Getting Ahead of Myself
by sailor80
Eleven
[reviews]
By 6:50 Tuesday night, Buffy was resigned that she and Willow would have an audience for their meeting with Liz. Faith helped her move the furniture, and Tara brought down extra pillows, and Buffy pouted on the sofa while they waited for the midwife to arrive. Willow saw her pout and whispered something that caused Buffy to cheer up considerably and Faith to raise an eyebrow in her direction. Willow chose to ignore Faith for the time being.
Tara let Liz in a few minutes before 7:00. They began, as they had before, by measuring Willow, and then they got down on the floor and began. Liz ignored the three extra sets of eyes. Willow concentrated on learning, and Buffy concentrated on Willow, and after a few minutes, Faith was bored and wandered off downstairs.
After Liz left, Tara went downstairs to find Faith washing a paintbrush in the sink. Tara stuck her head in to see that Faith had completed the second coat of paint on the trim, meaning that they could put down carpet tiles the next evening.
"Good job," Tara said.
Faith shrugged and rinsed the bristles one final time. "They done?"
"Yeah. I think Buffy's waiting for you to help her with the sofa."
"No problem." Faith leaned against the sink and looked at Tara. "You want kids?"
"Some day."
Faith nodded, then headed for the stairs. Tara caught her hand. "You?"
"What?"
"Do y-you want kids?"
"I dunno." Faith shrugged, then leaned over to buss Tara's cheek. "I'm gonna check on B."
Tara nodded and tried to release Faith's hand, but Faith held on, so Tara followed her upstairs.
Before starting patrol, Buffy and Faith went to Giles' apartment to check in. As usual, books, several open, covered his dining room table. They filled him in on recent occurrences, and when they finished, Buffy asked, "So what's the deal?"
"I don't know. It is rather odd, this influx of vampires at this time of year. You haven't seen anything else, signs of other demon activity, for example?" Giles asked with a small frown.
"Nope," Faith answered.
"So you're going to do the research thing, and we're going to patrol, right?" Buffy asked hopefully.
"Fine. Be certain to let me know if you learn anything else."
Buffy and Faith looked at each other and said one word. "Willie's." Both smiled grimly at the thought of a visit to the demon bar.
"Later, Giles," Buffy said, and she and Faith took off before he could change his mind about wanting help with research.
Willie's was their last stop after sweeping the cemeteries, downtown alleys, and the Bronze. It was empty except for Willie himself, who leaned on the bar and watched baseball on the set in the corner. He groaned when he saw the Slayers.
"Business isn't bad enough, you gotta come in, too," he whined.
"What's goin' on, Willie?" Faith asked.
"Nothin, Slayer, honest. Haven't seen anyone all night."
Buffy looked around. "Obviously. Where is everyone?"
Willie held his hands up in an attempt to placate them. "I dunno, maybe on vacation. It's always slow during the summer, you know that."
"Then why have we killed so many vampires this week?" Buffy asked calmly.
"To torture me," he muttered.
Faith smiled unpleasantly. "We can, if that's what you want."
"Geez," Willie whined, "I was kiddin'. I don't know nothin'. If things don't pick up soon, I'm gonna close up shop for a while."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Buffy answered, and jerked her head toward the door. She and Faith left as quickly as they had arrived.
"You believe him?" Buffy asked as they started for home.
"It was cleaner in there than it's been in a long time, so, yeah, I think I do."
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"Man can't stand around and watch the ballgame all the time," Faith explained, "and if there isn't anybody in there to make a new mess, it's bound to get cleaner." Under her voice, she added, "Roof. Next block."
Buffy glanced up casually. "Council," she confirmed.
"It's been slow tonight. What'cha say we have some fun?"
"Whaddya have in mind?" Buffy asked.
"First," Faith stepped into the shadows and pulled Buffy along so they both disappeared. They waited for their night vision to kick in, and Faith gestured a plan to Buffy, who agreed with a grin.
A few minutes later, after climbing up the building to the roof, they each had the man by one arm.
"It's not nice to spy on people," Buffy growled.
"I'm just doing my job."
"Some job," Faith answered. "Following girls around. There's laws against that, ya know."
"You do your job, and there won't be problems," he answered.
Buffy snorted, then stepped in front of him. "I do my job every night, and all you people ever do is give me problems. You want to take a message to your boss?" she asked rhetorically. "Tell Quentin Travers to find his own playground, cause this one's mine." Then she shoved him hard enough that Faith let go so he would fall to the gravel roof. The Slayers stood over him, and Buffy added a final thought. "I'm keeping her," she pointed at Faith, "too. Your funky little games are over, got it?"
The man nodded, and the Slayers disappeared from his sight.
After a block, Faith asked, "Whaddya mean, you're keepin' me?"
"I need you to stay and help," Buffy said.
"But, but, Cleveland," Faith began.
"But nothing, Faith. Willow's pregnant. I can't keep an eye on her and the Hellmouth all at the same time. Besides, Cleveland will be there."
"Red doesn't even like me."
"Yeah, well, you better fix that, cause you aren't going anywhere."
"Really?"
"Really," Buffy confirmed.
"B, you're the best."
"Don't you forget it, either," Buffy grinned, and broke into a jog.
After work the next evening, Faith went looking for Willow. She found her on the back porch, enjoying the weather. Buffy, Joyce, and Tara were in the kitchen, and Willow looked surprised to see Faith alone.
Faith took a deep breath. "Can we talk?" she asked.
Willow, curious, answered with her own question. "About what?"
"I, um, I want to apologize."
"What for?" Willow asked warily.
"Everything. I, uh, I just, I was jealous."
"Of me?" Willow squeaked.
"Yeah." Faith took another deep breath. "You had her, no matter what I did. She always went to you, always listened to you. I wanted that, and you, and when I couldn't have what I wanted, I tried to destroy it, and I'm really sorry."
Willow stared at Faith without saying anything.
Faith held her gaze as long as she could, then looked out over the yard. "I know you don't like me, Red, and I don't blame you, but things are different now, and..." Faith's voice trailed off.
"And what?" Willow prompted.
Faith looked back at her. "It won't happen again. I know it's just words, but it's the truth."
"I never understood why you," Willow gestured. "Why, Faith?"
Faith sighed. "I was scared. You guys had everything. Giles. Mrs. S. Enough to eat. Clean place to stay. Each other. You never gave me a chance."
"You never gave us a chance. Coming in all, hey, new Slayer coming through. And your stories." Willow rolled her eyes. "All you had to do was be yourself."
"You don't know anything about what I needed then, Red." Faith's voice dropped a little. "And you never tried to find out."
"When was I going to find out? Every time I turned around, you were pulling Buffy off to do something dangerous or stupid or illegal. You never wanted to be around us. You acted like we were all little kids."
Faith counted to 10 while she thought about what Willow said. "I did. And you were. You had parents taking care of you."
"Buffy had her mom. The rest of us were taking care of each other the best we could. If you had dropped the badass act for a minute, you would have seen that we were all just as lost as you."
Faith turned away from Willow again. After a few seconds, she said, "It's over and done now. It won't happen again."
Willow stood up. "That's not good enough, Faith."
"Whaddya want, blood? Didn't B get enough last time?"
"That's exactly what I'm talking about. Things get hard, you get harder. It doesn't work like that here. And you know what, F? I don't care what you think of me, but if you ever, ever, ever hurt Buffy again, that coma's gonna seem like summer vacation." Willow pushed past the younger woman and went into the house. She ignored everyone and went upstairs.