Willow reciprocated and moaned into the kiss when she felt Buffy's hands start to knead her thighs. And then they both groaned in irritation when they heard someone cough to get their attention. Willow's blood started to boil for all of the wrong reasons when she saw that it was none other then Faith.
"Sorry to interrupt but Giles wanted me to stop by and give you this," she said, looking a little uncomfortable. Willow instantly became very possessive, and she tightened her grip on Buffy, and started to stroke her wife's tight stomach over her shirt. She started to tug at the hem of Buffy's t-shirt and lightly traced invisible shapes on the exposed flesh as she watched Faith step forward and hand Buffy a small box. It looked like it was large enough to hold a necklace or something small. "He has me errand runner today, I even hafta drop by the daycare and pick up Ashley's kid sis."
Buffy looked up at Faith and tried not to smile. Even though she tries to act all badass and like she couldn't care less she'll still do the watcher favors, never asking for any type of payment or reimbursement. She only acted like that with Giles, because he had taken her in and trained with her after the implosion of Sunnydale, and helped her get back on her feet. The only other person she'll really listen to other then Giles is Buffy. The brunette slayer has had a crush on the blonde for as long as the Scoobies can remember. It was so obvious that anyone with eyes can see it, but they were all quiet about it.
The scooby gang all knew that when it comes to Faith and her feelings not talking about them in front of her or teasing her about them is the best way to go if you want to keep your tongue and lips. And no matter how much she tried to cover up her feelings she couldn't help but show a little bit of envy whenever she saw the blonde with Willow. Watching them be together was worst then not being around the blonde at all.
Buffy almost felt bad for Faith when she saw the hurt and almost angry look she got in her eyes when she saw what Willow was doing. She couldn't help but feel guilty, but she doesn't really know why. She wasn't interested in Faith at all, and it wasn't like she had led her on in anyway and then shot her down. She never messed with Faith's head and led her believe that she had a shot with her because she didn't. Buffy was with Willow and as long as she's with Willow nothing is going to happen between her and anyone else. Simple as that. Maybe she felt so guilty because of the past. Back when Faith had asked her out to the Bronze, not really telling Buffy that it was a date, so Buffy had invited Willow to go without Faith knowing about it.
They were sitting at a table towards the back where they could have a little bit of privacy, and they were talking about something dumb, Buffy can't even remember what anymore, and then Faith leaned in and kissed her. It took her completely by surprise and she froze for a few seconds, not really knowing what was going on. That's when Willow showed up, screamed at Buffy and then took off. Buffy had to hunt her down and apologize and explain what happened. Then Buffy had to find Faith and tell her that she was flattered but they could never be together because she loves Willow.
Buffy can still remember all of the pain in Faith's eyes when she told her that. Tears started to sting at the corners of the brunette's eyes but she refused to let them fall in front of the blonde. She said it was no big deal, just a mistake on her part because she thought that Buffy was single, but Buffy knew that it was a big deal. Faith could barely keep the quiver out of her voice as she tried not to break down in front of her. The two tried to remain friends but it was hard for Faith to do the 'scooby thing' with the others because Willow was always so possessive and it made Faith feel unwelcome. And then she accidentally killed that man and everything went to hell from there.
"How is Ashley doing? Spike hit her pretty hard in the head, is she ok?" Buffy asked feeling a little guilty for forgetting all about the younger slayer that had helped her save Emily. If it weren't for Ashley's knowledge of the high school basement they probably would've been too late and Emily could be dead. Buffy decided she would have to properly thank her later.
"She's doin great. Had a slight concussion, but nothing too serious. She's very...hyper when she's not in 'slayer mode'. Thought I was going to suffocate her with her pillow when Giles had me spend the night at her house after she got out of the hospital." Buffy had to bite the insides of her cheeks to keep from laughing as she imagined the teenage girl driving Faith to near insanity with girly-teenage-talk and stuff like that. Oh, she really wished she could have seen that. Willow let out a little giggle but nothing more. She turned her attention to the box in Buffy's hands. She gently took it from the blonde and opened it up, looking down at the contents inside. There was a folded piece of paper blocking her view of whatever was inside of it. She pulled out the paper and handed it to the blonde while Buffy carried on a conversation with Faith. She wasn't really paying attention to it. She was more interested in finding out what Giles had sent to her wife.
