Getting Ahead of Myself
by sailor80
Twenty-five
[reviews]
Downstairs, Tara helped Faith out of her patrol clothes and into shorts and a sleep shirt. One side of Faith's torso was a massive bruise, and after she saw it, Tara was extra careful as she got Faith settled in bed.
T
ara sat crosslegged on her side of the bed and watched Faith. She held one of Faith's hands, and tried not to jump at every groan Faith made as she shifted. Seeing Faith badly beaten again shook Tara, and made her wonder again how Willow stayed so calm every time Buffy walked out the door.
After an hour, Tara's thoughts were still in turmoil. She stroked Faith's cheek gently, and Faith opened her good eye and squinted at Tara. Without waiting for Tara to ask, Faith said, "I'm Faith, you're Tara, I'm home in bed, it's Friday morning. Now lemme sleep."
Tara giggled, and some of the tension left her.
"What?" Faith growled.
"Nothing," Tara said softly. She leaned over and kissed Faith gently on the uninjured side of her mouth. "Rest." Tara laid down beside her.
"C'mere," Faith said, and raised her arm. Tara gingerly moved closer. Faith's arm closed around her, loosely at first.
"I don't want to hurt you."
"Doesn't hurt," Faith lied, and pressured Tara closer, until they were in their usual position. Faith was on her back with her arm around Tara, who rested her head on Faith's shoulder and one hand on Faith's far hip. "Better," Faith said.
"You scared me," Tara said.
"Talk later," Faith answered, and yawned hugely. "Ow."
"Rest," Tara repeated. She began to hum quietly, and Faith fell more deeply asleep. Tara stayed awake, half her mind on helping Faith heal, the other half weighing love against fear.
When the alarm went off, Tara rolled to her side of the bed, where it was kept for its own safety, and turned it off. She got out of bed and stretched before turning to look at Faith, who slept, snoring softly. Her face was nearly healed, but Tara knew her side would need at least another day. She put on her robe and went to Faith's side of the bed. She leaned down and kissed her gently. "I'll be upstairs," she said softly, and went up to the kitchen.
Tara started coffee, then got the newspaper. She poured a glass of juice before sitting down. A few minutes later, a sleepy Buffy shuffled in to prepare a bottle for Dawn. "How's Faith?" Buffy asked after starting the microwave.
"She's fine. She's asleep."
"Good. She'll heal quicker that way." Buffy stretched. "Guess I better go with Mom this morning."
"Yeah," Tara agreed.
The microwave beeped, and Buffy removed the bottle. She shook it before testing the temperature on her wrist, and left without saying anything more. Joyce came in next, dressed and ready for work. She greeted Tara, then asked, "Where's Faith?"
"In bed. She got kinda beat up last night."
"Is she all right?" Joyce asked, and when Tara nodded, she asked, "How are you?"
"I'm ok," Tara answered.
"You sure?"
"No," Tara admitted.
Joyce sat down with her coffee cup. "What's wrong?"
"How do you do it?"
"Watch them come home hurt?"
Tara nodded again.
"You never get used to it. It's just one of the things that go with the job." Joyce sighed. "I wish I could say something helpful, Tara, but I can't." Joyce reached across the table and squeezed Tara's hand. "When I found out that Buffy was the Slayer, I didn't handle it well. I forbade her to do her duty, and told her not to come home if she was going to continue. That was the biggest mistake I ever made. Since then, I've tried to do what I can to help. Rupert and Willow patch her up, and I pay the doctor bills when they can't, and every night when I go to bed, I pray she'll be here when I wake up."
Buffy brought Dawn back to bed, and Dawn laid back on the pillows to drink her bottle. She kicked at Willow to wake her after Buffy stopped her from hitting Willow's sleeping head with the bottle.
"I'm awake," Willow protested, and pushed herself up on her elbows. "Happy now?" she asked her daughter, who answered with a big smile.
"Good morning, sweetheart." Buffy leaned over and kissed Willow.
"Mmm, hey, baby."
"I'm going with Mom this morning, ok?"
"Yeah." Willow sat up and stretched. "We'll come see you before we go to the Magic Box."
Buffy rolled her eyes, but said, "All right." She went into the bathroom and showered quickly. By the time she returned to dress, both Willow and Dawn were drifting back to sleep. Buffy dressed and headed to the kitchen. "Hi, Mom," she said cheerfully.
"Good morning, Buffy."
"I'm your help today. Faith's kinda messed up." Buffy dropped some bread in the toaster and got a mug for her coffee.
"So I heard. What happened?"
"I'm not sure, exactly. We'll talk to Giles about it later." Buffy stirred sugar into her coffee, and got milk and juice from the refrigerator. She poured milk into her coffee and got a glass of juice. She put them on the table and got a plate just as the toast popped up. "Tara go back to bed?"
"I think so."
"Good." Buffy sat down. She took the knife from her mother's plate and used it to spread strawberry jam on the toast.
"She's upset about what happened last night."
Buffy nodded, but didn't speak until her mouth was clear. "Will had to put some stitches in. Don't worry," she added hurriedly, "No blood on the carpet."
"You might talk to Tara later."
"About Faith?"
"More about Slaying."
"You don't think that'll make things worse?" Buffy asked skeptically.