She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. She reached out to gently rub her fingertips against the smooth metal resting in the box. It was a silver dove, something that looked like it belonged on a chain to be worn as a necklace, but there was no chain. On the tip of the dove's open wing was a little attachment where someone could slip a small chain through, though. Willow still thought that it was kind of odd. Why didn't it have a chain? And why would Giles send them a silver dove? It didn't make sense to Willow, not at all, and she doesn't like it when she doesn't understand something, it drives her crazy. She gently took the piece of paper out of Buffy's hand. The blonde didn't even notice she was too busy talking with Faith. Willow unfolded the paper and noticed right away that it wasn't Giles' handwriting. She scanned the paper quickly and read the name at the bottom. It looked really familiar, like she knew someone named that but she just couldn't remember. Now that was really going to bother her.
"What did Giles send us, baby?" Buffy asked and looked down at the dove. She got all excited at the prospect of new jewelry. Willow handed her the note and Buffy also tried to read it, but the handwriting was too small and the cursive was really hard to make out. So they gave up and decided to talk to Giles about it later. Buffy picked the little dove up and under it the box dipped in creating a little hole that's where the very thin silver chain was kept. Willow did an 'Ah Ha!' and picked the chain up. She put the box down on Buffy's lap and then looped the chain through the little hole of the attachment and then sat up straight. She gently eased Buffy forward a little and then moved her hair off to the side and clipped the necklace around the blonde's neck.
"It's so pretty. I wonder who it's from," the blonde said and looked down at the little dove that was now resting on her breastbone. She leaned back against Willow and when she looked over at Faith, the dark haired slayer was no longer there. She thought that it was a little weird. The younger slayer has been acting strange around her, stranger then normal, and she would really like to know why. Maybe it's because she's back together with Willow? Was Faith going to ask her out or something but then couldn't because Buffy got back together with the redhead? She decided not to think about it for now. If Faith didn't want to be upfront about anything and hide away that's her business. She's better now, so Buffy doesn't really have to worry about her going all mudery again.
"I don't know. I'll ask Giles about it when I stop by the Magic Box," she told her and placed a small kiss on the side of Buffy's head. She started to rub the blonde's stomach again, slowly working her way down and she toyed with the button on Buffy's jeans. "So, Emily is at Xander's and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon. Faith just left, and no one else is going to be stopping by that we know of. Whatever will we do now that we have this house all to ourselves?" she asked in a playful tone. Buffy got a very amused grin on her face and stood up next to the bench. She reached down and picked Willow up, a strong arm on the witch's back and under her thighs. Willow wrapped one of her arms around Buffy's neck and giggled a little.
"I'm sure we can think of something," she said and kissed the redhead passionately. She carried Willow into the house and locked the door before making her way upstairs. She shut the bedroom door behind them, and then set Willow down on the center of the bed. She crawled over to her and was leaning half on top of her, making sure to put most of her weight on her elbow as she and Willow kissed with a fiery lustfulness that would not be denied. The kissing grew more and more frantic along with the need to feel skin on skin. If they had been paying attention at all they would have noticed the little dove on the necklace start to glow a light gold color. The glowing got brighter and brighter and then there was this popping sound that neither of them noticed. A fraction of a second after the loud pop, the glowing light spread from the dove, all throughout Buffy's body and onto Willow's. It lingered over their bodies for a couple of seconds before absorbing into their skin.
Buffy was lying in between Willow's legs as they continued to kiss, under the covers, their clothes thrown in all directions around the room. The blonde broke away first, the need for oxygen becoming life threatening, and she started to trail down Willow's jaw line. She sucked lightly on the redhead's earlobe causing all sorts of whimpers and moans from her wife, and then she worked her way down her lover's neck. She left behind some small hickies, forgetting in her dizzy state of lust that the two had agreed shortly after adopting Emily that they wouldn't leave hickies on each other's necks just in case their daughter notices. But the two were too caught up in the moment to care.
Buffy continued to work her way down until she reached Willow's breasts. She lightly sucked on each of the hard peaks, and scraped her teeth across the flushed flesh, never favoring one over the other. She was about to move on, to work her way down to where Willow needed her most, but then she felt Willow's hands move from her back up to her neck and her chin was gently lifted up until she was looking into fire filled emerald eyes. The pure look of desire in those green eyes made her shiver.
"Stay up here," Willow whispered, her voice so thick and husky the words could almost been seen coming out of her mouth. Buffy smiled a 'fox in the hen house' smile. She knew exactly what Willow wanted to do. They two had stopped having sex in this particular position after they moved into the Summers' home when Joyce got sick. The only real reason being because it felt so damn good that neither of them could keep their voices under control. There were very rare moments when they were able to enjoy each other in this way, either when Dawn spent the night at a friend's house or Xander took the teen off of their hands for one night. After they adopted Emily and moved back to the states they had to stop altogether because they would have woken up their daughter with their screams and declarations of love for one another.
Buffy rested on her elbows after she crawled back up the redhead's body. She smiled at Willow and leaned down to kiss the redhead. This kiss was a lot calmer then the others, but the undertones of great passion and heat were there, lurking beneath the surface. She felt her wife's hands kneading her back, and slowly grinding her hips against her own, and it was driving Buffy a little crazy. She knew that it was Willow's way of saying 'hurry the hell up!' but she wanted to take things a little slow. Which, if she had been thinking, she would have thought it was a little odd. It's usually Willow who tells her to slow down, that she wants them to take their time and just enjoy the moment, but now it seems that the redhead just can't wait. And to prove her non-theory, she felt Willow scrape her short fingernails along Buffy's very sensitive back.
"Ok, ok. Jeez, patience is a virtue ya know," she said teasingly and looked in Willow's eyes. She shuttered when she saw nothing but lust and heat in those fiery eyes. Willow really did need her bad, really, really bad. She doesn't remember ever seeing her wife look this turned on and they've been together for a little over a decade.
"Please Buffy, I need you so much, please," Willow pleaded and her hips started to grind against her a little faster and a little rougher. All that did was turn Buffy on even more, to the point where her wetness started to drip out of her, mixing with the redhead's (remember this for later on, it's important). She leaned down and started to kiss Willow, slowly and softly as her trailed a hand down Willow's body feeling the redhead's muscles quiver under her fingertips. She lifted her lower body off of Willow to allow her hand the room it would need. She got a very displeased grunt from the redhead because of the loss of contact, but it put a small smile on her face. Willow can be so damn cute sometimes. Who is she trying to kid? Willow is cute almost all of the time, downright sexy when she's mad, and so beautiful when she's relaxed and completely content with everything around her.
Buffy's hand finally reached its intended destination. She had to pull back from the kiss so she could gasp when she felt how wet Willow was. Never in all of their years together has she ever felt Willow that wet before. She was pretty sure that if she pulled back and looked down at the bed sheet she would find a small puddle of the sticky wetness. She felt herself becoming increasingly wetter as she spread Willow's nether lips apart and placed a small kiss on her lover's lips when she heard the small moan. She gently eased her own body down, and then spread her own lips apart. She moved her hand out of the way and pressed herself against Willow until they were clit to clit. They both gasped out at the feeling. It's been too long since they've been together like this, at least in their opinions it's been too long.
Resting on both of her elbows and looking deeply into Willow's eyes, way darker then normal from her arousal, she started a slow rhythm. It only took a couple of minutes for her to feel the beginnings of her orgasm. She thought that it was a little strange that she was so close so soon. She wondered if Willow was the same, if she was loving this as much as Buffy and one look into the dark green eyes told her that she was. As great as this felt she knew that something was a little off. Even in the beginning of their relationship they never came so soon. But here they were, not even ten minutes of rocking up against each other in this very intimate way and they were both screaming out in pleasure.
She couldn't hold herself up anymore, and she collapsed onto Willow. She buried her face in the redhead's neck and just laid there, trying to catch her breath and regain control of her limbs. She could feel Willow's hand on the back of her head and she knew that once Willow got some control over her own muscles she would start to stroke Buffy's sweat soaked hair. She smiled, and started to softly kiss the sweet skin of Willow's neck. She rolled off of Willow and laid on her back. It would take a couple more minutes for her to catch enough of her breath for her to speak. Right now all they could do was gasp and try to calm down. It took a little longer then they thought it would, and they both thought it was a little strange. But they were going to ignore that for now. They still had the entire day to themselves, until Willow has to run off to see Giles but that isn't for another three hours. Buffy smiled again when she felt Willow start to snuggle up to her.
"Aw, does little Will need to cuddle?" Buffy teased. She couldn't help it. They often teased each other about the need to be close. Whenever they're with each other, even if it's just sitting down in the living room watching television they have to be touching in some way. Either by holding hands, or rubbing their knees together or leaning against each other, the need for physical contact is too strong for them to fight against. But there are other reasons for it, and right now it isn't one that Buffy should be teasing about.
"Don't," Willow said, her voice full of emotion and Buffy couldn't help but feel like an ass. Neither of them can deny the fact that Willow is a very sensitive person. Usually after their love making she's fine, she just wants to be close to the blonde so they'll hold each other. But when things get as intense as they had coming down from that kind of high leaves her feeling very vulnerable and she can't control her emotions. Buffy can still remember the first time this happened.