"Maybe Willow, then."
"All right," Buffy agreed. "She and Dawn are coming down to the gallery this afternoon. I'll talk to her then."
Just after 1 pm, Faith, Tara, Willow, and Dawn arrived at the gallery. Joyce was with a customer, and they went to her office to wait. Faith went to the storage room, where Buffy was uncrating a metal sculpture.
"Hey, B."
"How you feeling?"
"Sore, but all right. Red did a good job on the stitches. You can hardly see where they were."
"Good." Buffy pulled away the last wall of the crate and stepped back. "This is one of the ugliest things I ever saw."
Faith shrugged. "No accountin' for taste."
Buffy put the pry bar on the shelf and began stacking the remains of the crate against the wall. "Tara was kinda freaked last night."
"Yeah." Faith watched Buffy work. "She's all right now."
"You sure? Mom asked me to ask Willow to talk to her."
"I don't think it'll make a difference." Faith eyed the sculpture critically. "Man, that's ugly. Bet it'll sell in a heartbeat."
"As long as I don't have to deliver it."
"I hear ya."
"Yeah, yeah." Buffy went into the hall, and Faith followed her to the office. "Hi, sweetheart," Buffy greeted Willow, and gave both she and Dawn a kiss. "Hey, Tara."
"Hi, Buffy."
"We're going to the magic shop to help Giles," Willow said. "C'mon over when you're ready."
"As soon as Mom tells me where to put one thing," Buffy answered.
Tara and Willow, pushing Dawn in the stroller, left the office. Joyce excused herself from her customer for a moment to bend over the stroller and give the baby a hug and kiss before the women left.
Faith got the duster and headed up to the balcony to dust while Buffy returned to the storeroom to carry the trash out to the alley. She grinned in relief at the fading blue paint marking the water line, and made sure the door was securely locked when she finished. Then she went to the office, where her mother was writing out a receipt.
"Do you know where you want that metal monstrosity?" Buffy asked.
"Just a minute, honey," Joyce answered distractedly. She finished the receipt and took it out on the floor, where her customer signed it. They exchanged papers, a check for the receipt, and the customer left. Joyce came back to the office and put the check in a desk drawer. "What did you ask?"
"Where do you want that sculpture?"
"I think right in the middle of the main floor. It's so dramatic."
"It's something, all right," Buffy said. She got up and went to the storeroom. Faith watched from the mezzanine as Buffy wheeled it out onto the floor. Once Buffy had it where Joyce wanted it, Joyce called up to Faith to adjust
the lights. After a few changes, she was satisfied.
Buffy returned the handcart to the storeroom. Her mother was busy with another customer, a blonde woman in high heels and a tight red dress, so Buffy waved before slipping out the door. Faith looked down occasionally, but mostly moved from piece to piece, removing invisible dust.
The magic shop wasn't in as bad a condition as Buffy expected. Dawn slept while the adults cleaned and sorted. Dawn woke at 4:30, took her bottle without fussing. She held it herself and her head swiveled around as she took in her new surroundings. She was finished with her bottle and beginning to fuss when Faith came through the door. Dawn threw the bottle in Faith's direction, and she caught it easily.
Faith walked to the stroller and knelt in front of it. "You shouldn't throw things," she scolded gently while releasing the straps. She picked Dawn up and stood with a grunt. "They aren't paying any attention to you, are they?" Joyce came in behind her and took Dawn from Faith, who looked around until she located everyone. She approached Tara first, and greeted her with a hug. "Hey."
"Hey," Tara answered, and kissed Faith quickly. "How're you feeling?"
"Better."
"Good." Tara smiled. "I'm almost finished."
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Not really."
"All right. I wanna talk to B anyhow." Faith pecked Tara's cheek before turning to leave. She found Buffy and Willow in the back room with Giles, discussing how to turn it into a training area. Faith joined the discussion, and when they finished, they went back into the main part of the store, where Tara and Joyce were talking around Dawn's head.
"B, that hot blond chick who was there when you left bought that sculpture."
"You're kidding, right?"
"Nope." Faith grinned. "I couldn't believe it, either, but she opened her bag and paid cash for it. Said she'll have somebody pick it up tomorrow morning."
"Wow. I guess now we know why Mom never took me on buying trips." She looked at Faith again. "Cash?"
"Cash," Faith confirmed. "We went to the bank before we came here."
Giles agreed to join them for dinner, and he, Faith, and Tara went down the street to the Italian restaurant to place their order. While they waited for the food to be prepared, they sat in the bar. Giles and Tara had a glass of wine and Faith ordered a beer. While they waited, Faith told them about her meeting with the knights. When she finished describing them, Giles removed his glasses and began to polish them while he speculated about the significance of Faith's encounter.
By the time they arrived at the Summers house, the table was set. While Tara and Faith unpacked the food, Buffy got drinks for everyone and Willow put Dawn in her high chair so she could join them at the table. Dinner was boisterous, with more than one conversation going on all the time, and Dawn making a huge mess with spaghetti.
Faith volunteered to clean Dawn up, and Tara went upstairs to help her. Buffy and Willow cleared the table while Joyce and Giles went into the living room to talk over what was left of the second bottle of wine opened that night.