It was back in high school, it wasn't the first time they had slept together, but this was different, they were celebrating after the survival of an apocalypse and emotions were running high even before they went back to Willow's house. Afterwards Willow had clung onto Buffy, and buried her face in the blonde's neck and bawled her eyes out. Buffy was confused and she thought that she had done something wrong, that she had hurt Willow in some way. But after the redhead calmed down she explained to Buffy what she was feeling, tried to explain what had happened although she wasn't so sure herself. Buffy told her that it was ok and that she would hold her until she feels safe again, and she did. And ever since whenever the redhead would feel overwhelmed and exposed Buffy would hold her until she felt better.
"I'm sorry, baby. Come here," she said and wrapped her arms tightly around her wife. She felt Willow rest her head on her shoulder and she felt as a couple of tears made their way out of the redhead's eyes and onto her hot skin. "That was pretty intense, huh? It's ok, you'll be alright." She tightened her grip on the other woman when she felt her start to shake. It sometimes worried her how upset Willow can get after an experience like that, but she just lets it go. She knows that Willow's doesn't like to talk about it, that it embarrasses her, so they don't talk it. After a few minutes of holding the redhead in silence, she felt her start to relax, and then she felt her lover's nimble fingers softly tracing the little dove on the necklace that she had forgotten all about.
"Not that I don't like this whole 'being quiet and loving' thing, because I really do, but we still need to talk about our housing situation," Willow said and Buffy couldn't help but smile. Yep, Willow is too cute for words. She started to gently rub Willow's back, and trace invisible shapes on the quickly cooling skin as she thought about the situation. What where they going to do? They would just be brainstorming right now. They both know that the big decisions, and long conversations will involve Emily.
Up until they started fighting a lot, they tried to keep their daughter aware of what was going on, and if they needed to make a really important decision that would affect all of them they would involve her in the conversation and listen to what she has to say and take her opinions and feelings to heart. That all stopped after the fighting began because they never made any big decisions that would change all of their lives. That is, until Buffy decided it was time for her to go. But that's all in the past, they're moving on now, trying to look forward to the future and trying to decide together what to do.
"Well, Emily is a junior now, and I really don't want to pull her out of school this late in the school year, and next year will be her last year and I don't want her to have to get used to the new schedule, and the time zone and stuff like that. So maybe we could live in Stars Hollow until she graduates and then move back here when she goes to college. She's determined that she's going to get into a west coast school. Stanford is her goal, but she's considering Berkeley and Davis. She won't talk about what she wants to be, just that she wants to go to Stanford." They were quiet as Willow digested what Buffy just said. It does make sense if you think about it. If they move out to California and back into the house when Emily goes off to college then she'll be able to visit them more often in between her busy work schedule. And if she decides that she wants to go to an east coast school then they'll stay in Stars Hollow.
"That's an idea, but we still need to talk with her about it. Maybe she wants to finish her senior year here. I know that you really like your job at the Inn, but you can always find one here too, right?" Buffy didn't respond right away. She did like her job at the Inn, she loved her job at the Inn, and even if it is tiring she enjoys working there very much. But lately, with her enhanced slayer-hearing, she's been hearing Lorelai and Sookie talk about opening their own Inn, and Buffy isn't sure if she's ready to run and Inn by herself and train some new people to take Lorelai and Sookie's places. "I'll be sure to ask Giles about this necklace. I need to get up and shower now if I'm going to make it to his house on time. Will you go downstairs and make some coffee?" Buffy sighed a happy sigh and gave Willow one last gentle squeeze before they both got out of bed. She thought about joining Willow in the shower but she knew that her effort to save time and water would just lead to more ravishing of each other, and not only would Willow be late, but they would use up more hot water then intended.
With Willow gone out of the house, Buffy found herself becoming increasingly board. She usually likes having the house all to herself, the quiet is a nice little thing to have after all of the fighting and the constant noise, but right now it's driving her a little crazy. Something still feels off to her. It's something about her, about her body, about the way she's acting, it just doesn't seem right. She can't for the life of her explain what it is, but it's making her anxious, and an anxious slayer is not something you want around. She sat down on the couch and flipped on the television. She started to surf through the channels, not really looking for something to watch, she just wanted something to do. Her right leg couldn't keep still, and it was bouncy up and down as her anxiety grew. She needed to get out of here, she needed to slay, but it was still daylight, where was she supposed to go to get in a good kill?
So instead of going out and killing something, she stayed home and started to clean. It started with the living room, she dusted and vacuumed, she zoned out through all of it, not really paying attention to what she was doing as she worked quickly through the entire bottom floor of the house. Her thoughts were elsewhere, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with her, trying to figure out what felt different. She opened up the cupboard under the kitchen sink and decided that it too needed a good cleaning. She looked down and saw that her necklace was dangling from her neck, the chain long enough to put it in danger of getting dirty. She reached around to the back of her neck and undid the clasp. As soon as she set the necklace down on the counter and lost all physical contact with it she felt a little better. She didn't feel off, she didn't feel like something was wrong with her body, she felt like good ol' Buffy Summers. 'What the hell?' she thought as she looked down at the little sliver dove.
Curiously she reached out and gently brushed her fingertips against the little silver necklace. Again she got the weird feeling that she had been experiencing ever since she and Willow made love. It wasn't like she was getting a feeling of power, or anything else that would set off her slayer senses, it was just different, like it was changing something inside of her somehow. She pulled her hand away and looked down at her fingertips. They didn't feel any different, they didn't look any different, so what was wrong, what was changing? She knew that it was something on the inside of her, that there were no physical changes that she would be able to see. That didn't make it any less scary, if anything it frightened Buffy ever more. But her thoughts were interrupted by some very loud knocking at the front door. She was a little surprised to see who it was.
"Hi Nikki, Faith, what are you two doing here?" she asked and stepped aside to let them in. 'Since when does Nikki know Faith?' she thought as she led them into the living room. They sat down in different parts of the room. Nikki sat down on the floor next to the coffee table, Faith sat in the chair next to the couch and Buffy sat on the couch wondering what the hell was going on. Nikki looked a little nervous, Faith looked, well, a little mad. But it was a different type of mad, like she was disappointed or something. And the way she was looking at Nikki told Buffy that her fellow slayer was mad or disappointed by something that the teenager did. 'But since when does Faith know Nikki?' she asked herself again. This was all too confusing. "You guys, what's going on? And how the hell do you two know each other?"
"Oh me an' Sparky go way back, don't we Sparky?" Faith said and sat back in the chair, getting comfortable. She was about to put her feet up on the coffee table but then Buffy sent her a death glare and she let them fall to the floor. "I was comin over to talk, I saw this one lurkin around the front yard, thought I'd make her presence known. Oh, and I'm supposed ta tell you that Giles wants all the scoobies to meet at the Magic Box tonight at six. Nothin serious going on, he just wants the gang back together to catch up on what's been going on. He's missed the whole scooby thing if ya ask me." She started to fidget around a little bit. Buffy knew that look, and her body language pretty well. Faith needed a smoke, but Buffy would be damned before she let her do it in the house.
"Ok," Buffy said, mostly to herself and sounding a little distant. She looked over at Nikki who was staring down at her feet, picking at her shoelaces. "Emily's not here, she's at Xander's. She won't be back until tomorrow. She's in trouble right now so you won't be able to talk to her for a while so don't even think about sneaking in through the bathroom window." Nikki looked into her eyes, a little surprised but she got over it. She stood up and started to walk towards the door, not saying a word. She was still mad that Emily didn't tell her that really big secret, and she wanted to talk to her about it, but it seems she'll just have to wait until tonight after Xander and Anya are asleep. The bathroom window isn't the only way to sneak into the Harris' household.
"So, B, whatcha doin here all on your lonesome?" she asked and leaned back in the chair, scooting down a little and stretched her arms over her head. "I figured you and Red would be makin up for lost time while the kid is out of the house." She sounded cocky, but there was also a little concern in her voice. She thought that maybe the two lovers were going through some problems again, that maybe things were not all well in the land of Buffy and Willow.
"She had to go see Giles. He called the other day, wanted her to stop by, look over some spells before he sends them to a newbie witch up in Cleveland. And she was going to ask him about that necklace. There was a letter from whoever sent it but we couldn't make out the handwriting. So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked and Faith got a questioning look on her face. Not something she displays to just anyone, usually she'll try to go along with whatever someone is saying instead of looking confused, but she knows that Buffy won't make fun of her so she doesn't hide it. "You said that you came over to talk. What did you want to talk about?" She watched as Faith took a deep breath, her hands were starting to shake a little, but it wasn't from the need to smoke, she was nervous. Buffy could almost smell how nervous she was, she could feel the air around them becoming a little thicker then normal and it was starting to worry her.
"Don't worry about it, it's not important. I gotta motor, G-man wants me to restock the fridge at Slayer Central, so I guess I'll see you tonight at the meeting," she was up and out of the chair and to the door before Buffy could say a word against it. That was very odd. If Buffy didn't know any better she would have thought that Faith was going to ask her out something. 'God, how weird would that be? A date with Faith, it's too far out there to even imagine,' she thought as she stood up and resumed her cleaning, forgetting all about the necklace and the fact that she was going to run to the magic shop to ask Giles about it.